The Practice of Generosity | October 27, 2024

We've been talking

about practicing

the way, right?

This Jesus way, the

way of apprenticeship

that we are

apprentices of Jesus,

trying to follow him,

do what he did, hang

out with him, be with

him, become like him

in this whole thing we

call being a disciple.

Right?

An apprentice

of Jesus.

We've looked at

Sabbath and the idea

of space and rest for

spiritual renewal.

We've talked

about solitude.

This idea of what Dax

shot for the other

night right before his

daughter, so rudely

interrupted with

awesomeness, right?

So cool.

We've talked

about prayer and

we've spent time

together in prayer

and talked about

the importance of.

Communication,

interaction with

the Lord if we're

gonna have a

relationship with him.

And community

specifically being

part of a faith

community, like we're

so used to church

being a presentation

and a show that

if you hear this

morning, and it was

a whole lot of people

talking together,

sharing together,

praying together,

singing together.

That's actually

what church is

supposed to be.

But faith,

community members,

families, indi.

Individuals, everyone

being important to

that whole, I mean,

you guys, man, you

guys exemplify that

so many cool ways.

We talked about

scripture, how God's

word brings life

and truth and to

marinate in that and

make that a priority

and how we live.

Josh talked

about fasting.

That's why my

earpiece was so messed

up this morning.

I was like, who's

big ear was this in?

Yeah, since then.

So fasting, separating

ourselves, saying no

to our flesh, to say

yes to the Lord and

to get serious in

relationship with him.

And some of those.

Prayer and fasting

strategies.

Pretty cool stuff.

And then last week we

experienced worship

as a practice,

though it wasn't

really officially

in the book as one.

And I just wanna say

what crazy generosity

you guys, you're such,

you're such a blessing

to people and you

don't even realize it.

Like the George family

was here and they

usually played a lot

of smaller churches

and older churches

and they said to each

of, you know, several

of us individually,

just like the young

people who were

here, the teenagers,

like sitting in

that teenager row.

We got.

Jed and Scott

and Jennifer.

Wait, I don't know

how that worked out,

but, um, you know.

Nice try, Scott.

We can see you.

Uh, yeah.

It's good.

I just didn't wanna

go back and sit down

after praying for Dax.

I get it right,

but you guys just

being present and

just being real

followers of Jesus.

Like when we did

scripture, remember

that we shared

scriptures and, and

really we had tons of

teenagers and college

students who stood up

and shared scripture.

What a cool

testimony that was.

Well, I've been

telling you

that matters.

Right?

And last Sunday,

that family, the

George family who was

here, was just blown

away by you guys.

Your engagement

and your heart

for each other.

Uh, Gary told me

afterwards how much it

was just like, it blew

his mind that, that

these Judah or uh,

uh, Jonah said these

people actually like,

they want to be here.

They like each other.

I like Where you

been going to church,

bro, but yeah.

Right.

Like, you guys

love each other

and you do that.

Well, here's what

Gary sent me on

the afternoon.

He said, thank

you Andy.

We'll go to.

What we'll

go to church.

I don't know

what that means.

Uh, your church

family was amazing,

so very supportive

and encouraging.

So good to see your

beautiful wife.

I agree with that.

I was somewhat

concerned about

our musical style.

But listen to what he

says about you guys.

He says, your church

will go down in George

History as one of the

greatest experiences

we've ever had.

Pretty cool, huh?

Pretty cool.

Uh, we appreciate

the opportunity

and definitely pray

for your church and

your family now.

What he didn't know

at that time was that

you guys like put in

$950 of offering to

them, and our church

board matched a little

bit of that to get

'em up to about 1500

bucks just for coming.

And they're just, it

was just to support

their ministry, right?

Like just cool

stuff you guys did.

So this is what he

sent me at 10 o'clock

at night that night.

The offering for the

group was amazing.

Cannot thank

you enough.

Then I can't

count all the

exclamation points.

Just looked at it.

We are in shock.

Bless you for your

generous gift.

Can I just say this,

like, when you honor

God, he honors you.

And when you bless

those who are in your

life and those who

maybe spent their

lives and maybe.

Let's be honest, like

probably the George

Family Band isn't

climbing the Christian

charts anytime soon.

And I don't know how

effective Gary is

in youth ministry

right now, other

than you should have

seen all the kids

watching the steel

guitar and messing

around after church.

Right?

