The Generosity Connection

Hello and welcome back to the Live Bully Podcast brought to you by Celebration Baptist Church.

I'm Jessica, and today Pastor Warren is joining me again.

We're going to be talking about the generosity connection.

It's a good question and one that I can answer based on my own journey.

Because I was not, as you meant, as I mentioned before in my story, I was not raised in the church, so I had no real understanding of what tithing or even generosity meant.

Because of the way my family was raised, and nothing against them.

It's just that generosity wasn't a great positive thing in our lives.

And so hanging on to things is more of a more of an emphasis than giving things away.

So for me, that was a difficult, and to a stent, to a certain extent, still a difficult journey to have, although year after year, as many of you listening as you understand that the joy of generosity kind of begets more of that.

It's like you begin to understand both the joy and to a certain extent the safety in trusting God with our finances.

So for me, back in the beginning, my path to understanding all things about church and God really connected to my wife Shelley, who had been raised as a generous believer.

So it was really a matter of me kind of just watching and listening to her pattern of behavior, and she worked right away.

So when we both graduated from university, she went into teaching right away.

I continued with my studies and I was able to see her, how she conducted herself with the salary that she was making.

And so I think the first step for a person who comes from outside the body of Christ to see is they think that giving generously to the church is either a waste or unnecessary.

And I think both of those things are super erroneous.

First of all, one of the things that most people, I think, outside the church, and even some within the church, don't understand the mechanics of how finances drive this organization called the church.

Everything from keeping things nice to salaries and to ministry function and that sort of thing.

And as I became more and more involved on the church level as a worker, I could see, wow, we need finances for this, this, and that.

And the reason why we're not doing that big thing is because there's no budget for it.

And so I began to see how how the giving of the people of God was in a lot of ways a very, very strong engine that made the church go.

That certainly is prayer notwithstanding and vision notwithstanding, but you can have a lot of things, but if you don't have the resources behind the vision, in a lot of ways that vision is not going to get accomplished.

So for me, there were a couple of things.

First of all, understanding how wonderfully generous God had been to me.

And then understanding just more about his church and his kingdom.

And when when Christ says to us to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, there's a lot of pieces in the go exhortation.

So that's that is feet on the ground, that is getting on the plane, but it is also making it possible for others to go or even the missionary movement to happen.

One of the very attractive things about being a Southern Baptist is being part of generations after generations of a missionary movement made possible by this wonderful entity called the Cooperative Program, where there's just this idea that churches can come together and do more as a group.

And so this is something that's been formative in the Southern Baptist Church and continues to this day.

And so for me, I no longer think giving is a waste.

And I no longer think that the church doesn't need the money.

So then it becomes a question of well, where does the worship component or the or the love component come to be?

I'm not a big fan of mathematics.

So in a lot of ways, the giving journey starts with formulas, you know, percentages and all that sort of thing, which are important to get started.

But for me, especially with live boldly, my question about giving and generosity is not about the math.

It's about the heart and the affection that I have for the Lord and my desire to see God's kingdom accomplished, both here and beyond.

And just because now I get it, I'm on the inside.

No one should really understand the value of giving any more than the pastors of the church.

So even more so the opportunity for me to lead, whether it's publicly known or not, for me to lead in this area that God might be able to bless not only myself and my family, but the church through giving.

That's kind of where I am, and that's and that's where my journey is today.

That's all awesome.

So in your personal life, you recognized an area which you needed to grow, which was generosity, and then you sought out some resources to help you.

What were those resources and how did they encourage you through all this?

I think like a lot of a lot of things, when we learn more about something, it really makes us more excited about it.

I remember when my Shelley and I were at university, and it just happened to be that both of us took psychology and philosophy type classes, and I remember meeting at the end of the day, talking all about all the things that we had learned.

In a lot of ways, we began to grow and develop our own sense of who we were in those formative years.

And so as I've gone through life, when I've come across something that really helped me understand whether it's leadership or finances, it's kind of really added fuel to the fire.

A number of years ago, our church came into contact with an organization called Horizons Stewardship that helped us understand a little bit about what it is that we could understand in the area of generosity and promoting generosity.

And they had resources.

They had some little movie clips and stuff, and I just got a taste of what generosity could be for myself.

And because of my role as a worship pastor, I thought, you know what?

I think this generosity subject could really change my life.

Yeah.

And I I thought, okay, I'm gonna read, I'm gonna listen.

I listened to books uh through audible.com and do some reading, but I'm gonna consume as much about generosity as I can and see what happens, not only for myself, but how I can help others.

And I loved it.

All the books that I read, all the books that I listened to just helped confirm what God was already doing in my life.

And then actually giving my, it was kind of like apologetics.

For for those of us who have studied why the Bible is reliable and the nature of God, we've just that's just made us love him more and made us just more able to be a witness for him.

