Giving by Grace
Category: Grace
Key Passage: 2 Corinthians 9
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: March 4, 2025
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to 2nd Corinthians chapter 9. 2nd Corinthians chapter 9. I’ve studied hard. It is right after 1st Corinthians. That’s what I found out. Second Corinthians chapter number 9. And we’ll start reading there in just a minute.
And when you find that, would you say amen? You’re still turning, though. You said amen, but you’re turning now, you know. We got our World War II vet coming in back there. Brother Almas Reimer is about to turn 100.
Ms. Sandra Beard, we need to talk to you afterwards because we always promised to party when he turns out. So we got to work this thing out. We’re going to have that one of these Sunday afternoons. He’s about to turn 100. That’s amazing. He’s been around for a minute or two, you know. He was in War II, the Battle of the Bulge, I believe, and got a landmine blew up on him pretty quick into it. He got out, but boy, 100 years old, that’s awesome. I appreciate Brother Almas Reimer coming in there.
Second Corinthians chapter number nine. Let me say a word or two about this before we get started there. Paul is writing, God’s leading him, of course, and is writing to a church at Corinth. Corinth Baptist Church. I don’t know if that was the name of or not, but it’s a church there, Corinth. He had written a letter to them, First Corinthians, about a year earlier. He’s writing this one to them now.
This is interesting. In the first one, he called them Babes in Christ. Now, in Bible College, a bunch of young single preachers and a bunch of, you know, good godly girls, we would say, we need to check out the Babes in Christ, you know. You understand. You got to think that through. That’s not what Paul was meaning. He was actually calling babies in Christ. They were arguing and fussing and fighting and all that, no unity. It seemed like they had grown from 1 Corinthians to 2nd Corinthians, and he’s writing back to them and took care of a couple of issues.
But one of the things he’s doing here in 2nd Corinthians is he is collecting an offering for the church at Jerusalem. The church at Jerusalem is kind of like the hub of the beginning. I’m talking about after Jesus, the sentient revival there, the day of Pentecost, 3,000 saved and baptized. We’re about to cover that on Wednesday nights; we’re going through the book of Acts.
But a little bit into the book of Acts, really the hub of Christianity switches over from the Jewish people in Jerusalem over to the Gentiles in Antioch. Remember Antioch? The first place he called them Christians. Remember that? And some of these places are sending offerings back to Jerusalem because they’re very poor, a lot because of persecution.
Just a little before, 80, 70, that’s when this Roman general Titus marched into Jerusalem, just wiped it out. That’s about to happen. Oppression, persecution is mounting in Jerusalem. Many of the Christians there have lost their jobs because they were Christians, and they were just very, very poor, very needy. And so Paul is raising funds for the Christians back in Jerusalem. All right, you understand that? Y’all with me now? What is Paul doing? Some of you are awake. I mean, that’s what he’s doing, and he’s really focusing on that a little bit.
He’s up in Macedonia. It’s a little bit north of Achaea. And he says, I’m going to come down pretty soon here, and I hope your collection for the saints is gathered together, all right? So you’ve got all what’s going on here, just trying to keep us all on board on this passage. We’re in 2 Corinthians 9. We’re going to start verse number one. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together? Second Corinthians, by the way, if you don’t have a Bible, there’s one in the chairs behind you. You can get that. And let’s read this. God’s word doesn’t change. Praise the Lord, we know what God thinks about things here.
All right. Verse number one, 2 Corinthians 9. He says, “For as touching the ministering to the saints, let’s talk about the saints in Jerusalem, it is superfluous,” or it’s just extra. I know you don’t really need it. It’s over the top for you for me to write to you, for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia. That Achaea—Corinth is down in Achaea—that Achaea was ready a year ago; your zeal has provoked very many.
He said, I know your mind; you’re ready to give to these needy people over here. And I’ve been telling these folks up here about it, and it should encourage them to get involved. All right? Are you with me out here? Good deal. Now, verse number three. You got to watch me, amen. Been drinking water, nothing else. All right, now, we’re good. Verse number three: “Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready.”
I’ve been bragging on you, and I’m sending people a little bit early to make sure you’re going to fulfill what I’ve been saying about you. I don’t want to come down there, and you’ve not got anything ready for the offering for the people there in Jerusalem.
