Generosity Unlocked | CityHill Church

[Music] today we are here at the amazing pelak care home and let me tell you this place is special it's a care home that looks after adults and children that are either disabled or just cannot look after themselves what's also amazing about this property is that there's a clinic here that serves 1,200 patients within the community on a monthly basis I want to introduce you to somebody really special this is Hillary hi Hillary is a the operations manager for this facility so Hillary tell us a little bit about kard okay well kard is a care for disabled people one of them are um abused or abandoned or destitute so nobody here has a c of exp team and none of them have medical head and how many patients are you guys servicing we can take up to 100 um they over 80 [Music] wonderful so here we are in the common area where L patients [Music] are so here we are outside they've got a great coffee shop if you're part of the church or if you live in this area I suggest you come along to this coffee [Music] shop so as you can see there's some uh a rehab taking place with some of the patients that are able to do it around uh physical rehab which is really [Music] great so obviously feeding these 100 people takes some dir it so come along and look at this [Music] kitchen so here at bilati as I mentioned there's also a clinic which services this community we want to show you what this Clinic looks like [Music] I had the privilege of going to visit picardi Care Home the fact that we had come to visit them was just so beautiful to see how they appreciated that what I'd seen there that day encouraged me to go back again and I have really enjoyed and chosen to go back often you benefit far more by visiting them than they in fact benefit from your visit so I would say it's not just a once or visit you want to go back again over and over I believe that the lord loves it when we care for for the poor and the needy in this way so I would encourage you go for it it's [Music] wonderful good good morning it is a massive privilege to be up here and to share with you this morning as you can see from the screens we're in our nation changes month and uh if you if you're new to to City Hill you've maybe this is your second or third week and you're thinking what is going on well this is our giving month so a lot of what we're talking about is around giving um and in fact the message this morning is an Interruption into a 3-we series uh Stephen jackon ministering in the Netherlands so we want to keep them in our prayers message I'm going to share on this morning is generosity and I've entitled it generosity unlocked a number of years ago a friend of mine myself we were in escort and uh we were there over the Easter weekend we were camping and uh we popped into the local spa um to buy I think it was ice and bread rolls I six bread rolls and some ice and and something that that he and I have always done is we always look for opportunities you're you're in a store you're in a public place lots of people for me that's just like like Christmas and and and we look for opportunities to to bless or impact people in some way so whether it's a conversation whether it's something you've got or whether it's perhaps money we're at the till and uh and I'm busy paying and and I and I look back to the person behind me and there's a lady there with a basket and I feel feel God nudging me saying to pay for her her um her basket of goods so I I looked to the cashier and I said won't won't you please um just ring up this basket and then I'll pay for it afterwards and then the lady says to me why are you doing that so I mean I you want to honor people always regardless of what what's happening and uh the first thing that jumped my mind and I said well it's Easter and you're a lady and ladies don't pay Easter which was great except I didn't whisper it to her so that basket came through and then the lady behind sit there with a big grin in her face with her basket and uh that look as if to say ladies don't I'm not going to TI not a lady I mean it's so absolutely bring her basket in the person and my word people stand close together it's like what I said to you was hurt by four or five people it was unbelievable and I've never seen so many ladies in my life the trolley comes through I mean a proper trolly comes through and I'm thinking wow ice and rolls um someone joked after the first service they probably grabbing off that little thing and just you know one of those things we eventually get to the fifth person I'm not exaggerating and and it's a man thank the Lord for sending a man and he stands he looks at me and he smiles and I look at him and he nods as if to say yes I know this message about generosity is not an unfamiliar one to me um but I've struggled to prepare for this message I've struggled because for me generosity has become a very very practical thing it's something that the more you practice the more you just the more you do and but I didn't want this morning to miss the blessing and the beauty of generosity I didn't want you to miss the way the way generosity operates in the Kingdom of Heaven you see I see generosity as both a switch and a journey it's a switch in that I believe our hearts need to switch on to get it and it's a journey of a lifetime with our hands how does generosity work in the kingdom of God first question I believe there are two economies is generosity by worldly standards so this is the the I guess this is the Mantra I have so much it's mine and and I choose to be generous so I'm giving away a portion of what I have I now have less that was a a non-investment decision if we can say that I shouldn't do that too often otherwise I'm not going to end up with much but in the economy of Heaven generosity says this is not mine hope you're listening to Steph beforehand this is not mine I get to share it and not only is the recipient of that in the room with me but Jesus himself is part of the transaction now that unlocks something I had a friend of mine he's one generation older than me so I I had lots to learn from him over the years he knew me from when I was a younger I remember once we were we were away also camping type environment of the coast and he comes to me and he puts his arm around me and he says Phil in life only so much money will pass through your hands the question is how much you let stick and I remember thinking what great secular wisdom what great worldly wisdom but that