The Grace of Giving
FALL INTO GRACE
Part 4: The Grace of Giving
2 Corinthians 8:7 (NLT)
“Since you excel in so many ways, in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us, I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.”
1. Grace Is the Foundation of Giving
2 Corinthians 8:7 (NLT)
2. The Widow of Zarephath: Giving in the Middle of Need
1 Kings 17:8–16 (NLT)
8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”
12 But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”
13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”
15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. 16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.
1 Kings 17:13 (NLT)
“Don’t be afraid!” Elijah said to her. “Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first.”
3. Living Under the Unending Blessing
1 Kings 17:14–16 (NLT)
“There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.” (Verse 16)
4. Giving Is an Expression of Trust, Not a Transaction
5. God Is Faithful To Keep His Word
Malachi 3:10 AMP
Bring all the tithes (the tenth) into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you [so great] a blessing until there is no more room to receive it.
“Under the old covenant, tithing and giving was a demand and when withheld people robbed God. Today under the new covenant tithing and giving is a privilege, an invitation accepted, and when we withhold, we rob ourselves.”
MAY WE KEEP OURSELVES CONNECTED TO THE HEART OF THE FATHER, THROUGH THE GRACE OF GIVING.