Verse number four: “Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we—that we say not ye—should be ashamed in this same confident boast.” And he said, I don’t want to be ashamed when I get there, bragging on you. Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you and make it beforehand your bounty, whereas ye had announced before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not as of covetousness. It’s not. It’s a bounty for these folks over here. It’s not for me. It’s not because I’m coveting more money. It’s not all that, what Paul’s saying there.
Verse number six: “But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”
For just a bit this morning, we’re going to talk about grace giving, grace giving. So I just lost about 90% of you, I understand. Hang with me here for a bit. I was thinking about it. I think over the years, maybe one time we’ve covered this section of scripture. But all counsel, you know, let’s dive in this for just a bit this morning about grace giving.
Would you pray with me that God would work and give his clear leadership in this matter? Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you, Lord. You save us by your grace. Lord, you sustain us by your grace. And you enable us to serve you by grace. Lord, would you just open this part of scripture up to us this morning, Lord? And then, Father, would you apply it to every single person, even the young people here? You apply it as you see fit, the scripture to the people, to me too, Lord. And we’ll thank you, Lord. We’ll praise and brag on you for what you do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
There are three types of giving in the Bible, all right? Let’s just try to get that right off the bat here. There’s what the Bible calls tithing, okay? Help me out. What does the tithe mean? It means the ten. 10%, all right? The Bible says the tithe is the Lord’s. It’s almost like God says, I’m letting you live on my green earth. I created you. And so the rent for living on my earth is 10% of all that increase. There’s no question about that. By the way, it was before the law, during the law, and after the law in the Bible, tithing.
This is interesting. I could not prove this, but this is the interesting thought. Remember the Garden of Eden way back in the beginning? God said that one tree you can’t eat of. Some of the people that study fruit trees and all that, what do you call them? Horticulturists? What Brother Frank just said? That’s it. Some of those—I wouldn’t say all of this—some of those say you can take all those productive trees and things and you can narrow them down really to 10 different ones. Isn’t that interesting? If that be true, and I wouldn’t preach that, you know, but if that be true, that even at the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, they couldn’t have one tenth. Isn’t that interesting?
Tithing’s all through the Bible. Tithing, that’s the tenth of our income. By the way, God’s going to get that tenth one way or the other. He may get it out of a flat tire or have, or I don’t know, but I’d rather put it in an offering plate, and, you know, God would get somebody saved out of that thing, you know, but God’s going to get it. I got a curse if I don’t give it, and I give it to God a blessing. By the way, that’s biblical. And we, from time to time, I’m preaching on that.
But this here, over and above the tithe, there’s what’s called the offering. Now, the Bible never tells us how much the offering should be. We don’t know. It says God leads and guides you. We don’t know. God gives leadership in that. By the way, I’ve already mentioned this, but where God guides, he provides. But offering—it could be faith promise. By the way, I believe from Malachi 3:10, I think the tithe will go to the church. Offering, it may go to such and such ministry here, wherever. I think that’s biblical, as God guides on that, however God wants you go to the radio station, it could go to the building fund, it could go to the building fund, it could go to the—however God guides, and I mean that, really, just however God guides in that, the offering, whatever amount God guides in that.
Then there’s what’s called alms deeds in the Bible. That’s… Have you ever given or received a Baptist handshake? You know what I mean by that? You shake their hand. We’ll say they’re giving a Baptist handshake, and you feel there’s something in their hand, and when they release, they put that $2,100 bill, whatever, in your hand. They thought maybe, you know, you’re needy. God led them, and they want to help you with that need. Or however, maybe you’re doing that for someone else. But it’s something you’re helping a needy person—alms deeds. You’re taking a box full of groceries over to their house. You’re giving, you’re helping someone needy. That’s alms deeds, all right?
So there’s tithing, there’s offerings, and there are alms deeds. Now, this passage here we’re dealing with would really fall under the category of offerings, maybe even alms deeds somewhat, because we’re giving to the needy people in Jerusalem. But I want to emphasize, this is not talking about tithing here, all right? This is talking about offerings, over and above your tithe, your grace giving, if you will, you’re giving to needy people here, a special offering for that. Y’all with me out there?
