Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Thank you. Wow. It's such a privilege to be here and to be amongst so many friends, seeing so many faces from the past and reconnecting with so many people. It's just wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for having us. I'm Mike. I'm going to share a bit of scripture with you. I'm going to tell you a little bit about me and Sheila and our journey, and then we're going to get into the Word. Is that all right?
You're good.
I really love it when people talk to me when I preach, by the way. You're good.
Father, I just want to thank you for this amazing, amazing group of people. I thank you, Father, for what you're doing here. I thank you, Father, that there's hope in Newton Abbott, because the people of God are here. The lights are on, Father. The spirit is moving. And as we gather around your word, Lord, I really pray that not only would I communicate well, but that we would have ears to hear what you want to say to us personally. And I do pray above everything else that we do not leave this place the same way we were when we came in. I pray, Father, that we will be different today, that something from you will take up residence in us, that we might shift and change and become more like Jesus. And I pray this, Lord, in your name. Amen.
Amen. So I'm already messing up my PowerPoints and things, so let me go back to the beginning. So who am I? I'm married to Sheila. We live in Newquay. First time I've worn a short sleeve shirt this year. So come on, summer's on the way.
Newquay is an interesting place. We were there, we ministered there. Sheila and I ministered there for 26 years. 26 years. So we joined there when it was a small church, little church maybe. Well, less than 20 people actually. And when we finished, we went multi campus and I think we had between the campuses and I really try hard not to exaggerate, between 20 and 30,000.
No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You're just so with me there as well, weren't you?
Probably between 4 and 500, which for that community and for that space was a real blessing for us from God. Now, why am I saying that? I'm not saying that to Big Azah. Because you and I know that isn't down to us, that's down to him. But we cooperate with him in that, with me. And God's doing something amazing here. Let me tell you, two years in and you've got such A great crowd here in this church. You're at a very key time in your church growth and really that's what I wanted to share and sow into today.
So let me just talk through a couple of other bits of matters. So I'm an Elim minister. I'm a member of the regional leadership team with Elim. I also run something called Church Dynamics, which is a consultancy for churches. That's a bit boring, all this stuff, isn't it? But I'm also one of the heads of strategy within Compassion uk and last time I was here, I was in Compassion. It's great to see Hollywood here, Holly and babies, children and husband. And it's just such a good space to be in. Good. All right.
We stayed in a wonderful hotel last night. What was it called?
Moreland at Haytor. Anybody ever been to Moorland at Haytor? It's all right.
It's all right. It was like cracking dinner last night, cracking breakfast. And I was thinking about it all when we were there, because we were.
Phil and Esther booked us in there. That really. It typifies what I want to share to you today. So the message today is all based around developing a culture of generosity in church.
Developing a culture of generosity in church.
In my role in Church Dynamics and having managed a church through significant changes in growth, I've noticed significant fundamental elements that are vital for healthy churches to grow.
We all go through ups and downs, churches go through their bumps and so on and so on and so on. But probably one of the most key things that I can think of in our church growth was that culture of generosity.
When we went to the church, the offerings were terrible. And incidentally, please don't get confused. This isn't just about money, this is about a culture of generosity. It covers money, but it covers all things. Interesting. The little comment that I leant across and mentioned to Phil earlier, I didn't even think about it until you mentioned it from the platform, but it is pretty profound. If they weren't in the prayer meeting, what would have happened to David Livingstone? What would have happened to the mission that David Livingstone ran?
It only happened because a group of people with a generous culture gave up their evening, went and prayed and through that prayer there was an incredible transformation took place that literally changed history.
But it comes from a culture of generosity. I'm not going to hang on to my time. I'm going to give my time. I'm going to sow what I have into the kingdom and because I'm going to sow it into the kingdom. We're going to see a result and that result is going to be pretty incredible.
Culture is hugely important in church. Don't put your hands up, but I wonder if anybody here has ever been in a negative culture. Culture.
