As Christians, whatever our circumstance our default should be generosity.

Freely we have received, so freely we give, that we might be children of our father who gives generously to the deserving and undeserving.

The best weapon against Ignorance, Resentment, and Entitlement is Generosity.

As children of God we are called to generosity. God calls us to practice it. Because genorisity is a posture of worship.

He calls us to genorisity not for his sake, but for ours!

Genorisity frees us from fear and worry. It places our trust not in things, but in God. It is good for us!

“For it is in giving that we receive.”

― St. Francis of Assisi

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

― Winston Churchhill

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” ― Pablo Picasso.

Money and possessions are seductive. We look to them to provide security and joy. But instead they bring worry and fear. Generosity breaks this down. It puts our hope in the God who will last.

Generosity is one of the most powerful weapons we as Christians we have.

God calls us on this. He says: "be generous!"

And he puts himself on the line. He says: test me on this!

Getting practical...

Under the law it was easy. God asked for a tithe, 10%.

But we aren't under the law: we are under Christ.

A question Christians have grappled with for centuries. Is how much is enough?

Enough for us and enough for givig back to God?

“When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!”

― John Wesley

John Wesley wanted to live his life excelling at generosity. It something we all should aspire to. Maybe God is calling you to be more generous.

Start by regularly giving:

BSB: 704922

Account Number: 100014362

Glen Osmond Baptist Church Inc

If you are looking for a baseline to aim for the old fasioned 10% mark isn’t a bad place to start. Some of you aren’t in a position to do that, some of you have the capacity to give way more than that. Pray about it and have a clear concience.

Remeber God’s goal in this is to give us an opportunity to share in his blessing. He wants us to invest in his kingdom, and wants to bless us!

Giving is an act of worship.

We want offering to be an important part of our worship life. We are going to keep taking up a physical offering each week. We're asking you to bring a coin with you each week. That coin can be a symbol and a token of your regular giving.

We think that will be helpful in our worship life.

And it will also set an example of generosity for our kids.

Giving is an act of worship. When we give we

* acknowledge that everything we have comes from God

* we serve God with our money rather than serving money as our god

* we trust God to provide for all our needs

* expect that God will bless us in far greater ways

But it also is a matter of investment. When we give we

* accept responsibility to share with others (those who teach and lead, those in need)

* trust that God’s purposes for our resources are greater than our own

* participate in God’s mission in our community

* are working together to make our God-given vision a reality

* hoping that our example will inspire others to give also

Growing finances release more opportunity. We’re doing ok, we’re surviving, but we want to do more than survive.

This is an incredible community.

We want to be investing in it.

We want to do more with our kids, with our property.

We want to welcome people into life with Jesus generously.

We want the resources to do this well.

So we want to do more than survive,

We want to thrive.