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Andy Stanley - Inflection Point: Pathway to Prosperity Part 2 · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, last week we celebrated the midpoint of our Deeper
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Wider Generosity initiative, and all that's already happened, which is remarkable.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: If you weren't here, you're gonna want to check that out.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It's so inspiring to see how much wider the impact
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: because of our collector collective deeper investment. I want to
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: welcome also all of our Atlanta area churches as well
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: as our partners joined us across the city, across the nation,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: around the world.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: It's awesome to be connected today.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: And one of the things we talked about last week
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: involves you, especially if you're not in the Atlanta area,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: because of the generosity of people in our churches here,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: we're witnessing some extraordinary things happening in our network of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: churches and in our organization that we call an inflection point.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: It's sort of this thing that you look back on
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: you realize, you know, we're here a year later, going wow,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: we didn't expect that to happen. We had some expectations,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: but we didn't expect that to happen. And what an
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: inflection point is we talked about last week. It's when
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a change in direction occurs. It looks like this. If
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: you're thinking math, mattex or economics, it kind of looks
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: like this.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: And if you're a business owner, you've seen things like this.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: You've seen charts like this, And here's one of the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: things that you know is this happens because of a moment,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: because of an event, or because of something that shifts direction.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: It's a tipping point, it's a watershed moment.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: There's lots of different ways to describe this, but it
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: can also represent positive or negative change. It could be
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: a positive or negative shift. It could be that the
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: point was back here, that something happened that slowed this growth,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and then you begin a downward trend. And some of
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: you've experienced that. You experienced that in business or you've
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: experienced that personally. But there's also this point where you
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: experience something and right away you don't see a positive change.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: You don't see this turnaround, you don't see something remarkable.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: But this is actually when the decline slowed and things
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: began to turn around. And looking back is when it's clear.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: It's not always clear in the moment. December one, nineteen
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: fifty five, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: on a bus in Montgomery. Now, in the moment, people thought,
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  Speaker 1: it's just another arrest, it's just another miss moment of discrimination,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: a mistreatment of a human person. But this actually led
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: to something significant in Montgomery.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: It was called the Montgomery Bus boycott.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And there are people of all races who decided they
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: were going to boycott.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: The bus in Montgomery.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: And this lasted for three hundred and eighty one days,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and it became national news.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: And because of that, it catapulted.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: A young, little known, young twenty six year old Baptist
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  Speaker 1: preacher and gave him a platform, a massive platform for
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  Speaker 1: what became the civil rights movement. And it's obvious now,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: but not on the bus on that December in nineteen
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: fifty five. Now, this happens culturally, this happens organizationally, and
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  Speaker 1: this happens personally. You've likely experienced it. You didn't know
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: in the moment, but when you were looking back on
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: your life, when you first met that person, maybe it
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: was your spouse as a significant other, Maybe it was
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: somebody who gave you an opportunity, it was somebody who
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: made an introduction for you.
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  Speaker 2: It's somebody who took a chance on you when you.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Said yes, to that opportunity, or you said yes to
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  Speaker 1: that new job, or you said.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Yes to that proposal.
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  Speaker 1: And when you stepped out, maybe you stepped out on
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: your own, or maybe you stepped out and you.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Took a risk.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: You look back and you think, when I think back
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: to that moment, things changed, and this can happen, as
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: you know, for better or for worse. Years ago, when
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I graduated from college in nineteen ninety six, the Olympics
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: were happening in Atlanta, and I had a job to
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: go to.
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  Speaker 2: But I thought, when else in my home country.
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  Speaker 1: Are the Olympics going to be happening? And I don't
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  Speaker 1: have anything I really had to do. I wasn't dating anybody,
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't married. The job would was ready for me
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  Speaker 1: whenever I showed up at it, which is a nice
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  Speaker 1: job to have. It was sort of one of those things.
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  Speaker 1: I thought, I'm gonna move to Atlanta for the summer
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  Speaker 1: for the Olympics.
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  Speaker 2: And I moved down here to the summer that summer
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  Speaker 2: and I.
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  Speaker 1: Own knew one family and I was staying with them
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  Speaker 1: and I was volunteering at their church, and then I
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  Speaker 1: went to a summer camp with their students. I was
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: serving and I met a guy named Louis Giglio at
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  Speaker 1: this camp and he was a speaker, and I met
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: him afterwards and he said, oh, you live in Atlanta,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: because the camp wasn't in Atlanta. He said, you need
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  Speaker 1: to come to my Bible study. And I thought, this
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  Speaker 1: guy's amazing. If he's inviting me to his Bible study,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to show up. And now I grew up
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  Speaker 1: in the North so Bible study for me was like
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: eight people in a circle like that was Bible study.
