John K. Jenkins Sr - 9 Key Financial Principles Regarding Giving - Part 1

Alright, we’re going to pick up on finances again tonight. I’m going to go with this until I feel the Lord say stop. Look at your neighbor and say, «Somebody on this row bounced a check.» Go ahead, look at them! Now, if they didn’t say anything to you today, the one that bounced a check. Luke 6:38, let’s turn there very quickly; this is the cornerstone for this session tonight because I want to talk about — what is it? -638. It says, «Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.»

So, one of the essential key ingredients to money management is learning how to be a giver. I want to talk today about nine key financial principles regarding giving. That 's what I want to discuss- nine key principles about giving. And again, you cannot talk about money management and talk about prospering if you want to be a tightwad. Somebody on your row is a tightwad! Girl, it’s cold in here! I see people telling me they have a hat on, and she’s got a scarf around her neck. Her coat is on. Sister Lewis is here; look, she’s shivering, leaning over to her husband trying to get some heat. We pay our rent; we pay the rent, the electric bill, and turn the heat up in this place. These young ladies over here are shivering too! Yeah, she 's got her coat on over here, and it’s like we haven 't paid to be here. Oh, come on! We pay the bills; we can do it, amen?

So, was I saying something profound? Huh? Somebody else bounced a check? He tried to get me to call out amen. No, I was saying you can’t talk about money management and prosperity if you don’t learn how to give. Yet some people don’t go to church because they 're afraid people will take their money or they’ve always asked you for money or whatever. We never try to put pressure on people in this church about giving. No, that’s not what we do; we don’t function like that. Amen! I got one hand praise right there! It’s too late for the rest of y’all jokers. That 's not how we function, but I do want to teach you that one of the keys to financial prosperity is being a giver. The scripture here says, " Jesus has given it shall be given unto you.» God will give it back! You can’t expect the harvest if you have not planted any seeds. But this culture wants a harvest with minimal investment. We want millions of dollars from a $1 lottery ticket.

If you’re all saying amen together, nobody will know that you weren 't in line for the lottery when somebody said to me, «Well, pastor, if I win it and I hit it and I give the tithe to the church, will you accept it?» Money is green! Come on, look at your neighbor; it’s green! I never ask anybody where they got their money from. I never ask anyone because I suspect some of the money you give me came from some places that got it from questionable sources. So, you know, you’ve got to be a giver. If you want to be a tightwad, it’s very difficult. Are you holding your hand tight? It’s difficult for God to put money in your hands if you don’t open your hands. But giving is important, and the way you give is important. Just the manner — that’s what these nine principles are about. It’s about giving.

So, let’s roll through this real quick. Here 's the first principle: you have to learn to give yourself to God. See, if you haven’t given yourself to God, you’re not going to be able to give your money to God. I tell people all the time, I don’t believe you can have a relationship with God and say that He’s in your life, that the Holy Ghost came and touched you, changed your heart, and changed your mind and thinking. He got in your head, got in your eyes, turned you around. You’re talking different; you’re looking at life differently. He got in your heart, your hands-you’re praising God! He got in your feet and your legs; you’re dancing and running! We were doing all that up there on the screen a few minutes ago, and somehow it slid around your wallet. Huh? It doesn 't work like that. Wherever you have an encounter with God, He won’t have to beg you about giving. If you’re tight, you need to investigate whether you really had an experience with God because when God touches you, He will transform and change you, and your money comes along with it. Can I get an Amen from somebody like that?

So, look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8. I want to go to that real quick, and I want to read these first five verses of 2 Corinthians chapter 8. This is again the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth, his second letter to them. Here 's what he says in verse 1: «Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.» That right there is powerful! He says, «I’m going to let you all know about the grace that God gave to the churches in Macedonia.»