I hear that muffled. Yeah. Ripple through the congregation. Of course you have. We all have. And it sucketh. Says the word. It's terrible. You know when you go into a place and somebody comes up and they start critic. This is wobbling like crazy here. They start kind of criticising, they start complaining and so on and so on and so on. It's an awful thing to be in. Thank you. This is my OCD side. There we go.
That's all right. I'll be all right. I can manage this. I can. No, no, I'm fine. I can cope.
Can you just hold it while you're there?
Mike Robbins is in the house.
Thank you.
So, a culture. What is a culture? Are we. We're following there, aren't we? What is a culture? A culture is a prevailing mindset that literally defines a people group. And the culture of an organization will affect everybody that enters that organization. So, for instance, if you work for a company and the culture in that company that you work for is tardiness, where people just turn up late and it doesn't really matter whether you're on time or not, even if you are a very punctual individual and you turn up and enter that culture, the chances are high that you will begin to slip and drift into that culture.
So culture in church life is hugely important, hugely important.
Secular culture does not influence us or should not influence us. The question is, do we influence it?
So your town has a culture. I was trying to scope it out online. Newton Abbott has a culture. Newquay. Let me use Newquay where I come from. So Newquay has a surf culture. Newquay, come on. Oh, gnarly dude.
Newquay has a surf culture and a drink culture. So people that come into our community tend to drift into that. So when we were defining the church, when we had to define and figure out what kind of church we were, we became a very laid back church because that was the culture that the church was being planted and rooted and established in. Do you understand me? So we used to have people coming up. Don't if you remember this, Hazel, we used to have people coming up and you'd have a load of skateboards in the foyer all spread out or people would be disappearing off for surfing straight after the service. Now, that culture, a culture doesn't need to be advertised it is simply the subliminal construct of a community.
I am going to get there, trust me. Here's the key.
The church exists to establish Jesus at the center of the culture of everything we do and everything we are. How do we know that? Because Jesus says in Matthew 5, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. I love the fact that Jesus isn't beige. I love the craziness of the kingdom. I love the fact that Jesus is kind of Technicolor and the fact that we fit in and we shift and we change the community.
Newton Abbot is going to be a better place because this church is here and this church exists because of you. You are the church.
Salt we know affects and shifts and changes.
I remember an April Fool's Day years ago. We've got four children and our son Sam, who's now in Australia. But then he was a little kid. I used to kind of play little tricks on him. And I remember when April falls, I said to him, sam, can you pop next door and get me a left handed screwdriver? All right, I've got this. I need to get. I need to undo this screw. But it's a left handed screw and so I need a left handed screwdriver. So Sam goes next door, ask the neighbor next door, my dad says, have you got a left handed screwdriver I can borrow, please? And he comes back, like really kind of, you know, like, I really got him. Well, next year, okay, I'm there with my Weetabix and I get. In those days, I used to have a lot of sugar. So I get the sugar to put on my Weetabix and Sam has emptied out all the sugar and filled it with salt.
Salt affects stuff.
Salt engenders thirst, smell. Salt preserves. It's aseptic. It stops disease from spreading. And Jesus says to us, you're the salt of the earth. We affect the culture that we're in. Our culture is really imposed upon the culture of the area in which we find ourselves. That's why Jesus prays to the Father. I didn't ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. You don't get saved. And Jesus goes, bang. Raptures are straight into heaven. That's it, you're in. Well done. We're here to change the world.
And in this room today there will be people a bit like David Livingstone. As a little boy, you don't know what God is going to do with you.
Come on.
Can you dream that Big can you consider the fact that maybe God's put his finger on you and you're going to bring and shift some change in this world that will last forever.
That's why he keeps us in this world. So we're here to define culture, not to be defined by culture. Our culture. The culture of the church is Jesus culture. And that's what I want to hunker down on today. I want to say to rediscover Newton Abbott. Now is the time to begin the process of developing your, your culture. You are two years old, two years old.
Now your culture will be being set you with me.
Now is the time to consider what rediscover Newton Abbott will look like in three years time. Because this group of people, you will bring the shift and will bring the change into the church.
