I would imagine that these words that the Apostle Paul spoke to the elders at Ephesus as he met with them for the final time are quite familiar to you. You may have even preached this passage to your congregation. He said,

And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:32-35)

With complete confidence in God's Word, with a mature understanding of God's grace, having no covetousness in his heart, and having done what he could with his own hands, Paul exhorts these co-laborers in Christ to minister to the weak. And as they ministered they would experience a blessing that only comes through service and giving of oneself.

Notice again that last sentence. And think again about your own familiarity with the verse. Does your life experience reflect this truth? I sure hope so. I cannot help but think that the pastor who not only knows the text, but also knows the experience would never feel like a beggar when sharing a ministry opportunity with a congregation. I think he understands that sharing an opportunity to give to meet the need of one would also be providing an opportunity for another to receive a great blessing. After all, blessing is the result of giving, both to the one receiving the gift and the one giving the gift. That's what Jesus said!

In some recent articles on our website, we have focused on Christian education and some of its difficulties and dilemmas. It is undeniable that there are many young families who cannot afford these days the tuition to put their children in a Christian school. While parents do their best to provide the funding for a Christian school education, and grandparents do what they can, this need provides an opportunity for others to invest in these young lives. Their giving toward tuition payments or a scholarship fund can be a tremendous blessing, both to the family with the children and the one providing the funding.

It has been my experience that many pastors are reluctant to share these opportunities because they view the very mention of needs like this as "begging." Let me encourage you, pastor, people do want to know about these opportunities. How are they going to find out about them? How will they understand the importance of meeting the need, or giving the gift if someone doesn't lead and communicate with them? What a blessing it would be for a congregation to hear,

Ladies and gentlemen, our ministry leadership team has done some survey work and found that there are 8 families in our constituency who have children that they would love to have in our Christian school. After meeting with each them separately we have discovered that they are doing all they can to make this possible but still lack some of the funding needed to enroll their children. Our conclusion is that $17,800 would make it possible for these families to put their 19 children into our school this fall. Would you pray and ask God if He would have you provide some of this money so we could provide scholarships for these children? It might be that His prosperity to you is providing an opportunity to be a blessing to a family, and it would be a blessing to our Christian school. It would also provide you with an opportunity to "lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven."

God knows your heart. It would not surprise me to find out it is like Paul's heart. "Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account." (Philippians 4:17)

Who in your ministry will take the time to find out the need? Then who will be the one to tell the congregation? As you see the response of the people you will realize you weren't a beggar, you were a blessing. And you will once again remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."