Imagine a world without watermelons! Sadness would abound especially around July 4th. What if in this watermelon deprived world we actually discovered one watermelon seed? A single watermelon could have up to 800 seeds. If this one seed produced a watermelon with 800 seeds then those 800 seeds could produce 640,000 watermelons. 640,000 watermelons have the capacity to produce 512,000,000 watermelons.
The seed always unlocks the harvest. The Bible is clear that our lives are financially activated by giving and sowing seeds of generosity.
Prov 11:25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. NIV
This is not about being prosperous. This is about being generous. Don’t believe the lie that you’ll give when you have more. God never works with what we don’t have. God always works with what we do have to release more of what he has purposed for us to carry to our world.
We want God to change our lives. God wants to change us and that’s what changes our lives.
Your life is significantly attached to you. The Bible doesn’t say the prosperous person will be generous. The Bible says the generous person will be prosperous. If you’ve every known somebody who was self-absorbed you know how toxic and unhealthy their perspective was. Giving that person more of what they want wouldn’t change the fact that they were self-absorbed. God knows how destructive it is for us to be self-absorbed and this is why giving has always been a part of God’s plan for worship.
We all believe that our children will have better lives if they can simply to be less selfish and more selfless. Our children will not learn generosity from their buddies. We must lead them in this helping them understand the sacrifices we are making to see God’s Kingdom expand. In doing so we enlarge our world, their world and a legacy that moves far beyond us.
Prov 11:24 The world of generous gets larger and larger but the world of stingy gets smaller and smaller. MSG
Imagine what kind of world could exist on the other side of an obedient church. The #1 killer in the world is contaminated water. Interestingly $10 billion would solve the world’s contaminated water problem. $30 billion would solve the world’s hunger problem for the entire planet. $40 billion sounds like so much money until you consider that if North America tithed for just one year giving 10% of their income it would produce $150 billion! We would solve contaminated water, world hunger and have $110 billion to do other wonderful things in the world.
Instead of thinking about the 24,901 mile globe think about the five foot circle when you consider that previous statement. What kind of world could exist on the other side of our obedience? This is an important question for each of us to ask because we will be held accountable for how we handle what we have in this life.
The Bible actually speaks of two judgments. John 5:24 speaks of the judgment of salvation while 2 Cor 5:10 speaks of the judgment of works. When you stand before God for salvation you cannot claim works. Also when you stand before God for works you cannot claim salvation.
We really should all have two testimonies. The life we gained by meeting Jesus. The life we gave helping others do the same.
Eph 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, God prepared in advance for us to do.
Gathering to worship and contributing to the greater mission of God’s desire to establish a strong church in the earth is a very important part of our faith and our worship. I WANT MY CHURCH FAMILY TO BE FINANCIALLY STRONG! Not only do I want my church family to be strong for this generation but for future generations to come. Did you know that loving, serving and giving in this house positions you to stand before God with the works of this house assigned to your life?
1 Cor 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. NIV
After this world’s production there will be a great big cast party! God is going to praise you in reciprocation for a job well done! There will be a lot of fruit from our church celebrated in that day. Every time we give, every time we serve, every time we make a sacrifice to see the vision furthered this is applied to our spiritual account.
God has always included sacrificial giving as part of worship. God asks us to make sacrificial efforts to gather regularly expressing our understanding that life is not merely about our personal ambitions and desires.
Deut 14:23 The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives (TLB)
We should include our children in conversations about our giving to expand God’s work and further God’s kingdom in the earth.We want you to know it is God’s will for you to discover God’s best by learning to live a sacrificial life with the resources of time and money God has entrusted to your care!
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Purpose a discussion over a meal this week with family or friends to discuss how you can translate God’s blessing in your life into an expression of love for others.
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY GROUP LEADERS
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Share a time when one thing led to another and something bigger resulted from a decision you made.
The reality that one thing leads to another is born from the Biblical truth of sowing and growing. This is a law but God intended it to be for good. In a fallen world this law can produce that which is not good but may we all be reminded that Jesus is alive and so are we! God’s plan is to awaken God’s love in the hearts of God’s people to transform every society on the planet to become more like God’s Kingdom in heaven! Light is more powerful than darkness and the blessing is more powerful than the curse!
Generosity perpetuates a blessing from God that cannot be confined and it cannot be contained by the world in which we live. This means God’s blessing brings increase to the point of overflowing. Wikipedia reports that a watermelon can have as many as 800 seeds. If the world had only one watermelon left the seeds could potentially produce 800 watermelons with 640,000 seeds. This could potentially produce 512 million watermelons. God wants to awaken generosity in our lives to produce an overflowing harvest to our world!
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
2. Did you grow up in a home were generosity was modeled? What were your earliest experiences of generosity and how do those experiences shape your own generosity today?
Prov 11:24 The world of generous gets larger & larger but the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. (Message)
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
3. If a person is self-absorbed he/she has an unhealthy toxic overall perspective.
Why is this the case?
God knows how destructive it is for us to be self-absorbed. This is why God has always included sacrificial giving as a part of worship. God asks us to make sacrificial efforts to love, serve and give regularly expressing our understanding that life is not merely about our personal ambitions and desires.
We really are created by God to flourish. God truly wants your life to be awesome but this truth comes with a trick. God doesn’t want you to pursue an awesome life for yourself. God wants you to provide an awesome life for others. That is what will make your life so awesome!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
4. How have your priorities changed since you became a Christian?
5. What’s the most current growth area for you and what area of your life does Jesus want to shape and influence right now? If you had to guess, what do you think he will want you to work on in 10 years?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Purpose a discussion over a meal this week with family or friends to discuss how you can translate God’s blessing in your life into an expression of love for others.