If you only preach on giving when you’re behind budget...

When was the last time we preached on generosity — and it wasn’t because the budget was tight?

Money is one of the clearest windows into our trust, our fears, and our worship. Yet many of us only speak about it at the AGM or when pressure rises. In this episode, we reflect on generosity not as fundraising, but as discipleship.

We talk about:

Why giving flows from the grace of the gospel, not guilt
How to build a culture where generosity is normal and joyful
The risk of only addressing money in crisis moments
How leaders can model generosity with integrity
Practical steps to start shaping generous hearts this month

Toolbox:

Jehovah Jireh My Provider Song

Giving Generously by Rod Irvine

Neither Poverty Nor Riches (New Studies in Biblical Theology Series) by Craig L Blomberg

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Gospel Patrons website

The Journey of Generosity stories

Partner financially with Reach Australia

Credits:

This episode was brought to you by Safe Ministry Check

The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠

To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠

For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

Support Reach Australia’s online library

Transcript:

The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.

00:00:01:05 – 00:00:03:01
Derek Hanna
Good night. I’m Derek Hannah.

00:00:03:03 – 00:00:04:22
Scott Sanders
And I’m Scott Sanders.

00:00:04:24 – 00:00:31:16
Derek Hanna
Welcome to the One Thing, a podcast designed to give you one and solid practical tip for gospel centered ministry every week. Now, today we’re talking about generosity. Scott notes fundraising. No support rising, no budget pressure. But as discipleship, I’ve got, Scott with me as mostly, Scott money. Growing up in your family, was that a thing that was openly talked about?

00:00:31:18 – 00:00:41:03
Scott Sanders
Yeah. So, it it was. But, it’s interesting. Let me start with.

00:00:41:05 – 00:00:44:11
Derek Hanna
Yeah. Fantastic. Let’s get to that whole thing again.

00:00:44:13 – 00:00:49:07
Scott Sanders
Sorry, sorry. Okay. I got to answer. I’m just trying to. I was just trying to. At the start of it, but. Yeah. Go. Good job.

00:00:49:09 – 00:00:50:05
Derek Hanna
Okay.

00:00:50:07 – 00:00:52:08
Scott Sanders
Let’s ask the same question.

00:00:52:10 – 00:00:53:15
Derek Hanna
Good. I I’m Derek Hannah.

00:00:53:17 – 00:00:55:03
Scott Sanders
And I’m Scott Sanders.

00:00:55:05 – 00:01:16:20
Derek Hanna
Welcome to the one thing, a podcast designed to give you one solid practical tip for gospel centered ministry every single week. Now, today, we’re talking about generosity, not, as fundraising knows, budget pressure, but as a discipleship issue. I’ve got Scott Sanders with me, as I often do. Scott, when you were growing up, it was money. You think that your family spoke about?

00:01:16:22 – 00:01:31:23
Scott Sanders
Yeah, we it’s interesting. We I don’t know if we spoke about it a lot, so I don’t I don’t think of, you know, I’ve learned about investment strategy or superannuation or you know, how to, you know, what’s a good interest rate for a loan or get a mortgage or thing like that? It was spoken about lots, but in the context of God providing.

00:01:31:23 – 00:01:50:11
Scott Sanders
So I think one of, you know, Jehovah Jarrah, my provider, was was a grace that we used to seeing lots. And it my context of growing up. I grew up in a, in a training college for missionaries in a faith based mission. So by faith based, you didn’t ask for money. It just kind of. It kind of happened now.

00:01:50:13 – 00:02:17:17
Scott Sanders
It’s it’s interesting reflecting, I think my, you know, my siblings have, you know, different attitudes and, and we responded differently. Because of that context, you know, so, but but I guess the, the strong thing that I have growing up is that God provides and, and he always provides, and, you know, you know, you need to trust that, you know, to the point where, like, I can remember, my sister was got in Mongolia and she had to rise like, before she was with Annie.

00:02:17:18 – 00:02:32:19
Scott Sanders
So before she could go, you have to get to 75%. You can’t leave the country. And I can remember my sister asking, you know, asking my Baba dad to support him, right? Well that’s it. Look. The is going to provide. You know, and, you know, you got to think. Yeah, he does, at least for you, you know.

