Generosity: The Overflow Frequency

A teenager’s lunch feeds a massive crowd, an Uber ride turns into a holy moment of provision, and a late-night Waffle House becomes a reminder that God has not forgotten anyone. That’s the heart of Frequency 13 on the Proximity podcast: generosity as the overflow frequency, where giving isn’t driven by guilt or headlines, but by stewardship, stillness, and obedience.

We walk through John 6 and the question we all ask when the need is bigger than what we hold: “What good is that with this huge crowd?” From there, we settle the ownership issue with Psalm 24:1, then talk plainly about money, resources, and the mindset shift that changes everything for faith-based entrepreneurs and Christian leaders. When we stop acting like owners and start living like stewards, generosity stops being a complicated calculation and becomes a simple response to God’s voice.

You’ll also hear practical steps you can apply right away: listen, obey, and release. We connect generosity to stillness, because you can’t give where God directs if your calendar is too loud to hear Him. We also talk about why shortcuts break trust, why disciplined stewardship invites greater responsibility, and how to run a “stewardship audit” so your habits and systems can handle the increase you’re praying for.

If this resonates, subscribe to Proximity, share it with a friend who needs a reset around money and obedience, and leave a review so more leaders can find the show. What’s one act of generosity you feel prompted to practice this week?

Transcript

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Welcome And Proximity Live Invite

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Proximity. I am your host, Ken Jocelyn. Super excited to continue our 14 frequencies of proximity. As we get near our Proximity Live October 14th through the 16th, which is a three-day uh live event online, gross stackdrive.com forward slash proximity live, myself and 14 amazing friends. And so as we get near the end of the 14 frequencies for the podcast, I want to invite you guys to be a part of that. You'll hear more about that throughout the show today. But today is frequency number 13. It's generosity. And we call generosity the overflow frequency. And so I want to share a little bit of a scripture with you guys, not a little bit of a scripture, but a little bit of a passage. This is one of my favorite, one of my favorite stories in all the Bible. Guys, this is something I preached this message when I was youth pastoring. You know, you've got several hundred students. We had several hundred students in our youth ministry. And this is probably one of my favorite messages that kids love because I love how God used a teenager, how he used a teenager to be able to. And a lot of us have heard it in John chapter six, where Jesus feeds

The Feeding Of The 5,000 Frame

SPEAKER_00 1:15

the 5,000. So a couple things about this as we start this podcast, I want you to understand as we kind of set the foundation for generosity, the overflow frequency. And in John chapter six, you know, Jesus is out. It says they count 5,000. Now, obviously, I hope I want you guys to understand that doesn't count. Theologians say that doesn't count. The men and I mean the women and children. So that crowd's probably more along the lines of 15 to 25,000 people. This is a m, I mean, that's like Phillips Arena in Atlanta. This is a massive crowd following Jesus. And I love this. So I'm just going to give you a synopsis. I'm going to read verse nine for you guys, but I'm going to give you a synopsis of the entire story. And so they're there, they're hungry, they don't know what to do. Jesus leaves it to them to figure it out. And I love in verse, actually, I'm going to read a couple more verses. I'm sitting here with my Bible in my hand as I do this. And Philip goes, Philip says, Jesus turned to Philip and he goes, Where can we find, where can we buy bread to feed all these people? And it says Jesus was testing Philip for he already knew what he was going to do. And so Philip said, Man, even if we work for months, they don't have enough money to feed all of these people. And so generosity, guys, let me tell you one of the one of the amazing things about Jesus and generosity is when it looks like we don't have enough, God is already working a plan because He said, He said, Where can we buy all the bread? And in verse six of John chapter six, it says Jesus was testing Philip for he already knew what he's going to do. Guys, when it comes to generosity, when it comes to our resources, we're going to talk a little bit about stewardship, set that up as well. It's pretty much a test. God's like, listen, he's the owner. We're the steward. I don't own all of the possessions or the finances, the resources I have. Those belong to God. And as Christ followers, as faith-based entrepreneurs, our responsibility is to do what? Steward and give to God and give where God desires or directs us to be able to give. But I love this. In verse nine, it says, Simon Peter, it says, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. And in verse nine, this is the verse I want us to focus on. There's a young boy with five barley loaves and two fish. And then he says this question, because a lot of times, guys, we think to ourselves, and this is the exact, this is the exact thought we have. And then Andrew or Andrew said, but what good is that with this huge of crowd? Like when we think about generosity, guys, I don't want you to think about generosity when you're looking at what you have in your hand. Because here's this young teenage boy who has a sack lunch. And he, and here's the thing about generosity, guys. This sack lunch that this boy have, there's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that? Is what is what Andrew said to. Then Jesus said, Tell everyone to sit down. Could you imagine the tension in that moment? And here's the thing, guys. We're not, and I maybe you're encouraged by this. I am. Maybe we're not any different than the than the than the uh disciples. Like they're looking at it and they're going, this kid's got a sack lunch, but how am I going to do that? You're looking at, well, here's what I've got in my hands, here's what I've got in my bank account, here's the resources I have. But God, what good is that going to do? But guys, generosity isn't tied to the amount of resources you have. Generosity is tied to the understanding of stewardship that we are not owners, we are stewards, we're

