Latest / Faith Church Podcast / Dive Into Generosity | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

Transcript

Dive Into Generosity | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church · Faith Church Podcast

0:00
But this morning, I mentioned in our announcements
0:08
that this was a month of generosity. And as I
0:12
was praying this week about generosity and the
0:17
service, it was like all of a sudden the Lord
0:21
just put this right into my spirit that in order
0:25
for us to truly be people of generosity, we have
0:30
to know the source of our generosity. We have
0:35
to understand our generous God. And this might
0:41
seem like a simple idea, but I often wonder how
0:48
much we truly believe that God wants to be generous
0:54
in my life toward me. Because if we really got
1:00
that it would be a whole paradigm shift For our
1:06
lifestyles That God is generous and not just
1:10
that he is generous, but he wants to be generous
1:13
to me Yeah, oh I believe he wants to be generous
1:17
toward Candice But does he really want to be
1:22
generous toward me? And so this morning, we're
1:27
gonna just, and I'm not gonna preach super long.
1:29
I knew we had a full morning today. And so I'm
1:32
gonna keep it short, but we're gonna be concluding
1:35
our time at communion, which I love, because
1:40
communion to me represents the source of generosity.
1:47
And so in 1 Chronicles 29, this is to me a powerful
1:51
verse. This is David. King David was setting
1:57
up for the building of the temple and they had
1:59
begun to take offerings in from the leaders for
2:04
the temple. And he was so overwhelmed by the
2:08
generosity of the people that he says this, but
2:13
who am I and who are my people that we should
2:18
be able to give as generously as this? Isn't
2:23
that an awesome question? Who are we? I'm so
2:27
in awe of the generosity in what has been given
2:31
that I have to ask the question, who are we that
2:35
we have given this generously? And he makes this
2:41
declaration, everything comes from you. And we
2:46
have given you only what comes from your hands.
2:51
How can we be so generous? Our source is generosity
2:58
himself. God doesn't just do generous things.
3:04
God is generous. It is who he is, just as God
3:10
is love. He doesn't just act lovingly. He is
3:15
love. God doesn't just act generously. He is
3:19
generous. He can't help but be generous. Now
3:26
when we hear this word generosity, often our
3:30
minds immediately go to financially, I have to
3:33
give to the poor, I have to give to the one that
3:36
is out trying to get money. But I want us, that's
3:40
to me very limiting. That is very limiting. Generosity
3:47
is in every area of life that we steward. It
3:52
is me being generous with my strength, my body.
3:56
It is me being generous with my mind and lending
4:00
it to helping other people and figuring out their
4:03
stuff. It is me being generous with my time.
4:07
It is me being generous in my prayer life. Oh,
4:12
this was a good one. I have a small group. on
4:15
Thursday nights. It is a small group. It's Tabitha
4:19
and I. Tabitha's not here today. Tabitha's loving
4:23
it. She's getting one on one time. But we've
4:27
been going through foundations and we were just
4:29
talking about prayer this week. And there are
4:32
a couple of verses that we read where Paul says,
4:36
and pray for all the saints. In this moment,
4:41
it's not so often what we pray are prayers out
4:44
of desperation for our situation, for our family,
4:48
for our needs. But Paul says, I'm calling you
4:51
to generosity of prayers. Prayers for all saints.
4:56
How many of you are praying here for one another?
5:00
Prayers for all the saints. Generosity. And so
5:06
I want you to think bigger today in the realm
5:09
of generosity. I want you to think beyond what
5:13
is easy for you to be generous in. Some of us,
5:19
we tend, I can be generous with my time, I can
5:21
be generous with this or this. What I'm calling
5:24
for is for us to redefine a little bit generosity.
5:29
Because... How should we be able to be so generous?
5:33
Everything comes from God. It comes from His
5:37
hand. And so there are just three takeaways today.
5:43
Are you ready? Takeaway number one, if you're
5:46
taking notes, I see that Pastor Ben is taking
5:49
notes. Oh, Darren is taking notes. Abigail is
5:53
taking notes. All right. Oh, Kathy is taking
5:56
notes. Look at all these hands. That's awesome.
5:59
Okay, so takeaway number one is this. Very simple.
