March 29, 2014 - Saturday

Start Time: 9:00 A.M.

End Time: 12:00NN

Title: It is better to Give than to Receive

Scripture: Genesis 1:27; 1 Corinthians 13; Jeremiah 17:9; 2 Corinthians 9:6

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→Why is it important to give?

1) Because giving is our need!  We are designed to give

Genesis 1:27

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God is a giver; He started the World by first giving His word...and that Word becomes life and created the world; God created the sun, stars and moon to give light to darkness; God created the seas, oceans, and bodies of water to give life to the fishes; God created the earth to give life to plants; God created animals to give life to humans as food

In the same way, we, as living creatures, need to give life to live...

The simplest example is our breath.  We cannot live without breathing and in the process of breathing, we give out carbon dioxide which gives life to plants.  So we literally continue to live by giving life to others.  Our words can also give life to others and when we do, we become more alive than ever but if our words give death to others, we become dead ourselves.

2) Because giving is an act of love

1 Corinthians 13 speaks of doing great things but without a love, we are nothing... it speaks about love being the greatest of all among hope, love and faith.  Without love, we are nothing and life means nothing.

They say one can give without loving but no one can love without giving...but I say, giving is ultimately an act of love no matter what the intentions are.  A person may give for the wrong reason but the act of giving is always brought about by love.  The question is, what or who is that love directed to or from?  For example, one might give because he seeks praise from others, or he wants popularity or fame...then he is giving because of his love for himself. So giving is an act of love but that love can be pure or wicked.

Jeremiah 17:9 - 10 says that the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure, who can understand it? I, the Lord, searth the heart...

Our giving is a fruit of our love but we have to search our hearts to see the purity or wickedness of our love.  Good thing, Ezekiel 36:26 says that God gives us a new heart and put a new spirit in us.  He will remove from us a heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh (sensitive/obedient heart).  So it is important to be connected to the source of pure love that our giving may be pure as well.

3) Because giving is a declaration of God's greatness in our lives

2 Corinthians 9:6 says Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

As Christians, we are to live by faith and not by sight. And it is the same with our giving!  Give with the purpose of declaring God's greatness in our lives not in the past but in the days to come!  We are to exercise our faith even in our giving!  We declare the greatness of the Lord that is still to come and He said that when we sow generously we shall reap generously!