1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,800 Good morning. My name is Daniel. 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:04,600 I'm one of the lead pastors here at Res Church. 3 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:06,480 Welcome. If you're new, welcome. 4 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,440 We're excited that you chose today to join us. 5 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,800 We are in week four of a series in the book of Proverbs called 6 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:19,240 The Way of Wisdom. And we have been looking at the 7 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,760 practical life application of the truths of Scripture, 8 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,880 particularly in this little tiny book called Proverbs. 9 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:31,000 And last week we covered what, you know, for a lot of people is 10 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,320 a pretty sensitive subject. We covered sex and this week 11 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:36,560 we're going to cover money and some of y'all are squirming and 12 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:41,480 like let's go back and talk about sex again because it meant 13 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:43,080 are they're not a sensitive subject. 14 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:44,120 I mean, this is a sensitive subject. 15 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,200 I was listening to Pastor Andrew Spradlin over at Valley. 16 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,320 He preached on money like a couple months ago. 17 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,240 And I was listening to this sermon and he started off with 18 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,760 like, man, I'm, I get so nervous preaching about money that I 19 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,680 only do it once a year. And I was like, oh gosh, right. 20 00:00:57,680 --> 00:00:59,720 I was like, well, OK, let's just, let's just open it up and 21 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:02,240 talk about it. But I don't, I don't think it's 22 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,040 a coincidence at all because we planned this sermon series like 23 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:08,240 four months ago. I don't think it's a coincidence 24 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,800 at all that here in the midst of a lot of transition and struggle 25 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,360 around finance in our church, that oh, look at this, what do 26 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:16,960 you know? We just stumble right upon a 27 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:20,000 sermon that was already planned to talk about what God has to 28 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,880 say about finance. It's almost go with me here. 29 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,960 It's almost as if God is sovereign and in charge, despite 30 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:31,120 how messy and sometimes dumb we are, right. 31 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:35,200 OK, so maybe, maybe, just maybe some of us here, elders, 32 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,320 deacons, and maybe even you absolutely need to hear what God 33 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:40,760 has to say about money and finance today. 34 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,280 And I, I think God has something significant to say because I, 35 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:46,080 you know, look, there are a lot of opinions about money. 36 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,760 Amen. So, but there's only one opinion 37 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:51,480 that you should be worried about, and it's not your own. 38 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,480 It's what God has to say about it. 39 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:58,360 And so the good news is we don't have to guess, He tells us. 40 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,560 And so if you'll lean in today, engage in the word of God, I 41 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:04,600 think you're going to get some significant things out of what 42 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:09,080 God has to say about this today. Now, if you get nothing else out 43 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:13,600 of this whole sermon and you remember nothing else, I want 44 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,880 you to remember this key point that Scripture really will will 45 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,280 tell us throughout Scripture. And it's this, God doesn't want 46 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,680 my money, He wants my heart. God doesn't want my money, He 47 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,240 wants my heart. It's just that I often hide my 48 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,120 heart behind money and that's a problem. 49 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:33,280 So we're going to start in Proverbs chapter 3. 50 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,400 We'll we'll be covering verses 5 through 10 today. 51 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:42,360 Let's read together the Lord's word says this Proverbs 3 verse 52 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,800 five. Trust in the Lord with all your 53 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,880 heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 54 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,000 In all your ways. Acknowledge Him and He will make 55 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:58,280 straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. 56 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,640 Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 57 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,880 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. 58 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,280 Now we're going to read two more verses in just a minute, but but 59 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,480 I want to stop right here and just look at that first part. 60 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:16,560 And from from week one in this series, we've been talking about 61 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,840 that it is God who defines what knowledge is, God who defines 62 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:25,560 what wisdom is. And so again, right here in all 63 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,240 your ways, so in all the practical application of your 64 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:33,480 life, in all of your perspective about the the the things in 65 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,880 life, your perspective of money, your perspective of sex, your 66 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:41,440 your perspective of of parenting of life of your life goals of 67 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,360 work. Acknowledge that he sets the 68 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:50,840 standard, not me, not you lean not on my own understanding. 69 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:57,000 That's what it's telling you. Be not wise in my own eyes, fear 70 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:03,640 the Lord that's saying, God, you're right, I'm wrong. 71 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,760 At any time there's a gap between your perspective and my 72 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,800 perspective, I'm going to acknowledge that you're right, 73 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,720 meaning that I'm wrong. And the only way to close that 74 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,519 gap is by acknowledging that he's right. 75 00:04:16,519 --> 00:04:18,640 He's perfect. He sets the definitions and he 76 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,440 sets the standard, and then it says he will make straight your 77 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:22,640 path. So how do you get that path 78 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:24,520 corrected? You acknowledge that he's right. 79 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:29,360 Do you see that? OK, now what does he have to say 80 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,520 about money? Verses 9 and 10 Here's what he 81 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:37,160 says. Honor the Lord with your wealth 82 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,520 and with the first fruits of all of your produce. 