Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friend, and welcome back to the Bible Study podcast where we talk about all things hermeneutics, exegesis, and we dive deeper into the passages that our Bayside campuses are teaching on the weekend. And speaking of Bayside campus, one of my favorite campuses, one of my top three. I won't tell you what the other two are, but one starts with an A and ends with an auburn. Blue Oaks.
Jason Caine [00:00:21]:
Blue Oaks in the building. Glad to be here.
Curt Harlow [00:00:22]:
Jason Caine. How's it going over Blue Oaks for you?
Jason Caine [00:00:25]:
Things are going well. Busy time of year, of course, for us. Is there ever not a busy time at Bayside?
Curt Harlow [00:00:29]:
Never slow, always busy.
Jason Caine [00:00:31]:
But it's going, going great over there, man. Can't complain.
Curt Harlow [00:00:33]:
Yeah, awesome. I, I hear one or two degrees of separation. Everyone telling me it's two thumbs up. A lot of life over there. And of course, everyone's favorite frontal lobe of Thrive College and all things Bayside, Dena Davidson. Hey, Dena, how you doing?
Dena Davidson [00:00:47]:
I'm good. Great.
Curt Harlow [00:00:48]:
Good, good. Well, we ready to jump into it? We're in a part tour here. We've been going through the book of Ephesians. Next week we will go back to Ephesians and we're going to do an emphasis at, for all of the rest of chapter five and chapter six on Paul's take on relationships. But we're in this little mini two parter, part two. This week we did part one with Pastor Ray. If you didn't listen to that, go back and listen to it. That was 2 Corinthians, chapter 8.
Curt Harlow [00:01:17]:
And now we're in 2 Corinthians, chapter 9. Specifically, we're going to look at verses 6 through 15. So if you got your Bible, open it up. Unless you're driving. Please do not drive with a Bible open. You'll get a ticket or maybe even injure someone. But the context here is really simple. The churches in Macedonia, which is Philippi, and the surrounding congregations that came out of Paul's second missionary journey, these churches, although they were highly, highly pagan at the beginning, God does a powerful work in them.
Curt Harlow [00:01:49]:
And not only does the gospel work in this Greek pagan, no idea about the Old Testament environment, they become leaders. They become the examples of what it means to respond to grace, the grace of God, with maturity, generosity and stability. They go through severe famine and severe persecution and they still remain faithful. So Paul's lifting them up to the Corinthian church, which is not a leading church, which is a city of incredible wealth, incredible sexual saturation, incredible. And also a lot of celebrity, which you Know, Ray always wants to call them first and Second Californians instead of first and Second Corinthians. But anyway, in chapter eight, we learn all sorts of wonderful things about what they did to try to collect an offering for the persecuted and impoverished Jewish church in Jerusalem. And then we continue that theme and this one, I call it Dena Principles for Impact. Because he gets a little bit more specific here in kind of like the philosophy around living a generous life.
Curt Harlow [00:03:02]:
He kind of gave us the example and the why in this house, and now he's kind of given us just some basic truths about it. So, Dena, why don't you go ahead and read our passage for us so we're familiar with it and then we'll jump right in from there.
Dena Davidson [00:03:15]:
Sure. So picking up in verse 6, remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor.
Dena Davidson [00:03:44]:
Their righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched 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 the Lord's people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God because of the service by which you have proved yourselves. Others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the Gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.
Curt Harlow [00:04:32]:
Alrighty. So, Jason Caine, you're in your study. You're getting ready to preach this at Blue Oaks. You're dividing this word. What in what would you do with this passage?
Jason Caine [00:04:42]:
Well, I mean, there's several things that I would do with this passage. First of all, I might do something that's controversial, I think.
Curt Harlow [00:04:49]:
Let's go tuning into the pot.
Jason Caine [00:04:51]:
Without a doubt, we are anti prosperity gospel, right?
Curt Harlow [00:04:55]:
Totally.
Jason Caine [00:04:55]:
I think we all would Be on board and say, we are anti prosperity gospel. However, I think that Second Corinthians 9 has a principle that prosperity gospel preachers use that has some truth to it.
