“How much should I be giving every week, in Church?”

Generous Giving

Acts 4: 32-37

“How much should I be giving every week, in Church?”

Lets consider the average giving, World-wide, in Churches, per person = 2-3% of a persons income

Single person income: $500 per week
Giving = about $15 per week

2 Income Family: $800 per week
Giving = about $25 per week

Q. Is the average giving, World-wide, generous giving?

No – of course not!

Lets consider the O.T tithe, giving10% of our income

Single person income $500 per week
Giving = $50 per week

2 Income Family $800 per week
Giving = $80 per week

Q. Is the O.T tithe, giving 10% of our income, generous giving?

No – of course not!

The O.T tithe was the accepted level of giving 2,000+ years ago

N.T giving is more than the average giving, World-wide, per person, and more than the O.T tithe

The N.T principle of giving = called generosity

N.T Generosity is a higher principal – if you are giving generously, your giving should exceed the average giving World-wide, per person, and exceed the O.T tithe

2 Corinthians 8:7 ‘… I want you to excel also in this gracious ministry of giving.’

1/ Generous Giving helps needy people

Acts 4: 32, 34-35

The early Christians in Acts gave generously

These generous Christians didn’t live for money – they lived for God and used their money to help the needy

There are some difficult situations when people cannot give anything at all, or very little – these are the needy people that the Church needs to help!

2/ Generous Giving supports those people who are serving God, full-time

Acts 4: 33

Without the financial support of the Church, the Apostles would have to give up their ministry and return to their farming and fishing businesses to support themselves and their families

And, without the ministry of their full time Leaders, the Church would grow weak and die

Because the people gave generously, God honored their giving and…

Acts 4: 33a ‘The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus…’

Acts 4: 33b ‘…and God’s great blessing was upon them all’.

3/ Generous Giving reveals new Leaders

Acts 4: 36-37

Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus

He probably came to Jerusalem for Pentecost and stayed on with his relatives, his Aunty Mary and Cousin John Mark

(Acts 12: 12 & Colossians 4: 10)

During these few short months in Jerusalem, he probably became a Christian and joined the Church – becoming a generous giver!

Barnabas matures into a prominent Leader in the Church…

Mentoring the great Apostle Paul

‘Planting’ new Churches

Preaching and teaching about Christ throughout the Mediterranean area

Barnabas Leadership emerged, with his decision to become a generous giver

In my 27 years of Pastoral Ministry I have never seen a person become a Leader in a Church without them first becoming a generous giver!

Generous giving, for every Christian, is not an option – it is normal practice

2 Corinthians 8:1-5 ‘And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.’

Who is Jesus? – ‘I am the Bread of Life’

Who is Jesus?

Knowing the identity of Jesus is essential for our salvation

The Gospel of John gives us the clearest teaching about the identity of Jesus

You cannot be saved unless you accept Who Jesus said He is

John 8: 24 ‘…unless you believe that I Am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins’.

Jesus is the only true hope for our salvation

John 14: 6 ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me’.

Do you know Him?

So, Who is Jesus…

‘I am the Bread of Life’ John 6: 48

The previous day, Jesus had miraculously fed a crowd of thousands of people with 5 loaves of bread & 2 fish John 6: 1-13

And now the crowds of people came to Him again wanting a free meal!
John 6: 30-31

The crowd reminded Jesus about the bread God gave His people every day, 1, 500 years earlier, when Moses led God’s people out of Egypt (Exodus 16: 4, 35)

40 year journey from Egypt to the Promised Land Map

Jesus said to the crowd…

John 6: 49 ‘Your ancestors ate bread in the wilderness, but they all died’

But now, through Jesus, God was providing better bread, Jesus Himself
John 6: 35

No person can have the eternal Life promised by God except through Jesus
John 6: 51

We receive that eternal Life from God by Grace, through faith – it’s a gift from God the moment we put our faith in Jesus!

Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his grace when you believed (in Jesus). And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

We are reminded that Jesus is the Bread of Life, and that our salvation comes through Him, every time we have the Communion

John 6: 58

How do you know if you are a self centred person? Your attitude to money!

Are you a Self centred person or a God centred person?

Luke 12: 16-21

1/ Self centred people love money more than God

Luke 12: 17a ‘…he said to himself, “what should I do”…?’

