Our Response to God’s Generosity | 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | March 30, 2025

i'd like to know how many of you have

ever heard that hymn before If you've

heard that hymn before would you lift

your hand Okay that's about half of you

About half of you that was rather new

Want to say to you that that is one of

those hymns that just helps my heart

when times are troubled Like a river

glorious is God's perfect peace And um I

want to encourage you with that as

we as we look at the generosity of God

as we look at his faithfulness

faithfulness to us Do you have your

sermon outline Go ahead and take it out

If you don't have one there's some guys

that are coming forward to help you with

that If you're joining us online we are

studying our generous God And uh if

you're joining us online you can

download the notes and you can see them

there Last week was our first week in

this study And uh last week we looked at

and the title of the message was God's

love means God's generosity because he

is a God of love He is also a God that

is generous And we see this throughout

creation Um if you were with us

Wednesday night we looked at Psalm 104

that just shows his generosity to the

world his generosity as a creator And

that comes from who he is because he's a

generous God And so he does generous

things He gives and he gives and he

gives and he gives That's what he does

And so today's message is what is our

response to his generosity And I want us

to see that in just a few moments And

we'll be looking on the back side of the

sheet at 2 Corinthians You'll notice the

passage that will be there in just a

moment But let's review from last week

because this is so important Whether you

were here last week or whether you

missed last week this is so good for us

to remember and launch into How do we

respond The first part here is is that

we said that God's love means that God

generously gives himself to others

That's the greatest gift that we see

that God gives He gives himself He gives

us him He gives us Christ Not only as

Messiah but he gives his holy spirit as

helper and he gives his fatherhood to us

so that we may not be orphans This is a

god who gives himself And so that is the

greatest way in which we see his

generosity And why does he do it Look at

first John chapter 4 and verse 8

1 John 4 · chapter mention

Everyone if you would clear your throat

Kind of go ahead and clear your throat

Let's read together Are you ready 1 John

4 and verse 8 What does it say Anyone

who does not love does not know God

because God is love Read that last part

again out loud with me Good and strong

Because God is love You see he is love

If you're wondering what God is he is

the definition of love Love comes from

him And what is this love The word love

that is used here is the word agape or

agapee And the idea is it's it's

different than the aeros love that is

where we get the word erotic or fileo

like the city you remember Philadelphia

that's the city of brotherly love So

filea is the idea of brotherly love But

this god is the god of selfless love

He's not thinking about himself He's

thinking about others And it is an

unconditional love So even though you

have wronged him he is giving his love

unconditionally It cannot be changed It

is his love that is truly a selfless

love Now this is very different than the

way humans think And the only way we

would know this is by knowing God In

fact when you say well why was it

necessary for everything God's all of

these things to happen and for the cross

to come into play Why was it necessary

for God to do it this way Couldn't we

have all just been perfect Well um he

could have done it that way but had he

done it that way how would we

know what sacrificial love

means It would be impossible for us to

truly

experience grace

We wouldn't know that whole side of God

that is a God of grace and a God of love

that at his own

expense loves us and accepts us in

showing us this grand and glorious plan

So for God so loved the world that he

gave his only begotten son This is what

he does He is a selfless giver Notice

these with me if you would fill them in

God's love is an

othersoriented love He his love isn't

just for himself but his love thinks

about others How about this God's love

is a

selfgiving love This is this is part of

that He he gives of himself It costs him

And notice this God's love gives himself

for what reason To bless others That's

the reason God is a God that brings

blessing that gives blessing This is a

good and generous God He gives

generously Well that was our first point

there last week Secondly we said God is

over all things He owns all things and

he generously what Gives all things So

you know it's one thing to try to give

away something you don't own Um it's

another thing to own all things and be

able to freely give it And so God is

over all things He's the creator Uh we

looked at several passages last week on

