Generosity, Week 1

Written By Tim Rivers
 

We're going to get into the word of God, but before we do a couple of things that I want to do. First of all, I want to welcome you here. Whether you are watching online or you're here, thank you so much for being here. If you're a guest with us, we want to say Welcome to Embassy City Church. Our prayer for you is that you receive everything you need from the Lord and more, and I pray that before you leave this place, you know that you are loved. Somebody's going to hug you neck, somebody's going to shake your hand and let you know how glad we are that you're here. And another thing that's happening today, two things that are happening today. One is today is our serve team Sunday. How many people do we have that are on serve teams? Make some noise in the building. If you're wondering why all these incredible people are wearing these incredible shirts, it's because they're part of a serve team. Would you like one?

Look how I just did that? You can have one after service. We have tables set up out there from different serve teams and we're inviting you. If you are a part of Embassy City Church, join a serve team. Here's why it's Biblical Acts chapter 2 42. All throughout the scriptures, we see this whole idea of us being a body of Christ, and the scripture tells us that the body is most healthy when the members of the body contribute to the body, their gifts and their talents. And so here's why we want you to serve because we need you. We need you in the body of Christ. There's something that we're missing. When you're not serving, there's something that we're missing. And so get in on the action. Join a serve team. Most likely, some of your friends are already on serve teams. Join them. And then another thing that's happening today is we've got prayer night.

Somebody say Prayer night. Prayer night. How many know that prayer changes things? Let me tell you nothing that we do works without the power of prayer, and today is actually our last prayer night for the year. So I would love to invite you personally to come pray with us. This is a moment of corporate prayer. We're going to be praying over our ministries over the things that God is doing here and praying into 2025. So if you know how to pray or you don't know how to pray, come here at 6:00 PM and let us pray together and everybody say amen. Alright, stand to your feet if you would. I would like for us to stand for the reading of God's word today. We're going to Matthew chapter six, the book of Matthew chapter six. If you have a paper Bible shout yes. Yes. If you have an electronic one, shout yes, yes if you're watching on this screen scream.

I love doing that. Matthew chapter six, verse number 19. Also, if you have not been baptized, next week is baptism Sunday. And this is one of my favorite times within the life of our church because we get to see so many people making a public declaration of their faith in water baptism. So register to be baptized. If you have not registered, that's fine. We still got extra shorts, extra T-shirts that nobody's worn ain't used. You get to keep it when you're done. But come ready to see people get baptized and if you haven't been baptized, come ready, get baptized. Amen. Alright, Matthew chapter six, verse number 19. Here's what it says. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and still, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also, the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is badge, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot, somebody say cannot. Cannot. You cannot. It is impossible, not you may not. Now you can choose to not. You literally cannot serve God and the devil.

Is that what it says? You read it again, you cannot serve God and money. Oh Lord. Thank you God for your word. The lamp to my feet are lot into my path. In these few moments, as we dig into your word and we are considering the scriptures, I pray that you would have your way, pray that you would move as only you can move, that you would touch our hearts. Help us to have open ears, open hearts, open minds. Let there be the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Do what only you can do. We give your name, the praise, the glory and the honor because you're worthy of it in Jesus' name. And everybody say amen. Amen. You may be seated.

We completed a few weeks ago a series, a seven week series that we called Hearing God. Did y'all enjoy that? Yes. A lot of you were in groups. Over 80% of you in this place were in groups during that series. Many of you're still in groups, and what you'll find is this new series that we're in, we're going to continue to talk about it in our group settings. Then we had two weeks of a break, so to speak, from a series, but we heard dynamic words, one from Sarah Bebo who just wrecked us with worship costs. And then last week, pastor Landon Pickering brought a tremendous word about a different way to pray. And if that word had an impact on you, then I encourage you to come tonight and check and see if that word changed the way you pray. 6:00 PM tonight.

Today we're starting a new series and we'll go for a few weeks, but today we're starting a series on generosity. On generosity. Now, I know you're thinking, pastor, why are we talking about generosity and we're on our way to Christmas? That's exactly why we're talking about generosity, because here's what we do know, we are entering the holiday season. We've got Thanksgiving coming up, and then we also have Christmas coming up. And there are really two ends of the spectrum, two ends of feelings that will grip us as we enter into the season. On the one hand, you have giving and generosity, you have that aspect. And then on the other extreme, you have greed and covetousness. And if we were going to be honest, we all wrestle with both of them as we enter into this season. I'm excited about giving, but I'm also ready for receiving.

