Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Right, let's bow our heads for a moment. Holy Spirit, would you speak to us in these next few moments?
[00:00:14] Would you lead us? It is our joy to give our lives to you. It is our joy to pour out our lives as an offering.
[00:00:23] And we don't want to just be generous. We want to experience spirit led giving.
[00:00:29] Would you speak to us?
[00:00:31] Would you assign a sacrifice for us?
[00:00:35] And we want to participate in this with joy. In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:00:43] If the scriptures call giving sowing, then there's something beyond giving that we're called to see in the New Covenant. It's not about building buildings. In the new Covenant, the buildings are made up of people.
[00:01:06] I think our conviction and our call is to build people. And we want to see disciples, make disciples, right? We want to see kens now who encountered God through a disciple of Jesus, now making disciples. That is the kingdom multiplication. We want to see people equipped and built up to step out and function in their grace, in their purpose. That's how we're going to see revival. That's how we're going to see reformation. That's where we're going to see the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. It's not just little bits and pieces, it's multiplication through sons and daughters that are mature.
[00:01:50] And so the business we're in is not buildings, it's the building of people.
[00:01:56] Building is one of the necessary tools for some of those things to happen.
[00:02:02] And so that's why this is holy for us, because of the purpose it's set aside for.
[00:02:09] And if you remember the quote we say a lot out of Proverbs 11:24, it's out of the message translation that the world of the generous gets larger and larger.
[00:02:23] Because giving is not a loss, it's relocating your resources. And think about this.
[00:02:29] If giving a seed, it assumes investment.
[00:02:34] This is kingdom investment that actually relocates your resources to a secure place where the devourer cannot touch those things and actually transfers to eternity.
[00:02:49] And I want to look at a few passages, Ephesians 2:10.
[00:02:55] This is what it says here and this is what I want to emphasize that generosity is our calling.
[00:03:04] For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus from for good works.
[00:03:13] Did you see that?
[00:03:15] We are his workmanship or work workmanship, which is like a masterpiece or an intentional design in Christ Jesus for good works. And this good works actually it, it means generosity, it means tithes, it means spirit led giving, it means feeding the poor. It means all of those things. It's generosity worth towards God towards people and towards the world.
[00:03:44] So he says, we're created. We're intentionally designed for this in Christ Jesus, for this purpose which God prepared beforehand. Why? So that we would walk in them. Say with me, walk in them. In other words, generosity is not a moment, it's a lifestyle. We're intentionally designed, set aside for this purpose so. So that we would live this way, so that we would walk in them.
[00:04:14] And in Matthew 5:16, it says, Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father.
[00:04:26] So one of the things that our generosity does is it actually reveals God to people.
[00:04:33] It actually reveals the Father to other people. He says, they will glorify your Father. It doesn't say their Father.
[00:04:42] And this leads people to the revelation of God and the result of thanksgiving.
[00:04:51] The other thing is giving or generosity or sowing is a spiritual gift.
[00:04:59] And we see that in Romans 12:6, in his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
[00:05:10] So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
[00:05:18] If your gift is serving others, serve them well.
[00:05:23] If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.
[00:05:28] If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. There's this theme.
[00:05:42] Whatever God's given you, go all in with it. Don't be partial, don't be neutral. Like, if you've been given a grace, if you've been given a gift, go all in and steward this grace. Employ this grace so that it can multiply.
[00:06:02] So we see that we give because that's who we are. But some of us have been given a. A a a spiritual gift and a grace to be like a heaven bank on earth where you live to give, you have a grace to give.
[00:06:22] And it's actually a spiritual gift.
[00:06:33] In 2nd Corinthians 8:6, for the sake of time, I'm going to move fast, if that's okay with you.
[00:06:40] Paul is encouraging a church in Corinth to complete their generosity. And the interesting thing is that this church, in this season was not in abundance.
[00:06:55] In fact, they were experiencing, you know, difficulty, financial difficulty. And Paul is encouraging them to complete their gift, to help the poor in Jerusalem.
[00:07:11] And look at the language he's using for their voluntary offering.