Curt Harlow [00:05:06]:
Okay, let me stop you there. Give me a little definition of prosperity gospel to someone who, you know, that was a huge thing in the 90s, 2000s, 2000s even, but give me a. Give me a definition.
Jason Caine [00:05:16]:
Yeah. Prosperity gospel is this theme that essentially says that God wants everybody to be rich, that if you're a believer, I'm going to make you rich in the kingdom of God. The problem with the prosperity gospel is the prosperity gospel doesn't work everywhere.
Curt Harlow [00:05:28]:
Right?
Jason Caine [00:05:28]:
The gospel works everywhere that Christ came, Christ died, Christ is alive. You put your faith and belief in him. That works no matter where you go. But there are impoverished brothers and sisters in the faith who, no matter how much they give, they don't have anything to give. Can't live out the principle of God wants everybody to be rich. With that said, I do believe that Second Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 6 tells us, whoever shows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will reap generously. And I absolutely believe that God does bless you to the degree that you are generous in some cases solely based upon this passage.
Jason Caine [00:06:03]:
Now, I understand that everybody might be turning a podcast off right now, so that's my bad if that happens. But I think that that principle that generosity unlocks God's blessing in your life is a recurring theme throughout scripture. I think that God, and not just a thing throughout scripture, I've seen this in the lives of generous people, that generous people somehow always have more to be generous with.
Curt Harlow [00:06:26]:
So when I was in college, the prosperity gospel was a huge thing. And there was a group of students on my campus that were just. They were just adamant. They went to a church in the Tacoma area that was very, very in the middle of the. Kenneth Hay and Kenneth Copeland we're name. Yeah, yeah, Blabit and grab it.
Jason Caine [00:06:46]:
You name it and claim it.
Curt Harlow [00:06:48]:
Name it and claim it.
Jason Caine [00:06:48]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:06:49]:
And so I'm meeting with this older pastor, and I'm like, man, you look at these scriptures and it really does look like you reap what you sow and, you know, don't hide your talents. And the mouth has the power over this and that and the other thing. And he said, kurt, you know, here's the thing. That prosperity gospel works in an oil state in America, correct? If you live in an oil state, that thing works. He said, but if you don't so here's the. And then he said something next was very, very wise. He said, my problem with much of the prosperity gospel teaching is not what it says, but what it doesn't say. So you could say on one side of this, this is very, very proverb statement.
Curt Harlow [00:07:36]:
You reap what you sow, but you also at some time have to say, well, you know, Job did not reap what he sowed. He reaped what a corrupt and spiritually dark world did to him. So it's not that the principle isn't true. It's just not the only truth that you got to think correct when you're around that.
Jason Caine [00:07:58]:
And then I'll say one other thing about the prosperity gospel. I know this is not where you wanted to go.
Curt Harlow [00:08:01]:
This is fun.
Jason Caine [00:08:02]:
This is the deep.
Curt Harlow [00:08:03]:
This is the podcast, bro.
Jason Caine [00:08:04]:
But I think motivation matters. I've been in churches when preachers are preaching, and they say, hey, if you give, you're gonna get it back. And the giving is about you getting back.
Curt Harlow [00:08:16]:
Right.
Jason Caine [00:08:16]:
It's not about you in this context. Giving to the poor with the heart of generosity.
Curt Harlow [00:08:20]:
Yes.
Jason Caine [00:08:21]:
And God taking care of you. It's like, I'm giving, and my motivation is to get back. And I think motivation matters. Right. Like, we should have a heart. According to 2nd Corinthians 9, we should have a heart to give to the poor is one of the things that we are mandated to do as believers. And if my heart is the gift of the poor, I'm not giving with an expectation like, God better give this back to me. But I think when you have, when.
Jason Caine [00:08:43]:
When generosity flows out of who you are as an individual, God knows I can trust you with more because you are going to steward this well and look out for the needs of others.
Curt Harlow [00:08:53]:
Yeah, we don't give to get. And this. This passage, and an 8 really says very clearly, we give because Christ gave.
Jason Caine [00:09:01]:
Correct.
