Do It: Live Abundantly [Pastor Nathan Ward]

 Well, where this is week two of our series on generosity, one of my favorite topics, and I am just about to do you the biggest favor in the world. I mean, I want to give you a tip for living. I am so excited about this. I really am. But you know what? I was thinking about this and praying over thinking about it this last week, and I don't know if I even mentioned last week, but the real issue for this generosity thing, it boils down to how I started the series last week, and that was God first. No other gods. Only me. Please listen to me. I'm your pastor. I care about you. I love you. You can say, well, you don't really know me. No, but that's, that's part of what God enables me to do. He gives me His love that I pass on. And, and I want you to know that I guarantee you, to the degree you're struggling, it's whether or not God is first in your life. You know, we like a little bit of God, and we get some goosebumps, and we like worship and all that. But, are you living palms up? Are you living a fully surrendered life? You, if you're, if your heart's at a divided battleground, and you haven't totally surrendered it to God, you, you're gonna have spiritual conflict inside. And so, the message today about generosity, it is one of the things that helps us align with God's heart. Because, listen, you may think that God's after this, that, and the other. He's not. He's after you. He's after your heart, because He knows that your heart and your treasure are always the same place. Are you with me on that? So, so this is a matter of heart, and I, and so, whatever details we get into today, I want you to, and I'm going to lace stories into this, true stories. I want you to know that the real issue is, does God have your heart? Does he have all of you? I think I said it last week, but I'll say it again. If he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. When he's Sovereign, he's over all. And I urge you to not just give him your stuff or something, but to offer him your heart. So, for those of you that are online, those of you that are in the room, I believe it's a good day to be here and I'm going to passionately speak without apology about that word. Now, I just want to ask some questions. You don't need to raise your hand, you know, just point the person next to you. But, uh, do you love stuff? Now I'm not so much interested in what you would say, but I wonder what your life shows. Are you a stuff lover or is anyone a recovering stuff lover? Cause we don't mind being recovering. Cause it means what we were not what we are. It's hard to say. I am, I was, it's okay, but it's not okay. I am a stuff lover. So, I was thinking about Stuff Lovers, and I was thinking about Amazon, and Amazon Prime, because that has special Did anybody see a, uh, Amazon truck delivery truck on the way to church today? I did. Anybody else? No? Okay, they were all over the place on Sunday morning. So, Amazon may be the first worst. I'm not picking on them, depending on your perspective, but how many how many Has anybody this week just done the click and buy? I mean, that's so easy, isn't it? It's also so easy to be impulsive when it comes to that. Has anyone like me ever accidentally ordered something that you really didn't want, and then you didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to reverse it, so you go, it's only this, or just whatever. Ah, when I get it, I'll return it. Oh, thank the Lord for Amazon. Some of you, you can just wax eloquent in your gift of... Eloquent gift of returning, or how about this, I did this once, Dixie kind of keeps a shopping cart on her joint account, and like, ideas for Christmas, just ideas, she throws in that cart, I get on it, and I ended up ordering like 39 things at one time for about 5, 000, wasn't that wonderful? I didn't shrug my shoulders off of that. I said, help, help. How do I get rid of this thing? It's from Satan for sure, I guarantee you that. But who doesn't love two day shipping to your door? Oh my lands, you call it the Amazon thrill. I gotta admit, it is a wonderful way to Christmas shop, huh? You make that list, man, you can knock it out in a hurry. But it doesn't have the ambiance of being in stores. It's okay, but the whole thing is it's so easier to be addicted to stuff because it's so much easier to easier to get It's easy to put our fingers on but here's the problem About January the bill still comes due and have you knew no there are consequences to spending Yeah, so let's make sure that as we go into the ble can't wait for next week, the blessing season kickoff. Oh my lens. We have five ble seasons around here. Winter, spring, summer, fall, and the blessing season. That's our fifth. We love it. Again, I kick that off next week. So, there are 66 books in the Bible, and if you don't believe me, count them up. Spanning from Genesis to Revelation, not Revelations. I read Revelations. You didn't read Revelations. You might have had Revelations from Revelation. Did you know in