1 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:04,800 Grab your Bible. We're going to be in 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:07,840 Ecclesiastes chapter 5 while you head across there. 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,560 I just want to tag on what Chad shared on last week. 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:16,000 He alluded to a few good men in the movie where Tom Cruise is 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,200 the lawyer and he's speaking to the man in the dock and he says, 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,440 you know, we want the truth. And his answer is you can't 7 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,800 handle the truth. And he used that to start his 8 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,120 sermon as I'm using it to start mine, because he said 9 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:31,760 Ecclesiastes is not a difficult book to understand. 10 00:00:32,439 --> 00:00:34,680 Where the rubber hits the road is where we apply it. 11 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,160 And we left last week Sunday going yes and Amen. 12 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:41,240 I'm going to be a man of faith. Just receive it. 13 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:46,720 And then we read in Ecclesiastes 5, Whoever loves money never has 14 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,920 enough. Whoever loves wealth is never 15 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,000 satisfied with their income. This too, is meaningless. 16 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:56,200 Come to church, they said. It'll be fun, they said. 17 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,960 And now he's preaching on money. As goods increase, so do those 18 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,240 who devour them. Think of someone winning the 19 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,400 lottery and all of a sudden Omakriki and that second cousin 20 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,000 twice removed suddenly pitches up and wants to devour it. 21 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,120 And what benefits are they to the owners except to feast their 22 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,080 eyes on them? Verse 12. 23 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,360 The sleep of a labourer is sweet whether they eat little or much. 24 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,240 But As for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep. 25 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,320 He's talking to the Lani's and the labourers. 26 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:30,880 Verse 13. I have seen a grievous evil 27 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,400 under the sun. Wealth hoarded to the harm of 28 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,240 its owners, or wealth lost through some misfortune so that 29 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:39,320 when they had children there's nothing left for them to 30 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:41,480 inherit. He's actually using medical 31 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,600 language here when he's talking about wealth hoarded and a 32 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,880 grievous evil. This phrase grievous evil only 33 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,840 is in scripture twice. Both of them in this chapter, 34 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:55,280 both dealing with wealth being hoarded and the medical language 35 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,520 that he's using as he's referring to wealth as being 36 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:04,280 sickly, diseased, and malignant. There's 15. 37 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:06,600 Everyone comes naked from their mother's womb, and as everyone 38 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,280 comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their 39 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:11,039 toil that they can carry in their hands. 40 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,400 This too is a grievous evil. As everyone comes, so they 41 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,200 depart. And what do they gain since they 42 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:18,400 toil for the wind? I think the Message Bible 43 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:23,000 actually refers to this as a salary of smoke, verse 18. 44 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,680 This is what I've observed to be good, that it is appropriate for 45 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,840 a person to eat, to drink, and to be satisfied in their 46 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,200 toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God 47 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,280 has given them for this is their lot. 48 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:40,040 Good morning. Thanks for coming to church. 49 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:43,840 You wish you sat in the queue because now you could sort of 50 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:45,840 sneak out, you know, going for a loo break. 51 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,800 Before we dive into this portion of Scripture, I would just want 52 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,640 to unpack a little bit. So Tim Mackie talks about the 53 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:55,680 hyperlinks in Scripture. I love that phrase, you know, 54 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,080 because when the Jewish reader or the Christian in the New 55 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,040 Testament heard Scripture read to them, they would always be 56 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,360 hyperlinking it to something that had gone before or 57 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:07,080 something that they believed was coming ahead. 58 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,400 And I want to pick up on just three hyperlinks before we jump 59 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:12,640 into the bones of Ecclesiastes. Five. 60 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:14,480 The first one is back in the book of Exodus. 61 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,480 You probably are familiar with the story where Moses leads the 62 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,880 the nation of Israel out of slavery, out of Egypt. 63 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,720 You've got the 10 plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, and now 64 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,040 they're in the desert. And what would have happened if 65 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,440 God hadn't given them the law was they would have just 66 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:30,720 literally become a refugee camp. There would have been 67 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,440 oppression, abuse, crime. But God gives them the law. 68 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,280 God stops to teach them his ways, and one of the ways he 69 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:42,480 does it when it comes to gathering or earning is he uses 70 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,880 manner as a day-to-day example of how to steward what God gives 71 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:47,440 them. See, because they're in the 72 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:49,840 desert, they're not farming, they're not raising sheep, 73 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:51,440 they're wandering around around in circles. 74 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,480 So he uses this to teach them a life lesson on one of the ways 75 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:57,880 we are to steward what God gives us. 76 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,080 And so he says, OK, every day you go out and gather just 77 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,120 enough except for the last day of the week. 78 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,760 They need to gather for two days, because on Sunday I want 79 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,760 you to rest. But the rest of the time just 80 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,200 enough. Don't hoard anything, don't 81 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,240 store anything. And of course, what do they do? 82 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:17,519 What they do, what you would have done, They gather more than 83 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:20,440 enough and they wake up in the morning and it says the manner 84 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:26,800 stank, rotting with maggots. Now remember, Solomon is talking 85 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:31,680 using language like sickly, diseased, malignant, like 86 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:34,400 Magnetson Manor when it is hoarded. 