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Welcome to Life Church. We're so glad you're here. Life Church isn't just something you listen to. It's a place where you can grow and connect, and we want to help you do just that. Visit Life Church PodcastConnect for a quick survey that will let us know more about you and the resources that would help you on your faith journey. Now, here's the message. Well, what I know about every single one of you is that you want to be generous. Is that true? Every single one of you? You really want to make a difference in the lives of people. You don't want to live small. You don't want to hold back. Something inside of you wants to honor God, wants to make a difference, wants to be generous. In fact, if you ask most people, hey, are you generous? Almost everybody would say, yeah, sure, yeah. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm generous. I mean, I'm not greedy, right? I'm not selfish. I know some people that are, but that's not me. I mean, I opened the door for someone coming into church today. Of course I'm generous, right? I give, and I'd love to give more whenever I can, and I will give more whenever I have more. Right now, I gotta pay the bills and I've gotta buy coffee and I gotta survive Christmas and then the credit cards that come in later on. But, yeah, sure, I'm generous. I give what I can, and I'd like to give more. And what's interesting when you think about generosity is most people think that they're generous because they give. Every now and then, we give something, but giving and being generous, those are actually two different things. Giving and being generous, they're not the same thing. What's the difference? Well, giving is an action, but generosity is a mindset. There's a difference. You see, giving is something that you might do in the moment, but generosity is an identity. It's who you are and who you're becoming and what's crazy about the world that we live in. And if you're honest, you'd probably admit this, that most people, especially in my country, most Americans don't feel rich, but we really are. And most of us would say that we're generous, but we may not be. I'm sorry to be so straightforward today, but we gotta call it what it is. According to Giving USA's annual report, I'll give you a statistic. In 2023, the average American gave just 1.9% of their total income to charity. Less than 2%. Not exactly winning any Academy Awards for generosity. And unfortunately, that's the good news. The bad News, according to 2023 IRS stats, that if your income was higher, if you made over $100,000 a year, the average percentage that you gave was actually lower than those people who made less. What's crazy is that most of us, we don't really feel rich and blessed, but we really are. And most of us think that we're generous, but we're really not. Why? Because generosity doesn't start with money. It starts with our mindset. It's not something that you do occasionally. It's the way that you live, the way that you think, think, and the way that you make a difference in the lives of people consistently. So what I wanna do today is I wanna just stretch your faith a little bit, and I'm gonna give you three different generosity mindsets, and we're gonna ask God to help us to grow in our generosity. So look at three different mindsets. The first one would be when you give spontaneously, there are those who would be spontaneous in their generosity, there would be those who would be strategic in generosity, and then there are those that would be sacrificial. Three different mindsets. You can be spontaneous when you give, you can be strategic when you give, or you can be sacrificial when you give. Let's talk about each of these and build upon the principles. The first thought is this. If you're taking notes, you can jot this down. We give spontaneously when compassion moves us, don't we? We give in the moment. When we see a need, we feel prompted and we can meet it. And this is how most people give. We don't plan to do it. We're not budgeted for it, but we see a need and we think, oh, my gosh, I can do something about that. And so we kind of get excited and. And in the moment, spontaneously, we meet that need. And you may do this when you're strolling online and you see in the headlines a tornado hits an area, or a hurricane wipes out a bunch of people, and there are families with nothing, and you realize, I should probably send something. And so you click and you donate it, and you do it in the moment, and that's a good thing. Or you have a close friend, someone in your life group, and they lose their job, or someone at work. I mean, their house burns down, they got nowhere to go, and you're sitting there thinking, I needed to do something to help them. And so in the moment, spontaneously, you give what you can to make a difference and that's a very, very good thing. It's spontaneous. It's in the moment. Very similar to the story of the Good Samaritan that Jesus tells in Luke, chapter 10. It's a beautiful story of generosity, spontaneous giving in the moment that wasn't planned. Jesus tells the story. There was a man going from Jerusalem down to Jericho, where he was brutally