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  Speaker 1: But his Bible study was called seven twenty two. It
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  Speaker 1: had a name, and it was a room full of
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  Speaker 1: people like this. It was a massive group of people
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  Speaker 1: that were my age, young single adults in Atlanta. And
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  Speaker 1: I showed up and I was like, I have no
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  Speaker 1: idea what's going on here, but I want to be
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  Speaker 1: a part of what's happening here.
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  Speaker 2: And that's how I found North Point, a church. North Point.
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  Speaker 1: It just started and and it changed the trajectory of
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  Speaker 1: my life forever.
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  Speaker 2: When I look back, it was an inflection point.
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  Speaker 1: Now, inflection points can happen in almost every area of
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  Speaker 1: our lives. But there's one area one I want to
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  Speaker 1: talk about today. There's one that impacts almost every area
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  Speaker 1: of our life. It can happen in almost any area.
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  Speaker 1: But there's one that impacts almost every area of your
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  Speaker 1: life and mine.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm not gonna bury the lead. I'm gonna be
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  Speaker 2: up front. Here's what it is. It's generosity.
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  Speaker 1: Generosity is it has the potential to be an inflection
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  Speaker 1: point in your life. And if you're brand new, you're
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  Speaker 1: brand new to one of our churches, You're brand new
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  Speaker 1: here today.
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  Speaker 2: The reality is your thing. And I knew it.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I showed up at this big church and
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  Speaker 1: I knew they were gonna be talking about money.
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  Speaker 2: So here's what I wanna. I wanna.
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  Speaker 1: I want to relieve you of just for a second today.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want anything from you. I want something for you.
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  Speaker 1: And the truth is is I've seen over and over
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  Speaker 1: in people's lives generosity become an extraordinary inflection point that
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  Speaker 1: when they embrace the true value of.
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  Speaker 2: Generosity, it changed everything.
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  Speaker 1: I want to try to today, maybe expand your definition
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  Speaker 1: of what you think generosity is, where it comes from,
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  Speaker 1: and why it exists.
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  Speaker 2: So I want to start there. Let's start with this.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think of what comes to mind when
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  Speaker 1: you think of generosity. If you were going to come
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  Speaker 1: up with a definition, I don't want you to use
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  Speaker 1: your phone. I don't want you to use chat. But
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  Speaker 1: if you were going to to write a definition of generosity,
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  Speaker 1: I just want you to think for a minute, what
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  Speaker 1: would that be.
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  Speaker 2: We all know it when we see it, but how
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  Speaker 2: do you define it? Like? What is it? Specifically?
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  Speaker 1: Maybe think of something you've seen or someone you've seen
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  Speaker 1: in their generosity. What epitomizes or personifies generosity. While you're
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  Speaker 1: thinking about that, here's where I want to jump in
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  Speaker 1: because one of the things I've seen so common is
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  Speaker 1: most of us think we know where generosity come from.
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  Speaker 2: But today I want to.
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  Speaker 1: I want to I want to sort of pull back
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  Speaker 1: the curtain. In fact, I want to go back to
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  Speaker 1: the very beginning. I want to help us discover where
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  Speaker 1: generosity comes from. Because most people believe generosity is the
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  Speaker 1: result of prosperity. We think generosity is a direct result
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  Speaker 1: of prosperity. Here's what this sounds like. If I had more,
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  Speaker 1: I'd give more.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna ask you raise your hand.
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  Speaker 1: If you ever thought that, because I'm not gonna some
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  Speaker 1: of you wouldn't raise your hand you'd be lying in church,
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  Speaker 1: and that's a bad thing.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm gonna I'm not gonna put you in that position.
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  Speaker 1: But here's the thing. We think, if I had more,
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  Speaker 1: i'd give more. People who have more, people who are
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  Speaker 1: prosperous should be generous, which turns out actually isn't the case.
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  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, according to IRS data, the
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  Speaker 1: IRS tax return data over decades. This is sustained over decades.
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  Speaker 1: So this isn't just I'm not cherry picking data. You
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  Speaker 1: can go look this up for yourself. IRS tax return
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  Speaker 1: data over generations. People who make under fifty thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: a year give roughly on average in the US, give
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  Speaker 1: three to five percent of their income away. They give
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  Speaker 1: it towards philanthropy, towards their church, towards other nonprofit organizations.
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  Speaker 2: People who make one hundred to two.
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  Speaker 1: Hundred thousand dollars a year they give away two to
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  Speaker 1: three percent of their income, and people who make over
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  Speaker 1: a million dollars a year.
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  Speaker 2: Give one to two percent of their income.
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  Speaker 1: Now, there are outliers to this, and maybe you're the exception,
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  Speaker 1: but the truth is this is the average. These are
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  Speaker 1: the national average that have sustained over decades. It turns
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  Speaker 1: out the more you have, it's not true that that
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  Speaker 1: more you give if you have more. This is not
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  Speaker 1: only true on an individual level, this is true nationally.
