to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 9. 2 Corinthians chapter 9. We're looking at part 2 of Lessons on Giving. Lessons in Giving. I don't remember what I called it. Lessons in Giving part 2. Last week when we got into chapter 8, we said that we're going to be talking about the Bible. We're chapters 8 and 9 both deal with this aspect of giving. This aspect of really how we handle

ourselves in surrender to the Lord when it comes to our finances. And we said that chapters 8 and 9 broke down into three sections. The first one we looked at is we looked at examples in giving. And so Paul gave two examples to the Corinthian people of those who had given in very big ways, but not big because of the amount, but big because of the heart. The first one was the

Macedonians. And of course the key verse in his talking about the giving of the Macedonians is that first they gave themselves to the Lord, and then they gave themselves to us according to the will of God. And we said that ultimately the heart behind how we handle our finances and how we handle our giving is that we first surrender our entire selves to the Lord, including the financial aspect of our lives. And then we allow God to move in the way that he sees fit. And so the second example

then that he gave was he gave the example of Jesus. He gave us the example of Jesus, and he gave us the Jesus who became poor so that we might become rich in a spiritual sort of way. And after he gave examples of giving, he then gave an exhortation because the Corinthian people a year before when Paul had written to them, got very excited about this aspect of giving to the Jerusalem church. They got very excited about it and kind of went guns a blazing, if you will, in their commitment to give to the Jerusalem church. But like can happen to a lot of us, we can get excited in

the beginning, but then the follow through is where we struggle, right? And so he says, follow through on the commitment that you had made to give. And so he exhorts them to finish what you've started in this area of giving. Well, as we move into chapter nine, he's now going to give us principles on giving, principles on giving. And so we pick up in chapter nine, verse one, and it says

this, for it is superfluous for me, which can I go ahead and say, I've read the word superfluous more times in the past four years. I've read the word superfluous more times in the past four years. Four days than I maybe have ever in my entire life. It's just, I've never even thought, hey, that's a great word to use. But now that I've used it a few times, that's a great word to use, right? Like my

IQ just bumped up a few levels by just by using that word. Okay, back to chapter nine. For it is superfluous, right, for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints. For I know your readiness of which I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely that Achaia has been prepared since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I have sent the brethren in order that our boasting about you

may not be made empty in this case, so that as I was saying, you may be prepared. Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to speak of you, will be put to shame by this confidence. So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised, bountiful gift, so that the same would be ready as a bountiful gift and not affected by covetousness. Now, this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart,

not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always, having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. As it is written, he scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. Now, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in

everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution. And so, in chapter 9, he gives us the principles. And from this chapter, I read the whole thing,

because I feel like it's best to attack this as one whole chapter. From this chapter, he gives us what I have identified as eight principles for giving. Eight principles for giving. Number one, we are to have a ready spirit. A ready spirit. Notice what he says. He says, it's superfluous for me to write this to you, or to write about this ministry to the saints, for I know your readiness of which I boast about you to the

Macedonians, namely that Achaia has been prepared since last year. Your zeal has stirred up most of them. And in essence, what Paul's saying is, I really don't need to write to you about this, because I am well aware of your readiness. And so, I'm going to write this to you. And I'm going to to read this to you. And I'm going to write this to you. And I'm going to write this to you. And I

your readiness of mind, your eagerness to give, your zeal in this way. As a matter of fact, their zeal for giving has actually been what encouraged the Macedonians to give the gift that Paul has now referenced as an example of generous giving. And so, he says, it's important to have this ready spirit, this eagerness of mind. An eagerness of mind, or a readiness of mind, or a zeal, means that you are looking.

for opportunities to give have you ever been eager for anything as i was studying this all i could think about was christmas morning because i have two little kids that are very eager for christmas morning and you know when the one time i don't have to wake them up is christmas morning right that's the time when they have to wake me up because i'm usually still sleeping at that point in time i'll never forget it was two years ago one of the first christmases we ever had that was just us at home and they came and woke me up at four o'clock in the morning you know why because they were eager they were ready in spirit for the excitement of christmas morning they i didn't have to encourage them to do it i didn't have to tell them to do it

they were willing to they had a readiness of mind and eagerness of spirit a zeal about them because they were so excited for christmas morning and what paul is saying here is one of the principles that we should be doing when we're in christmas morning is to be willing to do what we're doing and so i'm curious how eager are you to help the people that are around you i'm not talking about giving to the work of calvary chapel of ark city i'm talking about just having the generous spirit to help the people that are around you are you someone who has to be constantly encouraged to help those around you or do you see a need and you're eager to meet the need because your spirit