those books, God speaks about things that have our hearts like things, possessions, over 2, 300 times. I wonder if God's trying to make a point. I wonder if he's trying to put his finger on something that he knows that many times we don't. I wonder if that signifies matters of great importance. Well it is, because God knows we either have things or things have us. And it's a matter of the heart. Those of you with kids and grands, do you remember we did a couple of dedications at First Service? I did one between services today, unusually, but we did it in my office. And, uh, how many of you know that when you have a baby or grandbaby, I mean, they are just incomparably sweet. And as newborns, I mean, they may be as homely as all get up, but you love them and you think they are the best, the cutest, the brightest, they are doing things at the things that they're ages and no other child has done. They are brilliant. But then something happens around 18 months or so, you know, to your amazement and an embarrassment because you know, you didn't teach him these things when other children around, they go for the toy. I don't care how old is they grab that toy. They clutch it. They turn away and they say, mine. I wonder where they learned that. Yeah? It's ugly, isn't it? But ain't it the truth. Oh, and some of you older children, many of you aren't in this room, but you know who you are. This happens almost every Sunday at Worcester NAS because when I'm going around greeting you, I always ask for a bite of your donut or a lick of your icing and inevitably, you grab it and you go you don't say mine, you just show the bite of it. I get the message. Get out of here, Pastor. Even though you gave me this candy, I'm not about to share it with you. I know how that goes. Hey, I did have a young girl, a preschool girl that left me a big ice donut with sprinkles on it last Sunday. I'm forever grateful. I'm forever grateful. I think I'm gonna frame it. I think I am. Well, God seems to know that the number one thing that people are really obsessed with, the problem with obsession is a lot of times we'll never admit to it, but the number one thing that competes for our heart is stuff and money, things accumulating. And I'll say it, uh, many suffer from the disease, chronic disease called affluenza and stuff itis, if you will. And I'm suggesting that God's Word says we need spiritual surgery and we need a stuff ectomy as well. We need to get our priorities straight. And I pray that you'll be open hearted and palms up open in that way when it comes to this idea of generous living. Today, living abundantly. That, that's, I mean, that's a great word. Because I believe that this will level all kinds of, of influence for Jesus. Do it. Just be generous. Live generously. Make a decision. It'll never happen until you decide. But I'm gonna tell you, you are being an influence right now. Yes, you are, by the way you're living. Are you living generously? I'm not saying you're not, I just wonder if you are. Last week we talked about scarcity and, and abundance mentalities or mindset or whatever and, and I, and I told you emphatically that whatever you have in your mind and heart, these really lead to worldviews that cycle and cycle that determine where you are today. Scarcity is like this. There's more. God loves you and he provides and you consume and you lack and you have anxiety, you have fear, so you medicate or comfort yourself by more consuming. That's the way it goes and it's a vicious endless cycle. But it doesn't start here with the release. It starts in your heart and mind. Proverbs 23, 7a says, For as a person, as a man, as he thinks in his heart, so is he. So, would you mind bringing my water there, please? So, it really matters what you think. Thank you, Joel. There's so many, there's so many things that are in our thought life that have huge implications for us. And I want to lean into that just a little bit. Um, because everything flows, really, first, how you think. Attitudes are shaped by what you think. It's about how you view the world. What you think about is generally what you end up doing. And, and, and it's just so true. And it, it isn't what you do necessarily, but it's, you need to change the way you think. I love Romans 12 too. And it's one of my life verses that I love. Here it reads, Don't copy the behaviors in the, of this world. And, and, That's stuff itis and all the above. But let God transform you into a new person. How? By changing the way you act. Is that what it says? No. By changing the way you then, when you allow God to change you then, you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good, pleasing, and perfect. Isn't that something? God loves you so much, he, he, he lays his perfect will over imperfect people like you and me. Isn't that good? And you know what? The results are good. The results aren't perfect. But the results are good, because He lays His perfect will over our imperfect lives. So, we pray, Dear God, I'm thinking, am I thinking the