83 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,960 Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will 84 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:50,600 be bursting with wine. Just two really important terms. 85 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:52,160 They don't mean the same thing. We're going to look at them here 86 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,800 today because this Proverbs was originally written in Hebrew. 87 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:00,240 And so the word in Hebrew for wealth, this we use here is 88 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,560 mahoneka, and it means possessions. 89 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,080 It's my stuff. Everyone's got stuff. 90 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,240 You remember the, the scene from Thor where the guy goes, behold, 91 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,320 my stuff. We all have stuff. 92 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:15,920 Amen. OK, wealth, possession, stuff, 93 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,920 things of substance. So what that word means and then 94 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,400 the second word that we see here when it says first fruits, 95 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:23,560 there's a Hebrew word here that's being used. 96 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:29,880 It's to be tabuatuka and it means increase or, or anything 97 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,080 new that would come in. So, so income harvest is kind of 98 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,680 what it's alluding to here for us nowadays, probably just think 99 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,760 payday, right? And they're two different 100 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:41,800 things. It's all the things you own, 101 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:43,920 plus the things that come in and, and it's saying in both of 102 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,440 those areas, honour God with my stuff, honour God with my 103 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:49,760 income. And So what we're going to do is 104 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,320 going to look at it, what that means, What does it look like to 105 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:54,600 honour God? And, and, and we got to start a 106 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:56,880 little bit further back for us here. 107 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,560 And here's why. Like we here in America, I don't 108 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,600 know if you realize that this it's yeah, I know it's Oildale, 109 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:04,240 but still America technically, OK. 110 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:09,440 We have a really distorted view of ownership and individualism. 111 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:12,440 This is an incredibly individualistic society. 112 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,480 So, so, so we have like my property, my rights, my 113 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,000 liberties, my money. It's a very Western view, OK, 114 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:22,360 but it's an especially an American view. 115 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:26,760 And so we have to start fixing that distortion in Psalm 24. 116 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:28,680 One, this is what Psalm 24 one says. 117 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:30,560 It's going to establish a baseline for us. 118 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:37,840 It says the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof, the 119 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:41,000 world and those who dwell therein. 120 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:45,400 So the Bible says like full stop, everything that exists 121 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:52,960 belongs to God. That's not my car, it's not my 122 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:57,800 house, it's not my kids. This shirt that I'm wearing, God 123 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:02,320 owns everything. God, I am borrowing the air in 124 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,000 my lungs. I didn't create it and I don't 125 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,240 own it. God does. 126 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:13,320 So you don't own anything. In fact, there's nothing in your 127 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,720 life that God doesn't rightly and justly look at and go, 128 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:23,920 that's mine. We don't like that. 129 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,360 See, you don't have a bank account, God does. 130 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,080 You don't have a house, God does. 131 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:37,160 You don't have a marriage. God has a marriage. 132 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:42,000 The the things that you think you have, those are not actually 133 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,040 yours. It's not actually mine. 134 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,280 Say it with me. It's not actually mine. 135 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,720 So, so, so, so that thing in your life that you're kind of 136 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:57,400 stingy and greedy over, it's not even yours. 137 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,160 So if I don't own it, what is it exactly that I'm supposed to do 138 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,840 with it? You see, everything that you 139 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:14,640 have, God has given to you in order for you to steward or 140 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:20,600 manage for His glory, for His pleasure, for His purposes. 141 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,280 You're a money manager for God. Didn't know that, did you? 142 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:28,440 Didn't even go to school for it. You're a money manager for God. 143 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,760 In fact, you're more than that. You're a talent manager for God. 144 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,520 You're a time manager for God. You're a parent for God. 145 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,039 You're a spouse for God. You're an employee at your work 146 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:43,080 for God because everything is God's and and you and I are 147 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,400 simply the people he chose to manage those things. 148 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,360 Does this make sense? OK, so that lesson is most 149 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:54,000 clearly articulated in a story that Jesus tells. 150 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,000 Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 25 called the Parable of the 151 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,920 talents. A talent was a huge sum of 152 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:02,240 money. It's like 700 and some $1000 in 153 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,080 in the equivalent of what we would look at it today. 154 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:09,240 And so in this story, there's a master and he he gets 3 servants 155 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,440 and he gives 1 servant 5 talents, it's millions of 156 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:14,960 dollars. And then another servant, 2 157 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,480 talents, and then another servant, one talent. 158 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:19,480 And then he leaves it says for a long time. 159 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,640 And then he comes back at some point and here's what happens. 160 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:30,080 He says give me an account, give me a report on what you did with 161 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:37,680 my money. And he has an expectation in 162 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:40,160 that story not just that his money is still there. 163 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,960 No, no, no, no, that his money has been invested and there's 164 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:50,480 been a return on it. Now, the Bible tells us in the 165 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:53,600 book of Second Corinthians, chapter 5 that there is going to 166 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,640 be something called a second judgement. 