Hey friends, I'm Chris Miller and I'm Mary Hall and you're listening to the John

Athena Melissa Helzer podcast. In this episode, we're talking about maturing as

friends of God. Today, Melissa is going to unpack the difference between growth

and maturity as believers and followers of Jesus because the reality is that

maturity is actually low and slow. But in our culture of instant, quick now, I

needed it yesterday. Jesus is still inviting us into that long haul journey of

discipleship of walking with him in step day in and day out. Yeah, it's so good. We've

we've really been pressing into this theme in our community and asking how do we

go beyond growth and actually create deep roots to mature as God's friends. Right.

One essential part of this is living a life of generosity and Melissa is going to

unpack these verses from 2 Corinthians 9. Remember this, whoever so sparingly will

also reap sparingly and whoever so generously will also reap generously. Each of

you should give what you've decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or

under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. Come on. I mean, this verse is

clearly about generosity, but it's worth noting that it's about so much more than

money. And Melissa reframes how this is about how we posture our hearts as

disciples to mature and grow in the way that we approach our everyday with God

without the reluctancy, without the compulsion, really without the double-mindedness.

Yeah, it's good. We are going to have some fun today and we're going to get deep

into the waters of the heart. Our prayer is that you would feel stirred to

become a generous lover of God. May we be ones who are known by our love.

Man, I love school mode, don't you? This isn't a conference. It's a school. It's a

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