SPEAKER_00: You guys might be tempted to do what I do right now, where you can already tell we're going in a direction where we're talking about giving and generosity.
SPEAKER_00: And so when I turn on Christian radio in my car, I'm like, oh, they're fundraising again.
SPEAKER_00: Let me change it to the other Christian radio station.
SPEAKER_00: No, wait, they're fundraising too.
SPEAKER_00: Let me go to the third one.
SPEAKER_00: I just hop around.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I don't want to hear about that.
SPEAKER_00: It's really easy to almost be like, let me back up a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Let me now tune that out a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a topic that's kind of unique and different.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to not tune out.
SPEAKER_00: Don't don't change the station on me because this is a really, really great freeing topic.
SPEAKER_00: The older I've gotten, the more I've come to learn and understand that generosity isn't just good because of practicality, how it helps things happen.
SPEAKER_00: It's good for me.
SPEAKER_00: It's good for my heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's a spiritual discipline.
SPEAKER_00: It has everything to do with where I am health-wise spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: So lean in with me a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: I love uh learning more and more about what is actual generosity and how can we really embrace that more and more as people who worship God, as people who follow Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking about so many examples of generosity.
SPEAKER_00: One of them is going to seem so random, but I've got this really, really cool Bingles coaster that one of our students made me a couple of years ago and just kind of walked up to me and gave it to me on a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I looked at it and I'm like, wait, so Doc, did you take like some kind of like tweezers and take every little stone and place it there?
SPEAKER_00: And some of them are orange and some of them are black and some of them are silver, and you just kind of slowly did that.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's what I did.
SPEAKER_00: I like, and you did that for me.
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_00: That is like a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of effort.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I would feel like if someone told me to do this, I was getting punished.
SPEAKER_00: Like, you have to make this thing now.
SPEAKER_00: That takes a long time for someone that don't even, not even related to you.
SPEAKER_00: And yet they did that.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, that is really, I know it's such a simple thing, but that's generosity.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what generosity is.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I kind of wrote down my own little definition of it that I'd like to share with you.
SPEAKER_00: Um, if I can unlock my iPad right now uh to read it.
SPEAKER_00: All right, here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Generosity, when someone gives you something that they were not required or expected to give, andor that took personal sacrifice to give it.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a good way to really define generosity.
SPEAKER_00: It's like that moment where like, wait, what?
SPEAKER_00: That's so generous.
SPEAKER_00: Like that you did that.
SPEAKER_00: You took the time to do that.
SPEAKER_00: That that was not something I would have expected.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I think that uh disclaimer, little asterisk that we put on that, I do think that at times, especially in our current society, it's easy to sort of wrestle with entitlement a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I think we feel a little bit entitled to more generosity than maybe we should feel entitled to.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but when something happens, when something is given to you, that just like that doesn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_00: Why would you do that?
SPEAKER_00: That was very nice, that was very kind, that took sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Even a simple thing.
SPEAKER_00: One time uh Sherry and I got some Chick-fil-A, uh, grabbed it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think it was to go.
SPEAKER_00: We had a couple of bags and we were in the car, and just randomly in the bag was a Chick-fil-A cookie that we did not order at all.
SPEAKER_00: Come to find out later, one of our own grovers, uh Haley Porter, worked there and just slipped that in the bag to me.
SPEAKER_00: And uh a Chick-fil-A cookie is is basically worth$7,000, okay?
SPEAKER_00: They're amazing.
SPEAKER_00: They're so, so good.
SPEAKER_00: But it's like that was unexpected, that wasn't required, and it was so generous to do.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: And and here's the thing: we've been talking about how we are family.
SPEAKER_00: What is a church?
SPEAKER_00: A church is a family, a church is the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: It's when people put their faith in Jesus Christ uh scripturally, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's a different kind of existence, a different kind of relationship.
SPEAKER_00: So when the church was born in Acts chapter 2, what they became was so incredibly radical that not only did it make a big difference in their own lives, like those outside of this movement of Christianity were like, whoa, look at what they're doing, look at how they're living.
SPEAKER_00: And it was attractional.
SPEAKER_00: It was like, I don't know who would ever choose to live this way, but these people are choosing to live this way, and maybe just maybe I should check it out.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, let me read to you a couple of verses.