How many of you already started your Christmas list? Lemme see your hints. That's right. Janice has already been dropping hints to me, showing me pictures of shoes. And I said, all right, can you put that on your top 10 on a list? She goes, oh, don't worry. I got a Pinterest board started and I appreciate that because it makes it really easy for me. But the thing is, we're entering into a season where the world is going to play on this inner desire that you have for possessions. There are going to be advertisements where it's going to play on you and it's going to convince you to buy stuff you don't need. Do you really need a water toothpick?

Well, some people really do. That floss ain't working. Do you really need extra shoots? Yes, yes. That is one exception we're going to make, but there are going to be things that you are tempted to buy and tempted to covet that you don't need in your life. And here's what I want to do. As I was praying about the end of the year and us moving into Christmas and I was praying about, Lord, what do you want to speak to us? I really felt led that it is important for us to look at scripture and look at the biblical sense. What does the Bible say about money and generosity, especially as we're moving into the series? Now, I am well aware that when I use the word generosity or giving or money in church, people get tense, relax. I'm not just going to talk about generosity as a form of giving to the church, but I'm going to look at, we're going to consider scripture and what does generosity mean in your life?

God wants you to be a generous person, not just to give, and this word is going to challenge some of us because of some of the mindsets that we have and some of the attitudes that we have towards generosity. But I believe that God is going to talk to us in this series. So to begin, I want to do an exercise. I'd like for you to close your eyes. Everyone just close your eyes. Some of you, this is very hard. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth.

All right. Now I want you to imagine the good life. Don't open your eyes, just keep 'em closed. Imagine you are living the good life. For some of you, the good life is you just walking out the back door of your 10,000 square foot mansion. You're about to jump into an Olympic sized pool warming. For some of you, you're stepping out of the back of an Escalade onto the red carpet for the premier of the latest movie. For some of you, you're in the cabin up in the woods on 2,500 acres that you own. For some of you, the good life is you simply chilled with your wife in the living room, lazy boys cake back that you've had for 25 years and for others, the good life to you is a cup of coffee and just a dog.

Now, wake up. Some of y'all started drooling. I lost some of y'all. Some of y'all were dreaming, daydreaming. The fact is, when I talk about the good life, many of us put ourselves in a place where we had more earthly possessions. We've been conditioned to think that when we talk about the good life, the good life simply means more things, a bigger house, a better car, a different person. Oh, the truth is, the good life is not really the good life that you think. We've been conditioned in the western world to think of the good life as something that simply equates to happiness. And so we think that the good life is anything that makes me happy, especially us in the western world, especially in the us, the Declaration of Independence includes three words, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And so in the fabric of our very country, we have this idea that we should all be pursuing happiness.

It's just that what we've come to discover, although that we are a country that pursues happiness, we also statistically are one of the least happy countries. How is that? That we are a country of abundance and of things, and yet so many people are unhappy in their lives? And that is because most of us will realize that what we think will bring us lasting happiness actually does not. Once we acquire it, it will bring you happiness for a moment. That new car, ooh, you're going to love it. But that new car is going to at some point, leak oil. That new house, oh, it's going to be exciting, it's going to make you happy, and I want you to have that new house. But at some point, that house is going to be dated. That new person, they look fine and hot and all that, but they're going to age.

They put all the anti-aging cream and serums, but they're getting older. The fame and the fortune will feel great, but at some point you're going to be forgotten. Somebody's going to replace you. The platform is huge, but at some point you ain't going to be able to even walk up the stairs to the platform. The truth is, we are conditioned to think that the good life is whatever makes us happy in this life, but really the good life is actually mostly found in places that we least expect. Jesus knew that. That's why Jesus, when he would teach us, he teach a counterintuitive counter-cultural message. Jesus would say stuff like The greatest is going to be the least and the least shall be the greatest. He would say stuff like The first shall be last and the last shall be. First, he would say stuff like, pray for your enemies and love your enemies.

And as counterintuitive as all those things are, you can learn to love an enemy. You can learn to be last, hoping that you'll be first. You can learn these behaviors, but one of the most counterintuitive things that Jesus taught, one of the things that goes against our social environment, that goes against our obsession, that goes against the flesh is Jesus's conversation around money and generosity. What's interesting, new Testament scholars have looked at the teaching of Jesus. What they've discovered is that Jesus spends approximately 25% of his teaching around the subject of money and generosity, 25%. Now, lemme put that in perspective. Imagine that every four weeks when you come here, I preach a whole sermon on generosity and money. You know how empty this place would get because most of us are uncomfortable around the subject. Think about how quiet it's right now, but one of the most potent things that Jesus said is found in Acts chapter 20, verse 35. Let's look at it. The end part of this passage, this is what Jesus says, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now, if you grew up in church, you know that this is the key passage right before the offering.

