Monday, October 20, 2008

Intentional Generosity

This Sunday is our fourth and final week in our message series on being rich. (By the way FFC peeps, it is also our one year anniversary event for our Building to Bless... Another Generation stewardship campaign.)

Last Sunday I shared about the principle of tithing. Tithing teaches us a couple of things; #1 tithing teaches us to put God first. Most people don't put God first, they put themselves first, and give God the leftovers. God comes after all the bills are paid and after we have done our best to satisfy ourselves. We put ourselves first all week long and then Sunday rolls around and we reluctantly throw 10 bucks into the offering plate. Returning to God the first part of our income teaches us to prioritize our lives around Him and not the other way around. #2 tithing increases my faith in God. It takes faith to give to God first; it doesn't take any faith at all to throw our leftovers in God's direction, anyone can do that. 

Being an intentional percentage giver is wise management of the resources that God has placed into our hands. We lean towards being intentional consumers and not intentional contributors. 
We will scheme about how to get more, and buy more, and keep more, but rarely do we find folks who are scheming about how to give more and become increasingly generous. 


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4 comments:

  1. Kris SorensenOctober 21, 2008 at 6:21 PM

    Mr. Kelly,

    Thank you for stopping by the blog and sharing your thoughts.

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  2. aylaeh@juno.comOctober 22, 2008 at 8:27 PM

    hi there pastor kris,

    this is mia here, from the atl :) i saw this post and thought i would send you a quick note. it's interesting that both you and my pastor here in atlanta both spoke about tithing last sunday. i've found that when i am not tithing i am not doing well on either an emotional or financial level.

    anyway, just wanted to say hello and that i am lurking around here sometimes :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kris SorensenOctober 23, 2008 at 6:16 AM

    Mia!

    How goes it in the ATL? Good to hear from you. Great thoughts on the connection between our wallet and our emotions.

    Thanks for stopping by the blog - you are always welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  4. aylaeh@juno.comOctober 24, 2008 at 8:31 PM

    mia again...

    :) it's been wet here today, but since we are in the middle of a drought we need all the rain we can get.

    my small group met tonight and were talking about my pastor's message last sunday. (i put in a shameless plug for your blog since you spoke on the same topic :) ). it was interesting to hear everyone else's thoughts on the topic since several of the people in my small group are from africa.

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