09/12/2026
“Friends, Paul said that ‘ye abound in everything,’ speaking to the Corinthians. They were able to witness, they had knowledge, they were diligent, they had love for Paul and the other apostles. Now, he says, ‘see that ye abound in this grace also’ (2 Corinthians 8:7). Now, what is it? It's the grace of giving.
We need to recognize that Paul is not asking money for himself. He's a true servant of Christ, but he's asking for the needs of others. He wants to take an offering for these poor saints in Jerusalem. Now, he says that this is expedient. ‘Herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you who have begun before not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago’ (2 Corinthians 8:10). In other words, you did make a pledge, and now make it good.
I think it's pious nonsense for a person to say, ‘Oh, I just don't believe in making pledges. I don't think a Christian should do that.’ Well, a Christian has to sign for his rent. You have to sign notes when you buy an automobile. You sign notes when you buy a refrigerator. And I say, friends, you can sign on the dotted line for God's work too, by the way.
Now, here is the method of giving. ‘For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to what he hath not’ (2 Corinthians 8:12). This is something that I think is very important, that you're to give according to what you have, not what you have not.
When I was pastor in Cleburne, Texas, I had a man in the church who owned a ranch. He and I'd go fishing down on his ranch and hunting together. He always was after me to preach on tithing. This man kept urging me, so one day I told him that the scripture doesn't say that, but you're to give as you're able. You're accepted according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not. Now, this man had a very prosperous business, and during the Depression, he was making money when no one else was making it. He gave a tenth, and it was a generous gift, the most generous gift in the church. But my friend, it wasn't what he should have given. I said, ‘You know, some that have more ought to give more than a tenth.’ Well, he apparently wasn't willing to give more than the tenth. He never asked me to preach on tithing after that.
Many folk write us and say ‘We intend to give you so much a month for radio’, and they do. But if they didn't, I doubt whether I'd ever know anything about it, because it's none of my business. That's between you and the Lord, you see. I think that you ought to do business with God. It's like that Captain Jack years ago, a very rich man. Somebody said to him, ‘How in the world did you become so rich and you give so much?’ Well, he says, ‘As the Lord shovels it in, I shovel it out. And God has the biggest shovel.’ He's got the biggest one, friend. And that's the way He wants us to give. That's the grace of God working in the heart.”
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