The night before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples some things that greatly disturbed them.
But one of the things He said was this. He said, I’m not going to leave you as orphans.
I’m gonna send the Holy Spirit who will be in you, with you, and upon you.
Then he described, for example, some of the things the Holy Spirit would do.
He said, for example, He will teach you all things that I’ve taught you, bring in all things to your remembrance, that He will guide you into all truth.
And so, He promised them many things.
And the one word that He used that probably encompasses all of it is this.
He says, I will send you another helper.
By helper, that is someone who would enable you, who will strengthen you, who’ll make it possible for you to accomplish what I’ve called you to do, and do it in a way that’s pleasing and honorable to the Father.
Well, one of those ways that God intended for the Holy Spirit to help us is by giving us a spiritual gift or gifts and manifestations of those gifts.
And so, when the Apostle Paul wrote, uh, in Romans chapter 12, he mentioned some of these gifts.
For example, he mentioned the motivational gifts, which I’ll explain in a second.
And here’s what he said in Romans chapter 12, verse 6 through 8.
He says, Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly.
If prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith if service in his serving or he who teaches in his teaching or he who exhorts in his exhortation he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.
And then for example, when he discussed the gifts a little bit more, thoroughly in this, uh, 12th chapter, uh, 1st Corinthians, here’s what he said.
He said, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, He’s the one who gives them.
And then again He says in the 11th verse, But 1 and the same Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills, which was His way of saying the Holy Spirit when He comes, He’ll be the one who will give you or decide which gifts you have.
Now, while there are 3 categories of gifts, in First Corinthians chapter 12, Ephesians chapter 4, the ministries, there’s something different about Romans chapter 12 when he speaks of these 7 gifts.
By motivational gifts, I mean simply this. There is an underlying motivation in each one of these gifts.
The prophet, for example. What’s the motivation and what the prophet does? That is a call for righteousness.
In service, it’s meet a need. In teaching, it’s disseminating knowledge. In exhortation, it’s in encouragement.
And now we come to the gift of giving.
That is, by motivation I simply mean this, that a person has a spiritual gift given to them when they trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
And that gift is God’s way of enabling, uh, strengthening us to do and to accomplish and to achieve what He’s called us to do in life.
And so, each believer has a motivational gift. That is the thing that gives you the most sense of confidence.
When you operate out of that gift.
You’ll have the greatest sense of fruitfulness, being more productive that way, greatest sense of contentment because you’re operating and working out of that particular gift.
Now, a person can have any one of the 7 gifts that he mentions and do well at whatever vocation God called you.
For example, a person can have the gift of service and be an excellent administrator.
A person can have the gift of mercy, for example, be an excellent leader.
So it doesn’t mean that just because you don’t have that particular specific gift, doesn’t mean you can’t do well at what you do.
The issue is not what you’re calling or what you’re profession, but the issue is do you know what that spiritual gift is?
You will operate out of that.
And so, when it comes to the gift of giving, what does he mean when he speaks of the gift of giving?
So what we’ll do is this.
We’ll talk about the characteristics of the person who has the gift of giving and then how they’re misunderstood and then how they operate when they walk in the Spirit, how they operate when they walk in the flesh.
And so, in each one of these, we’ve had a biblical character that best describes.
And so we said, for example, the gift of prophecy is Peter. The gift of service is Timothy.
The gift of teaching, Luke, because he’s so detailed about things. The gift of exhortation is Paul.
All of his epistles, he’s exhorting us, encouraging us to live a godly life.
And now we come to the gift of giving.
And the one person that, uh, is so very clearly the gift of giving is Matthew.
Remember that he was a tax collector to begin with.
And not only that, but, uh, he speaks more than any other gospel writer about the wise use of money.
He’s the one who gives the greatest details about the nature of the treasures given to Jesus at His birth.
For example, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. He’s the only one who speaks about, talks about, uh, secret giving.
He’s the only one who tells us exactly how much Judas got when he betrayed Jesus, 30 pieces of silver.
So, we could go on and on and on.
It’s very evident that, uh, He is simply an example of the gift of giving.
And He is also the one who challenged and berated, uh, recorded that challenge that Jesus gave the Pharisees and the Sadducees for not financially taking care of their parents.
So, all through Matthew, you see that He’s also the one who says the most about the wise use of resources and what happens to people when they use them unwisely.
So, he’s a perfect example of this.
Now, let’s look at the characteristics and you ask yourself the question, well, certainly I don’t have the gift of giving because I’m not wealthy.
Has nothing to do with being wealthy. You could have the gift of giving and being wealthy.
Uh, you could be, have the gift of giving and not be wealthy.
So, it’s not so much how much you have, but your attitude about it and what you do, how resourceful you are, and how you, uh, take care of those resources.
So what’s one of the first characteristics?
One of the first characteristics is this, and that is, a person who has the gift of giving is able to see resources.
They’re able to identify things that oftentimes people overlook.
And so, that person is able to make wise purchases, wise use of their money in order to have money to give for the Lord’s work.
And whereas someone would say, well, I just don’t have anything to give.
The person with the gift of giving, they’re able to see.
Well, if I use this wisely, if I expend my resources wisely here, if I don’t purchase that at this time, I’ll have more to give to the Lord’s work.
And so, they’re able to plan ahead. The person who has the gift of giving is not this kinda person.
There are a lot of people who just float through the malls on a weekend.
They just float through the malls and look into this and looking at that and looking at the other.
And the best way to float through the mall if you just have to do it is leave your credit card and your pocketbook at home.
Carry your driver’s license with you but don’t carry anything else.
If you float through the malls with your credit cards and your money, here’s what’s gonna happen.