Now let’s look at this a little bit here. Let’s just go back to Scripture and see what God said. Look at verse number seven. Let’s just pull out some things about it here. Verse number seven. Watch those first two words: “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart.” Every man. Now, there may be times in this that God says a special offering. God says, I don’t want you to get involved, and you don’t get involved. By the way, I don’t want you to do it as it’s called Pastor Paul or Deacon so-and-so or sisters. We want it because God says to do it. Now, in some way give the offering. We don’t want to rob tithing offerings, but it’s as God leads.
But let me just say this, and notice the emphasis: every man. Every man ought to pray about it, be willing to give, get involved in this offering. For a while, we were out of church in Florida. It was not a financial good time for our family, a young family at the time. We were struggling financially, and it was our time of testing a lot. But I felt like at that time I wanted to put at least something in the offering plate every time it came by. Now, I’ll be honest with you, but all I gave during that time over and above the tithe was a dollar. And I don’t know why, but I wanted—I just felt like I was leading—I wanted to put something in every time. I didn’t want to pass me by without putting something in there. So I was taking dollar bills, and I don’t know why I was doing this, but I was rolling them up and folding them over real small. And every time, every service, it wasn’t much, but I was putting it in because that’s where God led me. And I’m just saying, but I was involved, every man, as the Lord purposed in his heart, purposed in the heart.
And it’s funny, I can’t even remember how it happened, but some of the ushers that were counting money, they found out that it was Paul that’s putting this rolled-up dollar bill. And they said, “I’ve been wanting to pick a bone with you. I’m tired of unrolling that dollar bill every service,” you know. And it’s only a buck. Well, that’s why God was leading me. Now, however God leads you, by the way, we’re not necessarily wanting this certain amount. We’re wanting obedience. That’s what we’re after. See?
And every man as he purposeth. Notice that. Look back to verse number seven. Verse number seven: “Every man according as he purposeth.” Purposeth if? Purpose if? No, there’s purposeth. Watch it. In his what? Heart. Notice it doesn’t say purposes in his head. You know, a lot of times giving to the Lord the way God leads you to give doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in your head. It purposeth in his heart. As God guides your heart. That’s the key. And God will if you let him. But he said, “Every man, according to your purposes in his heart, so let him give.”
This is what the Bible is talking about. It’s in your heart. Let me just emphasize that for a minute here. Your heart. Notice the rest of it kind of goes in line with this heart: not grudgingly, “Oh great, I’ve got to give to this,” or of necessity, “If I don’t, they’re going to kick me out.” No, no, nobody’s going to kick you out. I’ve already said, I don’t know who gives what. No, not about all that, but it’s out of your heart, for God loveth a cheerful giver. It’s like, I want to get involved in. I want to be a part of this offering of helping the needy people. I want to be involved. It’s a blessing to be involved.
I love faith promise giving because when Brother Patrick on Wednesday night reads a different missionary letter—Wednesday night he read about our Jewish missionary and he just went somewhere trying to reach the Jewish people, and sometimes Jewish people can be very hard in this day and time—so he kind of changed gears and he led, I can’t remember, it was 23 or 32 Gentiles—how many was it?—30-something Gentiles to the Lord when he did that. I meant, praise the Lord, because I got a little investment in there. And you give, I want to be involved in these things God is working in. And so this is all about giving from your heart. I want to do that. I want to be involved. God’s led me that way, and I want to follow. And I want to be involved in the cause of Christ and the cause of the souls of man for all eternity.
They say years and years ago there was a missionary to some Native Americans, and there was a chief that got saved there. And he became a born-again Christian. He became such a good Christian, and he was always energetic about the things of God, and he gave a lot to the missionary and to the cause of Christ. And finally the missionary went to him and he said, “Hey, you know, why? Why are you giving so much? I like it. I love it, but you’re always into it.” And he said, “I just want to ask you, why do you give so much?”
They say that the Indian chief said this: He said, “You know, you’ve never been in darkness like I was. If you’ve been in darkness like I was and God delivered you out of that, you know why I like to give like this.” His heart was in it. He said, “I want to be involved with the cause. He saved me. He did so much; He saved me. I want to be involved in the cause of Christ.” And that’s what he’s speaking of there, as he purposeth in his heart.