each one of these He's over it all

because he created it He owns it all It

remains his And yet he generously gives

The Bible says in numerous places he

gives all things all things that are

good In fact I never did quote this

passage but in James it says in James 1

it says "Every perfect gift comes down

from the father of lights with whom

there is no variation or shifting

shadow." This is the source of light

This is the God who is unchanged And he

is a giving God He gives Do you have

anything good in your life It came from

God Anything good in your human

experience Let me assure you it came

from God This is a God who gives good

things Notice this We saw this as well

in vivid detail last week And it's so

important for us to study what the Bible

has to say about these things especially

when we look at the Old Testament We

looked at several Old Testament passages

uh last week We see this that God's

generosity his generosity is seen in

eternity past Not only eternity past but

also the present and eternity what

Future So past present and future In the

past we see his trinity This is God's

generosity is seen before the world was

ever created What

existed God And what exist How does the

Godhead exist In three persons one in

three So God one and three Father son

and spirit Look at this He existed in

perfect harmony father son and spirit in

eternity past Jesus talks about that

when he's in his earthly ministry He

said "Now Father the glory that you and

I shared before I pray oh God that that

glory would be seen now and would be

given to them." So the beautiful picture

of the Trinity before the foundation of

the world And so we see God's generosity

is seen in fill it in

himself Himself That's who he is He's a

generous God by nature He's a generous

God We also say this very often in our

church He is a relational God in by

nature That's what he does But we see

here he is that But in the present in

this in this arc of human time human

history we see in the present we see his

redemption This is the greatest way and

we see in which we see his generosity

Now we see his generosity in waterfalls

and in sunsets and in mountains and if

you get in a submarine and you go down

in the in the bottom of the ocean and

you discover all the wonders and the

glories of the sea and if you get out a

big telescope and you look out into the

heavens we can see it in creation That

is that is general revelation But when

we come to see the real heart of God the

revelation of God in his heart we see it

most vividly

cross right there at the

cross The creator of the

universe humbles

himself not only to become one of us but

he humbles himself Philippians 2 says

even to the point of death death on a

cross And why did he do that He not only

becomes one of us but he becomes our

sin This is

mindblowing That the holy God of the

universe that has never sinned once he

cannot sin It's impossible for him to

sin He is holy and righteous in every

way He takes our sin upon himself at the

cross This is ultimate generosity

that he gives himself for us And then we

see eternity future These are his

promises And it's not just any promises

but it's the promises of heaven It's the

promises right below that eternal life

And right below eternal life with him Um

this is this is the mindblower of all

mindblowers In fact the scripture says

"What eye has not seen and what ear has

not heard and what hasn't even entered

into the heart of man so great are the

things that God has for those who love

him." So it is right that we sing about

that day It is right that we sing about

heaven It is right that we in the midst

of high blood pressure and in the midst

of um struggles in finances and in the

midst of business relationship you know

all of these pressures we feel um

children and parents and everything else

and all of the rigors and the turmoil of

our lives it is right that we look

beyond this time of living in a fallen

world to the promises that he has made

of heaven and they are many and they are

great And so this is this is part of not

only did he promise that a Messiah would

come and that Messiah came but he's

promised that Messiah is going to come

back and he's going to rule and reign

and things are going to change and he

has promised eternal life for those who

have gone on before us and for those who

will be uh alive at his appearing and

awake at his appearing So these are this

is all showing the generosity of God

This is a generous

God So how should we

respond to a generous

God How have

you

responded to a generous God Have you

have you thought of God as generous

Maybe maybe some of you last Sunday in

the last 5 minutes you would

say "I'm not sure I really thought of

God as so generous." In fact there's a

lot of times when I've wondered "Why

didn't he give me what I've asked

for Why didn't he give me

more I'm always asking him for more and

he never seems to come through." I mean

