Generosity, Week 4
Dr. Tim Rivers | November 24, 2024
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Now we are in a series called Generosity and we're coming to the end of it today. Now, I just want to say how thankful and proud I am of you for sticking in this series. I know that for some of you, when you heard the word generosity, you probably said, oh Lord, here we go. And what I've prayed during the series is that the Lord healed some of you from a bad experience that you had where finances were misused in the church. And I pray that God gave some of you revelation of what it means to live a generous life. And I'm also proud of all those. There are many in here that you have given regularly into this house. You've been a part of the generosity that comes in this house, and then many of you started for a very first time over the last several weeks. In fact, 158 individuals or households have started. Come on. That's something to celebrate.
And I just want to say thank you for entrusting us and most of all I know that the Lord is proud of you for that trust. So the first week we talked about there is more joy in giving than receiving. The second week we talked about watch out for greed, and last week we said, all we have belongs to God. And this week we're wrapping it up. But as we're talking about generosity, one of the things that I want to just make an announcement of that in a couple of weeks on December the 15th, we are going to take up what we call a faith offering. This is no pressure, this is just we ask you to pray and let the Lord lead you. Last year we took up a faith offering and we brought in a little over a hundred thousand dollars and I think we can double it this year.
I walked by faith, right? And here's what we did. When I presented it to you last year, I said, Hey, I don't really know what we're going to use this on. I just feel like the Lord wanted us to act in faith. And so I'm glad to announce to you that we were taking all of that that came in last year and we're putting it toward revitalizing our kids' wing. There's a lot of work that needs to be done. We literally have so many children that you don't even see that are over there getting ministered to, and we want to create a safe, clean environment for them. And so we get to do that and some of our common areas are going to be updated as well, and we get to do that because of your generosity. And so December 15, a hundred percent of it goes to revitalization or expansion plans and whatnot. So we're going to do it again December 15th. I'm giving you a heads up because I want you to pray about it. Ask the Lord what he wants you. Our family participates in it and I just pray that everyone prays about it and let the Holy Spirit speak to you and then just do what the Lord tells you to do. I'm not going to twist your arm, we're not going to have different marches.
We just believe the Holy Spirit knows what he does and so we trust in him and everybody say amen. And if you're wondering what the biblical principle is, because everything we do has a biblical principle is found in Exodus chapter 36, verse two through seven. This is when Moses spoke to the people and said, Hey, it's time to build the house of God. And he said, everyone that is willing to bring what they call a free will offering a contribution, bring it to the house of God. And this is what happened. They brought so much that the individuals who were working in the house of God said, yo, stop. We don't have enough space or storage to store all of the things. And I would love to get to that place. We we're so passionate about the work of God that we're like, Hey, stop. Please stop bringing offerings. We're not there yet, but I believe we're going to get there. Everybody say amen. Amen. Alright, stand on your feet please. Let's go to one John chapter three, the book of one John, not to be confused with the gospel of John. It's a little more tedious to find if you have a paper, Bible one, John chapter three, verse number 16 through 18.
This is what it says by this, we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children let us not love in word or talk, but indeed and in truth. And everybody say amen. Lord, we are so thankful for all that you've given us the many blessings that you have given to us. I pray, Lord, that we would never close our fists and our hearts toward those who are in need. I pray that you would work within us, the spirit of generosity. As we close this series today, I pray that the Holy Spirit would've done its work and that you would continue to do your work in our hearts as we progress throughout this holiday season into the next year.
Give us ears to hear heart, to receive a mind and stand what the Spirit would say to us. We give you a name, all the praise, glory and honor in Jesus' name. And everybody say amen. Amen. God bless you. You may be seated. My title for today is be generous to the poor, be generous to the poor. I want to tell you a personal story. Many of you knew that I grew up in Germany until I was nine years old. So I grew up as a German civilian. I went to a German school to third grade. German is my first language. And in 1996, my parents felt like the Lord was leading us to come to the us. And so we visited the US in 1995 and then in 1996, the summer of 1996, we moved here. Interestingly enough, I don't know why, but my parents decided that it's a good idea to move from Germany, which has beautiful weather to Texas in July.
