#1 - Don’t Be Mad - whenever we preach
angry we do not draw people in but rather
push them away.
#2 - Don’t Use Guilt - guilt works in the
short term, but absolutely has devastating
results in the long term.
people in sales do not actually make a
sale is they simply do not ask. I would say
the primary reason so many people in the
church do not give is they have never been
asked to do so.
#4 - Make It Yours - there are messages I
preached in which the Lord used to bring
about amazing results, so, chew up the
meat, spit out the bones and make it your
own.
four rules
Before
Preaching
This Sermon
On Giving:
(Before we get into this message, let me clarify this
was a very different message for me. I normally
love taking a passage of Scripture and really
diving into it. However, for this particular message
I used multiple passages of Scripture. In fact, I
did a lot less preaching and a lot more reading
with comments I felt I needed to interject. I was
incredibly nervous about this approach... however,
looking back, it was one of the most talked
about and acted upon giving messages we ever
experienced in the history of our church.)
I opened the message by riding a Harley Davidson
motorcycle onto the stage. All over the stage I had
“nice” things: name brand jeans, handbags, golf
clubs; things I knew many people in the church
had. I walked around and talked about how
awesome these things were and then I asked the
question, “Is it wrong for a Christian to have nice
things?” (Yes, it was tense!)
For clarification purposes, I want everyone to
know I am not talking about the tithe today. I
believe the tithe is both Biblical and beneficial.
What I want to talk about today is going to the
next level when it comes to giving and generosity.
Jesus challenged us to go to next level in
everything. The Old Testament said don’t commit
adultery AND to go along with that, Jesus said
don’t even THINK about it.
The Old Testament said don’t kill AND to go along
with that, Jesus said to not even harbor anger and
bitterness in your heart.
Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean we give
Him our leftovers or our scraps. It means offering
Him our very best in every area of our lives. So
today we’re going to talk about a holistic view
of generosity. Just to emphasize: I’m not talking
about giving the 10% today, I’m talking about
how we handle the other 90%.
sermon
“Generosity”
notes
notes
PAGE 4
notes I believe in order for us to truly be generous
people we need to realize three things...
#1 – Realize What We’ve Got
I Timothy 6:17
Notice Scripture says, “who are rich.” Some are
saying, “that isn’t me.” But wait, let’s look at the
way some of us spend our money.
At this point you can get really practical and
say, “you might be rich if your car has a house
(garage), you have pay more than $5 for a coffee
drink, you have upgraded to a new product even
though there was nothing wrong with your old
one, you’ve looked in your closet full of clothes
and said, “I have nothing to wear.”
(A resource you can use here is go to www.
globalrichlist.com put in an amount of money a
person makes per year and it will actually show
where that salary ranks as far as percentages in
the world!)
Notice that the Bible does not tell us to repent for
having nice things; however, it does say NOT to
put our hope into wealth...but God.
You see, I have a nice car, home, bed but my hope
isn’t in those things!
Is it to have a nice car? No, BUT it is wrong to get
caught up in those things.
For some, it’s like a status symbol (remember
when Members Only jackets came out?) For some
here today, if you were to wreck your car or if
your house burned down you would be absolutely
devastated because that is where your hope and
identity are.
PAGE 5
notes Jesus said then most important command is love
God/others—not ourselves.
The Bible is full of wealthy people—nothing
wrong with money—it’s how you handle it.
Jesus gives us a picture of those who put hope in
“stuff” in Luke 12:13-21, big barns were not the
problem, greed was! (Here I just read through the
story, made a few comments and moved onto the
next point.)
#2 – Realize What Is Expected
None of us like it when we perceive someone
else to be greedy. Here, I shared an example of
dating a girl once and she suggesting us splitting
a dessert; which was an AWESOME idea until she
ate more than half of it!
1 Timothy 6:18 says we are to be generous.
Generosity is not just some random idea,
but rather a theme we see all throughout the
Scriptures. Let’s look at some examples:
Exodus 22:29 – In this text, we are told to not
hold back our offerings. The reason we were able
to build this facility is because so many people
took God at His Word, did not hold back, and now
we have something that really is immeasurably
more than all we could ask or imagine.
Has the Lord ever asked you to give a radical gift?
If He did ask, would you?
I’ve had people tell me throughout the years,
“Pastor, if I had a million dollars I would give
it all to the church.” It didn’t take me long to
realize people are quick to project what they
might do with what they do not have. My
response soon became, “well, you obviously don’t
PAGE 6
notes have a million, but do you have a thousand, or
even a hundred?” Often times this would shut
the conversation down because they DID have the
latter but were hesitant to actually give it.
Let me be very clear: I am NOT asking anyone to
give out of guilt. Guilt is a horrible motivator. I am
simply asking: are you open to being generous?