167 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,520 Now, if you are a believer, if you call yourself a believer of 168 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,520 Christ, a Christian, a follower of Christ, we know that 169 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,680 salvation, it's not something that we can earn or did earn. 170 00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:08,120 It's something that is a gift of God. 171 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,280 So, so as a believer, your name is written in the book of life 172 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:13,920 and there's a judgement coming between the living and the dead. 173 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:15,400 And if your name's in the book of life, you get to go to 174 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,520 heaven. But there's a second judgement 175 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:21,600 for those of us who are Christian. 176 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:27,440 According to Second Corinthians 5, at some point later, everyone 177 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,400 who is in heaven is going to stand in front of Jesus and give 178 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:39,920 an account for how they managed the resources that God gave you. 179 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:50,320 How did you invest my money? How did you invest my time that 180 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,600 I granted you? How did you invest my talents 181 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,400 that I gifted you? You're going to give a report. 182 00:10:57,680 --> 00:11:05,000 I'm going to give a report. Think about how that moment 183 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,560 that's coming for us might change how you view a few things 184 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:14,160 in your life today. Before I buy that new car, 185 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:20,600 should I spend God's money on this car as God's money manager? 186 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,640 Is this a good investment before I take out that high interest 187 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,560 loan so I can do something that I really want to do and I'm 188 00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:31,000 impatient about getting it done, Is that the best investment of 189 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,320 God's money? What would honor God? 190 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:39,280 Now, I'm not saying that that that means that you like you 191 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,520 don't ever take family vacations or you don't ever have nice 192 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:42,640 things. That's not what I'm saying at 193 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,240 all. I'm saying you're managing God's 194 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:47,880 money. And it means that every 195 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,000 financial decision for a Christian, we should look a 196 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,520 little bit different. We should be thinking about it 197 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:57,440 because we know whose money we're spending and we know who 198 00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:59,960 we're going to ultimately answer to about it. 199 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:05,480 Does that make sense? Like do you know how many dumb 200 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,560 financial decisions I've made over the years? 201 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,080 If I could have learned and accepted this perspective 202 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:16,280 earlier in life how I would have lived so much differently. 203 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:18,440 Y'all ever been young and have money? 204 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:22,560 I bought like a motorcycle at 19. 205 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:24,440 It was a very bad financial investment. 206 00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:27,080 Let's go tell you right now. Especially the speeding tickets, 207 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:32,560 Like I've spent money on some really stupid stuff in my life 208 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,600 and I've had a, I've had, I'd say for the majority of my life, 209 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:39,960 I've had a really difficult time even living on a budget. 210 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,040 It'd probably be more accurate to call it a smudge it. 211 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,440 Yeah, some of y'all, some of y'all, I mean, just think about 212 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:50,800 y'all. Remember how much money we 213 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:56,440 wasted on Beanie Babies? Some of you young people 214 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:58,920 laughing, but y'all got some la Boo boos and some of the broke 215 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:07,850 bank accounts. I went from in my life recently, 216 00:13:07,850 --> 00:13:10,690 I went from making a lot of money to being a pastor, which 217 00:13:10,690 --> 00:13:14,530 is another word for poor. So like my wife and I are 218 00:13:14,530 --> 00:13:18,730 learning how to count like every single dollar. 219 00:13:19,410 --> 00:13:23,090 And, and you know, when I think about how I used to view money, 220 00:13:23,090 --> 00:13:24,330 maybe some of you can relate to this. 221 00:13:24,330 --> 00:13:27,090 Like, like your paycheck comes in and this is the way I would 222 00:13:27,090 --> 00:13:30,400 think my pay, my check paycheck would come in and I would go, 223 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:34,120 how can I maximize this money for me? 224 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,400 How can I, how can I invest this so that my, I feel secure? 225 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,160 How can I use this for my pleasure, my comfort, my 226 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,480 security? I guess it's just me and one 227 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,120 person in there. Thank you for crowd 228 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:53,360 participation. But that's not actually the 229 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,080 question that we're supposed to be asking as believers. 230 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,840 The the question we're supposed to be asking is how can I please 231 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,200 God? How can I honor God with what he 232 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,560 has given me to manage? And I'm telling you, you start 233 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:10,400 asking that question, then it changes everything. 234 00:14:11,560 --> 00:14:15,880 You see, when when I'm the master of my own life, then I 235 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,840 make decisions that please me. But, but, but, but if I've 236 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:25,000 supposedly surrendered my life to a new master, then I'm 237 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,600 supposed to be making decisions that please him. 238 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:35,080 So, so then let me ask, let's, let's practically look at how do 239 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,080 we honour God with our wealth, with our possessions, with our 240 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:42,120 stuff. 2 two things. 22 real fundamental things. 