beaten. They left this poor guy bloody, almost dead. And he's on the side of the road, and suddenly a couple of people walk up and see him. The first was a priest who said, oh, that guy's bad. He looks. He's in bad shape. But the priest just kept on walking. And then a Levite saw him. If it happened today, what he would do is he would stop, take a photo, post it, and say, please pray. But it didn't happen today, so he just kept on walking. Then a Samaritan came up, which would have been very, very, very shocking to everyone, that a Samaritan would actually stop and care for a Jewish man who's in bad shape. But he does. He looks on. He goes, oh, my gosh, this is really, really bad. I need to do something to help. I can make a difference. I'm here. And so spontaneously, this guy stopped. And we see this story In Luke, chapter 10, verse 33, when the Samaritan saw the wounded man, like, praise God. He cared, right? Praise God. For every time you care about someone in need, he stopped and took pity on the injured man. He went to him and bandaged his wounds and pouring oil and wine. And then he put the man on his own donkey, and he brought them to an inn, and he took care of him. He found a Motel 6, you know, he said, hey, we'll put you up here. And he said to the innkeeper, the next day he. He came back and took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. And he said, take care of this guy. Look after him, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any expense that you may have. I love this story. The Good Samaritan comes along. He wasn't planning on being generous. He's just going somewhere else. He sees someone in significant need, and he thinks, I can do something about this. Someone's gotta help. It might as well be me. And so he gives spontaneously. And this is a good thing. It's God honoring. Because you can't always plan to give, but you can always be ready to watch. When God puts someone in your path and you have something to be a blessing to them in the name of Jesus. And it's a good thing, and it honors God when you give this way and this how most people give. And it's a good thing. But if it's the only way that you give, it's very, very limited. Very, very limited. In fact, I would say to you that it's a really great place to start, but it's not the best place to finish. Why? Because if you only give when you feel something, you won't give when you don't. And that's why there's a massive difference between just giving and being generous. That there's a first level, and it's a beautiful level, and it's God honoring, and that is that we give spontaneously when compassion moves us. But there's a second level of generosity, and that's this. We give strategically when our convictions guide us. And honestly, this is a step up. It's not more important at all. Both are important, but it is more strategic if you only give spontaneously. It's good, but it's limited if you're giving strategically as well. This is not just emotional giving. This is actually prayerful and intentional generosity. In other words, we don't just give whenever we feel it, but we give prayerfully and strategically because we've decided to be generous. And this is perhaps, maybe one of the many reasons why God gave us the tithe. We looked at that last week, and we'll look at it again. Malachi, chapter 3, verse 10. Powerful verse that says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. What is the tithe? Remember, it's the Hebrew word maaser. We bring the whole 10% back into the storehouse, back to the local church. We bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Why? So there may be food in my house. And God says, test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and. And pour out so much blessing that there will not be enough room to store it. What is the tithe? Remember, It's Maaster. It's 10% technically, if we're being really technical, because Amy is really technical, and she calls me on everything. Technically, tithing is not giving. It's just not stealing. Okay, I'll say it this way. Just. I'll be sweeter about it. Tithing is technically not giving. It's returning. It's giving back to God what belongs to God. And it's actually. It's not spontaneous. It's not like I feel moved. It's strategic. It's that the Lord My God is my God. He gave me everything. And it's my honor and blessing to return back to him 10% of what he entrusted to me. The Bible tells us this very, very clearly. Leviticus, a tithe of everything. Whatever the increase 10%, it belongs to the Lord. It's holy to the Lord. It is his. Now, let's just do real talk. Cause you're real people, and we're in the middle of holidays. And I remember the first time I heard that you're supposed to give 10%. I'm thinking, like, that's a lot. How many would say that's a lot? Type in the comments. It feels like a lot, right? It feels like a lot. And it is or it's not, depending on your perspective. I mean, like, 10% a little, but you get to keep 90%. It really depends on your perspective. For example, if there is a Black Friday sale and you're excited about that TV or that blender, and you go in and you're ready to make your kill, and a Black Friday sale is 10% off. That ain't nothing at all. 10%, that's nothing. Like, that's not even worth my time. And all of a sudden, it's not the same. Or if you go to a restaurant and you get just ridiculously good service, the food is amazing, and the people, like, they are on their game, and. And you give them a 10% tip and nobody there saying, you're really generous. 