Stewardship Versus Ownership With Money

SPEAKER_00 4:50

managers. And generosity is tied to the key component of being able to hear the voice of God. Because God's generosity is not in how much you give, it's about how much you obey. God, you speak to me and I will obey. So all these 14 frequencies of proximity, obviously, they hit all core five areas. This last two that we're talking about, three, 13, and 14, are going to really align with the financial core five area on our finances. So this is about our relationship with money. And the first truth, guys, about money is it was never ours. The money never belonged to us, it's always belonged to God. Give you a couple of scriptures. Number one, Psalms 24:1. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Guys, when we settle the ownership question and that everything belongs to God, a couple of amazing things happen. Number one, generosity isn't in how much I have. It's in me being obedient, hearing the voice of God, and being able to give that to God. And then it's also on the flip side of generosity, it's also trusting God that He's going to meet my needs. He's going to give me the resources that I need in order to live the life and build what he has called me to build. We've been on this, I don't know, this thread for the last six months inside of our circle corner Zoom calls every Monday morning at 8 a.m. and Wednesday night at 8 p.m., really since the beginning of 2026. It is our job and responsibility as Christ followers to be obedient. It's God's job to grow our business. It is God's job to grow our business. And that obedience, obviously, it pertains to generosity, but it also pertains to growth. It pertains to, and then we've I've said this too, and gosh, I don't have but about 20 minutes on this podcast. We're seven minutes in already. It it pertains to can I obey God with what I have? And if I believe, if I believe that it's my job to be obedient and it's God's job to build my business, then I can trust God in that. So Psalms 24, verse 1. The earth, the earth is the Lord's and everything

Wealth As A Tool For The Kingdom

SPEAKER_00 7:20

in it. That scripture solves the ownership question. Now, part of that, Deuteronomy 8.18. I love this scripture in the right context, not in a, you know, a hyper Pentecostal, I would say, what's the right word so I don't get emails? Prosperity theology. This isn't a prosperity theology message whatsoever. Because prosperity theology does what? Benefits and blesses the person who owns or has all the resources. That's not, that's not what this is at all. But Deuteronomy 8.18 is very clear. God gives us the ability to produce wealth. Now, the rest of that scripture says so his kingdom or his covenant can be established. Guys, he gives it through us, not just to us. Wealth is never the goal. Wealth is a responsibility and a tool. And guys, I work with some of the most amazing faith-based entrepreneurs on the planet. Yesterday I'm in Atlanta with two really, really good friends. One, uh two-time Inc. 500, he's both corner members. Two-time Inc. 500 guy, exited his company for um north of $100 million. The other one, Duke Grad, one of the top CTOs in the country, he started Wave Rideshare, which is a direct alternative to uh Lyft and Uber. And his whole process in starting this was to solve the transportation problem. And so his whole thing is scaling trust. And so we're having conversations yesterday about this specific thing. And we just we came to a consensus of God, you desire to give to us. You desire for us to be able to steward more. And it only happens when, guys, when we steward what God has already entrusted us with. Part of stewardship is generosity. And I could, gosh, I could go on and on about stewardship because we when we think of stewardship, we always think of resources, finances, our money. That's what we think about. But stewardship is much deeper than that. But today, for this, for this frequency, generosity, the overflow frequency, we're talking specifically about generosity. So generosity