6:04
God is generous. Everybody say that. God is generous.
6:11
2 Corinthians 9. Now, you also have to have your
6:14
Bibles, because we're going to... It's not enough
6:16
for my words for you to hear. You need to have
6:19
your faith stirred up by the Word of God. And
6:22
so 2 Corinthians 9 says this. Remember this.
6:28
Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever
6:35
sows generously will reap generously. Each of
6:42
you should give what you've decided in your heart
6:44
to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion,
6:47
for God loves a cheerful giver. Wherever you
6:52
are being generous, He wants you to be cheerful
6:55
about it. And God is, here it is, here's why.
7:01
God is able to bless you abundantly. How does
7:08
he want to bless you? Abundantly. So that in
7:13
all things, at all times, all things, at all
7:22
times, In all things with your co -worker that's
7:27
disgruntling you. In all things at all times.
7:30
When your kids are driving you crazy, when your
7:32
spouse is driving you crazy. I know I drive him
7:35
crazy. In all things at all times. Having all
7:45
that you need, you will abound in every good
7:48
work. As it is written, they have freely scattered
7:53
their gifts to the poor. Their righteousness
7:56
endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to
8:00
the sower. Who's the one that supplies the seed?
8:05
Do I have the seed? No. God gives the seed. God
8:14
is the source. I love that it says they have
8:19
freely scattered their seed. When you aren't
8:24
the source of the seed, you can scatter it freely,
8:28
right? It didn't cost you anything, it comes
8:33
from the seed giver. When it doesn't cost you
8:37
anything, you can freely scatter, holding nothing
8:41
back. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and
8:46
bread for food will also supply and increase
8:50
your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest
8:55
of your righteousness. I love this because it's
9:00
not just about the stuff of this earth. But this
9:04
kind of generosity is a generosity of righteousness,
9:10
growing in the things of God, becoming like our
9:14
generous God. You will be enriched in every way.
9:20
Every way. Think about the areas right now in
9:24
your life, if you're taking notes, write it down,
9:27
where you do not feel like you are being enriched.
9:33
And then I want you to begin to pray this verse
9:36
over that area, that you would be enriched in
9:39
every area so that you can be generous on every
9:45
occasion. And through us, your generosity will
9:52
result in thanksgiving to God. God wants to be
9:57
generous with you. Why? He wants you to be generous
10:03
with people. You will be enriched in every way
10:08
so you can be generous on every occasion. Every
10:12
occasion. This is where the rubber kind of meets
10:19
the road because there are areas that we don't
10:22
like to be generous. There are people we don't
10:24
like to be generous towards. And here I see no
10:28
wiggle room. He uses very strong language, every
10:33
occasion, at all times, generous, generous, generous.
10:39
Why are we able to do that? Our God is a generous
10:42
God. Our source, we have a well of generosity
10:46
at our disposal. Listen to these verses. I'm
10:52
going to read through them fast, but Matthew
10:54
7, and it will be given. Seek and you will find,
10:58
knock, the door will be opened. Everyone who
11:00
asks receives, the one who seeks find, the one
11:04
who knocks the door will be opened. Which of
11:07
you, if your son asks for bread, will give a
11:10
stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him
11:13
a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how
11:17
to give good gifts to your children, how much
11:20
more will your father in heaven give good gifts
11:23
to those who ask him? Ephesians 3 20 to him who's
11:28
able to do immeasurably more than you could ask
11:30
or imagine according to his power at work within
11:34
you Hebrews 11 6 he rewards those who earnestly
11:38
seek him Matthew 21 22 if you believe you will
11:43
receive whatever you ask for in prayer 2nd Corinthians
11:47
9 we read it he is able to bless you abundantly
11:50
so in all things at all times having all you
11:54
need you will abound for every good work. When
11:56
I read these verses what do I hear? I hear the
12:01
heart of a generous God who according to Ephesians
12:06
says he lavished on us. He lavished all grace
12:12
upon us. We have a generous God and you need
12:17
to start believing that he wants to be generous
12:20
to you. Jesus was generous. And I say this specifically,
12:31
in our leader meeting Monday night, or Tuesday
12:34
night, we were talking about a verse, and Kathy
12:37
was pointing out how Jesus operated out of his
12:44
humanness, right? Jesus did all these great and
12:48
amazing things while on earth, and we think,
12:50
yeah, that's because he's Jesus. But Jesus was
12:55
operating out of his humanness. He battled and
13:01
struggled and was tempted like you were. In fact,
13:06
in Philippians 2, it says, though he was God,
13:10
he did not think of equality with God as something
13:15
to cling to. And this is actually in the New
13:19
Living Translation. I liked this. because it
13:23
says he gave up his divine privileges. He took
13:29
the humble position of a slave and was born as
13:33
a human being. And this is what he operated out
13:38
of Well on Earth. The English standard version
13:44
says that he emptied himself. And it was out
13:48
of that place that he did all that he did. And
13:52
so Jesus, out of his own humanness, was the mark
13:57
of generosity. He laid aside the glories of heaven.
