12 April 2026 - The Preparation, The Attitude & The Reward - Pastor Clarance Shashi

Visiting, or if you're here for the first time, you are under no obligation at all to participate in it.

Yeah.

But giving is very much a part of the culture of this church.

If you attend any of our services, our our Easter services, you know we love to bless people, we love to give, we love to be a channel of God's heart, yeah.

And it's not just to the preaching of the word, it's not just to worship, it's through our actions as well.

Yeah.

So before we give towards the miracle offering, I want to do a little bit of uh of teaching on giving from a New Testament perspective.

Yeah?

Giving is many times an uncomfort uncomfortable Yeah, thank you.

Giving is an uncomfortable topic for many Christians.

You know, you talk about fate, no problem.

You can talk about sin, heaven, hell, prayer, but when you talk about giving and money, people get uncomfortable.

Uh in fact, people even get offended.

Even uh, oh wow, last miracle offering, which was two years ago, people got offended.

I and I still don't know why they got offended, because you know, uh there was nothing to be offended about, but people get offended uh about uh when it comes to giving.

But um not teach or preach on this topic would be doing you a great disservice because it is a big part of our faith and a big part of biblical teaching and scripture.

A lot of our preaching and our teaching in churches revolve around receiving how God's gonna bless you, how God's gonna give you that breakthrough, how you're gonna receive that miracle, how he's gonna help you, how he's gonna be with you in the fire, in the flood.

And we like that, and rightly so.

But when you look at scripture, the emphasis isn't on receiving as much as it is on giving.

The word give appears in scripture over 2,000 times.

The word receive appears in scripture less than 200 times.

So there's an emphasis.

One-third of the parables shared by Jesus centered around financial and material management.

The parable of the talents, the parable of the rich fool, the unjust steward, uh, the widow's mite, and so on.

One out of six verses in the gospels revolve around the themes of money, possessions, and stewardship.

So, to put it into perspective, Jesus spoke more about money and possessions and stewardship.

In fact, he spoke about it twice as much as he spoke about heaven and hell.

He spoke about money more than he spoke about prayer.

And Jesus didn't talk about money because he was a fundraiser, he spoke about money because it was the primary competitor for the human heart.

He says you cannot serve two masters, God or mammon.

Mammon in the Aramaic language literally means money and possessions, wealth and riches.

And he likens it as a substitute God that people served.

So we can become, our hearts can be drawn away by possessions, by money.

So Jesus spoke a lot about the management of it.

In fact, he says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And another reason why giving is emphasized more than receiving is because based on scripture, receiving is a byproduct of giving.

Giving is the doorway to access receiving, it is the key to unlock the blessings that God has for you.

So naturally, the emphasis would be more on uh on how to get the key rather than on what's behind the door waiting for you.

Because if you get the key, what's behind the door is a given.

Amen.

But I run ahead of myself.

Let's look at this portion of scripture found in the book of 2 Corinthians.

The apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Corinth, he was preparing the church for a special offering, pretty much like what we we've been doing over these few weeks.

Uh, and they were gonna collect it for the believers and the needs of the believers and the church in Jerusalem.

And he doesn't just say, Hey, you must give, he teaches them how to give, the way to give, the attitude that you must have when it comes to giving.

So he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 5 onwards, he says, Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.

2 Corinthians 9:5

But this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, always having sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work, as it is written, he has dispersed abroad abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

While you are enriched in everything, for all the brility which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.

While through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

So Paul is uh collecting an offering for the churches in Jerusalem, and he's writing to the church in Corinth, and he's giving them instructions on how to collect this offering, how to prepare for this offering.

So he talks about the preparation for giving, he talks about the attitude you must have when you're giving, and he talks about the blessings that you will reap because you are giving.

So let's look at those three points the preparation for giving.

He says, uh, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity, not as a grudging obligation.

So before he collected the offering, he sent people ahead to encourage the people to prepare their gift, to prepare their generous gifts beforehand.

And Paul is through this, he's actually emphasizing intentionality in your giving.

You need to prepare your giving.

What he's saying is your giving should not be an afterthought.

You know, many times we come to church, when it's time to give, we just look for what we have in our pocket.

We don't prepare.