And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if you heard from God about the timing, but we got here in 1996 and we got plugged into a church and my parents were in a new country. They had been in Germany for about 20 years or so. And so they had to get new jobs, new home, new country, new church, new environment. But I've always known my parents to work. They always worked. I never knew my parents to be lazy. They always worked. And after being here in the country for several months, we moved to a little house in Dallas. And while we were there, we did church pretty much almost every day of the week. And Wednesday nights was Bible study nights. And I remember one Wednesday night after bible study, we get to the house, we do what we normally do, we eat something and we get settled in to go to sleep.
And it was late at night, there came a knock on the door and because it's late at night and we're in Dallas, we didn't rush to the door. This was before we had rain. We finally went to the door, opened the door, there was nobody there but looked down and there was a box of groceries. And I remember as kids, we were like, yo, we did not know that Santa worked year round. This is crazy. Is this really happening? So we grabbed the box of groceries, went to the kitchen. My parents were saying, thank you Jesus. And then we were just like, what snacks do we have? There were some snacks for us kids. And so we just put everything up and then the next week, the next Wednesday, same thing happened. Knocked on the door, go there and there's a box of groceries and we're like, yo, God is good.
The next week, I'm pretty sure it was about three weeks of this. The next week, the kids, we decided if we hear a knock, we're going to try to catch whoever it this is, right? And so we heard the knock and we rushed through the door, and when we opened the door, we just saw a figure jump into a car and the car peel off. And we just thought that was so awesome, so cool that we had groceries delivered to us in a box, didn't have to pay for it, didn't think anything about it. And what's interesting is I didn't know what was going on at the time because I was about nine or 10 years old. It wasn't until I got a little older that I realized why we were having groceries dropped off at the front door. Because again, in my mind, we were never wanting for anything.
We were never in a situation. My parents always worked. But as I got older, I realized that my parents were in a season where things were hard. They were in a season where they had some financial strengths. They never stopped doing the work of God. During this period of time we were going to feed the homeless. We were picking up people and taking 'em to church. My parents always did bible studies at the house, but we were going through a season where somebody in the church, close friends of our, we found out who it was, but to this day, they never admit that it was them. But somehow this family found out that our family was in a season of need, and this is what I love. They didn't go tell the church, they didn't ask for the benevolence fund. They didn't go ask my parents embarrassing questions. They didn't videotape it.
They didn't come with the camcorder. They came, they themselves went to the grocery store, they picked out items, they put it in a box, they paid for it with their own money and they delivered it to our family without us ever knowing it. And that's when I realized the true love of God that exists in the body of Christ when you care for each other. Now, the reason I tell you the story is because the Lord has obviously blessed us over and over after that to where we've been able to, well in the season and after the season to be able to do that for many other families. But the reason why I'm preaching on generosity is it's not just a hypothetical for me. It's not just theological for me. It's not just something that I read about in a book. It isn't because I read that giving is the good life.
I'm talking to you as a beneficiary of generosity. I'm talking to you because I not only am a beneficiary, but now I'm a benefactor. Now I get to practice generosity, and I want to ask you this question because when we think about the poor, there's an image generally that comes to our mind. So let me ask you, when I say the word poor, what comes to mind? Everyone's probably thinking of something or somewhat and generally, especially in the western world, when we think of someone that is poor, we think about the word poor. We imagine somebody who's unsheltered, somebody who's homeless, or we think of someone who's panhandling or someone who's on the corner of the street, or we think of someone who is on the side of the road or an abject poverty. And oftentimes, especially in the western world, we have almost visceral reaction to the negative connotation of being poor, right? No one wants to be poor. In fact, we will do whatever it takes, spend whatever money that isn't ours to project an image that we are not poor. People will go in the crazy debt to try to convince others that they're not poor, that they have all this stuff, and often in our attempt to avoid being poor, we avoid the poor.
Lemme say it again. Often in our attempt to avoid being poor, we avoid the poor. And here's what we know, the poor have a special place in God's heart. That's why there are over 2000 scriptures that deal with the poor and generosity to the poor. That's a sobering,
Yes,
That's a sobering thought, right? In fact, God was so concerned about the poor that he wrote specific provisions in the law concerning the poor. Let's read a couple of 'em. Leviticus chapter 19 verse number 10, this is what it says, and you shall not strip your vineyards bear. Neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner, I am the Lord your God. In other words, what God says is, listen, during the period of time before harvest or during harvest, there are going to be grapes that just fall from your vine. Don't pick those up. Leave those for people who don't have a vineyard to come and get some grapes. And there's passage of Leviticus chapter 23 verse 22, and when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to the edge. In other words, don't be greedy and harvest everything. Well, that's mine. God says, I know it's yours, but we need to make provisions for the poor. So God specifically told those who own fields that when you get to the edge, instead of going to the edge backing up, have you ever tried to mow your yard? You know when you mow your yard, it's a whole lot easier to make a turn, right? But if you want to get all of your yard, you got to go to the edge back up.