Before you get out of there, you’re gonna spend money, not because you need it, but because you just got to have it.
And you think about people who look at this and look at that, and it’d be nice to have this not needed.
It would be good to have that so and so has this.
I’d like to have one of those, and she has one, and he has one.
Then surely I ought to have one. Besides that, I’ve worked hard all day long. I deserve something.
You can talk yourself into anything if you want to.
But the person with the gift of giving does not think that way.
That’s why they have resources to give because they’re very careful with their money.
A second characteristic of this person is simply this, and that is, they desire when they give to feel a part of the work.
The personal gift of giving isn’t somebody who just sort of gives with no relationship.
They first of all give themselves. They have to see that they’re involved in that work.
For example, whether it’s some other ministry or whether it’s a church or whatever it might be, they want to be involved themselves.
Their heart’s got to be in it.
They just don’t give it out there and spread it out and have no relationship. They want to be involved.
They want to feel like they’re a part of it.
They want to feel like that they’re making a contribution to the Lord’s work.
And so, their heart goes before their money. And oftentimes, uh, that person needs assurance in their heart.
They need assurance that, uh, their decision is a decision that God has enabled them to make.
Not just giving it, but they want to be certain that God has led them to give because their heart is there, not just their money.
A third characteristic that’s so, uh, evident in them and that’s this, they desire to give high quality things.
For example, the person with the gift of giving isn’t gonna find the cheapest thing they can find to give you a gift.
But they’re gonna buy something that they think and they believe that is certainly, uh, becoming to you, something that is of the quality that they can be proud that they gave it, not that they want credit.
And, oh, also, they wanna give the kind of gift that has a lasting value to it.
They don’t buy trinkets and junk.
They wanna buy something that has a lasting value that will be meaningful to you because it was meaningful to them to purchase it.
And so they’re very careful about the kind of things that they purchase for people, and, um, they desire to give a quality gift that also represents them.
If that person loves you, for example, delighted in you, that person is proud of what you’ve done, you’ve accomplished something, you’ve done a good job, then, uh, they want to give something that has the kind of value that says to you, they really do appreciate me.
He really does love me. She really does care for me because their whole idea about giving has deep meaning to it.
And of course, there’s also the characteristic, uh, that they hope that their gift is an answer to prayer.
The person with the gift of giving is very careful.
And so they hope that somehow that, uh, they have discovered a need, And without you even mentioning it, that they are able to meet that need and they get the greatest pleasure in recognizing the fact and realizing that they, without being told, have given to meet a need that God impressed them to give.
Now, if you’ll think about this for a moment, if their ultimate satisfaction is in the fact that God led them to do it without even really knowing particularly that there was a need, And, uh, they learned that that need was fulfilled as a result of God leading them.
Think about this. How many times do people give you things or make some gift to you and never tell you where it’s from?
And how many times have you ever given a gift to someone and you didn’t tell them where it was from?
They just showed up. And, uh, you didn’t look for credit.
You didn’t seek any credit, but God laid it upon your heart to do so.
And then you discover that that was a real need in that person’s life and you didn’t necessarily know that it was there.
Sometimes you may recognize it and you’re responding to God’s leadership, Or God may just say, I want you to give so and so this much, or some amount of money.
Now, we’re prone to say, well, we look at that person and say, Well, I don’t think they need anything.
They don’t, they, they haven’t mentioned any needs and, uh, therefore, they must not have any needs.
Well, let me give you a simple example.
Nobody ever hears us on the television radio begging for money and saying we got this need, that need, and so forth.
And yet, here’s a gentleman whom God impresses upon his heart for some reason to give me a call.
And so, he gives me a call in the process of our conversation.
He says, I never hear you say that you have any needs. Do you not ever have any needs?
I said, Oh yes, we do have needs. And so, uh, he said, Well, like what?
And so I said, Well, at this particular point, uh, we’re looking for a building, and we discussed that.
And I told him how much that we’d found 1, how much I thought we could purchase it for.
And this was his response. When I said, I think we can purchase it for $2,000,000, this was his response.
I’d never seen him. He’d never seen me except on the television. He says, I think I can handle that.
Send us a check for $2,000,000. Now, let me tell you what was significant.
The most significant thing to him was this.
He didn’t talk about the money because the money was not a big issue with him.
The most significant thing to him was this, that 2 days before and the day before, he felt so deeply impressed to call me.
He said, For the first time in my life, I knew I was hearing God speak to me.
Now, this man was in his seventies.
For the first time in my life, I knew that God was telling me to do something and I’d never talked to you and I didn’t know whether I could talk to you or not or reach you.
And he said, I just knew He told me to call you. Now, he wasn’t trying to get credit.
You know what he was doing? Being obedient to God. He didn’t know whether we had a need or not.
And here’s what oftentimes we’ll do.
We’ll say, well, you know, we give an excuse or we’ll try to rationalize it a what do we do?
We rationalize it away because we want to obey according to what we see, what we feel, what we think.
God wants us to be obedient to Him according to what He says, not what I reason, not how I evaluate it, not how I weigh it, not what I think, but what God thinks.
And so what happened? He made a great contribution to the Lord’s work.
If he had said, well, they don’t have any needs because I don’t hear them asking for it, so therefore, must not have any.
He said, God impressed my heart. Went to see this gentleman to thank him.
Did you know the only thing he talked about the whole meal?
The fact that God spoke to him and for the first time in his life, he was so grateful to God that now he knew God could speak to an individual that we could understand that it was God.
And if we do what God says, then you know what?
We’re, if He tells us to give, we’re meeting a need that He would never have known.
Listen, forget the $2,000,000 and think about this.
