Generous Living

♪♪ ♪ I've seen favor, but not like this. ♪ ♪ I've seen blessings that don't make sense. ♪ ♪ Can I testify? ♪ ♪ I've seen miracles I could not buy. ♪ ♪ I've seen power I can't deny. ♪ ♪ Can I testify? ♪ ♪ I'm gonna shout it out. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ ♪ I've seen it all my life. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ ♪ He was faithful then and he's faithful now. ♪ ♪ Forevermore I will shout hallelujah. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ Can I testify? Whoo! ♪ He's been with me from the very start. ♪ ♪ He's the only one who has my heart. ♪ ♪ Can I testify? ♪ ♪ He's the one who's never let me down. ♪ ♪ He's the one who turned my life around. ♪ ♪ Can I testify? ♪ ♪ I'm gonna shout it out. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ ♪ I've seen it all my life. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ ♪ He was faithful then and he's faithful now. ♪ ♪ Forevermore I will shout hallelujah. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ Can I testify?

Yeah. ♪♪ Sing it out with this church. ♪♪ ♪ If you only knew what Jesus saved me from. ♪ ♪ I was in the dark he brought me to the sun. ♪ ♪ Now I'm living proof, look what the Lord has done. ♪ ♪ Look what the Lord has done. ♪ ♪ If you only knew what Jesus saved me from. ♪ ♪ I was in the dark he brought me to the sun. ♪ ♪ Now I'm living proof, look what the Lord has done. ♪ ♪ Look what the Lord has done. ♪ ♪ If you only knew what Jesus saved me from. ♪ ♪ I was in the dark he brought me to the sun. ♪ ♪ Now I'm living proof, look what the Lord has done. ♪ ♪ Look what the Lord has done. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ ♪ I've seen it all my life. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ ♪ He was faithful then and he's faithful now. ♪ ♪ Forevermore I will shout hallelujah. ♪ ♪ Yeah, the Lord is good. ♪ Can I tell Santa? Can I testify? Can I testify? Well, hey, welcome to the local church. It is the perfect place for imperfect people to experience the presence of God. So grateful he meets us here.

You guys can be seated for just a quick minute. And hey, my name is Carson Pedraza. It is my privilege and honor to welcome you guys here today, especially if you're a guest in our house. We're so grateful that you're spending your Sunday morning with us. In fact, we have a free gift just for you. It's our little way of saying thank you for joining us. So if you haven't already done so, do us a favor. Fill out that Connect card in the seat back in front of you. We want to put a free gift in your hands. So much more than that. When I get to know your name, it's so much more than that. your story, make sure to proper welcome here today and whether you're a guest today or you've been hanging out with us for a while, if you're looking to take a next step to get better connected, maybe even you have some questions, that Connect card is one of the best ways to get to do that. The second best way to get connected is through Connect Track. Connect Track is a course that we throw every single month. It's the last Sunday of every single month and it is all about getting us connected to what God has called us to do inside and outside of this church and so we'd love for you to be a part of that. You can sign up through our website and our app and hey, here's one thing I want you to know today. It's actually about next week. Next week is our Connect group meet and greet. Here at the local church, we believe that familia happens here, that genuine community and connectedness is what God has created us for and one of the ways that we stay connected is through Connect groups. They're small groups of people that meet throughout the week throughout South Florida talking about who Jesus is and what he has for them and what he's teaching us and what we're going to do about it and so we've got groups that meet all year long but next week you have a great opportunity to meet some of those group leaders to find the best group for you in your season of life so be sure to make plans to be here next Sunday after service. Our Connect group meet and greet will happen and it's always a great time to get people connected to a great group and really get to find a great community to walk alongside them in this season. So good and hey, one of the other things that we do to stay connected is we pray for and with each other and we have our familiar