And it is beyond important. It is essential that we figure this out and that we get this right. So I broke down the elements of Jesus culture. Thus you're going to put some more in. These are just the ones that I think so first of all, Jesus culture in a church is a positive, hope filled culture. This place, when people walk into this place, it should be a place that's vibrant with hope. I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. There is nothing beyond the power of Jesus. Whatever I'm facing, whatever I'm going through, I love what Esther said this morning. God still heals today. Amen. Positive culture. Second one is a commitment culture. Romans 12:10. Paul says, Be devoted. We are a people who are thoroughly committed. We're committed to each other. We're committed to Jesus. We're committed to our children, committed to our relationships. We are a committed and devoted people. Number three. We are a joyful culture, a joyful people. Be joyful in hope, says the word of God. Isn't it great to be in a place that's fun?
Yeah, that wasn't overly convincing. But imagine for a moment this is a place of fun.
Sheila and I leant across to each other and we both said this is sort of great place. This is. And, and it, and it reflects truly, it reflects Phil and Esther, the fun that this couple are. What's the book that you put under the thing? E by gum. What is it? This one? What's it called? E by gumlord the Gospels in broad Yorkshire. E by gum Lord. The Gospels in broad Yorkshire. You don't go to many churches and see that next to the pastor.
It's a joyful place. We're a family. It should be a family culture. Romans 12, 16. We're brothers and sisters in God's family. Because of the blood of Christ. We're brothers and sisters. We love each other. Come on, you can't choose your family.
We love each other regardless. Different shapes, different sizes, different characters, different people. But we are the family of God, and that is our culture. We're not just a bunch of people that turn up anonymously on a Sunday and then disappear vapor into the vapor afterwards. We are the family of God, number five. We're a worship culture. For from him and through him. And to him are all things. To him be glory forever. So these are cultural attributes that as a church, this church has to continue to develop. You have to develop your culture now, because it'll be too late in three or four years time. Now is the time to do it. You're working with me, aren't you? All with me. Good. Okay. That's great.
And I'm going to focus on a particular one today, and it's number six. But it is, in my opinion, probably one of the most important. It is a generous culture.
Rediscover church.
You. We should live generous and large. We should live extravagantly. The world of the generous gets larger and larger. The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.
Now, the problem is the moment I say that, that can get translated as, here we go. It's the tithing message. It's the tithing message. No, it's not the tithing sermon. Although, of course, money is part of a generous culture. John Wesley is one of my heroes, and he said this. He said the last thing. Let me get this right. The last thing to be converted is the wallet.
Martin Luther reckons there were two conversions. The first conversion. This is true. This isn't me. I'm just quoting. The first conversion is of the soul. The second conversion is of the bank account.
So we shift and change and we come into this kingdom with this mindset, I guess, of holding on stuff and protecting our stuff. But as the culture of generosity begins to work in us, so not just money, but time and kindness and service and all that stuff, setting up tables, stewarding and all that stuff becomes the culture that we become a part of.
And the church will never grow properly and never grow healthily unless we develop that culture.
This sermon will not produce that culture.
Us doing generosity will.
It is a process.
So quickly, let me amplify this. Generosity is really the culture of overflow. So let's sum. If you've got your Bibles, we're going to John 6, 1:13.
Hearing those pages rattling.
Here we go.
Sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs that he performed healing the sick. And then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him. He said to Philip, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, it would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite.
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. Here's a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. But how far will they go among so many? Jesus said, have the people sit down. There was plenty of grass in that place. And they sat down. About 5,000 men were there. And Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. And he did the same with the fish.
And when they'd all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted. And so they gathered them and they filled 12 baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. And after the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world.
Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
So Jesus sees the community's need. He sees the need of Newton Abbot. And he calls the church the people. To meet the need in context, for us as a church, that means we, through his miraculous power, meet the needs of the community.
Jesus was not talking about Bible studies and feeding spiritual spiritually and so on and so on. He's talking about stuff. So here we go. This miracle appears in all four gospels. Three synoptics, also here in John.
