Well, the trees are going up and giant inflatables are filling your neighbors yard. That must mean it’s the Christmas season! And as the ringing of the bells outside of stores reminds us, it’s also the season of giving. But with so many people in need and what could also be a personally dry financial time, giving can come with challenges. On this episode of Go MAD, we’ll be taking a look beyond giving at Christmas into the heart of God who has a heart for ‘giving living’. We think you’ll be encouraged as we dive in with our guest host, Ron Hutchcraft, so stay tuned…and let’s go MAD!
Connect with us on social media and / or email:
Twitter - @GoMADPodcast
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Email - gomadshow@hutchcraft.com
Or find out more about us on our website: gomadpodcast.com
Enjoy the show? We'd love it if you took a moment to leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/go-m-a-d/id1593068456
Thank you for listening and Go M.A.D. today!
Well, the trees are going up and giant inflatables are filling your neighbors yard. That must mean it’s the Christmas season! And as the ringing of the bells outside of stores reminds us, it’s also the season of giving. But with so many people in need and what could also be a personally dry financial time, giving can come with challenges. On this episode of Go MAD, we’ll be taking a look beyond giving at Christmas into the heart of God who has a heart for ‘giving living’. We think you’ll be encouraged as we dive in with our guest host, Ron Hutchcraft, so stay tuned…and let’s go MAD!
Connect with us on social media and / or email:
Twitter - @GoMADPodcast
Facebook - facebook.com/gomadshow
Instagram - @gomadshow
YouTube - @gomadshow
Email - gomadshow@hutchcraft.com
Or find out more about us on our website: gomadpodcast.com
Enjoy the show? We'd love it if you took a moment to leave a review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/go-m-a-d/id1593068456
Thank you for listening and Go M.A.D. today!
Well, trees are going up and giant inflatables are filling your neighbor's yard, so that must mean it's the Christmas season and, as the ringing of the bells outside of stores reminds us, it's also the season of giving. But with so many people in need and what could also be a personally dry financial time, giving can come with challenges. On this episode of Go Mad, we'll be taking a look beyond giving at Christmas, into the heart of God, who has a heart for giving, living. We think he'll be encouraged as we dive in with our guest host, ron Hutchcraft. So stay tuned, let's Go Mad.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, jesse, and welcome back everyone to another episode of Go Mad, with normally Doug and Brad, but today I have got a guest host with me and I'll tell you where Doug is in just a moment. But I've got my dad, ron Hutchcraft, right next to me here. Dad, I'm here with the podcast.
Speaker 3:Am I like a co-host? Now you are, you are a co-host.
Speaker 1:I don't know how to help from here.
Speaker 3:I mean life's biggest thrill right here. So is it Go Mad with Brad and dad.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's got a nice ring to it sorry.
Speaker 2:Doug. Wow, now I have to tell you, before I tell you, where Doug's at. You may have heard it as Jesse was introing the episode. You hear the word giving and really quickly you're like uh-oh, time to tune to another podcast.
Speaker 3:No this isn't, it is the season.
Speaker 2:It is the season and we're not going to be talking about today. We're not talking about specifically where you give. We're not talking about hey, this is the tithe amount and everything else. What we're talking about is just our heart of giving and how God sees giving. That's what we're going to be talking about today. Before that, I got to tell you Doug would love to be here right now, but he is some place I'm going to say is even better than sitting here today, and that is being with his family because, as you've heard him share on the podcast a few times about his son, taylor, even on the last one, he shared some of the challenges he's been through A miracle boy he really is, and others see that too and he had his Make-A-Wish Wish granted and they are off celebrating that right now. So they are celebrating the life of Taylor thanks to the generosity of Make-A-Wish, and so he is not here this week, but he'll be back next time around.
Speaker 2:So I'm very grateful that Dad's here, because I know we share a heart for just trying to personally, in our own lives, get more to the giving living mindset. It comes so naturally, doesn't it? It just no, no, no, no. Welcome, not to you, jesse, either. No, no, not at all. What do you know? So we should talk about it. Then we're going to talk about giving living, but what I want you to know is we know Right now it is a tough time for people. You're coming up on Christmas and money's going out faster than it's coming in and you're trying to figure out how do I do the right thing, was that a testimony?
