Introduction

We are in the second week of a three-week series called, The Generous Life, where we are looking at the life-changing power of being generous. We believe God has called us to partner with his kingdom work in the world by blessing the people around us in a variety of ways. If you missed last week, we highlighted seven different ways in which we can be generous. We can be generous with our thoughts, words, money, influence, time, attention, and belongings. As we said last week, Generosity is about far more than your money.

Generosity is about taking your entire life - everything you are and everything you own - and using it to bless the people around you. Last week we talked about the first step on the pathway to a generous life: awareness. I pray the Holy Spirit has helped you keep your antenna up, and has shown you opportunities to be generous to the people around you. This morning we are going to talk about the second step on our path towards a generous life. This morning we're going to talk about activating our generosity.

Main Teaching

The desire to be generous is important, but desire alone does not make us generous. If we want to live a generous life, then we have to get active. This reminds me of my efforts to become physically healthy. When I look in the mirror and see some things I want to change, that's a great first step. But if all I ever do is look in the mirror and I never change my diet or go to the gym, then I'm not going to become a healthy person. In order to drop the extra pounds I am carrying around, I have to move from desire to action.

I have to track my calorie intake, set aside time for the gym, and make sure it gets into my calendar. The same thing is true with generosity. If we want to become generous people, then we have to do generous things, and we have to do them on purpose. So here's my question for you: what are you doing to be generous? What are you going to do today that blesses another person?

Once we move from a desire to be generous to actually being generous, something amazing happens. We start to see opportunities everywhere. You might notice this same phenomenon taking place the last time you purchased a new vehicle. Isn't it interesting that as soon as we purchase a new car, it seems like everyone else on the road is driving the same car? In psychology, this is known as the, “Baader-Meinhof phenomenon” or “frequency illusion.” No, everyone didn’t go buy the same car you have, it's your brain now adjusting to notice things that are important to you. All of those cars were on the road before, you just didn't notice them until you took the step of purchasing the car. The same thing is true with generosity. Once we start living generously, our brain will start searching for more opportunities. How cool is that! When we pray, the Holy Spirit helps us. When we activate our generosity, our brain starts helping us as well!

It seems so simple doesn't it? Generous people do generous things. Why is it then that so many of us desire to be generous, but so few of us are actually living out that generosity in the world? There's a story in the gospels I think might help us answer this question. It's found in Matthew chapter 14:15-21. Let's take a look at the story.

“As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, this is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered.”

I want to set the scene and give you some context for what's happening in this story. Jesus is surrounded by thousands of people who are gathered together to see him. He is teaching, and he is healing sick people. The passage tells us there were five thousand men present, but this doesn't include women and children, which means the number was probably closer to 20,000. It is a big crowd of people.

As it starts to get late in the day, the disciples come to Jesus with a problem ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium

What We Have + Who God is = Enough.