God’s Love Means God’s Generosity | Select Passages | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 03/23/2025

this morning Do you have your Bible i

hope you do If you have a sermon outline

please take it out to grab a pen If you

don't have one there's some men that are

coming to give one to you If you're

joining us online you can download this

sermon outline from our church website

and be able to follow along This morning

we begin a new series It will be a brief

series as we lead up to Easter And it's

a series that has to do with the deep

issues of our heart before God

When we come before God the Bible tells

us that our hearts are laid bare before

him And so it is very very good that we

would come to him and allow his word to

speak to us What do you see in front of

you right here what is that that's a

waterfall right um there are waterfalls

all over the world Um how many of you

kind of like waterfalls do you like

waterfalls i think almost everybody

likes waterfalls right um this happens

to be one of my favorite waterfalls in

the world Not to be morbid but at one

time when I had wrote out my last will

and testament I had uh written out a a

plan for when I was young uh if I was

ever cremated um you could you could

take my ashes to this place Um this has

been a very special place since

childhood Does anybody know the name of

this waterfall

this is Piska This is in Piska National

Forest in North Carolina And it's called

it's called Looking Glass Falls Um it's

a beautiful place In fact that waterfall

is six Oh I'm pointing up there Six

stories high That's well over 60 ft high

and it's a lot of water Everybody likes

waterfalls How about this couple they

just got married last year and uh here

they are enjoying a waterfall If we were

to look around at many different

waterfalls some of you have favorite

places Going back to Pisa National Falls

you can see here the scale of it Um the

water is super cold and I love cold

water Does anybody like jumping in a

cold stream no most people don't I do

Marcy hates it Refuses Will not go Um I

love it I enjoy it Um one of the reasons

I like it is because as I get into that

cold water and I swim over it's a very

big pool that's actually there at the

bottom of it And I climb up on those

rocks where that water's coming down In

fact it comes down with such force you

cannot stand underneath it It hits you

with such overwhelming force it feels

like it'll split the scalp on top of

your head You can only take it for a

second or two and then you fall back

into the pool and let the water carry

you away as you hear the roar and

experience experience the thrill of it

I've been there in the fall and it's

beautiful in the fall as well Other

people think it's a great place In fact

people have been married there and had

pictures there But it's just all around

a a place that reminds us of God's

beauty and his creation Well this

morning I want us to think about when I

when I think about a

waterfall I think about a flowing

generosity an

overwhelming

generosity And this morning we want to

begin a series that is

entitled our generous God The fact that

God is a generous God He doesn't give a

little He gives a lot He gives the

ultimate amount In fact look at the

screen with me Uh the word generosity is

an interesting word Notice what it says

up there at the top It has to do with

showing a readiness to give what

more of something than

is

necessary or expected

Generosity is giving more than is

necessary or expected It's the idea of

showing kindness towards others by

giving in

abundance I want you to think about this

for me with me for a moment

Have there been times in your

life when

someone was

generous to

you can you think

back to a moment in your

life when someone was generous to

you most of us probably can I realize

that there are many in this room that

were not raised in

gentle loving kind compassionate healthy

environments I realize that there's some

in this room that you're here kind of in

spite of the past in a lot of ways and

it was not that for you But me maybe

even in the midst of that there were

moments when someone was generous to you

I I remember I had a grandfather and a

grandmother in fact two grandfathers and

grandmothers that that as a child they

were always very generous to me They yes

would sometimes give a tip or a or

something and granddad would say this is

for my grandmother would say this She

she was from Georgia She said now Andy

this is for you to go get a party Go get

a pretty with that I don't know what

that was I didn't know what a pretty was

but I figured out eventually that meant

go get whatever you want with that $

five

dollar As time goes on and the the

stakes got higher there were times

when there was there were people who in

my life were

generous And I remember sometimes

thinking "Oh my wow I can't believe they

did that."