Listen Obey Release Through Stillness

SPEAKER_00 9:40

really, really works on three different things. And we talk a lot about 4610 moments. Be still, listen to God, write the vision down. Very similar on generosity, guys. Number one, here's the three things. Number one, we have to listen and be sensitive to the voice of God. And then we have to obey. We kind of when God speaks, we have to obey. Ken, how do I know if it's God? That's a great question. Probably time for another podcast. I mean, I'm 58 years old. I turned 58 years old, August the 7th of this year. And one of the things that I've learned over, I gave my life to Christ August of 1993. So it's 2026, 33 years ago, 33 years ago last month, um, August the 22nd. And what I've learned over the past 33 years is really being able to differentiate what my thoughts are and when God puts something on my heart. So it runs really on three things. Number one, listening and being sensitive to the voice of God, obeying the, obeying whatever God tells you at the moment, and then release what he has entrusted to you where he desires for it to go. And guys, this is this is where generosity really ties back into stillness, the frequency number two, stillness, which is the strategy frequency. We we can't give where God directs if our life is too busy to be able to hear God. We've got to, guys, I'm seeing God do so many unbelievable things. We're about to launch our book. Literally, the vision for the next three years is so crystal clear, moving in our own office and studio in Alpharetta from our proximity series to create this year. It God is doing unbelievable things right now. I'm watching six years of incremental not monumental, small daily discipline decisions. I'm watching six years of incremental not monumental decisions coming together right now in a harvest like I've never seen before. But the reality of it is, guys, is if we are too busy to hear God, those those, if we're too busy to slow down and catch those 4610 moments, guys, because those 4610 moments come before our opportunity to open our wallet, our bank accounts, and do what God desires for us to do. So, Luke 10, 16, 10, we talked about this, and this is this is the parable of the stewards. Whoever is faithful with little will be trusted with much. God does not release increase to undisciplined habits or unfaithful stewardship, guys. God, no, listen to that again. God does not release increase to undisciplined habits or unfaithful stewardship. Every dollar we steward well fuels the next level. Every dollar we steward well fuels the next level. And I want to share, I want to share a few stories from my personal past. And actually, I'm looking through my show notes today, and this story isn't even in here, but I'm gonna start with this one.

