Generosity branded | Pastor Joy Teh

You're listening to a message to go.

From X Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

It's generosity branded. And when we say branded, what does

it mean? It's a brand. So when we say, what's

the brand of X Church? The shop of X Church?

Generosity, right?

Now, generosity, of course, doesn't just come in the monetary terms.

But in every area of our lives, I hope that

for those of us who are visiting Acts Church today,

you can come in, you can smell generosity, you can

see generosity, it's lived out in the lives of.

Our people that we call Acts.

Amen? Okay, so that's who we are and that's what

we do here. So let's do the last lap as

we close. And I really feel that as I was also,

you know, sharing at 8am, I felt encouraged myself even

as I shared it.

I shared and then the.

Word of God come back to myself because I got

to preach to myself.

First, right?

Before I preach to you, I'm not preaching down to you.

I'm preaching to myself, right? That the Word of God

just encourages us again. And I pray that it will

encourage you as we end the 12 plus 1 values

on a high, knowing that God is with us and

for us. Amen? Amen. Okay, so let's look at page.

34.

Okay, I couldn't see it, but they told me it

was 34. I cannot see from here. Okay, so 34,

it says what? The heart behind the value. Now, you

notice in your booklet, if you are having your booklet now,

if you brought it, if you did not bring it,

you can smile at your neighbour, share, take notes, and

if you are a visitor, you can raise your.

Hand for a copy, alright?

Now, if you see page 34, it will go all

the way to page 35 and 36.

Six.

How many points are there?

We've seen.

How many points?

I'll call names that I know, huh? This is Jake

Good in the house, okay?

Four. There are four points. I promise to cover all

four points. And I won't leave you hanging somewhere, okay?

But let me tell you from the start that I

will do point four before point three.

So you don't lose me. Is that okay?

Okay. And then you see that the third page, page 36,

that is all blanks with lines. What does lines tell you, church?

Write notes.

Okay, very good.

So, later as I share, you can also take notes

so that you can share in homes, participate in homes, okay?

Very good.

Okay, now let's look at the heart behind the value.

And I tell you, church, even if you forget all that.

I say today, the summary there is all that I'm

going to share today and I can close in prayer

after that anyhow. Okay, let's read together, alright? Generosity is

who God is. Amen?

Amen.

He gave first. Turn to your neighbour on the left.

He gave first. Okay, later we'll turn to the right.

And He gave fully. What do you mean? What do

we understand about He gave first? Do you know that

God gave His only Son for us? And He's the

first one who gave. Not you and I today. We

cannot talk about generosity without God. Because it's God who

authored And when He gave, He didn't give a little bit, partially, tampuk-tampuk.

He gave fully, everything. So the entire story of Scripture

is a story of a giving God.

Do you agree?

Giving life, giving law, giving prophets, giving His own Son.

We did not invent, so ex-church did not invent generosity.

We inherited it. And everywhere in the early church, when

they went, the same spirit followed. And that's what we're

going to look at today. Open hands, open homes, open hearts.

And everywhere you look in the book of Acts, you

find generosity. And that's why it's a plus one. Pastor

Kenneth said, I cannot end my 12 values without the generosity.

That's why it's a plus one, okay? Everywhere in the

book of Acts, you see generosity.

Not as a programme.

But as the natural overflow of people who had truly.

Encountered a generous God.

Amen. So this value, this core value, is a call

to that same spirit, not giving out of duty or guilt,

but giving because we have been given to. Amen. Not

occasional charity, but a genuine posture of open-handedness, church, that

reflects who our God, our Father is, and keeps our

hearts soft towards Him and towards others. Amen?

That's it. That's all that we're going to talk today. Bye-bye.

Amen.

I know, okay? All right.

So we are going to unpack that today in the

four points that will follow. Now, the key scripture is

found in your booklet, page 34, right? It says, Acts 2,

Acts 2:44–45

verse 44 to 45. So let's read together, and I

have the scripture on the screen, and this is from

the New King James. It says, Now all who believed

were together and had faith, all things in common and

sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all

as anyone had need. Now, you remember your previous values?

We talk about ownership, promoting. So, we talk about verse 44, kan?

Everyone had everything in common, right? They were together, come together,

everything in common. We talk about unity guarded, same verse

that we look at. Today, the main focus is on

verse 45. So, They were all together. They had all

things in common. And before that, we read all that before.

They were faithful together from house. They broke bread from

house to house. They, you know, they prayed, right? They

looked into the apostles' doctrine. They, yeah, and they continued.

And they fellowshiped with one another, correct? So we see

all that earlier on in our core values taken straight

from Acts chapter 2. So right now, we are ending

Acts 2 · chapter mention

here in Verse 45, it says, they sold their possessions

and goods divided among all as anyone had need. Anyone

here sold our possessions and goods recently?

I cannot raise my hand also, so not just you, okay?

Don't worry. So, yeah, but what does it mean? So,

are we saying go and sell our possessions now and

give to those in need? Yes? Okay, so let's look

at what it really means. Now, so what does it

mean here? Are we good to just study a little

bit the verse? Yes. So this is the key verse

and I'll move on to other scripture in a while.

Possessions and goods. What does it mean in the original? Now,

what we are reading in English is the translation. So

the original in Greek, what does it mean? It means

the possessions here refer to land, real estate or fixed properties.

And the goods here refers to movable personal property. So

in those days, the context of what is written when

Luke wrote the book of Acts is saying that they...

were selling their possessions and their goods, basically anything that

can be legally owned by someone.

Alright?

They were willing to sell and to divide. So this

is what it means, okay? Covers everything a person could

legally own. Now, so what does it mean when they

say sold or divided? So when they sold their possessions

and goods and they divided, or in other translation, you

will see the word distributed. So now, The tense that

we see here is past tense, but actually in the original,

it's in the imperfect tense.

For any English teacher here, you know what I mean?

So basically, it doesn't mean it is a once-off event,

like a single, one-time event. liquidation of wealth. I'm talking

in accounting terms now.