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  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty five World Giving Report. Again, all this is
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  Speaker 1: public information, the World Giving Report. Low income nations in
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  Speaker 1: the US, many Third world nations and other nations give
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  Speaker 1: roughly one point four five percent of their gross national
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  Speaker 1: income GNI. Of their GNI they give one point four
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  Speaker 1: five percent of their gross national income to four and eight.
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  Speaker 1: Amongst the highest or the high income nations, they give
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  Speaker 1: only about zero point seven percent, so they're half as
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  Speaker 1: generous as the low income nations. See, we think the
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  Speaker 1: more prosperous you are, the more generous you are.
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  Speaker 2: The fact, that's why some of us brave. God.
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  Speaker 1: If you'll bless me, I'll give. If you'll bless me,
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  Speaker 1: i'll help. If you'll give to me, I'll support. And
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  Speaker 1: the truth is is that's not only not really the
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  Speaker 1: way it works, It's not true statistically, it's also not
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  Speaker 1: true biblically. In fact, the relationship between generosity and prosperity
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  Speaker 1: is just the opposite, according to Solomon. Solomon wrote in Proverbs,
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  Speaker 1: which is part of the wisdom of literature. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: he wrote. He said, a generous person will prosper. Not
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  Speaker 1: a prosperous person is generous. A generous person will prosper.
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  Speaker 1: Generosity is not the result of prosperity. Generosity, according to Solomon,
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  Speaker 1: is the pathway to prosperity. Now, if if you're a
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  Speaker 1: little bit skeptical, I'm gonna illustrate this with one of
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  Speaker 1: my favorite stories. If you have a Bible, Genesis chapter four,
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  Speaker 1: you open your Bible, turn to it in your your
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  Speaker 1: your Bible app device.
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  Speaker 2: I would love for you to follow along.
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  Speaker 1: We're just gonna look at a few of the verses,
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  Speaker 1: but we're gonna look at them in context and embedded
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  Speaker 1: in this story.
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  Speaker 2: And here's how I want to I want to come
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  Speaker 2: to it a.
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  Speaker 1: More holistic definition of generosity. Embedded in this story are
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  Speaker 1: the three key elements of generosity. And we could talk.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe there's four, maybe there's five. I think there's at
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  Speaker 1: least four key elements. There's generosity. Where does generosity come from?
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  Speaker 1: What are we generous with? So there's giving from, there's
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  Speaker 1: giving with, and there's giving two. When you think about
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: the three key elements, it's it's Where am I giving from,
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  Speaker 1: what's the place I'm giving from, Why am I giving it?
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  Speaker 1: What am I giving with? What are the resources? What
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  Speaker 1: am I being generous with? Because there's lots of different
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  Speaker 1: ways to be generous. And then what am I giving
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  Speaker 1: to or what's my generosity going toward. So in this story,
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  Speaker 1: we not only see these three things, but we're gonna
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  Speaker 1: see why generosity is often an inflection point and a
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  Speaker 1: lack of generosity work's the opposite. It's an inflection point
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  Speaker 1: towards the negative, and it can lead to places none
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  Speaker 1: of us want to end up.
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  Speaker 2: So here's the context. Genesis.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter four is the story of canaan Abel. Some of
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: you are like, you're excited about the story of canaan Abel.
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  Speaker 1: I'm it's an old story. And I'll just say this,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the oldest stories are the best stories. Only the best
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: parts of those stories are preserved because they're so old.
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  Speaker 2: And in this story, it's so rich with truth.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, someday I'm gonna do a whole series just
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  Speaker 1: on on.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the oldest stories. But but here's here's what's happening.
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  Speaker 1: The first humans are figuring out life outside of the garden,
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  Speaker 1: outside of paradise, and there they've they've been move from
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  Speaker 1: the garden.
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  Speaker 2: And Adam and Eve have two children.
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  Speaker 1: First they have a son named Cain, and then they
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  Speaker 1: have a son named Abel. So Kine's the oldest, Able's
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  Speaker 1: the youngest. Adam and Eve two kids, family of four.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what we find out Genesis chapter four, verse three,
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  Speaker 1: is the first thing we know about Canaan Abel.
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  Speaker 2: In the course of time, Cain brought some of the
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  Speaker 2: fruits of the soil as.
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  Speaker 1: An offering to the Lord. So he's canes of a farmer,
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  Speaker 1: and he brings some of the fruits, some of the
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  Speaker 1: stuff that the soils produce, and he brings as an
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  Speaker 1: offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering,
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  Speaker 1: but he brought the fat portions from some of the
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  Speaker 1: first born of his flock. So, as I said, Kines
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  Speaker 1: a farmer, Ables a shepherd. And here's what we're introduced.