prayer almost every time that we gather we pray over the needs of this house so I'm going to pray for a handful of prayer requests this morning. Representative of the many, if you're comfortable would you extend a hand in agreement as we pray for and with each other this morning? God, we're so grateful. We're so grateful that you are good. We're so great. We come to you with praise and with thanksgiving, God. In our seventh day of prayer and fasting this morning, God, the focus is gratitude, Lord, and your word tells us that we should give thanks to the Lord for he is good, that his steadfast love endures forever. And so God, we give thanks to you. We give praise to you, God. We thank you that you are a God who walks with us. We thank you that you are a God that we can leave our burdens at your feet. We thank you that you are a God that we have access to, God, that you are not so distant, Lord, but instead you come alongside us. You hold our hands through difficult seasons. You bring wisdom and guidance in all things. God, we're so grateful this morning for you, that you are good. And so right now we pray for the burdens of this house, Lord. We come alongside Tamara who has a double mastectomy this week, Lord. We thank you in advance that you will bring hope and healing into her body, God. We thank you that you will restore her to full health, God. We pray that you would surround her with the best doctors, with the most wisdom, with all of the discernment needed, Lord, that they would do so with grace, God, and that you would show up and get glory because what you're going to do in and through her body. God, we pray the same thing for Elizabeth who's fighting breast cancer right now, God. We pray that you would remove every single cell of cancer in her body, God, that you would bring full restoration to her body, God. We pray right now alongside Victor who has an aneurysm surgery coming up, God. We thank you for the medicine provided. We thank you for the wisdom of those doctors, God. We just pray your hand in the midst, God, for all of these kind of major health concerns going on in our church. We just pray your hand, your healing, God. We thank you that you are the great physician. We thank you that you provided incredible medicine and great opportunities, God. We pray that over this room right now, the people in this room who are fighting conditions that they do not know, that the diagnosis that are scaring them, Lord, we pray that you would show up in those circumstances. We pray your healing in this room right now. We pray that you would just bring the people around the community to lift our hands when we are weary, God, when it feels too big, when it feels too scary, God. We thank you that we can count on you and lean on you in all things. We love you. We praise you. It's a great we pray. Amen and amen. Well, hey, you guys came on a good Sunday. It's always a good Sunday when

we get to worship together, but today's one of my favorite Sundays of the month. It's Baptism Sunday, and here's what baptism is. Baptism, we get baptized for two reasons. One, because Jesus did it, and secondly, because he told us to do it, and so baptism is a big deal in scripture, so we make a big deal about it over around here, and baptism, it represents, when we go under that water, it represents Jesus' death and burial, and we come out of that water, it represents his resurrection and his bloodshed wiping us clean and making us new, and so we put it in the middle of worship because we think that's where it belongs, so let's stand to our feet, and let's celebrate baptism together and worship together. God is in day Can you hear his voice calling? It's time to live again Wake up all sleepers, wake from the day Can you hear His voice calling, it's time to live again Drink from the living water, taste of the living well He is the resurrection, He's the living God Run to Him, dive in, not be shy Oh, there's nothing better than the living God Oh, there's nothing better than the living God God is in silence, He's speaking right now Yes He is, can you feel the earth tremble? This is perfect So let go of fear now, believe what He said Can you feel the faith rising? It's time to live again So drink from the living water, taste of the living well He is the resurrection, He's the living God Run to Him, dive in, not be shy Oh, there's nothing better than the living God Oh, there's nothing better than the living God He's coming alive Dead things take a breath, take a breath Dry bones, it's time to live again Dead things take a breath, take a breath Dry bones, it's time to live again Dead things take a breath, take a breath Dry bones, it's time to live, time to live again Dead things take a breath, take a breath Dry bones, it's time to live, time to live again Drink of the living water, taste of the living breath It's the resurrection, it's the living God Rise to the living light, time is the moving shot

Oh, there's nothing better than the living God Oh, there's nothing better than the living God You was my cross, You bore So I could live in the freedom You died for And now my life is Yours And I will sing of Your goodness forevermore Worthy is Your name, Jesus You deserve the praise Worthy is Your name Worthy is Your name, Jesus You deserve the praise ♪ Of the praise worthy is your name ♪ ♪ And now my shame is gone, I stand amazed ♪ ♪ In your love undeniable ♪ ♪ Your grace goes on and on, and I will sing ♪ ♪ Of your goodness forevermore, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you deserve the praise, you deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪

♪ Be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens, as your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise, you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names, You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Let's pray together. Father, worthy is your name. We are so honored that we can praise you today. Lord, we thank you for who you are, for what you've done for us. Lord, we can't even begin to count our blessings. You're an amazing God. Father, I pray that you would just help us as we're together to worship, to honor you, to be open to what you have for us today. So, Lord, we give this time to you.