The only other miracle to appear in all four gospels, incidentally, is the resurrection. You know this story really well. Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee. And because of all the miraculous signs that he's performed on the sick, they follow him. He teaches them them, heals them. And as light begins to fade in this isolated place, the question arises, how is this crowd in the middle of nowhere going to get fed so late in the day? And then we see the miracle that Culminates eventually in an incredible theological statement that Jesus makes in verse 35 where he says, after this miracle, I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me. Never go thirsty. He who believes in me will never be thirsty. Really hope you're keeping with this because this is important.
This is dripping with the prophetic.
Remember Bethel, the church is the house of God. Beth House El. God Beth El. This is Beth El. Rediscover Newton Abbot is Beth El. This is the house of God. Bethlehem. His birthplace was called the house of Bread. Jesus was born in Beth. House is bread.
So his birthplace is the place of bread. Life sustaining bread from heaven, from God. We eat miracle manna. We still die, but we eat the spiritual bread and we live forever.
This is Bethlehem. This is the house of bread. In this place is the resource that God has to transform this community and transform. Whoops. The world.
I believe it with all my heart.
That's why we have bread in communion. He says, take, eat. This is my body. That's a direct referral to the Jewish Passover, the body of the Paschal Lamb, the that are fathers out in Egypt, so on and so on and so on. So let me bring to you an illustration I hope, hopefully will help us all to see this. Overflow equals surplus in God's economy.
All right, we've all got stuff. Agreed.
All right, how many of you like chocolate?
I now got your attention and mail. Now we're in. Oh, how many of you like celebrations?
Do you like celebrations?
Very quiet, aren't you?
Have we got any kind of actors here? Anybody here who's quite confident and coming up the front that had helped me. Oh, we're all looking at the back here. Who is it?
Caleb. Where's Caleb?
Oh, Caleb, can you help with the baby or is that a bridge too far?
Come up here, mate. Give Caleb and baby a round of applause. Come on.
All right, what's your favourite celebration, Caleb?
[00:23:27] Speaker B: Maltesers.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: Maltesers. Good choice.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: There's a Malteser there, look right on top, right? So I want you to imagine for a moment, you're going to have to use your imagination for this, right? I'm God, okay?
[00:23:40] Speaker B: I'm there.
Am I Jesus?
[00:23:44] Speaker A: You're not Jesus, mate. No, no, you're Caleb. Keep, keep your visit. Understand where you're at in this, Caleb. All right? All right. So Caleb, you, you really like, you really like Maltesers, don't you? So you're going to pray to me, okay? And you're going to ask me for a Malteser celebration, right?
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Okay. Make it work. Come on.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: I'd really like a Malteser.
You know that. I like them.
[00:24:13] Speaker A: I do, I do.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: I've thought about them for a long time and I've analyzed all of the celebrations and they are the best in my household.
The Maltesers go first.
So I do need to get in there, otherwise I won't get one.
Can we.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Love you. I mean, obviously, that's a. That's a given. Love you. That bit. We've already had that chance.
[00:24:38] Speaker A: It's moving. Good.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Can we make this happen or do you need some more from me?
[00:24:45] Speaker A: I need a bit more from you, mate, to be honest. Yeah, I need more from you. I can't lie.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: I can't believe it.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: Come on, come on, put some energy into this.
You live the Malteser. Be the Malteser.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: I love you so much. I love the way you dress.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: I love your. I love your brown leather jacket. I don't know why you're not wearing it right now.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: You're the.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: You're the one I think about all the time. Every day, every moment.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: Watch that hand, Caleb. Keep going. Constantly.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: I'm constantly. I'm constantly talking to you about all sorts of things. I don't often ask you for Maltesers, but today I'm just wondering if perhaps. Have you got a Malteser available?
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Caleb. Stop. Stop, man. Stop. Stop.
