A Spirit of Giving
II CORINTHIANS 9:6-8
6 ¶ But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
LUKE 6:38
38 Give, and it shall be given unto you (the secret to getting is to first give – you must give first before you get, some people want to get without a spirit to give); good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
PSALM 37:21
21 ¶ The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again (in other words, they want to take, but they do not want to give anything, this is identifying a characteristic of what a wicked person is like in their character): but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth. (the character of the righteous is to give, they have a character in them that shows mercy and has a giving spirit)
A Spirit of Giving
Bible study on the subject of our character
Picking up from last time…
II PETER 1:5-8
5 ¶ And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Last time we showed how people can have a good knowledge of the word and even the message of the hour, but they are unfruitful in their character because they fail to ADD these virtues of Christ by the new birth.
351-3 LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.9
… Listen to me, "Naked (physically) we came into the world, but naked (spiritually) we will NOT leave it." Oh no, we are going to take something with us. What that something is, is ALL we can take with us, nothing less and nothing more. So we had better be real careful now to see that we take something that will make us right before God. So, then, what will we take with us? We will take our CHARACTER, brother, that is what we will take with us. Now what kind of character will you take with you? Will it be like HIS Whose character was molded by suffering in the fiery furnace of affliction, or will it be the softness of this character-less Laodicean people? It is up to each one of us, for in that day every man will bear his own burden.
IDENTIFICATION_ PHOENIX.AZ WEDNESDAY_ 63-0123
112 .. We're invited, by God, to take Him as an Example, and let our character be molded like His. What a thing! My!
113 Then, when we let His character be in us, then we have become sons, by having the mind of Christ, mind, which is His character. Your mind makes your character. "Let the mind," Paul said, "of Christ, this mind that was in Christ, be in you." Let that mind of Christ be in you. It molds the character of a son of God.
One of the outstanding characters of Christ is that he had a giving spirit, in fact he gave his entire earthly life for us so that we could have eternal life.
JOHN 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Notice – that in order for God to bring the blessing of eternal life upon the human race, he had to first give something that was very dear to him, and that was a sacrifice to him, and only then we see that a blessing follows the sacrifice of something giving.
You do not receive something without first giving something - this is a principle and law of God. You must first sow, and then you will reap.
III JOHN 1:2
2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
It is important for us to be reminded of the scriptural way of how God brings blessing and prosperity into our lives and into the lives of our offspring, and even into the lives of people around us, because according to this scripture it is God’s desire that we prosper in this life, but often we are our own worst enemy because we will not come at it the way that the word teaches us, and then God cannot bless.
PROVERBS 18:12
12 ¶ Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.
In other words – the way up is down and the way down is up.
**But in this evil day that we live in, our culture has got its thinking all backwards according to the laws of God, and unfortunately sometimes as believers we unconsciously buy into that same kind of thinking of the world, it rubs off onto us – but the scripture teaches us that in order to receive we must first give - and in order to do that, it requires a spirit of giving to be in us as a part of our makeup and character.
But unfortunately many of us get so educated into the 1+1=2 idea that we can’t believe the word of God anymore, we are convinced that we know what is best for us because we have become our own absolute by our own reasoning powers, and then our subconscious mine because of our unbelief of the word controls our character as to being against the character of the word and of Christ, and then because of that wrong character we bring a financial curse upon ourselves.
Most marriage problems between couples can be traced back to character issues, and most people are not willing to have their character changed by the word and have it formed and moulded into the image and character of Christ.
Many people love the teaching of the word so long as it doesn’t required them to have to change – but as soon as you begin to touch on peoples characters issues that are contrary to the word, then that is where many times you will see the sparks fly, and people will even leave church over the smallest things of their character because they are not willing to change.
*In the business world - The success of any business is in the companies ability to give – the better and more efficient you are at giving, the more you will get paid.
In other words - The more that you give, the more you will receive, because God wrote that law in the universe and it applies to all aspects of life whether it is business or personal or in relationships.
