What Does God Promises When You Give?

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CURRENT TEACHING SERIES Daring Faith

What Does God Promises When You Give? By Rick Warren — Jan 11, 2016 “Give, and you will receive. You will be given much. It will be poured into your hands — more than you can hold. You will be given so much that it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you.” (Luke 6:38 ICB) To reap a great harvest, you must plant generously in faith. My wife Kay and I have done this hundreds and hundreds of times. We give away 91 percent of our income and live on 9 percent. We’ve raised that from giving 10 percent 40 years ago. I’m an example of the fact that you cannot out-give God. I’ve tried for 40 years and lost every year. To plant generously in faith, you need to remember two promises of Jesus. Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and you will receive. You will be given much. It will be poured into your hands — more than you can hold. You will be given so much that it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you” (ICB). The way you give to others is the way God will give to you. You need to start being generous in planting seeds in this life to harvest in the next. Then in Mark 10:29-30 Jesus gives a guarantee about anything you give up for his sake. He says, “There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time … and in the age to come eternal life” (ESV).    God says that anything that you give up for his sake, anything you sacrifice for his Kingdom will be returned a hundredfold. You know how much a hundredfold is? That’s 10,000 percent interest. Do you know any stockbroker that will guarantee that? Only God and his Son can do that. They’ve been doing business with people like you for 2,000 years. These are the promises of God. You can believe them or not. But if you don’t believe God’s promises, I have to ask you this: Why do you believe Jesus will save you and take you to Heaven? That’s the same Jesus. Why do some people trust God with their eternal salvation, but they don’t trust God with their finances? It only makes sense to trust him for both and to plant generously in faith so that you can reap a harvest. PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick>> Talk It Over What do you expect God to give to you? Are you showing the same generosity to others? How has God asked you to sacrifice? What was your response? What does it mean to claim the promises of God?   CURRENT RADIO SERIES All Things New   CURRENT TV SERIES All Things New   I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.  Romans 6:19 When I consider the work that God does, I like to think about it in terms of Him being in the construction business. That is because from the beginning of the Bible to the very end, God is always at work building something. There is His creative work in Genesis chapter 1, when He created the heavens and the earth. He then made man in His own image and created him after His own likeness. Then there was the building of the ark when Noah was led by God and given building plans for the formation of that ship that delivered them from of God’s judgment. And then later on there was the building of the tabernacle, and then the temple. Then, when Jesus came to Earth, what was His profession? He was a carpenter! And He made things physically with His hands and, beyond that, said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). And you know something? God is building you, too. It’s called “sanctification” and He is doing it in you every day as He makes you more and more like Him. So if you struggle with sin, don’t let it get you down. Just imagine a big orange sign over your head that says, “God at work”! AS A CHRISTIAN, YOU SPEND YOUR ENTIRE LIFE AS GOD’S CONSTRUCTION PROJECT, BEING MADE MORE LIKE HIM. SO DON’T LET YOUR STRUGGLES GET YOU DOWN. YOU’RE A WORK IN PROGRESS!