Self centred people make their own decisions about ‘their’ life

Self centred people say “This is my Life and I will do what I want with it”

Self centred people have no time for God, they make their own plans because they are afraid that God has other plans for their Life that don’t include money

2/ Self centred people love money more than people

Luke 12: 19a ‘…I will…say to myself, my friend…’

He referred to himself as ‘friend’!

I don’t think this man had any family, relatives or friends

Self centred people have poor relationships with people because they don’t want other people to get their money – they use people to get money

Luke 12: 20b ‘…who will get everything you worked for’?

3/ Self centred people love money more than eternal Life

Luke 12: 19b ‘…“My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come…’

Self centred people spend every waking hour accumulating wealth for their retirement

I would like to ask this man

“How do you know you have years to come”?

Q. What does God say about self centred people?

James 5:5 ‘You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter’

Luke 12:20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night’.

This man died early and never got to enjoy anything he worked to get!

This man did not know God – Money was more important to him than God

This man did not have family, relatives or friends – Money was more important to him than people

This man died young – Money was more important to him than eternal Life

How do you know if you are a self centred person?

Your attitude to money will be the same as this man

Money before God – Money before people – Money before eternal Life

Repenting of our self centeredness and becoming God centered

“Lord, I acknowledge that I am a self centered person, I am in rebellion against You, I am sinning against You. But, today, I turn away from what I want and I surrender my Life fully to the Lordship of Christ – I surrender my Life to what You want!”

Prayer is Talking to God Part 4

Pray like Jabez

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 READ ‘…Jabez…prayed…“Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request’

Answered prayer

Jabez name means pain/distress

Jabez prays for himself & references himself x 5

His own needs were his first priority

His prayer started with himself and ended with himself

Yes, we need to pray for our self, but we need to pray for others too!

Refer to your ‘everything’ list

Pray like Paul

Acts 9: 1-12 Read 1‘Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers…11 he is praying to Me right now…’

Saul was a Jewish Religious Leader and he hated Christians and meant to kill them

The Resurrected Jesus met him in a heavenly vision on the road to Damascus and Saul was born again

When Saul (Became the Apostle Paul) got saved his top priority was prayer ‘…he is praying to Me right now…’

Private ministry in prayer, to God, always comes before public ministry!

When prayer is our first priority, every day, God answers our prayer 12 ‘…I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.’

Pray like Jesus

Hebrews 5: 7 READ ‘While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God’.

How do we get our prayers answered? ‘…God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God’

What is ‘deep reverence’?

Surrendering our will and submitting to God’s will

Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.”

Pray like Jesus and all your prayers will be answered!

Prayer Is Talking To God Part 3

Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 6: 18 ‘Pray…at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere’

Wow! ‘…all times…every occasion…all believers…everywhere…’

That’s impossible!

Can you pray like that? No

Can I pray like that? No

Can any Christian today or who has ever lived pray like that? No

The only way we can pray like that…

Is with God’s help!

Ephesians 6: 18 ‘Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere’

What does it mean to ‘…pray in the Spirit…’?

1 Corinthians 14: 1-5 ‘…you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives…for if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you…I wish you could all speak in tongues…’

We can pray in our own language (English – Chinese – Tagalog) and when
we run out of words we can pray ‘in the Spirit’ (Other tongues) not knowing what we are praying about and when we are unable to pray at all, because of exhaustion, or we need to sleep, the Holy Spirit will continue to pray through us.

Romans 8:26 ‘…the Holy Spirit helps us where we are weak. We do not know
how to pray or what we should pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays to God for us
with sounds that cannot be put into words’.

Pray in the will of God

1 John 5: 14-15 ‘And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.’

We get angry with God and turn away from Him if our prayers are not answered

God will not answer our prayers if we pray for things that please us

The only way our prayers will be answered is when we pray in the will of God

“Pastor David, how do I know the will of God”?

Read the Book!

Pray in Jesus Name

John 16: 23-24 ‘…I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and He will grant your request because you use My name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using My name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy’.

Today Christians are using Jesus Name in prayer, less and less. They will end their prayer with…Amen

Why?

Because they don’t want to offend non-believers!

Did Jesus tell us to end our prayers with “Amen”?

No, He told us that if we want our prayers answered we must end our prayers and ask in His Name!