Lesson 4. Almsgiving. Biblical foundational principles for financial well-being. Everyone who applies these principles will have financial provision for themselves and for ministering to others. This school was created by Dmitriy Leo, senior pastor of Father’s Blessing Church.
1. Almsgiving enables us to support poor and needy people.
Proverbs 19:17: Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done.
Proverbs 28:27: Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them will receive many curses.
Almsgiving blesses not only the poor but also brings blessing to the person who gives.
Luke 6:38: Give, and it will be given to you. A full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Interestingly, the reward is not given according to the same measure a person used; rather, that measure will be pressed down and filled so abundantly that the reward will overflow. In other words, God repays those who help others with increase.
2. Almsgiving is an expression of godliness before God.
James 1:27: Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
3. Giving alms is an expression of love for one's neighbor.
1 John 3:17–19: But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him—how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth.
And by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him…
Testimonies
“When you give decisively, I return to you just as decisively!”
A pastor's evangelist friend came to him and shared his need: “I need a truck to transport my tent.” “All right, how much does it cost?” the pastor asked. “Forty thousand dollars,” the evangelist replied. The problem was that the pastor had no available funds. He withdrew forty thousand dollars from the few funds in the church building fund account. Of course, this slowed the construction work.
Some time later, a stranger came to this pastor and said, “Here is a check, and I want you to know that God told me you may use it however you wish. This is the Lord's money.” It was a check for $150,000. The pastor prayed for this man and his wife, and when they left, he heard the voice of God within him: “If you had not given that missionary forty thousand dollars, I would not have given you this money. I always return more than I receive. When you give decisively, I return to you just as decisively!
A Good Habit
One well-known millionaire minister said that when he saw how greatly giving alms brings blessings, he began giving not only when he saw someone in need, but also in advance. He made it a rule to pay for lunch at a restaurant for a priest, police officer, or anyone in need. He simply pays extra to cover one more order for someone else.
A Simple Solution to Financial Challenges
One well-known minister shared how he handles financial challenges. When he urgently needs money, he simply takes whatever he has left and gives it to those in need. After that, God always sends him the money he needs.
How Can You Quickly Complete a Church Building?
A pastor was building a church building with 20,000 seats, but halfway through the project, the flow of funds stopped. After praying, he felt led to help other churches in a similar situation. There was still money in the church account, but it was not enough to complete the building. So the pastor and his assistants sat down and made a list of all the churches in the city with unfinished buildings. Then they divided the remaining funds and distributed them among those churches. After that, streams of money began coming to them, enabling them to quickly complete their enormous building.
Conclusion
Almsgiving enables us to help the poor and needy while also opening streams of God's blessings for us.
Almsgiving is also an expression of our godliness before God and our love for people. God will always repay a person more than they have given to others.
Source: Father’s Blessing Church
Teacher: Dmitriy Leo