[00:07:17] So he says. So we urged Titus that as he had begun, so he would also complete and the Language.
[00:07:26] Complete this grace in you. Where is it?
[00:07:33] Where in me that he would complete this grace? In you as well.
[00:07:40] But as you abound in everything, in faith, in speech and knowledge and diligence, and in your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also.
[00:07:56] What is he talking about?
[00:08:00] He's talking about giving. He's actually talking about finances here. He's actually talking about the grace that God has distributed to this church. And he says, this grace, complete this grace that is in you.
[00:08:16] And this had to do with financial provision.
[00:08:22] And the word abound is actually overflow.
[00:08:27] It's increased beyond measure. It's richly supplied.
[00:08:38] There's so much to be said here and I'm tempted to, like, put way too much content into one message.
[00:08:50] And I want to address the motivation of giving, but also I want to avoid some of the extremes and views of prosperity that maybe are selfish, where we lust and we greed and we fear and we treat giving as this exchange for more and covet.
[00:09:19] But I also don't want to go to the other ditch where you don't believe and you don't expect and you don't anticipate God's supernatural provision.
[00:09:30] And I'm going to tell you why God is interested to bless you.
[00:09:36] I want to tell you why God wants to richly supply to you.
[00:09:42] Is that okay? I feel like I'm just ninja in the spirit right now.
[00:09:53] This will be cut and used against me. I know.
[00:10:01] I want to give you a passage and I'm going to try to bring it all together so that we can see it. Luke chapter 6:38.
[00:10:08] Give and it will be given to you.
[00:10:12] They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by the standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return.
[00:10:24] In other words, my sowing, my giving in faith in the kingdom, in obedience, sets up an expectation for supernatural increase, doesn't it?
[00:10:40] Didn't that say what it said?
[00:10:42] And isn't there other passages that would say the same thing?
[00:10:45] So is it wrong to expect or is it not?
[00:10:49] It depends.
[00:10:53] I love this story.
[00:10:55] We're going to put him up on the screens.
[00:10:58] This man by the name of George Mueller, who lived, was born in 1805, lived till 1898. And he lived in England.
[00:11:10] And you know, he lived during a time of extreme poverty in England after World War and many diseases and factories closed and all this stuff happened. And there was many, many orphans that filled the streets.
[00:11:26] And he, he was a man who practiced extravagant generosity.
[00:11:32] He chose to Live by faith. He started taking these orphans and he refused to live with leftovers. Whatever he had, he would give it away to feed the orphans.
[00:11:44] And he refused to ask for money.
[00:11:47] And he decided to live by faith. And he thought if he was going to do that, God wanted to publicly display his faithfulness and supernatural provision.
[00:11:59] One famous story about this man is one time he had 300 children living in one of the homes orphans, and they didn't have anything to eat. And he had them all sit at the table and, you know, empty plates and he had them give thanks to God for their food.
[00:12:22] But there was no food. Said, father, we thank you for the food you provided for us today. Thank you for the food that we're about to eat. And the plates are empty.
[00:12:32] As soon as they finished praying, a person knocked on his door and said, I own a bakery. God woke me up last night in the middle of the night and told me, bake extra bread.
[00:12:44] And so he brings this bread right as they finished praying with these 300 kids. And then another knock goes on the door. There's this carriage that broke down with a bunch of milk. And they said, hey, we're not able to get this milk where it needs to go. It's going to be ruined. Why don't you guys take this milk? And 300 kids are enjoying fresh baked bread and milk that was delivered to their door in supernatural ways. And that is why God wants to supply the seed to the sower.
[00:13:21] The seed to the sower.
[00:13:26] That bread was seed, that milk was seed.
[00:13:31] Do you see that?
[00:13:34] As a result of his faith, his generosity, the legacy was there. Over 10,000 orphans were cared for.
[00:13:46] Millions were given away in his lifetime over. And so what he decided to do is actually steward Thanksgiving, because that's going to feed your faith.
[00:13:57] And he decided, I'm going to record every moment that I'm giving thanks for. And in his journal, he had over 50,000 recorded miracles that God did as he decided to surrender his life to this cause.