that can be the mentality of some

I want us to lift up our eyes and see

the massive generosity of who he truly

is without satanic deception of a fallen

world around

us May we see him as he is And then as

we see him as he

is may we respond to

him

appropriately Here's a small example of

that In Isaiah chapter 6 and this isn't

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

on your outline this is for free Um in

Isaiah chapter 6 God's prophet is given

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

a

vision And he's given a vision of the

heavenly throne room And when Isaiah

finds himself standing in the throne

room in his vision he sees the Lord

mighty and high and exalted lofty and

the train of his robe is filling the

temple So he's we see royalty and

majesty And we see him in his holiness

as there are saraphim beings over him

calling out "Holy holy holy is the

Lord." So Isaiah sees this scene in the

throne room of heaven and Isaiah

immediately when he sees the grander and

the holiness of God what does Isa Isaiah

immediately think

I shouldn't be

here It's as if Isaiah runs away and

he's like I shouldn't be

here And in fact it says that Isaiah

falls down on the ground and he says

"Woe is me I am

undone because I am a man of unclean

lips and I dwell amidst the people of

unclean lips For my eyes have seen the

King the Lord of hosts So when we come

to see things about God when we come to

see God as he really is it should elicit

from us a

response And so I'm calling you to look

at the generosity of God to see the

generosity of God and I'm calling you to

respond to what you learn to what you

see to what you realize from God's word

That is the right thing to do when we

see something of God Here's the first

thing that I would say to you If we're

going to see God and respond to him how

should we respond to him The first thing

I'm going to say is that he invites you

to receive

him He is a generous God He gives

himself And the greatest thing that you

could do is to receive him

There's a lot of

people that think of him learn of him

some and then they they don't receive

him But he invites you to receive him In

fact look at the verse that's just under

this first John or or John 1 verse 11

John 1:11

This is so important John is opening the

Gospel of John his his his account of

the life of Christ And look what he says

He came to his own and those who were

his own This is speaking of the Jewish

nation This is talking about the Jewish

people God's chosen people through whom

the Messiah would come He came to his

own in his own And and there were his

own who did not what does it say there

They did not what receive

him Instead what did they do They

harassed him They disagreed with him

They argued with him They condemned him

They blasphemed him They said he was

from the devil They sought to entrap him

And then

eventually they betrayed him and

tortured him and crucified

him Now that is a picture of all of

humanity That is a picture of all of us

um rejecting Christ You say "Well I

wasn't there and I didn't do that Maybe

if I'd been there it would have been

different." Well are you greater than

Peter Peter Peter was right-hand man

part of the inner circle And what did

Peter do around the around the fire in

the courtyard when they were when they

were condemning and torturing

Jesus He cursed and said "I don't know

the

man." I don't give yourself that much

credit You know we tend to view

ourselves very positively Be aware of

that Look at verse

12 But as many as did receive him to as

many as received him to them he gave the

right to become children of God even to

those who believe in his name Now below

where it says believe in his name We're

going to pound this as a church till

Jesus comes back Because people need to

understand this What does that mean To

believe in his name To believe in his

name means that we believe that he is

Yeshua or Jesus And Yeshua Jesus means

put quotes there God

saves You don't save You don't save

yourself Your mother doesn't save you

Your father doesn't save you Your wife

doesn't save you Your uncle who is a

Baptist preacher doesn't save

you No one saves except the

Messiah And so those who believe in his

name means that salvation is from God

not us And so those who finally come to

realize that God is willing to save you

He's willing to give himself to you in

your place on the cross of Calvary for

those who received him Look what it says

after that verse verse 12 But as many as

received him what did he do To them he

gave look at this the right That's a

legal term I mean sure it's a right He

gives the right to become children of

God as opposed to children of a fallen

world children of the devil And so we

see this amazing thing The first thing

that we should do when we see the

generosity of God is to receive him Um

some of you maybe have never done that

Some of you have been hearing the gospel

You've been hearing about this but you

