Sermon Tone Analysis

Luke 6:37-40  \\ \\ A crumbling old church building needed remodeling, so, during his sermon, the preacher made an impassioned appeal looking directly at the richest man in town.

At the end of the sermon, the rich man stood up and announced, "Pastor, I will contribute $1,000."

\\ \\ Just then, plaster fell from the ceiling and struck the rich man on the shoulder.

\\ \\ He promptly stood back up and shouted, "Pastor, I will increase my donation to $5,000."

\\ \\ Before he could sit back down, plaster fell on him again, and again he virtually screamed, "Pastor, I will double my last pledge.”

He sat down, and a larger chunk of plaster fell on his head.

\\ \\ He stood up once more and hollered, "Pastor, I will give $20,000!"  \\ \\ This prompted a church trustee to shout, "Hit him again, Lord! Hit him again!" \\ \\ Today I’m going to talk about giving and the law of circulation.

You might be sitting there thinking to yourself, “Oh no.

This is when the preacher starts to meddle in my affairs again.

This is where he starts to talk about giving more to the church.”

\\ \\ I’m not going to talk about that kind of giving—it’s not about giving more money to the church.

I’m going to discuss giving all of yourself to life and giving of your life as a response of gratitude to what you have been blessed with in this life.

\\ \\ Before I do that one of our long time members Galen Dellinger is going to come his personal faith story.

He is going to discuss what he has learned about giving of himself to life as a response of gratitude.

\\ \\ Galen’s personal Faith Story \\ \\ 1—First of all, what do you really get if you’re totally living a Christian life?

You get a new perception that is beyond human understanding alone.

You know that when you’re facing life’s struggles, that you’re not facing it alone.

And you know this with an inner conviction.

That is your firm foundation.

You have God’s Spirit with you, and God is powerful and bigger than any of your problems.

\\ But what is the next step?

It is acting on this conviction that God is with you.

It is saying, “Okay, God.

Here I am.

I am going to be a lighthouse for humanity.

Wherever I go, I’m going to encourage people and make a difference.”

\\ You don’t have to give your life to the ministry or stand up at a pulpit on Sunday morning.

You make a difference when you go to Wal-Mart or even the grocery store, because you’re different.

And you say in any given moment, “What can I give?” \\ I want you to look at the chart on today’s sermon outline—this is a chart of your life.

On one side of the chart, look at the word “Giving.”

On the other side of the chart, notice the word, “Receiving.”

I want you to find out what kind of a person you are in a given moment.

\\ Are you a vacuum cleaner?

Or are you a Sprinkler?

There are primarily two types of people.

What we’re urging you to do in Christianity is to constantly be a sprinkler, because the world needs more sprinklers—it has enough vacuum cleaners.

\\ I don’t believe you’re here by accident.

I believe you’re here to fulfill a divine purpose in life.

\\ I believe that you’re going to make a profound difference in the people that you touch in your life.

I really do.

\\ Do you remember the story of Ebenezer Scrooge?

He kept everything and hoarded everything his whole life.

Then he learned, in the last part of his life, how to give.

Do you remember the end of the story how he was dancing and bouncing around?

And he said, “Can this much joy be safe for one individual?”

\\ You find that true joy is giving of yourself.

As you give back to others with God’s help, you find that that you will swell up with gratitude.

\\ So I am not just talking about giving money.

Actually, that’s a very small aspect of the giving principles that we have been teaching for the past couple of Sundays here.

\\ I want you to concentrate on the air that is in this room for a moment.

Concentrate on the air.

Breathe in for a moment, and then feel yourself breathing out, \\ \\ What if someone gave you the mistaken idea that there wasn’t enough air in this room?

You’d try to breathe in as much as you possibly could.

But you’d find that you couldn’t breathe in enough.

If you’d try to hoard it, you’d begin to turn blue.

And you’d have to exhale.

\\ The blessings in your life is like breathing in and breathing out.

God’s blessings include two halves: giving and receiving.

If we tell ourselves that there’s not enough air in this room, we’re not going to get all that we need.

We’re going to panic and hoard some of the air in here.

\\ The abundance and fullness of life that God has given you, is everywhere present.

But, you and I have to have both halves.

We have to have the breathing in and the breathing out in our relationships.

\\ Listen to what Jesus says (v. 38), "Give, and it will be given to you.

(Give—part one.

Given to you—part two.)

You will have more than enough.

It can be pushed down and shaken together and it will still run over as it is given to you.

The way you give to others is the way you will receive in return."

\\ If you are willing to give first and radiate out your spiritual gifts, there will be a natural circulation that comes back to you.

It is the law of all life.

\\ Imagine that we have an old farmer’s pump right here.

We begin to pump like crazy.

I get tired after a little, so I ask one of you to come up.

After that person gets tired, I ask another one of you to come up and pump some more.

We pump and pump and pump, but there’s no water coming out.

\\ What’s the problem—why can’t we get water out of the pump?

\\ You have to prime the pump; you have to give first.

Then, the pump will start to flow continuously and we’ll have enough water for all of’ us.

\\ It is the same way in your life.

You can read all the self-help books that you ever want to read; you can meditate on all the possible spiritual principles 24 hours a day.

But until you begin to practice it, you will never be apparent it in your life.

\\ The way to prime the pump is to begin to give, constantly giving of yourself.

\\ I do the priming.

Christ does the flowing.

It cannot be turned off unless I decide to turn it off.

It’s an interesting thing.

I always benefit more by agreeing to the activity and allowing myself to be a channel of giving.

\\ God’s Supply never stops; it is a circulation, just as your breathing doesn’t stop.

\\ \\ When things are tight, someone has to give.

Give and you shall receive is the principle of circulation.

When things are tight in your own life, (in whatever area it may be), find a way to give to that area.

\\ If you don’t have very much money, give of yourself in service.

Give whatever you can give.

Do not hoard it.

Give of yourself and you will find a new circulation, another flow of blessings.

\\ \\ If you are having a heart attack, you will find that the medical team comes in and pushes on your chest and creates circulation inside of you.

\\ In the same way, we can push on that area where we are holding on tight and revive life in it by giving.

Find a way to give to that area that is tight, and it will come back to life again.

\\ This is the law of circulation.