Does anybody mow the yard? Right In order to get the corner? It actually takes a lot of work. So what God was saying is when you're plowing your field, when you're harvesting your field, just make the turn and leave the corner for those who are poor. I don't know if you've ever had this experience. I'm sure you have when you're baking a cake and you make the mixture, you want to leave some in the bowl for the kids to lick, right? I remember when I would come, when I saw my mom getting ready to bake a cake and get that mixture, I'm just eagerly waiting because I need you to leave the corners of the bowl in order for me to get some of this mixture right? How awful would it be if you as a parent made a mixture and you scrape everything and the child is like, please, can I try you?
Nah, this is going in the cake and you scrape the spatula, making sure that listen, an ounce of cake mix is not going to make a big difference. Yet how many of us do that with our finances, where people will work harder to keep the money? Oh God, I'm getting ahead of myself. So when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleams after you harvest, you shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner, I am the Lord your God. Remember, we see this in the story of Ruth and Boaz and Deuteronomy chapter 15, verse seven through eight. I'm going to give you a lot of scripture today. If among you, one of your brothers should become poor in any of your towns within your land, that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. In another passage of scripture, the Lord says that if somebody is in need and they need to take up a loan, give 'em a loan and don't charge 'em interest. Let them pay you back when they get to it. And then God puts a provision in there called the year of Jubilee that at the end when Jubilee, when the year of Jubilee came, guess what? All debts were eradicated.
So if you had someone that owed you, you better collect it and you only had a short amount of time to do it. Deuteronomy chapter 15, verse seven through eight, we read that one, Deuteronomy chapter 15, 10 through 11, you shall give to him freely and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him because for this, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in awe that you undertake for there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land. I could go on and on and on and on, but the Bible doesn't stop talking about the poor in the New Testament. This isn't just the provision that God, God established in the Old Testament. And if you've noticed through this series, I've given you a lot of scripture.
You know why? Because I believe the Bible speaks for itself. You ain't got to take my word for it. I'm giving you plenty of Bible so that you can study it even yourself. But when we get to the New Testament, the fact of the poor don't just go away. In fact, Jesus and his very first beginning of the ministry when he gave us the five primary things that he came to do on earth, he says that part of his mission on earth is to proclaim good news to the poor. So you want to be like Jesus, you got to find the love for the poor. Let's read it. Luke chapter four, verse 18 through 19, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. First thing he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captive and recovering a sight of blind to set at liberty to those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Now, I want to look at this word poor because again, in our western context, when we think of the word poor, we have a certain connotation. We have a certain image of what it means to be poor. And usually for us poor means you got nothing. You're a beggar. But let's look at what the biblical principle of poor is. The word poor in this passage in other passages is a person with few or no possessions but not yet reduced to begging. It describes someone in me. This is the same word that Jesus uses. Remember when he said a blessed are the poor in spirit? Now here's the interesting part. For most Christians, we have no problem with that. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Oh, they need the spirit. But that word poor for spirit is the same word, poor in the natural. It means somebody who is lacking, somebody who is in need. How often do we offer up gifts and talents that are spiritual but withhold things that are physical? And yet Jesus said, when I come to proclaim the good news, I came to people who are in need, not just spiritually, but physically, not just the beggar, but the person who is in a season of need.
So let me ask you this. Have you ever been poor? Lemme see your hand. If you've ever been poor, some of you, I ain't never been broke. Lemme tell you something. If somebody has ever helped you, if somebody has ever come through for you, if you've ever been through a season where you didn't have it yourself and you needed some kind of provision, you know what it's like to be poor and it's not fun. I don't know anybody that's like, you know what? I love being broken. I get to meet so many people. It's just nobody likes that. Right?
