Over the course of the last four weeks, we’ve talked about the truth that you were made for more. I’ve tried to help you understand that:
- God really does have more for you in your growth, relationship with him, etc.
- He also has more for your relationships with others as well.
- But there are also enemies of more that keep you from God’s best
- And there are more than 5! So you have to stay vigilant.

During these previous weeks, however, I’ve only focused on one direction of that more. That direction being from Heaven above down to you. We want to make sure that conduit is constantly active. This is why disciplines like prayer, Bible engagement, even going to church, is so important. These things keep that channel between you and God open so you can receive what he has to pour into your life.

But there is another direction of that more that God wants us to walk in.
Until now, it has been that vertical conduit between you and God. But for the next few weeks, we’ll talk about the horizontal conduit between you and others.

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Do you believe this? And if you believe this, I have two questions:
- How do those plans come to pass? and
- Who are those plans supposed to benefit?

As it pertains to the first question, that is not as simple as a one sentence answer. God’s plans are nothing like you’d plan for yourself. God’s plans were created with the end result in mind. He already knows how you life is going to go. He’s already lived your entire existence, your beginning AND your end. That means his plans for you have already taken into account the ups and downs. That tragic thing that happened 5 years ago, That incredible thing that happened 1 year ago, Even that habitual sin you did yesterday.

We can prove this biblically:
Psalm 139:16
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance and in Your book were all written the days that were appointed for me.

God has already documented every single day of your life.

Let me pause here because this can sound like Calvinism. Calvinism teaches you have no choice when it comes to God. You will either be given the ability by God to accept Jesus, or else you will not, meaning you are depraved and can’t even recognize Jesus, much less accept him, and that you are born for hell. This cannot be further from the teaching of the Bible. This mindset is a complete horrendous distortion of the nature of God.

God knowing the days of your life doesn’t mean he forces you to or not to do, It means that in his plan for you, he has already calculated the trajectory changes that your choices will make to his design.

Because God works his plans back from the end, he has already determined your path. He doesn’t make adjustments. The adjustments are already hard baked into his original plan.

God’s good plan has already accounted for every bad decision you’ll ever make. The moral of the story is simply to stay as close to Jesus as you can, deal with the things in you that will keep you from God’s best, and completely trust in his plan for your life.

What about the second question, who are those plans supposed to benefit?
Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Notice who benefits from this work:
those who love God and are called according to his purpose. But not necessarily just you.

We typically read this verse in response to negative things happening in our lives. We have to be careful that we don’t read this verse and then demand we benefit directly from what we’ve gone through.

Are you OK with God's plan if it means that you don't always directly benefit from what he allows you to go through? This is a hard question because it does a few things:
- It challenges, our concept of God's goodness.
- It challenges our concept of God's fairness.
- It challenges the concept of God's plan.

How can a good and fair God create a plan for us that includes trials and tribulations that don’t benefit us? Because God’s plan for you is bigger than you being the sole beneficiary.

The Sole Beneficiary
This is an ideology that has invaded Christianity and it has had at least one major repercussion: selfishness that kills generosity.

I’ve said plenty of times before, the Bible is not a book about you, it is a book about Jesus. Does that mean the promises in the Bible don't apply to us? Of course they do! But the promises in the Bible are meant to benefit the Kingdom of God and all of God’s children, not just one person, you.

We see this played out in worship music today. Worship music is very "me" centered, and this creates selfishness in us. It is not selfishness in the traditional way of you trying to hoard everything, but selfishness in that it makes you the focus.

That selfishness kills generosity. We stopped looking at the church as an opportunity to serve and give and started looking at the church as an entity designed for us and our benefit.

Philippians 2:5-8
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

What am I trying to tell you here? Be careful that you don’t make God a genie and the church about you. Because if you do, you will feed selfishness and starve generosity in you.

This kills God’s ability to give you the more you were made for. The family business God invites us into is not one that hoards blessing, but one that gives generously.