241 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:48,280 Number one, we invest it in Kingdom purposes, we invest it 242 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,800 in Kingdom purposes. And secondly, we manage it well. 243 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:56,480 We manage it well. So I want God to look at my 244 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:01,040 finances and and he does. He's God, by the way, I want him 245 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,880 to look at my finances and I want him to say well done. 246 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,640 When we according to the verse, when we honor God, he blesses 247 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:12,040 us. That's what verse 10 tells us, 248 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,000 right? In fact, even in the Matthew 25 249 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,320 story, if you're familiar with it, he the, the, the, the 250 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,120 servant that invested the money and got a return, He says, well 251 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,920 done. You have been faithful over a 252 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,600 little. Now I'm going to put you over a 253 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,640 lot, which is a crazy statement considering he gave him millions 254 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,480 of dollars. You have been faithful over a 255 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:36,520 little Now, now I'm going to entrust you with more. 256 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,720 And I, and here's what I would ask you like right off the RIP. 257 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:42,000 It made me think about this like man, if I can't manage and spend 258 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:45,280 my own money well, why would God entrust me with more? 259 00:15:52,880 --> 00:16:00,000 If if God giving me wealth doesn't lead me to honor him, 260 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:05,000 why would he give me more? In fact, the opposite. 261 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,920 If if God giving me wealth leads me to dishonor him, wouldn't it 262 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,120 be, wouldn't he be a bad dad if he gave me more? 263 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,840 And, and, and I've I've found myself in this position 264 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:23,400 personally before with my own finances. 265 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:25,400 Like I, I want God to bless me more. 266 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:28,400 Let me ask you, anyone in here want God to bless them 267 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:33,600 financially? Oh wow, look at that weird. 268 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:38,520 We all have the same one. OK, I want God to bless me more 269 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:42,720 financially, but I'm not honoring him with what I have 270 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:44,440 now. So why would he do that? 271 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:51,400 What's the ourselves in as a church right now? 272 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,240 We have invested so much money and Kingdom purposes recently, 273 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:59,480 but we haven't paid enough attention and managed it well. 274 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,920 So, so over the past 18 months, the church is giving decline by 275 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:07,480 36%. And I was thinking about this, 276 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:12,640 as you know, I think if, if we want God to put us in charge of 277 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,640 more, we need to manage it well. And we haven't managed it well. 278 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,520 If you came to the business meeting last week, we have a, a 279 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:24,760 Consulting Group that came in to do some audits and help us with 280 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:26,240 finances. And the CEO of that group's 281 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:29,400 name, Brad Hobbs, really, really cool guy, loves Jesus, great 282 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:31,840 guy. And so he led the audit, the 283 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:33,640 team that did the audit. And when we got on the phone 284 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,120 after the audit was done, he his first thing to me, he says, 285 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:41,200 Daniel, you guys have overspent doing some really phenomenal 286 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,080 ministry. And he started laughing. 287 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,000 He goes, you spent too much money, but man, you did some 288 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:49,280 awesome stuff. You just spent it way too fast. 289 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:53,440 And here's here's my point. Because we didn't pay enough 290 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,840 attention. If we at the church want God to 291 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:01,000 increase the blessings here at Rez to put us in charge of more 292 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:05,280 than we need to honor God not only with what we invest in, but 293 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:07,520 how we manage God's money. Amen. 294 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:10,680 OK, So then you look at the second part of this verse. 295 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:12,760 It says if you'll do these things right. 296 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:16,280 So if you'll, if you'll invested in, in, in wise things and if 297 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,600 you'll, if you'll, you'll keep careful account of it, if you'll 298 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:26,680 do these things and honor God, it says with what you have it 299 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:28,920 says and with what your first fruits. 300 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:33,680 OK, probably not a lot of us living on the barger system 301 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,080 anymore where we're trading like apples and chickens, right? 302 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:41,040 No, maybe. So let me, let me, let me, let 303 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:42,720 me break first fruits down real quickly. 304 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,520 It means 1st and best. That's all it means 1st and 305 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:48,120 best. I'll make it simple. 306 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:52,080 So, so for thousands of years in the Bible, there's been this 307 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:56,360 concept of 1st and best in Genesis 4, right after Adam and 308 00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:57,360 Eve get thrown out of the garden. 309 00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:00,440 The very first story is about the first fruits bringing the 310 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,840 1st and best to God. And, and then you flip over to 311 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,480 Genesis 14 and there's this guy named Mikhilzadek and Abraham 312 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,400 gives him 110th of everything. And then just all throughout the 313 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,080 Old Testament and even into the New Testament, there is a 314 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:15,200 standard that God has established where we, he gives 315 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,160 us everything that we have and then we give the 1st and best 316 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,400 back to him. And in the Bible, that's called 317 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:24,880 the tithe. The tithe now that used to be 318 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,440 110th of like your flocks or your herd or your, your, your 319 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:30,600 harvest. And, and for us now that's like 320 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:35,360 paycheck, right? But the tithe, TITHE, it just 321 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:37,320 means 110th. That's the actual literal 322 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:39,800 definition of the word 110th. So what does that look like 323 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,720 practically for my wife and I, we get our paycheck. 324 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,480 We look at the gross total before the government takes its 325 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:47,280 significant check and chunk out of there. 326 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,800 We, you know, we look at our paycheck and we go, what is 327 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,360 1/10, which is easy math for all of us because we just moved the 328 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:55,280 decimal point. And then we write a check back 329 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:57,680 to the church for 110th of what we receive. 