87 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,040 Another hyperlink is a little bit later in the story when they 88 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,360 get now introduced to what is coming ahead, the promised land. 89 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,280 I'm going to read a few portions of scripture for you as God 90 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:46,960 begins to prepare them because now they're going from deserts 91 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,120 to deliverance. They're going to be walking in 92 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:51,320 the province promised land. And it says when the Lord your 93 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,000 God, this is Deuteronomy 6. When the Lord your God brings 94 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,400 you into the land he swore to give you, it will be a land with 95 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,560 large flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with 96 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,440 all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you didn't 97 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:05,680 dig and vineyards and olive Groves you didn't plant. 98 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,440 Then when you eat and are satisfied, it's the word that he 99 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,960 uses in Ecclesiastes 518. He says this is what you need to 100 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,640 do, Eat, drink and find satisfaction in your toil. 101 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,040 So he says when you reach that point, be careful that you do 102 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:25,640 not forget the Lord capital Lord is referring to God as King with 103 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,000 a Kingdom, with ways. They said don't forget the Lord 104 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,040 who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 105 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,880 Once I've entrusted all this wealth to you, you've gone from 106 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:38,440 desert to prosperity. You've gone from being COO to 107 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:43,280 CEO. When you close that deal, when 108 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:45,520 you start that new department, when you get the job that you've 109 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,040 been on your knees crying out to me, praying for, Do not forget 110 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:51,720 the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of 111 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:53,880 slavery. And then a little later in 112 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:56,840 Deuteronomy 17, it says the king must not acquire great numbers 113 00:05:56,840 --> 00:05:59,680 of horses for himself. He's talking to you, CEOs. 114 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,960 The king must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself. 115 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,880 He must not take many wives, so his heart will be LED astray. 116 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:09,480 He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold, 117 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,920 hoarding sickly, diseased malignants. 118 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:16,560 When he takes the throne of his Kingdom, he is to write for 119 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:18,840 himself on a scroll a copy of the Law. 120 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,440 It is to be with him. He is to read it all the days of 121 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,880 his life so that he may learn to Revere the Lord is God and 122 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,400 follow carefully all the words of the law and these decrees. 123 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,560 Why? So that you will know how God 124 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:35,160 has determined for you to steward what he's entrusted to 125 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:38,080 you. Whether you're a peasant, 126 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:42,120 pauper, or king and queen, it all applies. 127 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,040 And Solomon is starting to say, listen, the reason why this is 128 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,600 so important, why you're called to steward what God has 129 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:54,400 entrusted to you, is because actually inside of this is this 130 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:59,000 dark, sickly, diseased, malignant element that comes 131 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,880 with the God of this age. I had a dream the other night, 132 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:03,600 actually, it was a few years ago. 133 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:14,840 Integrity, OK, I never remember dreams. 134 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:19,400 I don't know if you do, but I can remember distinctly waking 135 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:24,360 up and this thing I, I knew that God had spoken so much so that 136 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:27,960 when I came to to work, we had elders meeting that morning and 137 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:29,800 I actually presented the dream to the team. 138 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:31,760 I said, listen, this is so heavy on my heart. 139 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,680 I don't know if there's anyone in this situation right now, but 140 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:36,720 if you do, this is share this dream. 141 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:38,800 And this is this is probably 3 years ago. 142 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,120 And while I was prepping, I was reminded of this dream. 143 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,320 And I'm fully convinced someone here today needs to hear this. 144 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,360 The dream was of a businessman sitting at a boardroom table 145 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,000 striking a deal. And you know, it's like your 146 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,200 typical Hollywood movie where you've got that silver briefcase 147 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,720 and gets chained to your to your hand. 148 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,120 And as he's walking out in his in his fancy suit and with 149 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,800 beautiful briefcase, I see it's not actually handcuffed to him. 150 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,040 It's like these tentacles from the business deal that's 151 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,080 wrapping around his arm. And it will have him. 152 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,960 It will have you. And I look at that through the 153 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:20,800 lens of what Solomon is saying is it looks so good to you. 154 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:25,120 I mean, how can something so good be so wrong? 155 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:28,720 But I don't know if you've ever come face to face with the 156 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:32,840 hordes of darkness. You know, we're not we're not 157 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:34,720 talk about like the the powers of darkness. 158 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,440 You probably think of someone manifesting or growling in a 159 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:39,919 cemetery. But you know how the hordes of 160 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:43,480 darkness present themselves in Pretoria, E the devil comes to 161 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:48,040 make a deal. He slides that briefcase across 162 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,000 the table and he says, just sign here. 163 00:08:51,560 --> 00:08:53,920 I can give you the crowns without the cross. 