Here is a
great thought and principle that we ought to live by: God can do more with what I have than I can do with what I have. Think about it for a minute. Then lets turn to this thought.
One of the
greatest preachers of our day is John Piper.
As I have been preparing to preach through our current series at The Community
Fellowship, I have listened to and read many sermons on the subject of money
and giving. Piper shared the following
verse in a sermon.
I
will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the
more I love you, the less you love me.
God made us,
saved us and keeps us going, yet so often we give Him nothing. This isn’t about money. This is about life. He deserves my entire life. That verse says I will give God all, and that
includes myself being spent for Him or by Him.
Being willing to give all and to be all for God is a big deal.
The ESV
version of the Bible says, “I will gladly spend and be spent for your
souls…” The most important thing in the
world is the souls of people. God loves
people. One of my closest friends
reminds me that “souls are in the balance”.
The most important thing is knowing God and being known by God.
Do we have
the wrong thing as the most important thing?
Do we care that our family and friends won’t go to heaven? The kingdom of God is about people, not
possessions. God sent Jesus for people,
not for programs.
Live for
what is essential! With passion, spend and be spent for the souls of people. That is my thought as a pastor, and I really
do love people. I want to pour myself
out in the ministry, reaching people and in prayer. That's what I want to live for.
I desire to be
a church that this cannot be said of,
Matthew
15:8 (NLT)
‘These people honor me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from me.
I want people
in our community to drive, walk or even crawl to us knowing that they will be
loved from our hearts no matter what they have, and their needs will be
met. I want people not to talk about
what we have or how big we are but about how good God is.
Piper also
shared these incredible thoughts: How many marriages have ended in divorce
because husbands do not hear the silent desires of their wife: "I don't
want your money, I want you"? How many parents have lost their children
because they failed to understand the signs: "I don't want your presents,
Daddy, I want you"? And how
many tithing and giving churchgoers will be lost because the Word of God never
reached their hearts: "I will seek not what is yours but you"? I don’t ask for or seek what you have but you.
My desire is to spend and be spent out
for your souls, not your treasure. Things
don’t matter. You matter!
If God is
first in your life, everything will come in to order, but if God isn’t first,
then you will never find order or peace.
What ever is first is where your heart is. Think about this with your heart and with
your checkbook. This will change your
life. Giving or tithing brings provision
and protection. In Malachi 3 God says if
you will bring the tithe to the storehouse then He will open the windows of
heaven to bless you and He will guard you or rebuke the devourer.
Pastor
Robert Morris said this: If God said to you if you give me the first of what
you get, I will give bless you so you will make more money, and I will stand at
the door of your house and keep Satan out.
If he said that, would you do it?
But he did say it. It is in the
Bible.
It is human
nature to live in fear. Yet God calls us
to live with faith. It doesn’t take
faith to give the last 10%. It takes
faith to give the first 10%. That takes
faith. What causes us not to give? It is greed and rebellion. It is we want more and we want to do it out
way. We will either serve and trust God,
or we won’t. We have been dictating to
God what we will do. But that has things
out of order. Do you want things in
order?
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