Generosity | Pr Dr Daniel Kong

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

So how many of you when you hear the word generosity,

what do you feel happy? Okay, especially when you're on

the receiving end, right. But some of us, you know,

if we are from the other perspective, the giving portion,

it may not be a good feeling. Or rather it

should be a good feeling, but it may not be right.

And this thing about generosity is something that's ongoing no

matter how generous you may know of somebody or maybe

you consider yourself very generous. And again, generosity doesn't simply

mean just from a financial perspective. It could be in

other forms, with your time, talents and also treasure. Right,

some of you may know of a very generous person

one who you know, Okay, if there's anything to represent

that this person is the guy or the girl or

the lady. All right, But we can always say nobody

has fully mastered this as humans at least, all right.

No matter what, there is still room to grow in

our generosity, okay. And this is the same you know,

we look at patience, we look at kindness, humility, love

and all that there's always room to grow, So what

more generosity? Okay, so unless you're there, you can you can,

you can go because you're already there. But I don't

think I myself will never be able to graduate from

this because it's still something I could do and it's

going to be an entire life process to to to

to reach that perfection at least when it comes to generosity. Okay, now,

because it's not all doom and gloom. I know it's tough.

It's hard to grow because all of us, I would say,

we are wired in such a way. If you I

used to use example in the past, when you get

a phone, you know, these fault settings are all set

a certain way. Unfortunately for the generous sleep part is

always set as the opposite when you when you come, uh,

come come as when you box. Right, we're all wired

that it's our core. You know, when you receive something,

I say, like now, if changes you receives, you get

as much as you can. Right, people that give those

of you who knows who are something to give it

you like everyone you give is painful, especially when you

have you know, cousins or other their cousins who have

you know more numbers than you. The balance it doesn't

quite balance out right. Even a kid, a young kid,

you know, they they are drawn to take toys more

than their hands can hold, right. And it's just the

way we're wired. And in fact, once you have that,

they hide, they retreat, they go away and enjoy the

spoils or the or whatever they better as toys, candies, money,

et cetera. It's just the way we are wired into

a stain extent, okay. And that's why we need something

more supernatural to make this work. Essentially, what I'm trying

to say is that we need to invite somebody in

to this picture to help us be more generous, because

it's not natural. Okay. So at the end of this message,

hopefully we will move away from you know, how can

you bless me? Or how can you bless us? But

how can we bless others? Instead? Let it flow? You know, God,

allow my life to be that vessel to just bless others,

to give generously. And again, not talking about money only.

It's all aspects, time, talents, and also your treasures, okay,

because we are called to be His vessels. We are

I mean, I always use this thing. I mean we're

looking at potentially looking at you know, certain vehicle, and

and and we we looked at this whole thing about

range anxiety. You can guess what I'm trying to say, right,

get to the point. All of us always want to

fill up our tanks, whether it is patrol or your

electric vehicle or whatever it is. We always want to

ensure this enough. But in in our life, our walk

in life, our walk that God has put in front

of us, we are not really called to end with

a full tank. Okay, we are called to really continue

to empty ourselves, not in a bad way, because when

you empty yourself, you also allow more room for more right.

So uh, and you know life is its ongoing, So

let's unpack a little bit about this. And what better

way to unpack this by looking at how uh the

apostle Paul talks about generosity. Okay, I'm going to turn

to second Timothy. Thank you Zach for helping yourself. It's

Zach's first time, so if anything it is messed up,

it's not anyway. Yeah, but yeah, it's okay, it's okay

by so small a Zach getting it's getting by the way,

for those who are news X, my son. It's his

first time here, uh doing this, so give him chance. Okay.

So two Timothy verses one to seven. Okay, So I'm

gonna start off with one and two firsts and then

all the way till seven. If you have your Bibles,

I encourage you to open it. Otherwise you can just

look up there. This is Paul writing to his spiritual

son Timothy. Okay, and look at what he says here. Okay.