We love you. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen. All right. You can be seated. Well, good morning and welcome. My name's Garland and so glad that you're sharing part of your weekend with us and had a nice little weather change this week. I think it's supposed to be even cooler tomorrow. So you can pull out your thick winter jackets. All right. It may snow. I heard. Not really. OK, but made it fun, right? OK, very good. Well, wow. This is an amazing group. And this past Sunday, last week, we had over 450 in the auditorium for the 1130 service, which puts us over 90 percent full, which is just amazing. And 10 o'clock was not far behind today. We got a great crowd. And that's that's exciting for us. And but we need to make some room. So we're going to ask that if any of you can, we're going to ask you to make what we call a missional move. And that means that you're going to move because it's the best thing to do to help others. All right. And we're encouraging folks to move to the 830 service or the one o'clock service because there's more room there or we even have Thursday night. And Thursday night is an incredible night to come and do the service. But if you could help us with that, we would appreciate that. You could even serve during one of the other services. But that would be just a huge help for us.

And it also gives us the opportunity to continue to reach people in our community. And that's what we're all about. So there's just a word of encouragement. And if that works for you, we would appreciate it. All right. Well, we started off the new year with a series called First Things First. It's a series about about priorities. Years ago, I put together a list of priorities for my life. And the good part is they've pretty much stayed the same over the years. And I'll just share with you some of the priorities in my life. Number one, top of my list is God. It's my relationship with God. And I've learned when my relationship with God is what it needs to be. It impacts everything else in my life, especially relationships. The second thing on my priority list is my wife, Kelly. And if if if I didn't put her there, she'd probably beat me up. She's tough. You need to pray for me. She's very mean. I'm kidding. All right. I am very blessed. I have an incredible wife. She's number two on my list, right behind God. I've had some people say, why isn't it your wife and kids? Well, because my relationship with my wife is so important. It impacts our kids. And that has to be the priority for me. Third thing, my children. All right. They're the most important things after that. And we're dedicated that again. If my relationship with God and my wife is where it needs to be, it will impact our children.

Behind that, I put family and friends. And the reason I put friends in there is because as we go through life, a lot of times friends become like family, right? Sometimes they're better than some of our family members, if we're honest. OK, and that's just kind of the way it goes. After that, I put church because church is so important to us. It's a priority in our life. We believe in the local church. The Bible teaches about local church. We want to be a part of it. We want to support it. After that, I put me. All right. Because I need to make sure that my life is where it needs to be. And then after that, I put some that's very important to me. I believe most of you will appreciate this. It's all about the you. All right. And some of you. Yep, there you go. See, I knew it. All right. We stand together. All right. I tell my wife we're everywhere, but and so you're laughing. You say, why would that be on your priority? It is on my priority list. And one of the big reasons why is because there's relationships built around that in my life. I've been going to the games with with friends of mine that are part of our family now for over 30, 35 years.

And those things are important. And as I look at my priority list, the one thing that pulls it all together that's in common is relationships. It's relationships because relationships are so important in our lives. And when you look at the Bible, the central theme of the Bible is relationships. Jesus said this. He said, You must love the Lord, your God with all your heart, your soul and your mind, and then love your neighbor. There is yourself. When they asked Jesus, what's the most important thing? He said, you love God first and then you love others. It's about relationships. So in this series, we're talking about spiritual priorities and the reason why is because spiritual priorities matter to us. All right, we began with this verse in week one. Let's read it together. Matthew 6, 33, it says, "'But seek first the kingdom of God.'" That's first. "'And His righteousness and all these things "'will be added to you.'" So let's review weeks one and two. Eric kicked off our series and he taught us about putting God first. Write this down in your notes again if you would. When we put God first and value doing what is right, everything else falls in place.