Okay? Meaning they sell everything that they have. Like a once-off.

A mandatory.

Meaning everyone, you must.

Do this now. You must sell everything now.

No.

So it doesn't mean that. That's what it means.

What it actually means is they kept selling. They kept distributing.

It is something ongoing. It is something, a recurrent response.

Alright?

Now, and response to what? So it says in the

verse that they sold their possessions and goods and divided

them among all as anyone has need. So the word

need here means whenever there is a necessity or.

A shortage or a deficit.

Okay? Alright. So it basically paints us a picture where

assistance was needed Targeted. Rather than just ad hocly done.

Targeted and given according to actual need. So whenever there

is an actual need, according to individual actual need, then

the believers will do that. Not just a blanket, okay, everybody,

you must do this, and everyone must sell, and everyone

must give, distribute equally.

That's not what it meant.

It meant when there is a real need, the believers

will meet that real need.

Alright?

So it kind of paints us a community, a life,

community life that is not a rigid economic system, but

more of a voluntary, continuous.

Expression of their Christian unity. Amen?

And this repeated use of this imperfect tense, right, of

selling and distributing, right, shows a habitual posture of love.

So it's something that is in them. They are not

doing it because they were forced to or they have to,

but they willingly, continuously, they have their own goods, but

they hold it with open hands. And whenever there's a shortage,

someone else is in genuine need, they will help.

The fellow believers. And that is the.

Picture of the community in Acts chapter 2. Amen? Wonderful? Wonderful.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And that is what we are saying that as Acts Church,

this is our core value. Amen?

We are brand new.

With this kind of generosity according to the book of Acts.

Are we good?

Now, so I told you we have four points today.

Let me start with the first one. Do you agree

with me that generosity is powerful? Yeah, it's powerful, okay?

It transcends age, you know? Age, language, race. Anyone can

understand when someone helps someone genuinely, correct?

People can understand that, all right?

So generosity can heal, it can build, it can fill voids,

and it can fulfil dreams. Some of this is based

on what Pastor Kendall has shared from why he put

generosity as one of our core values, all right? It

reaches places that words alone cannot.

Do you agree?

So sometimes just words itself, you cannot reach when it

has to be backed up by generosity. It is a

language that everyone understands. Now people outside may not understand theology.

They may not even understand the Christian lingo, right or not,

what we talk about. But they understand when we genuinely

help them, right? Okay, so when a need is met,

when a real need is met, when a burden is lifted,

when someone gives without an agenda, meaning a stop for

my personal gain, I genuinely give, it is powerful. And

it's probably one of the most disarming and effective expressions

of the gospel that we have. So people can reject

the gospel by what you share, but they cannot reject

a genuine act of kindness. a generous act of kindness

that you offer them. Amen?

That's why it is powerful.

Hallelujah. Now, I'm going to move on that generosity also

acts as a spiritual indicator. Now, when it says indicator,

means what? It's like a thermometer. It shows us what's

really inside, right? Now, think about it. When someone is... dry,

spiritually dry, or someone that is not revived. Do you

think it's natural to be stingy? I think it's natural

because we become a little bit more self-centered and we

tend to worry that we will not have enough. But

when a heart is revived and touched by God and

filled by God, it's like a natural response that you give. Why?

You cannot say you meet with the giving God and

you go away not giving one. It's like a very

natural by-product and a response. Alright? So, when someone is dry,

spiritually dry, unrevived, stinginess comes naturally. So we got to

also heart check and health check ourselves. And generosity is

a very good indicator. It will show us where we

are at. Alright? If we are always like, say, okay,

today I'm sure many of us are serving today. And

sometimes now, in the context of church and ministry, in

the church, and we are serving, we're not talking so

much about outside, and not so much of giving monetarily,

but we give our time, we give our talents. Do

you know that even to run one Sunday service, a

lot of people gave today, this morning?

Do you know? Someone had to open the door. They

gave their time.

The team had to come early. They had to give

of their time and their talents. The food just doesn't

appear jing jing jing, right? Someone has to cook it.

Someone has to prepare it. Someone has to buy it. Everything.

Even from the sound and the media and everything that

we see. Someone... paid a price, and they gave something

so that another person can enjoy it, right? And we

take turns. So today, it may not be you serving

and you giving, but you are receiving today, but someone else,

but another time, it's your turn to give. And that's

what builds a church, right? We all play a part

in giving and receiving. So we got to also take

note that sometimes this part, when we, it shows us

in our hearts. So the giving, and when it comes

to like, okay, we are a little bit more calculative.

Like for example, oh, I served already three times already,

or twice already. Last week I served already. Why is

it my turn still? Sometimes we don't say it, but

it goes through our minds. Maybe not you, me, me. Okay?

Yeah, we all, we all feel it. We all go

through it.

Why?

We are all humans. We understand.

We understand. And the genuine tiredness and, you know, God,

can it be someone else today?

You know, that kind of thing.

Normal. But we got to check. Because if we are

always worried, why is it me? When someone today, I

want to leave earlier or whatever. I want to sleep more.

We're always worrying that we will not have enough. Then

the self-preservation will take over. And once that take over,

the generosity will go out the window. So take note

of that, alright? But the reverse is also true. Revival

always produces generosity. Church, this year the theme is revival.

We cannot talk about revival and then not see the

fruit of generosity. It doesn't make sense. When you see

revival means you will see.

Generosity.

Amen?

It's a by-product. You understand by-product, right?

It comes in, it will automatically ooze the generosity out.

No need to force one. It will come out naturally.

It will come out of us naturally. Because we cannot

have a genuine encounter with a giving God and walk

away With closed hands. No, no, no. Generosity is a

thermometer and an indicator of our souls. Amen? Amen. So

that's point number two. Now, as I mentioned, point number three,

I will go to why generosity matters first. And lots

of space next to you, so you can take notes, okay?

And reserve some space later for the last point, alright?

Give meaningfully.

Okay, so why generosity matters, church? Why? Again, like I

said earlier on, the second point, it is an indicator.

