Entrusted | Defined By Generosity

Defined By GenerosityWhat do you want to remembered for?

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

Winston Churchill “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

5 points about generosity vital to every Christian:

1. We are Designed by God to be Generous.

2 Corinthians 9:15 “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” 

Mark 12:43-44“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

1 Timothy 6:17 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

2. We are Designed to Give but Tempted to Keep.
A. Voice #1 is Fear. 

B. Voice #2 is Self-Gratification. 

Adam Hamilton in his book Enough, “There comes a point when an increasing amount of stuff produces a diminishing return of happiness and satisfaction.”

Proverbs 22:9 “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”

3. The Bible gives a rationale for being Generous.

Acts 20:35 “remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”

Matthew 25:34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”
4. Be Generous to God.

Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

5. Great things happen when we are Generous.

Proverbs 11: 25 “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”