Have you ever had that

experience

god is a generous

God He is generous towards

us He's generous in ways that go beyond

our

imagination I just finished teaching

starting point and we were looking at

who is the person of

Jesus Who is the person of Jesus

who what makes him who he is And as we

delved into the fact that he is

eternally existent in the past and he's

the creator of all

things with the father and the spirit

And we see that he in all of his glory

of

heaven would

choose in obedience to the father and

out of the sacrifice of his own heart

would choose to become a baby And he

would join us in a fallen world And he

would live and walk among us adding

humanity to his

deity cloaking his

glory so that we might learn of

him How else would we know the heart of

God if he did not join us how else would

we know his grace and his mercy and his

love if we did not see him

lay down his life for us you see our

God is a generous God And this morning I

would love

to look at what God's word says about

his love We we talk a lot about his love

And I want us to see this morning the

title is really the picture here God's

love means his

generosity It is his love that brings

about his generosity Notice these two

key words here his love His love and

generosity they go together And it's his

love that brings about that It is the

means of his generosity The Bible tells

us "For God so

loved the world that he gave." And so we

see a God who's a God of generosity I

want you to notice these passages of

scripture and I want you to see them

with me this morning Typically we would

do an expository message Um this morning

this message is a little bit more of a

topical message going after a key

reality from God's word about who he is

and how does he act toward us who is he

in his nature and why does he do with us

what he does and so this morning notice

with me some of these passages John 3:16

John 3:16

for God so loved the world Can you write

up there just above that the motivation

this was his

motivation The motivation was love For

God so loved the world that he did what

he gave Can you circle the word

gave he gave his only son that whoever

believes in him would not perish but

have eternal life Now this has often

been considered the the nutshell verse

of the entire Bible You can you can

really capture a vast majority of the

concept of the gospel in John 3:16 For

John 3:16

God so loved the world that he gave his

only son that whoever believes in him

would not perish There's the idea of sin

The Bible tells us that sin when it

brings when it comes forth it brings

death That's perishing So those who

believe in him and not themselves for

their

salvation would not perish but have what

is it there eternal life This is

generous Look at John 3:35 The father

John 3:35

loves the son and has what circle that

word Given given all things into his

hand This is a God that is generous

within himself

a God that is generous within the

Trinity But notice here Ephesians 5 1

and 2 Therefore be imitators of God as

beloved children So we're to act like

God We're to be like God Walk in love

And then here's the example Walk in love

as Christ loved us and what gave himself

up for us Circle that word gave

gave himself up for us a fragrant

offering and

sacrifice to

God When we come to the table of the

Lord we are seeing that this represents

the fragrant offering to God the

sacrifice to

God the obedience of the son and the

fulfillment of our faith that brings

glory to God

So notice this Ephesians 5:2 we see it

Ephesians 5:2

comes down into our human lives and our

relationships with each other Husbands

love your wives And then the example of

ultimate love is what as Christ loved

the church and there's that word again

and gave himself up for her

So it's not only that loving brings

about giving but loving brings about

ultimate giving In fact notice these in

John 3:16 at the top He gave what his

John 3:16

only son In John 3:35 what does it say

John 3:35

there he He's given what all things You

see it's

generous And then look with this in

Ephesians chapter 5 Christ loved us and

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

gave what

himself He gave himself up for us That

means lifted up on a cross Lifted up to

become our sin and to take the ridicule

of our

sin for us And then we see this same

idea He gave himself up for her in

Ephesians 5 And then look at Galatians

Galatians 2:20

2:20 Um perhaps one of the most

important passages in the New Testament

that helps us understand the gospel so

clearly and especially on a Sunday when

we are observing the Lord's supper This

is so beautiful We see that Paul is

calling the Galatian people the Galatian

church to realize that we are to have

the attitude of Christ He says "I have

been crucified with Christ." Now he

means that figuratively in in coming to

death of himself and living to Christ

Look what he says I have been crucified

with Christ It's no longer I who live

but Christ who lives in me And the life

I now live in the flesh I live by faith

in the son of God Look what it says Read

it out loud together with me Who loved

me and gave himself up for me

So we see this association and and I

could go to many other examples of this

in the scripture and not only in the New

Testament but also uh more elaborately

in the Old

Testament Love brings about

generosity Love brings about self

sacrifice

And when we think of generosity we want

to think of an

overflowing

abundance that we don't deserve and

that's beyond even what we would say is

necessary So central premise uh as we

get going in this series I want us to

see first and foremost that God's love

means that God

generously gives himself Fill that in

God generously gives himself to others

That's what he

does Yes God is a jealous God Yes God

will not share his glory um with other

gods or other things to be worshiped God