Nice. A round of applause for Caleb. Hang on, Caleb. Caleb. Caleb. We haven't finished yet, mate. Caleb, there might be. So that's the way that we presume God works. We need something. We pray to him. And if we pray hard enough and mean it and we really get into our prayer, God will bless us and give us that which we truly desire. Agree. And. You got the Malteser, my friend. You got the Malteser. I think that Holly might want to share that. In fact, if you're a really.
If you're a really good husband, I think you should give it to Holly. I'm just saying.
Okay, so we're going to rerun that now. Okay. Let me find another Malteser. Another Malteser on the top there. Caleb, this is your lucky day.
Predestined day. Sorry, people, Predestined day. All right, here we go. Come on, round two. Come on. Everything you got now.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: D'you know I love you more than anything. More than Malteses, more than celebrations. I do think celebrations are lower down on my list of all time kind of boxes of chocolates, but I always know that I love you more than the Cadbury's heroes, which are my. My favourites. Thank you.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: However, you know, today I've come here, I've got a babe to sleep, one of your children sleeps on my bosom and I am. I lack something. I lack something core to my being, and that is chocolate.
So possibly, could you just open up that box of chocolate and hand me a Malteser, please?
[00:27:13] Speaker A: Hold your hand out because he's prayed really well, hasn't he? There you go, mate.
There you go. There you go. Throw him out there, throw him out there. Go on. Come on, Come on. Mind your eyes. Health and safety. Health and safety. They may contain nuts. I don't know what other things I got to put in there. Look at this, look. Whoa. Whoa.
I don't know whether. Can you help him, Phil? Cos he's. I think we're gonna lose a baby there in a minute.
The top's over here.
Oh, there you go.
So, look, I've got your attention back. Are you back in the room with me? Right, that's the way God works. So we ask him for something and he gives us super abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. You still with me? Still with me? Keep with me, keep with me. Is somebody here still wanting a chocolate? Are you lost?
Take them to the back. Chocolate's going to the back. There we go.
Can you give Caleb a massive round of applause?
Thank you.
Thank you, Caleb.
Beautifully done. Because God is not the God of just enough. God wants to give you more than enough, because God wants you to be a blessing and a resource to others in your community.
You ask him for a Malteser and he's going to give you the whole box, but he doesn't give you the whole box just so that you can indulge yourself and sit there and watch EastEnders eating a shed load of chocolate. He gives you the whole box so that you can take and give to those who don't have.
And if you notice, that was pretty much what Caleb did. You could see it in his eyes. You just thought, get. Give them away. And so that's exactly the way it works. God gives to us and we just shed it abroad. And the more we shed it abroad with that generous spirit, the more God gives to us.
God is not the God of lack. God is the God of plenty.
God is the God who's not just going to fish around and say, you want a Malteser, my child? I'll give you a Malteser. There you go.
God is the God who will give you so much more. If you can expand your thinking and comprehend this generous God whom we serve he is the God of crazy, ridiculous, mad extravagance. I remember years, but I was thinking about this when I was sitting on the front row. I remember years back when we first went to Newquay, we had a Volvo 240. You won't know probably what a Volvo you do. Okay, basically it's a chieftain tank. Yeah, okay. Made in Sweden. That was. It was like huge. It had an iron girder on the front instead of a bumper. It was. This thing was a beast. It was a proper animal anyway, it's full of rust. And we arrived at a point where we needed to change our car. And so we gave our car away. And I can remember this principle going on in my mind. We're giving our car away. Does that mean, lord, you're going to give us a car?
Okay, we fast forward three years down the road. We needed to change the car that we had after that. And somebody comes and tells us, tells me, I can remember, I can remember where it's like one of those moments like when Elvis died. I remember where I was exactly the time it happened. Somebody came to me and said, mike, God's told me to buy you guys a car. And they bought us probably a 3 year old turbo model of this beautiful sporty Volvo. So we sow into the kingdom something small and God blesses in superabundance back. Now, you don't give in order to get, but you receive in order to give. Do you understand what I'm saying here? That's the way he works. Listen to the scripture. Paul speaking to the church at Ephesus says this. He says he's praying for them and he kind of gets overtaken in his prayer. He says, I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is this love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Come on. You think you need forgiveness? You think he's given you forgiveness for that thing you did? He has washed you, overwhelmed you. He's removed as far as the east is from the west, your sin and transgressions. And he's filled you with the grace and love and personality and culture of Jesus.