00:02:32:20 – 00:02:33:18
Derek Hanna
Yes.

00:02:33:18 – 00:02:52:00
Scott Sanders
I’d love you to give $5,000 that I get. Yeah. So I foster, and I like my dad waited like, you know, because he knew God would provide. And he was generous. Any any gave. And he’s been generous, you know, to all of us as family members. But that is that’s, you know, I was just like this, this idea that God will provide it.

00:02:52:02 – 00:03:05:22
Scott Sanders
You know, just just sits below. So I have this optimism, and, I think my, my kids, kids get frustrated about that now because they’re like, you know, but where’s it going to come from? Like, look, you know, God will provide, you know.

00:03:05:24 – 00:03:24:23
Derek Hanna
Well, this is good because we’re we’re going to push into this the positives, what that you’re saying there and also the, the challenges if you, presume upon that. I should just note as well in our show notes, which is in the description, if you click, we’re going to put a link to, do you have a jar of the song, from Songs of Price, which you can sing along to while you’re listening to this as well?

00:03:25:02 – 00:03:45:23
Derek Hanna
But for now, you’ve press play on the one thing. If only you preach on giving when you behind budget. That’s what we’re talking about today. Forming generous hearts in your church. Oh, it’s got, Let’s start. Generosity. Stewardship. Where does the Bible talk about this? What is the shape of the conversation? The categories of framework.

00:03:45:23 – 00:03:47:10
Derek Hanna
We want to push into with this.

00:03:47:12 – 00:04:04:11
Scott Sanders
I think this is a topic that that we don’t talk talk about enough. I think in our, in our conservative circles. We we’re concerned about speaking about it too much because of the excesses we’ve seen in other, you know, in other contexts. And so we don’t speak about it. And so it’s lacking often in our, you know, in, in us all, Bishop.

00:04:04:11 – 00:04:21:20
Scott Sanders
And so often when we when we do talk about it, well, we can say when it comes up in the Bible, you know, like, so that’s where we talk about it and it doesn’t come out that much. Something, comes up a bit. But I think as a church, you want to be regularly, speaking about this and preaching about, you know, about this, because it is one of our idols, you know, you can’t serve.

00:04:21:20 – 00:04:43:01
Scott Sanders
You can’t serve two masters. So some some thoughts. Well, I kind of said my, my big thing is, you know, God owns the cattle in a thousand hills. He likes nothing. And he’s he’s a generous, gracious, loving provider. So I think that needs to be, you know, kind of the basis that we sit in. He, he owns he owns everything.

00:04:43:03 – 00:05:01:13
Scott Sanders
And he and he’s generous. I think the idea of stewardship is, is a theme that, you see, you know, regularly in the Bible. He he not only gives us gifts, but he gives, you know, our talents. He not only gives us time. You know, life is short. Some some get more use, some get less. He also gives us treasure as well.

00:05:01:15 – 00:05:25:00
Scott Sanders
And he’s given given us that for a purpose. You know, we’re called in the Bible to to to use that to not be a burden to to love our family and then also to be generous. You know, so two Corinthians eight nine, it you know, it’s one of my favorite passages where it’s a response to the, to the, to the gracious love that we see in Jesus that we ought to, you know, that we ought to be generous and it shouldn’t come out of a compulsion.

00:05:25:02 – 00:05:45:05
Scott Sanders
It’s because of the response. It’s because of our love for Jesus and a love for us. I think, you know, others say about Jesus. Money is also, you know, not meant to be our security. So I think that’s, you know, that’s kind of, you know, that’s where we’re discipling people. You know, so, like, I have a rainy day fund.

00:05:45:07 – 00:06:02:08
Scott Sanders
And that’s because I’ve got four kids and I’ve got a wife. I have, you know, insurance, and I’ve thought about TPD and, you know, and that stuff. Now I do that because I want to love my my wife and my kids and my family. But I also do that because I want to be generous, you know, generous as well.

00:06:02:10 – 00:06:26:11
Scott Sanders
And I don’t want to, you know, I think about that in such a way that it means that I can’t be generous. So, you know, we we can be thoughtful and responsible, but way to be rich and cross and safe and secure, you know, in him, as well. I, I think as well, the idea of kind of, you know, don’t store up, you know, treasure in heaven for yourself.

