Transcription
iy. [Music] I. [Music] [Music] Hey. [Music] You. [Music] He. [Music] [Music] All right, good morning, church. Let's stand and let's get ready to worship. Put your hands together.
You, your praise. Your word is a lamp onto my feet. Your way is the only way for me. It's a narrow road that leads to life, but I want to be on it. It's narrow 'cause you're at your promise. Come on, I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I believe it. I've seen how good it works. If you started, you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word.
We give you praise. Spilled in the chaos, fell in. I know 'cause I've seen it in my life. It's a narrow road that leads to life, but I want to be on it. Yeah, it's a narrow road, but it's high. But you put on the water. I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it works. If you started, you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word.
Start it. I believe it. I've seen how good it was. If you started, you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word. We can trust you, Lord. You always. You said you'd love me, never give up. You said your grace is always enough. You said your heart would never forget or forsake me. You said I'm saved. You call me yours. You said my future's full of your hope. You never fail. So I know that you'll never fail me.
You said your love would never give. You said your grace is always enough. You said your heart would never forget and forsake me. You said I'm saved. You call me yours. You said my future's full of your hope. You never fail. So I know that you'll never fail me.
I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it works. If you started, you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word. If you said it, I'll believe it. I've seen how good it was. If you start. [Applause] Your. I'll take you. [Applause] Your.
Thank you, Jesus. I'll thank you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. How we thank you, Lord. How your promises are yes. How I searched the world, but it couldn't fill me. Left empty places and treasures that fade or never enough. Then you came along and you put me back together. And every desire is now satisfied here in your [Music] love.
Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing. Nothing is better than you. No one but you. And I'm not [Music] afraid to show you my weakness, my failures, and Lord, you've seen them all. And you still call me brave. 'Cause the God of the mountain, He's the God of the valley. And there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again.
Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing. Nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing. Nothing better than you. We lift you. All lift like you, Lord. Lord, you turn mourning into dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the Holy One. You turn mourning into dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one.
Who you turn into God. You turn into armies. You turn seas into highs. You're the only one. Are the only one. The only one. Oh, there's nothing. It's better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing. Nothing is better than you. If you believe it, sing it again. Oh, there's nothing. Oh, better. There's. There's nothing. [Music] Oh, there's nothing. Nothing is better than you. Oh, my God. You turn praise into God. Turn into. Turn the only. The only one. You. You turn to into. You turn seas. You're the only one who. You're the only one who. You're the only one. You're the only [Music] one. This is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing. Nothing is better than you. I searched the [Music] world and there's nothing that's better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing. Nothing is better than. Is [Music].
I am an instrument of exaltation. I was born to lift your name above all names. You hear the melody of all creation, but there's a song, a song of praise that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. It's only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. It's only. Only you, Jesus. And you are the infinite God of the ages. And yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place. And you healed my brokenness, showed me your glory. So I have songs of thanks not even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Oh, we lift it up. Who else is worthy? No one besides you, God. Oh, we lift praise. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? Oh, there is no one. Only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? Oh, there is no. Yes, it's only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? We praise [Music] you. There is no one. Only you, Jesus. [Applause] No one besides you, Lord. No name higher. No name greater. Oh, 'cause you're the Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come. Seated on the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous one, who shed his blood to prove to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ, be lifted up. You're holy, holy Lamb of God, anointed one, who it and still is. [Applause] You are holy, righteous one, who shed his blood to to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ, we lifted up. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no. Is no one. Only you, Jesus. We. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. There is no one. There is no one. It's only you, Jesus. There is no one. Only you, Jesus. Who else is [Music] worthy? Who else is worthy? No, there is no one. It's only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. It's only you, Jesus. There is no one. It's only you, Jesus. There is no one. It's only you, Jesus. Oh, we stand in the presence of a mighty God. In the presence of a mighty God. So we lift up our praise. 