The Vine Church
Aaron Dowds
General notes on message:
Luke 12:15, 21 NIVUK
Jesus taught the way to be rich toward God is to give stuff away.
Jesus is saying here, when you are rich towards the people I love, you are rich towards me.
“Under the new covenant, we do not love God and love our neighbours. Under the new covenant, we love God by loving our neighbours.”
Andy Stanley, Irresistible
1 John 4:20 HCSB
Luke 10:35-36 AMPC
James 2:15-17 NIVUK
Faith without action,
faith without mercy (that results in generosity to those in need)
- is dead faith.
Matthew 25:37, 40 NIVUK
1 John 3:17 ESV
•You close your hear by keeping stuff for yourself.
•You close your heart by walking by on the other side.
•You close your heart by closing your wallet.
·You keep your heart closed by keeping your wallet closed.
·You close your heart by not being generous
Romans 5:5 NIVUK
Generous people have:
· A Plan
· An amount. A decision how much you will give
· A destination. Have decided where their money will go. What is good soil to plant in? Where am I investing into God’s kingdom? Where will my money be used to further the gospel? Where will my money help the gospel to be preached, people to be won and disciples made? That has eternal results! What am I grateful for? What am I broken over?
1. A Plan
Whenever have you DRIFTED in a good direction?
You plan toward what is good and drift to what is bad.
No Plan -3S Giving. Sporadic. Spontaneous. Sparing.
2. An Amount
Generous people decide ahead of time what amount they will give away.
Move what was last to FIRST – worship!
Give first, Save Second, Live on the rest.
Move from 3S to 3P
Percentage. Pick a percentage.
Priority. Plan your giving first.
Progressive. Start with a baby step.
1 Corinthians 16:1-2 NIVUK
2 Corinthians 8:2-3 NIVUK
2 Corinthians 8:12 AMP
2 Corinthians 9:7 NIVUK
3. A Destination
Choose good soil.What is building God’s kingdom and spreading the gospel?
What am I grateful for?
What am I broken over?
Acts 20:33-35 NIV
If you live a generous life (not just have moments of giving) and order and prioritise your life around generosity – you will be happy.
Happiness is an outcome of a lifestyle of generosity. An outcome of a lifestyle.
Essentially he is saying:
“Happy is the person whose life is ordered around giving rather than receiving.”
JMS (Interviewer) : And yet the book argues that generosity has to be practiced consistently to offer rewards to the giver. It can’t just be a single act of giving blood or something like that.
CS (Christian Smith): It has to be a practice, it has to be something that is sustained over time, that people engage with regularly. One-off things just don’t affect us that much, whereas things that we repeat, things that are sustained in our bodily behaviors and in our minds, have tremendous effects on us. The empirical evidence was very clear. Nothing we tested where you just do it one time has an effect. But all the things that you have to sustain over time have that effect.
