Giving God Our Best: A Journey of Generosity

To when you reflect upon God's grace in your life, when you reflect upon God's mercy in your life, when you reflect upon God's forgiveness in your life, when you reflect upon God's peace in your life, when you reflect upon God's provision in your life. His love, his joy, his faithfulness, his kindness, his goodness, his righteousness, his salvation that he imparted unto you, his deliverance that he has provided unto you. There has to be an understanding that when we look back over our Christian lives, when we look back of all the things that the Lord has done in our life, church, we can't help but to give God the best that we got. Nobody has to pump us up. Nobody has to tell us what to do because he's been too good to us individually for us to act like we got here by ourselves. I'm going to give him what he wants me to give him because he's been good to me. He's been kind to me. He's been merciful to me. I'm talking about all the folk that know that if it had not been for the Lord on your side, where would you? There's some folk that's been healed this morning. There's some folks that's been kept in your right mind. There's some folks that has been provided for and you ain't have nothing in the bank. And is there anybody in the house when you look back over your life and think of all the things that the Lord has done? You can truly say this morning, I'm blessed. And because I'm blessed, I come to give him my best. I don't want to give him the leftovers. I don't want to give him what I came through. I want to give God everything he's due because he's been good to me and you are here to testify this morning. Amen. [00:07:11]

Because we're walking. Watch this. Everybody in here saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit. We got a reason to give God our best because he's been good. Okay. Some of y 'all, y 'all ain't got it yet. Can we come back? Let me just put the rewind button and I'm going to hit play. He was good on Monday. He was good on Tuesday. He was good on Wednesday and Thursday. He was good on Friday. He was shown up good on Saturday. And he's been shown up, shown up good this morning. You know why? Because each one of those days, he woke you up that morning. Started you on your way. And in spite of all the hell you've been catching, you are still here to give God your best. He's been good when I was up. He's been good when I was down. He's been good when I had money. He's been good when I was broke. He's been good when I was sick. He's been good when I was healed. Because God has been good to you and good to me We ought to give God our best [00:09:08]

And so the question we have to ask this morning See now, the question, here it is The question we have to ask this morning What do we need to know To give God our best Look, I'm not talking about giving to somebody else I'm talking about giving God I'm talking about giving to somebody else our best well church when we unpack this uh illustrious wisdom literature called proverbs it is the purpose of this book uh for us to acquire here it is a wise skillful approach of wisdom so that it we can learn how to live in wisdom but it begins with a relationship with the lord when you look at chapter one chapter one the beginning of chapter one he says that the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge and fools despise wisdom and instructions church what solomon is doing he's trying to prepare his son watch this to live without him he's trying to prepare his son to have here it is the values of wisdom and so when we look at chapter two we see the moral values of wisdom that he provides to his son but then when we get to chapter three particularly verses one through ten it teaches us the blessings of wisdom there are blessings in us living wisely according to the principles and precepts of god's word and so he provides four basic commands that he wants to give to his son and yet we're going to focus on one because after uh solomon tells his son that we need to learn and follow god's truth after we need to trust in the lord and not lean to our own understanding after we need to fear the lord and not admire our own wisdom there are two nuggets in verse nine and ten that solomon provides that you and i can learn from today that would suggest that you and i need to be giving god the best that i got here's number one we do that when we know the process when we know the process church um before we understand the process we have to eliminate get rid of throw out a false perspective or mindset or grid that many of us have that has been hindering us to participate in the process that god has for his children remember the purpose of proverbs is to provide us principles of wisdom on how to live our lives by the standards and wisdom that god has set for his children what you and i have to eliminate church we got to change our mindset and that is this notion that there is a distinction between material and spiritual we we got to change our mindset that there is a difference between here it is material and spiritual the reason we got to do that because there is no such thing for a believer believer between spiritual and material things within our lives particularly those who are hooked up with the holy one why you say that pastor because everything you [00:10:47]

