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Well, you could almost hear the bagpipes, couldn't you?

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Sounds like a real Scottish melody.

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Please open your Bible with me to Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 28.

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Some of you have never met the most important helper that I have in this world,

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apart from the Holy Spirit, and that is my wife.

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She teaches second grade in the first hour, and so they hardly ever see her,

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unless they have second graders.

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But she worships with us in this hour.

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And would you stand?

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We have been married 23 years today.

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Happy anniversary.

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Do I have lipstick on my cheek here?

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It has been a wonderful marriage.

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I have learned a great deal from her.

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I like to be around generous people, and Jeanette is one of those people.

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I have learned a lot from people in my life who have been generous,

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because I am not naturally generous.

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The influence of generous people lingers long and sweet in the lives of all of us.

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I recall when I was just out of college in my first church,

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where I was working as a youth intern,

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that there was a couple who invited myself and my buddy,

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who had also graduated from college, over to their place after church on Sunday nights.

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Joanne made the biggest, juiciest hamburgers I had ever seen up to that point in my life.

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She was from Houston, Texas, and of Greek origin,

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and I don't know whether it was olive oil she put in there.

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She liked to eat jalapenos just out of the jar as a snack.

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Maybe it was jalapenos she ground up into the hamburgers.

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But I have never tasted a hamburger quite like that.

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It was thick and juicy.

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She and Bill would bring on the ice cream,

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and boy, it must have been a quart of ice cream they would give to both of us every Sunday night.

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I was overwhelmed by their generosity,

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and you can tell here I am more than a quarter of a century later telling you about them.

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Perhaps you have similar kinds of people in your background.

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Generosity will always leave a more pleasant memory than stinginess.

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Today I want us to think about the community of the Saints as a community of generosity.

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This fall we have been thinking about the Church of Jesus Christ,

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and what our part is in that, what our commitment to it is.

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Today we think about the Church as a community of generosity.

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Truly of all people, the community of Saints ought to be known for its liberality.

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For our Master Jesus Christ has given liberally to us.

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Go break to the needy sweet charity's bread.

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For giving is living, the angel said.

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And must I be giving again and again, my peevish and pitiless answer ran?

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Oh no, said the angel, piercing me through.

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Just give till the Master stops giving to you.

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We have a generous Master, and we as his people need to be characterized by generosity.

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Avarice gathers itself poor, whereas charity gives itself rich.

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It is the hand that gives that truly gathers.

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Christians show what they are by what they do with what they have.

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Today, as in ancient Ephesus, there are some Saints who are tempted to stealing.

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A policeman told me a few days ago that most of the theft that occurs in large companies,

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occurs not in retail stores from shoplifting, but from employees.

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It's one of the great problems that we face in America today.

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Employees are stealing in unprecedented amounts from their employers.

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Paul writes to believers in Ephesus and says to them in verse 28 of Ephesians 4,

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Let him who steals, steal no longer.

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Do you notice the implication there?

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He's writing to Saints, and some of them are still stealing.

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He says, let him who is stealing stop it, but rather let him labor,

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performing with his own hands what is good,

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in order that he may have everything his heart desires.

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Is that what it says? No, I guess it doesn't, does it?

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It says, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.

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The community of Saints is exhorted to be generous in its giving.

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There are three truths about generosity which if you and I would learn and put into action in our lives,

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it would change our lives forever.

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I've outlined these three truths there in your bulletin on a piece of paper,

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and you may want to pull that out and keep notes, which we encourage you to do every week,

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so that you can later reflect on some of the things talked about.

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You will notice on the back side are some questions.

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Those are primarily for our cell groups, which use those as discussion points in their meetings,

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but you can use them for other occasions as well.

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The first truth about generosity that can literally change your life

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is to understand that generosity is rooted in divine grace.

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We hear the statement, to err is human, to forgive is divine.

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Can we adjust that slightly to say, to keep is human, to give is divine?

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This book of Ephesians is about God's grace in the new community, the church.

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In fact, from beginning to end of the book, it is an exaltation of God's grace.

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Grace is God's giving, and that giving spirit is to be reflected in those calling God their Father.