'Cause you're the Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and forever will be. Seated on the throne above. Your holy, holy, righteous one, who did it for me. You prove to. Oh, Jesus Christ. You are holy, holy Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come. Seated on the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous one, who shed his to prove to. You are Jesus Christ, be lifted up. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one. You, Jesus. Oh, who else is worthy? Who else is [Music] worthy? There is no one. It's only. There is no one. There is no one. It's only you, Jesus. There is no one. It's only Jesus. [Applause] Amen. Come on, give God praise this morning. Come on, praise him like you mean it. If you're thankful for Jesus, come on. Who else is worthy of our praise today? You know, it's so amazing when we think about the reality of Jesus and what he's done for each and every one of us in this room, that we could sing his praises all day, every day, and never grow tired. We could never run out of reasons because He's everything that we need. You know, today, Pastor is going to preach about generosity. And I was just thinking, you know, God led the way. He made the first move. He gave the most generous gift in sending His one and only Son for you and I. Come on, He led the way for us by sending Jesus so that we could not only have freedom for our sins, but how many you guys know that by His stripes, we are healed? And I want to take a moment with us, just, just for a minute this morning, and just pray for healing. There's a lot of sickness happening all around us. And it may be for you this morning, or maybe somebody around you, or you know, if you're watching online, we want you to know that the presence of God is just as real right there in your living room as He is right here in this auditorium. And we're going to pray for all those maybe that are being affected by sickness. But here's what the Bible says. The Bible says is that the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. So if the Bible says that, I believe it. Come on, how about you? Can we take a moment to pray this morning? Jesus, there is no one else who is worthy of our praise but You. We thank You for dying on the cross for our sins, that not only can we be forgiven of our sins, but that word says that by Your stripes, we are healed. Through Your broken body, we can now receive healing. We have access to the Lord this morning. And so our prayers don't fall on deaf ears. And so we pray fervently this morning, believing that prayer is powerful and that it works. And so we just pray for every sickness this morning, every person dealing with something, those who are in person, those who are watching online, that person in our family dealing with the flu and all of the nastiness. Lord, we just declare healing this morning. Lord, I pray for every person in this room that You would just protect us from that. Lord, and and we just thank You right now, Father, for doing what only You can do in every area of our life. Maybe we walked in here carrying something difficult and heavy and weighty this morning. We thank You, Lord, that You are the answer. We just give all of those things to You, Lord. You say, "All you who are weary and heavy laden, come to Me, and I will give you rest and peace for your soul." Come on, church family, if you receive that this morning, can you give God praise? Just thank the Lord for His goodness. Like the prayer already answered, like you've already seen Him come through. Come on, you can do better than that. Who else is worthy? Who else do we put our hope in? Man, aren't you glad you came to church today? We're so glad that you're here. Before you got some great people around, you're going to greet people in just a moment, but I wanted just to bring to your attention something that I am very, very excited about. And that's next Sunday. We're going to have a moment, and in every service moving forward, we're going to have a moment to receive an offering. You go, "Why are you excited about that, Pastor James?" I'm excited because of this: because I know that what you and I can do together, we can never do alone. And I know that when we'll trust God with everything that He's given us, He'll do greater things than you and I could ever imagine. And I'm excited because God is doing great things in and through our church, but we believe that the best is yet ahead. And I'm excited at this. The Lord says, "Test Me in this one." This is the one place God says, "Test Me and see if I will not open up the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing more than you can contain." Come on, if you're excited with me, give God some praise for the things that He's going to do in and through us. And it's not pressure, it's not a pressure, it's a privilege. Amen. Hey, if you feel the same, shake your hand with your neighbor, give him a high five, tell them you're excited to be in church today. Good morning, LFA. Oh, let's try that one more time. Good morning, LFA. Morning. It is so good to see you. I know that we have so many people who have been, um, their health has been impacted by the flu and some of the viruses that are going on, but it's great to see your face this morning. Hey, before we dive into the word, I want to take a moment. If you're new, if you're returning, maybe you've been here a couple times, we want to say thank you. And today, we are honored that you would come, that you would worship with us. I pray that you keep coming back and I pray that you feel like this is your new home church. We may not know you personally yet, but we love you. So LFA family, would you make some noise for our first First Time guest this morning?