Submitted a question online to one of the generosity messages and they asked this question, what about the homeless who are praying for help and are still homeless? And that's such a great question and as a pastor, I ponder these questions because I had love to know the answer, but there is no easy answer. Now, there is an answer though, because I cannot speak to the person who is homeless. I can't give you the context of their life. I can't tell you how they got homeless and why they're still homeless. I leave that to the sovereignty of God. I can't answer it for them, but I can answer it for those who are not homeless because the real question is not about the person. It's really about the person that passes by the person who's homeless. Because here's what we do know that scripture gives us specific instructions about what we ought to do to take care of the poor that are among us, not just in our community, but around us. And let's look at this in Luke chapter 12, verse number 16, and he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentiful. I might say plentifully P, that's a lot. And he thought to himself, what shall I do where I have nowhere to store my crops? Now remember, here's the key word is he's a rich man.
Rich, he got a lot of money, he has more than he needs, alright? He's rich and his crops are producing plentifully. He's getting like he's doing well, but now he's doing even better. He was a billionaire, but now he's on his way to being a trillionaire and he thought to himself, what shall I do before I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. He is so wealthy and he's getting so much that he's like, listen, I've got big barns, but they're so full, but just take the time to tear those down and make bigger ones and I will store all my great and my goods and I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid off for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. Some of y'all like that is the American dream. That's what I'm trying to do. But what you don't know is in this context, it was a pagan language. This is what the pagans would say, which is interesting because it's kind of the same as the American dream. Just let that settle in. But God said to him, fool this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
In other words, you're going to die. And then what so is the one who lays a treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Let's tip down to verse number 32. Fear not little flock for it Is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom? In other words, God wants you to be blessed. That's an abundance mindset, right? Then he says, sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourself with money bags that do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys for where your treasure is, there will your heart be. Also, when you read this passage, you realize that God is not against wealth. I've said it numerous times in the series. God is not against wealth. How do I know God's not against wealth? Because it takes wealth to take care of the poor, right? It takes provision to give those who have no provision. What God is against is you having wealth and being stingy. What God is against is you having wealth and being greedy. What God is against is you having wealth and just spending it on yourself and not the kingdom or people that are in need around you. What God is against is you having wealth and ignoring the poor around you, especially those who are in your community. He's against you having wealth just to build bigger barns.
The body of Christ, especially the needy benefit from the generosity of those who have wealth in the body of Christ. This is why I'm not against this. This is why when I pray for you, I don't pray. This is what I pray for you. God bless 'em abundantly. Let 'em get that raise. Let 'em get that new house, that new car, bless them abundantly and bless them with a generous heart to give a ride to somebody who doesn't have a car to pay for somebody's Starbucks to pay for somebody's groceries at the grocery line. When you see a single mom pumping gas pay for the gas, it's $50.
So what is our assignment as the body of Christ? We know that God loves the poor. We know that God has a heart for those who are in need and we know that God has commissioned all of us to have an assignment. If you have to give, then God calls us to give. But what is the assignment for us? Proverb chapter 14 verse 21. Here he goes, whoever despises neighbor is a sinner. The word despise literally means to kind of look away, right? To have no regard for them. And this way he said, but bless it is he who is generous to the poor. So I want to give you five reasons to be generous to the poor. If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. Number one, God cares for the poor. If you don't hear anything else, hear this, you should care about what God cares about.
The call of every Christian is to be Christ-like. And so if God cares for the poor, then I should care for the poor. Psalm chapter 35, verse number 10, all my bones shall say, oh Lord, who is like you delivering the poor from him? Who is too strong for him? The poor and the need from him who robs him? The orphans, the widows, the poor were the most vulnerable group of people in the ancient world and they still are today. So the question then becomes who takes care of the vulnerable? God does? How does he do it through those who are not vulnerable, who are not in those categories. God advocates for the poor and the vulnerable. And if God does, then we as the representatives of God should also, I know this is going to be convicted for many of us. Proverbs 22, verse 22, do not rob the poor because he is poor or crush the afflicted at the gate. For the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who robbed them.
Let me read this again. Do not rob the poor because he is poor or cru the afflicted at the gate for the Lord. Somebody say the Lord, the Lord will plead their cause. In other words, the Lord will be their attorney. Listen, I'll go up against anybody, the hammer, the whoever. I'm not going to try to go against the Lord as the attorney. And yet this is lawful language that God says the Lord will plead their cause in the court of law. God says, I'm going to represent the poor and this is what he says, and I will rob of life those who rob them.