Now this is amazing. Talk about giving here. He said they’re giving. Sometimes we learn to give purpose in our heart. We learn to give out of grace giving in the poorest of times. Look over in chapter number eight right there, chapter number eight. And just two verses, chapter eight. And you’re a little quiet. I can tell I’m preaching on giving this morning. That’s all right. But can I know you’re awake out there? Would you at least say amen? Amen. Thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate it very, very much. I get it. I get it. We’re just after us obeying God here, all right? But I get it.
Chapter number eight, look in verse number one. Verse number one, he says, “Moreover, brethren, say, Corinthians 8:1. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.” What kind of grace is he talking about?
Verse number two: “How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep—what’s the next word?—poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” Now that doesn’t mean political liberal, all right? Well, I’ve got to clarify that. He’s talking about being liberal in your giving. And he’s talking to the church in Macedon. That’s a little bit north of Achaea, Corinth. And he said it was during your poverty that you learned just to give offerings, grace giving.
I thought about that as I was studying for this morning. I thought, why? And the more I thought about it, I thought, you know what, that’s a little bit true, I think, for myself and my wife. When we were just out of Bible college, been married for about a year, we went to L.A.—that’s Lower Alabama, amen. And I was a youth director, youth pastor down there. We worked for the church full time. I remember right, we got $125 a week. Now this was, oh, this was old—29, 30 years ago, so it was more back then—but still $125 a week for a young couple having a way. My son was born down there. It wasn’t much money. $125 a week that did supply gas for us. The church had a kind of a gas station. We could go to that one gas station get gas. And that gave us, I think, $50 a month to help a lot with rent. And so I won’t be honest about it, but that was a step of faith at that time.
And here’s the thing: It was a young church. Oh, I can’t remember how many years old it was. They were in a rented building. And while we were there, we built the first building of that church. And so the pastor was giving special offerings for the building, kind of like we’re doing building fund type thing. You think I’m like, you know, hard on this giving thing right now? That pastor would have given it all Sundays. And he would promote giving your whole paycheck. We’re going to have one of those next Sunday. No, I’m joking with you. About 25 blood pressure, you need to take that BP. Amen, your blood pressure went up on that. But he would. And we were on staff and whatnot, and we wouldn’t be supportive, you know, and on and on. And so we were making $125 a week. Give it all Sundays. Dirty big about that, stinking pastor up there type of thing, you know. It wasn’t quite that bad, but honestly, we participated in it. And we said, we’re just going to do it. I think we had a couple of those, and we did it. We were amazed. We weren’t making, you know, eating beans and rice. And we gave it all, and we learned God took care of us. It wasn’t when, you know, blessings as far as making a bunch of money, but it was when we were kind of financially, we didn’t have much of anything, but we were shocked. We watched God provide for us over and over again.
I don’t know why this one always sticks out in my mind. We lived in a trailer, and our hot water heater went out. I don’t know about you, but when you’re a kid, maybe a cold shower every once in a while, but I like hot showers. Come on now, you know. And, you know, we didn’t have the money to buy a hot water heater. And it was one of those special ones. You know, trailers, everything is different, you know, and it’s got to fit in this one slot. And I never forget a widow lady in the church, Miss Pat. I can’t remember how she said, “Hey, y’all need a hot water heater.” Somehow she gave us a hot water heater just like weirdly, and it was the exact one we needed. And we just watched time and again.
We went there with a Buick, I think it was the Skyhawk or Skylark, one of those two, and it was one of those that got to the point where how many of you ever started a car by sticking a screwdriver down there on the solenoid of the starter and sparks are flying? Yeah, how many ladies have done that? Yeah, we got some—yeah, we got some ladies there. Man, I had to teach my wife, all right, babe, you got to stick that screwdriver, be careful, don’t hit them, be right there, you know, there’s going to be some sparks, but it’ll be okay, you know. And makes you feel like a real good husband, you know.
And we got it fixed. We got money. We fixed that, whatnot. But we actually, on $125 a week and giving, at least twice, I think—I remember my wife will know exactly; she’s sick today—but, you know, during that time, we upgraded cars. Brother Kevin, you’ll like this. We went from a Buick to a Ford. What about that, brother? Come on now, you know. We got a Ford Taurus. And we could have—that car that we had, you know, it was running, doing fairly good. We were thinking about giving it to a family in our church. We thought, well, you know, if we just give it to them, probably best for them to have a little skin in the game. So we sold it, and we were—we would have did it. We just thought, well, probably best to make them [work for it]. We sold it to them for $100.
