{"id":37713,"date":"2021-01-22T13:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T13:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/there-is-no-gospel-without-generosity\/"},"modified":"2021-01-22T13:11:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T13:11:00","slug":"there-is-no-gospel-without-generosity","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/there-is-no-gospel-without-generosity\/","title":{"rendered":"There Is No Gospel Without Generosity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pastor J.D. Greear says, &ldquo;If you are not generous, you&rsquo;ve never really experienced the Gospel. If you feel guilty about how little generosity you show, you don&rsquo;t understand the Gospel.&rdquo; He goes on to explain his reasoning. Basically, the idea is this: It is impossible to really experience Jesus and not be radically generous in response.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>First, a major component of what it means to be truly &ldquo;converted&rdquo; is that you realize His Kingdom is the most beautiful and lasting reality in the universe. You begin to find your significance in it, not in what you possess. So, you don&rsquo;t have to spend lots of money to add beauty and significance in your life.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Second, you recognize Jesus, not money, is your security for the future. So, you don&rsquo;t have to save extravagant amounts of money to feel secure.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Third, to be truly saved means you have some sense of how gracious God has been to you. The Bible repeatedly says that the sign that you have tasted God&rsquo;s grace is you become gracious<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Thus, if you have tasted of the Gospel, you will be gracious. Instinctively.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3689,3887,3921,3991,4043,4057,4085,4134,4324,4326,4327,4434,4435,4488,4901,5077],"tax_ctp_topics":[378,382,392],"class_list":["post-37713","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-conversion","tax_ctp_tags-eternal-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-experiencing-god","tax_ctp_tags-finances","tax_ctp_tags-generosity","tax_ctp_tags-giving","tax_ctp_tags-gospel","tax_ctp_tags-heaven","tax_ctp_tags-kingdom","tax_ctp_tags-kingdom-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-kingdom-of-heaven","tax_ctp_tags-material-possessions","tax_ctp_tags-materialism","tax_ctp_tags-money","tax_ctp_tags-security","tax_ctp_tags-stewardship"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>There Is No Gospel Without Generosity - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/there-is-no-gospel-without-generosity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"There Is No Gospel Without Generosity - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pastor J.D. 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