right way? I just wonder, I want my thinking to align with Yours. Are my perspectives, are my values, are my priorities properly aligned with Your heart? And I don't mean were they, and I don't mean will they be, but are they right now? Because now matters. So let's look at the, one of the particular, specific miracles of Jesus. And, and let's focus in on that for just a little bit. So, I want to talk about the feeding of the 5, 000. And if you've read their Bible at all, you've ever heard, you know that, that in that day and time, they didn't do a total head count. They counted the head of the family was all. And the Bible says 5, 000, but scholars say there were probably 15 If you want to put that perspective, picture Jesus telling this or doing this. In an NBA arena. I can't remember the names of it because they changed the naming rights, all that. But it would be that kind of crowd that Jesus spoke to, that he was dealing with, when he needed to feed the masses. So let me read some scripture from Mark 6, beginning in verse 32. You can follow along if you have it on the screen, on your phone, whatever. So they went by themselves, away by themselves, in a boat, to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. And Jesus was probably humanly wiped out and tired, but when He drew near, He saw this crowd. 34 says when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them. I want to tell you, compassion and generosity are kind of synonymous in many ways. Because they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were kind of milling around, almost like they were lost, looking for something. So he began teaching them many things. And I think that's how he feels about us. He sees us going here, going there, looking for this, looking for that. And his heart has compassion. And he wants to teach us many things. Will you allow him to, even about this topic today? Read on 35. By this time, it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. This is a remote place. They said it's already very, very late. Send the people away so they can go to surrounding Countryside Village and buy themselves something to eat. 37, but he answered, I, he probably paused before he answered, but then he said, you give them something to eat. They said to him, that would take more than a half a year's wages. Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat? Jesus said, how many loaves do you have? And they must have shrugged their shoulders. Oh, here's the key. He said, go and see. Jesus doesn't just say, come and see. He says, go and see. Come to me and see. Oh, taste and see the Lord is good, but now I want you to go. There's always action in what God wants us to do. So they did, they went in obedience, and what they found out was this, they said, Well, there's this huge crowd, and here's five loaves and two fish. What in the world are you talking about? Do you think they had any questions about that? Of course they did. They didn't get it, I guarantee you. As I read this story, I've thought about it, that the disciples were probably hungry, and they probably blamed it on the people, because they wanted the meeting to end, and they wanted to get to eating. They heard Jesus and they were probably tired of him, but he, he talked a long, long time and notice they said they were so concerned, let them go so they can buy something for themselves. But Jesus said, you give them something. That's such a human nature principle because we're so good. And a lot of you are so good at coming to one of the pastors that said. You need to do, the church needs to do this, and I'm going, how, how does God want you to be involved in this? The best things around here happen when you answer God's call and you step in and you step up to the plate. Don't shovel this to somebody else. You give them something to eat. Could it be that the disciples were focused more on the convenience and the cost of it all? But Jesus simply said and says, you give. He doesn't say, can you give? He says, you give. You go, you come, you go. You have something to give. You know, it's as if in my mind's eye, as I was reading, it's as if he was saying, I don't want you to think spend. I want you to think invest. I want you to think compassion. I want you to think kindness. So Jesus said, what do you have? And they went and they found the answer. As I read this story and others, but I think of this, you realize when you look at this, Jesus and his disciples were viewing the same exact thing, but from a totally Different perspective, the disciples were going with scarcity, not enough, going to run out. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? The Eeyore syndrome. We have so much less than what we need, but Jesus was in another place. Maybe some of you have been there. Some of you are there now. The need is so great. You don't know where to start to get a hold of it. You just, you just about thought you could catch up only to fall further behind because of some unexpected thing. There always seems to be a shortage. Well, I want to say this to you. We're, we are, we are so famous for this. Seasons come and seasons go. I mentioned we have five of them here at Worcester NAS. But what happens a lot of times in a season that comes and goes. It's common to get a mindset, or a, in a season or a circumstance, over a single, isolated thing, and that becomes our worldview, or our mindset. Do you understand what, it's here, it's, the Bible says, it's, you're passing through, it's, it's here today, gone tomorrow. But that becomes our, we get stuck there, and we cycle there. We live and wallow in that. There's never gonna be enough. I'm gonna tell you, if that's your mindset, I can guarantee you, that prediction will come true. That's a self fulfilling prophecy. But Jesus had a different lens. He was looking through. He knew first hand of his Father's abundance. This is the belief that this isn't all there is. There's more than enough. And how many of you would say, Jesus was right. Jesus is always right. So the disciples were not enough to go around. Jesus said, there's more than enough. And as a result of this miracle, the Bible tells us that all the people ate and were satisfied, and the disciples collected extra, and I'm not sure what they did, they probably divided it up and sent it home with people. But the scarcity mindset says, Ah, I don't know, I don't have, don't have, I'm gonna hold, I'm gonna hoard. But the abundant mindset says, What do I have and what can I give? There's more where this came from. I want to tell you with God, there's always more. I'm going to lay several stories into this. Read this true story of Kelly, a single mother. Her kids, all three of them, small kids, slept in their only bed. And she slept on the couch, not for days, weeks, and months, but for years. And there was a couple in the church that heard about it. And they talked to each other and said, What can we do? They didn't go to the pastor or somebody and say, Hey, this lady, you know, she doesn't have, They said, What can we do? Don't you love that language? So, they were talking and they said, You know what? We have a guest bed that we seldom use. And it's almost as good as new. And this can meet. Meet a need, we can meet a need. So they loaded up their truck with that good as new bed, and they threw in a dining room table with chairs just in case. And they headed over to Kelly's home that night. Kelly, the single mother, slept in her own bed for the first time, I think it said in four years. The next day they got to all sit together at the family table to eat together for the first time, not on the couch, but around the table. Don't ever take that for granted. Families. We're really into the family table around here. I aim to practice it today in just a couple hours. My stomach just growled when I said that. Listen, listen, that's not the end of the story. She was, Kelly was so grateful that she called the Abundance Mindset couple, that's what I'm calling them, and said, I can't wait until I'm in a position to do something like, like, for someone like you've done to me. I can't wait. I can't wait until I can. The couple quickly responded to her, Kelly, today's the day. There is something in your heart and home that you can share right now. Something you have right now can be a blessing to someone else. And I want you to ask God to show you what it is. She thought for a moment or two and then she realized. I have, I have a neighbor two doors down who just had a baby in the last couple weeks and I have a rocking chair. I've heard the baby crying and they don't have one and I don't need this and they do. So I'll deliver it to them and she did. Do you get the picture? Oh, we want to live in the past or the future. God wants you to live in the present right now. How many of you know when you live in the present it takes care of the future? Did you hear me? I said when you live in the present God will take care of the future. I don't care what's in the future. It's not that I don't care care, but you know what I'm saying. No matter what's in your future when God's there and he's first He can do amazing things Many have the mindset I don't have anything to be generous with But when my salary increased when I get a new job when my saving account grows, I'll live open handed palms up then No, no, no, you won't you're fooling yourself. The more you have the tighter you tend to hold on to it That's why you got to start Today right now. So here's a question. I want you to ask in your heart. What do I have and what need can I meet? What do I have? I want to tattle about somebody's need. I want to meet it We want to meet it. Our family wants to meet it. You go like this palms up prayer. Dear Lord Whatever I have is from you. It's yours. You can use me. You can use anything in any way you see fit And the closer you get to Jesus, the more you realize that He completely redefines what can be done with a little. When I was a kid growing up, I remember in the 60s, there was a popular gospel song