is continually ready to give you see the encouraging thing about these corinthian people though they had their issues there was this eagerness on the inside of them this this eagerness this willingness this readiness of mind that once they heard of the need they said perfect we've been looking for a place that we can give we've been looking for people that we can help out that we can ultimately because this is what giving actually is that we can ultimately show the love of jesus christ to the people that are around us so this first aspect this first principle that he gives us is that our spirit would be in a continual place of being ready to give number two principle number two that

he gives us is that we should be willing to take action willing to take action now he says your willingness is amazing and that's an important aspect but with the willingness with the eager mind needs to be the follow-through he says verse 3 but i have sent the brethren in order to be ready that they shall be willing to take action from me and so the one thing he says is that our boasting is about you not to be ready but to be ready so that the goodness of your Spirit be made through your decisions and what he tells you is that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case so that i was saying as i was saying you may be prepared he says i've been

telling the macedonians just how eager you guys are to give just how ready you guys are to give and wouldn't it be a bummer if some macedonians showed up and says, I don't want our boasting about you to be empty. The word empty there can also be translated vain, and it's literally the same Greek word that he uses earlier in the book of 2 Corinthians when he tells them not to take the grace of God in vain. Same idea. He says, I would hate for my boasting about you to be empty or pointless or have no substance to it. And what was his boasting

about them? That the work of God, that the word of God, and that the grace of God had been so at work in the heart of these Corinthians that once they had heard of the need, they moved with readiness and were ready to give in the way that they needed to. And he says, now it's time to take action. We addressed this last week, and so I almost hesitated to make this one of the principles that I covered, but I thought, you know, if the word of God brings it up twice in two chapters, perhaps it's important for me to bring it up twice in two weeks. And that is the importance

of following through. Now, I think that this principle stretches far beyond just the aspect of giving, and I think it stretches into every aspect of our lives as believers in Jesus Christ. You see, as I mentioned last week, it's very easy to get excited about what God is doing in our lives. It's very easy to get excited about what the word of God has to say. We've all been a part of it, and I'm going to share almost the

exact same illustration I did last week, because I bet you got excited last week, and then Monday hit for you again. Because you know what it's like to attend the church, and you know what it's like to attend the church. Or to have the time in the word of God, or to have somebody speak a word that was specifically for you, and you get excited about it, and you say, now I'm going to act. This is what God is telling me to do.

This is what I'm supposed to do, and so I am going to act on this. And then the next day comes, and you're like, no, I'm not. I bet that wasn't really God. I bet that wasn't really what he told me. I've shared with you before that when I worked construction in Kansas City, I didn't really like my job very much, and I tried as hard as I could to get a job. And I tried as hard as I could to get a job.

I tried as hard as I could to run as far as I could from that job. And so it was really a big part of what God did in my life, and I'll never forget the day that God told me I had to stick around for a while. It was the weekend after my wife had taken me to a Cubs game for my birthday. The Cubs, they were my favorite team growing up, and I got to go to Wrigley Field. It was an amazing time for me.

And so we come back, and it's like, oh, what a great time. And I think it was even the next day, and I'm having my devotions that morning. And as I'm having my devotions that morning, I was in the book of Genesis. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to the book of Genesis. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to the book of Jeremiah. And God spoke to me through the book of

Jeremiah, and he said, you need to stick it out. You need to stick around. And that's when God gave me the saying, you are where you are until you're not there anymore. And so I was like, oh, man, this is amazing. God spoke to me through the word. He gave me a sweet saying. Yes, my job. This is what I'm supposed to do. This is what I'm supposed to be. And then I went to work that day, and I was

like, really? Are you sure? Did I really hear correctly from you on that? Because it's one thing to get excited about what God tells you. It's a whole other thing to follow through with it. That's why James has to tell us, don't just be hearers of the word only. Because if you are hearers of the word only, then you are like someone who looks into a mirror and then walks

away and completely forgets what he looks like. And so I don't care if it's in this aspect of giving or if it's in any other thing that God is telling you to do. God is saying, be a doer of what he has told you. Because as a doer of the word, we hear it. And then we put it into action, and then his word takes its hold on our lives and begins to transform who we are. They always say you should mark up your Bible, but I say your Bible should

mark up you. Because until you put it into practice, it doesn't matter how many things you underline. It doesn't matter how many things you highlight. It doesn't matter how many journal entries you have. Until you put shoes on it and make it walk, the word of God does you no good in your life. And so he says, Number three, beware of covetousness. Beware of covetousness. Notice what he says. Verse five,

So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, which by the way, the word gift there means blessing. So your previously promised bountiful blessing. So that the same would be ready as a bountiful blessing. And notice what he says. And not affected by covetousness. Not affected by covetousness.

