THE GRACE OF GIVING: Do I have it?
March 21, 2010
NOTE: Click here and then scroll down to listen to part one of this sermon.
The sermons we've heard the past two weeks at Ada Bible Church about the "Grace of Giving" are not falling off my mental radar. The text for Pastor Jeff Manion's teaching has been from 2 Corinthians 8:1-9.
The story in a nutshell revolves around three churches and a famine in Jerusalem. Two of the churches were in Macedonia and were undergoing severe hardships of their own. They were in Thessolinica and Phillipi where they were struggling to survive, while the third church in Corinth was rich with resources.
The two poor churches begged to help the needy in Jerusalem. They gathered an offering from the little they had. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church asking them to contribute to help the church in Israel. He pointed to the two churches and how they gave out of their scarcity and not out of their abundance.
The two poor churches knew and appreciated what they had already been given. They were giving from the grace they had already received.
What does this mean to me in my everyday life? I'm thinking about that.