that they used to sing, Little is much. When God is in it labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it if you go in Jesus name So I want to get practical with you. I'm gonna give you something practical today This is from the oldest to the youngest. Come on teens. I want you to plug in I want you to participate in this. I want I want you to this is gonna illustrate a greater point So here's what I want. Here's what I want. Here's a challenge. We have outlinks boxes here and there We have ways to access that outlet the layout links boxes online Never apologize for it, and here's the genius of it. A long time, we made a decision that we could challenge all of you, where, if you call Worcester National Church home, to bring one dollar, to give one dollar a week, to share one lousy dollar a week. Here's the reason. We want our kids and grands to think of, okay, I'm gonna get this candy bar that probably costs a dollar now, but instead of that, I'm gonna save this first dollar, and I'm gonna put it in the outlinks, because this is for God to others. I'm gonna give it through the church, but it's for God to others. Do you understand? And we felt like it's totally reasonable that every single Sunday that anybody tunes, that comes online or, or comes in this house, that, that a dollar per person in your family, that everybody, that has, that has nothing, you're not getting credit for it. There's nothing like that. It's just what we do. It's unmarked, but it's enables us to do so many of the things that Pastor Andrew shares about time and time again, because we can be generous to others. And why I want to illustrate it is, is how much a little can make such a big difference. For example, I think we have a screen maybe shot there. But let's just say our average attendance now, all things considered, is right at that 1, 500 mark every Sunday. And yet we give, in the Outlinks box, 644 a week. Is there any disparity there? I don't know what percentage, but we're a good ways below that 15%. It's not that we haven't ever gone more than that, but that's our averages I'm talking about. So I'm challenging you in this. We ought to be over 1, 500 a week just for others. Unmarked. Just for others. This never comes to us. It goes out, out, out, out, out for others. A single dollar doesn't buy much these days, does it? I mean, even dollar stores now are false advertisement. They need to put on their sign, dollar and 25 cent stores. You know what I mean? You can't hardly get anything for a dollar. But here's the good thing in God's economy. We can make a difference when we stack our dollars together. Agreed? Do you, do you understand? I want you to understand what's behind this. Teens, I want you to think of school. Oh, that's a dollar I can give away. I don't care what you do with your money, but just say, I can give this to others. Just a dollar? But oh, the impact our dollars can have together. I've seen it. So here's what I want. Another screen coming up. Right now, before the end of service, or at the end of service, worship. I want you to put your 1 on that stack, if you will, of what you normally do. Go online, go to our Giving Act, text it, whatever, Alexbox, it's accessible all the way. And here's why, because I have in my heart that we can go to a whole new level, not just a one time thing. God wants you to have a new perspective when you see what can happen, when what seems so small and insignificant, when you do your part, how it can grow and grow and make a difference. And you can say, I did my part, I'm a part of that, we want our kids and children to be a part of that, our grants, we'll, we'll let you know what the outcome is next Sunday, so, I'm gonna write that, I, I came down for service and did the same thing, Dixie and I always do multiple dollars, we put them aside, first thing, uh, with cash we have, for groceries, etc., like that, and I'm adding that, so I want you to respond, I want you to respond, Sometime. I want everybody to respond. And I promise you I'll report next week what we do together with just one dollar. Good, bad, or ugly. Whatever the outcome may be. You okay with that? So if you live with a scarcity mindset, you're right. There will never be enough. But that doesn't start with hoarding. That starts with giving. It starts with being generous and attitude inside out. Your life, if you have that scarcity deal going on, will be marked by fear and anxiety and more and more and more and consumerism. All of that, that's not God's plan and purpose because he says in John 10, 10b, I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. Live abundantly, the subtitle of this message on generosity. Everything about the nature of God is more than enough. His nature is abundant and extravagant. His family needs to demonstrate that as we move through this world. We need to align our lives. Under God I've been saying make sure we're on God's side when it comes to generosity two points as I round the corner How can you experience and live that life of abundance two things? The first thing is listen God multiplies what is blessed and a long time I've read several books by Robert Morris, but the best books I've ever read on get returning and giving Um, but he, he teaches a concept that I'll hit a little bit, but let's go to Mark 6 verse 40. So, this is the miracle continues, and I want you to think about it. I want you to think about it. So, they sat down in groups of 50 or 100. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to heaven. And bless them. That's what we want to do before we eat our family meals today. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. The blessing of God over anything and everything in our lives is so powerful. Does anybody beside me want the blessing of God over your life? Over your family, your home, your children, okay? God wants to do it more than you want it, but here's the catch. You must be willing to surrender yourself to God's way. You don't have to, but that's the requirement. He won't make you. But you can't. I think sometimes we wanna cash in on God's blessing without surrendering our lives to him. And that's, that's false. That's what it is. Yeah, Robert Morris teaches specifically about returning the first, which is God's tithe, the first ten percent. He said it releases a blessing. He said, you can, you can argue with me, but I've seen it, I've experienced it over and over. It released a blessing over all your life. Because you're returning what is not yours to keep in the first place. It never was yours. It belongs to God, and God said it's holy. It belongs to me. Returning it. Release his blessing, he said. Oh, I couldn't agree more. I alluded to Malachi last week, that familiar passage that reads, Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me, test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I do not throw open the floodgates of heaven. I've really never worked with that phrase before. And pour out so much of a blessing that there will not be enough room to sort. Now, that's God speaking. That's not me making it up. You've got to decide if you're going to trust him and believe it and act. This sounds to me, though, as I read it, like a more than enough promise. A lot of people would say, What, what is tithing, pastor? Is giving God 10%? And I say, no, no, no. It's giving Him the first, right off the top. Giving Him first. God doesn't do leftovers. Of all increase, any increase, the first goes to God, returns to Him. God must be first. He's first. He's your Savior. He's your Lord. When God is first, He begins to align the rest of your lives, because it's an issue of the heart. I believe this scripture is timely and it's a relevant challenge. This tests me. See for yourself. Here's what he promises. Listen. How many times do you read? You can look it up. Say, how many times are the floodgates of heaven? How many times is that phrase used? I, I think maybe three in the whole Bible. But the first one is in Genesis. You know what that's referring to, the floodgates of heaven? What did God do? The earth was full of sin and, and God hid Noah in his ark. You know the whole story. But then God opened the floodgates of heaven and what happened? The whole world was saturated overflow, right? Everything was saturated. There was nothing left untouched by the floodgates of heaven. Well, what was true there? It's the same terminology that's used here. God uses the floodgates of heaven in this passage to illustrate his blessing. I'll say it again when he blesses nothing. Is left untouched some of you got an attitude, but you've never put God first So, how do you know you can't say he doesn't keep his word. You've not tried it You haven't tried it as a way of life. He said this is the way I want to bless you I want the floodgates of heaven to pour upon you and your family There's so much more than you can imagine, but he's waiting to pour in and over your life He's looking for hearts to put him first because those are hearts that he that he can trust with the abundance of heaven the floodgates Of heaven if you will he wants to pour it on Those who invest for his glory with compassion. He can bless hearts and lives that put him first with the floodgates of heaven. Oh, I love that phrase. The resources of heaven, not Wall Street and not the lottery, not some get rich quick scheme or whatever. Another great story. A young couple pulled their pastor aside. I smile. I can see it happening. Oh, we got to tell you a great story. Great story. I'm always into great stories because they're really testimonies that you give. So they said, we've been giving for years, but we want you to know that last month we started tithing returning the first 10 percent for real, the pastor kind of he that for real. What do you mean tithing for real? What were you doing a month ago? And they said quickly, Oh, pastor. Well, we were just tipping God every now and then we'd throw some money at him every now and then, you know, if, if the serve is good, the worship band was really