The Blessing of Generosity – Part 10 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. We’ve been teaching all the last two weeks on the blessing of generosity, and today we’re talking specifically and finishing up our messages on the grace of giving from 2 Corinthians 9. You don’t wanna miss this broadcast. I believe that you’re gonna learn some keys that are gonna release you into the abundance that God has for you. Blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re here today. We are sharing today on the blessing of generosity. We’re actually sharing in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, and we’re talking about the grace of giving. And as we went through this series, we’ve talked about three specific things. First of all, we talked about seed time and harvest. That’s the very first principle of the scripture. Secondly, we talked about tithing that begins in Genesis 14, then Genesis 28 on through the Old Testament, and then also in Hebrews 7, the New Testament talks about that. And then we’ve been sharing this week about the grace of giving and the greatest disposition on giving and receiving in the New Testament is found in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 where Paul is talking about the grace of giving. And he first of all talked about the grace on the Macedonian churches and these churches, even though they were challenged that they were givers, and he used them as an example to the Corinthians to encourage the Corinthians to give. And then he basically said, this is basic Christianity. I’m not telling you you have to do this, but I’m strongly encouraging you. Then he uses Jesus in 2 Corinthians 8:9, this is an amazing verse on grace, but it’s talking about Jesus, “for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that even though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty, might be made rich.” And he talks about that grace on Jesus. And then he moves in, encouraging them to get involved, you know, in this grace of giving and then he talks about in 2 Corinthians 9 the grace on them. And we begin, as he really got to the nitty gritty of it yesterday in verse six through verse 11, Paul’s talking about if you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully. If you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. So a lot of times we determine the bounds of our harvest. And he says, we ought to give as we purpose in our heart, not grudgingly, not of a necessity, not because we’re manipulated, because he says God loves a cheerful giver. Do it because you want to do it out of your heart. And then he says, when we get involved in grace, and this scripture is one of my favorites, again, in this narrative on the grace of giving, “God is able,” in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “to make all grace abound toward you that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Aaron, that has been the testimony of my life, that has been the testimony of our churches. When we have got involved in the grace of giving both personally and as a ministry, that God has made all grace abound toward us, that we always having all sufficiency in all things, we’ve never lacked in any area. He says, “you may abound to every good work.” We’ve given to many ministries outside of ourselves. This church that we’re involved in now, Charis Christian Center, gives to about 70 different ministries a year, we give to about 35 ministries every month. And you know what? We started out with almost no people and no money. We have a building, the tax valuation’s over $25 million. And you know, we have it completely paid for. It’s supernatural how God has blessed us, and we continue to give. And you know what? When you get involved in generosity, it comes back to you. Now, he says something in verse nine. He says, “as it is written, he has dispersed abroad. He’s given to the poor, and his righteousness remains forever.” You know, when I first read that scripture, I thought that was talking about God, but actually that is talking about the fruit of a righteous person’s life. And I went and looked at the reference, he’s actually quoting Psalm 112:9, and Psalm 112 is a powerful, you know, Psalm, and it’s talking about, again, the blessing on a righteous person’s life, but he’s actually saying this, that a righteous person has given, he’s given to the poor and his righteousness remains forever. This is the fruit of a righteous person’s life. Now, when I think about the fruit of a righteous life, the fruit of righteousness in life, I think about also in this realm of giving the scripture in Philippians 4, and Philippians Paul is writing a church in a group of churches where these people were partners with him in the ministry. And it’s really a letter of thanksgiving. But Aaron, why don’t you read Philippians 4:15-20 where Paul is really commending this church for their giving.

 

  So it says here, “now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only, for even in this Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed, I have all and abound, I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the thing sent from you, a sweet smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.”

 

  Amen. So Paul makes that statement in Philippians 4:19, it says, “my God shall supply all your need according to his richest in glory by Christ Jesus.” And many times people quote Philippians 4:19. It’s like a promise. It’s an awesome promise. God’s gonna supply all my need according to his riches and glory. Now, when you read the book of Revelation and you read about heaven, man, heaven is not broke. Heaven is not having a hard time paying the light bill. I mean the Lord God and the Lamb are the light of it. The streets are paved with the purest gold, the city walls are made of gold and giant pearls, the gates, the 12 gates of the city, the foundations of the city are sapphires and rubies and onyx. And I mean, we think it’s a big deal if we got a one carat and then he uses them for the foundations. I mean, it is amazing, you know, the wealth of God. And he says, “my God will supply all your need according to his riches and glory.” But what is the context of that?

