Grace Baptist Church Decatur, IL

 

 

Revelation PowerPoint Sermons Series               Gospel of Matthew PowerPoint Sermons Series

Acts PowerPoint Sermons Series

Angels

Holiday Sermons

 

Topical Sermons - free PowerPoint

Topical Series

 

Bible Study Lessons

Bible Study Series

 


 

Sales & Instant Downloads

 


Top Sermons


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Audio / Video     PowerPoint     Text     Recommend     Subscribe     Help


 

Streaming Audio:

Download mp3 [left click to stream, right click to 'save as' for ipod or CD listening.]

Or, use the controls, below, just like you would a VCR.  Double-click the "Play" arrow to begin.  This page must remain open to continue listening. To browse the internet while you listen, open a new browser window by clicking on "File", then "New", then "Window".

 
PowerPoint Presentation:
Click here after starting sermon audio to bring up slides and visual aides which go along with the sermon. [May take 1-3 minutes to open.]  Once the first slide appears you can follow along with the message and use the arrow keys to advance the slides. How to edit and use

 

powerpoint_icon.gif PowerPoint Viewer can be used to view our pps slideshow files if you do not have PowerPoint

 


 

Please help keep this ministry free by honoring our system...

 

Please Choose:

  • Recommend this sermon ministry to others.  [A new window will open.]
  • Post a brief testimony about Grace Notes at SermonCentral

  • Tell a Friend to Visit
    Once 3 other sermon seekers subscribe, mentioning your name, you get a free sermon series download!

  • Or, do nothing, it's still free!  But many thanks go to those who take a second to advance the gospel message for God's glory!
Help spread the Word by using the recommendation links, above...it's a proven system that keeps this ministry free!

 

Grace Notes Sermon Ministry:

Subscribe for free     Learn More

 

NOTICE!  Our sermons are free to download, copy and paste, edit and use as you see fit...but only our free subscribers get the newest messages, featured sermons, and some gifts we shower on them from time to time!

 


Exhortation to Christian Giving

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

 

 

Give God what's right, not what's left!  This applies not only to our finances, but to giving God the place of priority in our time, our talents, and in all things.  He deserves better than leftovers...rather, the firstfruits!

 

And He has a great purpose for it--"Giving is not God's way to raise money, it's His way to raise Christians."

 

Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also [2Cor. 8:7].

 

Paul is commending them. They abound in faith; they were able to witness; they had knowledge and diligence; and they had love for Paul and for the other apostles. Now he asks them to abound in this grace also. What does he refer to? He means the grace of giving.

 

I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love [2Cor. 8:8].

 

Paul is saying here that giving today is not by law, by rote, or by ritual. Christ came in the NT w/ a better way, and that is love, not just duty.  Add to your duty, love.  Add to your tithes, offerings that you can give not by commandment by out of the grace of your heart.

 

You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.

 

Paul gives two reasons by which he is asking them to give. The first is "by occasion of the forwardness of others" -- which would be the example which the Macedonians had given. The second reason is to "prove the sincerity of your love." It is still true today that the pocketbook is really the test of a man's love. It is the most sensitive area of a Christian.

 

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich [2Cor. 8:9].

 

If you are looking for a standard for giving, here it is: the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He was rich but He became poor. He came down here and took a place of poverty. Imagine leaving heaven and coming down to this earth to be born in Bethlehem, to live in Nazareth, to die on a cross outside the walls of Jerusalem, and to be put into the darkness of a tomb! He was rich but He became poor for you and me.

 

And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago [2Cor. 8:10].

 

This indicates that the Corinthians had made a pledge or a promise and had begun to give for this collection a year earlier. This raises the issue of making a pledge to give a certain amount of money. Some people say they don't think a Christian should make a pledge. I think we need to recognize that we sign pledges for everything else, and I think that people ought to be willing to make a pledge to God's work. We promise to pay our rent; we sign notes when we buy an automobile or a refrigerator. I say that we can sign on the dotted line for God's work, too.

 

Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have [2Cor. 8:11].

 

Paul is saying they should carry through with their pledge. They should put their money where their mouth is. However, remember that this is not a commandment. We are not commanded to make a pledge. However, this verse does tell us that if we do make a pledge, then we are to carry it through and perform it.  If you pledged to missions, there are missionaries counting on you!

 

For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not [2Cor. 8:12].

 

Here is something very important to note. Each should give according to "that a man hath," and he is to do it with a willing mind. No one is to give according to what he does not have.

 

For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened [2Cor. 8:13].

 

Paul is saying that a burden should not be placed on anyone.  We have no obligation above our tithe if we don't have it.  Ironically, tithers, if they are also obedient to God in being good stewards of the other 90% of their income, invariably have plenty to give over and above their tithe.

 

But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality [2Cor. 8:14].

 

As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack [2Cor. 8:15].

 

Paul gives the example of the gathering of the manna in the wilderness. Each was to gather enough for one day. Some man might go out with several baskets and say, "Let's just fill them up. I'll gather bushel baskets of manna while I can." He would go out and greedily gather up much more than he needed. What would happen? After he had eaten what he needed for that day, he would find that all the rest had spoiled by the next morning. It was God's plan that each one should have just enough and no more.

 

In much the same way, if you lay up your treasures on earth, buying things or just building a bank account, it will all come to naught, that’s why we need to send it on ahead to heaven and put our treasures there by investing in things of eternal value like church, missions, etc. 

 

“You can’t take it with you but you can send it on ahead!”

 

Billy Sunday:  "If we could take it with us, it would melt where some of us are going!"

 

We will learn in chapter 9, verse 6, that "...He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." I think that God will begin to deal with you as you have been dealing with Him. I think that God keeps books. He cannot ‘outgive’ us as He is famous for if He doesn’t keep track.  And it’s not for IRS purposes or anything other than to know how much He can reward us!

 

He does not put us under law because He wants our giving to be a grace, a passion, a desire to share. It should be a joyful experience. That may sound crazy to you, but that is exactly what Paul is saying here.

[with helps from J. Vernon McGee]

 

 


Grace Notes Sermon Ministry:

Subscribe for free     Learn More

 

NOTICE!  Our sermons are free to download, copy and paste, edit and use as you see fit...but only our free subscribers get the newest messages, featured sermons, and some free gifts we shower on them from time to time!

 

Help keep this service free by recommending it

using the links above the sermon

   

All Sermons and PowerPoint Slideshow Presentations ©Copyright Jerry Shirley and Grace Notes Ministries® unless otherwise credited.  These resources are yours to use freely, but only in public worship services or private study groups and devotions.  They may not be sold, republished or retransmitted in any form without written permission.