SPEAKER_00: We read this passage last week together from Acts chapter two that really described the first century church that was born.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 2, 44 and 45 says, Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.
SPEAKER_00: They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as any had need.
SPEAKER_00: And when I read this, I'm like, man, like I'm just trying to imagine what that would have been like, what that would have looked like, how that would have affected me and my family if I were a part of the church.
SPEAKER_00: And it probably wasn't as clean and beautiful as maybe we think it is.
SPEAKER_00: It might have been messy at times.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I'm sure it was difficult at times.
SPEAKER_00: Like, do I really want to pull my resources right now?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I want to keep some of my resources rather than throw them into the pool.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be honest with you when I read this, I start thinking like, oh, sounds like a cult.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Like everybody's selling all their stuff, pulling it all together.
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I've seen one too many documentaries about that kind of thing, right?
SPEAKER_00: But the difference is, and I think this is what's so cool, the difference is is like in all of our negative experiences of this kind of living, there's usually this one very human leader who apparently has enough charisma to get people to do things that he wants them to do.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not who we are.
SPEAKER_00: We are people who have direct access to God Himself, and we come together with that access.
SPEAKER_00: The church is a family of people who all have continual access to the Father, and we love him together, and we love one another, and we carry out the Father's will in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And when we go back to Acts chapter 2 and we read that description of the church, that's who they were.
SPEAKER_00: They gathered together in the temple courts and they praised, they sang praises, they circled around and listened to the apostles' teaching, these people who were eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus that reminded them this is how Jesus taught us to live, this is what it means to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: And they lived it out very practically in ways that met each other's needs.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what it is to be the church.
SPEAKER_00: So, since I am part of the church, the family of God, where I have direct access to the Father, and He is continually transforming me into the likeness of His Son Jesus, and because God the Father gives us these great commands to love Him with all our hearts and to love others like we love ourselves, then this is what's true.
SPEAKER_00: Generosity is not an option for me because I follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so therefore, I'm going to be generous.
SPEAKER_00: The longer I follow him, the more I realize everything I have is his.
SPEAKER_00: And he has a plan to reach others with his love through everything he has given me.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes seeing something like this written out in front of you can give you a little bit of attention.
SPEAKER_00: On the one hand, it feels like, man, then I need to do some surrendering.
SPEAKER_00: I need to recalibrate my thinking about what I thought was mine and how I want to use it, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: But also on the other side of that coin, if you can see it, there's such freedom in embracing this truth that it's all his.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to clutch it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to keep it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to make sure I don't lose it if it's his.
SPEAKER_00: Every single thing that I have, how would you have me use it?
SPEAKER_00: What would you have me do with it?
SPEAKER_00: And then roll that way in life and see what he does.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's not by any stress, it's not just money, it's stuff, it's my time, it's things I like to do, or things that I might do well.
SPEAKER_00: That all of that he's given me.
SPEAKER_00: Those are gifts from God Himself, and He never wastes any of it.
SPEAKER_00: He uses absolutely every bit of that, everything I have abilities, talents, passions, resources.
SPEAKER_00: It's all his.
SPEAKER_00: In a way, Sherry and I still talk about the home that we have.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember back when we were selling the house that we had back in 2008.
SPEAKER_00: No one had any idea what the housing market was gonna do that year.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we happened to sell our home right as the housing market and really all finances were crashing.
SPEAKER_00: And so we were very fortunate to have sold when we did, and that was a God thing because I have no ability to forecast that kind of stuff, uh, much like many of us don't.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then we were able to find a home that was so much better than we could have ever imagined having for a much better kind of price because the housing market had crashed.
SPEAKER_00: And we knew we were like, well, the Lord must have wanted us to have this house for a reason, for a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that far from here.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, what's kind of cool about it is we're continually seeing why the Lord gave us this house.
SPEAKER_00: We've had family members who've been pretty sick over the last several years, and they've been able to stay with us, and it's so close to where I work, where Sherry works, and it's right there.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Lord, thank you that you already knew.
SPEAKER_00: You already knew there was gonna be the Clark Convalescence Center uh in our home and prepared us for that.
SPEAKER_00: And just in the ability to host and have small groups in our homes over the years, it's been such a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: But like everything we have, you start to see it as not mine, but it's his.
SPEAKER_00: And so what I want to do, it's like here's the thing: the truth is not every person following Christ has started to begin to think this way.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what about generosity?
