The Local Vineyard Church Podcast
The Local Vineyard Church is a church located in Richmond, Virginia. The Local is a part of the VineyardUSA network. You can find more information about The Local and VineyardUSA by visiting https://localvineyard.church
The Local Vineyard Church Podcast
Be Generous To The Poor
What if your next act of generosity could transform not just someone else's life, but your own? That's exactly what happened when a simple meal bought for a homeless man became a divine appointment that changed everything.
God's heart for the poor isn't a minor theme in Scripture—it's emphasized in over 2,000 verses, far more than faith or prayer. Yet many of us struggle to understand how this applies to our comfortable modern lives. Through the powerful parable of the rich fool, Jesus challenges our culture's definition of success. This man, who built bigger barns to store his wealth and planned to "take life easy," is called a fool by Jesus. The villain in Jesus' story is our culture's hero.
What drives our relationship with money? For many, especially those who grew up with scarcity, it's not greed but fear—fear of not having enough, fear of poverty, fear of disaster. Jesus offers a radically different perspective: "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom." This abundance mindset transformed the early church into a community where "there were no needy persons among them."
The early Christians practiced regular, intentional generosity toward those in need—not just with money but with time and relationship. This "financial promiscuity," as Tim Keller called it, created a revolutionary community in a Roman world where no moral values encouraged the rich to share with the poor.
How do we practice this kind of generosity when the poor are often invisible in our comfortable neighborhoods? Those in need are not objects of pity or projects to manage—they're brothers and sisters in Christ. Our goal isn't just to give resources but to create a new kind of family that blurs the lines between giver and receiver.
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All right, now let's go ahead and jump into our series, as we are closing out our series called Practice in Generosity. I'm so excited for today's message, but I have a story I have to tell first. I have a story I have to tell first. When I was 20 years old, I was probably in one of the lowest seasons of my life. I was in a rough season. I made some decisions that took me off the path that God really had for me. It was just a real tough. It was a tough season. I was spiritually searching God what can I do? Where can I go? What's going on?
Speaker 1:And I was working at that time at a pawn shop in Portsmouth, virginia, in the dirty, dirty, nothing know. Nothing wrong with working at a pawn shop. I did get pretty good at it, like if someone can hand me a thing of gold, I can tell if it's real, like just looking at it. But that's another talent I have, okay anyway. So. But you know, but a pawn shop is not necessarily your dream job, right? It's not necessarily where you want to go, and so I was really struggling. It was a real low season of my life. Now at the shop the owner of the shop he would regularly buy us lunch. And so he said, hey, bones, he called me Bones because I was really skinny, okay. So he said, hey, bones, buy the shop some lunch. And I said, okay, whatever. And so I go out and I drive to KFC to get to shop some lunch. And I pull up to KFC and get out and there's a homeless man. There's a homeless man right outside the store and he asked me for some money. I said I don't have any cash, but I can buy you some lunch. And he says, okay, that'd be great. So I go in place the order for the shop, then come back out and give this man his lunch and here you go. I can't make this up At that moment when I hand him his lunch.
Speaker 1:The only way I can describe this is that I heard the audible voice of God. I heard God's voice clearly. It wasn't just an impression in my heart, it wasn't just something in my head, it wasn't just a good idea, it was God's voice. So much so that I froze, I froze, I was kind of like what did I just hear? And the homeless man. He said, hey, bones, you okay. He didn't really call me Bones. He said you're okay, but he did.
Speaker 1:And I said, hey, man, and let me preference, though, I was at such a low point in my walk with the Lord at this point, that someone someone I even trusted, someone I trusted, someone who was supposed to be a spiritual, provide, spiritual guidance for me, said to me you will never be used by God again. And so I was really conflicted and confused. And so, to have God to let God speak to me, I was like, wow, this is incredible. And so, anyway, so I say, hey, man, can I just pray for you, can I pray for you? And he was like sure, and so I put my hand on his shoulder and I prayed for him and I say this is what I feel like the Lord said to me was you can still make it right with your family. And I said, hey, I just feel like the Lord is saying you can still make it right with your family.
