Generosity Unmasked: Sowing or Showing | Acts 5, Week 5 | Lee Coate | New North Church

Hey, welcome to the New North Church Podcast.

It's great to have you listening in with us.

Our vision at our church is to be an authentic community of Jesus followers who love and serve people.

So if we can help you in any way at all, just reach out to us.

The email address is hello at new North.church.

With that, let's go right to this week's message.

Good morning, New North.

How are we today?

So great to see you.

I'm glad it's a little colder today.

Some of you don't care, but my name's Lee.

I've met many of you.

My wife is here today.

My wife and I are from Las Vegas.

So when it's like this, we're like, amazing.

Like, this is just great.

So if I have a little extra energy today, you guys probably go the opposite way.

Like when the sun goes out, you have more energy.

And days like today, you're like, uh, right?

I'm the other way, right?

When the sun's out, I'm like, uh, and when it's like this, I'm like, woo, it's like exciting.

So just hang on.

It's gonna be a day today.

Let me give you where we're gonna go in the scripture because many of you want to be prepared for that, and we're gonna jump around a little bit today.

So we're gonna be in Acts chapter 4 and 5.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

We're gonna be in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, and we're gonna be in Matthew chapter 14.

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention Matthew 14 · chapter mention

Don't worry about it if you're not prepared or you don't want to dance around.

They're gonna put it on the screen behind me as well.

But some of you like to read it in that way, and so I wanted to make sure that you had that information today.

Um, we're gonna do a little math assignment before we jump in.

Everybody down?

Okay, this is where you say yes, we're down.

Okay.

It's not too hard, but I know some of you may be math strugglers, like, and you may need a calculator.

If you need a calculator for this, we we need to have a conversation, but be it like it may, all right?

So the first thing you're gonna do is how how old are you today?

And some of you, come on.

Like, this is a moment to be honest.

You don't even have to share it, Matt.

Just like know in your mind how old you are.

You ready?

Everybody have that number?

Okay?

All right, then here's what I want you to do is just back up 10 years.

So just take a decade off.

So again, if you're 40 today, you're 30.

This is what we're gonna call the minus 10 u, right?

And then I'm also gonna invite you to go the other direction.

So you're gonna add 10.

I know it's hard for some of you, okay, but you're gonna add 10.

So if you're 30 today, you're gonna add 10, you're gonna be 40.

That's the plus 10 you.

I need you to remember that.

So minus 10 u, you guys have it?

Say the number out loud, everybody.

Whatever, come on, whatever your number is, be bold and own it today.

All right.

I'm asking you to do the minus number.

People around you, they won't be able to do the math anyway, right?

At least I didn't ask you to do the other number, all right?

So I want you to hold that number.

So, but here's what's important.

So go back 10 years.

Whatever that age number is, that's not my biggest concern.

I want you to think about the person you were at that moment.

What was what was you minus 10 like?

What and what did that person decide to be or do that you're actually grateful for today?

Like you're thinking back 10 years ago and you're like, wow, I'm so glad I made that decision about that relationship that I'm gonna invest in.

Now I'm married to that person.

Or I'm so glad I made that decision and I'm not married to that person.

It's fair, right?

Or maybe, minus 10 U, there was a habit that you let go of 10 years ago and you're so glad.

Or maybe there's a discipline, because there are positive habits.

Maybe there's a positive habit or discipline that you grabbed onto 10 years ago and you're so pumped that that is a part of your life.

Maybe you made a decision that was hard or difficult 10 years ago.

You pivoted, you moved somewhere, you you you changed careers.

Hopefully, you made some financial decisions 10 years ago, because we know in the area of finance, time is our friend.

And so you made some decisions 10 years ago that were hard, that were difficult.

Maybe you you didn't do some things financially because you knew that plus 10 year you today would be pretty pumped about them.

Now, there's also some other things, if we're honest.

The minus 10 years ago you probably did some things that potentially you're still paying for today, or you're still dealing with today, or there's decisions or or or moments that are still a part of your life.