SPEAKER_00: What about how do I handle that in my life?
SPEAKER_00: How do I lean into that?
SPEAKER_00: How do I grow that in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, what about giving?
SPEAKER_00: What how do I begin that journey?
SPEAKER_00: So today I kind of want to go to the very basics this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And the basics would be this financial generosity, and just speaking specifically of finances, financial generosity starts with committing to the tithe and matures to giving above and beyond as the Spirit leads.
SPEAKER_00: I'm learning more and more.
SPEAKER_00: I know when I see the word tithe, I know what that means.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm learning more and more that people are like, wait, I've not been discipled.
SPEAKER_00: I've not been taught or mentored what that even is.
SPEAKER_00: And so just really quickly, I'll throw a little infographic on the screen to show you about the tithe.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't won't spend a lot of time on this.
SPEAKER_00: Tithe is literally means 10%.
SPEAKER_00: And it's something that's existed for a very, very, very long time, longer than you think.
SPEAKER_00: Most people realize that it's taught in the scripture that the Lord asked for uh his people to give 10% of the first fruits of everything they bring in.
SPEAKER_00: He says, that is the Lord's.
SPEAKER_00: You devote that to me, you give that to me right off the top.
SPEAKER_00: First fruits of income.
SPEAKER_00: You'll you'll see this taught in a lot of Christian-based financial planning or financial classes.
SPEAKER_00: Dave Ramsey is pretty famous, and he teaches this.
SPEAKER_00: We've had financial peace university classes here on our campus that are written by Dave Ramsey, and he'll say, it sounds like it doesn't make any sense, but if you want to experience financial peace in your life, take 10% off the very top and give it away.
SPEAKER_00: Give it to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But this is biblical and it predates the law.
SPEAKER_00: And you see on the infographic in Genesis 14, Abraham gives a tenth of his best spoils to Melchizedek, sort of a little bit of a random character in the deep in the Old Testament, who is a priest of the Most High God.
SPEAKER_00: It begins right there, before the law was given to Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Even Jacob, later on in Genesis 28, makes a vow to give God a tenth of everything that God gives him.
SPEAKER_00: But then you do see this in the law.
SPEAKER_00: It's commanded.
SPEAKER_00: It's a tenth of all the produce.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, God assigns the tithe to actually take care of and meet the needs of the priestly tribe, the Levites.
SPEAKER_00: He's literally feeding this one tribe that has the inability to own those kind of properties and farm and have agriculture.
SPEAKER_00: They were completely devoted to the holy things of the Lord and taking care of all the things involved in ministry and worship.
SPEAKER_00: And so they benefited from the tithe as well.
SPEAKER_00: And you can see in even in Proverbs 3, um, 9 and 10, that uh God is honored by this.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just something that's practical, it's an act of worship as well.
SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy, you see examples of how God used the tithe of the Israelites to meet the needs of the poor as well.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this.
SPEAKER_00: This whole big zoomed-out picture of the teaching of the tithe in the Old Testament reminds us that still today, because of this spiritual discipline of giving of the tithes, giving of the 10%, we're able to see churches and ministries that can run, uh missionaries actually being able to have food on the table, the ministry to the needs in the community, those who don't have as much and need those needs met.
SPEAKER_00: God takes the giving, the regular rhythm of the tithe, the giving of people to meet those needs, even still today.
SPEAKER_00: All of the teaching of the tithe in the Old Testament culminates with a pretty well-known passage at the very end of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, chapter 3, verses 8 through 10, says this Will a mere mortal rob God?
SPEAKER_00: Yet you rob me.
SPEAKER_00: But you ask, How are we robbing you?
SPEAKER_00: In tithes and offerings.
SPEAKER_00: You are under a curse, your whole nation, because you are robbing me.
SPEAKER_00: Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.
SPEAKER_00: Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
SPEAKER_00: It's such a great passage because it starts off very convicting.
SPEAKER_00: Will you rob God?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh man, I can hear uh brother Dossett from Harlan County preaching about giving right now.
SPEAKER_00: He was mad about it.
SPEAKER_00: I remember hearing this passage.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to rob God.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, also at the very end, the the other side of the coin that when we are generous, the the blessing that will he not throw open the floodgates of heaven itself.
SPEAKER_00: Pour out so much blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't really get raised in church.