makes no sense to me whatsoever because even at the point where he said that to me I already had an understanding that says no no what I hold I hold with Open Hands everything I hold open so it can leave it can go and with an open hand God can put into these hands you see when I have a closed hand my fist wrapped around something God can put nothing into it because I've already chosen my lot but I open my hands and I let it go and God says it's empty I can fill it this open hand way of holding what you have or what you're stewarding is the way that more can flow through those hands what do you have in your hands Steve asked us that question two two weeks ago I think it was what do you have in your hands it's the right question but I think there's an equally important question what are you holding on to what won't you let go of Matthew 19 Jesus is talking to a rich man I don't think the point of the story is the rich man by the way but it teed him up for what happened and the rich man says what do I need to do what do I need to do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven I do this I do this in a sense he was saying I submit in this I submit in this I submit in these areas what do I need to do Jesus and Jesus looked straight into his heart and said sell everything that you've got and give it away at which point he hung his head and he couldn't do that you see the rich man was holding on on to it it meant too much to him he saw it as his what generous people can see that other people can't see is that there is no material thing in this world that needs holding on to you my experience just as a for free when when I've been challenged to lay something down which has happened often I find that when I lay it down I get to pick it up again I find when I lay it down God says okay I can trust you with it and he gives it to me anyway King J Kingdom generosity works like this you sow giving you seow you sew into the ground where you cannot see trusting God from that a harvest gets produced you then are the recipient of that harvest the recipient with open hands and you then get to sew again and there's a cycle that starts to happen I sew and then I reap I harvest and then I sew again and it happens again and again and and then something starts to develop in me and I think wow this is fun you see when you SE generosity generously you also are investing in heaven these are scriptures that for me don't even need to be there but they are I I call them Grace scriptures they I I don't need anything in heaven I thought about this message and I thought there are a couple of stories I'm going to share and and I'm thinking of that scripture don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing and I thought it's not about the Treasures in Heaven sometimes sometimes it's more about if you can just encourage other people to step out and do something well that for me will be treasure here on Earth and yet again in heaven 2 Corinthians 5:10 for we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body whether good or bad our primary scripture for this morning is 2 Corinthians 96-111 remember this verse six whoever SWS sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever SWS generously will also reap generously let's pause there SE generously reap generously friends I think it's easy to think that we are transacting with Heaven here it's easy to think that I'm going to seow and then I reap so I sew and I reap and practically it could be similar but actually you are sowing out of your faith compulsion you are sewing in heav Heaven is transacting with itself heaven isn't rewarding you for your sewing he is trusting you because of your sewing the return is an expression of trust I was faithful with what you gave me Lord Jesus and now you will entrust me with the same or more or more often the Open Hand theology or analogy let me say open hand analogy says God my hands are safe generosity always drives responsibility and responsibility unlocks generosity there is a ccle here and the ccle says do it again do it again do it again and sometimes it says I'm going to give you more to do it with Luke 6:38 give and it will be given to you A good measure pressed down shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap for with the measure you use it it will measure to you in honesty I I've found that generosity has left something over for sometimes for me I I found I don't know God's so gracious and this message is not about that but it but it's like a it's like a roast when when you when you when you've got a roast and that roast is for the banquet it's for the it's for the the other people the party that you that you are providing for and you're cutting slicing through that roast and that's for other people what I have is for other people how do you notice when there's always little bits left over like the juicy bits the charred bits you know and the the guyss had to slave over this thing and smell the thing for the last hour and a half yeah you're the one who gets to eat those little bits when everyone's dishing up you're like embarrassingly I'm a little full already I I think God is so generous I call it the spoils of stewardship back to 2 Corinthians 9: 7 and 8 each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful Giver and referring to cheerful Giver God is able to bless you abundantly so that why in all things at all times having all that you need underline you will abound in every good work cheerful giving cheerful giving friends it like we think cheerful we're thinking oh that's a feeling I'm happy must give happily I very seldom give happily it's not like a it's not a you know in the moment if I'm feeling cheerful using the English word it's it's that's that's when I give no I don't believe cheerful means it's not a feeling it's a place of being free it's free from guilt free from the guilt that says I've done something wrong here it's a guilt this is I was being compelled by humans compelled by them and i' I'm feeling guilty I've done something wrong but it's not free from needing Faith cheerful giving always lands at a place that says I know I must Lord help me through this moment you're stretching me you're pushing me you're making me uncomfortable I know I must but like help me through this a couple of years ago we had a a car which is quite old and uh we were we decided that we were going to sell it and buy another one and in the process of almost trading it in I felt God nudg me