164 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,320 And he calls it blessing, hashtag blessed. 165 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:05,360 He calls it answer to pray and you're so blind to it, walking 166 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,480 away proudly holding that briefcase. 167 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:12,760 And the sickly, diseased, malignant deal has got a hold of 168 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:19,080 your heart, your family, your marriage, and the generation 169 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,640 that follows after you. Do you know that the Israelites 170 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,400 only considered wealth a blessing if it's influenced the 171 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,960 third generation positively? Because he is the God of 172 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:33,760 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. None of that's in my notes. 173 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,240 I'm sorry I watched Tom. Someone here needed to hear 174 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:37,480 that. You see, because what he says 175 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,160 here, he says I've seen a grievous evil under the sun. 176 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,040 I believe that this is Solomon saying I'm not. 177 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:45,600 He's not like I'm asking for a friend. 178 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,560 I have seen a grievous evil wealth hoarded to the harm of 179 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:52,600 its owner. Somehow I think he knew, maybe 180 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,720 realize a little too late, the malignancy of this hoarding of 181 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,680 wealth. Because what happens right after 182 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:01,280 this? The next generation, Israel is 183 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:05,440 decimated, Solomon's son splits the Kingdom, they lose their 184 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:07,400 defenses, and eventually they end up in exile. 185 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,640 Could it be a coincidence that he said, I've seen a grievous 186 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,360 evil under the sun, wealth hoarded to the harm of its 187 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:18,360 owners or wealth lost through some malignant disease so that 188 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:20,120 when they have children, there's nothing left for them to 189 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:24,520 inherit? Now I know you probably 190 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:26,760 thinking, well, I'm not a king and I'm not a farmer. 191 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:28,840 I'm not a sheepherder. I don't gather man or every day. 192 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,000 I'm a business person. OK, the third and final 193 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:36,000 hyperlink I want to turn to James chapter 4. 194 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,440 James ends this chapter by saying this. 195 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,680 He says verse 13. Now listen, you who say today or 196 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:48,880 tomorrow we'll go to this or that city, spend a year there, 197 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:53,520 carry on business and make Mullah, why? 198 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:55,320 You don't even know what will happen tomorrow. 199 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:57,240 What is your life? You are a Myst. 200 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,560 Sound familiar? You are a Myst that appears for 201 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:01,960 a little while and then vanishes. 202 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,720 Verse 15. Instead, you're to say if it is 203 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,320 the Lord's will. In other words, you've discerned 204 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,160 how it is that God is calling you to steward that and not like 205 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,520 the manner that's going to stink and turn into maggots. 206 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:17,960 If it is the Lord's will, we'll live and do this or that as it 207 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,640 is you boast in your arrogant schemes. 208 00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:24,000 All such boasting is evil, grievous evil. 209 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,840 If anyone there knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do 210 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:29,800 it, it is sin for them. In other words, if you know that 211 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:34,600 God is not opening that door for that business, but it's just so 212 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,800 good, the piece of land you've had on your heart for years, if 213 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,080 anyone there knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, 214 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,960 it is sin for them. And then actually he's only just 215 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:47,800 at the table because he goes into chapter 5, this one. 216 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:52,160 Now listen, you rich people, it's very quiet today. 217 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,800 That's you rich people. I mean, we build houses, little 218 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:08,160 houses for our cause. So listen, you rich people weep 219 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:10,320 and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 220 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,160 Your wealth has rotted. There's the manner, there's the 221 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,240 malignancy and moths have eaten your clothes. 222 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:19,440 Your gold and silver are corroded. 223 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,560 Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh 224 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,240 because you have hoarded wealth. Ecclesiastes found hoarded 225 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,200 wealth in the last days. Verse four. 226 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:33,000 Look, the wages you failed to pay, the workers who mowed your 227 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,920 fields are crying out against you. 228 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:39,080 I said to the guy who said this week he was at a coffee shop in 229 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:41,320 Silver Lakes. Maybe it was you and he 230 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:44,200 overheard 2 businessmen talking about how they, if they just 231 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:47,920 withheld the payments that were supposed to go out on the 1st of 232 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,680 April for their labourers, if they just withhold that payment 233 00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:53,680 for two weeks, you know, all the benefits and the downstream 234 00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:55,240 stuff that it could influence just two weeks. 235 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:59,080 And he said to me, do they realize that they could tip 236 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:04,000 their labourers into poverty with that wicked selfish 237 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,840 decision? The wages you failed to pay, the 238 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:09,560 workers are crying out against you. 239 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:13,040 Verse 4, The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears 240 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:17,760 of the Lord Almighty. You've lived on earth in luxury 241 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,040 and self indulgence. You have fattened yourself in 242 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:22,480 the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered 243 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,480 the innocent one who is not opposing you. 244 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:31,520 OK, deep breath. What's going on here James? 