More Blessed to Give
Scripture: Acts 20:35Devotional Series: Money: Not the Root of All Evil
Teaching: Money: Not The Root Of All Evil pt. 3 (WED 2024-10-02) by Pastor Star R Scott
Making a covenant with your eyes is the wisdom of God. Don’t hang around with the king, the rich, and all of their dainties. If you’re given to the love of silver, you will never be satisfied with silver. Don’t hang around with these and all of their dainties. If you’re given to covetousness, put a knife to your throat. Amen? Protect ourselves. We deal with the same issues that some of these elite wealthy deal with. How much is enough? I mean, seriously, how much is enough that is great gain?
We try to bless our kids. I don’t know that pouring all this junk on them is helping them. I was just somewhere not too long ago, and walking through this house. You almost had to wade through it, because of the abundance of toys on the floor. I remember as a young person, one of my favorite toys was a teaspoon. It was. I didn’t have a Tonka, but I could move dirt with that spoon just like it was a tractor. And it was a rocket ship, and it was a knife, and it was… How much is enough? Many of you, you can tell your same stories. And some of us do, and the children are all like, “We don’t want to hear that story again.” What stories are they going to tell? What’s their testimony? Where are the wells that they dug? What have they sacrificed for the kingdom of God? The gain is in that contentment. Amen?
It is more blessed to give than to receive (Act 20:35). How many of you believe that? Then why aren’t we giving? What impressed Jesus was not how much people gave but what they had left over after they gave. Are we givers? God loves a cheerful giver. Amen? The whole admonition for chapters in 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10, as we’re going through there, you’re going to reap as you sow. Sow abundantly, and you’ll reap abundantly. But the whole mentality comes down into 1 Timothy 6 and the other passages. We’re getting rich so that we might have to give to those that are in need; amen? There are some adverse times that are coming our way, and we’re going to need to be able to help brothers and sisters, so we can’t squander it all.
Look what He goes on to say. “…a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). Now, He goes on to tell them a story about the parable of the rich fool. That’s powerful. What made him a fool? The fact that he built bigger barns? “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be? Here is my advice to you,” Jesus goes on and says, “be rich toward God.” Amen? So many of us deal with this dilemma. We sit here, and we read the Scriptures and we go, “Wait a minute, man, the Bible makes it very clear.” Proverbs 10:22, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it."
How about 1 Chronicles 29, verses 12 through 14, “…riches and honor come of thee…of thine own have we given thee.” When we sit there and we’re so proud of ourselves how much we just gave to God, God just gave that to us to give to Him. Amen? “Look what I did.” You didn’t do anything; God gave you that to be used for His glory and for His purposes. We’re debtors. Amen? So, we look at this dilemma, we look at this thing and we go, “Man, this is so paradoxical.” God wants to make us rich, but He wants us to give—amen? —in proportion to His blessings. He goes on and teaches that. You don’t give other than according to what you have; amen? And of course, that’s why God came up with the ingenious plan of the tithe.
We try to bless our kids. I don’t know that pouring all this junk on them is helping them. I was just somewhere not too long ago, and walking through this house. You almost had to wade through it, because of the abundance of toys on the floor. I remember as a young person, one of my favorite toys was a teaspoon. It was. I didn’t have a Tonka, but I could move dirt with that spoon just like it was a tractor. And it was a rocket ship, and it was a knife, and it was… How much is enough? Many of you, you can tell your same stories. And some of us do, and the children are all like, “We don’t want to hear that story again.” What stories are they going to tell? What’s their testimony? Where are the wells that they dug? What have they sacrificed for the kingdom of God? The gain is in that contentment. Amen?
It is more blessed to give than to receive (Act 20:35). How many of you believe that? Then why aren’t we giving? What impressed Jesus was not how much people gave but what they had left over after they gave. Are we givers? God loves a cheerful giver. Amen? The whole admonition for chapters in 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10, as we’re going through there, you’re going to reap as you sow. Sow abundantly, and you’ll reap abundantly. But the whole mentality comes down into 1 Timothy 6 and the other passages. We’re getting rich so that we might have to give to those that are in need; amen? There are some adverse times that are coming our way, and we’re going to need to be able to help brothers and sisters, so we can’t squander it all.
Look what He goes on to say. “…a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). Now, He goes on to tell them a story about the parable of the rich fool. That’s powerful. What made him a fool? The fact that he built bigger barns? “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be? Here is my advice to you,” Jesus goes on and says, “be rich toward God.” Amen? So many of us deal with this dilemma. We sit here, and we read the Scriptures and we go, “Wait a minute, man, the Bible makes it very clear.” Proverbs 10:22, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it."
How about 1 Chronicles 29, verses 12 through 14, “…riches and honor come of thee…of thine own have we given thee.” When we sit there and we’re so proud of ourselves how much we just gave to God, God just gave that to us to give to Him. Amen? “Look what I did.” You didn’t do anything; God gave you that to be used for His glory and for His purposes. We’re debtors. Amen? So, we look at this dilemma, we look at this thing and we go, “Man, this is so paradoxical.” God wants to make us rich, but He wants us to give—amen? —in proportion to His blessings. He goes on and teaches that. You don’t give other than according to what you have; amen? And of course, that’s why God came up with the ingenious plan of the tithe.