Speaker 3:Yes, it's mine. You're giving my testimony. Oh sorry, right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's for the A lot of grandchildren, but the reality is that we know there are people going through hard times, and this isn't about the amount of money we're giving. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about just this heart of giving today. So even if you're going through a tough time, a challenging time, inflation or whatever else that has hit you hard financially, it doesn't change the fact that you can have this giving mindset in your life.
Speaker 3:You know, a great story comes to my mind that really describes this so well your sister, lisa. Remember her.
Speaker 1:I do yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, her kids, her boys were four and two years old.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, a little bit ago, my grandchildren and my grandchildren, and it started when the bananas were getting a little. So she decided that rather than eating them or tossing them, she'd make banana bread. So she made four loaves of banana bread. They contacted the church and said who are some people that could use some lifting up right now, and so that she took the boys to be the deliverers of the banana bread. So they go to the first house. There's a man there who's lost his wife recently and he is so blessed by this and he insists on giving them both a dollar and no, no, no, and he would not take no for an answer. So they go to the next house and they take it in. In this case the man's wife is very sick and he just insists on oh, he gave them some candy and so they're like okay, thank you. They go to the next house and there's a lady there who's lived alone for quite a while. She's pretty lonely and pretty serious, not really into it, until they give her the banana bread and her stoic face turns to a big smile. She hugs them, almost smothers them with a hug. One last stop and again here's the lady living alone and she also. She just was thrilled. She gave them hugs, they went to the car and the older boy, four years old, I love what he said.
Speaker 3:He said, mommy, today was such an adventure. They discovered that day that giving living, it's a little picture for all of us that we think we're putting ourselves out, you know, in sacrificing or whatever. And Jesus just promised. He says give it, it'll be given to you. May not be money or candy would be okay, even a hug sometimes, but giving living has its own reward, even in your heart. And they said this is the great, this is life's adventure. And a lot of people live their whole life and never experience that adventure because we're so about all about me. We got the disease of me and it means it's a small, small world all the time.
Speaker 2:Then and I love that giving adventure phrase.
Speaker 2:Oh, so good, I really do that is, because it's really what it is when we're following God's heart and we're going to talk a little bit about what God's heart is for giving, there is this reality. That's an adventure and following where he's going in these things. Now I got to say, jesse, you and I were talking a little bit when we were talking through some of our heart on giving. It's just, I think, one of the biggest challenges for people. I'm just going to address this up front because I think it sets the stage a little bit for some. What we'll talk about. One of the biggest challenges for people with giving is not being content with what we have. It's this feeling like we are lacking something. And the reality is the Bible addresses this specifically 1 Timothy 6, verse 6 and 8, but godliness with contentment is great gain. If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. So we see the goal, but I don't know what's the challenge here. What's the challenge with this contentment?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd love to hear y'all's input on this. I was thinking about this all the way back to the garden and thinking about Adam and Eve having everything that they needed and being tempted. Here's the one thing you can't have. They had paradise. That's what I need, is the one thing I can't have. That's what I need. And so since then, I get the sense we're all afflicted with this sense that what I don't have, that's what I need, and if I don't have it, I can't be okay. So I'm hoarding, I'm keeping things for myself, because there won't be enough to go around if I don't make sure I'm taken care of.
Speaker 3:Somebody asked John D Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest men in the world, how much money was enough money. He said a little bit more. Whatever we have a little or much, it's like I think I need more. It's because we're looking for satisfaction and contentment in the wrong place. It's not stuff. You'll never have enough stuff.
Speaker 2:That's really true. And if we all of a sudden I like what you said there, jesse when we have this mentality of I have to protect me, and sometimes it's even the feeling of I have to protect my family, it's not just always selfish towards ourselves, but to those around us, that I have to protect the ones I care about. And it's my job. And the reality is that if I'm the one looking out for me, I'm in a lot of trouble because I make some really not great decisions along the way, even with how I give or what I keep or whatever else. And so if all of a sudden we are just sitting there trusting ourselves instead of God who says I have got what you need and I will provide for you, oh that is not a good place to be. The best place to be is following what he has for us and realizing when we are content with what he provides man, that starts the giving adventure in a great place.