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  Speaker 1: We're introduced to them. The first thing they're doing is
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  Speaker 1: they're making sacrifices. Does anybody else think that's strange? I mean,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: they're sacrificing, and they're making sacrifices, and they're kind of
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: making these burnt offerings to God. But they're making sacrifices.
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  Speaker 1: And if you don't think that's strange, it's because you
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  Speaker 1: know too much. And here's the reality is, we don't
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  Speaker 1: really know why they're doing this, like where does this
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  Speaker 1: come from?
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  Speaker 2: Why are they making sacrifices to God?
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  Speaker 1: Because we don't have any instructions to this point that
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  Speaker 1: this is something people are supposed to do.
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  Speaker 2: See, we're all looking back.
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  Speaker 1: But if you're reading the story and you don't know
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  Speaker 1: anything else that comes after the story, you're going, wait,
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  Speaker 1: why are they doing this? And there's only three chapters
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  Speaker 1: before this. So here's the quick backstory. The creation story
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  Speaker 1: is Genesis one and two, and when God creates everything,
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  Speaker 1: he looked at all and he goes, it's good. This
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  Speaker 1: is the ideal. This represents the ideal in the world.
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  Speaker 1: He looked at everything he created and he said, this
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  Speaker 1: is good. The man and the woman they have purpose,
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  Speaker 1: they have meaningful work that they're doing. They're together, there's
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  Speaker 1: nothing between them, which this is how this is the
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  Speaker 1: Bible describes. And this feels awkward, but they're naked and
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  Speaker 1: unashamed because they have nothing to be ashamed of. There's
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: nothing between them. It describes perfection, perfect relationship, and there's
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  Speaker 1: just one rule. When God has us everything exactly as
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: he wants it, there's just one rule. He said, I
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: want you to trust me by not eating of the
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  Speaker 1: garden of the tree in the garden that's in the
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: center of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: good and evil. Some of you know how the story
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: goes Genesis chapter three. The man the woman decide to
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  Speaker 1: disobey God. They don't trust God, and because of that,
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  Speaker 1: the ideal is lost. Sin enters the world. There's brokenness.
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  Speaker 2: They realize as their eyes are open, they realize that.
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  Speaker 1: They're naked, and in their shame, they cover up and hide.
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  Speaker 1: And isn't this exactly what we do? I mean, even
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: if you're here, you're new to the Bible, And.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think this doesn't exist? I don't know about Genesis.
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  Speaker 2: It's it's old. We don't have any proof of this.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, no, the person who wrote it, they're not
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  Speaker 1: an eyewitness. Okay, great, all that? Isn't this true?
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  Speaker 2: See?
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  Speaker 1: When we're when we sin, we make mistakes, the things
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  Speaker 1: that we're ashamed of, we cover up and hide. We
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  Speaker 1: do it from each other, her, we do it from God.
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  Speaker 1: And we were shamed, so we hide and it's interesting.
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  Speaker 1: God comes looking for them, they can't find them. And
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: before they were experiencing this community with one another in
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  Speaker 1: the garden, and God says, hey, where are you, Adam, Eve,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: where are you? He realizes they're hiding, and he's like,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: what did you do? How do they respond? Adam says,
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  Speaker 1: the woman you gave me, it's her.
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  Speaker 2: She you. It was your idea to have this.
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  Speaker 1: Woman, and you gave her to me, and she did
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  Speaker 1: this and she gave it to me. And then the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: woman Eve, she's she's looking at Adam and she hadn't
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  Speaker 1: noticed that. She's like the serpent you created, this isn't me.
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  Speaker 1: And this is what we all do.
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  Speaker 2: We want to shift.
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  Speaker 1: The view off of us. We want to shift the
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: blame off, blame off of us. We don't want to
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: be in the hot seat. We don't want to deal
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: with the heat, so we blame other people and stead
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: to take a responsibility. And notice how God responds, this
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  Speaker 1: is amazing.
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  Speaker 2: They betrayed him. They didn't listen.