245 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:35,040 The book of James, the letter was written to the early church 246 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:37,240 in Jerusalem. Actually, it's believed that the 247 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:40,720 this letter is the earliest of all our New Testament writings. 248 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,320 It was probably written just a few years after Jesus died, 249 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,160 probably written slap bang in the middle of the book of Acts. 250 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,720 And what had happened in Jerusalem was that Jerusalem had 251 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:55,240 become divided among along socio economic lines. 252 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:59,680 So you had the really rich living behind. 253 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:02,160 You know, you had to put your fingerprint there and give you 254 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:06,640 ID to get into that estate. Hypothetically speaking, of 255 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:09,160 course, we wouldn't know anything about that. 256 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,960 Living in luxury, lovely homes had everything that they need 257 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:17,160 and then some, storing up their wealth. 258 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:19,960 And then you had the poor. And the poor literally lived 259 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,240 downwind because one of the dividing lines was the sewers 260 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,040 you lived above. If you're rich and you live 261 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,320 below, everything sort of sloshed past your front door as 262 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:33,680 the poor. And the reason why this massive 263 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:37,400 divide had had become so exaggerated in this time when 264 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,560 James was writing was because the king at that stage, the 265 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:43,920 Roman sort of authority was Herod the great. 266 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:46,440 And Herod is called the great because of his capacity to 267 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,560 build. If you've ever been to Israel, 268 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:52,040 that's that's kind of a huge chunk of the tour is going to 269 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:53,680 see all the things that Herod built. 270 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,040 But the reason why he was able to build this was because of 271 00:14:56,040 --> 00:15:00,280 hyper aggressive taxes. He put a system in place, this 272 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,120 three prong attack. Firstly, he did, I mean he has 273 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,960 proper state capture. He thinks that was Zuma, but it 274 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:09,840 originated with him, state capture. 275 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,000 He had Rome backing him because of his relationship. 276 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,520 So he had all the power to influence and implement 277 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:17,080 absolutely everything he wanted to do. 278 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:18,760 And he even had religious clouts. 279 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,000 He had the high priests executed, put a puppet in there. 280 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:27,080 And because he had control of all these systems, he then 281 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:31,760 introduced a 20 to 30% empire tax, depending on what it is 282 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,320 that you're harvesting, 20 to 30%. 283 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,640 If it was fish, it was a 50% tax. 284 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:42,440 Then there was a 12 1/2 percent Caesar tax, a Roman tribute tax, 285 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:46,480 a transit trade tax, a market exchange tax, a temple tax and 286 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,360 religious taxes that, say, probably added up to more than 287 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:52,280 80% of your income. And you thought Zuma was bad. 288 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,040 He had reduced the region to poverty so he could live in 289 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:59,760 prosperity. And you have no idea the 290 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:04,240 opulence that he and the elite lived in in Jerusalem. 291 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,000 I, I had a business meeting at the Saxon Boutique Hotel. 292 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,840 I don't know if you ever get a chance to go there, if you ever 293 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:13,160 stay there, you know, above my pay grade. 294 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,040 But if you ever get to go there, what an experience. 295 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:18,960 It is beautiful. And so we ordered lunch. 296 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:22,280 I was going through the drinks menu and I noticed, oh, here's a 297 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:27,080 bottle of wine for 170,000 Rand. I didn't get that one because my 298 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:29,120 hour was on the 200,000 Rand bottle of wine. 299 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:36,800 Now in today's terms, Herod had bottles of wine twice that price 300 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,160 and he had sellers full of it. Talk about hoarding wealth. 301 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:46,320 The elite didn't care. But what James is after is 302 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:52,920 neither did the Christians see because when Jews, slaves, 303 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,360 outsiders got saved. One of the things that God does 304 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,120 with you is he works with the integrity and the credibility of 305 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,920 your heart. He makes you employable, 306 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,920 promotable and trustworthy to to be entrusted with more and more. 307 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:09,960 You're giving greater responsibility and you so you 308 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,200 build a rapport and then you build an industry and you build 309 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,079 a name. And now you're living above the 310 00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:20,440 sewer line and James is saying your wealth cries out against 311 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,160 you. You see what's his name? 312 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:27,720 D Whited, he quotes from Francis Schaeffer says when the message 313 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:32,200 of the church, its concerns and priorities get reduced to 314 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:36,400 personal peace and affluence through CI, the church has lost 315 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:40,240 its voice. When my horizon of concern 316 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,960 shrinks to it, I'm only thinking, do I and my family 317 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,360 have enough? Or how can we get more then the 318 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:48,400 church has ceased to be the people of God. 319 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,800 We are no longer the prophetic conscience of a nation steering 320 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,480 the country according to the ways of God, but rather we will 321 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,360 have assimilated to and have been overrun by the God of the 322 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:02,480 age. He's saying it doesn't help that 323 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,880 you can scream and have a tantrum about all the corruption 324 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,480 over there while you're doing exactly the same. 325 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,600 You see, James wrote to the church in Jerusalem because he 326 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:20,440 was there in Acts chapter 4. Acts 4 says grace, the grace of 327 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:24,920 God worked powerfully among the people, so much so that they 328 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:27,280 were thinking of having a second service on a Sunday morning 329 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,920 because the cube was so full. And they were wondering like, do 330 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,280 we pay volunteers so that we can double up on this? 331 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,440 The grace of God worked powerfully among the people. 