Curt Harlow [00:09:02]:
It starts there. Okay, Dena, help me understand this. So the principle definitely is true. Whatever we suppose, sparingly will get sparingly. Whatever we sow, rich will get rich. And then he goes on to say, each of you should give what you decide in your heart. So first, not a big contradiction there, but a slightly contradiction. First of all, it's coming go big.
Curt Harlow [00:09:25]:
Then he said, but you decide. Help me understand. Which one is it? Do I go big or do I get to decide?
Dena Davidson [00:09:33]:
Well, I love it because the Bible is so full of passages which. Which speak to our freedom that God has dignified us with choice. And that's like. That's on the first few pages of scripture all the way to the end. And I think that's the principle that's coming into play here, is that he is telling us, as God often does, this is how your life works best and you have a choice, right? So what do you want to do with this principle that God has stated? And that's so the heart of God is he's like, I'm going to tell you everything that you need to know to have a wonderful life. And you get to choose what to do on the basis of that. Here's the right thing to do, here's the thing that will bless your life. What are you going to do? So I don't see it a contradiction.
Dena Davidson [00:10:15]:
I just see the scripture is picking up that team of choice.
Curt Harlow [00:10:18]:
He kind of sets the standard. Then he says, but I'm not going to force you. And, and which I think is a big thing. I said to the church last weekend, I said, I'm making two promises. Number one, I am never going to emotionally manipulate you. I'm never going to control, I'm not going to say if you don't do it, it's not going to happen and this and this and bad will happen. Because that's, that's not true. I don't, I don't think it is up to us in that sense.
Curt Harlow [00:10:43]:
So that's my first problem. No manipulation, no strong handed techniques. The second promise is I will only talk about money as much as the Bible talks about money.
Jason Caine [00:10:53]:
Right?
Curt Harlow [00:10:54]:
Which is pretty much every weekend. So I think what's going on here, I wouldn't add anything. I think both those answers are spectacular. I wouldn't add anything to it except for one hermeneutical thought is whenever you see the Bible talking about seeds and sowing and reaping, you got to put yourself in the headspace of an agricultural society. So I worked on a wheat ranch for a few years and you know, as I got to know the wheat rancher, he, he drove the combine and then he had two employees, one me and another guy named Dana. And we would take turns following this combine. So he's a real small operation, just him and two guys he hired in the summer. And this guy did really well.
Curt Harlow [00:11:36]:
He made a lot, a lot of money just with that small outfit. And I said, what's the secret? He said, well, my dad gave me all this land and he said, I plant every inch of that land. Then this farmer over here, he had no children to take over his land. So I said to him, let me lease your Land for you and you and I will split that. And then this farmer over here, he sold a piece of this to corporation, but not a piece of this. And he said, well, that's next to that land. And this guy had leveraged every little piece of land around him. And I said, what's the hardest part of this job? He said, getting enough seed for all that land.
Jason Caine [00:12:11]:
Come on.
Curt Harlow [00:12:12]:
And, and so unless you understand the farmingness of this first century book, you don't really understand the power. I think what Paul's doing here in verse six is going, let me give you an example. You're all going to understand because I think even more than my wealthy rancher employee, these guys were going, hey, there's a time for planting and if we don't get a lot of seed out there right now in the middle of winter, we're going to really regret that.
Jason Caine [00:12:37]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:12:38]:
And so, you know, maybe the, maybe the compelling word picture Paul would use for us today is if you don't study and get good grades your sophomore year, you won't have a job once you graduate. Right. There is a preparation correct aspect to this. But I do love verse 7. I love this idea. Like I would say it this way to my, to my folks, I'd say this way to my kids. If I challenge you, if you let me challenge you, I will under challenge almost everyone I challenge. I will ask you to give what I think you can give and it won't be what you really can give.
Curt Harlow [00:13:14]:
Also though, if I challenge you, I will over challenge. There are some of you, I will put something on you and ask you to do something that would not be prudent or wise for you to do at this time. And the Lord would say, no, I don't want you to do all that. I want you to take care of this and this. And so what's the best, healthiest, most biblical way to do it? For me to challenge you, to let Jesus challenge you, period. Yeah. And for me to live that in the same way of going, I'm going to go back to my giving and do only in everything that God asked me to do.
