Sure investments: Inve$t with cheerful living

Topics: giving

I. Begin by turning to the Lord

*Sure investments begin with a restored relationship with God!

1. "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return?'"(Malachi 3:6, 7; see Acts 3:19-21).
2. "Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil (Joel 2:12, 13).

II. Give joyfully to the Lord

* Sure investments trust God with "first fruits" of all we acquire!

1. "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts (Mal. 3:8-10a).
2. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver(2 Corinthians 9:6, 7).

III. Enjoy blessings from the Lord

*Sure investments experience the promised blessings from God!

1. "Test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts. "All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts (Mal. 3:10b-12).
2. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account . . . what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:17-19).

Sermon by Pastor Rod Akins August 28th, 2022.