Which Biblical Way Is the Best Way For Us? | Sermon Notes

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• MOSES took up a free-will offering and received over $39 million dollars.
• SOLOMON taxed the people and forced their labor; he even exchanged land with foreign powers for materials and expertise.
• NEHEMIAH rebuilt the Jerusalem wall and its gates by assigning families who carried material with one hand and a sword in the other.
• PAUL'S advice regarding the offering for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem seems best suited for us:
  
  
  2 Corinthians 8:10-15 

And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. ¹¹ Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. ¹² For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

¹³ Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. ¹⁴ At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, ¹⁵ as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”

1. Determine if you are willing to give.
   1. No guilt, no shame, no bondage to the opinions of others
2. Determine what you have the capacity to give.
   1. Honor your financial commitments
   2. Honor your family
   3. Then, give in proportion to what God has given you.
3. Determine what you can give cheerfully.
   1. The condition of your heart is more important than the size of your check.
4. Gifts given willingly and cheerfully are acceptable.
   1. This is the fairest way to receive an offering for the purchase of this property.