[00:14:24] The law of sowing works regardless of motive.
[00:14:29] But the fruit of the harvest depends on the motive.
[00:14:35] When I read this Luke, chapter 12, verse 15, then he said to them, this is Jesus answering a question about money, greed, fear. Because a lot of the control money has on our life is influenced by greed and by fear.
[00:14:52] And he said to them, watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist of in abundance of possessions.
[00:15:05] And he told them this parable. The ground of a certain man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, and Watch the theme there.
[00:15:13] What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, this is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and I will store my surplus.
[00:15:29] And I'll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, you fool.
[00:15:42] Now what I want to emphasize, he's not against bigger barns, he's not against increase, but he was against the motive and misplaced trust.
[00:15:57] And he said, you fool. Look how you're thinking.
[00:16:01] First you're thinking, I did all this. Second, you're thinking, all of this is mine and the purpose of all of this is for me.
[00:16:13] You're a fool.
[00:16:15] That's what Jesus is saying in this parable. You're a fool.
[00:16:32] This very night. Your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?
[00:16:39] This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.
[00:16:49] In other words, there was good stewardship, there was increase.
[00:16:55] But the motive was wrong.
[00:16:58] The guy still had a lot of money.
[00:17:01] That's why we get it wrong in the prosperity message. Sometimes just because you have more, that means you're blessed. Not necessarily because that guy had more, but he wasn't blessed and he wasn't rich.
[00:17:15] Do you see? Do you see where the. Where the line is? The motivation, mine for me, I will say to myself, all the gain, all the surplus had no purpose.
[00:17:31] The second farmer, same seed.
[00:17:35] But we see this principle in Second Corinthians 9, 8. And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, all grace overflow to you, so that you always have all sufficiency in everything you may have in abundance.
[00:17:52] What does that word mean in Greek?
[00:17:57] I think abundance, like more than enough, that you have more than enough for every. For what?
[00:18:05] For what?
[00:18:07] There is a purpose there.
[00:18:10] For every good deed.
[00:18:13] As it is written, he scattered abroad. He gave to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Now he, capital H. Assuming the Lord, who supplies seed to the sower, who supplies seed, who supplies seed.
[00:18:32] God supplies seed.
[00:18:34] He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing.
[00:18:46] That's where it is. Do you see that he will supply and multiply. God has a desire to bring increase.
[00:18:55] God has a desire to supply and multiply your seed for sowing.
[00:19:07] The. The. The motivation is different for success.
[00:19:12] Some people live a broke life with a lot of money because they don't have a purpose for their money.
[00:19:20] So he says, God's gonna supply and multiply your seed for sowing.
[00:19:27] Increase the harvest. Say with me harvest.
[00:19:31] Increase the harvest of your righteousness.
[00:19:35] You will be enriched in everything.
[00:19:39] And how many things and what?
[00:19:42] Everything for what?
[00:19:44] For what?
[00:19:47] For all generosity.
[00:19:51] Are you guys using a different translation?
[00:19:57] For all generosity. NASB 2020.
[00:20:05] He will supply multiply seeds to increase the harvest that you will be enriched in everything for all generosity, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but also overflowing through many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience.
[00:20:54] It's okay that I'm not going to be able to finish this message.
[00:20:58] I want to close with this final story of a man. You can throw him up on the screens.
[00:21:07] RG Our boy. Rg I'm just going to leave it there.
[00:21:15] Yes.
[00:21:17] He was born in 1888, lived in 1969.
[00:21:21] He was a. He was an inventor, an industrialist and inventor.
[00:21:27] He was a self taught engineer.
[00:21:32] He became very, very wealthy and experienced a certain level of burnout with all the stress and all the stuff that came with his wealth because all the increase and surplus didn't have the right purpose.
[00:21:53] You know, like money actually wears people out when it has no purpose.
[00:21:57] Like people have a lot of money and can't sleep at night and we think, man, if I could just have a little bit more of that, I'd be so happy because it's deceiving without purpose.