So this morning, we're going to be finishing a series. We, we're kicking off, uh, the first month of the New Year talking about raising the bar. We're looking at three specific areas that we want to grow in 2025. We want to be better. We want to do better. So if you remember, we started this series by talking about raising the bar spiritually. Hopefully, every single one of us want to be closer to God and look more like God by the end of this year than we were at the beginning. Amen. We also talked about last week, raising the bar sacrificially. What does that mean to live sacrificially? And the challenge to each of us was learning how to give of self. You determine what that looks like in your life, but learning how to give of self for the benefit or the blessing of someone else. This morning, we're going to land this plane and conclude this series by talking about raising the bar when it comes to generosity. Now, maybe you know this, maybe you don't. The Bible has a lot to say, a lot about followers of Jesus living generously. Often times in church, when you hear a pastor get up and talk about generosity, some of you are thinking, "Oh Lord, here we go. He's going to ask us for money again." And I know what this is about. And I'm just going to be upfront with you. Money is absolutely a part of that. But if you study the Bible, if you look at the life of Jesus, Jesus modeled for us what it looks like not to just give generously, but how to live generously. When we talk about generosity, what do I mean? Living generously or living a life of generosity? Here's really kind of a biblical understanding, not really a definition, but a biblical understanding. Here's what it means as a child of God to live generously. It means that you steward the resources that God gives you in a way that pleases God. That's what it means. So to live generously means that you steward all, everything and anything in your life in a way that is obedient, in a way that is honoring, in a way that is pleasing to God. Now, that begs the question, am I stewarding God's resources well? Now, I said something specific there. I said, God's resources, because the other question that I think we have to sometimes, maybe you will have to wrestle with it, I don't know. I know in my life, I did have to wrestle with it for a little while. But there's another important question that we have to ask ourselves, and it's just between me and God. It's just between you and God. And that question is this: Do I believe everything I have belongs to God? That's a big one. Do I really believe that everything in my life belongs to God? Now, whether or not you believe that, or I believe that, let's, uh, maybe not go by what we feel or what we think. How many of you think it's a good idea to go to God's word? Okay, so let's do that. Psalm 24, verse 12. Here's what the Bible says. I'm sorry, verses 1 and 2. "The Earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. For He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters." The Bible says more than just in this verse in Psalms. The Bible says very clearly that everything belongs to God. But it also tells us why everything belongs to God, because He created it. Our world does not exist apart from God. Would you agree with that? Humanity, we do not exist apart from God. So since God is the creator, this is what the Bible is teaching us and telling us. Since God is the creator of all things, then it makes sense that if we believe God is the creator of all things, then everything belongs to Him. Now, here's why this is important for us to understand, because once I understand it, then I can choose to acknowledge it. How many of you know it's a choice? Once I understand it, I can choose to acknowledge it. And once I acknowledge this truth, yeah, I can give with that. Everything belongs to God. Once I acknowledge that truth, once I get to a place in my life where I don't just read the words on the page, but I own it, I believe it. Yeah, God created everything, so everything belongs to God. Once I get to that place, now this biblical definition of living generously makes sense. Now we can understand and acknowledge that anything in my life belongs to God. If you believe that, say amen. Once we acknowledge this, then we can begin to, and I'm going to say it, it even becomes easier, not easy, but once we acknowledge this truth, God's the creator, everything belongs to Him, it now becomes easier to live generously. Why? Because I understand it's God's stuff, not mine. It's God's talents, not mine. So it becomes easier to live a life of generosity. And it should become easier when we are reminded how generous God is with us. How many of you believe that God is generous? We serve a generous God. You know, there are so many misconceptions about our God. There are a lot of people that think our God is cruel, that our God plays games with people's lives, that our God is just some angry God up somewhere that just messes around with people's day and tries to make their day as difficult as possible. There's some people that believe that. And here's what I've come to learn: people who have these misconceptions about God don't know God. Because when you really begin to study the word, when you really begin to study and understand the character and the nature of God, it's very clear. Not only, not only is our God very generous, but He's been generous since the very beginning. This morning, what I want us to do is I want to look at three areas that hopefully remind us of how generous our God is, but I also want to talk about why is God generous with us? Just because He loves us? Well, yeah, and no. Yes and no. And so I want us to look at that this morning. But if I had to to have a a theme or or a a subject for the message, it would be this: God gives to us generously so that we can give to others generously. And we're going to look at that. We're going to look at three big areas. Now, there's a whole lot