The Confidence to Be Generous

All right, guys.

Well, at the beginning of the year, if you're just now joining us, we started a series called Getting to Know God.

Getting to Know God.

What we're doing is we're we're studying the life of a man named Abram or Abraham.

Same person.

He gets his name changed to Abraham later, and his story is really incredible.

We're gonna get to know him really well, but what makes his story really special is that through his story, we get to know God.

We get to know what God is really like.

In fact, you could say that Abraham is the first person we have in all of Scripture.

And his story's early, it's in the book of Genesis.

It's the first person we have in Scripture that we get to see walk this really long, really detailed life.

His story is recorded in great detail, where God bit by bit reveals his nature to him.

At the beginning of Abram's story, he doesn't really know who God is.

He believes in God, he has faith in God, he responds in faith to God, but he doesn't really know him.

And over time, story after story, moment after moment, in his life where he's in need, where something happens, where his faith is a little bit shaken, and God meets him where he is, he learns who God actually is, and all that does is make his faith grow.

In fact, faith, that would be the thing that we most associate Abram with.

We're told in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 8, that by faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Hebrews 11:8

Abram lived a very comfortable life.

He was wealthy, and one day God just called him to go.

Leave your home, take your family, take everything that you own, and just go.

And oh, I'm not telling you where you're going, but I'm gonna give you something that you don't have.

I'm gonna give you descendants because he didn't have children at this point.

He said, I'm gonna give you a land, I'm gonna make you into a nation.

And he actually says this in Genesis chapter 12, I'm gonna bless all the peoples of the earth through you.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

And he has, because Jesus ultimately came through the line of Abraham and has blessed all of us.

So God does something special, and Abraham he calls him to do something really big, but Abram responds in faith.

Earlier in that same chapter of Hebrews, we're told that faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Faith ultimately is confidence in God.

But closeness with God grows our confidence in God.

The closer you get to God, the better you know him, the more you walk with him, the more you you study him, the more you spend time with him, the more you experience his presence in your life, the closer you are to God, the more confident you become in God.

I have seen that happen in my life and in the lives of countless people.

There is a connection, a relationship between closeness with God and the confidence to live a life of faith.

A life that is powerful.

And so as we grow in our closeness and our understanding with God, I know that this year that faith and confidence will grow as well.

Last week we started looking at a chapter.

We did an entire chapter in the book of Genesis, but it's a pretty short chapter.

And today we're gonna explore the exact same chapter, but we're gonna look at a different angle of it.

So I want to go ahead and just read it.

It's a quick one, Genesis chapter 13.

Genesis 13 · chapter mention

It says, So Abram left Egypt and traveled north into the Negev, along with his wife Lot, who's his nephew, and all that they own.

Abram was very rich in livestock, silver and gold.

From the Negev, they continued traveling by stages toward Bethel, and they pitched their tents between Bethel and I, where they had camped before.

This was the same place Abram had built the altar, and there he worshipped the Lord again.

Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, many tents, but the land could not support both Abram and Lot with all their flocks and their herds living so close together.

So disputes broke out between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot at the time Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land.

Finally, Abram said to Lot, Let's not allow this conflict to come between us or our herdsmen.

After all, we're close relatives.

The whole countryside is open to you.

Take your choice of any section of the land you want, and we will separate.

If you want the land to the left, then I'll take the land to the right.

If you prefer the land on the right, then I'll go to the left.

Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zor.

The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord or the beautiful land of Egypt.

This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them.

He went there with his flocks and servants and parted company with his uncle Abram.

So Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom and settled among the cities of the plain.

But the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the Lord.

After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, Look as far as you can see in every direction, north and south, east and west.

I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants, as a permanent possession.

And I will give you so many descendants that like the dust of the earth they cannot be counted.

Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.

So Abram moved his camp to Hebron and sat and settled near the oak belonging to Mamre.

And there he built another altar to the Lord.

Last week we talked about the fact that Abram had the confidence, right?

Faith and confidence are connected.

He had the confidence to go first.

There was a tension that was rising between he and Lot, specifically between his herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen and their family, and it's starting to get really ugly.

And Abram could have waited until it hit a boiling point.

He could have waited until something happened that maybe was serious and severe and it just caused even further conflict.

But Abram had the faith to take initiative.

Abram said, something needs to change.

Something needs to be done about this.

And he went first.

And we talked last week about the fact that in life, when we see something that isn't as it ought to be, something needs to be done about this, something needs to change.

We can have the faith to do something.

We can have the confidence in God, knowing that He is with us, He is for us, He goes ahead of us, He's behind us, He surrounds us with His presence.

We can take initiative.

We can go first.

And we challenged all of us to explore our lives and say, is there something in my life that I know it's not right?

I know it needs to change, and God give me the faith to go first.

But today we're gonna talk about another aspect of this story, and it's the faith, the confidence to be generous.

Because Abram could have gone about this in a very different way.

He could have said, look, lot, this isn't working.

So I'm gonna hang here where it's really nice with all the water.

I'm gonna hang here in this very, very fruitful area.

You're gonna go, and you're gonna take all your people and you're going over there.

Bye.

He could have done it that way.

I mean, he was in charge.

He had more servants, he's more powerful than Lot.

He's older than Lot.

