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Message Notes
“Freedom from anxiety is characterized by three inner attitudes. If what we have, we receive as a gift, and if what we have is to be cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we will possess freedom from anxiety. However, if what we have, we believe we have gotten, and if what we have, we believe we must hold onto, and if what we have is not available to others, then we will live in anxiety.” —Richard J. Foster (The Discipline of Simplicity)
“It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.’ And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, ‘Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.’ And they scolded her.” —Mark 14:1-5
Three Important Truths About Generosity
- Truth #1 - Generosity teaches us to focus on what’s important.
“But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.’” —Mark 14:6-7
- Truth #2 - Generosity teaches us to sacrifice for what’s important.
“She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.” —Mark 14:8
- Truth #3 - Generosity teaches us to leave an eternal legacy for what’s important.
“And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” —Mark 14:9
“Some people say, ‘God will never ask me to do something I can’t do.’ I have come to the place in my life where if the assignment I sense God is giving me is something that I know I can handle, I know it probably is not from God. The kind of assignments God gives in the Bible are always God-sized. They are always beyond what people can do because He wants to demonstrate His nature, His strength, His provision, and His kindness to His people and to a watching world. That is the only way the world will come to know Him … What our world often is seeing in our day is a devoted, committed Christian serving God. But they are not seeing God. They comment on what we are doing, ‘Well, there’s a wonderful, dedicated, committed group of people serving God.’ They, however, do not see anything happening that can only be explained in terms of the activity of God. Why? Because we are not attempting anything that only God can do.” —Henry Blackaby
“Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.” —Mark 14:10-11