Now, what's interesting is that minus 10 you at that moment had no idea how much those choices probably mattered.

I mean, you you you thought you did, but reality is you were just potentially making that decision.

Even if you were prayerful in that moment, it's hard for us to think that far ahead.

And so we get very in the present.

That's okay.

And decisions rarely feel as big as they might end up being.

Sometimes we make a uh a series of very small decisions that end up being pivotable in in a large decision.

Okay, now, here we go.

Now go forward 10 years.

Okay, say the number, go ahead.

Okay, somebody owned it up here.

I love that.

Okay.

Go forward 10 years and ask the same questions.

What does that look like?

What does life look like?

It's interesting because a UCLA psychologist by the name of Hal Hirschfield actually did some sort of an experiment around this, and he found out something pretty interesting.

He put people in a brain scanner and he actually asked them the question.

He said, I want you to think about yourself today, and they scanned their brain, right?

And then he said, I want you to think about, I want you to think about another person, like not yourself.

And he scan, they did the brain scan, and then he asked the same question I just asked you.

I want you to think about yourself 10 years from now.

What was interesting in the brain scan that might tell us something, is that basically when they were asked to think about 10 years plus them, they they felt the same way.

Their brain did the same thing as when they were supposed to think about someone else.

Basically, we have a hard time think we think about that plus 10 years us like a stranger.

Like we don't even know that individual.

We don't even know that person.

So before we jump into scripture today, because it's it makes sense, can I boldly suggest to you, New North, that someday plus 10 years age you will look back at today's you, and when they do, what will that person thank you for?

What will they say?

I'm so glad you made that decision.

And can I boldly suggest something else?

That when you look back at minus 10 U, I guess my guess would be that you might be somewhat grateful for something you bought or something you acquired, but you're probably super grateful for what you invested in, what you even poured into.

And can I suggest even what you gave away?

I think your future self will thank you more for what you gave away than for what you potentially accumulated.

Why?

Because our topic today is generosity.

And generosity, being a generous person, is tricky, right?

Being generous involves all areas of our life, by the way.

We're not having just a financial conversation today.

Generosity stretches into time.

Where are you gonna spend your time?

Where am I gonna spend my energy?

Where am I gonna spend my resources, my things?

Where am I gonna spend my money?

Is all part of it.

It is a spirit of generosity, but generosity is tricky because everybody is in favor of it, right?

If I said, how many of you want to be generous?

You would all raise your hand, but few of us sometimes can define what it really looks like in our life.

And so it stays like a like a nice idea that never actually costs us anything.

And what we're about to see is the early church, the previous version of New North, learned very quickly that God cares about that.

He cares about our generosity, and he cares that we're honest about it, and he cares ultimately that it comes from somewhere inside of us, and that it is something that comes from a pure intention and an honest heart, and something that is not done for show or merely to check the box.

So before we can become an even more generous individual, we need to know what we're aiming at and what we're not.

So this morning I'm just gonna give it to you ahead of time.

I'm gonna tease where we're gonna go.

We're gonna focus on generosity through three different scenes.

And each of those scenes, just because it's helpful for me, so I trust it's helpful for you, is gonna have three focal points that hopefully you'll walk out of here today and you'll go to lunch somewhere and you'll focus deeper on one of them.

And three, these three focal points will give us an image that will represent where we're going.

Here they are, and then we'll talk about each one of them.

The first one is what we're calling the field.

And the field is what gener is gonna represent what generosity does not look like in God's eyes.

The field.

Then, secondly, we're gonna talk about a seed.

And when we talk about a seed in relation to the field, it's actually gonna say, no, this is what generosity and living with a generous heart should look like.

And then finally, we're gonna put as a focal point what we call the basket.

And the basket is what generosity doesn't just look like, but what it looks like when you get involved, and what it looks like when I get involved.

So, you ready to go?

Here we go.

Let's start with the field.

Let's start with that part, what it does not look like.

And that's where we're gonna go to the book of Acts.

And we've been taking this journey through the spirit of the early church and looking at what they are doing and what did they tackle.

