For I testify that they gave according to their ability and even beyond it. Of their own accord,For according to their power, I testify, yes and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord,For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;For according to their power, I bear witness, yea and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord,
3 sermons cite this verse
… The next time you hear a televangelist begging you for money, you should send them 2 Corinthians 8 verse 3. they begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers where in where jerusalem now for what in the world had happened in jerusalem for the body of christ all over the ancient world to have to send them money i mean what's the deal well they were persecuted that's true they were persecuted no doubt about it but all the churches were being persecuted to some level throughout the world at that time. What was going on? Listen to this. You might be shocked to find this out. Read this carefully. You guys ready? Why is the church of Jerusalem a burden when it comes to them needing money? Acts chapter 2 begins at verse 44. Acts 2, 44. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common. You've read that verse before? We've all read that verse before. Let me tell you what it means. All the believers, they were in deep fellowship one with another, and they shared. They shared what they had with others. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's very nice, isn't it? Very, very great, wonderful. If it would only have kept that way, that would have been fine, and we would not be reading what we're reading about today in Romans. Go to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. Listen carefully. You might be shocked to hear this. And when they had prayed, the place where they were …
… scripture teach us to give what we're going to do is we're going to read two passages one in chapter 8 and one in chapter 9 and basically the first one 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1 through 9 is an example. Paul points to these churches in Macedonia. We're going to see him kind of lift them up as an example. And the second passage we're going to look at is 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 6 through 15. And what this is over here is basically some truths based on this example. So we're going to be all over the place going back and forth, just turning between these two chapters. But to try to get this picture, let's camp out on these two passages. 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1. Paul writes, service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, and knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in your love for us, Okay, go over to the next chapter. …
That is, that they also in the Corinthian church might be as generous and as obedient as they were in the churches in Macedonia. Now, let me tell you what I want to do today. I want to make my introduction very brief because I want to go immediately into the body of this message because I want to talk about what the Bible teaches about giving in the church. And the first question I want to ask and to answer is this, and that is, what is the purpose of giving in the church? And let me just go through these for you if I might. We're coming back to the Scriptures and the Scripture and many, many others. But what is the purpose of giving in the church? First of all, the ultimate purpose, let me say, is not because God is in need. How could God be in need when He says, The cattle and a thousand hills are mine, saith the Lord. The silver and gold is mine, saith the Lord. …