SPEAKER_00: Uh my parents would send me and my sister to church a handful of times a year.
SPEAKER_00: We would walk up to little West Cumberland Baptist Church, um, walking distance from my driveway.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember, though, that my mom always made sure that me and my sister Nora had a$1 bill.
SPEAKER_00: And I was completely confused at what was happening.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we'd be sitting on that wooden pew in that little church, and there would come that moment when the music would play and the plate would pass, and I knew I don't get to keep this dollar.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta put that in that plate right there and just watch it as it went by.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we did.
SPEAKER_00: And it was, I think it was really cool to even though my parents weren't fully churched per se, they understood, like, no, this is a part of the worship you're gonna experience.
SPEAKER_00: I want to make sure you're prepared to be a part of that worship at that little church.
SPEAKER_00: But many years later, meeting Sherry, my wife's parents, Wes and Lou, man, they they really modeled this for me.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard them tell story after story after story that even when the income got pretty low and things were very, very tight for them, the one thing they refused to stop doing was tithing.
SPEAKER_00: And they would share the stories of how, like, it was tight, we weren't sure how we're going to pay this next bill, but we tithed anyway, and then this random check with the exact amount for that bill would just show up.
SPEAKER_00: Or this bag of groceries anonymously left on their doorstep right when they were starting to run a little low.
SPEAKER_00: They saw the faithfulness of God as they were obedient and just continuing to tithe.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I've heard people say before that, hey, that's like an Old Testament teaching.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the law, that's Judaism.
SPEAKER_00: So aren't we completely like not really even supposed to be teaching that anymore?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's all Old Testament, that's all Jewish, ancient Jewish practice, and now we're the New Testament church of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that completely different?
SPEAKER_00: And I will say that is a fair, really, really good question.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you were to comb through the New Testament, you'll see that when it comes to tithing, actually, Jesus didn't go around pushing it.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he actually used it to really uh open the people's eyes to sort of a disconnect that was happening in religion that day.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he said the Pharisees are really great at tithing.
SPEAKER_00: They would literally pick 10% of every all the leaves off a mint tree, off a off some kind of harvest.
SPEAKER_00: They would just pick 10%, they were meticulous about it.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Howard, they're so meticulous about that, yet they have no grace, no mercy in their hearts for others.
SPEAKER_00: So he kind of used it as an example, like, I mean, yeah, tithe, but there's so much more that I want than that.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I believe you could sum up what Jesus was trying to say and what all of the New Testament teaches, and it's this the heart of the giver is more important than the actual gift.
SPEAKER_00: The heart of the giver is more important than the actual gift.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't want a cut of our money, he wants a cheerful, generous heart that trusts his ability to provide for us while we continue to give generously to his work.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he wants.
SPEAKER_00: A heart that is cheerfully giving and trusting that though I'm giving and I'm not sure how now, if I give this, if this is all going to add up to good math, he'll still provide.
SPEAKER_00: We see this taught so well in what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 9, verses 6 through 8 say this.
SPEAKER_00: Remember this.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
SPEAKER_00: Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion.
SPEAKER_00: For God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: What a great teaching about giving, about generosity.
SPEAKER_00: And we learn once again that generosity is actually a heart condition.
SPEAKER_00: It's a condition of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: And once you contract it and cultivate it, it changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: You find yourself doing things that you never thought you would do with your time, with your resources, your your tithing, your giving above and beyond.
SPEAKER_00: And we see the results of that happening all over in the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: Or even right here locally.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks to the people who give above and beyond.
SPEAKER_00: We have the stories of kids and youth who weren't able to afford to go to camp or retreat, but they go and they take a next step with Jesus, missionaries who are being financially supported, children in poverty being sponsored.
SPEAKER_00: Generosity over time becomes kind of a way of living that is so free.
SPEAKER_00: And so awesome because you literally know God's going to provide no matter what.
SPEAKER_00: Now, jokingly, I would say to people, like, hey, if you want to, you can say that tithing's that old, old testament thing.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to do everything New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: But be careful with that mindset because if you go and study the New Testament, you go back to the book of Acts, and you will see that they were literally selling property and taking the proceeds and laying it at the apostles' feet and pulling the resources like it was way more than just giving the 10%.
SPEAKER_00: And then in that moment I can find uh old fleshly Bill Clark saying, okay, cool, nope, we'll do the Old Testament way.
