Point of Grace Worship        11.12.23    Sermon Notes – “Servants of Christ – TOGETHER” - 5

How do we do life as “Servants of Christ” ……… TOGETHER?

“You can count on me!  Can I count on you?”    
What does this mean as we serve Jesus and others through financial giving?

Why give?   

Why be “sacrificially generous” in our financial offerings?   (when there are so many reasons not to be)

Answer:  Jesus … because He has been so “sacrificially generous” to us! 
            Jesus knows that when His sacrificial love is firmly rooted and trusted in the “born again” heart of His followers…..  
            then “sacrificial generosity” will be the normal, joyful and inevitable response.

1 Corinthians 8

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 
2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,
 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 
5 And they exceeded our expectations:
They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 
6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.
 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.
 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 

What happens when God’s sacrificial love and generosity fades to the fringes of our hearts?

Malachi 3
7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. 

Where do I start?  How do I excel?

Love – Jesus’s generous love flows to me and overflows through me!

First – Giving is the first financial decision not from the left overs!

Percentage –  We give a portion of what we have been given.

Sacrificial – Giving that tangibly affects our lifestyle.

Trust – Giving is an act of trust that God’s generous love will not run out.