Full Throttle Part 5 - All Out Generosity Part 1

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We're shifting into Third Gear, and today we're talking about something that will transform every area of your life: all out generosity.

What would happen if you entered your marriage with all out generosity—saying "yes" before your spouse even finishes asking? What if you were that generous with your kids, your coworkers, your employer? What if you stopped doing the bare minimum and started going above and beyond? A generous lifestyle is one of the most rewarding, fulfilling ways to do life.

But let's be honest: we're naturally stingy and selfish. It comes easy. Being generous is a choice, not a talent. You can decide today to be a giver instead of a taker.

Paul told Timothy that the rich (and that's most of us compared to the rest of the world) should be "extravagantly generous" (1 Timothy 6:17-19, MSG). Real living—life that is truly life—is found in blessing, helping, and aiding others.

Jesus takes it even further in Luke 6. Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. If someone takes your coat, give them your shirt too. Don't just give—be so generous that when someone steals from you, you offer them more. Why? Because God is your source. He can replace anything. Don't fret it. Just be generous.

Then comes the promise: "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap" (Luke 6:38). But here's the catch—this isn't a get‑rich‑quick scheme. The point of generosity is not so you can get more. The point is to have more so you can give more. As the Message puts it: "Give away your life; you'll find life given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity."

Three truths about generosity:

1. It's a choice, not a talent. You choose to be selfish. You can choose to be generous.
2. It's a lifestyle, not a moment. Don't treat generosity like a crash diet. It's a permanent life change.
3. It's ignited by love. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. When you spend time with the Author of love, generosity flows naturally.

I can tell if you're generous in just three minutes—not by looking at your bank statement, but by asking about your walk with Jesus. People who are on fire for God are generous people. They can't help it.

So let's go all out. Be generous in prayer, in forgiveness, in helping, in finances. Love God, love people, and watch what He pours back into your life.

Key Scriptures: Luke 6:27-38; 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (MSG); 1 John 4:7-8