Now it starts off with the word greeting. So it's

greeting Timothy, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the

will of God, according to the promise of life which

is in Christ Jesus to Timothy, a beloved son, not

an actual earthly son, but a spiritual son. Okay. Grace,

mercy and peace from God and Father and Christ Jesus

our Lord. Okay. Reading from verse three. So this is

title Timothy's faith and heritage. So it says here, I

thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscious, as

my forefathers did, as without ceasing, I remember you in

my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you,

being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled

with joy when I called to remembrance to the genuine

faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your

grandmother Lewis Lois, Louis Lois anyway, and your mother Eunice, okay,

and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I

remind you to stir up the gift of God which

is in you through the laying or laying on of

my hand. Sorry, for God has not given us a

spirit of fear, but of power and of love and

of a sound mind. All right, So a couple of

things I wanted to just highlight here. You can see

I've highlighted the word in you because Paul is trying

to tell Timothy stir up something that is already found

within you. Okay. So if you if you miss all that,

I'm going to have a next light just to reinforce

that as well, is to quickly highlight you already have

it in you. Everything we need to do for God

that God has caught you to do, you've already is

in existence within you. Okay, So no excuses, you have

it there. We just need to do something with it.

And if you didn't catch it the one verse before again,

thanks zach Is to stir up that gift that God

has placed in you. Okay, So there is something incredible,

because if everyone of us in church understands that and

fully activates that, ex church will be very, very different.

I earnestly believe we need more people to just activate

or rather stir up what we have already in our hands.

Not worried about being less about what God has placed

in another person's hand or you're even your neighbor's hands,

his talents, et cetera. Don't look outside yourself. If what

I'm trying to say, focus on oneself. Everything you need

that God has called you to do is already in

your hands. Okay. And that's what it says here. And

I'm just gonna pause here for a while. I'm just

gonna jump into another scripture and I'll come back. I'm

gonna jump to Genesis too. May not make sense now,

but it'll makes sense after a while. It says here

God formed man out of dirt from the ground and

blew it into his nostrils, the breath of life. The

man came alive, a living soul. Okay, So some things

to highlight here we are formed out of what dirt.

We are all dirt. Backs, excuse my language. We're all dirt, okay.

And what happens is that God came in blew into

a noustrils, so so a funny picture to see you

you blow into the nostrils, and then he gave his life. Okay,

and this is gonna be, you know, working in tandem.

If I'm gonna be speaking today, but all the way

from at the beginning, even in Genesis, God breathe breath

into us. Otherwise you'll be lifeless, okay, not only just dirt,

lifeless dirt. Okay. So as we approach an inversary Sunday,

you know, we're all encouraged to prepare to pray, you know,

through our giving. And again it's not just the monetary

giving we're talking about. We're also called to look into

missions because it's beyond just the I mean, the vehicle

of using or providing funds is just one one approach.

Your time is also something that we want you to

encourage you to pray, true because there's also a gift

from God. So whether it's treasures, time, or talents, you

know what you have in yourself. Let's focus on the

growing together healthily as a church in the area of generosity. Okay.

So that's why I wanted to just quickly say, it's

not just about money, It's about an all rounded approach. Okay.

And why is this important? Why do you want to

do this? Why not just focus on our generosity? Because

I want you to also look at God's generosity as well,

because He actually gave first. So if you like to

take notes title today's message, Oh, Zach, sorry, back one,

he jump ahead the title okay, So title of today's

message would be deposited in you, depositive. What generosity is

deposited in you? Okay. God's character, which is He's very generous,

is deposited in you first before you have to exercise

that okay. So yes, we are not wired that way,

but God put it in you, placed it in you. Okay.

He made the first deposit. For those of you are

in a financial realm. You know, it's a seat fund

before you can take it on an angel investor, you

take it on, and then you do something more with it. Okay.

So he is again to focus on him first because

he first invested, He first deposited, okay, and we are

called to then do more. So turn to your neighbor,

say God deposited in you, right, deposited in you all right,

turn to your other neighbor and say, he provided the

first deposit, the first seat fund to get you going. Okay,

So why is it importance? Because sometimes you feel that

how to invest something, but I don't have something? Right,

it's always hard. You already have something, Okay, whether or

not you recognize it is the other story. But we

know that God has it in you, and He's deposited first.

And that's why the sub small title that is God's

give and generosity deposited in you. Okay. Let's pray, say, Father, God,

thank you for your word today. Lord. I pray that

the Holy Spirit will speak true us. Lord as we

get it here today. We pray that it's not it's

going to be a religious routine, Lord, but Father, we

pray that we receive something good, not just hit knowledge,

not just be entertained. Lord, but Father, we will be

drastically change in our heart in our mind before the

end of the day. So speak to us clearly, Lord,

in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, Now let

me just quickly mention and also establish this. We believe

God first deposited because there's an intention for us to

use it, and not only that. He wants you to

experience a full, full fulfillment. Okay, you know, overall fulfillment,

to have a generous life. Like I said, whenever we

see someone generous in the earthly sense, you'll be like, Wow,

this guy is amazing, Right, this guy is good or

or her or the foundation is good. God wants you

to be more than that. He wants you to experience

a generous life that you don't even it becomes second nature.

