Freedom Church
Raleigh, NC
Ss112225
Pastor Josh informed me that for the past few weeks you all have been focusing on the subject of Generosity. Today we are going to continue in that series by discussing how our generosity impacts others.
My goal this morning is to teach what I know as truth in hopes it will inspire you to act on that truth. I am going to ask you to endeavor to find one thing to take home.
Don’t believe the propaganda of this world. This world is broken. We must refuse to believe what the devil has to say about God, what he has to say about anything, especially Christians and the Church.
God and the devil are not co-equals fighting it out on the world stage to see who will win. The devil is a created being who went rogue. Many of you know a little about how that can happen. Neither God or Jesus are created beings … God is the Creator and Jesus was with Him in the beginning. God is God. He has already won and He wrote a book about it.
What would you do if you had a copy of tomorrow’s newspaper? You know what I’d suggest? I’d suggest you turn to the sports page and see who wins the fight. Then I would bet every cent I have on the winner and I’d borrow money if I had to and go and tell all my friends and beg them to bet everything they had. That’s what I’d do if I had a copy of tomorrow’s newspaper.
Well guess what? I do have a copy of tomorrow’s newspaper … it’s called the Bible … and I’ve read who wins the fight … and I’m betting everything I’ve got on it and even going from house to house, spending time traveling across the nation and around the world trying to tell people who’s going to win. I’ve talked to and convinced all my kids and each one of my grandkids and am even talking to my great grands about it.
God is the winner, and the devil is a liar. He wants people to believe he has a chance. He is no match for the Church. The very gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church.
The Church is the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, and the family of God in heaven and earth. The Church of 2025 is bigger than it has ever been, stronger than it has ever been, more powerful and more productive, going farther, growing faster, doing more and spreading the love and goodness of God more than ever before in the history of the world.
Over 75,000 people will accept Jesus as Lord and Savior today and every day in 2025. You are a part of an elite group of Believers, saved for such a day as this. The average size of a church is between 50 and 75 people. This means the Church of 2025 needs to train and
release more than 1,000 new ministers and leaders every day to cover just the new growth needs of discipleship.
We live in some exciting and some extreme times.
As born-again Believers, We should never expect to be treated better than Jesus.
And one more note: God’s job is not easy. Look in the mirror and see who He has to work with. Don’t make it harder on God. Don’t be like the young rich ruler of Luke 18. When Jesus asks you to be generous … don’t say no. Don’t make Jesus have to get some other guy out of a tree to do the job He needed you to do.
There is a difference between teaching and telling, listening and learning. It is less important what I say today than what you take with you. The only way you can know if you have learned something today is if you can repeat what I’ve said. If the student cannot repeat what the teacher said perhaps the teacher was talking not teaching or maybe the student was just listening instead of learning. So …
I am going to ask you to find one thing that I say today or one thing the Holy Spirit personally reveals to you and grab on to it. Rehearse it in your head so that you can leave here with something valuable for the time you are investing. I came to teach the truth. If you don’t learn something, we have both wasted our time.
So – turn to someone and tell them something you’ve either heard or thought this morning while we are turning in our Bibles to Luke 9.
Luke 9 NIV
12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”
13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.”
14 (About five thousand men were there.)
But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”
15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down.
16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.
17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
That was a miracle!
People talk about Jesus feeding the 5000 when actually Jesus did not feed them … the disciples did. In each account in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the first thing Jesus did was to tell the disciples to feed them. And in all the accounts the disciples did feed them.
Jesus took the bread; blessed the bread; broke the bread; and gave the bread to His disciples and the disciples gave it to the multitudes who were seated in groups of 50. What a miracle, what a picture of the generosity of Jesus. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they were all satisfied. Jesus did what His followers could not do but He required them to do what they could.
God demands we participate in our miracles.
Every person ate all they wanted and then there were 12 baskets full of food left over. But … do you know what happened to every person who ate that fish? They got hungry again. The miracle of the fish and loaves didn’t even last 12 hours. It was only a temporary fix.
Jesus cares about our temporary needs.
John 6 records the next morning all those people went looking for Jesus and when they found Him Jesus said: “You’re only following Me because I fed your bellies …” What? Yep … they were ready for breakfast, and they were looking for their next meal.
Do you know what happened to every person Jesus prayed for? They died!
Virtually every miracle Jesus did was aimed at meeting someone’s temporary need. This is how much Jesus cares about the hungry, the poor, the needy, and how generous He is.
Like Jesus, we are not looking for the last hungry person, we are only looking for the next one.
Matthew 25 NIV
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
What is the impact of generosity on the lives of others?
- · It’s a meal when they would have gone hungry that day.
- o KE Resources fed 1.5 million meals to starving people last year. And guess what - they’re hungry again today.
- o We feed an additional 500 meals each week just at Zaburi House alone.
- · It’s a refreshing drink when water is otherwise unavailable.
- o We have drilled more than 1300 fresh water wells all over the world.
- o Our newest project is among the Samburu people of Northern Africa. We are 2 months into a purified water distribution to the most impoverished people.
- · It’s clothing when they had nothing else clean to put on.
- o KE Resources specializes in clothing distribution.
- o In July we bought sewing machines for women living in the garbage dump site of Gioto and are paying them a modest salary to make clothes for the people living there.
- · It’s ministry to those who are sick and in prison.
- o Time fails me to tell you of the opportunities which surround you here in North Carolina, around this nation and throughout the world.
- o People need the Lord, and they most often find Him in a listening ear and an open heart.
- o Don’t let the devil deceive you into thinking you don’t have time to visit those who are lonely or discouraged.
Being generous is a God quality. Saying yes to something that may cost you is being like Jesus. Generosity is going above and beyond what we have to and into the place of ministry where we get to.
The boy who gave Jesus the fish and loaves got a great return on his investment that day. I bet those 12 baskets full of fish and loaves met some needs for that boy’s family that week. Temporary, but important to the day.
Your generosity allows people to hear and see the message of the Gospel. If you have ever been hungry you know that that is the only voice you can hear. But, when that need is met, that voice quiets down and people can hear the sweet sound of Jesus reminding them of His love and care for their souls.