Speaker 1:And the moment I said that, you can feel the environment change, the atmosphere change and his face froze, his face froze, and you can see in his eyes that whatever I said was relevant to something that was going on in that current moment in his life. He thanked me for the food, kind of walked away. He was like, who is this guy? He walked away. Now I don't know what happened to that man, I don't know what his story ended up, but I do know what happened to me that day. I do know what happened to me that day, and the Lord said I'm not done with you yet. I'm not done with you yet, and so that day I signed up, I got into counseling, and I got my life back on track to where I am today. As they say, the rest is history.
Speaker 1:And what I learned in that moment, though, of being generous to the poor, it was not that just something I can do for the homeless person, but in return, what that person did for me, what that person did for me, that God used that moment of caring for the poor to do something inside of me, and that's why we see, throughout Scripture, god keeps pointing His people back to this one truth His heart beats for the poor, his heart breaks for the poor. Proverbs 19 puts it this way. He says Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deeds. Think about that. God says that when you give to the poor, it's like giving to him directly. And today, as we close out this series on practicing generosity, we're going to talk about what does it look like to be generous to the poor. What does it look like? What does that mean? Now, here's the interesting thing. There are roughly 500 verses in the Bible on faith. That's a lot. There's roughly 500 verses in the Bible about prayer. There's roughly 500 verses in the Bible about prayer. But there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible about God's heart for the poor. That's a lot. That's a lot of them.
Speaker 1:And what we see and we see this on display in Jesus' teaching. Let's look back at Luke 12, which we've been following throughout this series. This is what Jesus says. He says someone in the crowd said Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied man who appointed me to judge or be an arbiter between you, Two siblings fighting over family inheritance? That's what wealth often does. It divides. And Jesus says I'm not getting in on that, I'm not going to be a part of that, you're not going to suck me into it.
Speaker 1:He continues. He says this. He says watch out. I love it. Anytime Jesus says watch out, you should pay attention, watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Notice again, jesus has a very different vision of the good life. Like, jesus' vision of the good life is a lot different than the world's vision of the good life. Let's hit on this in a second. He continues.
Speaker 1:He told them this parable the ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said this is what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. I'll build bigger barns and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself I have plenty of grain laid up for many years.
Speaker 1:Take life easy. Eat, drink and be merry. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it Sounds good? That line can be translated to this live it up, eat, drink and enjoy yourself. Or in the message paraphrase, it says you've got it made and now retire. Take it easy, have the time of your life.
Speaker 1:Now, that line, that line was not the line of someone who was a Jesus follower, but it was a philosophy of pagan lifestyle, like get what's yours and live it up. And live it up, you know, do it. Jesus continues. He says be demanded from you, then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it would be Whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God. Now, jesus isn't saying it's bad to have a retirement plan, but he's saying what does it mean to be rich towards God? What does it mean to have a purpose? Now, this does sound a bit harsh in our modern ears, though, doesn't it? Here you go A little backstory.
Speaker 1:Most of the people in Jesus' day were poor tenant farmers. Very small number of people were wealthy landowners. There was a merchant class In fact, most of the disciples were fishermen but the middle class is very small in that culture. Back then, everything was based on farming. It was all about sheep and grains and grapes. It was all about that. Today, we get paid on numbers on a screen. We don't get paid by sheep or asparagus. Good job, johnson. Here's some more asparagus for you. You know that doesn't work that way. You know that's not how we get money, you know. But back then that's how it was. And money now is basically what we all agree. It's worth, it's as locked and as limited as it used to be. But back then wealth was limited because it was tied to physical stuff like sheep or grain.