But Gary loves,

and you guys,

you guys were.

Just crazy generous

in your hearts, in

your engagement and in

your giving, which is

kind of cool because

that is actually the

practice that we were

supposed to do last

week was generosity.

And I thought it

was cool 'cause I

didn't get a chance

to preach about

it, but I thought,

you know what?

Maybe we'll experience

it and you guys

blew it away.

So thank you for

being such a generous

group of people

because what you did,

blessed people that

they'll hold onto

that forever, right.

So we had some

people come here

recently to do that.

Well, a couple years

ago, doing that power

lifting thing, right?

And they were

like, legendary.

Legendary.

Your people

are legendary.

Sometimes we forget

how important it

is to be people who

really love and who

really try to practice

what it looks like

to follow Jesus.

So that's not a proud

pet self on the back.

It's just an

affirmation that the

journey that we're

walking and the way

that we're walking.

Great job guys.

How, how cool those

changes eternity the

way you guys love.

Generosity is

something you guys

do really well.

I said I was gonna

mention something

about this.

We have these shoe

boxes in the back,

the Operation

Christmas Child.

Raise your hand if

you've been a part

of an operation

Christmas child Box

before in your life.

They're all over

the culture and

all over the place.

Super, super

cool stuff.

If you've never

done it, man, find a

kid like a grandkid

or a nephew or a

niece, not a random

kid, but a kid in

your family, right?

And go to the dollar

store and buy some

stuff and stick it

in one of these red

and green boxes.

You get a chance.

To send these all

over the world with

the gospel in them.

And man, the stories

are mind blowing.

It's a very simple

act of generosity

that quite honestly

transforms all

eternity for

some people.

It really,

really does.

We have a chance

in the back to do

some things with

our college students

and bless them.

I am so proud of our

college students in

the way that they're

standing in the midst

of a really tough

culture to navigate.

And you guys get a

chance to grab one of

those little flyers,

read a few things,

and just find some

ways to send them

some encouragement.

Lemme tell you when

you're on the front

lines of battling

against ideology and

the lies and deception

of the enemy on the

college campus to just

get a crazy little

care package from your

church that says, we

love you, you matter.

You're part

of our family.

Like that's huge.

Super huge.

And it's not crazy

hard to do does take

a little act on our

part, but that act of

generosity matters.

I wanna encourage you

to plug into that and

then that families of

Hamilton County thing

that's coming up.

You're gonna hear lots

of things as we build

towards Christmas,

but you guys, you guys

were front page news

in the way that you

loved in that process.

So amazing stuff.

You guys get this

practice of generosity

and you do some really

powerful things.

Well, this morning I

wanna talk a little

bit about this

hurricane he Helene,

relief effort of

generosity that some

of you had a chance

to be a part of.

Then I have a couple

things I want to say

about generosity that

I think are really

important that I

wanna leave you with.

But if I can invite

Sarah Navero and

Melissa Zuber

up here to the

platform to join me.

Sarah, when you

stood up to share

during sharing time,

I was like, Uhuh,

you're gonna lose

your chance girl.

Don't blow it.

Right.

You did good.

You did good.

Um, but I want to

have a chance to just,

yeah, thanks buddy.

Unpack a couple things

with these ladies and

uh, we'll get you guys

an awesome stool here.

Sir.

Alright ladies,

you can have a

seat right there.

I'll snag this one.

Thank you sir.

We're gonna do

something a little

unique here for a few

minutes in our sermon

time and uh, I want

to start, you guys

can hold that thing.

Thank you.

I wanna start with

this, uh, sorry I

got so many things

in my back pocket.

Sorry.

So.

How many people

know that there

was a hurricane

in North Carolina?

Okay.

Alright.

So I pretty much

everybody knows what's

going on, right?

And we've been a

part of it in a lot

of different ways.

Uh, I would bet

that everybody in

here has had some.

Uh, thing at work

maybe, or maybe

you were watching

football and you

texted something

to Samaritan's

Purse or, uh, to,

uh, the Red Cross.

Um, there's lots and

lots of ways people

have been giving,

and I wanna, uh,

just mention Raina

was gonna be here

this morning too,

and then she was sick

this morning and she

was instrumental in

helping us as a church

do some connections.

We had a chance on

the Wednesday, I think

you guys maybe were on

the road, but a couple

Wednesdays ago we had

the church trailer

open all day long.

