1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,360 Welcome to the Island's Christian Church podcast. 2 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,040 Subscribe to hear a new episode every week. 3 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:10,120 Thanks for joining us. Yeah, so we're beginning this 4 00:00:10,120 --> 00:00:12,600 brand new series today called The Almighty Dollar. 5 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,080 Good series title, right? You guys just love talking about 6 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:16,840 money at church. It's our favorite thing to do. 7 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,280 All right, but if I don't know if you know this or not, the 8 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:21,760 Bible, especially the New Testament, the Bible as a whole 9 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,440 talks about money a lot. But the New Testament, Jesus 10 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,400 himself only talked about the Kingdom of God more than he 11 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,600 talked about money. So money is a prevalent subject 12 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:32,920 in the Bible, and that makes sense. 13 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,400 A friend of mine recently said, he said, you know, Steven kind 14 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,800 of said it like, you know, matter of factly, like almost as 15 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:39,880 if I didn't know. He said, you know, Steven, money 16 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:41,720 runs the world. That's what he said. 17 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,600 He said money runs the world. And on one level, that feels 18 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,040 true, doesn't it? Like money runs the world. 19 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:50,560 It affects your decisions. It affects other people's 20 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:52,880 decisions. It affects opportunities. 21 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,080 Like the opportunities you can take in your life really are 22 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:57,560 dependent upon money. It affects your stress. 23 00:00:58,120 --> 00:00:59,920 It definitely affects your security. 24 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,720 Have you ever had apprehension and feelings of fear because you 25 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:04,599 don't have a lot of money about the future? 26 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,520 Money can cause insecurity, can cause stress. 27 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:12,920 Money effects wars, nations, and my goodness, can we all agree 28 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:17,200 that money effects politics? I mean, nobody said Amen except 29 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,320 for my buddy over here like Fred's had Amen. 30 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:23,200 But everybody else is like, I don't know, maybe y'all not 31 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,440 watching the news. Money effects politics man. 32 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,560 It affects everything. Money, money. 33 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,760 See, my friend seems to be right that money seems to run the 34 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,840 world. And so falling into the trap 35 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,000 that money runs the world is quite easy. 36 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,720 Usually we're more likely to fall into the trap because if 37 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,400 we're being honest, money doesn't just seem to run the 38 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,840 world. Money seems to run my heart. 39 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,840 It seems to run my life. I used to always, you hear 40 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,080 people say, you know, money does funny things to people. 41 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,080 You ever heard anybody say that money does funny things to 42 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:58,960 people? I like to say money does funny 43 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,840 things to me. I like to be honest. 44 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:05,600 The reason that we seen it seems like money runs the world. 45 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,320 This seems like it because it has sway over peace and 46 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:16,400 happiness and hope. It seems to and we invite that 47 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,640 power and that authority into our hearts. 48 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:24,480 We allow that. In other words, that's a, that's 49 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,640 a, that's a, a gate we let down, that's a drawbridge we let down. 50 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:31,360 That's a, that's a door we open up. 51 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:38,880 And if we're honest, most of us, we're not quite sure if there's 52 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,840 even a possible way to live differently. 53 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:47,200 Like we're, we kind of, we go to church and we kind of want there 54 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,080 to be a different way to live. But if we're honest, we're like, 55 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:55,960 I'm not sure if there is another way to live without money having 56 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,360 to sway over my heart that it does. 57 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,640 Now, my hope is in this series is that we'll replace the 58 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:08,400 almighty dollar with our almighty God. 59 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,000 Like that's that's what I hope we'll do it. 60 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,480 And for some of us, maybe just might be a little bit. 61 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,560 And for some of us, it may be a full, you know, renovation of 62 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,120 our heart. And what I'm hoping in the 63 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,800 series is that we'll move from living as though money runs the 64 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:30,200 world and money runs our life to living as we know God is 65 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,520 sovereign. God runs the world and God runs 66 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:37,480 my life that I can trust him. That's what I hope happens in 67 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:39,080 this series. We're going to discuss money 68 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,480 saving. We're going to discuss giving. 69 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:43,440 We're going to talk about investing and how the Bible 70 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:45,440 talks about these things. In other words, the whole series 71 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,280 is not going to be about why you should give money away. 72 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:49,640 So if you're sitting here thinking like, I don't want to 73 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,520 go to this series, like he's just going to be hammering 74 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,600 giving money away, we will talk about that one week. 75 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,160 But we're going to be talking about the Bible has how the 76 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:00,640 Bible views money, which is way more than just generosity. 77 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,560 It it all belongs to God. As you're going to see today. 78 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,040 We're going to be talking about how the Bible talks about 79 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,200 investing and how it talks about saving all of those things. 80 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:13,280 Here's the reason I'm doing this series. 81 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,000 And to be frank with you, I don't do this a lot. 82 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:18,880 Maybe because I'm fearful, maybe because I'm not a very good 83 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:21,279 pastor, maybe because I am a good pastor. 