How great is that? When we put Him first, the things in our life fall into place. And that is so true in every area of our life. It's true in our priorities, our finances, our relationships, our business, and more. Everything is impacted by that. And then last week, Dan taught us about living in the fast track, how fasting is the most serious form of prayer that we have. And here's what he shared with us. When we fast, we declare that we are serious about seeking God. When we fast, we choose our hunger for God over our hunger for food or whatever it is we're fasting from, all right? Well, today, our title is Generous Living. And we're talking about generous living and how that needs to be a priority in our life. It seems like the last couple of times I've spoken, generosity has been a part of the message. And that's fine with me. I love that. And here's the reason why. Generosity reflects the heart of God and shapes our trust in Him. Generosity reflects the heart of God and shapes our trust for Him. John 3, 16, a verse we're all familiar with. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son

that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. The first part of that verse says it clearly. For God so loved the world that He gave, He gave. Love gives. We need to understand that. That's what love does. I love my wife, which means I give her all I can. I love my kids, which means they get my best. I love my grandkids, which are the best, okay? Because I love them, I give to them. My wife and I are very blessed. We have five grandkids. Three are from our daughters and two are from our adopted son. And we love all of them so much. Two of our grandsons are on the spectrum. If you're not sure what that means, it means that they have autism, all right? And they are the most precious kids in the world. One of my grandsons, he has very severe autism. He becomes very aggressive. He's 13 and it's been a huge challenge for our family, especially my daughter and my son-in-law. But they do their best and they're great parents. But you know what? In no way does it decrease our love for Him. If anything, it increases it. It pushes it to the max. I mean, we love Him so much.

And my wife and I have shared many times that we'd give up everything just for His healing. And we pray for that every day. But what it has allowed us to do is not just be generous with Him because our love for Him is unconditional, but it's allowed us to be generous with others too, because we see others going through the same things that we're going through. There are several families here at our church, our familiar that go through that as well. Precious God's children. And we know that and we love them so much. And there's another family that's going through something very similar to ours. And so when we pray for healing for our family, we pray for them as well. It's important for us. And we'd appreciate your prayers for our grandson, our friend's son, and so many others. But when we love, we give. It's unconditional. The circumstances don't impact that. If anything, the circumstances make it stronger. So we're gonna focus on one passage of scripture today. It's a passage that teaches us that love gives. A passage that calls us to an open-handed lifestyle. And I believe an open-handed lifestyle is a journey. Life's a journey, right? But living generously is a journey.

It's a learned behavior. And if you want a good behavior in your life, you learn it, okay? You practice it and then you do it. It's something that we learn in our lives. So this passage gives us three insights into learning generosity. That's what we're gonna look at today. Love gives, and we can learn to love, and we can learn to give. So let's look at 2 Corinthians 9, verses six and seven. Verse six, it says, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap. Generously. Verse seven, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Great passage. By the way, this is a very important side note here. Generosity in God's word is not just about money. A lot of times we think, well, it's just about money. No, it's way bigger than that. Generosity is about giving my life, my love, my time, my commitments. Money is the last thing. It's not the first thing. It's not the primary thing. So let's jump into the scripture with a live, love,

and give approach to generosity. If it's your life that needs more generosity, then step into that. If it's your love that needs more generosity, then we encourage you to lean that way. If it's your giving that needs more generosity, then give. Okay? So what does it look like to live generously, to love generously, or to give generously? Well, I love it when scripture gets very specific and it breaks down things for us. Here are three specific things we find in this verse that we looked at today. Here's the first thing. Learn to live, love, and give purposely. Learn to live, love, and give purposely. It says in that verse, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give. It's purposeful. I love how God speaks through Paul in this passage. And notice the intersection of the two pathways here. There's two things. There's the decision piece, and then there's the heart piece. The decision piece is the mental purpose and direction. The heart piece is the emotional purpose and direction. Generosity at its best is both mental and emotional. Generosity at its best is both head and heart. It's both thought and feeling. It's not just being moved in the moment and giving. Generosity is also thought out.

