Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is Part Three

*Ephesians 5:15-17 “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

*Every act of service is an expression of worship for Him, a declaration of commitment to His will. That’s why what each of us does in life matters: we’re doing it for God, the One to whom we owe life itself. p.43

*The song “Take My Life and Let It Be” has the verse, “Take my silver and my gold- Not a mite would I withhold.” Not a mite (reference the widow’s mite in the biblical story) has serious implications. Do not sing those lines unless you are absolutely sincere in their meaning. p.46

*You can’t give sacrificially unless you’re first giving responsibly. p.49

*The Giving Christian lives by a creed of stewardship, not ownership. p.49

*Graceful giving seeks to glorify God, not to better one’s own bottom line. And graceful giving is driven by a desire to lift up the recipient, not lift up the giver.

*Luke 12:48 “But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

*Give strength more than sympathy, give power more than pity. Look to Jesus as your finish line. Keep your eyes on Him. p.64

*We need protection from the lure of this world’s wealth. We need protection from the pull of pride. And we certainly need protection from the pursuit of pleasure. Materialism, pride and sinful pleasure are like magnets, forcefully attracting us to their sphere. That force can only be countered by another, stronger force – the power of God’s name. p. 76

*Sanctify means to set apart for God and for His purposes – to be spiritually dedicated. p.78

*I have been guided by a particular truth of the Bible, sometimes just a word or phrase, only to learn later that someone was praying that Scripture into my life. My life was enriched because someone was going to God on my behalf. That is humbling and challenging. p.79

*Never underestimate the importance of the time you spend praying for the spiritual dedication of another person. p.79

*Pray that those in the circle of your life who know Jesus Christ will be empowered and emboldened to share their faith. Pray that they will be effective messengers, clearly expressing the reason for their hope. p.80

*In unity there is strength, infinitely greater strength than we could ever experience independently. p.81

Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is Part Two

*Be Aware – For the giver, it is imperative to be aware and sensitive to what others are thinking, feeling and experiencing. Insensitivity – willfully ignoring or disregarding other people – spoils a God-given privilege to show His love and demonstrate His character. p.25

*Be Tough – When you’re giving help, don’t pull punches when a situation calls for directness. Jesus spoke so directly and forcefully that many people who desperately needed His help rejected Him. If you’re reaching out to help someone (especially a friend) who is engaged in self-destructive behavior, don’t make excuses for them or make things too easy for them. p.26

*Be Tender – Frankly, it is often easier to be tough and strict than to be tender and kind. It can take a real effort to have patience and understanding with some people; but it can have a transformational effect.p.27

*Whatever someone needs, even if you have to take them on your back and carry them, that’s what it means to give help. p.29

*Compassion is derived from two Latin words which literally mean, “to suffer with.” To have compassion is “to suffer with” other people – to put yourself in their shoes, to feel what they feel, to endure what they endure. p. 30

*I offer help and food and compassion in the name of Christ. In meeting Emily I was reminded that many of us need to stop praying for opportunities and take the ones that are already there. p.31

*Isaiah 50:4 “The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”

*God has taught me that I am safer in a dangerous place in the center of God’s will than I am anywhere else on earth. p.41

Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is Part One

*Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Heart Is

*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.’ “

*Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.”

*When Bono was asked about his faith, he responded, “I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.” p.15

*Christ is the answer. What is the question? Life is the question.p.12

*His life is the dividing line in history. It is also the dividing line in every human heart. To find Him is to find the way, to know Him is to know the truth, to have Him is to have life itself.p.15

*1 Peter 3:15-16 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

*The essence of giving truth is giving Christ. p.16

*Abraham Lincoln  met with a group of recently freed slaves and responded this way when the one man bowed to him, “Please don’t bow to me. I am just like you, and we both should bow only to the One who created us and truly gives us our freedom.” p.18

*Father M.A. Thomas was eager to share a deep, genuine desire to help everyone that God would enable him to help. p.20

Forget Rich, Let’s Get Wealthy Part Five

*2 Corinthians 9:10-11 “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

*Five minutes after we die, we’ll know exactly how we should have lived.

*2 Corinthians 8:7-8 “But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

*Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

*1 Chronicles 29:9 “The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.”

*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.’ “

*We’re so absorbed with “getting what’s ours” that we miss what brings the real blessing and joy – giving God what’s His. Giving is doing what we were made for: loving God and our neighbors.

*James 1:5 ^“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Alcorn, R. (2001) The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving. Multnomah Publishers. Sisters, Oregon.

Forget Rich, Let’s Get Wealthy Part Four

*God’s money has a higher purpose than my affluence. Giving is a joyful surrender to a greater person and a greater agenda. Giving affirms Christ’s lordship. It dethrones me and exalts Him. It breaks the chains of mammon that would enslave me.