330 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,960 It's called our tithe, or our first fruits, or in this case, 331 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:07,320 our first and our best. Now in the New Testament, it 332 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,760 gets spicy. Because they take the tithe and 333 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,000 they get into some ridiculous stuff where they're like selling 334 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,080 all their belongings and they're selling off possessions and 335 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:17,840 they're selling off fields, and they're giving all their radical 336 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:24,600 sacrificial generosity that is supposed to show us Jesus Christ 337 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:29,640 because of the way Christ lavished us with gifts. 338 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:34,960 But the starting point in all of that was always the tie, the 339 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,920 baseline for every Christian throughout all of Scripture and 340 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,640 from the early church all the way up here, 2000 years of 341 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:42,880 church history has always been the tie. 342 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,120 Now then, that leads us into this idea that giving should be 343 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:48,360 more than just a tie, that should be Holy Spirit LED. 344 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:53,840 We are called to live lives of radical generosity in response 345 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,280 to the radical generosity that we've received from God when he 346 00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:58,960 sent his son. And So what does that mean? 347 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,200 It means my, my wife and I, we tithe, but then we're 348 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:06,760 prayerfully considering when God would bring opportunities for us 349 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:09,520 to be generous, not to the necessarily to the church, but 350 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:13,200 to, to our neighbor or to a church member or to a brother or 351 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:15,320 to whomever. Like we believe that God is 352 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:17,080 going to bring those opportunities. 353 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,000 And our job is to respond with generosity. 354 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:22,440 And listen, if you've, if you've hung around this church at all, 355 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,360 then you, you've heard all the crazy stories of radical 356 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:26,400 generosity. Amen. 357 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,120 Like people gifting cars to people and putting roofs on 358 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:34,080 their houses. And I mean just wildly generous 359 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:38,320 acts. I've had the absolute immense 360 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,000 joy of being on both sides of that equation, getting to 361 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,880 surprise someone by blessing them extravagantly, and also 362 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,720 being blessed by people who, through the Holy Spirit's 363 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:53,600 prompting, come and bless my family when when the Bible says 364 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:55,480 that we should be joyful givers. Let me just tell you from 365 00:21:55,480 --> 00:22:01,240 personal experience, it is super fun to get to bless someone. 366 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:05,040 Amen. Like the opportunity to just 367 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,880 bless someone who has a need and you get to meet it is actually 368 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:15,000 just really, really fun. And, and, and it's, and it's 369 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:20,200 particularly fun to get to show people Christ through generosity 370 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:25,320 when they don't deserve it. It's actually even better when 371 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:29,400 they don't deserve it because it shows them how Jesus treats us. 372 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,240 Now maybe we're talking through all this money stuff, right? 373 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:38,720 And generosity and you're sitting there like, pastor, I 374 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,440 can't even consider these things because I can't even pay my 375 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:42,840 bills. Like how would, how would I 376 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,640 even, how would I even think about generosity When, when, 377 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,240 when the ends don't meet? That's a great question. 378 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,200 That's a great question because listen, and maybe this is a good 379 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,840 time for the the caveat, this is not a sales pitch for you to 380 00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:00,400 give money to the church. Like this is an investigation on 381 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,240 how God views what he's given you. 382 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,120 And so like, if you're sitting in here like freaking out that 383 00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:08,480 somehow this sermon is going to end in like a call to give a 384 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:12,520 bunch of money you can't afford, you can exhale now chill out. 385 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:18,360 That's not happening. My wife and I, when we got 386 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:20,680 married, we didn't tithe at all. In fact, I'm not even sure we 387 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,160 started giving until after we were married for a little while. 388 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:28,200 And but we didn't tithe. And that's, that should be that, 389 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,200 that if you knew my, my, my childhood, that that would be a 390 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,600 real surprise to you. Because I grew up in like, I 391 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,160 probably have the greatest testimony in terms of my family 392 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,760 and my parents of God's faithfulness and what it looks 393 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:41,920 like to be obediently generous than anyone I know. 394 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:47,440 I grew up in a family of 6 on a single income of $18,000 a year. 395 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,400 And so on, on, on the off day, on the days off, my dad and I 396 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,600 mowed lawns to get enough money to pay bills when I was like 9. 397 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:03,080 I didn't mow them very straight, but they got cut all right. 398 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:07,280 And, and, and we were the, you know, we were the family that 399 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,280 like, like other families dropped off bags of food so we'd 400 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:14,480 have enough to eat on the porch. And I remember, in fact, I 401 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:16,960 remember more than one of these stories, but one in particularly 402 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:20,600 my parents had some medical bills and they were going to be 403 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:26,640 $1000 short that month. Now gross, they made $1500 a 404 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,240 month. So $1000 is like a lot of money. 405 00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:32,920 And they were still tithing. They refused to stop tithing. 406 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:39,120 And in the mail that month comes a handwritten letter from 407 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:41,000 someone from another church long ago. 408 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:43,600 And in it says, I've been praying for you. 409 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,440 And while I was praying, I felt the Lord impressed upon me that 410 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,640 you needed this and it was a check for $1000. 