00:06:26:13 – 00:06:54:13
Scott Sanders
So seeing, seeing money as well as, you know, as being used to be, you know, I guess, like, wise investments, you know, to make wise decisions. You know, for the gospel. You know, rust, moth decay. They’re not going to impact the person who puts their trust in Jesus. Here in Australia, you know, here in another part of Australia, that’s, you know, not local and, you know, overseas.

00:06:54:15 – 00:07:11:05
Scott Sanders
And I think as well, the one, you know, the one other thing that we kind of say, I think regularly as well is, God calls us to not give kind of equally, but to, to give sacrificially. You know, so the widow’s mite is really honored by Jesus. Toby, Toby, Neal often, you know, in church talks about his son.

00:07:11:07 – 00:07:38:21
Scott Sanders
Acha you know how in a building campaign he kind of brought his whole piggybank, you know, which was which was. Yeah, I think it was like $2.50 or something. You know, there there were people who gave $250,000. Now, who’s more generous? So I think I think to sort of see that sacrifice. And it’s one thing that he challenges us every year as we think about generosity to to be asking the question, well, you know, how can we give, this year, what is it, what it’s going to look like for us to, to give.

00:07:38:24 – 00:07:58:05
Scott Sanders
So there’s lots but I, I’d sit people in two Corinthians eight eight and nine. And, and I think one last thing, you know, and this as well that I think we got to just keep reminding each other of is we’re not saved. You know, through generosity. This doesn’t make us, you know, more godly or more Christian or more saved.

00:07:58:07 – 00:08:09:15
Scott Sanders
This is a response. You know, we give because we have been, given much. We give because we want to love and we want to serve. You know, those, around us?

00:08:09:17 – 00:08:30:13
Derek Hanna
Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. That two Corinthians side passage is is, Yeah, the small one. Let’s go to. Okay. How can I not respond with my time and whatever talent I’ve got and my treasure, as well as three days people talk about, including money. How can I not respond with those things? What? I want to respond to the gospel of sacrifice or of sending Jesus.

00:08:30:13 – 00:08:32:05
Derek Hanna
But when we talk about,

00:08:32:07 – 00:08:57:17
Scott Sanders
Yeah, what are we? One last thing is, is. And so this is going to maybe sound selfish, but but there’s a joy in giving. Yeah. You know, so, like, again, again remembering, sort of, you know, growing up. I can remember times where, you know, where that we had needs, you know, as a family and, and, you know, and, and mom and dad would put them in their pray points, you know, so they didn’t ask, but they definitely asked.

00:08:57:17 – 00:09:15:00
Scott Sanders
God to be pray for, you know, for our needs. You know, I can remember us getting, you know, getting a car. I can remember, a family, when our situation changed, they gave I gave the, you know, 10th of their inheritance to mom and dad so I could, you know, be set up as I left, you know, the missionary society now.

00:09:15:02 – 00:09:36:10
Scott Sanders
I just see there’s a real joy in, in giving to people that we often don’t talk about as well. And, and I think partly because often, often when we receive, we receive that generosity. We think there’s an obligation. We don’t live in a graceful society, you know? So. So there’s an unwillingness to to receive that gift, because we’re like, well, hang on now I something to that person.

00:09:36:12 – 00:09:52:23
Scott Sanders
But actually, we don’t, you know, we should be living in a culture of grace and generosity. We should we should receive that with joy. And then as we are able to give and be generous, we should also be, you know, be reaping the joy that comes, from seeing people, you know, receive stuff.

00:09:53:00 – 00:10:09:15
Derek Hanna
Yep. Absolutely. The Macedonian church, great example. Took a design on. So it’s not only a question of how is it we we help. People should what I have. Well, it’s also a question in leadership of how do we not rob people of the joy of of stewarding that well and being part of the gospel with what they’ve got.

00:10:09:20 – 00:10:25:00
Derek Hanna
So the question here is when we say culture of generosity, when we’re talking about that, what do we actually trying to build in the hearts of people? What are the discipleship, maturity in Christ? Things that we want to be seeing overflowing of people?

