Sowing From the Heart

From Sunday Sermon on March 23, 2025

2 Corinthians 9:6–8

Over the past few weeks at COLG, we’ve been walking through a powerful series on Sowing and Multiplying. We’ve talked about the opportunity God gives us to multiply what He’s placed in our hands, how He first sows the seed of His Word into our hearts, and how we are called to sow not just into earthly things—but to sow to the Spirit, so that we reap something eternal.

This week, as we prepare to send our team into Richmond, KY—our next field of sowing—I believe God is calling us to examine not just what we sow, but how we sow. Specifically, He’s asking us to sow from the heart.

Why the heart?

Because the heart is the seedbed of generosity. The posture of your heart matters—whether you’re sowing your money, your time, your energy, your anointing, or your very life into the work of the Lord. It’s not just about the gift—it’s about the spirit in which the gift is given.

In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul is encouraging the Corinthian church to give a financial offering to believers in Jerusalem who are suffering through famine. He knows they have the means to give—but more importantly, he knows the heart behind the gift determines the harvest that follows.

He writes, “The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows generously will also reap generously.” (v.6) This is simple, even in the natural world. Plant a few seeds, and you get a small crop. Plant generously, and the harvest has more to work with.

But Paul isn’t just talking about quantity—he’s talking about intention. Are we sowing with a reluctant heart? Are we giving under compulsion, because we have to or feel pressured to? Or are we sowing cheerfully, from a heart full of gratitude and trust?

“God loves a cheerful giver.” (v.7)

Cheerful here doesn’t just mean smiling while you give—it means willing, joyful, even hilarious in your generosity. That kind of giving touches God’s heart in a unique way. And that’s the kind of giving He multiplies.

Verse 8 drives it home: “And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”

God’s overflow isn’t about material wealth—it’s about having contentment and abundance for every good work. In other words, when you sow from the right heart, God ensures you always have enough to keep sowing.

So the question is this: Are we generous people? Are we a generous church? Not just in what we give—but in the way we give?

As we send this team into Richmond, let’s not hold back. Let’s not sow sparingly. Let’s send them cheerfully—from the heart. Because God’s grace flows through cheerful givers, and the harvest from that kind of seed? It’s eternal.

Let’s sow from the heart.