comes from God and belongs to God the Bible is clear church Psalms 24 verse 1 the earth is the Lord's the fullness thereof the world and all that dwell within it declares church for you understanding that God is the biggest boss not Rick Ross God is the biggest boss and therefore as a result it declares here it is that God owns everything including all the resource can I come and get you he owns all the oil Haggai chapter 2 round by verse 8 says he owns all the gold and all the silver he owns the water he owns the fish he owns the cow he owns the chicken he owns the trees that was built and chopped up so that can build your house which means he own your house to he owned the coal he owns the iron he owns the steel he owns all the material things in the earth belongs to him which helps us to understand when we look at Deuteronomy chapter 8 round by verse 18 it says that we ought to remember the Lord for it is he that as it is he excuse me that is able to provide us wealth because it comes from the Lord because Psalms 24 helps us to understand that everything belongs to him he has ownership of it he is sovereign over it he has everything belongs to him and with this knowledge knowledge with this understanding you know now that you ain't the owner of nothing [00:14:23]

you don't own nothing because when you pass on somebody else going to be taking it you don't own nothing you can't take nothing with you we are here it is watch this let's change the mindset we are just managers managers and some of us are good managers some of us are bad managers but we don't own anything we got to have this new mentality and the mentality for you and I is we are stewards of the assets watch this that God has entrusted to us not that he is given to us because you don't own it it belongs to him and I know and I know this is hard because it's counterculture you say why is it counterculture because ever since you were in grade school or what many of us probably went through head start you've been saying mine mine it's a part of your fallen nature it's a part of your character you've been saying mine mine or mine you've been saying that and so for us to have this steward mindset it helps us to realize that God is the owner and as stewards of his assets we ought to do what benefits him thank you [00:16:17]

because watch this we carry no entitlement to anything because all we are are managers we're watching over his stuff and and a good steward will do what the owner wants to be done with the owner's stuff it's quiet right there the good steward will do here it is what the owner wants to be done with his stuff therefore when we understand we are stewards now we can roll down to the process number one here's what we need to do we have to honor the lord with our material possessions i'm in verse nine notice church when we know that everything belongs to the lord and that we are stewards over what he has allowed it for us to be stewards over then our perspective on following this command changes uh only when we watch this give back to god what's already god's [00:18:00]

because we give to the lord's work not because he needs our help god don't need our help for nothing but the bible is clear that you and i ought to be able to give to the lord because we are honoring him we are worshiping him that term honor in the hebrew it means literally heavy or weighted it demonstrates church how we have a value of god how he is weighted in within in within our lives and it causes us to understand the concept of giving because when god is heavy in our lives it causes us to honor him with these possessions because giving church is an act of a gratitude towards god who has given us all things and church when we are obedient in giving unto god and giving towards his work you know what it really shows it shows a true act of faith i know some of us are saying well man when i get the lottery i'm gonna start giving [00:19:30]

so you don't need more money you need discipline you need to learn stewardship because the reality church is not about the amount you give because it's about what's in your heart [00:21:01]

When he is weighted in your life you'll give him his stuff because they don't belong to you anyway. And so the ultimate goal church for you and I is to act on faith and listen if we can be just consistent givers that's one thing. But we're talking about God help us to be a generous giver. We want to have the full confidence that when I'm just giving on one level but I want to give above and beyond the level I give because what it says is that God I have full confidence in you that you will meet my need. [00:22:16]

In Israel church and sometimes it's hard for us to understand the Agarian culture but in Israel Israel the first fruit of all one's crop was a way to express gratitude to God for his position of his provision. Why? Because although they planted a seed they did not control rain. And so God they had to pray to God for it to rain so that the seed can grow to harvest a crop. They understood that I'm going to give this to you first for how you have blessed us. They acknowledged that God was priority in their life. So here's my question to you. Are God's priority your priorities? Does your bank statement says it? Does your cash app say it? Does your checkbook say it? Do they reveal what your real value system is? [00:23:11]

Do you give consistently from your first fruits? Do you give to God off to the top of your income or do you give God the leftovers? And here's the reality when we give God the leftovers we're still robbing Peter to pay Paul. Church our giving or the lack thereof is a reflection of our faith and belief in God and in his provisions and in his promises. We may not all be giving like we should. We may not all trust God and God's sovereignty the way that we should, but whatever we do, listen, do not get in a mindset of a habit of leaning to your own understanding when it comes to giving to God. [00:24:30]