00:10:25:02 – 00:10:48:10
Scott Sanders
Yeah. I, I’m going to probably, you know, talk, talk about Toby. Toby being in this because I think he does does it quite well. And he’s regularly talking about, you know, he’s regularly talking about generosity. And, you know, I just kind of I just want to put, you know, put I could put up a whole bunch of emails, but he’ll regularly sort of say your generosity has made, you know, an impact this year.

00:10:48:12 – 00:11:09:18
Scott Sanders
So as he’s speaking about what God has been doing in our church, he’s linking it to, you know, people giving of them of themselves generously with their time and using their case, but also using their, you know, their resources as well. And so there is a, you know, a regular sense that, you know, generosity, you know, brings joy.

00:11:09:18 – 00:11:38:09
Scott Sanders
And where we are participating together in this as we, you know, as we steward the resources that we have. I think also it creates that ownership. So I think often, you know, often you can kind of you can write a check, and, and you can think, okay, I’ve kind of done my part, but actually seeing that, that where you know, we’re part of something as we, as we, as we give to a ministry or say, you know, see ministry happening, I think, as well.

00:11:38:11 – 00:11:58:04
Scott Sanders
When we talk, when we talk about being sacrificial, you know, there is a there is a trust, you know, a trust in God, as we hold on to things in some sense is, we’re demonstrating a lack of trust. You know, I, I’ve got a how big a bond can I have? You know, the parable that Jesus tells of the, of the land, you know, building barns.

00:11:58:05 – 00:12:23:10
Scott Sanders
He doesn’t demonstrate a trust in Jesus. He also doesn’t demonstrate a right response to Jesus. And God is the one who’s actually giving him everything. But as he seeks to, to store and and kind of build that, you know, that that base of protection, there’s a there’s a lack of trust. I think the other the other piece, as we’re talking about this in, you know, culture generosity might make it just part of the culture, like when we’re making things part of the culture.

00:12:23:11 – 00:12:38:24
Scott Sanders
Church, they just become, you know, habitual. They become regular things that we talk about. So, you know, every every October, we’ll have a Sunday where we’re going to be challenged to think about our giving and spending. We’re going to be challenged to be generous. You know, it used to be June, but now it’s January.

00:12:39:00 – 00:13:00:10
Scott Sanders
We are going to be thinking about giving outside of our church to, to mission overseas and mission, locally. You know, in our city. So, so making some of those regular, you know, activities that we have that keep us thinking, you know, not only into our own, you and church and and building up our church, but also thinking inside our cells as well.

00:13:00:12 – 00:13:22:05
Scott Sanders
And, and I think it’s well to keep, keep recognizing that, this is a it is a discipleship issue. People come at it differently. They’ve got different family of origin experiences. Different approaches to money. And so, you know, we we need to see it as, as something that we’re, you know, we’re going to be taking time to, to form, you know, form people and not out of obligation.

00:13:22:05 – 00:13:40:12
Scott Sanders
So the whole idea of a, you know, a cheerful giver that we see, you know, in Scripture, I think, I think we want to keeping, you know, encouraging that which is which is why I think it can often be unhelpful. You know, in the title, as we’ve said, only preaching when you’re behind budget or only talking about money, you know, when you’re behind budget.

00:13:40:14 – 00:13:57:11
Scott Sanders
How do how do we say, hey, we’re so thankful for whatever’s happened now, this has happened because people are giving up their time. This is because you guys have been super generous this year. And where I would put on staff members so well to make this ministry a priority. And, and that’s on it. That’s because people have been generous.

00:13:57:13 – 00:14:16:13
Derek Hanna
And so one of those things, if it is a discipleship issue, it’s more than just a one time of year kind of AGM moment. Here’s the budget. Here’s the shortfall. Or alternatively, the moments with is a crisis. If you only talk about it in the crisis, if you only talk about it at the AGM. What happens?

00:14:16:15 – 00:14:33:24
Scott Sanders
Well, I think it’s a missed opportunity. As I said, I think it’s one of the bigger models that we have. It’s also, not helpful to, you know, crowding in, saying fully formed disciples and matured, but, you know, but mature disciples. This is an area that we’re going to be, formed and shaped by our culture.

