Open Handers
Notes
Transcript
A Pastor was asked to tell a man with a heart condition that he had just inherited a million dollars. Everyone was afraid the shock would cause a heart attack and the man would die.
So, the pastor went to the man’s house and said, “Joe, what would you do if you inherited a million dollars?”
Joe responded, “Well, Pastor, I think I would give half of it to the church.”
Something unexpected happened - the Pastor had a heart attack!
Today we are going to wrap up our series on how to hit the fast forward button in our faith. We’ve been talking about maturing in our walk with the Lord. The truth is that if we are going to do great things for God then we need to grow up and put away childish things.
To me, that means we have to implement some core values in our spiritual journey. I’ve already spoken about the first four of six that I feel can help us fast forward in our faith - I encourage you to go online and catch up if you’ve missed some of these messages.
We’ve talked about being:
God Seekers
Big Believers
Truth Tellers
Love Givers
Go-Getters
And today we are going to talk about something really important when it comes to being a mature follower of Christ.
We want to be a church full of Open Handed people. Which means that we want to be generous in ALL areas of our lives. Generosity goes beyond financial giving. It’s a lifestyle of serving God and others no matter the cost.
Truly blessed people are the people who understand that generosity is contagious. Listen to the wisdom of Solomon.
25 Generosity will be rewarded: Give a cup of water, and you will receive a cup of water in return.
I want you to think back to the first time you heard the phrase, “Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees”. Can you remember who said it to you?
I’d guess it was probably one of your parents. You were probably in the store asking for a new toy or something like that, and your parents were trying to teach you a little bit about how the world works.
Now, as a kid, we had to learn about money. How would we know anything about how that works? Babies don’t know the cost of diapers or formula, they just know if they cry, the parent comes running with what they need.
My kids aren’t babies anymore, but almost daily they ask for something they “need”. And I want to do my best to meet that need. But sometimes they ask for things that exceed what they really need or it exceeds the money we have and I say the DREADED words…NO!
We all have limitations because money really doesn’t grow on trees. But we don’t have to be limited in our generosity. This is NOT a sermon about money. It’s NOT a sermon to ask for money. It’s NOT a sermon promising that if you give the church money then you will become fabulously wealthy.
It IS a sermon about being generous because we’ve been given the greatest gift of all. We’ve been offered forgiveness and freedom in exchange for our sin and bondage.
We’ve been given so much from the Lord, I believe mature believers will live a life with open hands for the Lord.
I want to give you a challenge question to chew on before I move into the scripture we are going to study today:
What are you holding in your hand right now that the Lord wants you to release in the spirit of generosity?
You see we are all holding something in our hands that needs to be given away. It could be forgiveness, love, grace, or mercy. Or maybe it’s something as simple as a hug, or prayer. Or maybe it’s something like paying for someones groceries or medical bill or utilities. Maybe the Lord is challenging us to step in faith and become a person who tithes and gives regularly to the work of His church.
What are you holding in your hand that the Lord wants you to release? It could also be things that are not for others, but for us! Are you holding onto pain? Grief? or Evil Words that you’ve believed? Maybe you need to open yourself up to the healing of things that you’ve been holding onto for years and years.
I believe we are going to find the truth of God’s generosity today and it will help us become “Open Handers” for Him.
Our scripture today is Exodus 16:14-20 - I love this scripture so much, and I’ve been praying that it would bless you today. Let’s read it together:
14 When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground.
15 The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. “What is it?” they asked each other. They had no idea what it was. And Moses told them, “It is the food the Lord has given you to eat.
16 These are the Lord’s instructions: Each household should gather as much as it needs. Pick up two quarts for each person in your tent.”
17 So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little.
18 But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.
19 Then Moses told them, “Do not keep any of it until morning.”
20 But some of them didn’t listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. Moses was very angry with them.
To give you context, the Hebrew people had been enslaved for more than 400 years, and God through various miracles allowed them to be led to freedom by a man named Moses.
They left their homes and way of living and ventured out into the desert. How many people? Most scholars believe it was more than 2 million people!
I don’t know a whole bunch about deserts, but I’d imagine that there isn’t much food available in the desert for even 1 person, but feeding 2 million people was an impossible task. But God had a plan. As we read, He sent bread from heaven each day. But it was only enough for each day. In fact, they weren’t allowed to keep any over night. They had just enough to feed them from day to day. They had to rely on God each day to meet their needs.
What can we learn from this scripture?
God is Open Handed
God is Open Handed
15 The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. “What is it?” they asked each other. They had no idea what it was. And Moses told them, “It is the food the Lord has given you to eat.
Exodus chapter 16 should really be read in connection to John chapter 6 because Jesus referenced His Father’s gift of bread in the desert. In John 6, Jesus performed the miracle of feeding 5,000 people by making thousands of loaves or bread and even more fish appear out of no where.