 

  He’s talking to givers here.

 

  Right.

 

  To partners in his ministry.

 

  He says, no church communicated with me, in verse 15, in giving and receiving, but you only. So this is amazing. Paul is writing from prison, he’s happy, he’s joyful, he’s thankful.

 

  Well, probably in prison at this time, if people didn’t supply you food and water, you probably didn’t get any.

 

  You died. I know I had a friend and his wife was from a third world country, and he said, “listen, if you go to jail over there, if your family doesn’t bring you food and take care of you, you’re gonna starve to death.” They don’t treat prisoners with a lot of respect in some of these third world countries. So he just said, “that’s the way it is.” And like you’re saying, Aaron, that’s probably the condition here. So he says this was a giving church. And he said, “no church communicated with me in giving and receiving, but you alone.” And then he goes on and he says this, “you gave again-” This church started out giving with him in the beginning and they continued. You know, there is a special grace in my heart for people who I started out with and those people, you know, over 30 years ago in the ministry, some of those people are still supporting us today and still giving the ministry, people that supported us in our first church and helped us with that plant actually still give and sometimes come here to this church. And you know, I’ve got actually the great grandson of a man that helped me plant that church that occasionally comes here. His granddaughter and great grandson will come here to church, and it just blesses me that I’ve ministered to this family for four generations.

 

  And we see the fruit there. You know, the Bible says when you’re looking at prophets or Jesus specifically talking about false prophets, you’ll know them by their fruit, you’ll know true prophets, too. True leaders, true pastors, apostles by their fruit.

 

  Right.

 

  And when you see that fruit of someone’s righteousness and in just abundance abounding to their account, that that’s really awesome to me.

 

  And faithfulness. People that have been faithful over the years, just sowing and giving and serving. And there’s just a special grace in my heart as a pastor for people like this. And so he said, you know what? They communicated in giving and receiving, they sent again to my necessity. They started out in the beginning, they stayed with me. And then he says this, “I am writing this, not because I desire a gift.” This is a powerful principle. And I believe this is the true heart of all true leaders in the body of Christ. It’s not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. You know what? When you get involved in the grace of giving, you will have a harvest on that seed. You cannot beat God giving. And so Paul says, “I want you to abound.” So you know what, if you get involved in sowing, you’ll get involved in reaping. If you’ll obey God in the realm of giving, you’ll be blessed, you’ll receive what  You know, it’ll help God. You know what? God wants to get some things to you, but He can’t get the things to you that He wants to get to you unless He can get some things through you. And I believe the reason that He gets some stuff to us is because He wants to get it through us. And so he says in verse 18, I have all, I abound, I am full, having received. Wow, what statements. Statements of abundance. In fact, if you read from verse 10 to verse 19, there are at least seven statements of abundance that Paul makes.

 

  One thing too here in Philippians 4:18, he said, you know, “these things that you’ve sent and Epaphroditus brought these,” he said, “they’re sweet smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.” So they were giving to Paul to sow into his ministry to help support and partner with him, but ultimately it blessed God.

 

  Amen.

 

  You know, when you give to where God has put His name again, where people proclaim the name of Jesus and they see these signs that follow them that believe, that people are set free, people are delivered, people are healed, people are saved, it ultimately, you’re giving to God.

 

  Amen.

 

  Because this is God’s heart, is to expand his kingdom, expand the spirit of Christ here on the earth.

 

  Amen.

 

  And when you give to ministries that are doing that, you’re ultimately giving to Jesus, you’re giving to God.

