How to be Perfect in Giving

7/26/2019 How to be Perfect in Giving

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HowtobePerfectinGiving

Mathew19:21

Scripture Mathew 19:21: NLT

Jesus told him, If you want to be perfect, go and sell

all your possessions and give the money to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,

follow me.

Prologue

National theme

Meaning of Perfect

Being entirely without fault or defect, flawless

Satisfying all requirement, accurate

Corresponding to an ideal standard

Faithfully reproducing the original

Mature

Why do we need to be perfect in giving?


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There are promises attached to the obedience of

Giving. Numerous blessings for giving in the Bible for

giving

List

Blessings of financial return.

Blessing for obeying God.

Show of stewardship and the reward thatfollows, etc.

Perfect in giving, means there is a way to give that is

not perfect. This means the blessing that ought to

follow may be lost!

[from defn] God is our Standard

John 3:16

1.

God loved 1st

, then gave2.

Purpose of giving was for restoration; which

benefits the receiver

3.To restore relationship. Relationship was

important to God


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1. God promises depend upon Relationship

A. God wants Relationship

God makes marvelous financial promises in thescripture for those who give to His purpose, but none

of these promises will ever be fulfilled when they are

taken out of the context of Relationship .

The first thing God requires from anyone who serves

Him is relationship.

Matthew 22:37, 38

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all

thy mind. This is the first and great commandment."

Friends, you can pay your tithe and give your offerings

faithfully for fifty years, but if you are not in a

prayerful, holy relationship with your God, then do not

expect God to pour out an heavenly blessing in return

for your giving!

Mention seed example: your financial seed must be on

fertile ground!


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Luke 8:15

But that on the good ground are they, which in an

honest, and good heart, having heard the word, keepit and, bring forth fruit with patience.

Giving, without relationship, with God, will not produce

abundant financial fruits in your finances . That

statement is so vital to your understanding that I want

to repeat it again: Giving, without relationship with

God, will not produce abundant financial fruits in your

finances .

Even if you follow all the famous formulas touted by

the "prosperity" preachers even if you tithe, even if

you give generous offerings -- that's not enough!

If your heart is not in union with God's heart, if your life

is not in relationship with God's Law, then you are

foolishly -planting financial fruit on non-productive

ground.


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B. God Looks at your Heart

God looks at your heart. No simple biblical formula on

giving will ever result in prosperity unless your heart is

pure and in tune with him.

For example:

Matthew 5:23, 24

"Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there

rememberest that thy brother hath aught against

thee;

"Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way;

first be reconciled to thy -brother, and then come and

offer thy gift.

Now, notice the priority.

Get your life in order FIRST, then come back and giveto the Father.

Rich

favoring

Theres a popular misconception that being a rich


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Christian must mean that God is favoring your life.

That's not completely true. Certainly God can give

wealth to those He knows will make good stewards,

but wealth in and of itself is not a sign you are a good

Christian .

God is not impressed with your wealth. He created

everything on the face of the earth, and He has no

particular respect or admiration for those who

manage to accumulate a greater portion of His wealth

than most. [God is not like some bankers] [Dangote

example]

God only looks at your heart and determines your

"richness" or "poorness" from your relationship with

HIM!

In the Scripture, when a rich man was troubled about

where to store all of his wealth, God answered:


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"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul

shall be required of thee: then whose shall those

things be, which thou hast provided?

"So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not

rich toward God. Luke 12 v 20 & 21

Jesus is not interested in your wealth...

He is only interested in HOW YOU USE IT

Here is why

In the story of the servants and the talents. The good

servant was rewarded not because he made his Lord

rich, but because he was faithful, and USED the

talents the master gave him.

Luke 19:17 NLT

Well done! the king exclaimed. You are a good

servant. You have been faithful with the little I

entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities

as your reward.


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[recap] More than our giving, God is interested in our

relationship with him. He is impressed with the size of

our heart towards him.

C. God is not interested in the size of your giving

An examples of this from the Bible:

When Jesus ...sat over against the treasury, and

beheld how the people cast money into the treasury"(Mark 12:41), He noticed a poor widow as she threw

in her two mites. When He witnessed this, He called to

His disciples and said,

Mark 12: 43, 44

Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast

more in, than all they which have cast into the

treasury.

For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of

her want did cast in all that she had, even all her

living


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Jesus was not impressed with the SIZE of her gift, He

was impressed with the SIZE of her heart her

willingness to give All for the work of the lord.

Before we can begin to discuss how God's Grace can

change your finances, you must examine your own

heart to determine if you PUT GOD FIRST in every area

of your life.

God comes before any attempts to reap rewards in

your finances.

He comes before 'any job or hobby.

God must be first in your life, then all other things will

follow from that relationship.

Exodus 20:2, 3

2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee outof the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before

If you want your finances to improve, and if you truly

desire to be about God's work of reaching lost souls


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through the financial enablement He will bestow upon

your life, then repent now of any wrong emphasis in

your life, and prayerfully ask God to put your heart

into His Divine Order. [Emphasis]

What is the Devine Order?

Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his

righteousness; and al/ these things shall be added

unto you."

This is the first priority!

Once you have asked God to purify your own heart,

and have acknowledged that HE is definitely the FIRST

priority in your life, you must then begin to understand

His next priority:

The Next Priority

God want us to care for our neighbors

Matthew 22:37, 40


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37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy

God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with

all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy

neighbor as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and

the prophets.

Jesus commanded us to give our neighbors a position

"as thyself

.

When you are squarely in God's will, then you will find

yourself starting to be as responsive, as caring about

the needs of others around you as you are to your own

family.

[Neighbors; orphanages, used clothes etc.]

[Missing in Christianity today, - eastern example]


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God not only commands us to LOVE our neighbor, He

goes even further than that! And this is perhaps the

toughest task, the true challenge, the absolute acidtest of our day today Christianity:

In Matthew 5:44-46

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them

that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and

pray for them which despitefully use you, and

persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which

is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil

and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on

the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward

have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye

more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which

is in heaven is perfect


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Obedient relationship with God.

That's the key to your prayer life, your spiritual

growth, and your financial freedom in God's heavenlyplan. Jesus clearly stated that He expects relationship

with you, and expects you to care about and have

relationship with others -- BEFORE He releases the

promises of His Word into your life.

John 15: 7

"if ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall

ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

[Recap]

Gods promises depends upon our relationship

with him

o

He wants our relationship

o

Looks at our heart towards him

o Not interested in the size of our giving

God wants us to care for our neighbors


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Conclusion

When your heart and your financial desires line up

with God's word, then He can begin to enrich your life

for HIS Glory!

The bible declares in Mark 11:23-24

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say

unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thoucast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but

shall believe that those things which he saith shall

come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever yedesire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,

and ye shall have them.

For your business to succeed, for your job to bless you

abundantly in financial gain, begin with proper prayer,the proper heart, and THEN ask God to grant the

desired finances you need, pledging to use a portion of

what He returns for His Glory.


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Resolve in your heart in all sincerity that God gets Nr 1

priority in your life

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, andall these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:33

"All these things" can include financial blessings IF

that is your desire, and IF God deems your heart is

ready to receive, and is prepared to function in good

stewardship.

Prayer and Ministration

Salvation

Outreach testimony and call for sponsorship

Documents

How to be Perfect in Giving