Thoughts On Generosity & Giving

Mar 15, 2006

I remember the first revival I ever preached. It was in a little town called Blackwolf, West Virginia. You can’t even find it on most maps!

The church that I was serving had partnered with a church there and one of the things we were able to do is take our youth group up one summer on a mission trip. While I was up there the deacon in the church (that’s right—THE deacon) asked me would I consider coming back in the fall and preaching a revival. I was honored…and so that fall a friend and I took off and I spoke Sunday through Wednesday.

It was so much fun. I think the largest crowd we had was around 50 people, which was pretty amazing for that community. I taught through the beatitudes for the entire time and one night they fed my friend and I…I can still taste that banana pudding!!!

One thing they did every night was take up an offering. I really didn’t think much of it; after all, it WAS a Baptist church…and Baptists don’t miss an opportunity for an offering. (Just being honest.)

On the last night of the revival THE deacon approached me as I was about to get in my car with an envelope and said, “Hey Perry—here is some money for you—we wanted you to have the entire offering we took up all these nights!”

I was speechless. Trust me when I say that these people really didn’t have a lot—they all lived in extremely poor conditions…and they wanted me to have this wad of cash that the deacon was holding in his hand. I wanted to weep!

I told the guy, “I can’t take that money man…put it to use somewhere in the church.” He smiled at me and whispered in my ear, “Perry, if you don’t take this money then you will insult all of us.”

My friend and I drove home that night…I don’t really remember much of the drive…I could not get the thought of those people and their generosity out of my mind. I never have forgotten it! They reminded me of the church that Paul was talking about in II Corinthians 8 where he said that those people did not give because they were rich and had plenty to spare—they gave out of their poverty! Amazing!

As I said this past Sunday—we are rich people. The only reason many of us do not think we are well off is because we live in America. Trust me when I say that we’ve got it good.

AND God’s call on our life is to be generous. NEVER, EVER in Scripture does He give the thumbs up to a greedy person. Nowhere does the Bible indicate that someone who is in love with Jesus will be greedy. We are called to be generous with all we have.

From time to time I will have someone tell me that if they just made more money that they would be generous. BULL! If you are not generous now—you will not be generous when you have more. Statistics show that people who make more money give a less percentage of their income away. It’s not a money issue—it’s a priority issue.

We’ve seen an amazing outpouring of generosity since this past Sunday. So far at least four cars have been given away—that we know of. One local grocery store sold out of grocery cards. People who are not going to be here Sunday are already making arrangements to bring their stuff by for our drive for the crisis pregnancy center…this is awesome stuff.

I can’t wait to see what happens next! I am continually praying that God will raise up generous people here at NewSpring so that we can advance His message here in Anderson…AND all around the world. There is so much to be done…and it can and will happen…and thank you Jesus that we get to be a part of it all!

My question for you is this—are you generous with you stuff? OR better yet—what do you have two of that someone else has none of that you could give away? (I forgot to mention this past Sunday to please not include children in this! Some of you have probably been trying this and its just not working…I don’t think that giving kids away is what John the Baptist was talking about!) Cars? Houses? Boats?

Parents—lets be honest—HOW MANY TOYS DOES YOU CHILD NEED? Is all that stuff necessary? I have a friend who was telling me about children oversees and the fact that they play with bottle caps—BOTTLE CAPS—and keep themselves entertained for hours with them. And we can buy our kids things and they are bored in about a week or so! How about buying a toy and the finding a kid who might need it and appreciate it…and then have your child give it to them instead of adding it to their collection! No wonder people are so greedy—they are discipled by their parents to be that way! (Once again, just being honest!)

What are some ways you can be generous today? Go for it…give it a try…you won’t regret it—I promise!