00:14:34:01 – 00:14:59:19
Scott Sanders
You know, all the time. So, yeah, so, so in terms of the AGM, you know, budgets passed, you know, visions faded often, conversation stops. There’s there’s often nicer to follow through. I think we want to keep, taking those moments to remind people of where their money’s going and how it’s being used. Reminding people of, you know what it is we’ve raised money for and reminding people, hey, it’s your generosity that is, you know, that has done this and fueled this.

00:14:59:21 – 00:15:08:22
Scott Sanders
So I think helping people to see, that this this is how God uses, you know, uses the gifts that we have in the church.

00:15:08:24 – 00:15:26:08
Derek Hanna
Yep. Excellent. Now, talk to me about generosity and habits. What habits damage generosity or growing that, discipleship moment of stewardship and, understanding how I use what I’ve been given.

00:15:26:10 – 00:15:44:13
Scott Sanders
Yeah. I think avoiding the topic. I, I actually think, you know, I say this a lot. You know, we don’t. So in the giving things, the giving, you know, giving comes up in church. We we we either I only do it because we’re responding to something. Or we do it kind of, you know, very, you know, very quick.

00:15:44:15 – 00:16:03:10
Scott Sanders
You know, we give just like, you know, everything’s kind of funded. You know, in the church or giving. We actually don’t take that discipleship opportunity. So, again, to to reflect on God’s word. To encourage generosity. To to link it to vision. So we need we need to speak about it. Only speaking about it.

00:16:03:12 – 00:16:36:01
Scott Sanders
You know, when when we’re desperate. So that that is to that is to like, I think I think we can use, you know, emotional pressure, and and part of me does, you know, I’ll be careful about this one because I actually think sometimes it is it is helpful to, to to make the comment particularly, you know, particularly we’re, we’re, we’re wanting to, to grow and cast, you know, vision for, for future growth to say that, you know, to remind people that if we don’t actually see people give and give generously, then we’re not going to able to put on staff and we’re not going to be able to, you

00:16:36:01 – 00:17:03:04
Scott Sanders
know, see, people want to Jesus. Now, is that emotional pressure? I think that’s just helping people. See, you know, the reality of it. I, I think, I mean, I’ve been challenged by this. You know, I over the, over the years, you know, Radovan in his book on on giving generously. You know, speaks in chronicles of, of David and how David, you know, speaks and talks about what he’s giving.

00:17:03:06 – 00:17:18:22
Scott Sanders
You know, so he, he kind of models. And so one of the things rotting carriages is actually he’s actually as a leader to talk about what you’re giving and as a leadership team, to share what you’re giving. I think this, you know, I’ve seen conflict in parish councils and I’ve seen conflict in leadership teams over this.

00:17:18:24 – 00:17:44:16
Scott Sanders
But, again, I want to point to someone like Toby. Toby who? I’ve, as I’ve seen, model generosity and and model it, you know, from the start as a church plant. You know, all the way through, you know, to today as well. So I think there is something about leaders modeling that generosity. And and again, it’s not just, what you’re giving, you know, in the plight and what you’re giving to church, at least what you’re giving outside.

00:17:44:16 – 00:18:07:23
Scott Sanders
But I think it’s also in modeling it in how you give your time. You know, the generous hospitality show, in your home. You know, there’s there’s a whole bunch of. Otherwise, I think we demonstrate and model generosity as well. And so I think that is, a powerful, you know, powerful piece as well. And, and then, you know, in some sense is what, what blocks is often is a lack of clarity and a lack of transparency.

00:18:08:04 – 00:18:25:10
Scott Sanders
So the AGM is really important. It is really important to be, you know, talking about what we’re spending our money on to, to be allowing people in the church to have time to, you know, to press into those things and to push into, you know, questions that people have about where we’re spending money and how much we’re spending.

00:18:25:12 – 00:18:45:04
Scott Sanders
I think, you know, that is a really not only important governance thing. But I think it’s also important, you know, for the church to have that transparency so that, you know, when you do encourage people to be, generous towards projects, people can know that it’s being stewarded and, and, you know, wisely, you know, wisely managed as well.

00:18:45:06 – 00:19:03:23
Scott Sanders
And then lastly, you want to just keep getting into the habit of, of, you know, casting a vision. You know, one of the principles that, Radovan talks about, you know, is, well, he’s got lots, but, you know, you need to talk about money, but giving follows vision. I think he’s one of his key is key principles.