It shows where our heart is at, where we are

at in our faith, right? We cannot say we are

revived and not being generous. Now, it reflects our true priorities.

Agree or not? Where our money and our time goes

to will tell a lot about what we really value

in our lives. Agree? Agree? Pause for a moment. I

know you will say agree. But we got to pause

for a moment and think about our own lives. Where's

our money going to? Where's our time going to? Because

that shows what really matters in our lives. Amen? More

honestly than anything we say. So we can say something.

Someone outside there is going to evaluate whether that is

true or not, right? By how we use our time,

how we use our money. So a generous person, so

why again it matters? Why? Because a generous person stays soft-hearted.

Have you ever seen a generous person being hard-hearted? So

why is it so important to be generous, Church? Why?

Why do we got to have this brand on X Church?

Why generous?

Because we want to stay soft-hearted. We don't want to

be kerasati.

Understand?

BM kan? We don't want to be hard-hearted. We want

to be soft-hearted. Soft-hearted to the needs around us. I

think the saddest thing is to be hard-hearted, is to

be indifferent. Like, it doesn't matter.

It's okay. Who cares?

Like, it doesn't matter. It doesn't affect me. It doesn't

move me. It doesn't, I don't, I don't care. I

think that's the very sad thing, to be a believer

and we say that we love God and God loves

us and we are indifferent, right? Yup. So, we don't

want to become indifferent. We don't want to become hard.

Do you know that giving regularly, but you got to

exercise it regularly, keeps.

The heart tender, right?

And attentive to the world around us, to the needs

around us. So, generosity helps keep that going. It helps

soften our hearts.

Now, but one.

Important point is that generosity keeps our focus on God.

And I'm going to dwell on this point for a

little while, all right? Now, why do we say that

it keeps our focus on God? Now, it's very hard

to say that we allow God to fill our hearts

with His love and stay selfish, right?

I think it's really hard. It's really hard, all right?

Why? Because as we read in the beginning, in the introduction,

in your booklet, who first gave?

God.

Tell me John 3.16 right now. For God so loved

the world that He.

He.

Gave.

I put dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. Alright?

Again, repeat one more time. For God so loved... And

you can replace the world with your name. For God

so loved me. For God so loved you.

That He.

Church is in the very verse that we quote and

we memorize since we are young, right? And we talk

about the gospel, it's in the very heart of the

gospel that God gave. And we read in the beginning

that God not only gave, He gave first, the word

is first, and He gave His all.

He gave fully to each and every one of us.

So, when I was preparing today's message, just to talk

about generosity itself, I.

Cannot, no matter what I prepare, it will go back

to one word. Giving.

Can you talk about generosity without talking about giving? Just

pause for a moment. Let your brain work a little bit.

Generosity and don't talk about giving. I cannot proceed on.

Nothing to say anymore. Bye everyone. I pray for you

all now. When we talk about generosity, we will always

need to talk about giving. Why not? It's like, Generosity

means giving. Now, when we talk about giving, can we

leave God out of the picture?

No, I can't.

Why? Because real giving, godly giving, will come from God.

And we need God in the picture, in order for

us to give. Amen?

Why?

Because God is the author of giving. So let me

sum it up. We can't talk about generosity without talking

about giving. We can't talk about giving without talking about

the author of giving. Who's the author of giving? God

Himself because He first gave. And I have a slide here.

It says, every act of giving today, whatever you can

think of, any act of giving by yourself, by others,

reminds us of how generous God has been to us. Amen?

It reminds us about the cross where God gave what

cost Him everything. For you and I, who have nothing

to offer in return to Him. Do you know that?

So even if you imagine today, your giving today. So

maybe today, you are serving an espresso today. And maybe

you cooked something, you brought something. Or maybe you are

the Kaonis today, right Ian? And you gave something, you

gave it unto the Lord. Every act of our giving

today should remind us of the first one who gave

to us. Amen?

Who is God.

Amen? Amen. Amen. He gave everything He had for us

without wanting anything in return.

Of course, He wants us in return. He wants.

It's just that He cannot force us. He cannot decide.

He gave us a free will to choose whether we

want Him or not.

Right? Amen.

And we have nothing. to offer Him.

Church, do you know that this is grace that we

are talking about? Now, so when you read the scripture

that I'm showing you later, and Daniel, our awesome chairperson.

You did so well, Daniel. Let's cheer him on.

Yeah, he also read from 2 Corinthians just now when

he was chairing on our tithes and offering in giving.

Because that is the chapter that we will be looking.

At as well.

It talks a lot about grace. The gracious gift of God, alright? So,

it's grace meaning the love of God that we don't deserve.

It means grace.

So, the love of God that we don't deserve, which

is grace, that is poured out in our hearts, that

will enable us to give. Amen? Amen. So, that's what

I want to turn to today as we are still

on the point three on why generosity matters.

Church, are we good? Are you following me?

Are you sure?

Alright.

Now, I'm going to move us to the next portion

of Scripture in 2 Corinthians. Daniel read just now, he

quoted from chapter 9, but I'm going to bring us

a little bit earlier in chapter 8. Both chapter 8

and 9, Paul is talking about giving. Of course, his

context is mainly in the area of monetary terms, but again,

in our context, yes, that one for sure. How can

you talk about giving when you're talking about money? We

have to talk about money when we talk about giving.

Money will definitely come to the place one. Alright? But

not only money, we are talking also about everything else.

Our time, our talents and everything that we have. Amen? Amen?

Are we good? Okay, now let's turn to 2 Corinthians

and I do not have the verses on the screen

on purpose. Why? Just to encourage us and remind us

again that we can turn to our Bibles, alright? Okay,

so ex-church, we continue to believe in bringing our own

Bibles and turning and reading our Bibles. So if you

have your physical Bibles, you can turn with me or

your digital ones, you can turn to 2 Corinthians 8.

We're going to read from verse 1 to verse 9, alright?

