River Church NOLA
Sunday Oct 5 Generosity
  • Victory In Jesus
  • I Saw The Light
  • Evidence
  • Trust In God
  • Intro
    This is #2 in our series, God’s Incredible Promises. Last week, we looked at God’s incredible promises about heaven. We will be looking at His promises about guidance. There are actually over 8,000 promises in the Bible for you and I from God. God always keeps His promises.
    I said last week that God’s promises are sort of like an insurance policy. If you know what the policy covers, you know your illness is covered, you then don’t have to worry about it… It’s covered. However, if you are ignorant of what the policy covers, you will be filled with worry because you don’t know what’s in the policy. Unfortunately, thats where most people are with God’s promises. They don’t know what they are so they spend a lot of time worrying.
    Here are three fundamental facts about the promises of God.

    1. God wants me to build my life on His promises.

    He doesn’t want you to build your life on petty rules, but on His promises. While we will not look at all 8,000 of these promises, we will look at several.
    God makes two kinds of promises in scripture and we will look at both.

    2. God makes both unconditional and conditional promises.

    Unconditional promises have no strings attached. No matter what you do, when God promises you something unconditionally, it will happen. For instance, God promised Jesus would come back… and He will. It’s not dependent on anything you or I do, it will happen when God says.
    God also makes conditional promises and these promises are based on yours and mine obedience. God says, If you will do this… then I will do … It’s not automatic. These promises are not automatically yours. You have to meet the requirement or a condition. If you don’t meet the requirement, you forfeit the promise.

    3. God makes promises to us for two reasons:

    1. God makes promises to teach us to trust him in difficult times.

    Psalm 119:50 CEV
    50 When I am hurting, I find comfort in your promise that leads to life.
    If you were not ever in bad circumstances, you wouldn’t need the promises of God. If everything were great all the time, you would not need these promises.
    Psalm 119:114 LBP
    114 You are my refuge and my shield, and your promises are my only source of hope.
    But when the situation seems hopeless, then we need the promises of God. We need the promises of God when it seems like everything is falling apart. When it seems like God is nowhere around us, we hold onto his promises.

    2. God makes promises to make us more like Jesus.

    I say this over and over again. God’s #1 goal for you and me is to become more and more like Jesus. One way he does that is through His promises.
    2 Peter 1:4 CEV
    4 God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.
    Look at this. God makes marvelous promises. Then His nature becomes part of who we are.
    The more you trust God’s promises, the more it’s going to change your life. That’s what I hope this series will do for all of us. We will grow more like Jesus as we trust His promises. We actually can’t be like Jesus if we don’t’ trust in his promises.
    Let me give you a quiz. Can you tell me what subject in the Bible God makes the most promises about? It’s not faith… prayer… not love… not forgiveness… not patience. The Bible makes the most promises about Generosity.
    Why does God make more promises about being generous and being a giver than all the others? Probably two reasons.

    Why God Makes Promises about being Generous

    1. God is generous and He wants us to become like Him.

    As His children, he wants us to have the same qualities he has. Everything we have in this life is because of the generosity of God. Look at John 1:16
    John 1:16 NLT
    16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.
    Everything I have in this life is because of God’s generosity and grace. God wants you and me to be like Him.

    2. God wants us to learn generosity because giving is hard.

    The reason giving is hard is that it challenges our selfishness. It challenges the spirit of mammon in us. When we realize that everything we have came from God because of his generosity, it makes it easier to be generous.
    There are hundreds of promises in the Bible about being generous and giving, but today we will look at 9.

    9 Rewards God Promises to You if You Learn to be Generous with Money.

    Here are 9 rewards God promises us when we are generous.

    1. God promises good things will happen to you.

    When we are generous like God, he says good things will happen to us.
    Psalm 112:5 NIV84
    5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
    God says good things happen when we are generous.
    Proverbs 22:9 NCV
    9 Generous people will be blessed, because they share their food with the poor.
    That’s a promise from God. If you want good things to happen in your life, God is saying generosity is the key that unlocks His blessings. God says that when we are generous, good things will happen in our lives.

    2. God promises that our children will be blessed.

    Psalm 37:26 NIV84
    26 They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.
    When we learn to be like Jesus in our giving or generosity, It get’s passed on to the next generation. They see it working in our lives and they will learn to be generous.