You guys brought

tons of stuff,

waters and medicines

and all kinds of

things, and we piled

a whole layer into

the church trailer.

And then we, uh, took

it down on Thursday

to my school where

I'm teaching at,

and we loaded tons

more stuff into it.

We actually had to

take two different

trips to be able to

get 'em just about

a, a mile away to

the Advanced Turf

Solutions place.

That was loading

semis to take

them down there.

And we brought,

I think together

something like 10

different pallets

and they estimated

somewhere between

seven and $10,000

worth of medicine

and supplies that,

uh, from our little

combo here with the

school and the church

that we got to do.

And Reyna was

instrumental in

getting us connected

with them and uh,

that was a really

neat connection.

We're gonna keep

rolling with.

I took all my

students outside.

And, uh, we loaded the

trailers each class,

and then we wrote

notes of encouragement

and scripture and

prayers, and we got

to send those directly

to, uh, North Carolina

to a hub where their

general manager was

working with the

sheriff to distribute

food and water and,

uh, really cool

impact kind of stuff.

So excited about

what you guys were

a part of in that.

And then there were

other crazy people

who loaded their car

with stuff and headed

east and, uh, you.

How many you guys

have ever been to an

event with Sarah Naro?

Like a youth thing or

anything like that?

How many you guys have

ever gotten, you know,

a couple pictures

from Sarah, like a

reel last night that

I still can't find

all of them and get

through them, but, uh,

Sarah is our official

documentarian,

which means that

she documents

everything, right?

Like I made

that word up.

I don't think

that's a wife.

My wife is

the same way.

What's that?

Your wife is

the same way?

My wife?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I just maybe, yeah,

that's probably fair.

Okay, so.

Also, I didn't even

send you that many.

I only sent you

like less than a

fourth of them.

I was trying

to be kind

Josh,

this one on perfect.

Look at this.

I'm gonna connect

this and I'm gonna

break that thing.

I don't know why White

Rock technology always

breaks around here.

You know what I mean?

That's weird.

It's almost like

people drop stuff

and break things.

Okay.

So you guys had a

chance to go all

the way to North

Carolina and do

some cool stuff.

There's some

pictures you sent.

I didn't get a chance

to really walk through

all of them in a way

that could put it

together, but this is

you guys just driving

through what town?

Swanno.

Sowan Noah, which is

really like, really

close to Asheville.

Okay.

Real close

to Asheville.

Just mile after mile.

I had to cut this

off because there's

no way to get it.

It's like two minutes.

Yeah.

Just a ton of

devastation

everywhere you look.

Just lots of,

uh, suffering,

destruction,

and just so sad.

You guys had a chance

to connect with a

number of people.

I'm just gonna go

through a couple

of these and.

Remind you of some

of the folks you

had a chance to kind

of touch base with

and uh, I'm just

gonna stop us there.

So, um, you guys

had a heart to

go do something.

Walk us through

like what was the

inspiration to throw

all that stuff in

your car and just go,

I've been thinking

a lot about this.

I think two things.

Um, it's our DNA as

white rockers, right?

Your dad, he's

a monster.

He creates a monster

in you, right?

He's always said, when

you squeeze a lemon,

you get lemon juice,

you get lemonade.

Right?

And I feel like

the, the Bible talks

about how out of the

overflow of the heart,

the mouth speaks, but

I think out of the

overflow of the heart,

we are compelled to

do good works unto

the Lord, right?

And so.

Immediately I was

like, I had PTO and

I had spent the last

Friday before, um,

on PTO sitting on my

butt at home doing

absolutely nothing.

And I thought, well,

this is ridiculous.

I have enough

PTO to go for a

week if I can.

Um, why waste it?

Why not do something

that matters,

um, for the Lord?

Yeah.

And then you reached

out to Sarah, who's

always reluctant

to go help a.

Major crisis, tragedy,

like, you know,

tornadoes or mercy.

She's, she's

rider die, she's

my ride or die.

So Jerry was like,

you gotta find

one other person.

And you're like,

no problem.

I know, just

get a call.

So then she called

you Sarah, or you

guys were already at

the same, you met in

the grocery store,

both picking stuff up

and you're like, we

should go together.

Yeah.

So, um, she sent me a

text message and it's

my heart to, I mean,

I joke around and

tell people like, I

like disaster relief.

Um, we both did

Katrina many

years ago, and.

Um, I did Mayfield

a few years ago with

a lot of people here

and, um, I don't

know, I did tornado

earlier this year.