The preaching the word commentary puts it like this. Not grudgingly from stingy hearts. And then I believe it's the Kenneth Weiss translation that puts it like this. A gift that a greedy person would withhold, but gives grudgingly under pressure. Ooh, that's a good one right there, isn't it? I even wrote that down. I was like, ooh, I like that a lot. When I was making out my outline, I was like,

ooh, that hits even harder the second time around. We have to beware of covetousness. What is covetousness? It's a greedy spirit. It's the spirit that says, oh, but I'm going to hold it all in for myself. I'm going to keep all of these things to myself. Let me give you the perfect picture of what covetousness is. Let me give you the perfect picture of what covetousness is. Let me give you the perfect picture of

someone who is covetous. We must have a Christmas theme going on this morning, right? Christmas in May. The perfect picture of someone who is covetous or has that greedy spirit and defines this is Scrooge. We've all seen it. We've all watched that movie, right? My favorite cartoon character growing up was Scrooge McDuck from DuckTales, right? Who actually personified that entire thing.

Who says, no, that's mine and I'm going to hold it to myself. But under the right pressure situation, I'm willing to give a little bit of it. Now, we'll deal with the correct heart behind giving in just a minute when we talk about being a cheerful giver, but we must be aware of covetousness in our lives. And I think that this takes on two different forms. Number one, it takes on the form of those

like myself who give lessons on giving. Because I think sometimes when you give a lesson on giving or any pastor can fall into the trap of being covetous and thinking, hey, we want to make sure we get all the bills paid. We want to make sure that we make the church as nice as it can be. There can be coercion that's used on the part of a pastor. That's why so many people don't like

going to churches because they think, oh, they're just going to ask me for all of my money. And I'll remind you again, I don't want your money. God doesn't need your money. God keeps ministries afloat. God blesses ministries. What God is looking for from us is an obedient heart. And I'll get to that at the end. I'm getting ahead of myself just a little bit. And so there can be covetousness

on the part of the one in ministry seeking the gift from the people, telling them what God wants them to do. And so there can be covetousness on the part of the one in God's word has to say about giving. But then there can be covetousness on the part of the giver because it can either be the, I was ready to give at that point in time, but now I looked at my checkbook and realized that means I may not be able to buy fill in blank here if I give this amount of money. And so I'm going to withhold some of that. We saw an example of that in scripture.

You knew the example of that in scripture was? Their names were Ananias and Sapphira. They wanted everyone to think that they were, that they were giving. They wanted everyone to think that they were generous, but their heart wasn't in it. their heart was really withholding things because there was greed inside of them and so we must beware of that spirit inside of ourselves and may I say that the culture that we

live in right now actually fosters that kind of spirit it actually fosters that spirit of covetousness we wouldn't call it that we call it self-care right that's what we would call it in our culture but it fosters that feeling of no I deserve all of these things oh and I don't want to let go of it we must beware of that covetousness in our lives number four principle that he gives us is that you reap what you sow you reap what you sow notice what he says in verse six now this I say he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap sparingly bountifully now this principle of reaping and sowing is a principle that's not only seen

in nature but it's throughout scripture usually you've probably heard this and that if you you reap what you sow in other words if you sin you will reap the consequences of sin if you pursue godliness then you will reap the benefits of godliness and it's the same idea it's the same principle what you put in is what you're going to get out and so Paul uses this exact same principle when it comes to uh to giving he says he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully can you imagine a farmer going out right now like right we harvest is is about to come in can you imagine last late summer early fall when they started planting

planting weed especially the culture we live in now because they use tractors to do all this kind of thing but can you imagine him just with a handful of wheat seeds going because he doesn't want to lose any of those seeds and so he you know he's going to reap what you sow and he's going to you know oh did you measure that only one every six feet that's how far I want those right it's like social distancing only for weeds right we're going to keep them all six feet apart right no they're not going to do that they want to plant as much as they can now I don't know anything about farming but I do know about growing turf and here's what I know about growing turf throw a

lot of grass seed down you know why because some of it takes and some of it doesn't so you got to throw a lot of it down matter of fact when you see the harvest start to come up when you see the grass seeds start to come up a little tidbit for you trying to grow your yard if you've planted seed as soon as you see the the green stuff start to come up throw a little extra seed down there the other grass will hold in the grass seed you just threw down it'll get even thicker for you not even charge you for that little tidbit so but but if you don't throw very much down then you're going to get a really scattered out yard right it's the same thing when it comes to our giving you see he

says he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully what what does he mean by that well what he means is this we as believers in Jesus Christ when we give we reap the benefits of what we've sown as far as giving is concerned and how do we do so well first of all we do so in a material sort of way now this could get me in trouble if I don't approach this correctly right like I could go all health wealth and prosperity on you if you just give more then you'll be more rich but that's not the idea the idea is that you will never be able to out give God and I will good address this again here in just a moment God will be a debtor to no man and so if you if you so only give and go to work give and so this line here this gives me you know a very valuable