84 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:22,680 It's your decision. I don't know. 85 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,520 But as I became convicted through the last part of last 86 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:30,920 year, just talking to some friends, one friend in 87 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,720 particular who kept saying to me, you know, man, money is 88 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,560 money isn't what we do with our money is an act of worship. 89 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:38,560 What we do with our money is an act of worship. 90 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,920 If the Bible says that our worship is a living sacrifice, 91 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,880 then what we do with our money is an act of worship is I just 92 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:46,480 became convicted. Like I don't talk about this 93 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:48,440 enough. And you know, I was like, I just 94 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,880 I got to face this be a man, right? 95 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:59,320 And what I realized is like money and what we do with money 96 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,960 and how money controls us really is a discipleship issue. 97 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,680 It's really a Jesus following issue. 98 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,480 And so money, I'm hoping this series as we talk about the 99 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:19,440 almighty dollar will form you and I me you into deeper 100 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,120 disciples of Jesus Christ. Like that's what I really did. 101 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,880 This is a formation series that this isn't a, you know, I got to 102 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:28,880 get back. Like I don't want this to be a 103 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:32,080 series about shame and guilt. And I feel terrible and I've not 104 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:34,320 been great with money or I feel amazing because I'm really good 105 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:35,880 with money. I don't want to be that at all. 106 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,320 I want to be like, how am I surrendering to Christ with my 107 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,600 money? How is Christ forming my heart 108 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,000 as it relates to my money? So let's jump into our first 109 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:46,440 scripture today. We're going to get 3 scripture 110 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:48,960 passages, and so we're going to jump on our first one here, 111 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:51,800 Psalm 24, verse one. This is like a foundational 112 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:53,960 thing you have to know as we get into this series. 113 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:57,760 Psalm 24, verse one, this is what it says. 114 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:05,200 The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and 115 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,720 all who live in it. Super simple, right? 116 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,840 The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and 117 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:17,000 all who live in it. This verse gives us exactly what 118 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,320 I hope we will discover throughout this whole series, 119 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,000 but especially today. So if you take notes, here's 120 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:23,800 kind of our main idea today. You ready? 121 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:29,080 Most of our money challenges are not about the dollars. 122 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,440 Most of our money challenges are not about the dollars. 123 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,480 They're about authority. Can I say that again, most of 124 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,400 our money challenges are not about our dollars. 125 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:42,800 How much we have, how much we don't have. 126 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,880 Most of our money challenges come down to authority, the 127 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,040 authority. So there's three ideas that 128 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,320 we're going to unpack today #1 God owns it all #2 money is a 129 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,520 terrible master, and #3 we don't own, we manage. 130 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,840 So first of all, God owns it all. 131 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:03,960 When authority for your life, like who's in charge of your 132 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:08,240 life becomes unclear, money will always take the position of 133 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,040 authority in your life. Can I say that again? 134 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,080 Because I that's just the kind of thing that just goes, 135 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:14,880 especially if you're young, that just kind of goes over your 136 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,960 head. You always have an authority in 137 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:20,280 your life. You think it's you. 138 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:22,720 That's what you think. Like if you're not a believer in 139 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,880 God, like if you don't believe in Jesus, you don't buy into 140 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,120 this Jesus stuff. You think you're in charge of 141 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,800 your life, you think you're the authority, but you're not. 142 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:33,880 There really only are two options. 143 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,840 Maybe you could argue that, but for most people, let's say this, 144 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,760 for most people, if the authority of structure in your 145 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:43,880 heart and in your mind, if the authority of your life is 146 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:47,320 unclear, like you're not quite sure who's in charge of your 147 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,240 life, who has the say over your life, then what I'm telling you 148 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,160 is that money will take that position of authority in your 149 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,880 life. When you're unclear about who's 150 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,440 in charge of your life, money will fill the gap. 151 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:05,720 The psalmist says that God owns everything, that he he owns the 152 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,720 world and everything in it. Now we might struggle to believe 153 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,120 this because when you look at our culture, that our culture is 154 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:16,040 screaming another message. The Bible says that God owns 155 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:17,720 everything. He owns the Lord. 156 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:19,080 He owns the earth and everything in it. 157 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,880 OK, the culture is screaming a different message. 158 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:26,600 What is culture saying? Culture is saying who owns 159 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,560 everything? You, You own everything. 160 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:35,039 And, and in our culture, the basis of success, the basis of 161 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:38,840 having a good life, how you know you've arrived, how you know 162 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:43,600 you're successful is that you own some stuff, you have some 163 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:47,840 stuff. And so owning stuff is the mark 164 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,120 of living a good life. I mean, we celebrate, I mean, 165 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:53,000 we're, we live in the social media age. 166 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,200 We celebrate people's first car like they got a medical degree, 167 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,960 like we take a picture of our kid when they're 20/19/17, 168 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:05,960 whatever. Like when they buy their first 169 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:07,040 car. Not when we give them their 170 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:09,440 first car, but when they buy their first car. 171 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:14,880 Like it's like I'm letting all my friends I went to high school 172 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:19,040 and college with know that I'm a really good parent because my 20 173 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:21,560 year old bought their very first car on their own. 174 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,280 Look at this, Junior bought his first truck today. 