That is not something that you have to think too much. Okay,

to maximize your impact at least in the air of generosity,

so that you can grow closer to him because that's

his character. Right, and we all know this, right, God

first gave and he gave the greatest gift of them all.

And we'll come back to this in a while. So

next slight, Zach, So true generosity, right, is more than

just money, Okay, It's way deeper than money. Sometimes when

we talk generously, we always ah, I know here we

go get another message on the whole money thing. No

it's not, but at the same time, it's unavoidable. You

need to talk about money. Even Jesus talked about it. Okay,

let's look at some scriptures he talked about it. When

why does he talk about it? Okay, we're gonna read

Matthew six. In a bit, you can flash up the

slight Zach on Matthew six. It talks about the treasures

in heaven. But why does he talk about it. It's

because even Jesus recognizes that when it comes to money,

our heart is somehow connected to it. Okay, Sometimes it

finds a way in, creeps in, and then it separates

us from from from God. Okay, you read here, Okay,

do not stop for yourselves treasures on earth, where mouths

and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal,

but store it up in treasures in heaven, where moths

and vermin do not destroy, where thieves do not break

in and steal. For where your treasure is there your

heart is say, God recognizes it. Yes, it's not all

about money generosity, but if it creeps in, it takes

over your heart. Okay, and I'm gonna skip ahead till

the end. There it says that you cannot serve both

God and money. Okay, so heart, God money. So if

you make room for money in your heart, you will

displace God in the process. And you must also understand

is why did God use money as a discussion point

or to be something used to be comparable to God?

Not anything else, not about you know. The competitor here

is not your time. It's not guys, you know, sports,

not not about badminton, not about what's the thing now

soccer and football? You know, It's not about social media.

It's not about Netflix, you know. Oh yes, all those

would take away some of you know, your your generosity

as well, but it is not the main focus here.

It's not about Netflix even right. God talks about money,

not about career, not about ambitions as well. Those are

all not wrong, but it's about money. And sometimes we

have to understand why why does God bring this in?

Is because I think you've heard this before. Money itself

is not an issue. It's the love or the desire

or the pursuit of money or wealth and the obsession

over the material aspects of all these things that can

actually consume you your heart and your mind and you

away from God. And that's why it says here we

cannot serve both. Okay, all right, So and again why

did God put himself in the same scale as money,

because if you're not careful, money can dictate or say

things to you that are only meant for God to

say to you. All right, and this is dangerous. So

give you an example. Money can say I can open

doors for you, whatever that door mean, right by right,

God is supposed to be the one saying I can

open that door for you. Right, I can make it

away for you, mister money here right, or let me

show you your value, your actual significance. Right. And that's

dangerous because what we're designed for God to control or dictate,

something else has come over and taken over. Okay, So

that's why we need to counter this. And the only

way to counter this is really true generosity. Okay, so

let's look at how and nobody right in the right mind.

Once you start earning a bit more, you'll be, oh,

since I got more, now, i'll be more generous. Right.

It's not natural, like I said, But we ought to

be right to the next tent. Right, you ought to

be once you have always say oh, I cannot give

now because I'm not able to. But once you give,

once you say, once you actually receive more, will you

actually give more. Right, if you do a hard check,

you may not be actually doing that as well, Okay,

so you gotta be very careful, okay. And not only that,

I think God also recognizes that sometimes for us, when

we come to a point that we, let's say, have

the ability to even earn more, we don't even look

at money per se when we start comparing with other people.

I'm better than you essentially, or my significance my life

is dictated by you know, the bad account or what

car I drive or those kind of things. Okay, And

we're not gonna get into that detail. But I guess

this is the reason why God needs to understand that

arrogance can kick in, humility can go down another notch

because of this whole money thing. And what better way,

like I said, as I shed earlier, to put things

into a level playing field, God said, we all start

off as just being same similar dirt. Right, we come

like this, we go like this. We all know this. Right,

You cannot take any of your possessions into whatever realm

that you believe in. Okay, it stays there. It stays

still as dead. Okay. And and this is if there's

any verse to put this into our place is this

verse here to really say do it? We're all dead, la.

