Generosity

We are continuing our series this morning Thanks and Giving

We will addresses how we can develop a heart of gratitude to God, which in turn leads to generous giving.

Thankfulness is not an occasional act but a lifestyle of intentional and spontaneous appreciation that leads us into the presence of God, empowers us to be grateful in all circumstances, and generates an overflow of generosity.

We have look at two different things of over the past couple of weeks. We look at how we can thank God every minute of the day. We have to be willing to develop a heart of constant heart of gratitude.

Last week we look at how we could live a life of thanksliving and not just thanksgiving. Thanksliving is a mind set to be thankful in all circumstances.

This morning we will be in Exodus 35:4-9 and 36:1-7. If you have your bible go head and turn there. If not you can follow a long on the screen in a few min.

Before we look at the passage for today. I have a question for you. So think for a moment.

Have you experienced a random act of kindness?

How can a random act created a chain reaction?

A lady was in the drive-through line at a Donuts shop. She was thankful for the kind gesture of a stranger paying for her coffee the day before. This lady was out of work and short on cash. However, out of thankfulness from the act of kindness the day before, she decided to pay for the family’s donuts in the car behind her, an order which totalled twelve dollars. As a result of her actions, many more people were thankful and became givers themselves. In fact, her act of generosity led to a chain reaction of fifty-five customers paying for the person behind them in line; this lasted two-and-a-half hours!

Random act of kindness can change people. So what does the bible say about give out of extra. Should we give out of our extra.

Exodus 35:4–9 CSB

4 Then Moses said to the entire Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: 5 Take up an offering among you for the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring this as the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; 7 ram skins dyed red and fine leather; acacia wood; 8 oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 9 and onyx with gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece.

This verse fulls a

God promise to Moses

Exodus 25:8 CSB

8 “They are to make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them.

God promise to Moses

Was for the people to build a place were God can dwell and live among them. God wanted a place where he could stay. Before this could happen. Before the sanctuary could be built the builder need to have the materials to build the place. So what does Moses do.

Moses calls on the people to give

Moses clarifies the type of contribution that Israel was being asked to participate in. Moses tells them,

Exodus 35:5 CSB

5 Take up an offering among you for the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring this as the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze;

Moses calls on the people to give

The word “willing,” as translated by the NIV,

is actual two Hebrew words. The first is nadib, which means pertaining to being voluntary and implying generosity

The second Hebrew word is leb, which is usually translated “heart” and can mean “heart, mind, soul, spirit, self, i.e., the source of life of the inner person

Moses is inviting everyone who has a generous heart to give. This offering is not mandated or coerced. The Israelites are to give freely, as moved in their hearts.

some great happen when the people heard this challenge. We see there reponds in

Exodus 35:29 CSB

29 So the Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts prompted them to bring something for all the work that the Lord, through Moses, had commanded to be done.

The Isaelites gave a lot

their heart were opened and they gave. They gave and keep on giving until some truly amazing happened. We

Exodus 36:1–7 CSB

1 Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the skilled people are to work based on everything the Lord has commanded. The Lord has given them wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of constructing the sanctuary.” 2 So Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person in whose heart the Lord had placed wisdom, all whose hearts moved them, to come to the work and do it. 3 They took from Moses’s presence all the contributions that the Israelites had brought for the task of making the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 Then all the artisans who were doing all the work for the sanctuary came one by one from the work they were doing 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than is needed for the construction of the work the Lord commanded to be done.” 6 After Moses gave an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people stopped. 7 The materials were sufficient for them to do all the work. There was more than enough.

The builders had more than enough

The people of God respond to the invitation to give (35:29). In Exodus 36:1–3, the construction of the Tabernacle begins as Moses distributes all the offerings to various skilled workers.

However, even though the construction project has already started, the people continue to give freely and generously:

“And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning” (36:3).

In fact, their willingness to give was so tremendous that the skilled workers stopped their work to find Moses.

They said, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done” (36:5).

As a result of their continued generosity, Moses gave an order that the people were to stop giving!

In fact, the Bible says, “And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work” (36:6– 7).

The Israelite giving was an overflow of a thankful heart

Israel had witnessed God in powerful ways:

God had delivered them from bondage from Egypt and enabled them to cross the Red Sea (Exodus 14). God had provided quail and manna from heaven (Exodus 16) and water from a rock (Exodus 17). God had promised his presence to go with Israel on their journey (Exodus 33).

What does all this mean for you and I?

What can we learn from the Isaelites?

Its this. The driving point for today and for all of the thanksgiving time.

Thankful hearts can led to a giving hearts

As we cultivate thankful hearts for God’s goodness, provision, and presence, a natural overflow of our lives is generosity.

It can lead you to a start doing random acts of kindness. It can lead you to giving out of your overflow. We are all call to have a generosity heart.

The Isaelites heart were changed and so can yours heart. You can if you are willing to change to become a person with a giving heart. A person that is willing to give out of the overflow of your life.

Christ!!!

Are you willing to give out of your overflow?