10%'s a lot. Or it's not, depending on your perspective. Now, a lot of you are gonna say what I thought initially when I heard, you know, we're honored to tithe. I'm like, I can't afford that. There ain't no way I can afford that. And we'll start there and go, okay, we'll. Well, how do you do that? And I'll tell you right now, I'll give you. You can write this down if you want to. The best way to afford to tithe is to plan the tithe. Like, to plan to it. And you would say, but I'd have to, like, make some changes to put God first. I'd have to rearrange some priorities to return to him what's his. I'd have to put some effort into this. I might have to think this thing through. Yes, you plan to do it. You plan. You plan for it. And because tithing is not random. It's not spontaneous. It's planned obedience and it's worship. I am planning every time I have an increase God to Declare to everything that I own. I put you first. And I declare, you are the king of my life. You are my provider. You are my Lord. You're my savior. It's my honor to give back to you. So this isn't so spontaneous. This is strategic. And so I would tell you, at whatever level, be spontaneous and be strategic. Meaning, like, plan your generosity and keep on planning and get better at planning. Because we tend to plan what's important to us, right? And you know this because the moment your car starts giving you problems and leaking oil and catching on fire and stuff like that, what do you do? You start making plans to get a newer car. You plan for it. If you need a break, you plan for a vacation. You might plan to remodel your kitchen. Some of you, you plan your day around coffee. You plan. You plan what's important to you. And so since generosity changes how we live, then we, as followers of Jesus, plan to be generous. We plan to be generous. In fact, I Love what Isaiah 32:8, as Isaiah 32:8 says, but generous people, what do they do? Say it with me. Generous people, they plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity. When you're not just giving spontaneously, but you're planning to be generous, it shapes how you think and how you do life. And I'll tell you about an amazing young lady from our church. I met her when she was 18, and. And she came to me and was talking about, hey, I'm gonna design my life around generosity. So tell me what you're gonna do. She said, well, I'm gonna start with a tithe. And then she said, 18 years old, she said, I'm gonna add every year 1% to my strategic generosity plan. I'm like, I like the way you think. And so four years later, now she's giving 14% of what she earns back. 10% is the tithe. 1% she gives to you, Virgia, because she believes in the mission, and 1% she gives to new locations because she was saved at a church paid for by other people. And she gave her life to Christ, 1% to local and global missions. And then she has what she calls the Blessing fund. She got this idea from Amy, and that's just 1% that she has available anytime she sees a need and can meet it. 18 years old to 22 years old and growing strategically in a generosity plan. Amy and I have been doing this for a long time, and we're very, very prayerful at the beginning of the year. And come up with our generosity plan for the year. We plan to tithe, obviously, and have for our whole marriage. And then we plan offerings above the tithe based on the convictions that God has given us and the ministries that we see that we believe in. Now, I'm going to say this just directly and humbly, but if you've been here for a while. I bought my first four rental properties back when I was in college. I've been investing the whole time, every single year. So we have a lot of financial flexibility and it's not all for us. So we're very strategic. We plan the tithe. We have a designated generous youversion offering at the beginning of the year. We give to new campuses. We support Branch 15, a ministry that Amy created to help women coming out of very difficult times. We give very generously to that ministry. We've always. We have six biological kids. That's a basketball team with a sub. And so we've always felt called to sponsor six children in different parts of. Of the world to match what God has given us. We have a few local ministries that we give to. And then we have two funds, our mutual Blessing fund and Amy's individual Blessing fund. And we have money set aside to help our friends and family pay rent, get transportation, education, pay for medical needs, childcare and such. And then Amy's strategy is different than mine. Hers is more like anywhere, anytime, anything. And so she has her own fun. And I just look away and I let her do whatever God prompts her to do. And all of that is planned. It's strategic. We have an amount set aside to be spontaneous, but it's also a prayerful amount that we think about and ask God ahead of time. So it's not just