00:19:04:00 – 00:19:14:02
Scott Sanders
And so as you’re talking about money and as you talking about people being generous, tied into the vision of the church, and tied into the importance of reaching the lost.

00:19:14:04 – 00:19:36:21
Derek Hanna
Just put that one, just put that one slightly, slightly further as well. I think when we when we just, you can be generous in ad hoc and strategic qualities that work way that has no connection to the vision that you’ve got as a church. Actually, I think I want to argue that the resources the church, need to be directly connected to the vision and purpose is what God is doing in the world.

00:19:37:02 – 00:19:56:24
Derek Hanna
And that is a that is a discipleship moment, helping people understand why we put money into certain things and perhaps why we don’t put money to certain into other things as well. It’s the same reason we don’t do certain ministries, some ministries, and we do do other ministries. But it’s a vision, discipleship piece in there. Okay.

00:19:57:00 – 00:20:14:23
Derek Hanna
Just, as we kind of come close, just I get to two things. First one is this, what? We’ve already spoken about this a little bit. But why do we need to keep pushing back generosity, actually. So I’m not going to ask that question because we’ve I think we’ve answered that one. Just. Sorry. Bethany. Angus.

00:20:15:01 – 00:20:32:13
Derek Hanna
Just. Yeah. It’s good. Yep. It’s good that one day I’m just not having much of that already in the early part of it. Yeah, but I will go I will go to the practical step and then the one thing. Sorry. Yeah. No. That’s good. Sorry. Screw the editing up. Okay, Scott, just before we do the one thing, I want you to, give some practical moments.

00:20:32:17 – 00:20:41:08
Derek Hanna
If the church wanted to grow in how they spoke about generosity and how they encouraged people towards it, what should they do this month?

00:20:41:10 – 00:21:00:12
Scott Sanders
I think, share, share. Sharing a story where, you know, the generosity of church has, has meant life saved. People transformed. You know, it’s just as simple as saying, hey, we’ve been able to put on these amazing dinners. It’s meant, you know, the whole course of Christianity course has been, great and overflowing.

00:21:00:12 – 00:21:16:23
Scott Sanders
And as a result of this, we’ve seen people, you know, 1 to 1 to Jesus. You know, we’ve been able to invite, you know, a number of people who couldn’t afford to come to the house party. Your generosity is met. They’ve been known to come. And, man has been a fantastic weekend where we’ve seen people grow deeper in their knowledge and their love of Jesus.

00:21:16:23 – 00:21:43:15
Scott Sanders
So, speak, speak about the impact of, you know, of generosity and the generosity of the church. I think, you know, regularly, you know, regularly to with your generosity has meant that we’ve been out. Do you know, x, y, z, I think, I think teaching from Scripture, you know, regularly and recognizing that you, you know, you have a history, you have, you know, a family of origin experience.

00:21:43:17 – 00:22:03:03
Scott Sanders
That, you know, my plan. So let Scripture actually, you know, change and work into into you and how you think about, about money. You know, I do think, I do think it is, you know, I think it is, as I said, helpful to, to model, you know, model and speak about this. But I think he’s Australians.

00:22:03:04 – 00:22:20:17
Scott Sanders
We kind of get weary of that. And so I think it is really helpful to keep, you know, pointing obviously asking people permission but pointing to other, you know, you know, people in the church who have been generous and who are generous. Yeah. I think it’s really important to let the church know that, that they are generous.

00:22:20:19 – 00:22:40:16
Scott Sanders
You know, often, you know, often we don’t do that enough. Hey, you guys are a really generous church. And so, you know, I, I say that regularly, you know, I’m the treasurer at my church, and so regularly, my church reports, I’m regularly saying, hey, we we are a generous church. Yes, yes, we are a wealthy church.

00:22:40:18 – 00:23:01:07
Scott Sanders
At the same time, people are giving, really generously, outside of it. And as I said, model it. If you if you’re letting Kate keep modeling it, I think it’s a helpful way to guide your own heart, you know, to, to be regularly, you know, you know, generous, not knowing what your left hand and your right hand are doing.