And we're very early walking through the book of Acts.

But as we pick it up at the end of chapter four, where Zohari was last week, we find that the church in some ways is kind of like it's it's in its most legit stage, right?

Like it's it's kind of hitting on all cylinders.

We're about to read.

It's like the church that like all of us want to attend.

It's marked by everybody's happy, there's unity, everybody, there's we're glorifying God, and there's over the top generosity.

Acts chapter 4, verse 32.

Acts 4:32

Look how Luke, who's writing the book of Acts, this history of the early church, look how he describes it.

This is a church I'm kind of down to go to.

All right, here's what he says It says, All the believers were in one, were one in heart and mind.

No one claimed that any of their possessions were their own, but they shared everything that they had.

With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

And God's grace was so powerful at work in them all that there was no needy persons among them.

From time to time, those who owned land or houses, they sold them.

And they brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed, became an offering.

And as people would have needs within the church, it was distributed to anyone who had a need.

Did you catch that?

That line, it said this there were no needy persons among them.

Hold on to that.

We're gonna come back to it in a moment.

Then one guy we get as an example who kind of went next level.

His name is Joseph, or he was known as Barnabas.

It says this Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement.

I love that.

Love to have that title.

He sold a field that he owned, so it was a pretty substantial profit, and he brought the money and he put it at the apostles' feet.

And everyone was pumped, right?

It's like a Sunday morning at New York.

Somebody sells their deal and they bring it and they go, hey, I'm gonna give a pretty significant offering today.

And everybody's like, oh my god, they're pumped.

Not just because of the offering, but because of the spirit of generosity that Barnabas had in bringing it.

And so we read this at the end of chapter four, and we're like, this church is legit.

This church has it all together.

There is no disunity, there is no backbiting, no one has to be put in time out yet.

Now, if we're honest, most of us have not experienced church in that way that often.

Is that fair?

And I love the church.

I'm part of the church, you love the church.

But if you've been around church for a while, you've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.

And it may even have left you feeling frustrated or broken.

But fun fact um there are no perfect churches ever.

You have not walked into one today.

Sorry to let you know that.

So even if you pointed at the first Christian church of Jerusalem that we just read about, you'd say, yeah, it looks like they're nailing it.

And I would say, about what we're about to see, yeah, they had a good couple months.

It's a good couple months.

And if you're new to New York, if you're new here at New North, I mean, I'll just boldly say, we're so glad you're here.

Give us a few months, right?

Because here's the reality: you won't be too disappointed early on.

It's new, everything's great, right?

But if you hang around long enough, we'll probably fail you.

Right?

The coffee will be cold one day, you'll have some moment, right?

Somebody will ignore you.

It's just gonna happen, okay?

So I just want you to think about that right now.

Why?

Why?

Because the church is God's creation and it's amazing, but our human fallenness is in the middle of all of it.

And it's a challenge to keep a church, any church, on mission.

Because within this incredible culture in the early church, in the book of Acts, where they are just giving and generosity is just going crazy, there walks in this couple named Ananias and Sapphira.

No one names their son Ananias, and no one names their daughter Sapphira that I am aware of.

You can Google it later.

And I think there's a reason why.

In chapter 5, verse 1, here's what it says.

Here's the story.

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.

Perhaps they saw what Barnabas did and they thought, cool, right?

And with his wife's full knowledge, he actually kept back part of the money for himself.

But he brought the rest and he put it at the apostles' feet.

Side note, uh, what's inferred in here is that he presented it as if it was the whole, but it was only a part.

It was only partial.

Peter, because he the Holy Spirit was really working in Peter, says to him, Ananias, right away, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?

He's like, you didn't have to do this.

This wasn't necessary.

You can be generous and just be just give what God lays on your heart to give.

Don't represent it in a different way.

It's a he goes on to say, didn't it belong to you before it was sold?

And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?

Couldn't you do what you wanted?

You have lied, verse 5, you have lied not just to human beings, but this is the more serious part, but to God.