I just like that

kind of stuff.

Part of it's

'cause I'm nosy,

but I'll come and work

my tail off for you.

No, seriously.

Um, I love to get

to know the people

in the area and hear

their stories, which,

um, when we started

serving with Katrina

years ago, like,

uh, that is such

a huge part of it.

Um.

They say that no

matter how much work

there is to do, the

most important thing

you can do is stop

and listen to their

stories and let them

tell you because they

want to share it.

And we are there

to share the

love of Christ.

And that's what I love

about like serving

with Samaritan's Purse

and stuff is just

we know that we, you

know, have the ability

to share that nobody's

gonna shut it down.

It's expected

of us and stuff.

And so when she sent

me a text message.

Um, I was like,

Mike, do you care?

Not that I have to

get my husband's

permission

necessarily, but

honey are you

lies back there?

But you should

right, Mike?

You should.

That's, yeah, but I

mean, I don't wanna

make it sound like

he's this tyrant

that's like, oh,

you better ask me.

You know, but I mean,

he's just like, oh,

here she goes again.

Probably like,

yeah, fine.

Um, so I actually only

had one paid day left

at work, but I was

like, I, you know.

I, I just love

doing this kind of

stuff and it was a

great opportunity.

I love to travel and

hang out with one of

my very best friends.

So, um, yeah,

it was an honor.

Seriously.

So when she texted

me, I was like, let

me see what I can do.

And then that morning,

uh, when we were at

church, I texted my

boss and I said, can

I have this time off?

And she was like,

approved, you know,

like right away.

So it was great.

So when you guys got

out there, you stayed

at the Billy Graham

resort, or not resort,

the training center

or something, the

co training center.

So God is good, right?

Like.

Typically when

you're in these

circumstances, you're

staying in a church

building like this.

You're sleeping on

the floor in the

gym with a hundred

other people, and

you're showering

in a trailer.

So we had originally

tried to go to Boone,

North Carolina.

Boone is the home of

Samaritan's Purse.

So that was a

passion point for me.

Sorry.

Um, and it was booked

and I was so bummed I

was gritting my teeth.

And so we got another

text that another

area opened up

and I'm like, me?

Okay, fine.

And so I signed up

and they gave you

the details and they

gave me the address

and I looked it

up and I was like.

My Lanta and you guys

are the two biggest

Billy Graham junkies.

There are.

This is all know us.

This was like

bucket list place.

You should look it up.

It's beautiful.

And so I could not

even believe God's

kindness because

that wasn't our

intent, right?

No.

No, not at all.

Not at all.

In fact, Sarah,

you said something

yesterday when we were

talking just a little

bit about, um, when

we were talking about

all of your pictures,

uh, you mentioned

something about, um,

God's goodness when

we go to give and yet

what he does in us.

No, I remember it.

I try not to cry.

Um, like Melissa said,

when you go to serve

a lot of the times

in this capacity,

you are not in the

most comfortable

of circumstances.

You know, like

I'm 53 years old.

It's not fun to sleep

on an air mattress

or on the floor or

anything like that,

but you're willing

to do it, right?

You're willing,

'cause I'm coming

to serve you.

I wanna help you.

I want to bring

Jesus and hope and

encouragement and

love and all of that.

And.

Um, it was just

astounding to us.

I can speak, I

know I can speak on

behalf of both of us.

When I say that what

the Lord poured into

us is so much bigger

than what we were

trying to do, I mean,

we were trying to

pour out and love

on these communities

and these people and

just serving with

this people that we

got to serve with.

Um, uh, just the

place that we stayed

in was amazing.

We had our own room,

we had our own shower.

It was lovely and

beautiful and Will

Graham was there,

which is Franklin

Graham's son, and then

Gigi Graham, which

is Billy Graham's

oldest daughter.

And she was

totally delightful.

They're junkies,

as you could tell.

Yeah.

Junkies so junky.

Well, we had just

researched his kids.

'cause I was like,

I know he is gotta

have other kids.

We met Ruth

Graham years ago.

We had her at our

church for an event.

And so we had just

read about Gigi

and I was like, oh.

Oh my gosh, isn't

that her over there?

So it was so weird.

But yeah, so just his,

like his extravagance

and like what he

gives back to us when

we're obedient to him

is more than I can

even put into words.

