How to Live Life Generously (Step Up Series)

How to Live Life Generously

 

Generosity is more about what God wants for you than what He wants from you.  Today's scripture passage is in 1 Chronicles 29.

Then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly, for they made their offering to the Lord wholeheartedly, and King David also rejoiced greatly.

David’s Prayer

So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and on the earth; Yours is the dominion, Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.

“But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given to You. ¹⁵ For we are strangers before You, and temporary residents, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. ¹⁶ Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and everything is Yours. ¹⁷ Since I know, my God, that You put the heart to the test and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You.  - 1 Chronicles 29:9-17

The following are my Bible study notes based on my pastor's sermon.  You are invited to watch, listen, and worship with us here.

What if there was one specific practice in life that would guarantee the following?

1.  Bring you constant joy

2.  Bring others joy

3.  Meet your greatest need while meeting the needs of others.

4.  Open up the windows of Heaven and invite God's blessings into your life

5.  Protect you from envy, greed, comparison, and self-absorbed living

Here is the one word that brings these results - generosity.  Generosity is more than meeting a need.  Meeting a need is great, but to be generous is to "give to overflowing."   All God puts into our hands should flow from our fingertips to others. What keeps us from living life wide open with generosity?  STUFF

There is nothing wrong with having things, but it is wrong when things have you.

How to Live Life Generously

1.  Ownership

All we have belongs to God.

The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains,
The world, and those who live in it.
² For He has founded it upon the seas
And established it upon the rivers. - Psalm 24:1-2

Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and on the earth; Yours is the dominion, Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. ¹² Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. ¹³ Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.

¹⁴ “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given to You. - 1 Chronicles 29:11-14

This item is available here.

 God is the source.  We are not the source.

For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it, either. - 1 Timothy 6:7

 “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today; ¹² otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, and you build good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have increases, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ¹⁵ He who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who brought water for you out of the rock of flint. ¹⁶ In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to put you to the test, to do good for you in the end. ¹⁷ Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ But you are to remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. - Deuteronomy 8:11-18

If you don't own it, you don't worry about it.  Let the Owner, God, worry about it.

2.  Stewardship 

God entrusts some things to me.

For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given to You. - 1 Chronicles 29:14

For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. - Matthew 25:14

God is trustworthy?  Are we trustworthy?

We don't own our stuff.  We just manage all that God has entrusted to us.

3.  Worship

Everything is entrusted to us for His glory. 

Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and everything is Yours. - 1 Chronicles 29:16

Trusting God is an act of worship.

Every time we act generously, we are reflecting the heart of God. 

I want to say to God, "God, You are worthy of my trust.  I want to honor You with all my stuff." 

 PIN ME!

How to Life Life Generously