That's not a mean spirit of God. Yes, I forgive that one sin. It is continual. We continually walk in it. That's a word here for somebody today. You've been struggling, you've been going through a tough time. You've blown it. It's okay.
I've got news for you. You come to Jesus and he's going to overwhelm you with an ocean of grace. The biggest problem that you'll have is you forgiving yourself.
Because God's character is full to overflowing immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine. And God is the God of overflow. And the reason he's the God of overflow is because he wants to pour his stuff through us so he can get it to where it needs to go and we get blessed in the process.
You may be struggling today, you may feel lack, but exactly the opposite is true. Listen to what David said in the Psalms. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.
My cup overflows.
Imagine we're out. Imagine you drink wine.
Just imagine. Work with me.
Alright? And I'm pouring out a glass of wine. And I'm pouring it. And you're going, all right, Mike, alright, slow down, slow down. It's getting a little bit. That's enough, that's fine. And I just keep pouring until it pours over the top.
Our natural reaction would be what a waste God's purpose is. I want you to know that you have more than enough overflow.
Think of it this way. Phil's going to give me the church credit card, right?
Have you got the church credit card?
Okay, Phil's. Imagine Phil's giving me the church credit card. Thanks, Phil.
There we are. E by gum. Thanks, ladies. So I've got the church credit card here. I'm going to take you all out. What's the hotel we stayed at?
Moorlands. Right. I'm taking you all to Morelands. All right?
Come on. I believe. I believe in Jesus name. Come on, let's have a bit of faith in the house here. So I'm going to take you all out from me or I have the church credit card. Let's all go out there now. I reckon there's how many people roughly here?
110 people. Wow, that's precise smoking. 110 people here. Right. I'm going to take 110 people out to More Land Hotel. All right? There's a Bible college called Moreland. In my defense, that's why I'm getting sidetracked here. And we all turn up there because you all want your nice meal, right? And I've got the church credit card, and I order the meals. 110 people here. And I go to the person, I say, I want 150 meals, please. And here's the church credit card. Thank you very much. And so they bring out all those meals. 150 meals. You have your meal, I have my meal. And then we look back and we can see that there are meals left over afterwards. Surely you would look at me and say, how wasteful are you? That's our church credit card. What are you doing wasting that money? And yet, when we read in the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, that's exactly what Jesus does. There are 12 baskets left over at the end.
Do you not think that the son of God would know exactly how many people were there?
Do you not think maybe, would it not have been a thought?
It's not stretching the imagination to say that if that miracle had happened that it would have had more impact if there had not been one crumb of bread left over because every person had been fed right down to the last one. Is that not a more accurate. You're a miracle. But, oh, no. We see 12 baskets left over at the end.
You ever Wonder why it's 12 baskets left over at the end? How many disciples were there? How big was the church? 12 disciples? How many baskets were left over?
What do you reckon they did with those baskets?
They took it out and fed the community. Your bang on, sir.
God gives more than enough.
God gives more than enough. And that culture, that generous culture of God has to be reflected in us as a people.
We have to have that same attitude that what I have I can give. If there's a need, if there's a lack in somebody's life, I can give it. There could be somebody in this church today that maybe need a tv. You might have a spare tv. You can give your TV to them.
And your abundance fulfills their lack. And you'll get blessed and they get blessed.
It's just the way it works, friends. One basket per disciple. One for each one of us in this church. 110 baskets have been left over for you and I to go and distribute into our community.
Whatever that means. Whatever that means.
I'm going to draw this to a close. Generous culture. God so loved that. He gave. He didn't give just so that you and I might have an enough life. He didn't give so that we might just scrape through. He didn't give so that we can just exist. He came that we might have life, finish it, and have it to the full.
More than enough.
