So much of life is about what we're going to receive. We often hear people ask what they'll get in return for their time of service or their giving of a donation. In Acts 20:35 Jesus is quoted as saying, "It is better to give than to receive." I believe that this is more than a warm fuzzy Hallmark cliche; instead its a command for his followers to model their lifestyles after. Life isn't meant to be hoarded for ourselves. We can't go through life trying to consume more, buy more, and keep more for ourselves. God wants to do amazing things in this world, and the awesome part is that he wants you to be a participant in his work. Unfortunately, if we're consumed only with our own needs, we become blind to the needs of others. During our series we discussed the importance of giving away our money through tithes and offerings and that we can't let money become a god in our lives. The second week was a conversation about how we can be generous with our resources and the stuff we currently own. The weekend before Thanksgiving we talked about how part of generosity is having an attitude of gratitude and being thankful for what you have and the people in your life. The fourth week was a discussion about how to be generously giving away your time to serve others. We concluded the series by teaching that Christ followers need to be generous with their forgiveness. We can't be hoarding our lives for ourselves, instead begin to generously give it away to meet the needs of others and expand the kingdom of God.All of the sermons from this series can be downloaded for free on iTunes, just search "Uturn Bothell" and you'll find them.