He's an authority over Lot.

Or he could have set Lot down and said, hey, let's let's talk, let's be strategic about this.

Let's really look at the land.

We gotta divide.

Obviously, there's not enough room for both of us, you know.

That's that's fine.

But let's really, let's be reasonable.

And let's come to a compromise.

And you know, I know you're probably gonna want that land over there, but it wouldn't be fair for you to have all of that, so maybe you take a part of that, I take a part of it.

Let's let's come up with some type of system.

Let's let's figure out a rotation, you know.

We'll rotate with the land.

He doesn't do that.

He just says, Lot, this isn't working.

I'll tell you what, take what you want.

You choose.

Whatever you want, you can have it, and I'll take what you don't want.

I imagine if there were people around Lot and Abram in that moment, especially if they were Abram's servants, they would have been like, what's he doing?

What is he doing?

And Lot.

Lot could have also responded by saying, Oh, Uncle Abram, no, no, no, no, no.

I I could never, nope, he doesn't do that at all.

He's like, sweet, thanks.

And he takes the good stuff.

But it does not work out for Lot.

Abram has the confidence to be generous, the faith to give.

And I think we can all admit that this is pretty unusual.

Even among, if we're honest, even among really great people who love God and want to live life right, that kind of generosity, it's unusual.

I know because I have a family.

And we love each other a lot, but we're not that generous with each other.

I experience this every single Sunday.

Every Sunday, my my wife and I and our four kids, we we come here and we spend a few hours in the presence of God and his people, and we're surrounded by some of the most amazing people.

I look around this room, I know so many of you, you're incredible people.

Like the best interactions I have all week happen here, and my kids, it's the same way.

They have amazing friends in the kids' areas, and they spend a couple of hours with these people, and we're all just encouraged by the goodness of God, and then we get in the car and we immediately begin to argue about where we're gonna have lunch.

It's like the immediate aftermath of every Sunday.

God is so good.

Where do you guys want lunch?

And a a fight ensues every single Sunday.

It's coming.

I know it's coming.

They never agree.

They form alliances, but they don't really agree.

So, like my oldest, he'll say Chipotle.

He'll say every week.

I want to eat at Chipotle.

I can't even say that word.

How do you say chip chipotle?

That's like a word that I struggle with.

I'm like Chipotle.

I want to say that, but I know it's not Chipotle, it's Chipotle, but my brain doesn't like it.

So we don't eat there because I can't say the name.

Um, that's just I won't, I won't be made to look a fool.

No, no.

He wants to eat at Chipotle every single Sunday, and no one else wants to.

I would be fine with it, by the way.

I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to food.

I'm like, yeah, that's fine with me, but no one else wants Chipotle.

My daughter wants Jimmy Johns, no one else wants Jimmy Johns.

I, by the way, would be fine with Jimmy Johns.

But no one else wants it.

But then then Liam and Lily will form an alliance because close to where we live, the exit we get off of, there is a Jimmy Johns and a Chipotle right next to each other.

They're like, hey, we go there, I get Jimmy Johns, you get Chipotle, we're all happy.

But the little kids are like, they're not having that.

They want culvers.

Every single week.

Uh Judah and Eli, that is what they want.

Culvers, that's what they want.

The problem with culvers is that the two locations that are in this area, one of them's it's it's just not on our way home.

Like it's kind of a, we're gonna add an extra half hour to our journey back home to go there.

The other one is, guys, it is just firmly planted in First Baptist Woodstock territory.

Just firmly.

Um and ever since the incident a few years ago, I just don't, I'm not ready.

No, I'm just joking.

There was no incident.

Um, it's all good.

I have a lot of really good friends on staff there, and we actually partner with them for the homeless warming centers and some other stuff like that.

But on the Sundays that I wear a hat, I don't know if they're ready for pastor with a hat.

So I gotta be careful.

I'm just teasing.

I'm just teasing.

I grew up as a Baptist, so I can make those jokes.

Um, it's a great church.

So it's just, again, it's kind of out of our way.

It's like a different direction.

So we don't we don't we don't do culvers on Sundays.

My wife has this new Mexican restaurant that she loves, and none of us like it.

But we've eaten there three times.

Um and these these conversations in the car, they're not calm.

They're not reasonable.

They they require me every Sunday.

We leave here, and it's like God is so good, and by the time we are on 575, I have moved the rear view mirror to its actual purpose, which those of you who don't have kids, you think the rear view mirror is so that you can see the cars behind you?

No, no, it's for when you have kids, you can put the fear of God in them with your eyes.

You know what I'm talking about?

Like, any dad here, raise your dads, you know what I'm saying.

You fixate it on a kid and you're like, hey, hey, and they only see your eyes?

And you're like, love each other.

Love each other.

We're going to where your mom wants food.

That's what it usually ends up being.

None of us are gonna like it, but we're gonna pretend like we do.

Megan and I were talking about this yesterday, and she was like, Yeah.

She said, and none of the kids ever even say, Hey, dad, where would you like to have lunch?

And I said, Megan, you've never said that.

And then the conversation moved on.

It was good.

It was good.

I'm just saying, I don't I don't see that kind of generosity on display in my family that often.

And I love my kids, they're good kids.

We have a great family, but it's just this isn't this is an unusual kind of generosity.