kicking, we'd throw some money there. Or if we got goosebumps over some need, we'd throw something. But it said there came a moment for us. And I want you to hear this story. This is we're getting the important part. There came a moment said either we believe this or we don't, either we trust God or we don't. So they decided to take a step of faith together. And they began to return the first. And he said, now, God has blessed us financially just in this month in ways you can't believe. But he said, here's what we really want you to know. Better yet. Our marriage, through this act of faith, has developed and gained a new intimacy. When we took that step of faith, it brought a closeness we never had before. Because they were talking about it and praying about it together. They made the decision together. He said, in worship now, the tears start flowing for us and it feels like God is just one inch away from us. We can touch him. Hey. This is about the abundance of heaven. Huh? Do you want that? I do. I'm not sure you do, but I do. I want to for you, okay? Listen, your soul was made for this, whether you know it or not. Your heart was created for this. You want God to bless and multiply. Yes, yes. But are you willing to do life His way? I say it again. He wants to trust you, to trust Him. He wants you to take this step of faith and decide God first. Oh, that's more than lip service. That's more than something we just say cliche. It's actuality. If you still feel stuck in your spiritual life, I direct you again and ask, is God first in your life? As long as He is not first, there'll be conflict. When He's first, there's troubles and struggles, ups and downs. I'm not saying that's not. But I want to tell you, if you're spiritually stuck, it'll go right back to this root. God is not first. I pray that you will make Him that. It's the Lordship of Jesus, as I said last week and earlier. Lord of all, not Lord at all. He wants to saturate your life. Your world with his love and power. The second thing, God not only multiplies, and final thing, God not only multiplies what is blessed. Oh, I totally believe this. He multiplies what is given. Given. We see that in the story. Let's go to the Matthew version of it. In 1418, bring them here, Jesus said. That's the loaves and the fish. He told the people to sit down on the grass, as I read. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, He gave the bread to the disciples who distributed it to the people. We're really good about taking God's distribution, but oftentimes we're not good about distributing it from there. It's a matter of the heart. To me this needs some of you can relate and smile It would be the equivalent of three ann wilson style semi trailers full of bread and fish Did I see her trailer with equipment in a couple weeks ago? The supernatural miracle multiplication must have happened gradually as it left I want to tell you, there's supernatural power in the distribution. Everything about following Jesus is counterintuitive. It goes against the grain. You find your life by losing it. What? The greatest will be the one who serves. You love your enemies, you do good to those who hate you, you bless those who curse, you bless and don't curse them in return. It may not seem to make sense, but it really does. From a heavenly perspective, you find your life through surrender to the one who gave it all for you. How many of you know Jesus gave it all for you? Not part, not partial. Everything about following Jesus, I'll say it again, flows counterculture. Cause we're not much into saying, I surrender. Proverbs 11, 24, and 5 say it. One person gives freely yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. That's that floodgates of heaven refreshment. Well, nearly done. One more great story. One of my favorites. This should be no surprise because this is the economy of God, of heaven. This is how the floodgates of heaven work. It's an adventure, a great adventure of a lifetime that God has for you. He wants for you. You were not created to be a reservoir for stuff. You were created to be a life flowing, life giving river of generosity. Are you? If you wonder whether or not you are, ask those people around you. Ask your spouse, ask your kids, grands. Love this story. One of my favorites, Chris and Cindy were at a low point financially and they were in debt and struggling and Some of you can certainly relate to that. Well, on the way to church this particular Sunday morning, they, uh, they talked and didn't know how they were going to really buy groceries to their budget level for the next two weeks because they were short in worship. When a part of the worship was the offering was received and given and the tithe was returned, Cindy pulled out her, their tithe check. And she gave it anyway. How many of you know that it was a matter of her heart before it left her hand? Do you understand what I'm saying? She decided in her heart, but as she did, her husband overheard her say, God, I trust you. Then it left her hand. You