    3. God promises He will bless your work and business.

    When I learn to be generous, my family will learn it and it will benefit my work. Check this out…
    Proverbs 3:9 LBP
    9 Honor the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income, and he will fill your barns with wheat and barley and overflow your wine vats with the finest wines.
    We honor the Lord by giving him the first part of our income. That’s what is called a tithe. It’s the 1st 10% of our income. Now look at this promise in latter part of the verse. He will fill your barns with wheat and barley and overflow your wine vats with the finest wines... What does that mean for us… I doubt any of you have barns and wineries.
    In Bible times everyone was a farmer so this is talking about their wealth. If there barns were full, they were wealthy. So when we learn to be generous, God says that he will bless our business… our investments… How we make our living… Check this out.
    Proverbs 11:25 NLT
    25 The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
    Do you want your business or your job to prosper? Sure. Do you want God’s help in your business? or your job? We all do. But to have his help, we have to do what he says. We have to be generous. The verse says, the generous will prosper.
    Check this out. Deut 15:10
    Deuteronomy 15:10 NLT
    10 Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
    The WOG says that when we give generously, God will bless us in everything we do including your work.

    4. God promises we will be happier

    God says that if I learn to give like He gives, I’ll be happier. Everyone but people with stingy hearts know this.
    Acts 20:35 NLT
    35 And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
    When I was a kid, I didn’t like this verse because I liked getting gifts more than I enjoyed giving them. But as I have gotten older, I have learned the meaning of this verse and it is much more enjoyable to give than receive.
    So you get your business blessed, family blessed, your children will be blessed, and you will be happier.

    5. God promises our influence will increase.

    When we learn to give generously like God, our influence actually increases.
    Proverbs 11:24 NLT
    24 Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.
    If you want your world to get larger, learn to be generous. If you want your world to get smaller, and more compact and harder and harder, and build walls around it, then just be a stingy person.
    If you learn to be generous, the Bible says, "The more generous you are, the larger and larger your world will get.”

    6. God promises we will end up with more.

    God promises that if I learn to give like He gives, and if I learned to be generous, I will end up with more. That’s how God’s economy works. I don’t give to get a blessing, I give to be a blessing. But the truth is this… You cannot out give God. Look at what Jesus said,
    Luke 6:38 NLT
    38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
    What's that talking about? Well, let's say if you're getting grain, and people are pouring grain in your sack. You've paid for a whole sack, you're going to shake it like this. Then you're going to press it down, so you can get the maximum amount of grain or coins, or anything else into that sack.
    He's saying, "God wants to give you so much that you have to press it down. You have to shake it together to make more room, because God wants to give you more than your sack can hold." He says, "What you receive will need to be pressed down and shaken together, but it will still," notice, "it will still run over and be poured into your lap.
    Then Jesus finishes off this statement with The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
    Think about that statement. The way I give to others will determine the way God gives to me. God is often waiting for us to learn to be generous before he blesses us with more. Why? Because he wants you and I to become more and more like Him.
    Check this out.

    You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.

    You spell love GIVE. God so loved the world that He gave. If we are going to be loving, we have to be giving … we have to learn to be generous. God promises that if we are generous, He will give us more than we can handle.
    Here are some other verses about this.
    Proverbs 11:24 NCV
    24 Some people give much but get back even more. Others don’t give what they should and end up poor.
    Some people give generously and ended up with more, and while others don't give what they should, they end up with being poor. He's saying, “You are determining how much I can bless your life.
    Proverbs 19:17 NLT
    17 If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord— and he will repay you!
    He's saying that giving is an investment. That when you try to give it away, God says, "I'm going to pay you back.
    When you give some food to a homeless person… or help them into the Mission… or support Kingdom Builders… you are helping the poor.
    Solomon is saying that when you are generous it’s like lending to God and He will pay you back… with interest. There is no better interest rate… no better investment than in God’s work.
    You're not really giving that money away, because God says, "I'm going to pay you back with interest." Giving is an investment.

