Today, we wrap up our three part series that we have called, “This Is What We Do.” This has been a teaching on money and the power it can have in your life.
One of the topics that people don’t like to talk about is their money. And we hear that a church will talk about it, we tend to avoid it even more or we put that there is some sort of agenda attached to it. I want you to know right off the bat, we have no hidden agenda when it comes to this series. We don’t need your money as God has provided amazingly for our church.
In this first week of this series, I told you that I want to make a distinction between giving and being generous. The difference in these two things is the posture of your heart.
If there is a mark that should be on The Assembly, I hope that it is said that we are a generous church. That not only are we generous, but we are extravagantly generous. Meaning that we are people who look for opportunities to bless and to be blessed. We know that all that we have comes from our heavenly father and we trust Him with all that we have.
Because of what God has done for our lives, he didn’t hold anything back from us, we should be people of extravagant generosity.
John 3:16 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Because God loved us, He held nothing back and gave His very best to us! We as believers should have the same mindset. We hold nothing back and give as we are led for the sake of the world!
We want to break that scarcity cycle in our lives and break the mindset that leads us to hold on. If we do this, even with as little as we perceive that we have, it can be made into much for the kingdom and it will come back to you as well.
Luke 6:38 (ESV) give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
When you start realizing that letting go of what is in your hands and placing it back into God’s, is the key to living a life of abundance and genorostity.
Generosity Cycle is like the Scarcity cycle in that once you get some momentum rolling, it’s hard to stop.
Scarcity Cycle…God provides, We consume, We lack, We fear
Generosity Cycle…God provides, We give Back, God multiplies, Faith grows
God gets the ball rolling quickly is this momentum just as the enemy robs you in scarcity. He does just bless, he multiplies what we give and what we have left. When that happens, our faith grows and we want to see him do it again!
God is an abundant giver. I told you last week, its his nature and in his DNA to be a giver. When we catch the heart of God in our lives, we become givers as well. Because we reflect what has our worship.
So today, as we wrap up this series, I’m not going to go too long, because I want to show you how our giving is making a difference at the end of this message.
But I do want to share with you three different ways that we as followers of Christ can break the scarcity cycle in our lives and to learn to faithfully give. Now this is beyond our tithe. We learned the first week that the tithe is God’s already. We don’t what belongs to him. It’s his. What we are talking about is learning to be generous in our lives.
We give spontaneously!
This is probably one of the most common ways that we show generosity in our lives. That’s because it shows up when we see needs. Because God has our hearts we are usually moved by things that come up.
Spontaneous giving is unplanned. It is what is needed in the moment. For instance, we see spontaneous giving when:
Hurricanes
Tornados
Natural Disasters
Hear of someone in need
Maybe when we pass the homeless person asking
These are times that we are just presented with an opportunity on the spot. When God moves on our heart, we are willing to do more than just the bare minimum to help out.
The truth is, when we see these moments come up, we are honored to join to help someone else out.
A few years ago, while we were pastoring in Hernando, MS, the region of East Mississippi and West Alabama (Birmingham) were hit with a violent string of tornados. Our church had a member whose family was from that area and he was going to go over to help rebuild some areas, but the issue was the needs that the people had. Many lost everything.
So our church (LifeHouse Church) took up an offering and asked for supplies. Our church took up so much just in house, that we had to rent a U-Haul Trailer to get it all over there. That was a spontaneous response to a need that was in front of us.
The bible teaches us about how this looks too.
Luke 10 tells us the story of the good samaritan. It was a parable to show how we should reach out to those that have a need. In this story, Jesus tells us that a Samaritan man stopped when no one else would to help a battered man.
But the spontaneity doesn’t stop there. He took him to a hotel to be cared for.
Luke 10:34-35 (ESV) 34He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
Spontaneous giving is generosity because it goes beyond what is expected to meet the need. This man had a need and Samaritan did what he could to help out.
Spontaneously we will reach out to help in moments like these because THIS IS WHAT WE DO. We meet needs because God meets our needs. When we are drawing close to Him in prayer, we can step out when He leads us to do something.
2. We give strategically.
For the more than 25 years I have been in ministry, I have heard people say that they wish they could do more than what they are able to right now. The truth is, you can. But it wont happen because of spontaneity. It will happen because we start to plan to be a giver.
People who plan in any area of their life do it because it is who they are.
Some people will save all year for vacations or Christmas, because they want to enjoy those moments and have more for their family. There is nothing wrong with that. But rarely do we hear of those that save so that they can be more generous.
The truth is you get what you plan for. If you plan is to consume, you will consume. I hear people who have their money spent before the check gets there sometimes, but it has nothing to do with need, but with wants. Usually, those people get caught in a rut of scarcity.
There is never enough!
If you caught in the rut of only giving what you feel like you can, you never will be generous in your life. Generosity is not born out of what you could have done, but what you did do with what you had.
We know that a strategic plan starts with our tithe. We have already designated that first 10% to God, because it is His. You and your family have to decide that before you even begin. That plan says that the starting point is that 10% but maybe, we could do more to further the kingdom.
God didn’t design you nor I to be spiritual consumers…we are designed to be spiritual contributors. When we make a plan to say 10% starts it, but I want to add 1% more for missions or whatever. You are making a plan to dictate to your finances and your situation that God is the source!
Isaiah 32:8 (ESV) But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.
Isaiah 32:8 (NLT) But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.
Most have a plan for their money…but so do generous people! They plan to be generous!
What could a plan look like for you? Maybe it saving a little bit up out of every check to give a one time offering at the beginning of the year. Maybe it is sitting down and planning to add 1% more to your tithe each week.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Meaning that you will never exceed the generosity that you plan for. Our church to this point has been giving as needs arise because of your generosity. But we also give each month to support missionaries. We also plan every month to send in our support of the Tennessee Ministry Network out of what comes in. We are giving from our general fund because who we are and THIS IS WHAT WE DO.
We are not going to accidentally fall into becoming generous, you need a plan! Every one of us can give more to God when we plan to do it!
Generous people do what is generous!
3. We give sacrificially!
Mark 12:41-44 (ESV) 41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
If you are going to break the power of scarcity in your life, you have to learn that generosity will cost you something. It will require you to sacrifice.
I know the Bible teaches us that obedience is better than sacrifice, but it doesn’t negate the power of sacrifice. This woman had nothing, but yet gave all she had.
Jesus was watching all of this and didn’t stop her. He let her to do it. In her poverty, she was generous. There are times that in our wealth we become stingy and wonder why we barely make ends meet. The sacrifice of giving may be the difference in someone hearing the gospel or not. God blesses the sacrifice offered in the right posture.
When was the last time you gave and it cost you something. It may cost you a night out, or even that Sunday afternoon meal. But if God leads us to do it, there is reward in the future.
We give because God loves cheerful givers and those that can be led to meet the needs of the day. It is truly better to give than to receive. When we do that, it releases the power that money has on our lives. The sacrifice in the Bible was giving up something in worship to the one who provided it to begin with.
You see, as a church, we will be generous, because of who God is, THIS IS WHAT WE DO! We will not hold back because when we do, we miss the greater blessing that God has for our lives.
I believe that God has the perfect building for our church and that it will be a blessing not a curse to us because we are generous and God rewards those who faithfully follow and obey Him.
I want to share with you a few short videos to show the power of giving today…
Isaiah 117 House….Local Missions
NewSpring Church…State Missions
Adam Quinn…..Foreign Missions (Costa Rica Church Plant)