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi everyone, Pastor Don Smith here. Welcome to the Talk About It Podcast, where we take relevant topics with a biblical point of view and we talk about it. You know you want to, so do I. Let's talk about it. Welcome back, everyone. Season 10, episode 5 of the Talk About It Podcast. I'm Don. I am your host. And if you're a longtime listener, you knew that. If you're a first-time listener, where you been? We are so glad you are here. Uh, if you're a first-time listener, thank you for tuning in today. This is episode five in season 10. And if you are just getting started with us, you have missed some amazing, amazing episodes. What we want you to do is just push pause right now where you're at. Go back to the beginning of season 10, episode 1. Catch up with us. We'll be here waiting for you. We promise we ain't going anywhere. We cannot help ourselves because this has been such a great conversation. For all you listeners, thank you so much for your feedback and uh for your support, your love. Uh, a lot of you have been visiting the show notes. Thank you so much. Uh, right there in the show notes of the podcast. Wherever you get your podcast, I don't know if you know this, there are always show notes in every podcast. And there's some interesting information in the show notes. And so if you love a podcast, you should really spend some time in the show notes part of that podcast because there's links there. There's all kinds of things that you can click on that might help you continue uh uh uh to be a great supporter, not just a listener of podcasts. Uh for instance, in my show notes, there's always links uh in there that you can support the show. There's links in there by uh uh how you can give if you want to be or donate. Hey, if you just want to, if you just want to tip, you ever go to a restaurant and uh you tip the waiter or the waitress? Uh if you just want to leave a tip, there's a link right there. You can buy me a sweet tea and a little Debbie snack cake. That it's all there. Plus, if you've been a longtime listener of the show and you're thinking, man, we would really like to hear more, did you know that you can go to donmsmith.com. There you'll find Legacy Leadership, which is who we are. And uh we you can book us. We we do all kinds of things. My wife and I do marriage conferences, uh, we do leadership training, we do all kinds of things, but you have to go to the link in the show notes. It's right there, donmsmith.com. You can link that anyway, anyhow. I'm so glad that all of you are here today because we're gonna pick right back up. This is a conversation. You know how we do, you know how we roll around here, talk about it. We just take a relevant topic with a biblical perspective and we talk about it. And what we've been doing on season 10 is we've been talking about what it means, what it looks like to live wide open for Jesus. Like, what does it look like for a Christian to live out loud for the Lord? Someone asked me, Pastor John, can you really talk about in our current culture what it looks like uh to live with boldness for Jesus? Um, and I thought, man, this would be great. This would be so great. And so we've had uh a few conversations today. I want to pick up where we left off last week. And I told you last week we were gonna talk about generosity. Now, I think that that is one characteristic of a Christian's life that isn't talked about enough. When it is talked about, it's probably talked about with wrong motives. And so what happens is because it's not talked about enough or it's talked about with wrong motives, then we just don't want to deal with it because we're so tired of the manipulation. Well, I'm not gonna do that to you today. I'm gonna talk to you about some serious things, and I hope, I hope this is gonna be a blessing to you. Okay. Let me just start out by saying, uh, you know, with generosity, it's an interesting thing in the culture that we live in because the culture we live in teaches us to think about number one, be about number one, take care of number one, right? All of that kind of stuff. Well, generosity is that is that idea, that characteristic, that thought process that says, I want to live beyond who I am. I want to invest who I am. I want to give something back, okay? Let me give you some examples. What would happen if we, let's just take marriage. Everybody's affected by marriage, whether you're married or not, there's not a person on planet Earth that isn't affected by marriage. Hello, somebody. Now, come on, talk about it. What would happen if we entered our marriage relationship with all-out generosity? Okay. What if we went into the marriage and we went back home today, today, and we said, you know what, I'm going to be the most generous husband. I'm going to be the most generous wife. And before my spouse could even say, hey, could you, you're like, Yep, I can do it. The answer is yes. Well, what's the question? I don't know. I'm just going to be generous. You know, what if our kids could say, hey, dad, could you help me with this project? And dad, could you read me this story? Mom, can we do this? And instead of us being so busy that we say, oh no, I've got to finish this Facebook or I've got to finish this email, or I've got to finish this work, I got to do this, or I got to do that. What if we just said yes to our kids with generous generosity? Not in a spoiling way, but in a way that says, I'm involving and investing my life in you. Come on, somebody. What if at our job? Oh, here we go. Now, some some of you people, uh some of you people got jobs. Uh, I hope most of everybody needs a job. Hello, somebody. But what if our jobs, what if at our workplace, instead of showing up and doing the least that was expected of us, instead of showing up and and working six hours and spending two hours on Facebook and answering personal emails, checking Twitter or or X or whatever it is today, uh, you know, dealing with Snapchat or ChapSnap or whatever it's called today, texting everybody. What if we went above and beyond and we were the most generous employee that our corporation has ever seen, heard of, or dreamed of? I'm telling you, okay, talk about it. Your life will get pretty fantastic because of a generous lifestyle. Because it's one of the most rewarding, it's one of the most fulfilling, it's one of the most satisfying ways we can live life. Why? Because we're naturally stingy, we're naturally selfish. It comes natural. It's so easy to be stingy. It's it's so easy. Right? It's just natural part. You don't have to teach people to be stingy, you have to teach people to share. But God wants us to be generous. God wants us to be givers and not takers, to bless and to aid and to assist. And so, what if we were generous in a way that we serve people and help people and benefit people? What if we were generous in our finances and when we saw a need, we'd say, I can fix it. I can't do it all, but I can do something. I can't do a lot, but here's what I can do. I'm telling you, come on, talk about it. Life would take on a new perspective. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, uh, this, I'm gonna read this out of the message today. It's a paraphrase, not a translation. Nobody freak out. Pastor Don knows that, okay? But I really like the way the message paraphrases. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 17 through 19. Tell those rich in the world with the world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage, to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that'll last, gaining life that's truly, truly life. I like the way they put that. I really do talk about it. That was that's pretty good. You see, real living is found in being generous. I'm gonna say it again. Real living is found in being generous, blessing, helping, and aiding other people. Now, generosity, okay? If we're gonna if we're gonna live out loud, we've got to go full throttle in every aspect of our life. Okay, you can't you can't be full throttle while you're holding something in reserve. We've got to make that commitment. Now, the main story I want to work out of today from the Bible is in Luke chapter 6, um, and it begins at verse 27. And I want you to listen to this. It says, But to you who are listening, I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreated you. And if someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to them the other also. And if someone takes your coat, don't withhold your shirt from them also. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do not take from others, instead do unto others as you would have them do to you. Now you say, Okay, Pastor Don, I'm struggling with this whole thing that if someone takes my coat and I say, Hey, dude, before you run away with that nice leather jacket, I'd like to give you my shirt too. Well, we're human, okay? Uh, and if you're honest, uh, yeah, it's it's a struggle point, isn't it? And and and you might say, Well, I don't get it. It's it's not so much the specifics, but it's the mentality of life that Jesus is trying to get across to us. Okay? What what Jesus is saying is don't be caught up in what you have if someone else takes it. Here's what God is saying. He's saying, I'm your source. Here's what he's saying. He's saying if someone takes something from you, big deal. Do you think our Heavenly Father has enough to replace what has been stolen or lost? Here's what he's saying. Don't fret it. Be generous. He said, I want you to think and live so generously that when somebody takes something, you can say, Hey, take this too. If you're selfish, that's okay, but I live for God. I'm gonna be generous. See, we're gonna see the promise of that benefit, talk about it. And in chapter 6, Luke chapter 6, verse 32, here's what it says if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back, then your reward will be great. Now, how many of you want a great reward? Come on, somebody say amen. I you know you do. I know you talk about it. I want a great reward. I like, I like rewards, right? Don't tell me you don't like rewards. You probably got a whole bunch of those reward cards from all these shopping places that you go to. Everybody wants to give you a reward card now, right? In order to be, in order to be someone who can actually get the item on sale that they say is on sale, you have to have a reward card. It it it I know, I get it. It doesn't make any sense to me, and I despise it all, right? But that's the way it is. But we we do it even if we don't like it because we want the reward. Now, how many of you want to live big? Okay, now, wait a minute. I want the reward, but I don't know if I want to live big. Everyone says, Well, I want blessings, I want favor, I want goodness. Let me tell you, talk about it. Here's how you get it. Verse 35. And you will be children of the Most High because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful just as your father is merciful. Here's what Jesus is saying Be generous in prayer, be generous in blessing, be generous in forgiving, be generous in helping and aiding. Verse 37 says, Do not judge and you will not be judged, do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you'll be forgiven. Now, here's what the verse is saying. Here's what I think many of us love. And I've quoted it myself, okay? But I want to notice the perspective. So many people quote this verse. Don't judge and you won't be judged. Don't condemn and you won't be condemned. Forgive and you'll be forgiven. So many people quote this verse. So many Christians stand on this verse. Let me tell you why. Because they see it as a money plan. Watch this one. Here it comes. Give and it'll be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, and it'll be poured into your lap with a full measure you use, it'll be measured to you. So many people quote these two verses. But when you quote them in context, what you get a sense of is generosity. Don't judge, be generous with mercy. Don't condemn, be generous, okay, with compassion. Forgive, and you'll be forgiven. Be generous with grace. Okay? I can handle that. But we love this aspect given, it'll be given to you. Why? Because now there's a self-motivation in it. Okay. And what we do is we use this verse as a money plan. But here's what Jesus is actually saying. If we take all of this into perspective, loving, giving, blessing, helping, aiding, praying, blessing those who wronged you, praying for those who spitefully used you, what Jesus is saying is be generous in every area and every facet of your life. And yes, even the financial area as well. And when you do it, it will come back to you. My wife and I just had this conversation yesterday. And I I live, she was like, Well, you know, that that was worth something. And I was like, absolutely it wasn't. She knew this too. And I said, But God has always given it back to us. And she's like, You're right. You're absolutely right. He always has. He's always given it back to us. So we're unafraid to be generous. But you see, if you're just using Luke chapter 6, verse 38, given it'll be given to you, if you're just using that as a scheme or a money plan, you know, I'm gonna give a little bit and then God will give a little more, then I get more. Wow. Then I'm gonna give a little bit more and then God will give a little bit more. And now it becomes a get rich screen scheme that's that's you know propagated from the scriptures. What you've done is if you do that, you've missed the point of generosity. The point of generosity is not to come to get more. The point of generosity is for us to have more so we can give more. I said it. I said it. Watch this. I'm gonna do this again. Luke chapter 6, verse 38, in the message paraphrase. Again, I know it's not a translation, it's a paraphrase, but I love how it conveys the thought. Luke 6, 38, in the message. Give away your life. You'll find life given back. But not merely giving back, giving back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting is the way. Generosity begets generosity. I love that. I absolutely 100% love that. Talk about it. Love it. Because number one, generosity is a choice, not a talent or an ability. Generosity is a choice. Talk about it, it's a decision. Some people think, well, I'm