You were created to give generously from a heart that loves God. As you choose to give without a grudging heart, you will experience His blessing in all you do. Start today by examining your motives and offering freely to those in need.
Matthew-7 and verse 1 is where we're gonna start. Matthew-7 verse 1. And it says this, do not judge or you will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
So I wanna do a little exercise with you guys. Let's do a little short term memory exercise. You guys ready? I'm gonna I'm gonna say it. I want you guys to repeat after me.
Do not judge. Not judge. Good. Or you will be judged. Or you be judged.
With the measure you use. With the measure you use. It will be measured back to you. It will be measured back you. Alright.
You guys remember that. Right? Yes. Okay. Cool.
Let's go to Luke-6. Luke-6. We're gonna read in verses 37 and 38. We're just gonna start with the first little phrase of 37 and the last little phrase of 38. It says, do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Sound familiar? Last little phrase, for with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. It's amazing. It's the same same sentences, the same thing. Why?
Because it is a parallel passage. Right? So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they it's 4 separate accounts of the same story. So sometimes they use the same passage. But the interesting in here thing in here is in Luke-6:37-38, there's some verses in between that are a little different from in Matthew.
Right? And I think a lot of times, these verses are taught and preached a little bit out of context. So, let's look at these verses. It says, do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven. A good measure, "pressed down", "shaken together", and "running over" will be given back to you, or poured in your lap. For with the measure be used, it will be measured back to you. I'm gonna make a statement that may or may not shock you. Are you guys ready for this?
The word money is not in those verses. What? Every time we we we hear that preach, we hear it preach about money. But, the word money is not in those verses. Giving is.
Give is. Ask me how many times do I preach every Sunday or how many times do I preach on giving, and and I preach on giving every Sunday, not giving money. You can't preach the gospel without preaching about giving. That's right. Grace, undeserved favor, a gift that he freely gave for God so loved the world that he gave every single Sunday.
You can't preach a message on marriage without preaching about giving, not money. But, a marriage won't work unless it's 2 givers, giving selflessly of themselves for the others. Amen? Okay. So, giving is all about the heart, and that is the title of the message.
It's all about the heart. Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. People might say, when they hear that, well, hold on. They just want my money. They just this is what they're all they just want my money.
Yes. God does want your money. Not the church. God wants your money. You know why?
Because he wants your heart. Where your treasure is, there your heart is also. Yeah. Right. Right?
Yeah. I mean, think about this. If you've if you've ever put some money into some stocks, what are you gonna start doing? You start checking it. Every day.
Every day? Every week? See what's going on? Put your time? Put your interest?
Why? Because where your treasure is, your heart is also. You ever heard about the guy who who never really watched football but had some good intel, so he decided to bet on the football game. You ever heard about that guy? What did he do when the football game came on?
He was there. He was cheering for his team. He was rooting for it. Never ever ever watched football, but yet in that moment, he's watching with everything he has. And when they kick us, what he what?
A field score? No, field goal. He had no idea. But, he's invested because where your treasure is, they're your Heart. And God wants all of your heart.
It's a hot heart issue. Don't judge, and you won't be judged. Don't condemn, you won't be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven in abundance all the matters of the life. And then, he says this, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
What does that mean? You ever wonder what what does that really mean? See, Jesus is talking to people who would have understood this, the farming community of the Old Testament. What they would do is when it was harvest time, the owner of the field, he would hire some hands and they'd take their baskets and they'd go. They were paid by the hour.
Right? So, they'd go and they'd pick their grain. They'd fill it up to about full, and they'd take it back to the storehouse, and they'd throw the grain in the storehouse. And they'd go back and do it. And as long as they were busy, they're good to go.
But God instituted a welfare system, which was pretty cool. It was hard work. He he left the corners of the field. God told him to leave the corners of the field. They couldn't pick the corners.
They picked the middle and the sides. But also, any grain that was dropped, they had to leave it. And so, you had these people, the poor of society that that couldn't, you know, or didn't have. They would come from miles and miles and miles. They'd bring their baskets, and they'd go and pick from the corners or pick the ground off the pick the grain off the ground.