Now I’m saying that to say we were shocked at ourselves that we could do things like that when we were just—but it wasn’t when we were like financially booming that we learned to give grace giving above our offering. It was in a time of poverty. God took care of us. I don’t know if we were poverty, you know, and we were just amazed, and that’s when really we learned a lot of ways to give over and above. And that’s what they’re saying over here, this church of Macedonia. He said, “Hey, that’s when you learn to give.” Macedon is just a giving place. He said you learn that during poverty. And just, he said, everybody, everybody gets involved as God leads. You get involved in it, all right?
Now, let’s go. Let’s keep going here, all right? Let’s go down to verse number eight here, verse number eight. And notice what it says here. Help me out. What’s the first word of verse number eight? In other words, that end is bringing two together—the conjunction. Come on now, all you older people, conjunction, junction. You know, yeah, you know, I’m not going there, but you know where we’re at. That’s it, all right? You know, and it’s bringing what he’s been talking about into this thing here, right?
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” Wow. You see, he’s really talking about going beyond giving out of your abundance, and he’s talked about giving by grace. God enables you to give, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you. Anybody out there like grace abounding toward you? When I would—by the way, I think this grace in verse number eight, yes, it has to do with finances, yes, that’s the subject matter here—but he puts all these “all” in “every good work.” I think it’s not just financial grace, but it’s all kind of grace, all right?
And you see, now you’re giving out of grace. And then as God leads you in your heart, verse number seven, now verse number eight, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to…” What’s the next three words? “Every good work.” Yeah.
I hate to talk a lot about ourselves, not the worthy example of giving; probably many of you are much better than we are about it, but I don’t know your finances like ours, all right? But I look back at the times we gave over and above as God led us, whether it be faith promise or building funds or whatever, and it’s amazing. That’s the times that God began to just seem like just the grace was poured out. And whether it be financial grace or grace in different health, grace, and it just seemed like that’s what—and I look back and I see how God has sustained this by his grace.
I thought about this and studied for this years ago, and I’m not complaining. The church was young. We were starting out, and by the way, thank you for the church. It takes very good care of us, not trying to complain, and I mean that. I’m not just saying it; it really does. But years ago, the church couldn’t supply our medical insurance. And, you know, a young family with two kids, you know, nowadays, you know, before Obamacare, you know, now you’re like, we’d eat insurance. And the church couldn’t provide it. But, you know, it was amazing. We never really had any medical problems during those years. We just didn’t. God took care of us.
Now, here’s my complaining: As soon as the church provided medical insurance for us, we had to go to the doctor and hospital all the time. Let’s go back, you know. And I just look back, though, and honestly, I see how God’s provided. The grace of God took care of us. It sustained us. I’m not saying go without medical insurance. Nowadays there are a lot of different options, but I’m just—that’s what he’s talking about there. When you’ve obeyed God in giving, he said, God’s able to make all grace abound toward you. All things. All sufficient. You abound to every good work. That’s what he’s saying right there.
I look back, just a little personal testimony, because I don’t know your life. I’ve been amazed what all, you know, we were able to do. I was talking to my younger brother yesterday, the day before, Friday night, I think it was. And he said, “Paul, want to buy a boat?” You know the two best days of a boat owner’s life? Anybody out there know? The day you buy it, the day you sell it, David. Holding the water to put money in it. It’s a great thing. And I was telling David, I said, man, our family had two different boats over the years, but for years that was some of our best vacations on that boat. It was a great family thing. We get on a big old lake, Lake Cumberland, we get away from everybody, everything, and just have a ball as a family.
But I thought about that boat. One vacation was coming up, and we said, we want to do something different. And we said, we’re going to save our money. We won’t go anywhere. We’ll just save our money to buy a boat. We ain’t have much money. We’re saving. You know how it is. You get these big plans, and so, you know, John’s going to cut everybody’s grass in the whole neighborhood and rake their leaves and make money for the boat, you know. Sarah’s going to babysit every pet in the world, you know. I have 465 dogs at our house, you know, just, and we’re all pulling our money in for this boat, you know. And what I mean? Tammy, we were literally selling—today it’s Marketplace; back then it was Craigslist. Anybody know I’m talking about? Online yard sales. Amen, that’s it. We were doing all that, and we still didn’t have enough.