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
SPEAKER_00: We'll stick with that.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it is generosity was radical in the New Testament days.
SPEAKER_00: So let me go back to what we said earlier, getting back to the basics.
SPEAKER_00: Financial generosity starts with committing to the tithe and matures to giving above and beyond as the Spirit leads.
SPEAKER_00: If I were to do like one quick, this is what you need to be thinking about as it pertains to everything that God has given you, how to begin to work this muscle, build this muscle of giving and generosity in your own personal spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: This is what I would prescribe.
SPEAKER_00: To begin with the tithe.
SPEAKER_00: Like part of me wants to say, and I've heard people say this, like, just start giving something.
SPEAKER_00: Just something on a regular basis, to start the rhythm and see what God will do.
SPEAKER_00: But I can't resist saying, actually start with the tithe.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's biblically where it starts, it's right there in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And God Himself says, test me in that, try me in that, and see what I will do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I think that's the starting point for every single believer is to start there.
SPEAKER_00: But then continue to mature and say, oh Lord, help me to look at everything that I have is yours.
SPEAKER_00: And open my eyes to that and help me to see.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we don't even see how something we have could even be given to God and be a part of generosity.
SPEAKER_00: But I know that the older I'm getting, I'm starting to see that more.
SPEAKER_00: I'm even starting to see other people's examples of that that challenge me and inspire me.
SPEAKER_00: How God can turn even something that's a hobby of yours into a source of generosity.
SPEAKER_00: So that passage we just read a little bit ago in Malachi, where it says, Well, you robbed me.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, back then the Israelites had been in captivity for so, so long.
SPEAKER_00: And in many ways, they had forgotten just their basic way of living for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And God was bringing them back to that and say, Come back to that.
SPEAKER_00: Start doing the very basic things I've commanded you to do all over again and see if I will not provide for you, see if I will not open up the storehouses of heaven and pour that out in your lap.
SPEAKER_00: All of that prophecy was a foreshadowing of something that Jesus would say centuries later.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to read it for you in Luke 6, verse 38, just one verse.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said these words give and it will be given to you.
SPEAKER_00: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap.
SPEAKER_00: For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the context, I always I hope you always take a verse like that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe go read the verses before it and after it on your own to make sure that somebody's not preaching something weird and wrong, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But the context of this is more than just anything financial.
SPEAKER_00: This is a good general principle of giving.
SPEAKER_00: And he's even talking in the context of giving forgiveness and giving grace to others, is really the context of this.
SPEAKER_00: But this is a general principle of giving that Jesus Himself says right there to the crowds that he's mingling among, give and it will be given to you.
SPEAKER_00: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, poured into your lap.
SPEAKER_00: That's a statement that the bul that the first century Israelites and the people that lived there in the Middle East, they totally understood what Jesus was saying.
SPEAKER_00: They could almost put themselves literally in the marketplace going to buy grain.
SPEAKER_00: And when they're about to buy this grain, they would maybe hold out their tunic to be able to take that grain that was going to get scooped up that they had bought.
SPEAKER_00: And I imagine that they knew which merchants were the best ones to go to.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them were a little stingier.
SPEAKER_00: And you buy that one scoop of grain, and that might be not all the way full, but they would give it to you, and you're like, Well, that's what I need.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I guess I can't do anything about it.
SPEAKER_00: I'll take the scoop they give me.
SPEAKER_00: But then there were certain merchants when they would scoop it out, they would put it all the way down into that pile of grain, and they maybe cup their hand over it, and they would just dump it like this heaping scoop into their tunic.
SPEAKER_00: Like it was extra.
SPEAKER_00: It was more than they really had to give.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what would be given by that merchant.
SPEAKER_00: That's what was going on in the brains and the minds and thoughts and the imaginations of those who heard Jesus say these words.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I've shared this verse with you guys before.
SPEAKER_00: I know it's been a long time ago, but I remember talking about this, and I thought I'm gonna bring it to you so you can understand what I'm talking about here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, when I think of this verse and what Jesus is trying to convey to the people, then I think one of the best modern examples of that that we can have here in Northern Kentucky 2026 is French fries.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of the best modern examples of this, right?
SPEAKER_00: Where else can you possibly get a scoop of something that you're like, wait a minute, man, you're not being, you're being stingy.
