(1 Timothy 6:18) Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. (NIV)

You can't have community without generosity!

Carl Meninger, the famous psychiatrist; said: "Generosity is one of the essential components of mental health. We have found that generous people are rarely mentally ill." So today, in the interest of the mental health of those sitting on either side of you, we are going to look at why to be generous;

Seven incredible benefits:

A) Generosity creates COMMUNITY.

(2 Corinthians 9:11-12) You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. (NIV)

(Matthew 6:19-21) "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NIV)

In other words, wherever I put my time, my money, my effort and my energy, wherever I invest myself, that's what is going to attract me. My investment of myself and my resources tends to be like a magnet.

If you want to have a heart for Microsoft, buy some stock. The moment you buy stock in Microsoft, you will be very interested in that company.

Wherever you put your time and money, that's where your heart goes. . Wherever your treasure is, your heart will be there.

So any time that I am generous with you, or I am generous with the poor or I am generous with my community, with God …. that's where my heart tends to be. And every time I give to God it draws my heart closer to God. And every time I give to you, it draws my heart closer to you. Giving…generosity creates community.

when you had/have children in your home, did/do you enjoy watching them share with each other? Of course! One of the primary lessons of life is learning how to share. And when you would see your kids being unselfish, you are very happy with that. God is the same way. Because God is generous and He wants us to become like him.

B) Generosity defeats MATERIALISM.

The more generous I am with you, the more it defeats materialism in my life. Would you agree that we live in a culture of materialism? I want more. I have to have more. And just about the time that you think that you got it all, the advertisments tell you about all kinds of things that you did not know that you could not live without.

The antidote to materialism ‑‑ is generosity. And every time you are generous, you have a spiritual victory! Every time you are generous, your heart grows. Every time you are generous, you break the grip of materialism in your life. Why? Because materialism is all about getting. And God says every time that you share with a friend, share with your family or share with a neighbor, or any time you are generous with anybody, you are defeating the grip of materialism in your life.

(Matthew 6:24) "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (NIV)

Notice it does not say you “should not“. It says you “cannot“. You can't have two “number ones” in your life. You can not say making a lot of money is number one….. and God is number one. Only one can be number one!

C) Generosity strengthens MY FAITH.

There are more promises in the Bible, about giving, than about any other subject. In fact, God talks more about giving than He does about heaven… or hell. Why? Because God is a generous God and He wants us to become like him.

You would have nothing if it were not for the generosity of God. I would not take my next breath if it were not for the generosity of God. God says, I just want you learn to be like me. I am generous with you and I want you to learn to be generous with others.

Here is one of God’s promises: (2 Corinthians 9:6) But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. (NKJV)

This principle is true in every area of life. If you give out judgment, if you are judgmental of other people, other people will judge you. If you are critical of other people all the time they will be critical of you. We talked about this last week…. Whatever you give out you are going to get back.

And if I take a kernel of corn and I plant it in the ground, I am not expecting to get one kernel back, I will get harvest with hundreds of kernels. Whatever you give out you will get back in a greater degree. It God’s principle….

Sooner or later I have to ask myself, if I’m going to trust God’s promises… where He saysHe will take care of all my needs if I’m generous?…. it's the exact opposite of my human nature. It's my nature to hoard, to accumulate…

There are two kinds of people in life. There are givers and there are takers. Only two. You are either be a giver in life or you are a taker. Takers are always the unhappy ones. It's not by accident that the words 'miser' and 'miserable' comes from the same Greek word. The most generous people are the happiest people on the planet.

Three reasons why God wants you to be generous with others.

1) Remember, God is the source of all you have.

What happens when I become a more generous person?

(2 Corinthians 9:8) And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (NKJV)

If you will practice generosity with the people around you, God said, “I will make it up to you by giving you everything you need, plus, I will give you more so you will have some to share with others.” God is looking for channels… When God finds a channel, it's like a funnel…. He starts pouring straight through it.

D) Generosity is an investment FOR ETERNITY.

Luke 16:9 -Use your worldly resources to benefit others. In this way your generosity stores up a reward for you in heaven." (NLT)

You never see a hearse pulling a U‑Haul! (Jim McKeegan)

You can't take it with you. But you can send it on ahead. Every time you are generous, with the poor, with a friend, with a neighbor,…. with God, any time that you are generous with your time your money or energy, God says you are storing up in the bank in heaven . Your time on earth is only about 80, maybe at the most 100 years. You will spend trillions of years in eternity. Where should you be building the biggest bank account?

(1 Timothy 6:18-19) Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (NIV).

E) Generosity blesses us IN THIS LIFE.

(Deuteronomy 15:10) Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. (NIV)

What is amazing is that some people can trust God to forgive all their sins and trust God to prepare their eternal reward, but don't trust Him to keep his promises about money.

F) Generosity produces BLESSING.

Here’s two more lessons.

1) God is working even when you don't see it.

2) Generosity creates miracles….. God wants to make a miracle worker this week. You can be the answer to somebody's prayer. When you become a generous person, life becomes an adventure because you see God working through you over and over…

G) Generosity makes me MORE LIKE GOD.

(John 1:16) From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. (NIV)

Generosity makes me more like God. God is generous. God is a giver. God so loved the word that He gave….. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.

(2 Corinthians 9:7) Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Four attitudes for the generous giver:

1) Give THOUGHTFULLY. The Bible says you make up your own mind. Don't give impulsively. You think about it and pray about it.

2) Give ENTHUSIASTICALLY. Not reluctantly. Don't give out of guilt.

3) Give VOLUNTARILY. You don't do it under pressure. God does not bless gifts that are given under pressure, so why should I pressure you to give.

Every-time you feel pressure to give by somebody don’t give…God’s not going to bless it anyway…. But every time you feel challenged by God, you better give because only He knows what He is going to do in your heart and through your life.

4) Give CHEERFULLY. one of the Greek words, is the word 'hilarious.'

One of the reasons that there is so much cheerfulness in this church is there is so much generosity in this church. You cannot have joy ‑‑ I cannot have joy in my life without giving, without generosity.

(2 Corinthians 8:9) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. (NKJV)

He is not talking about money here, obviously. He is talking about the true riches of life. He says the God of the universe humbled himself and came to earth in human form, Jesus Christ, and He went through all the trials that we do. But then He allowed himself to be falsely accused, put on a cross and crucified. He could have come off that cross in a second, but He didn't. He stayed there to pay for all the sins of the world. He said,

All of your sins will now be forgiven and you don't have to go to hell because I have paid for all of the things that you have done wrong in your life on the cross. And not only have I paid for your past, I will give you a purpose in your present, and I will get to know you and you can get to know me, for all eternity"