This would be like if you had a really nice house and one of your family members did not, and you were like, just take my house.

Just you have my house, I'll take your house.

Let's flip it.

Like, like, who does that?

I worked for this house.

You know, you should have worked harder.

That's the way we tend to think.

But Abram just says to Lot, take what you want.

It's yours.

And it's not because Abram had confidence in Lot.

As you'll find out in Lot's story, do not put your confidence in Lot.

Abram had confidence in God.

And even though this kind of generosity is not natural, it is not the way the world works.

It is something we're called to.

We see this in Scripture time and time again, Proverbs 22, 9.

It says, Blessed are those who are generous because they feed the poor.

God sees that.

He honors that.

2 Corinthians 9, 6 through 15.

Paul's writing to this church in Corinth, and he says, Remember this: a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop.

But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

You must each decide in your hearts how much to give, and don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves a person who gives cheerfully.

And God will generously provide all you need, and then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

As the scriptures say, they share freely and give generously to the poor.

Their good deeds will be remembered forever.

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat.

In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

Yes, you will be enriched in every way, so you can always be generous.

And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

So two good things will result from this ministry of giving.

The needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.

As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God for your generosity to them and to all believers, will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ.

And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you.

Thank God for his gift, too wonderful for words.

We are called in Scripture to be generous.

Now, I'm just gonna go ahead and confess something really quick.

In fact, uh, Dennis, I'm gonna use a whiteboard to the latest in technology.

We're gonna use a whiteboard today, all right, to express some things.

Give it up for Dennis for bringing us the whiteboard.

Yeah, Dennis.

Dennis is the best.

I'm gonna confess something while Dennis sets this up for a second for me and helps me out.

Thank you, sir.

Um I've been the pastor here for 12 years.

And I've been on staff.

Thank you so much, man.

I appreciate you so much.

Thank you.

It's great.

Um I've been the pastor here for 12 years, and I have done a really poor job teaching about generosity.

I just have.

Um and it's because well, my excuse is it's because so many churches do this in a way that just makes me so mad.

Like it's really disgusting sometimes.

How the promises in Scripture about how God will honor generosity are often twisted, and there's a lot of churches and a lot of ministries who do a lot of, it's a mixture of like scripture and the latest and greatest in marketing tactics, and there's a lot of selling, and and it just, I don't know, it just always puts a bad taste in my mouth.

I see the money thing done wrong a lot, and maybe you have too, maybe you've experienced that.

I actually grew up as part of some churches that I think did the money thing in in really, I don't know, shady ways.

Let's just say that.

And so I'm always really careful about that.

And I've probably been too careful because I've been so careful to not add to that that at times I've just avoided teaching on this.

And that means I've actually robbed some of you of the ability to know what it really looks like to partner with God in your finances.

And I'm sorry about that.

I'm I'm seriously sorry about that.

I'll say this on the front end.

This is not the launch of a giving campaign.

Um, some of you who have maybe grew up in certain churches, you're like, oh, it's a here we go.

It's your first time at church, and they're talking about money, like here, great.

Yeah, no, I've been the pastor for 12 years.

I think I've had maybe in 12 years four messages, maybe, on this topic.

Um, I mean, it's it's come up in in scripture that we're studying, and I've addressed it, but as I prayed through this and as I read through this, it's just so obvious that Abram is is a generous man, and God honors his generosity immediately.

And I knew I'm supposed to teach on this, but I don't want to.

Can we just can we just acknowledge that?

In my flesh, I don't want to, but seriously, I prayed, and and again, I want to apologize to those of you that have been part of this church for a long time that I haven't taught this well, because my job is to teach all of us what it looks like to walk your life out with the Lord in every area of your life.

And this is actually a really important one.

And so, what I did was I just spent some time this week praying through and thinking through what I actually believe to be true about generosity, what I've experienced, because in my role I've I've experienced a unique amount of generosity.

I I've gotten to work alongside and witness some of the most generous human beings on the planet.

And I've seen what they're able to do through their obedience to God and their generous heart.

I've been able to see what God does through them, and I've also been able to see a joy that they have that is very unique.

I've seen generosity at work, and I know that this stuff is true, but I just haven't done a great job of teaching about it because I've wanted to be so careful not to, you know, go to hell.

Um because I'm not saying I'm just joking.

Because I mean, some of the ways that some of those pastors and churches talk about money with the jets and all that kind of stuff, you're like, I don't, I mean, I'm not, I don't know where you're going, but uh that joke didn't land.

Um I just don't want to get in trouble with the Lord because some of this stuff just gets icky.

All right, but it's not going to today.

We good?

All right, so I'm gonna I'm gonna teach, we're going whiteboard, and uh let's talk a little bit about generosity.

These are some things that I believe about generosity because I've experienced it, and I want you guys all to experience it as well.

Number one, and I'm left-handed, and you're gonna see my handwriting, and I'm sorry.

All right, generosity, it reflects God.

Alright.

Again, lefties forever.

Here we go.

That's not that bad, is it?

That's not horrible.

You can read that, right?

Because my wife says you can't read my writing.

I can read it.

All right.

Generosity reflects God.

God is generous.

He is.

God is generous.

We can look at scripture.