more than that, but I want to look at three areas of where God is generous, but I want us to look at those areas through a lens of why, why does He do what He does? So, first and foremost, if you're taking notes, we see God is generous to us with His love. John 3:16 says this: "For God so loved the world that He gave He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish and have everlasting life." Now, if I don't know if you've ever taken time to, as the Bible says, meditate on this verse, this verse blows my mind. Like, when you do more than just read it and, "Oh, that's nice, thank You, Lord," move on to the next thing. When you let it soak, when you sit in it, when you process it and meditate on this verse, it's amazing. Everything belongs to the Lord, right? Oh, let's try that again. Everything belongs to the Lord, right? Okay. Ever since God created the Earth, ever since God created us, you know what we've been doing? We've been failing God. We've been missing the mark. We've been disobeying God. And we've pretty much done everything we possibly can to destroy the Earth that He has entrusted to us. But because God is love, because He is so generous with His love, love, He's proved that since the very beginning. God is generous with His grace, with His mercy, with His patience, and with His love. He loves us so much. He was so generous in proving His love to us that He sent His one and only Son. Now, for those of us who have received God's generous gift named Jesus, if you've received Jesus as your Savior, say amen. Okay. So for those of us who have received God's generous gift of love, you know what He wants us to do with it? Give it to somebody else. That's what God expects for us who have received His generous gift. He wants us to give it away. Can you imagine what our world would look like if we loved people the way that God loves us? How does God love us? Well, thank God, He loves us when we fail, when we mess up. What would happen if the church became famous for loving people who fail? What would happen if we became known all over the world as God's people that we love people who fail, we love people who are ignorant, we love people who mess up, we love the drug addict, we love the homeless, the way that God loves us? Can I tell you what I think would happen? I think our world would look totally different. I think we would see a move of God like this world has never seen before. God has been generous with His love, number one, for you and me to receive it, but then once we receive it, He wants us to give that love to somebody else. Another area that God proves His generosity is with His time. I am so thankful that when I need God, He's always there. Aren't you thankful for that? I am so thankful that every time in my life where I've have cried out to God, my back's been up against the wall, or or I'm dealing with something and I've called out to God, I need God, I am thankful that God has never been too busy for me. There have been times in my life where I was too busy for Him, but He's generous with His time. Every time that I call out to Him or cry out to Him, He is there. Whenever I talk to Him, He listens. What the Bible says, whenever you pray, whenever I pray, listen to what the Bible says. Psalm 34:17: "The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them." 2 Peter 3:12: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer." God makes time for His kids. Aren't you thankful for that? Like, God is never too busy to take a call from one of His kids. When I talk to Him, when I need Him, when I cry out to Him, even in the moments of my life where I pushed Him aside and ignored Him, the moment I need God, He always makes time. Now, there's two reasons why. Number one, He loves us. He loves us. We're His kids. So just like if you have kids, if your child needs you, you're going to drop what you're doing, hopefully, to attend to your child's need. So God does it first and foremost because He loves. But He's generous with our with His time because He's trying to teach His kids, we need to be generous with our time. Jesus, when He was on Earth and ministering, there are multiple places in the New Testament, more than one, where if you're reading about the ministry of Jesus, it says this: Jesus would come to a village, He would come to a town, or sometimes, uh, He would just be walking through and word would spread, "Jesus is here," and a crowd would gather. But in more than one spot in the New Testament, it says this: Jesus healed all their disease. Think about that practically. How many of you know if it, let's assume that Jesus had a point of contact, personal contact with every person, okay? Maybe He just, you know, laid hands on them, maybe He just spoke, maybe He just hugged them and they were healed. How many of you know that would take hours? And sometimes, depending on the size of the crowd, it would take hours upon hours. Sometimes, if it was a really big crowd, it could have taken hours upon hours upon hours. But Jesus making time to personally touch and heal every single person. Two things are happening there. Number one, He is proving the character and the nature of God. God is never too busy for His kids. But there's another reason why Jesus did it: to model for His followers the importance of making time for others. Jesus made time to bless other people. We're supposed to do that too. Jesus was generous with His time and made time to pray for people. We should do that too. He made time to bless people. We should do that too. God is so generous with His time, and He does it because He loves us, but He also wants us to be generous as well. Making time to serve somebody, making time to help somebody. Sometimes one way that we can be generous with our time is just stop what we're doing and listen. You know, I got stuff to do, I got places to go, but I can tell that they're hurting. I can tell that they're in need. I can tell that they're suffering. So I'm