411 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:55,760 Come on, that's some craziness. This is pretty Internet days. 412 00:24:55,760 --> 00:25:01,040 How'd they know? I remember as a kid, my parents 413 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,360 are crying and I'm crying because that's what you do when 414 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:06,000 your parents are crying, right? And, and, and, but I knew. 415 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,200 I understood what it meant. And so I grew up under that 416 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,160 testimony, got married, and still didn't tithe. 417 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,520 You know why? Because I am a selfish little 418 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:18,760 creature. I am a selfish, greedy little. 419 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:22,560 I didn't want to go through the difficulty of having to figure 420 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:29,920 out how to live on less. I'm greedy with my money. 421 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,240 I'm greedy with my time, I'm greedy with my energy. 422 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,800 I don't want to do all the hard work to figure out what it would 423 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,920 mean. And listen, it took real hard 424 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:44,640 work from God on my heart to start trusting him more in this 425 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:45,240 area. And guess what? 426 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,560 I'm still greedy. I'm just a little less greedy. 427 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,440 Why would I was thinking about the just the the weird 428 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:59,600 relationship of tithe and doesn't it seem odd that God 429 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:01,920 gives you all this and says now give 10% of it back? 430 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:03,080 Like why'd you give it to me in the first? 431 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,120 Like it just seems weird, right? Like I was thinking about it, 432 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:10,640 why, Why this relationship of wanting 10% back right at the 433 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,440 beginning or this this first fruits idea that this first and 434 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:14,880 best back? Why does he do that? 435 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:17,600 And here's here's here's why I want to explain this because I 436 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:19,480 know it seems weird and you need to understand it. 437 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,640 The Bible says that nothing in this world will grab hold of 438 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,480 your heart like the love of money. 439 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:30,520 But the love of money is the root of all evil. 440 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:35,360 It doesn't say money is evil. It says the love of money is the 441 00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:36,360 root of all evil. Why? 442 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:37,440 Why is that? Here's why. 443 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,040 Here's why. Understand this because it makes 444 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:46,960 me think I'm in control. It makes me think I can be God 445 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,400 with enough money. And if we go back to the very, 446 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,040 very beginning of what started this whole broken, fallen, 447 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:56,680 distorted world, it was a man and a woman who decided that 448 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:58,480 instead of trusting God, they wanted to be God. 449 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:07,440 And the love of money does that to you and to me because it's 450 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:11,000 powerful. And we talked about this last 451 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:12,680 week. Anything powerful can be 452 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,360 amazingly productive or dangerously destructive. 453 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,840 Listen to me, some of you there that are, you know, here 454 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:28,560 listening or online watching and you're you're cynical that that 455 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:30,880 God or the church or whoever, they just want your money. 456 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,560 And actually, no, God doesn't want your money. 457 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,400 He wants your heart. But there's nothing in this 458 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:41,200 world like money that will steal my affections from God and in no 459 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,440 time at all have me worshiping at the foot of the idol of 460 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:50,680 wealth. So tithing this, this first and 461 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,360 best, it's not just to help me honor God. 462 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:58,080 It is God's protection on my heart against a common and 463 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:02,960 insidious idol. Got to establish this idea of 464 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,920 tithe to protect my heart from the love of money. 465 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:14,360 This call, this command to honor God is followed with a promise 466 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:17,400 in verse 10. This is what the promise says. 467 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:24,000 Then if you'll honor God, then your barns will be filled with 468 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,880 plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. 469 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,920 That if we will do this, if you'll honor God with your 470 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,880 possessions and you'll honor God with your income, that that, 471 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,120 that their barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will 472 00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:38,280 be bursting with wine. What does that mean? 473 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:39,400 Let me tell you what it doesn't mean. 474 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:41,560 It does not mean you're going to become super rich. 475 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,960 You're not going to become like the next Elon Musk. 476 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,760 Now, anyone teaching you that if you give to God, you're going to 477 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:52,720 be wealthy is teaching you a false doctrine. 478 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,720 And we've actually named that false doctrine because it's been 479 00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,880 taught so many times in history. We call it the prosperity 480 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:03,720 gospel. It's not true. 481 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,400 It's not in the Bible. This isn't about becoming the 482 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,160 next Elon Musk because you honored God with your money. 483 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,720 The point of the promise is God is saying if you honor God with 484 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:15,960 what you have, you will always have more than enough. 485 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:17,840 That that's exactly what he's trying to say. 486 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:19,240 You'll always have more than enough. 