distinction between God and the rebels and again this here is what I'm busting attended to with this sort of tough tive excuses you think you're going to get work done and teacher some of those differences and I think you'll realize that you're not going to know the true answer though your answer would be they saw in people times I think when I were começou something to often that it would happen in ways that you didn't even think were possible, from places that you didn't think were possible, because that's how God blesses us. And he will always make sure that your needs are provided for. But not only that, but we also reap a spiritual harvest. And as we sow bountifully,

then we reap bountifully in a spiritual sort of way. What do I mean by that? Well, it means that we will have eternal rewards that we get in heaven. We're told that. Do you realize if you gave to the work of a missionary, and a missionary goes and they minister to a lot of people, let's say in India, and the people that they minister to in India, let's say a whole lot of people get

saved. Do you realize that because you gave to the work of that ministry, that's credited to your spiritual account? Because God sees it as you joining your heart to that ministry in a financial sort of way. And because of that, you reap the spiritual benefits. In other words, eternal rewards that go along with that. But not only is there some aspect of eternal spiritual

rewards that we get, but I believe that when we become someone who sows bountifully, we reap bountifully in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, understand something. Giving will never make God love you any more than he loves you right now. There is nothing you can do to earn God's love. He will pour more of his love on you than you can ever imagine possible,

no matter what you do. No matter what you give, if your faith is in Jesus Christ, he loves you more than you can even imagine. However, when our hearts are in tune with God in every way, then we are that much closer to him because we are in tune with him. It's kind of like this. I can never love my kids any more than I do right now because I love them dearly. But when they decide they want to spend time with me

and align themselves with the things that I like to do, all of a sudden, my relationship with them is that much closer. It's not that I love them anymore. It's that my heart's in tune with them. When I am able to have some time with my girls, one of my favorite things to do is to take them to the coffee shop here in town, and we take a little devotional with us, and we talk about this devotional. And I'm here to tell you right now, my heart is more in tune with those girls,

and I am closer to them when they really open up to me and talk to me about the things that are going on in their lives because they have decided to love me. And I'm here to tell you, my heart is more in tune with them because they have decided to join in on what we're doing. And that's the idea behind when I am sowing bountifully, my heart is in tune with Jesus. Why? Because who was one of our greatest examples of giving? Well, it was Jesus who became poor so

that we might become rich. And so as I do so, I reap the spiritual reward of the fact that I now see God in a whole new light. I see him in a way that I never even thought possible. Let me give you a little example. An example is a guy by the name of George Mueller. George Mueller started an orphanage. George Mueller started an orphanage on faith, and he was determined that he would receive no

funding from anyone. It would be funded simply by faith. And that's exactly what he did. When they needed something, he didn't seek a missionary organization. He sought God. But you know who God always used to provide for that? He used people. And one of the greatest stories, and I know I've told it before, but I'll tell it again because it's a great story. One of the greatest stories

is when they woke up one morning, there was nothing to feed all the kids for breakfast. There was no milk. There was no bread, nothing. And they said, what are we going to do? And he said, the same thing we do every day. We're going to gather at the table, and we're going to thank God for the meal that he's going to provide. And so they sat down at the table, and as he bowed

his head to praise God for the meal that he was going to provide, there was a knock at the door. And when that knock came to the door, when the knock came on the door, he went to the door, and there was someone who had driven a bread truck. He said, I've got all of this leftover bread, and I didn't know what to do with it. And I saw that you were in an orphanage. I thought perhaps

you had kids that could use this. So I said, I'm going to go to the orphanage. And he said, I'm going to go to the orphanage. And I said, I would just like to give you all of this bread that's left over. And he said, praise the Lord. God provided. And so they put the bread on the table, and they gather again to thank God for the meal that he had provided. And there was another knock at the door.

And it was a guy that drove the milk truck. And the milk truck had broken down. And he said, I'm broken down. I'm waiting for somebody to come help me out. Meanwhile, all of this milk is going to spoil. Could you guys use it? And he said, of course we could. This is amazing. And all of a sudden now, George Mueller just saw God in a light that he had never seen before. Because he

saw him as his provider in a way that he had never seen him before. Why? Because he stepped out in faith. What is sowing bountifully in the area of giving? It's stepping out in faith. And you know what God does when we step out in faith? He meets us right where we are. And our hearts are in tune with him. And he reveals himself to us in a way that we never thought was possible.

We reap the spiritual benefits of it. And so, this fourth principle is you reap what you sow. Number five, God loves a cheerful giver. God loves a cheerful giver. Verse seven says this, Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. He says each one must do exactly what he's purposed in his heart.

