Sermon Tone Analysis

Upside Down Church

Upside Down Stewardship

Key Thought – Human nature teaches us to take all we can, God calls us to give all we can.

Introduction……

Luke 12:32-34 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor.

Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

A. What is a Steward?

1.

A responsible manager or overseer of property, financial affairs and estate.

(Dictionary.com)

2. As believer’s we are called to be stewards on this earth.

3. God has ownership, we are the stewards of what He owns.

You are a manager.

B. Defined by Giving

1. God Gives – show video entitle “God Gives”

2. As Disciples we should give – Our example was Jesus, therefore we should live lives of giving by the example that He gave.

3. Quotes about giving –

a. “A lot of people are willing to give God the credit, but not too many are willing to give Him the cash.”

Anonymous

b. “You can give without loving.

But you cannot love without giving.”

Amy Carmichael, missionary to India

c. “No person was ever honored for what he received.

Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”

President Calvin Coolidge

d. “If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.”

Billy Graham

C. God’s Plan for Giving

1. Giving Must Be Systematic – you are what you do over and over again.

I am not a giving person if I chose to give on one specific occasion for one specific cause, I am a giving person when I continually and systematically give.

It becomes a part of my DNA.

2. Giving Must have Equal Opportunity – It must be something that gives every individual, regardless of their personal situation the same opportunity.

3. Giving Must Have a Starting Point - God shows us what is required of us, but never places a cap on our giving, because those who have incorporated God’s plan of Giving into their lives will find that there is blessing attached to our giving.

4. Tithing - means a tenth or 10%, it is the first thing you do every week!

a. Genesis 28:20-22 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

b.

Malachi 3:6-12 6 “I the LORD do not change.

So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.

Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.

“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8 “Will a mere mortal rob God?

Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.

9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty.

12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

c.

Even Jesus tithed and endorsed tithing even in the New Testament

5. My response as a believer is to follow God’s Plan for Giving.

We give to the storehouse (local church) so that the church can function and operate and see the mission that God has called us to fulfilled.