Why does that impact us so much?
I’ve seen this video multiple times and it still gets me emotional. Why? There is something about kindness and generosity that moves us.

An act kindness is showing that you care for the person in front of you.
if doesn’t matter if yo don’t know the person, but generosity taps into that part of you that cares for the person and act kindly towards him/her. Some might say this is just the “humanity” in you. That could be it. But I believe there is a deeper, more spiritual connection to generosity and kindness than just a sense of humanity.

Philippians 2:1-4
1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

There is a God-given part of you that longs to be a blessing. Believe it or not, that part longs to be a blessing more than it longs to be blessed. That is the true nature of what God created you to be, not a greedy self-centered person, but a humble, generous person.

We know this because we have a natural bent towards loving kindness and generosity and a natural bent towards hating greed and selfishness.

So why is generosity so hard in peoples’ lives?

Even parents know that seeing your kids’ faces light up at Christmas is exponentially better than receiving a present.

Don’t look now, but that is more hard wiring in you from your Creator.

Acts 20:35
It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Why do we hesitate, then, to be generous?

1. Trust issues
Many people have trust issues concerning generosity. While there is more to generosity than money (time, talents, effort, etc), most people connect generosity to finances.

Look at the first video we watched. It is easy to see the generosity that Murph had for the Coconut Man, but we have to be careful we don’t miss the time and effort he and his team put forth, too.

But even for the people who donated to Murph to see this man’s life changed forever had to overcome trust issues in order to follow through.

Most people don’t give until they feel an adequate level of trust that they won’t be taken advantage of. I agree that we need to vet people and organizations and not just blindly give. This is what makes giving to people on the streets tough.

Just the other week a man stopped by church and wanted laundry detergent. I took him to Family Dollar and got him detergent. Then he asked for rubbing alcohol, tylenol, dryer sheets, all which I bought. But then he asked me to buy cigarettes. I instantly doubted his intentions and what would have happened if I’d just given him money.

THAT right there is the trust issue that I am talking about that keeps us from being generous.

Most people take that and apply it to church as well.
They assume all pastors just want their money. They assume that all pastors are thieves. I hope you don’t think that about me, but I am fully aware that you may not have figured out exactly what you think just yet.

I get it.

You know, I’ve gone to church for my whole life and I have given, tithed, given offerings over and above the tithe, and I’ve even seen money mismanagement in the context of the church. I’ve seen money given and not be handled in the appropriate way or spent frivolously. So naturally, I allowed my trust issue to dry up my generosity and stall my obedience to what the Bible teaches about tithing and stop giving altogether.

No. That isn’t what happened. I still gave. Why?
Because I was not willing to allow my obedience and generosity to be ruined because someone else wasn’t being obedient. God will never ask you to give an account of someone else’s sin, but he will most certainly ask me to give an account of mine.

At the end of the day, it isn’t about trusting the pastor, church, or organization. It is about trusting God.

If God tells me to be generous and I don’t do it because of trust issues, it isn’t about trusting them anymore. Now it is a matter of trusting God, of obedience.

Since I mentioned tithing, let me take a moment and explain this concept.
Bear with me here. You trust me with all the other stuff we teach from the platform, please trust this, too.

Malachi 3:6-12 A Call to Repentance
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

There are a couple of words to note here.
Tithe - “maaser” literally means 1/10th. Same word in Genesis 14 when Abraham gave a tithe to the King Melchizedek.
Storehouse/House - this is God’s house, some translations say the Temple. Some pastors say “where you are fed”
Contributions - as this is listed with tithes, there are clearly tithes and contributions, separate. What is the difference? The tithe is what God requires for you to be in financial covenant with him. The contribution is upon his leading.

So why should you tithe?
- God commands it.
- We have biblical precedent for it.
- We have a reciprocation from God for it.

NOTE: Not a reward. If you are transactional in your mindset, this is for you: It is a financial agreement with God. You don’t uphold your end go the bargain, you are cursed. You uphold your end of the bargain, he upholds his:
- Open windows of heaven
- Uncontainable blessing
- Needs met
- Devourer rebuked
- Fruits, soils, blessed
- Vines that never fail to bear
- Nations bless you
- You are a delight.

-Another reason, it kills the poverty mentality in you. November series: The Four Giants of Liberty County
- It changes lives.