And I'm going to read from New Living Translation. So

just to give you a little bit of context, Paul

is writing, this is Corinthians, meaning he's writing to the

believers in Corinth, the church, and encouraging them. And in

chapter 8, he's talking to them about another church in Macedonia.

So he's referring to the Macedonian church and telling them,

giving them the example of the Macedonian church and encouraging

them to give. Are we good? Okay, let's read from

verse 1. Now, I want you to know, dear brothers

and sisters, what God, in His kindness, has done through

the churches in Macedonia. So He's writing to the Corinthian church. They,

as in the Macedonian church, right, are being tested by

many troubles.

And they are very poor. You can underline that.

But they are also, hallelujah, filled with abundant joy, which

has overflowed in rich generosity.

Verse 3.

For I can testify that they gave not only what

they could afford, but far more. And they did it

of their own free will. Verse 4. They begged us

again and again for the privilege of sharing in the

gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more

than we had hoped. For their first action was to

give themselves to the Lord and to us just as

God wanted them to do. Verse 6. So we have

urged Titus, who encourage your giving in the first place

to return to you and encourage you to finish the

ministry of giving.

So Paul is asking.

The Corinthian church to also give, alright? Since you excel

in so many ways, in your faith, your gifted speakers,

your knowledge, your enthusiasm and your love from us, I

want you to excel also in in this gracious act

of giving. You can underline that. Gracious act of giving.

Verse 8. I'm not commanding you to do this, but

I'm testing how genuine your love is by comparing it

with the eagerness of the other churches. Verse 9. You

know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And

you can underline that. Though He was rich, yet for

your sakes, He became poor so that by His poverty,

He could make you rich. Amen. So here, Paul is

telling the Corinthian church, your brothers and sisters in Macedonia,

even though they were poor, afflicted and in great trouble,

they gave beyond what they could to the believers in Jerusalem.

So the context is that there were poor believers in

Jerusalem an offering was taken and the Macedonian believers wanted

to give and they gave.

Alright?

And so now Paul is writing to the church in Corinth,

telling them that you should follow them and also excel

in this gracious act of giving. You are doing so

well in so many areas. Your faith, your love, your enthusiasm.

But this part, you haven't completed. So he's telling the

Corinthian church to complete it.

Are we good?

Now, if you look at verse 9, what did Paul say? Jesus,

even though He was rich, for our sakes, He became

poor so that He could make us turn to your

neighbour and say, you are rich.

Turn to other neighbour and say, I am rich.

Say as though you believe it because the Word of

God said so. Why? Because God has made us rich. Amen?

Amen.

Hallelujah. Not excited? Amen? Amen.

Amen and amen.

So God, He took the poverty upon Himself so that

He can make us rich.

Not just for ourselves.

Praise God. He will give us more than enough for

us and He will give us more so that we

can be a blessing to others. Amen? Amen. So the motive,

is that we become rich so that we become a giver.

So the point I want to make here is that

the grace of God, the generous grace of God has

made us all givers.

Turn to your neighbour again and say, I am a giver.

Do you know that you don't have to work so

hard to be a giver? You already are a giver

because God in His grace has already made you a giver.

Amen.

Now, so a person who doesn't enjoy giving really hasn't

got the grace of God in their lives. Can you

see that here in the Bible, it shows so clearly

that you got the grace of God means you are

a giver. It's automatic by product.

Do you understand?

Okay, so we cannot say that, oh, we can't, I

don't enjoy giving. Then it questions us whether we receive

the grace and the love of God in the first place. Amen? Amen.

So Paul is talking about the attitude of enjoying of

giving because of the grace of God in our lives. Okay,

so church, right now, as we remain in this point

of why generosity matters, I want to highlight four things

that we can learn from the Macedonian believers. Are you ready? Alright,

point number one. The generosity of the Macedonian believers, as

I mentioned, it was an expression of grace. Meaning, in

verse one, when you read earlier on, it says what

did Paul say? Now, in another translation, it says, the

grace of God bestowed upon you.

Alright?

So, in New King James, it's a bit more obvious,

but I purposely choose to read from the New Living Translation, alright?

Because it's a little bit easier to understand.

Basically, what God in His kindness has done for us,

the grace that was abounded towards us has enabled us

to be generous, has enabled the Macedonian church To be generous.

Are we good?

Again, that's why I say you cannot talk about generosity

without talking about giving. You cannot talk about giving without

talking about God. Because it originated from God. Amen? Amen. Alright. So,

the generosity of the Macedonian believers was an expression of grace.

Grace meaning an expression of the love of God that

is poured out in their lives. Secondly, the Macedonian believers

didn't give out of abundance. So church, if you're telling me,

don't worry if you don't have abundance, it's okay. They

also don't have abundance, alright? But, and in fact, they

were under severe trial themselves. They were in those days,

in the context of those days, the standards of those days,

they call it extreme poverty. So even in their poverty,

they gave. Remember, it's the grace of God upon our lives.

It's not just about the amount, amen? Amen. It's the

grace of God welled up through them in rich generosity. Now,

grace is never limited by what we think we can,

based on the actual amount that we have. Because when

we have taught it all out, worked it all out,

our math and our accounts and everything, we haven't even

touched the grace of God. Right? Because the grace of

God will go a lot further than that. Amen? So

that's the second one. So the Macedonian believers, they didn't

give out of their abundance.

Alright? They gave out of grace.

Alright?

So now the third one.

Grace always begins when we have reached the limit of

our own ability.

As we can see here.

In verse 3, you read again, it says, Paul said,

I can testify that they gave not only what they

could afford. So nothing wrong to give what we can afford.

Give according to what we can afford. Amen?

But give far more because of the grace of God

in our lives.

Amen? Amen. So grace will always cause us to go

beyond our ability. And then finally, right, Paul encouraged the

church in Corinth to follow the Macedonian example to excel

in ministry. The gracious act of giving. Church, so there

is such a thing as excelling in giving. Okay? So

we can excel in a lot of things, according to Paul,

but there might be one area that we have not

excelled in. So that is exactly what Paul wrote to

the church in Corinth.

