Generosity Flows Out of Your Margin - DK
Generosity - The Blessed Life • Sermon • Submitted
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Generosity Flows Out of Your Margin
MESSAGE TITLE: Generosity Flows Out of Your Margin
Date: 3/3/2019
INTRODUCTION
READ: NIV – GOOD SAMARTIAN
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
We think how could they do this – pass by someone that is in trouble
NIV – GOOD SAMARTIAN
We think how could they do this – pass by someone that is in trouble
Alternative – Priest & Levite they had places to be, commitments, things to do, schedules to keep. They had no margin.
GENEROSITY
One of the greatest hindrances to generosity is lack of margin in our lives
FOR US
Sometimes our lack of generosity isn’t related to our heart, it’s that our schedules are so full of things that we don’t have the margin to respond.
MARGIN
Margin is the gap between our load and our limit
Margin is the space between our load and our limits.
MESSAGE TITLE: Generosity Flows Out of Your Margin
PRAYER
AREA 1
When you’re a kid you have some activity in your life - Being a kid is awesome though, when you get tired your parents get involved and make you take a nap - When you’re a kids you activities and balanced with rest
Then you go to primary school and a few activities start to get added - Then you go to high school and things ramp up a bit - Then some of us go to university and get a car - Then we get married - Children: I know before we had children we though we were so busy. When children come you have to go to school events, gymnastics, swimming, music lessons & soccer - Then we buy a house – there are repairs. We accumulate things.
Are you feeling the tension? How much more can you add?
Sometimes we can get like this and not know that we are in that place
This is the place of no margin - We live in a culture in which it’s easy to have no margin
SUCK IT UP
Through the process we learn – Kids have balance but adults need to suck it up and get done what needs to be done - You can to a point but you have limits - We have to decide, are we going to live within our limits or beyond our limits with no margin - Let’s be clear, we are never going to have a stress fee life – tension helps us grow - but we have limits.
LIMITS
Human beings, just like everything else in this creation, you and I have limits, physical, emotional, and mental limits.
COMPROMISE
Living beyond our limit can bring us to compromise - Compromise keeps us out of his presence and his anointing
“GOOD THING”
Often we are not choosing between good things and bad thing, often we are choosing between good things and good things
Just cause it’s a good thing doesn’t mean it’s a God thing
God is calling us to a life of balance so that we have space to be generous, generous with our time, generous with our speech, generous with our finances.
AREA 2 - BALANCE
READ: Amplified Bible (AMPC) - MARY AND MARTHA
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Amplified Bible (AMPC) - MARY AND MARTHA
MARY – Mary was taking it all in – She had prioritised hearing from Jesus
MARY – Mary was taking it all in – She had prioritised hearing from Jesus
She realised that whatever she was doing wasn’t as important as what was happening in that moment
MARTHA – Martha was frustrated - It easy to allow our busyness to make us insensitive to what is happen around us - We can become blinded to the needs & feeling of others
Wisdom says slow down and get some margin - GENEROSITY
READ: Amplified Bible (AMP)
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Amplified Bible (AMP)
ENEMY
When we are out of balance - Excess is the devils playground – When we are beyond our limits we are most venerable to attack.
We can look to have our need met be unhealthy substitutes: affairs, pornography, excessive alcohol, illicit drugs
BALANCE
God blesses that which is in order, that which is balanced.
AREA 3 – WHAT’S IMPORTANT / REST
Imagine it this way: If you had only one month left to live, you’d be surprised at what you would trim from your life, what you would focus on.
What’s in your margin? Important things or essential things?
Are you positioned for generosity?
Many people fill their margin with worldly things that they think are going to bring peace to their soul - The only place to find true rest is with Jesus
READ: New Living Translation (NLT)
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
New Living Translation (NLT)
Finish these sentences:
The last time I felt a quiet calmness was....
The last time our experienced true rest was…
CONCLUSION