says "Worship me and me alone." But God

in his goodness and in his

love gives of

himself And we can also see and fill

this in God can give all because he made

all and he owns all It's so important

for us to recognize how amazing this is

God can give all things because he made

all things and he owns it Um notice with

me number one here God is sovereign over

all things He depends upon nothing He

needs nothing He depends upon nothing

Notice Psalm 90 and verse two Before the

mountains were brought forth orever you

had formed the earth and the world from

everlasting to everlasting you are God

So he is

selfexistent before

creation And then notice Revelation 4:11

Revelation 4:11

Worthy are you our o excuse me our Lord

and God to receive glory and honor and

power Look what it says Underline it For

you what created all things and by your

will they existed and were created So he

created all things This means he owns

all

things I love Acts 17 24 and 25 Look

what it says Um the God who made the

world and everything in it being Lord of

heaven and earth does not live in

temples made by man Nor is he served by

human hands as though he what he doesn't

need

anything since he

himself circle it gives to all mankind

life and breath Breath And what is the

last word there everything Circle the

word everything Look at that Meditate on

that I know you're trying to turn over

the page Just look at

it I want you to meditate on

that He's not a God that needs anything

He gives

himself and he gives mankind everything

that we need He gives everything Number

two I want you to

notice God is owner of all things and he

lacks

nothing So he is truly the owner Um

notice Job 41 God is responding to Job

in chapters 38-41 revealing his utter

God's utter sovereignty over all things

And notice this who has first given to

me that I should repay him You see

nobody's given to God

first Whatever is under the whole heaven

is what

mine God owns it

all Psalm 50:es 10-12 For every beast of

the forest is mine and the cattle on

what a thousand hills I know all the

birds of the hills and all that moves in

the field is mine He owns all things He

lacks

nothing In 1 Corinthians 8:6 yet for us

1 Corinthians 8:6

there is one God the Father from whom

are all things and for whom we exist So

everything comes from God and we exist

What does it say there top top of that

line there and for whom we exist We

exist for God Now the world is confused

about that

statement The world the average person

in our world thinks that they exist for

themselves or maybe they exist in more a

pantheistic idea of all of the universe

So kind of the the ideas in the

theologies of Avatar or something like

that that you know it's we're we're all

one with nature and we have no listen

all of nature and all of every person

that has ever existed exists for the

glory of God whether saved or

unsaved All exists for his glory and for

whom we exist He says "And one Lord

Jesus Christ through whom all

things whom are all things and through

whom we exist We exist by him and for

him." So he's the owner of all things

There's nothing that he

lacks And so that means that he is the

one who can give all things Notice

number three God is giver of all things

We see this over and over again So some

of you may be thinking "Oh great I've

been wanting that new Bronco It's so

cool It's so cute." And God gives all

things So and he doesn't hold anything

back So wow My ship has come in I come

to God and he'll give me that new

Bronco That's culture talking in you

That's your sin nature That's your flesh

talking When we set our eyes on the

things of the world when we set our eyes

on our career our future the things that

I want maybe God will give me what I

want I grew up in this place I sat here

in these parts over here most of the

time as a child growing up and so forth

And my selfish little mind often

interpreted life about what I might get

It wasn't until God started to help me

lift up my

eyes from myself and from just what I

want and from concerned about what I

would have that I started to see oh no

he has much better

things than I can

want as I come to know him You see he

holds nothing back He gives good things

Look at Acts

Acts 17:2

17:2 The God who made the world and

everything in it being Lord of heaven

and earth does not live in temples made

by man Here we see it again He nor is he

served by human hands as if he needs

anything And then look what it says

Since he himself gives to look what it

says all mankind life and breath in

everything I've included that again

because I want you to to see that he

doesn't hold

back He's a generous

God Romans 11:35 and 36 Or who has given

Romans 11:35

a gift to him that he might be

repaid for from him and through him and

to him are what all things That means he

owns it all Look what it says in verse

36 Let's read that out loud For from him

and through him and to him are all

things To him be glory forever

Amen And so this is a

God who not only owns it all because he

made it all but he's a God who

gives generously

2 Peter 1:3 "His divine power has

2 Peter 1:3

granted to us," circle it what all

things Are you following along look at 2

2 Peter 1:3

Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted

to us what all things that pertain to

life and what

godliness Though through the knowledge

of him who called us to his own glory

and excellence So as we come to Christ

we see the things that pertain to life

and

godliness So this is why you need to

grow in your knowledge of God This is

why you need to grow in your knowledge

of what's important to God This is why

you need to grow in your knowledge of

the things that as uh Aaron was praying

just a moment ago he prayed about the

issue of the fact that there's a bunch

of stuff that's temporal That means it's

going to it's temporary it's going to

pass away versus the things that are

eternal Now Satan wants to deceive you