don't know that you know that you know

that the transaction has been

made for you In starting point we were

just talking about this this morning how

there's many people that come to

Sheridan Hills and they've heard parts

of the gospel and they kind of know that

Jesus died on the cross but like Luchia

said in her testimony I knew that Jesus

had died on the cross and I and I

believe that but it wasn't real to

me I hadn't realized and accepted that

he

died for me

You see what happens is many of us are

raised in either traditions or maybe

churches of moralism where it's you need

to be good You need to be good And if

you're good then God will save you If

you if you prove that you have faith

through being good then you will be

saved My

friends that is that is not the gospel

The gospel is God saves us while we are

sinners And the gospel is that he is the

only hope There's no other hope from

from anywhere in the world from

ourselves or anyone else It is what

Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary

That is God's plan of salvation to the

world Take it or leave

it That Yeah Now I didn't make the rules

The reformers didn't make the rules

Peter and Paul and John and Thomas and

James they didn't make the rules The one

who created the world made the rules And

that's his right And he says Jesus when

he shows up on the earth he says and he

walks among us he says "I am the way the

truth and the life No one comes to the

father except through me." That means

he's going to the cross to pay for sin

And anyone who comes and receives

him can be with him That's that's the

only way And so what what how do we turn

to him Here it is We turn to him in

repentance and we re turn to we we turn

to him in repentance and in belief

That's what goes in those two blanks In

repentance and belief I'm sorry I didn't

I think I left those off of the uh of

the uh PowerPoint But notice this next

passage that is here Mark 1 verse4 Where

is this in the book of Mark chapter 1

Mark 1 · chapter mention

That's at the beginning of Jesus's

ministry Look what it says on the screen

or on your outline Look what it says

Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the

gospel of God What is the gospel of God

Gospel means good news What is the good

news God saves You can't save yourself

God saves You're a sinner but he'll save

you if you'll let him." And so notice

this Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming

the gospel of God the truth of God the

good news of God Verse 15 and saying

"The time is fulfilled The kingdom of

God is at hand." And here's what Jesus

calls you to do Repent and believe in

the

gospel Let me tell you that those two

things go hand in hand We turn away from

ourselves trusting in ourselves We turn

away from our sin and we believe in the

cross We believe in the good news of the

cross We believe that God is the one who

saves And so when we are calling you to

receive Christ what we're saying is just

realize that you're a sinner and just

say "By God's grace I need to turn away

from my sin and I need to trust only in

Jesus and begin to walk with him." Um

that is the the greatest way that you

can respond to the generosity of

God That said there are people in this

room that will not do that

That said there will people who will sit

here and they will kind of say "Yeah

that was kind of good sermon Appreciated

that Like that

waterfall but never come to terms with

the fact that they're a sinner and that

they need to turn to Christ as their

only hope I beg you I call you I plead

with you to turn to Christ." Some will

have their excuses They'll say "Well I'm

too big of a sinner." Or they'll say "I

like my sin too much I like other

things." Or you know they'll say you

know he won't really have me Or or these

they make their excuses as opposed to

simply coming to God and saying "God I I

can't figure all this out I can't come

up with all of this I need your help I

come to you broken and I come to you

open I call you to do that." So I I ask

you one do not reject him That's the

first thing Fill that in Don't reject

him That's what verse 11 says above

That's what the religious leaders of the

day did And that's what some in this

room will do They will reject him I call

you not to reject

him But not only don't reject him do not

as verse three says below do not neglect

him Don't neglect him God is calling you

to salvation It is possible for you to

neglect this Young person who's grown up

in this church heard the gospel a

thousand times Don't neglect God's

salvation Notice this Hebrews 12:es 1

through3 Look what it says there on your

outline Therefore we must pay closer

attention to what we have

heard lest we drift away from it Do you

see what can happen you can drift away

from it Verse two for since the message

declared by the angels proved to be

reliable and every transgression or

disobedience received a just repu

retribution Look at verse three How