175 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,920 We're so proud. I mean, really, the reality is 176 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:35,080 junior just went into debt. But but culturally, I'm a good 177 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,640 parent because my junior bought his first vehicle. 178 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:42,160 What do we tell young people? Like we tell them like you got 179 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:46,760 to what you have to do is you have to, you have to own 180 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,000 property. You have to own a house. 181 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:51,440 Is that what we tell young people? 182 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:56,120 We say you, then you get and my kids, listen, Claire's up here. 183 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:57,480 She'll tell you she's saving money. 184 00:09:57,720 --> 00:09:59,440 She'll if you go, why are you saving money, Claire? 185 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,240 She goes, I got to own a house one day like she's 16 years old, 186 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:09,280 like saving money for a house because we tell our kids our 187 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:12,800 culture screaming our kids having a house is the mark of 188 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:14,720 success. Having having property is the 189 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:16,640 mark of success. And what that turns into is 190 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:19,960 owning stuff becomes kind of how we know we've arrived in life, 191 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,320 having ownership. And so I mean, what other 192 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:29,320 cultures have stored each unit businesses to the level that the 193 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,120 United States does? Nobody like, I mean, can, can 194 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:34,800 y'all think about that critically for a second? 195 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,120 Like, do developing countries buy a property and build little 196 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,800 mini warehouses for people to put their junk in? 197 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,480 So I'm not like trying to be like, you know, cutting. 198 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:54,800 I'm just trying to say I'm trying to diagnose the culture. 199 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,640 Why do we have, why do we have storage units? 200 00:10:57,640 --> 00:10:59,640 Why is that a business model? I mean, I've told Mary Ann for 201 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:01,560 years, like, we should buy a storage unit business. 202 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:03,040 Like we should just buy one that exists. 203 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:07,120 They make money. Why do we have that? 204 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:11,680 Because owning ownership is how you know you've arrived. 205 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,640 And so it's very difficult for Americans specifically to 206 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,640 believe that no, God owns everything. 207 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,160 He owns it all. I own nothing that goes against 208 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:25,920 the current of our culture. Now don't don't misunderstand 209 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,400 me. I am not opposed to a private 210 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,000 ownership economy. If you hang out with me, you 211 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,760 will find that I'm very much a believer in private ownership of 212 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,760 property as a basis for economy. I actually happen to believe 213 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:42,480 it's the way to have the most stable economy in the world. 214 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,600 But you can see how that way of thinking that everything in the 215 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:51,680 world is up for grabs for ownership dilutes the belief of 216 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:54,000 the Bible, which says God owns everything. 217 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,560 And so our culture says everything's up for grabs for 218 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:01,200 ownership, and whoever dies with the most stuff wins. 219 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:05,240 The Bible says you cannot own anything. 220 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:06,960 You don't own anything, own anything. 221 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,560 God owns it all and everything in the world. 222 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:14,040 But to live like you don't own anything. 223 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:16,120 What I mean is like, it's one thing to be like, I don't own 224 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:19,040 anything, but to actually live that way is very difficult. 225 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,840 To stop thinking like an owner requires us to live differently 226 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:25,960 than how our culture trains us to live. 227 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:31,320 It requires us to replace our thinking about ownership with 228 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:36,640 more sober thinking. And what I mean is this, you 229 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:44,640 have to like consistently remind yourself daily that you don't 230 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:49,360 own anything because you didn't create anything. 231 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:58,760 In other words, if I said to you, make a house just not like 232 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:00,920 go buy materials and hire contractors. 233 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,600 I mean make the trees that buy that provide the lumber, you 234 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,240 can't do that. You have to remind yourself 235 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,760 consistently that I don't that everything that's existing comes 236 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:12,480 from a hand and it's not my hand. 237 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,680 Let me read you this next verse, Psalm 24, verse 2, and you'll, 238 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:18,240 and you'll see what I mean. The one who made it owns it. 239 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:23,160 Listen to verse verse 224 for he founded it on the seas. 240 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,040 He's talking about the earth, for he founded the earth on the 241 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:29,200 seas and established it on the waters. 242 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,440 Now, and you go back to Genesis. The Bible says that the, the IT 243 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,560 was dark and formless and water covered water covered the earth, 244 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:39,440 right? And so the existence of land, 245 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:42,520 the existence of culture, the existence of society is the 246 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:47,040 existence of being able to produce is because God went, I'm 247 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,480 going to take from the waters and I'm going to bring up land 248 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:51,920 and then establish it with people. 249 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:53,560 I'm going to establish this on the waters. 250 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:55,960 And what we know just instinctively, because we're 251 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:59,240 we're good Americans, we're good Western American. 