And then, when they pick for their family because this is a matter of life and death for them. Right? This is a daily matter of I either starve, my family starves, or they're satisfied. So, they would pick a good measure. They wouldn't pick a partial measure.
They wouldn't pick a half measure. They'd pick a good measure. But then, when they did that, they'd press it down. And then, they'd put some more in. And then, they'd shake it to get all the air pockets out of the grain.
Go down a little bit more. And then, they put some more in until it was running over. And then, right when it's at the part of running over, they know they had the most that they possibly could have for their family, and they carefully take it back home. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together. What is he saying?
He's saying, hey, what you give, whether it's judgment, condemnation, forgiveness, what you give, it's going to be given back to you in abundance. You guys see that? Awesome. So, you can apply this to many, like, many different areas of your life. It's the principle of Scripture, seed, time, and harvest.
You sow a seed, there's some time, then a tree pops up in the kind of that seed, and then there's fruit with all kind I mean, a lot of seed of the same kind, and it comes back to you. Right? You can see that there. So, I heard a story about a counselor. And this mom with her kids, it was her day to go go get counseling, and she didn't have a babysitter for her kids, so she had to bring her kids to the counselor that day.
And she called and asked the counselor if she could do that, and the counselor said, of course, you can. You know, we'll just put them in the room beside. So, she brought her kids, and she sat them in the room and made sure that they were good. She sat down, just kinda like, you know, mom that's had a rough day or a rough week or a rough year, and just took a deep breath and said, my kids yell at me. My kids yell at me.
I I just don't know why. Jimmy, Susie, sit down. Why? Be quiet. I don't know why they yell at me.
So true. The counselor quoted Luke-6:38 to her. Give yelling, and yelling will be given back to you. With good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will it be measured back to you? For with the measure you use, yelling will be measured back to you.
Okay. So, let's go to Deuteronomy-15. Alright. *Deuteronomy-15*. And, it's all about the heart.
So, the question is, how then do we develop a generous heart? *Deuteronomy-15:7-8*. If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land of the Lord of the yeah. Of the land the Lord your God has given you. So who's given it to you?
God. The Lord your God. Oh, you know what I didn't do? Hello to everybody online. Hey, guys.
Would you guys would you guys give us a big hand clap to everybody? We're watching live on YouTube and Facebook, and I'm sorry I left you guys out. Welcome as well. There's a connect link right above you. You can fill that out too if you've never been connected to real church.
Anyway, if anyone is poor among you, your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard *hearted* or tight fisted selfishness. It's really what it's talking about. Do don't be hard hearted or tight fisted. Rather, be open handed, generous. Don't be hard don't be selfish.
Be generous. Rather, be open handed and freely lend them what they need. So from this passage in Deuteronomy-15, we're gonna be talking about 4 different things that we need to do if we're gonna become generous givers in every area of our life. Number 1, we got a deal. Bring up number 1.
There we go. Oh, with a. We got deal with a a selfish heart. We have to I'm a rapper preacher. What's up?
Deal with a selfish heart. Actually, do rap. I have written a rap song before. Believe it or not, maybe 1 day I'll get to do that. Now, number 1, deal with a selfish heart.
*Deuteronomy-15:9, be careful not to harbor this wicked thought. So, he's telling you not to be selfish, but to be generous, and then he equates selfishness to to wickedness*. Did you catch that? Selfishness is wickedness. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought.
The seventh year, the year for canceling debts is near, so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. So, selfishness equates to wickedness, which leads to sin. Not good. What does he say in and what is he talking about there?
God had instituted an economic system in those days where every seventh year, all debts were canceled. Would you guys like to live in that that that kind of an economic system? Every seventh year, all your debts be canceled completely and totally wiped clean, clean slate. So, what he's saying is, somebody comes to you and needs something, don't think, wait a second, it's the sixth year, tenth month. There's only 2 months left.
If I lend to them, they won't be able to pay me back in 2 months, so I better not do it. He says that's selfishness and wickedness. Right? He says, don't don't do that. Let me ask you a question.
