Podcast: Download

By Jesse Jenkins

Benchley, January 22, 2012

• Everything that one has is the result of a gift.
• Life – Genesis 2:7; Job 12:9-10
• Abilities – Psalms 23:1; James 1:17
• This calls for us to be grateful and a giving people.
• Why give?
• God needs nothing that we have. Acts 17:27; Psalms 50:10-12
• But we need to give – need the blessing God bestows for service.
• To have a correct view of God’s attitude toward giving, we must carefully consider what He has said:
• Honors God (Proverbs 3:9)
• Is a mark of righteousness (Proverbs 21:25-26)
• Is a grace (II Corinthians 8:7)
• Failure to give robs God (Malachi 3:8)
• God hates covetousness (Psalms 10:3; Colossians 3:6)
• Our giving is to be:
• I Corinthians 16:2
• Regular
• Personal – every one of you
• As prospered
• II Corinthians 8:8,12; 9:6-7
• Because of love
• Willingly, not because of pressure
• Bountifully, not sparingly
• Planned and purposed
• Not grudgingly
• The gift that takes care of it all
• II Corinthians 8:5 – “They first gave their own selves to the Lord.”