There are people who are in need, who have needs, different kinda needs, just not financial needs, and God impresses your heart to say something to them, to give them something, to go see them, to express some form of love to them, and you say, well I, you know, I, this, that, and the other.
Don’t make excuses. Just be obedient to God.
He would not impress your heart to do something if there were not a need.
He would not impress your heart to do something, to go, to be, to give, if God didn’t have in mind something specific He wanted to accomplish.
The person with the gift of giving lives with a sensitivity.
They live with a sensitivity of what is God saying, how does God want me to handle this?
And, uh, the greatest sense of satisfaction that they get is simply this.
They gave not knowing what the particular need was, or didn’t know it when they knew that they wanted to give, and then find out that what they gave was a specific answer to prayer.
This man could not get over the fact God told him to do something, and he did it, and it met a need.
Now, so, when it comes to our relationship to money, and money can corrupt people as well as also crown them with many blessings.
It depends on your attitude toward it and how you handle it.
And so, the person with the gift of giving is very careful.
They wanna be sure that God has told them to give it.
And, uh, that’s a very wise thing because people can just squander God’s money, uh, and on the basis of being generous or giving to others when sometimes that’s, the motive’s wrong.
When you’re giving to be recognized and giving to get thanks and giving to be seen and giving to be heard and all the rest, as the scripture says, He says, you know what?
And Matthew’s the one who said it. He said, You already have your reward. We give because we love Him.
We give because He’s told us to do this and to speak to that person or to give to them.
The personal gift of giving, very careful, and what brings them the greatest satisfaction is they gave and discovered there was a need.
God spoke to my heart and I obeyed God.
And when we obey Him, He always blesses us in return. Because what does He say?
He says, you in other words, you can’t out give Him. There’s no way.
The very grace of God says you’ll never, I will never be able to out give God because His grace and mercy and lovingkindness to us has absolutely no bottom to it.
It is infinite. It is always there.
You can never out give Him and He’ll always give us exactly what we need.
Now, this person also has a desire to give secretly, And that is, they love giving without telling anybody.
And you know what? One of the reasons a person with the gift of giving just keeps on giving is because as they keep on giving, not asking for anything in return, not looking for recognition, what does God do?
God honors that. God honors when we give to people secretly.
And that doesn’t mean that you never tell anybody what you give, but it means that you give oftentimes nobody ever knows.
It may be that you have to come up and say to the other person, Well, you know, I did help in that area, but I didn’t want you to know that at the time and whatever it might be.
But you’ll know when you’re to say it or not.
But giving is secret to the person who has the gift of giving, they take great delight in doing that because as we said, first of all, they want to meet needs, uh, for the Lord’s work.
They’re not looking for credit, not looking for recognition, but they’re looking to be involved in the work.
Because you see, a personal gift of giving is not interested in getting rewards here and now.
They’re interested in future rewards. And so, they can give generously, they can give however God requires them to give, and know in their heart that one of these days at the judgment, they’ll be rewarded accordingly.
And then of course, the person with the gift of giving prefers to give without appeals.
Now, there was a time, for example, on television when, uh, many people were asking for money, and here’s what they’d say, and I can remember this.
If you don’t give to this ministry, if you don’t send it in today, we’re gonna be off the air next week.
If you don’t give now, we’re gonna be gone. And my feeling was, be gone. And here’s the reason.
If God wants you on, He’ll keep you on. You don’t have to browbeat people to give.
If it’s the Lord’s work, then listen, imagine Almighty God not providing for Almighty God’s work. So, we trust God.
There are times when you make the need known in a very wise way.
But when you start pressuring people to give, the personal gift of giving may have tons of money to give.
But you know what? They just start backing off. They don’t like pressured appeals.
Well, the truth is, none of us do.
The tragedy is that it works, that some people can make all kinds of pressured appeals, and there are people out there who just gullible enough to answer that.
The personal gift of giving, but which also should be true of all of us.
God, what would You have me to do?
And God isn’t going to encourage us to, listen, to finance anything that’s not of God.
If it’s of God, He will impress our heart. He’ll move upon our heart to do it.
But people with the gift of giving do not like pressured appeals.
That does not mean that they do not want to know when there’s a need, and there’s a difference in announcing.
There’s a difference in speaking. There’s a difference in making the need known and pressuring people, uh, with the, You do this and I’ll do that.
If you don’t know this, here’s what’s gonna happen. That’s not of God. That’s not the way God operates.
If it’s God’s work, God will provide God’s work in God’s time, in God’s way, in such a fashion that God is the one who gets the glory and the honor.
If people pressure, pressure, pressure, and they succeed, who gets the glory? Well, they’re really good at that.
The truth is God is the source of every single thing that you and I need and every single thing we have.
He’s the source of it. The personal gift of giving, if you wanna turn them off, turn up the pressure, you turn them off because that’s the way they think.
That’s how they’re wired for God.
Just like the prophet’s wired a certain way, the teacher’s wired a certain way, the exhorter, uh, everybody is wired a certain way.
And so, the personal gift of giving, very careful what they do with their finances. They’re not being tight.
They’re not being stingy. It’s just the fact that they choose because they understand the value and the power of financial resources.
Then of course, there is the concern that giving corrupts.
The person with the gift of giving also has an understanding that money can corrupt.
Now, money is neither good nor bad. It’s simply a tool.
You would not say this hammer is good or bad if it’s, uh, if it’s, uh, made correctly.
It’s just a tool. Money is a tool. And listen carefully, money can corrupt.
It is not the fact that money’s bad. It’s the way people use it.
And how often you see this, you hear this, and you wonder why in the world could anybody think in such a fashion.