And then look at this.

When Ananias heard this, what?

He fell down and died.

So we're taking the offering here at New North next week.

Ushers are here in the aisles.

Maybe you're giving through your phone, you're tapping.

By the way, I heard rumor that some of you thought you were supposed to tap with your finger on the back of the chair the last few weeks.

That made me laugh, all right?

You tap your phone, right?

And we we give and do that.

Imagine that.

And then and then you you know you present like a false giving and people start keeling over in the church.

Wow.

That would get our attention, wouldn't it?

Imagine it got their attention because then three hours later, Sapphira walks in, his wife, and notice that Peter actually gives her a chance to come clean.

She is unaware of what has taken place with her husband.

Verse 8, it says, Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?

So the door for truth, for her to speak truth, is wide open, and she just walks right past it, and she tells the same lie, and she meets the same end.

She she kills over.

It says, young men come in, they wrap her up, and they follow where her husband's body has gone just a few hours earlier, and they have a double funeral outside.

And the reaction of the reaction in the church in verse 11 is noteworthy.

It says, Great fear seized the whole church.

You think?

Translation of 2026, great freaking out happened in the church.

Now, when you first read this story, especially if you're not familiar with scripture in the New Testament, I get it.

It can feel pretty harsh.

Like, whoa, what is this picture of God?

But I think a little bit of context might be helpful, even if we can't fully get our minds a grasp around this moment.

Because I think Luke, who is writing the book of Acts, wanted to give us a little bit of an echo of another time so we would understand how seriously God takes authentic generosity.

Remember, we're asking the question, what does generosity not look like?

And Ananias and Sapphira are answering that question for us.

It's representing generosity in a false way, holding back what we believe we should be giving.

And so when he says Ananias, when Luke says Ananias kept back part of the money, he uses a very rare Greek word there.

It's nosphizo, nosphizo.

It has a Z in it.

You can remember it.

And the early church read the New Testament, read the Old Testament in the Greek as well.

And that's that translation in the Greek has the same word way back.

And when the people of Israel had stepped into the promised land.

And remember when they marched around Jericho in Joshua chapter seven, and the walls came down, and God had instructed him, listen, just get rid of everything.

Don't take anything for yourself.

But in Joshua chapter 7, we meet a man named Achan.

Joshua 7 · chapter mention

I don't know what it is with these guys with the first name that starts with A.

And Achan holds back and steals some of what they got and puts it under his tent, and it causes judgment to come across the people of Israel.

And the word, the same word is used there, this nosphizo.

It means kept back.

And Luke's early readers of this account would have caught it.

Here is Achan at the beginning of Israel's story in this new land God has given him.

And here's Ananias, the beginning of this new movement of Jesus' early church.

Two new beginnings, and in both, God draws a line in the sand right out of the gate.

And he's basically saying, what we hide in our hearts matter to him.

That it's not primarily the amount of generosity that we have.

It's important, but it's not that amount.

It's not the amount that you give and the amount of time and the amount of, it's not that amount that is important, but it but even more so, God is looking at the intent of our heart.

Are we of people that are being transformed through the Holy Spirit, that are living out the fruit of the Spirit, one of which will produce this generosity in our hearts?

And Peter's questions to Ananias and Sapphira kind of say it all.

Because he's basically saying, no one forced you.

It was your field, it was your money.

Why pretend to be more than you are?

It feels like under the premise of there being a need, Ananias and Sapphira seem to have a need personally for affirmation and to be applauded.

It's like they maybe they saw Barnabas post on his Instagram about selling the field and giving it to the church.

So they ran their own InstaSham and they said, we're gonna do the same thing.

See if we can't get some likes and some follows, right?

It was this they're missing it.

And throughout scripture, the word is hypocrisy, right?

It's when it's when the heart does not match the action.

And a generous heart, if we want to be a people with a generous heart, we need to understand that it always starts with our motivation, with the why.

And then it ends with what it is that we should be giving, what it is we should be handing over, what it is in us that God's asking us to give a part of.

But it has to come from that pure place.