 

  Amen. And you know what? You can’t beat God giving. I used to have this lady, she was out from Haswell, Colorado out in that area, Galatea, southwest of Eads, drove about 30, 35 miles to come to our church. Betty and Aubrey Shotton, and Betty would sing this song, “You Can’t Beat God Giving.” And you know, Aubrey’s neighbors got jealous of him because of the crops and different things, and they said he’s cheating on his taxes. and they turned him into the IRS and the IRS audited him, said, “no, he’s not cheating on his taxes. He’s making this money.” And then they said, “well, he must be stealing cattle.” And the state actually stopped his trucks on the way from the sale barn in La Hana out to where he lived, and they unloaded all the cattle and checked the brands, and they said, “no, he’s not stealing cattle.” You know what? He wasn’t stealing cattle, he wasn’t cheating on his taxes. It was the blessing of the Lord. That’s just like the Bible says.

 

  And the Bible says, “the blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and he adds no sorrow to it.”

 

  Amen. And you know what? God is no respecter of persons. If God would bless Aubrey and Betty Shotton, God will bless you.

 

  Mm. If God will bless Jesse de Planus and Andrew Wommack and Lawson Perdue and Lester Sumrall, God will bless you because he’s no respecter persons just a respecter of faith. Well, stay tuned. We’re gonna be right back and finish this up. Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve been connected with us while we’re talking about the blessing of generosity, we have these teachings and those live in-church services available to you free of charge on our website at charischristiancenter.com in downloadable audio and video. Also, check out my book, “Provision: Releasing Supernatural Increase in Your Life.” Jesus said three beautiful words in John 19:30. He said, “It is finished.” There is nothing more that needs to be paid in the realm of redemption. The price has all already been paid.

 

  Praise the Lord, friends, and I’m glad you stayed with us. We’re right here in 2 Corinthians 9. We were just in verse nine talking about the fruit of a righteous man’s life. And we went to Philippians 4 where Paul was commending the Philippians, you know, for their generosity and their faithfulness in giving. They had supported him for years and years and years. And I mean, he was so thankful, and he gives ’em this promise, and this is a promise to those who were giving and receiving. It says in Philippians 4:15, but in verse 19, he says, “my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.” But we’re gonna get right into 2 Corinthians 9:10-11. And Aaron, there are seven things, and I’ll identify ’em. You can read ’em, but then I’ll have you comment on these seven things that happen when you get involved in the grace of giving.

 

  Yeah. And just right before we start into these seven things, I wanna say this, that when you are a generous person, it brings glory to God.

 

  It does.

 

  And the enemy wants to stop people from being generous, there’s like a religious spirit against it, the world’s against it, but when you’re generous and give to things that God has a heart for it, it brings Him glory.

 

  Amen.

 

  It’s a testimony to the gospel. That’s why Jesus, all throughout scripture, you see testimonies of people’s giving. You see testimonies of the Macedonian church giving, you see testimonies of the woman with the alabaster box. And these things bring glory to God. And really we should all have that desire to be generous and to have an abundance for every good work. When I just started my doctorate at Rice University, well, you kind of mentioned this before, but God gave me this idea to start a business buying and selling watches online, and I had a friend who was a charismatic Catholic believer. He prayed in tongues. I actually liked our conversations. He really believed in the power of God. And it was our first year of our doctoral program, and he was gonna put on a concert of sacred music, music that sang scripture, brought glory to God, and you know, he wanted do this, but all the professors were against it because they said, you can’t do that. You have to only compose secular music and you won’t have any career. He actually has a great career. He is one of the top composers for sacred choral music today.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  But he wanted to do this concert, but he had to raise money, do it. He wanted to hire professional choir to do it, and he was gonna do an online fundraising campaign for it to try to raise $5,000, and if he didn’t raise it by the deadline, then he wouldn’t, it wouldn’t happen. And just whatever you promised to give or had given online would just go back to you. Anyways, he just had like one hour left to raise this money and he was about a thousand dollars short. And right before we were going to class together, I heard my phone make this ka-ching sound. And I looked at it and I was really excited because it was one of the most expensive watches I’d ever bought. I bought this watch for a thousand dollars, it’s like a $5,000 watch, but I sold it for 2,000. So I made a thousand dollars profit on it, and I just felt God telling me to take that a thousand dollars profit and to give it towards my friend’s project to do…

 

  Amen.

 

  This sacred music. And when we got to class, I sat down at my computer and I wasn’t sitting by my friend, I was sitting by two other friends who weren’t believers. They’re actually very kind of wild type, heathen-type people and they saw what I did. They saw that the timer was less than an hour. And I pushed him over that threshold so his project could happen. And my one friend, he was so inspired that he actually got his computer and then gave a hundred dollars himself, gave even beyond.