Sometimes a person, and I, I think this, every pastor could say this, there are people who get saved, join the church, they have almost nothing really.
They begin to tie their income and God begins to bless them.
And the blessings flow as God begins to, uh, honor their obedience and their faithfulness to Him.
And then what happens? Uh, they get blessed and blessed and blessed and blessed, and after a while, their little has turned into more and their more has turned into much and their much has turned into real affluence.
Then what happens? The next thing you know, you don’t see them very often.
And, uh, what they began to do financially, they ceased to do.
And you’ll think about how, how deceptive and how powerful this deception is.
What is 1 tenth of a dime? Now, I know you know the answer.
What is 1 tenth of a dime? Penny. Penny, all right. That’s 1 tenth, right?
What is 1 tenth of a dollar? The dime. The dime.
What is 1 tenth of a $10 bill? So what do you have?
You’re still talking about 1 penny out of every dime. It’s the deception, the way people look at money.
And so, Satan deceives. And so therefore, oftentimes in churches, God’s work is hindered because people are selfish and greedy.
And you say, you say, well, I know I’m not greedy, but I’m making so much now.
Well, who gave you the power to make much? And here’s what happens.
Not only do they become selfish and covetous, but here’s what happens to them.
Isn’t this amazing how people’s attitude toward money corrupts them?
Oftentimes after a person becomes so wealthy and they have enough money, it’s like now I have power.
Now I can purchase anything I want. Now I can have anything and everything I want.
And not only that, if I make a mistake, I’d buy my way out of it.
And, uh, after all, if I don’t do all what’s right, you know, I can handle it.
Such awful deception. They have allowed their money to corrupt them. And oftentimes people lose it.
That is, they lose that wonderful fellowship and relationship they had with the Lord Jesus when they had very little, when they had to depend upon Him, when they had to trust Him, when they had to look to them, when sometimes it was a little difficult to make ends meet, and now they can meet all kinds of ends, all kinds of desires.
They can buy anything in the world they want. And what happens?
One of the first things that happens is they cease to recognize their absolute total dependability upon God.
And sometimes the best thing God can do is wipe them out. You know why?
Because they’ve forgotten the most important thing, and that’s their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The person with the gift of giving recognizes money is not the issue, money is a tool, we’re responsible and accountable to God for all that He makes.
And somebody says, well, now if I, if I tithe my income and let’s say for example make $1,000 a week and I give God 10%, that’s $100.
Well, am I not free to spend the other 90% the way I choose? Absolutely not.
Who gave you all 100%? God. Who holds you accountable for all 100%? God.
Do you have the privilege of being extravagant?
Do you have the privilege of being wasteful and slothful just because you have given God 10% of your income?
No, you do not. And the person with the gift of giving has this awesome sense of recognition and sensitivity that it all belongs to Him and that we are all accountable for everything He’s given to us.
And therefore, the person who feels it away and understands that recognizes this, recognizes and oftentimes judges in this life.
And this is a, listen to parents.
They judge a person oftentimes by their, listen, their faithfulness and their devotion to God by the way they handle their money.
Now you think about this.
Oftentimes parents give their kids just whatever you want for a number of reasons.
And it’s not always because they love them.
If you love your children, you’ll not give them everything they ask for. You say, well, why not?
Because it is not wise. And I’ll never forget this as long as I live. I know exactly where I was. I was at the cleaners picking up my cleaning, and about 3 cars over, this young guy hollered over to his friend.
That’s what got my attention. And here’s what he said, quote, My old man gave me his credit cards.
Let’s go. Well, I want to go up and whip him is what I want to do.
For this reason, first of all, he called his father, who just gave him resources, the old man.
Totally disrespectful. And then, here he has his father’s credit cards, however how many that was, and now he’s going out to do what?
You think he’s gonna be careful? No, he’s not.
And oftentimes parents leave their children 1,000,000 of dollars which only corrupts them because they do not know how to handle it.
Every parent should listen to this.
Watch how your children use the resources they have today.
Watch how faithful they are. Watch how careful they are with money.
Watch how careful they are with what they spend and how they spend it before you start Before you start leaving the 1,000,000 of dollars that ought to go to the Lord’s work, and you leave it to them and they, and they blow it, And you look at the people, for example, who win the lottery.
How many of them are disciplined? How many of them are broke within a few years? Why?
Because they didn’t know how to handle money to begin with.
They don’t know how to handle it today, and it doesn’t last.
And the scripture tells us and warns us that it’s like a bird with wings.
It can, it can leave you very fast.
You can lose it a whole lot easier than you worked for it and made it.
And so, the personal gift of giving, very sensitive to those things, and very sensitive to realize that you cannot be undisciplined with money.
And when I say floating through the malls, for example, I simply mean that a lot of people, simply this, they’re not disciplined with their finances.
They somehow never stop to think, if I go shopping, should I ask God about whether I should buy this or not?
And here’s what happens. They ask the wrong question. The wrong question is this.
The wrong question is, if I buy this, how much will I have left? That’s not the right question.
The right question is, is this the right value? Is this the best buy?
Is this the wisest thing to do? Because you can always rationalize, well, if I buy this, let’s see.
Maybe I may have to scrunch a little bit, but I think I’ll make it. Why are Americans in debt?
Lack of discipline, lack of discipline. We don’t have to have everything we see.
We don’t have to have the most expensive. There are some people who shop at the most expensive places.
You know why? Not because they can afford it, but they love to talk about where they went shopping.
Why pay twice the price of something equal in value so you can boast of it?
Poor handling of your resources. Person with the gift of giving, uh, they’re not, they’re gonna ask the right question.
Is this the wisest value? Uh, is this the wisest thing I can do?