Genesis chapter 2, the first interaction, one of the first interactions God has with the people that he creates, he puts them in the garden of Eden.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

It says, the Lord God placed the man in the garden of Eden to tend and watch over it, but the Lord God warned him, you may eat freely the fruit of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

If you eat its fruit, you're sure to die.

This is not a restrictive moment.

This isn't like torturous.

God doesn't put, he doesn't put Adam in the garden and he says, Hey, that's the tree you get to eat from.

Don't touch the rest.

It's the opposite of that.

He says, Eat freely.

Have whatever you want.

Don't do that one.

But have whatever you want.

That is the heart of God.

He is a generous God.

Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 7 that we should keep on asking and we will receive what we ask for.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Keep on seeking and we will find.

He said, keep on knocking and the door will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives.

Everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

You parents, if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?

Or if you ask for, if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake?

Of course not.

So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?

By the way, the joke that I made about going to hell, I just want to clarify.

You don't go to hell for uh for just doing a bad thing.

Like theologically, that was really poor.

We have the grace of God and we're forgiven for all of our sins through the power of Jesus and his death on the cross.

And so I just don't want you to think that if you've messed up in some area of life, you're going to hell, because you're not.

All right?

You're not.

If you love Jesus, you're going to heaven, and you can have assurance of that, and it's great.

And so it's just a joke.

It's just a bad joke.

All right, here we go.

All right.

Just wanted to say that.

Um generosity reflects God.

When you are generous, you are being like God.

And we were actually told in the Bible that we were created in the image of God to be like God.

That is that is our purpose.

You were created to be like God.

And when you are generous, when you give, when you look at everything that you have and you say, Lord, what do you want me to do with it?

You are you are being godly.

You are being like God.

Now, when we're the opposite of that, we are being the opposite of God because God is not stingy.

God does not hold out on us.

He gives all, he gives us everything that we need.

In fact, 2 Peter says that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness.

He's given us everything we need.

Now, sometimes what we think we need are things that God says, you don't actually need that.

And I've experienced that.

Sometimes it feels like God isn't being very generous with me because I don't have all these things I think I need.

But I promise you, if you spend time with the Lord and you walk closely with the Lord, you will find that He has given you what you need and He gives generously.

So when we're generous, it reflects the heart of God.

We are being like God.

Let's look at another one.

Generosity is honored by God.

Generosity is honored by God.

Now, there are people, all jokes aside, who take these teachings and they twist them and they do them in a manipulative way to try to get you to give to some big cause and all of that.

And I've experienced that.

In fact, we don't really do giving campaigns here, and there's nothing wrong with giving campaigns necessarily.

I'm not, we we've done one in our 20 years, we did one giving campaign, and we actually got to cancel it halfway through because God met our needs and it was really awesome.

But I grew up in a church culture where giving campaigns were like a normal thing, and there was always a thing.

It was like give, but then also give to the extra thing, and it was constant.

In fact, and now that I'm in the role I'm in, I actually find this amazing.

I was at a church in college and they had this huge multimillion dollar giving campaign.

And if you've ever been part of one of those, you know, usually there's some marketing involved, like there's a logo and all that kind of stuff.

I mean, just raise your hand if you've been part of one of those before.

Anyone ever?

Okay.

The name of this giving campaign was because.

And I was like, that's gutsy.

Just because.

Like, it's time to raise a bunch of money.

Why?

Because.

Oh.

Okay.

Like, I was like, that that is a that is a some confidence from that stage of that church.

Like, we'll just tell them to give.

Why?

Because.

Okay.

And we did.

We gave a lot of money.

Why?

Because.

Because we were supposed to.

Um, you know, and so sometimes this stuff gets taken and sort of twisted in some unique ways, uh, in some really nefarious ways.

But that doesn't mean that there is not a relationship between generosity and how God rewards and honors that.

Uh again, what's really hard for me in this is I I grew up and I actually watched my parents, who I love very much, and and uh, and they live in Missouri.

My I have I love my parents.

And I actually watched my parents be pressured pretty hard to give and told that if they were to give, God would bless their business and he would bless things.

And and I I know, I know just from knowing my parents that there were times that they felt the squeeze of that.

And God did bless them, but oftentimes there was this sort of heavy-handed approach that the church took to like if you're you're not gonna be blessed by God if you don't give because.

Uh, and so I always want to be careful with that.

But even though there are people that take this and they do the wrong thing with it, that doesn't mean there's not a relationship.

There is a clear relationship in scripture between generosity and God honoring and blessing in response to that.

And we see this in countless places.

Number one, in the story we just read about Abram, it said that in verse 14, after Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, Look as far as you can see in every direction, north and south, east and west.

I'm giving you all this land.

As far as you can see to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.

Now let's think about what just happened.

Abram technically just lost half his land.

Because he gave it up.

God has already told him, I'm gonna give you land.

I'm giving it to you, not to Lot.

I'm giving it to you, Abram.

And God's even told him generally where this land would be.

Earlier, he's gone through this area, and God has said, This is the area I'm gonna give you.

But now, and this is the crazy thing, Abram has given away half of what he hasn't even received from God yet.

Think about that.

Before he's even fully received it from God, he's given half of it away.

And so, what does God do immediately when Lot is gone?

