Gospel

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Tuesday 5/20/14 Bible Study Pastor Michael God Rewards Generous Living John 12:1-8
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Don’t get caught up in the serving of Jesus and not sit at his feet and listen. Church is a Christian’s feeding place. God rewards us according to what we do and give back to him. We need to give extraordinarily to get blessed extraordinarily.

I The ENEMY of Generosity:

• The enemy of generosity is selfishness.
• We learn selfishness from the time we are children. We are born selfish.
• God hopes that one day we will outgrow that, but many times we don’t. Selfish people never get blessed by God. Selfish living people have a miserable life.

Phil. 2:3 Do nothing with selfishness. Think more for others than for ourselves. Don’t be its all about me!
 Why did it bother Judas so much that the costly oil was put on the feet of Jesus?

He was a thief and was mad because there was no way he could get his hands on the money if it had been sold. There will always be a Judas, a person with a negative spirit. A person who will walk with you until the opportunity comes that they can take your stuff! People who have the Judas mentality will always have lack!

II The ELEVATION of Generosity (John 12:3-5):

• This was a year’s wages. The costly oil that Mary anointed with was valued at a year’s wages for her. She was a former prostitute by trade but she got saved and freed by Jesus.
• Mary washed the feet of Jesus with the costly oil and then wiped his feet with her hair. She had no regard for how dirty and nasty his feet were. She wasn’t thinking of herself but only of Jesus.
• The point of this story in the Bible isn’t about the amount of her gift, but the extravagance of her gift.

 Generosity:
There are 3 levels of giving in the Bible: tithes, offering, extravagant offering. There are many extravagant offerings in the Bible:

+ David gave 21 billion to build the temple
+ The widow gave two mites. Jesus said she gave more than anyone because she gave all that she had. (It takes 4 mites to equal 1 penny)
+ Solomon offered 1000 sacrifices.

What is Tithe?

• It’s 10% of your income that belongs to God.
• The latest poll in America shows that only 5 –7% of all Christians practice tithing. 93% never even get through the first level.

III The Eternal Rewards of Generosity (Matthew 26, Mark 14, John 12)
Why did Mary give such an extravagant gift?

• Hebrews says: God is a rewarder. It’s the only time this word is used in the Bible.
• Jesus said that where the gospel is preached in the WHOLE WORLD, this story will be told over and over again as a memorial to her for washing his feet.
• She gave out of obedience but she didn’t know where it was going.
• Mary had no idea her gift was the only anointing Jesus’ body would receive for burial.

God rewards us according to what we give back to Him:

We need to give extraordinarily to get blessed extraordinarily. God wants to know that He can trust us to release what’s in our hand so He can release what’s in his hand to us. Release what’s in our hand so God will release what’s in his hand!

AMEN

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