SPEAKER_00: Wait, you're being generous.
SPEAKER_00: So literally one time, um, Sherry and I were traveling and she loves to get a kid's meal, actually.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, she thinks that's like the best thing ever.
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's just the right amount.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need a big meal, I just need a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: And one time she got the kids' meal, and I'd never, I had never seen the French fry box that comes from a happy meal at McDonald's.
SPEAKER_00: But this is a cute little thing, right?
SPEAKER_00: So, and that's about what I normally see, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not trying to judge McDonald's.
SPEAKER_00: McDonald's has fed me many, many, many times.
SPEAKER_00: But this is just a portion of fries.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing you're gonna be like, oh, thank you so much, McDonald's.
SPEAKER_00: But one time she ordered a happy meal like this.
SPEAKER_00: I kid you not, there were three fries in it.
SPEAKER_00: That was it.
SPEAKER_00: We were traveling on the road, it wasn't one of our local McDonald's.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, we just laughed about it.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, well, I hope you enjoy your fries.
SPEAKER_00: But then you got five guys.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I went and bought these fries yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: Late is in the, not late, but it was in the evening.
SPEAKER_00: And look at this bag of fries, man.
SPEAKER_00: That's the this is called the little fries at five guys.
SPEAKER_00: They do it right.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, I was thinking to myself, I almost told the lady who I ordered the fries from, like, listen, I'm doing a sermon illustration tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need you to be stingy today.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you need to do what you normally do.
SPEAKER_00: And they did.
SPEAKER_00: They did what they normally did, man.
SPEAKER_00: There is a lot of fries in this bag.
SPEAKER_00: We were worried it would, that would, the grease would disintegrate the bottom.
SPEAKER_00: And and listen, this shoebox, like, you probably don't know if you can see it, but that grease is coming through the cardboard, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: That is, but it's a it's a little fry, but it'll feed five people.
SPEAKER_00: They just put, they fill up the little package or the cup, and then they just dump more right in there.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to one day meet the owner or the founder and say, I love you, man.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you have you've made my heart happy so many times in my life because of your generosity.
SPEAKER_00: But that is, I know that seems silly, I know that seems whatever, but but this is this is what the Bible is trying to teach.
SPEAKER_00: Be a five guys fry giver, not a McDonald's happy meal fry giver.
SPEAKER_00: It's literally what it's trying to say.
SPEAKER_00: Like, if don't be sparing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly.
SPEAKER_00: And it's hard for me to really explain that, but I know it.
SPEAKER_00: Like when I am stingier and I'm holding and I'm gripping, and I'd give just maybe only what might be required, and maybe less than that, it's it's a different mode for me.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel it.
SPEAKER_00: I feel a difference in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: But I can tell you right now, Lent, when I loosen that up and I'm like, God, whatever, we'll give it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, wait, this feels a little bit like extravagant, but I think you're leading me to do this, so let's just do it.
SPEAKER_00: I've seen over and over and over again how it is a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: It's at the very least this enormous blessing of freedom and peace and joy in my own heart when that happens.
SPEAKER_00: But yes, also, it's amazing how you still have what you need.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how much you give away, no matter how much you keep giving of your time and your talent and your treasure, you just keep giving it, you keep giving it, you keep giving it, you keep giving it, He still provides.
SPEAKER_00: You always have exactly what you need on time.
SPEAKER_00: It's God's economy.
SPEAKER_00: And the in the formula, the mathematical formula, the financial formula for God's economy is simply this generosity equals blessing.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: Give.
SPEAKER_00: And it will come back to you.
SPEAKER_00: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over in your lap.
SPEAKER_00: That's his economy.
SPEAKER_00: So it's writing down today.
SPEAKER_00: This QR code that you can, you know, and nobody is gonna judge you if you pull your phone out and and scan that QR code.
SPEAKER_00: But this actually goes to our giving page on our website.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I put that out there for you, you can hickorygrove.net slash give also, if that's easier.
SPEAKER_00: But what we do at the beginning of each calendar year is just kind of list out a uh a sort of a recap of the result of the generosity of the givers of Hickory Grove.
SPEAKER_00: So it still has all the things that happened in 2025 on this page, like just some of the things that were able to be accomplished thanks to the generosity and the discipleship regular rhythms of giving of those who are part of the Hickory Grove family.