He talks to Abram and he says, I want you to look and see everything.

I want you to look north and south, I want you to look east and west.

That's going to include the land that he has been left with and the land that he just gave away.

And God says, It is all yours.

It will all belong to you, it will all belong to your descendants.

In fact, this is the most specific God has been with him yet about the land that he's going to receive.

God hasn't been this specific yet.

Like, I want you to look over there, that's yours.

Over there, yep, yours.

Over there, that will belong to your descendants, I promise.

And it's in the immediate aftermath of Abram being generous to Lot.

Malachi chapter 3, verses 10 and 12 says, Bring all the tithes, tithe means tenth, and traditionally uh God's people have given a tenth of their income.

Malachi 3:10

That's been a thing that's existed for forever.

We'll actually see that later in Abram's story.

That's kind of the genesis of this.

Um, it says, Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, so that there will be enough food in my temple.

If you do, says the Lord of Heaven's armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you.

I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in.

Try it.

Put me to the test.

This is, by the way, the only time in Scripture where God tells us to put them to the test.

It's the only time.

Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease, your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe, says the Lord of Heaven's armies.

Then all the nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight, says the Lord of heaven's armies.

There is a there's an undeniable relationship between generosity and God rewarding and blessing with more.

There is.

Now again, I'm not taking that, I'm not twisting that, I'm not saying, you know, so therefore you must give to this.

This is an opportunity, this is something that's always between you and the Lord.

But there's an undeniable relationship in Scripture between those things.

Let's look at the next one.

Uh, generosity.

It frees us from slavery.

Oh, that's a V.

Let's just pretend that that's that's a V.

That works.

All right.

Generosity frees us from slavery.

Slavery from what?

Uh, Matthew chapter 6, verse 24, it says, No one can serve two masters.

Matthew 6:24

For you will hate one and love the other, you'll be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Now I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands because I don't think this would be a very fun moment, but if I said, how many of us are enslaved to money?

There should be some hands that go up.

And I've been there.

I've been there.

Because when you believe that money is your source of security, when you believe that the number in your bank account, that the number in your retirement fund, that your your yearly salary, whatever that is, when you believe that that is your source of security, that that is what you can truly depend upon, money has a tendency to become your master.

Because it's what you depend on.

It can actually become your God.

It can become the thing that consumes you, it can become the thing that you're the most obsessed with.

How do I get more money?

And a lot of times it's fear-based, right?

Because if we don't have enough money, we won't be able to provide for our kids.

We won't be able to set money aside for later in life.

What if something terrible happens?

What if what if we have an injury?

What if we get sick?

What if there's disaster and we don't have money to be able to cover all of those expenses?

Like, what if, what if, what if?

A lot of times it's fear-based and it's very easy to become a slave to money, to the fear of not having enough or the obsession with acquiring more.

And by the way, this starts at a very young age.

Like, do you remember when money first became a thing to you?

I do.

Toys R Us.

Like 1987.

I'll never I'll never get Toys R Us in the 80s had this one aisle that was just full of video games.

And I'm a child of the the early 80s and the 90s, and so like Nintendo and Sega, and that was like my childhood.

And I just remember like video games cost$50.

That was I learned that at a young age.

And so I that's how I saw money.

$50 equals video game.

$100 equals two video games.

That is how I saw everything in life.

Like if someone said, I'll give you$100, you'll give me two video games.

Like I it just became a thing, and I began to count.

You know, as a kid, I grew up collecting baseball cards, and I would get this magazine called Beckett Monthly, and it would have like a list of what was a real looking back, it was like, I guess, training me to maybe be an accountant or something like that.

Uh, and I would go through and I would catalog.

In fourth grade, I would catalog my cards and their number value and all that, and I thought I was like loaded.

I was like, I can leave home at any time I want, take my Ken Griffey Jr.

cards, and I'm off.

All right.

But money became a thing.

And it can become an obsession.

But what Jesus teaches us is that money is a bad master.

It is a really evil master because money doesn't love you, it leaves really fast.

Scripture actually refers to money like almost like a bird that just flies away.

How many of us have had that experience in life?

You know where money just flies away?

Like, let's say you're working really hard to save up money for uh your kids, and then it's 10 degrees outside, and you forget to shut your garage door, so your water heater freezes in your garage, and your wife is like, the water's not running.

This is hypothetical, and you're like, there's no way.

There's no way that the water's not running because I know that I capped our faucets and I've had everything turned off for a month, and I'm literally gonna see what's going on.

You open up the garage door and it's open, hypothetically, and you're like, oh, that's the problem.

Um, and you know, you call your buddy Scott Jameson hypothetically to come over and help.

And in your mind, you're like, there it all goes, there it all goes.

Everything I've been working so hard for, everything I've been saving aside, it's gone in one moment.

Anyone ever had a day like that?

Where it's just gone?

Money is a bad master.

And if you live your life as a slave to money, you will be oppressed.

You'll be oppressed, even if you have a lot.

That's the craziest thing about it.

Sometimes it's those who are the most financially well off that are the most enslaved to money.

And even though they have more than most people will ever touch, all they can think about is how to get more.

And what if I lose it?

Money's a bad master.

And when you give, when you're generous, it breaks that bond of slavery.

