Welcome to our Together on Mission podcast, where we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, through scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation with him throughout your day. Your host is Travis Twyman, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the daily Together on Mission podcast. This is Travis, and it is great to be together.
I have my Bible open to Luke chapter 6. In a moment, I'm going to read a moment, an idea, a saying that Jesus of Nazareth brought to bear within the world, and it's a powerful one. And so let me give you the title of the podcast this morning. The title is Abundance Mentality.
And it has been asked, and I want to ask us this morning, do we function with more of a scarcity mentality or more of an abundance mentality? Is there just not going to be enough, or is there going to be plenty? And we can talk about this in pretty much any area of our lives, in the area of finances. Do we practice scarcity or abundance in the area of energy and serving other people, you know, in the area of compliments and affirmation, right?
Do we practice a scarcity mentality where we need to try to get compliments for ourselves because there's not enough to go around? Or is there an abundance mentality where we can just give compliments and give encouragements and give affirmation? Because scarcity would say that there's never going to be enough, so we've got to scrape by and we've got to use as little as possible for others so that we make sure we have enough for ourselves. And abundance mentality is the antithesis of that.
The abundance mentality would say that there is plenty to go around. Now, maybe that can't be proved. Maybe I can't show you that. But I believe it.
There will be plenty. And so we don't need to scrape by and we don't need to focus exclusively on ourselves. We can give money. We can give service.
We can give encouragement because we believe that God has hardwired his world for abundance. And these are two totally different worldviews, two totally different ways to live. And the question is, how are we currently living? And that is not a difficult question because if we find ourselves always holding back, always trying to get for ourselves, that is the result of a scarcity mentality.
And if we find ourselves letting go, whether it's money or serving others or helping or complimenting or affirming, if we find ourselves letting go and going forward, that is the result of an abundance mentality. And Jesus says it this way in Luke 6, verse 38. He says, give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap for the measure that you use.
In other words, what you measure out will be measured back to you. Now, that is a Jesus of Nazareth idea. It's an abundance idea. And it's an idea that Jesus taught his students.
And notice first that what Jesus says here is not a command. It's not just a flat command like just give money or just give service or just give affirmation. It's not a flat command. It's rather an explanation of how the world actually works when you're living in the kingdom of God.
It's an explanation of how things actually work. Jesus doesn't walk around throwing out just flat commands. He rather explains to his disciples how the kingdom of God actually works. He says, when you give, it will be given back to you because God's the God of abundance.
Whether it's compliments or service or money or whatever it is, Jesus explains this is how it works. If you look back just a couple of verses, Jesus says, do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Again, those aren't just flat commands. Jesus is saying, when you live in the reality of the kingdom of God, this is how it works. And when you give, it will be given to you. And I think in this passage, Jesus is primarily talking about finances, but it goes way beyond finances.
Again, we can talk about compliments and encouragement. We can talk about the energy to serve other people. In every area, Jesus is saying, in my father's kingdom, this is how it works. And Jesus seems to be talking not only about a return, giving will be given to you.
He seems to be talking more about multiplication. And I think part of what Jesus is saying here is that my father is not the God of addition, simply. My God is the father of multiplication, of abundance. And you can know that God as well, but it will take a risk in the area of stepping forward.
If you want to know what it looks like to live in the abundance of the kingdom and live in the presence of my father, Jesus says, then give. Give of your money and you'll see. Give of your time to serve. Give encouragement.
Give affirmation. And you will see that not only does God add, not only what is measured out will be measured back, but notice the phrase, it will be a good measure. It will be pressed down. It will be shaken together.
And then, I love the phrase, running over, it will be poured into your lap. That is a multiplication image. It's a cup overflowing image that Jesus is teaching his disciples. Jesus had a worldview of abundance.
And this is the worldview that Jesus taught his disciples. And he said, come and learn this with me when it comes to money, when it comes to service, when it comes to caring for others, when it comes to giving encouragement, and you can leave behind scarcity. And Jesus doesn't actually mention his heavenly father in this passage, but Jesus mentions his heavenly father in so many passages. And he would say, my heavenly father is the God of provision and affirmation and caretaking and financial, you know, generosity and everything else.
So let's live like him. Let's live in the kingdom according to the way that Jesus called his disciples to live in the kingdom. And we will then begin to see God's multiplication. And so the good news is we don't have to be guarded with our energy to serve others anymore.
We don't have to be guarded with our financial generosity. We don't have to be guarded with how much we compliment other people. Jesus says there's plenty to go around. And we're invited to live in the kingdom in such a way that Jesus said was best.
And as we take this little powerful saying of Jesus about leaving scarcity behind and living in abundance, we really can begin to experience the power of generosity, the power of encouragement, the power of service. It's going to change our lives. It's going to change our relationships. And it's going to welcome us into knowing the father who is the father of abundance.
And what a wonderful way to live. What an incredible invitation to learn to live in the kingdom of the heavens now in the way that Jesus taught was best. So let's take just a bit of time, maybe three minutes, and let's read this statement. And let's let it roll around in our minds and in our hearts.
And let's allow the spirit of God through prayer, through reflection on scripture. Let's allow this life-changing idea to move us by the power of the spirit into this experience of abundance in every area of our lives, starting right here and right now as we walk with Jesus today. And we'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Together on Mission podcast.
We truly hope that you were blessed and encouraged by it today. If you had any questions about the Inland Vineyard Church, our ministries, or our Sunday services, feel free to connect with us on our brand new app, which you can find in the Google Play and the App Store. And check out our social media pages like Facebook and Instagram. Or even check out our website at inlandvineyard.org.
And check out our social media pages.