That's strong language. So think about that next time you have an opportunity to give to somebody and you withhold, my God. Point number two, God is glorified when we give to the poor proverb chapter 14 verse 31, whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. So when you are generous to the needy, you actually honor God. Isn't that amazing? Let me see. Just because the poor are precious to God, when we take care of who is precious to God, we bring glory to God. It's kind of like if you have children, if and somebody is kind to your children, you are kind to them, right?
And the flip side of that coin is you act crazy to my kids. Yes, holy Spirit, I'll be right back, right? Don't mess with my kids because they're precious to me. Don't talk about my wife. I'm trying to stay holy. But if you mess with what's precious to me, you got another thing coming. And I mean that with all sincerity and humility before the Lord, but the Lord said mess with him. So when you take care of the poor, you honor God. And this is what Matthew 25 verse 34 says, when the king, then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father inherited the kingdom prepared for you, for the foundational of world. For I was hungry, you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him in saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? I love this because they're oblivious to the fact they were just doing stuff and they were oblivious of what they were actually doing. And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you and when did we see you sick or imprison and visit you? And the king will answer them truly. I say to you, as you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
So when you take care of the poor, the least of these, you're doing it unto the Lord. The Lord gets glory from us taking care of the vulnerable. Here's point number three. God blesses those who bless the poor. Proverbs 1917, whoever is generous to poor, lends to the Lord, oh I like this and he will repay him for his deed. When you give to the poor, it is like giving a loan to God and God gives you back with interest, meaning that God's like you will never outgive me. When you bless somebody who is in need, God will take care of you. I've seen this happen over and over and over and over in my life. I remember one time I went to a conference at a hundred dollars and I had this principle that I received from another pastor to keep a hundred dollars in your wallet and anytime the Lord prompts you go and give that money to them.
And so I was at a conference and I was evangelizing at the time and I didn't have a lot of money, but I got a hundred dollars to put in my wallet and at this conference there was another evangelist, so him and I were peers, we're at the conference together and he had all these places booked and I didn't have very many places booked. I was at the conference, y'all want a business card? I mean I can preach a little bit. And the Lord said, give to him the a hundred dollars. And my first thing was like, Lord, he should be giving me a hundred. God said no, give it to him. And so I walked up to him and I said, Hey man, the Lord told me to give this to you and I gave him the a hundred. Oh man, thank you bro. Appreciate it. I said, you are welcome.
Can I just be honest? Sometimes giving hurts, you know what I mean? And I walked off, I kid you not I off and I didn't go but about 20 steps. The pastor came up to me and said, Hey, the Lord put you on my heart and to give you this check, and he gave me a check for a thousand dollars. Amen. I am like Lauren, lemme go get a hundred Bill real quick. But that was God's way of showing me When he speaks we do and he'll take care of the rest, right? I know I can pass the mic right now and give a hundred different testimonies of that happening. God bless those who bless the poor. Luke chapter six, verse 38, give and it will be given to you. Good measure, press down, shake it together. Running over will be put into your lap. I don't even got to go get it. You talking about if I give, God's going to say sit down, bam, bam, bam.
If you're like me and my wife will say, Hey, the trash is full. I say, no it ain't. Press down shaking together, run it over. I will press all types of stuff because it is not full until the bag almost burst. That's how God will bless you. When you bless others, God will bless you to the point where you'll say, God, that's enough. I already got a nice house. I already got a nice car. Alright, I'm already educated. Why do you keep giving me? Because God wants to give you everything that pertains to godness, right? And he'll press it down in your lap. I'm telling you I can go. I don't have time to tell you all testimonies of when I just listened to the Lord and gave and God literally had stuff fall into my lap that I didn't work for. This is the promise from God. Luke chapter 14, verse 13 through 14, but when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled and the lame, the blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you.
It's one thing to give somebody some money and be like, yeah, just pay me later. There are some people they can't repay you and God says, those are the ones you should be giving to for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just Wow. Proverbs 11 24, 1 gives freely yet grows all the richer in other which holds what he should give and only suffers want. That's that greed. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched and one who waters will himself be watered. Here's the last point. Generosity to the poor is a sign of spiritual maturity or second to the last point. When you think of the needy and the vulnerable and the poor, the addicted, the endorphines of the widows, what do you think of? Do you see them as someone who is a drug addict or someone who wasted their money or we love to just cast judgment on people or do you see 'em as the image of God?