14:01
He healed on the Sabbath when he wasn't supposed
14:04
to. He touched the untouchables when he wasn't
14:07
supposed to. He allowed women to follow him around
14:11
and sit at his feet and learn from him. He wasn't
14:13
supposed to do that. He ministered to non -Jews.
14:17
wasn't supposed to do that. He fed the hungry.
14:21
He gave voice to the people by challenging the
14:25
religious leaders. He made himself available
14:28
to all people. He valued children. He washed
14:31
the feet of his disciples. He offered forgiveness
14:34
to his betrayers and he was suffered on the cross
14:38
and died for you and I. Jesus was generous. Jesus
14:44
was generous. If you get nothing else today,
14:51
I want you to, what I feel like this sermon is
14:54
supposed to be for you today is a diving board.
15:00
There is no way I can cover the depths of who
15:03
God is in generosity. I wanna be a springboard.
15:08
I want it to be a diving board for you to leave
15:10
this place and dive in and discover the generosity
15:13
of God in your life. but God is generous. Number
15:18
two, it is good that God is generous, but you
15:25
must feast on his generosity. It's not enough
15:31
to know God is generous. You have to feast on
15:36
his generosity. In Psalm 36, there's this beautiful
15:41
passage starting in verse five that I love. Because
15:45
it does, it shows us again the generosity of
15:48
God. Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens.
15:52
Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness
15:58
is like the highest mountain. Your justice like
16:01
the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people
16:05
and animals, for all of you animal lovers. How
16:10
priceless. is your unfailing love, O God. People
16:15
take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They
16:19
feast on the abundance of your house. You give
16:25
them drink from your river of delights, for with
16:31
you is the fountain of life." Listen, he has
16:36
an abundant house. Right here it says it in verse
16:39
8. Your house God is an abundant house. We have
16:48
the choice if we want to feast or not. My first
16:53
small group was an abundant house. Oh man, we
16:56
had cleaned all day. I had made chili. I had
17:00
made cornbread. I had it ready. Tabitha came
17:03
and Tabitha had already eaten. So my family got
17:06
to it. I had an abundance, but there was nobody
17:09
to feast on my house. God has an abundant house,
17:16
but he doesn't force feed anybody. It is on us.
17:21
to feast and to drink. We just had a wiener roast
17:27
at my mother's house and we were having this
17:30
discussion that when my children were little,
17:34
my mom loves to shop. She loves to buy things
17:38
for the grandkids, right? All grandparents, right?
17:41
You like to buy things for your grandkids. I
17:44
was just in Missouri with our boys and we had
17:47
gone thrift shopping. The boys like to go thrift
17:50
shopping. And so, you know, this is why I take
17:53
them thrift shopping, because I can afford to
17:55
buy them whatever they want. If we even go to
17:58
Walmart, I'm not giving them all their heart's
18:00
desires, but at a thrift store, I can do that.