It was a BIG day.
Well, the next day, Jesus was teaching people again and He said something SUPER important that reveals the Character of God.
26 Jesus answered, “I tell you for certain that you are not looking for me because you saw the miracles, but because you ate all the food you wanted.
27 Don’t work for food that spoils. Work for food that gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because God the Father has given him the right to do so.”
28 “What exactly does God want us to do?” the people asked.
29 Jesus answered, “God wants you to have faith in the one he sent.”
30 They replied, “What miracle will you work, so that we can have faith in you? What will you do?
31 For example, when our ancestors were in the desert, they were given manna to eat. It happened just as the Scriptures say, ‘God gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
32 Jesus then told them, “I tell you for certain that Moses wasn’t the one who gave you bread from heaven. My Father is the one who gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 And the bread that God gives is the one who came down from heaven to give life to the world.”
34 The people said, “Lord, give us this bread and don’t ever stop!”
35 Jesus replied: I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty.
36 I have told you already that you have seen me and still do not have faith in me.
37 Everything and everyone that the Father has given me will come to me, and I won’t turn any of them away.
38 I didn’t come from heaven to do what I want! I came to do what the Father wants me to do. He sent me,
39 and he wants to make certain that none of the ones he has given me will be lost. Instead, he wants me to raise them to life on the last day.
40 My Father wants everyone who sees the Son to have faith in him and to have eternal life. Then I will raise them to life on the last day.
Isn’t this an incredible connection to Exodus? Jesus is saying that the FAITHFUL God who provided food to the Hebrew children in the desert has now, through Him, provided eternal life.
The bread the people ate in the desert was temporary, but the bread that gives life - Jesus, our Savior - lasts for eternity!
God is open handed.
This is our God. He loves His children so much that he has given the Bread of Life.
What is our response?
First we must believe in Jesus. We must eat!
We Should be Open Handed
We Should be Open Handed
Exodus 16:18 (NLT)
18 But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough…
If we knew we’d have enough, would we do or give more?
This applies for all areas of our walk with the Lord.
Here’s the truth - HE IS MORE THAN enough. We should focus on His will.
You know what’s crazy to me? We are about to finish that Kids area back there. If you told me a year ago that we’d have the money, man power, or ability to make that happen. I’d probably say yes with my heart, but my mind might have said no!
Because we didn’t have it - we weren’t in a position to make it happen. Yet, here we are a year later, and the Lord has provided just enough.
Three times over the last couple of weeks I said to myself and the church board that we were out of money - or about to be - and then we recieved a gift. The first was a gift of $1000 then $2000 then $3000. Not to mention all the online gifts that added up to JUST ENOUGH!
I am convinced that we are a church of open handed people. People that are convinced that Jesus is enough to meet our needs - Physically and Spiritually.
We must be willing to give everything in order to walk in His perfect will.
When Jesus fed those 5,000 people, it was only possible because a young boy was willing to give his small seemingly insignificant lunch!
With God’s open hand and our open hand miracles are possible.
He gives us enough we each day.
Enough fore each day - think about forgiveness of others. We want to have a feeling of forgiveness, but it takes so much time to actually forgive. But we CAN grant that forgiveness one day at a time.
What are you holding in your hand right now that the Lord wants you to release in the spirit of generosity?
Let go of those feeling of insignificance. Let go of that unforgiveness. Let go of that anger. Let go of the grief. Let go of the hurt.
Allow the open handed goodness of God to overwhelm you. Open your hand and heart to allow God to not only heal you, but to heal others!
Why is it important to live this way? To accept God’s open handed gift and release what we are holding on to for dear life?
Closed Hands Hold Worms
Closed Hands Hold Worms
20 But some of them didn’t listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. Moses was very angry with them.
If we try to keep the things of this life, we will find out that they aren’t really all that valuable.
Dolly Parton’s Tour bus - Her dream come true. Now it old, outdated, and sitting in a theme park.
The things of this world are going to pass away. They don’t last.
What does last?
40 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Jesus made it very clear that if we accept God’s gift then we will have eternal life with Him.
If we try to make it on our own. If we try to hold on to what we have in this world then we will find that it turns to maggots and has a terrible smell. This world is NOT our final destination.
We should not be trying to get more and more and more - we should be trying to give from everything we’ve been given.
What do we have? HEAVEN - if we KNOW that’s waiting for us, what good is it to store up things that will be full of worms?
Open you hand today. Ask the Lord what He wants you to give to Him. What have you been holding on to?
Today is the day of healing. Today is the day of freedom.
God is generous. He is Loving. He is kind.
It’s true that Money doesn’t Grow on trees. But you know what else is true?
24 He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. “By His wounds you were healed.”
Jesus was hung on a tree to pay our debt of sin. With that in mind think of His words again.
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Are you hungry and thirsty? Do you need to come to Him today?