Verses 1-5 can serve as an introduction to the theme.
I. Verses 6-9 – First people give because they see a great cause and purpose. (You can name some great causes and purposes for giving to your church. Hint: missions) II. Verses 10-13 – Second because they have been made to see the greatness and generosity of God. (Hmmmm, let me, who could help their congregants see the greatness and generosity of God?) III. Verses 14-19 – Third, they give because God has enabled them to give. (I know, I know, you have a lot of “poor people” in your church because of these hard times. And these are hard times. But follow some of these people to Wal-Mart or Dillards or even my favorite, Dollar General, and see if they are really destitute. Some might be, but not as many as would lead you to believe.) IV. Verses 20-22 – Their giving elicits great praise and joy when they see that the cause is really great. Our cause is greater than the building of the temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by Babylon in 585. Ours is the cause of Jesus Christ and his call for us to be His Church to infiltrate His needy world through various means. Christian stewardship makes this possible
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For some people life means knowledge (education)....athletics.....wealth....power ....
pleasure, etc. For Paul it was Christ and magnifying Him. I. Magnifying Christ is the highest purpose of life. A. It will make us better people. 1. At home...... At work.....3. At play.....4. In church, etc. B. It will make our lights shine brigher. Matthew 5:14-16....Illustration: Some people seem to have dead batteries. C. It will make us better witnesses. What, or who, do people see when they look at our lives? II. The value of the higher purpose of glorifying and magnifying Christ. A. It keeps us from focusing on trivialities. B. It demands our best efforts. C. It encourages our prayer life. D. It encourages us to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. What is your purpose????? This is one of the saddest of Jesus' parables. It is a tragic story of greed. Jesus looked into the heart of the man in verses 13-14 and saw greed, and in the hearts of the other people as well. Using this parable, Jesus showed the futility of greed. Let's look at the failures of the rich fool.
I. He left God out of his life. A. Look at the number of personal pronouns in verses 17-18. B. He left God out of his life because he thought only of himself. (He had an "I" problem.) C. There is no room for God in a life lived only for self. 1. The best life is one lived to please God. 2. We need to ask ourselves: "Who am I trying to please?" (Judas should have asked that question.) II. He failed to see the source of his blessings. A. He reasoned that he was the source of his own blessings. He didn't stop to think that he didn't cause the seed to germinate...the rain... or make the seed grow. B. Life is better when we see God/Jesus as the source of our blessings. 1. We will be more inclined to thank Him. 2. We will be more inclined to worship Him. 3. We will be more inclined to share our blessings with others. C. Do you see the Lord as the source of your blessings. III. He failed to see to the needs of his soul. A. He thought only in terms of the physical aspects of life. 1. There was no thought of a tithe....... 2. The was no thought that the most important things in life are spiritual - things we cannot see. B. He starved himself spiritually. 1. Life lived only for self is only half lived. 2. Even when he talked of his soul, it was in reference to things. (vs.19) "Things" make poor food for our souls. C. We need to heed the advice of Jesus: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added unto you." IV. He thought he would go on forever. A. He planned his life as though he would never die. We have to face that reality and live our lives in the reality that we will answer to God. B. It never occured to him that he could not take his wealth with him. 1. There are no "UHauls" behind hearses. 2. We leave everything when we die. (verse 20) C. Let us determine that we will live our lives with the knowledge that it will not go on forever. The man in the parable was not ready to meet God because of his greed. He left God out of his life. He failed to see the source of his blessings. He failed to see to the needs of his soul. He thought he would go on forever. Leave room for Jesus in your life...... At the temple in Jerusalem there were 13 trumpet-shaped tubes, labeled for different purposes, like for the poor, sacrifices, etc. Jesus and His disciples observed the giving of the people and the one that really caught Jesus' attention was the offering of a poor widow. Note my observations on this:
I. The Contrast Vss. 41-44 A. Vs. 41 - Impressive gifts by the rich. Their gifts did not impress Jesus. B. Vs. 42 - The "unimpressive" gift of the widow. 1/4 of a cent in our currency. We might even be ashamed for Jesus to see such a small gift. C. Vss. 43-44 - Surprise! Jesuss revealed the real contrast in vs. 44. II. The Cost A. Jesus wants us to give sacrificially. This includes money, time and talents. B. Jesus wants us to give the most that we have to offer - not the least. The important thing to see here is that the widow was not commended for giving the least, but for giving the most. C. Jesus observes our giving and knows the real cost. III. The Challenge A, The widow challenges us to examine our own giving of money, time, talents and self. (2 Samuel 24:24) B. The widow shows us that even poverty is never a justification for not giving to God. We need to remember that we cannot outgive God. C. The widow challenges us love God and people enough to give. The size of our gifts of money is measured by the sacrifice to ourselves. Jesus expects us to be people of faith in all areas of our lives, and our finances are not counted out of this - nor is our time, our talents and ourselves. Scroll down for a July 4 sermon idea... Bro. Joe
The text verses for this sermon are 24-28. Verses 14-23 can serve as the introduction. (This is a work in progress on my part. It is from some notes I made on the text. Maybe you can make something out of it, as skimpy as it is. Bro. Joe) I. Vs. 24 - He had a jaded (or negative) view of the master. Ask people what they think of God, of Jesus. Do they see that He loves them, or do they see Him as a harsh taskmaster? II. Vs. 25 - He did not grow in what he was given. The Lord has given us gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to serve Him. Do we hide them or put them to use? III. Vss. 26-28 - He was judged for his lack of faith. God does not look kindly on us if we think that we are too useless to serve Him. This shows a great lack of faith on our part, and God will judge it. IV. Overall, he was a poor steward of what he had been given. In comparision to the five and two talent men, he performed poorly. We are stewards of all that God has given us in time, talents and money. Do we put them to use in God's service? Look at your stewardship: Are you a five, two or one talent person? |
All of these materials are free of charge. There is no copyright on them and you are free to use them as you see fit. I am happy to be of assitance to you in your preaching/teaching minstry.
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