You know, it doesn't mean that your neighbor. Of course,

your neighbor is very beautiful, handsome, et cetera. But we're

all did And the funny thing is that we spend

a lot of money even to beautify the dirt. Anyway,

let's not get there, okay, right now. And the funny

thing is right, you know, God is a beautiful God.

He creates a lot of things, amazing stuff that you

read in the earth first few chapters of the Bible.

He makes things beautiful. And you know, I'm questionous somebody here,

a child before or even seeing some of the beautful

places in Malaysia, you be like, this only can be God.

He did this, this beautiful rainbow, this beautiful waterfall, et cetera,

et cetera. And you usually think that to make something

so beautiful, he will use some resources that are beautiful

to begin with, Why did God pick dirt to create

his best masterpiece? Have you ever wondered that? Right? He

picked dirt. You know, if you don't know what dirt is, ground, soil,

et cetera, He used that to create Again, not saying

that all of a sudden, not beautiful the raw materials.

Why do you choose something like that? Why do you

use precious gold? You know, silver gems, et cetera. He

did all that right to build other things, the pearly gates,

et cetera. Why do you think he chose dirt? And

it's really really funny, Okay, So I put this origin

story is dirt, so don't This is to emphasize on

the and the and the what he calls the humility

side of things. And so every single person here, sorry

to say, we are all of that value, at least

at the very start, okay. And it's not me's scriptures

a scriptures saying this. Any church, you go to, any city,

no matter how wealthy that state is, that city is,

the country, is that continent, that society. We are all

just starting off as just this starting point. And again

I'm not trying to offend anybody here because the Bible

is clear, right nothing, but that's the origin story. Okay. Now,

if you cannot visualize this, I brought something to try

to help you visualize as well. I didn't bring changing

the cookies, by the way, I don't worry. Okay. So

this represents that, right, okay, and actually, okay, funny thing is,

I wanted to go to the constructor's construction happening from

the side of my house, so I wanted to pick that.

I thought it would be very messy, so I use something

else to say. But it represents it, right. And if

you look at dirt, right, most of the time, what

is the value of debt? Zero? In fact, sometimes we

pay you to get rid of it, right, it's zero,

no value. This is our origin story. Unfortunately we start

off with just that, right, started with just that. And

sometimes what is DoD is messy, it's dirty, it's not nice.

But funnily enough, God uses this to make you and eye.

Isn't it amazing to begin with? But why why? Because? Oh?

Just funny story? Uh? I think last week we were

having some Chinese Newear dinners at Jessica's and Grandma's place.

There was one of the family membership brought something quite premium, right,

I think it was a cookie that is from Singapore,

all right, boxes quite fancy. How much did it cost?

I just remember about four hundred sing dollars for cookies. Okay, then,

but you and I know it's not four hundred sing

dollars worth of ingredients. It's probably just flower or flour, Okay,

probably one sing dollar, maybe two sing dollars at max.

But it's four hundred sing dollar in terms of retail value. Okay.

Now why do I say this Because I don't say

that we are not valuable. We are all valuable. But

we start off like this, right, but God takes this

and make it four hundred sing dollars worth equivalent. I'm

gonna say that we are more than that obviously. Okay,

So what we can learn from this, Okay, the lesson

from this is next light Zach. He can work with anything, okay, anything,

he's not just, he can work with it. He's willing to,

like I said, even I myself am not willing to

use the dirty dirty. You know, initially I would like

my hands at all you know, brown and all that.

But this is what God does. He's not afraid to

get his hands dirty. Right, And as I said earlier,

we spend our time trying to make it clean. But

he created us. But why did he use to? Like

I said, it's probably the question here. So we should

be thankful firstly that we serve a God that is

holy he's perfect, a God that is still not afraid

to work with the dirty. Okay, we serve a God

that is magnificent, perfect. He can still work with the

let's just use the word boring, the mundane, the thing

that people just walk past without even give it batting

an eye. But he choose to work with it. That's

how awesome our God is working with things that are

even awful. Okay. And as the God we serve. In fact,

if you know the story, he'll say, God say, bring

that death, bring it over. I'll make something beautiful out

of it. Why because he wants to use it for

his glory and for his purpose. So sometimes I say,

when we do things like we walk in his bill

is true? Like what is something true? The perspective of

what God sees in us, in our lives and through

our lives, even though we may feel like one less

than one thing dollar okay or zero okay, So let's

be thankful no matter how messed up we are, no

matter how dirty we feel, no matter how sinful we are.