Slavery to money or even slavery to a scarcity mentality, where you think that there's limited resources, and oh man, if I give this, I'll never get more.

No, God has unlimited resources.

All right, so let's let's look at another.

Um generosity acknowledges, oh no.

This is where, hold on.

Yeah, spelling is is great.

Let's all make sure the words are spelled right.

Uh, generosity acknowledges truth.

It acknowledges truth.

James chapter 1, verse 17 says, Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.

James 1:17

First Timothy 6, 17 says, Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable.

Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

When we are generous, we acknowledge the truth.

We acknowledge the reality that everything we have comes from God.

Everything you have, look, none of it's yours.

It's yours for now, but it's not really yours.

Because it came from God.

Everything, everything belongs to God.

And when we have that perspective, when we give, and that's one of the reasons that in scripture we're actually called to give our first fruits.

Like when they would have a harvest, they would give their first fruits to God, not the leftovers.

It wasn't like after you eat it all and after you store it away in the barns in case there's a famine, then give what's left over to God.

You're supposed to give your first fruits to God.

It's this acknowledgement that everything comes from Him, that we can trust Him with more, that we can depend on Him and not in our resources.

When we're generous, when we give, we acknowledge that truth.

And you have to have a life that's built on truth.

You have to.

I'm gonna go through these next ones really fast because I see the time and I want to honor you guys, you know, and I need to go argue with my family about lunch.

So we gotta get out of here.

Um, all right, let's do this.

Fast.

It multiplies your faith.

It requires faith to be generous, but when you are generous, your faith multiplies.

Look at the story in scripture of the feeding of the 5,000.

Jesus once fed over 5,000 people, right?

And he did it with just a few loaves and fishes, and those loaves and fish they came from one person, from a little boy.

Now imagine the faith that it took that child to give all of his food to Jesus.

Jesus could have just made it happen, he could have made it manifest, but he decided to partner with someone to do a miracle because that's how God works.

He partners with us.

Okay?

And so he partners with this young boy and he takes this small amount, and this boy had to have faith to do it, but imagine the multiplication of faith that happened.

And this boy saw his small gift multiplied to the point that it fed over 5,000 people.

I would imagine that that child's faith grew tremendously that day.

It would have actually been really amazing to be that child.

When you're generous, it it requires faith, but it multiplies faith.

Generosity, oh my gosh, it goes far.

Generosity goes really, really far.

And I get to see this as a church all the time.

And I'm gonna share you guys just a few boring numbers, and this is just there's no, let me explain.

We're doing great as a church, we have no debt.

God has blessed us tremendously with no debt, which is really exciting.

We actually own our building and he provides our needs.

Um, but it's really amazing how I see the the distance that generosity goes.

So, conservatively at his hands, and are you guys okay if we go 10 minutes longer than normal today?

Is that all right?

Because I'm feeling like I'm looking at the clock and I feel bad, uh, but not that bad.

Um is that okay?

All right.

And what are you gonna say?

There's at least one person here who's like, no, please, I just want to go home.

Um, give me 10.

No, it goes far.

So at his hands, there are conservatively 6 to 8,000 people that would say this is their church.

Conservatively.

Not everyone comes every Sunday.

Most Sundays we have 2,000 people here, right at that number, and then we have about a thousand people watching online at the same time.

Um, and so there's about six to eight thousand people that would say that's my church.

And last year we actually did something really fun.

We did a financial audit.

Yay! We did a deep dive in our finances, and it's important.

Look, we want to run this, we want to be good stewards of what God has given us.

And so we did some really interesting audit.

Here's what we found.

Um, out of that six to eight thousand, about thirty percent of us give.

Thirty percent.

And and then out of that, about fifteen percent give on like a monthly basis.

And then out of that, about three to five percent of our church give what would traditionally be called like a tithe.

But that's okay.

Um this is not a guilt trip.

This is not like, oh, he's talking.

No, no, no, here's what I'm trying to say.

And that has accomplished everything that we've needed.

Think about that.

It's like the opposite of the government.

The government taxes all of us and is like we're out.

And you think about it, our government, our government taxes us, prints money, and borrows money and is like we don't have any money.

It's like, how is that possible?

You can take it, borrow it, and print it, and you're out?

It's pretty messed up.

Then give me mine back, because I'm out too, right?

Like, but but here, I'm what I'm trying to say here, this is not a guilt trip.

This is not like, oh, if you're someone who hasn't given, you've really no, no.

I'm saying that out of the thousands of people that we have, in the percentage of people that at this point have decided to partner with us financially, it has accomplished everything we've needed.

In the last two years, we have given away, given away over$700,000.

Given it away.

Think about that.

And that is awesome.

All of our needs.

Not only have we been able to kind of do the basics, you know, we have a staff and we have utilities and all that kind of stuff, but in the last few years, we've had to do some big projects to accommodate the growth that we've had.

And we haven't done a giving campaign, and we haven't done a like a big push.

We've just said, hey, thank you to those of you who give.

And those of you who give, that that small percentage of people who've said, I'm in 100%, like it's accomplished all of that.

It's it's been enough.

We are we are in good, we're in a good place financially as a church.

I'm not saying any of this because we're in trouble.

We're not.

And it blows me away that that that's how far generosity goes.