In other words, when God begins to move on, our hearts, this is the same principle that's given to us first Corinthians. When he talks about giving, we must purpose along with what we're hearing from the Lord. Exactly what God wants for us to do. He says each person must do what he's purposed in their heart, but notice how he says how we should do that. First of all, not in a grudging or compulsory sort of way.

Not in a grudging or compulsory sort of way. sort of way. In other words, it's not because we think that we will not be pleasing to God if we don't give. It's not because we think that God won't love us if we don't give. And it's not even because we think that if I don't give, the work of the ministry will fall apart. I was talking to somebody the other day, and they said, I'm really praying for you as you approach this subject of

giving, because I know that it can go really wrong really fast. They said, I grew up in a church where I never felt like I was good enough because I couldn't give in the way that the pastor told me that I should. And they said, I lived under constant condemnation because of it. And I said, oh, I do hope that that doesn't ever happen. I do hope that in no way, shape, or form has anything that I've

said indicate to you all that if you are not giving, that if you are struggling in this area of finances, that somehow you are under condemnation. My friends, our acceptance comes first. It comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. Our acceptance comes through the grace of God, not through the things that we do. That's called legalism. If I think that somehow I've done

something to earn the love of Jesus Christ or to earn the acceptance of Jesus Christ, then that's legalism. And if I've done something to earn it, that means I can do something to lose it. And I don't believe that's how God is. And so I'll remind you again of something, hopefully I've said a lot. God does not need your money. The church of Calvary Chapel of

Ark City does not need your money. Really, all of these lessons aren't even about your money. Hopefully what they're about is your heart, because that's what God wants. God wants 100% of our heart. And so he says, everyone should do as they've purposed in their heart, not in a grudging or compulsory sort of way. Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver. It's great. The Greek

word for it is a cheerful giver. It's a cheerful giver. It's a cheerful giver. It's a cheerful giver. The word cheerful here is hilario. It's where we get our word hilarious from. So if you translated this totally, it would be God loves a hilarious giver. Now, I wish that you all could listen to Chuck Smith teach on this sometime. Only not just listen to Chuck Smith teach on this. Listen to

Chuck Smith teach on this in fast speed. So if you've never heard Chuck speak, he was just incredibly deliberate in the way that he said everything. He was an incredibly slow talker, but you still just kind of sat on the edge of your seat waiting for the next thing to come out. Well, us Bible college students, we had to get all the way through Chuck through the Bible. It was a lot of years worth of teaching that we had to get through in

two years. And so we would put him on fast speed sometimes. And when he came to this part about being a hilarious giver, Chuck said, God loves a hilarious, giver. Only, only on fast speed. It was God loves a hilarious giver. And it was hilarious. We were like, I want to give now because that's the funniest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. But that's the idea behind what he says here. We should be laughing when we give. It should be the

most joyous thing that we do because it should bring joy to our heart to know that I am obeying God, even in this area of my life, because quite frankly, I'm not going to give. I'm not going to give. And quite frankly, if everything doesn't belong to him, then perhaps nothing really belongs to him. And so there should be great joy in the way that we even handle this. And quite

frankly, I do agree with Chuck on this. If you can't give in that way, can I go ahead and encourage you not to? If, if there's a grudging spirit in your heart, every time you drop your check in the box, can I just encourage you to wait and not do it until you can do it with joy in your heart? If, if there's a grudging spirit in your heart, every time you support your missionary through Gospel for Asia or, or your, your little kid that you take care of through Compassion International or you give to any of the number of, of organizations that you could give to that is doing the work of the gospel, if you do that in a grudging sort of way, can I encourage you to not

do that until you can do so with a cheerful heart? Because as I said before, God's not interested in your money. I used to sing this great song when I was a kid. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine. He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills, uh, the sun and moon that shine. Uh, I forgot the rest of the song. Man, I love that first part though. God owns all of that. He doesn't need our

money. Matter of fact, we're told in the Psalms, excuse me, I believe it's the book of Isaiah. He said, even if I did need something, I wouldn't tell you because that's not what he's interested in. He's interested in our heart. And so he says, God loves a cheerful or hilarious giver. And so what condition is your heart in when you're in those moments? Is it in that joyful, laughing, high pitched, like Chuck Smith on

fast speed sort of a feel? Or is it that grudging sort of a feel? Because God loves a cheerful giver. Number six, it is a work of the grace of God. It is a work of the grace of God. Notice what it says in verse eight and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. He scattered abroad. He gave to the poor. His righteousness

endures forever. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing. And increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in everything for all liberality. Isn't this great? I love the way that he puts it here because God is able to make all grace abound to you. What does he mean by that? Well, what does it require to become who God wants

