Luke 6:38 (NLT) - 38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
Proverbs 11:24–25 (NLT) - 24 Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. 25 The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
2 Corinthians 9:6–8 (NLT) - 6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
Galatians 6:7 (NLT) - 7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.
Five principles of the generous seed:
1. Principle of Sacrifice - Seed sown determines harvest grown.
- 2 Corinthians 9:6 (NLT) — 6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.
- Jesus doesn’t measure our seed by its quantity, but by its sacrifice.
- Sowing lots of seed is not only for wealthy people, it’s for EVERY person.
2. Principle of Cycle - Interrupt the sowing cycle at your peril.
- Matthew 6:14–15 (NLT) — 14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
3. Principle of Stewardship - Fruit is for eating, but seed is for sowing.
- You consume your need, but you give your surplus.
- 1 Corinthians 16:2 (NLT) — 2 On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.
- 2 Corinthians 8:11–12 (NLT) — 11 Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. 12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.
4. Principle of Soil - Your soil will determine your harvest.
- If you sow your time into certain outreaches, your harvest will be from that soil.
- There are two layers of soil.
- Natural soil - Your harvest will be from the soil in which you sow.
- Eternal soil - Your harvest will come from God because He is the soil.
- Proverbs 19:17 (NLT) — 17 If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD— and he will repay you!
5. Principle of Source - God is the source of both seed and harvest.
- 2 Corinthians 9:10 (NLT) — 10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
- Here is the truth, God is providing you with seed right now! You have seed in your hand.
- God is the source of good harvests - Issac sowed during famine and reaped 100 times.