Yes. Broken, yes. Addicted, yes and need, yes and want and still created in the image of God. And when you can see people as portraying the image of God, it gives you a different kind of compassion for them because again, that could be any of us and that was many of us. There are people in this church that you've had to live in your car for a while. You've had to do some couch surfing for a while and somebody somewhere showed you generosity. Galatians chapter two, verse 10 says, only they asked us to remember the poor and the very thing I was somebody say eager, eager to do, let me tell you the sign of true spiritual maturity is when there is need, you don't close your fist, you open them. You are eager to give those who are you're eager to provide. If God's given you more than you need, then you're eager to bless somebody.
You're looking for opportunities to bless somebody. I remember this story. Zion and I were going to sprouts and outside of Sprouts, there's a lady, she came up to us, the assumption is that she was unsheltered. She came and she said, Hey, can you get me a sandwich and some chips and a diet Coke? I said, I got you. So we went in there and we ordered them and while they were making the sandwich, we grabbed a couple of items and we were moving really quickly and we got the sandwich and the chips and the diet Coke and we walked outside and she was nowhere to be seen. And so Zion, this is our middle son, he's five at the time he was four. He said, where does she go? And I said, man, I don't know. He said, we should drive around and see if we can find her.
We said, all right. So we got in the car and we were driving around trying to find her. We could not find her at all. We got in the car and I said, well son, we're going to drive down the road and if you see somebody else that you think we should give it to, we'll stop and give it. We're driving down the road and all of a sudden this is going to make me emotional, but Zion looked at a CVS that was closed and he goes, there's a person right there. And I didn't even see them and I pulled up and we got out and we gave them the food. They were so thankful and to see the look on my son's face was priceless. Now every time we pass somebody on the road, he wants to give to them. So now we have to keep cash in the car just in case we pull up and he says, Hey, that he's eager. And I would rather him be eager than stingy or we talked about people.
Point number five, last point, generosity displays the gospel. It displays the gospel in the same way that we were poor in spirit, that God freely gave to us his own life. The principle also applies to our finances that God has freely given us. And so because we have freely received, we freely give. Let's look at the inception of the church. Remember, anytime you look at a theological principle, it's called the theology of first mention. Meaning that you go back and look at when things are first mentioned to see what the principle was at the time. And at the inception of the church it'd be Acts chapter two. Peter preaches the message. He gives them the ultra call, they respond. What happens next is very important to the formation of the church. And so at the inception of the church, you can read this in Acts chapter two, verse 42, it says, and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and the breaking of bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common, right?
They were in a community, they shared and verse 45, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. Now look at the result. And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they receive their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Wow. So if we want to know how to be the church, we need to go see how the church became the church. They were in the apostles document, they were in prayer, they were in fellowship, but they also had generous hearts toward those who were in need in the community. They decided that we're all going to pull our resources together. And if there are people that are in need among us, we're going to meet those needs.
That's what I pray for you and for me, that we would be not just the church community, but individuals who are generous to the poor, who are generous to those who are in need. Many of you, even as I'm talking, there's somebody coming to your mind that you know have the resources to give to them, to take care of them, to meet a certain need. It doesn't have to be astronomical, it just whatever the Lord is speaking to, you got to respond in kind. So how do we do this as a church? I wanted to show you this because you, if you give it to this house, you are part already of giving and generosity. And so we kind of give to different categories of organizations or ministries or churches. And so I want to show you this. This year we've given to a couple organization ministries.
One is called Unlocked Ministries, and this is a ministry that helps women recover from trauma, specifically sexual trauma. And then we've given to the Union Gospel Mission, which is a ministry for the unsheltered. We've given to all things Made new, which is a community outreach and we've given to Agape International Mission, which they fight sex trafficking in various countries and they're doing amazing work. And we were actually part of, we gave to the ministry who actually the money went 100% to fund a raid in the country of Indonesia. And so you were a part of that. If you gave that, and it's not just rescuing them, but then it's putting them on a rehabilitation plan as well. We also gave the Be Love Foundation, which is a foundation in Ethiopia that takes care of double orphan children. And then we also believe that it is important for the church to support the church.
And so we gave to some churches this year a House of Light Church, which is launching next year. We gave to Queen City Church who are actually in a building program, the West Church, which is a church congregation in Houston that just got started a couple years ago. We gave to Redeemer Church, which is actually our neighbor right down the street, and we gave to Kha Aen, I know that you're reading there going, we about to speak in size. It's a church of the city of Ashen book, and this is a small church that just launched in the country of Germany. Then here's some resources, initiatives that you've been a part of. The reason why we've been able to buy all the Bibles is because of your generosity. When we give those Bibles away, we know that the Bible's making an impact with somebody's life.
