Honor the Lord, Purpose in Your Heart
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:7Devotional Series: Rich and Righteous
Teaching: Rich And Righteous pt. 2 (SUN_PM 2021-03-21) by Pastor Star R Scott
God wants to bless His people. He gives us power to obtain wealth to establish His covenant. Amen? Establishing His covenant is fulfilling His purposes. Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39); amen? So, we see, then, this love of God. We’re touched by the heart of God, and one of the things that is God’s will, is for you and me to pray “the Lord of the harvest” to “send forth laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38), especially in these last days as we go out and “preach the gospel” to all the world, “to every creature” (Mark 16:15), and then, the end will come, praise God! Come quickly, Lord Jesus; amen? So, we’re to be busy about the Father’s business, the business of the kingdom. As a community, we’re to use these resources that God has blessed us with to touch lives that are around us, to make sure that when doors open that we’re able to fulfill God’s call on our lives and reach out and touch those through our faithfulness in establishing the covenant of God. So, that’s part of it. The other part is, not just evangelism, but the edification of the church.
There’s a great emphasis in Scripture of God prospering us and us being able to, then, give toward the tabernacle of God, the house of God. And this is a big part of this divine prosperity. Proverbs says that we’re to “honour the Lord…with the first fruits” (Proverbs 3:9); amen? And then, He’s going to bless us, the Scripture says. He’s going to pour out those blessings upon us, and our barns will be filled and our “presses shall burst out with wine” (verse 10), praise God! Honor the Lord with your giving. We won’t go over to Corinthians 9 right now, but “God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7b); amen? That word “cheerful” means quick to do it, a giver that has purposed in his heart. The Lord said, “Let everyone give as they’ve purposed in their heart” (2 Corinthians 9:7a); amen? You see, our hearts are known by our giving.
There was a time when Jesus was sitting and watching people give offerings. He wasn’t down at the local sporting event, but He was up watching offerings being taken. He takes note of what goes on in His church. So, He’s watching, and there were many that gave much (Mark 12:41). There were people giving large sums. I used to remember, as a young man, being in different meetings, whether it was a camp meeting somewhere, or whatever the occasion would be, when they were raising money, and they would like to publicly say, “Okay, who in here will give $10,000?” You’ll see these hands go up, and, “Praise God! Hallelujah!” “Who will give a $1000?” Some would raise their hands and there would be applause; public recognition. But you know the Scripture says, “Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand’s doing or left hand know what your right hand’s doing” (Matthew 6:3). We’re to give secretly. It’s talking about not trying to draw attention to yourself; right? If you do, you’ve received your reward, the Scripture says (verse 5). But we give as we’ve purposed in our heart, and we give as unto the Lord. God loves a cheerful, quick-to-do-it, giver. So, that’s the attitude of the heart that we’re supposed to have.
There’s a great emphasis in Scripture of God prospering us and us being able to, then, give toward the tabernacle of God, the house of God. And this is a big part of this divine prosperity. Proverbs says that we’re to “honour the Lord…with the first fruits” (Proverbs 3:9); amen? And then, He’s going to bless us, the Scripture says. He’s going to pour out those blessings upon us, and our barns will be filled and our “presses shall burst out with wine” (verse 10), praise God! Honor the Lord with your giving. We won’t go over to Corinthians 9 right now, but “God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7b); amen? That word “cheerful” means quick to do it, a giver that has purposed in his heart. The Lord said, “Let everyone give as they’ve purposed in their heart” (2 Corinthians 9:7a); amen? You see, our hearts are known by our giving.
There was a time when Jesus was sitting and watching people give offerings. He wasn’t down at the local sporting event, but He was up watching offerings being taken. He takes note of what goes on in His church. So, He’s watching, and there were many that gave much (Mark 12:41). There were people giving large sums. I used to remember, as a young man, being in different meetings, whether it was a camp meeting somewhere, or whatever the occasion would be, when they were raising money, and they would like to publicly say, “Okay, who in here will give $10,000?” You’ll see these hands go up, and, “Praise God! Hallelujah!” “Who will give a $1000?” Some would raise their hands and there would be applause; public recognition. But you know the Scripture says, “Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand’s doing or left hand know what your right hand’s doing” (Matthew 6:3). We’re to give secretly. It’s talking about not trying to draw attention to yourself; right? If you do, you’ve received your reward, the Scripture says (verse 5). But we give as we’ve purposed in our heart, and we give as unto the Lord. God loves a cheerful, quick-to-do-it, giver. So, that’s the attitude of the heart that we’re supposed to have.