Jason Caine [00:13:48]:
So Curt, let me ask you a question. I know it's your podcast, but I want to ask, I want to ask a question. So verse eight, yes, says, and God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times will have all that you need. You will abound in every good work. Again, putting on the lens of maybe prosperity gospel.
Curt Harlow [00:14:06]:
Yeah.
Jason Caine [00:14:06]:
What does that verse mean? And what does it not Mean, yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:14:10]:
I think it means two things, and they're both really good news. It means at the heart of this issue, it's about, do I trust God?
Jason Caine [00:14:17]:
Correct.
Curt Harlow [00:14:18]:
Who. Who is in charge of my finances? Am I the financier in my. My life, or am I? Or is God the financier in my life? And so I told a story this last weekend where Kelly and I had been saving so she could come on this trip with me. And my way was paid because I was going there to preach with this guy named Lorne and Cunningham. It was kind of a big deal, but she had to pay her own way. We had to pay her own way. And on the day we were going to go to the travel agent. Do you know what that is, Deanna?
Dena Davidson [00:14:45]:
Yes, I do.
Curt Harlow [00:14:47]:
I'm just joking. It's such an old thing, a travel agent. So anyway, the day we're going to the travel agents, my wife told me, said, God told me to give this money to my sister, and I'm not going on the trip. We had two small kids. We had. Had no weekends alone for, like, five years. And I was like, oh, no, this is not God. So we get in this argument about it, and she.
Curt Harlow [00:15:08]:
You know that thing Ray always says you have to have two green lights? She doesn't believe in that. So she just. She just writes the check, puts it in the mailbox, and I am really upset. Like, I'm literally following her back. And it was a mailbox at her work, so it was one of those deep ones. I couldn't even get it out. And we get in her office, knock at the door. There's Donnie, her boss, and he goes, weirdest thing this morning I got up, and I felt like God told me to give you just a random bonus.
Curt Harlow [00:15:34]:
So here you go. Hands are a check.
Jason Caine [00:15:36]:
That's what I'm saying.
Curt Harlow [00:15:37]:
For the exact same amount. Now?
Jason Caine [00:15:39]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:15:42]:
Now, if you ask Kelly, is this a prosperity thing where if I give, we'll get. She will probably tell you.
Jason Caine [00:15:50]:
Yeah, I would tell you. Yeah, yeah. But I would also say Kelly's motivation in that thing is not that I'm not giving this, expecting I'm getting anything back. No, I have a heart of generosity. And I think when you have cultivated a heart of generosity, you trust God to do things like she did. And then God says, you know what? I got you. And I think that's the principle that's here in Second Corinthians. God is saying, I got you.
Curt Harlow [00:16:14]:
I can prove at one point in the argument, I said to her, do you know, this time and this time and this time we gave your sister some money and, you know, she just made this mistake and this mistake. And Kelly looked at me, she said, this not about my sister's deserving it. It's about my obedience.
Jason Caine [00:16:28]:
Come on.
Curt Harlow [00:16:29]:
And I think that's. I think what God does is bless two things, the humble and the good steward. The humble and the faithful.
Jason Caine [00:16:36]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:16:37]:
So humble enough to hear, yeah, okay, I'll do that, God.
Jason Caine [00:16:41]:
And.
Curt Harlow [00:16:42]:
And a good enough steward to have what it takes to give it. And then God's like, of course. And it might not be a reciprocal blessing like this. It's the exact same check.
Jason Caine [00:16:50]:
Right. It doesn't happen like that every day.
Curt Harlow [00:16:51]:
It's just a fun thing God does. So I have sermon stories.
Jason Caine [00:16:53]:
Right.
Curt Harlow [00:16:54]:
But. But it is. There is a principle there. Now, I got one other point about this.
Dena Davidson [00:16:58]:
Wait, can I say something?
Curt Harlow [00:16:58]:
Yeah, absolutely.