And that's scene number one today.

That's our focal point.

The field that was sold in both Barnabas' case and Ananias and Sapphira case was never the issue.

The heart behind the giving of those prophets from the field was.

Now, when you hear a story like that, it can kind of push us in two directions, maybe push us into two ditches when it comes to generosity.

Like, what do I think about that, Lee?

I don't know how I feel about that.

You're compelling me to be generous, and then you tell me this story about people dying in church.

And I think that's that's reality.

Is there's two lanes.

One is we can get fearful, and we can we can we can kind of approach giving as I better give enough, or God's gonna be angry with me.

I better give enough, or God is gonna get me.

That's the ditch number one.

Ditch number two says, I'm paralyzed.

I'm not just fearful, I'm paralyzed.

Like, I'm not sure, I'm not gonna give at all because I might I might give myself my time, I might give it in a wrong way.

But most, but all that misses the point.

What Ananias and Sapphira taught us in this early moment in the early church that we're a part of is that they taught us about showing us the counterfeit nature of generosity.

Because we can only spot the true thing when we know what a counterfeit looks like.

And so we fast forward about 20 years.

And the apostle Paul knows this story of Ananias and Sapphira.

That's what's interesting.

They would he would have known the story, it would have been told and told and told.

And 20 years later, he's writing to this other church in a city called Corinth.

And he and they're just and he's trying to help them navigate, and he's showing us the road between these two ditches, and he's really moving us to a place where we understand what generosity should look like.

And I want to move us from a field to what the focal point being a seed.

Right?

And we're gonna look at 2 Corinthians chapter 9, but I want to give you some context before we read the verse.

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

In 2 Corinthians chapter 8 or 9, Paul is compelling and he's urging this gathering of believers in Corinth to be generous.

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

But it's not just a general teaching on give and give what you have.

He literally is kind of taking a special offering.

And guess who he's taking a special offering for?

The church in Jerusalem.

Right?

The church that we read about in Acts chapter 4 and 5, who, whenever somebody had a need, they were able to give and they had enough and they were sharing all that.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Twenty years later, the church in Jerusalem is no longer the church that is giving, it's now the church that is needing.

And Paul is reaching out to this body of believers in Corinth because of the persecution and the hard times that the church that once sold fields to meet each other's need has become the church in needs.

Generosity tends to come in full circle, doesn't it?

When we give, we receive, and when we need, others give to us.

And so he's writing to them.

And notice the image that Paul reaches for not a field, but a seed.

Verse uh 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6, it says this remember, whoever sows, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

2 Corinthians 9:6

And whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

You don't even have to believe the Bible to actually nod affirming that statement.

Basically, the world would say you get out of it what you put into it.

Where that seed is planted, produces something.

So on Thursday night I was with the team.

How many of you were here that team night?

Team night, hey, some of you, yeah.

If you don't have your hand up, you need to get on a team, but that's the story for another day.

But we were here and we had Chicago style pizza.

And I shared this picture, so I'm gonna share it with all of you because I want you guys to know that I bought a vineyard in Portugal.

No, I didn't really.

Okay.

That was kind of an Ananias and Sapphira moment.

Okay.

I literally, my wife and I, we went to this vineyard a month or two ago and we bought a vine.

Like literally one vine.

And I know that it's like a marketing ploy.

Please don't, please don't rain on my parade, okay?

I get it.

Twenty people probably own this vine.

It's fine.

I own a vineyard in Portugal, and that's where we're gonna leave it, right?

And here's the reality that I'm told that in a few months, because they're harvesting now, that I'm supposed to receive at my home a case or two of the wine that's produced from this vineyard, if not these vines that I own.

That's pretty cool, right?

But here's the deal about the about this vine.

The vine, the reality is I had nothing to do with it.

That I'm gonna get the bottles and hopefully I'm gonna pour a glass of wine.

It's gonna be really good wine, and I'm gonna enjoy that wine.

But I never planted anything in Portugal.

I never planted the vine.

I don't, I never tended the vine.