We didn't charge people for it. It was out of the generosity from this house that we are able to purchase over 500 Bibles to give out to people. All the books that we've been given out that's taken care of by the generosity of this house, the groups. In fact, this week and next week, all of our groups are going to be giving us some of money and the groups are to then decentralize mission and go do something with it, bless a server, give it to a foundation and whatnot. So this year in missions, we've given over $129,000, and that's actually going to be more by the end of the year. We've also given in benevolence over $43,000 just to meet needs. I'm talking paying rent, making sure somebody eats, and the life of our church. I want you to check this out. The life of our church, we've given over $2.5 million in missions and benevolence.
So if you're wondering if we just preach this, no, we don't just preach it, we live it, we do this. But God doesn't just want this to be relegated to the corporate church. God wants this to be a practice in your personal life. So the question is how do I practice generosity toward the poor? God's given us the principle, and let me ask you this question. What are the corners of your field? What are the corners of your field? What are the corners of your income? Maybe it's a percentage. For us, we set a percentage of our income that goes just to alms, giving benevolence, feeding the poor, anything that the Lord leads us to. Sometimes you may want to round your check down. If you get, let's say $1,820 every two weeks, just round it down to 1800, take the $20 and give it toward an organization.
Maybe it's a dollar amount every month that you set, or every week that you set $20 or $50. Many of you can do hundreds of dollars, but I pray that everybody in this place and watching online sets aside a sum of money to take care of the poor, to take care of the vulnerable, to take care of those. Maybe it's the organization. Salvation Army is everywhere right now. Like give to Salvation Army, give to a friend that's in need. If you know somebody that isn't going to be able to do Thanksgiving, buy them groceries, pay for somebody's gas to make that trip, to visit their family. Just give, we're entering into the week of Thanksgiving. Let's not just be thankful for what God's given us, but let's be thankful for what God's given us to give to others and everybody say, amen. The worship team is coming as they do. Would you stand to your feet? You made it. We're at the close of the generosity series and my prayer is that all of us hear the Holy Spirit speak to us, and so let's just take a moment, close your eyes if you would bow your heads, if you would just lift your hands.
That I have is, and I know it's not much. I've never before except for so up my and I. It's not much. I have nothing else before a king except for
Lord. We thank you for the last four weeks we've been talking about generosity. I thank you for the work that you've been doing in our hearts, I pray God, that we would hold everything that we receive with open hands to be willing to give, to be willing to live generous lives. God, let our lives be a reflection of the generosity that's been shown to us through your gifts, God, both spiritually and naturally. We thank you for it. In Jesus' name. Everybody say amen. As we've done every week, I want to pray this prayer together in concert. Then we're going to take 10 seconds and just pause because for some of you it is going to be very individual. God's going to lay somebody on your heart, an organization on your heart. You may be in the grocery line and pay for somebody's groceries or you may pay for somebody's gas.
As we for others, you may give into Embassy City. We take a percentage of everything that comes in that's specifically for missions and benevolence, and so whatever the Lord leads you to do, here's your responsibility, respond to the Lord. No one's going to twist your arm. No one's going to stand on your own neck. The Holy Spirit may respond to him. So here we're going to pray this prayer together. You'll see it here up on the screens. Are you ready? Yes. Say it with me. Thank you, Lord for all your many blessings. Your kindness and generosity toward us is extravagant. Teach us to be generous to those who are in need. Use us as vessels of blessings toward those less fortunate. Fill our hearts with joy. As we practice generosity, all glory belongs to you. Amen. I just take 10 seconds and just listen to the Lord.
Amen. Thank you Lord. Somebody put your hands together and just thank the Lord. Man. The Lord's been so good. I'm overwhelmed today by just thinking of how good God's been to me, and I pray that you feel the same way prayer TV would come up front, and as they're coming, if there's anything that you need prayer for, come up. Get prayer. If you're going through a season, come up, get prayer. Let somebody pray over you. If you are needing God to speak to you about a certain situation or circumstance, come up, get prayer. But whatever you do this week, be obedient to the Lord. We'll see you here next week. Travel safely. Happy Thanksgiving. We love you so much. See you here next week.