332 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,840 They were negotiating buying the land next door so that they 333 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,800 could park there. And Barnabas, Barnabas came 334 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:46,160 along and he sold the piece of land and brought the proceeds 335 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:47,680 and laid it at the apostles feet. 336 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,560 He saw that he was right there, sort of the highest of heights, 337 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:55,080 but he was also there when it bumps against Acts chapter 4, 338 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:56,280 sorry. Acts Chapter 5. 339 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,840 Ananias and Sapphira, they just wanted to bit here. 340 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,800 The sickly disease, malignant allure of wealth. 341 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:12,360 And so he says to them, he says, listen, you rich people weep and 342 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:14,760 wail because of the misery that's coming. 343 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:18,160 He he started to join the dos. He started to see something from 344 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,200 the manner in the Old Testament to Solomon and the loss of the 345 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,760 Kingdom in exile. And he started to see the first 346 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:26,280 fruits or something of that bubbling up. 347 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,080 He would have seen when Paul wrote to Timothy and said, some 348 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,160 people eager for money have wandered from the faith and 349 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,320 pierced themselves with many griefs. 350 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,520 And he prophetically says to them, listen, I see something 351 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,680 coming. You need to recognize when the 352 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:49,400 worldly wealth and the stewardship of God are clashing 353 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:54,440 and trying to win your heart. This was probably 50 AD that he 354 00:19:54,440 --> 00:20:00,480 wrote this letter. 66 AD. Rome decided they've had enough 355 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,760 of these Jews and the laid siege to Jerusalem took the wealth of 356 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:08,400 Jerusalem back to Rome and they used the money to build the 357 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:12,600 Colosseum. The Colosseum was largely funded 358 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,320 by the wealth of these these Christians. 359 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:22,360 And so from Genesis to Jesus, from Joshua, Moses, Solomon, 360 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:28,200 Peter, James, Timothy, over and over and over again, Scripture 361 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,320 whispers, I've seen a grievous evil under the sun, wealth 362 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,080 hoarded to the harm of its owners. 363 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:39,640 Jumping back into Ecclesiastes 5. 364 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,800 Before we do that, I can cut the tension with a credit card. 365 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:48,640 Yeah. I've never seen so many like 366 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,160 this on a Sunday morning. Yeah. 367 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,320 What says is that are you threatened? 368 00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:58,200 You must see behind you. It's like there's another and 369 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:05,760 another and another. So some ground rules, OK #1 he 370 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:10,760 is not saying Scripture's not saying I'm not saying rich bad, 371 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:17,640 poor good, not saying wealth bad, poverty good. 372 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:23,880 Actually, often it's the poor that are more captivated by 373 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:25,760 wealth and the need and the longing. 374 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,760 And you just see those BMWs in the squatter camps. 375 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,840 So that's the first. It's a hot issue. 376 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:39,320 It's a stewardship issue. Secondly, this is not a message 377 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,120 where you go. Yeah, they, yeah. 378 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:47,000 CLC Hatfield, you know them, that life group, you know, my 379 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,200 life group leader, he's got a new watch every. 380 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,000 No, no, no, it's not a them, they you. 381 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:59,440 It's a me, my journey with Jesus, my station in life, my 382 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,360 stewardship of the gifts and wealth that God has given me. 383 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:08,120 The end. Actually, I wouldn't have even 384 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,320 leaned Lent this heavily if we were having a life group this 385 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,800 week. Because you have no right to be 386 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:16,800 the Pharisee and sit in the group and go like, oh, you're 387 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,840 that and that and that. No, and here's the thing. 388 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,000 Because when it comes to wealth, when it comes to God's blessing, 389 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,040 when it comes to stewarding and God entrusts his blessing on 390 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,000 those who steward, well, it's outward. 391 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,280 It's easy to judge, prone to abuse from Pharisees. 392 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,960 They don't know the context. You don't know the context. 393 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:38,360 And there are so many landmines here. 394 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,400 I was like, can't to find another verse just before we get 395 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,080 here. It's like, I'm sure I can leave 396 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,520 this one to Rory. He's back next week and he'll 397 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:48,880 beat you up about your shell collection. 398 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,960 But for now, for now, I've seen a grievous evil under the sun. 399 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:58,080 Wealth hoarded. Wealth hoarded, you see, in 400 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,200 spite of all the landmines. And I spoke to Jay before. 401 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,280 He's like, listen, when we close and pray, I'll come, right? 402 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,400 We can like, zoot you out of there before you get stoned. 403 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,920 Yeah. I mean, it wasn't it beautiful 404 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:12,760 to see that Ferrari Exhibit A on the way to church tail ended by 405 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,560 a clunky old Bucky? Meaningless. 