Speaker 3:And here's the economics of heaven Whoever so sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously. So if you say, well, my family, well, let this be the family adventure of learning to give together. Whoever sows generously will reap generously. Hello, and then I went to Proverbs, where all the smart stuff is, and it says in Proverbs 11, one person gives freely, yet gains even more. Another withholds oh, I got to hang on to it but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
Speaker 3:You know, it is true that if you have a broken heart, if you're feeling lonely, if you're feeling sad, if you're feeling like a victim, one of the greatest cures for all of that is to turn on your needometer and say wake up in the morning. You've heard me say this before, probably here, that the great way to wake up in the morning is to say who needs me today, and that may. There are a lot of ways. They may. It may need something material, they may need an accomplishment, they may need encouragement, they may need prayer. But if you, if you are the one who goes out with giving, living, saying who, not who do I need today, but who needs me? This is where the Jesus revolution comes in when you're a baby. You're all about me. You're like hmm, feed me, hold me, pick me up. Change me please, or I will make your life miserable.
Speaker 2:And so memories of that coming back right now.
Speaker 3:I remember you.
Speaker 2:Like anyway so.
Speaker 3:So it all revolves around me and something, and it will, until Jesus comes in and he says I've got you now you have put your life in my hands, so I am covered, I'm, I'm good, jesus has got me, I'm free to care about you now. I don't have to be all about me the rest of my life. I could be all about yous, as we say in New Jersey. All right, I like that.
Speaker 2:I lived in New Jersey. Yeah Well, I want to. It's so true. When we look at God's heart for giving, we learn these things how to be part of the giving adventure and not be about me. So I want to take a look real quick at God's heart towards giving. Now. You can find a ton of verses in the Bible about how God sees money. You can read how Jesus cared about how people were using their money and and how they were giving.
Speaker 2:But a couple of things stick out to me. First of all, it's clear he wants us to be generous people. You just read that from Proverbs. That acts 2035 says you should remember the words of the Lord Jesus it is more blessed to give than receive. Oh yeah, so all of a sudden we have that reminder that we're supposed to give. That's where the greater blessing is. So God wants us to be generous people, but he also wants us to give. Now I had to make a Christmas reference. Are we okay with that? I mean, it is Christmas time here. So he wants us to give with the new Grinch heart, not the old one. He wants us. If you remember in in the uh, how the Grinch stole Christmas, all of a sudden, towards the end, you get the moment where the Grinch realizes what Christmas is all about and really he realizes what kind of this spirit of giving is about. It's not about the stuff, it's about these experiences, even that people are having. And it says his heart grew three sizes that day and that's what God is looking for. He's like which, which this may all right.
Speaker 2:Second Corinthians nine seven says each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. I hear people talk way too often about well, what is there? The tithe was a tide. The old covenant is that the new covenant? Well, is it really? 10% with you know what? That's not what God is saying. He's saying give cheerfully and not because I, even because you're being told to give. Give because you want to partner with me and what I'm doing. Give because you have the heart I have for giving. Give as I've given to you. So it's not about a percentage, it's about what's the heart behind this and we can't out give God.
Speaker 3:God I heard it put this way that we shovel out, god shovels in, but he has a much bigger shovel, you know? Did you know that that word cheer for it Not original, but I don't even know where it came from. It's good, the, the cheerful giver, and the original word and the original translation of the Bible. The Greek language is hilarious. It's like God loves a hilarious giver who says, oh, my goodness, this is so much fun. I love this. I feel so good when I'm doing this, oh, I love that, yeah, so I noticed.
Speaker 1:With giving, and not just financially, but in any aspect it inherently opens you up to getting hurt or getting burned. How do you deal with the fact that and this is the broadest sense of giving I'm giving of myself and I know God can take care of me, but I don't know how other people are going to take it. And I've opened myself up and I've been vulnerable and I've given of myself. How do I keep from becoming self guarded when it comes to giving?