Dena Davidson [00:16:59]:
You know what I find is crazy, though, is what if the check was coming either way, Like Kelly was going to get that. But if she hadn't been obedient, if she hadn't first been listening to God and then obedient to God, she would never have been able to process that miracle. And I wonder how many times I. Because I've not been paying attention to God. I've not been listening, creating space in my life to hear him tell me what to give. I've not been obedient in giving. I miss all of those miraculous provisions where my sacrifice yielded in his generosity towards me.
Curt Harlow [00:17:31]:
And that really is the joy of giving. It's more blessed to give than receipt. It's that watching the reaffirm, affirming that God is absolutely in control. Now, here's the other one last thing. You give because God is abundantly able to back you up so that you will be able to do abound in every good work. So Paul's not just teaching about financial generosity here. He's teaching about living a life where you trust God enough that you are able to say yes to a lot of things that aren't just writing a check. It's.
Curt Harlow [00:18:09]:
I'm going to go into that middle school ministry and volunteer, even though I'm a little bit nervous about that. But they need me. So I'm going to go abound in that. I'm going to go to Mexicali, Mexico, with the Bayside team, and I'm going to serve kids in a vacation Bible school type setting. And I've never done that before. I think it's more about that it's like we always say, we want leaders in time, treasure and talent. God, you have my schedule, Lord of my schedule. God, yes, I need to write checks, I need to give generously, but also, Lord, my expertise.
Curt Harlow [00:18:48]:
I need to be ready to say if I'm going to abound in every good work, that means what you've taught me in school and in my education, my lessons and my profession are on the table for you to be used. So to me, I see that going, once you start trusting him in this area, all of a sudden you're going to be living that generous life in multiple areas, not just the financial one.
Jason Caine [00:19:11]:
Right?
Dena Davidson [00:19:11]:
Absolutely. And my thought with this is like people that go to church, they already trust God with so much, right? They're banking their eternity on God. They're banking so many different lifestyle choices where they're saying, I'm not going to do this, I'm not going to do that. So they're already on the part of a Christian. There's so much faith involved. I think it's crazy that in this one area of our life we wouldn't have that same faith, that we wouldn't have that same trust, that we're willing to trust God in all these areas of our life. But when it comes to the actual practical, can he take care of me and feed me and clothe me and provide for my future? That's the bet that for so many of us, we're just not willing to make that leap. And, and all of the ways that we miss out on living this adventure with God, of seeing him give us things generously because we've been generous, it's a huge part of the relationship with God that we're missing out on if we don't honor God with our money.
Curt Harlow [00:20:09]:
So I wanna talk about the poor for a second here because clearly if we're gonna talk context, and that's important here at the Bible study, the reason this is all coming up is cause Paul is taking an offering for the poor in Jerusalem among the Gentiles. And the leader in giving to this offering is the Macedonian churches, which were persecuted and extremely poor themselves. You mentioned a verse earlier. What is the Christian's obligation to the poor?
Jason Caine [00:20:42]:
Yes, the Christian's obligation to the poor is to help take care of the poor over and over and over throughout Scripture. Here we have it in 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, I think James talking about talking, talks about looking out for widows and orphans. Jesus says I was hungry.
Curt Harlow [00:21:01]:
Definition of what true religion is.
Jason Caine [00:21:03]:
Yes, Jesus says, I was hungry. And you Fed me. I was. I didn't have clothes, and you gave me clothing. I didn't have a place to stay. You gave me a place to stay. And Jesus says, whatever you do for the least of these, you have done for me. I think the Christian's obligation to the poor is whatever God has commanded us to do, to do.
Jason Caine [00:21:24]:
And I think in Scripture has made it clear that we're supposed to take care of the poor. And I know that oftentimes it goes back to what you were saying about Kelly and her sister. I know sometimes we want to know, how did this person get in this situation?
Curt Harlow [00:21:38]:
Right.
Jason Caine [00:21:38]:
And are they going to steward what I give them? Well, but I think God is asking us the same thing. Are you going to steward what I gave you?
Curt Harlow [00:21:46]:
Well, you better be careful when you start pointing that question at someone 100%.