The Uber Ride That Changed Everything

SPEAKER_00 12:34

I'm in a car with some friends heading to, or actually headed to Atlanta one night to just go out and have fun. And we get in the car, it's a minivan, girls in the car. She's she's super counting it's just a great spirit. And so we're driving to Atlanta, and you know me, I don't I don't meet a stranger, right? And I just asked her the question. I said, Shay, her name is Shay. And I said, I said, tell me a little bit about yourself. I said, how many kids do you have? Tell me how how long you've been doing Uber? Do you do this full-time, part-time? Like I'm just talking, literally just building relationships as we go. And she goes, I asked her the questions. I said, How many kids do you have? She goes, Well, I used to have three children. Now I only have two. And it was like, now we're going to Atlanta to go have fun and hang out and go to dinner. And there was an instant pall that fell on the in the car. It was like, oh my gosh, like the fun vibe exited out of the car. And so I leaned into the conversation and I said, Shay, I said, if you don't mind, can I ask you what happened? And she goes, yeah. She goes, about six weeks ago, she goes, had three, three children. My daughter was like 14 or 15 years old and she had severe epilepsy. She would have set multiple seizures a day. Well, you're talking to a dad of one of his daughters who had, you know, pretty severe epilepsy through high school. She's been seizure-free now for about six years, but struggled with epilepsy. The first she's had two or three seizures in my hands, literally in my arms. And at uh 18, 19 years old. And there's there's nothing more dehabilitating as a father than to just literally, I would hold my daughter the few times she's had a seizure with me sitting there. One we were watching a movie, one we were just sitting on the floor playing a playing a game. And both times she had seizures, I just grabbed her and I just held her and I just prayed in the spirit over my daughter while she was having her seizure. And so this is the super personal to me. And so she says, Ken, she goes, My son, who's like six, seven years old, went in to wake his sister up about six weeks ago. And she had passed away in the middle of the night from a massive seizure. And I'm like, oh my goodness. I said, I'm so sorry. And she goes, the worst part about it was I couldn't work for over a month and we got evicted. Now I'm driving Uber and Lyft and we're staying in an Airbnb close to where she picked us up. And I'm like, holy cow. So and again, the pastor side of me goes, immediately, immediately, I said, There's a need. I I can help meet this need some. And I said, Shay, I said, Well, we don't have a ride back tonight. We're gonna be here for about an hour and a half. Would it be okay if I gave you $250 to take us home tonight when we get done? We're gonna stop and grab some food, but if you'll take us home, that'll be that would be great. And she goes, Yeah. She goes, I can do that. And she's, you know, you can tell. Well, it's the moment, you know, in the next 60 to 90 seconds, the car ride gets a little quiet. And God goes, That's not what I told you to do. I knew exactly, I don't know how many of you guys listen to podcasts right now. You've done something, and God goes, I didn't ask you to do that. And God goes, that's not what I asked you to do. And so I knew exactly what God told me to do. And I asked her this question, Shay. I said, Has anyone ever given you a thousand dollar tip? And she starts crying in the front seat. And she goes, No, sir. And I said, Well, here's what, here's what I believe the Lord, I said, God put us in this car intentionally for you tonight. And I said, and here's how I know. Psalms 37 says, the footsteps of a righteous person are ordered by the Lord, and God delights in those steps. I love that. I said, God put us in your car tonight because He wants you to know that He loves you. So here's what I'm gonna do. Would it be okay? I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna send you $500. You pull your Venmo. I see you got Venmo. Yep, pull Venmo up. I'm gonna send you $500 right now. And she's weeping in the front seat. Guys, this was December the 20th. It was five days before Christmas, the year before last. She's weeping in the front seat. And so she pulls her, she's trying to drive and pull her, pull her, pull her Venmo up. And so we pull in the parking lot. She pulls her Venmo up. I sent her $500. I said, wait right here. Give us 90 minutes. And I said, and then we're gonna go grab some food. We'll go head home. If you drop us off, I'm and you take us. I'm gonna give you another $500. And she goes, Ken, that would just be amazing. You have no idea what that would do for us. And so we did. Went in for about an hour and a half, came back out. She took us back. And uh we actually stopped by Waffle House. It was like, if you're not from Atlanta and you don't understand, if you go out and you're having fun with your friends at midnight, one o'clock in the morning, Waffle House is always the place you go. And so we went to Waffle House, and so she came in with us and sat down and ate with us. And she like was so she had to order steak and eggs and like all this food. And I looked at her and I said, Have you eaten today? She goes, No, I didn't have enough money to eat today. And I'm like, Well, you get whatever you want. And so we go back, she drops me back off at my hotel. And the next day I get a text message. I for several days in a row, I got text messages. She sent me a video of her daughter's funeral. She sent me a text message of pictures of her sons picking out Christmas presents. And I am like, God, you're so good. And guys, the stillness frequency, stillness being the strategy frequency. If we will, as faith-based entrepreneurs, and it is the hardest thing to do because we're we are wired to go. We are wired to produce. We are wired to go 100 miles an hour. That's how God wired us. But as Christ followers, we have to develop discipline to be able to get still before God. And I got still enough, God ordained those footsteps. I got still enough to ask her, hey, tell me about yourself. How many children do you have? Oh, hey, Shay, if you don't mind, can I ask you what happened? All the way down to being obedient when God asked me, here's what I want you to do. Great. I did it. God did an amazing, amazing work in her life. And it was, it was an it was an unbelievable time. And here's the point, guys. I didn't give her my money. I released what God had trusted me with. So I want you to understand this. I did not give her my money. I released, and I a thousand bucks was like, ooh, like it's Christmas time for me. I got staff. I've got like that's something that's something that's a that was a big deal for me. 250, I 250 is like, yeah, that'll sting a little bit. Thousand bucks. That was that was a pretty big deal. But I knew that's what God wanted me to do. But I don't want you to miss this point. I did not give her my money. I released to her what God had entrusted me with. So when God and when we settle the ownership question, then it's like the question that night wasn't, can I afford to do this? It was, Lord, this is yours. And if this is what you want me to give, I'll give it. It stings a little bit, but I'll give it. And guys, story after story after story of moments like that. It's crazy. Some of the biggest stories I've had all circle around. I'll circle around Waffle House. I'm in Waffle House. This is

