God's word declares, give, and it shall be
given unto you.
Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and
running over, shall men give into your bosom.
For with the same measure, that ye meet
out with all, it shall be measured to
you again.
What this text means, friends, is when you
see a genuine need, and you have the
means to meet that need, and you give,
either sacrificially or generously, then you will be
the one to receive a blessing from the
Lord.
He will bless you by your giving.
In fact, he will bless you in relation
to your giving.
By your obedience, he will pour out a
blessing to you that will overflow into your
lap.
If you see a genuine need, and you
have the means to meet that need, and
you choose not to give, then God won't
give to you what he had intended to
give to you.
Our disobedience will block his blessing.
And that's the title of my message today,
friends, Blocking His Blessings.
We tend to view our money as our
money.
We earned it, therefore it's ours to do
as we please.
But God declares, the silver is mine, and
the gold is mine.
Sayeth the Lord of hosts, we must not
miss the reality that what we have doesn't
belong to us.
God has only entrusted it to us.
Money in the hands of a Christian in
Great Britain is not their money.
Money in the hands of a Christian in
Texas is not their money.
Money in my hands here in Florida is
not my money.
It is all God's money, just in different
locations and in different hands.
God wants to advance his kingdom work by
rerouting some of his money into different hands
to where the greater need is.
If you become a hoarder of God's resources,
it will eventually begin to rot in your
hands just like the manna that was hoarded
by the Jews rotted and bred worms.
God gives us his resources because he trusts
us as his stewards.
But if we begin to take possession of
what does not really belong to us, then
God will take what we have from us
and give it to another who can make
better use of it, as illustrated in the
parable of the talents where Jesus said, Take
therefore the talent from him, and give it
unto him which hath ten talents.
God wants to advance his kingdom work on
earth through the body of Christ.
If we fail to walk in obedience to
his revealed will, then we will hinder his
work in our lives.
The spread of the gospel doesn't run as
it should because we are blocking God's resources
that he has entrusted to us.
We mistakenly believe what is ours is ours
to pass only on to our families, but
we miss out on being an active part
in the family of God.
God wants to bless us by allowing us
to participate in his work, but if we
misuse his resources that he has entrusted to
us, then we will block his blessings for
us.
Give, and it shall be given unto you.
It's God's way of telling us that he
wants to bless us more if we will
only get out of the way.