about all of those things He wants you

to think that the important things are

not important And he wants you to think

that the unimportant things are very

important And you can translate that out

into every person's life in here

the person that's young and got the

world in front of them life in front of

them and all of the hopes of that and

the person who's lived a long time and

most of their life is behind them and

they're looking out He wants to reverse

God's priority and God's value on the

things that are in front of you

And so what he's called us to do is to

recognize that he has the power to give

us the things that we really need

pertaining to life and godliness So at

the bottom of the page there notice that

God's love and generosity it all comes

from who he

is his love that he he is a generous God

and so he gives

generously when we see this throughout

the scripture and see across the board

of many different characteristics we see

this notice first John 4 7 and 8 beloved

let us love one another for love is from

God and whoever loves has been born of

God and knows God anyone who does not

love does not what

No God And why read it out loud Because

God is love Now just don't turn the page

Just hang on Hang

on Look at

that God's love and

generosity comes from who he is It's not

just something he does

Have you come to

know the God of love who calls himself

love the world is very confused about

love The world has reduced love

sometimes to just

sexuality We use it in a lot of

terminology

The world is confused about what it

really means to love some Well you know

when you get the love of your life

somebody who makes you

happy Isn't that how we say

that does that not fundamentally mean

we're coming at it from the wrong

direction well this person makes me

happy so I love

them Well let me guarantee you this God

doesn't make you happy in your sin but

he loves you anyway

He loves you He loves you when you are

unlovable When Marcy and I got married

Marcy gave me as a wedding gift a book

of

letters from 40 men in my men and women

in my life people that were mentors to

me she had written to them after we got

engaged and she said "I would like to

give Andrew a gift um on our wedding day

and I would like the gift to be a letter

from you." And so I got this beautiful

gift of all of these letters almost all

of them handwritten some of them

um written out And I remember one of one

of my main mentors Tom Elliff he gave me

several pieces of advice He knew and

loved Marcy long before I had ever met

her She had become a daughter to them

And he and Jeanie Elf took them in took

her into their home and loved her And so

it was I had to pass quite a few tests

with Tom Ellf about that Um it was kind

of scary at moments but he came to love

me and accept me

eventually But he said a lot of things

that were important And one of the

things that he said to me was this What

I've kind of just touched on about you

and

God He said,"Andrew Marcy will need your

love the most when she is the least

lovely When she's not at the top of her

game when she's having a bad

day when she's maybe not kind toward you

when she maybe has wronged

you when she is struggling within

herself that's when she needs your love

the most not the

least And do you know that that's the

kind of love that God has tom was

calling me to love Marcy like God loves

me While we were yet

sinners Christ died for

us And so we see the the nature of God

and we see the nature of his love and we

see the fact that he is this he is love

and he is

generous And so God freely gives We've

read it over and over He freely gives

all

things This is an amazing God even to

those who have not earned it So this is

because God is love You may safely turn

the page to the last

page

Love There are some different Greek

words for love

Agape aeros and fileo are two of the

main are three of the main ones But

aeros talks more about erotic love or

sexual love File has to do with a a

brotherly

love But agape is described as God's

love the way that God's love So when you

read the New Testament in coin Greek you

will see different words used for love

And it's important for us to recognize

that But this love is a selfless love

This is a love that isn't loving you

because it's good for him This is a love

that is loving you with disregard for

self And that's what we see in

Christ This is so important for you to

get in your life Young people listen to

this Listen to this this morning It'll

help you so much Point number one this

first bullet point is God's love is an

othersoriented

love It's not a love that is

self-oriented It's not that you love

this person because they make you

happy It's that you love this person

because they need your

love How about the next one god's love

is a

selfgiving love That's what we've just

been reading We've been seeing this over

and over again It says over and over in

the passage that we read about the life

of Christ he gave

himself He gave himself

up for you That's talking about the

cross It's a

selfgiving

love God's love gives himself for what

purpose to bless

others to be a blessing When we talk

about wanting the blessings of God there

is no greater blessing that your heart

first

needs than the grace and forgiveness

that is found through the cross of Jesus

Christ That's the first blessing you

need You don't need a nice home You

don't need better transportation You

don't need people all around you in your

life that are going to be nicer What you

need first and foremost is a right

relationship with the one who created

you your heavenly father And he gives to

that freely to bless you in him Here's

one of the most amazing ones as well

There's many things we could say about

God's love but God's love it says never

changes As he never changes his love

never changes

Now I want you to notice this with me as