for us to be? Well, it requires his grace, right? In me, that's in my flesh, there dwells no good in me. And so everything that I have that's good in me is as a direct result of God's grace in my life, even in this particular area. This is, I believe, the eighth time now that the word grace is used in this aspect of giving. In these two chapters, I believe, if I remember correctly, this is number

eight, that he uses this word grace because he's able to make all grace abound to me. What does he mean by that? Well, first of all, it means that by God's grace, he gives me the heart to become a hilarious giver. You say, Ryan, I'm not a grace giver. I'm not a grace giver. I'm not a grace giver. I probably am going to have to stop putting a check in for a while because I do it in a grudging

sort of way. And I don't know if that can ever change in me. I don't know if I can ever have this hilarious heart about giving because may I say, for some of us, money has a very big grip on us. And listen, there's no condemnation in Jesus. He is able to do that work in you because it is God's grace that gives us the right kind of heart behind that. It's God's grace that

gives us the desire to see those things that we don't want to see. It's God's grace that gives us that are in need and begin to help them out. I'm so blessed by the people that I see that have an overabundance of this grace. My youngest daughter has an overabundance of this grace because she wants to give all of her things to everybody. Every now and then we're like, can you not give

away the Christmas presents we just gave you? Like, go ahead and hold on to those for just a little bit longer. Like, I appreciate the heart in her, but every now and then I'm like, ease up. Every time she sees the gentleman that sits downtown or next to wherever he wants to eat that day, her heart just breaks for him. I remember the first time when it started

getting cold and he had a little stocking cap. She goes, praise God, he got a stocking cap, right? Like, she has that grace. The grace of God is at work in her heart in that way because she sees that there's a need and she wants to help meet that need. And as of now, I have to tell her, let's wait until you're a little older so that we know how to meet the need in that particular area. But here's where you can be a good person. And I'm like, I'm going to

give her. Here's where you can work in this way and still be safe in the way that you do it because God's grace is at work in her heart in that way. And he has given her a tender heart for the people around her that are in need. May I say, God is able to do the exact same thing in your heart. God is able to do the exact same thing in all of our hearts to give us that tender heart

for the people that are in need so that we don't look and say, oh, look, somebody else who's trying to sponge off of me. But instead we say, oh, look, a soul who needs love. A soul who needs the love of Jesus Christ in their lives. And he is able to make all that grace abound in us so that we look outside of ourselves and start seeing the people that are around us.

But not only that, not only does his grace provide for us the desire, but his grace also provides for us the means by which we help the people that are around us. Notice what it says. God is able to make all grace abound to you, verse eight, so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have. And abundance for every good deed. Jump down to verse 10. Now he who supplies seed to the sower

and bread for food will supply seed and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. I love that he uses the exact same illustration with sowing and reaping to show that God is the one who actually gives us the abundance to be able to sow abundantly. You say, Ryan, I want to be able to give, but sometimes there's just not that much left over to give. Well, then tell God what your desire is. Tell God how much you desire to help, and he will either A,

show you what you are supposed to do, or B, provide even more so that you can do even more. Because that's what it tells us right here that God's grace does. God's grace provides for us that we may be able to help those that are around us. It reminds me of a story out of C.S. Lewis's book, Mere Christianity. He says, it does the Father's heart good to give what we need in order to serve

him. He said, it's a good thing to give what we need in order to serve him. He said, it's a good thing to give what we need in order to serve him. He said, it's a good thing to give what we need in order to serve him. It's as if a father were to have a child, and the child wants to buy the father a Christmas gift, but doesn't have any money. So the child approaches the father and says, Dad, I need six pence in order

that I may go and buy you a Christmas gift. And so the father, in a very joyous way, gives the child six pence. And then when the child brings the gift to the father, though he is six pence none the richer, his heart has been made full. That's the same idea that's given to us by Paul right here. He says, And God will not only give you the right kind of heart, but he will give you the means for what

he is calling you individually to do. And then as you give what God has given to you, God's heart is full. Though he's six pence none the richer, he sees the love in your heart, and it blesses him. Because it is a work of God's grace in our lives. He says, He is, well, let's pick up at the end of verse 10. And increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in everything for all

liberality, which is producing thanksgiving to God. I mentioned before that it's impossible to outgive God. It's an impossible thing to do because God continues to increase our harvest, as we trust him with all of our things. We're told in the book of Malachi chapter 3, I believe it's verse 10, where God says, test me in this thing. Test me in this area. You bring your first fruits

to me, and trust me with them, and see if I will not open up to you the windows of heaven. Jesus told the apostles, he said, no one who has left behind family or house or goods, on this earth, that will not be replenished tenfold in the kingdom. You see, we can't outgive God, because God will be a debtor to no man. So he continues to provide for us in ways that we didn't even see, that we don't even know, because God continues to bless us as he sees our heart to bless the people that are around us. And as we do so, it produces this next principle for giving.

