Point of Grace Online Worship - November 10, 2024

Point of Grace – 11.10.24   Giving is the Gift - Part 4     Sermon Notes

Giving is the Gift!

Why and How?

An Offering Prayer of Consecration
Father, Son, Holy Spirit - gathering in Your presence in the first part of the first day of this week is a great joy.  Accept our “sacrifices of praise” as an offering …. You are worthy to receive our first and best for You gave first and You gave your best in the sacrifice of Yourself for us……
Thank you for your sacrificial generosity!

The “first and best” principle is so helpful when practicing financial giving.
We also bring our financial offerings before you this week. 
Thank you for calling us to regularly return to You a sacrificially generous portion of what you have already graciously given us through our income.

God is the abundant provider and never asks us to give anything He has not already abundantly given to us.
Increase our faith so that our offerings honor you, reveal relentless dependence on you, flow with joyful love and help advance Your Kingdom cause. 

Giving is an act of faith that focuses on God’s Promises, Presence and Provision.

Sacrificially Generous Giving has an unlikely partner ……… Joy!

 2 Corinthians 8-9
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.  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[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

We pray that our offerings “flow with joyful love and help advance God’s kingdom cause”?

2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
7 But since you excel in everything—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

Cheerful Giving is

-        An intentional and regular act

-        Priority 1 in our budgeting

-        A percentage amount that is sacrificial and generous        (What about 10%?)

-        An act of “relentless dependence” and authentic worship

-        A participation in God’s life changing kingdom work

Jesus, Thank you for calling us to regularly return to You a sacrificially generous portion of what you have already graciously given us through our income. Increase our faith so that our offerings

·       honor and worship You for who you truly are,

·       reveal relentless dependence on You,

·       flow with joyful love for You and others

·       and help advance Your Kingdom cause. 

Thank you for your abundant provision.

Point of Grace Online Worship - November 3, 2024

Point of Grace – 11.3.24 Giving is the Gift - Part 3 Sermon Notes

Giving is the Gift!

Why and How?

Part 1 – Giving is a vital offering of ourselves in worship.

“present you bodies as a living sacrifice… this is your reasonable act of worship” Rom 12:1  

Part 2 – Giving helps renew our thinking with regards to money and possessions.

“… be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you might know the will of God for you” Rom12:2  

Financial giving as a regular rhythm of life is a powerful way to worship God with money, grow our relentless dependence on Him for daily living and keep in check money’s power in our life.

An Offering Prayer of Consecration Father, Son, Holy Spirit - gathering in Your presence in the first part of the first day of this week is a great joy. Accept our “sacrifices of praise” as an offering …. You are worthy to receive our first and best for You gave first and You gave your best in the sacrifice of Yourself for us…… Thank you for your sacrificial generosity!

The “first and best” principle is so helpful when practicing financial giving.

We also bring our financial offerings before you this week. Thank you for calling us to regularly return to You a sacrificially generous portion of what you have already graciously given us through our income.

God is the abundant provider and never asks us to give anything He has not already abundantly given to us. Increase our faith so that our offerings honor you, reveal relentless dependence on you, flow with joyful love and help advance Your Kingdom cause.

Giving is an act of faith that focuses on God’s Promises, Presence and Provision.

1Kings 17:8-16 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

Faith is powered by what it is focused on.

It is natural to focus on our problems and the resources we bring to the situation.

Jesus directs us to focus our faith on His Promises, His Presence and His Provision for the power to take the step of faith He is calling us to.

What would it look like to take the step of faith and give a “sacrificially generous portion of what God has already given us through our income”? Where would my faith need to be focused?

What would it look like not to take the step of faith?

Malachi 3 :6-12 6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 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.

Focus on God’s Promises, Presence and Provision to have the power to take the steps of faith the Jesus following life requires.

“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. 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.” 2 Corinthians 8

Jesus, Thank you for calling us to regularly return to You a sacrificially generous portion of what you have already graciously given us through our income. Increase our faith so that our offerings

•                     honor and worship You for who you truly are,

•                     reveal relentless dependence on You,

•                     flow with joyful love for you and others

•                     and help advance Your Kingdom cause.

 Thank you for your abundant provision.