If the focus of your faith in Jesus is what you can get out of this and there is no focus on how you got here and how God can use you to move the Kingdom, you will miss out on the more you were made for.

Why?
Let me tell you, but let me tell you in a way that builds to the answer.

I need to share your role, the why behind it, and how you can experience the most fulfilling life possible.

Three steps to experience the more you were made for.

Step One - Your Role. 1. Faithful people get more.
Faith is the currency of heaven. Everything in your Christian walk will require faith. And we always make the focus on you having faith in God.
But God wants us to be faithful, too.

Matthew 25:19-21
19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ 21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

What we see here is evidence that God is calling us to be faithful stewards of what he has given us. Would you be willing to give money to someone who isn’t responsible? Would you be willing to lend your car to someone who had 5 wrecks in the last year? Why not? Because they aren’t faithful.

I understand you want more of God, but have you been faithful with the relationship you already have with him? Have you been praying? Diving into the word? Chasing after him? Same with your spouse…or any other relationship.

Can we realistically expect more if we’ve not been faithful to manage what we have?

Now, take this same mindset and apply it to what God has given you. Have you been faithful with what you’ve been given?

The easy one is with finances, but have you been obedient? What about with your gifts? Are you using your gifts for the Kingdom? What about your time? Are you prioritizing the Kingdom being built in your family?

It is easy to want more but how good are you at managing blessing? If you aren’t good at managing what he has already given you, it is hard to believe he will give you more.

What if you aren’t good at managing God’s blessing? You’re bad with money, always absent with time, use your gifts only for yourself, have a malnourished relationship with God, perhaps you even habitually engage in destructive behaviors and/or sin?

If you look across the Bible, you are hard pressed to find a main character who didn’t fail at being faithful. Adam, Eve, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul. If you look at theirs stories, the fruit of their unfaithfulness was lack. Moses lost the Promised Land. Peter denied Jesus. Paul killed Christians. They all experienced lack in one form or another based on their unfaithfulness.

If you feel like you have been an unfaithful manager of God’s blessing, I want to encourage you that the story doesn’t have to end with unfaithfulness and lack.

2 Timothy 2:13
If we are faithless, he remains faithful
The answer to our unfaithfulness is to lean into the one who is faithful.
Do this in prayer, reading the Word, worship, getting around God’s people

Why does he want us to be faithful?
Because his plan for your life is about more than just your life. He wants you walking in abundance for a reason.

Step Two - The Why Behind It. 2. You are blessed to bless
No matter in what area you are walking in abundance, the purpose of that abundance is not for you only, but for the Kingdom! I’m not saying give every single dime to the church (we’ll take it if you want to). I’m not saying come volunteer 24/7 and never go home.

But I am saying we need to remember that the Kingdom of God is more than a church service on Sunday.

Have you been blessed with a giant heart that sincerely loves people? Then God wants you to encourage people. Are you blessed with wisdom and knowledge of the scripture? Then God wants you to teach people. Are you blessed with skills and talent and abilities, even that you might not think our spiritual? God wants you to equip his people. Are you full of compassion for people who are struggling? God wants you to help. Do you live and breathe to tell people about Jesus? Then God wants you to reach the lost.

We have to get out of the mindset that the only way the Kingdom moves forward is through the programs of our local congregation, and realize that God is called each one of us to something powerful and meaningful, and that God blesses you in specific areas so that you can bless others.

God didn’t let you have it so you would hoard it. Your abundance is earmarked for the purposes of the Kingdom!

And what that Kingdom looks like is vastly more important to focus on than whether or not you are benefitting.

Larry Miller, President of the Jordan Brand
“Learn more so you can earn more so you can return more.”
Larry believes the focus is not your learning or your earning, but your returning. Your getting and growing and abundance is with giving, pouring, and blessing in mind. You have to understand that the more you were made for actually comes when you are willing to pour out! This is biblical!

Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap.

Look at the qualifier: giving. Pouring out. The prerequisite for more is to pour!

