Blessing

Grateful Receiving

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Many people I speak with are better givers than receivers.  What they don’t realize, though, is that the two go together; that you can’t have one without the other.  There are many reasons that you should allow yourself to receive.  Among them, is the fact that “God has given us two hands; one to receive with and the other to give with.  We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for giving.”cxxviii  

Accept Generosity and Ask For Help 

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This often is an overlooked aspect of generosity.  If you live life with a spirit of generosity, then you have the right and obligation to accept generosity from others.  

Don’t forget to accept generosity from others. Many times, people who have learned to give have a difficult time with allowing others to do nice things for them. It is perfectly ok to accept someone else’s generosity, as long as you continue to do good for other people.  In fact, it is an obligation, because by accepting someone else’s generosity you are helping them to develop this critical trait. 

Qualities for Godly Leadership Part 4

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This week we are continuing our study into the characteristics God looks for when choosing people to reach the lost. You can find the last message in this series here, for a quick review.

God uses Christians who build others up

The first characteristic we’ll look at today is the ability to build others up. In John 13:3–5: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”  Jesus was able to build up others because He knew who He was. And He knew who He was because He was living in His full potential.

Cheerful Tithing

I am going to take some time, right now, to discuss a very controversial topic.  It has become controversial, but it really shouldn’t be.  I am going to discuss tithing, or the practice of taking ten percent of everything you make and giving it away, first, before you do anything else with your money.  I am not talking about generosity in general; I am talking about tithing in particular.  Tithing is not “generosity.”  Tithing is required.  There is an entire principle based on generosity.  For now, let’s discuss taking the first ten percent of everything you make and giving it away.  I can see those of you who know about tithing with your eyes glazing over, but stick with me now.  Those of you who haven’t heard about tithing are going to get a very important lesson.  It will have a direct impact on your future financial prosperity. 

My Lord and My God!

Being Generous Without Spending a Lot Of Money 

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A discussion of generosity always comes back to spending money and material things.  So, I am going to discuss those things now.  It is important to note, however, that there are infinitely many ways to be generous and spread good.  We will discuss these in a minute.  “For the love of money is the root of all evil which: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”lxxii   It is what you do with money that determines how God views it. A hundred dollars that is used to feed a poor family has a different value than a hundred dollars used to feed a drug habit. Money simply makes you more of what you already were before you had the money. If, before you had an abundance of money, you were generous, then an abundance of money will make you generous in abundance. If you were greedy, before having an abundance of money, then an abundance of money will make you greedier. Money shows where your heart really is. If you want to find out what type of person you are, then take a look at where you spend your money. 

Communication With Your Children 

This is one of the most important things you will ever do.  It is more important than any career or job you pursue.  You need to take communication with your kids very seriously, but also have fun!  With most things in life, if you mess up you can go back and redo it; it is different with your children.  If you wake up and realize, when your kids are out of high school, that you didn’t do such a great job, you can’t go back and fix it.  That’s not to say that you can’t go back and make amends for mistakes of the past, but you can’t redo your children’s childhood.