we talk about his generosity in loving

us in giving to us I want just to see

this God's generosity in eternity past

This is before creation before the

universe existed in all things Now I

don't think about that too long Smoke

will start coming out of your ears I

mean it's just a big concept of what

what was everything like before well

there was no everything Um we we see

that there was a beginning and before

that beginning was God And what we see

in the scripture is this I wanted you to

notice here that God's loving and

generous nature is seen within the

Trinity God perfectly satisfied within

himself And by the way this is an

important side point Um I remember

hearing as a kid growing up sometimes as

people were trying to explain God to me

they they said "Well God was in eternity

past before the world began and he was

lonely and so he wanted companions and

so he created the world." Friends that

is

false God was not

lonely He simply determined that it

would bring him greater in his great

wisdom who would bring him greater glory

in his great wisdom to create a

universe and so that but there's God has

lacked in nothing God has never needed

anything but notice this in John 17:5

John 17:5

and now look what it says and now father

this is the father the son go the son

praying to God the father in this high

priestly prayer and now father glorify

me in your own presence with the glory

that I had with you Underline

it Before the world existed

eternity

passed Look at John 17:24 A few verses

John 17:24

later Jesus is praying "Father I desire

that they also whom you have given to me

may be with me where I am to see my

glory that you have given me because you

loved me before what

the foundation of the

world And so this is a God within

himself And within eternity past is a

generous

God Within the Trinity we see the father

giving to the son the son giving to the

father And the same thing with the holy

spirit We were just talking about this

in starting point this morning As we

look at the Holy Trinity we see perfect

union We see perfect glorification of

one to the other perfect

harmony God is a relational God and he's

made us Genesis says we are made in his

image That means that you are like God

in that you are a relational person

And so we see that sin has come and

poisoned our relationships with one

another And sin has come and poisoned

our relationship with God So God in his

generous love comes to restore that

perfect harmony through Jesus Christ

So in perfect

harmony God the son comes and adds

humanity onto his deity and becomes a

man He cloaks his

glory He empties himself of holding on

to the heavenly throne room and he

enters

into a dirty little

stable as a baby

How else would we know his

humility he could say "I'm a humble

God." But would we even understand what

that means

but in his

humanity in his

incarnation he takes on flesh joins us

in our

mess and then he goes even deeper into

humility as he lays down his life to be

crucified on a cross mocked and

rejected by the people that he had

chosen to show the world his love

room Notice

there that he has before the foundation

of the world loved us Look at John 3:35

John 3:35

The father loves the son and has given

all things into his

hand and the son in perfect obedience

would come and lay down his life So we

see God's generosity in eternity past

but we also see it in this filidin in

this present

age God's loving giving nature is seen

in his relationship to

people Look at first John chapter 4 and

1 John 4 · chapter mention

verse 10 Um in fact let's read 1 John

1 John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 and verse 10 out loud Are you

ready let's read it together

In this is love not that we have loved

God but that he loved us and sent his

son to be the propitiation for our sins

But right below the word propitiation

the

satisfaction So he comes to atone for

our sins He comes to satisfy our sin

debt So and it's not that we loved him

first It's that he loved

us This is amazing

generosity Look at Romans 5'8 But God

demonstrated his own love toward us in

that while we were still sinners Christ

died for us for us You see this is the

present

age as Jesus comes and lays down his

life in this

time in Galatians 2:20 We've already

Galatians 2:20

read it once this morning Look what it

says But you can see here that this is

what Christ has done for us I have been

crucified with Christ It's no longer I

who live but Christ who lives in me and

the life that I now live in the flesh I

live by faith in the son of God who

loved me And what did he do he gave

himself for

me And so this is God's generosity in

the present This is him redeeming us

back to himself So eternity past before

the world was created he's a good

generous God In this present time he's a

generous God He has given Christ to us

But notice number three God's generosity

in eternity future And this is where it

really gets

good This is where our mind be can begin

to wonder and imagine the glories of

heaven You know by the way we were again

talking about this in starting point

this morning Satan wants to counterfeit

everything um all of your ideas about

God all of your ideas about heaven all

of your ideas about eternity he wants to

dumb all that

down He wants to confuse you about

heaven He wants you to not think about

hell He wants you to just kind of if

focus on this present thing And if

you're going to focus on beyond this

present life if you're going to think

about heaven he wants to distort the

view of that So what are some of the

images somebody said it in starting

point Well God is a big grandfatherly

figure with a big beard And what does

heaven usually look like what do you

think of with heaven in our culture what

what is it we often think of somebody

said it Clouds fat baby

angels

right golden streets whatever that means

Um you know and kind of nebulous choirs