God will be glorified. God will be glorified. Notice the end of verse 10. Verse 11, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, what a wonderful benefit, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Twice now, thanksgiving to God is mentioned. Then verse 13, because of the

proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ. And for all the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, which they also by prayer on your behalf yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Notice how God is glorified through all of these things. He's glorified because now people will be being thankful to God for the gift that they have seen show up. I don't know if you've ever been in a place where

you're going, I don't know how I'm going to pay the bills this month. And then all of a sudden something shows up and you go, wow. And you don't know anything else to say other than Lord, thank you so much because you still have no idea where it came from. You still have no idea how it showed up. All you knew was you had been praying and God provided and you thanked God for it. And that's what it did in your life.

It produced thanksgiving to God. And that's what happens when we obey God in the ways that he calls for us to is it produces thanksgiving in the hearts of the people that are around us because they are so thankful. For what God has done, not what you have done, but what God has done through you. And it produces this thanksgiving. Not only that, but people begin to glorify God for your obedience. They begin to

glorify God because if it's done properly, it's done in a way that God is the one who has actually done the work. And there is great glory to God because of knowing that God has provided in the way that he has. God is glorified by it because you, chose to obey the way that God told you to obey. And then notice the last thing that happens in this glorifying of God is that verse 14, while they also by prayer on your behalf yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. I found that to be an interesting aspect of the way that God

is glorified. How is God glorified? We see when we do what God calls for us to do and thankfulness to God flows and God is glorified. It also produces love for the brethren. It produces love for each other. And as love for each other is produced, God is glorified because what does God desire more than anything for his body? That we would be unified. That we would be unified under the

headship of Jesus Christ. And when the church of Ark City begins to give to the ministry of the church in India, the church of Ark City begins to give to the ministry of the church in India, then all of a sudden now it's not the church in Ark City and the church in India, it's the, it's the church. And now we are providing for them perhaps in a financial sort of way and they're providing for us in a spiritual sort of way because now they are praying for us. When you support a missionary overseas, it's not that they are some missionary from really far away, it's that they are a fellow believer in Jesus Christ and now they're yearning for you and so their prayers are for you and you're

helping to support them and there's a unity in the body of Christ because of it. You see, I fear sometimes that we are so splintered as the body of Christ with all of the different churches and organizations that sometimes we forget that we're not a good bunch of different churches, we're a church. That goes to a bunch of different buildings and perhaps sees a few things a little bit differently. We're still under the headship of Jesus Christ and as we give to support even a church that maybe we don't agree with their eschatology but at least they're getting Jesus out there or a, what I like to think of as a church, we're having those Apostles, we're having

held March, we're having semifinals and included 이�크세�locks. So they give an amazing Leviticus service and so or a church that maybe worships a little more freer than we do, but they're still getting the Word of God out there because they still know that Jesus is the only way and the Word of God is the only standard, then all of a sudden now it's not the Pentecostal church and the conservative church. It's just the church. See what happens here?

There's a yearning and there's a unity, and then God is what? God is glorified. Because all of a sudden the world looks and they say, hey, even the Christians can get along. Maybe there's hope for the rest of us. And we can say, yeah, it's in Jesus. God is glorified through it all. And then number eight, the last principle for giving is it is in response to the work of Jesus.

It's in response to the work of Jesus. I love the way that he closes out chapter nine with verse 15 here. He says, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. What is God's indescribable gift? You know what my favorite thing about commentators is? They will argue about everything, right?

Some people are like, well, clearly God's indescribable gift is salvation. And then another one's like, clearly God's indescribable gift is Jesus. And the guy that said it's salvation has no idea what he's talking about. And I'm like, dude, Jesus brought salvation. Can it be both of those things? Like, that's the craziest thing in the world to argue about. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

Why? Because Jesus, the gift, came down to earth, became poor, came and dwelt among us so that he could die a death that we rightfully deserve to set us as sinners free, giving us the other part of the indescribable gift, which is salvation. And so why do I in any way, shape, or form become an individual who gives to others? Because it's in response to what God has done for me.

It's in response to what Jesus has done for me. You see, as human beings, we are made to be responders. We are made to respond to the love that God has shown for us. We're told in the book of 1 John, I've shared it lots of times, that we love because he first loved us. We are able to give because we see that he has given. We are able to be patient because we have seen his patience.