And look at the last sentence of that passage: For by the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

If God were to measure March’s blessing based on February’s outpouring, how blessed would you be? How would March’s relational abundance be based on February’s relational investments? Reaping what you sow goes way beyond vegetable seeds.

So you can sing or have unending compassion or have a successful business, or whatever, You have that abundance because that abundance has a purpose.

2 Corinthians 9:11
Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

Genesis 12:2
I will bless you…and you will be a blessing to others.

2 Corinthians 9:8
God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Proverbs 11:25
Whoever brings blessing will be blessed, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Step Three: Real abundance. 3. Surrender enables abundance

There is an old hymn that says, “All to Jesus I surrender, All to him I freely give. I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee my blessed savior. I surrender all.”

I am convinced abundance begins with surrender. If I want more relationship, I have to surrender more of myself. If I want more leadership, I have to surrender more of my rights. If I want more, it requires surrender.

Surrender is only a bad thing if you lose.

What if God wanted you to look at surrender in a different light. Rather than surrender being focused on what you lose, what it it was meant to focus you on what you will gain?

Yes, I might not get that hour catching up on my Netflix queue, but by surrendering it, I get an hour of time I’ll never get back with my kid.
Yes, I might not get that hour of sleep in the morning,
but by surrendering it, I get intentional time in God’s presence.
Yes, I might have to get to the church at 7:30 to be ready to serve in Worship or Tech, but by surrendering that time, I get relationships that change me and an opportunity to lead people into God’s presence.
Yes, I might have to give that 10% to God to obey him in my finances,
but by surrounding my disobedience, I get to live under a blessing.

A tell tale sign you are still living in lack is the constant focus on what you’re losing and little to no recognition of what you’re gaining. This month, we had just what we needed financially to within $2000. I could either focus on what we didn’t have, or I could thank God for his provision. I tuck my kids in almost every night. It is a whole process that takes time. I could gripe about losing ME time, or I could embrace the OUR time.

I am wanting to shift your mindset here because if you want abundance, it will come on the other side of surrender.

Consider Jesus. Titus 2:14
He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

Hebrews 12:2
Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Both these verses show what I am talking about here. Jesus had to surrender. “He gave his life.” “He endured the Cross.” But his surrender opened the door to abundance. “Freed us, made us his own.” “Seated in the place of honor” And that “joy” that awaited him? That’s us!

What am I saying?
You won’t truly know the beauty and power of more until you are living to give. Until you purpose your heart to live to give, you'll never know the joy of generosity. And until you are willing to surrender everything, you'll never truly experience abundance.

But if you are willing to surrender everything to the Lord, not holding anything back, not your gifts, talent, abilities, time, money, if you were willing to be faithful, and what God has given, you, abundance will flow into your life.

And that abundance has a specific purpose beyond you being taken care of. The purpose for that abundance is so that you can give, move the kingdom, encourage, build, be a blessing, and the bound and every good work he's called you to.

And once you embrace the mindset that doesn't make you the beneficiary, but focuses all your attention on being a blessing, you will finally experience the indescribable fulfillment, the beauty and the power of what it means to actually have more.

In 2 Kings 4, we see a story of a widow who asked Elisha the prophet for help. Her husband passed away and his creditors were coming to take away their sons as slaves. Elisha asked her what she had in her house. In 2 Kings 4:2 she simply replied, “We have nothing except a small jar of olive oil.”

We see in the rest of the story God performs a miracle in that as long as she had an empty vessel, the oil continued to flow. She was able to sell the oil, eliminate her debt, and she and her sons lived off the rest. Generational wealth.

With God, it has never been about how much or how little you have. It has always been about your willingness to surrender it to him.

And the other side of that surrender is abundance. On the other side of abundance is blessing others. On the other side of blessing others is fulfillment beyond imagining.

God has blessed you with something. Have you surrendered it to him so that he can give more?

What do you need to surrender to God today?
I need to surrender my finances.
I need to surrender my gifts, talents, and abilities.
I need to surrender my time in serving or building relationships.
I need to surrender my life.

Now is the time to do just that.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?