Generosity was kind of the same, it was almost like apologetics for giving, is that I really began to understand the heart of God, the generosity of God, and the wonderful opportunity it was for me to be able to walk in generosity for the sake of the kingdom and for the sake of my relationship with the Lord.

So, what began to happen in your personal life when you began to understand and then even practice generosity?

Well, the first thing that happened is that it was easier for me to make strategic decisions to make me a better giver.

So as I as I mentioned in my in my Live Boldly devotional, there was a process whereby, because my income was a little bit up and down, so was my giving.

And so when I when I started into a regular pattern of giving, I was kind of locked into by virtue of the way that the church designed giving into tithing, and it was like, okay, here it goes.

This doesn't feel very comfortable, but I'm I'm ti I'm instantly a tither.

And and so when I was no longer in that forced situation of tithing where tithing was then optional, then it sort of I was brought back into that situation of, well, I think I can tithe this week or or this month, and then then maybe I'll make up, I'll I'll owe God for a couple of months and then make it up.

And and that was just a it wasn't a roller coaster, but it was an ebb and flow of giving that I don't think was particularly healthy for me.

And because I knew in my own heart what I wanted to be doing in giving, it was a bit of an unfulfilled desire.

It's almost like for those of you who tried to go to church this past weekend, but you didn't go for whatever reason.

And there's this there's this sense of emptiness in your heart because you know that you missed out an opportunity to come together with the body of Christ.

Well, for me, giving was a little bit like that, in that I was robbing myself the joy of generosity.

Until which time we we came into contact a little bit more with this with this teaching horizons, was helping me just understand it, and we as a church were saying, okay, you know, what do we want to be doing?

What is God calling us to do?

And in reflection of what God is calling us to do as a church, where are we gonna have to be as individuals, in particular as leaders?

So I was I was able to get into a monthly um payroll deduction scenario whereby right off the bat God was getting his first fruits.

In a lot of ways, I was fulfilling everything that I had believed and wanted to do, and all of a sudden, after you know a couple of months of preparation, dove into it, and I'm just never looked back, and that's several years ago now.

And uh so those were some of the steps that I took that got me to where I am.

Yeah, that seems really good.

So, how do you think that generosity can impact our lives?

I think when we look at generosity again, it it's a really part of understanding God's loving kindness for us and generosity for us.

And the more we can reflect Christ in our life, whether it's generosity or other areas of compassion and stuff, the more we are like Him.

And the more we walk in the Spirit of God, the more we walk with in the fruits of the Spirit, I think the more we just sense ourselves being in that in that sort of hand-in-glove relationship with God.

I think one of the things that that people can struggle with, and myself included, is that one day you feel close to God, another day you feel distant.

Yeah.

Generosity is one of those ways that you can feel like you're getting the job done and you feel close to him because you've obeyed him.

And you're being obedient.

One of the cool things about being a payday giver is that you get that opportunity to obey on a fairly regular basis.

Thank the Lord we get paid regularly.

But you know, every couple of weeks that that kicks in, and and because I know that that that that that money has has already gone and is already working, then I can take joy in that missionary that's getting supported.

I can take joy in the lights being on.

I can take joy in that for for in our experience, that higher quality microphone that's gonna that's gonna communicate better.

Yes.

And so for me, the joy in the journey is important.

I'm all about joy.

I just think that joy is so, so critical in our walk.

I like being around happy people, I like to be a happy person, and that doesn't mean I'm being fake.

It just simply means that because I'm not burdened with the fact that I owe God all kinds of money, that I can walk through with a greater joy.

And so, what I want for this live boldly commitment, and I think I'm gonna make one commitment for the first year, and then another commitment for the second year that goes beyond.

Yeah.

I want to be able to say, okay, I'm continuing to grow in this area, and I can say to my family, to my kids, now to my grandchild, and to my ministry, you know, come with me.

God can be trusted in this area, and there's joy in this journey of generosity.

Yeah.

Pastor Warren, thank you for continuing this conversation with us.

All of this is really important.

Um, to all of our listeners, don't forget, follow Celebration Baptist Church on Instagram and Facebook.

Also subscribe to our YouTube channel so that way you can keep up with the Live Boldly Sermon Series and explore everything else that's going on in our family right now.

Pastor Warren, would you close us in prayer today?

I will.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day that you've made.

And speaking of joy, we just thank you for the joy that is our strength.

And I pray particularly for those listening that feel weak, that feel that feel like they're behind, that feel like they're not where they should be in you.

And Lord, we thank you that as as much as you challenge us, you come to us with arms that are open to pick us up when we fall.

So be near us, Lord Jesus.

Allow us to sense your forgiveness and your restoration here and now of where we are in our walk with you.

We pray that as we consider what it means to give generously, to give sacrificially, that you would be with us every step of the way, and that we could find you in the midst of our conversation of what it means to understand how generous you have been to us, and therefore how generous we can be toward others and to your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor Warren.

To everyone listening, don't forget, tune in tomorrow for our last discussion with Pastor Warren.

We'll see you then.