Why why do you think God created giving? You realize God instituted giving. **God invented giving**. Why do you because because he for God so loved the world, he gave. Not only that, he gave this world.
He created it for us and gave it to mankind. Why do you think God invented giving? Ask most Christians, and they will say, God invented giving to provide for his work throughout the world. Right? That sounds good, but it's kind of funny.
God doesn't need your money. He needs your money. That's right. God doesn't need your money. He's not waiting on you to give another check so he can pay the light bill in heaven.
Right? The streets are made of gold. He's not waiting on you to give another check so that he can have a gold another golden brick or golden piece of asphalt because they're low there's there's a shortage of golden bricks in heaven. God didn't invent giving for him, for his sake. God invented giving for your sake.
Because giving more than anything else works selfishness and greed out of our hearts. And, he wants our heart. Amen? Amen. Which is why I don't like most preaching on giving, and it was hard for me to tell God I'd do this series.
Because often, it's preached Give and you'll get. The quote unquote prosperity gospel, give and you'll get. The problem with Oh, there's some truth to that, but it's with the right heart. The problem with give and you'll get is it does the opposite of what God wants to do. Give and you'll get works selfishness and greed back into your heart.
When God wants to work selfishness and greed out of your heart. So, preach, give and you'll get, give and you'll get, give and you'll get, give and you'll get. And then, the people catch a revelation of, give and I'll get. I wanna get, so I'll give. And, what do think God's up there saying?
Man, I'm so happy that my people caught a revelation of getting. No. For God so loved the world that he gave. It's not give to get. It's I get to give.
**It's give to give**. Amen? Amen. So that's point number 1, deal with a selfish heart. Point number 2, now we gotta deal with a grieving heart.
Deal with a grieving heart. What's he talking about? In Deuteronomy-15, next verse, verse 10, it says, give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart, NIV says. Another version says, a grieving heart. Then, because of this, the Lord your God will bless you in all Everybody say, all.
All. In all your work and in everything you put your hand to. So, what he's saying is, you give with the right heart, and all you do and all you put your hand to is blessed. The motivation of the heart is very, very vital and very important. It's an heart it's a heart issue.
You realize selfishness attacks us before we give, and then grief attacks us after we give? Right? You ever tried to give something, a a large gift, or and then all of a sudden you get home and something breaks, or you find this new bill or something, you're like, oh. I swear there's a there's a string between our heart and our wallet. We we go to get it and we go, oh, it hurts.
I had a random thought. You gotta be careful when your pastor's preaching and he has a random thought. Alright. So, here's my random thought. Joe, my wife and I and kids want to go out to eat, but we don't have any cash in our wallet.
It's my random flight. Thank you, sir. Joe, did it grieve you at all to give me that? Yes, sir. It didn't?
You sure? Because 1020406080, that's a $100. It didn't grieve you at all to give me a $100 cash? No? You you just jumped up and did that.
Woah. No. Let's talk about that for a second. There's a reason it didn't grieve him. See, what you don't know, but what he does, this is my $100.
I gave him this $100 before service and told him to give it back to me when I asked for it. I told him to take care of it for a little bit. It wasn't his $100. So, the reason he did it so fast and gave it to me was because it was mine. Come on.
The whole time. The point is, we grieve when we give, when we think what we have is ours. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And everything we have is his. And, he gave to us to steward or to be caretakers of and to follow him as he speaks to us.
Amen? Amen. How to deal with a grieving heart. That was point number 2. Point number 3 is we have to develop a generous heart.
*Deuteronomy-15* and verse 14 says, supply them liberally from your flock, so generously, your threshing floor and your wine press. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. Reminds me of *Ephesians-5:1*. We're imitators of God as dearly beloved children. When we see his goodness, we imitate that in every aspect of our life.
God wants you to be *generous* because he is generous and he's in you. You know, you're born selfish, but you're born again generous. Problem is our life's transformed when we renew our mind, and some of our our minds are continually being renewed. And as we're renewed to the reality of who he is in us, we become more generous. What's 1 of the hardest things we've got to teach our children growing up?
Share. I know. I've a 5 year old, a 6 year old, an 8 year old. They're back there, and they might be having trouble with sharing right now. Neighborhood kid comes over, grabs a toy.
