SERMON
Invitation to Commit
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 (The Message)
[Theme: Growing God’s Kingdom with Kingdom Grown Hearts]
Key Verses: Matthew 6:10; Matthew 6:33
October 25, 2026
Theme: Commitment
Focus: How can gratitude and ownership be translated into commitment?
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 (The Message)
6-7 Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.
8-11 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,
He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.
This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.
12-15 Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they’ll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!
Cultivating Gratitude…Cultivating Ownership
Over the last two months, we have been reminded that God has planted his Kingdom in our hearts when we responded to his irresistible and extravagant Love: that magnificent Amazing Grace that John Newton wrote about. And with those “Kingdom-grown hearts,” God works through us to grow his Kingdom here on earth.
How does he do that? He does it through his Kingdom-shaped forgiveness, which changes our lives and, through us, changes the lives of others around us! There is a sense of wonder that God can give us so much of his love even when we don’t deserve it (that’s “grace,” actually!). That sense of wonder leads to gratitude, which in turn leads to joy, and eventually to generosity. We discover the privilege it is to give.
Our gratitude for what God has done, and continues to do, in our lives spurs us to cultivate that same gratitude in others. We want God to work in the same life-transforming way all around us. Do you really believe that DUMC is a growing channel of God’s grace in your life, and in the lives of others that we touch?
But cultivating gratitude is not all. Even as he fills us with gratitude, God draws us into a fellowship of fellow Christ-followers – the Church, for us, DUMC. We begin to feel a sense of belonging that grows into a desire to participate in the Kingdom-life we experience as church. We begin to cultivate that sense of “ownership.”
“Yes, this part of the Kingdom, this church, does belong to me, to us, to nurture, to grow.”
But there’s more. “Ownership” also means that I belong – we belong – to this church, and so I want to participate more and more. Cultivating ownership means that I need to discover new ways that God wants me to be generous with my time, my abilities, and yes, my finances.
How can you practically “cultivate ownership” as part of DUMC?
How can you cultivate gratitude; how can you cultivate ownership as part of DUMC? It is not just about meeting budgets and balancing our expenses. It is more about your response of gratitude to the wonder of God’s working in your life. It is also about the responsibility you have accepted by cultivating ownership through participation.
Today we give you the opportunity to fill out a number – a dollar amount – that reflects your gratitude and ownership. In January, we will give you the opportunity to help us discover how you can be generous with your time and abilities, too.
Incidentally, it is not an “either…or”: either money or giving time and abilities.
It is actually a “both…and.”
How much (?)…depends on you!
Focus: How can gratitude and ownership be translated into commitment?
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 (The Message)
6-7 Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.
8-11 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,
He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.
This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.
12-15 Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they’ll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!
Cultivating Gratitude…Cultivating Ownership
Over the last two months, we have been reminded that God has planted his Kingdom in our hearts when we responded to his irresistible and extravagant Love: that magnificent Amazing Grace that John Newton wrote about. And with those “Kingdom-grown hearts,” God works through us to grow his Kingdom here on earth.
How does he do that? He does it through his Kingdom-shaped forgiveness, which changes our lives and, through us, changes the lives of others around us! There is a sense of wonder that God can give us so much of his love even when we don’t deserve it (that’s “grace,” actually!). That sense of wonder leads to gratitude, which in turn leads to joy, and eventually to generosity. We discover the privilege it is to give.
Our gratitude for what God has done, and continues to do, in our lives spurs us to cultivate that same gratitude in others. We want God to work in the same life-transforming way all around us. Do you really believe that DUMC is a growing channel of God’s grace in your life, and in the lives of others that we touch?
But cultivating gratitude is not all. Even as he fills us with gratitude, God draws us into a fellowship of fellow Christ-followers – the Church, for us, DUMC. We begin to feel a sense of belonging that grows into a desire to participate in the Kingdom-life we experience as church. We begin to cultivate that sense of “ownership.”
“Yes, this part of the Kingdom, this church, does belong to me, to us, to nurture, to grow.”
But there’s more. “Ownership” also means that I belong – we belong – to this church, and so I want to participate more and more. Cultivating ownership means that I need to discover new ways that God wants me to be generous with my time, my abilities, and yes, my finances.
How can you practically “cultivate ownership” as part of DUMC?
How can you cultivate gratitude; how can you cultivate ownership as part of DUMC? It is not just about meeting budgets and balancing our expenses. It is more about your response of gratitude to the wonder of God’s working in your life. It is also about the responsibility you have accepted by cultivating ownership through participation.
Today we give you the opportunity to fill out a number – a dollar amount – that reflects your gratitude and ownership. In January, we will give you the opportunity to help us discover how you can be generous with your time and abilities, too.
Incidentally, it is not an “either…or”: either money or giving time and abilities.
It is actually a “both…and.”
How much (?)…depends on you!