going to be generous with my time. Everything else can wait. I want to know what's going on in your life. The last area that I want us to look at, a specific area or way that God is generous, God is generous with His resources. Now, we've already established two things that hopefully all of us can agree on. We can, we can all be in agreement with this. Number one, everything belongs to God because He is the creator. Say amen if you believe that. Okay. The second thing, as we've gone through scripture and identified characteristics of our God, hopefully all of us will agree: God is generous with me so that I can be generous with others. If you agree with that, say amen. Okay. Now, here's where it gets fuzzy for a lot of Christians, because when we start talking talking about stuff, which includes my money, my finances, this is where a lot of Christians draw the line. I'll give you my love, Lord, you have been so loving to me, so I'm going to love You and I'm going to love my neighbor as myself. A lot of Christians get to the place where, Lord, You are so generous with Your time, and so God, I'm going to be generous with my time. But where so many Christians draw a line is when it comes to our stuff, our money. Do you know that in America, and this is average, okay? So some churches are higher, some churches are lower, but I want you to listen to this. In the American church today, anywhere between five and 17% of Christians give regularly. That means between 83% and 95% do not. And if you've heard me teach on this, listen, I acknowledge there's more than one reason why a lot of Christians don't give. One big reason is because over the years, you've had pastors and teachers, these pastors, there's a Hebrew word, uh, called knucklehead, um, but you have these preachers and teachers who get up and they knowingly twist scripture to manipulate God's people for the sole purpose of lining their own pockets. And what it's done is it's caused a lot of Christians to be suspicious. It's caused a lot of Christians to just back away. Well, I don't know how they're spending that money, so I'll just let somebody else give. There's another reason why 85 or 87 to 95% of believers don't give regularly, and it's because a lot of us feel like we can't. I, I, I would love to be generous with my money, but I don't have any. By the time I pay my bills, by the time I take care of all of my needs, I barely have enough to make ends meet. Sometimes, Pastor Kyle, I can't even make ends meet. And then there are others in that 87 to 95% who have the perspective, "God, you can have my life, you can have my marriage, you can have my children, you can have my future, but you can't have my wallet." And this is why I started with that passage in Psalm 24, because at the end of the day, now, the Bible says to speak the truth in love, amen. So I'm speaking to me first. Please don't be offended. This is the reality, though. At the end of the day, my opinion and your opinion do not matter on things that God's already settled the issue. I was really hoping to get more amens than that. That's a tough one to swallow. Listen to me. On issues, we see this happening in the church today. We're changing our stance on things that God's already settled the issue, and we're doing it based on what we think and how we feel. The Bible says, not me. The Bible says everything belongs to God, and that includes stuff. It includes the stuff that God allows me to have. It belongs to Him, not me. He owns it, not me. My job is to be a good steward of however much or how little He's placed in my life. There's a story, a passage, Luke 12. And Jesus is teaching, and He says some amazing things. If you've never read Luke 12, go home and read it. Luke, Luke 12, He says some amazing things, some amazing teachings. Um, and I love the beginning of this chapter because it starts with this: as Jesus is getting ready to teach, the Bible says He turns to tell His disciples first. If you're a disciple of Jesus, say amen. Okay. And then He starts teaching this parable of the rich fool. And if you've never heard this, kind of in a nutshell, here's what Jesus said. He said, there, there was a man that had a field, and that field produced a crop. And this particular, uh, harvest season, it produced an abundance of crop. In fact, so much that the man didn't have room to store it all. Jesus said, so the man tears down his barn and builds a larger one. And Jesus said, after he fills that new giant, shiny red barn, the man kicks back, relaxes, and takes it easy. And what Jesus was trying to teach us is the importance of stewarding however much or how little God places in our lives. Now, catch this. This is a part that seems harsh, but it's really not. Jesus said, when the man kicks back and relaxes, God the Father speaks to the man and says, "You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you." And if I could kind of summarize that in a nutshell, what is Jesus teaching us? He's teaching us a lot of things. Number one, a hidden message in this is how to be good stewards of what God places in our lives. But the other thing that Jesus was trying to teach, and He turned to His disciples first, what He was trying to teach us is that when we are here on Earth, if our focus is collecting and accumulating and saving, and we're not using what we're collecting to expand the kingdom of God, Jesus is telling us, you've missed it. You've missed why you exist and why you're here. He goes on in chapter 12 to teach us how God is our provider. Now, if you've never heard this, this is a game changer. These are the words of God the Son. He says that when you learn to live generously, when you learn to steward well, whatever God places in your life, you don't have to worry. Thank the Lord. Why? Because God is your provider. When you acknowledge it's His stuff and you live generously, God is your provider. And then there's one more thing at the end of chapter 12, and this is what