Uh, is this the wisest way for me to have am I getting the best value for my money?
And oftentimes, people do not. They ask the question, what do I have left?
God holds us responsible for the way we spend all of our money. Let me give you an example.
You go out and leave your, you leave your lights on, and they burn all day long while you’re gone.
You know what you just did?
You just took money God gave to you and gave it to the power company.
Because you didn’t use it, nobody’s there, nobody’s reading, nobody needs any lights.
So what would happen if we left all the lights on in these buildings all day long, all week long?
We would be wasting 100 of 1,000 of dollars.
And so somebody says, Well, if I leave the lights on in one room, what difference that gonna make?
Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t leave a nightlight on or something like that, but I’m just talking about just walking out and leaving lights here and leaving lights there.
People say, Well, my kids did this, walk out and leave the lights on. What about the parents?
Did you teach them to do that?
And so, if you grew up when there wasn’t very much money and every penny counted, you know what you did?
You walked out of the room and you cut the lights off.
And so, just because now you have plenty or have enough, you just leave them on and give it to somebody else.
And so, it doesn’t take but a few mistakes like that. And you know what happens?
Over a period of a year, you have just given away money and you have absolutely nothing to show for it.
The person with the gift of giving is not stingy. They’re not tight. They’re not selfish.
They’re not covetous. They’re just wise. What is the wisest way for me to handle my money?
You buy things of lasting value.
You can buy something that is cheap because you get more of it and it lasts 3 months.
You can pay a little bit more and it lasts 3 years.
And some people, if it’s a bargain, they can’t stand it. It burns in their pocket.
If it’s a bargain, they’ve gotta have it. And oftentimes the bargain is just exactly what they say it is.
It is a bargain for the moment, but it is not a lasting bargain.
A person who has the gift of giving, listen, they just don’t buy something because it’s on sale, because it’s a bargain.
They ask the question, is that a real value? Does it has last have lasting value?
Is this a wise purchase? Not how much have I got left, but how much does it cost?
Because if you always operate on the basis, well, if I buy this, how much do I have left?
You know what? You’ll always be living on the edge. God doesn’t want His children in debt.
Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy a home or maybe an automobile or things like that, but to go in debt over stuff.
And you know what you can put in the category of stuff? A lot of things.
I don’t even have to define them.
You can buy this and you can buy that and you can have this and you can have that.
And you see things that are unnecessary.
Now, if you have plenty of money to do it and God gives you the permission, but ask yourself this question.
Should you not ask God before you make purchases?
What would you have me to do is, somebody says, Man, you’re gonna take the joy out of spending.
No, I’m not gonna take the joy out of spending.
I’m just simply saying, listen, for your benefit, do the wise thing, the best thing, the right thing, because you as a parent are teaching your children.
You teach your children in different ways.
You teach them the right thing in different ways or you teach them the wrong thing.
And the worst thing a parent can do is just give them credit cards, give them money, and you know what happens?
What happens is, and this is something that the person who has the gift of giving is very, very careful about.
And, uh, they, they want to avoid something.
They want to avoid giving in a way that the person who receives becomes dependent upon them.
Or the person who receives becomes slothful. Or the person who receives becomes extravagant.
Because parents who do not wisely give to their children, what happens is they say, Well, you know, if I don’t make it up here, my parents, they’ll, they’ll do this.
They become dependent. And then what happens? They become slothful.
They don’t work hard at it because if they don’t make it somehow their parents will shore them up.
Then they become extravagant. They’re the ones who spend money, place the way it costs the most because after all what?
Because their extravagance is a result of their slothfulness which is a result of their being dependent upon someone else instead of saying, God, I’m dependent upon You and accountable to You to spend and to exercise and to invest this money wisely.
And so what happens if you don’t do what’s right as a parent? We teach them bad, bad, bad principles.
And so look at our nation, in debt over our heads, why?
Is it because we have all these needs and can’t afford it? No.
It’s because people fall for the snare and fall for all the commercials and fall for all the tinkering things.
Now, let me just say this, and I wanna say this as humbly as I know how.
So, this is my way of saying, I’m not being criticizing anybody.
If you feel it, it’s not from me, it’s from God. Take it from Him.
Listen, I can understand why a person, for example, if they live in a drab place and things are a little tough, they go to the malls and what happens.
You got lots of lights. Everything is sparkling. Everything is beautiful. Everything is just all laying out there for you.
And so, what do they do? Psychologically, they don’t even realize that they go to the malls to get entertainment.
And they say, Well, you know, that’s free. Oh no, it’s not.
It’s free if you leave your pocketbook at home, and it’s free if you leave your credit cards at home.
But it’s not free otherwise because listen, every, all those lights are saying, come in here, you need this, you ought to have this.
And what are they doing? They’re doing what business does, and that is appeal to your desires and to your needs.
And I’m not saying that’s wrong. I’m simply saying this.
I’m responsible, you’re responsible for being disciplined with God’s money, whatever that means in your life, in your calling in life, wherever you are financially, the issue is we’re to be responsible.
Practice discipline. Nobody likes the word. I’m sorry, I’m a preach a whole series on it. It.
Nobody likes the word discipline because it puts constraints on us. But let me ask you a question.
Wouldn’t you really rather have what God would provide for you with freedom, financial freedom, you don’t owe anybody anything?
Wouldn’t you rather be financially free than to have all the stuff that’s not needed, not necessary?
And the truth is, listen, when we get to the whole idea of how a person, the gift of this, gift of giving when they’re walking in the Spirit, one of the characteristics of that person is contentment.
Personal gift of giving who is walking in the Spirit, they’re contented.
