 Welcome to Foundations of Faith. Today I wanna talk to you about generosity and giving. I know, I know, here we go, talking about money. But what if the subject of generosity and giving actually talks about money, but it's actually much more than that? What if generosity and giving actually starts in our heart and isn't just about finances, but it's also about our time, it's about our talents, and it also includes our treasure or our finances. And when God talks about generosity and giving in the Bible, he's really talking about matters of the heart, not matters of the hand. I believe that that's true. One of the most foundational scriptures in the Bible is John chapter three, verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave. What we see from the very beginning of the scripture all the way through is that part of God's character and his nature is that God is a generous God, that God has opened up his heart towards us, and he's been generous with us. He's been exceedingly, extravagantly generous with his grace, with his kindness, with his provision, and even with his gifts. And because we want to become like the God that we worship, it's important that you and I realize that God also wants us to be generous just as he is generous. He wants us to be generous with our lives. He wants us to be generous with our time and with our talent and the investment that we make. He also wants us to be generous with our finances because the things of this world, whether it's the time that we have, we can't redeem back. Doesn't matter how wealthy you are, all of us on this planet only get 24 hours in a day. What are we doing with that time? We can redeem that time back by investing it generously into kingdom things. What about our talents? Doesn't matter whether you're an artist, whether you're organizational, whether you're administrative, or whether you're a hands-on type of person, God has talented you, God has gifted you. And if you use those talents only for earthly things, then the reward will only be in the earthly realm, temporal. What about your finances? Will all of us work in order to get a paycheck? All of us exchange our time and our talents for a paycheck, and we can take that money, and we can buy a latte at Starbucks, we can buy a new outfit, we can buy a boat, we can buy a house, we can provide food for our families, but all of those things are temporal in nature. Whenever we choose to be like God and invest our time, talent, and our treasure into things that are eternal, people, kingdom building, aspects, and endeavors, we're taking things that are temporal and we're actually translating them, exchanging the currency of this world for eternal currency and reward. Jesus said it like this, do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where rust can corrode, where thieves break in and steal, and where moth eats away, and it becomes corrupted. It says, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And how do we do that? We can't send our paycheck into the first bank of heaven. The way that we do it is by using our finances generously in giving into kingdom building endeavors, things that help preach the gospel around the world, building the local church, caring for the poor and the overlooked and marginalized in our communities. When we do those things, when we mentor people with our time, when we invest our time and talents into things that are gonna impact people's lives for the gospel, what happens is God keeps a record of that in heaven and there's actually reward that will be awaiting us in the age to come. As a result of what we do in this world with what God has given to us, that's what generosity is all about. The Bible talks about being generous. It says, he who so sparingly will also reap sparingly. It says that when we give, first, second Corinthians chapter nine says, when we give, we should not give grudgingly, but we should give hilariously, joyfully. How can we be joyful about giving things away? It's because we know that it's bringing joy to the heart of God, that it's impacting people's lives and it's going into our future as a harvest on top of the reward that we'll receive in heaven as a result of that. Jesus said this, you cannot serve God and money. You can't serve two masters. You're either gonna love one hate the other or hate one and love the other. And it's interesting that when it comes to the subject of worship, from a totality of who we are, Jesus said you can't have two masters. The only thing that Jesus put on equal scale with God being our master is the potential of money being our master. Why is that? It's because money is sticky because money is a tool that if we have enough of it, we can do just about anything. And money gets into our heart and into our soul and it convinces us that we don't need God, that we can do whatever we want, wherever we want, if we just have enough money. See, money is control. Why does God ask us to give? Well, number one, because it changes other people's lives. But number two, because it changes our life. It reminds us that God is our provider, that we are his children, but we are also his servants and stewards over what he has put into our lives. Today, you are a steward, a manager. And God has entrusted you with talents, abilities, time and money. The question is, what are you going to do with what God has stewarded to you? Are you going to sow it into good soil so that it brings forth a good harvest that brings glory to God? Or are you going to invest it into the things of this world and let it be depleted of its eternal potential? Let me encourage you today, submit the things that God has stewarded to you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and watch how as you sow, you will continually reap the goodness, the favor, the blessing and increase from God himself.