spontaneous. Yes, it's that. But it's prayerful and it's strategic and that's God honoring. Because giving happens spontaneously. But generosity is actually more strategic. It's designing our life around using what God gives to us to be a blessing to others. And I wanna let this sink in for a minute. And I need to get a drink of water. Cause you're making me so excited. Truly generous people, they give in the moment, but they don't just give in the moment. They actually make a plan. And so we give spontaneously. When compassion moves us, we give strategically. When our convictions, we're praying about it and God guides us. And then we give sacrificially. When love costs us, we give sacrificially. And this is the part that's not easy to talk about because this isn't giving what's easy. This is actually giving something that costs you. You may say, like, why would I ever sacrifice? And the answer is, because that's what love does. Love gives. Right? Love gives. In fact, John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that what did he do that he loved the world, so he gave his one and only son. That's what love does. And when you've been changed by the love of God, been literally changed like I have been, then love gives. And Amy and I have been married almost 35 years. And truly, I can't even believe that I get to be married to her. I love her so much. She loves me so much. So we give and we give sacrificially to each other. She gives me the remote because she loves me and I need control. And I give her the thermostat, which is the most sacrificial gift ever in the history of the world. I sleep outside the covers, and they throw water on me in the middle of the night. She's cold. Cause we love each other. Love gives. Right? Love gives. We have seven grandkids. Three of them came over and they were in the bathtub. You know, cute little kids naked in the bathtub. They're cute until one poops, one pooped in the bathtub, and another one threw up on there. Someone had to clean it up. Guess who cleaned it up. Take a guess who cleaned it up. You? Amy did. Why? Because she loves our grandkids more than I do, that's why. Cause love gives. That's what love does for God's. So I know it's gross, but love gives. Love gives sacrificially. And there is no greater example in all of God's word than sacrificial giving. Than in Mark, chapter 12, when a widow gave all that she had. Jesus sat down opposite. The Bible tells us of the place where the offerings were put in. I want you to notice this. Jesus was there, and people were putting money in the offering place. And the Bible says, and Jesus watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Imagine that just kind of sobers it up a little bit. Sometimes offering bucket comes by and you go, where are they looking at what I put in? Doesn't matter what they're doing. Jesus was actually watching what people put in. Many rich people threw in large amounts. Here's a big check. Hey, everybody, look what I'm doing. Name this building after me. But it was easy for them. And the Bible says a poor widow came and put in two very small Copper coins worth only a few cents. Calling the disciples. So Jesus said, hey, come over here. I want to tell you this truly. I tell you, this lady over here, this poor widow, she put more into the treasury than all the others they gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put everything in. All. All that she had to live on. Fearing emotional story. And when you think about it, what's crazy to me is that Jesus didn't stop her. I mean, he didn't say, like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You need that. Don't do that. He honored her sacrificial gift, because love that costs nothing changes nothing. And she gave sacrificially. I was trying to think of the last time I gave sacrificially in a way that I really felt it. I received sacrificially. And it was so humbling. Amy and I were out to a dinner with two friends, and I asked for the check to pay for it at the end. And the guy said, oh, I'm sorry, but someone bought your meal. I was like, no way. Can you tell us who it was? He goes, I oh, no. He wants to remain anonymous. No, if they did it, I need to tell them, thank you. Who was it? And they pointed over to this kid. I'm gonna call him Cole. It's not his real name. He doesn't want me to say his name. But I knew Cole. He's 18 years old, and he grew up in the foster system and was finally later adopted in life and was working at this restaurant. And I went up to him like, no, man, you can't do that. My heart is to bless you. His life was changed at switch. I need to. He goes, no, no, no. He goes, you have to receive this. I said, no, I cannot receive it. And he looked at me and said, pastor Craig had this authority. He said, I prayed to God that he would send you and Amy in here so I could bless you, and I have to do this. I'm thinking this is like, probably two nights worth of his paycheck. And as he's 18 years old. And he said, pastor Craig, it's more blessed to give than receive. Don't rob me of this bl. And so I have been praying, praying, praying, praying, praying, and know that he will receive the blessings from heaven in way more ways for a