just not gifted to do that. I'm just not gifted to be generous. That's just not who I am. Really? Really? No, generosity is a choice. You see, if we can choose to be selfish, we can choose to be generous. Somebody say amen or oh me, but everybody can say hello, somebody. It's a choice. Generosity is not a talent or an ability. It is a choice, a decision. Amen. Number two, generosity is a lifestyle, not a moment. Let me let me approach generosity like we would approach a diet, okay? Now I'm sure everybody that's listening to this podcast, wherever you're listening to the podcast at, right? Like it's some 69 nations now. It's over, it's over like 500 cities around the world that people are listening to this podcast. I'm positive that everybody who's listening to this podcast at some point and some time has been on a diet. How many of you have had a diet that failed? Raise your hand. Well, if you're driving, keep your hand on the steering wheel. But here's what a diet is. A diet is typically a scam. Okay, I said it out loud because some of y'all are about to get offended because you've been on the, you, I know I'm gonna get emails now. Oh, Pastor Zon, you gotta try this diet, you gotta try this diet, you gotta do it. It's not a scam. It actually works. No, listen, there's a grapefruit diet. Now, if all you're eating is juice, then obviously you're gonna lose weight. But check it out. You can't maintain that. You can't keep that can't keep going. There's these crash diets, okay? I'm not saying they don't work. What I'm saying is they're not maintainable. Hello, somebody. That's why they're a scam. There, there's this crash diet. You eat these little bars for the next 14 days, you're gonna drop 20 pounds. Well, no kidding, Sherlock, if that's all I'm eating, but it's not maintainable. Then you drop, because what happens is you drop that 20 pounds, then you go back to eating the stuff that you used to eat, and you go on another diet and another diet. And see, that's why diets are a scam and they never work. But a lifestyle change will always work. A lifestyle adjustment will always work. Why? Because it's a lifestyle. And listen to me very carefully talk about it. If you only get one thing from this episode today, being generous is not something that we just turn on and turn off. It's something that we choose to do. It's not just a moment. And in living a life of significance and purpose, wide open, full throttle, pedal to the metal for Jesus. That's when we begin to say, you know what? I'm gonna be generous in every way, in every facet of my world, in every area of my life. Number three, probably the last one for today, I'm gonna give you probably three more. Next week. Generosity is ignited by love. You know what? You'll never be generous if you don't love God and love people. It's impossible. If you loved yourself more than anybody else, you'll never give anything away. You'll never bless anybody. If you love yourself more than anybody else, you'll never be a generous person. 1 John chapter 4, I think it's verse 7. Dear friends, let us love one another. For love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. That's one of our memory verses. Here's what I know. Talk about it. I don't need to see your paycheck. I don't need to see your bank statement. I don't need to see your giving contribution statement. I don't need to know a thing about your financials. I can spend three minutes with you and tell you if you're a generous person or not. And you know I'm you know I'm right. You say, well, how how could you know that, Pastor Don? Because I'm gonna ask you two questions. Tell me about your relationship with Jesus. Number two, tell me about your last encounter with God. Tell me what God means to you and what God is doing in your life and how his word is spoken to you. If you answered, well, you know, it's interesting that you would ask me that, Pastor Don, because I've been real busy. The job, the kids, the everything. Well, you know, we're all right. We're all busy. I can tell you that that person probably doesn't give very much. That person probably isn't a tither. That probab that person probably isn't generous. But watch this. When I ask a person, where's your walk with God? Where's your relationship with Jesus? What's the word of God to you? And they reply, Oh man, I'm so in love with Jesus. I mean, every day, again in his word, and his word speaks to me. The other day I was praying and it was like God was there and I was worshiping God, and man, I just love God so much. That person is going to be a generous person. They're going to be a giver because when you spend time with daddy, daddy influences who you are. Oh, I said it. It's so good. Come on, talk about it. When you spend time with the author of love, you can't help but to love. When you spend time with a merciful God, you can't help but to be merciful. When you spend time with a compassionate God, you can't help but to be compassionate. When you spend time with a God that's full of grace and forgiveness and love and mercy, you can't help but to be like Him. When you spend time with a God who lavishes us with abundance, generosity of grace. You can't help but to be generous. You can give and not love, but it is impossible to love and not give. Oh, talk about it. Wow. What a great conversation today on the podcast about generosity. Now listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. We're gonna pick this up again next because I got three more areas. I want to talk about how generosity is empowered by God's ability and not our own. Because some of you are still struggling. You're thinking, I just can't. I can't afford it. I can't afford it. I can't afford it. I want to talk about that. I want to talk about how generosity is released by faith. Okay? I want to talk about how generosity produces contagious abundance and blessing. You're not gonna wanna miss it. It's gonna be a great episode, but today, season 10, episode 5, what a great conversation we've had. Okay. What a great conversation we had. Will you do me a favor this week? We could be a generous person. We could find some way somehow to be generous. And watch what God does in your own life. I guarantee you, listen, you want to be addicted to something. Be careful. Because once you start being generous and you start feeling the way generosity makes you feel it's gonna be easy, easy to get addicted to it. But that's a good thing. If I want to be addicted to anything, I want to be addicted to being a generous person. Oh my goodness. I love you guys. Thank you so much. Do me a favor, share this podcast on your social media. We need a little help. Promote us, push us, and it's that easy, it costs you nothing. You can be generous by just sharing the link to this podcast on your social media. Tell everybody about talk about it. Go to the show notes, look at all the links, see what you can do and who you can be, regardless of that. I love you so much, and I'm so grateful for all of you. Thank you for coming back each and every week. But I need you to remember something. As much as I love you. Jesus loves you more. I'll see you next week.