Speaker 1:This means this man is a wealthy landowner, but instead of sharing the excess of what he had, the extra that he had, with the poor around him, what does he do? He just builds bigger barns. He says I'm going to keep it, I'm going to store it up. And this is what Jesus calls him. Jesus calls him a fool. I don't ever want to be called a fool by Jesus. That's pretty intense, isn't it? It's pretty intense. A lot of times we think of Jesus. He's just so soft and fluffy, you know, but he's like hey, man, that ain't cool. That's not good. It continues. It continues. The irony is this this guy this is the funny part this guy is living the American dream. He is literally living the American dream. This is so many people's life goal. I'm going to work hard, have a good retirement. I'm going to retire early and I'm going to live it up in Disney World. That's not my goal Live it up. Yet Jesus says he's a fool.
Speaker 1:The villain in Jesus' story is our culture's hero. Luke 12 continues Do not be afraid, little flock for your father. I want you to get this. Your father has good plans, has good plans. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Speaker 1:See, we get so stressed out about wealth, about earthly wealth, that we forget that God has promised us kingdom things, that he has kingdom treasure for us, that, yes, a dollar is good, that is great. But that dollar is better when it's served to serve others. But it's good to have things. But if my things just make me feel comfortable, I'm going to tell you this If your pursuit for Jesus is all about your comfort, you're going to be pretty unhappy with your pursuit for Jesus, because a life lived for Jesus is not about being comfortable. It's about saying God, make me uncomfortable for the things you have called me to do. God, if I'm too comfortable, I'm worried if I'm really living in my calling. And so here we go, because none of the disciples were that comfortable and we read and we read about the disciples. They weren't just hanging out chilling. They took this thing. They believe so much in this resurrection. They said I'll give my life for it. Take it all. That's uncomfortable, let's continue. It's so good. Okay, here we go. It's interesting.
Speaker 1:We tend to assume the motivation behind wealth accumulation is greed. But for a lot of people, especially those who grew up in scarcity, the motivation is fear. It's fear of not having enough, fear of being poor, fear of looming disaster. So maybe if I build wealth I can take control. We're back to Jesus' abundance mindset. God is our father provider. His heart is to give to us, not take from us. We don't have to be afraid. Instead, we can do this.
Speaker 1:Jesus says Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourself that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Do you see how Jesus ties his call to be generous to the poor to his view of the age to come, to his view of the age to come? Jesus' teaching on generosity will never make sense unless you view your financial decisions not in light of a human lifespan but of eternity. Let me say that one more time Jesus' teaching on generosity will never make sense, never make sense, unless you view your financial decisions not in light on just your human lifespan but of eternity. In light of eternity, giving is not loss, it's gain, it's an investment, as Randy Alcorn put it. He said we store up eternal treasure in the coming age by giving away temporary treasures in the present age.
Speaker 1:So here you go, aaron and I. We just got done doing a two-year financial cohort for pastors and it was amazing. It was incredible and one of the things that we learned was our money story. Did you know you have a money story? I never even thought about it until we did this thing. But we have a money story Because, based on your upbringing, you may have a money story where you didn't have a lot, so you're always still afraid Are the bills going to be paid?
Speaker 1:And so a lot of the things that you do is based on. I don't want to experience that again. I don't want to experience that feeling. Maybe you have a money story where you knew you kind of grew up with a lot but your parents were stingy and it was kind of it was like we never had a lot, we never got to do a lot of things, but we knew we were comfortable. You know, maybe you grew up where there would be a lot of anxiety and stress in the household, people yelling, and then the next day your mom says let's go shopping, and so you feel inconsistent about that and you have a money story. Did you know?
Speaker 1:Your money story actually defines a lot of the things that you do in your life. See, it's powerful. That's why we're doing this Financial Peace University, because there's so many people who don't have freedom in their finances. Financial Peace University is not about just making money. It's about finding freedom so your heart can open up to the things that God has for your life. So many of us, we're stuck. We're stuck, we don't even we're stuck in things we don't even know. We're stuck in, and God wants to provide freedom for you. And so we begin to learn our money stories and how we viewed finances and how to really live on a budget. And this is one of the reasons, again, like I recommend Financial Peace.
