THE FORTUNES OF GIVING.

  

           THE FORTUNES OF GIVING.

 _INTRO_ : Giving is the act of Charity that demonstrates God is love for us to others. Our oneness in Christ cannot be demonstrated by anything else better than giving.

 _PROB_ : We are dominated by a spirit of self-centeredness and have failed to demonstrate God's love through giving.

 _PURP_ : To enable us develop a habit of giving so has to build the body of Christ

   >>> Our redemption through Christ came as a result of generosity . God did not spare his only begotten son , but gave him to us .

One purpose that God created man was to relate to us. Our relationship with God cannot be reflected elsewhere better than the relationship we have with our neighbors. You cannot demonstrate a relationship without demonstrating love. You cannot demonstrate love without demonstrating habits of giving.

 Our salvation is dependent on love which is reflected through giving.

 THE FORTUNES. 

  🔷 GIVING OPENS UP SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.

 Acts 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

    There are spiritual blessings which not all people have. Blessings of Peace, joy and happiness .

We cannot have complete love if there is no essence of giving and helping those in need.

    We have tired ourselves in our hearts with the spirit of self-centeredness , spirit of greed. We have put forward all sorts of reasoning to show others how we don't have enough to give. Your complete Joy cannot come through greed and self-centeredness but through acts of charity. Let us give with whole devotedness.

  🔷 IT OPENS PHYSICAL BLESSINGS.

Like 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

   One principle that makes give effective is the principle of sincerity. Giving is not measured by how much you give but it is measured by the sincerity you put in to give what you are able to give. Many times we ourselves have tied up the blessings of God in our lives because of greed and self-centeredness.

  Giving is a principle that is not limited by religion, faith or character. A Buddhist gives and in return yields blessings . A murderer gives and is blessed . The rich are becoming richer because of their habit of giving.

    The scripture above reflects that the kind of material you give is the kind of material you receive back and in the same measure. The measure is determined by the heart; one person can give 1,000 and is blessed compared to a person giving 2000 . 

    Some Christians have limited their blessings. The Islam world has it as a habit to help the poor; in such a way, we know how much blessed they have become with material possession.

    If we cannot develop such a habit ,we will not develop physically as a church . We will be running the ministry but running it on grounds of poverty.

  🔷 GIVING STRENGTHENS THE BODY OF CHRIST .

Acts chapter 2 : 42 - 47 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

    We have been embedded in the acts of evangelism and Faith of the heart and yet have ignored acts of faith and Christ likeness .

   Giving as an act of faith is what shows your true identity with Christ. Many go out to preach Christ but are well known for greed and lack of a spirit of Charity . 

    In Acts we see how God himself adds to the number of the early church because of their outstanding act of Faith.

    One thing I have learned is that it is not your serious evangelism that will add numbers to the Christian faith . It is not you who makes people saved ; it is God...... and God cannot save others if the ones who claim His daughters and sons are way worse than unbelievers . If our colleagues in the other sect have a better spirit of charity than us , then believers will find it too hard to believe in our message.

    The body of Christ will only be strengthened by our actions. Even just within ourselves ,let's try to help those in need. You have a brother and sister in Christ who didn't come for the meeting due to lack of transport; our very members are dying in poverty... yet among Us we are having the rich.

    Let's give and strengthen the body of Christ by action.

  🔷 MAKE YOU ONE WITH GOD .

   Such acts will make us be like God and be true children of God.

 If God demonstrated his love for us through giving, we cannot be called true royalities of His kingdom if we are self-centered 

CONCLUSION

  >We are chasing after economic resources . Chasing after spiritual resources. We want God to add to our numbers. Unless our greedy actions are dumped , there will not be significant progress .

>If we are changing any habit, let's change to habits of charity as individuals and as a church.

> let's open our arms to the world and God will open his resourceful arms to us.

GOD BLESS YOU.

By kutosi Simon.

10:03Am-10:45Am

Sunday 1st May 2022.

#Simon kutosi.

                            _79th msg_