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Now we have a little problem.

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It's called the flesh, which all of us struggle with yet.

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The flesh is naturally selfish.

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Believers struggle with the flesh.

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Paul knew that, and so in chapter 5 he writes these rather harsh words.

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He says,

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For this you know with certainty,

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that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater

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has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

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He says,

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If a man's character is that of being greedy,

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then it says something about him spiritually, which is most alarming.

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But he's already told us that believers, too, can be tempted to greediness and even to stealing.

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He says in this verse that covetousness is idolatry.

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Most of us would never think of going into a temple and there bowing down to an idol made out of wood and stone.

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And yet the Bible says that when we allow greed to come into our hearts so that we have an insatiable desire for more,

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because that's what covetousness is, an insatiable desire for more,

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that when we allow that to dominate our lives, we are in fact idolaters,

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because something is in the place of God in our lives.

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It is dominating us.

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It's idolatry.

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Strong words.

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Greed robs the miser of his own life, of his significance in the world.

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Thomas Gibbons wrote,

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That man may last, but never lives,

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Who much receives, but nothing gives,

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Whom none can love, whom none can thank,

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Creation's blot, creation's blank.

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Greed robs us, but grace gives birth to generosity.

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Grace and its relation to giving is succinctly stated in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9.

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I'd like for you to turn there with me this morning.

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That human, that the human heart can give unselfishly is evidence of God's grace in that heart.

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Unlike the man in this bit of verse that says,

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He dropped a nickel in the plate, then meekly raised his eyes,

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And he was glad that his weekly rent was paid for a mansion in the skies.

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Unlike the man in that verse, grace initiates generosity.

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You will notice in verse 9 of chapter 8, 2 Corinthians,

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That he speaks of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

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That though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor,

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That you through his poverty might become rich.

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Now where is that verse that speaks of Christ's sacrifice?

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Is it in the middle of a passage dealing with justification by faith?

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Does he plop that verse into a text that is a treatise on the doctrine of the atonement?

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The answer is no, he does not.

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He gives us this beautiful gem, this statement of God's grace,

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In the middle of a chapter on giving.

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Why?

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Because grace is the root of generosity.

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You will notice that in chapter 8 verse 1, he begins this whole text by saying,

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Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God,

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Which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.

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What does he mean by this?

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Well, he says that in a great ordeal of affliction,

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Their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.

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I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability,

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They gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty

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For the grace of participation in the support of the saints.

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The grace of God that is demonstrated in Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us,

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Produces in us another kind of grace that is also called the grace of God.

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It is the grace of liberal, generous giving to God and to His work in the world.

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We don't have time to go through the rest of this chapter,

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But a number of times the Apostle Paul uses that word grace to talk about this very thing.

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For example, in verse 7 he says,

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Just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness,

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And in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this grace also.

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You see that?

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Generosity is rooted in divine grace.

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Paul says that the true motivation for generosity is God's grace and love in our hearts.

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And when we give God generously, it proves His love.

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Notice in verse 8, I am not speaking this as a command,

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But as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.

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What is he saying here?

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He's saying, look, I'm not telling you you have to do this,

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But I want you to prove that your love for Christ is genuine,

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Just like the Macedonians did in their poverty.

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Giving to God's work is a significant measurement of our spiritual life.

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Did you know that the average Christian gives 2 to 3 percent of his income to God?

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And did you know that that's almost the very same amount that unsaved people give to charitable causes?

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Where is the grace of God that is the root of generosity?

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You can tell a lot about a Christian's walk with God by checking two of his books.

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His Bible and his checkbook.

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And by examining them closely, you will understand a great deal about his walk with God

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And his understanding of God's grace.

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Someone says, well, I don't have much to give,

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Whether it be a dollar and a quarter, or it be a million.

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Whatever is in our hands, we're responsible for.

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Someone has written this poem.

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It's not what you would do with a million if riches should err be your lot,

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But what are you doing at present with the dollar and a quarter you've got?

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That's the question.

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When we grasp the grace of God, how can we be anything other than generous?

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Oh, let us learn of God's grace.