shall we

escape if we neglect such a what Great

salvation Can you put out there to the

side

generosity God has been generous to you

in giving Christ He's been generous to

you and given you grace And how are you

going to escape if you neglect

that Friend today I just encourage you I

beg you repent of your sins Just say to

God "God I apparently my heart has been

resistant to you and Lord I beg you to

to help me to come to faith in you I I

want to turn from my sin and trust in

Jesus Do what Jesus said repent and

believe the

gospel So that's what we do Um the

second thing that we do um I I think

that we should do when we see the

generosity of God here's another really

really big one First of all receive him

But secondly fill it in Rejoice in him

Rejoice in him This is good news This is

glorious news I want you to see 1

Chronicles right there on the bottom of

the sheet 1 Chronicles chapter 16 and

1 Chronicles 16 · chapter mention

verses

34-36 And and by the way put out there

to the side Psalm 34 homework That's a

great homework assignment for you to do

this evening with your family Um to read

Psalm 34 and talk about how it fits here

Um but rejoice in him Look what it says

in 1 Chronicles

16 Oh give thanks to the Lord Why

For he is good You could put in there he

is generous That's what he is He's holy

and righteous and good He's generous Oh

give thanks to the Lord for he is good

for his I love this word What Loving

kindness Isn't that a beautiful

word That's a beautiful word That's an

amazing concept Loving kindness For his

loving kindness is what Everlasting

Verse 35 Then say "Save us oh God of our

salvation and gather us and deliver us

from the nations the the pagan sinful

world that's around us." Look what it

says to give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praise Verse 36

blessed be the Lord the God of Israel

from everlasting to everlasting Read it

out loud together Then all the people

said "Amen," and praised the Lord So

this is what you can do You receive him

and then you rejoice in him You live

your life in these two things You live

your life in gratitude We see that here

Oh give thanks to the Lord And you live

your life in worship You don't just

worship when you come here on Sunday

morning You worship every day all day

You worship when you're having a really

bad day You worship when your boss is a

turkey and making your life miserable

You worship when people are undermining

you You worship when you lost the deal

You worship when you made a bad decision

You worship in all of the good and all

of the bad You learn to look to God and

remember him in the midst of it

all We live in repentance before him

That's part of worship When Isaiah was

repenting of his sin he was worshiping

God Andrew Coleman cannot worship

without

repentance Ask Marcy I sin all the

time That is I mean I I'm I'm still in

the flesh But I tell you he's got me on

the road of

sanctification He's growing me There's

things that I struggled with that I

don't struggle with anymore And little

by little day by day he's changing

me And this is part of it that we live

in gratitude and we live in worship And

you know when we worship God we want to

send less Amen You know when you worship

God you want to sin less You know Pastor

Lucas who was a pastor here in the life

of our church for five years um he now

is a senior pastor up in Melbourne

Florida Wonderful wonderful man of God I

remember early on when he was one of the

pastors here he was just talking about

um we were talking about Sunday worship

We were just talking about what Sundays

are like what is Sundays what impact

does it have on our lives And he said

"You know what I've discovered?" And he

said "God's been doing something kind of

new Since I've been at Sheran Hills it's

been a new sweetness." Um just as after

a while you know when you first come to

a church it's kind of hard Maybe for

some of you first coming here it's kind

of hard at first It's doesn't feel quite

right yet It doesn't you know you're

getting used to it And uh he had gone

through a time of adjustment to being

here But then as as he relaxed and and

grew accustomed and grew in relationship

with one another um his heart just began

to flower in and a beautiful way And he

just said "I've discovered that when I

worship on Sunday I really want to sin

to sin less on Monday and Tuesday and

Wednesday and Thursday." Sunday worship

and my time with the Lord helps me want

to sin less And that's that's what it it

means to be sanctified to be growing in

worship growing in sanctification So the

first thing that we need to do is to

receive the Lord The second thing that

we need to do is to rejoice in the Lord

Would you turn the page over and let's

look at the third thing

When we receive him and when we learn to

rejoice in him to to continue with him

then it's time number three to imitate

him God calls us to imitate So how

should we respond to this generous