406 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,840 Meaningless. But you see, if we never allow 407 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:23,880 Scripture access to our hearts, if you never allow Scripture 408 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,360 access to the stewardship of the wealth that God has given you in 409 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:30,280 the wealthiest part of South Africa, do you know that the 410 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:36,240 2011 census put put Pretoria E above Houghton above Constantia 411 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,440 above Zimbali, is the most affluent part of South Africa? 412 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,960 You and me, if we don't let Scripture get access to that, we 413 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:48,680 will live just like the world. We'll handle our finances just 414 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,280 like the world. We will serve the God of this 415 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:56,440 age just like the world. So it's worth it having this as 416 00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:02,080 my final sermon in three CI. OK, please. 417 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,720 Yes, he's 518 coming in to land. What do we do with this? 418 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:09,680 Well, he says this is what I've observed to be good. 419 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:14,240 This is five verse 818. Sorry that it is appropriate for 420 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:18,160 a person to eat, to drink, and to find satisfaction in their 421 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:21,560 toilsome labor under the sun. Find satisfaction. 422 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:23,960 Just want to pick a thread from there. 423 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,280 Find satisfaction. I looked at that in the in the 424 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,840 Hebrew it means learn about satisfaction. 425 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,680 Give attention to what does it mean for you to be satisfied? 426 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,320 Discern what steals from that satisfaction. 427 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:39,640 Look intently at all my favorite. 428 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:43,440 Make a disciplined pursuit of satisfaction. 429 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,360 So he's saying essentially, if you recognize this in your 430 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:49,960 heart, here's the antidote. Make a disciplined pursuit of 431 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,920 satisfaction. GK Chesterton says there are two 432 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,840 ways to get enough. Two ways to be satisfied. 1 is 433 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,120 to accumulate more, the other is to desire less. 434 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,400 Two ways to get rich, earn more or want less. 435 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:05,800 And he goes after the earning more. 436 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:07,960 So want less. What does it mean to be 437 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:11,560 satisfied to want less? Bible scholars distill it down 438 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,480 to two very simple things. One is simplicity and the other 439 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,480 one is generosity. So first, simplicity. 440 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:20,480 I love this one because it turns it on its head. 441 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:27,400 It's not what else can I get? So what else can I do without me 442 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,040 and Chet GPT? We had a conversation around the 443 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:31,880 storage situation in our country. 444 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:38,360 Do you know that we paid 7.3 billion Rand to store the stuff 445 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:41,920 that doesn't fit in our already cluttered homes that we never 446 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:42,800 see? We don't even know if it's 447 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:49,720 there. 7.3 billion Rand last year on stuffs hoarded. 448 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,480 You know they have old furniture, not even new ones. 449 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:56,680 And the piano that no one ever played. 450 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,680 When we moved my mom up from Durban, we had to pay per box. 451 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,160 You've got to know my shock and horror when I opened one of 452 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,840 those boxes and it was filled not with Tupperware, but with 453 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:12,960 Tupperware lids. She's sitting over there. 454 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:14,840 If you need to go and counsel a little bit later. 455 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,680 I know what it's like. When we moved into the house 456 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,080 we're in, we decided, well, let's get ahead of the curve. 457 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,040 Let's start packing some things into boxes. 458 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,000 You know, the house was sold, was sold any minute now. 459 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,680 And that became like three or four or five months later. 460 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:30,840 And then we moved in and we didn't unpack those boxes 461 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,280 because we are still building a main bedroom onto the home. 462 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,840 And about nine months later, our garage is filled with boxes that 463 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,200 we didn't need, we'd hadn't opened. 464 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,920 And I said to my wife, why don't you just throw it all the way? 465 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:44,120 We didn't do that. We opened it. 466 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,400 Somewhere in there was a fondue set that we hadn't used, but we 467 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,640 might. Just when we started the series, 468 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,600 I heard someone in our life group was saying they had an 469 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,960 order from Take a Lot. They sat at the front door for 470 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,680 three weeks. Simplicity. 471 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:02,840 You want to know what simplicity is? 472 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:05,160 Oh, brace yourself. This is not my words. 473 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:06,920 You know, I wash my hands with this man's blood. 474 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:10,920 John Mark Comer says people should look at how I spend my 475 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:17,400 money, the car I drive, the clothes I wear, where I live, 476 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,600 what I post on Instagram, and they should assume that I earn 477 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:28,280 less than I do. So if you look at me and the way 478 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,960 that I dress, the car that I drive, you should think you're 479 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,560 shame struggling on that pasta celery. 480 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,040 There's no way I'm going to do that. 481 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:42,440 I like to look good. I'm obsessed with looking good, 482 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:52,720 just like you, Matthew Emmons, he was a sharpshooter, one of 483 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,280 the best of in in the US gets to the Olympics. 484 00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:00,240 He's in the final. He is so far ahead in gold that 485 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,000 all he has to do is hit that target. 486 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,080 But he's not just going to hit the target. 487 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,080 He's going to go for the cleanest, best shot of the 488 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,000 entire competition. And he does. 489 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:12,080 You know, if there was a black dot in the middle of that 490 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,520 middle, he would have knocked it straight through there. 