Dive Into Generosity | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

But this morning, I mentioned in our announcements

that this was a month of generosity. And as I

was praying this week about generosity and the

service, it was like all of a sudden the Lord

just put this right into my spirit that in order

for us to truly be people of generosity, we have

to know the source of our generosity. We have

to understand our generous God. And this might

seem like a simple idea, but I often wonder how

much we truly believe that God wants to be generous

in my life toward me. Because if we really got

that it would be a whole paradigm shift For our

lifestyles That God is generous and not just

that he is generous, but he wants to be generous

to me Yeah, oh I believe he wants to be generous

toward Candice But does he really want to be

generous toward me? And so this morning, we're

gonna just, and I'm not gonna preach super long.

I knew we had a full morning today. And so I'm

gonna keep it short, but we're gonna be concluding

our time at communion, which I love, because

communion to me represents the source of generosity.

And so in 1 Chronicles 29, this is to me a powerful

verse. This is David. King David was setting

up for the building of the temple and they had

begun to take offerings in from the leaders for

the temple. And he was so overwhelmed by the

generosity of the people that he says this, but

who am I and who are my people that we should

be able to give as generously as this? Isn't

that an awesome question? Who are we? I'm so

in awe of the generosity in what has been given

that I have to ask the question, who are we that

we have given this generously? And he makes this

declaration, everything comes from you. And we

have given you only what comes from your hands.

How can we be so generous? Our source is generosity

himself. God doesn't just do generous things.

God is generous. It is who he is, just as God

is love. He doesn't just act lovingly. He is

love. God doesn't just act generously. He is

generous. He can't help but be generous. Now

when we hear this word generosity, often our

minds immediately go to financially, I have to

give to the poor, I have to give to the one that

is out trying to get money. But I want us, that's

to me very limiting. That is very limiting. Generosity

is in every area of life that we steward. It

is me being generous with my strength, my body.

It is me being generous with my mind and lending

it to helping other people and figuring out their

stuff. It is me being generous with my time.

It is me being generous in my prayer life. Oh,

this was a good one. I have a small group. on

Thursday nights. It is a small group. It's Tabitha

and I. Tabitha's not here today. Tabitha's loving

it. She's getting one on one time. But we've

been going through foundations and we were just

talking about prayer this week. And there are

a couple of verses that we read where Paul says,

and pray for all the saints. In this moment,

it's not so often what we pray are prayers out

of desperation for our situation, for our family,

for our needs. But Paul says, I'm calling you

to generosity of prayers. Prayers for all saints.

How many of you are praying here for one another?

Prayers for all the saints. Generosity. And so

I want you to think bigger today in the realm

of generosity. I want you to think beyond what

is easy for you to be generous in. Some of us,

we tend, I can be generous with my time, I can

be generous with this or this. What I'm calling

for is for us to redefine a little bit generosity.

Because... How should we be able to be so generous?

Everything comes from God. It comes from His

hand. And so there are just three takeaways today.

Are you ready? Takeaway number one, if you're

taking notes, I see that Pastor Ben is taking

notes. Oh, Darren is taking notes. Abigail is

taking notes. All right. Oh, Kathy is taking

notes. Look at all these hands. That's awesome.

Okay, so takeaway number one is this. Very simple.

God is generous. Everybody say that. God is generous.

2 Corinthians 9. Now, you also have to have your

Bibles, because we're going to... It's not enough

for my words for you to hear. You need to have

your faith stirred up by the Word of God. And

so 2 Corinthians 9 says this. Remember this.

Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever

sows generously will reap generously. Each of

you should give what you've decided in your heart

to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion,

for God loves a cheerful giver. Wherever you

are being generous, He wants you to be cheerful

about it. And God is, here it is, here's why.

God is able to bless you abundantly. How does

he want to bless you? Abundantly. So that in

all things, at all times, all things, at all

times, In all things with your co -worker that's

disgruntling you. In all things at all times.

When your kids are driving you crazy, when your

spouse is driving you crazy. I know I drive him

crazy. In all things at all times. Having all

that you need, you will abound in every good

work. As it is written, they have freely scattered

their gifts to the poor. Their righteousness

endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to

the sower. Who's the one that supplies the seed?

