Grace Giving: From Reservoir to Conduit By Keith Duff

And then it goes on to say, what's probably maybe just as important as everything else, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Right? So this verse talks about, hey. Our where we place our money, our heart tends to follow. There's a close connection to the heart and, our money. Jesus taught that where our treasure is, our heart will be also, and, how we handle our money reveal reveals what we trust most. Right? Where our hearts at, what we trust in. [00:05:00] (27 seconds)  #HeartFollowsTreasure

And, Jesus said it clearly in other places that we can't serve two masters. Right? We can only serve one. We can't serve God and money. So it's in there a lot, and, I think there's a good, reason for it. And, the interesting thing is God designed money and possessions, really to be a blessing. Right? Not so much the accumulation of more and more. We'll talk about that later on. Sometimes that can become the opposite of a blessing, [00:05:27] (29 seconds)  #ServeGodNotMoney

And, and then we think back home, we got all this stuff and and people are depressed, they're discouraged, you know, they're, discontent, you know. Right? That's what we struggle with here. We've got all this stuff and it should make us happy, but it but it doesn't. So I think the Ugandans, I think others places where some of you have been are good examples of the Macedonians. And the last example I'll use from Uganda because I I just feel like it it ties in with these Macedonians because it talks about their joy they wanted to give. [00:34:01] (31 seconds)  #WealthDoesntEqualJoy

So you see a lot of beauty, but you also see a lot of this. And these kids, some of them have shoes, some of them don't. Pretty tattered clothes. Right? This was probably by the light. It looks like it's probably during the day. Right? They should have been in school probably if they could have afford to be in school, but they're and they're not. So you you see this beauty, but you also see this contrasting poorness, poverty. Right? And in that first day, [00:29:46] (28 seconds)  #BeautyAndPoverty

we're gonna see that that giving, first of all, and I got a few of these things in your outline and then a bunch that aren't, but giving is a grace or a blessing that's intended for all believers. Right? This is something as we read through this, it's for the poor, it's for the rich, It's for everybody in between. Giving is a blessing. It's a grace, Paul calls it, for all for all believers. So, chapter eight verse one again, and now brothers, we want you to know about the grace [00:25:57] (29 seconds)  #GivingIsGrace

your first day, you kinda go through some some changes in your in your thinking. Because your first day, you see a couple of things. First of all, you see great beauty. Uganda's called been called the pearl of Africa. It's really beautiful. It's a lot of beauty, natural resources. It's called also the breadbasket of Africa that's very plentiful and lush and productive when it comes to growing crops. And so you see a lot of beauty and you see a lot of growth and a lot of farming in these small fields mostly by hand. [00:29:10] (35 seconds)  #PearlOfAfrica

Some of you have, But this is a topic that that I get excited about because I've seen God work in my life and my family's life. And as as the Lord has taught us and grown us, I've seen God work in some pretty amazing and great ways. And so I get excited about biblical generosity, biblical use of money, and because God has great promises and intentions. And yet, we oftentimes don't see it or don't follow it. I think it's interesting when we look at the ways Satan takes [00:06:20] (35 seconds)  #BiblicalGenerosity

the things that God's created for good and twists them, right, and uses them for ill, for bad, and and that's true with money. While God gave us money and possessions for good, Satan does a good job of twisting them. You know this that in our marriages, the number one issue of conflict is yeah, it's it's not what we eat for dinner. Right? It's not, it's not what car we drive. [00:06:55] (27 seconds)  #MoneyCanDivide