And Tammy and the kids were riding through neighborhoods, found an old boat in a yard, and they went, and they said, “Would you sell it?” And he is—you setting up? And so he said, “Yes.” And he worked a deal out. If I remember, it was $1,500. Well, he had taken that boat in Percy Priest Lake. Anybody out there have you ever knocked a prop off or a foot off the boat because of the rocks and the shallow water in Percy Priest? There’s a couple honest people out here, you know. And he had done that, and the foot of the motor was messed up, and he had worked on it a year or two before, and he got flustered with it, and he said, “Forget it.” And he just let it set out there. But he said, “I’ll sell it to you.” And so we agreed on the price. I think it was $1,500. We didn’t quite have that. We said, “In two weeks or whatever, he said, we’ll have that.” We shook on the price. Everything was done. We raised the funds. We came back two weeks later, and he said, “You know what?” He’s retired, older man. He said, “I just kind of got mad at that thing all over.” And I said, “I’m not going to let that thing beat me.” And he said, “Actually, I’ve fixed it now. It’s running. It’s fixed.” But we’ve already agreed on the price. And we got a good boat, running boat, didn’t have to work on it for $1,500.
Now, I just say, God’s grace. I’m amazed what all we did with our kids over the years because of God’s grace providing for us. Y’all out there? How many are you going to go look for a boat sitting up in the yard now, amen? Brother Mike says, “No, they break down.” That’s what I was talking about. He said, “Hey, you give as God leads you.” Verse number eight: God’s grace is just sufficient. He gives you what you need when you need it, and God always has.
Now here’s the key: obedience. That’s really the key. Just as God leads you. Tithes, we know how much it is. Offerings, we don’t know what it is. It’s different for everybody. Just as God guides you. Somebody said, “Hey, how much are we trying to raise out of the building banquet we had, building by grace banquet and the commitment cards and all that?” I don’t have a certain amount. And I was going that way, and the Lord said, “Don’t worry about that, Paul. The big thing is just if people obey me, that my grace can build that building.” So I’m not after a certain amount of money. That’s between you and God. I won’t know who gives what, but we can just obey God. Then his grace is sufficient. Every good work he says in—and a building over there. So that’s what we’re after. And I mean that. If God leads you, don’t get involved. Don’t get involved. Just obey what God leads and guides you to do.
I love what he says in Romans 14:5, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Does God guide you? By the way, God can speak to you. How many of you say, “I believe God can speak to us today”? Oh, he can’t? Out of his word, his Spirit guides us specifically, see. Key is listening to his voice, listening to us. That’s the key.
Now let’s go back up to verse number six, all right? Verse number six in God’s word this morning. Verse number six. Y’all still out there? How many are mad at me right now? Thank you for not admitting it. I appreciate that. Look at verse number six here. Verse number six. He says, “But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also…” What’s the next word? “…sparingly. And he that soweth bountifully shall reap also what?” How’s that? That’s talking about the style of giving. Are you giving sparingly or are you bountiful?
Now I’ll give you a couple of thoughts about this thing here, and then we’ll get a little bit more specific to those two things right there. Can I just say this? Two thoughts, and we’ll share it with you. Number one, typically misers aren’t real happy people, I would say that. Then I want to say this: Yes, the Bible says that a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. I don’t want to—it’s a biblical principle. I don’t want to take away from that. But can I say this? Do your giving while you’re living so you know where it’s going. You understand what I’m saying? Do your giving while you’re living so you know where it’s going.
But here’s this thing of it: sparingly and bountifully are relative terms. Look at this. If someone has a squirt gun and they use it bountifully on you, that’s one thing. If someone else has a five-gallon bucket and they use it bountifully of water and they use it bountifully on you, that’s another thing. If someone else has a fire hose hooked up to a fire hydrant and they use it on you bountifully, that’s another thing. You understand where I’m coming from? So these terms that God uses, sparingly and bountifully, are relative terms. If a fellow makes $50,000 and he uses bountifully, that’s one thing. If another fellow makes $500,000 and he uses bountifully, it’s going to be the amounts differently, but the same type of giving. You all with me out there?