A Waffle House Gift For A Widow

SPEAKER_00 20:41

when I first started my health journey. This is back in October, uh August, August, September of 2019. And I just got that. I was keto. I just started, I literally just started keto. So probably sometime in September of 2019. I just started my health journey. And I walk into Waffle House one night, uh, scrambled eggs and cheese and bacon. And it may not be the most healthy keto Gary Braka. So don't bust me if you're listening to my podcast. But I walk in, I eat, there's nobody there. It's like 11:30 on a Sunday night. We played basketball for like three or four hours, all my buddies did in Gainesville. And I get there, I'm eating, nobody's there. It's just me, my server, a cook. About halfway through my meal, a guy walks in and drops off three boys for her. And I could tell they were like middle school, high school, elementary school. And they take three, they just camp out in three different spots inside the Waffle House. I get done, I get ready to leave. I walk up, I pay my bill, I tip her really well. And I said, Was that your husband that walked that brought the boys to you? And this again, this is like 11 something at night or near 11 o'clock at night on a school night. She goes, No, my husband died last month, and all he left me was these three boys. I'm like, wow. And I I just I didn't have didn't even think about Venmo, but I had cash on me and I had like $240 in cash. And God said, give her everything you have. So I just paid my bill. I walked up to her and I had, they were all 20s, and I put them down on the counter and I just fanned them out. I wasn't even sure how much it was. I just fanned them out and it was $240. And I said, ma'am, I said, God brought me in here tonight to let you know that he has not forgotten you, that he loves you. I'm so sorry you had to go through what you went through. But this is everything I have in my pocket, and God told me to give it to you. She lost it. Just one. Weeping behind the counter. And I said, and she called her boys, boys, boys, boys, come here. Now, these are, again, I think it was a freshman, a middle schooler, and like a fourth or fifth grader. These boys come over and the mom's holding the money up in front of these boys, going, boys, look what God did for us today. And I said, Can I pray? She said, I she said, can I give you a hug? And she was sitting on the other side of the counter. She said, sure, if you let me pray for you, I'd love to pray for you guys. So she comes around the counter. I get to, I get to pray for her and her boys. And the school had just started. And she, this is exactly what she told, boys, look what God done. Now we can go get school closed. I want that to register. I want it to sink in with you. Again, when we settle the ownership issue, obedience gets simple. It's never a question of can I afford it? It's like, God, this is yours. What do you want me to give? I'll be back in just a minute. So this is like, if you listen to this in the car, you I'm like sitting literally sitting crying in my podcast studio recording this right now. But how do we apply this? Ken, what do we do? So a couple things. Number one, settle the ownership this week. I want you literally, when you're looking

How To Practice Generosity This Week

SPEAKER_00 23:40

at everything you own, not just your bank accounts, not just your home, not just your car, not just all this stuff, but everything, your accounts, your business, your family, your home, everything. God, this belongs to you. I am just a steward. You are the owner. And if you want that scripture reference in Psalms 24, 1, God, your the God, your word says that the the earth is yours and everything in it. God, I'm just a steward. And God, if you'll give me the wisdom, and if you'll if you'll speak to me, God, I want to be obedient to what you asked me to do. And so then take that ask into stillness. God, what what you have entrusted me with, all of these things, what do you want me to give this week? Where do you want me to practice generosity? And then just listen to God. And then when God speaks, here's a third part of the application. When God speaks, obey. We have to be obedient. And you'll learn, guys, you'll learn throughout times when is the voice of God. Guys, I hop into this is Chick-fil-A. I'm like Jesus, guys. I like to eat and I like to hang out. That's my two spiritual gifts, just like Jesus. I'm