I want to draw your attention to. Jesus starts teaching, and He uses this practical example, and He says this: It's like a master who leaves. He goes on a journey and He places His servants in charge of His estate. The master is leaving, but He says to His servants, "I want you to look after everything. I want you to make sure everything gets taken care of." Now, let me ask you, in this parable, who would you guess the master represents? Jesus. The servant represents you and me. Jesus goes on to say, the master returns from his trip, and Jesus says, "It will be a good thing if the master finds his servants watching and waiting for his return." Jesus says, "It will be a good thing if his servants were good stewards of whose possessions? The master's." And then He goes on to say something that is amazing, and I'm believing this is going to be a game changer for somebody. Jesus says, "When the master returns and he sees the servant who has been faithful, he sees the servant who has been obedient, when the master sees the servant who is doing what the master told him to do," Jesus said, "the master will turn to him and he will give the servant more. He will put the servant in charge of more." And within this parable, there's so many lessons, but the one I want to draw your attention to is this: The master has left. Jesus is not here, but the master's coming back. Amen. The master is coming back. And can I tell you what He expects of His servants? He expects that we are not just living life and going through the motions. He expects that His servants, number one, are watching and waiting so we can be ready for when the master comes back. But it's more than that. The master wants to know, have you been faithful with my stuff? The stuff that I allowed you to oversee, the property that I allowed you to manage, were you faithful with what I entrusted to you? And that includes the master's money. At the end of the day, church, I either believe it's God's money or it's mine. There's no third option. Okay? You may get somebody who can eloquently try and present a third option, but there's no third option. I either choose to believe it's God's money or it's mine. And if I choose to believe it's mine, I become the banker, the accountant, and the investor in my life. But if I choose to recognize that it belongs to God, He becomes the banker. You know what that means? He makes sure I have enough in my account. He becomes the accountant for my life, meaning it's now His job to compute the numbers and make sure they add up. He becomes the investor in my life, meaning He makes sure I have what I need today and tomorrow and 20 years from now. When it comes to the stuff in our life, and this includes money, God gives us what we have. I'm going to choose to believe that. I'm going to choose to preach that God gives us what we have not so that we can save more, so that we can give more. I love the way that Randy Alcorn puts it. If you don't know that name, he's an author, he's a teacher, he has established nonprofits. Listen to how he puts it: "God blesses us to raise our level of giving, not our level of living." Isn't that good? So much of, of, of Jesus's teachings and His life had to do with living generously. And so the challenge this morning is, let's raise the bar when it comes to living generously. And I'm just, full disclosure, the Bible says that those who preach and teach the word will be judged more harshly than others. It is, I can't argue, I wish I could, but I can't. I'm going to be judged for everything I teach and I don't teach from this platform. And I want to tell you, at a heart of love, I'm not teaching you the whole truth if I tell you you only need to be generous with your time, you only need to be generous with your love. I'm not teaching the whole truth if I don't also teach what God's already established, which is we're supposed to be generous with our stuff too. Listen to what Paul says to Timothy. Paul was kind of a mentor to Timothy. Timothy was a young preacher, and he's getting ready to go out and minister. And, uh, Paul gives Timothy instruction, basically on how to preach on giving. I guess it was a tough subject back then too. But listen to what Paul tells this young preacher how to teach God's people when it comes to giving. Paul says, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, to not put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but Timothy, teach them to put their hope in God, who richly provides everything for our enjoyment. Timothy, command them to do good, teach them to be good, to be rich in doing good deeds, teach them, Timothy, to be generous." The Greek word that's used there also translates as liberal or bountiful. Paul says, "Teach God's people to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." Everything that you and I have is only because of the goodness and the generosity of God. Now, I'm going to say that one more time, and I don't want you to feel pressured, but I'm going to ask you to respond and say amen if you agree with it. Everything in our lives is only because of the goodness and the generosity of our God. I know that some of you are sitting there right now, 'cause I've been there, and you're thinking, "Well, this resonates with me. This sounds good to me, but Pastor Kyle, I don't have any money to be generous with. I'd love to give God my banker, my accountant, or whatever you said. I was kind of sleeping during that last point, Pastor Kyle, but I'd love to give, but I just can't afford to." And if that's you, I want to respond with God's words, not mine. If you prove, not to me, not to anybody, to God, if you prove to God that He can trust you with a little, He will give you more. If you cannot prove to God that you can be trusted with little, why would He ever give you more? Next week, we're going to bring back the buckets. I'm pumped. And it's not to pressure people or or try to guilt people into giving. The heart behind