252 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,120 We get this. Like if you found something like 253 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:05,400 if you start a company, if you start a business, then who owns 254 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:07,680 the business you started? As long as you don't sell it, 255 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:08,800 who owns the business you started? 256 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:11,080 You do. That's not a trick question, 257 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:12,880 right? You're like, well, I don't know, 258 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:14,600 man. I mean, is he trying to trick 259 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,360 me? If you found a business, if you 260 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,320 start the company, you own it. We'll apply that to this passage 261 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,880 of Scripture. He founded it on the seas and he 262 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,160 established it on the waters, right? 263 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:28,040 And so if you see like a, like a business sign and it's like, you 264 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,280 know, whatever Jimmy's dry cleaning and it says established 265 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:36,000 2012, then that tells you that Jimmy, assuming Jimmy owns it, 266 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,800 Jimmy established his dry, Jimmy owns the dry cleaners, right? 267 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,760 It's the same principle for what what the psalmist is saying is 268 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:46,040 that the earth was founded by God, is established by God, and 269 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:51,040 everything in it belongs to him because he founded it, he owns 270 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,040 it. And what goes with ownership? 271 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:59,280 So like my, my friend, my friend Ada here owns a construction 272 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:03,160 company and I try to tell him what to do all the time. 273 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:06,000 I show up at his job sites and say, don't do that. 274 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:09,760 Do this instead. He never lets me have authority 275 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:11,640 over over his job sites. I'm making this up. 276 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,400 I never go to his job sites and do this, making it up on the 277 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:18,160 spot to to be an analogy. But if I go to his job site and 278 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,920 say, hey, don't, let's don't, let's don't do the floors today, 279 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:22,320 man. Let's let's top out the 280 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:24,000 plumbing. Like let's just do that instead. 281 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,000 He would look at me like I was stupid, first of all, because 282 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,200 that's not how you do that. But the more important thing is 283 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,960 he founded it. He established it, established 284 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:36,680 it. What does he have? 285 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,320 What does he have over it? Authority. 286 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:46,760 He has authority over it. He gets to call the shots. 287 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:51,120 He's in charge. Does this make sense? 288 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,000 And this is so countercultural for us. 289 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:56,880 It's so challenging for us because we can't help but think 290 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,320 like owners. But God founded everything. 291 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,240 He established everything. He owns everything. 292 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:08,240 And He has the authority For most people, when they reject 293 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:15,480 God's authority in their life, they replace his authority not 294 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:22,640 with, you know, another God or good friends. 295 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,160 What most people do when they reject the authority of God in 296 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:33,000 their life is they replace that authority with money or 297 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,280 ownership or possessions. And so that the single most 298 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:42,760 important thing to them becomes having more, not always for 299 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:44,720 nefarious reasons, like don't, don't. 300 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:47,120 It's not like they're going, I'm going to control the world. 301 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:49,320 Let me get all I can get. Sometimes it's for good reasons. 302 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,320 Like I just need more because I want to feel safe and I want to 303 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,400 feel secure and I want to have a good retirement and I want my my 304 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:57,120 wife, if I die, to have plenty, right? 305 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,480 But all this language is based on authority and based on 306 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,960 trusting something other than the one who owns everything. 307 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,359 Does this make sense? And So what most of us do is 308 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:12,920 when we reject the authority of God in our lives, the authority 309 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,079 of money takes over. So when authority in your life 310 00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:18,240 is unclear, money will step in to fill the gap. 311 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,160 Remember, I told you most of our challenges with money are not 312 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:24,280 the dollars. Most of our challenges with 313 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:29,120 money are authority. Who has authority in my life? 314 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,600 So God owns it all. That's that's movement one 315 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:34,600 movement 2 or idea 2 that we want to talk about today is 316 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:36,800 money will make a terrible master. 317 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,120 So if you write notes, write stuff down, write that down, 318 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:41,120 money will money makes a terrible master. 319 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,520 Listen to what Paul says, the apostle Paul, early Christian 320 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:47,520 writer, first Timothy 610. This is what it says you ready? 321 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,760 It says for the love of money, everybody say love. 322 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,800 All right. For the love of money is a root 323 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,360 of all, a root, a root of all kinds of evil. 324 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:02,200 Some people eager for money have made money their master, have 325 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,160 made money their authority. Some people eager for money have 326 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,640 wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many 327 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,880 griefs. Now, this passage is often 328 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,080 misquoted. I just saw it yesterday on 329 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:16,080 social media. This passage was misquoted. 330 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:20,400 Do you know how most people misquote this passage? 