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Today on MoneyLife

January 6, 2009

Howard Dayton, Robert Morris: Generous giving

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Chuck Bentley is on vacation today, so we'll be hearing recorded messages from Howard Dayton and Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church in Dallas Texas. Pastor Morris is the author of The Blessed Life.

Howard Dayton:

Giving used to be painful for me, but that changed as as I learned what God says about handling money.

God says so much about money in His Word because how you handle money impacts the intimacy of your relationship with Christ. Many pastors have missed the connection with faithful stewardship and maturing in Christ.

The second reason God says so much about money is because He loves us so much and knew money would be a struggle for us. Everything you need to know about handling money is in the Bible.

Many churches only teach tithing; they aren’t addressing the other 90%. So people are learning how to handle it from the world. Sadly, there is little distinction between how Christians and those who don’t know Christ handle money.

Pastors must be faithful to communicate the whole counsel of God with respect to money
When people are trained and follow God’s financial principles, they pay down debt, increase savings, and increase giving.

Other benefits are more free time, less stress, and better marriages. Most churches are vision rich but resource poor. I believe many churches don’t address God’s way of handling money because the pastor is financially bound. I challenge pastors to step out in faith and allow the Lord to work in your life and make you a model.

Robert Morris:

Robert Morris Gateway Church has an income is 2 or 3 times that of churches that are the same size. I believe one of the reasons is that I speak about giving from the heart. Pastors should not apologize for preaching about giving.

Gateway Church has grown without using debt. The church gives to missions, has a benevolence fund. I challenge pastors to put their finances in God’s kingdom and allow their hearts to be drawn there.

I was was a traveling evangelist and relied on love offerings from the churches where I preached. One day, the Lord put it on my heart to give away the entire check I received to a missionary.

Later, a man asked me about it, and said the Lord told him I'd given it away. That man had the motivational gift of giving. Churches need to do more to develop givers like this man, because he gave me a check for 10 times the amount I had given the missionary.

The man said God wanted to teach me about giving so I could teach the body of Christ. My wife and I started giving extravagantly.

Churches need to do more to develop givers. We should give to give, not to get. Giving is the reward for giving. God blesses a giving heart.

Setting Dreams in Motion

When it becomes clear that God is redirecting our efforts, what can we do so our natural determination does not become a liability?

Qualities of a Generous Giver

Where do generous givers come from? How does God cultivate generous giving in the hearts of his children?

God Sees Beyond the Gift

If we give primarily for what we gain, rather than out of compassion for the weak and the poor of the community, God sees it.

Pastors: Unlease Generosity in Your Church!

Perhaps the toughest issue pastors have to tackle is church giving. How, exactly, do you handle such a volatile subject?

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