Uncommon Generosity: Partnerships

Uncommon Generosity + Partnership

Introduction:  Is God truly your financial Partner… We Get to Give, We do not Give to Get.

Intro

Today we are going to discuss Uncommon Generosity + Partnership…

  • Who and what you partner with is critical…?
  • Partnership lends itself to the ability to Multiply or to make greater…
  • John Maxwell says, “One is too small of a number to do anything significant.”
  • Who you and what you Partner with is Huge…this idea of Generosity + Partnership…cannot be underestimated?
    • One of the Reasons I’m apart of the Assemblies of God is for Partnership…The AG is the Largest Missions Movement in the World…

Transition:  Today I want us to look at a Man who Partnered with God and then what it means to Partner with Love for God.

  1. Genesis 14: 17-24

Gen 14:17-20 17 After defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, Abram went home. As he was returning, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (now called King’s Valley). 18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest for God Most High 19 and blessed Abram, saying, “Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High, the God who made heaven and earth. 20 And we praise God Most High, who has helped you to defeat your enemies.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had brought back from the battle. NCV

  • Abraham won the battle with a bunch of servants
    • You know you’re blessed when you win battles with less….
  • Abraham blessed Melchizedek
    • Abraham tithed on everything
    • Melchizedek is a picture of Christ because he is both King and Priest

I have found it to be a challenge to maintain your blessing and your responsibility!

  • Meaning you continue to do the things that caused you to be blessed!
  • Marriage – where you keep doing the things you did to catch him or her…
  • Don’t allow who you are becoming to take you away from the responsibilities that got you here thus far!
  1. Genesis 15:1-4

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

  • “After these things”….
    • After He paid tithe to Melchizedek
    • It began to release blessing into the Life of Abram
  • “Fear not”
    • Do you have the courage to be blessed?
    • To be blessed, you’ll be controversial!
    • People will forgive you for anything except success
  • “I am your shield”
    • God says I am your protection
    • When you get blessed, people are going to criticize you and ridicule you
    • You can’t go to the next level and not get all of it
      • The good
      • The bad
      • The ugly
    • It’s scary to see fiery darts flying at you and it’s coming from someone who says they love you!
    • People who at one time were for you…
  • You’ve got to be tough to be blessed!
  • “I am your exceedingly great reward”
    • Exceedingly – infinite, without limits….

3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

  • You can’t have success without a successor
    • Abraham was a friend of God because he thought like God!
    • Abraham brings up legacy/ a son
    • I was reminded of the Illustration: Cup and Saucer:
      • Not to look cute or sophisticated, but to catch the overflow of the cup!
      • You and I need to position ourselves like a saucer to catch the overflow of the cup! Not just from the Lord…but from Somebody, a Person.
      • We curse a generation by making them start with nothing …if they have positioned themselves with:
        • Honor
        • Faithfulness
        • Stewardship
        • They should receive the overflow….

God doesn’t think one generation when He talks about blessing!

  • God will bless you in areas Money can’t buy
    • Healing & health
    • Strong marriages
    • Discipline
    • Favor
    • Peace of Mind
  • Be faithful at the level you are at

Luke 16:10-13 10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.  11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?  12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ESV

  • Abraham didn’t flinch at obedience
    • Tithed to Melchizedek
    • Willing to give his son on an altar as a sacrifice…until God provided a ram and the Angel stopped Abraham’s hand.
    • God blesses obedient people!
  • Abraham partnered with God
    • God is looking to partner with someone in the earth!
  1. Partnering With God

2 Chron 16:8-9  9 The Lord searches all the earth for people who have given themselves completely to him. He wants to make them strong. NCV

  • How Do we Partner With God
    • Your Praying
    • Your Faithfulness
    • Your Discipline
    • Your Giving
  • All of it is Partnering with God in the Earth…
  • From Adam to Jesus, God is looking for someone to Partner with in the earth…

John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

  • God is so into finances that the very phrase He used to describe salvation is redemption, which is a financial transaction meaning to “purchase back”! Not with $$ but with the blood of Jesus!

God so loved the world that He gave….

  • Love makes you give
  • God is a lover of people, so He gives
  • You and I cannot say we love, then not give
    • I love my wife…so I give
    • I love my boys…so I give
    • I love my grandkids…so I give
    • I love this church…so I give

Giving under any other stimulus other than LOVE is ineffective…

There is a difference between lovers of God and lusters of God!

  • When we just look at what God does, we potentially could fall in LUST with God’s blessing/stuff and out of LOVE with God!
  • See love gives; lust takes
  • There is a difference between seeking His Face verses just Seeking His Hand for Blessings.

Access

  • Now the Anointing you serve and give into…You have access to.
    • Elisha served Elijah…so Elisha had access to Elijah’s anointing
    • But the motives are pure and not manipulative
  • Lust always runs out!
    • Lust gets bored!
  • Two people can tithe and give but based on different stimuli:
    • One is trying to move God’s hands for blessing
    • The other has the attitude, “Lord I love you no matter what.”

EDEN – A Place of Love

  • God wants us to live in a state of love and blessing
  • God set up the system in the garden so you and I would get a picture of what obedience to God should look like!
  • In Eden every need was met without sweat!
    • God wants you to live in a place where blessing (opportunity) is growing up all around you!
    • Opportunity Shows Up Wearing Work Clothes
  • God designed Adam’s environment
    • What environment has God created for you that you’re not living in yet?
    • God will always create an environment before He commands a blessing in that environment.
  • You have to think yourself blessed
    • Adam had to think correctly about his environment!
      • Birds live in the air
      • Fish live in the water
      • I live in the love, blessing, provision and favor of God!
    • God created this environment just for Adam because God loved him!
      • There are some things I’m living in that I owe all to Him!

Tithing is a Principle of Divine Portion

Genesis 2:9&17

9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

  • The tree of knowledge is the tree of divine portion
  • You can have everything else but if you eat this it will push you out of the environment of blessing I have created for you!
  • Your discipline over and about this one tree is how you show your love toward me!
    • You can have everything else but not this tree
  • The Bible says “you are cursed with a curse…” God doesn’t curse you; we bring it upon ourselves by not obeying God’s word!
    • It’s a business deal
      • Use my name, image, contacts…but I get 20%
      • God says, I’ll beat that, I’ll do it for 10%…. for a dime!
    • The first thing Satan does is gets Eve to eat the Divine Portion!
    • What does God get out of the 10%….
      • He gets your love!
      • Your choices choose love!
      • God gets your TRUST which is Evidence of your Love

IV Closing

  • God is trying to bring you into a place
  • Tithing isn’t an emotional thing…
    • Tithing is a system of circulation
    • “He gives seed to the sower….”
  • A place of love; a place of blessing; a place of giving! A place where we are doing business with God!

I’m challenging you to love God, not lust God and allow that Love to Cause You To Partner with God in everything you do…even in giving.

 

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