If you grew up in church, the pastor, the elder would get up and say, guess what folks is offering. Time is more blessed to give than to receive. Now, let's look at this real quick because we love the word blessing, but what does the word blessed really mean? Look at this word. The word blessed in the Greek is actually the word Rios Rios, which means happy. Think about this. It literally means characterized by happiness and being highly favored. Another way to read this passage, you can read about this in the Message translation. It says, you're far happier giving than getting another way to say it is there is more happiness in giving than in receiving. Now, I'm not saying this to play on your emotions. I'm simply quoting what Jesus said. Now, here's what's interesting. We love the teachings of Jesus. Does anybody love the teachings of Jesus?

We love the idea that the last shall be first. We love the idea that you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you. We love the idea of take up your bed rise, take up your bed and walk. We love the parables of the prodigal son coming home. We love all the things that Jesus teaches, but when Jesus starts talking about money, we're like, oh, I don't know Jesus. I don't know if you got this one. We love all the passages, but when it comes to this idea that there is more happiness in giving than receiving, we think it's sus and here's why. Has anybody received anything in your life that you enjoyed? Just about four of us. How many have ever received something in your life and you enjoyed it?

Lemme tell you something, my love language, the five love languages. My two are words of affirmation and gift giving, mainly gift receiving. I love it. I love when someone says, Hey, you're a great person and here's you a gift card. You're now my best friend, right? Because most of us have an impulse to receive. We love getting, we love receiving. And when Jesus is counterintuitively saying, Hey, do you know the feeling that you get of happiness when you receive? Did you know that there is a greater level of happiness actually when you give, when you're on the other side of the receiving and you're the one giving? And for some of us, that's a hard concept to come across until you become a parent and you realize that Christmas is not about you, it's about the ones you can serve, right? I remember the first year that we had Christmas with Sarah.

She wasn't even a year old, and Janice and I were like, what do you think she wants? And we ended up, our Christmas tree was full of presents for Zara that she couldn't even play with. She opened one box and she had more fun with the rapper than the present and the R. So we took all that stuff back wise stewardship, you know what I'm saying? But the truth is that as a loving mother and father, we found greater joy in giving than we would have in receiving, and that's because we are created the image and likeness of God. Now, we look at this passage, we think, all right, yeah, of course Jesus would say that. And for most of us that read this passage, the natural reaction is generally, yeah, it is more blessed to give. You can get happier when you give than receive if you're Jeff Bezos worth 215 billion with a B.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can get that feeling when you're Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk and you're building rockets and putting up satellites. They got plenty to give. And a lot of times we have this mentality like, yes, you can be happier giving than receiving when you have more to give. But here's the thing. At what point does generosity kick in in your life? Because if you can't be generous with $2, how can you be generous with 2 million? Because whatever you develop at an infancy stage prepares you into maturity. Lord, I remember when my brother and I, we got to this age where we're like, man, we want some stuff. We want to start wearing some cool clothes. We want to start shopping at Marshall's and TJ Maxx. Like Kmart ain't doing it for us. We ready to take it up a notch and get some lead jeans.

We were ready to get some Levi's, and we went to our prayers. We were like, Hey, can we have some money to go shopping? They said, you can go mow some yards. We got a lawnmower. And so we said, all right, if this is the way we're going to get our lead jeans, let's do it. So we took our lawnmower and we would go from house to house and we would ask people if they needed a yard more. It doesn't matter if they looked like they needed a yard more. We just kind of felt like, Hey, let's take advantage of the fact that we're young and we got some yards to mow, $5 for the front yard, 15 for front and back. Some people cheated us and gave us 10 for front and back, but the Lord knows he keeps a good record.

I remember the first time we made our money, we got home and we had to split it between three people, which is very hard to do. It was $5, but it was a dollar a piece. And then we'd go to seven 11 with the rest and get something that we would share like a two liter bottle of Coca-Cola. But what we did is we got home, we're like, ah, we got $10. And our parents said, great. Take out a dollar out of 10. Those are the tithing. Start at like a hundred or a thousand dollars. And my parents said No, and it wasn't about the dollar because in our minds we're like, what is God going to do with a dollar? Seriously? What is God going to get somebody an airhead? You couldn't do anything with a dollar. And yet our parents were teaching us a principle that, hey, it's not about the dollar. It's the fact that all of it belongs to the Lord. And you need to build a habit at $10 that'll keep you at 1,010 thousand and a billion in Jesus' name. Thank you Lord.

Okay, I got some prayer warrior in this way. I promise you I'll share it. Now, here's what's funny. The research has shown that Jesus was right. Imagine that social psychologists have gone out and they've studied groups of people and they've studied happiness and what makes people happy, and there are documentaries about this, but what they have discovered is that generous people are happier, healthier, they have lower levels of depression and anxiety, are more interested in personal growth, have better relationships, actually laugh more. Isn't it interesting that it seems like God was onto something? Isn't it interesting that social psychologists have found out that Jesus was telling the truth?