Jason Caine [00:21:50]:
Because it's going to. It's going to come back at you. But I think, you know, as we said, true religion is religion that takes care of the poor and the vulnerable.
Dena Davidson [00:21:58]:
Isn't that part of the blessing of working with a church, though, to give your finances to a church? You have usually a church doing a process of due diligence to make sure that the organizations you're giving your money to are going to steward those? Well, I just think there's so many benefits to not just taking your money and doing what you see fit with it, taking care of the poor on your own, but to actually pull our resources and to send them to organizations that are doing great good in the community.
Curt Harlow [00:22:28]:
And when the church gives to those in need in the Book of Acts at the beginning, this is how they gain favor with all of the people. And this passage also mentions it as well. There is a direct line between our sacrificial giving to people locked in the cycle of poverty and the credibility of our witness the further we get. And I, I actually believe this. I believe that the, that there's two kind of instincts within the church. And one is that instinct of we just need to marshal every recess resource into proclaiming the gospel. So let's just get. Let's make all the big movies about Jesus.
Curt Harlow [00:23:11]:
Let's get all the big crusades. Let's get all of the big. Let's proclaim. Proclaim. Let's get on the Internet. Let's. Let's get the commercials during the Super Bowl. And I like that.
Curt Harlow [00:23:21]:
I'm for all that. I sacrifice for all that. Then there's another instinct in the church that says, let's feed every homeless person. Let's go to the hardest, most broken places where the poverty is the worst in the world, and let's dive in and do the hard thing in those places. Let's figure out the cycle of that. Let's do education there. And I love that as well. And I, in my view of history, those two instincts are the devil and our own immaturity are trying to rip those two apart.
Curt Harlow [00:23:57]:
So they're just against each other. They're one thing or the other. And I think the proclamation, the demonstration of the gospel, we have to absolutely get them together. And I think one of the ways that it's very important to do this is Christians must expose themselves to what poverty really is. So we talk about it, we look at American poverty, which can be very hard and very bad, especially where it locks people on cycles of not access to education, makes it very hard to be upwardly mobile. But when I was a junior in college, I paid all my own way through college. I worked 20 hours a week at the cafeteria. I worked for insurance guy getting him cold calls.
Curt Harlow [00:24:48]:
I mean, just tons of hours and barely made it. And I just had 25 bucks in my checking account at all times and thought, pretty much, man, you can't be poor in this. And then I went to Manila, Philippines for three weeks to work on a medical mission. We had one tent that proclaimed the gospel at night. Dave Reaver Powerful and one tent where we serve people. People came in with every condition. I can remember one particular day we went to a hospital that served only people that had were burned. Victims from military training, accidents, not even actual war.
Curt Harlow [00:25:30]:
And I said to myself, man, I don't know what poverty is. I don't. What it did is it evaporated. All those excuses in me of going, you know, those people, pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. I think there's some truth, some people need to do that. I think there's some people, they're so locked in the cycle of poverty, generation to generation, that there's no amount of bootstrap pulling. And I went and said, I have more and they have less. In a way, that's unjust.
Curt Harlow [00:26:03]:
The beautiful thing about that is every day there's the sadness of how serious that developing nation poverty was. And then every night you saw the gospel work powerfully. I think if the church excludes themselves from being exposed to either of those, it's something less than Jesus happens. But if, and this is why we go to Mexicali, Mexico. When you see both of those working in operation together like they did in The Book of Acts. It becomes a powerful, powerful motivation to live a generous life.
Jason Caine [00:26:41]:
Yeah, yeah. Oh, go ahead, Go ahead.
Dena Davidson [00:26:44]:
I was just gonna. You always say something about proximity leads to empathy. Empathy leads to unity. Yeah, unity. I have always. Minus unity part. I have always, like, kept that in my mind. The proximity leads to empathy.
Dena Davidson [00:26:56]:
Proximity leads to empathy. Like, I need to get close to the people that Jesus wants me to love.
Jason Caine [00:27:02]:
Correct.
Dena Davidson [00:27:03]:
And that's what you're saying is we need to be not just aware mentally of people suffering and their poverty, but to, like, physically be in proximity as much as we can to physically be in the presence of people that are dealing with poverty at a level we may not be aware of.