331 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:22,560 They don't. What do they say? 332 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:27,680 They say, they say this. They say for money is the root 333 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,640 of all evil. That's what if you ever heard 334 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:33,520 that before, people say for money is the root of all evil. 335 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,960 That is not what Paul wrote. So when you're on your social 336 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,200 media and people are like, well, you know, the Bible says money 337 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,880 is the root of all evil. You can just write back, copy 338 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:47,360 paste the verse and be like, hey, try reading the Bible 339 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:50,640 before you quote the Bible. I'm just, you shouldn't say it 340 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,800 that way, but yeah, yeah, you should, you know, like we got to 341 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:56,640 correct, like we got to clean this up, all right? 342 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,120 Like I'm just like, we got to clean this up. 343 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:00,520 Just say, hey, please don't, please don't quote the book 344 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:01,880 unless you read the book, all right? 345 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,240 That the Bible doesn't say that the text says it's not that 346 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:09,320 money is the root of all evil. That's not what the Bible says 347 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,680 at all. I mean, that is that is like 348 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,400 that, that would be like, oh, I better live under a rock and 349 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,160 have no money. That's definitely out of 350 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:17,880 alignment with the script. As you're going to see, God 351 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:21,120 actually blesses us with money. He actually gives us money. 352 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:25,160 We're going to see that in this series that like he gives the 353 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,080 rich their money for their enjoyment. 354 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,560 Like, wait, do I show you this? It's like the Bible's hardly 355 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:34,040 anti money, but if you think the Bible says for the for money is 356 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,480 the root of all evil, then you would think the Bible's anti 357 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:37,560 money. But that's not what the Bible 358 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,560 says. What the Bible says is that it's 359 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:48,600 the love of money that is a root, a root of all kinds of 360 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,240 evil. In other words, there are other 361 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,520 roots that lead to evil than just the love of money. 362 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:56,400 Right? There are. 363 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,720 I mean, you think about it just a moment, you can figure it out. 364 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,800 And So what Paul is saying is that it's not money that's evil, 365 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:09,920 it's it's the hearts that have made money, the authority that 366 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,880 have made money, their God that have decided to love money. 367 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,560 And to love money means to give it devotion, to give it 368 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:20,440 authority in your life. And what this text says, it just 369 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,800 throw that text back up there for a second notice. 370 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:31,920 Notice what this text says when you give money the authority in 371 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:34,200 your life, when you love it and you give it devotion. 372 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:41,360 What? Because notice he says some 373 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:44,680 people eager for money. He didn't say all people eager 374 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:46,800 for money got to read the Bible carefully. 375 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:48,720 This isn't like a hard and fast rule. 376 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,720 This is like, hey, the odds are stacked against you. 377 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,440 Statistically, this isn't good. If you make money your God, if 378 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:00,440 you, if you give an authority and devotion in your life, Some 379 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:06,320 people who do that have wondered from the faith, well, duh, if 380 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,880 you don't, if you choose money as your God, then God can't be 381 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,480 your God. So you wonder from the faith. 382 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:18,360 Now look and have pierced themselves with many griefs. 383 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,320 Now is it, Is it just for clarity? 384 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,120 Is it money that pierces us with many griefs? 385 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:28,160 Everybody shake their head no, it's not money that pierces us 386 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,840 with many griefs. What is it the love and the 387 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,880 devotion to money that pierces us with many griefs And notice, 388 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:41,840 notice this here. Money does not attack us in this 389 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:43,200 tech. Money doesn't it's not money 390 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:47,440 going I'm going to get you. Money doesn't attack us. 391 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:49,960 No, it's it's my devotion to money. 392 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,680 It's my love of money and it listen, listen, listen. 393 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:59,320 I'm putting some expectations on money to do something for me 394 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,840 that it cannot do, and it's going to collapse under the 395 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:04,960 weight of those expectations. Does this make sense? 396 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:10,200 It's my wrongly looking at money that leads to being pierced with 397 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,760 griefs. When we are devoted to money, 398 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:18,760 inevitably, inevitably, it will come crashing down under that 399 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,120 weight of devotion. It will. 400 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:28,040 And the Bible says Paul says you and I will be injured by that 401 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:31,120 crash. And it isn't because of money. 402 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:33,280 It's because of devotion to money. 403 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,720 It's grievous. It grieves us as you trust it. 404 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,400 It grieves you as you trust it. It grieves you. 405 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:44,920 And maybe you've noticed this in your life. 406 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:49,840 If we're honest, many of us don't have to be convinced of 407 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:51,840 this. We felt it. 408 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,960 How many times has money created anxiety for you? 409 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,240 Like not enough trying to pay this bill. 410 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,400 Not sure are we going to have enough for retirement? 411 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:09,440 I wish I could have this. How many times has the 412 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,360 comparison game made your life miserable? 413 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,680 Like the people that are the same age as you who are better 414 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,000 off than you and you're like, man, what did I do wrong? 415 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,280 I don't know. Why can't I get my life together 416 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:28,800 fear strained relationships How many marriages have been 417 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:34,640 destroyed because of money? Like we know that money causes 418 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:41,480 griefs, and the reason is is because we're asking money to do 419 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:45,040 more than it was ever meant to do Here's another thing. 