It is interesting that Jesus would talk about it because here's the thing, the western culture of more money equals more happiness is simply not true based on the research, but the kingdom culture of more generosity equals more happiness is the true path to the good life. Now, lemme say this, the key to being a true disciple of Christ is discovering the joy of living a generous life. And so that's my topic for the day. It is there's more joy in giving than receiving. Now, let me add this disclaimer, because anytime you start talking about generosity, people tense up because they think that you're saying that God is against wealth and money and possessions. That is simply not true. God is richer than all of us. Did y'all know that God has more than all of us? Why? Because he literally owns all of it. And here's the thing that we have to understand. God is not against wealth. God is not against you having a nice car. God is not against you having nice clothes. God is not against you getting your dream house. God is not against you having that 2,500 acres up in the Alpines of Colorado. God is not against that. In fact, when I pray for you, pray for you, I pray that you be blessed to the level of your stewardship.

I pray that God showers on you so much that it blows your mind. I pray that you get that raise. I pray that you get that new job. I pray that you get the car that you want. I pray that you get that house that you've been dreaming about. I pray that you get the things that you've been desiring. I pray that God makes you a millionaire. I pray that God would blow up your retirement account. I pray that you have a five car garage, but I pray more than that, that God doesn't give you more than you can handle and steward well.

Now, lemme tell you something. I believe in generosity because I'm a recipient of generosity. We all are. Did you know that the only reason why we're in here and the lights are on and the air conditioner is cold, it is really cold in here, and we have kids ministry and we had a fall carnival and we're able to do all these things. It's because the generosity of people. Can we give a hand to all those generous people? Thank you. Thank you. Here's what I do know, you cannot give without receiving. First, how are you going to give something that you don't have? That's why the principle of generosity is that you give out of receiving. He has given us freely and therefore we give freely. Amen. Now, let's look at Matthew chapter six. I want to run through these passages and I want to look at it a little more deeper.

I want to kind of do an expository look at these passages of scripture. I just want to teach a little bit. Matthew chapter six, verse number 19. Jesus says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures end where heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Now, I'm a very sentimental person. I love to keep things. I like to over keep things. I'm one of those people that I just don't want to let it go. In fact, for me, I love, like I told you all, I'm a words of affirmation and gifts person. So anytime somebody gives me a card, I keep that card, whether it's a thank you card or a pastor appreciation card like that one I see last week or a Hey, get well soon card or whatever it is, I keep those cards and they actually go, and Denise knows I have several boxes of cards that I have kept throughout the years. I have a birthday card going all the way back to when I was three years old. I cherish those things. I keep those things. And I remember one in particular, two items that I kept were the shirt and jeans that I was wearing when I met Janice.

Thank you. I remember exactly what shirt I wore. I had this black shirt and had little flowers on it from h and m, and I had these jeans on that were boot cut. That dates me right there. They were boot cup, they were from guests. And I had some puma shoes on and I walked in there and I was like, how sweet would it be just to keep this and reminisce? Every time I look in the closet and I see this shirt, it's reminding me that I met Janice in this outfit. And so I kept it for several years. We got married, I still have it. And that one day we were sitting there talking and I was cleaning out my closet and I saw the shirt and I said, you know what? Lemme try it on.

See if it still fits. Now this is several years into marriage, and for those of you who are married, you know where this is going. So I grabbed the shirt and I got one hand in. I said, oh man, this fabric feels brittle. I got my other hand in, and next thing you know, I heard, and Janice is dying laughing. I'm like, yo, this is what I met you in. And when I looked at the shirt, I noticed that the fabric had just dissolved essentially, and there were holes in it from those moths had gotten to it. And so I said, you know what? The shirt may not fit, but I know the jeans will.

I am just glad I tried it in the convenience of our home. I got one leg in. She said, don't do it, man. I said, no, I got it. I put the second one in. Rip disintegrated. And what's interesting about that is that is a vivid picture of what Jesus was saying will happen to the things that we treasure up on earth. They will disintegrate. They will have holes in it. They will not last. Jesus was saying that a lot of us store up treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupts the things that we're saving. Now, I want you to notice something. Jesus does not rebuke us for treasuring up. Jesus did not say, Hey, don't store up anything. Don't save. Don't be wise. Don't save for retirement. Jesus doesn't say, don't go get a nice car. It's a nice coat. Jesus doesn't say that we cannot store up. He just talks about most of the time when we store up, we're just storing up in the wrong place.