Do I have the seed? No. God gives the seed. God

is the source. I love that it says they have

freely scattered their seed. When you aren't

the source of the seed, you can scatter it freely,

right? It didn't cost you anything, it comes

from the seed giver. When it doesn't cost you

anything, you can freely scatter, holding nothing

back. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and

bread for food will also supply and increase

your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest

of your righteousness. I love this because it's

not just about the stuff of this earth. But this

kind of generosity is a generosity of righteousness,

growing in the things of God, becoming like our

generous God. You will be enriched in every way.

Every way. Think about the areas right now in

your life, if you're taking notes, write it down,

where you do not feel like you are being enriched.

And then I want you to begin to pray this verse

over that area, that you would be enriched in

every area so that you can be generous on every

occasion. And through us, your generosity will

result in thanksgiving to God. God wants to be

generous with you. Why? He wants you to be generous

with people. You will be enriched in every way

so you can be generous on every occasion. Every

occasion. This is where the rubber kind of meets

the road because there are areas that we don't

like to be generous. There are people we don't

like to be generous towards. And here I see no

wiggle room. He uses very strong language, every

occasion, at all times, generous, generous, generous.

Why are we able to do that? Our God is a generous

God. Our source, we have a well of generosity

at our disposal. Listen to these verses. I'm

going to read through them fast, but Matthew

7, and it will be given. Seek and you will find,

knock, the door will be opened. Everyone who

asks receives, the one who seeks find, the one

who knocks the door will be opened. Which of

you, if your son asks for bread, will give a

stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him

a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how

to give good gifts to your children, how much

more will your father in heaven give good gifts

to those who ask him? Ephesians 3 20 to him who's

able to do immeasurably more than you could ask

or imagine according to his power at work within

you Hebrews 11 6 he rewards those who earnestly

seek him Matthew 21 22 if you believe you will

receive whatever you ask for in prayer 2nd Corinthians

9 we read it he is able to bless you abundantly

so in all things at all times having all you

need you will abound for every good work. When

I read these verses what do I hear? I hear the

heart of a generous God who according to Ephesians

says he lavished on us. He lavished all grace

upon us. We have a generous God and you need

to start believing that he wants to be generous

to you. Jesus was generous. And I say this specifically,

in our leader meeting Monday night, or Tuesday

night, we were talking about a verse, and Kathy

was pointing out how Jesus operated out of his

humanness, right? Jesus did all these great and

amazing things while on earth, and we think,

yeah, that's because he's Jesus. But Jesus was

operating out of his humanness. He battled and

struggled and was tempted like you were. In fact,

in Philippians 2, it says, though he was God,

he did not think of equality with God as something

to cling to. And this is actually in the New

Living Translation. I liked this. because it

says he gave up his divine privileges. He took

the humble position of a slave and was born as

a human being. And this is what he operated out

of Well on Earth. The English standard version

says that he emptied himself. And it was out

of that place that he did all that he did. And

so Jesus, out of his own humanness, was the mark

of generosity. He laid aside the glories of heaven.

He healed on the Sabbath when he wasn't supposed

to. He touched the untouchables when he wasn't

supposed to. He allowed women to follow him around

and sit at his feet and learn from him. He wasn't

supposed to do that. He ministered to non -Jews.

wasn't supposed to do that. He fed the hungry.

He gave voice to the people by challenging the

religious leaders. He made himself available

to all people. He valued children. He washed

the feet of his disciples. He offered forgiveness

to his betrayers and he was suffered on the cross

and died for you and I. Jesus was generous. Jesus

was generous. If you get nothing else today,

I want you to, what I feel like this sermon is

supposed to be for you today is a diving board.

There is no way I can cover the depths of who

God is in generosity. I wanna be a springboard.

I want it to be a diving board for you to leave

this place and dive in and discover the generosity

of God in your life. but God is generous. Number

two, it is good that God is generous, but you

must feast on his generosity. It's not enough

to know God is generous. You have to feast on

his generosity. In Psalm 36, there's this beautiful

passage starting in verse five that I love. Because

it does, it shows us again the generosity of

God. Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens.

Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness

is like the highest mountain. Your justice like

the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people

and animals, for all of you animal lovers. How

priceless. is your unfailing love, O God. People

take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They

feast on the abundance of your house. You give

them drink from your river of delights, for with

you is the fountain of life." Listen, he has

an abundant house. Right here it says it in verse

8. Your house God is an abundant house. We have

the choice if we want to feast or not. My first

small group was an abundant house. Oh man, we

had cleaned all day. I had made chili. I had

made cornbread. I had it ready. Tabitha came

and Tabitha had already eaten. So my family got

to it. I had an abundance, but there was nobody

to feast on my house. God has an abundant house,

but he doesn't force feed anybody. It is on us.

to feast and to drink. We just had a wiener roast

at my mother's house and we were having this

discussion that when my children were little,

my mom loves to shop. She loves to buy things

for the grandkids, right? All grandparents, right?

You like to buy things for your grandkids. I

was just in Missouri with our boys and we had

gone thrift shopping. The boys like to go thrift

shopping. And so, you know, this is why I take

them thrift shopping, because I can afford to

buy them whatever they want. If we even go to

Walmart, I'm not giving them all their heart's

desires, but at a thrift store, I can do that.

And so, we had gone thrifting. So later that

night, the boys were with Alexandra and Jeremy

in the vehicle, and Benji was going on, Dad,

she bought me whatever I wanted. had to do was

point at something and it was his and he was

so excited over this generosity Edmund was a

little different Edmund was eight he is eight

and he would come up to the counter with me to

check out pulling out his wallet because he was

gonna pay I was like, little dude, we are not

doing this. I'm not arguing with you like I argue

with your son. You're eight, put your wallet

away. Nona is buying today. So we love to buy

for them. So my mom is no different. But I remember

when they were little, I'd be like, don't ask

grandma for stuff, right? As mom, that's what

I'm saying. Don't ask grandma for stuff. So she

would try to pry out of the kids when she went

shopping what they wanted and so she was telling

us last week of the time that they were at Walmart

and they were checking out and Jeremy said grandma

Can I have a pack of gum? And she was like, and

she did, even in telling the story, she threw

her arms out. Yes, you can have whatever you

want. What else do you guys want? Yes, you can

have whatever you want. She was so delighted

that he had asked her for something. This is

the way the father wants us to come to him. He

wants us to feast on the abundance he longs to

give to us. Psalm 23, we know this passage. It's

the passage we read at funerals, but it's one

of my favorites. You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies, but it's up to

me to step up and seat myself at the table of

the Lord. He doesn't do it for me. He doesn't

do it. But you know, this is a kind of generous

God. He loves it when we ask Him. He loves it

when we come to feast upon His generosity. When

my kids were younger, Jeremy had a best friend,

Luke. Luke has drummed for us a time or two,

and he's just like one of my kids. He was the

best friend. Vanessa and her son Chandler, they

were all best friends. And Luke, I loved it when

Luke came to dinner. Luke loved food and Luke

appreciated food. And he would be like, oh, this

is so good. This is so good. He would get so

excited. And it was probably just a normal night's

meal, but he would get so excited over his food

that I love to feed Luke. Why? Because He enjoyed

feasting on my abundance. What are you talking

about down there? Darren appreciates it if I

make steak and apple pie. The Lord takes joy

in our feasting on His abundance. And for some

of you, you feel like, and it's true, we are

unworthy of it. We are. But the heart of God

is to come and to feast and some of you need

to really get that. Because the word calls us

to come boldly into the throne room. The word

calls us to not, oh I'm so sorry Lord for coming

in and asking this. No! He has an abundance and

he wants you to come and take joy and delight

in the abundance that he has for you. He is a

generous God. He is a generous God. And it's

up to us to feast on that generosity. Third takeaway,

and we're gonna be finishing up here. In this

generosity, when we partake, when we feast on

the generosity of God, something interesting

happens in that we begin to take on the characteristics

of God's generosity. This is the power of it.

is that we begin to be transformed as we partake

of God's generosity. We take on His characteristics

of generosity. We actually become people of generosity.

