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StoneBridge Community Church

A Generous Life: Writing Ourselves into God's Story

Pastor Neal Nybo

Locations & Times

4832 Cochran St, Simi Valley, CA 93063, USA

Saturday 5:30 PM

Sunday 9:00 AM

Sunday 10:30 AM

Online Connection Card

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Introduction to Series: A Generous Life

Begin a conversation with friends about generosity and it will wander to topics like passion, helping, contentment, counter-culture, and community. Begin a sermon series on being generous and it can quickly zero in on giving money. Money is an element of generosity. It turns out money can buy happiness. It just has to be spent on others, which is the essence of being generous. This series moves towards those first topics. We will see that generosity leads us away from selfishness and isolation towards contentment and community.

Luke 20:45-47 NIV

Luke 21:1-4 NIV

1. Generosity writes us into God’s story.

There are many examples of people’s generosity writing them into God’s story. There is the boy who shared his lunch and Jesus used it to feed 5000 people. There is a time a man lent his donkey for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem and we still remember that man and his donkey today. Generosity writes us into God’s story.

Reflection Questions

1. When have you experienced your story being written into God's story?
2. When has someone else's generosity drawn you both into God's story?
3. Is there a situation you are part of that needs God's story? What kind of generosity (with or without any money) might help?

1 A. When we overcome our fear.

The woman was down to her two last cents. Could she have been thinking those two cents won't make any difference? Could she be fearful about how she was going to live?

Luke 21:4 NIV

Reflection Questions

1. What fears have stood in your way of being generous, either in small ways or large?
2. What would you do for others if you had no fear?
3. Do the next step below. By yourself or in a growth group pray as directed.

Next Step

Next Step: On a scale of 1-10, determine your fear of each of the following: 1. Doing the wrong thing. 2. Being taken advantage of. 3. Being embarrassed. Ask God to help you not let fear stop you from being generous.

1 B. When we are intentional about our help.

There is an interesting thing about our hearts and minds. When we invest in something we begin to value it more.

Luke 21:1-2 NIV

Reflection Questions

1. Can you give an example of a time when someone was generous and almost no one else knew about it?
2. What are ways a person can be more intentional about being generous?
3. Did any ideas from question 2 come up that you will try practicing?

Next Step

Take a specific step toward intentional generosity. For example, have a jar in your kitchen designated for generosity and put all your spare change in it each night.

2. We may never know the full impact of our generosity.

For ten years, Belinda Holms had no idea how God used her $1 gift to create a camp for almost two million people.

John Bechtel and the Chinese camp

John Bechtel, the missionary tells the story of Belinda Holms and her $1 gift.
That story comes in at about 39 minutes.

https://youtu.be/f8hW3UpNDss

Next Step

Look forward to being generous.

Dave Ramsey says giving is the most fun thing we can do with money. Studies have shown that money can buy happiness. It just has to be spent on others, not on ourselves.

Reflection Questions

1. Do you have an example of you or someone else being generous and still not knowing how the whole story turned out?
2. What one thought or action do you come away from this sermon with?

The Text In Context

The story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal is one of the most famous in the Bible. Here is a link with additional in-depth study of the text.

https://bit.ly/2lPCxGe

Generosity

Read Plan

It’s the new normal to live in a digitally connected world, and yet parents often find themselves asking questions like: “Why do my kids constantly check their phones?" and “How can I supervise what my kids are saying and sharing?”. If you find yourself wanting more information, ideas, and action steps for engaging with digital media as a parent, then these are the workshops for you. Parents with kids of ANY age are welcome, but we’ll be focusing on common questions and ideas for parenting school-aged children and teenagers. Sign up this weekend on your connection card, through YouVersion, or send Ms. Stephanie an email at stephanie@stonebridgesimi.com.

Growth Group lead/host form

Click here to sign up to host and/or lead a Fall Growth Group!

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StoneBridge Christian Recovery is designed to help you on the road to recovery of any hurts, habits, or hang-ups that are keeping you from a joyful and productive life. If you feel like you resonate with this, then please join us on Wednesday nights.

Weekend Worship Playlist

Enjoy this Spotify playlist with the songs played in worship this weekend!

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Social Media @ StoneBridge

We encourage you to use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media to share images, quotes, links, or what you've learned from this week's message and YouVersion message notes. Social media can also be a great way of inviting your friends to worship and special events.

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