18:03
And so, we had gone thrifting. So later that
18:06
night, the boys were with Alexandra and Jeremy
18:10
in the vehicle, and Benji was going on, Dad,
18:15
she bought me whatever I wanted. had to do was
18:22
point at something and it was his and he was
18:26
so excited over this generosity Edmund was a
18:30
little different Edmund was eight he is eight
18:34
and he would come up to the counter with me to
18:37
check out pulling out his wallet because he was
18:40
gonna pay I was like, little dude, we are not
18:43
doing this. I'm not arguing with you like I argue
18:46
with your son. You're eight, put your wallet
18:49
away. Nona is buying today. So we love to buy
18:54
for them. So my mom is no different. But I remember
18:59
when they were little, I'd be like, don't ask
19:01
grandma for stuff, right? As mom, that's what
19:04
I'm saying. Don't ask grandma for stuff. So she
19:08
would try to pry out of the kids when she went
19:10
shopping what they wanted and so she was telling
19:14
us last week of the time that they were at Walmart
19:18
and they were checking out and Jeremy said grandma
19:22
Can I have a pack of gum? And she was like, and
19:27
she did, even in telling the story, she threw
19:30
her arms out. Yes, you can have whatever you
19:33
want. What else do you guys want? Yes, you can
19:36
have whatever you want. She was so delighted
19:39
that he had asked her for something. This is
19:43
the way the father wants us to come to him. He
19:48
wants us to feast on the abundance he longs to
19:51
give to us. Psalm 23, we know this passage. It's
19:58
the passage we read at funerals, but it's one
20:01
of my favorites. You prepare a table before me
20:05
in the presence of my enemies, but it's up to
20:10
me to step up and seat myself at the table of
20:13
the Lord. He doesn't do it for me. He doesn't
20:19
do it. But you know, this is a kind of generous
20:22
God. He loves it when we ask Him. He loves it
20:27
when we come to feast upon His generosity. When
20:33
my kids were younger, Jeremy had a best friend,
20:36
Luke. Luke has drummed for us a time or two,
20:40
and he's just like one of my kids. He was the
20:43
best friend. Vanessa and her son Chandler, they
20:46
were all best friends. And Luke, I loved it when
20:51
Luke came to dinner. Luke loved food and Luke
20:57
appreciated food. And he would be like, oh, this
21:01
is so good. This is so good. He would get so
21:07
excited. And it was probably just a normal night's
21:10
meal, but he would get so excited over his food
21:14
that I love to feed Luke. Why? Because He enjoyed
21:21
feasting on my abundance. What are you talking
21:26
about down there? Darren appreciates it if I
21:31
make steak and apple pie. The Lord takes joy
21:37
in our feasting on His abundance. And for some
21:41
of you, you feel like, and it's true, we are
21:44
unworthy of it. We are. But the heart of God
21:50
is to come and to feast and some of you need
21:53
to really get that. Because the word calls us
21:57
to come boldly into the throne room. The word
22:00
calls us to not, oh I'm so sorry Lord for coming
22:03
in and asking this. No! He has an abundance and
22:07
he wants you to come and take joy and delight
22:10
in the abundance that he has for you. He is a
22:12
generous God. He is a generous God. And it's
22:19
up to us to feast on that generosity. Third takeaway,
22:24
and we're gonna be finishing up here. In this
22:29
generosity, when we partake, when we feast on
22:35
the generosity of God, something interesting
22:38
happens in that we begin to take on the characteristics
22:42
of God's generosity. This is the power of it.
22:47
is that we begin to be transformed as we partake
22:50
of God's generosity. We take on His characteristics
22:55
of generosity. We actually become people of generosity.
23:02
And so Romans 5, here's the truth of it. You
23:05
see, at just the right time, when we were still
23:09
powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. And here's
23:14
our human generosity. Very rarely will anyone
23:19
die for a righteous person, though for a good
23:23
person, someone might possibly dare to die. Isn't
23:28
that the truth? You deserve my death, I will
23:33
die for you. You not so much, so forget about
23:36
it. That's not the generosity of God though,
23:41
is it? Because it says in verse eight, God demonstrates
23:46
his own love for us in this. While we were still
23:50
sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait for
23:56
you to earn or to deserve it. While we did not
24:00
deserve it, he extended generosity of his life
24:04
toward us. And so generosity, God's way, means
24:08
that it is to be generous toward those we deem
24:12
unworthy. Because it is, in our minds, it's a
24:19
bit of an injustice. Well, who am I going to
24:24
pick on? Cole. Cole did me wrong. Cole did something
24:31
And because of that, I don't need to be generous.