More than enough. We overflow with encouragement. We overflow with kindness. I was blessed this morning. We were in the hotel and there was a young girl there, and she struggled with anxiety. And she's going to Australia. She's only, like 19. She's going to Australia in a few weeks. And she was opening up to Sheila and I last night. And as we left this morning, I noticed Sheila go over and give this girl a hug. And I thought, that's it.
Stranger. Complete stranger in a restaurant. And Sheila goes and gives the girl a hug.
Can we stand in the house of God, please?
All right. I'm going to try and lead this as close as I can to a prophetic way. So you've really got to close your eyes and hunker down with me in this if you can, please. I don't know where you're at in your spiritual walk, but this is so important for rediscover today. I genuinely feel this is a word in season. Let's close our eyes for a moment or two. This is the house of overflow.
This is the house of overflow.
You're not going to scrape through as a church, as a people. You're going to have abundance.
He's going to pass through you, through this church much.
This house is the house of Joseph. Joseph means man of increase.
Right in the middle of the devil's battlefield is the God who David said my cup of runs over. Father, in Jesus name, I pray that this house, this church, will become a place of superabundance. Not superabundance to collect it and keep it, but superabundance to give away superabundance financially. Father, I pray that the finances of this church will flourish and grow, Lord, not because of mean spirit, not because of a. A policy or a procedure, but because of a generous heart of people of God who understand that what we have, we sow. What you've given, we give. I pray that, Lord, across all these platforms, I pray it over time, Lord, that we will be super generous with our time, that we will give our time where our time is needed. So those 39 giants, Lord, can be raised up when they're needed in the house, Lord, for those that need them. Father, I pray in Jesus name That they will be. Every stronghold will be broken. Every impoverished stronghold will be. Come on, agree with me. Every stronghold will be broken in every life in this church. For those of us maybe, that we've had a tight spirit, Lord, because we've been bought up in lack and we struggled. We've never had enough for ourselves. I break that right now. Come on, reach out in the name of Jesus. I break that right now. And I pray, Lord, for a real move of God in each and every heart. My heart too, in this house today. I pray, Father, that this will be a place of plenty. That we will be a place of plenty. I pray, Lord, that we'll be generous because we don't have lack, but because we have much. I pray, Lord, that we will be blessed to be a blessing. Help us to give that which we can and to not worry about what we don't have, so that our little can be used by you and can be multiplied to meet the needs of many. Come on. Can you say amen? Amen. Give the Lord a round of offering, a round of applause. Offering, would you?
All right. Let's stay just for a moment. Just want to finish this. Here we go.
Generosity reflects God's nature.
God is the ultimate giver. The entire biblical narrative is a testimony to his generosity. A world full of abundance provided for his people. We are called to imitate him, Father. Today we ask ourselves, help us to reflect your generosity in our lives.
Help us to give free freely. Help us not to hold back. Secondly, generosity, we know, breaks the chains of selfishness. You say in Scripture. It's said in scripture. It's more blessed to give than receive. And we know, Lord, that in our own worlds we lean towards self preservation. It's natural. It's the way we are. It's the way we're wired. And it's logical in many ways as well. And yet, Lord, your spirit speaks us into a new world. That generosity is a weapon against greed and materialism. The more we give, the less power and money and possessions have mastery over us. And so today, Lord, we pray. Help us to see areas of our lives that we cling to too tightly. Help us to see. Help us to live with open hands and practice generosity daily and not just occasionally. And finally, Lord, as I pray. Just pray, Lord, for the community, for Newton Abbott or the towns and villages where everybody here comes from. I include ours in that. You say in scripture, a generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Lord, we know that generosity builds relationships. We know that the early church thrived on generosity. Believers shared everything they had. We read in Acts chapter, chapter two, everything they had. It says there that there was no one who had need.
Radical generosity, Father, today we pray that our generosity will impact those around us. Come on. Can you agree with that? Our generosity will impact those around us, will contribute to a culture of giving. In my family, in my church, in my community, we pray this prayer. Father, in the name of Jesus, Amen. Amen. Thank you.