So God here is saying sparingly or bountifully. That’s the type of giving. Are you a… Are you a miser? You don’t want to hang on to every penny. Are you willing to give bountifully out of whatever God guides you to do? All right. And so that’s what he’s talking about. But he does say, he does say, you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. You sow bountifully, you reap bountifully.
How many have you ever heard this phrase: “You can’t outgive the Lord”? How many of you believe that? I do. I do. Now, under the Lord’s leadership, there’s one time that you’re allowed to be liberal, not in a voting booth, all right. Proverbs 11:25, “The liberal soul shall be made fat.” Not talking about your belly, amen. “The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.”
And here’s the thing, though. Notice the terms that he uses. He that—what’s the name?—he that soweth sparingly shall also what? Reap sparingly. He that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully. You know, it’s that time of year I thought about having a garden. And you know what I thought? No. I had one last year. I remember out there plowing that thing up, and I do from that. I enjoy it. Now is the thing. Now is a good time. You’re going to have a garden; till that thing up while it’s still frosting over nighttime. You can turn those roots up and the frost kills it. Somebody say, amen. Come on now, Brother Frank, talk me all about this gardening thing here, you know. But anyway, and now’s the time of year, but, you know, you plow it up, get it all ready to go, and maybe a month or so from now—I haven’t planted yet—after all the frosts are done, then you plant. But you don’t get that next day. Man, you put that seed to ground, and it’ll take a month or so. Or if it’s okra, those okra seeds before you plant them. Come on now, all your farmers out there, yeah? Yeah, I mean, or if it’s green beans, it’s going to take a lot. If it’s corn, it’s going to take a long time before you get some corn. You know, some squash, it comes up pretty quick there. You know, I mean, some black-eyed peas, it’s going to take a little while, you know.
And here’s what I’m getting at: There’s a matter of faith involved in giving because it’s not like, “I’m giving it today. All right, come on. Hand them back. I sowed bountifully, let me reap bountifully.” There’s a time between sowing and reaping. See, there’s time involved there. By the way, you say, “Well, I want to talk to somebody about giving.” Don’t talk to somebody who’s been giving bountifully for a month. Talk to somebody who’s been giving bountifully for years. Find out what they say about it. Because there’s time involved there. Sewing and reaping. It takes time for that harvest to come through. By the way, that requires faith. And faith is what pleases God. See?
Now, it may be, it may be that this reaping, a lot of it might not come even to eternity. See? We don’t know when the full harvest is going to come. That is a biblical thing. Laying up treasures in heaven. But there’s going to be a time from this sowing to the reaping. There are promises about down here, too. Frank, can I say this? In comparison, this down here, 70, 80 years to eternity, this is a drop in the bucket. I mean, I don’t know, but, you know, Oscar here, he—how old are you now, Oscar? He’s 14. I mean, if Oscar lives to be 100 years old in comparison to eternity, that’s not much of nothing. And so in some ways, this time down here is really overall time to sow, and heaven is time to reap. This is just a drop in the bucket.
Now, let’s talk about that for a second. If someone gives and gives and gives but they’re not saved, wow. First of all, make sure you’re saved because if you… If you’re not saved, all eternity burning at a lake of fire, wow. You can give thousands and millions of dollars, but if you’re not a born-again Christian, you’re going to wake up in hell and be there forever. Wow. So first of all, we’ll make sure I’m saved.
By the way, you know the greatest giver in all the world is God Almighty? He gave his only begotten Son. Jesus gave his life for you and I. He’s the greatest giver, and because he did that, now he gives us eternal life, but he leaves it up to us to receive it. If I don’t receive that gift, hey, hell awaits me. But God wants to give it to you, and He offers it to you freely. It’s just a matter of me taking my faith.
As far as getting into heaven, what am I trusting in? And putting all that faith, that trust in Jesus. I’ve got four coins here, all right? And let’s say they represent my—what am I depending on to get me into heaven, all right? Isn’t it amazing? You know, when we reach the age of accountability, we understand right from wrong, we can comprehend the gospel. It’s almost like instantly or just naturally our faith is in our hands—ourselves. I’ve got to be good enough to get to heaven. But that won’t get me to heaven. Actually, some religions will kind of lead you along this line.