That's mine. I was playing with that. They hadn't touched it in weeks. Neighborhood kid said, okay. Alright.
Fine. Fine. Grabs another toy. That's mine. I was playing with that too.
I was playing with that too. Right? 1 of the hardest things and that's children, but sometimes our heavenly father, he's asking us, he's saying, hey, look, it's time to grow up. For God so loved the world, I love the world so much that I gave, and I'm in inside of you. It's time for us to begin to grow up.
I heard this story, and I wanted to share it with you too. It's a powerful story. There's this little girl named Willow and her mom who were coming home after church. True story. And Willow's sitting in the back and she's got a a buck of lawn, you know, and mom's driving and looking at Willow in the back seat.
And, Willow says, mom, did you know that in the Bible, there's this woman who gave Jesus all that she had. She gave him her last 2 pennies, gave him everything. And, mama said, yeah, baby. That's a great story. And, Willow said, well, mom, I wanna give something to God.
And mama said, okay. Why don't you pray and ask God what he wants you to give? So Willow put her hands out like this and closed her eyes and got real quiet. And she says, little baby? No.
Not little baby. Oh, Betty baby. That's who you want. Betty baby. You can have Betty I don't like Betty baby.
Once again, right? That's a child learning about having a generous heart and learning to give. But, God is telling us, wait a second. I'm generous and I'm in you. So, it's time to get to the point where we say, God, what would you have me give?
All that I have is yours. And he says it. He said, and you don't question like Adam did in the garden because of Satan. Did God really say? No.
Yes, Lord. Of course. Thank you, Jesus. Number 3, develop a generous heart. Number 4, develop a grateful heart.
*Deuteronomy-15:15*. It says this, remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today. Now, remember, and we talked about this a little bit before a couple weeks ago, God gives a command, but he never forces you to follow his command. It's all always willful obedience.
And, we follow him out of obedience because we love him. Right? Those who love me obey my commands, but we we love him because he first loved us. So, it's always a my focus is never on me and what I need to do. It's always on him.
And, when I reorient my focus to his love, my love grows, my obedience grows, my trust grows, and then I begin to follow him in every little thing that I do. Amen? Amen. So, there's that. Then he says, remember that you were slaves in Egypt.
When we remember what he's brought us from, we have no problem following him in the day in and day out and being generous with what he says to be generous today. But, we have a problem being generous when we forget where he's brought us from Yeah. And when we forget that all that we have is ours or is his, when we think all that we have is ours, we have to remember, wait a second. Who was I before Jesus? I might have thought I had something, but the Bible says, apart from him, I can do nothing.
I could do nothing without him, and now I have all that he is inside of me. Now that I have and now I have all of his love, all of his goodness, all of his forgiveness, now I'm in right standing with him, not based on what I do and don't do, but based on what he did for me. He's radically *generous* to me. Now, I can be thankful that I have a wife. Thank you, Jesus, that I have a family.
Thank you, Jesus, that I have a car. Thank you, Jesus, that I have this church or whatever you have. The Bible says, be thankful in all things. So, Lord, let me reorient my mind to understand how good you are, how good you've been to us, Lord God, and let me be thankful in everything because when I'm being thankful, I'm focusing on you and what you've done, and I never ever want to cheapen what you did in sending your son out of your radical generosity for that so that I can receive your goodness, your love, and your your grace, and experience your life here and now. Amen?
Amen. Develop a grateful heart. Man, that's hard. In today's world, it's always, I gotta have this, I gotta have this, and I'm never satisfied. No.
We can be 100% satisfied in him because he is more than enough. And, when we're satisfied in him, then we can trust him. And, when we trust him, there's no stress, anxiety, but we have all joy and all peace. It's a big deal. Develop a grateful *heart*.
So that's why we're doing this series, the blessed life for the month of November because God wants you to live a blessed life in every aspect of your life. And, he doesn't want you to be ignorant of his principles. But, even more than principles, he wants to walk in relationship with you in every area of your life. And this is something that he is calling us forward in. And it's amazing.
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