You know, he can still do it, and he's willing

when nobody else wants to, and nobody gets left out.

It's even the dirt there's different levels of dirt, right,

everybody is covered. He still wants to be a part

of it. So what is the most valuable asset we have?

It's really not about you know, like I said, your

bank account, not about the house that you live in,

about the cars or the wealth, et cetera. It's not

even about our health really, right, the most valuable asset

is what God has given you. He breathed a breath

of life in you so that you can be more

than who we originally are. And that's the generosity God

has given you. Otherwise we're all just can't hear the song.

But yeah, we're just all like that, right, nothing much

more than that. So I'm sure you heard this before.

We are also called to be stewarts or what God

is placed in this? Right, it's borrowed breath. Really, the

breath that brief you is also on loan because one

day he'll take it away. What are we doing with

that breath God has given you? How are you living

your life that has given you? He is willing to

work with you, but are you also working with him? Okay?

And the funny thing about uh, you know, the environment,

the dirt next light zag dirt is the perfect environment

for life. You notice that, right, you put a seat

in I don't know, you know, a goal, it wouldn't

grow right you put I mean like they say, like

in diamonds, it wouldn't grow as well. But dirt the

perfect condition to flourish. I'll talk about planting. It's not

a botany class, okay, but you know you gets a picture. So,

no matter how giant, if you understand this, no matter

how giant the original tree that bore that seat, right,

no matter how giant is, if you put the seat

of that good what the good DNA or whatever you

call it, you put it in the wrong condition, it

will not drive and grow. You will not try it.

No matter how nutritious or how beautiful the flower originally is.

The gardener needs to place it in the proper uh

space or place before it can flourish and grow. And

this is the dirt we're talking about. So God sees

potential even though you don't see potential. Right, So otherwise

there wouldn't be a chance to grow at all. But

if you want to grow, of course you want to

work with the best gardener. Right, me and myself just

we are not the Vestler. We've killed cactus cacti before.

Succulents also die under control. Some people say, ah, you

take this tree, shure, no problem, and so I'm so

sorry I kill one of your trees as well. We're

just bad at it, right, so we will have to

rely on somebody like you know. So how do we

do this? When you talk to the talk to the plan, water,

et cetera, to make it well. And so what I'm

trying to say here you partner with God to try

to maximize that seat. But next line, that is perfect.

But God has also planted the seat in this right

we read that earlier. Right, it comes with a gift

already given to you. So when we bless o this,

it's not just literally like I said, starting with what

you have? What? What? What you you draw from? Something

you know God's already given you. The seed is what

you need to be ready to use. And what do

we need to do? We need to stir it up

next light zac Remember I say here I remind you,

see he says here, I remind you to stir up

the gift of God. Why because unless you forget we

think that oh seed put in there? How many you

know you put a seat in there. You will grow

probably not right. You need to do something about it.

So you need to Next light Zac. You need to

start to stir it up, stir it up, stir up

what's in here. Stir up, stir up, stir up to

make it work. It's not just staring at it all right,

and I love this this thing about here. You know

when Paul wrote this Next light Zig, when Paul wrote this, right,

it's his last words, right, his final words. He's in

jail waiting for execution. Okay. So sometimes you say, oh, Paul,

easy for you to say. You know, you're in this

good space, good place, you know, do this, this, this,

But he's actually in his final few days. Okay. He

wrote this to Timothy to say, Timothy, listen to me.

I mean, I have much time left. This is what

you need to do. You need to stir up what

God has put inside of you in your heart. You

need to do this soon so everybody knows. Right, if

it's your final few words that you have or find

a few days, you will say something that's important. You

wouldn't waste your breath, you wouldn't be I don't know.

Binging the third season of what's that show called now Netflix?

What's the show called the Korean show? Yeah? I haven't

watched it yet, Sweet Games? Yeah you know, No, it's

it's the second season. I know. But you wouldn't spend

if it's released today and it's twenty four hours left.

Would you be watching scred Games season three if it

is out? No? You probably, you know, accounting for something

more important, thinking about what you should do, et cetera.