They excel.

They are very good in their faith, in their love,

in their enthusiasm, but they lack this one area. So

there is such a thing as excelling in giving. Won't

we want to pray that, God, you help us to excel. Amen? Amen.

in this area of generosity, not just in monetary terms,

but in every area of our lives. Amen? As I'll

bring you through the verses later in a while. I'm

not jump cue, okay? Don't be nervous. Okay, so Paul

goes on. Now, so this one, we will read it

right now. 2 Corinthians 9. And this is the verse

that I believe.

Yes, soon I will allude to the verse that Daniel

read just now. So now, moving on to chapter 9.

So Paul continues... to share to the Corinthian church. And

these verses are quite familiar. Your chairperson up here will

usually mention and read this before we take our tithes

and our offering. So let's read it together. And God

will generously provide all you need. That means He will

make all grace abound towards you. That is the New

King James, alright? Then you will always have everything you

need and plenty left over.

Can someone say Amen?

Amen. Amen. So God is the one who's going to

give you the motivation to give and the means to give.

He is going to provide all that you need to

help you to be generous.

So you don't need to worry. Stay cool, people.

Alright? Just receive from the Lord and as His grace

upon your life, He will provide all that you need

and you will always have Everything you need. Don't you

think that's what we want in life, isn't it? Everything

you need is answered here. And He will give you

plenty of extra so that you can bless others as well.

Don't you want this life? I want this life, hallelujah.

Can I see a hand, those who want this life?

I want this life, amen. And this is the life

and the promise that He has given to us. Now,

usually as chaplains, we will read until verse 8 and

we will stop there. But there's a verse 9. Let's

read verse 9. Why generosity matters, church? Verse 9, what

does it say? Paul continued to write to the church

in Corinth. And what does it say? As the scriptures say,

meaning Paul is referring to the Old Testament, they share

freely and give generously to the poor, those who need

them more than you. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.

Do you know that God specifically blessed and promised those

who give to the poor? Those who give generously, you

have very clear promises in the Word of God. Now,

so here Paul is saying, grace will make total provision.

For all our needs.

Not just enough for ourselves, but it will overflow to

others around us.

And then he is quoting from the Old.

Testament, from Psalms 112 verse 9. Again, verse 9. A

Psalms 112:9

lot of verse 9 today, alright? So 112 verse 9,

what does it say? Exactly the same verse that Paul

wrote in Corinthians. They share freely and give generously to

those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.

This is new living transition. In the New King James,

it's beautiful. It says, his righteousness will endure forever. That

means you establish your righteousness forever. By giving to those

in need. Do you know that?

And that is the Word of God.

Hallelujah. So does generosity matter?

It matters. And why it matters?

Because it establishes our righteousness in the sight of God.

God counted as righteous. Amen? Amen. Hallelujah. Are we good?

Alright.

Now, are we ready to move on to the next point? Yes,

so now we are at the last one, which is

actually number three in your booklet, which is give meaningfully.

So let me recap again.

We are talking about the brand of generosity upon Acts

Church that we drew out from Acts 2, verse 45.

Acts 2:45

Generosity is powerful, amen? What's the second one, church? Generosity

as a spiritual indicator. And the third one, which is

your fourth point, Why generosity matters? And we have looked

at it just now, alright? Now, how and why do

we give meaningfully? Give meaningfully. There is such a thing

as giving not in a meaningful way and in a

meaningful way. And we want to give meaningfully, isn't it?

We want to give God's way. Let's look at what

God's Word says. Now, How many of you like to

receive gifts? Now, of course, here we are talking in

the context of giving to those who are poor and

those who are really in need, alright?

But even as fellow friends and believers, like to receive gifts?

Of course. And I know that we always say this, oh,

but it's the thought that counts. So it's okay, what

is the gift? It's okay, we don't judge the person.

It's the thought that, oh, they got, they, you know,

give you something, you know, they give you, praise the Lord,

we say thank you and we receive it happily, right?

But don't you think it's an extra bonus, an extra

happiness when, oh, you receive something that you really like?

Like your group of friends, they surprised you and they

knew that you were liking that, I don't know, what.

Is it now? Bag, okay?

Like me and my bags, right? Okay, me and my bags.

That bag, and then they all chip in and then

they got for you that bag that you liked for

quite a long time. When you receive it, what do

you do?

Yay!

You just feel happy and you feel loved, you feel

appreciated and all, correct? Same. Now, don't just give as

a token, church. Don't just give out of convenience and

to ease our conscience. Okay lah, I give already.

That's it.

Right? And if you think about it, that kind of

giving makes us feel better only.

It makes us look good, makes us feel good.

Right or not?

That's not the kind of giving that we are talking

about now.

Alright? We don't want to give for our own sake.

But we want to give making a real difference in

someone's life. Right? Right? Okay, so give meaningfully. I have

a few points here. Give in a way that actually helps, right?

You know there's a need. Let's meet a real need.

Let's solve a real problem. And if you know that

there's a problem, let's make a tangible difference in someone

else's life. Amen?

So meaningful generosity requires.

A bit of thought, not just impulse. And it actually

asks questions like, What does this person really need? How

can I genuinely meet that need?

All right? Okay.

But now I'm moving on to how. And I want

to go to the Word of God. So as I

was preparing, I said, but how do we then put

it in a way that we can apply it, that

we can say, okay, God, I want to learn from

your Word how we can give meaningfully.

And I drew up three points here. Are we ready?

Firstly, I have a slide. Okay, it says, freely we receive,

directly from the Word of God. Freely we give. And

we'll unpack that in a while, alright? Meaning, the same

manner that we receive from God, that is that measure

that we should be giving.

Alright?

And next one, give in action and in truth. according

to the Word of God as well. And finally, we

all know this and we read it a lot, we

give cheerfully. But what does it really mean to give cheerfully?

Are we good?