Leviticus 19:9-10 – Here, the Bible says not to
use all we’ve got, that we should leave some for
the less fortunate.
However, one of the major problems in our
country today is not only have we not left any but
have actually gone and borrowed more. So much
so that whenever there is talk about finances, our
stress level begins to rise.
(This is an INCREDIBLE place to pause and
highlight any sort of financial coaching or Bible
study such as “I Was Broke, Now I’m Not” or
“Financial Peace.” Anytime we can give people
practical tools that go beyond Sunday - it’s a
major win!)
Deuteronomy 15:7-11 – I personally wrestle with
this one because there are SO MANY people who
are begging for money that are either con-artists,
or who could actually work but are simply lazy.
However, the Lord changed my heart on this
several years ago, reminding me that just as
people don’t know my whole story, I don’t know
the story of the person asking for money.
So, instead of looking the other direction,
pretending I don’t seem them (we’ve all done it)
or just saying “no” and continue to walk away—I
pause as ask God, “is this someone you want
me to give to?” Sometimes the answer is yes,
sometimes it’s no. Sometimes I give them money,
sometimes I buy them food. My responsibility in
PAGE 7
notes this situation is not to lecture them - but to simply
be obedient to Jesus and let Him take it from
there.
Luke 3:7-14 – In this text we see John the Baptist
teaching about how to be a follower of Jesus, and
all three things he says has to do with money.
(Jesus said something about our treasure and our
hearts being connected in Matthew 6:21).
With this in mind - let me ask, what can you give
away this week? What do you have plenty of that
you could literally bless someone with? Once
again, I am not saying having plenty of something
is wrong - the question I am asking is are you
willing to hold what you have in an open hand
and say, “Lord, this isn’t mine, it’s Your’s - use it
as You will.”
Matthew 25:31-46
Sheep and goats, what separated them?
Generosity and greed! What if we, as individuals
AND as a church, were known for our generosity?
Here I recommended something as simple as
randomly paying for the person’s order behind
you in the drive thru line - and people actually
did it the following week - the stories we heard
were remarkable!
Maybe you find out someone has lost their job -
and you put $100 in an envelope and leave it in
their mailbox.
Doing things like this not only have a profound
impact on them - it has an ever greater impact on
us—because, when we give we are becoming more
like Jesus.
PAGE 8
notes #3 – Realize That Giving Is The Key To Living
I Timothy 6:19
Once again, I am not teaching health and wealth
here (I always made this very clear) - however, I
believe the Scriptures clearly say that the reason
the Lord blesses us with more is so we can give
more.
2 Corinthians 9:11
There is something about being generous that
changes everything! (Here you can include
a personal story about when someone did
something generous for you that significantly
impacted you.)
I remember preaching a revival for a really
small church in West Virginia when I first began
ministry. The church was full each night;
however, the community was one of the poorest
economically I had ever seen.
Every night before I would get up to preach they
would make announcements, ask for prayer
requests and then take up an offering. (I was
puzzled as to what the offering was for.)
The last night of the revival as I was getting ready
to drive home, the deacon (yep, one deacon) in
the church handed me an envelope full of cash. I
asked him, “what is this” and he replied, “this is
the love offering we took up for you all week!”
Tears filled my eyes and I told him, “there is no
way I can take this?”
“We would be tremendously insulted if you
didn’t,” he said.
The total amount was $276 - I will never forget
it, not because of the amount, but because of the
PAGE 9
notes people’s desire to be generous.
Something about being generous—when I bought
five boxes of girl scout cookies, time in W. VA
when they took up love offering...this week when
go to grocery store—buy a grocery card & put it in
plate next weekend—and THIS IS NOT your tithe!
Luke 19:1-10
Notice when Zack met Jesus all of his “stuff”
became less important to him.
So, when it comes to our “stuff” what would you
be willing to do with it? Is there something you
are holding onto that Jesus is asking you to get go
of.
Remember - greed has never made the world a
better place, but generosity is demonstrated in
His amazing grace.
From here you can determine how you want to
end the service. Some ideas...
• Challenge people to put God first in their
finances
• Challenge people to leave a HUGE tip if
they go out to eat after church
• Challenge people to buy a gift card at the
grocery store that week - and bring it and
put it in the offering the following wee so
it can be used in the benevolence ministry
for the church.
• And - as always - challenge people to give
their lives to Christ.
In Building a Generous Culture, Perry
Noble shares the insights, lessons,
and strategies that helped him grow
his church annual church budget from
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You can purchase this full resource for
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When you purchase Building a Generous
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• A video overview of this sermon
• Discover five fears associated with
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overcome them.
• A theological outline to help you
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freedom.
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