Sowing and Reaping Generously

Proverbs 21:5 (NLT) 

    Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

Matthew 25:2-4 (NLT) 

    Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. [3] The five who were foolish took no oil for their lamps, [4] but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil.

Much of our future is hidden in what we do today!

Matthew 25:9-10 (NLT) 

    But the others replied, 'We don't have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.' "But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked.

Galatians 6:7 (NLT) 

    … You will always reap what you sow!

In Biblical sowing, we enlarge our present and future by investing generously in the lives of others and in the Kingdom of God

Proverbs 11:24 (NLT) 

    It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything.

Proverbs 11:24 (Msg) 

    The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

1. Be a generous giver - God takes extra and special notice of those who are generous

Acts 10:1-2, 31 (NIV) 

    At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. [2] He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly…and [Peter] said, 'Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.

2. In your time of need, plant a seed that will bless others

2 Cor. 8:2-3 (NLT) 

    Though they have been going through much trouble and hard times, their wonderful joy and deep poverty have overflowed in rich generosity. [3] For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford but far more. And they did it of their own free will.

Eccles. 11:1-2 (Living) 

    Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later. [2] Divide your gifts among many, for in the days ahead you yourself may need much help.

3.  Start planting seeds by faith in the famine areas of our own lives

Genesis 26:1, 12 (NIV) 

    Now there was a famine in the land…Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him.

Luke 6:38 (NLT) 

    If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you."