He said, don't store up on earth rather in heaven. Now, when we think of this term storing up in heaven, we generally are like, alright, well how do I store up in heaven because I haven't seen Heaven's bank. Where is the bank that I store up so that when I get to heaven, I can withdraw whatever I've put in? What you have to understand in the Hebrew, in the times of Jesus, there was a Hebrew saying that was related to doing things in heaven. And what they meant by in heaven is in God and what he is doing on earth. Now remember, we're in Matthew chapter six. So at the very beginning of Matthew chapter six, we find the Lord's prayer. Remember the disciples, we talked about it last week. Disciples come to Jesus. They say, Hey, Jesus, we love to learn how to pray. Can you teach us how to pray? And what does Jesus say? Start with us. Our Father who art in heaven, hallow be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Where? As thy. Okay, so the first thing that Jesus says is when you are praying you are going to bring heaven down to earth.

The concept here for the early Christians was this, that heaven in a real sense is not just the place that we get to really heaven's coming down, but it's not where we get to after death. But heaven in a real sense is happening right now on earth through the ambassadors of heaven, which is the church. So when you think about storing up treasures in heaven, it's not that you're waiting to die to get to heaven. It's that heaven is here right now on earth, how through the church. So when you store up treasures and what God is doing in the earth, it has lasting effects. Imagine this. You buy that new car. Are you taking that car to heaven? No. Is there anything wrong with having that car? No. There's nothing wrong with it. But here's the thing. When we get to heaven, we are going to meet individuals that have met the Lord through this church, that have been baptized in this church, and we can all say collectively that what I invested in the kingdom of God on earth through the medium of Embassy City Church helped somebody meet Jesus. You can't even put a dollar value on that. You can't out give that type of result.

So let's talk about what Jesus continues to say. Matthew chapter six, verse 21, for where your treasure is there, your will be also noticed that for Jesus money is ultimately about the hearts. Now, check this out. Jesus taught that our heart follows our money. Oftentimes we think the opposite. We think that our money follows our heart. We think that whatever I love is what I spend money on. Jesus is teaching us the opposite. He says, whatever you spend your money on, that's what your heart is in. Now, think about people in your life. There are people like, I love this, but they talk mostly about that. And if you evaluate their bank account, you notice they spend more money on that than this. It's because it's the impulse of a person to go where the treasure is. You may like stories about pirates. We all inherently are like pirates. We're trying to find the find the treasure. That is where our heart usually is. It is following. If you want to find somebody's heart, follow the money. Because according to scripture, and this is Jesus's teaching, remember this right? We're in the word of God. This is Jesus saying that wherever your money is, that's where your heart's going to be. So if you wonder why some people feel very comfortable always talking against the kingdom of God, look at their bank account because it's very hard to talk about something that you're investing in just kidding.

When you store up treasures on earth, our hearts are racked with fear because we know we can lose it all in a moment or by greed because we never feel like we have enough. But when you get caught into the mindset of investing in the kingdom of God, that's where your heart's going to be. That's according to what Jesus said. Now, let's look at verse number 22 and 23. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? Now, I've read this passage many times and I generally get really confused in this section because it's very clear what Jesus is saying in verse 19, 20 and 21.

But when he gets to 22 and 23, it's almost like he deviates from the subject he's talking about, money's very clear, he's talking about treasure. It's very clear. And then he goes off and starts talking about the eye and he's talking about darkness and a healthy eye and an unhealthy eye. It almost seems as though this passage doesn't make sense in this lineup. Now, you and I in our modern vernacular, modern understanding don't understand it, but Jesus understood his audience. And what you have to understand is that there was a term called the bad eye or the evil eye that those in that time of Jesus would use. It's an Aramaic phrase that they would use about a person. They would say, this person has an evil eye, or This person has a bad eye. Now you've most likely heard this. Have you ever looked at somebody and you've been like, Ooh, they're giving me the evil eye.

Have you ever looked across the church? And ooh, they're giving me the evil eye. And usually what we mean is they're looking at me because they're supposing some kind of destructive behavior on me. There's something about me that they don't like. They're giving me the evil. But here's the thing, the evil eye concept is actually a biblical concept and it comes from the Old Testament. So if you're taking notes, I want to give you these passages of scripture and you can write them down. I'm going to go very slow. Deuteronomy 15 verse number nine, Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse number 54, Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse number 56, Proverbs 23 verse six, Proverbs 28, verse number 22. And I'm saying that because you can go back and read these passages, I think it would be good for you to do so. But each one of these passages talk about the evil eye as it relates to money and material things and in what the evil eye or the bad eye represents in the context of Jesus, is somebody having a dual vision or a split vision?

