• A survey by the American Psychological Association revealed that 70% of adults experience increased stress during the holidays.

• The American Psychiatric Association found that 50% of adults worry about affording holiday gifts, and 39% are concerned about covering holiday meals.

• 64% of individuals with diagnosed mental health conditions report that the holidays worsen their symptoms, leading to increased feelings of loneliness, sadness, and anxiety.

• 55% of Americans report feeling lonelier during the holiday season compared to other times of the year.

The American Cultural Lie: Happiness Comes from Getting

Haggai 1:6
You 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.

Chasing after the world’s "more" always leaves us feeling like less.

Jesus’ Kingdom Truth

Acts 20:35
It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Blessed (makarios): The highest form of well-being—a state of happiness, fortune, and flourishing that was thought to belong only to the divine.

Studies reveal that generous people are happier and healthier, have lower levels of depression and anxiety, show more interest in personal growth, have better-quality relationships, and even live longer.

"People rightly say that money cannot buy happiness, but money and happiness are still related in a curious way. Happiness can be the result not of spending more money on oneself, but rather of giving money away. The data examined here show this to be not simply a nice idea but a social-scientific fact." — The Paradox of Generosity

Matthew 6:19-20
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Jesus addresses a deep, universal impulse in the human heart: the drive to store up treasures.
Jesus doesn’t rebuke that impulse—He redirects it.

"Heaven" = What God is doing here and now.
“Heaven” is about His presence breaking into this world, His kingdom advancing in real, tangible ways, and His eternal purposes unfolding right here, right now, and forever.

Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Our heart follows our treasure. God is after your money because He’s really after your heart. And according to Jesus, your heart and your money are connected.

Your Life Follows Your Heart

Proverbs 4:23
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Matthew 6:22-23
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

• Eye = Mindset, how you see and interpret the world around you.
• Abundance Mindset: You see God as a loving provider and life as a gift.

  Matthew 6:26
  Look at the birds of the air; they’re not stressed out. They don’t hoard or save for retirement, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

• Scarcity Mindset: Instead of seeing abundance, you see lack. Instead of trust, you feel fear.
  • Scarcity Mindset says: "I’m on my own. The world’s a scary place. Resources are limited, and if I don’t fight for my piece of the pie, I’m going to lose out."

When we store up treasures on Earth, our hearts get caught in an endless tug-of-war between fear and greed.
If you were absolutely, 100% assured that God would provide for you—that you would always have enough—how would that change your relationship with money?
How would it change the way you think about generosity?

God Is a Giver

John 3:16
For God so loved the world… He gave.

Luke 12:32
It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

John 10:10
My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

God is our Father. When the kingdom shows up, there’s always more than enough because God doesn’t skimp. He’s not stingy. That’s not who He is.

Matthew 6:33
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

• First: First in time, first in place, in succession, in rank, in influence, in honour, in principal.
• Generosity isn’t a feeling; it’s a decision.
• “All these things”: The promise comes after the priority.
• Generosity isn’t the result of security; it’s the pathway to security.

Steps Toward Generosity

1. Repent

   Acts 3:19
   Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

2. Decide

3. Make It Personal & Costly

   2 Samuel 24:24
   I will not offer to the Lord sacrifices that cost me nothing.

4. Make It Regular

   Romans 8:32
   He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?