very sacrificial gift from a guy who had almost nothing to a guy who has more than could ever deserve. That's so God honoring. And what I want you to do for just a moment is to think back to, to the last time that you gave sacrificially, Or I'd say it this way, like, when is the last time? Like, it took real faith because you were giving something that it took real faith to give. Spontaneous giving, it moves our heart. Strategic giving, it shapes our lives. Sacrificial giving, it takes faith and it, and it moves the heart of God and it changes lives. And this is what we do. This is what we do. This is what we do. This is what we do in the body of Christ, because this is what Jesus did for us. He said yes to the most horrific and sacrificial gift in the history of the world. No one takes my life, I lay it. So this is what we do. And as a church, we say it, we believe it, we will live it, we will lead the way with irrational generosity because we truly believe it's more blessed to give than to receive. And from day number one in the church, day number one, 30 years ago, when Amy and I started the church, honestly, we went all in, meaning we took everything we had that wasn't tied down and, and gave it all to start the church. And day number one, that's all that was there, what we put in. And there was a few people and a little two car garage. And I looked out when we were receiving our first offering and there was a gentleman. It looked like, if he's not homeless, he's probably one step above it. And spontaneously, in that moment, I felt prompted to say something I didn't expect to say. If anyone here has need of food or shelter, when the offering bucket comes back by, you can take back out. And I said it and I stood by and he did it. When we had almost nothing to give, we gave to him. And that's God glorifying. And God has met every single need from this church from the very day one beginning. And we do the very same thing today if you have need. And that was spontaneous. And then it became more strategic. Years later, people were saying, how can we churches around the world, how can we buy your sermons and buy the videos and buy your youth's curriculum? And we said, what if we gave it all away? All away. Gave it all away. Gave it all away. And we had no idea that There would be 1.2 million pastors who would then download over 25 million ministry materials. We take the name of our church off of it, give it away for free, because this is what we do. This is what we do. This is what we do. Then we created the very first church Online, the platform is not just streaming, but it's an interactive community with language translation. And churches around the world said we can't do that and we want it and we can't do that. So we created the way and it's very, very expensive to give it away. And now there are 40,000 churches that use the platform free, created by our church, funded by generous people. And that's just the visible stu. But we took seriously the words of Jesus when he said feed the hungry and clothe the naked and heal the sick. So we pray. How can we in multiple locations make the biggest difference? And God spoke to us very, very clearly. Don't recreate the wheel, but partner with the best of the best ministries already on the ground doing what they do. So we send a lot of money and a lot of people to a lot of different ministries, 165 different global and local ministries. And I want to show you so you can feel what our collective generosity does. These are the categories, not all of them, of what we're able to do. We disciple new believers, provide help to those experience homelessness, translate the Bible into every heart language. I got to skip past some. Support those who have experienced abuse, empower those extreme poverty free people from human trafficking, serve communities. 165 different ministries, the biggest mutual fund of ministry impact you can imagine, support children and adult would help me take the gospel and raise people. Help me with the last one before it goes away. As a church, we're going to take God's word to everyone, everywhere, every day. Over a billion devices already on the free youversion Bible given by the church. And we're just getting started, Just getting started, Just getting started. Just this is what we do. This is what we do because we are not spiritual consumers. We are spiritual contributors and we don't go to church. We are the church. And the church exists for the world. And what's crazy when you think about it is together we are literally big enough to impact the world and small enough to care for the 1. Big enough to take the youversion Bible app to a billion going on 2 billion people around the world. Empower churches small enough to care about the one spontaneous. Do it Strategic step up Sacrificial. When we started, Amy and I went all in. I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm not gonna share a lot of details, but we are now processing in this moment the most sacrificial and strategic generosity decision that we've made in the history of our lives. Because this is what we do. And this is what I want for you. At whatever level, you are spontaneous, be spontaneous and be strategic, and