Listen, here's the hard truth. When we don't give faithfully to the Lord, we say we don't really trust God. There's no other way to get around it. Let me be clear. Our tithes and our offering are not payments to God to bless us. Our giving to the Lord and the Lord's work is evidence of our faith. It is evidence of our obedience. It is evidence of our love for him. [00:25:48]

For the Bible is clear in Matthew 6, around about verse 21, in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, for where your treasure is, there is your heart also. So here's the application. So when you're paying bills or writing out that check or clicking that button on your computer, make sure you pray first. Thank God for what you have, for the resources, and then honor the Lord first. Prioritize, not just being a consistent giver. Ask God to give you an opportunity to be a generous giver. A cheerful giver. [00:27:20]

God is saying, I'm just asking you to move from a consistent giver to a generous giver. It may cost you just a little bit more, but eventually you're going to get the benefit of it. Giving God the best that I got. We must, number one, know the process, and number two, and I'm done, we must know the promises. [00:30:19]

Church, the principle of God is rooting in the process of what you and I know as the scripture reveals, sowing and reaping. The Bible is clear. Galatians chapter six, round by verse seven, it says, do not be deceived. God does not mock. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. The next verse says, we sow things in our flesh. We will reap our flesh. We sow things in the spirit. We will reap from the spirit. But then when we think about second Corinthians chapter nine, verse six, he says, now this I say, he who sows sparingly would also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully may be the problem with our finances because we are not sowing. [00:30:46]

it may mean that there is food that you can choose in the refrigerator it may mean that you are healthy it may mean that you ain't got to stress over robbing Peter to pay Paul because some of us have allowed the world to define what success is and what God is trying to get you to understand that when you follow my wisdom I will prosper you and put you on display that people are trying to figure out how you got what you got why you do what you do it's called favor [00:32:41]

but I'm making the necessary sacrifices to giving unto God because I trust him not only for salvation but I trust him for my money he the one who gave me the job in the first place and so how does he do it how does he how does God bring it out well when we first give unto him and he doesn't get the leftovers and we follow the process in verse 9 the promise comes for us in verse 10 notice he says then that's a time word then something has to be done first then this happened then your barns will be filled with plenty God promised that when you give to him out of faith out of obedience he will make sure that all of your needs are met he will provide for you abundantly and you get an opportunity to give more generously because of his provision in your life not only that but we also see that there will be an overflow he promised that there will be an overflow of your vats or will overflow with new wine he's not talking about pouring new wine into old wine skins he's talking about pouring new wine into new wine skins it is a figurative language that you will have here it is the abundance of God's blessing in your life because you and I decide to trust him it's the richness that we get an opportunity it's the ability to honor God from our wealth God has given us the divine promises that are built on four pillars they're built on God's justice holiness which he will never allow us to be suffered or be deceived it's his grace and goodness which will not suffer him to forget it's his truth which will not cause him to change and it's his power that he will be able to accomplish everything everything in our life church proverbs 3 and it's his power and it's his power and it's his power [00:33:36]

When you trust God, when you want and desire from the heart to be a generous giver, God will provide you with the resources. The question is, will you go back to that old mindset and say mine? Will you not allow yourself to be an instrument of righteousness? Or will you take God at his word? Church, giving God the best that I got, there's two things we must know. We must know the process that's honoring the Lord from your wealth. We must know the promise that he's going to overflow you when you do the first part. [00:35:57]

Because it's not about me having cars, houses, and things of that nature. That's not why I'm spending. I'm giving because my identity is in my relationship with Jesus Christ and because he was a giver. I want to model that which he has done in my life. Church, it doesn't matter how much money you make. It's not about the dollar amount. It's literally about your ability to have the right heart to say, God, I want to be a part of something that's greater than myself. I want to give unto you because I love you and because you gave unto me. What did he give? [00:38:07]

He gave his only begotten son who died in our place, who was buried and who was rose on the third day so that we can have the gift of salvation, the gift of life. All he's asking, all he's commanding, all his wisdom he's giving is saying, be like me and make sure you are a generous giver towards the kingdom of God. [00:38:59]