    7. God promises to meet all our needs.

    God promises that if I learn to give like God tells me to give, God promises to meet all my needs.
    I know this sounds to good to be true, but over and over in scripture, God says that if you will put me first in your money and learn to be generous that He will meet all of our needs. Look at what Paul says…
    Philippians 4:17–19 NCV
    17 Really, it is not that I want to receive gifts from you, but I want you to have the good that comes from giving. … 19 My God will use his wonderful riches in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need.
    The reason I am preaching this today is that I want you to be more like Jesus and to enjoy the many blessings that come from being generous.
    me giving the car away… tithing…
    Listen, You cannot out give God. Here is another verse… I can’t give them all to you because there are too many.
    Proverbs 28:27 NLT
    27 Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will be cursed.
    If you want to lack nothing in your life, emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, then you need to learn how to give to the poor. You can do that through our church.
    Fuel the Future feeds hungry kids
    Convoy of Hope feeds poor all over the world.
    New Orleans Mission -
    Look at what Paul said,
    2 Corinthians 9:7–8 NLT
    7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
    In other words, nobody could tell you what to give. What's generous for you, is your decision based on how much income you have or how much you hear God telling you to give. He says, “You should decide, what you've decided in your heart to give.” Never give reluctantly or under pressure, because God loves the person who gives cheerfully.
    I don’t ever want anyone to feel pressured to give so, If you ever feel pressured by anybody including me on giving, don't do it. Don't give. Why? Because you don't get any credit for it. You don't get any blessing out of it. God doesn't want stingy givers. God doesn't want grouchy givers. God wants people who give cheerfully.
    That Greek word, there is the word, hilaros. It means hilariously, I enjoy it.           
    People often you'll hear say, “Well, I give till it hurts.” No, give till it feels good. Give till it becomes joyful. Don't give reluctantly. Don't give under pressure, because God loves a cheerful giver.
    Now look at the promise when we learn this and do this. 2 CO 9:8
    2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT
    8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
    God promises that when we are generous, he will provide generously. He is saying that when we learn generosity, that we will always have what we need.
    Do you believe the WOG?

    8. God promises He will multiply what I give Him.

    God will take whatever we give him, our time, our talents, and our treasure and multiply it so that it will go further than you imagined.
    Biblical example -
    Jesus feeding the 5,000. He took a few loaves of bread and fish that a boy brought… one boy’s lunch and fed 5,000 people with it.
    All through the Bible there are examples of God taking what someone gives him and multiplying it. Whatever you need more of, give it to God… sow a seed.
    You need more time? Give God your time Gail in class at WBBC
    Do you need more money? Put God first in your money. Give it to Him
    Do you need more energy? Give your first and best energy to God and He will multiply it and you will have more than enough energy.
    God compares giving and generosity to planting seeds.
    2 Corinthians 9:6 NLT
    6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.
    Every time we give to God it’s like planting a seed.
    2 Corinthians 9:10–11 NLT
    10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. 11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

    Giving is not a debt you owe, it’s a seed you sow.

