Increase by Scattering

Pastor Dan Turpin, P.O. Box 1051, Mulberry, FL 33860 email: Turp72@aol.com
Objective and Aim: Everyone should scatter or give according to their ability to give because of the principles associated with giving in Proverbs 11:24-25. Aim: My aim in this message is to get people to look at money and giving from God’s perspective and commit to managing their lives by Biblical principles.

Introduction: When Pauline Eason was alive I used to visit and check on her from time to time. If she missed a Sunday service before I left the house she would always say, “Wait a minute son I need to give you my tithe check. Then she told me how she did not tithe for years and had to borrow money from Pauline Moore every month to get by. The Lord dealt with her and she began to tithe and from the moment she began to tithe she never borrowed another dime to get through the month.
Initial Invitation

#1. You make a life for yourself by giving (Proverbs 11:24 scatters increases)

A. Orison Swett Marden; American journalist; founded success magazine: We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest. Proverbs 11:24-25 The generous soul will be made rich. Oswald Chambers: The great motive in all giving is Jesus Christ’s command.

1. Those who scatter increase
a. 1 Kings 17:3-16 The Meal Bin
b. Winston Churchill: We make a living by what we get—we make a life by what we give
c. Erich Fromm: Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.
d. Albert Camus; French philosopher and writer; Nobel Prize Winner: Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present
e. Pastor Dan: I have found that the more I give of myself the more I have of myself. And the more keep for myself the less I have of myself. If I don’t give myself away I am a miserable person. Giving of myself is my purpose
f. Luke 6:38; Psalms 35:27 God delights in blessing His People
g. William Arthur Ward: Lose yourself in generous service and every day can be a most unusual day, a triumphant day, an abundantly rewarding day!
d. Grenville Kleiser (1868-1953) American writer: There are many fine things which you mean to do some day, under what you think will be more favorable circumstances. But the only time that is surely yours is the present, hence this is the time to speak the word of appreciation and sympathy, to do the generous deed, to forgive the fault of a thoughtless friend, to sacrifice self a little more for others."
f. 3 John 2
g. Sarah Bernhardt: Life begets life. Energy begets energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.

2. Those who withhold lack (Proverbs 11:24 one who withholds lacks)
a. C. S. Lewis: Nothing is really ours until we share it. Pastor Dan: People are cursed when they do not give as they should and rob God of the opportunity He needs to bless their lives (Malachi 3:8-9).
b. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 Sow sparingly and reap sparingly Author Unknown: Give according to your income, lest God make your income according to your giving.
c. Author Unknown: It is not how much you’ve given but how much you’ve kept, that really matters.
d. Pastor Dan: Some withhold more than they actually need and create a lack because God withholds His blessing from them and they lack contentment with their lives
Middle Invitation

#2. You discover your destiny through giving (Proverbs 11:25 generous soul)

A. Pastor Dan: Wealth is measured not by how much we have but by how much we give (Proverbs 13:7) You will not discover your destiny, the purpose for which you were created by is not realized by grabbing things and hoarding them up for yourselves. You won’t find your destiny by being selfish—you will find out how mean, cruel, selfish and ungodly you are. When you give of yourself and from your heart share with others you will discover the purpose for which you were created.

1. Giving directly effects our spiritual destiny (Luke 5:8-10)
a. Luke 5:1-5 Simon Peter loaned his boat to Jesus and that gift he offered the Lord became a defining moment in his life that was responsible for changing Peter’s whole destiny.
b. Henry David Thoreau: Wealth is the ability to fully experience life. Ayn Rand: Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think.
d. Henry Ward Beecher: It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.

2. The purpose for which we were created is realized through giving
a. Erich Fromm: Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.
b. Luke 10:25-37 The Good Samaritan
c. Andrew Young: I have about concluded that wealth is a state of mind, and that anyone can acquire a wealthy state of mind by thinking rich thoughts.
d. Charles Caleb Colton: Wealth after all is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more.

#3. You receive the desires of your heart through giving (Proverbs 13:7 makes himself poor)

A. Howard Dayton: Giving directs our attention and hearts to Christ, increasing our intimacy with Him. Matthew 6:21 tells us, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” This is why it is so necessary to go through the process of consciously giving each gift to God. When you give your gift to Him, your heart will automatically be drawn to the Lord.

1. Seeking the kingdom and gain all (Psalm 37:4 desire of heart)
a. 1 Samuel 1:8-20 Hannah vowed to give God her a son and she received the desire of heart her heart through giving.
b. Oswald Chambers: We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this error, and the same process is at work in our lives. God never tells us to up things just for th sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself.
c. Howard Dayton: Giving is not God’s way of raising money; it is God’s way of raising people.
d. Psalm 23:1; 84:11; Mark 11:23-24
e. Pat Riley: You only receive what you are willing to give.
f. E. Stanley Jones: To grow in generosity, first decide that you own nothing, God is the owner and you are the ower. This puts God in His place and you in yours.


2. Hoarding rots your gain (Matthew 25:14-30 Talents )
a. Exodus 16:2-4, 14-30 When people hoarded manna it rotted.
b. E. Stanley Jones: Abundant living means abundant giving. If you are not giving out to others, you will go dry in spirit (Luke 6:38). God will see to it that all these things will not be added unto you if you do not seek first the kingdom (Matthew 6:33). If you do not give back to society according to ability, you will not get according to need. Seeking first the kingdom means committing the whole of life to the proposition that the kingdom is first, last and always—and acting upon the committal…just as people seek food, clothing, you are to seek the kingdom—it must master your thinking, your emotions, your will, you. That means you master you discipline life to a one-pointedness. In every situation you ask, “In this situation what does the kingdom demand I should do?”—and do it.
c. Author Unknown: If you want to be rich give; if you want to be poor, grasp; if you want abundance, scatter; if you want to be needy, hoard.

Closing:

Invitation: Come and ask the Lord to help you manage your money and your life by Bible principles so the church nor your life lies in ruins, not fulfilling the purpose for which they exist.