Originally, I was tempted to write a message titled “Surrender My Giving: My Resources, My Talents, and My Time.” Then it struck me: the entire premise of giving must begin first by acknowledging that none of them—resources, talents, or time—are mine to give! They are all God’s; they are on loan from God for us to steward, and good stewardship must include “surrendering” all of them to Him as a beautiful measure of faith.
I must confess: I don’t like this topic; I don’t want to preach about it, and so I’ve avoided it; I had real, guttural anxiety over creating this message, and even more over delivering it. I guess that is why after almost six hundred sermons since the inauguration of Kingdom Embassy Ministries, this is the first of its kind. A 600:1 ratio says something. However, my negligence does not define the actual value of such a message nor its necessity. And as I contemplated, I moved from one message about Resources, Talents, and Time, to one message for each of those topics. Today, we will tackle, “Surrender My Giving: God’s Resources.”
Leading up to writing this sermon, I had an important conversation with an old acquaintance. It was one of those reconnection moments that seems coincidental at first, but with God, there is really no such thing. The conversation evolved into “Giving” as one of the topics. We both agreed that in this area of teaching, there have been many wounds inflicted upon millions upon millions of churchgoers over the years and that it has been a black eye on the church. Too many leaders have fleeced God’s people, and it’s a horrific witness. But then he said this, and I’ll paraphrase what I received from his comments: “Look, just because people become gluttons and eat in ways that are extremely harmful to their health, doesn’t mean we teach them to never eat again. No, they still must eat, but they must learn to eat properly, in a healthy way that sustains life.” I pray I can teach you, in regards to this topic, to “eat properly, in a healthy way that sustains life!” My greatest fear about preaching on this subject is that someone will assimilate this message as if I am trying to get something for myself. That idea makes me sick in my stomach. I’m going to surrender that to Yahweh today and let His Word speak; His Word and this one sermon out of six hundred.
Leave A Comment