I was a tipper before 2012. Required to tithe as a staff member at NCC. I needed that so I could see the benefit. Within a year, we were miraculously able to purchase our first home. Changed everything for us. I could finally see God’s hand moving in our lives financially. It is amazing how I submitted so much of my life to him, but not my finances because I thought I couldn’t afford it, or that I needed to control it. But when I got in covenant with my finances, too, everything changed.

Don’t just take my word for it.

Don’t let trust issues stop the benefits of being in covenant with God flow into your life.

We are not a prosperity gospel church. We do not believe that when you give 100 you get 1000. But we do believe that God’s hand moves mightily in your life when you are in financial covenant with God.

You trust him for everything else. Trust him with your wallet, too.

One more thing to note in Malachi 3:10
"And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts."

This is the only time in the entire Bible where God says it is ok to test him.

Give God 9 weeks.
Tithe. Prayerfully and responsibly spend the other 90%.
Test God for 9 weeks and see what he can do.

Talking here about reasons we aren’t generous:

2. We don’t have it

Again, don’t make the mistake that money is the only way we can be generous. We all have exactly the same amount of time. We all have gifts, talents, and abilities we can use to be generous.

Sometimes we complain we don’t have the money, but we allow that poverty mentality to attach to time (I don’t have it), abilities (I just can’t do it), understanding (I don’t have the knowledge) and they destroy our opportunity to be generous. If we aren’t careful, a lack of generosity in our lives can make us bitter. We see what others are doing and rather than spurring us to good works, it spurs us to judgement and hostility to generosity.

There is a phrase in Christianity that “Giving is the verb of the Bible.”
In so many places, we see giving as the thing that changes everything, but no place more than in John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Imagine with me a world where, rather than God giving his best (Jesus), he simply said, “I don’t have it.”

God is not asking you to do anything he isn’t willing to do. God gave a tithe, too. Robert Morris has a wonderful teaching on this.

“According to Old Testament law in Exodus 13:2, the firstborn had to be either sacrificed or redeemed because it belonged to God. There was no third option. Every time one of your livestock animals delivered its firstborn, you had to sacrifice it, or if it was designated unclean, you had to redeem it by sacrificing a clean, spotless lamb in its place. Simply put, the clean firstborn had to be sacrificed and the unclean firstborn had to be redeemed.
John the Baptist meets Jesus on the banks of the Jordan River: John was baptizing one day and looked up to see Jesus walking toward him. At that point, John cried out, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Do you see the symbolic parallel? Jesus Christ was God’s firstborn Son. Essentially, Jesus was God’s tithe.”

TIKTOK Video Robert Morris

Reasons we aren’t generous:

3. We are simply selfish

Now, I don’t mean that in a mean or accusatory way, but when people don’t have it, like I mentioned before, they can tighten up generosity to make sure they aren’t needy.

Caveat: no one is saying give your time, money, ability, etc. frivolously where you end up destitute, BUT we too often allow the fear of lack to stop generosity in our lives.

So many people see lack as a legitimate reason to be selfish, yet you’d be surprised that some of the most generous people are the neediest.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that lack should stifle generosity, but in reality, lack should lead you to two questions:
- am I experiencing lack because of my choices? (not in covenant with God, bad financial decisions, spending too much)
- am I missing the chance to be generous because I am afraid of lacking?

Psalm 56:3-4
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
This works with the boogeyman. Works with generosity, too.

These are a few reasons we aren’t generous, but what does God say about all of this?

1 Timothy 6:17-19
17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Look, God was generous with Jesus and the result is that if you accept Jesus as Lord, you receive his life in exchange for your death.

God, who was RICH in mercy, GAVE out of his ABUNDANCE into your LACK so that you would no longer be impoverished in your spirit, but RICH in his Spirit.

We always focus on his grace and mercy and sacrifice, but we don’t often focus on his generosity. He basically gave millions to a wretch on the street. A wretch like me. Like you.

I want to be generous like he is generous. So how?

1. Realize that God is your source.
I could reference James 1:17 here, that every good and perfect gift comes from God, but rather, let me reference the verse that really speaks to this point.