And so we respond to the work that God has done for us through the gift of salvation that came from him. And so we respond to the work that God has done for us through the gift of salvation that came through Jesus Christ. So let's put a little bow on this and call it pretty, right? These lessons on giving aren't about giving your best gift, right? They really aren't.

I hear this on radio stations sometimes, and listen, I'm not trying to condemn anybody. They're doing what they feel like God tells for them to do. But it's not about giving your best gift. It really isn't. It's really not even about finances at all. These lessons about giving really have less to do with finances. And they do with a lot of other things. And so I hope that as you walk away

from these last two weeks, you don't walk away thinking that these lessons were all about our finances, because they weren't. These lessons on giving are really about the heart of the giver. And they're about the heart of the giver in three ways. Number one, because we are responding to the work of Jesus Christ in our lives. The heart of each of us as individuals

is to continue to respond to the work of Jesus Christ. In our lives, the work that he did for us on the cross to save us, and the work that he continually does in our hearts to make us more like him. And so as you see God's work in your life, simply respond to that in the way that God calls for you to. And if you find that you're struggling with that, then it's time to ask God to reveal to you exactly what he's done for you.

Because I find that when people are saying, gosh, I just don't feel it anymore. I just, I just am struggling to, to respond to anything. It's because as that old song from the 50s says, you've lost that love and feeling. And it's time for you to pray that God would reveal to you again exactly what he's done so that you can respond to it. And you know what God's so willing to do?

He's so willing to show you everything that he's done for you. Second of all, it's really about the heart of the giver as we fully surrender to Jesus Christ, even in this area. Of our lives as we fully surrender to Jesus Christ, even in this area of our lives, God's desire for us in this journey of faith that we have is a continual life of surrender. I think I've shared this with you before.

There's a wonderful book by a guy named Andrew Murray. And if you ever have a chance to read it, I would highly encourage it. It's called absolute surrender and absolute surrender. Is Andrew Murray sharing with you his own journey of full surrender to Jesus Christ? Because what happens to, first thing that happens is God convicts us of sin. And as God convicts us of sin, we say,

Lord, I've not been living for you. I want to surrender my life to you. And as we do so, we enter this place of salvation. And now we belong to him. But that only began the journey. And now as I walk with Jesus Christ, he continues to point out areas of my life and says, I also really want that. I want you to fully surrender that to me. And we will be on that journey of full surrender

to Jesus Christ as long as we are alive. Until we go home to be with him, there will be a continual journey, a continual process of fully surrendering to Jesus Christ every part of our lives. Perhaps for some of us right now, it's finances that God is touching in our lives and saying, I also want you to surrender this to me. And may I say of all the things that we have to surrender to him, this is one of the tougher ones.

And so it's really about being fully surrendered, even in this area to Jesus Christ. And then the third aspect of this being truly about the heart of the giver, is remembering that this is God's grace at work in me. It's just like every other aspect of our lives. I can't do enough. I can't be good enough. I can never earn enough. It's just simply God's grace at work in me.

So if God has been touching your heart in this area of your life to be fully surrendered to him, and you say, I don't know if I can. You probably can't, but God can, because his grace is sufficient for you. Amen. Let's all stand. And would you bow with me? Father, we come before you, and I just thank you for your word. I thank you for the work that you're doing

in our hearts and in our lives. And Father, I pray that it would just continue, that you would continue to fashion in us the heart of the men and women of God that you want for us to be. And Lord, as we go out this week, I pray for fully surrendered hearts. Lord, that as you touch those areas of our lives, as you point out those things that we need to surrender to you, that we would then take that action and follow you.

That we would follow through to be doers of your word and not just hearers only. And we just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. In Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace. When fears are still,

when strivings cease. My comforter, my all-en- Here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone who took on flesh the fullness of God in helpless babe. This gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save. Until on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin was him on lay. Here in the death of Christ I live.

His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain. His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain. His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain. His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in glorious day. Up from the grave he rose again. And as he stands in victory. Since curse has lost its grip on. And he is mine. Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life. No fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath. Jesus commands my destiny. Till he returns. Or calls me home. I'll stand. Till he returns. Or calls me home. I'll stand. Or calls me home. I'll stand. Or calls me home. I'll stand. I'll stand. Here in the power of Christ, I'll stand. Lord, I just thank you, God, for

your son, Jesus, Lord. Thank you for what he's done for us on the cross. Thank you for the new life that he gives us in his death and resurrection, God. Lord, I thank you for your word this morning, God. It is sharp and powerful. God, I just pray that That if we are not cheerful givers, Lord, that you would make us cheerful givers, Lord. Do a mighty work in our hearts, God.

God, I just pray that as we leave here that you go with us, God, and just continue your mighty work. And we ask these things in your precious name. Amen. Be blessed.