Exponential – My Life to the Power of Giving
2 Corinthians 9:6 (NLT) — 6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.
How to live a life of compounding generosity:
1. I must grow in my love for other people.
Mark 6:31 (NLT) — 31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.
They were on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Mark 6:33 (NLT) — 33 But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.
Mark 6:39–44 (NLT) — 39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. 41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. 44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.
2 Corinthians 9:7 (NLT) — 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
Mark 6:34 (NLT) — 34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
John 3:16 (NLT) — 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
2. Invest in God’s financial principles.
A. Our love for others isn’t great enough.
B. We are not prepared to give because we haven’t been living by God’s financial principles.
Mark 6:35–37 (NLT) — 35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” 37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
3. Give when God reveals the need to you.
John 6:8–9 (NLT) — 8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”