Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday evening, Oct. 15, 2000, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia. For more outlines, including a zipped file of all of my 1999 sermon outlines, click on the link at the bottom of this note, and go to our website:

WHY I GIVE

By Michael D. O'Neal Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church Albany, Georgia

Scripture Reading: Malachi 3:1-10

Text: Malachi 3:8

Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Introduction: I want to bring you a message tonight called, "Why I Give." You say, "Well, YOU'RE the PREACHER! You're SUPPOSED to give." Yes, I am. However, if I'M supposed to give, it's because I am a BELIEVER and am supposed to be an example of what a BELIEVER should be. If I'M supposed to give, YOU are supposed to give.

Our scripture reading says that a person who does not give tithes and offerings is a THIEF. He is a robber! I don't want to be a crook!

I. TO GLORIFY GOD

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

A. Faithful giving of tithes and offerings shows thanksgiving to God

B. Faithful giving of tithes and offerings shows trust in God

Philippians 4:19
Philippians 4:13
If I can trust God to save my soul from hell, surely I can trust Him to supply enough money to support my family.

C. Faithful giving of tithes and offerings shows a testimony of God to others

2 Corinthians 8:1-2 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; 2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

II. TO GET OUT THE GOSPEL

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Notice, "that there may be meat in mine house."

The center of Old Testament work and worship was the temple. The center of New Testament work and worship is the local church!

Philippians 4:15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.

Tithes and offerings provide

A. A pastor for training in soul-winning

B. A place for training in soul-winning (church facilities)

C. A procedure for sending soul-winners

Tools for local soul-winners
Financial support for foreign missionaries

III. TO GAIN A BLESSING

Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

A. It blesses my family

B. It blesses my finances

C. It blesses my feelings

D. It blesses my future

IV. TO GROW IN GRACE

2 Corinthians 8:7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. (Read the first six verses of the above chapter.)

A. We should grow in our dedication to the Lord

B. We should grow in our dependency upon the Lord

C. We should grow in our discipline for the Lord

Take the time necessary to plan, budget, save, and PRAY.
Start tithing and giving, and make up your mind to NEVER MISS.

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