It's deliberate. It's planned. Give what you have decided in your heart to give. That means that we live with a purpose. It means that we love with a purpose, and it also means that we give with a purpose. In the Greek world, which is where God, or where Jesus was speaking at this time, good decisions run on all three tracks that we're talking about. They're thought out, they're felt well, and the greatest commandment, according to Jesus, had these three pieces in it. We love God with all of our heart, with our soul, and with our mind. We talked about that earlier. If love gives, then our generosity ought to be done with all of our hearts, our souls, and our minds. So here at the local church, we've set some goals up that we feel are very important. It takes generosity. A thousand new Christ followers in three years. We wanna see a thousand people come to Jesus in these three years. We've already got a great start on that. We're excited about what the next two years hold for us in that. Another all-in goal is a thousand baptisms in three years. We just saw someone being baptized. We have more being baptized today.

All-in goals require all-in commitments. These are things we make commitments to. All-in generosity requires all-in purpose, what we're talking about in this point, this thought. Here's some directions for giving that we find in God's word. 1 Corinthians 16, verse two. It says, on the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up. This one verse tells us that generosity is regular. It's the first day of the week, also payday, which was Sunday in the Greek world. It's also deliberate. Each one should set aside what you will give, and then it's proportionate in keeping with your income. My wife and I, long ago, we learned the importance of tithing in our home. It's just something that we wanna be a part of, and we learned that it's very important for us to give. We've given and we've tithed for decades. It's been a part of our marriage. We've been married 42 years, almost 43, and wow, that's a long time, okay? But we believe the first 10% of what we make goes back to God through the local church, and it's a habit that I learned when I was a kid. I can still remember going to church one Sunday, and I went to Sunday school. That was kinda like local kids is to us here, all right?

And we had a teacher, and she was teaching children in the class, and so she started talking about tithing to God, and if we'd give him a tithe, he will give back to us, and so at home, I had some change, and when I got home, I looked at it. I had about a dollar, and so the next Sunday, I took a dime with me to church because I wanted to give 10%, and I gave 10% when the offering time came around, and I was. Excited about it, and I thought, all right, we'll see how God gives that back to me. And then later that week, I was in my bedroom and there's a dresser, I think it was a hand-me-down from my grandmother, you know, one of those things with furniture. And I looked over there and I saw something kind of shining in the crack of the dresser. I went over and I pried it out and it was a dime. And I can remember, I went and showed it to my mom and dad and I go, look, God gave it back to me. You know, I was convinced of that. But sometimes that's how God works. It's just simple, but it's a lesson that we can learn. And I learned it at a young age. And we've kept that habit over the years. And if anything, God has taught us not just to tithe, but even to give more. And that's what he's taught us in our home.

And it's been very important. It's a deliberate, regular, deliberate, proportionate giving that we do. And then years ago, God laid this on my heart. And he taught me to keep one of these things in my wallet. If I can get it. That's $100 bill, okay? And we're not wealthy, okay? And $100 bill is really not that much anymore, is it? But God just taught us to have that in our wallet along with a prayer. And just this simple prayer that says, God, send me someone with a need that I can help. And when you do, we're gonna meet that need. And that's just been something my wife and I have enjoyed doing. We don't do it every day, but we do it when God lays it on our heart. And sometimes we'll be around someone and we're just talking, we hear a story, and we're like, oh, that's them. We're supposed to give it to them. And so many times we've done that and people have just burst out crying or they're so excited and they're like, you don't even understand what this means to us. One night we were in a restaurant and our server told us about how she had been saving money for two years for her and her son to do a little vacation. And we were like, this is it.

We're supposed to give it to her. A lady cried and she was just blessed by it. We call it our miracle money. And the reason why is because it can bless someone and it can be a small miracle in their life. The other night, our team went out to dinner, our team from the church here, and the young man that served us was someone that we gave miracle money to a couple of years ago. And he remembered us and we got to talk to him and it gave us the opportunity to plant a seed with him and to bless him. It's a deliberate plan to be spontaneous in our giving and it's planned spontaneity and we love doing it. There's nothing like giving to others, especially when God leads you to do that. And I have a feeling I've just gained some friends that'll be talking to me after the service. Oh, Pastor Garland, we need a miracle. All right, we'll see what happens. I'll gather friends, okay? But here's one of the great things that's happened over the years as well. And this is not something we've shared until now, really. Pastor Dan talks about it and Eric, but we have found friends that are very similar. They're generous as well and they do it. I even have a couple of friends who will come up to me and they hand me a $100 bill and they say,