Honor The System And Avoid Shortcuts

SPEAKER_00 24:55

circling through Chick-fil-A in Flierry Branch, Georgia. I was pastoring a church. Circled through Chick-fil-A and they had just changed their drive-thru. So you had to drive all the way around the building to get into the drive-thru. And they had some cones up blocking. Well, I'm pulling in the Chick-fil-A, I look behind me, and there's like a silver Honda cord behind me. Well, I pull in the drive-thru and I pull around the building, and I'm already thinking to myself, well, whoever's behind me, I'm going to buy their breakfast this morning. Well, the silver Honda that was behind me when I pull around the building, now they're in front of me. They had circumvented the system and the rules that Chick-fil-A put in place. And God spoke to me. And God said, This is exactly what happens when my people don't honor. Honor, guys, honor when my people don't honor stewardship. And understand that I have put a system in place and that if you steward well and you it's it, they are financial principles and laws, just like at Chick-fil-A. God said, so many people try to take a shortcut and it keeps them from receiving my blessing. So two twofold on this one. So I circle around, I pay for the car behind me. I pay for the car behind me. About three or four days later, I go in. The owner operator there, the Chick-fil-A owns a couple, good friend of mine. And he goes, Ken, like as soon as I pulled up the drive-thru, he comes out. They go, Ken, can you hang on just a minute? Sure, it's Chick-fil-A guy. So there's a million people in the drive-thru. He comes out and he goes, You're never going to believe what happened this week when you were here. And I said, What's that? And he goes, dude, he goes, 17 cars behind you bought lun or bought breakfast for the car behind them. 17 cars in a row. And I thought to myself, God, this is the way you desire for us to live our life. So last thing is, oh, but third thing is obey the prompt. The fourth thing is do a stewardship audit. If God doubled what he entrusted you with today, would

Do A Stewardship Audit Before Increase

SPEAKER_00 26:57

you have the habits and systems to be able to be faithful? I told my wife yesterday, we've had some unbelievable opportunities happen here, guys. Unbelievable opportunities. And I said, babe, I said, I want us to get away this weekend, Friday and Saturday. I want us to go with, we're going out of town. We're going to Greenville, South Carolina for a couple nights. And I said, I want us to plan. God, if these things work out the way I think they're going to, financially, it's going to be a pretty substantial windfall for us. I want us to go ahead. This is it's funny because I didn't even, I hadn't even looked through these notes yet. I said, I want us to make sure, it's exactly what I told my wife, that we have the habits and systems that we need to be able to steward what God is going to send us and go ahead and start having the conversations with organizations like ARC Church Planning Network, like Highlands College over in Birmingham. I want us to go ahead and start having the questions of how are we going to steward and how are we going to practice generosity before it gets here. So, guys, if this has blessed you today, this is a deep, this is, I went 27 minutes. This is a deep, deep subject on generosity. It is the overflow frequency because when we practice generosity, it overflows in every single area of our life. So here's a call to action today, guys. Growstatdrive.com forward slash 14, which is the pre-order for the book.

Book Preorder And Closing Challenge

SPEAKER_00 28:22

The books are on pre-order on Amazon. You can go to Amazon, you can go to Books a Million, you can go to Barnes and Noble's. I'll be doing a book signing at Barnes and Noble October the 16th here in Alpharetta from 4 to 6 p.m. It's going to be an amazing time. Or I'm going to give you a couple, or you can go to grosstackdrive.com forward slash proximity live. That is our three-day book launch event. We're doing October 14th, 15th, and 16th. Guys, thank you so much. We we hit number in the top 60. Our goal at the beginning of the year was top 250 in entrepreneurship and leadership. And this past week we hit number 62 or 63. Thank you. If you would share the podcast. Like if you've got people, if this resonated with you, who do you know that needs to listen to this? I'll see you guys next week. Frequency number 14, accountability. Accountability is the stewardship frequency that really protects our calling and secures our legacy. I'll see you guys this time next week.