Fortify || Faith and Finances
Revelation || Live and Give like it’s His
1 “Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. 2 They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has 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. 4 They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. 5 They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do. 6 So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving. 7 Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving. 8 I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.
9 You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. 10 Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. 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. 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 NLT
Information || What do we mean by faith and finances?
Faith
The idea of belief, trust, seeing in the supernatural.
The biblical words also mean faithfulness, trustworthiness
So Not just belief but reliable character—being consistent, especially under pressure or over time.
This is essential for thinking about how we show faith in our finances.
Trusting God over wealth,
It is by faith that we know His ways are better than ours.
Being one He trusts with wealth.
Acting with integrity.
Faith pleases the LORD.
At the end of our lives, will He say He’s pleased with the work we gave Him and how we used our finances? Did we have faith?
If God pulled up a sheet with how you spent, gave, and budgeted your money this past month, how would he feel? Would you feel? How you spend your income is a picture of who your God is, who you love, and your future.
Stewardship: Live and Give like it’s His
Steward = oikonomos (Strong’s G3623): a household manager, not the owner.
“Who then is the faithful and wise manager (oikonomos) whom his master will set over his household?” Luke 12:42 (ESV)
GENEROSITY | IT'S NOT OURS ANYWAY
We recognize that every resource we've been given comes from our generous Father. We choose to be just like Dad, and give as He leads
Stewards are:
Zealous - There is a tenacity in their work.
Purposed - focused on the kingdom of God and eternity.
Honoring - they seek to please the one who sent them.
God wants to give you this today.
Some Historical Context
Believers in Jerusalem
Mostly Jewish believers.
experiencing severe poverty.
Overpopulation during feasts like Pentecost, when many new believers stayed (Acts 2:41–47).
Persecution: by becoming Christians, they likely faced discrimination and loss of livelihoods.
Famine: A historical famine that made matters worseThis was a great need and an opportunity to love God’s people.
The Macedonian believers - poor but generous
Macedonians were gentile believers in the early church. Cities were robbed of most of their wealth by the Romans. This didn’t lead to a victim mentality in these Christians. They gave with faith far more than they could afford.
2 Corinthians 8:1–5 ESV We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
That doesn’t make sense naturally. Only my God can do that.
For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
The generosity came after they gave themselves to the LORD.
The Corinthian church - were wealthy and stingy.
Positioned along a trade route which made them wealthy.
They said they would give to their brothers struggling with the famine and never came through on their promise.
inteGRITy
Ps 15 Who may abide in your tabernacle?... He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.
The genuineness of their love was at stake.
Current Cultural Moment
In 2024, $917 billion was spent on advertising. This is the world. That number represents the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All that money to train us to believe we lack something.
We’ve been educated by the world’s way of money: Sit on your possessions. Pursue comfort first. Work till 65, so you can enjoy retirement without anyone bothering you.
We’re convinced our purpose is to get as much money before we die.
Reality is 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. This is the flesh.
Enslaved to our desires, living in debt.
Always trying to appear richer than we are, meanwhile we’re poor.
The American way of life is broken.
And the effect?
We’re stressed out, we have no peace.
Some of us have trouble sleeping because of money issues. I know because I’ve been there!
Don’t feel like we have purpose. This is not God’s design for your finances.
Gentlemen, this is the devil. He’s the father of lies. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
Biblical Context ||But what did Christ Model?
9 You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
This is the good news of Jesus.
Grace: the unmerited favor or love of God. We never could earn what He gave us.
Jesus is rich.
There’s nothing He needs. He knows no lack.
For your sakes He became poor.
Listen, our sin keeps us from God. He is holy and perfect. And our sin was a great debt that we could never repay. and the penalty of our sin needed to be paid.
He was in Heaven and saw you in your darkest moments. And out of radical love for you He did this:
“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-11 NLT
By His poverty He could make you rich.
He paid that debt we could never repay with His own costly blood.
If you’re like me and have been in major debt, you understand at a different level
But He didn’t just clear our record. If you have Jesus you have the Treasure of Heaven. You’re already been made rich, by receiving God Himself into your hearts -
This would have convicted the Corinthians. They missed the riches of Christ for the world.
