Everyone | Generosity

Generosity for everyone | Acts 20:35

Acts 20:35b “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.”

God designed us to be generous but the Devil tempts us to keep it all for ourself.
2 Voices

Voice #1: Fear
The voice of fear tells us “Don’t give or you may run out.”

Exodus 16:1-4a “The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.”

Exodus 16:14-15 “When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.

Exodus 16:31, 35 “The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey…35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.”

1 Chronicles 29:12 “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.”

Voice #2 Self-Gratification

Self-Gratification says that if you give your resources away then you won’t be able to buy what you need to be happy.

2016 America has an estimated 2.3 billion square feet of self-storage space

1 John 4:4b “…greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

The more I grow in Jesus, the more generous I become.
 
Proverbs 22:9 “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”

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

Leviticus 27:30 “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.”

Two Choices:

Invest it in God’s Kingdom

Keep it for ourselves

Luke 12:48 (NRSV)  “…to whom much has been given, much will be required”.

Generosity Blesses God

Exodus 29:18 “Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma”

My Generosity Can Also Bless Me

When we give generously, we become more generous.

You Can’t Outgive God

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.”

Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

When we give generously the unmistakable blessings of God flow into our lives.