see, the God I trust you, that's an inside out kind of thing. Well, this is not your story, this is their story. The very next day, she was coming home from running some errands, and it was a nasty day out, the rain was pouring down, don't know that she was dressed appropriately for it, but she had a distinct impression to stop the car and get out. Isn't that crazy? Silly? She didn't know what to do when she got out, so she just started walking down the road a little bit, and would you believe, within 20 feet, she found a stack of money lying in the middle of the road. And you know, if that was you, you'd kind of be looking around. You think it was a booby trap or something, you know, someone exploded, so she hasn't picked up looked around. Nobody's there So she got in the car and went home. It was 520 way more than their two week grocery budget was going to be This is hilarious. So Chris her husband saw her came to come in. He was at home She came in holding the money and she was crying uncontrollably and he said oh no, dear Lord She knocked off a seven 11. She's robbed that. We're in such a bad place. Well, she told the story and they called the police and reported it, and the police said, if no one claimed it within seven two hours, it's yours. No one did and it was theirs. And as she held the money in their kitchen, Chris heard her sang and praying, oh God, we're not alone. We're not alone. You know, you know you're with us. That's the kind of God we serve. That's their story. What's your story, Matthew? 6 31 33 says it. So don't worry, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. Not want them, need them. But, but, the first step is, first things first. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things that you're skeptical about, that you're so angry about, all these things will be given to you as well. But what's the key to this? Putting God first. Seeking Him first. Seeking Him above the need, above the want. God wants you to be generous. He's teaching us today because He knows that palms up living is the best. That's what Live Abundantly is all about. It kills materialism and selfishness. And it helps you and me to be like Jesus and represent Him to a world that so needs to see Him in action. That's who you do, who you are, that's what you do. That's who you represent, Jesus. How can we do it, Pastor? Because my favorite life verse, my newest one is what? Philippians 2. 13. God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Look at me. And I'm telling you, generosity is pleasing to God. He loves it. So what's the abundance? Mentality that I didn't go over again today, here it is. In short, God loves you. He provides and gives and you return the first and God blesses and multiplies and needs are met and people point and praise Almighty God and God loves it. Your faith glows, grows, and it glows too. And it grows, and then... There's a harvest of generosity, where? In you, in you. How do we know that generosity is addictive? The more generous you are, the more generous you want to be. The more needs you meet, the more needs you want to meet. And it's amazing. Say, God, don't stop. I'm just a piece of conduit here. I'm not hoarding. I'm not holding. Whatever you give, man, I'm just gonna pass it on. Students, are you, when's the last time you just shared? When did you, when did you make an intentional sacrifice or a, or a strategic one? Or, or, or even a sacrificial one and say, I can meet this need. Yeah, do it. Just do it. I'm going to invite you to stand. I am so passionate about this. I'm just giving you a tip and teaching that can change the direction of your life. It's about Lordship. God is first. You can't put Him first without saying yes to Him, without inviting Him into your life to be your Savior. Putting Him first is about making Him Lord of all. It's sequential, Lord. You are above all in all you feel all things father. Thank you for the truth of your word This isn't tough medicine that you're trying to cram down our throats This is abundant living because you want the best for us, but we've got to do it your way We've tried we tried we tried to skirt it. We tried to go here and there Unsuccessfully and we are where we are today and that's same scarcity cycle over and over again. We want to move to a new level and playing. We want to trust you and we want you to be able to trust us with the flood gates of heaven, the abundance of heaven. So we say yes to you, we give you our sin, we give you ourself and we say all to Jesus, I surrender all to him. I freely give and we want to live in that way. Bless us now, as we even use this personal illustration and do it dollar for others and may it be a. Sticking point, a lesson that we never forget to see what you can do with how you're going to make an abundance out of just a little bit as we all participate together. Thank you, Lord. Let's worship him. You're standing. Come on, lift your voice and sing. Let's honor him. Let's honor him in action and in truth, not just in words.