singing something like that And so Satan

would like to keep you in this nebulous

not very attractive view of

heaven when the Bible has a lot to say

about what is to come The Bible has a

lot to say about the glory that is

coming to us and and most importantly

the spiritual nature of it The fact that

we keep sinning here We are involved in

a sinful world here We are involved with

cancer and hardship and difficulty Even

this week we have precious members of

our church with broken bones We have

members of our church that are dealing

with their blood work is way off or

their blood pressure is super high and

they're over there in the ER and the

hospitals trying to get their blood

pressure down We have other members of

the church where they have loved ones

that are dying We have other people who

there's there's people who the

relationship is very very twisted and

torqued and stressed We have people who

are dealing with long-term persistent

promise So Satan would love to keep you

focused on the things of this world and

not ever consider the great promise that

all that's going to be

done And as God has revealed himself to

you now through faith that you can lift

your eyes toward heaven and see that

we've barely tasted of his generosity

now And what is coming is that which is

worthy of our life His glory is worthy

of our life and his gifts are worthy of

our life that goes so far far beyond the

things that you and I so

frequently the shiny objects in front of

us that get our

attention You see God's loving giving

nature is seen in his promises to come

Isaiah 62 catches it a little bit in

verse 5 For as a young man marries a

young woman so shall your sons marry you

And as the bridegroom rejoices over the

bride look at this so shall your

God rejoice over

you And what is amazing is that God

rejoices over you Now for those who come

to faith in

Jesus you come home to

Christ And oh the joy how precious in

the sight of God is the death of his

saints that he brings them home to

heaven He brings them home to all of the

glory and the beautiful glory that is

described in that Look at Zephaniah 3:17

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is in your midst A

mighty one who will what he will save He

will rejoice over you with

gladness He will quiet you by his love

He will exalt over you with loud singing

This is a God who is generous in his

love and he's excited about those whom

he has created This is the amazing grace

of

God Now false doctrine would teach you

this God loves you just the way you are

And um you don't need to do anything

because God's already given you

everything and he already loves you

Grace is already

yours regardless of whether you

recognize it or not Regardless of what

you believe God's good You know the idea

that everybody's going to heaven

That's part of modernism That's part of

classical liberalism that that cannot

fathom a righteous and holy God that

punishes evil and sin but redeems by

grace

alone those that have been lost The

truth of the gospel is these truths are

true for those who come to that

cross the place of sacrifice and

recognize we cannot save ourselves We

cannot be saved by anything or anyone

except the shed blood of Jesus Christ

and we place our faith in him Jesus came

and when he began preaching he said

repent and believe the

gospel that is turn away from your sin

and turn to the good news that God will

save And how does God save through the

death of his

son And so these truths God

rejoices over those who come to faith in

Jesus In fact Revelation 21 this is the

end of your Bible And this is really the

final state This is John's vision God

gives John a vision And look what it

says Then I saw a new heaven and a new

earth This is eternity future New heaven

and a new earth For the first heaven and

the first earth had passed away and the

sea was no more Now the idea of the sea

is that which is that which is what

separates from God That was the sea is

the depths of of sin and difficulty So

the idea of the sea is no more Verse two

and I saw the holy city New Jerusalem

coming down out of heaven from God

prepared as a bride adorned for her

husband And I heard it that how is a

bride adorned for her husband man she's

ready She's beautiful Everything's

everything's been the smallest detail

has been given attention to There's

great excitement and joy So prepared as

a bride adorned for her husband And I

heard a loud voice from the th throne

saying "Behold the dwelling place of God

is with man and he will dwell with them

and they will be his people and God

himself will be with them as their God."

Do you see that God is a relational God

he wants

relationship He has designed us for

relationship Look at verse six And he

said to me "It is done I am the Alpha

and the Omega the beginning and the end

To the thirsty I will give from the

spring of the water of life." What does

it say there at the end without payment

Without payment

Can you write below that

grace The grace of God through Jesus

Christ

This is

amazing Our God is a generous

God He gives freely and abundantly Fill

it in there at the

bottom Real

loving cannot be separated from

selfless

generous giving

Real loving cannot be separated from

selfless

generous

giving Can you look at that waterfall in

front of you again just look at

that This is the picture of God's

flowing

love It is

abundant It is free

It

overflows through his grace and his

generosity As you think about your life

he's giving you everything you need

pertaining to life in godliness in Jesus

Christ And he lays down his life that we

may know him So over the next few weeks

we're going to look at our generous God

We're going to be looking at his

generosity and we're going to be looking

at how he calls us to imitate him with

the way that we live and the way that we

think the way that we respond to others

Our God is a generous God Would you bow

with me for prayer