and say give the car away I didn't want to it has value trade in sounds like a much better thing to hear from God right now in fact I need to he hear from God I would normally just do that but God's give it away so in faith we step out we gave the car away one day later that person wrote the car off yes that's what I said I haven't changed the insurance yet we haven't signed the yellow forms yet um I found the insurance company and I said uh We've written off the well the the renom Manan has been written off I said but I have a problem I gave it away yesterday um incredible lady uh she's a Christian lady she's our insurance broker and she says no problem full um thanks for sharing exactly what the truth is and what the story is just leave it with me I don't know how but insurance actually did pay out verses 9 to 11 summarizes this as it is written they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor their righteousness endures forever now he who supplies seed to the SE and bread for food will also Supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the Harvest of your righteousness you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in Thanksgiving to God do we believe that today is this a scripture that you just gloss over over and it's lost you or do we believe that today the second question I want to ask us is how is my generosity looking right now generosity is it's not a gift being generous is not a gifting it's not something that well some people are gifted with generosity and while thank the Lord for those people when I look at scriptures I don't see generosity in the gifting basket anywhere generosity is always spoken of as something for all of us everybody can and should participate in a life of generosity Martin Luther said people go through three conversions the conversion of the head their heart and their pocketbook unfortunately not all at the same time I've chewed on this uh this quote many times I wondered why why does Luther refer to money as a conversion I I look at I think my own journey of financial conversion looks something like this I used to give originally out of surplus I then moved to giving in sacrifice and then giving from a place of sewing I'll unpack those words now but maybe maybe you can relate to that see Surplus says I'll give you what's left to my plate it's mine I might have left over and I may give it to you I I call this kindness It's a nice thing to do sacrifice says no no I'll take off my plate to give to you I give up something now I'm starting to give and sewing says it's it's not my plate it never was who can I share this with you see it's at this point that I really got it Galatians 62 carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ true true stewardship looks around to see where is their need your eyes are wide open where is there need where can I help what can I do when you realize it's not not yours in the first place yes I'll answer that question you will spend less and share more and it's a wonderful place to be 1 John 3:17 if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them how can the love of God be in that person sewing is giving as a responsibility there us say that when you seow you're obliged not just privileged to give there's something that changes around the weight of the weight of generosity a child needs a wheelchair what can I do a clinic needs people to feed them for a meal time not just where can I help but when can I help a school needs a boundary fence to keep the children safe a young adult qualifies to study further what can I commit to a lady's shelter needs a home what is in my hands to contribute a child needs a hug Lord pick me I said it was a switch and I am praying that this morning the switch will come on how do I unlock more generosity in my life the final question it's interesting on Thursday evening I Ethan walked into our bedroom and we were chatting to him Ethan my son and I said what are your thoughts and generosity and he he made a fascinating comment he said he has realized that it's more about his head space than his financial place he gives better from the right head space and finds it difficult to give when thinking about his financial Place asked him are you free on Sunday morning you see it's about faith how do we increase our generosity we cannot escape the need for faith we cannot escape this really important thing that says I need more faith and I think we often we think about faith and we think like try Define faith in people it it's like one of those like really difficult not too sure how to Rack my head around this thing faith is this thing that you you get as uh when you become like a better Christian I I think people think that faith is a thing in itself and here's the trick here's the freeing bit actually faith is not a thing in itself it's a thing in God faith is a belief in God faith has to be connected to God I see God big my faith grows therefore it's not Blind Faith either it's seeing Faith you see faith is not you leaping off the cliff and saying I hope it works I heard full on Sunday and sounds like he says I'm must just go for it with everything I got it's you being open to be challenged by God feeling God's nudge and then acting it's you opening your heart feeling the challenge and then deciding Lord You've spoken I'm not going to question you too many times and then acting may I say this in love if you never feel God's love sorry if you never feel God's nudge you're not listening generosity is for all faith has memory the more you step into Faith the easier it is practically generosity grows with practice you're like Phil make it practical well there it is generosity grows with practice practically it grows with practice it's a muscle it requires exercising regular is more important the big doing it all the time is more important than doing a big thing looking for opportunities to be generous often is that that that's the thing it's also a medicine generosity is the antidote to idolatry let me explain it's the daily medicine that stops me spending everything on me when I when I'm lacking my generosity and there have been many many many moments I find I become more more selfish I spend more on me and it's not good Proverbs 22:9 the generous will themselves be blessed for they share their food with the poor I we we need to find a way friends we need to find a way that we can be you need to put like rules in your life that says I I either I I carry we got a a young guy