24:35
He does not deserve it. That's the generosity
24:40
of the world thinking. God's way is to be generous
24:45
toward those that have put us on the cross. That's
24:51
God's justice. Generosity, God's way, is to be
24:56
generous when it's inconvenient. Generosity,
24:59
God's way, is to be generous when it appears
25:03
I have nothing to be generous with. This is the
25:07
generosity of the kingdom. This is the generosity
25:12
that steps outside the realm of what I can offer
25:16
you. This is the generosity that taps into the
25:21
source and offers what comes from God. This is
25:28
the generosity of the kingdom. One of my heroes
25:31
of the Bible are the Macedonian people. How many
25:34
of you know who the Macedonian people are? Paul
25:38
refers to them in 2 Corinthians. He says, I want
25:44
you to know about the grace God has given the
25:47
Macedonian churches. In the midst of severe trial,
25:53
their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty
25:58
welled up in rich generosity. I love them. I'm
26:05
like the Macedonians deserve extra reward in
26:08
heaven. For I testified they gave as much as
26:13
they were able and even beyond their ability
26:16
I've been reading the autobiography of George
26:19
Mueller right now who in the 1800s started orphanages
26:23
and the only way he paid for it was by God providing
26:28
money day by day hour by hour Millions of dollars
26:32
went through his hands in the 1800s as he by
26:37
faith believed. He gave away almost all of his
26:41
income and lived on very little with his wife.
26:45
Generosity flowed through him. He reminds me
26:49
of the Macedonians. They couldn't afford it,
26:53
but they gave in rich generosity, entirely on
26:57
their own. They urgently pleaded with us for
27:01
the privilege of sharing in this service to the
27:06
Lord's people. They were asking, I need to give.
27:11
How can I give? How can I give? How can I give?
27:14
Rich generosity. Was it convenient? Could they
27:19
afford it? No. But they knew the source. They
27:24
were tapped in to the generosity of God. They
27:29
were tapped into the source. Are we tapped into
27:33
the source? I'm gonna ask if the worship team
27:37
will come and the ushers are gonna be getting
27:39
ready here in a moment. But I've shared this
27:42
little story before and I wanted to do it again
27:45
today. But the story is told that one day a beggar
27:48
by the roadside asked for alms from Alexander
27:52
the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and
27:56
wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no
28:00
right even to lift a hand. Yet the emperor threw
28:04
him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished
28:10
at his generosity and he commented, sir, copper
28:15
coins would have adequately met a beggar's need.
28:19
Why give him gold? Alexander responded in royal
28:24
fashion. Copper coins would suit the beggar's
28:29
need, but gold coins suit Alexander's giving.
28:41
We can be satisfied with a level of giving that
28:44
originates from us, but friend, we are representative
28:48
of a generous God. And our giving is not based
28:53
upon the needs of people or the needs of circumstances.
28:59
Our generosity is based on the generous God that
29:04
gives all and withholds nothing, not even his
29:08
own son. Our generosity is a reflection of that
29:14
kind of God. We can afford to be generous. We
29:20
can afford to give beyond what we thought we
29:24
could or imagined that we could, because we have
29:27
a source, a generous God. And in 2nd Corinthians
29:35
8, it says, through his poverty might become
29:51
rich. It is the poverty of Christ that became
29:57
the doorway for us to become rich. And so who
30:03
are we? Who are we that we should be able to
30:09
give as generously as we want to give in our
30:12
giving? Who are we? David asks, we are ones that
30:22
have access, that acknowledges that everything
30:27
comes from God, and we are only giving that which
30:30
He's given to us to begin with. Amen? And so
30:34
some of you today need to catch this. The generosity
30:41
of Jesus has made you rich, and you need to think
30:47
a little differently. Because you're still thinking
30:50
of your life out of the place of poverty. You're
30:53
still thinking about your life and the place
30:55
of lack. And the whole point of this month of
31:00
generosity is to begin to understand the power
31:03
of giving, how it changes us, how it opens us
31:07
up, and how we quit seeing our lack and we begin
31:10
to see the generosity of God released through
31:13
our lives. And there's joy in that. There's joy
31:17
in that. And so our team of ushers back there
31:21
are going to come and distribute the table of
31:24
the Lord. And as they do, we're just going to,
31:28
for a few moments, worship as the team leads
31:30
us.