And if God wants to add something or if He says you can have this or you can do this, here’s what you’ll discover, watch this, God will give you much more than you expect, anticipate, or deserve if you let Him do it in His timing, in His way.
But if you go out there and get yourself in debt, you know what happens?
Oftentimes, God would provide for people what they get in debt buying because they don’t give Him time to provide it in His way.
You say, well now, God would never do so and so. How do you know He wouldn’t?
And I think it must grieve the heart of God when He sees a person going out and purchasing something that He already knows He’s lining up somebody over here to give them that very thing.
You say, well now, God wouldn’t give me that. You don’t know that. Well, I don’t think I deserve that.
Well, that’s not the issue. The issue is this. Is God trying to teach you something?
Does He wanna show you how awesome He is?
Does He wanna show you how great He is, how good and loving and kind He is?
Just give Him the opportunity. And sometime we don’t. Most people don’t.
And so they get themselves in debt and then they wonder why they’re having a hard time and what’s God up to in their life.
Now, that person also, listen, is very thrifty in what they purchase, not just what they think about other people, very thrifty.
Now, the result of that is this, that sometimes, uh, that person in realizing, for example, what it took for them to make what they have.
And most people who have an abundance worked hard.
Most people who have an abundance, uh, they, they worked hard, they saved, uh, they tried to be disciplined in the things that God wanted to have.
And so, uh, what they have, they have because they have practiced some very simple principles.
Beginning number 1, I’m gonna give God 10% of everything comes my way no matter where it came from.
And so, I’m gonna watch God work. And then they refuse to get in debt.
And, uh, there are times that things happen to people that it creates debt and what do they do?
They decide, I’m gonna get financially free because the scripture says, you know, we’re the, we, uh, the borrower is slave to the, uh, to the, to the owner.
And so, debt is not good for God’s people because here’s what happens.
People get in debt and here’s what they say, I can’t afford to tithe.
Man, they’re gonna knock on my door, call on my phone, they’re gonna send somebody after me if I tithe. I challenge you to start giving to God what belongs to Him and watch what happens to your finances.
And I can give you all kind of testimonies.
For 50 years, I’ve listened to people say, I can’t afford it.
And for 50 years, I’ve heard people say, You know what?
I heard you say that, I didn’t believe it, but I was so deep in debt I think, Well, God, I can’t lose.
I mean, I’ve already I’m at the bottom already and I tried it. Now I’m debt free.
Bring me credit cards that they’ve cut up. Tell me how God changed their attitude. Now they’re contented.
They don’t have to go to the malls every weekend. Somehow they can’t even describe the contentment.
It is a divine contentment that God gives us when we’re doing the right thing and responding correctly.
So the person with the gift of giving, they understand the value of money, how it can corrupt you, how it, listen, think about this.
Anything that enslaves you is not good.
And so, any conduct that you and I have, any way we live that puts us in any form of slavery is not good because He said, listen, He came to set us free, free in every aspect of our life.
We all agree that any form of slavery is wrong, that God wants us free to obey Him.
And what happens is somebody says, well, you know, I just can’t afford it at this point in my life.
Well, um, yes you can if you’ll trust Him.
Then of course, uh, there’s the whole issue of giving to motivate others to give.
Sometimes the person who gives and all of us are giving, and there’s nothing wrong with sharing with someone else, not so much how much you give, but you might say, you know what?
God impressed my heart to give so and so, and I didn’t. Let me tell you what He did.
You see, what happens is we have wonderful testimonies of what happens in our lives when we give, especially, and the personal gift of giving, they love to give sacrificially because they see God at work.
And you see, a person maybe who has plenty or certainly more than they need, for them to give sacrificially sometimes it’s hard because they have to ask, well, what’s sacrificial?
Because the more I give, the more I receive, and so they don’t even feel the sacrifice.
But they love the idea of giving to the point that they recognize, well listen, at least I’ve sacrificed something here.
And it may not be so much what they give up, but in their mind and heart, they’ve refused to purchase this, refused to purchase that in order to.
And I remember on one occasion when we were raising lots of money that this man walked in 1 Sunday afternoon and he said, uh, my wife and I have our plans.
We’re getting ready to build a new house.
But God impressed us this morning in the service, not to build that house, but to put it off another year, and He told us to give this.
Gave me an envelope and I walked back and I said, I opened up $500,000.
Gave the Lord’s work a half $1,000,000.
Listen, now, knowing Him, that half $1,000,000 was not a big deal. It wasn’t how much He gave.
Here’s what He did. They, they made a sacrificial gift, and the sacrificial gift was not to build that new house, not to furnish that house, but to give it to the Lord this year and give it first.
Well, naturally God blessed them and blessed them and blessed them and blessed them.
So, sometimes a sacrificial gift isn’t so much the fact that, uh, we give when there’s so much plenty, but the fact that we sacrifice something else.
And the person with the gift of giving understands that, that there is blessing when we put the Lord first and obey Him in whatever He may require of us.
And then of course, they’re able to see, they’re able to see financial resources and other people overlook.
If I said to you, for example, if I challenge you today, not putting pressure, challenge you to give more than financially, you say, Well, you know, there’s no way I could give that much.
But here’s what the gift of giving says.
Well, I don’t have that much cash, but what else do I have?
What would happen in your house if you went in your basement, in your closets, in your attic, things that you haven’t looked at in years, things you have not used, dresses of trousers or suits you’ve not worn.
You said, I’m gonna, I’m gonna collect everything in my house that I’m not using, and I’m gonna see what happens.
You may be surprised at how much money you have invested in stuff or things that you don’t use, that you don’t use them anymore.
Let me ask you a question.