And so Romans 5, here's the truth of it. You

see, at just the right time, when we were still

powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. And here's

our human generosity. Very rarely will anyone

die for a righteous person, though for a good

person, someone might possibly dare to die. Isn't

that the truth? You deserve my death, I will

die for you. You not so much, so forget about

it. That's not the generosity of God though,

is it? Because it says in verse eight, God demonstrates

his own love for us in this. While we were still

sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait for

you to earn or to deserve it. While we did not

deserve it, he extended generosity of his life

toward us. And so generosity, God's way, means

that it is to be generous toward those we deem

unworthy. Because it is, in our minds, it's a

bit of an injustice. Well, who am I going to

pick on? Cole. Cole did me wrong. Cole did something

And because of that, I don't need to be generous.

He does not deserve it. That's the generosity

of the world thinking. God's way is to be generous

toward those that have put us on the cross. That's

God's justice. Generosity, God's way, is to be

generous when it's inconvenient. Generosity,

God's way, is to be generous when it appears

I have nothing to be generous with. This is the

generosity of the kingdom. This is the generosity

that steps outside the realm of what I can offer

you. This is the generosity that taps into the

source and offers what comes from God. This is

the generosity of the kingdom. One of my heroes

of the Bible are the Macedonian people. How many

of you know who the Macedonian people are? Paul

refers to them in 2 Corinthians. He says, I want

you to know about the grace God has given the

Macedonian churches. In the midst of severe trial,

their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty

welled up in rich generosity. I love them. I'm

like the Macedonians deserve extra reward in

heaven. For I testified they gave as much as

they were able and even beyond their ability

I've been reading the autobiography of George

Mueller right now who in the 1800s started orphanages

and the only way he paid for it was by God providing

money day by day hour by hour Millions of dollars

went through his hands in the 1800s as he by

faith believed. He gave away almost all of his

income and lived on very little with his wife.

Generosity flowed through him. He reminds me

of the Macedonians. They couldn't afford it,

but they gave in rich generosity, entirely on

their own. They urgently pleaded with us for

the privilege of sharing in this service to the

Lord's people. They were asking, I need to give.

How can I give? How can I give? How can I give?

Rich generosity. Was it convenient? Could they

afford it? No. But they knew the source. They

were tapped in to the generosity of God. They

were tapped into the source. Are we tapped into

the source? I'm gonna ask if the worship team

will come and the ushers are gonna be getting

ready here in a moment. But I've shared this

little story before and I wanted to do it again

today. But the story is told that one day a beggar

by the roadside asked for alms from Alexander

the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and

wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no

right even to lift a hand. Yet the emperor threw

him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished

at his generosity and he commented, sir, copper

coins would have adequately met a beggar's need.

Why give him gold? Alexander responded in royal

fashion. Copper coins would suit the beggar's

need, but gold coins suit Alexander's giving.

We can be satisfied with a level of giving that

originates from us, but friend, we are representative

of a generous God. And our giving is not based

upon the needs of people or the needs of circumstances.

Our generosity is based on the generous God that

gives all and withholds nothing, not even his

own son. Our generosity is a reflection of that

kind of God. We can afford to be generous. We

can afford to give beyond what we thought we

could or imagined that we could, because we have

a source, a generous God. And in 2nd Corinthians

8, it says, through his poverty might become

rich. It is the poverty of Christ that became

the doorway for us to become rich. And so who

are we? Who are we that we should be able to

give as generously as we want to give in our

giving? Who are we? David asks, we are ones that

have access, that acknowledges that everything

comes from God, and we are only giving that which

He's given to us to begin with. Amen? And so

some of you today need to catch this. The generosity

of Jesus has made you rich, and you need to think

a little differently. Because you're still thinking

of your life out of the place of poverty. You're

still thinking about your life and the place

of lack. And the whole point of this month of

generosity is to begin to understand the power

of giving, how it changes us, how it opens us

up, and how we quit seeing our lack and we begin

to see the generosity of God released through

our lives. And there's joy in that. There's joy

in that. And so our team of ushers back there

are going to come and distribute the table of

the Lord. And as they do, we're just going to,

for a few moments, worship as the team leads

us.