SPEAKER_00: And I love it.
SPEAKER_00: I sometimes go back to that page and say, man, this is so cool that we saw God do this.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll do that again at the beginning of 2026.
SPEAKER_00: We'll sort of recap like this is what we can see that God did, how he used the giving of his people to do so much.
SPEAKER_00: So, once again, if I were to give you some next steps, it's discipleship of generosity is simply this.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, start tithing.
SPEAKER_00: If I were to give you to just think of one thing to maybe do as a next step today is to start that.
SPEAKER_00: If you aren't already doing it, start it.
SPEAKER_00: It does not matter where you are, take that step of faith and give it a try.
SPEAKER_00: But also the above and beyond.
SPEAKER_00: Like, all right, maybe I'm the one that's supposed to uh randomly, by God leading me, pay for the person behind me in drive-thru and just see what God does with that.
SPEAKER_00: Go in the extra mile, do a random act of kindness, give a bigger tip to the server, take a bag of groceries to a neighbor, know someone who's been battling cancer, make them a meal, take it to them, sponsoring a child.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you see all the craziness on our campus that's happening as we're expanding, eventually about to add some temporary parking spots out there.
SPEAKER_00: That's a big need that we have right now.
SPEAKER_00: But none of that happens without people going above and beyond the tithe so that we can afford to do those things while we still fund missions and ministry.
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And we celebrate that.
SPEAKER_00: Before I pray for us, think about this sentence.
SPEAKER_00: All that I have is his.
SPEAKER_00: Can you legitimately say that's where you are right now?
SPEAKER_00: And it's okay if you can't say that.
SPEAKER_00: But let that be the vision.
SPEAKER_00: Let that be the goal, let that be where you're walking towards, where you want to grow towards, where you want to mature towards.
SPEAKER_00: All I have is his.
SPEAKER_00: And I see everything about what I have is absolutely his the job I have, the place I live, the stuff I love to do, the stuff I'm good at, and yes, my treasure, my resources, that it's his, it's not mine.
SPEAKER_00: Now, one more thing before we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Uh always hope and pray that we have someone worshiping with us, either here in this room or online, that's like, man, I've not put my faith in Jesus yet.
SPEAKER_00: And when you hear a message like this, you might be like, Man, this is kind of different.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm not even, I'm not even a Christ follower yet, so this don't even apply to me, which may be true, maybe okay for you to say that, but what I want to say is that if you really want to experience this amazing great salvation that you can have through Jesus Christ, what's awesome is all you have to do is come to the foot of the cross and surrender your life to Him.
SPEAKER_00: And just say, Here I am, Lord, I'm yours.
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, the two are tied together.
SPEAKER_00: The reason God's economy works is because our salvation doesn't mean that I've added Jesus as a part of my life to make my life better.
SPEAKER_00: No salvation in the gospel is I've taken my life and I've completely surrendered it to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that when I encountered Christ and finally gave my life to Him, what made that step so easy and amazing is I felt like I had no purpose and I was struggling.
SPEAKER_00: And then I felt the voice of the Savior calling, saying, All you have to do is ask, and I will forgive you, I will save you, I will adopt you to my family, and you are mine forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's a freeing way to live.
SPEAKER_00: A surrendered life is such a free life.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're here today and you've never just surrendered your life to the Lord, I invite you into that now as we pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I praise you and thank you for your amazing grace that transforms our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, hearing a message about giving and generosity.
SPEAKER_00: God, sometimes it can be challenging and convicting.
SPEAKER_00: And also at times, Lord, I feel like we we want to avoid this topic.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sometimes afraid to talk about it because I'm afraid someone would be like, man, there's the church, just wants my money.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I hope that everyone has heard today your voice saying, I've given you all that I have.
SPEAKER_00: And if you will just be generous, I will pour out all my blessings upon you.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for the times that you have proven that over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray that you would lead us in the next steps.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps someone even now is calling upon your name and saying, Jesus, save me.
SPEAKER_00: I give all that I have to you, I surrender my life to you.
SPEAKER_00: I ask that you please forgive me of my sins and take my life and save it and redeem it and restore it.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I thank you that that's exactly what you do by your power, by your mercy, and by your love.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for teaching us what you've taught us today.
SPEAKER_00: Move us into a next step with you, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.