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  Speaker 1: After all he had done and created and the paradise
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: he had placed them in, they betrayed him and didn't
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: listen to him, and the Lord God made clothing from
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: animal skins for Adam and his wife. Where did he
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: get the animal skins? See, this is the first act
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: of generosity that we know of. God sacrifices something. He created,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: something that belonged to him, and he sacrificed it for them.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: They disobeyed and they betrayed, and he sacrificed, and he
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: clothed and he covered them in their shame. Isn't it
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: true when you think of that, you think he didn't
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: have to do that. He didn't have to do that.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: That was not necessary. It was above and beyond. And
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: isn't that how we describe generosity Like that is the epitome.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: That's the gold standard of generosity. You didn't have to
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: do that.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: That was not necessary, that was above and beyond. And
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: this is where Cain and Abel got the idea. This
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: is why they're making sacrifices. They're making sacrifices in response
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: to what God had done for them. This is the
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: first step. The truth is true generosity comes from a heart,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: and it comes specifically from a heart of gratitude. The
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: truth is this is when we're really grateful, people that
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: are really grateful, people that realize that much of what
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: they have or all of what they have, came from
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: somebody else.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Generosity naturally flows from that.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: It's realizing that everything I have is a gift. My
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: life is a gift, my health is a gift, My
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: relationships are a gift, My talents are a gift, My
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: strengths are a gift, My opportunities are a gift. My
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: work is a gift, my resources are a gift. Everything
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I have is a gift that's been given to me.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: You see, the genesis of generosity is not giving to,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: but being given to. That's where generosity begins. True generosity
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: comes from somebody who recognizes that everything they have is
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: a gift. I have you ever thought about this? It's
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: gonna be a little bit of a down everything you've
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: ever given. Sometimes we think, you know, I'm super generous.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Everything you've ever given was given to you. That means
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: everything you've ever given is a regift.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: We're all regifters. And the truth is is we're regifters.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Because everything we've got was given to us, or we
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: use something that was given.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: To us to generate generate what we have.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: And when you begin to realize that everything I have
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and everything I am, and every opportunity, every relationship is
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a gift. You begin to have a heart of gratitude
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: and you're willing to make a sacrifice.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Truly generous people realize.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: That everything they have is given to them, and they're
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: most often the most generous people are also the most
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: grateful people.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: You know this.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: The people that you know that are incredibly generous, they're
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: also incredibly grateful when people give things to them, or
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: grateful for what they have.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Now, it turns out not all.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Sacrifices come from truly grateful hearts.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: We know people who make.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Sacrifices who give, and they don't do it out of
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: a grateful heart. They do it begrudgingly, or they do
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: it for other reasons. And because of that, Genesis Chapter four,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: verse four. The next verse, the Lord looked with favor
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: on Able and his offering, but on Cain and his offering,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: he did not look with favor.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: How dare God? He's judging their sacrifices? Can you do that?
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Can you judge?
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: I me imagine somebody's judging your offering, judging a sacrifice.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: That you made. But think about this, we do this
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: all the time.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: This leads me to The next thing when it comes
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: to giving what we give with, when it comes to
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: you know, the resources or the things that we give with.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: We all have different definitions of generosity. And the truth
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: is is most often our strongest opinions come to things
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: of treasure. So when we think about our treasures and
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: people that give, not all giving is equal. I mean,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: and you know this, you you would you would agree
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: with this.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: You don't. You don't do this out loud. You wouldn't.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: You wouldn't judge somebody's gift.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: But you've seen people give things and you've thought, wow,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: that's really generous. And you've seen other people give things
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: of of large sums or large amounts and you're like,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I know what they have that wasn't generous, I mean
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: compared to what they have. So here's the question, how
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: do you know if a gift is generous? And the
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: truth is is we do measure. We measure in our minds, uh,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: and usually we measure by quantity. Here's what the interesting
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: thing is in this story. We don't know how much
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: they gave. We don't know the size or amount of
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: what was given or sacrificed.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: And here's what I know, because we we we all.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: We all do this when you look at certain gifts,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the size of a gift could be generous for one
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: but not for another person. Last year, I heard this
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: amazing story about one of our high school students. And
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: this high school student with somebody who came. A friend
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: had invited him. He didn't grow up in a Christian family.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: A friend had invited him, and he came, and he
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: went to our student camp one year and it changes life,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: and he met Jesus and it changes life.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: And he had a friend from school.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: About a year later, he had a friend from school
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: he knew needed to go to camp.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: The IOW Daytona camp down in Daytona.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Florida, And he was like, I've got to get my
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: friend there, and he knew his parents, his friend's parents
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: wouldn't pay for it.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: He didn't think his parents would pay for it.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: So this kid decided he was going to take extra
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: shifts and he was going to save up all his money,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and he saved up enough money so that he could
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: pay hundreds of dollars. It's not cheap to send our
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: kids down there hundreds of dollars so his friend could
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: go to camp, which I thought was incredibly generous. Now
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: it's incredibly generous for him, but somebody who makes a
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: seven figure salary, or somebody makes a whole joey. It's