*C.S. Lewis put it this way: “We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

*”I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” ~ Martin Luther

*I detest legalism. I certainly don’t want to try to pour new wine into old wineskins, imposing superseded First Covenant restrictions on Christians. Every New Testament example of giving goes far beyond the tithe. However, none fall short of it.

*Tithing isn’t the ceiling of giving; it’s the floor. It’s not the finish line of giving; it’s just the starting blocks. Tithes can be the training wheels to launch us into the mind-set, skills, and habits of grace giving.

*I’m not saying that it’s easy to give. I’m saying – and there are thousands who will agree – that it’s much easier to live on 90 percent or 50 percent or 10 percent of your income inside the will of God than it is to live on 100 percent outside it.

*Andrew Carnegie said, “The almighty dollar bequeathed to a child is an almighty curse. No man has the right to handicap his son with such a burden as great wealth.”

*God is the greatest giver in the universe, and He won’t let you out give Him.

Alcorn, R. (2001) The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving. Multnomah Publishers. Sisters, Oregon.

Money In & Out…I’m Still Alive

Elisa and I recent acquired some money unexpectedly. Not a ton but a little extra dollar. Before we received it, we agreed that whatever we received would go to God. Well, the day came and Elisa informed me of the amount. At first, I wished it was less so it would be easier to give it away. Then I thought I could keep a little for my efforts. Then I remember Ananias and Sapphira….

I could picture it now…

Spence: “Yo, What happened to Breez?”

Response: “He fell down and died”

Come on, what would you do?

Acts 5:1-11

Ananias and Sapphira

¹Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. ²With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

³Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ⁴Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

⁵When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. ⁶Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

⁷About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

⁹Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

¹⁰At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Forget Rich, Let’s Get Wealthy Part Three

* Paradoxically, our home is a place we’ve never been. But it’s a place we were made for, the pace made for us.  If we would let reality sink in, it would forever change the way we think and live. We would stop laying up treasures in our earthly hotel rooms and starting sending more to our true home.

* We think we own our possessions, but too often they own us.

* Ecclesiastes 5:10-15

“Whoever loves money never has money enough” (v.10) The more you have, the more you want.

“Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” (v.10) The more you have, the less you’re satisfied.

“As goods increase, so do those who consume them” (v.11) The more you have, the more people (including the government) will come after you.

“And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?” (v.11) The more you have, the more you realize it does you no good.

“The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.” (v.12) The more you have, the more you have to worry about.

“I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner” (v.13) The more you have, the more you can hurt yourself by holding on to it.

“Or wealth lost through misfortune” (v.14) The more you have, the more you have to lose.

“Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand” (v.15) The more you have, the more you’ll leave behind.

* As the wealthiest man on earth, Solomon learned that affluence didn’t satisfy. All it did was give him greater opportunities to chase more mirages. People tend to run out of money before mirages, so they cling to the myth that things they can’t afford will satisfy them.

* Ecclesiastes 2:10 “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.”

*Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immorality.

Alcorn, R. (2001) The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving. Multnomah Publishers. Sisters, Oregon.

Forget Rich, Let’s Get Wealthy Part Two.

* But understanding ownership was only half of my lesson. If God was the owner, I was the manager. I needed to adopt a steward’s mentality toward the assets He had entrusted-not given- to me.

* 2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

* Giving isn’t a luxury of the rich. It’s a privilege of the poor.

* Matthew 16:27 ^“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”

* Matthew 25:21, 23; Luke 19:12-19; 1 Corinthians 6:3

* Jesus is keeping track of our smallest acts of kindness

* Matthew 6:21 ^“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

* By telling us that our hearts follow our treasure, Jesus is saying “Show me your checkbook, your VISA statement, and your receipts, and I’ll show you where your heart is.”

* Luke 12:15 ^“Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

* There are many roadblocks to giving: unbelief, insecurity, pride, idolatry, desire for power and control. The raging current of our culture – and often our churches- makes it hard to swim upstream. It’s considered “normal” to keep far than we give.

Alcorn, R. (2001) The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving. Multnomah Publishers. Sisters, Oregon.

Forget Rich, Let’s Get Wealthy Part One.

Treasure Principle Key #1 God owns everything. I’m His money manager.

Treasure Principle Key # 2 My heart always goes where I put God’s money.

Treasure Principle Key # 3 Heaven, not earth, is my home.

Treasure Principle Key # I should live not for the dot but for the line.

*————>     The Dot: Life on Earth/The Line: Life in Heaven

Treasure Principle Key # 5 Giving is the only antidote to materialism.

Treasure Principle Key # 6 God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.

 

 

 

Alcorn, R. (2001) The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving. Multnomah Publishers. Sisters, Oregon.