Speaker 2:My thoughts on that. Dad would be and Jesse would be something. Actually, I just read this morning in from Psalm 67. This, had this, had just never really hit me before this way. But verse one and two say may God be gracious to us and bless us. So, praying God's blessing us and we know he does, may he make his face shine upon us, the very next words, so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. I think the motivation for giving is really key to guarding our hearts because it's there's times I mean, I'll be honest, there are times that I give because I want to get that, I want to help someone, but I'm also looking for that. Oh man, you get that moment of that twinkle in the eye, yeah, where you just like, you get that affirmation and then all of a sudden you give it and someone's like thanks and you're like or not, maybe I or no should I give this?
Speaker 2:again, just so, you and, and the reality is, sometimes we do give and we don't Get in return in that immediate moment. But what we are part of is when we give, when we bless others the way God has blessed us, we are partnering in his gospel efforts. Wow, I mean, I just that blew my mind. This part I'm just like another reminder. God I'm personally God has been giving me Reminders recently. You know, as a family and let me just encourage people with this as a family, we, I do want to give together and I think that's important for families to give together.
Speaker 2:So, whether it's Samaritan's purse around Christmas or different times of the year where we give to people who need help, the reality is that I Still in those moments that I'm still being challenged recently with God saying, but can't you do More? And I think the reality is for me what I saw in Deuteronomy 16 17 each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord, your God, has blessed you. And To me, that is where I've been challenged is, beyond tithe or anything else, do I really give in proportion To the way God has blessed me? No, there's no way. I sit there and I'm just like there's no way I can give the way God has given to me, but I Can make it a goal and I can Help that be.
Speaker 2:Let that be a challenge to me, that I want to have the goal and be challenged, that I want to give with the heart of God, and I think that's part of what the verse is saying. There is, as I said before, you can't out give God. So give in proportion, give as he gives, which is not thinking about, as you said before, jesse, the hoarding and what's there for me, and it's not thinking about how might I get hurt, realizing that there may be hurt with it, but just saying I get to partner with God in how he wants me to be giving you know, ephesians 5 1 puts it this way walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us.
Speaker 3:How did he do that? And gave himself up for us as A frank, fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. Live that life of love. So you know, jesse, you ask about the response we get when we we give. Doesn't matter that giving, that act of giving is a Christ-like gesture in itself, full stop. Whatever you do does not decide whether I did the right thing. It does not take away from in any way the fact that I have just Brought a touch of Jesus into someone's life. I have done what he would do with that for that person. He even said when you fed that hungry person, you've done it. Unto me, when you've closed that person with no clothes, you have done it. And to me. So Jesus said I am very much with the broken and the hurting and the marginalized and the poor and the disadvantaged. And so I and let me tell you, you talk about giving and getting a lousy response Jesus knows that feeling.
Speaker 3:What was in it for him to die on that cross, for many people to look? Just the guys who crucified him stayed there, kept gambling for his robe. Wow, does he stop? Does he say, well, forget. He says, father, forgive them. That's the touch of I have the opportunity to bring a breath of Jesus into somebody's life. And, brad, when you read from Psalm 67 that says Lord, bless us. Bless us, you know, take a care of us. It says so that why? So I'll be blessed. Didn't say that so that your ways may be known on the earth? People who have never been touched by Jesus could be touched by an act of random kindness or Sacrificial generosity on my part. Whether or not they get that message, I have sown some of Jesus in their life and and Jesus is smiling.
Speaker 2:Wow, dad, that is so good and I love what you said before because it ties in there. We give with the risk. We have this risk. That's there. But the other part of God's heart forgiving is that in return for our giving, he wants to bless us as we bless others. Now there's a fine line here to walk. We know that. But he wants us to bless others and then he wants to bless us.
Speaker 2:Luke 6.38 says Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. So that's all in that verse. I'm making things up there.