In other words, their eye is clouded so that they can't see clearly. Another word for the bad eye or the evil eye is a greedy eye or a stingy eye. So when somebody had a mindset or a view of life where they were stingy or greedy, the people of that time in Jesus would say That person's got an unhealthy eye or they got a bad eye. And usually what they're saying is when you have an evil eye, you often have a dual agenda. You're a generous exterior, masking a greedy heart. So when Jesus said that you have an evil eye, he's saying that you may give, but your heart is full of greed. And what Jesus is trying to get to is the heart of the issue that there are people. Just because you give don't mean that you're generous.

You can be a giver and not be generous, especially if you give expecting people to glorify you for your giving, especially if you type of person that you glory in the fact that I helped this person out. Social media, y'all went up, the homie was hungry, just got him some McDonald's, right? Is that really generous or can you give the man McDonald's without anybody ever knowing? The healthy eye on the contrary is actually comes from the Greek word, what actually means a generous eye? Why? Because a healthy eye has singular vision. It sees people in their need or in their scarcity, and it wants to serve people selflessly. And what Jesus says is he's trying to get to the heart of the matter. The generosity is not about giving. It's about your heart, but when your heart is generous, you will give. Does that make sense?

And what Jesus is after is your mindset, and this is what Jesus said. When you stingy with your money, it affects the rest of your life. How many people have ever met a stingy person? Don't they get on your nerves? Let's just be honest. Well, he ain't supposed to say that I'm human, right? There's just something about a stingy person. They know how to push the buttons, but have you ever met a generous person? It's not just that they give, the whole demeanor is generous. They're kind with their words. They're encouraging, they're just, and it has nothing to do with the amount of money that you have. You can be a generous person with a little, remember the widow and the might.

Why did Jesus single her out? Because of her heart in which she gave. Now what Jesus is really getting to when he talks about the bad eye and the evil eye and the healthy eye, he's approaching the topic of two worldviews. One is an abundance mindset and one is a scarcity mindset. And did you know that both exist in the kingdom of God, that there are people here, that you have an abundance mindset, and there are people that have a scarcity mindset, and this is what this means. An abundance mindset means that you view God as your father provider. You view God as having everything he all things meaning that there is never lack in your life. When you view God through an abundance mindset, you don't worry about tomorrow. You know that God's got tomorrow. When you have an abundance mindset, you live like a bird.

What does a bird have to do with this? Have you ever seen a bird in the wild when they wake up in the morning? First of all, they just shake off their feathers and then they start chirping. A bird is not worried about anything. In fact, when they're hungry in the morning, they go down and there's a phrase, the early bird gets the who put the worm in the ground? God did. So the worm gets up not having any worries, goes pecks around in the dirt, grabs a worm, eats goes on flying around like nothing's going on. The only birds that are worried are caged birds.

Why? Because they have a scarcity mindset. Have you ever seen a bird in the cage get feed? What do they do? Right? That's my best impression of a bird they peck at and they get the seed as quick as possible because they don't know the next time that their owner who's got 'em caged is going to bring them feed. How many people approach God the same way? How many of I want to consume everything that God has given you because you don't know the next time? But here's the thing, God owns it all. That's why the Bible says that if you being an evil person know how to give good gifts, how much more will God take care of you? If God takes care of birds, yeah, why would he not take care of you? It is the difference of a mindset. And when you have a mindset from Jesus' perspective of abundance, then things in the scripture make more sense.

Then you understand why Jesus would say, be anxious for nothing. Take no thought for tomorrow and for tomorrow will take care of itself. That's a bird mindset, right? You got to get a bird mindset. Ooh, that's good. Seek first the kingdom. Why would you seek first the kingdom? Because the kingdom is what's giving you. Everything that you have given it will be given to you when you have an abundance mindset. This stuff makes sense. Now, let's look at this in verse, Matthew chapter six, verse number 24. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. I love that Jesus has taken this whole passage and now he's putting a bow on it. He's bringing it all to the completion of what he means. You cannot serve God and money. Isn't it interesting that out of all the things in the world idols Satan demons, Jesus picks money. Why would Jesus pick money as his number one competitor on earth

For worship?

Think

About

That. All you have to do is look around the culture, watch TV for about 30 seconds, and you understand why Jesus would say that When it comes to the heart, the number one thing that will draw the heart away from God is money. If you read the KJV, it says you cannot serve God and mammon. And really we should use the word mammon because mammon was the name of the Syrian God of wealth that was worshiped in that time. And what God is saying, what Jesus was saying is, listen, it is impossible to have a split vision and do well. You got to view money as belonging to the Lord and you as Lord's steward with it.