487 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,400 That's what Barnes of plenty and vats bursting with wine is 488 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:26,000 supposed to mean. Do you know the the call to 489 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,080 honor God with your wealth is the only command in all of the 490 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:35,000 Bible that God says. Test me on this, because 491 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,760 actually on everything else it says we shouldn't test God. 492 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:39,920 You know why? He's king and kings don't give 493 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,400 suggestions. So all the other commands are 494 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,360 just do this, Do this except for this one, except for honoring 495 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,680 God with your wealth. This is the one he says try me, 496 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,600 try me. Taste and see if I'm good. 497 00:29:55,200 --> 00:30:01,280 Try me. Now let me, let me let me 498 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:02,680 address. Maybe there's a couple of you 499 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,920 guys here today you're visiting or you just, you know, maybe 500 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:07,240 you're watching online or what have you. 501 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,440 And and you're not, you wouldn't call yourself a Christian. 502 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:13,840 You know, maybe you're not into this whole Jesus thing and 503 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,080 you're just kind of checking this out and on everything we're 504 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,560 talking about right now sounds really weird and foreign, right? 505 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,560 I mean, this sounds pretty odd. Let me just give, let me let me 506 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:24,680 ask you to consider two things. If if you fall into that 507 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:26,640 category of I wouldn't call myself a Christian. 508 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:28,560 Let me just ask you to consider two things. 509 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:34,280 Here's the first the very God who who who created everything 510 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,520 and who is commanding his people to give their first and their 511 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:41,720 best back to honor him. He, he actually demonstrated 512 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,960 that very idea to us because the Bible says that when humanity 513 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,880 broke relationship with God, we were incapable of fixing the 514 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,480 problem. So God sent his first and best 515 00:30:54,480 --> 00:31:01,600 to us in the form of his Son Jesus to walk among us, to 516 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,200 willingly go to the cross, to die for us so we could be 517 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:10,240 restored to God. So before God asks you for your 518 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:13,200 first and best, he sent his first and best to make a way. 519 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:22,160 Secondly, the God of the Bible is not some some distant God 520 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:26,000 who's like aloof, some some some mythological Greek God sitting 521 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,640 up in the clouds staring at you and judging you. 522 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:37,080 He is personal, He is intimate and loving and he cares so much 523 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,520 for us. He cares so much for us that 524 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,960 every part of his rules and his guidelines and his commands are 525 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:46,640 actually intended to win our hearts and our affection. 526 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:54,000 This is the God of the Bible. Even his commands are for our 527 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,160 heart. Because God doesn't want my 528 00:31:56,160 --> 00:32:01,880 money, He wants my heart. And if you don't have a 529 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,880 relationship with him, I want you to know that He loves you 530 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:10,560 and he's calling to you. He is wooing you to him. 531 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:15,200 How is he wooing you? Well, you're here, aren't you? 532 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:19,800 Or you're watching this. You're listening to this sermon. 533 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:28,000 Why are you listening? The very God who teaches about 534 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,680 generosity demonstrated that generosity first. 535 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:36,360 And while we were yet enemies of God, His Son came and died for 536 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:40,560 us. When God saved me, I wasn't 537 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,200 looking for God. I didn't even like God. 538 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,560 I was running from God. But man, he got long legs, and 539 00:32:51,080 --> 00:33:00,240 he chased me down in my sin, and he's calling you, He's chasing 540 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,120 you. Will you respond to him? 541 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,840 The Bible says you can in Romans 10/9 and 10 Because if you 542 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:14,200 confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in 543 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:17,760 your heart that God raised him from the dead, you can be saved. 544 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,800 For with the heart 1 believes and is justified. 545 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,280 With the mouth 1 confesses and is saved. 546 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:27,440 You can stop running from God today. 547 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:32,680 You can surrender to him today. And I want to give you that 548 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,360 chance in in these closing moments of our service. 549 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:41,920 Will you bow your head and close your eyes if you're willing to 550 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,600 ask God for forgiveness and salvation with every eye closed 551 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:51,600 and every head bowed, just quietly or or or silently repeat 552 00:33:51,800 --> 00:34:00,840 this prayer after me. Jesus, I know I'm a Sinner and I 553 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:08,840 can't save myself. I want you to save me and adopt 554 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:13,639 me into your family. I surrender everything to you 555 00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:19,360 and I receive your promise of eternal life. 556 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:27,440 Be my Lord, please Jesus, if you prayed that prayer for the very 557 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,120 first time right now, would you be brave and raise your hand for 558 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,480 me to see? Thank you, thank you, thank you, 559 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:37,520 thank you, thank you. You can put your hands down. 560 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:43,880 Thank you in Jesus name, Amen. OK, real quick, look up here. 561 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,920 If you just committed your life to Christ for the first time, 562 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:59,960 welcome to the family. Just a moment as we respond to 563 00:34:59,960 --> 00:35:01,240 this sermon. They're going to be tables in 564 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:02,840 the back. They say I raised my hand. 565 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:04,080 There can be people standing there. 566 00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:07,240 They want to celebrate with you. They want to pray with you that 567 00:35:07,240 --> 00:35:09,320 the the the road of discipleship. 568 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,320 That's the road of following Christ from this moment on is a 569 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:16,960 long road takes a lot of Bible and a lot of black coffee and we 570 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:20,200 want to walk it with you. So when we respond in just a 571 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:21,760 minute, I want you to get up. I want you to go back to that 572 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:23,360 table. I want you to talk to them so we 573 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:25,040 can start walking this walk with you. 574 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:33,440 Now, how do you and I put a sermon about God's perspective 575 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,480 of money into practice in our lives? 