Speaker 1:But, as Aaron and I, as we were doing this cohort, what we learned was there is a future that we want to have, and there was one of the things that we had to do. We had to take one thing that's always been kind of a theory of what we wanted to do and put it into action, and that is for Aaron to eventually leave her corporate job and work full time for the church, and so we can co-lead together for the church. Now don't be fooled by TV preachers, though Pastors. They do not make a lot of money. We do not make a lot of money For Aaron. This would be a major financial change for our family. So in order to live like that later, we have to start making investments now. We have to start making investments now. We paid off all of our debt besides our home, including our car. We paid off all of our student loans and that hurt a bit. It did. Then we made some financial investments that made us change our monthly budgeting and it was noticeable.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing we don't lose that money. We put it where it can occur interest over time because of the longer-term dream and vision that God has put on our hearts. And a golden rule in the Gaines household is this Restrictions now lead to delights later, like this is what we tell our kids all the time. It was up to them. They have ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. But what we do we always kind of we wait on. We call our family fun day. That's when, man, we're going to eat all the junk food. We're going to do it there, and it even tastes a little sweeter when you do it that way. So restrictions now lead to delights later. Here you go.
Speaker 1:In the same way, giving is investing in the kingdom of God. It's putting your money where it can grow over time, in one place where it can last forever. It's the upside down kingdom that we give away. What we give away, we keep. And what we keep, we lose, and it doesn't make sense all the time. But for example, we had two people sponsor lose and it doesn't make sense all the time. But for example, we had two people sponsor youth at our last summer camp that we just did, and out of that camp, one of the kids who went to that camp barely goes to church, doesn't really hang. He ended up going to this camp because a friend invited him to camp. He gave his life to Jesus at camp and he wants to be baptized. Come on y'all, he wants to be baptized in October when we do our baptisms.
Speaker 1:There's a great story, great story that our youth leader shared with us. He said that he was reading his Bible in his bedroom and his mom walked in and started crying You're reading your Bible, but that was someone's investment. Here you go. That was someone's $165 that they gave to this kid. That has a long-term investment on the impact that that kid's going to make with his life.
Speaker 1:Do you hear what I'm saying, lvc? Do you hear what I'm saying? It's about having a kingdom mindset. It's the upside-down kingdom. And for Jesus says this for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And some of us, our hearts, are shaped like a Target, and some of us, our hearts, are shaped like a Target, mm-hmm, an Amazon Prime truck. This is the second time Jesus has said this in Luke's gospel, which is key because in ancient writings they were hand copied, so every word was expensive. So if the author really wanted to emphasize the point, he would repeat it. He or she will repeat it Just one chapter before this.
Speaker 1:Jesus says this to the Pharisees. He says this Now, then you Pharisees, clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed. He could have said a lot of different things there, but he said greed and wickedness. You foolish people. There you go, jesus' name calling. Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now, as for what is inside, you be generous to the poor and everything will be clean for you, meaning, if there's a silver bullet for greed, a practice to clean our hearts out and set our hearts free. It's the practice of being generous to the poor, being generous to the poor. It comes to no surprise that Jesus' first followers did exactly this in the early church.
Speaker 1:In Acts 2, the first story we have of the early church, we read this famous passage. It says All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. How beautiful is that. Acts was written by Luke, so it's like a two-volume set story here and we see Luke repeat Jesus' line right in there Luke 12.
Speaker 1:Acts 2. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need, and they did it. It continues all the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possession was their own, but they shared everything they had With great power. The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and God's grace was so powerfully at work in them All that were there. There were no needy person among them. How incredible is that?