God We should imitate him with our

life Um notice this and fill it in God

we we give as he gave in

generosity and in gladness We give as he

gave in generosity and gladness This is

the heart of God for you This is the

heart of God for me Ephesians 5 verse 1

Ephesians 5:1

and two Let's read it out loud together

What does that say right up there That

first line there Read that first

sentence with me Read it out loud

together

Therefore be imitators of God as beloved

children You know it's really

interesting when I see Andreas Zider

here in the life of this church Um I see

Adrien Zider who's now taller than

Andreas but I see Adrien Zider And you

know what Adrien Zider is is in many

ways kind of a spitten image of Andreas

his dad I I see his steadiness I see his

service I see his heart I see his

demeanor I when I look at um Andreas I

see a man And then I look at Adrien and

I see Adrien is very much like his

father And then there's little Vadim Um

how many years difference is there

between you and Vadim

12 years later here comes Vadim And you

know what Vadim's a lot like his dad

too I see Vadim And I can already see

Andreas in

Vadim You know children in many many

ways especially when we are seeking to

be faithful children imitate the good

example of their parents How much more

do we see that concept right here that

therefore be imitators of God as beloved

children of God as God is you should be

to be like him In fact isn't that what

it means to be

godly If we say someone is godly what

are we saying about them They are like

God They are as God is So it should be

our desire to be godly to be like God

You say "Well you're not going to be

God." No he's the creator You're the

created But here we are called to be

like him to exemplify his character Look

what it says It defines it even more

Look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 and

Ephesians 5:1

2 Therefore be imitators of God as

beloved children And how do we do that

Walk in what Love You remember that's

the motivator behind all of God's

generosity is love He loves us walk in

love as Christ loved us and gave himself

up for us a fragrant offering and

sacrifice to God So God the son in

perfect obedience to God the father in

this grand plan of salvation for us

Can't explain it fully but it's just

this amazing beautiful picture of the

heart of our God He comes He lays down

his life for us and he does so And this

is pleasing to God And you are called to

be pleasing to

God So we imitate him What did we say up

there at the top He gave in generosity

And then also what's the other word

there Gladness Gladness Circle the word

gladness We're going to look into that a

little bit more

Um did you know that

gladness doesn't always necessarily mean

happy or emotive In that way it has more

alignment with the word joy It has more

align which joy is

contentment and and trust in the midst

of any circumstance It's part of the

picture that is here Notice in Hebrews

12 we see the heart of Jesus as he gives

his life Look what it says in chapter

12:1 Therefore since we are surrounded

by so great a cloud of witnesses let us

also lay aside every weight in the sin

which clings so closely And let us run

with endurance the race that is set

before us And then look what it says

Doing what Verse two What

looking to Jesus the author and the

perfector of our faith Who and here's

what he did Who for what The joy that

was set before him endured the cross

despising the shame and is seated at the

right hand of the throne of God Now this

is amazing because here we are looking

at the most treacherous saddest most

cataclysmic event in all of creation

history This is the Messiah becoming sin

for us dying on the cross for us But it

says for the

joy set before

him he went to the cross You see he was

glad in his giving even though it was

greatly

sacrificial So how do we give like God

gives How do we give like God gives 2

Corinthians is written um to the the

people the church at Corenth And just

the context is this Jerusalem is hurting

They have a famine They're in big big

trouble There's many believers still in

Jerusalem and they they have nothing to

eat Uh the church is suffering because

of a very hard physical circumstance

Other places of the of the Mediterranean

world are not suffering like that It was

particular to

Jerusalem And we see Paul is taking an

offering to go and to help the Jerusalem

church So he goes to the Corinthians and

he says "Hey you have brothers and

sisters in Jerusalem," which is where

our faith came from He said "And they

need help." So I'm calling you to be

generous And I want you to see there's

so many powerful things in this text We

could spend a month studying this text

Um but we're going to spend five minutes

studying it So notice here with me we

want to expositorially look through this

Look what it says in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9 and 6-15 Paul writes as he's