If I put one of these coins—I’ve got four of them, 25% of my faith—Oscar, can you be Jesus for us? What do you think, Ethan? Do you think he’s a good representation? No. Do you think Ethan’s a good representation? No. Come on, Oscar. He’s going to represent Jesus for us. Look, man, if I give him all right, I believe Jesus has got to be involved in my salvation. I give him 25% of my faith. I put it in him to get me to heaven. But I’ve got to be good enough—75% depending on me being good enough. Will that get you to heaven or not?
If I give him half—half Jesus? Jesus died, I know I’ve got to put my faith in Jesus, but I’m still depending on me, about half of me, me being good enough, being going to church, me being kind enough, being good to my neighbor, all that, and depending on me, half, and Jesus—that’s going to get you to heaven? No.
Was that man on the road to—over there in Acts 8, help me out there—the Ethiopian eunuch in the chariot, and he said, “Do you believe with all your heart?” That’s the question. Wait a second. If I put 75% of my faith in Jesus to get me to heaven, but I still got one quarter depending on me, is that going to get me to heaven? In order for me to go to heaven, as far as me going to heaven, I’ve got to put all my faith in Jesus. I’m trusting you and you alone to get me to heaven. That’s the only way anyone will get to heaven: by trusting fully in Jesus with your faith.
That’s why it’s scary when religions add works to salvation. Friend, you can be baptized about a million times. If you have a tadpole in the creek that knows your name and Social Security number and still go to hell because that water won’t save you. Don’t put your faith in the water; put your faith in Jesus. Amen. Sacraments won’t save you. Joining a church, whatever may be—Baptist, whatever—won’t save you. Putting all your faith in Jesus, 100%—I’m trusting, I’m believing on you, Jesus. That’s what saves. Because God gave his Son, and his Son gave his life. He says, “I want to give it to you, the gift of God, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Oscar, you made a good Jesus for a minute there. All right, good job. Let’s get my hand, amen. You’re not perfect, though, all right? Come on now, you know.
But once you’re saved, you’ll put all your faith in Jesus to get you to heaven. Laying up treasures in heaven’s real. It’s a biblical thing, Matthew chapter 6. The interesting story, and I’m going to be done, is a little girl—true story. It’s in the late 1800s, I think around 1890. I couldn’t find out the exact year. Her name was Hattie Wyatt. She lived in Philadelphia. At the turn of the century, there was a church, just a Temple Baptist Church. It was a growing—God was working in that church. They were running out of room; it was pretty small at the time. And little Hattie, a little girl, she wanted to go to Sunday school at that church. She went to the Sunday school, but it was packed out, just packed out. And they said, “Little Hattie, we’re sorry, we don’t have room for you in our Sunday school room.” She could not come in.
Little Hattie went home, and just a little bit after that, Little Hattie became very ill. She became bedridden, and within two years, Little Hattie died. They didn’t know this, but Little Hattie—when they picked her body up, they looked underneath her pillow, and she had been saving 57 pennies to give to that church because she wanted that new building to have room so she could go to Sunday school. Everything I could reach, she knew about Jesus, but she wanted to learn more. She was saving that 57 pennies underneath her pillow.
Well, the preacher found out about that. They were trying to raise money for a new building. And they began to tell that story about Little Hattie. When she passed, we did—she couldn’t come to Sunday school; it was too overpacked in there. And so she’s saving that money, and she passed away within two years. And there was a little note attached to those 57 pennies, and he would read it. The preacher would read it. Let me read for you the note. It said: “A little note attached these 57 pennies to help build the little temple bigger so that more children can go to Sunday school.”
The newspapers heard about it, and they began to print that story back in the early days of America when papers would print better stuff. Amen. They say within five years, that story just really going around, they say those 57 pennies grew to $250,000. People giving when they heard that story. The best I can tell from other people, the calculators, whatnot, from 1890 to 2025, $257,000 would be worth $8.7 million today. And they say really the big thing that raised it was those little Hattie, 57 pennies. You can’t outgive the Lord. By the way, all those years, and for all eternity, Hattie’s got a whole lot of rewards in heaven.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Giving by Grace＂ - Sunday AM 03⧸02⧸2025 [vg7-djh83qU]