And then we will close after that, alright? And everybody say, yes! Alright,

so this is the last part. I hope you're all

happy to hear that. Okay, now, freely we receive, freely

we give. Here, I took this from Matthew 10. Matthew

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 is where Jesus sent out His disciples and

asked them to go and preach the gospel, heal the sick,

cast out demons and all.

Alright?

Now, so this is verse 7 and verse 8 in

Matthew 10.

Let's read this together.

And maybe we always miss out the last part of

the verse. So let's read verse 7. Jesus said, Go

to the disciples, announce to them, to the people of

the world, that the kingdom of heaven is near. Heal

the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, cast

out demons. Give as freely as you have received. One

of Jesus' command and Jesus' words to His disciples, alright?

So what does it mean? So Jesus is, now He's

talking about the ability. Now, The ones that we read

before in verse 8, heal the sick, raise the dead,

cure those with leprosy, cast out demons. Did the disciples

need to pay for them? No, they didn't need to

do anything. It was just the ability to do that

was given by Jesus. Jesus said, go and do it.

Alright?

They didn't need to pay for anything. They didn't cost

them anything. They received it from Jesus, the grace of

God as a free gift. Similarly, Jesus is telling them,

as you have received it from me, now you go

and give. Amen? So as much as freely as God

has given and poured into our lives, church, let's freely

give that. So we can't ask, but God, how much

to give then? Then what is enough or what is

not enough? The question would be, how much has God

given to you? That is that measure. So it's never

an ending thing, never enough. Because as freely as God,

you have given to me and I receive from you, God,

I will freely give. And that also speaks that you

will never dry out, man. You will never say that

I will never have enough to give. And you can

always give. And there's no such thing as burnout, right?

No, you think about it. Because freely I receive from God,

I can freely give.

Amen?

That's if we are giving according to this.

Right? So if we are giving according to what God

has asked us, the way He has asked us to give,

we will not... Okay, physically tired is normal and all,

but inside us, we will not be tired.

We will not dry up. We will not be weary.

We will not become discouraged or we will not give

up because freely we receive, freely we give.

That is the principle that God has given to us.

Amen? Amen.

So that's the first one.

Alright, and there's no other way that we want to

give and minister God's grace except from the way that

we have received from God. Now next one, give in

action and in truth. For this one, I drew out

from 1 John. 1 John 3.16. So this is not

the Gospel of John, but the Apostle John wrote the epistle, right?

1 John.

So 1 John 3.16-19.

Are we there?

Are we there? Okay, let's read verse 16. And what

did John the Apostle wrote? He says this, that our

giving not only proves our love for God, but it

proves our love for our fellow believers.

Now, I know in the Bible, in.

Other parts, Jesus taught us, when you give, don't let

your right hand know what your left hand is doing.

Isn't it?

So we're not telling you to go and go, see,

I give so much, I give so much. No. Okay,

it's not in that context. But what you actually give

is a proof of your love for God and for

His fellow believers.

Now let's read verse 16.

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up

His life for us. Amen? That's what we established from

the very beginning. We know what real love is. Church,

you and I know what real love is. What the

world sells us is not real love. Do you know that?

Young people, do you know that? Okay, I hope we

all know. We have to know what the world sells

as love is not real love. But real love is

Jesus gave up His life for you and I. Amen.

We also ought to give up, in verse 16, our

lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough

money to live well and sees a brother or sister

in need but shows no compassion, how can God's love

be in that person? John said, verse 18, Dear children,

Let's not merely say that we love each other.

Let us show the truth by our actions.

Our actions, verse 19, will show that we belong to

the truth.

I underline that.

It's our actions that will show that we belong to

the truth so we'll be confident when we stand before God.

How many of us want to be confident when we

stand before God? Do you know when you stand before God,

nobody can help you? I cannot help you, you.

Cannot help me.

You cannot stand with me, I cannot stand with you.

You stand alone before God.

Alone.

You're not a married, you're not wife, you're not husband,

you're not father, you're not mother. You are son or

daughter of God and you stand before God. We want

to be confident and God already gave us the answer

in His Word. To be confident when you stand before

me is so your actions, is your actions of loving

one another. Amen? Amen. So Jesus firstly laid down His

life for us. That's the proof of God's love for us.

Now I know I'm talking about proof now. But the

Word of God says that. So there are things in

our lives that is going to prove our love for

God and love for others. And this is what it

means here, okay? So John said in verse 16, the

first verse we read, and we can have the verse

up again, back to the slide again. We know what

real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.

Next thing he said.

We also ought to give up our lives for our

brothers and sisters.

What do you think he's referring to? Give up our lives.

What do you mean by giving up our lives for

each other, church?

Okay, so usually scripture answers scripture. He answers himself in

the next verse. So refer to verse 17. He's giving

us a very practical answer. If someone is in a

real need and you have the means to help, help. Simple.

That is what it means by laying your life for

one another. Not just to go and die for one another.

I think God wants us to live for Him more

than die for Him. But yeah, one day maybe we

will have to die for our faith and we pray

that we will be ready for it.

But right now, we got to live for Him.

Amen? To live is Christ, to die is gain. So

now is to live is Christ. So what does it mean?

So He actually means is that the laying down of

our lives for one another is actually to see a

real need and to.

Meet that need.

Amen? Amen.

Hallelujah.

So, there's a saying in today's, in our contemporary language.

We will say, put our money where our mouth is.

Isn't it? Alright. Okay.

So, that is exactly what John is trying to say.

We cannot say that we love, but we don't do

anything about it. And you see someone in dire need,

and we don't reach out. If you have the means, okay,

to help. Alright. Now, and the wonderful thing is, as

I said it earlier on, verse 19 tells us, that

this action will cause us to be confident when we

stand before God. Now, if you read on in 1

John 3, later on in the verses, verse 20, 21,

it talks about our heart condemning us. Church, do you

know sometimes our heart will condemn us? And we will

feel that, oh God, am I really living my life

right for you?

Am I doing it right? Do you know sometimes our

heart condemns us?

