Jesus made it clear there is a Kingdom, and He is the King.

• A child of the King lives like one—obeys the Father. (John 14:15)
• Obedience requires sacrifice, and our motivation to live obediently comes from our gratitude for God’s mercy for us. (Romans 12:1)

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

AMBASSADORS OF RECONCILIATION

2 Corinthians 5:14–20 (NIV) 14For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no

longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

UNITY AND MATURITY IN CHRIST

Ephesians 4:12-16 (NLT) 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

14Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

• What keeps people from being reconciled to God?
• What keeps us from growing in every way to be more and more like Christ?
• Why does the Bible speak on finances and resources more than any other topic?

Haggai 1:2–12 (NIV) 2This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house.’”

3Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” 5Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

7This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. 9“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

12Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the

RD.

• Notice they had built their own houses first instead of building God’s. Why?
• Notice the results of their actions: never enough, doesn’t satisfy, cannot sustain it, results in hardship.
• Notice God sends a message (His Word) and messengers (His people, the church), and the people change.

WHAT ARE THE REASONS I AM NOT MORE GENEROUS IN THE AREA OF MY RESOURCES AND FINANCES?

• I don’t feel like God is or has been generous to me, so I am not generous to him or others.
• I’m Fearful and faithless. I don’t trust that things will be ok if I give. I don’t have enough to give.
• Others don’t deserve it—other people or the Church. I don’t trust how it’s going to be used.
• It’s mine. I’ve earned it or cultivated it, so it goes to my desires.
• I like stuff more than what God has to offer. Stuff feels better.
• I don’t have a plan, I don’t know how to make one, I don’t know how to give, or I get distracted.

WHAT’S TRUE?

• A person who is forgiven much loves much, and a person who is forgiven little loves little. (Luke 7:36-48; Luke 19:1-10; 1 John 3:16-18)
• If you yearn for more, you will never have enough. Give of what you have been given. (Ecclesiastes 5:10; Luke 21:1-4)
• God blesses those who are generous on His behalf. (Proverbs 11:24-25; Malachi 3:10)
• Everything we have been given—time, talent, and treasure—is from God. (Luke 19:11-26; Job 41:11)

WHAT DO I DO NOW?

What is your next step?

• Repent and take action.
• Talk with someone and ask for help.
• Get connected for accountability and encouragement.
• Praise God and remain faithful! Encourage others!
• Take a step of faith and trust God to increase your generosity.
• Take ANY step towards growing in every way to be like Jesus—be ALL IN!

In view of God’s mercy, we choose to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, growing in every way to be more and more like Christ with our time, talents and treasures, living generously and sacrificially as ambassadors of Christ on his