576 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:41,960 What if this week you asked a couple questions of yourself 577 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:47,400 about your finances, about whether or not they honor God? 578 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:49,760 So here's the first simple question from here. 579 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,960 Am I tithing? Am I tithing? 580 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,360 Am I giving my first and best back to God? 581 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,640 In the United States? This study was done just this 582 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:00,400 spring. In the United States of America, 583 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:06,000 there are 247,000,000 professing believers. 247 million people 584 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,960 say they're Christian in the United States. 585 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:17,440 Of that 0.6% tithe. I'm, I'm pointing that out 586 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,800 because we live in one of the wealthiest moments in history 587 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,480 and you live in one of the wealthiest countries in history. 588 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:30,800 And so this idea that if you just had more money, then you'd 589 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:35,200 start being obedient to God as baloney because God, we have 590 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,160 plenty of wealthy Christians in this country and they ain't 591 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:40,800 tithing. It's going to take a lot more 592 00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:41,920 than that. You know what it's going to 593 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:42,720 take? It's going to take a very 594 00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:45,880 intentional faith and it's probably going to take moving 595 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:51,080 your smudget to a budget. You're going to have to plan for 596 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:56,080 it. Second question, do I have the 597 00:36:56,080 --> 00:37:01,600 margin to be generous? Do I have the margin in my 598 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:05,560 prayer life when God begins to move and the Holy Spirit begins 599 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,840 to prompt me to an act of generosity towards someone? 600 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,840 Do I even have margin baked into my budget so that I can do that? 601 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:14,840 Well, that would be nice, wouldn't it? 602 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:19,160 You have to plan for that. You have to be intentional about 603 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:23,200 that. Third question, You don't have 604 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:27,080 to write all these down. I wrote them down for you. 3rd 605 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:31,200 question, am IA good steward of my wealth? 606 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,720 Am IA good steward of my wealth? Is God honored by my money 607 00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:37,440 management? I, I was talking to a guy, this 608 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,960 is years ago and, and he was like, yeah, I'm going to buy, he 609 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,760 was going to buy a $35,000 Harley, right? 610 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,280 And so I'm talking, I'm like, OK, you know, like that's a, 611 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:47,520 that's a big, you know, and he's like, yeah, he's going to help 612 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:54,400 me reach people for God. Now, here's the thing. 613 00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:58,760 Look, maybe I don't know, he doesn't have to answer to me, 614 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:07,360 but he's going to have to answer am IA good steward of my wealth? 615 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,280 Does it honor God? Now, if the answer to any of 616 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,840 those three questions for you this week is no, or I'm not 617 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:17,200 sure, maybe I don't. Maybe I don't have a good 618 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:18,800 financial margin. Maybe I don't feel like I'm a 619 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:20,440 good manager. It doesn't honor the Lord. 620 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,520 Maybe 3 suggestions to consider how you might address that, to 621 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:27,960 take steps. Here's the first start small, 622 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:31,400 but be disciplined. Again, test God. 623 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:37,520 He wants you to test him. Start small in generosity, but 624 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:41,800 be disciplined. Second, even more practical, 625 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:44,600 sign up for a financial management class that we're 626 00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:46,520 going to offer in the fall. You can Sign up today. 627 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:49,760 I'm going to definitely take one of these because I need help 628 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:53,160 moving my smudget into a budget. And maybe you do too. 629 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:56,120 So you can sign up for a financial management class. 630 00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:57,600 We're going to be offering these in the fall. 631 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:02,800 Third, open yourself up to accountability. 632 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,520 You know, we talk about accountability in every other 633 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:09,160 area of our life. If I'm, if I'm struggling with 634 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,920 sexual temptation, I, I, I get accountability in my life. 635 00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:15,200 I, I put an app on my phone and I, and I, and I put limits on, 636 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,720 on the Internet or I do whatever is necessary. 637 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:24,960 Radical accountability if necessary to ensure that I have 638 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:26,720 people helping me in this process. 639 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:30,800 Why not with finances? Why not with finances? 640 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,640 So go to your small group, go to that accountability partner, go 641 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:38,960 to that mentorship group and say, hey, I need help with this. 642 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,600 I need accountability. Don't do it alone. 643 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:46,680 Those are things for you to prayerfully consider this week. 644 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:47,880 All right, will you stand with me? 645 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:51,160 We're going to close this service with with a song. 646 00:39:51,720 --> 00:39:54,680 And as we sing, our prayer team is going to come up here. 647 00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:59,200 Now, we love praying for you. And I've told you before, it's 648 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:02,160 not weird to get prayed for. It's weird to believe that 649 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:03,960 prayer works, but then not want to get prayed for. 650 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:09,440 That's weird. So don't miss an opportunity as 651 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:11,120 we close the service to be prayed for. 652 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:13,360 If you need to be prayer for healing, if you need prayer for 653 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:15,840 some situation in your life, you need prayer for relationships, 654 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:18,000 you need prayer cause prayer is just generally a good idea. 655 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:19,680 It's a prayer checkup. Let's go. 656 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:24,360 We want to pray for you. You move as the Lord leads. 657 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:25,560 I love you.