491 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,280 And the crowd erupts. But when he looks up, they're 492 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,480 not erupting the way he thought they would. 493 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:25,400 They were erupting all because he had shot at his neighbour's 494 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:30,840 target. Bulls are but at the wrong 495 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,640 target. Instead of getting gold, he was 496 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:36,760 disqualified and got nothing sent home. 497 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:42,040 You know that's what you and I are in for if we don't allow 498 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,280 Scripter to give us the lane to steward the finances that God 499 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,200 has given to us. Matthew 6 says no one can serve 500 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,360 2 masters. Either you will hate the one and 501 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:57,840 love the other targets, or you will be devoted to 1 and despise 502 00:28:57,840 --> 00:28:59,640 the other target. You cannot serve. 503 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,240 You cannot. It's a definitive to the 504 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,760 infinite. You cannot serve God and money. 505 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,520 It's the only thing in Scripture ever that God compares himself 506 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,880 to. Such is the malignance, sickly, 507 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:20,440 diseased nature of mammon. Simplicity, generosity. 508 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:24,600 I actually make it radical generosity because generosity is 509 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:26,960 one thing you know you can come and you drop your money in the 510 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,080 bucket. Radical generosity is when what 511 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,840 you put in there or what you give away influences where you 512 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,520 go on holiday in December, that's radical generosity 513 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:43,840 influences the car that you buy or that next pair of shoes. 514 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:49,600 I was in this position many years ago with my business. 515 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:54,480 It was flourishing and God began to address this this in my 516 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,960 heart. I'm like, yo, I don't know what 517 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,760 to do because everything I touch turns to gold. 518 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:04,600 I was working in productions and I was like an anomaly. 519 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,400 I never needed an agent. My phone was always called 520 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:11,240 ringing agent takes like 20-30, sometimes 40% on everything that 521 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:12,600 you do. And I just never needed it. 522 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,320 I was getting phone calls from Ireland and Singapore and you 523 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:18,880 know, but something wasn't right. 524 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,200 And I was chatting to a friend and he told me a story about a 525 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:27,320 an engineering firm that applied what they called the bred seed 526 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:30,280 principle. So it was a bunch of brothers 527 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:32,080 that started this firm and the same thing. 528 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:35,960 It was doing so very, very well. But they were sitting at the 529 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,760 lunch table every one Sunday month. 530 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,840 The whole family would gather around and they'd eat and drink 531 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,800 and have fun and catch up. Kids would be playing outside, 532 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,280 the men would be Brying and they were sitting at the table And 533 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,480 there was he talking about where they were at at the moment. 534 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,680 And one of the brothers was talking about a boat that he had 535 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,520 his eye on. And another one of the brothers 536 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:58,120 said, listen guys, when is enough, enough? 537 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,400 And one thing led to another and they decided they were going to 538 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,400 implement a bred seed principle where basically this, they had 539 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,640 to discern what is bread to eat and what is seed to sow. 540 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:12,160 And so they sat there and them and their wives decided what 541 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,920 their salary cap was going to be and what the budget cap was 542 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,200 going to be for their business. Everything else was seed. 543 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,080 Everything else would have been sown. 544 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,040 And so they're taking kind of what they needed, a little bit 545 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,800 of gravy on top, what have you. But they said that's it and God 546 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:33,240 bless them 10X. So I'm thinking like, OK, 547 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,760 there's something in there. So I decided to do the same, set 548 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,640 budget for my month. Everything that I earned above 549 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:43,600 that I gave away. Now the nature of my business is 550 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:48,120 sometimes I'd make budget by like week 2-3. 551 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:50,520 There were sometimes where it was like just a day or two 552 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,560 before I'd sort of made budget. There were also times when the 553 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:56,440 first or second day of the week of the month, I'd made budget. 554 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,920 Now you got to know what that does to the power of wealth in 555 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,440 your heart. When Kippy phones you on a 556 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,800 Friday afternoon because he knows one of the studios is 557 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,120 actually at your your property. I know it's late. 558 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,200 Boots aren't used. We're going on Jacaranda 559 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:14,520 tomorrow and I didn't even think to have a a billboard and the 560 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:16,720 head and tail of my interview. Can you help me? 561 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:20,360 Well, I would normally, absolutely, yeah, make some 562 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,480 money. Now it's Friday afternoon. 563 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:26,720 I'm going to spend 6 or 7 hours working on that thing late into 564 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,200 the night, early morning, and then I'm going to give the money 565 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:33,280 away. So I can't help. 566 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:37,280 There's just no power there. But when you're sitting going 567 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:41,520 like you're actually, yeah, I can add 20% to my bottom line 568 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:46,360 this month just on this deal. It loses its power when you 569 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:48,800 start to give it away. That is why I would call 570 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:52,120 generosity, radical generosity, the antidote for greed. 