Like just where we

stayed, the people

that we served with

and met and the

blessings that we

got, the stories they

had, sharing time

in the evenings and.

Um, just I feel

like what he poured

back into us and

then the communities

that were trying

to like feed us.

Like there was one

picture of us, maybe

the one before this,

where we were with

three other people,

and those were some

of the people in a

neighborhood called

Beacon Village.

And that neighborhood,

the water was up

in the houses, up

to the gutters.

So these people were

on their roofs and

they were crying for

help and neighbors

were saving them

from their kayaks.

And I mean, we

have a lot more

details about these

stories, but I mean.

They were setting

up tents and like

making hot dogs

and bringing food.

And I wanna, I want

Melissa to tell you

how they bless her

heart the last day

we were there because

it made her cry and

it was really sweet.

Um, so we had

come, it was lunch

break, I don't

remember what day.

Walking up the hill.

It's totally dust

and dirt and they

had the tent and

hot dogs and drinks.

And I was like, do

you have a diet Coke?

I would do anything

for a Diet Coke.

And they're like,

oh no, we don't.

We're so sorry.

Do you want us to

go to the store?

I'm like,

absolutely not.

You're not going to

the store like, I'm

here to serve you.

No big deal.

It's no big deal.

So the next day we

come back to the

same neighborhood and

we're sitting down

and we're eating our

lunch, and somebody

rolls up to me and

says they have Coke.

And I went to

the cooler.

I could not

believe it.

They had Diet Coke.

I grabbed a hold

of one of those

homeowners and

I just wept and

prayed over her.

Prayed a blessing

over her.

Those people are

people that don't

know Jesus, and I

don't know that they

wanna know Jesus.

I was like, you

are not gonna stop

me from playing a

blessing over you

over that simple act.

They went out of

their way that night

to go get a Diet Coke

for their cooler.

It was incredible.

Super cool.

I, you know,

originally when we

were gonna do this,

I, I assumed we would

kind of walk through

some of the, what

you did and all those

other pieces, but

really I wanted people

to get a chance to

hear a your hearts.

For why you went.

Mm-hmm.

And ultimately,

like the blessing

that God gave as you

practiced generosity.

You can't outgive God.

You can't even come

close to trying

to match His level

of generosity.

And generosity,

as you said, comes

out of our heart.

Right.

It's, it's part of it.

It's part of

the DNA who we

are as a church.

It shows up all the

time in the way you

love each other.

I was with somebody

this week here locally

yesterday who's trying

to figure out how

to get a couple cars

working so we can find

some people to give

'em to, you know, like

those are just hearts

of generosity, hearts

of how can I serve,

how can I love, how

can I help and make

an impact for people?

And when we meet

people's needs,

it opens up the

door for us to

share some really

significant stuff.

Yeah.

Well, I have a

couple things I

wanna say about.

Generosity.

And I know you guys

didn't even get to

share a tiny bit.

Can I share?

Yes, you may.

I do wanna share.

Yes, you may.

If you have something

you wanna share,

it's too Sarah.

I do.

I wanna share,

um, you know, as

Andy spoke of your

generosity towards

the family last week,

I am deeply moved

by your generosity.

Um.

I don't know

if he was gonna

share this or not.

The missions board,

because of your

donations, was able

to send, um, us with

some money to buy

supplies to fill

our car, which was

absolutely amazing.

And you gave

me the means to

do what I love.

You were the hands

and feet of Jesus.

I couldn't have gone,

I couldn't have done

what we'd done if it

wasn't for your giving

and your kindness.

So I just am deeply,

deeply moved.

By your generosity.

Um, and as Sarah said

to many people, you

can give people stuff.

I was gonna say,

you can give people

stuff, right?

You can give them

diapers, you can

give them water.

That means nothing in

the light of eternity.

Right?

It's what you, it's

what you tell them.

It's what you

give them to

save their soul.

And, and this gave us

the means to do that.

You know, I can give

you a case of water

and I can tell you

about the hope that

I have in Jesus that

is bigger, that water

will disappear, but

there's living water.

So I just thank you

from the bottom of

my heart for your

generosity, for

helping me to have

the means to do what

I love and yeah.

You good if I preach

it a little bit

or do you need to

say something too?

Well, I concur

with Melissa.

It was a true honor

and blessing and

uh, we definitely

want to go back.

Um, we had said we

wanted to take people

with us, but the thing

is, is there were

so many volunteers

down there that the,

at one point they

had to turn away.