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W. Gladstone said, there is no charity in a man leaving his money in his will.

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He has to leave it.

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The time to administer your trust is while you're living.

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May divine grace so free us from greedily grasping our money,

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That generosity will spring up from its work in our hearts.

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Generosity is rooted in divine grace.

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It's evidence of its reality in our lives and proof of our love for God.

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But there's a second truth that we need to get a hold of, and if we will, it will change our lives.

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It is that generosity grows through biblical principles.

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There are 700 direct references to money in the Bible,

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And 2,200 other indirect references to money.

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In other words, God has a lot to say about the subject of our money.

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There are three principles that I want to draw on this morning

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to show you what I mean that generosity, though it is rooted in divine grace, grows through biblical principles

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that we put into place in our lives.

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Principle number one, the principle of ownership.

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Very simple.

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It simply means God owns it all.

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It's all His.

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Everything that I have in my possession is God's.

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A lack of understanding that is the basic reason a lot of Christians don't give.

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Always say we believe it, but we don't, because we act upon those things we truly believe.

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We think it's ours.

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But the Bible says that it's all God's.

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We are but the stewards of it for a period of time.

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Most of us have no problem giving away somebody else's money.

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If Paul were to give me his checkbook today, I would love to give his money away.

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I can think of all kinds of places, and there's lots of it too, isn't there?

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He's about to faint.

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I don't mind giving Paul's money away.

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And you know, when I realize that what I have in my bank account is God's, not mine,

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it doesn't hurt me to give it away.

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It's all God's.

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Have you ever seen a hearse with a U-Haul behind it?

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Neither have I.

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What we accumulate in this life is ours to keep only for a while, and when this life is over, it's gone.

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Therefore, let us use it well while we're here.

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Whether we're giving it to the Lord's work, or we're buying groceries,

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or we're going to buy a ticket to a movie we want to see, it is all God's money.

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All of it. All of it. 100%.

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That's the first principle.

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If we could get a hold of that, it would change our lives.

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We would worry less.

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There's a second principle, and that is the principle of tithing,

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which means giving 10% to God.

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It's important to understand that tithing predated the Law of Moses,

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and it exists as a principle after the Law.

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It is true it was incorporated into the Mosaic Law by God's command,

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but it was not initiated by the Law.

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Tithing is a principle that appears to be universal and timeless in its application.

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When one ties, it is a signification of our realization that all of it belongs to God.

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We give a piece of it, and in doing that, say, God, we recognize that everything truly is yours.

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You give me 90% so that I can support myself and my family.

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I give you the 10% back because I know that it belongs to you.

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The tithe is a God-planned reminder of this first principle we've talked about.

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The fact is that God honors those who practice this principle of tithing,

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and He also withholds blessings from those who do not practice this principle of tithing.

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We see this illustrated in a text in the Old Testament in the context of Israel.

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Turn back to the book of Malachi with me.

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Now, if you don't know how to get there, just go to Matthew and put it in reverse.

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You'll get to Malachi real quick.

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In Malachi 3, verse 7, God says,

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From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.

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Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

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But you say, How shall we return?

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This is Malachi 3, now verse 8.

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Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me.

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But you say, How have we robbed thee?

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In tithes and offerings you are cursed with a curse.

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For you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

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Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house.

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And test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts.

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If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows,

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then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground,

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nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes, says the Lord of hosts.

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What is God saying in this text?

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He is saying that we can test Him and prove Him,

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that in bringing of our tithes He will open the windows of heaven and pour blessing into our lives.

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And He will also call off the devourer.

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What is that referring to?

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It's talking to those things that happen, that eat up our income,

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which God will allow to go on unabated in our lives,

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and which will usually eat up at least 10 percent.

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God says, if you will practice this principle, blessing will be yours.

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I'll call off the devourer.

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Warren Wiersbe writes, when we rob God, we only rob ourselves.

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We cannot keep anything that rightfully belongs to God.

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That is true, my friend.

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Somebody asked, well, why isn't tithing then commanded in the New Testament, clearly?

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Well, let's make a couple of observations.

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First of all, nowhere is tithing ever canceled as a principle of worshiping God and giving to Him.