    When we sow a seed in faith, God will bless that. He doesn't’ need your money. He doesn’t need my money. But God wants us to trust him in every area of our lives and become more like Him.
    When you plant a seed, you don’t just get a seed back. You get a lot of plants. It’s the principle of multiplication. You sow a seed and reap a harvest. If you plant a kernel of corn, you don’t get a kernel back, you get a stalk with hundreds of kernels on it.
    That’s the principle of multiplication. God says that if you give your money to help others, he will give you back more than you gave. This is true in all areas of our lives.
    Give God your time, he will multiply it.
    Charlie Kirk was murdered. Now thousands of Teens and college kids are turning to Jesus because of it.
    Just like God gives seed to a farmer to use, God gives us money to use for good. Money is not good or bad, it’s a tool. And we should use it for good instead of bad. When I spend money on myself, it’s gone. I don’t get that back. When I give it to God, I am building an investment in heaven and it’s multiplying.
    God says we can determine the size of our harvest or reward by how much seed we sow. In 2 Corinthians 9:6 “Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.”
    God is saying that we can decide how big of a harvest we want by how much we are willing to give. If I sow a little, I get a little back. If I give a lot away, I will reap generously.
    The size of the Harvest is determined by the size of our giving. If have just a little faith, I will get little results. If I have a lot of faith and sow generously, I will reap a big harvest.
    Now here is another rule of Harvest. We sow in one season and we reap in another. God is not a vending machine where we put in our money and something comes right out. Seeds take time to grow. It’s true of our giving as well. God usually doesn’t reward me today when I give something today.
    Look what Solomon said,
    Ecclesiastes 11:1 CEV
    1 Be generous, and someday you will be rewarded.
    There is always a delay in sowing and reaping… between giving and receiving. If the result were immediate all the time, we would not need faith. God wants us to trust him.
    I have heard people say tithing didn’t work for them because they didn’t get their blessing that week. It doesn’t work that way. God wants us to learn to be generous. He wants us to develop the habit of generosity.
    When I was young, I was always taught to give God the first part of my earnings. That’s a tithe. 10%. I was taught that I was to give God his first and then I could save or spend whatever else I wanted. So you pay God first, that’s your tithe. Then you pay yourself, that’s saving. Then you spend or live on the rest. If you're not paying God first, and if you're not paying yourself second, you're not saving anything. You're not getting God's blessing in your life. You're going to be in constant debt all your life.
    Once you learn to tithe, you can begin to learn to give in faith. me giving the car.
    I know some business men here in this area who give away 90% of what they make. I told a friend of theirs, that’s easy they are rich. He told me that they began that when they had paper routes.
    We learn to give the tithe. Then we learn to listen to God as to how much he wants us to give away to Him and his work and others. Hearing from God as to how much to give is revelation.
    Someone asked Rick Warren why God blessed the book, the Purpose Driven life so much. It’s sold probably a hundred million copies and been translated into over 130 languages. It brought in a lot of money. His answer was that God knew what he would do with all the money it brought in. He had a 30 year track record of giving and giving generously.
    I have heard people say that if they won the PB, they would give most of it to charity. No they wouldn’t … they are not giving now and they won’t give then.

    9. God promises my giving is stored up in heaven.

    God is actually storing up our treasures in heaven. We don’t just give it away, it’s being stored for us in heaven. Look what Paul said,
    1 Timothy 6:18–19 LBP
    18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. 19 By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well.
    Look at the promise in this passage. When we give generously, We will be storing up real treasure in heaven. So when you give to God or someone in need in His name, you are storing up treasure for yourself. There is nothing wrong with that.
    Jesus used the phrase store up treasure several times. I would suggest that your account in heaven is more important than your 401K here on earth. Not saying that you don’t need to save here… you do. But we will be in heaven for trillions of years to come… here not that long.
    Look what else Jesus said,
    Luke 16:9 NLT
    9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.
    He is talking about eternal friends in heaven as well as friends here on earth. When you give or use your money to promote the Gospel and people come to faith in Christ, you made eternal friends.
    Now, let's review these nine promises of God. The premise is this. If I put God first in my money, first by tithing 10 percent back to Him, the first 10 percent goes back to God, and I start learning to be generous with my money with others. Investing it in good things, and helping people come to Christ, helping people grow. Then I can count on God to do these nine things.
    God promises that if I learn to be generous, good things will happen to me and He'll bless me.
    2. my children will be blessed. I don't just get blessed. They do, next generation.
    3. He will bless my work and my business. He will make it profitable.
    4. I will be happier. God says, "It's a promise. You will be happier, when you learn to be generous."
    5. My influence will increase. "Your world grows larger and larger."
    6. I will end up with more. You can't out-give God.
    7. God will meet all my needs.
    8. God will multiply whatever I give to Him, like the seed.
    9. My giving is actually being stored up in heaven as a bank account, in treasure, in heaven for me to use when I get there.
    So really it just comes down to this. Do I believe these promises? Really, it just comes down to, do I really trust God to keep His promises? You see, you only actually believe the part of the Bible, you actually do. If you say, "Well, I believe the Bible," but God's given you all these promises, and you're not tithing or you're not being generous? You don't really believe the promises of God.
    Now, why would you believe God and trust Him enough to save you, but you wouldn't believe and trust Him enough for all the other things He's promised? That doesn't make sense. You say, "Okay, well, if I really want to trust God, what's my starting point?”