The day volunteers,

the ones that were

local to the area that

wanted to just come

serve for the day.

Kinda like what I did

earlier this year.

Uh, we did it

and Alexis did it

too over in, um,

Winchester, Indiana,

but they have day

volunteers and they

had to turn 'em down,

but we definitely

want to go back.

So, um, they're gonna

need help for years.

I, we cannot even

begin with pictures

or anything to

describe to you.

Devastation.

It's apocalyptic.

I mean, it's insane.

I mean, the video just

showed you one little

tiny piece and that's

not, we didn't even

see hardly any of it.

So, um, we really

appreciate your

support and, um, it

is truly something

that we love and we

encourage you to go

out and serve also.

Yeah.

And we'll be

doing more.

You know,

there's a lot of.

Touch points.

Uh, Rena took a load

of stuff out, you

know, to some folks

and others in here

have been a part of

doing different things

with different groups

and, uh, it's gonna

be opportunities

galore to give.

And what's crazy

cool is that, I

mean, it's funny,

Melissa's blessed

by your generosity.

Uh, the people

are blessed by

their generosity.

Then you were

blessed by those

people's generosity.

I dunno if you

notice this, but

when you live.

In a state of

generosity, it

just makes a mess

of everything.

It's just generosity

all over the

place, right?

All over every angle

is generosity here,

generosity there.

I'm too blessed,

I'm too blessed.

I, you know, it's

just everywhere.

Like what a cool

picture of the love

of God lived out

through generosity in

the way that we love

and serve and give.

And here's the scary

part about generosity,

is often we think

I'm afraid to give

or I'm afraid to let

go and we receive.

Ridiculously so much

more than we ever

give, and yet we

still are reluctant.

And that's usually

the enemy trying to

say to us, don't,

don't, don't, don't,

don't, don't, don't.

You'll be sorry.

And instead you're

never, sorry.

You're excited

and thrilled.

Um, so cool stuff.

Well, if you guys

wanna hear more from

Sarah and Melissa,

I bet you they would

love to talk to you.

And if you want

to sit in a.

Coffee lounge

somewhere and watch

Sarah flip through

a billion photos

and talk about 'em.

You're invited right

to do that as well.

Sure.

So, hey, big

round applause.

These ladies being

willing to sit up here

with me for a minute.

Thank you gals

very much.

Maybe I swap and

take this real quick,

Austin, because I

just wanna say a

couple quick things

and then we'll get

outta your way.

'cause I know this.

Morning featured

a lot of really

good speakers and

communicators who

weren't me, which is

pretty special because

you guys have a lot to

say about some really

important stuff.

But I wanna just touch

on this little aspect

of generosity with you

on our way out, and

it's this something

I like to call the

posture of generosity.

And I feel a little

bit, you know that

phrase like you're

preaching to the

choir, which means

like you're just

talking to everybody

who already gets it.

Maybe that's

the case, but.

We can always be

reminded and mindful

of how to communicate

to others that, which

is a value to us too.

So let me just share

this thought with you.

I love this image

when I think

about generosity.

'cause generosity

really is just

living life with an

open hand to say,

God, everything I

have is yours, God.

Nothing in my life.

Nothing in my life

is off limits to you.

When we live in a

clasped hand and a

closed fist kind of

way towards God, when

we're holding onto

our stuff, holding

onto our possessions,

our time, our energy,

our resources, and

we grab that stuff

and hold it tight.

Look at what

I'm really doing

to God, right?

But shaking my fist

at the creator of

all the universe as

I hold tightly to

that which I possess.

This is a picture of

what generosity looks

like, and I think the

visual of the hand

posture of generosity.

A picture really, as

Melissa touched on

of the heart posture

of generosity.

'cause if we can live

open-handed towards

God and towards our

neighbor and towards

others, our heart is

open towards God and

towards our neighbor

and towards others.

But when we live

with a closed fist

towards other people

and towards the Lord,

man is a picture

of the hardness.

Of our hearts

right, that we're

locked down.

So do this real quick

with your hands.

If you would please.

Just, if you got

one, that's fine.

If you're one-armed

person, totally cool.

Hold your hand

out like this.

Turn the person

next to you and

say, this is what

generosity looks like.

Nice.

Don't slap 'em

in the face.

Just hold your

hand out open.

That's, that's

the deal.