Speaker 1:For from time to time, those who own land or house sold them, brought the money from the sales and put them at the apostles' feet and would distribute it to anyone who had need. Guys, I can't even picture that happening right now. I can't even picture it. You read that verse and you say, oh, that was so good for them back then. Wow, I mean, they were just so moved. Here's the thing about reading the Bible. If you read the Bible and it just always feels so like yeah, mm-hmm, you might not be reading the right book. Because I read that and I'm challenged about my suburban life. I'm challenged about my thousand dollar iPhone in my pocket. I'm challenged by that monthly bill when I know the cost of that monthly bill can sponsor people in our Compassion International. I'm just challenged by it. I'm not saying I got to react, I don't want us to be reactionary guys, but I want us to be challenged by it. I want us to be challenged by it. It continues.
Speaker 1:The early church was wildly generous to the poor. Tim Keller called it financial promiscuity Promiscuity. He said this the early church was strikingly different from the culture around it. In this way, the pagan society was stingy with money but promiscuous with its body. A pagan gave nobody their money but practically gave everybody their body. And the Christians came along and gave practically nobody their body but gave practically everybody their money. It's hard for us to imagine now because of the impact of Jesus on the world, but there were no moral values in the Roman world to share for the rich, to share with the poor. That is not. That was not a thing. It was not a thing. There was not food pantries and food banks and things like that for people or help. That was not a thing. There was no social services or government tax-based wealth. There was nothing like that. Almost all that work was done by the church. Early on, churches became centers of social justice. They were the lead in the cause of social justice work. And now guys, now the church. We just kind of rely on the government to do it. The government provides stuff for people. The government helps keep those people over there and keeps our suburban pools nice and clean. But the church last time I checked the government isn't the hope of the world, but the local church mobilizes the hope of the world everyday, people like you and me doing the stuff that Jesus did in the Bible.
Speaker 1:Today, st Basil, the Bishop of Caesarea in the 4th century, founded what was arguably the first hospital which grew into a small town. It had hotel for travelers, hospice care for the dying, leopard colony, daily feeding program and fixed hour prayer Soon. This model spread all over the world and this is what Saint Basil himself said. He said the bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked. The shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit. You're coming at all of us, st Basil.
Speaker 1:He's voicing an idea that was prevalent in the early church that we in the modern church often have forgotten that wealth kept for yourself beyond a certain level was stolen from the poor. One of the central practices of early Christians was almsgiving, which is basically generosity to the poor, but they would often not just not only give money, but they would give time and relationship as well. In the early church, people would regularly bring offerings of money and extra food to weekly church meals for those who were in need. The Lord's Supper was actually a lot different than how we do communion. It was actually a time where people came and feasted and ate and the poor were always welcome there to have a free meal. Now again, this raises a question, all sorts of questions about how do we practice this today? How do we practice almsgiving today? The poor are often invisible to those of us in the middle class and up because of the hurry of life, the lifestyle areas and because most of us live in zip codes with people in the same exact tax bracket.
Speaker 1:But I have to say, do not let your heart be calloused because of your comfortable living. Surely we can do something. And here you go, lvc. I got to be honest with you guys. I got to be honest with you guys. Can I be honest with you guys? If you told me not to be honest, I'd be really concerned. I gotta be honest with you guys. We have not, as a church, done a great job at serving those in need. We just haven't yeah, not because we don't want to.
Speaker 1:I think our hearts, that you talk to people in our leadership, that our heart's there. There's a lot going on. Starting a church is hard. You can't do everything right at the beginning of starting a new church. But I'm taking a stand. God put this on my heart, probably a year ago, that we needed to start. We needed to go and do for people to come and see. That's what he put on my heart. We got to go and do. Then people will come and see. And he put that on my heart a year ago. I was like, okay, that's cool, it's like all right, I agree, but I don't know how to make it happen. And so, anyways, I'm taking a stand.