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: not that it's not appreciated, not that it's not meaningful.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: We have lots of people who give to help us
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: create scholarships. But if you make a lot of money
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: and you're not a high school student, it's not that
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the difference in generosity is based on capacity. And when
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: you think about the nature of what they gave, we
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: learned we recognize that that's not all giving is sacrificial.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And the truth is is is giving has to do
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: When we talk about what we give, it has to
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: do with capacity. And when we think about capacity, we
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: think about percentage. The truth is is that kid had
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: far less than other people do, and he gave almost
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: everything he had so that his friend could.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Go to camp.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: And it's not just percentage. Think about the nature and
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: the story. A few verses ago we read in and
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Able he gave his first and best, He gave his
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the fat portions of some of the first born. It
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: wasn't only percentage for him, it was it was priority.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: There was a priority in his giving. He was gonna
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: give his first and his best, a quality gift with
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: priority to God. And in doing so he honored God,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and God looked upon his sacrifice. He looked upon his
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: giving with favor. Now Cain gave some of his fruits,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: which is almost as if to say, he made sure
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: he had enough, and he gave what he had left
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: over or what he didn't need, which is a there's
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: a very difference, and he still gave, so which we'd go, well,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: that's still generous, I guess. I mean that's he at
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: least gave, or he at least sacrifice. But this leads
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: to the third element. I mean, there's giving from where
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: we give from, there's giving with and then there's giving
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: two and and in terms of our giving too, this
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: is the target of our giving. Now, there's lots of
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: different ways to give, and I genuinely today my goal
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: is not to get you to give something to somebody
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: specific though I'm going to talk about some specific ways
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: to give and an opportunity, and I'm going to invite
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: some of you in an opportunity. But if you're here
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: today and you're skeptical about that, I want to free
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: you of that. This is as I told you earlier,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: I don't want something from you, I want something for you.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: And the truth is is, when it comes to our giving.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Though it's strange that Canaan Abel are making sacrifices in
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: the beginning, isn't it true?
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: We all do that.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: We all make sacrifices when it comes to our giving,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: when it comes to what we're willing to spend our resources,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: our most important resources, our time, our talent, and our treasure.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: And this is what Canaan and Abel are doing. And
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: you do the same thing. You're not sacrificing things and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: making burnt offerings, but you make sacrifices all the time,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: and you try to sacrifice the right things for the
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: right people at the right time so things will go
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: well for you, right, I mean, that's your you're looking
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: for for.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: You want to prosper and you want favor. You want
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: things to go well.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: And what Abel does is he sacrifices his first and
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: best for God.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: But Cain he reserves his first and best for himself.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Now here's where we would all agree The truth is
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: is is when it comes to our sacrifices. What we
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: would all agree on is that true generosity is not
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: self focused.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: It can't. It can't be.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: About your agenda or about making you look good. We've
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: seen people do this. The truth is is true generosity
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: prioritizes self sacrifice.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: And this is what we see with Abel.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: It it's self sacrifice over self interest. And and you
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: know this, when somebody makes a sacrifice and it's something
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: that that's for them first, it has to do with them.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: It's not really from a heart of gratitude from what's
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: been given to them.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: And it's not.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Really a percentage or a priority that's being targeted towards
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: God or towards somebody else. It's really about themselves. It's
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: about highlighting themselves. What it does is it reveals.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: What's really in their heart.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: In fact, this is what Jesus said, there's a relationship,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: direct relationship between the target of your treasure and your heart.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Which is why specifically financial generosity is an inflection point
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: in our lives because where your treasure is, that's where
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: your heart will be.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: If you don't want to know where your heart is,
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: just check your bank account.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: What you spend on most, what you give to most,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: because spending is giving, it's just giving to yourself. Oftentimes,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: when you're paying bills and you're buying things for yourself.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: And this isn't about guilt. So I'm not trying to
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: call anybody greedy. I mean, nobody looks in the mirror
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: and goes, I'm greedy. But here's the thing. This is
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the difference between Cain and Abel's giving, between their offerings.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Cain's offering was unfavorable because it was he was putting
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: himself first, which was not good for Cain.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: That's why it was unfavorable. It's not just God looking.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Down, judging and going I accept that. I don't accept
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: that this is not good for Cain and his stories.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: We're gonna see the second his story shows it. And
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: this is why embracing the value of true value of
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: generosity is an inflection point, because when you don't, things
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: don't go well for you. See, as I said a
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: minute ago, we try to sacrifice the right things for
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: the right reasons, for the right people, so that things
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: will go well. Uh, they'll go favorably and we'll prosper
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: in business and in marriage and in parenting and friendship.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: You know this, when before you, before you were married,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: you sacrifice differently than when you got married, and then
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: when you had kids, you sacrifice differently, and you had
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: a business and you had employees, and you have people
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: you're you're in charge of, and you have a team,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and you have relationships, and then you have grandkids and
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: and and life continues to change and you're you're constantly
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: having to make decisions about what are the right sacrifices
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: to make. And you know this, when you put yourself first,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: things don't usually go well for you. We don't prosper.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: That's that's when.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: We we realize things that were going well begin to