Opening scripture:
LUKE 6:38
38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
MARK 9:41
41 ¶ For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
Notice that this scripture is not dealing directly with the elected bride of Christ, but a people that do good to the bride, and so when we trace it back, we realise that it was a spirit of giving in these people that caused them to receive this reward from the Lord.
MATTHEW 25:31-46
31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. (Notice that he already knows who is sheep and who is the goats because they have already been judged back when they lived their lives on earth in the way they acted, the word judge them then – so this great white throne judgement is not a judgement for guilt but it is a judgement for sentencing)
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (there is an eternal purpose that God has ordained for these people that was also in his eternal thinking)
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Notice that they are being judge because there was a certain character in them - these people had a spirit of giving)
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
This is at the second resurrection where these ones who during their lives of earth have done good to the elect of God and they are given white robes which are immortal bodies and go into eternal life – their reward is life itself – they are not the bride, and they will not sit with him on his throne, but they make up the subjects because when they were in the world they came in contact with the elect and did good to them like Nicodemus did in the bible.
MATTHEW 19:16-22
16 ¶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? (We know this story as the story of the rich young ruler, but notice that the scripture does not give us his name)
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
This was a character issue of this young man in that he had a spirit to receive but not a spirit to give, and this is what eventually kept him from entering into eternal life.
*Notice something – that it appears from this passage of scripture that Jesus was asking him to become poor in order to have eternal life, and in a sense he was for that moment, but I do not personally believe that he would have remained in that poor state for the rest of his life because the scripture teaches that:
LUKE 6:38
38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
So according to this scripture, the act of giving would have advanced him more because the way up is actually down. Had this rich young ruler followed Jesus instruction to him and had sold his positions and given his money to the poor, then according to the principle of the word his wealth would have eventually come back to him again even greater, because you cannot out give, because that is a law of God that cannot be broken.
Job lost everything, but it came back to him in the end.
MARK 10:28-31
28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Abraham was a rich man
Job was a rich man - he lost his riches but then got back twice as much as he had before.
Solomon was a rich man, and being such a wise man he knew that the secret to prosperity was to have a spirit of giving.
PROVERBS 11:25
25 ¶ The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
PROVERBS 3:5-10
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 ¶ Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
PROVERBS 18:16
16 ¶ A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men. (Your gift is to be used for others and given out for the benefit and blessing of others)
PROVERBS 25:21
21 ¶ If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
22 For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.
So if we trace this rich young ruler to the end of his days we see that he never overcame this spirit of selfishness, and that is because he rejected the remedy that Jesus had prescribe to him to cure him of his condition of an ungiven spirit, and so his character was never changed, he never was able to break the chains of that selfish spirit in order to receive a spirit of giving, and so at the great white throne he will be identified on the side with the goats.
LUKE 16:19-25
19 ¶ There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: (notice again, his name is still not written in the word, but this is our same rich young ruler)
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
So back in his lifetime when this rich you ruler came to Jesus to find out what to do to receive eternal life, Jesus knew that his problem was that he needed to learn how to give, and so he needed his character to be dealt with by a portion of suffering, because this was the problem of his character that would actually keep him from entering into eternal life.
This young man had a spirit to receive but not a spirit to give, and so Jesus (having wisdom greater than Solomon) knew the exact thing to prescribe to him in order to break this young man’s spirit of selfishness, and so he gave him the precise prescription that would have literally ridden him of his selfish spirit, and that was to do the visa versa.
QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.4_ JEFF.IN COD SUNDAY_ 64-0830E
1159-Q-389 389. When a person realizes he has an inferior complex, or some sort of complex, how may he overcome this? So--should it be if he was the only child caused this in his early youth? (a lot of the problems that we have in our character, if we don’t overcome them in our youth we will take with us the rest of our lives)
Take exactly the opposite. If you're always wanting your way, and that one little brat that wants to always have everything your way, turn right back around and give everything you got the other way. If you're selfish and you want to hold everything, then start giving away what you got. See? Do whatever--just go the vice versa. That's the way to overcome anything is an antidote.