But what is it that we will find peace in

our hearts and we will know that we are at

peace with the Lord is through this. we will stand

confident when our actions align with our words, when we

say we love one another. Amen?

So we will prove by our.

Generosity, whether it's just in word or in tongue, or

whether it's in action and in truth. And I pray

that whatever we do, we will show it that it

is also in action and in truth. Are we good?

So how do we give meaningfully? We give freely as

we have received freely. Amen? Firstly.

Secondly, we give in action and in truth.

Amen? And finally, the Word of God says, give cheerfully. Church,

what do we understand about giving cheerfully? Now, this is

the verse that we always read as chairperson. Verse 7

in 2 Corinthians 9. I want us to take note

of the verse. Let's read together first. What does Paul say?

You must each decide in your heart how much to give.

And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure for

God loves a person who gives cheerfully. I'll ask you

a question. In the Bible, you know that God loves us,

isn't it? For God so loved the world and all

these things. So God will say, God loves us, His

love and all. But only specifically at specific times, He

will spell out what kind of person He loves. And

do you know that the cheerful giver is one of

the one? Not a lot, you know, in the Bible.

Do you know that? It's almost like he said, duh, you.

You don't get it, I make it so obvious for you.

Because I love a cheerful giver. Church, do you get that?

God loves a cheerful giver. Turn to your neighbour and say,

God loves a cheerful giver. Turn to your other neighbour

and say, I want to be a cheerful giver. Amen.

So church, do you want to be love of God?

Give cheerfully because God loves a cheerful giver. But before that,

let me explain. What does it mean to give cheerfully?

Can you be honest? What comes to mind when you

say give cheerfully? Happily, ha ha ha ha, you know?

Yeah, okay.

But the actual meaning is hilariously. That's the actual meaning,

all right? How do you imagine giving hilariously? In my mind,

straight away, I imagine give funnily. Yay! Like, you know, happily,

like funnily like that.

Do you imagine that? Well, I do, okay? Initially, alright?

But the actual meaning of hilarious giving is actually doesn't

mean in a funny way or a laughing out loud way. No.

It actually meant joyful, prompt, ready. And I love it.

You are ready to give. And light-hearted. Now the light-hearted

in today's term, it feels like, so you're not serious

like that? No. It's actually the opposite of heavy-heartedness. What

do you understand about heavy-hearted? We say, oh, I'm heavy-hearted.

Means what?

Like something is weighing you down. Something is holding you back.

Something is like, you're not quite fully free yet. This

is the opposite. Lightheartedness, meaning zero reluctance.

Okay?

Zero reluctance, complete willingness and freedom. Are we cool with that?

I'm trying to get you to feel the meaning. Can

we feel the meaning? Okay.

Joyful, prompt, ready.

Lighthearted, not heavy-hearted. Giving with zero reluctance because... the heart

is already won over and satisfied. It's giving out of

a satisfied, God, you won my heart already. I will

give you freely. You know that kind of, imagine that

kind of thing. Now, the only analogy, or well, the

one that I can think of, which I shared with

the A & M Church, is when a guy proposed

to a girl. Married man, you understand. If you can

remember your proposal, I'm sure you can. Must remember. Now,

men or even guys in general, when you propose, what

is the answer you're looking for? 8am straight away, yes,

before I finish my sentence, they already shouted, that's it,

chill people. Okay, but what's the answer that we're looking for?

What's the answer in the girl that you're looking for?

A resounding yes, right? Right or right or right or not? Julian,

thank you. Guys, what's the answer that you're looking for? Okay,

so let me express it out to you, okay? Do

you want this kind of answer like, Like got the

zucking sound, like....

Or the sighing. Do you want that kind of answer?

Or like maybe haven't answered yet, but got the.

Okay, I'm trying to get us a point in our

giving attitude.

All right?

No, no, no.

What's the answer that we want?

Okay, but ladies, even the guy propose to you, you

must hold that posture, okay? Yes, no need, no need,

no need. Just chill and tarik haga a bit. Like

that one, like, okay lah. Like, you know, like, you know, yeah,

must one. Ladies, you must, okay? Cannot make it so

easy one. Ah, cannot make it so easy. You must,

but what my point is, we, you know, in a proposal,

you want that, you want that, that yes, that the

heart of the girl is, already won over by you. Right?

And it's like, yes, I've been waiting for this day.

Isn't it?

Isn't it? That's what you want to hear. I've been

waiting for this day. Of course, you don't show it, girls.

I don't show it, don't show it, don't show it.

But that is what you want. Guys, that's what you

want to see, isn't it? I've been waiting.

Not that kind of like, that kind of thing, alright?

Okay. Similarly, giving cheerfully to God, what is God looking for?

Not that kind of giving cheerfully, Giving again. No, you

get what I mean?

Or like, oh, hmm. Okay, I think you get my point.

Alright? Alright. But giving from a heart with zero reluctance

because God, you want my heart already. Just like you

imagine the guy want the girl's heart already and the

girl willingly, happily say yes. Right?

And that's in the same thing in your wedding day.

Do you take... Yes, I do. It's a resounding yes. Amen. So,

that is what it means to be hilariously giving. God,

I'm giving hilariously. Not that kind of funnily and all, right?

But God, I'm giving you wholeheartedly.

Church, why?

Why does God say He loves a cheerful giving? Why

does He want that kind of hilarious giving attitude?

Many reasons, I believe. But there's this one that I

want to.

Bring up to our thought here, okay? Now, you know mammon?

Mammon, money, right?

It's not to say money is bad, but the love

of money. And Jesus said it, right? You cannot serve

two masters. You either love one and hate the other.

What is he comparing himself and? Money, mammon.

So mammon is what.

Is the evil satanic power that enslaves.

Men and women. Do you agree?

Through money.

Through money.

He uses money to enslave us. And money then becomes

our God. And that's why, and Master, and that's why

Jesus said we cannot serve both. So hilarious giving, why

is it so important? It releases us from the slavery

of mammon. Do you believe that? It's almost when we

give hilariously, imagine you put your money in the offering

bag and you are saying to it, away with you.