Last few words to my son there or what he

needs to do before all this practical stuff, like you know,

and the practical stuff is whatever you do, He's telling Timothy,

stir up the gift of God inside of you. Whatever

you do, make sure you focus on the generosity, generousity

of not just that it's found in you, but generosity

that's already given to you from God. And because you

already gave the deposit. Right you know, most of you

have know how deposits work. Right, you lock in something

for something bigger, deposits already paid for you. Just to

focus on something bigger beyond the deposit. Okay, Like I said,

live right, stir up your gift. Okay, don't go and

watch Netflix until no more time life okay, anyway, now,

next question here, number four, This is the painful one. Now,

what did we do with what God put in our hands? Ultimately,

that's what life is all about. You know, what did

we good? What did we do with what God put

in you? Again, not with what God put in Joe

Everett's hands. Not worrying about what God plays in even

my wife's hands, or don't be jealous of that. What

did God put in your hands? And have you done

your part? It's probably a question here, okay, so stirt

the gift. You know the expression well done, my good

and faithful serving They did it? Say well thought true,

my good and faithful servant. No, he didn't say well

read true or well I don't know, hashtagged, et cetera. No,

it's well done. There needs to be an action on

your part. You need to do something, and then you

come to that stage you know it say well done.

So the biggest fear I've shared this with Raining early

this year. The biggest fear I have is for us,

all of us, that we have not exercised what God

has deposited in us. You know, all of us. We

know you've heard of the parallel talents before right, everyone

is given a talent, okay, some more, some five some

you know one. But the scary thing is if you

do not exercise it, that is a problem here. And

so I was telling me Waining that one of the

things that we really need to focus on this year

is to ensure that everybody you know stirs up whatever

God is placed in their hearts. Okay, and that's my

because because all things, uh, all things doesn't count if

you do not activate it. Next light, Zach. This is

a famous thing by Norman Cousins. Okay, he says a

strategy of life. It's not death, but rather what we

let die inside of us while we still live. Okay.

Another way to put it is death is actually not

the greatest loss in itself. The greatest loss is that

we die and we take whatever God is positive us

with us to the grave. And that's the scary part

because you bury whatever God has placed in your hands,

just like how with the parable talents. You know that

one the one that received one talent, he literally just

buried it. He received something, he put it back inside.

He didn't activate it. And that's the scary part. Right.

You need to stir it up, You need to stir up,

stir up, stir up, and because the world is actual,

also waiting to see what can come of this. Okay, okay,

now let me just pause for a while. It broke

so far, okay, and I'm making sense, all all right,

it's good, all right. Now I will tell you a

story Zach Zach when when he was younger is about

twenty half years old. We were based in abroad for

a while, so it's perfect condition for growing stuff. Okay,

we're in Melbourne. He loves mandarin oranges lemons as well.

Strange boy growing up two years old, he loves that thing.

And I remember the time when we planted a lemon

tree and also a mandarin okay, and he used to,

you know, think that you know, once the planting is done,

the seed has been in the case, it's not really

a seed, but it's actually a plant that was put

in the ground. He's like, oh, you know, you'll bear

fruit straight away. So every day he used to like

come or come. He didn't say that I'm periphrasing here.

How come the fruit is not there? And you and

I know, right, that's beyond just the planting, beyond you

need to also stir the ground. You need to add

water to speak to it. Like I said, wait, like

what You've got to speak to it, love it, water it,

put the proper whatever. And then over time you'll grow,

sometimes not instant, but doesn't mean that you do not

keep stirring it, stirring the ground. Right, it will grow,

It will grow. So even he understands that. Now, So

you got to stir past, you know, the things that

is not happening or seemingly not happening. You've got to

stir past even the fear, you know, fear or the worry.

How come I'm not getting in the insecurities that you

have stir past all this doubt and all that. And

as you stir you begin to also see the fruits

from it. And suddenly, hey, how come there is something

that may seem a little bit dirty and valuable and

you see the gift that is inside of this as

I mentioned. Now, who plays this gift in there? God? Yeah,

not me? Sorry? Sorry me in this case me right,

But nobody, right, nobody in their right mind thing that

there's going to be something coming out from it? Right,

Only the person who planted it in there? Not using

the paraphrasing, I mean no pun intended planted in there,

knows it's in there. So when God planned something in there,

like I said, each and everyone were it was planted

in it. Not saying that again, this is not about money,

by the way. He's just saying about how certain things

that got placed in your life. Whether it's treasures where

there's time, whether it's talents, God has first planted it.