I want to take

you over to this

chapter real quick in

Leviticus and mention

something about the

heart of our God.

I dunno if you know

the old fashioned

word, gleaning.

How many of you

guys use the word

gleaning this week

in a conversation

with someone?

Oh, really?

Yeah.

I'm not gonna

call you on that.

How many of you

guys have heard

the word, uh,

Gleaners Food Bank?

Oh, maybe it's

all tied, right?

Very nice.

So in Leviticus, we

see the heart of our

God in some of the

ways that he calls

his people to live.

Check this out.

I'll go through

this just real

fast, but don't

miss this picture.

Leviticus 23, verse

Leviticus 23:22

22 says, when you

reap the harvest

of your land.

When you reap the

harvest of your

land, do not reap the

very edges of your

field or gather the

gleanings that which

is left over, or that

you missed or that

fell off the wagon.

Do not, instead leave

them for the poor and

the foreigner, those

residing among you.

I am the Lord

your God.

So when the Israelites

planted and harvested

their food, they went

through the fields.

They were supposed

to leave whatever

they missed on

that first path.

In fact, Deuteronomy

says this even

clearer in these

three verses, verse

19 of chapter 24.

Therefore, you, it

says this when you're

harvesting in your

field and you overlook

a sheath, right?

I bundled up some

grain, I stacked it.

We came through

with the wagon, we

threw it all on.

I look back and I'm

like, oh no, I left

a bundle of wheat.

I may I need

to go back.

Grab that.

No, do not go

back to get it.

Leave it for the

father or the

foreigner and the

fatherless and the

widow so that they

could come and

they could gather.

'cause if you were a,

if you were fatherless

or a widow, you

didn't have property

and you couldn't

raise your own food

and you couldn't

support yourself.

And so God created

a system where

people who didn't

have could go out.

They could work to

get some food and

they could gather

to have some food.

And the system was

built not so that

people could choke

every dollar and every

moment or every, uh,

resource and asset

outta their field, but

instead be generous

so that others would

have an opportunity

so that the Lord, your

God may bless you.

And boy does he bless

when we are generous.

When you beat

the olives from

your trees.

Do not go over

the branches

a second time.

Leave.

What remains for

the foreigner,

the fatherless,

and the widow.

You can shake it out

Once, man, let's go.

But then you leave

it alone so that the

fatherless and the

widow could come.

When you harvest

the grapes in your

vineyard, do not go

over the vines again,

but leave them,

but remains for the

foreigner, the alien,

so they can come.

God built a system

of generosity.

Now, notice in that

system, the people who

didn't have the poor.

They definitely

had to, definitely

had to go and do a

little work, do a

little labor, right?

It wasn't just endless

handout kind of

stuff, but it was an

opportunity to receive

and God tells us that

we reap what we sow.

That's a beautiful

picture of what

Melissa and Sarah

got a chance to do.

Raina, all of you

guys were a part of

all that process.

You had a chance

to to sow some good

things in generosity.

And you always

reap in abundance.

You always harvest

so much more than

you put in because of

how good our God is.

It's a simple picture.

Empty hands, empty

hands before the Lord.

Everything in my hand

is his, and that's

what that practice of

generosity looks like.

So I'd encourage you

to think about living

your life open-handed

as you navigate

the days ahead.

Because here's the

other crazy part, when

you hold your hand

open to God like this.

It's a lot easier for

him to fill it than

when you sit like

this towards God.

So let's live

with open hands.

Everything is his

being generous

with everything

that he puts in it.

And man, you're

probably gonna have

to use both hands and

maybe your shirt to

hold all the blessings

that he pours out

as his people are

faithful to him.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you so

much for this morning,

the sharing the

opportunity to hear

from so many people

all the different ways

that you're at work.

All the different ways

that you are blessing

and sustaining and

just being present

in the midst of

where we're walking.

Thank you for folks

who went and served

in the hurricane

relief just a

couple weeks ago.

Thank you for the

folks who gave, Lord,

I pray that you would

bless all of it.

And Lord, I pray that

you give us eyes to

see and as things

are tough financially

and difficult in our

world and stressful.

Lord, help us not

to close our fist.

Help us not to clasp

hard and hold on and

deny generosity, but

instead to just live

open-handed to the

whole world around

us, and trust you

to meet all of our

needs as we look to

the needs of others.

We love you and we

thank you, Lord for

your encouragement

and your truth, and

help us walk in and I

pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.