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: slow and we end up here. But oftentimes when we decide,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: we make a choice, when we decide to commit to
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: truly being generous, and oftentimes a lynchpins Jesus said, your
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: treasure is that's what your heart is. What changes our
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: heart first is our giving when we make a commitment,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: when we make a decision. And Caine decided he was
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: going to prioritize himself, and exactly what Solomon said happens
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: happened to him and his family. Just before our verse
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: where he says a generous person will prosper. The very
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: verse before that, he says, this one person gives freely
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: and gains even more.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: You've experienced this. Some of you.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Financially, you gave to somebody. Somebody saw your generosity. It
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: came back to you. But even even not and financially,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: sometimes that giving or that generosity came back to you
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: in terms of a level of peace. Sometimes it came
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: back to you in terms of purpose. Sometimes relationships when
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: you were generous, not just with your finances, but with
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: your time and with your forgiveness, what you did was
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: you gained more. It was favorable for you. Those were
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: the type of relationships that happened in Abeles family and
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: his family line.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: That was the legacy he set in his family.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Another another withholds unduly but become but comes to poverty unduly.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: This this is a strange word. It actually means disproportionately.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: This is directly related to percentage they hold, uphold or
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: excuse me, withhold disproportionately.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Like it doesn't even make sense as to why you
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: do that.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: And what happens is is when you hold onto things,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: you continue to lack. And isn't it true? It's like
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: more is insatiable and the more I have, the more
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: I want. And another person, Solomon says, holds on to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: and they continue to want and they come to poverty
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: or another that word can be translated as ruin. They
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: come to ruin. And this is what happened to Kane.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: He lived with a scarcity mindset. He decided even though
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: God was generous to him and decided to protect him,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: He's actually protected Kane and Abel's family by saying nobody
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: could could avenge h Abel's murder, and he did that
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: because he knew revenge and avenging his death was not
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: good for Abel's family, which was which was gracious by him,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: But he protected Kin, which was gracious towards Kan. But
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Caine decided he wasn't going to rely on God's protection
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and he decided he was going to protect his family,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: and he began to threaten people, and it was sort
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: of he lived with his mindset of trying to hold
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: on to and gain more, and gain more for himself
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: and gain more for his family, and they became divisive
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: and defensive and generations later. Ultimately one of his descendants,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: if you read the story, was a guy named Tubal
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Kane who was credited with the first weapons of war.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: His family came to ruin.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Because that's what happens when you put self first, when
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: you're not generous, when you don't put God and others
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: first ahead of yourself. It's the antithus of what Solomon said,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: and he said, a generous man will prosper. A generous
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: man is somebody who prospers in lots of areas of
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: their lives. And I love the second part of this verse.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Most people don't ever quote it. A generous man will prosper.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: And whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. This is a promise.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: This is what God does. And you've seen this, and
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: you know people that are generous, and isn't it true?
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: They're so refreshing to be around people that are that
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: are generous.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: They're there, they seem to live.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: With with greater freedom, a greater sense of purpose, a
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: greater level of peace, and when you're around them, it's
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: just it's refreshing.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: And they're not just generous financially.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: The downstream of that is they're generous with their time,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: and they're generous with their expertise, willing to help other people.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: They're generous with their paces, they're generous with their criticisms
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: and their characterizations of other people.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: It's just a better way to live now. They have
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: their struggles.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: I mean that that's true, but they seem to be prospering.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: In my experience, people that are truly generous seem to
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: be prospering in many other areas outside their life, not
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: just their finances.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: Oftentimes they're generous. I don't I don't get it.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: But they're they're, they're they're they're prosperous in their finances,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: but but also in their their marriages and their parenting,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: and their friendships and their influence and all of those things,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: all of the benefits of generosity. They reside on the
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: other side of the inflection point. They reside over here.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: And here's what I want you to know. And and again,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: some of you today, I want to free you of this.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: You think I'm trying to use this as a leverage
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: point for you, I'm not. I want something for you.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: And here's what I know. Is often, and this is
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: true in my own life, when I've decided to be
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: generous financially, when I've decided to be generous in a relationship,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: when I've decided to be generous in my account of something,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: or when I've decided to be generous in my thinking
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: of what might have been happening for somebody else as
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: to why they acted the way they did. All the
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: benefits reside over here. Now things don't always get better
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: right away, and that's why we.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: Often give up.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: We practice generosity once or giving once and we're like,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: nothing happened, because we're thinking, Okay, God.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: If I do this, will you do this?
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: But true generosity, it starts in your heart out of
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: gratitude that you give, and you give according to what
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  Speaker 1: you've been given, and you use you give with that
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  Speaker 1: towards others self sacrifice over self interest. And what happens
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  Speaker 1: is is things begin to go well for you and
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  Speaker 1: over time things begin to turn around in all the
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: benefits of living generous are on the other side of
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: that reflection point. And here's what I know some of
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  Speaker 1: you you live this way. We have so many generous
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  Speaker 1: people in our church, and not just generous to our church.