John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

I can do NOTHING without him. Why?
When he saved me, it wasn’t just lost person found, it was dead person made alive. Just like 10% is not only God’s, the other 90% is too, I don’t live to please myself. My life is a thing only because he generously gave me life.

That means that in everything I do, I should be striving to be just like him.
While I know God does not see it like this, I feel a duty, that if I cannot repay what he did for me, I should at the very least live my life in a way that honors his generosity.

WHY?
Because HE is my source!
If I am my source or my job is my source or my title is my source, I will always feel the fear of lack because all of those things can end. But because I am connected to the vine, everything I need comes through him, so if he asks me to be generous, he is just asking me to be a conduit for what already belongs to him!

What if I handed you a $20 and then said pick a person to give it to.
Why would you be mad to give it when it wasn’t yours to begin with?

“Wait a minute! I WORKED for that money! I made it!” Wait a minute...
Deuteronomy 8:18
You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth

2. Realize that need presents opportunity.
If God isn’t your source, generosity will always be a transaction, not a not an opportunity.

Some people live life where need is so present that they can’t imagine life not being needy. Some people live life where need is so foreign they can’t imagine why people are needy.

But what if that need was actually an opportunity?
- for a person with resources, it is an opportunity to make a difference
- for a person with no resources, it is an opportunity to make a change.

99.9% of the phone calls we get here are for some form of assistance.
We tell people we do not offer blanket assistance from a phone call, but they can go to www.freedomdl.com/benevolence and ask for help.

“Our goal is not to simply provide money. We want to help you succeed. By providing money without any guidance in your situation has little to no chance of helping you get out of your situation. We don’t want to provide the next fix. We want to help you discover THE fix, the solution, to your situation.
The Restart Program is a 4 week training that helps you address the issues that got you into the situation you are currently in now. This program includes 4 weeks of meetings that help you evaluate your situation, address issues, and better your situation. Program requirements:
- You must attend church each Sunday at 11 am during the program.
- You must have a weekly one hour meeting with the pastor to discuss your situation and gain knowledge on how to change it
- You must tithe 10% of your income. The first step to financial freedom is not more money. It is correctly managing the money you have. Biblically, we are required to tithe out of obedience to God. This is not a rule the church made up. It is biblical. If you want God’s blessing upon the 90%, you have to tithe the 10%.
- You must be willing to receive instruction and correction in terms of your finances.

If you would like to apply for benevolence at Freedom Church, complete the form below.”

Guess how many have clicked apply?

Psalm 37:25
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

If this is true, could your current lack be because God is presenting you with an opportunity to learn how to change your situation and be generous?

3. Realize that giving is where contentment lives.
I have heard that begin bread verse my whole life, but do you know the context?

Psalm 37:21-26
21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives; 22 for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. 23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; 24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. 25 I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. 26 He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.

Remember it is more blessed to give than receive.

God wants to move you from surviving to significance. from lack to generosity.

Why?

Because the more generous you are, the bigger the blessing you are.

What if the reason life has been such a struggle was because you thought it was all about what you can get, not realizing that it’s actually all about what you can give?

I am convinced that a generous God who generously gave wants us to be generous children who generously give.

Generosity Is Our Privilege
The verb of the Bible is giving, and we are fully aware that God has generously provided everything we have. As a result, we see generosity not as an obligation or from a sense of guilt, but that we should cheerfully, consistently, and sacrificially give our time, talents, and treasure. Jesus gave, and when we give, we are imitating and exemplifying what it means to be generous, as it has been modeled to us by him. Generosity is a privilege, it is our privilege.

There is something greater God has called you to than simply surviving. He wants you to uses your gifts, talents, ability, calling, and even your finances, to move the Kingdom and make an eternal impact.

Where do you need to exercise generosity in your life?
- We are trying to close on this facility. Is that the place?
- Maybe you have been out of covenant with God financially when it comes to your tithe. Is your reason more important than being in covenant with God?
- Maybe your generosity needs to grow in areas of serving, helping meet others’ needs. We have 24 different serve team opportunities.
- Maybe you realize you are enslaved by a poverty mindset that says you don’t have it and you never will. It is time to break the power of that spirit.

Let’s pray.
God we don’t want to be selfish and like the third man in the parable of the talents, hide and order what you have freely given us. Help us recognize opportunities for generosity in our lives and give us the courage to obey you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?