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Sermon Notes
THE GENEROUS LIFE
Week 4: The Grace of Giving
October 4, 2026
A grateful heart does not sit still. When grace lands on us, generosity flows out: not to earn God’s love, but in joyful response to the love He has already given.
1. A grateful heart does not sit still. Matthew 6:21
- Where your treasure goes reveals where your heart already is.
- The question of the heart and the question of giving are one question asked twice.
2. Grace fell on Macedonia. 2 Corinthians 8:1–7
- Out of deep poverty and real affliction came an abundance of joy.
- They gave beyond their means and begged for the privilege: generosity as grace, not pressure.
3. The reason we give at all. 2 Corinthians 8:9
- Christ was rich, yet for our sake became poor, so that we might become rich.
- Grace comes first; giving is the response, never the payment.
4. Give as you have decided in your heart. 2 Corinthians 9:7
- Not reluctantly, not under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
- A gift decided in the heart is prayed over, not rushed.
5. You cannot outgive God. 2 Corinthians 9:6–11
- Your resources are seed to scatter, not treasure to bury.
- He supplies the giver so the giver can keep giving.
6. The willing people. 1 Chronicles 29:9, 14
- "Of your own have we given you": we only hand back what was always His.
- Like David’s people, we give with a whole and joyful heart.
Reflection/Application Questions
- Think of a time someone gave to you out of their own need, not their surplus.
- What did that kind of generosity do to you, and why does it land so differently than a gift that cost nothing?
- Paul calls what happened in Macedonia "the grace of God," not a successful offering. They were poor and afflicted, yet overflowing with joy and begging to give.
- What does it mean that generosity like that is something God works in us, rather than something we manufacture?
- Paul anchors giving in the gospel: Christ became poor so we could become rich.
- How does keeping grace first, and giving second, change the way you feel about generosity?
- Where are you tempted to flip that order?
- "God loves a cheerful giver," and He promises to supply the giver so the giver can keep giving.
- Be honest: what fear rises in you when giving gets specific, and how does the picture of seed scattered rather than buried speak to that fear?
- David says, "of your own have we given you," and the people rejoiced because they gave willingly.
- How does remembering that it is all His already change the act of giving from loss into joy?
- Where is one specific place your generosity and your gratitude are not yet the same size?
- What would it look like, joyfully and without compulsion, to close that gap in the year ahead?
Thank God that He gave first, that it is all His, and that He loves a cheerful giver. Ask Him to make your giving this week a true decision of the heart: glad, free, and full of worship.
Time of Response
Take a few minutes of silence. Allow your own thoughts to quiet and be still. Where does the Holy Spirit want you to decrease so that Christ could increase in your life? What part of your life, if reduced, would make more room for you to thrive spiritually?
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHILE READING SCRIPTURE
What does this reveal about God?
What does this reveal about you in relation to God?
What do you need to do about it?
The Covenant Prayer from John Wesley's Covenant Service, 1780 (adapted)
I am no longer my own,
but Yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will.
Put me to doing,
put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for You or laid aside for You,
exalted for You or brought low for You.
Let me be full,
let me be empty.
Let me have all things,
let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to Your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
You are mine,
and I am Yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
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How Can I Be Intentional When Reading Scripture?
One Method To Use When Reading Scripture:
The S.O.A.P.S. Method
S.cripture: Write down the Bible passage you will be studying.
O.bservations: Examine the text and write down what you notice and see. Start with the obvious and move to the deeper.
A.pplication: Apply God’s Word to your life in a practical way. What is God saying about Himself, about you and about what He is calling you to?
P.rayer: Respond to God’s Word with your own words.
S.hare: Commit to share what God is showing you with someone else.
- Inductive Bible Study:
- Observation (what does the passage say?)
- What is happening in the passage?
- Who is involved in the passage?
- What happened before and after the passage.
- Where are they located and how is that influencing the passage.
- Interpretation (what does it mean?)
- What is the passage saying considering everything I have observed and what I know from the rest of Scripture
- What does the scripture say within context of the entirety of Scripture?
- Application (how does it apply to my life?)
- What does the passage say about God?
- What does the passage say about me and to me?
- What am I being called to DO because of the passage of Scripture?
How do I talk with God?
WAYS TO PRAY
One Way to talk with God is to:
Pause.
Rejoice.
Ask.
Yield.
ANOTHER OPTION
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication: Requests