When you're generous, it just has this strange way of like stretching.

And so I've seen that.

I've seen like just a small percentage of people being fully committed to this, fully committed to giving.

It has accomplished everything we've needed as a church.

It's amazing.

Generosity goes far, and this is kind of the last one.

Generosity is it is foundational to being a disciple.

It is truly foundational.

I I do not believe, I truly do not believe that you can reach a place of maturity in your walk with the Lord if you do not surrender your finances to God.

Now, what that looks like, that's between you and God.

That can be that you're a regular giver at your church.

That's kind of a traditional thing.

I've been doing that for forever.

Um, but that doesn't, that is, it may not be here.

God may call you to give to something else, and that is totally fine.

He may call you to partner with a missions organization.

He may call you to be a, like, he may give you a cause that's very close to your heart, and he wants you to give generously to that.

But I'm saying that I do not believe you can be a mature follower of Jesus and keep your finances disconnected from God.

I don't think that that works.

We can sometimes do mental gymnastics and be like, well, I'm generous with my time.

Great.

But Jesus wants everything time, talent, treasure, not in some selfish way.

Because he wants to partner with us in every aspect of life.

And I will tell you, I've lived partnering with God in my finances and I've seen how he's met needs.

The idea of someone loving Jesus and not partnering with God in their financial in that part of their lives, it breaks my heart because I'm like, you're missing out.

You are missing out on so much.

Not like just checks come in the mail, even though that happens.

But you're missing out on the peace and the confidence.

You're missing out on all these things that living like God, being honored by God, not being a slave.

You're living in truth when you're generous.

It multiplies your faith.

It goes so much further than you you might think.

And it is foundational.

It is foundational to following God.

It just is.

So, with all that said, I just want to look at one real quick thing.

This is an action step.

All right.

This is like, this is something to think about real quick.

Oh no, it's on wheels.

So as I erase, we're gonna spin.

You know what?

Let's just uh let's do something crazy.

Let's just flip it around.

Look at that.

Ingenuity.

All right.

Let's just let's look at this real quick, all right?

Because I want you I want you guys to think about this, pray about this.

Again, there's no pressure.

Church is doing great.

Uh would it be awesome if more people gave?

And we sure, fine, whatever.

But none of this is out of need.

My 100% desire is that I want to see you guys live connected to God.

I want to see you be like Abram because it works.

It truly works.

So let's look at this real quick and we'll we'll be done.

All right.

You got a couple of options with giving, with being a generous person.

Again, I'm not talking about, it doesn't have to be to the church.

That would be great.

But you could just decide I'm giving 10% of my income to the people I tip at restaurants, and you will be the the rest you will get the best service at the restaurants you go to, you'll be the most amazing person.

And it doesn't have to be 10%.

That's a tradition.

Maybe for you it's starting at 1%.

Percentage-based giving is a biblical tradition.

You're not commanded to do it, and so I just use that as an example because that's what tithe means, that's the tradition, but it could be anything.

But you have choice.

Simple, do or don't.

If you do it, you can do it out of convenience, or you can do it out of conviction.

Okay?

Convenience would be, you know, when you feel like it, when it feels good.

You know, it's like you.

You know how every business asks you to tip now?

Every single business?

That's been a new thing, but it's you know how you feel, you're like, oh, fine.

You know?

You see that little thing and you're like, 10, 10, sure, 10%.

Why not?

Yeah, it's kind of the convenience thing.

It's like, yeah, I'm not gonna be a jerk.

So you you give a little.

Or it just something pops up and you're like, yes, this it works for me right now.

You can give out of convenience or you can give out of conviction.

What I will tell you is that anyone whose life, anyone whose life is truly meaningful and accomplishing much, lives out of conviction.

I would encourage you, whatever you do, live out of conviction.

Like, even if you don't give, do that out of conviction, if that makes sense.

I mean, that's a weird thing to be convicted about, but but sure, live out of conviction.

Don't just be someone who, when it feels right, when it feels good, when it when you're kind of in a weird spot, you look like a jerk if you don't.

But do it out of convenience out of conviction, not out of convenience.

Now, the don't.

You got a couple options here.

If you don't live generously, again, I'm not talking about church, I'm talking about every aspect of life.

It can be for a few reasons.

One is you are a selfish jerk.

And in a room this size, there are a few of you in the room.

There have to be.

It's just, it's just odds.

There's a couple stop.

It stop being a selfish jerk.

Alright?

But we got a couple options here.

We'll make three.

Some of you can't.

You can't.

Life's hit you hard.

And you really can't.

And if that's the case, it's actually our job to help you, not the other way around.

And we do that all the time.

And so just know that if you want to, you truly want to, but you can't because you were in an unbelievably hard season financially.

Maybe it's even your fault.

You made mistakes, you bad investments, you whatever.

Feel no guilt.

If you can't, and you're in a season of can't, be at peace with that.

And trust that God will change that.

And if you have a desire in your heart to be generous, I believe God will give you what you need eventually to be generous in some way.

Just don't feel guilt there.

Some of us, it's just that we we don't.

Maybe we feel like we can't, but then there's other things.

We just we don't.

Maybe we really want to.

And and there will be, and we're like, man, one day when I make more, then I will.

Then I'll be generous.