in our life group that always has makes sandwiches and so when they travel somewhere he's able to give sandwiches away I think that is such an awesome story some people like to keep a a stack of change and they use that and I'm talking about the regular G you see this is the this is the practicing thing we we Nicki now for various reasons and we we we've had the privilege of traveling to different places in the world and I I noticed that different countries have got different tipping rates you know when you eat at a cafe or something and you know some of them they don't tip that's their culture some of them it's a 10% some of them go at ranges right I found the highest tipping percentage I've ever found is 20% about three or four years ago during Co I made a decision that for me that wherever I go I'm going to tip 20% whenever I eat somewhere and there's a tip thing I'm tipping 20% why because God tips me 20% I always feel tipped 20% by him and I want people to feel valued I want people to think like wow I did not serve this guy well you know I just generosity is it's got to be Beyond The Logical it's got to be beyond the normal it's got to be beyond the transactional it's got to be and this is this is my personal conviction by the way it's got to be the beyond the you know the service was okay but you know the coffee did take a bit long didn't it so you know you're in for 5% next time now you know what to do what kind of love is that if God treated me that way I would be seriously struggling but he doesn't he encourages me he guards me and he lavishes on me so I've chosen to be a 20% Tipper that's just a practical tool I put into my life to encourage this generosity is both a switch and a journey we will want to pray that Jesus will stretch open our hearts stretch open our hearts and may that switch turn on May we move from a place where we're just sharing to sacrificing joy to to sewing where you're truly living where you've let go it's not mine God will take care of your needs the scriptures tell us that we know that God's even generous I've seen that but find a way to stretch open your heart your heart is a muscle your brain isn't with generosity more heart less brain more h less thinking you think about it too much you'll just go backwards I'll end with the story I'll sharing a similar message in waterfall and we're talking about how money works in the kingdom and how when you sew it it has a it has a way of doing something it's beyond our understanding but it has a way of unlocking something and uh and i' I'd really pre-prepared and I had 100 R in my pocket and there was a um during the message I just randomly picked a lady in the audience and I pulled out the 100 Rand and I walked down and I gave it to her and my message part of the message was me saying please don't give that back to me because this is my opportunity to be generous don't deny me that at the end of the uh the service um a lot of people had left she came up to me and she said I I need to share something with you I don't I don't have anything I I I don't I rely on other people to feed me I don't have any money I don't have any transport but something about generosity a couple of days ago it sounded like she'd heard a message in some way and it struck her heart and she says that I want to be I want to be generous that morning that i' shared the message she was praying and she said Lord help me to be generous give me something that I can give away cuz I've got nothing she says you've now given me a 100 Rand I now know where I'm giving it to that blew my mind that goes beyond Lord give me the 100 rent to S satisfy my needs that was somebody who held it like that and had already decided in her heart what she was going to do with it can we stand let's pray father I know this this could be a difficult message for for many people it's not uh we're often so consumed about the cost of things and things we cannot afford and the mountain of debt that the ever worry waking us up in the middle of the night not too sure how are we going to pay for certain things but there's an unlocking here I I really believe it Lord we we pray that you're going to stretch open our hearts stretch open our hearts that we may see the need knowing that you will provide by the seed we thank you Father that you are so generous you are a father a father who cares a father who feeds a father who looks after a father who sees everything we cannot see open our eyes to the needs around us Lord Jesus show us what's in our hands and stretch us encourage us to be generous people and that'll look different for all of us but as with me and my family Lord what are you asking me to do how are you encouraging me how are you nudging me lovingly we thank you we thank you that you we thank you Lord Jesus that you've been so generous it all began when you gave your son for us I cannot think of a higher generosity than a father who gives his own child away for the sake of others if there's a model there something we can learn off Lord is that there is there's no end to what we can do that'll ever measure up to where you began amen amen please remain standing just as stepen sh I'll close the meeting thank you full I know that all of us want to experience more of the kingdom of God in our own lives and uh Jesus preached about the kingdom of of Heaven arriving and this message this morning is just such an invitation for us to join the adens with the kingdom of heaven and father I just want to thank you that you know sometimes in church this topic can be handled with the right heart but insensitively delivered and then people are confused and and wrestle and you just handled it with such wisdom and finessa thank you so much for for that if you would like to pray with anybody afterwards please come forward there's a group of people here that would welcome the opportunity to pray with you and also we've got some lovely warm coffee and tea in the foyers or you can buy a cappuccino at our coffee shop so hang around don't forget to collect your children have a wonderful wonderful Sunday afternoon and a blessed week thank [Music] [Music] you that a king is mindful of me who am [Music] I that is love pursu me deeply in my pain in my Brokenness and sorrow called by name I'm adopted by forgiveness save

Channel: CityHill Church

Views: 846

Keywords: CityHill Church, Hillcrest, Phil Kinder

Id: KooFKbuxKAw

Length: 36min 49sec (2209 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 09 2024