24 Mar Above and Beyond Part 3 | ” The FOUR Marks of Extravagant Givers”
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Guide
by Mary Ann Parsons
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Guatemala Informational Seminar – Sunday, March 31 at 1:30p – If you would like to know more about Hope of Life and our next missions trip to Guatemala this coming August, sign up for this seminar. Just to go Info Central on the weekend!
Hosting Interns: If anyone is interested in hosting interns from different colleges this summer, please let us know! We will have more information soon.
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Looking for your testimonies! If you have group wins to share, please email them to me! maparsons@waterschurch.org
We offer two types of classes. Please familiarize yourself with what these classes are about. Feel free to sign up for one so you can better explain what they are to your group members.
Starting Point: What is Christianity all about? Is the Bible really more than just a book? Who is Jesus? No matter where we are in life, we all have questions. Starting Point is a great place to explore the faith and have safe and open discussions about some of life’s toughest questions.
Growth Track: In this 3 part class; Discover, Deepen, & Dedicate; you will get answers to the most frequently asked questions about Waters Church and have an opportunity to ask your own. This is the perfect place to get to know the “Why” behind the “What” of who we are as a church.
April 6th-7th: ABOVE & BEYOND CAMPAIGN WEEKEND
Many serve the god of money. Serving money causes worry, stress, depression, arguments and even divorce. We cannot serve God and money (Matthew 6:24 ESV).
Money promises only what God provides.
Acts 20:35 ESV “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Blessed means happy. Happiness for our spirit. Blessing someone will defeat the spirit of depression and raise the joy level in our lives. We need to see the generosity level in this country increase until Jesus comes again.
Pastor Tim talked about his trip to Uganda and how right smack in the middle of a bunch of brothels a church was planted. The pastor of the church was someone who was sponsored through Compassion International. Because of someone else’s generosity, this man went to school in America and went back to Uganda to plant a church there. One woman they met was dying from aids and her and her family lived in an 8×8 hut. When they prayed for her, she was so grateful and when they gave them a bag of rice, a child kissed the bag! Imagine a child here, in America, kissing a bag of rice because they were so grateful to have food! The woman gave Tim and Cheryl a bunch of bananas and when they said they could not accept it, she said that she could not just receive, she needed to give.
IF IT IS TRULY BETTER TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE, SHOULDN’T I WANT GO TO MAKE ME A GIVER?
To give is happier. Our current happiness level is our giving level. Not just money but also giving of our time and talent. Giving them away blesses our lives with happiness and joy.
Ice-breaker question:
Q. Can you describe times where you have given your time, talent and/or treasure where you thought you were blessing someone else but in turn you were the one that was truly blessed?
WHAT KIND OF GIVER ARE YOU?
- The Effortless Giver: $1/$5/$10/$20 per Sunday.
The average American spends more on pets than religious practices. We complain about what we lack in this country but we don’t give a care about the Gospel. We need to put God first with our money.
- The elementary Giver: 10% Tithe.
This is the training wheels of giving. We are not giving God anything that is not already His. (Psalm 24a ESV).
We bring back 10 percent of what He blesses us with. God’s gratefulness is not matched. He will rebuke what is devouring our money (Malachi 3:11 ESV).
- The Gospel Engine Giver: Above the Tithe.
Reaching out to those who have less, who are in need. These are people who let the blessing come not to them but through them. God blesses us for those outside of us. The Gospel moves forward as we give. Whatever we put our money into will grow in our lives.
- The Extravagant Giver: A level that disturbs the status quo in a world full of sin and selfishness.
Q. (To seasoned Christians): How has your giving level evolved though out your years of being a believer and what sparked the change?
Q. (To the newer believer): What are some ways you are giving your time, talent and treasure?
John 12: Mary’s Oil
1. EXTRAVAGANT GIVERS BELIEVE JESUS IS WORTH IT.
After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, they threw a party. Simon the leper was there (who was also healed by Jesus), Martha, and the disciples. When Mary comes, she was so grateful that Jesus brought her bother back from the dead, she pushes her way through the crowd and gets on her knees, takes an expensive jar of perfume, busts the seal off and pours the entire bottle over Jesus’s feet and head. The sweet savor goes through the room and then she wipes His feet with her hair. She is expressing herself in worship. She is so thankful that Jesus is in her life. Jesus came and changed her life, that is worthy of worship. Her life had been changed and touched by Jesus. Jesus is worth our gift. Extravagant givers believe this.
Q. Would you consider yourself a Mary or one of the others in this group and why? Why was this act of worship so extravagant?
Our giving does not obligate God to fix our problems, He is not interested in an economic relationship with us. He is our Father, he wants to bless us. He pours into our lives first without asking us for anything. He needs nothing from us or if he did, then he would not be God. We do not give to get, that is sanctified selfishness. He cleanses us from sin and graces us with his presence and in response we worship him.
Q. Have you ever selfishly used God’s resources for your own pleasure and how?
TRUTH: I CANNOT OUT-GIVE GOD.
Q. What is an example where, because of your giving to God’s purposes, He has blessed you extravagantly?
2. EXTRAVAGANT GIVERS UNDERSTAND THE OTHERS WILL CRITICIZE IT.
There are voices in our head that say the church only wants our money. This is the voice of fear, that if we give it we won’t have it.
Lazarus was at the table only because Jesus raised him from the dead. Simon was there only because Jesus healed him of leprosy. The disciples were there because Jesus gave them the authority to cast out demons but they all have the audacity to say it was a waste of money to worship Jesus with the expensive oil. No one steps up to defend Mary.
The voice of greed teaches us to trust money over God.
The Judas spirit always has a plan for other people to give. All of a sudden he cares about the people. It sounds religious, he plays the game and it sounds convincing. Jesus speaks up for Mary.
Q. What voice of criticism have you heard when you have put God before your money?
We see life change here every week. If we are here then we should trust the leadership with what is happening at Waters Church. We are here to glorify the Name above every other Name. How much is a soul worth?
3. EXTRAVAGANT GIVERS BEAUTIFY THE OFFERINGS OF THE BODY OF CHRIST.
It takes money to make the church beautiful. There are churches around that are falling apart, that smell musty and have not been updated in years.
The smell of the perfume most likely permeated every where Jesus went afterward even in the grave. Mary beautified His body. We are the Body and when we give extravagantly we beautify the offerings of our church.
Q. Why is it shameful for churches to allow their buildings to decay rather than updating them?
4. EXTRAVAGANT GIVERS ARE REMEMBERED FOREVER.
Mary has never been forgotten. When we give God watches. He is coming back and bringing His reward with Him.
PRAYER FOR EACH OTHER, THE LOST, WOONSOCKET AND OTHER UPCOMING CAMPUSES, THE ABOVE & BEYOND CAMPAIGN, THE CHURCH, THE NATION AND LEADERS.
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