420 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,120 Here's another thing that happens when you were devoted to 421 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,680 love as Paul to use Paul's words love money. 422 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,960 Your generosity is always tainted with a little 423 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:05,400 apprehension always Now that's that's this is a hard thing to 424 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:09,320 say. The Bible says that commands us 425 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:13,720 to give with a cheerful heart. And that's, that's not just 426 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,440 about giving to your church. Like, please don't like just 427 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:21,840 giving in general, like how you are generous to just people. 428 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:24,600 The Bible says to do that cheerfully. 429 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:28,960 But if I'm devoted to money, if I have a love relationship with 430 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,960 money, then even when I'm generous, it will be tainted 431 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:37,000 with apprehension. It will be tainted with 432 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,040 apprehension. All of this because I'm devoted 433 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:45,160 to and I trust and I've given authority in my life to money. 434 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,120 And here's the thing about this grief. 435 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:55,240 Most of the grief that comes from trusting money in your life 436 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:59,080 is not dramatic. It isn't like all of a sudden 437 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,440 your life fell apart and you go, oh, this is because I was 438 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,600 trusting money. No, it's never dramatic. 439 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,960 Most of the grief that comes from trusting and being devoted 440 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:15,840 to money to our lives is just daily erosion of joy, peace and 441 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,480 confidence. And it is cumulative. 442 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,640 It's cumulative. One day we just wake up and 443 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:24,840 we're a miserable person that nobody wants to be around. 444 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:30,880 And it's all links back to our devotion and love of money, our 445 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,520 trust in it, our giving it of authority. 446 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,360 Now, all of this is not because money is evil, but because money 447 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:42,640 is a terrible master. And trusting money causes all 448 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,120 types of griefs in our lives. That's just what the Bible says. 449 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,680 So if God owns everything and money is a terrible master, then 450 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:52,520 here's our question. We got to end with this. 451 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:58,120 What role does God intend for money to play? 452 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:01,440 I mean, money's here. Do you know what I mean? 453 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,840 Like, you can't deny that. It's like, it would it be easier 454 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,360 if, like, it just wasn't here? Sure. 455 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:09,200 Like, whatever. But there's an economy and 456 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:10,400 there's money and. And it's. 457 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,800 Yeah, that's real. So if God owns it all and 458 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,400 money's a terrible master, then what is the role that money's 459 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:17,880 intended to play? Well, here we go. 460 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,720 Or what is the role? Better question is, if I'm not 461 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,560 supposed to trust money, I'm supposed to trust God? 462 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:26,120 Like, how do I live differently? How do I live without facing 463 00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:29,080 those griefs? You ready .3 Movement 3 Here it 464 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,200 is. We don't own, We don't own. 465 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:34,920 We manage. We don't own. 466 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,560 Write that down. We don't own, We manage. 467 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,040 You don't own anything. I don't own anything. 468 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,520 We establish that God owns everything, including our money. 469 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:46,920 My role is to manage or to steward, and that is a necessary 470 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,160 mindset change that I have to make every single day. 471 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,160 I have to constantly remind myself that everything I have 472 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,000 has been given to me by God to manage on His behalf. 473 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:00,320 And by doing that reminder project in my heart and in my 474 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,360 mind every day, I'm able to avoid the pains, or at least 475 00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:07,600 some of the pains that are brought to us by making money 476 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:08,960 our Master. Does that make sense? 477 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:11,360 I have to remind myself constantly I'm not the owner, 478 00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:15,040 I'm the manager and this helps keep those griefs at Bay. 479 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,560 You have to remember, our money challenges are not about the 480 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,200 dollars we have and don't have. Our money challenges are about 481 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,800 authority. Getting the authority right in 482 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,480 our lives is the key. It's not the almighty dollar 483 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:36,400 that runs our hearts, At least it shouldn't be. 484 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,240 It's the Almighty Lord that runs our hearts. 485 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:44,720 We're not, we're not instructed by by the Bible to reject money 486 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,800 or avoid money or go live in a cave somewhere and be like, I'm 487 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,720 not participating in the economy like that is not what the Bible 488 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,680 teaches us to do at all. Actually, the Bible encourages 489 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,280 us to be engaged in the economy of the society we live in. 490 00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,640 I'm thinking of the, the, the book of Jeremiah right now to, 491 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,240 to seek the the good of our society, of our culture. 492 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:06,760 So this is not what the Bible teaches us, but we are told in 493 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,720 the Bible to view everything that is in our realm of 494 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,560 possession, like everything that we have in our realm of 495 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,280 possession actually as belonging to God. 496 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:20,120 And then we are charged with being stewards or managers of 497 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:22,840 it. That is how we're called to view 498 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:24,320 money. And here's the here's the next 499 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,280 part. And we will be held to an 500 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,120 account for how we manage that which we've been entrusted. 