Alama, I didn't have I don't have cash, Alama, I got some few loose chains, and we give it.

It's more like an afterthought.

But Paul is saying you have to prepare in advance.

When the band prepares for worship, they don't just show up on stage on Sunday morning and they say, Hey, what song you want to sing, huh?

What song shall we sing?

Then after they sing one song, hey, uh, what what shall we sing next, uh?

What song you know how to play?

What uh what song uh lyrics you know, uh let us move to the next song.

They don't do that, they prepare, they prepare the throughout the week.

The songs are thought of, decided, or chosen much earlier.

They practice, you know why?

Because it is worship unto God, and New Testament giving is worship unto God.

When you sing songs like uh uh I trust in God, my Savior, the one church loves to sing, that you sing, so we sing, I trust in God.

When you're singing, you're declaring your trust in God.

When you give, you are demonstrating your trust in God, right?

Because it's easy to declare.

We declare all kinds of things when we sing, but when you when it's time for giving, we we kind of oh no, no, no, no, I'm not gonna.

I trust in God, but maybe not today.

So that is why the offering is always tied to the worship, because New Testament giving is an extension of your worship unto God.

You sing songs of worship, and then you engage in acts of worship.

And let me tell you, there's no greater act of love unto God than to give.

Because that is the heart of God for you as well.

For God so loved you, he gave, right?

So giving is an expression of love.

We can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.

Yeah?

So New Testament giving is worship unto God, and when we understand that, we don't just give carelessly or thoughtlessly, we give as an act of worship, it is prepared, and it's not just for this miracle offering that I'm talking about today.

Every Sunday, when you come to church, prepare your gift because it is an act of worship, it is an extension of your worship to God.

Don't take it for granted, yeah?

So Paul calls this a gift, calls this giving a gift.

You know, when you prepare a gift, I mean, all of us have received gifts in our lives.

The best gifts are the ones that were thoughtful.

They thought of you.

They're thinking, oh, I know what he likes, I know the color he likes, I know the kind of clothes he wears.

So I buy him a thoughtful gift.

Prepared, thought of.

And you appreciate gifts like that.

Right?

You don't want the gift that someone just went to 7-Eleven and just bought something and and came.

Ha, hey, happy birthday! And you look at the gift.

What is this like tic-tac?

This person just didn't think it just before coming, he stopped by the 7-Eleven outside my house, bought something and came.

You know, it's not a gift that was prepared, thought of.

We don't appreciate those kind of gifts so much.

So the best kind of gifts are the ones that are thoughtful, prepared, and generous.

And that is that leads us to what Paul is saying about the attitude behind our giving.

He's saying that giving is something that you must think about, that you must prepare, and it must be generous.

And you see that word being used in verse 5 repeatedly: prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity, not as a grudging obligation.

Listen, generosity is not about the size or the amount of your gift, it is about the heart attitude behind the giving.

It is about the heart of the giver, because the opposite of a generous heart behind the gift is revealed by Paul is giving out of a grudging obligation.

How many of us have received gifts out of a grudging obligation?

We don't want.

Take your gift and go.

So, why is a generous heart behind giving important?

We need to know this because there is a divine principle at work when you give with a generous heart, because it says God loves a cheerful giver.

You cannot be a cheerful giver and be a grudging giver at the same time.

Yeah?

Paul goes on to say in verse 6 why generosity is important.

He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 6, but this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully or generous generously will also reap generously.

2 Corinthians 9:6

Your giving or sowing will have a direct impact on your reaping.

In fact, Jesus says in Luke chapter 6, verse 38, give.

Luke 6:38

No, I don't, I'm not sure if it was Jesus who said this or Ron Cannoli, but give and it will come back to you.

Good measure, pressed down, shaken again, and running over.

How many of you know that song?

But it wasn't Ron Canoli who said it.

Jesus said this in Luke chapter 6, verse 38 Give and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your bosom.

Luke 6:38

For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

This is a New Testament principle based on the words of Jesus.

So every time you notice, every time the scripture talks about giving and blessing, it equates it to seed and harvest and sowing and reaping, all these farming terms.

So what Paul is trying to explain here is what you give in God's eyes is seen as a seed.

And you should consider it as seed.

