Generous IRL – Week 3

Generous IRL – Week 3

Leadership will change you.

It’s kinda like how you learn more by teaching. Why? Because leadership changes you. Leaders have to go out on a limb. They take risks, and those risks either have good or bad consequences.

Leadership requires sacrifice.

Over the years we’ve developed a distinct culture at New Life and we sat down to identify the things that make us distinct. We came up with an acronym:

We are the B.R.I.D.E.

The acronym is fitting because the Church is the bride of Christ. There are a lot of passages that call the church the bride of Christ, but one of them is

Ephesians 5:22-26

²² For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. ²³ For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. ²⁴ As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

²⁵ For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her ²⁶ to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.

We are:

• Becomers: We take responsibility for our individual progress toward becoming the people God created us to be.
  • We don’t just come; we become. We come as we are, SO THAT we can become someone we’re not. The great news of our faith is that we’re not stuck the way we are. God changes us.
• Real: We practice authentic relationships with authenticity and joy.
  • We don’t wait until our life is perfect before we start leading. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. So when we’re tempted to hide our past & hide our pain, we let God use them to heal other people.
• Intentionally Sacrificial: The generosity of our time, talents, and treasure reveals the maturity of our faith.
  • We say intentionally because we think effective generosity requires a plan. We have a plan to live generously. Generosity is the evidence that proves our love. If our primary commandment is to love, then that requires us to live sacrificially.
• Demonstrating Grace: Because we have received grace, we give grace and invite people to come as they are.
  • Jesus surrounded Himself with people who knew that were sinners because He wanted His followers to be people of grace. If we are His bride, then we are gracious because He is gracious.
• Engaging the Next Generation: Because God’s Kingdom will continue to reach the next generations, our style is intentionally current, and we focus on discipling young people.
  • We love our kids, & we are not ok with the idea of them turning their backs on God. We will do everything we can to lead them to a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ.

How Do we develop our Culture:

1. Define it.
2. Embody it.
3. Defend it.

Did you like this message, Generous IRL – Week 3? Check out more of our Sunday teachings here.