It's a gift for you to use, okay, a gift

for it to use. And you know, sometimes you talk

about all the people that we talk about, the naysayers,

and like, ah, you do this, what's the point of

you know, going to pay service as a point of

doing this, as a point of like going the missions,

Oh we're gonna how do you know they did they

plant that given you? Did they give you that gift? No,

it was God. So talk to God. Don't even trust

your leaders. And leaders are encouraged. But of course if

the leaders a bit serng or a bit wayward, h

he needs to be you know, reflected about what God

tells you as well, because you're only going to see

something if God has placed it there. So we heard

about discipline for no eyes can sometimes see no ears

have hurt. But if God made away, you know, God

has already deposited in you, inside of you, it will

come to fruition. All we have to do is really

just keep stirring, keep stirring, keep stirring, and you realize

the generous gift that God has made inside you. And

sometimes as you want to get dirtier, dirtier soil and

trying to clean the note as well. Or again, it's

meant to be a presentation of the gift that God

has placed in you, not the monetary. But people will

still take the ring in this case, they won't like

throw it away, right, even though it's dirty. Right, But

that's the thing. Sometimes, talent, or rather the gift that

God's placed in you can sometimes be dirty with the

dirt around you, right, So you gotta be very careful,

you gotta be keep stirring. But when you recognize not

the whites, but also the wise. I've talked about this before,

the wise. When your purpose is recognized, you do things

a bit differently. You do things very differently. It's not

about the day you were born. We all have a

birth date and then end date. But when you recognize

your purpose and your wives, you start a new life,

so to speak. Right, So when you find purpose, you

begin to operate at a different capacity, at a different

level of generosity as well. Okay, so we need to

say God, I know this is a gift from you.

Here is the gift back to you. Okay, use it

for your glory. And that's what I came to tell you. Really,

and that's probably the end of my main sermon here. Really,

twenty twenty five is still starting out. It's your season

to really stir things up a little bit. Okay, do

not wait any longer. A promise from God is a

promise from God. God is the posible to in your

in your heart, in your you know, your your you know,

in their different season. It's still a requirement for us

to do something. We need to keep stirring, keep stirring

the gift of God inside of you. But you know

so much. Understand this is just a word of warning.

Next light, Okay, watch out because when you discover this,

like I said, using this illustration, Now, if you discovered

this gift, people around people first sleep, the enemy wants

to rob you of this gift. Okay. Not only that,

sometimes your neighbor, even though they might be good neighbors

are they may also want a piece of this. Why

because they recognize the value of the gift. Right, So

there is a three way kind of a top of

war to get this. Of course, God wants to gift

back from you from him, and God's intention is so

that it can be then used for something even bigger.

That's why God demands to give. That's why God demands

us to be generous. Where I saw giving it back,

like I said, Stuart's right, giving it back to God anyway,

So why do we wrestle? You got sometimes? And then

the enemy comes to a different perspective. I think about yourself.

You worry about yourself when you you know it's all you,

it's all you use this for yourself, all right, it

doesn't matter. You can do things, it's not it's all

I mean you you deserve it. Don't have to be generous, right,

God gave you so that you can you know of

uh self, serve okay, just do it. And then the

other thing about people, it's reet quickly mentioned. People all

love your gift. I know, by the way, Okay, what

people don't like is maybe the dirt around the gift. Right,

just like how us this example, let's say if uh,

let's say it's a business partnership. People want your capacity

to to maybe see that that partnership the SPANISHIP. But

people don't want all the quote unquote baggages that comes

to that partnership, the quote unquote the dirt. What is

the dirt? The dirt is actually the human the human side.

Humanity is the dirt. People don't like humans. Actually they

don't mind the gift, but they don't want the other

strings attach. And that's why you have to be very

careful because as we approach God, sometimes you feel that

maybe a should hide from God as well. God says, whatever,

I take it, all the gift, the regifting of the gift,

even the dirt that is surrounded the gift. God will

take it on. He's okay with that because why God

is able to work with whatever he's willing. Like I said,

it's hands the ty from the very start as well.

So as extreme comes up, I'm gonna end here. That's

ultimate freedom. Guys. Really, when you express your generosity in

that kind of level, right, you're not afraid of just

a little bit of mess. I mess up the floor.

I'm so sorry, guys, I mess up the floor. But yeah,

you were never you know, it's always going to be messy.