How many of you ladies have pushed dresses back into you don’t ever wear them anymore.
You wouldn’t give them away, but you don’t wear them anymore.
How many of us have suits we don’t wear anymore? Or trousers or shirts or whatever it might be?
Or shoes. Now, I won’t say this but one time, but most ladies have enough shoes that if you put them on top of each other, it’d be as high as Empire State bill them.
But that’s okay. I understand why they have to do that. But how many of them do you really use?
So listen, the personal gift of giving, you know what they do? They see resources.
Other people say, Well, you know what, I just don’t have the money. Well, look around.
And the reason I know that’s true is because on one occasion we were raising money and asking people to make sacrificial gifts.
You’d be surprised what people came up with. They had yard sales, garage sales. They looked at their jewelry.
They gave jewelry. They looked at other things they have. They sold all kind of stuff.
I mean, 100 of 1,000 of dollars’ worth of stuff that was not being used.
They cashed it in, sold it in some fashion, gave it to the Lord’s work.
So the person with the gift of giving, they see these resources that oftentimes are overlooked.
And then of course, the personal gift of giving, oftentimes before they give, they will confirm it with their mate, their husband or wife.
And let’s say that, uh, God challenges, uh, you as a husband, uh, to give so much money to whatever, uh, to whomever.
Personal gift of giving doesn’t give just off the cuff. They want confirmation.
And so, the man’s gonna say to his wife, let me tell you what I’m thinking.
Why don’t we pray and ask God to show us both so that we’ll both know that we’re doing the right thing?
And there’s a great sense of security because you see, the personal gift of giving wants, desires to protect what God has given them.
Not that they’re not gonna give it, they want confirmation. Now there’s a greater sense of security.
She and I both prayed about it. He and I both prayed about it.
Here’s what we believe God wants us to do, and they give in that fashion.
Now, that’s a very wise thing to do. And we should also say to our children.
Now listen, if you’re gonna make this purchase, why don’t we pray about it?
Now, if your kids say, Well, I don’t why do I have to pray about it?
The very question is the answer.
Because if you haven’t prayed about it and you haven’t asked God, then it may be that you’re getting to do something that you’re not even willing to ask Him for fear He may say no.
You see, what happens is we have the most awesome opportunities to teach our children and our grandchildren how to live their lives.
And if you’ll think about this, everybody has to deal with money all the time.
You say, Well, I have so little, I wouldn’t call it money. Well, you’ve got some. It’s there.
And so, you be wise how much you leave them. Watch, listen, I’ll say it again.
Watch how they’re handling what they have before you leave them a bunch of money.
Because listen, are they being careful with it?
Think about this, how long you worked, how hard you worked to save and you invested and you were very wise and maybe deprived yourself of some things in life, and then you’re gonna leave it all to children who are going to squandered because you’re gone, you’re not there to hold them accountable, and they’re just gonna live it up and have a good time.
Is that a wise use of money? Never.
Watch what they do with what the, with the little they have, then you make a decision.
God, by what I see, by the habits they have, by the principles they’re operating on, how should I leave my children and what should I leave them?
And so, sometimes parents are wise enough not to leave them anything.
What do you mean you left me out of your will? Why?
Because I’ve watched the way you operate, and you just leaned on me. You’re extravagant.
You don’t ask the right question. You just wanna blow it.
And you think because I have 1,000,000 that I’m gonna leave it all to you?
I’m leaving it for the Lord’s work because when I’m gone, I want it to count.
I don’t want it, listen, I don’t wanna go to go to alcohol.
I don’t want it to go to drugs.
I don’t want it to go just squandering in pleasures in life.
I worked hard for it, sweated blood and tears oftentimes, labored diligently, wise in my investments, and then me give it to you for you to squander it?
No. You say, but oh my goodness, they’ll feel rejected. Well, they ought to feel rejected. You know why?
Because they, they have not proven to be disciplined and wise in the use of their money.
And so what happens? When parents are not wise in disciplined use of their money and it comes to the end of their life, they get all caught up in the emotion.
Well, I guess I’ve made some mistakes. I’m gonna be sure they don’t make them.
Giving them lots of money, you’re about to make one.
Well, listen, you and I are accountable for what we have, how we use it, what we leave, where we leave it, and what they to whom it is left do with it.
So you see, it doesn’t all stop at death. It goes on and on and on.
I think about people who give to the Lord’s work, and when they’re gone, what they’ve done is still working in the Lord’s work around the world.
The gospel’s still being preached, work’s being done, and then there are those parents who dump it all on their kids and you know what?
It, it stops with them and dies with them. Pure waste.
And I wanna say to you as a parent, you’re accountable to God for what you have, the way you and I use what we have, and what we leave to whom we leave it, how we leave it.
Because for the rest of our eternity, it’s gonna count or not count.
Personal gift of giving is very careful about what they leave, how they leave it, and that’s why it’s always wise to have counsel.
Now, how, how is this person misunderstood? Well, let’s go through this quickly. How are they misunderstood?
Well, number 1, they’re oftentimes misunderstood because their need to deal with large sums of money, oftentimes they’re misunderstood as being what?
As being focused only on temporal things. It’s not that they’re focused on temporal things.
They have to be careful what happens and so they have to spend time dealing with the issue of money.
The second misunderstanding is their desire, listen, their desire to increase effectiveness in ministry may, listen, may appear to want control.
Sometimes because they give large gifts, uh, that it appears that that’s because they want control. Listen to this.
When you give to the Lord’s work, you’re not buying stock.
You’re investing in the Lord’s work.
And if you give to any ministry because you want partial control, don’t give it.
You’re giving it to the Lord’s work.