“For you know”
The statement is given to move them to model Jesus, having known Him.
The grace in our lives is being a river, not a lake.
Giving
Why do we give?
Remember, He’s rich. We don’t give because God is in need, or is greedy, or is insecure.
But because we’re responding to His love with our love. It’s much the same with our generosity to our wives.
In this house, our members pay their tithes and give offerings to the LORD.
What is the tithe? It means a tenth. We give the first and best portion of what we earn to Him through the church.
Tithe is not giving away 10% to God, God’s letting us steward 90%”. If you belong to Jesus, 100% is his.
If you believe this is hyperbole, over the top, exaggeration, let me ask you, How do you view what God has done for you? God coming down from heaven, taking on all the sin of you, me and the world, and burying it in hell? Is it figurative or literal?
Is the cross Jesus told us to carry daily figurative or literal? (Wallet)If you’re like me, my flesh asks how much do I have to give?
ALL of it!
He wants us to live like Him - rich, yet completely invested.
He’s made us His sons to take up His work - not slaves to be freed from bondage but still sit in the cells.
In the church, He’s looking for men and women to use their income to build the kingdom of God, not their own kingdom.
Impartation || What did you do in us?
In 2023 our finances were a losing battle.
We had $70k still in student loan debt.
We were spending more than what we made every month.
We weren’t budgeting. We believed we couldn’t because we tried twice before and couldn’t stick with it.
We didn’t carry dreams for the future because we were concerned with survival.
We weren’t generous.
We weren’t accountable to the LORD or each other.
We were not in unity with each other.
We didnt have joy or peace in our finances. We had stress.
Putting it plain: We were resisting the LORD and His ways.
Today - June 2025, a year and a half later
We’ll be debt free next month. We paid over $43,000 to our loans since that January.
We doubled our giving and pray about where to put the rest. God gets more than 10%.
No longer concerned with survival, Dreaming His dreams.
He trusts us in our finances.
I’ve seen it to be true that if God can trust you with your finances today, He can trust you with more.
Practical Advice || 5 Ways to begin TODAY
MEET WITH GOD IN THE SECRET PLACE
make sure your finances please Him.
CREATE A FINANCIAL HEALTH PLAN
Plan with the LORD for the next month,
Review with spouse or friend weekly.
Did we spend what we said we would?
OPERATE IN FAITH
Dream with Him for the next year, the next ten.
If you’re spending money poorly now, it’s because you lack faith.
But building an earthly kingdom with excellence also lacks faith. Don't be a pendulum.
You need faith in Jesus in your finances, not 10 steps to become a millionaire.
CHOOSE ACCOUNTABILITY.
If cracks and damage were found on a pillar, the last thing you would do is cover it up with a nice curtain. Get help! Get it fixed!
Your pride is the last thing to be concerned about. How about the pillar remaining, continuing to hold the roof?
BE AWARE OF WHO INFLUENCES YOU.
If they’re only securing riches for themselves in this life, their word isn’t worth your time. It’s earthly wisdom which James 3 calls earthly, unspiritual and demonic.
Listen to people that are doing it or have done it. Those who have pleased the LORD by the faith in their finances, that overcome debt, that lived on way less to radically give.
Encouragement
Men of God: God is calling us to lead ourselves, our wives and families in health.
You need to lead, your children need you to lead. Your generations need you to lead.We cannot waste a season, saying in the next one I’ll be able to bless God. The kingdom of God is near. Even if we don’t believe we have enough to tithe, we seek first the kingdom and give sacrificially. Every day we seek to please Him in how we spend, give, and save our money.
The Lord wants to move you from
Move from Timidity to Zeal
from Laziness to Purpose
from Pride to Honor
As I’ve been speaking I believe He’s
Tearing down the lie: “I won’t have enough if I tithe.”
Tearing down the lie: “I just can’t budget.”
Removing the shame from wasteful spending and debt.
Teaching you that your income has an eternal purpose, no matter how much or little
