Joy in Generosity

The prophet says, what do you have? She says, I got oil. He says, get every piece of Tupperware that you got, and get more from your neighbors if you need, and go and bring them into the house. She begins to get vessels, as many vessels as she can. She brings them in, and there is an anointing that comes upon that home and upon that oil. And as the oil can poured out into the vessel, it continued to pour. Put it to the side, another vessel. Put it to the side, another vessel. But you know what happened when the vessels ceased? The oil ceased. And one of the things that we miss is that God blesses us with with the oil, not so that we got a jar of oil, but so that we bless. And in the moment that we choose to stop pouring that oil, the blessings upon it cease. [00:14:07] (55 seconds)  #KeepPouring

He gave us Jesus. See, if you didn't know this, David Perez nailed Jesus to the cross. It wasn't the Jutes. It wasn't the Romans. It was my sin. I love the movie Passion of the Christ. In Passion of the Christ, which was produced by Mel Gibson, next year, I believe there's a second part that's coming out, by the way. He has a cameo in that movie. Many people miss it. Now Mel Gibson directed the movie, and the cameo that he had in the Passion of the Christ is at the crucifixion scene, When there is a moment that they only show a hand holding the nail that is gonna get hammered in, it's Mel Gibson's hand. He said, it was my sin that nailed Jesus to the cross, which is Our sin is why Jesus went to the cross. [00:09:18] (57 seconds)  #MySinNailedHim

but what is God saying when you recognize there's a need? If I bless you, the expectation is that you be a blessing to that person, not having the heart posture of, oh, but but, like, but why not? And listen, we all get the thought in our mind when we see somebody in the street sign with a corner or in the corner or whatever, and sometimes we're like, oh, but, like, but, like, what if I give him this dollar and and they go buy drugs? If the prompting came to your spirit to give something, god's checking your obedience. And if you felt it so heavily of what if they go buy drugs, take the extra five minutes of time, stop at the next gas station, buy them a sandwich and a and a bottle of water, and go back and say, man, you said you were hungry. That's what the sign said. Here Here's a sandwich and a bottle of water. [00:20:43] (64 seconds)  #GiveWithDiscernment

On Wednesday, we're at the park. We're about to leave, and one of my daughters lost something. It was it was emotional. Difficult. It was tough. It was a thing. We're we're talking, right, like, you know, going through the thing. one of the Disney employees tells my wife, here, go to the front of the park. You can fill out this thing, and maybe if they find it, whatever the case is. So so Patty goes to the front of the park. And when Patty gets back a little while later, she comes almost teary. And she says, so and so I just ran into so and so. This is the person I had helped on Friday. And they said, I have this for David, and they gave it to me. And it was a gift card to Disney. And so I got it, and I just looked at my daughter, and I said, listen. That's lost. God just sent us the money to buy it. And I looked at her, and I said, it's it's it's over. It's done. [00:36:17] (48 seconds)  #BlessingsReturn

See, because another way to define generosity or to be generous is to be open handed with what you have. It's not holding on to it. Like, we we wanna hold on to everything. We we like to collect things. Any collectors in the house? Like, when I was little, I collected micro machines, I created I collected tonka, I collected baseball cards, I collect I mean, we love to collect a whole lot of things. Now, a lot of those things are still collect till this day, a whole lot of dust. We're not just about collecting, hoarding it, holding on to it. To be generous is to be open handed. [00:10:24] (39 seconds)  #OpenHanded

is when I do counseling with people and stuff like that, a lot of times, I end up helping people with, let's say, how to set up a budget or do different things like that. And I've had other people that are like, hey. You know what? Like, why don't you go get, like, you know, your little Dave Ramsey thing where you can be, like, one of these financial advisers? I was like, why am I gonna try to make money off of something that god has taught me how to be a good steward, and it's part of my responsibility pastoring? Because it's not all about dollars. And part of the heart posture that's wrong in the church today it's not in the world, but it's it's filters way into the church. It's everything has become, how do I make money? How do I monetize this? [00:22:39] (39 seconds)  #StewardshipNotSales

Look at what it's like. I listen. I'm I'm I did not help that person expecting anything. But four days later, I ran into him 250 miles away, and he had something that God put in his heart to give to me for having helped him. And it came at the instant that my daughter suffered a loss. And we looked and we said, we prayed, God, make this whatever. It didn't look how you wanted it, but he sent back to cover. Does that make sense? Sometimes, if we were actually if we were to put on our spiritual discernment glasses, we would see so many blessings that God has given us when we had sown a seed of time or gifting or finances perhaps four days before, two years before, seven years before, ten years before. And there's some of us that today, what needs to be stirred is to continue to be generous with your time, your gifting, and your talents, because in due season, the harvest will come. [00:37:06] (72 seconds)  #SowAndReap

Because the prompting to be a blessing, it didn't come from Satan. doesn't want you to do things in the name of Jesus. The thought of, oh, but what are they no. No. No. I can't. No. That's what comes from the enemy. What are we called to do? We are blessed by God to bless others. We're blessed by God to bless others. Listen. Generosity willingly shares what God has entrusted us with. Generosity willingly shares what God has trusted us with. That talent you have was given to you by God. The knowledge, the wisdom, the how to do certain things, that was given to you by God. Part of my pastoral duties, if you would, [00:21:47] (52 seconds)  #BlessToBless

He gave us Jesus. See, if you didn't know this, David Perez nailed Jesus to the cross. It wasn't the Jews. It wasn't the Romans. It was my sin. I love the movie Passion of the Christ. In Passion of the Christ, which was produced by Mel Gibson, next year, I believe there's a second part that's coming out, by the way. He has a cameo in that movie. Many people miss it. Now Mel Gibson directed the movie, and the cameo that he had in the Passion of the Christ is at the crucifixion scene, When there is a moment that they only show a hand holding the nail that is gonna get hammered in, it's Mel Gibson's hand. He said, it was my sin that nailed Jesus to the cross, which is Our sin is why Jesus went to the cross. [00:09:17] (57 seconds)