But right now I just I could, but then there's other things and I just don't.

And I'm gonna finish in the worship team, you guys can make your way out so that I stop.

Um I'm gonna finish with a just a quick story.

I have a really good friend, one of my best friends.

And uh, and years ago, he had this lady that lived in his apartment complex uh that needed a washing machine, and he just found out that she, I think she was a single mom and she needed a washing machine, and he couldn't afford to get her a washing machine.

And it really bothered him because he felt like God was calling him to do this.

He felt like God was telling him, You're supposed to provide a washing machine.

And he's like, I mean, we don't even have a nice washing machine, right?

It's kind of an Abram moment.

I'm giving something I don't really have, but but he he knew he was supposed to, and so he didn't have the money for it.

He ended up, I think he put it on a credit card, like not the best way to do it, but he's like, I need to do this.

And he said though, though, that something changed in his heart that day.

And he said, he told God, I will never again allow myself to be in a position financially where I cannot say yes to you.

He just recognized it, it bugged him so much that he had not prioritized his finances in such a way that he would have the room to do something that God would call him to do, and it really bothered him.

And so he made a big change.

And he said, from that day on, he just decided, okay, I'm gonna change things, I'm gonna reprioritize my finances, I'm gonna change the way I'm living life because I always want to make sure that when God says to give something, I can give it.

Okay, so he did the washing machine.

About 20 years later, he bought this building.

It was Steve.

I know I kind of sorry.

That was like semi-manipulative in the way that I did that.

I didn't mean for it to be, it's just a cool story.

But he bought this building.

20 million dollars.

And and that's not the that's not been the end of his giving.

I mean, Steve's given away more than I could imagine.

And he doesn't most of the stuff he gives away, I don't even know what it is.

He doesn't talk about it.

Like he doesn't tell people.

There's all kinds of stuff he's given to that like he's that generous, which is so annoying.

Like to be so generous that you give and don't even tell people, like, come on.

You don't even get glory for yourself.

No, we have a church because, in many ways, because 20 years before we ever existed, and by the way, this is our 20th year here, we're gonna celebrate that this year.

How cool is that?

So here we are, and 40-ish years ago, someone decided to prioritize generosity in their lives so that they could get someone a washing machine.

And now, here we are.

And like 2,500 people have been baptized here, and all the lives that we get to interact with, and all the children that are here.

Guys, there's so many children.

We had 518 children a few weeks ago.

There's so many kids.

And it all started because one person said, God, I'm gonna change my priorities.

Because he realized it wasn't that he couldn't, it's just that he wasn't.

And he changed that.

And I'm just I'm letting you guys know that when you partner with God in your lives and every aspect of life, it works.

It will work.

It worked for Abram.

He didn't lose half of his land, he gained it all.

I'm really glad Steve bought that lady a washing machine.

And I'm really glad he bought a Kmart years later and turned it into a church.

And I'm really grateful to many of you.

I know some of you.

And I know I've seen your generosity, and there are people in this room, even recently, whose generosity has blown me away.

It's like, not just that you give, it's that you're excited to do it.

It's incredible.

And you know who you are.

And to those of you who haven't made this step in your finances yet, I'm just letting you know.

Like the church, we're good.

We're good.

I mean, obviously, if God entrusts us with more, we'll use it to grow more and to reach more people and all that.

That's but this is not a message out of any type of issue or lack.

It's a it's a message out of a deep conviction that this is how you're supposed to live, partnering with God in every aspect of your life.

And yes, that includes what you have.

And he honors it, it reflects his nature, he's good, and just like Abram, you will have enough and then some.

So, with that said, and wow, guys, did I mess up the time today?

Um that's the beauty of one service, though.

You can go along.

Every once in a while.

Next week will be so fast, I promise you.

Just see.

It'll be like, wow, that's the shortest message ever.

Um, let's take Lord's Supper.

Let's take Lord's Supper together.

I can't think of something that reflects the generosity of God more than this.

Talk about giving everything.

This is this bread represents the body of Jesus.

This juice represents his blood.

He gave everything for us on the cross.

All of it, everything.

Praise God.

So when we say that generosity reflects the heart of God, like we're not exaggerating, how much more generous could he be?

He gave us himself.

And he freed us from the wages of sin and death, and now we have eternity with God to look forward to.

Just because of him.

That is generosity, like there has never been before or will ever be after.

And so let's thank him for it.

Lord, we thank you for this bread and what this represents.

This is your body given as a sacrifice for us.

You gave generously.

You held nothing back from us, Lord.

Help us be like you.

Release us from the fear.

Release us from the hold that money and fear of money or whatever that might be has on us.

Help us trust you.

Help us align with you.

Help us align our hearts with you and the way you see life.

Help us submit every aspect of our lives to you and see what happens.

Trust you.

Just like you say in Malachi, test you.

We trust you, Lord.

As we take this bread, we thank you, Jesus, for what you've done.

Help it inspire us to live like you.

Let's take the bread.

Now, the juice.

Lord, we thank you for this juice and what it represents.

This is your blood poured out as an offering for us, and we love you.

And we thank you for how generous you are.

How holy you give yourself to us.

Lord, help us be like you.

I say it again help us be like you.

Help us be generous because you're generous.

We love you, Lord.

Amen.