writing to them about this he says,"The

point is

this Whoever sws sparingly will also

reap sparingly And whoever sws

bountifully will reap bountifully." You

know the idea is if you put a little bit

of wheat seed in the ground you'll get a

little bit of wheat plants If you put a

lot of wheat seed in the ground you're

going to get a lot of wheat plant So it

has to do with what you sow Look at

verse seven Each one must give as he has

decided in his heart not reluctantly or

under compulsion Read it out loud For

God loves a cheerful giver

Oh so he's calling us to be like God God

is a giving God He's a generous God

That's what we see here He's being he's

calling us to not sew a little but sow a

lot Verse eight And God is able This is

I love this God is able to make all

grace abound to you So that having so

that having all sufficiency in all

things at all times you may abound in

every good work As it is written he has

distributed freely He has given to the

poor His righteousness endures forever

You see this is God is righteous in his

generosity He's righteous in his giving

to those in need

Verse

10 He who supplies seed to the sewer and

bread for food will supply and multiply

your seed for sewing and increase the

harvest of your righteousness Verse 11

you will be enriched in every way to be

generous in every way which though which

through us will produce thanksgiving to

God Verse 12 for the ministry of this

service is not only supplying the needs

of saints but is also overflowing in

many thanksgivings to God So you're

going to give to them and they're going

to give glory and praise to God because

they're going to say "Wow we have

something to eat We've been helped Thank

you God." Because they understood where

the blessings come from Look at verse 13

By their approval of this service they

will glorify God because of your

submission that comes from your

confession of the gospel of Christ and

the gen generosity of your contribution

for them and for all others Verse 14

while they long for you and pray for you

because of the surpassing grace of God

upon you Read it out loud Verse 15

Thanks be to God for his inexpressable

gift I want you to see four things here

Number one we need to give

generously We need to give generously in

this Let's just be real clear here This

isn't just about the budget of the

church That's not the reason for this We

as Christians need to be generous people

because God is a generous

God We need to give generously Isn't

that what verse six is saying Look at

verse six up there at the top The point

is this Whoever sws sparingly will also

reap sparingly Whoever sws bountifully

will also reap

bountifully See fill this in God has

shown us how to give generously and

bountifully That's what he does And the

question really isn't how much do I want

to

give You know that we we often think

well how much do I want to give What's

that Well the the bigger question is

this How much do I want to be

blessed There's the question because God

is saying when you give you'll be

blessed I am able What it says in this

text is I am able to cause

everything that you need to come to pass

I am able to do this and this is a

principle

Now secondly we see not only we need to

give generously but we need to give with

the right

emotion We need to give with the right

emotion Can you put out there to decide

attitude We need to give with the right

attitude And that's a big deal to God

You say "Well I'm giving That's what I'm

I'm going to give to my brother-in-law

even though he doesn't deserve I'm going

to get you know or I'm going to give to

the church I'm going to give to the and

and when we go reluctantly we lose the

blessing." Because notice what it says

in verse seven Look at verse seven

Everyone must give as he has decided in

his heart You see giving is a heart

issue Not reluctantly or under

compulsion For why For God loves a

cheerful

giver So my question

is does God love

you Are you a cheerful

giver Are you a giver at all

Um there's some people who don't give

and I don't I don't mean just to the

church I mean there's some people who

don't give anything

anywhere They kind of think that the

world revolves around them And then

there's others that yeah they look at

areas of responsibility in their life

and they don't give to certain key areas

of responsibility in their

life And so it's not even whether or not

they give with the right attitude it's

do they give at all

Well here it's saying not only give but

give with the right attitude It is

assumed that if you're one of God's

children that you're giving Well then

the next question is are you giving with

the right attitude with the right

emotion You see immature people fill

this in immature people give fearfully

Maybe they give but they're super

afraid Or they give

begrudgingly You know they kind of

wishing they weren't doing this or they

give How about this one

Pridefully You know Jesus hit that one

headon Some people give because they

want everybody to know how much they

gave But mature people mature people

give in this way All three of these

mature people give faithfully and they

give

sacrificially and yes they give

cheerfully

That's what we see in the scripture

That's what we see in

life Immature people haven't learned the

joy of giving like God Mature people

have learned you can do this I can do

this I can do this faithfully I can do

this sacrificially I can do this

gladly cheerfully with joy as Christ

went to the cross being faithful to the

father Um notice this Not only do we

give generously and we give with the

right emotion but then we also this is

very important we give with the right

motivation The right motivation We see

it in verse 8 Look at verse 8 Says "And

God is able to make all grace abound to

you so that having all sufficiency in

all things at all times you may abound."