I don't know anything about how to do that.

I I'm just going to receive the benefits of someone who is sowing not just the seed, but their time and their knowledge and their efforts to produce something that's amazing, right?

And I've heard that sometimes when they plant vines, that it takes at least three or four years of just nurturing that vine and that seed before it actually produces any grapes that would be worthy of producing wine that would be worthy of drinking.

That there's so much time that goes into the production of that that you have to sow, it kind of feels like that plus ten mentality, doesn't it?

You have to sow the seed, and then you just have to be patient and you have to wait to see the benefit.

That's what sowing feels like.

Like when we're generous and we sow, we put something in the ground, we're we're not controlling what happens with that, and then it's out of our hands.

Because we believe that God, the one who the scripture says supplies the seed to the sower, is the one who actually enlarges the harvest.

And here's the thing about vines: nobody plants a vineyard for the weekend, right?

They take time and they're there.

So if we want to be a generous people, the question is not, is God able?

The question is, am I sowing?

Am I a sower?

Because if we believe that God is able, then all that is needed is for us to begin to sow from our lives into other lives, into other efforts that God is doing and where God is working.

Sometimes it's easier just to be in what we what I call me mode versus sow mode, right?

Me mode is when me, me, me, me, me, me, me, right?

I care about me.

Everybody else can be in line waiting for coffee, but I'm in a hurry.

And I should be able to go to the front of the line, right?

Because it's about me, right?

I can't believe all the other drivers on the freeway are such terrible drivers, but not me.

Me, me, right?

We we we we just naturally are sort of me mode.

And what generosity should look like is when we suppress that me mode, right?

That's and we we take on a selflessness and we begin to sow.

What are others needing?

What can I give to others?

Well, how can I contribute to the church as a whole as a whole?

What can that really look like?

Paul gives us the principle sow generously, reap generously, and trust that God is the one who's going to supply the harvest.

But again, these principles, easy to nod at, a lot harder to live.

It's one thing to agree that yes, God can do anything and God is able.

It's another to hand him your last of anything, and then to trust that he is going to multiply it.

And that brings us to our third scene: from a remote field to a seed to the Sea of Galilee.

And that's where we talk about what does generosity look like on me and what does it look like on you?

And I want to use the basket as a focal point.

You'll understand here in a moment.

But that's where we jump to Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

And this is a scene where Jesus is with his disciples and he is in the peak of his ministry.

Crowds are gathering.

They've heard about this rabbi who talks about the kingdom of God on another level that no one's ever heard.

And he says radical things like, Blessed are those who are persecuted, love your enemies, turn the other cheek, go the extra mile.

He tells stories about Samaritans who are heroes.

He tells stories that have deep heavenly meanings.

And so crowds are gathering, and he's touching people, and healings are happening, and lives are being transformed.

And in Matthew chapter 14, this has been going on for a while, and he's got this rag trag tag group of disciples, followers that are fishermen and tax collectors and zealots, and they're following him, and they've been starting to be a part of the ministry as well, and they are tired.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

How many of you know ministry can make you tired, right?

Giving of yourself can make you tired.

And so the disciples are ready for a break, but instead, the crowd just keeps coming.

They just keep coming.

So you have tired disciples, you have this massive crowd with massive needs, and Jesus, who by the way has no needs, is right there in the middle of it.

And what's about what we're about to read is interesting because the disciples are tired, but Jesus is about to meet their need by using them to meet someone else's need.

He's about to throw them out of me mode into so mode.

Here's what it says in verse 15, Matthew chapter 14, if you got it in front of you.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

It says, evening is approaching.

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and they said, Jesus, this is a remote place.

We are in the middle of nowhere.

There is no convenience stores, right?

There is no Whole Foods.

DoorDash does not deliver out here.

We're in this remote place and it is already getting late.

Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.

The disciples are so caring, aren't they, in this moment?

That's not what's really happening, I think.

I think they're hungry.

I think they're tired.

I think they're reflecting that in the people.

And God's about to use their hunger to meet a need.