 

  Amen. And they, it just really witnessed to them, just that generosity. Generosity brings glory to God.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  It impacts people, you know?

 

  Amen. So when you look at this in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 I’ll read it and then I’ll talk about these seven things. And Aaron, I want you to comment on them. He says, “he who ministers seed to the sower will both minister bread to your food, multiply your seed sown, increase the fruit of your righteousness being enrich in everything to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God.” So when you get involved in the grace of giving, here are seven things that happen. Number one, God gives seed to the sower. Number two, he gives bread to your food, bread for your food. Number three, he multiplies your seed sown. Number four, he increases the fruit of your righteousness. Number five, you will be enriched in everything. This doesn’t only affect your giving. This affects everything it says. He says it causes bountifulness, it brings bountifulness, number six. And finally, number seven, it causes thanksgiving to God. Aaron, comment on those things. The fruit of generosity, the fruit of getting involved in the grace of giving.

 

  Well these are really promises to people who are givers.

 

  Amen.

 

  These are seven promises. There’s a lot of promises for givers. You know, there’s a lot of promises for tithers. We talked about the tithers blessing. There’s a lot of promises in the Bible for givers. There’s over 2000 scriptures on finances in the Bible, and the church shouldn’t shy away from these things. So that first promise we see here is that He supplies seed to the sower. If you’re a sower, God will supply seed. He’ll make it possible for you to be a sower, to be a giver. If that’s what you are, if you’re a giver, He’s gonna supply the seed to sowers. Amen. And it also says He will give you bread for food. That means you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to eat.

 

  Amen.

 

  What are you gonna wear? Jesus talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount, that you’re not gonna have to worry about the things that Gentiles worry about. You’re not gonna have to worry about…

 

  Your food and your clothing. He says, you know what? Consider the birds of the air, they don’t…

 

  Toil.

 

  Toil, they don’t work. They’re not planting, they’re not harvesting, but yet, they have enough because God feeds them. And consider the birds, the flowers of the field.

 

  They don’t spin or toil.

 

  They’re not working and they’re not fretting. But yet Solomon in all of his glory, Solomon was one of the most wealthy people in the entire world. He made silver so abundant in Israel, in Jerusalem, that they piled it in the street. That is amazing to me.

 

  We talked about this, too, about Solomon and just the palace. You brought up about how there’s a proverb about a spider that even dwells within a-

 

  Yeah.

 

  A palace.

 

  It’s one of favorite proverbs that says, you know, a spider takes hold with his hands and it’s in king’s palaces. And I believe if you diligently administrate finances and you’re diligent in management, even though you’ve been given a little, you could end up in a king’s palace. That’s kind of the testimony of my life.

 

  Yeah. And we should be diligent with giving as well. So God gives bread for food. That was the second promise there. And number three, he’s gonna multiply the seed you’ve sown.

 

  Yeah. So if you multiply zero, what is it?

 

  Zero.

 

  If you give nothing, it get multiplied, it’s gonna be zero.

 

  We talked about the grace for giving. And you know, there’s a great, where’s it go? From grace to grace. So really we shouldn’t want to draw back from giving.

 

  Right.

 

  We should want to increase it.

 

  Yeah, I’ve seen some people talk about the grace of giving and they say, well, I don’t need to tithe because I’m under grace. And their life is really a testimony of it. And it’s really, most people that are believers that don’t get involved in giving and giving at least a 10th end up lacking. And they end up with a lot of challenge and it just doesn’t work out. So rather than use grace as an excuse not to give, do what Paul says and give more.

 

  And there’s a blessing of multiplication and the blessing that God spoke over Abraham was a blessing of multiplication. That I will multiply you, I’m gonna bless you. So that blessing of multiplication where God can show you how to make a hundred dollars and you can multiply it and then do it a thousand times. There’s a multiplication factor.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  So God can multiply the seed you’ve sown. And this fourth promise is to increase the fruits of your righteousness. I really love that one because as believers, we’re righteous in Jesus, but we wanna see fruit. There needs to be fruit abounding to our account. And if you’re a generous person, you’re gonna tap into all kinds of fruit. You’re gonna have fruit that’s well pleasing to God, you’re gonna have fruit that points people to Jesus, you’re gonna have fruit, that you’re gonna have a fruitful life.