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  Speaker 2: They're generous in their.
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  Speaker 1: Time, the groups that they lead, and the people they
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  Speaker 1: invest in. They're generous in other places in our community.
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  Speaker 1: And they would tell you they look back to a
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  Speaker 1: moment in their life when they decided, Okay, God, everything
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  Speaker 1: I have has been given to me. How would you
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  Speaker 1: want me to regift your resources? What do you want
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: me to do with it?
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  Speaker 2: How can I honor you in my giving? Now?
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Before we finish today, I want to conclude with the opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: I told you doesn't matter to me whether you give
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  Speaker 1: here or not, but deeper wider represents an opportunity to
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: practice being generous, whether you're beginning your journey of generosity,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: continuing your journey of generosity, or trying to deepen your
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: your journey of generosity deeper wider. One of the things
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  Speaker 1: from the very beginning is we said, God, we want
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  Speaker 1: to deepen our investment in your kingdom, to widen the impact.
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  Speaker 2: We want to choose to be generous.
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  Speaker 1: And I've heard stories from so many of you who
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  Speaker 1: committed and as you began to give, the way you
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: saw God show up in your life. And here's what
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna tell you. If you commit and you
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: start giving, God's gonna bless you and your finances. He might,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but here's what I do know. I
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: do know that you will prosper. That generous people prosper.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: And if you think this is about us getting your money,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: the truth is is is you give it somewhere else.
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  Speaker 1: But here's what I want to challenge you with today.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: Because your heart follows your treasure and all of this true,
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: this sort of construct of true, true generosity depends on
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: choosing to commit to give, to commit to be generous.
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  Speaker 2: I want to challenge you to make a commitment.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: In fact, do you know that we're warned in the
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  Speaker 1: scriptures against testing God.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: But there is one area that God.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Invites us to test him, and it's in the area
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  Speaker 1: of our finances.
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  Speaker 2: He says, test me. See how I will not be faithful.
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  Speaker 1: See how I will not pour out my resources, How
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  Speaker 1: I will not bless your life?
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  Speaker 2: How I will not.
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  Speaker 1: Help you to prosper. So here's one of the things
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  Speaker 1: I would encourage you. What if you were to decide
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  Speaker 1: to make a one year test. We're at the midpoint
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: of this generosity. Is what if you decide to make
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: a one year test and say, God, I don't know
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  Speaker 1: what you want to do in my life, but it's
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: possible that you look back from a year from now
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  Speaker 1: and look back in the same way we're looking back
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  Speaker 1: as a church.
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  Speaker 2: You might look back and go that was an inflection.
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  Speaker 1: Point in my life when I chose to trust God
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  Speaker 1: being obedient to what he was asking me to do.
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  Speaker 1: To be generous toward God and towards others, regardless of
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: where you do it, regardless of where you give it.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: I want to challenge you to be somebody who's generous. Now,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: before we finish, I got one last thing. The truth
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: is is some of you are wrestling with a question
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: that's that's really important, and you're you're debating with me
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: and you're winning.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: And here's your question.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Your question is, but Abel died, how is he favored
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: by God? Abel died like it didn't go well for him,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Like you're making this case here, here's here's the here's
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: the best part of the story.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: God gifted Adam and Eve with another son.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Anybody remember his name Seth. Somebody you do read your Bible.
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  Speaker 1: That's amazing.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: Seth was was the son. And you know Seth means
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: in place of.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Seth was God's righteous replacement of Abel. He as Abel's legacy,
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: and Seth comes in place of Abel. Do you know
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the next story in the Bible? It's Bible Trivia Day
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: in church, by the way, next story in the Bible
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  Speaker 1: the flood. This represents God's judgment. Ideal was lost. There's
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: two ways to live life. Can orient your life towards
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: God and others, or towards yourself. Things go poorly for
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: cain Abel's families replaced by Seth, neither in making their
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: sacrifices save themselves or the world. God sends a righteous
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: replacement in Seth, of which Noah comes from the line
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: of Seth, and God rescues humanity. And this is what
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: he did for you and for me and Jesus. Your
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: sacrifices don't save you if you're generous, As Solomon said,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: a generous man will prosper.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: But it's not so you can be saved.
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  Speaker 1: God already took care of that by sending a righteous
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  Speaker 1: replacement in Jesus, so that you could be rescued, so
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: that humanicuity he could be rescued. So of all people
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  Speaker 1: on planet Earth, with what we've been given as a church,
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  Speaker 1: as Jesus followers, as Christians, we should be people. We
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: should be among the most grateful and the most generous people,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: because Jesus came so that we could prosper in this
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: life and the life to come. God gave his first
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  Speaker 1: and best when He gave his one and only son
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: for you and for me, assass