I want to close with this. There are three points really of Jesus teaching us. Number one, God is generous. God is generous. How many are recipients of the generosity of God? That's all of us, right? Because here's what we know about God. The reason why we say the reason why Jesus taught us to open up the prayer with our Father is because we need to recognize that God is our Father and he's our provider. He's a good God. He will give you everything you need. When our children walk around the house, they open the fridge like they own the thing. They get snacks when they're hungry. They don't go fix them anything. They say, mom, dad, I'm hungry. They wake us up five 30 in the morning, I'm hungry. And here's the thing, they do that with confidence. Why? Because they know not at five 30, but at some point we're going to get up and we're going to feed them.

Why? Because if our children are hungry, we're going to take care of them. Why would God leave you hungry? Why would God not let you get in the fridge? Why would God not give you bread? Why would God not make sure that you're taken care of? He is a good God, a loving father, and he will take care of you. God is generous. How do I know God is generous? Because at the very beginning when God created Adam and Eve, he told Adam and Eve, listen, you're not giving me anything. Not yet, but I'm giving you plants bearing seed. What does that mean? Once you get through eating that plant, you put the seed in the ground, and guess what? You'll get tenfold back to feed you some more and then you plant some more and you give some more. You can never outgive God. That's a fact. I wish I had 10 people to testify that you tried to outgive God and it didn't work. It didn't work. The only reason, the only way that Adam and Eve would not have received more plans is if they didn't put the seat back in the ground. And many people have seeds on the table.

That wasn't even my notes, but I'll go with it. He's a generous, God is at the heart of the gospel. Think about this, John 360, we love the quote, for God so loved the world that he gave, he gave his only son. We are recipients of God, sending, giving, being generous, giving us the son. But then the Son gave his life, two Corinthians eight, nine, for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich. So the Father gave the Son and the Son gave his life, but they didn't stop there. The Father and the Son gave the Holy Spirit. Hebrews chapter, Luke chapter 11, verse 13. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

Forgiveness is an expression of giving. The Holy Spirit is an expression of giving. Being endued with the powerful and high is an expression of giving. We all are recipients. If you are a believer, you are a recipient of generosity. It's what God lavish on us. Why would God in his nature be a generous God and then want his children to be stingy? Just something to think about. Number two, generosity is about the heart. According to Matthew six, the Bible says that your heart follows your generosity. That's why generosity is way more than just tithing and giving offerings. That's not where generosity stops or radical generosity where we give large portions of our resources to help something. But generosity is a matter of the heart. It's about buying somebody coffee at Starbucks. It's about giving somebody who's on the side of the road a few dollars without judging them. First is about going to a homeless shelter and serving. It's about giving meals on wheels. It's about buying somebody a Turkey. It's about giving somebody canned goods. It's about being a generous person in your everyday life. Sometimes we think that, Lord, God, if you give me $10,000, I will give a portion 1% to the Salvation Army. God, if you give me that new car, then I'll give somebody a ride.

What do you have now that you can be generous with? How many jackets are in your closet and it's about to get cold? How many pairs of jeans do you actually need? Right? Do you need all that food or can you package a portion of it up and go deliver it to the homeless? And here's the thing. I've done all these things. I'm not talking to you out of some theoretical idea. I'm telling you, this is where you find joy. Generosity isn't just about our behavior, it's about our inner nature. It's about our heart. Here's the third and final point. Generosity must be practiced. It's one thing to get up here and talk about generosity. It's another thing to practice it. Here's what we know about what scripture tells us. Don't just be hero is the word, but be doers, right? Don't just be a hero of the word, but be a doer. You have to take whatever the concepts are that God is teaching you, you have to put it into practice. So how does this work in real life this week? Practice generosity. Take an extra $5 and buy somebody a cup of coffee.

Offer to pay somebody. I'm just using this as an example. This was a while back. I was sitting there and I was eating with the boys, Zion and Zane, and we were at Z names, and we were sitting there eating, we were at Saltgrass, and I was like, let's go get some steak boys. And so we went and we were eating in Saltgrass, and we look in a corner and there in the corner there's this elderly lady who's eating by herself and she's taking her time. She eats soup and salad and diet Zion, who he's a very tender hearted person, especially those who are in need. He looks and he says she's sitting by herself. I said, yeah, and we had just got through and he's like, oh. And I could tell that it was bothering him. And so I said, Hey, should we pay for her meal? And he was like, yes. And so we paid for her meal and we walked out and to see the joy on his face, we never told her, but to see the joy on his faith because we did something kind. I was like, that is winning in life. That's winning in life.

And now every time we pass a person that's in need, Janice can tell you, if we're driving down the road and we see somebody laying, he's like, dad, should we stop and get some food for them? Yeah, he's five years old, but he already knows, bro, you got plenty of toys. Now he's getting more joy in giving than receiving, and that's where God wants us to get. Amen. Amen. Generosity is a practice by which we position our hearts from a scarcity mentality to abundance mentality of Jesus, where you go from fear of lack to trust in God, where you go from worry to faith, where you go from covetous hoarding to generous giving, where you go from grasping to gratitude, where you go from misery to joy. The practice of generosity is going to do that. Why are we preaching on this? Because this church is a generous church made up of generous people. We give thousands of dollars away to churches, to the poor, to widows. We do this all in the name of Jesus. And here's what I do know. You can never be out. You can never. I want to make a word out of generosity.

