Sermon OPENING
I LOVE CHRISTMAS… The energy in the air. The food. The family time. The celebration.
But Christmas is ALSO an amazing time of year that really gets me excited to see people’s faces. I love the look of excitement and anticipation right before my family (especially the kiddos) open their gifts. There is something priceless about that excitement when they first tear into their packages. You’ve pondered and shopped and agonized over the gift and this is the moment of joy!
Based on the example of our friends Matt & Michelle: Every year, we have decided to give our children only 3 gifts. Why you may ask! Well, we want to be able to teach them the story of Jesus (and his 3 gifts) and to teach them that it’s not about how much you get, but about giving to others. Grandma and grandpa have also adopted this with them.
We also encourage our children give a gift first to grandparents, aunts, etc. before they are able to open their own. We want them to learn the joy of GIVING not just receiving.
Nice story, BUT the wrong season… or is it?
Today, we embark on our 4th phase in our Grow series. We’ve talked about how to EAT God’s word, how to PRAY God’s word, how to radically LOVE and today we launch into how we…
GIVE to LIVE!
Today, we launch into how to surrender our stingy-NESS and open up our hearts to giving. We truly begin to grow in our lives when we GIVE. Often I have heard the story of many people who tell me that the church just isn’t feeding me enough OR we’re not going deep enough in our teachings… true growth and depth will come out of GIVING of ourselves.
If on Christmas, all my children ever did is receive… they’d miss the point of Christmas, Easter and the church.
Opening Prayer
Welcome guests and campuses.
Sermon BODY
We cannot go on this journey of how to GIVE without looking at the life of Jesus. There are 1,000s of people who give of their resources to worthy causes because they feel it’s the right thing to do or it makes them feel better about themselves or they feel guilty due to a news story OR a cry for help on TV. Heck even American Idol has an “Idol Gives Back Night!” (explain it).
But that’s not what this is about. This is about JESUS. Jesus is the one who lives inside us as believers. Jesus is the one who empowers us to live a life of generosity! When we surrender our lives to him, we surrender our lives to following his example.
This whole series we will be encouraging you to be EATing and PRAYing through the book of Luke. Take note of how he spent time with the Father and how he radically LOVEd others…. And through all of it look at how Jesus was/is THE MASTER GIVER.
Listen to Jesus’ heart as he taught his followers about giving in Luke 6:38 (NLT)
“Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
Do you hear Jesus’ heart? We determine our growth by either being stingy or by being generous with our lives! And friends, this is not just about your cash. This is about the act of your heart. This is about your life being lived generously towards others. We don’t want this GIVE series to be about you surrendering just your resources (though for some that may come into play), but about you surrendering your lives to follow Jesus, the Master Giver’s EXAMPLE… so how did Jesus live a generous lifestyle?
The Master Giver gave of his… Time
o (Luke 4:18-19 in the Message) “God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!"
o Compassion – always having time for those around him.
o Healings – always being ready to say “can I pray for you right now?”
o Preaching – always ready to tell of God’s great story in your lives. (Your story is powerful!)
The Master Giver gave of his…Abundance (Luke 9)
o Authority: Jesus sent out the 12 to “do the stuff” of the Kingdom. It wasn’t the Jesus show, but about loving his followers so much that he wanted them to partner with him… Zeke and the bookshelves ILL.
o Feeding the 5,000: Jesus was willing to meet the practical needs of those around him. Whatever he had, even though it was little, he was willing to share because he knew the principle of God’s abundance (6:38) being poured out when we share our abundance. Good place to intro $ as a heart issue.
o Fullness of the Kingdom: Jesus wanted to share everything the Father had given him in order to bless those around him. All of the light and life that was in him! All of the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit that the Father had blessed him with. That’s what he wanted to share. He refused to be stingy with the Father’s gifts and power. Friends, share all that God has blessed you with even the smallest things!
Everything
o His Life Share the gospel here!
Wrap Up
For me preparing this sermon, it was helpful and encouraging to see that Jesus gave so much in life, in death and even today… but we can’t stop with just a nice lesson on Jesus! Because the mission of the Vineyard is to “Continue the Ministry of Jesus”… we want to “do the stuff” of the Kingdom which means:
If Jesus GAVE then we are to GIVE.
If Jesus was willing to lose his life for the Kingdom, then we should be ready to lose our lives for the Kingdom.
Again: Giving is not a resource issue, but a heart issue!
We want you to give of your time, abundance & life because through giving you find TRUE LIFE in Jesus. When we surrender our stingy-ness we become generouse.
This is the nature of the upside-down Kingdom (last and first)… we grow by being generous.
When I was a kid everyone wanted to be Michael Jordan (tell story).
Our #1 action during this series is for you to “Emulate the Master Giver!”
Emulate his generous lifestyle that flowed out of his love from the Father!
Give Your Time: Volunteer, serve, read the book of Luke
Give out of Your Abundance: Give to Live collection (details soon), resources
Lose your life for the Kingdom! Luke 9:24 (NLT) “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”
Surrender your WILL to Jesus & obedience to a generous lifestyle will follow.
When we lose our lives for the Kingdom, we join with the Vineyard’s Vision to IMPACT our world here, near, and far away!
Whether you choose to give of your time to volunteer at your local campus OR your resources to the “Give to Live Collection”… or whether you commit to finding God’s heart in the book of Luke during this season or recommit to tithing to the Vineyard… or even if you jump on board with one of our church planting teams or pursue a life serving our missions in Mexico and China… all of these things will help you GROW.
Overwhelmed? Mother T told us to just “find the person in front of you.”
Reflect the heart of the Master Giver…
Answer the call of: “Give to live!”
STORY: Woman in our church inspired by Di’s message on radical LOVE… gave a ride to girl with lice… God opened the door for her to give to 3 more people… shared with another woman at Vineyard… she, in turn, stopped and helped a homeless man that week with food & prayers. She literally gave money, time and love to the homeless person!!
Let me close by reading you our key text again, but this time in the Message translation:
Luke 6:38 (MSG)
“Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”
Closing Prayer
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