00:23:01:07 – 00:23:16:14
Scott Sanders
You know, I have the poor dad. But I have a rich dad, if that makes sense. You know, there’s a book. Rich dad, poor dad. But I have I have a super, you know, rich dad who’s, who’s generous and, you know, part of me, you know, I grew up sometimes. Was it. Could you just be a little bit generous?

00:23:16:18 – 00:23:36:02
Scott Sanders
Less generous. Dad? Yeah. But, you know, but but, he’s left a wonderful legacy. Of generosity, you know, through our family. And he’s modeled that and, and and shaped that. And I’m, you know, I’m very thankful. Yeah. Very thankful to him for that.

00:23:36:04 – 00:23:44:04
Derek Hanna
Yeah. Yeah. It’s great. Well, what’s the one thing you want us to know about generosity?

00:23:44:06 – 00:24:01:06
Scott Sanders
See this as a discipleship opportunity. We want to say generous people. So. So keep pushing into this area so that we can, see people discipled and, and grow up being generous, responding to the love that they’ve seen in Jesus.

00:24:01:08 – 00:24:20:23
Derek Hanna
Love it. Excellent. Now, there are a couple of good books on this. We will, you’ve mentioned, couple. They will put them in the toolbox, in the show notes, then description. Click on that and you’ll find it. But this is, this is a really key one. I know we shy away from this one, but we want our churches to grow into maturity and cross likeness and how we use what we’ve been gifted and how we steward.

00:24:20:23 – 00:24:22:08
Derek Hanna
That is really important.

00:24:22:10 – 00:24:40:20
Scott Sanders
Can I can I just make a shout out to giving generously? Generously? I think Rod Evans book is, is really helpful. And his website, it’s got some really, really helpful stuff, for the latest as well. So I’ll put a link in the show notes to, to that there is a, there is a great book in the, in the biblical theology series, on, on riches as well.

00:24:40:22 – 00:25:01:16
Scott Sanders
I found that really helpful just to kind of, you know, push into what the Bible says, as a whole, you know, on this as well. And then we’ll put a link in the show notes as well to stories. That was one thing that I would also want to say. One of the things we found helpful in our vision series, was, I think it was last year was sort of, hard but tough.

00:25:01:18 – 00:25:19:20
Scott Sanders
And so we kind of had a conversation on money, and it was this great conversation between, husband and wife talking about, you know, how their families of origins had different, you know, just different perceptions and why they understood. And so, again, that was just a really good model to sort of kind of get it, get it out in the open, and, and have that conversation.

00:25:19:20 – 00:25:39:09
Scott Sanders
So I think hearing stories that Gospel Patrons website has got some great stories of of really well, you know, really wealthy Christians doing some really, you know, you know, amazing stuff with the, the wealth that they’ve been given, as well. So that’s another one to, to jump in on and the journey of generosity as well.

00:25:39:15 – 00:25:56:04
Scott Sanders
Another great resource that has some great stories as well. Just to point to a few things. Yeah, as you can see, I get excited about this topic. I think it’s we should we should have more. We should have more than enough resource to see lots of churches planted, to, say, lots of buildings. Revitalized. And, you know, being my biggest.

00:25:56:04 – 00:26:03:00
Scott Sanders
So we can have more people, one two days and lots of money to see the gospel go out to the nations as well.

00:26:03:02 – 00:26:14:03
Derek Hanna
I agree, and look, if you’re listening, listen, you’ve, you’ve been inspired to think through how it is. I use what I have, for the good of the gospel. Talk to the, took the Liberty Church. If.

00:26:14:03 – 00:26:22:17
Scott Sanders
You’re going to write to Australia. Com forward slash give.com dot efforts. Let’s give.

00:26:22:19 – 00:26:39:05
Derek Hanna
And Kevin talked about church planning. Residencies really need to get going in Australia. But listen we could do this all day long. God is going to bring about his purposes. I’m so thankful we can be part of it. Thank you. Thankful you, listen to us. If you found this helpful, does favor. Pass it around. I’m Derek Hannah.

00:26:39:07 – 00:26:40:12
Scott Sanders
I’m Scott sanders.

00:26:40:14 – 00:26:47:24
Derek Hanna
Jetson.

00:26:48:01 – 00:26:52:11
Scott Sanders
Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.