bringing back the buckets is we want to give God's people every opportunity they can to be be generous with their resources. Stand with me this morning. Becoming generous isn't a switch that we can just turn on, right? Like, we're not just going to make that decision, "Oh, Hallelujah, I'm going to live generously," and then it's done. We have to choose to practice it every day. As followers of Jesus, hear me, please. As followers of Jesus, generosity can't be a one-time event. As followers of Jesus, generosity can't just be when we feel like it. It has to be a part of our daily lives. On your notes, I've given you some suggestions. You don't have to go from zero to 100 like that. God doesn't expect that. So there's some suggestions on how to live generously today and this week. So for some of you, living generously will mean you buy a cup of coffee for somebody. They didn't ask for it, they weren't expecting it, but you buy it for them. Some of you, to live generously, raising the bar, I, I want to challenge you to open your home to people. Buy a meal for someone. If you're standing in line, Lord knows this is a step of faith for me. If you're standing in line, let someone cut in front of you. You pray for me. I'm human. [Applause] [Music] For some of you, raising the bar with generosity means that you need to start giving. You need to start giving faithfully. For some of you who are giving faithfully, maybe raising the bar for you is you, or if you're married, you and your spouse set a goal for what you want to give to love your neighbor this year above and beyond your regular gift or or offering. Don't give it here. If, if you got it, home church, give to your home church. If you want to give to another God-honoring nonprofit, give to them. It's not about us, it's not about LFA, it's about responding and living in obedience to what God tells us to do. And God tells us if we can learn this stuff, how to live generously, show our love generously, give of our time generously, give of our stuff generously, that's when we learn it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. Amen. Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your word. I thank You, Lord, that You are generous with Your love. You are generous with Your time. Lord, today we acknowledge everything good in our lives is only because of You. You are faithful. You are good. You are our provider. Lord, You are so generous. And God, I'm praying that You take these words and You, You tattoo it on every heart and every mind. God, change us from the inside out. Help us to raise the bar this year when it comes to living generously. And as we do that, Lord, I thank You for the miracles You're going to do. I thank You for how You're going to speak to us. And I thank You for how You will change us to be more like Jesus. And all God's people said, amen. And [Music] amen.
Never [Music] fail. Blessed assured, Jesus is my. He's been my fourth man in the fire, time after time. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough. So I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior. The Lord who will fail. He will never [Music] fail.
Perfect [Music] submission. It all is at rest. I know the author of tomorrow is olded my St. And this is my story. This is my song. I'm praising my Risen King and Savior all this day long. So I trust in God. He's my Savior. The one who will never [Music] fail. He will never fail. I trust in God. He's my Savior. You're the one who will never. He will never fail. [Music] Be child. Morning. Never. You can it all. Trust my [Music] father.
So I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered. I saw the Lord and He heard and and He answered. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answer. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answer. I saw heard answer. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust in God. He's my. One who will never. Yes, I. He never. So I trust in God. He's my Savior. He is one who will never. He will never fail. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answer. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answer. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answer. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answer. I saw the Lord. Yes, He heard it. He answer. I saw the Lord and He heard and He answer. That's why I trust Him. That's why I trust Him.
Come on, let's give God some praise. Hallelujah. Praise Your name. Hallelujah. Glory be to God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. We're so glad that you came out today. I hope the word blessed you. All in a moment, you'll see a slide on the screen. If you made a choice today to rededicate your life to God, made that decision to come back to the Lord, make that change in your life, we want to know about that. If you're watching at home, text the word "decision" to the number on the screen. If you're here in person, reach out in the seat in front of you to this card right here, fill that out, take that out to our guest corral. There's an awesome team out there. I'll take you on those next steps. Can we give God some praise here this morning? Come on now, is He not worthy? Praise God. We got a few things coming up. Baptism Sunday is February 5th. Make sure you sign up for that, okay? And it's that time of year again. Super Bowl Sunday will be February 9th. So make sure you wear your favorite sports memorabilia or jerseys and show up and be excited for that. And of course, Youth Camp is coming. My life will change at Youth Camp. God moves in a powerful way. Make sure you sign up your team for Youth Camp. Registrations now on the back of your program is a QR code. You can scan that, fill that out, and, uh, be blessed. Are you guys glad you guys came here this morning? Come on, can we give God one more shout of praise? He is worthy of all the praise. Hallelujah. You all be blessed. We will see you next week. God bless you. [Music] [Music]