Speaker 2:The reality is hey, if I give $10, am I getting $10 back? I don't know. I have no idea. I don't know what the return on the investment is. But what I know is there's a return on my investment in giving that God will blow out of the water with anything I could ask or imagine. It doesn't mean that I get the physical thing I'm looking for. It doesn't mean even for some people who give because they're looking, hey, maybe He'll hear my prayers more. That's not how that works. But what does work is God says give as I give, and then I will give back to you. So it may just be here on earth, it may be for an earthly gain. We get that from God. We have been blessed, incredibly, in fact. I was writing down this the other day. I was like how do I view what I have in the bank, what I drive, because one of my cars is a 2003 with 250,000 miles on it.
Speaker 3:I saw you pushing that in the parking lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there you go. How do I view my furniture, my food that I eat, just even filling up my tank with gas? Am I viewing that as a blessing from God that I can even do those things?
Speaker 3:Well, that'll help with the contentment thing.
Speaker 2:Well, exactly because if, all of a sudden, we are viewing this as a blessing from the Lord, then we're not giving, expecting to get things back. We're giving and we are receiving. We already are. We're receiving His blessing. So all we're doing is loading up and saying, hey, now I'm gonna give to others we're freed up to give If we're realizing how much God is.
Speaker 1:But, like you mentioned, filling up the gas tank. I don't go to the gas tank thinking, god, thank you so much. I get to do this. Instead, I end up thinking, well, of course I'm gonna do this, because I always do this, but if I'm going, everything that God's blessed me with, thank you God, thank you God, thank you God. I start to recognize God's taking care of me and that frees me up to give sacrificially.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I complain about the cost of gas much more often than I celebrate and thank God that I could fill my tank with gas, and I know there are people who can't do that. There aren't people who are able to do that. So when I see it the way God intends, we get to see that he is blessing us and we, in turn, we need to be blessing others. I love this research. Doug may not be here, but he sent us this actually.
Speaker 3:Oh, he's still among us, oh he loves this topic of giving.
Speaker 2:He said if you have enough food, decent clothes, live in a home that shields you from weather and owns some kind of reliable transportation, congratulations, you're in the top 15% wealthiest in the world. Add some savings, two cars in any condition, a variety of clothes and own your own house, you've reached top 5%. You may not feel wealthy, but only because comparing to those who are mega wealthy gets us in the wrong mindset, and then we are not content. I love that, and we're reminded Matthew 621, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Also, where's your focus? Where's your focus on what we have and what we give?
Speaker 3:You know, you reminded me of a verse. It says in Corinthians those who compare themselves by themselves are not wise, it God says. You know the 10th commandment you shall not covet. You know where covet starts. You would never covet if you never compared. Coveting always goes. You break that commandment. You're starting to as soon as you get to the point where you're like, well, they got better one than I do, I got more of it than I do. Our definition of enough is messed up. That's the problem. That's why we're never content.
Speaker 3:And this is so exciting. If you know, you said there's risk involved. And yeah, there is risk. But I'll tell you what is no risk in giving, if you will listen to the promptings, if you know Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God lives in you. I'll tell you this he is prompting you all day long to notice a need. Maybe it's just to send somebody an encouraging post on social media, whatever it is, but he is prompting you all day long into these little acts that are little obediencees that put you in the middle of the work of God in that person's life, though you may not know why. Do you want me to do this, nike? Just do it. Okay, because God said so. So in the process of doing that, it is so enriching to you, it so enlarges your life, it puts you in the middle, like I said, of God's work on earth, and this is. Let's go back to my grandkids who said, mommy, this is such an adventure. Today was such an adventure. You could say that about every day.
Speaker 3:If you say I will, what is not a risk is you will not take a risk that God's not going to keep His promise. God's never broken a promise, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, as he broken a promise never, ever, ever will. And so when he said, given, it will be given to you. Bless and I will bless you. He gets to define bless. I don't get to define it. He knows better for me what bless is. Bless for me might be different. It might not be money. I might think it's money I need, and he might send it in a different form. God will define give and God will define bless. But he will keep His promise and His shovel will be bigger than the one you shovel out with.