Generos. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody can teach you. You can never out generalize. God. That'll work. We'll put it in a dictionary. You can't out give God is impossible. You can try, but you can't generos. I pray that our church would always be a church that enjoys giving more than receiving. I pray that God allows us, he sees us as good stewards so that he would just fill this barn up so that we can be a conduit of God's blessing in the community and for people, and that people would receive the gospel and people would hear about the kingdom of God around the world. I pray that this church right here would be a generous place. It already is. But I think God can take us up a notch and somebody say, amen. Amen. Could you stand with me as has been our custom, our practice really for a while? I want to just take a moment. If you don't have to go, please don't go. Just going to take a moment, just not long, 90 seconds, two minutes to just ingest this word, have a song. And in this moment, as Pastor sings, I just want you to let that word soak into you. For some I know that you feel uncomfortable. I know you've been in environments that have manipulated the word of God to squeeze out money from God's to fund their own lifestyles. This is not this kind of place.

I know for some it's hard. It's hard to understand the concept of this. But I promise you that when you partner with God in generosity and you practice it regularly, not just one time, not just here and there, not just whenever I feel like it, but you see the work of God as being the conduit through which people get to meet Jesus and the gospel is shared and children are learning about God. I'm telling you, you will radically change your life. So in this next few moments, just let the Holy Spirit speak to you.

Make me a soul. Make me an offering. Make me whatever you want me to be. I came here with nothing but all you have given me. Jesus, make new wine out of me. All Jesus, make me wine out of me. Make me a vessel. Make me an offering. Make me whatever you want me. I came here with nothing but all you have given me. Jesus, make new wine out of me. All make new wine.

Thank you Lord. Here's what I want to do. The word of God says we should be doers. The word not hearers only. And so this is what I want you to know about Embassy City Church. God has been very gracious to us. We function on the generosity of people. And this is what I believe is the call for every believer. Every believer should decide in their own heart what they ought to give to the work of God. And that comes straight from the Word of God. And for some, it may be challenging to hear this, and that's okay because the Holy Spirit can challenge us. So this is what I want you to do. We're going to have a moment here where I want to give you an opportunity to join in generosity here in this house. There are many of you that already give. The good thing is we're not coming from a place of lack or any of that. This is simply a matter of the heart.

It's a matter of the kingdom of God forward. And so there's several ways that you can give through the QR code. You can text to give. You can physically. There are kiosks that are out here in the lobby. This is what I want you to do. If you have not yet, we're going to take a moment, we're going to pray together. We're going to take 10 seconds or so. I want the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Whatever the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, respond in kind, meaning that whatever the Lord is telling you to do in this moment, do it. Okay? And we'll have an opportunity for you to join in on generosity in this house. So let's pray this prayer. First. It's coming up on the screen. I want us to pray it together. Are you ready? Yes. Say Father, father, provider. Provider, you hold all things. Hold all things in endless. In endless. Fearless. Fearless. Supply. Supply help us. Help us to live and trust to live. And the rest, an extravagance of knowing of lovingly. We can freely give. We can freely give in the manner. In the manner we've received, we received selflessly, selflessly. Daringly. Daringly. Lovingly. Lovingly. Amen. Amen. Now, just close your eyes and just for about just a few moments, I want the Holy Spirit to speak to you.

If I say amen, whatever the Lord spoke to you, I want you to respond in kind. We're not a church, and you all know that if you've been around embassy any length of time, we don't twist people's arms forgiving and offerings. We're a church that believes in generosity that comes from the heart. Now, there are times where you have to give and it hurts when you start giving, when you start practicing generosity, it's going to cost you something. Literally, it's going to hurt. But then guess what? Your heart follows, right? So these are some ways that you can give, and I want you to practice that, especially if you're a part of embassy. If embassy has ever been a blessing in your life, I want you to practice that. If you're busy enough, don't feel obligated at all to do so. This is a house of generosity. We're always going to be a house of generosity and somebody say, amen. Amen. Prayer Team, would you come up right now as the prayer team is coming, this is what I want to encourage you to do. If you have any need for prayer, come up and get prayer. If you have not signed up to serve anywhere, go out. Sign up to serve in some kind of capacity. Show the love of Christ. We'll see you here tonight, 6:00 PM for prayer, or next week for baptism Sunday. We love you. See you here next week.

Tim Rivers
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A Different Way to Pray