And you, either you trust godly men and women who are responsible and you give for that reason, not, you’re not investing in stock.
You’re giving it to God. It happens to be the channel. Be wise where it’s, where you give it.
Be wise where you give it.
But don’t give it to control because there are people who give with expectations of control that never works.
Number 3, and that is simply this.
That is, they attempt to encourage other people, uh, by giving, and oftentimes they’re misunderstood because they are trying to motivate people who don’t have very much to give.
And so, the person who doesn’t have very much feels like, well, you’re just putting pressure on me, and you have a lot of money to give, and I don’t have very much.
That’s not their motivation. Their motivation is they want you, the personal gift of giving wants you to learn the awesome principle of giving and receiving and watching God multiply what you give.
Then of course, there is the whole misunderstanding of, listen, a lack of response to pressured appeals as being selfish.
No, God has wired the person the gift of giving, not, listen, a pressured appeals, as we said, just does not, it just does not ring their bell.
That’s not where they are in life, and thank God that He should have all of us to be sensitive that we don’t give under pressure.
We give only because God pressures us or because we believe the Spirit of God is speaking to us very clearly about it.
And then of course, their attempt to live very frugal in their life.
Their attempt to live that way and make purchases or not is not because, it’s not because they’re selfish or covetous.
And so sometimes very wealthy people are misunderstood. But you know what?
There are very, there are lots of wealthy people who are very, very godly people.
Some of them have the gift of giving, some of them do not. Still godly, still generous.
Now, how does this person operate when they’re walking in the spirit and how they’re operating walking in the flesh?
And watch how these things fall together. Number 1, if they’re walking in the spirit very thrifty, very careful.
Walking in the flesh, they’re very extravagant. So walking in the spirit, thrifty. Walking in the flesh, very extravagant.
Then also walking in the spirit, they’re very resourceful. They can come up with all kind of things.
But when they’re walking in the flesh, they’re wasteful. Very well, just waste God’s money.
Walking in the Spirit, very contented. Very contented when walking in the Spirit, walking in the flesh, what happens?
They’re very discontented, very dissatisfied, And, uh, very, and the person, the truth is a person who’s not walking in the Spirit, they’re just not content.
What happens? They get very covetous, very covetous, gotta have more. How much is enough?
All of us know the answer, a little bit more.
Likewise, when they’re walking in the, walking in the spirit, punctuality, they’re very punctual.
They don’t end up paying their bills 3 months later.
And when they get in the flesh, they just wait, wait, and they become tardy.
When they’re walking in the spirit, they are very cautious about how they handle their money.
In the flesh, they’re just rash. They make all kinda rash decisions. Walking in the spirit, very grateful.
Walking in the flesh, ungrateful. And you see, if you’ll think about it how this all works.
Extravagance, wastefulness, covetousness, tardiness, prejudice, rash, ingratitude, all of these things, they just work together.
So somebody says, well, I’m not rich. Will this make me wealthy?
Let me tell you why it will.
You say, Well, I, that’s what I’ve been waiting for you to tell us.
I’ve been waiting the whole message to find out how this make me wealthy, to help make you wealthy.
You’ll have a fantastic relationship to Jesus Christ because you’re bringing your life under discipline, and you’re being obedient to Him.
That is the greatest form of wealth possible.
Now you say, well, I had something more in mind like dollar marks.
Well, let’s put it this way. Here’s what He says, Give and it shall be given to you.
And it’s to be given to you the way God gives, and that’s a full measure.
The personal gift of giving has a wonderful opportunity, but a great sense of responsibility and accountability.
And I would simply say this, you want God to bless you financially, Learn, first of all, the principle of discipline.
I do what is right, what is wise, what is best, and then I’ll watch God operate.
And you’ll see what happens. Now, I wanna give you a challenge.
In the coming week, I wanna challenge you to do something.
When you have a tendency to buy this or purchase that, and you think, well now Lord, is that wise or unwise?
And God says, that’s unwise. Or you could purchase that for this much less over here.
Make a little note of that. $25 difference, or $5 difference, $2.
Oh, I don’t spend it at all, $50.
You may be surprised at how much money you save in one given week by watching carefully how much you spend, what you spend it on, how much you give, and how much you listen to God before you part with your resources you had to work for.
And God in His grace gave you the strength to do it.
You may find out that you’re more wealthy than you thought.
And you may find out with a little practice of discipline that God will multiply your resources.
And you may find out as you operate on discipline, He will set you free of debt.
And you thought it could never happen. That’s my prayer for you.
Father, how grateful we are of Your love for us. And You cautioned us in Your Word.
If we do not know how to handle material goods, how can we handle the truths of God’s Word, Your Word?
I pray that You’ll speak to every single heart.
Let every single person who hears this think about their finances, what they’re doing with it, how they intend to leave it, how disciplined they are, or are not, and the fact that we’re all accountable to You for all eternity.
Well, we ask it in Christ’s name, amen. Well, let me just simply say this to you.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your Savior, you’re probably saying, Man, I don’t like telling me what I can do and what I can’t do.
I wouldn’t tell you that. I’d simply say this. You wanna be wise? You wanna walk in God’s ways?
Then what I’ve shown you is God’s way.
It isn’t a matter of being selfish and tension, not gonna deprive you of all the pleasures in life.
It’s gonna make it possible for you to enjoy them better when you do it God’s way.
And so, I would invite you to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, turn your life over to Him.
Say, Okay, God, I’ve made a mess of it. I’m deep in that over my head.
I don’t know which way to turn. I’m about to lose it all.
God, I’ve tried everything else, now I’m gonna try You.
One thing I can guarantee you, there are no disappointments in Jesus, none whatsoever.