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Furthermore, tithing is commended by Jesus, tithing that is from the heart.

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Tithing was generally understood in the early church as the way to give to God.

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And that is suggested in those texts as those in Corinthians that talk about proportionate giving.

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Generosity grows when we begin to put in place in our lives the principles of God regarding giving.

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The principle of ownership and the principle of tithing.

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I think you need to know that those who are in leadership in our church practice tithing.

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All of our staff tithes.

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Our elders tithe.

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While we don't go to the salary and figure it out by 10 percent,

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before anyone is brought to the congregation as a nominee for elder of the church,

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there is evidence that we have in the church in our counting that that person is serious and thoughtful about his giving.

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It's an expectation that we have to set an example to all of the church and obedience to the principles of God.

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One of our elders shared this with me.

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When my wife and I were married, I was immediately confronted with giving 10 percent or tithing.

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This was something new to me since I hadn't been a Christian very long.

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Admittedly, I wasn't too excited about giving up 10 percent of my income for this purpose.

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We had bills, bills, bills.

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All I could see was my money taking flight and the thoughts of all I could do with that money.

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My wife was very committed to giving in this way and was very patient with me during this time.

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We prayed a lot about this matter and I began to see the wisdom and scriptural principle in giving.

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We worked our way up to the 10 percent and more and now give off our gross.

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Scripture teaches us to give back to God first and the rest of our needs will be taken care of.

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What we give to missions is above and beyond our tithe.

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It's possible that it may take you time also to be able to be in a position financially

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to really experience the blessing of giving a tithe.

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But you can experience the blessing of giving.

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Anyone can.

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All of us must.

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It is an evidence of God's grace in our lives.

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And when we get to that exciting point that we practice the tithe,

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we put in place a principle that will revolutionize us

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in our understanding of who we are, in our participation in God's work, and our joy in it all.

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There's a third principle that I want to share with you that I believe is biblical,

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and that is the principle of the storehouse.

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We saw that word used here in Malachi 3.

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In the Old Testament, the storehouse was the temple.

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The Jewish people would bring their tithes annually to the temple

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with the support of God's ministry.

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Today, the local church, the new community, has replaced the Jewish temple and the Jewish order.

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I believe that the storehouse today is the local church

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where we gather, we worship, we pray, we're ministered to,

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and through which we reach out and touch the world.

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The storehouse today is equivalent to what is said in 1 Corinthians 16, 2,

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Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store,

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as God hath prospered him.

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Now, there are a number of things that we could point out in that verse,

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but I'm talking now about this matter of storing up.

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Now, whether that amount, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

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was kept in the church's bank account or in the individual's account is not the issue.

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The amount was for God's work and God's use, and it was to be laid aside.

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The fact that life was much less complex and ministry less institutional in those days

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doesn't change the principle we're talking about here.

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I'm convinced that it is, in fact, a sound principle that the foundational gift of the tithe

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should be directed to the local assembly of the saints.

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Offerings are that which we give above the tithe, and may and should be given,

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in gratitude to God, to missionary friends, to other works of the Lord that he lays in our hearts.

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But I believe the principle of the storehouse is valid today,

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that the tithe is a foundational part of our stewardship,

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is to be directed to that work that we do together as the people of God in the local church.

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Someone has said tithing is a great place to begin, a bad place to stop, and that's true.

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Proportionate giving is not limited to 10 percent, of course.

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There are some who can do much more than that because of the amount of their increase.

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I do believe that using the tithe for personal choice kinds of giving,

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that is, I choose to give to my friend who's in this work,

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or I choose to give to that ministry that has blessed me in radio, whatever,

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that that kind of use of the tithe is not proper.

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It certainly does serve to undermine the community effort

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that we have as the saints of God in our local church,

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those things that we must and do, do together.

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I'm further convinced that what every local church needs for its mission

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will be provided by God within that community.

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The problem comes in, in that some of God's people misuse

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and misspend what God has provided for his work through them,

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using it rather upon their own desires generated by a materialistic consumer culture like we live in.

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Most of us understand the need and place of public assistance for those who are truly needy.