Speaker 1:Ever since we've done this generosity series, the Lord been hitting my heart so hard, hitting my heart so hard, lvc, it's time for us to serve the community. It's time Every church needs to ask themselves this great, this awesome question. It's a great question If we were to close our building today we don't have a, you know what I'm saying If we were to stop today, would anyone in the community even notice? Would it be people not getting meals because we're not operational? Will it be families not learning how to find healing in their family units because we're not here? And so, sadly, lvc, I think if we stopped, I think people would be sad for a couple weeks, but I don't know if Midlothian, chesterfield County and Greater Richmond would even notice if we're gone and I'm here to say God is calling us to go and do so that people will come and see. So that people will come and see.
Speaker 1:Now I got to say something to this. I'm going to be honest today. I'm going to be honest Again. Got to be honest, again, got to be honest. We're committed to changing that. We got our serve day coming up on the 13th and we're passing out waters and Gatorade. You're like Jacob, those aren't poor people, those are the suburban people. Yes, we got to start somewhere and this love in our community is a good way to start. And today, right after this service, the reason why I'm wearing this Compassion shirt because we partner with Compassion International.
Speaker 1:The sponsor kids all around the world. Our church does our church, you guys. So you at your Power Church, you already sponsor two kids that we have and our family, aaron and I's family. We started to sponsor a kid and just the main reason why one. We felt like the Lord told us to, but the main reason why, as a parent who's raising three kids in a very entitled community and culture, helping them see that there's other kids in the world who are hungry and in need and how God has resourced us to help make a difference in their lives. I feel like it's a good value to teach my kids. I just feel like it's a good value. So I do encourage you to sponsor a kid. I do, I really do. I encourage you to go at the end, pray about it. You know, pray about it. But I encourage you to sponsor a kid. You know I encourage you to do that. You know, give up Starbucks. You know it's not that good anyways. But let me shoot it straight to you you will always be unhappy in your Christian walk if your Christian walk is always about you.
Speaker 1:Lvc, we are committed to seeing everyday people learn how to become Jesus followers by being with Jesus. That's what Sunday is about. Becoming like Jesus. That's what small groups are about in community and doing the stuff that Jesus did. That's serving. That's getting on a team that's serving. Here you go.
Speaker 1:This is the part where I say as God has put something in your heart to serve our community, to do something for his kingdom, don't wait for me to give you permission, don't wait for. Hey, jacob, can I do this? Is it helping everyday people learn how to become Jesus followers? Is it helping people be with Jesus, become like Jesus, do the stuff that Jesus did. Yeah, do it. Do it. If God has put a kingdom dream in your heart. Don't wait for me, don't wait for anyone to give you permission to do it. You go out there and do it. You go for it and we're here to support.
Speaker 1:My job as a pastor is not to give you the thumbs up, it's to equip you and say, hey, this is how we can reach people for Jesus, this is how we can disciple people. This is how we can bring people in community so they feel connected and love and have accountability and be able to get healing and breakthrough and freedom in their lives. But if God has put the poor in your heart, reach the poor. Don't wait for me, tell me, say, hey, jacob, this is what we're doing. I'll say, all right, let's do it. We have a young adult in our church. She wants to make gift bags, gift packets for parents whose babies are in the NICU. Dude, beautiful dream. That's a God-sized dream. Just do it. Do the stuff. Be like Nike, just do it.
Speaker 1:And I'm telling you guys, when we see LVC as not just Jacob's thing and Aaron's thing, but you see yourself as a part of this church, with a kingdom mind and a kingdom heart to reach people for Jesus, then he will pour out his blessing on this community. He will pour out his blessing on this community. There is nothing that we cannot do if our hearts are aligned for the things of God. And I'm telling you, with your yes not my yes I said yes. I said yes to this and declined some good jobs. I said yes to this. Your yes can be the saving of many lives. Your yes to Jesus can be people finding freedom from addiction. Your yes to Jesus can be family units restored. Your yes to Jesus can be helping blended families learn how to blend together. Your yes to Jesus can be hope, restored faith, restored, joy renewed. Your yes to Jesus can be hope, restored faith, restored, joy renewed. Your yes to Jesus can be the thing that takes someone who is poor and lonely and in need and find salvation and hope and life. Don't underestimate what God can do with your yes. Don't underestimate it.