Speaker 2:Man. Time is flying by and we've got to wrap up.
Speaker 3:We're excited here.
Speaker 2:No way. It's so good, it's so, it's so and it challenges me. Just hearing from you guys is challenging me as well, because the reality is we've seen Dad growing up. We've seen we've shared this on the podcast before but we've seen groceries just show up on a doorstep. We've seen a medical bill be paid that we didn't know how we were going to pay. It didn't come financially to us, but God was caring for our needs.
Speaker 2:I want to cover this one thing before we wrap up here today, and that is make sure you pray through what you are giving and where you're giving. Ask the Lord to put burdens on your heart. But I do want to share one clear area that he wants to at least be part of our giving to see people as he sees them. God wants at least part of our giving focus to be on the broken. If you read in Deuteronomy 14, 28, and 29, and Deuteronomy 24, 14, here's what you're going to see in that list. You're going to see the poor foreigners, fatherless and widows. You are going to see those people that are represented. That doesn't mean that's the only place we're giving, but it's obvious that's important to God that he wants us caring for that group of people. They are God's VIPs. These are God's very important people and we need to be giving to them, not just at Christmas there's a lot of focus on that at Christmas but year-round.
Speaker 2:If it's all right, can you wrap us up with a personal story, guys? So here's what happens when you give to some of these places that are helping the broken. There's a plate great, I'm going to get emotional, probably here because there's a place near in Chicago called Pacific Garden Mission. We as a family just help do some Thanksgiving meals there, just sponsored some Thanksgiving meals. So I thought, well, I want to go back and listen to my great-granddad Hadley's Bill Hadley's Hope story. That was on the show Unshackled, produced by that mission, produced by that mission. So we listened to it as a family of it. I know the story. I had forgotten some parts of that story. Actually, I know the story and I am just a wreck on the couch as we are listening to that.
Speaker 2:Here's what it boiled down to His heart was changed, his life was changed, he was desperate, he was ready to end it all and that night going to Lake Michigan and he passes by Pacific Garden Mission and because there were people who believed in giving to a place that helps the broken, he was saved. His life was changed. You don't always get to see the result of how you give and what you give, but please just know that wherever you are giving, if God leads you to these places, give places that are helping the broken, helping those who need to hear about the hope of Jesus, because when you do that it makes a difference, not just in one life, but that life of Bill Hadley has gone on to impact countless others and I am one of those living that impact of one place that people believed in to give to who helped the broken, and it's just part of my hope story and I want to give more, like Jesus, when I think of practical things like that.
Speaker 3:Without that, you have no mom. You would have died that night, but for that intervention and someone's gifts making that possible. Truly giving living is the great adventure. Jesus led the way, giving at a level we'll never be asked to, and giving everything he had, for God's love of the world, that he gave his one and only son. And so, because of that great gift, we can be a part of this great adventure. Don't settle for anything less. Anything else is a small, small world.
Speaker 2:Amen. I'm going to wrap up with a prayer that I wrote in my journal when I've just recently this last stretch where God has been challenging me, and I pray it will be an encouragement to you as well. I just wrote Lord, please keep speaking to me about contentment and about giving. I don't want to lose the giving lessons because of passing time or financial stress. May we give joyfully, with the heart of our giving Father and overall, help me be more content with the basics, grow a spirit of generosity and giving in my children to Lord. That's our heart for you today, that's our heart for ourselves. For me personally, that I would just not give so others see it. Not give because it's out of obligation, but give because I have been given to by my loving Heavenly Father and that inspires me that how else can I give to others, even when times are tough?
Speaker 3:Let's let Jesus wrap it up In His words freely you have received, Freely give.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, thank you for tuning in one more time to Go Mad with well Brad and Dad, I guess today Dad and Brad I am a teacher.
Speaker 2:Doug is looking forward to being back next time, but thank you for listening and we pray that you've been encouraged in what you've heard today. Hey, if you would take time, take a few moments to go, leave a review where you listen to podcasts and share this with a friend. We just want people to learn how they can Go Mad and, specifically today, how they can Go Mad through their giving. So until next time, go Mad.