The fifth characteristic of the Apostolic Church and Apostolic people is this, radical generosity and stewardship. It's a life of giving. In Acts chapter 2 verse 45 it says, and they began selling their property and possessions and they were sharing them with all as anyone might have need.
You know in Acts chapter 4 verses 36 to 37 it says this, now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth who was also called Barnabas by the apostles, which translated means son of encouragement. He owned a tract of land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles'feet. And if you continue looking in the church in the book of Acts, you'll notice the radical generosity, the radical giving. In fact, you know, Joseph that we just read of Cyprian birth, the apostles literally renamed him Barnabas because their hearts were so encouraged. courage because of his radical giving.
And we need to understand that everything God created was meant to give, you know, and the kingdom is always in the giving. You know, when Jesus gave himself up, you know, into death and unto death, you know, through death, he gave us life. And there's this reciprocity that's always flowing.
And so when it comes to giving, when it comes to serving, when it comes to just everything we have, remember in the old... Testament, in the old covenant, Jesus asked, you know, God asked for a tithe. But in the new covenant, God asks for everything. He's not just asking for 10%.
He's asking for 100%. And so a lot of people who get hung up with a tithe, it's interesting to me that, you know, they say, I'm a new covenant believer. I'm a new covenant follower of Jesus.
Okay, then give 100% of everything you have, because that is new covenant lifestyle. That's the apostolic expression and character. of the church, of who we are as disciples of Jesus. And so it's radical giving.
You know, we all know maybe perhaps how to receive and we love getting gifts, but how many of us love giving? How many of us give extravagantly? How many of us actually reveal the nature of the Father because we're such extravagant givers?
Because we're to reflect the nature of the Father, which is in the heartbeat of the Apostolic Church that carries the Father's heartbeat. by living like Jesus. How much of a radical giver are you? And in order for us to live this radical lifestyle, we have to break the spirit of poverty off of us.
Poverty is literally having fear of never having enough. It's driven by fear. It's living in a place of lack, which limits our access to the kingdom of God. And which really is contrary to the way we should be living because God gave us full access. We live in a kingdom that's limitless.
And so we need to take on the mind of Christ. Even within the old covenant, you know, and Isaiah talks about how his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
But in the new covenant, how many of you know that he's given us the mind of Christ? So all of a sudden, through the mind of Christ, his thoughts are our thoughts. His ways are our ways.
And when we take on the mindset of Jesus and live from that place, we live in a place of limitless, where now we can live according to the fullness that God has died and resurrected, where he's given us every blessing and every spiritual blessing, where we can live as radical, generous givers. And this is a hallmark of the apostolic people. Are you living this way? Are you a radical giver?
Are you generous? But not only that, there's a second part to it. It's about stewardship.
Are we hoarding things or do we feel like everything, you know, some things belong to us? Because the apostolic mindset is this, that God's entrusted me with everything and it's depending on Him. God, what do you want me to do with this finance?
What do you want me to do with the profit that my business is making, that you've entrusted to me? You know, where everything belongs to the Lord, And it's about the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our life that we submit ourselves to. It's a choice that we make every day. And when we're led by His Spirit, we're led by His voice. And so through our radical giving and stewardship, we display the nature of Jesus to a world that's so desperately in need of an encounter with Him.
Because again, the kingdom is always in the giving. How are you going to release the kingdom? this week or today or this season of your life to release the kingdom to everyone around you.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you in this.