    My starting Point is Tithing 10%

    Then God says over and over again, that if I make $10, right at the top, the first dollar goes back to Him, called tithing. Tithing means a 10th. It's not one percent, it's not five percent, and tithing means 10 percent.
    If you're not tithing the first part of your income back to God, that's where you need to start with generosity. You can't be generous if you're robbing from God. You know that at least 10 times in Scripture, God says, "The first part of everything you make belongs to me. The tithe is mine, it's holy to me." God says, "You're not to use my part of the income I give you, on yourself. You can use the other 90 percent," but He says, "if you use my part on yourself, you're cheating me."
    God gets really specific about this, in the book of Malachi. He actually starts at negative, and then He goes positive. He starts actually with a rebuke of His people, for not trusting Him, for not tithing, and then He challenges us with a promise of reward. Let's wrap it up with this verse.
    Malachi 3:8–11 NLT
    8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
    Malachi 3:8–11 “Should people cheat God? (We know the answer to that - NO) Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes (undesignated giving) into the storehouse (church) so there will be enough food in my Temple.
    Look at the promise He gives us when we tithe.
    If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in!
    That's like pressed down, fully measured, running over into your lap.
    Then he gives a challenge…
    Try it! Put me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
    Did you know that any money you don't give back to God in tithe, God allows other things to take, they're pest in your life" It could be everything, from the refrigerator breaking down to the car needing repairs, and on and on.        
    God allows that, because He says, “You're not going to spend my money. You're going to have to give it away.” Now, why is tithing so important to your spiritual growth? Well, because first place, it unlocks all these promises we've looked at. Look at Deut 14:23
    Deuteronomy 14:23 LBP
    23 Bring this tithe to eat before the Lord your God at the place he shall choose as his sanctuary; this applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.
    If you are not tithing, God is not first in your life. Someone once said, show my your calendar and your checkbook, and I’ll show you what’s first in your life. We bring the tithe into the storehouse, the church, and God will reward that.
    Another thing tithing does is to draw us closer to the Lord because Jesus said that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. Matt 6:21
    Matthew 6:21 NLT
    21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
    Prayer -
    God, I know this is a scary time for some people, because they just have never trusted you and your promises. Help them realize that the same God who died for them, and the same God who loves them and saves them and is going to keep His promise to take them to heaven. It’s the same God who says, “I'll do these nine things, if you'll learn to be like me. If you'll learn to be as generous as I am.”
    Now you pray. Say, “God I want these promises in my life.” Say, “God I want good things to happen to me. I want my children to be blessed. I want my work or business to be blessed. I want to be happier. Lord, I want my influence to increase. I want to end up with more than I've got.
    Lord, I want to trust you to meet all my needs. I want to believe that you will multiply what I give you. I want to trust that, whatever I give in tithes and offerings and charity, that my giving is being stored up in heaven. Today I commit or recommit, to giving the first 10 percent back to you. I'm going to trust your promises. I'm going to believe your word, and I know that is pleasing to you.
    Lord, I can't do this on my own, so I need you to keep your promises. I'm going to test you. I'm going to accept your challenge, to see if you won't bless me in return. Then it'll be a blessing that I can't even handle. Lord, I look forward to this in faith, and in confidence and in expectation.”
    If you've never invited Jesus into your heart, Jesus is the answer to all of our promises. Say, “Jesus Christ, come into my heart and life, and fill me with your love. I want to follow you the rest of my life."  We humbly pray this prayer together, in your name. Amen.

      • Psalm 119:50NIV2011

      • Psalm 119:114NIV2011

      • 2 Peter 1:4NIV2011

      • John 1:16NIV2011

      • Psalm 112:5NIV2011

      • Proverbs 22:9NIV2011

      • Psalm 37:26NIV2011

      • Proverbs 3:9NIV2011

      • Proverbs 11:25NIV2011

      • Deuteronomy 15:10NIV2011

      • Acts 20:35NIV2011

      • Proverbs 11:24NIV2011

      • Luke 6:38NIV2011

      • Proverbs 11:24NIV2011

      • Proverbs 19:17NIV2011

      • Philippians 4:17–19NIV2011

      • Proverbs 28:27NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 9:7–8NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 9:8NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 9:6NIV2011

      • 2 Corinthians 9:10–11NIV2011

      • Ecclesiastes 11:1NIV2011

      • 1 Timothy 6:18–19NIV2011

      • Luke 16:9NIV2011

      • Malachi 3:8–11NIV2011

      • Deuteronomy 14:23NIV2011

      • Matthew 6:21NIV2011

River Church NOLA
robert@riverchurchnola.com
504-578-8317
https://riverchurchnola.com
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