Paul is teaching us to consider our giving as a seed that is being sown.

And every farmer knows when they release the seed into the ground, they are not losing the seed, they are not wasting the seed, they are planting the seed.

A seed is not given away, a seed is planted.

And he knows only the seed he lets go of has the power to multiply.

The farmer knows that.

And using that same principle, today when we give our offering, or when we put our offering into the bucket at any Sunday, or even when we transfer our money online, that's how most of us give nowadays, we are not giving away our money, we are not wasting our seed, we are planting our seed in the soil of God's word.

God looks at your giving a seed, and the seed that you release has the power to multiply.

Amen.

So the farmer isn't of the mindset that he's losing the seeds, he plants with expectation that the seed will produce for him a harvest, and the blessing of the harvest is always greater than the sacrifice of the seed.

That is the principle.

And when you get that, you change your mindset about money, about giving.

Hey, it's seed.

Now I'm excited.

I want to plant, and your giving will shift from being a grudging obligation to a generous gift.

Your attitude about giving changes.

You know, today we want to sow from a generous heart.

And with that sowing, as Paul teaches, you can have an expectation.

In fact, the Bible encourages us to have an expectation, to give with an expectation, and that's what our attitude should be like today.

All throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, when the scriptures talk about giving, it's always give with expectation.

It is God is saying, Yeah, you give, you're making the sacrifice, but trust me with this, because I'm gonna bless you, I'm gonna invade your circumstances, you're gonna see a great harvest.

There's God always don't feel guilty about expectation while giving.

Some people know I give, I don't want to expect anything.

No, listen, the Bible tells us to give with expectation.

Yeah?

Give and it will come back to you.

And many, many scriptures, every time you read about giving, there's always an encouragement to expect a miracle as a result of your giving, as a result of your sacrifice.

Amen?

Well, let's give Jesus a clap of.

So Paul uh goes on to say, he says in verse 7, you must each decide in your heart how much to give.

Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves a person who gives cheerfully.

You must you must each decide in your heart what to give.

Decide what you're going to give.

Like I mentioned over those past uh two weeks or three weeks, I said, pray.

Ask God as uh individuals, as a couple, as a family, decide on what you're going to give.

And this, like I said, this should be the practice every Sunday, not just for this special miracle offering.

We come ready with our gift prepared because it is also an act of worship unto God.

And it says, Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure.

And I want to make that very, very clear today, as the pastor of your church.

Don't give in church if you're feeling pressured, don't give out of fear.

The foundation of New Testament giving is faith and love.

Amen.

I give because I love God, I give because I have faith in his word, I give because I love his church, I love his people, I give because I know that he is faithful, I trust in his character, I give because I want to fulfill my mandate to be a blessing.

I don't give because I'm scared, I don't give because a curse is gonna come upon my finances if I don't give.

Listen, that is all testament giving, everything that's a curse.

But Jesus took every curse of the law upon himself, so you don't worry about the curses.

The curses have been removed, but you can still tap into the blessings of obedience.

Amen.

New Testament giving is not law-driven, it is not fear-driven, it is a grace, it is grace-driven.

Paul writes to the church in Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 8:7

He says, As you abound in everything, in faith, and you know, we all want to abound in faith, we grow in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, in your love for us.

See that you also abound in this grace of giving.

Giving is a grace.

He calls giving a grace that you and I must abound in.

Like I said, the curse has been removed.

Tap into the blessings of God, and we have testimonies upon testimonies of people who started giving, who started trusting God's word for this area of their life.

People started tiding and they started to see huge shifts take place in their lives, in their financial situation, over their family, over their children, because they tapped into the blessings that is provided for in God's word.

You can ask people to sit there, you can ask Malika, you can ask Angel and Prasad, you can ask Nixon, of course, you can ask CK, you can ask uh Shelton, Robin.

They will tell you, they'll give you testimonies upon testimonies about how when they stepped out to give and they stepped out in faith in this area, they saw breakthroughs and miracles come into their life.

Because not because you're buying a miracle, because God is faithful and God honors your faith.

Amen.

Yeah.

So don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure.

Give because you know God is good, give because you love God, give because you want to be a blessing, and because you want to tap into the blessings that are tied to this grace of giving.

