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Sacrificial Generosity
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Join us as Brian teaches for our first week of The Greatest Stories Rarely Told, taking a look at some of the greatest, yet lesser-known stories of the Bible, that point back to values that reflect the character of Jesus: Sacrificial Generosity, Radical Hospitality, and Uncommon Humility.
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Sermon Notes - June 6, 2021
The Greatest Stories Rarely Told - Brian Becker
Sermon Notes - June 6, 2021
The Greatest Stories Rarely Told - Brian Becker
Sacrificial Generosity
Radical Hospitality
Uncommon Humility
Every defining moment begins with a decision.
2 Kings 6:24-25 (NIV)
Sometime later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that donkeys head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.
Civil War: 1865
Bacon: $20/lb
Live Hens: $50 ea
Butter $20/lb
2 Kings 7:3 (NLT)
Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other.
2 Kings 7:4 (NLT)
“We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.”
2 Kings 7:5 (NLT)
So at twilight, they set out for the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there!
2 Kings 7:6 (NLT)
For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. “The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” they cried to one another.
2 Kings 7:7-8 (NLT)
So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives. When the men with leprosy arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing. When the men with leprosy arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it.
2 Kings 7:9 (NLT)
Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”
2 Kings 7:10-11 (NLT)
So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened. “We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a single person around!” Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace.
2 Kings 7:12 (NLT)
The king got out of bed in the middle of the night and told his officers, “I know what has happened. The Arameans know we are starving, so they have left their camp and have hidden in the fields. They are expecting us to leave the city, and then they will take us alive and capture the city.”
2 Kings 7:13 (NLT)
One of his officers replied, “We had better send out scouts to check into this. Let them take five of the remaining horses. If something happens to them, it will be no worse than if they stay here and die with the rest of us.”
2 Kings 7:14-15 (NLT)
So two chariots with horses were prepared, and the king sent scouts to see what had happened to the Aramean army. They went all the way to the Jordan River, following a trail of clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their mad rush to escape. The scouts returned and told the king about it.
2 Kings 7:16 (NLT)
Then the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp.
God provides.
They decide.
Everyone benefits.
The four men of 2 Kings 7:
Lepers.
Outcast.
Dealt a bad hand.
Living in pain.
Brink of death.
Uncertain Future.
Finally made it. Way overdue.
Legitimate Excuses To Withhold:
We did the work.
We were smarter.
We had more courage.
We’ve had it harder.
We’ll need more for later.
Legitimate Excuses to Withhold:
It’s my money.
I worked for it.
I was smart enough to make it.
I’ve had to be courageous.
I’ve had it harder than most.
I will definitely need more of it.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 (NIV)
Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
- Anything we have is a provision from God.
- Intentional giving changes the world.
2 Kings 7:6-7 (NLT)
For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching… So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives.
Psalm 24:1 (NIV)
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
Deuteronomy 8:18 (NIRV)
But remember the Lord your God. He gives you the ability to produce wealth.
- Anything we have is a provision from God.
- Intentional giving changes the world.
2 Kings 7:9 (NLT)
Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”
What decision do you need to make, in the midst of wherever you are, to share the goods and good news that God has entrusted you with?