put this in your wallet for your miracle money. And so God's provided that as well. It's amazing what God does when we are willing to give to others. It's good company, right? So first we learn to give and give purposely. Here's the second thing, just mentioned it. We learn to live and give willingly, give willingly. Verse says this, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. Pastor Eric reminds us often that God is more moved with our motivation for giving than he is with the size of our gift. It's more about the motivation than the size of the gift. We need to get the why part right. Let me illustrate this. We just came through Christmas, we made it through, right? Okay, but when Christmas is coming, I mean, maybe you're the same as us. We put together a gift list and on that gift list, we have a list of people that we are so excited to give a gift to. And my wife is so much better at this than I am, but we try to put together a budget and we try to find things that are gonna be exciting to them, a blessing to them, those kinds of things. And we just love giving to people. But there's also another part of that list. And there's a group of people

that we feel obligated to give to, right? And you know, it's the people all of a sudden, we even kind of get some gifts for those people that come by and go, oh, we got a gift. Well, we have one for you as well, you know. We have those gifts, but we kind of feel obligated. They're not on our, we want to give you a gift list. And it's not bad, it's just, we feel obligated. It's not as much fun. We don't get the same joy out of it. Well, God does not want his church to be on your regular gift list. because it's supposed to be there. God doesn't want his church to be on your regular gift list because it's a gift of obligation. God wants his church to be on your regular gift list because you want it to be there, because you're excited to give, because it brings joy to you. There's a long blank in your notes, write this down if you would. Motivation matters. Motivation matters. If I tell my wife I love you because I have to, believe me, she's gonna know it. But if I tell my wife I love you because I feel it, I live it, I mean it,

then she's gonna experience it and she's gonna know it's true. She's gonna know that love is real. Love is not generous because it must be generous. Love is generous because it's love and love gives. First Corinthians 13 three says this, if I gave everything I had to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it. But if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. I wanna share the same verse to you from a version called The Message. Look at the screen if you would. It says, if I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. No matter what I say, what I believe and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Great verse. If I live sacrificially, I will give sacrificially. Because we give from what we are. Here's another way to say it. God is not after your money, he's after your heart. And when he has your heart, he will also have access to your wallet. Check out what the Bible says about our motives. Proverbs 21 26 says, some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give. It's something we enjoy. That verse is about motivation. If I'm always greedy for more because life is about me,

I will never give, but if I love God, I'm gonna give. I have to, because that's the example that he set for us. If I'm following Jesus, because life is about him and about others, I will learn to love to give. So first, learn to live and give purposely. Second, learn to live and give willingly. And then the third thing, learn to live and give cheerfully. Cheerfully. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Giving should come from a joyful heart. I love this insight. The word cheerful in this verse is the Greek word, halaros, and it's the same Greek word in our English language that means hilarious. It's pretty awesome, isn't it? God wants us to give with joy. He wants us to give with hilarity. He wants us to give with laughter. He wants us to feel true joy when we give. And we said earlier today that motivation matters, but here's something else that matters as well. Write this down, attitude matters. Attitude matters. If you're dealing with your teenage child and you ask them to do something and they respond with, whatever, it's not a good moment, right? It's a tough moment.

But if you're dealing with that same child and you ask them to do something and they respond with, sure, whatever you want, first you paint. I mean, you're probably gonna pass out, but second, you're gonna experience instant joy and you're gonna, whoa, where'd you come from? But it'll make us happy. Giving should be joyful. Proverbs 17, 22, a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength. Your inner disposition significantly impacts your physical and emotional health. Choosing is a powerful healing choice. It's a choice that we make. And if you got a broken spirit, you gotta find a way to make your heart cheerful. How? It's Jesus. Jesus is the one that does that. There's just something about when we mention his name, Jesus, and it changes things. Jesus is our best example ever of a cheerful giver. Listen to this. Romans 5, it says, God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And then in Hebrews 12, verse two, it's up on the screen, it says, keep your eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross. Jesus gave His life on the cross because He loves us,

but He endured the cross because of the joy that we would bring to Him. It's Jesus, the perfect example of joy. 2 Corinthians 9, 12, "'Two good things will result from your giving. "'The needs of the believers will be met, "'and they will joyfully express their thanks for God.'" You see, when we give joyfully, three things happen. It blesses others, it blesses others, it blesses God, and then the third thing, blesses us. Pretty awesome, isn't it? Good things happen when we put first things first. So here's one final truth today. When we learn to live and give generously, we experience joy. You want some joy in your life? Then you gotta learn to live and give generously. And again, the key to that is Jesus. It's Jesus. God does not want something from us. He wants something for us. He wants us to experience the joy of generosity, and if you wanna experience joy, then learn to live, learn to love, and learn to give generously. So as we close in a few minutes, we're gonna have an opportunity to do what we talked about today. It's to give.