 

  Amen.

 

  You know, one just terrible tragedy is for people to live their entire life and to haven’t really had much fruit, not much impact, not much purpose in life.

 

  Amen.

 

  But God wants us to have fruit and he’s gonna increase that in our life. That’s the fourth promise. Number five, to be enriched in everything.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  To be enriched in everything. God doesn’t want to just enrich you financially, he wants to enrich your life and everything. He wants to enrich your soul, he wants to enrich your family, your relationships, your career, your purpose, your, he wants to enrich you.

 

  Wow.

 

  In everything. Some people are very rich financially, but they are poor beyond that.

 

  Oh, I’ve seen that. It’s really tragic.

 

  Some people only  And that that’s a tragedy too, is just when you’re only living for money.

 

  Oh, it’s terrible.

 

  And money has become your God. Money has become every just, or money and fame.

 

  Aaron, you preached on this from Matthew 6, that no man can serve God and mammon, and I’ve never heard anybody say this, but you defined mammon as the personification of wealth or riches. And boy, it hit me just like-

 

  That’s why money, which is a non…

 

  Right.

 

  It’s a material thing, but it becomes like a person. It becomes an idol.

 

  Right.

 

  It becomes a God, it speaks to you.

 

  Right, so do not worship money, worship God. 1 Timothy 6 talks about this, says, God gives us all things richly to enjoy, that we don’t worship money. Don’t make money, let God be your God and let money be your servant. It’s not wrong to have money. God wants to bless. There’s many promises for wealth and for riches and for blessing and for finances and for increase in the Bible.

 

  To be enriched, also to just be, to have everything for all liberality, that’s talking about liberality in terms of being generous.

 

  Amen.

 

  So you’re just gonna be generous in so many ways and people even just recognize it on you. And lastly, it causes thanksgiving through us to God.

 

  Amen. And you know what? That’s talked about here in the very  You know, we thank God for His blessing, we thank God for His abundance, we thank God for His provision. But he talks not only that, he says five things in verse 12 through 15, when you administrate finances properly in the church, what will happen? He says, it supplies the want of the saints, in verse 12, it leads to thanksgiving unto God, and he says, while it causes people to glorify God, it caused glory to God, in verse 13, for your profess subjection to the gospel, it’s a testimony of the grace of God. And finally, he says, thanks be to God. Again, it causes thanksgiving to God. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. Jesus is the greatest of all gifts. There’s really no way that we can expound upon the greatness of the grace of God expressed to us in the person of Jesus. And you know, I would be wrong if we taught these two weeks and I did not give you the opportunity today. So I wanna give you the opportunity to call into the ministry or get online and become a partner. I believe that if you get connected with Charis Christian Center and Grace for Today in the realm of giving, that you’ll be more blessed than you ever were before, that you will see supernatural harvest and increase come into your life. So thanks for being a part. Check us out online. We’ve got hundreds of hours of free teaching that we’ve made available to you or give us a call today. We’d love to hear from you. Talk about your partnership or receiving prayer today to receive Jesus. If you wanna receive Jesus, just pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is your son. I believe he died for my sin and you raised him from the dead. And right now I surrender to your Lordship. In Jesus’ name, amen. Blessings. Friends, I wanna invite you to give us a call today to receive prayer. Whether you need salvation, healing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit or any of God’s other promises, we have trained prayer ministers here waiting to receive your call and we would love to hear from you today. Thanks so much. Blessings.

 

  When we step out in faith and tap into giving and receiving, there are tremendous promises available to us. Discover scriptural principles that will help you understand the abundant blessing that is connected to generosity. We are blessed to be a blessing. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of the teaching, the Blessing of Generosity, a $20 value, free of charge. Download it today at charischristiancenter.com.

 

  Friends, the scripture says, if you will continue in the word of God, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. If you go to our website charischristiancenter.com, you can get all of our materials there on the website as you watch ’em, as you listen, absolutely free of charge. And we’ve done that just to be a blessing to you. And I believe that the word that has freed me will free you. Blessings.

 

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