[00:22:09] And so he decided to reverse the tithe.
[00:22:12] He decided, I'm going to give 90% and live on 10% because I believe God can do more with my 10 than I can do with my 100.
[00:22:26] And he repurposed his surplus and started to live on 10%. He became the largest private donor, one of the largest private donors in Christian history.
[00:22:44] The result of him repurposing his surplus caused all of his companies that were experiencing all kinds of chaos starting to excel, accelerate.
[00:22:56] There was an anointing on his companies, I think, because they became gods.
[00:23:05] And he lived well on 10%.
[00:23:11] He didn't lack anything with his 10%.
[00:23:14] And God wants us to enjoy the fruit of our labor.
[00:23:20] But he became, he was in the record of some of the most radical generosity ever recorded in Christian history.
[00:23:32] Because he decided one day, I don't like this, I'm going to reverse the tithe. 90 to God and 10 to me.
[00:23:43] Everything changed for him. I'm not saying this to manipulate. I'm not saying this to pressure anybody. I'm simply saying that God releases a grace.
[00:23:53] God releases spiritual gifts. God gives the ability and the power to gain wealth.
[00:24:00] The problem's not with the money. The problem is who it's purposed for.
[00:24:08] And God wants to supply and multiply. And this is where you bring your sacrifice. And I want you to, in faith, anticipate that God will multiply your opportunities to be generous as a way of life.
[00:24:26] Do you believe that?
[00:24:28] We're not. We're not doing this bank exchange with God. We're not giving $100 to get 200. But we do believe.
[00:24:35] That's not our motive. But we do believe that God desires to multiply seed for the purpose of sowing.
[00:24:47] So would you stand on your feet with me, Sophia? Would you come up here with me?
[00:25:02] This is. This is our worship.
[00:25:07] If you feel pressured to give, please don't give.
[00:25:13] If you feel manipulated to give, please don't give.
[00:25:19] If you feel like if you don't give, God will not bless you, please don't give.
[00:25:27] We see this as the greatest opportunity to be participants, to be partakers of what God is building in our region and in the Pacific Northwest. And I know some of you have already prayed, some of you already heard from God, and maybe that number changed as I was preaching.
[00:25:49] I'm not asking you to give everything away, but I'm asking you to give away everything God's telling you to give.
[00:26:05] For those of us who are participating today, I want this to represent our faith.
[00:26:12] I want this to represent a sacrifice.
[00:26:17] And I want us to do this with joy.
[00:26:24] Why?
[00:26:25] Because if this is seed, anticipating a harvest, if this is seed, I'm anticipating multiplication.
[00:26:38] If you're with your spouse, would you take a moment and just pray together and ask the Holy Spirit, if you've already prepared your seed, would you come together with your spouse if they're in the room?
[00:26:52] If you're single, you can.
[00:26:54] You can find somebody. You can find somebody right now.
[00:27:02] Let's just all together, ask the Lord how he wants us to participate. And one more thing I want to highlight.
[00:27:10] I know that for some of us, a sacrifice requires certain changes. And maybe, like, I don't have the money that I want to give, it's going to take time.
[00:27:20] What we want to do is fulfill this commitment by February.
[00:27:23] And we believe, actually, we believe that in February we're going to be completely debt free and we're going to have everything paid off. Because that's what God told us.
[00:27:36] It doesn't have to make sense.
[00:27:38] And so what I want to ask you is if God's telling you a number and you decided to give a number, but it's like, okay, I only have 10% of that number. Bring that gift to activate this faith. And then what we're doing is we're fulfilling this by the end of February, so by the last week of February.
[00:28:00] So if you're participating in that commitment, you could do it that way. And so let's just right now just come together with your spouse, or if you're standing by yourself, just hold your see it in your hand and we're gonna. We're gonna pray, we're gonna take a moment to just hear from God, and we're gonna obey him in just a moment. Participate in worship.
[00:28:23] Thank you for joining Kingdom Movement Online. I pray and hope that that sermon impacted you deeply. I would love if you shared this with a few friends and family. And before you go, don't forget to subscribe. See you next week.