Jason Caine [00:27:19]:
Yeah, absolutely. Also, going back to your question about what are we supposed to do to the. For the poor? Back to what Paul is saying right here. Each one of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly. God loves a cheerful giver. I think that there are areas in our lives where God crushes our heart about something, and in that thing, we should do something about it. And I think a lot of times we tell people, you know, going back to your example, no, we need to give it all to. We need to give it all to evangelism.
Jason Caine [00:27:51]:
No, we need to give it all to the poor. And what has God put on your heart and the area for you to put it in?
Curt Harlow [00:27:57]:
Right.
Jason Caine [00:27:57]:
And I think if all believers gave in the area where their heart was. Was crushed without guilting everybody and tell them where the g. And that's how we would operate best.
Curt Harlow [00:28:07]:
I love that principle.
Jason Caine [00:28:08]:
Dena, in one of our staff meetings, was talking about the amount of impact the church could have through our given. Do you remember?
Curt Harlow [00:28:15]:
Do you remember.
Dena Davidson [00:28:16]:
Yeah.
Jason Caine [00:28:16]:
Any of those stats or anything?
Dena Davidson [00:28:17]:
I'm not going to remember the actual stats, but essentially I was up late one night, and I was thinking, okay, you know, how can I communicate to our church staff the impact of the church when we actually pull our resources in tithe? And I happened upon this secular organization that said, essentially, like, it's possible because our culture is becoming less religious, that there is going to be this massive crisis in nonprofit giving? So this secular organization was asking the question, what can we do to bolster churches? So they said, we need to fund seminaries that are training pastors, and we need to fund new churches that want to plant. And I just thought, okay, if this is how much a secular organization believes in the power of a church to pool their resources, and they were just pulsing currently what the church is doing in America and foreseeing a possible decline in that and that being a disaster. Okay, well, how much more should we as believers look at what the Bible says about the potential impact of the church? That the gates of hell shall not overcome the church and give to the church so that she can do the job that she's been appointed to do by Christ.
Jason Caine [00:29:30]:
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Curt Harlow [00:29:31]:
All right, well, it's reset time. Let's get an application thought here, guys. Something practical. You know, again, just. You're going to hear me say this a lot on this podcast, but context first. Great hermeneutic. Great hermeneutic. Under that contest, what does the passage really originally mean? And then if we stop there, we've blown it.
Curt Harlow [00:29:51]:
A good Bible study at the end of it goes, what then shall I do? So, Dena, why don't you go first? What then shall you do?
Dena Davidson [00:29:58]:
Okay, so I've been thinking about this in the context of my son, Judah, who I would say has a majority.
Curt Harlow [00:30:04]:
Big giver.
Dena Davidson [00:30:05]:
No, he's the opposite. He's a major, major. Like, he has a sharing problem. He's four years old. So this is totally developmentally, developmentally normal. But can't get that kid to share. Those Amazon magazines comes in and he's looking over them for hours to pick out what toys he wants. And so I'm sitting here thinking like, okay, I have instilled in my Judah, like, you gotta do this.
Dena Davidson [00:30:27]:
But I'm convicted because I haven't taught him to be a cheerful giver. And so I think my takeaway is that I'm not modeling this well in my household. I am not talking to my kids about anything more than the rules of sharing, the rules of giving. I'm not talking about the wonderful benefit that I receive as a person when I give to others. And so I'm convicted as a parent, as someone who doesn't want to see my child tight fisted, only wanting to receive and never wanting to give. I want to start having conversations with my kids in my home about how amazing it is to give to others and how it actually makes me more glad.
Jason Caine [00:31:08]:
He's great.
Curt Harlow [00:31:08]:
Love it.
Jason Caine [00:31:09]:
Beautiful. I would say, you know, if we want to make this extremely practical, if you've struggled with generosity, maybe you're thinking, I don't have enough money to give. Remember the Macedonians who didn't have much to give, but they figured out a way to give and allow God to break your heart about something and give something towards it? I think once you make the step of giving something and you get to see what that something impacts. Then you will become more and more generous. So don't wait. Do something today. Whether that's given to your local church, given to someone who is in need, figure out a way to give something, because we all have something to give.