Can you underline that You may abound in

every good work Underline the last part

of verse eight Here's the reason God

gave to

you The reason God gave to you is so

that you can give to

others So a lot of times we think well

if God would just give it to me then you

know that'd be great And because that's

what I want anyway I want to spend it on

myself I want more of this or more of

that or a bigger this or a newer that I

I want these things Well you know that's

that's fundamentally the wrong attitude

of a saved person in a fallen

world Um if that's what drives our life

we're off We're out of balance What we

need to see is a bigger picture

concerning this And I confess to you

that there are few that see

it Most of us are entranced by the

things of the world and are believing

the lies of the world God calls us to

look up He calls us to look beyond the

here and now He calls us to look at the

things of this world and being in love

with the things of this world So we need

to give with the right

motivation Now what is key about number

three is it totally destroys the

prosperity gospel

The prosperity gospel says "If you'll

believe enough then God will give you

what you want in health and in wealth

and your health and your wealth will

show that God is on your side." Well

actually I see a lot of places in

scripture where the poor and the sick

and the needy were the people that had

the greatest faith and

faithfulness So that that's not

necessarily true But what we see here is

that God blesses you the two key

motivations Number one God blesses you

so that that's what the words are there

So that you can bless others Look at it

in verse eight God is able to make all

grace abound to you I underlined it

there for you So that having all

sufficiency in all things you may abound

in every good work And then look down at

verse 11 Do you see verse 11 Read it out

loud together with me You will be

enriched in every way to be generous in

every way Isn't that beautiful God gives

to you in order so that you can be

generous in others God gives you Christ

so that you can share him with

others This is

amazing Not only God blesses you so that

you can bless others Letter number two

there A right heart gives out of

gratitude and thankfulness A right heart

gives out of gratitude and thankfulness

Look at verse 12 with me For the

ministry of this service is not only

supplying the needs of the saints but is

overflowing in many what Thanksgivings

to God Circle that thanksgivings to God

You can give and as you give it brings

you you you give out of gratitude and it

flows into the hearts of others and they

give thanks I I think that verse 12 is

beautiful It's it's as you

realize God's generosity to you you can

live your life giving thanks for what he

has given to you

Very quickly as we end number

four may we never forget the measure

This is how much the measure of God's

inexpressable gift Do you see that last

verse 15 You read it out loud with me

just a minute ago Look at verse 15 Look

what it says Thanks be to God for his

what Inexpressable gift So think about

it Look at the box Look at that page

That is all talking about Come on Why

don't you act like act like God give to

the needs that are there in front of you

Be generous And then what is the end of

that whole

thing Summarize It all sums up with this

Thanks be to God for his inexpressable

gift He gave Jesus Christ

He gave Jesus Christ So you are called

to be like him generous

I love Romans

Romans 8:32

8:32 God did not spare his own son but

gave him up for us all How will he not

also with him graciously do what Give us

all things So if he gave you Jesus he'll

give you everything you need He will

give you everything you need pertaining

to life and godliness He'll take care of

your needs in this life And he will give

you that which brings him glory So as

you stand together look at the

screen Go ahead and stand up Look at the

screen Would you meditate on that for a

second Blood's going down to your legs

Your lightadedness is going away

Now you can look at that statement I

want you to look at that statement in

light of what you've heard and I want

you to meditate on

that What is your response to God's

generosity I want to encourage you to be

like

God Number one receive him Number two

rejoice in him And number three be like

him If you need to receive Christ today

don't leave this building without

finally saying "I don't know how I made

it this long I am ready to receive

Christ If he is this generous I want

him." And there's people on this side

that would love to talk to you The our

helis and Rosa are over there and the

Morgatos are on this side They would

love to pray with you either now or

after the service

But I that's the most important thing

that could happen But each one of us

need to evaluate in our life What is my

response for the rest of my life to

God's generosity Let's pray together