This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

We're in day four of our look through 2 Corinthians chapter 8 today. We're going
to look at verses 10 to 15. We're continuing to look.

This whole chapter is about how do you become a generous person. And we've just
walked through these principles that Paul gives us, powerful principles from
God's Word. Number one, you give regardless of the circumstances.

Number two, you give beyond your abilities. Number three, you see giving as a
privilege. Number four, you give yourself to the Lord first.

Yesterday, we looked at number five, you give excellently, and number six, you
give gratefully. Number seven, if you want to become a generous person, number
seven, you finish what you start. You finish what you start.

Here's what Paul says in verses 10 and 11. Here is my advice about what is best
for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give, but also
to have the desire to do so.

Now finish the work so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by
your completion of it according to your means. He says in these verses that your
willingness to give needs to be matched by completion. Just wanting to give,
just desiring to give, just having this moment between you and the Lord of I
want to sacrifice, I'm willing to do it, starting is good.

But he says only if you finish. Generosity finishes. Now I totally understand
that sometimes when you make a commitment, you do it at all good intention of
thinking my job is going to be the same forever and a change comes into your
job, a change comes into your finances that you didn't know about, so you can't
finish it like maybe you wanted.

I totally understand that. I'm not saying that when we make a commitment to the
Lord, we make it without understanding that there's some changes in the future.
I'm just talking about those times in so many of our lives where we start
something and we intend to finish it and our finances don't change, our
circumstances don't change, but our intentions do.

Not on purpose. It's just we get on to something else. We just forget.

The Corinthians had just forgotten. What have you just forgotten to give? Maybe
you've just forgotten to give a tithe lately.

Maybe you've just forgotten to give to an offering that your church started two
or three years ago. You've just forgotten. Maybe you've just forgotten to give
to someone that's on your block that you used to give to to meet a need.

What have you just forgotten lately? We just forget sometimes. And so we need to
be reminded.

Finish what you started. And we need to know in every commitment you have these
three phases and it's certainly true in our giving. You have great energy at the
start.

When you first make the commitment, you trust the Lord in some area and we're
talking about giving this week. So you say, "I'm going to trust the Lord and I'm
going to make a sacrifice like I've never made before. I'm going to start
tithing or I'm going to give an offering to some building or some mission
project that our church is doing.

" You begin that commitment. There's always great energy at the start. Great
expectation of what God's going to do in your life.

But then in the middle, it always takes great commitment. Those are the long
days in the middle. And maybe you're not seeing the blessings yet.

There's always, by the way, a distance, a space between your commitment to give
and God's blessings out of that giving. Now, God's blessings are not always
money back in return. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it's joy back in return.

Sometimes it's God protecting you in some area back in return. He does bless our
giving by increasing our faith, no doubt about it. I can't tell you exactly how
God's going to bless your giving, but I can tell you he will.

But it's not always immediate. And so because of that, you have great energy at
the start, but then it's great commitment in the middle. But then at the end,
there is great joy at the finish.

You just go to the finish of a marathon. There's great joy at that finish line.
People applauding, rejoicing.

There's greater joy here. This is greater than a marathon. Because what you're
giving is investing in eternity.

It's going to last forever. So when you make a commitment, and it's tough to
keep that commitment, but you've finished that commitment, there's always this
great joy that wells up in your heart. Thank you, God, for carrying me through.

You finish what you start. That's part of being generous. Number eight, this is
an extremely important principle of generosity.

Number eight, you give according to what you have. Now, that may sound very
simple, but listen to what the scripture says about it. For if the willingness
is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to
what he does not have.

Now, at the end of verse 11, we just read that you're supposed to give according
to your means. You give according to what you have, to your means. That means,
by the way, that giving is a testimony to God's ownership.

Whatever God has given into your life, you give part of that back to others.
This testimony to ownership means the regular giving of a portion of what God
blesses you with, the scripture teaches. Why?

It's a recognition of the fact that he's the giver. What percentage should that
be? Well, the word tithe means 10 percent, and Jesus said you should tithe.

If you want to look it up in the scripture, you can find it, so I believe that
we should do what Jesus said we should do. You give 10 percent back to God.
That's a testimony to ownership.

You give the 10 percent, but that doesn't mean the 90 percent is then yours. No.
The 90 percent is still God's, even if it's being used for something else,
you're holding it with an open hand saying, "God, how do you want to use that?

" When you think of giving as a percentage of what you have, and then you're
holding the rest with an open hand, it gets you out of this trap of wondering,
"How much can I give? And if I can't give as much as someone else, that must
mean I'm not a very generous person. " No, the gift is, here's the key word in
this verse 12, acceptable.

The gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what you
don't have. The number one reason for stifled generosity in people's lives is we
look at what we don't have. And when we look at what we don't have, we feel
insignificant.

I can't give as much as somebody else, or we feel scared. I don't have enough to
give. Listen to this scripture.

The gift is acceptable. Give your gift as a gift of praise to God out of
whatever means you have, and realize that it is acceptable. Recognize that God
accepts it as an offering to him.

Listen to this. When you give a gift, you're not just giving a gift. Listen.

God is accepting that gift from you. There's two things going on. I am giving an
offering, but God is also accepting that offering, and God says, "It is
acceptable to me based on you giving out of what you have.

" So forget this thinking about what other people have or how much you can give
or comparing could it be more than somebody else. That's not the issue. The
issue is what has God given you?

Are you giving a portion of it back for his glory? It's not so important what I
think of your gift. It's not at all important.

The real joy is in the fact that God accepts your gift as an offering to him. So
you give according to what you have. The gift is acceptable according to what
you have.

Your own pride sometimes. Our own pride can come between us and our best
intentions. I can't give that.

It's not enough. It's acceptable according to what you have. You give, and you
let the Lord use that gift.

You give when you give knowing that it's acceptable to God. And then number
nine, it leads into this. Because of that, you give expectantly.

Verses 13 to 15. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are
hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty
will supply what they need so that in turn their plenty will supply what you
need.

Then there will be equality. As it's written, "He who gathered much did not have
too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. " Now Paul is
talking about what happens when we give.

When we give, needs are met. In fact, you should expect three things to happen
when you give. Number one, you expect that others' needs will be met through
your giving.

Number two, you expect that your needs will be met through your own giving. And
number three, you expect that your needs will be met through others' giving.
Others' needs are going to be met through your giving or else what you give.

And in a church, when you give to the body of Christ, there are thousands of
needs that are met. Spiritual needs, emotional needs, and physical needs are met
through your giving. You should also expect that your own needs are met through
your giving.

Now, your own needs are met in terms of generosity. By your own giving, you're
opening the door to joy in your life. But your own needs are also met.

When you give to the body of Christ, then teaching happens in your life, then
worship happens in your life. Needs are met in your own life through your own
giving. Opportunities to serve.

There's a third thing that also happens, though. Third thing you should expect
is that there are times when your needs are met through others' giving. Don't be
so prideful to think, "I'm always going to give, and others are always going to
receive from me.

" There are times in all of our lives when we need to receive from others, when
what we give blesses others, but then also what others give blesses us. And Paul
says that here. Your plenty is going to supply their need.

Their plenty is going to supply your need. The truth is, our own needs often
come between us and our best intentions. We think, "How can I help them when my
needs are so great?

" And Paul says here, "I'm not saying that you should totally discount your
needs. I don't want you to be hard pressed while others are relieved. I just
want them not to be hungry anymore.

I want you to have a meal also. " Paul makes the goal of personal giving clear,
and he uses the word equality. He's not talking about communism here, where we
all put our money in a pot and everybody takes out of it.

He's talking about giving. As long as I can find someone who has less than I
have, I have a motivation to finish what I've started. I've got a motivation to
give.

As long as I know there's someone out there who's hungry and I'm not, someone
out there who doesn't know the Lord is yet, they haven't heard the gospel and I
have, someone out there who doesn't have the opportunity to worship on a weekly
basis, and I get that opportunity. Somebody out there who's facing an illness
and it could be cured and I'm living in an area where the cure is there and
available, but they're not. I could go down a list of a thousand things right
now.

As long as I know that's true, I've got the motivation to give. And as long as
other people know that there are needs in my life and the life of my community
that need to be given to, they've got the motivation to give as well. You give
expectantly, expecting that God's going to meet needs.

Your needs, others' needs, the needs of the world through our giving. I don't
know why God set it up that way, but he has. He's allowed us to give and when we
give into the body of Christ, the body of Christ then reaches out and people
realize that the hands and the feet of the body of Christ are making a
difference in this world.

Needs are being met. That's how you give expectantly. Jesus says we pray, we
thank you for your body.

We thank you that we get to be a part of your body in this world. And we pray
together that as we give to your body, not just our time and energy, but also
our money and resources, that you would be glorified. That you'd be glorified.

That healing would happen. That teaching would happen. That truth would come
into people's lives.

That hearts would be changed. That's what we expect when we give. Lord, we know
when we give, you bless us and we're very grateful for those blessings that come
in so many ways.

But more than anything, what we expect when we give is that needs will be met in
our lives and the lives of people around this world. We expect this as we give
in faith. And in that faith expectation, we pray that you would bless the gifts
that we give.

In Jesus' name, amen.