And if there's some of you here today and you haven't given, that's fine. Maybe today is the day to start that. We'd encourage you to do that. Maybe you're here but you've stopped or you've slowed down. Well, it's a great time to start again, to kick it back in and to let God work in your life. If you do give, then I encourage you to be consistent with it and let God continue to bless you the way he already is. Let's go all in together and experience the joy of generosity. I'm gonna pray in just a moment. When I'm done praying, we'll have a time of giving, and you can give in the buckets as they pass by. There's giving boxes on your way out. You can give on the church app. You can do it online. That's what our family does, but we encourage you to be a part of that, okay? All right, I'm gonna also call up our prayer team if you would to come, and then those that'll be helping us with our giving time, if you'd make your way up, we're gonna pray together, all right? So let's pray. Father, as we come to you now, we are so grateful that you're generous. Father, we're so thankful for the way that you've given to us, the way that you've met our needs. Lord, we can just give example after example

of how you take care of us, but most of all, you gave us Jesus, and we're grateful for that. So Father, I pray that you would encourage us in the right way that we need to give, the right way that we need to be generous. Lord, let it start with our heart, because our heart's in tune with you. And we know because of that, we'll be able to give in a way that honors you. That's what we wanna do. We love you, praise you, and we give this time to you in Jesus' name, amen. I'm gonna ask you to stand as we have a time of giving, and then we'll also continue to worship, thank you. ♪ When did I start to forget ♪ ♪ All of the great things you did ♪ ♪ When did I throw away faith for the impossible ♪ ♪ When did I start to forget all of the great things you did ♪ ♪ When did I throw away faith for the impossible ♪ ♪ Through the impossible ♪ ♪ And how do I start to believe ♪ ♪ That you weren't searching for me ♪ ♪ And why do I talk myself out of seeing miracles ♪ ♪ You do miracles ♪ ♪ You are more than a ball ♪ ♪ You are more than a ball ♪ ♪ Oh, yes you are more than a ball, yes you are ♪ ♪ You are more than a ball, yes you are more than a ball ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, oh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ You are more than a ball who am I to die? ♪ ♪ Who is the Lord and who? ♪ How's it goin' Miss TT? ♪ Now I see all that I have ♪ ♪ And I've got my confidence back ♪ ♪ I put my trust in the one who still does miracles ♪ ♪ You do miracles ♪ ♪ You are more than able to be ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able to be to be ♪ ♪ You are more than able to be to be, oh ♪ ♪ You do miracles ♪ ♪ You are more than able to be to be, oh ♪ ♪ You can't deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Can you imagine with all of the faith in this room ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do, what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ And it's gonna happen just like the way He makes it through ♪ ♪ He's gonna move, He's gonna move ♪ ♪ Can you imagine with all of the faith in the room ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do, what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ And it's gonna happen just like the way He makes it through ♪ ♪ He's gonna move, He's gonna move ♪ ♪ Can you imagine with all of the faith in the room ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do, what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ And it's gonna happen just like the way He makes it through ♪ ♪ He's gonna move, He's gonna move, He's gonna move ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, anything is possible ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, anything is possible ♪ ♪ Anything is possible, anything is possible ♪

♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ He's not done with me yet, yet ♪ ♪ There's so much more to your story ♪ ♪ You're not done with me yet, you're not done with me yet ♪ ♪ You're not done with me yet, yet ♪ ♪ There's so much more to your story ♪ ♪ You're not done with me yet, you're not done with me yet ♪ ♪ God is more than a father, more than a son, more than a son ♪ ♪ God is more than able, God is more than able ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