Give with the right heart, right mind, and you will become a cheerful giver.

And God loves a cheerful giver.

I didn't say that, the Bible says that, yeah.

And Paul goes on to say, this is how God will respond to your generosity, the blessings of giving.

He says, because before you because you prepared, because you have the right attitude, because you see your giving as seed, because you're not giving grudgingly, and because you're trusting God's word, God's word, this is what will happen.

2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 8 onwards.

2 Corinthians 9:8

He said, God and God will generously provide all you need.

Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

As the scripture says, they share freely and give generously to the poor.

Their good deeds will be remembered forever.

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and bread to eat, and in the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.

How good is that?

How good is that?

Basically, what it's saying is.

You cannot outgive God.

Notice the same measure you use.

He says, Give generously, prepare, give your generous gift.

And he says, and God uses the same measure back.

And God will generously provide all your needs.

And let me tell you, the generosity of God is much greater than your generosity could ever be.

Amen.

He will generously provide.

You will always have everything, all that you need, plenty left over to share with others.

In other words, you will never be in lack.

You know, some of you are tired of being lack.

This is your way out.

There's only one man.

Listen, read the Bible.

I've searched the Bible over and over and over and over again.

They've got instructions on everything.

And the only instruction on how to break out of lack and poverty is to become a giver.

A giver.

You see that in stories upon stories, in instruction upon instruction, in scripture.

It says he supplies seed to the sower.

So which comes first?

I need to be a sower first.

So he's looking for a sower to supply seed.

Let me let me make that put that in a simple way.

He gives gifts to the giver.

It doesn't say he gives gifts, then you become a giver.

You become a giver and he gives gifts to the giver because he knows you can be trusted with that gift to be a channel of his blessing.

He supplies sea to the sower.

So I need to embrace my identity as a sower.

When I embrace my identity as a sower, I become a sower.

He increases my capacity as a sower.

So I am a sower not because of what I have, I am a sower because of God's word.

Because I want to obey God's word.

And because I obey God's word, God gives me the capacity to be a greater sower than I could ever be on my own account.

So He supplies seed to the sower.

God provides the seed, God will do his part.

There are blessings for you from God.

That's why we call this a miracle offering.

We want it to be a miracle for the recipients of the giving, but it will also bring a miracle into your world.

Not because I said so, because the scriptures say so, as you step out in faith.

Philippians chapter 4, verse 17.

Philippians 4:17

Paul writes to the church of at Philippi, and he's also collecting an offering.

And he says, Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.

So he's saying, Yes, there's a gift, I'm collecting the gift, but I'm not really seeking the gift because there is a blessing for you, there's an abounding for you, there's a fruitfulness that's going to come because you're stepping into this grace of giving.

And that's what he wants to see.

And that's what I want to see for every single member of this church.

I want to see you prosper, I want to see your life become fruitful.

I don't want to see anyone in lack.

I want to see you prosper, do well, be the head, not the tail.

Amen.

What a great church that would be.

And if you're not there yet, listen, you're journeying there, you will break out of whatever situation you are right now.

I guarantee you that.

If you're willing to stand on God's word and trust Him, Amen.

Then He says, Two good things will result from this ministry of giving.

The needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.

As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God for you generously, for your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ.

So he says the needs of the believers will be met.

This is what your giving is going to do outside of you.

In our case, the needs of the people, God's people in Malaysia, in India, in Thailand, in Cambodia will be met.

The needs of the hungry and the widows, the orphans will be met.

The needs of the refugees in our country will be met.

The needs of the refugee children, the educational need of the refugee children will be met.

The needs of the marginalized will be met, like the Orang Asli community and others.

The needs of the poor will be met, the needs of the hungry will be met, the needs of families will be met.

And it says they will joyfully express their thanks to God as a result of your ministry.

They will give glory to God.

Our giving will generate praises to God.

Indirectly, people are going to be thanking God, people are going to be praising God in India.

People are going to be praising God in Thailand.

People are going to be praising God in Cambodia.

People are going to be praising God in the in the Orang Ashli villages in Pahang.

Why?

Because you gave praises are being generated to God.

Listen, I want to contribute to that.

Amen.

Come on, let's stand.