So Jesus responds in verse 16.

He says, they don't need to go away, Jesus replies.

You give them something to eat.

Nice.

Isn't it so frustrating?

When you you when you when God shows you a need bigger than your own sometimes?

It's so frustrating.

You're like, no, God, I have this need.

And God's like, yeah, but look at that need, and look how you can be connected to that with a generous spirit.

And you'll never fully know what God is able to do unless He puts you in a situation where you are not able to do anything except sow into that moment.

Some of you walked in here today and you have a need right now.

You have a thing right now in your life where the need is bigger than what you perceive the supply to be.

It might be physical, it might be relational, it might be a decision you're facing.

And I would submit to you that's exactly where God is ready to show up if we can live this way.

Because in verse 17, they kind of bring what they have.

It says, here's what we have, Jesus.

We have here only five loaves of bread, two fish.

Basically, a snack.

We have a snack, and there are thousands of people.

Jesus is like, perfect.

Why?

Because you have what you have open-handed, you're going to begin to sow it, and God is able, and God is going to multiply your generosity to meet the need that is present in the moment.

And they did the feeding, and in the midst of the feeding, they moved from me mode to sow mode, and God multiplied it.

Verse 20, they all ate.

Everyone got something to eat, and they were satisfied.

And the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Don't miss that.

Remember the hungry disciples?

We need to eat.

We're tired.

Jesus says, You're going to eat and you're going to have leftovers to take home for tomorrow and the next day.

12 baskets of leftovers produced from these five loaves of bread and two fish.

You say, Lee, how did that happen?

Let me tell you, I have no idea.

But it happened.

But I know how it wouldn't have happened.

It wouldn't have happened if the five loaves and the two fish wouldn't have been supplied as a seed.

And when that seed is applied to a situation, it begins to multiply.

It begins to multiply.

And it's interesting is the crowd's needs were met at the same time the disciples' needs were met.

And here's the connection that we close with today from that moment.

Think about the men, the disciples, who were passing out the bread that evening to the thousands that were gathered and were hungry.

Think about the men, the disciples, who then took baskets and gathered up all the remnants and the leftovers.

We learned that there's 12 baskets full.

If you fast forward back to where we began our conversation this morning in Acts 4 and Acts 5, who were the people that Barnabas came and laid the money at their feet?

Who were the people that Ananias and Sapphira came when they sold the field and laid it at the feet?

It was the same disciples who learned in that field, in that moment, what it was like to take five loaves of bread, not enough, and two fish, not enough, and to begin to feed a crowd.

It's so interesting that they learned on that hillside that day that God is able, and years later, they were in the middle of leading a movement and making sure that there were no needs that were not met.

And they were curating generosity, partly because of what they had learned at that time.

So that's where it comes to you and I.

I know you can't get away without it.

What is it in you and what is it in me that brings us to a point where we can be open-handed and generous?

Maybe it's our time.

Maybe it's our skill that we have, some talent or skill that God is asking us to invest in others.

Maybe it's a relationship that you need to invest more time in.

You need to invest more deeply in.

And maybe it is your finances.

It's the resources that you have that you can invest and be generous with.

What God has blessed you with, that you can turn around and bless others.

Be a part of what God is doing here at New North.

Be part of what God is doing in this community and in this city.

Maybe what you have even feels small next to the need that you feel.

But I would encourage you to begin to pick that thing or things and begin to live open-handed.

And if we go back to Jerusalem one more time and we think about the two men plus the fire and the two fields, they did the same action.

They both sold their property, they both laid the money at the apostles' feet.

It all looked the same, but God knew the difference, right?

Because one thing was show and the other thing was sow.

When you show, when you when you show is your is your catalyst or your why behind generosity, you need an audience.

When you sow, you just need soil to sow in.

When you show, it's all about what people see.

When you sow, it's what God can grow and God can do through that.

When you show, the moment ends when the applause stops.

But when you sow, it just is getting started.

You don't even know what that's gonna produce in people.

And don't miss what happens after Ananias and Sapphira's funeral.