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But we also decry the welfare mentality by which some think they should be supported by the rest of us.

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They take advantage and abuse the system and live off of others' hard work.

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Does that have any kind of parallel in the church?

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I believe that generosity will grow as you begin to grasp the principles of God regarding giving.

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And believe me, when you begin to put those principles in place in your life, it will revolutionize you.

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Generosity is rooted in divine grace.

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Generosity grows through biblical principles.

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And finally, generosity bears fruit by God's promise.

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Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 9 for a moment.

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In verse 5, he writes to these people and says,

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Be ready to give a bountiful gift not affected by covetousness.

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This I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly.

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He who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.

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Each one do just as he's purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion.

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God loves a cheerful giver.

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And God is able to make all grace abound to you,

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that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.

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Now he begins to explain what God promises to those who are generous.

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Generosity bears fruit by the promise of God.

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The first one is personal benefit.

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Verses 6 through 11, the benefits of genuine joy in our giving,

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of sufficiency in all things, and abundance so that we can give more.

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Those are all benefits that come to us by God's promise when we're generous.

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In verse 12 he goes on to talk about our generosity meeting others' needs.

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That's a benefit.

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He goes on then to say that our generosity glorifies the Lord.

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He says the more we give, the more thanksgiving there is to God.

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God is glorified through your generosity.

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And finally, he says that generous giving among God's people unifies the community of the saints.

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Notice how he says this in verse 13,

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Because of the proof given by this ministry,

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they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ,

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and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all,

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while they also by prayer on your behalf yearn for you

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because of the surpassing grace of God.

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You see what he's saying?

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He's saying that when we are generous to others and generous to the work of God,

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the result of that is that it unifies the church.

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Those in other places may receive from our bounty.

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They will pray for us.

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There may come a time when they will give and we will receive.

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We minister to each other.

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It brings us together as the community of the saints.

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As everyone participates according to God's plan,

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there is a pervasive sense of ownership and sharing in the work of God.

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We are exhorted to stop stealing from God and from others

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and to work so that we can give and give as generously as grace has demonstrated itself to us.

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A favorite poet of many people is Helen Steiner Rice.

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She writes this poem.

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A very favorite story of mine is about two seas in Palestine.

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One is a sparkling sapphire jewel.

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Its waters are clean and clear and cool.

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Along its shores the children play and travelers seek it on their way.

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And nature gives so lavishly her choicest gems to the Galilee.

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But on to the south the Jordan flows into a sea where nothing grows.

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No splash of fish, no singing bird, no children's laughter is ever heard.

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The air hangs heavy all around and nature shuns this barren ground.

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Both seas receive the Jordan's flow.

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The water is just the same, we know,

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but one of the seas, like liquid sun, can warm the hearts of everyone.

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While farther south another sea is dead and dark and miserly.

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It takes each drop the Jordan brings, and to each drop it fiercely clings.

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It hoards and holds the Jordan's waves until, like shackled captured slaves,

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the fresh, clear Jordan turns to salt and dies within the dead sea's vault.

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But the Jordan flows rapturously as it enters and leaves the Galilee.

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For every drop that the Jordan gives becomes a laughing wave that lives.

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Its waters flow and never stop.

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And in this laughing, living sea that takes and gives so generously,

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we find the way to life and living is not in keeping, but in giving.

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Yes, there are two Palestinian seas, and mankind is fashioned after these.

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You and I can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.

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God has provided in His indescribably generous gift, Jesus Christ, an example.

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His grace causes us to give.

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There's a Persian proverb that says,

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What I kept I lost, what I spent I had, but what I gave I have.

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Let's pray.

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Lord, may Your grace, given so generously in Christ,

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be the root of liberal, generous giving in this community of the saints.

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We call ourselves Grace Church.

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Now may we practice grace,

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free us, Father, from the covetousness, the idolatry of things

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that so easily entraps and snares us.

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Of these things we repent before You, acknowledging our sin.

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We would no longer rob and steal from You or from others,

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but owning up to our responsibility, applying Your principles in our lives,

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we deeply desire to know the full benefits that come to those who give as You have given to us.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.