Not to say the money itself. Money is good. You

like money? I also like money. We all need money.

Money is fine.

Good.

But it's the.

Spirit of that enslavery that enslaves us to money. And

we are saying to money that you are not going

to dominate me.

You are not my master.

I'm giving in joy, hilariously to God because God is good.

I'm giving back to the Lord.

Amen? And I'm giving cheerfully to Him. That's the power

of hilarious giving. Are we good, church? So do we

know now how to give meaningfully? We give freely as

we have received freely, but we need to receive from God.

We must be open and receive from God. We give

in action and in truth, and we give cheerfully to God. Now,

I'm drawing to a close. In Luke 6.38, and another

verse that our chairperson always like to also quote and

share before we take our offering to remind us. Now,

this is what Jesus said. Very succinct, very clear. He

said this, Give. He didn't make it iffy area. He said,

give and you will receive.

Full stop. I love it.

Okay. Your gift will return to you in full. Means what?

Press down, shaken together.

I love it.

To make room for more. Running over and poured into

your life. You think Jesus is joking or not when

he say that?

God, no. Jesus will go joking one.

Okay?

Jesus is saying it to our face.

The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. Church,

do you understand this pressed down, shaken together, running over, right? So,

you all got poor Milo or not? You all buy

the soft pack, right? I buy soft pack. Oh, you

got thin, right? So, you refill your thin, right? You

soft pack, you cut, and then you pour into the container. Normally,

what happens after that? You never pour Milo before, that's

why you don't know, okay? You got to shake it,

shake the container to make room for more so that

you can fill it to the brim. And that's exactly

what God does for us. Amen? He shake it and

make sure that we got all that we need, the

maximum that He can fill us. And it will overflow

and so that we can bless others. Amen? But church,

the first word that Jesus gave us in this verse

is gift. He still put the onus of responsibility on us,

not Him. So the initiative is still with us. If

we sit down, do nothing, give nothing, nothing is going

to happen. We got to do the giving. Amen?

And we, He also put it in our court.

The amount and the proportion that you give will determine

what you get back.

You decide.

Alright?

This Jesus, this Jesus.

So we also determine the proportion in which we expect

to receive by the proportion that we give And Jesus

said that, okay, it will be dealt to us in return.

So, giving is the key to receiving.

Now, I know it comes against everything the world has

taught us. Later, I'll explain to you.

It's almost telling you.

1 minus 1 is not 0. I know, we all

learn math. I'm a math teacher also. I also find it...

And 1 minus 2 is what? VA student. 1 minus

2 is? Negative 1. But you know that we all

are trained that way, right? But in God's kingdom, it doesn't.

Work that way, okay? So giving is the key.

It's almost like 1 minus 2 is 10. I know

it blows our mind like, God, you are crazy. But yes,

it's crazy, okay? With the measure we give it, okay,

it will be measured back to us. Now, I want

to give us one more example. Well, just an illustration.

You know the Holy Land? In Israel, there are two seas.

Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea. I'm not... I think we've

got a geography teacher here, all right? Yeah, they're approximately...

You can correct me if I'm wrong. That's what I read.

Approximately the same size. They are fed from the same river.

But there's a great lot of difference between these two seas.

And I've got pictures for us.

Yes, Sea of Galilee.

Today, I've tried to find a more current picture and

you can see the life around the sea.

Next one, the Dead Sea. And what are those things,

all those stuff? Salt, alright? And it's dead.

No living thing can live in that sea. What is

the major difference, back to the previous slide, in these

two seas? The first sea, of course, is fresh, it's beautiful.

We can see life around it, right? The Dead Sea

is just dead, just like its name implies. The difference is,

they get the same source, they both receive, but one

seed gives out, but the other seed doesn't give out.

That's why it's called dead seed. It only receives. It

doesn't give out. That's why it's dead. Church, let's not

be dead, see? If we keep receiving, and God is

going to give us, because God is a giving God.

You cannot ask Him, stop giving me, alright? He's going

to give. We're going to receive. But if we receive

and we don't give, this is what's going to happen

to us. And let's not let that happen to us. Amen?

So the key to life is receiving.

It's both. We've got to receive and we've got to give.

But the way to death, and it's opposite what the

world is teaching us.

The world teaches us get, get, get. Isn't it?

Get. The more you get, the more successful you are.

That's what they sell us.

Right or not?

But the Word of God is totally different. Alright?

So the key to life is receiving and giving. The

way to death is receiving but not giving. Now the

last portion of Scripture says, And we also hear it

a lot. And we also always bless one another with

it when it's birthdays and, you know, we wish well

for someone. In Proverbs 11, 24 to 25. But this

verse really shows us the contrast with what the world

teaches us and what the Word of God teaches us.

Let's look at verse 24. It says what?

Again, give freely and become more wealthy. I told you,

it messes our mind. It's almost like one minus two

is not negative one. You become a ten. The more

you give, the more wealthy you become. You tell that

to your non-believing colleagues and they'll say that you're a

bit sial lah, okay? But yes, that's the word of God.

Be stingy and lose everything.

Although the world will tell you, the more you hoard,

the more you have, right?

Verse twenty-five.

The generous, but this is the Word of God that

will stand forever. And remember, word faithful, God has placed

His Word even before His name. Amen? Amen. The generous

will prosper. Church, you will prosper. Those of us who

have been giving, serving, whether it's in the church, outside

the church, we have been giving even to our communities.

You have been giving into our anniversary giving. You have

been giving to missions. Later, you will see a video

of Kang Wei and his family going to missions, giving. Listen.

You will prosper, church.

But the prospering may not be in the way that

we think like the world will sell us. But you

are prospering. And those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

And every time when we go out for missions, we

always come back with one thing. I thought I'm going

to bless other people, but in the end, I'm the

one blessed, isn't it? Yes, you will be blessed.

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

information on our church, please visit axechurch.org. We are also

active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this week

is going to be a good week ahead for you.

God bless.