They do the funerals, and you think, man, I wonder how the church is going to recover from this incident.

Well, it didn't shut down.

Look what it says in verse 14.

Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

Sometimes it's dramatic moments like that that show us more and more what God is up to, what God is able to do, and where God is intending us to be.

So let's do the math again.

Can we do that?

Remember the minus 10 year you again?

Remember that person?

Go back there, think about them for just a moment.

Think about that 10 years ago you and the decisions you made that you are living out right now.

Well, right now, no, do the math.

Right now, you are doing the same for that future you, that plus ten you.

So one more time I ask the question what will plus ten you and Bill and Sally and Ben and Ashley, what will plus ten you thank today's you for doing and being and being?

Maybe it'll be something like this thank you so much for opening the hands that you so desperately wanted to close and being generous.

Maybe plus ten you will say, thank you for giving when no one was watching and there was no applause.

Maybe plus ten you will say, thank you for planting seeds in lives and in resources and in places that you will never see grow.

Maybe they'll say basically, thank you for handing over the five loaves and the two fishes of your life, even when you were kind of hungry yourself, but you were planting those seeds.

Barnabas had no idea we'd be talking about a field that he sold 2,000 plus years later.

He just opened his hands and let God do the work.

A field, a seed, a basket full of leftovers.

So here's the invitation I leave you with today of New North.

What are we gonna bring with open hands?

Where have we been a little bit like this, right?

We're afraid, we're scared.

I get it, right?

We're we're we're holding on tight.

Where do we need to do this?

Where do we need to be open?

Where we will be that church where people go, that that church, they are generous.

Man, I don't know a lot about them, but I know how generous they are.

That person, that individual, that church as a whole, they are a generous group of people.

I don't know even where it comes from, but we know it's catalytic because it's what God's doing in our life.

Amen.

Amen.

Stand with me, will you?

All the way in the back to the front, just stand for a second.

I want you to do this, just uh just close your eyes.

I'm gonna invite the prayer team, if you're nearby, just to come and kind of join me up here in the front.

But if you're in the seat standing, just kind of close your eyes for a second.

I hope this is true.

I believe it is, that when we take an hour, hour and 15 minutes of our of our weeks on a Sunday and we walk into this space and all the effort that maybe you had to make to get here, and all that that took us to come and stand and sit in these seats, God, I just pray that we would say, Let's leave different a little bit, right?

Let's leave transformed, let's let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit does.

So we're just gonna take a moment before we head out into our weeks.

And I want to invite you to ask the question, where do I need to open my hands?

Where does generosity and a spirit of generosity need to take a harder place in my life?

And I want to challenge you to be as specific as possible, not generally like, oh, I just want to be a more generous peep person.

I love that.

But where is it that if you're honest, you need to release?

And our prayer team is here in the front.

And as we as we just spend a moment in reflection and worship together, the words you're about to hear speak directly to this moment.

Speak directly to what the Holy Spirit wants to place in our hearts.

And if you feel led and you just want to walk down an aisle, make your way out of the seat and come and join the prayer team here in front, they would love to just pray with you.

Maybe just cement the decisions you're making, or if you have other needs that you brought in here today and you just need prayer before you leave, this is your time to step forward.

All right.

Let me pray for you.

And then these altars are open.

You can just come and be prayed for.

Take advantage of that and allow us just to leave here, transformed.

God, we thank you for this moment.

We thank you for what you're doing in and through us as a people and as a church.

God, I pray that in the next few moments we would be more open-handed than ever.

God, that we would determine to be transformed by your Holy Spirit, that generosity would flow out of us.

God, that we would plant seeds, fill baskets because you are able.

God, let these altars be a place in the next few moments of life change.

God, let them be a place of conviction and commitment.

We invite you into this room in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And we want to stay connected.

So don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, and that way you'll be notified the moment we have new content go live.

And if you'd like uh more resources or to donate to our ministry, just simply go to newnorth.church.

Thanks again for joining us.

God bless you, and we'll see you right here next time.