And you think about this, you know, even with my stirring,

using the gift, holding the microphone at the same time,

this is a picture of our lives, isn't it. It's

a lot of juggling in Wolf. You have to strike

that balance exercise and gift. You know, in spite of

your business and maybe work, family, different seasons in life,

et cetera. You were never meant to really handle it

on your own, right from the very start, right And

that's why we say God zero point six yep, I'm

actually gonna give it back to you. When you place

it in God's hands or regift it back to God,

it takes someone new life. So that is the ultimate

expression of generosity. I used this example again. You know,

you go to the Catlon. How many of you loves

the Catlon? Good place to find all instruments. You buy

a twenty ring it the Catlon. I don't know, tens

record in Daniel Kong's hands is just going to be

an amateur tennis player. But you put it in someone

else's hands. Let's say I don't know who's the latest

now Roger Federal that that was the person I used

to watch last night. Even a twenty ring git tennis

what do they call this racket can possibly win championships.

You know, that's exactly what I'm trying to say here.

Your regift, that gift, even though it's dirty, right in

your hands, it can go so far you're place in

God's hands. You know that generosity can really see more

and beyond the initial quote unquote value. You know, all

these instruments in my hand probably don't do much. You

place it in the gifted musician, they can do so

much more. Let's use some Bible examples. You know, Moses

and his staff. You give me moses staff, right, I

probably cannot part the sea, you know, but when you

place it in the hands of a person that's meant

to use it with God's help, you can really see

miracles come to fruition. So, yeah, choose where you put

your gift and dirt as well. Are you going to

put it in the hands of God as you pray? True?

This year, this new season and it's just coming up,

it's not just about the monterary, about how are you

committed to missions at large? That is your gift. That

is the generosity that we want to emphasize here. So

come on, Church, won't you put it in the hands

that matter? Because in our hands, I think we are

only shortening ourselves. Are using my example. You know the

hammer and nails. You give me a hammer and nails, right,

I just probably will put up a picture frame on

the wall. You take the same hammer and nails. You

put it in Jesus' hands. What do we get? Salvation?

We get life? That is how powerful that gift repackaged again,

put in the right hands of God, Almighty God. A

powerful God can really see SuperNature. Things happen, miracles happen.

So won't you just stand with me and say, Lord,

I'm going to put it in your hands. I recognize that. Father,

I want you to use my life not for my

glory but for your glory. Lord. Stand, I know you

can handle the dirt, even I know it's okay. Won't

you take this and use it for the extension and

expansion of your kingdom? So as we close today and

remind us all that generocy is not just about financial giving.

It's about giving ourselves to be generous with whatever we have,

whether it is treasures, your time, even your treasures. Won't

you pour out your heart? Won't you give more love?

Won't you give more time, your resources, even your very

lives for the sake of others? And that is the

heartbeat of the gospel. So I'm gonna ask for every

hit to be about and eyes to be closed. I'm

just gonna pray, Father, God, I thank you Lord, that

you have first modeled up generosity. Lord, for you have

soul loved the world that you gave the most precious

give given us your only son. And because of that, Father,

you've shown that you're not only kind, you're only faithful,

You're forgiving. Lord. You showed us that you're not afraid

to partner and work with us quote unquote dirt. So, Father,

won't you just allow us to take that gift, the depositedness. Lord,

won't you allow us to keep on stirring, stir up

that dirt, stir up that gift. Let it, Father, be used,

so that more lives will be changed. Father, for your

glory and your purpose. And Jesus, need we pray Amen,

just one more thing as we approach you know, anniversary Sunday. Uh,

You know there's a lot of opportunities and a lot

of incredible opportunities for us to demonstrate that generosity and

buy and not thing. But won't you just really take

it to heart and pray through it and see you

know where God moves you. Because missions is a tangible

expression of our generosity. So Father, I know some of

us are called to give financially, some of us are

called to even go out to be the hands and

feed out in missions. Lord, whatever it is, Lord, I

pray that you know we'll be able to use our

talents and not bury it into the ground. Keep on stirring, Lord,

as much as we can use our skills, our influence,

our creativity, our uh you know, our our resources, even

for the furtherance of your kingdom. Lord. So Father, I

want to pray that you help a stir up this

give for generousy within this. Lord. Let us not you know,

do this out of you know, a compulsion, but Father,

really is because you have first planted first, and I

pray that we'll be able to reach many more lives. Lord,

mean surrender Father, all our time, our talents, our finances,

and even our hearts lort for you to use for

your glory. And just name me pray Amen. When's you

just worship together the worship team? Thank you Lord.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit exchurch do org. We

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you. God bless