Curt Harlow [00:31:50]:
That's great. Those two really describe my. My story. Kelly was a. A grateful giver, and I was more worried and nervous, and so I just started giving something. And now I'd say most of the time. Most of the time I'm a joyful giver. Yeah.
Jason Caine [00:32:07]:
Would you say you're less nervous?
Curt Harlow [00:32:08]:
I'm less nervous, yeah. Yeah, I'm less nervous because it's just. She's been right every time. Yeah, she's been right every time. I still have something in me, and I think it comes from control. In my childhood of growing up, you know, I would say I grew up fairly poor, lower middle class. She grew up very, very poor. And there was a freedom down here of going, I.
Curt Harlow [00:32:27]:
I know I don't have control. Whereas I was like, I'm going to go get control. But I would say I didn't start off tithing. I started off giving. And then I gave some more and I gave some more. And then I started seeing those miracles you were talking about. And then now I was like, this is the fun of it. This is the joy of it.
Curt Harlow [00:32:47]:
And now every once in a while, I give something. I don't tell anyone. Don't let your left hand or your right hand. Those are the funnest ones. Just between you and Jesus. All right, here's my application. I think if you look over all of Scripture, you're going to see three areas where you should give. Number one.
Curt Harlow [00:33:04]:
And this passage really covers two of them. Number one, you give to the poor. I think that's the most obvious one. I think there's the more passages on that one, and I think it's probably the one that we talk about least in church, which is kind of sad because it's talked about most in Scripture. The second one is giving to mission and outreach. And I think there's that element in these two passages this week and last week too, of going, what am I doing to say I want this to advance beyond me? The church in Macedonia started out as Philippi. By the time we get to 2 Corinthians, there's several congregations. What am I doing? That's advancing the kingdom and bringing the gospel closer to people.
Curt Harlow [00:33:44]:
The third one, the one I like the best, is making sure the people that teach you the Bible are Compensated. And I like that one because without that one, I didn't have a job. But here's my challenge. Here's the application. As you prayerfully go to the Lord and consider in your own heart where are you doing the best and where might you need to change. So you might be a person that's giving great to your pastor, but your church really isn't doing as much outreach as they should or helping the poor. Can you be an advocate for that? Or maybe, man, your heart's broken by the poor, but you're not really giving to the advancement of the gospel or supporting the people that taught you how to love the poor. I think as Christians, if we'll take all three of those biblical areas and say, God, do you challenge me? We'll find that we almost always up our giving to the Jesus level, to that sacrificial level that is appropriate for him.
Curt Harlow [00:34:42]:
So those three categories, good categories to pray through and evaluate for yourself.
Dena Davidson [00:34:45]:
Love it.
Jason Caine [00:34:46]:
Awesome.
Curt Harlow [00:34:46]:
Awesome. Bri, do we know who we got on next week? Bri is still. Oh, we got a surprise guest. Okay, surprise guess. I'm going to guess that it is going to be.
Dena Davidson [00:35:00]:
Someone that loves Jesus.
Curt Harlow [00:35:01]:
Someone that loves Jesus. What's a really big name we could.
Jason Caine [00:35:04]:
Put out there like Francis Chan here.
Curt Harlow [00:35:08]:
Next week Francis Chan will be debating Rick Warren on when to retire. And as far as you know, and Francis, by the way, there's at least 50, 000 people named Francis Chan in America. So we don't know which one, but we will have a guest. No, we're gonna have a guest. It's gonna be one of our great pastors that communicates every single weekend at our campuses. So tune in. By the way, I, I couldn't be more excited about this series. I really do mean this.
Curt Harlow [00:35:37]:
I think they will know you are Christians by your love. And that mainly means what kind of relationships you establish and cultivate in your life, especially with the people that you're around the most. Tune into what Paul has to say about how to develop those relationships in a God honoring way. We're going to go verse by verse starting very next week. As always, like subscribe and great job you guys are. Our viewership is going up. We're like growing like crazy and it's all because of you. So thank you very much for that.