501 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,560 And that's a whole other sermon. But it's not just like I'm a 502 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:36,240 manager and I'm a steward and it's never going to come up. 503 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,600 Actually, the Bible does say it's going to come up. 504 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:43,240 God cares about his stuff. Do you care about your stuff? 505 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:49,560 You care about your stuff? If you gave me, if you gave me 506 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,880 something to take care of for you for a while. 507 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:53,880 So he take care of this for me for 4-5 years. 508 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:55,920 I'm coming back from Europe in 4-5 years. 509 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,000 Will you take care of this? And you came back and I just 510 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,800 basically wore it out and just destroyed it and didn't maintain 511 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,920 it. Would you be happy with that, or 512 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:11,960 would you not ask me about it? Anyway, this perspective is 513 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,440 foundational. When we understand that 514 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:22,400 everything belongs to God, it changes how we manage money. 515 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,600 We move from an ownership mindset to a stewardship 516 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,200 mindset. And this isn't just about giving 517 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,000 money away. That's not what this is about. 518 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:33,800 God is interested, let's say you give away 15 or 20% of your 519 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:35,840 income. God is interested in the other 520 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,160 85 and 80% of the money that you spend like it's, it's about 521 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:40,960 stewardship of everything he's given you. 522 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,800 We stop asking how do I want to spend my money and what do I 523 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:49,480 want to do? What vacation do I want to go 524 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,080 on? Where do we want to invest this? 525 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,560 We stop asking those questions and what we start doing as we 526 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:54,960 start asking questions like this. 527 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,520 God even trusted a lot of resources to me, or a little bit 528 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:02,480 of resources to me. What do you want me to do with 529 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,360 them? You ask that question when you 530 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:12,480 are a believer in Jesus Christ. You ask it, How do you, how do 531 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:14,560 you want me to manage what belongs to you? 532 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:18,160 That prayer life reminds me that I don't own this stuff, that 533 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:23,440 I've been entrusted this stuff. And as this mindset change takes 534 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:28,240 place, the the grief of trusting money is replaced with something 535 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,280 that this is important. Please, I know we're close to 536 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:31,840 the end and you're like, wrap it up. 537 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:38,760 But hear this, OK, As you, as you make this mindset change and 538 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:43,080 you go from ownership mindset to stewardship mindset, you, you 539 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,960 begin to move the grief in the heartache out of your life and 540 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:48,440 it's replaced with something else. 541 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:55,320 And it's replaced with a kind and gracious God who is marked 542 00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,760 by generosity. Please hear what I just said. 543 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,760 Instead of the pain of grief and, you know, fear and anxiety 544 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:05,160 around money, what that gets replaced with is a kind and 545 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:07,880 gracious God who is marked by generosity. 546 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:10,320 Listen to Romans 832. This is what he says. 547 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,480 He says He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us 548 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:19,800 all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all 549 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,000 things? That means that we can trust. 550 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:27,480 That means that we can trust that the resources God has given 551 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,040 us are not given to us begrudgingly. 552 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:33,520 He's a generous God. He gave us His Son. 553 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:35,240 How much more will He not give us all things? 554 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:37,000 But why did He give us these things? 555 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,600 He gave us these things for His purposes and for His mission, 556 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,920 for what He's about in this world, so that we can execute 557 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:49,720 His purposes in this world. We can manage, you can manage 558 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:51,960 what God has given you without fear and anxiety. 559 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,320 See if, if I'm the owner, if I'm the authority over my money, 560 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:57,160 fear and anxiety come up naturally. 561 00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,920 But if I look at everything I have as this belonging to God, 562 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,200 fear and anxiety don't come up. Why? 563 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,040 Because I have a gracious and kind and loving Heavenly Father 564 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:08,320 who's like, no, everything I'm giving you let's, this is 565 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:09,760 important. Everything I'm giving you is 566 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,600 exactly what I know you need. I'm not giving you too little 567 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:14,160 and I'm not giving you too much, Steven. 568 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,680 Like, yeah, I'm not going to ask you this, but you know, when the 569 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,280 lottery was like at $1.20 million or something, 21.7 570 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:21,400 billion. Do you guys remember that a few 571 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,480 days ago I didn't buy a ticket? Like I you were like, why 572 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:26,360 wouldn't you buy a ticket? I can't take a chance of 573 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:31,200 screwing up my life. You know how bad my children's 574 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,120 lives would be all of a sudden, You know how bad everything 575 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,240 would be for me? I have to go into hiding. 576 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,600 How am I go preach the gospel if I'm in hiding somewhere because 577 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:42,320 I just won $1.2 billion? Like, that's crazy. 578 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,320 I'm like you No way. Now, if you played it and you 579 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:47,360 want to just put it in the black box out there in the lobby, all 580 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,440 right, I got I got a building renovation we're trying to do, 581 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,000 but we just tear this one down, build a whole new one, brother. 