Speaker 1:Often we think of the poor as those in abject poverty in another country, those living on the streets, but there's also those who we know who are just in need. There's those we know who are in need. And what do we give? What do we give, even if it's a small, even if it's 20 bucks, even if it's an extra plate for dinner, even if it's inviting someone over to your house, no matter how small. A sacred law of the kingdom of God is this that God can do a lot with the little, that he can take our five loaves and go far beyond what we ever dreamed of. So give what you have, not what you don't have. And remember this is I want you to get this one. I want this one as the hit in your heart.
Speaker 1:Those in need are not objects of your pity. They are not your projects. People are never projects. Those in need are not objects of your pity, but brothers and sisters in Christ. Our goal isn't just to give our resources to those in need, but to create a new kind of family, to blur the lines between giver and receiver. You may have extra resources to give, but they have something to give to you too. Our goal is to create a community where it can be said there was no needy person among them.
Speaker 1:From following the spirit in your heart, don't build bigger bonds, but be generous to the poor. And if you're looking, if you ask well, what do I do? What do I do. Here's the most practical thing I could tell you. Just do the next right thing. Just do the next right thing. Generosity is one of the first steps we take into kingdom living. I'll close at this.
Speaker 1:Martin Luther said every disciple of Jesus must go through three conversions A conversion of heart, a conversion of mind and a conversion of purse. I'm praying this practice will be a third conversion for you. And remember, it's about joy. It is happier to give than receive, and all of this is motivated by love. We give our money away because Jesus gave his life for us. We give our wealth to the poor because Jesus gave up the wealth of heaven for the poverty of the human condition. We do all of this joyfully because our true happiness is not in a practice but is in a person, and his name is Jesus.
Speaker 1:And Ephesians 5, 2 says this that he loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. If he gave, oh Lord, let us give, let us give, let us give like you gave. So, god, jesus, holy Spirit, we say more of your presence, more power, more presence, more love. Help us, lord, help us Lord, help us, lord, to not be so consumed with our problems, that we miss our brother and sister right next to us. I just feel the Holy Spirit reminding me of Jesus in the middle cross, dying in pain, and yet he still had time for that criminal on the cross. Jesus, help us live like you, help us follow your lead. So we say come, holy Spirit, help us be about your business, convict us of our egos, convict us of our pride, convict us of the feeling that we got to compete with the people next to us. We got to look like them, dress like them, act like them, live at their level. No, lord, help us serve you and you alone.
Speaker 1:That's, for the Holy Spirit, just kind of nudging on my heart to say to someone today that God's not done with you yet. Maybe you're feeling really discouraged. Maybe you even had something spoken over you that you were disqualified. Yeah, this is what I keep hearing. That you have believed the lie that you were disqualified. Yeah, this is what I keep hearing. That you have believed the lie that you're disqualified Like no good, like old rags.
Speaker 1:And I just feel the Holy Spirit saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no. First I feel the Holy Spirit saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no. First, I feel the Holy Spirit saying you are made in his image. You are wonderfully and fearfully made. Come Holy Spirit, make us sensitive to your voice. Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit. He says he's not done with you.
Speaker 1:If someone has physical pain in your body and I believe the Lord wants to heal you today, yeah, like I don't know, I feel like it's in your hip or something like that the Lord wants to heal you today. So I encourage you to get some prayer. Come Holy Spirit, Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, and I feel like the Lord wants to heal someone's confidence today. Your confidence is not in your ability, but your confidence is in the Lord, and he hasn't failed and he won't fail with you. Your confidence is not in your ability, but your confidence is in the Lord and he hasn't failed and he won't fail with you. So, jesus, we thank you for your power, we thank you for your goodness, we thank you for your favor and we say more, more of you, less of us. We decrease so you can increase. We love you in this place today, in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.