571 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:59,240 I calculated once a few years back that if you and I were to 572 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:03,480 also give away on top of all our generosity, but if we just had 573 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:08,440 to set aside 3000 Rand each on average, I know for some of you, 574 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:09,960 that's like, you got that in your back pocket. 575 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,120 For others, that's your entire income for the month. 576 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,920 But if on average us, just us AS3CI were to give away 3000 577 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,320 Rand a month, you know, to the petrol jockey, to the lady 578 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,920 behind the till when you see the lady behind you coming and she's 579 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,560 like counting coins to try and pay this and you just you just 580 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:36,520 give just are we on? Can you hear me? 581 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,640 OK, I'll carry on. Just three thousand a month. 582 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:48,280 It's 108 million Rand a year. If we bump it up to five, it's 583 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:52,000 180. That means in five years we 584 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,160 could sow a billion Rand into the city. 585 00:33:55,680 --> 00:34:02,040 A billion Rand from the fluff. Imagine if we could pour a 586 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:06,720 billion Rand. Not the beggar on the street who 587 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,159 could get a job, but a person just struggling. 588 00:34:10,159 --> 00:34:13,280 A billion Rand, it's nothing. And you know if you're saying 589 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:14,920 like where am I going to get 3 grand from? 590 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,840 We once emptied our drawer. I think we made 12,000 ran from 591 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,239 the junk in the drawer. We had a guy actually come now 592 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:24,679 that can use the the power failure for some extra time. 593 00:34:24,679 --> 00:34:29,040 We had a guy who came and he would collect stuff and he ran 594 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:31,199 this little auction on web on WhatsApp. 595 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,840 What was the company that came from like cash converters or 596 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:36,280 something like that out in Nell Sprite? 597 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:40,040 But it came with a big trailer because we had ATV cabinet that 598 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:42,840 we wanted to sell. And he said, what else do you 599 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:43,600 have? What do you mean? 600 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:44,960 What else he's like, what else do you have? 601 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:50,120 And we grabbed our skates. My wife had ripped off the side 602 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,360 mirror on her H1. We put that down. 603 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:56,120 We we had like Tupperware and lids. 604 00:34:56,120 --> 00:35:00,400 Yeah, Tupperware lids for days. But it's like stuff. 605 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,720 And he put it on auction, sold it and gave us a couple of 1000 606 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:06,160 Rand when he left. I'm like, how does that happen 607 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:07,200 now? Use it. 608 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,320 Don't use it, but we we genuinely we had emptied our 609 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:15,320 drawers and just cash converted at 12,000 radical generosity, 610 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,440 empty the stuff rather than hoarding. 611 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:22,360 And then lastly my our domestic her name is Lizzie. 612 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,240 I was listening to I think it's the money show Steven Curtis on 613 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:30,320 seven O 2 and he was talking about the poverty line and the 614 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,000 bread line poverty line in South Africa. 615 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,040 I think there's 1400 and some change. 616 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:37,720 And that basically means hand to mouth. 617 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,360 You've got nothing for nothing else. 618 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:43,640 You can't bar clothes, you can't fix shoes, nothing poverty line. 619 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:45,560 And then your bread line is not much better. 620 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:48,880 It's just in the 2000s. So I, I was deeply convicted, 621 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,160 but at least satisfied that our domestic wouldn't be anywhere 622 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:54,800 near there. I need to find out that she was, 623 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:57,520 she was barely making bread line. 624 00:35:58,240 --> 00:36:01,360 Bread line is, you know, you can sort of bar clothes now and 625 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,840 then, but if anything serious happens, you know, you get sick, 626 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:08,560 you can't go to the doctor. Everything's like ransom sense. 627 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,440 So went to him. I said to my wife, this is, this 628 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:11,760 is what God's laying in my heart. 629 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:14,920 And we decided we'd double her salary. 630 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:16,760 So. But then she said this to me. 631 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:22,800 She said by giving me a raise, my daughter can go to varsity. 632 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,800 Like here I'm thinking, hey, you can buy new shoes. 633 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,200 She's thinking generationally. She's thinking biblically. 634 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,480 I'm just thinking, yeah, bigger TV. 635 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:39,520 We've subsequently doubled it since. 636 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:46,160 But The thing is that God will hold you and I accountable. 637 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:52,240 Everything he's given to us to steward land with us. 638 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:58,640 Hebrews 13 says keep your lives free from the love of money and 639 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,400 be content with what you have because. 640 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:09,280 Channel your inner Rory and say because, because God has said 641 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,040 never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. 642 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:18,200 What he is saying there is again, can't serve God and 643 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:20,880 money. He's saying if you dig deep down 644 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:27,120 deep enough, you're either going to find the love of money or a 645 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:33,520 heart in love with God. It's one or the other and the 646 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:35,680 way that you steward and handle your finances. 647 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:42,120 Pretoria East is a 3D full living color rendering of your 648 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:47,800 relationship with your Heavenly Father and the city knows it. 649 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,480 The spirit of the city knows it too. 650 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:54,080 And you'll have it and you'll have you. 651 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:57,240 Keep your lives free from the love of money. 652 00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:02,240 Be content with what you have because God has said I'll never 653 00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:02,520 leave you.