582 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:58,240 But so again, I'm not opposed to money, don't get me wrong, but 583 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,600 but what this is what I mean is, is this is that my Heavenly 584 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,080 Father, I can trust that what I have in my bank account, what I 585 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,480 have, my retirement accounts, what I have that what I'm 586 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:10,840 driving the old cars that I drive, I can trust it. 587 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:12,280 That's exactly what he wants from me. 588 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:19,360 I can trust that. And so I don't have to have fear 589 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:22,640 and anxiety and I can trust that as I pray and as I try to think 590 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,080 like a steward, he's going to lead me in managing his 591 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,520 resources. I don't have to live in panic 592 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:35,840 and fear because here's the thing, if you own the company 593 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:40,720 and I manage it, when the resources fluctuate up and down, 594 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,480 that's not my problem. When the income goes up and 595 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:50,400 down, that's your problem. In other words, I don't have to 596 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,640 panic about the resources. I'm not in charge of the 597 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:57,400 resourcing. I'm in charge of managing the 598 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,000 resources that I've been entrusted. 599 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,680 I've been entrusted by a gracious and loving father. 600 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:10,960 And notice this too. Your identity and your worth in 601 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:15,000 the culture is all about what you own, what you possess. 602 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,760 But what Paul says is that he who did not spare his only son 603 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:26,360 for you, your identity and worth is not what you possess, but 604 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:33,080 what was given for you. What was given for you was God's 605 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:37,840 very own son. That's how much you're worth. 606 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,199 It's not what you own. It's not what you possess, no 607 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,679 matter what culture says, instead of God created you and 608 00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:50,679 saved you and loves you. OK, Steven, what can I do? 609 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:52,560 It's got to do something out of the sermon. 610 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,440 Well, think like a manager, not an owner. 611 00:34:56,679 --> 00:34:58,960 All right. OK, I'm a manager. 612 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,440 What should a manager do? Well, this is what I think a 613 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,960 manager should do. You can argue with me, but I 614 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,400 think a manager should take an inventory of that which he's 615 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,080 been given to manage. And I think that could be a 616 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:15,040 project for you this week. I think you and your spouse, if 617 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,120 you're married, you by yourself could sit down and go, OK, how 618 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,600 much do I own? How much do I owe? 619 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:23,600 And that's not meant to like call shame or fear or anxiety, 620 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,160 you know, kind of like, well, I'm managing this. 621 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,440 I'm not in charge. I'm just in charge of this for 622 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,760 my lifetime. God owns it. 623 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,560 But if you're going to manage somebody's resources, you ought 624 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,920 to know what you've been given. So let's say it this way. 625 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:44,200 What if this week you took a financial snapshot of your life? 626 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:47,120 What if you and your spouse sat down or you by yourself sat down 627 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:49,440 and went, How much money do we have? 628 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,680 How many cars do we have? What is the real estate that we 629 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:55,640 own? How much debt do we have? 630 00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:00,840 How much retirement do we have? And then write it all down and 631 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,640 look at it. Establish your net worth, if you 632 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:12,600 will, and say, OK, Lord, all of this, we have been charged by 633 00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:16,760 you to manage it. You own this. 634 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:21,640 We're the stewards. So we're going to start praying 635 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,880 over what it is you're calling us to do with that, what you've 636 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,320 given us. Again, that doesn't always mean 637 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:32,400 giving it away. It might mean that it just means 638 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:35,160 you're not in charge. It means you're asking the one 639 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:37,360 who is in charge. That's all it means. 640 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,640 And as you do that, it may be a bit depressing. 641 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:46,320 It may be a bit like, whoa, look at this. 642 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:50,480 Do not let money get its hooks in you either good or bad. 643 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,760 Like look how poor of a decision maker you've been, or look how 644 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:55,400 great of a decision maker you've been. 645 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:57,200 Don't let it get its hooks in you. 646 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:02,360 Instead say, this has nothing to do with my value in my worth. 647 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:08,840 My value in worth was established by the generous God 648 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:15,240 who gave His one and only Son for me and invited me in to 649 00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:20,680 managing all that He owns. What a good and gracious God we 650 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,680 have. Will you stand with me as we 651 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:30,120 pray together? Father, thank You that you are 652 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:34,440 not a taskmaster. Thank you that you owned the the 653 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:39,360 cattle on 1000 hills, that the earth is yours and everything in 654 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:44,120 it for you founded it on the seas and established it on the 655 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:49,560 waters. You founded it, you established 656 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:50,800 it. You want it all. 657 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:57,120 Help us to be people who think like managers and stewards and 658 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:01,360 give us the courage this week to take this step, to do a 659 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:07,640 financial snapshot to see exactly what it is that you have 660 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:11,360 entrusted to us to manage. What is it exactly? 661 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:16,120 Is it that we own or we don't own, but you own and we manage? 662 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,520 Remind us, God, that our challenges with money are not 663 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:24,200 about the dollars. Our challenges with the money 664 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,240 are about who has authority over our lives. 665 00:38:27,240 --> 00:38:31,280 In Christ's name we pray, Amen. Thank you, friends. 666 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:32,480 Have a blessed week and a wonderful day. 667 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:33,440 We love you so much.