every now and then, be sacrificial. Because what I know about you is that you want to be generous and that you want to please God. And so when the world says hold back, as believers, we step forward. When culture says, get more, no, no, no, no. As followers of Jesus, we give more when others play it safe. We live by faith. Because spontaneous giving, it moves our hearts and it helps some people. Strategic giving shapes our lives and we make a bigger difference. Sacrificial giving moves the heart of God and it changes the world. So as your pastor, I'll tell you right now, our goal as our family is to lead the way. Lead the way. Lead the way with irrational generosity. Our family lead the way. Because we truly believe it's more blessed to give than receive. This is what we do. So, Father, thank you for a church full of people who believe in the mission and the ministry of Jesus. Help us, God, be spontaneous. God, help us to be strategic. And every now and then, God help us to be sacrificial. Today, as you're praying at all of our different churches, those of you around the world online, you're rich and maybe a little generous, but if you want to ask God to help you be even more generous, would you lift up your hands right now? Just lift them up and say, I want to be even more generous. Type in the comment section. God, help me to be even more generous. Holy Spirit, I pray, God that you would do a work in every single person listening to this message. God, prompt us with spontaneous generosity to give in the moment in the name of Jesus, to meet needs. And then God, help us all to be a little more strategic, prayerful, maybe starting to tithe for the first time, putting you first, planning to design our lives around worshiping you with the tithe and then building from there. Prayerfully giving, where you direct us offerings to make a difference in the world. And then God, every now and then, because you gave it all for us, just remind us of the blessing and the joy of sacrificial giving. Holy Spirit, stir us to become more like you, God, the God who loved the world so much that you gave your one and only Son. Help us, God, individually and as a church, be more generous to meet needs and to glorify you. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, some of you, you may not really know where you stand with God. In fact, if you just, if we just sat down right now, you might say, yeah, it's pretty obvious I'm not putting God first in my life right now. It's obvious I'm not. And the amazing thing is, is that he put you first. He put you first. Scripture says that while we were still sinning, Jesus died for us. And if you don't know what this means, I wanna tell you as clearly as I can. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, Jesus, that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but would have eternal life. Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God. He's called the Lamb of God. He was without sin so that he could die in our place as the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. And by the power of God, he didn't say dead, but on the third day, God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this includes you, who calls on the name of Jesus, your sins would be forgiven and you would be completely brand new. Today at all of our churches, those of you online there are those of you that God brought here for this moment. Because you're doing life without God. You don't have the peace of God. You don't have the presence of God. You don't know where you stand with God. Today we're gonna step away from our sins. We're gonna call on Jesus. And when you do, he'll hear your prayer. He'll make you brand new. You're not here by accident. You're here because God loves you so much. He gave first his only son. And whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life. Step away from your sins. Believe Jesus is the Savior. Watch God make you new. All of our churches, you say, that's me. I need him. I need his forgiveness. I need his grace. Today I call on him. Jesus, save me. Be the Lord of my life. That's your prayer? Lift your hands high right now, all over the place, say, yes, that's my prayer. Praise God for you today. Oh, yes. Today all of our churches say, yes. Jesus, I give my life to you. Online. Type in the comment section. I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. I'm surrendering to Jesus. And as you do, let's all pray together. Nobody prays alone. Pray, Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Jesus, save me. Be the Lord of my life. Fill me with your holy spirit so I could serve you, so I could show your love. Make me generous. Make me full of the love of Jesus. Because my life is not my own. I give it all to you. Thank you for new life. You have all of mine. In Jesus name I pray and all God's people said Amen. Amen. Welcome those born into the family of God. We're celebrating with those of you who just made the decision to follow Jesus. Check out the show notes for helpful resources and next steps. Don't forget to take the short survey at Life Church PodcastConnect to tell us more about yourself. We'll see you next time for another encouraging message. Sa.