Transcript
Speaker: Hey, welcome back to Grove Hill Church and our podcast here. Week by week, we get the opportunity to visit, to share, hopefully, some wisdom from God's Word as we try to give you thoughts to ponder, conversations to have around your dinner table regarding life and how to live it.
Speaker: In other words, we're going to tell you what to do. oh now just My friend John, my friend Kyle here joining me again this week. It's good to have Kyle back with us after he was gone last week.
Speaker: Topic today is going to be a really hard one. It's really controversial. And why? Because people don't like you talking about this with them. No. They just don't. And that may be one of the things we try to unpack here today. We're talking about money and the right attitude, the right perspective on money, not just what you do with it, but how you treat it, how you let it treat you. All those kinds of things. I want to start off with Matthew 621 where Jesus says, for where your treasure treasure is, there your heart will be also. That is just one of many, many, many places where Scripture speaks about wealth and money and contentment and what you do with all the things that God has blessed you. So I want to start with that question. Why do you think people get so touchy about the subject of money and material things? Yeah.
Speaker: I think we first have to understand that basically everything in this life in our human perspective hinges on money. ah The buying, the selling, the trading. You need money to buy food. You need money for clothes. There's yeah there's like a necessity there um in having money. And I think that's why ah the Lord addressed it so much is because he knew it was going to be an issue. Because something that we feel is so important to us, we want to hold really, really close to us. And then you get that struggle between who are you serving? Are you serving God? Are you serving money?
Speaker: Yeah, I think it gets real sensitive because we've had a bad understanding of what treasure is. we get We get this defining scripture that says where your treasure is. And our first inclination is, oh, we think about money. We think about the the gold, the silver. You know you go back 2,000 years, it wasn't always dollars and cents. Sometimes it was just the the tangible, like, man, where are the where are the riches at?
Speaker: But we've... appropriated this wrong definition and just put a horrible thing on it. So therefore, yes, it does touch everything we do every single day.
Speaker: And man, do we get up on the line of spending all that we have? So it therefore becomes an even bigger measure of hinge, you know, whether we are happy or satisfied or whatever. It's just a lot of touch points there. Yeah. Yeah. So for a Christian, the starting point on understanding what money is and why it's so important is beginning with this idea, this concept that is preached to us from the Word that everything belongs to God.
Speaker: Everything, physical, material, all of it. The Bible says that the earth is His and everything in it. So that's not a concept that preachers came up with to try to get you to give him more offering or whatever. That's literally a principle that's brought to us in the book of Psalms. So um he's entrusted this stuff to us. And what we tend to do is we tend to think of money as being stuff that we have earned and stuff that belongs to us. And I don't think God's primary concern is money and and how much we own. it says more more It's more a worry, a concern about how much our money owns us. Right. and how it directs our lives and our relationships, the priorities of our life, um trying to trying to make decisions about our future, those kinds of things. So what is the danger of money? Because money itself is neutral. right
Speaker: What is the danger of money? ah Going back to what I said at the end of what I just said, in that we then put it in a place of authority in our life and we start making our decisions based off of it. And so um we see men sacrificing their families yeah for money. We see people going into areas of immorality.
Speaker: for money. And you start exchanging the things that God has created for you ah for this thing that the world so strongly desires, right? And so once we start making that exchange of putting money in the place of God, and in that passage he's talking about, you you can't have two masters. Right. So the love of money is the root of all evil. And so once we once we put that dollar sign at the forefront of our mind and saying that's what we're following, then that just became your God.
Speaker: Yeah. And God doesn't share the throne. And so at that point, you were running the show. And so he warned us about that. Yeah, it's it's crazy how close blessing and curse can be to each other because, yes, God gives us the blessing of putting food on the table. Just simple, practical things, roof over our head, but then we start to change those, no, the needs to the wants. It's like, we do that real easy in American culture, but it's it happens very, very much so.
Speaker: yeah So if you start start from the perspective of God owning everything and then what he gives to us is basically on loan, you move from this idea that money is ours to the fact that we are stewards of what is given to us. What does that word mean, stewards?
Speaker: We are caretakers of something that is, I would say, in our possession, but it's it's not for an infinite amount of time. We are just trying to manage it and manage it well. To be a steward is to make sure that something's also flourishing yeah at the end of it. So we are...
Speaker: helping something flourish from x to Z. yeah From the time that it's coming into our bank account to the time that it's going out to be provided for something because it will also tell by the things that we invest in. So yeah, stewarding is, i would say, almost even synonymous to investing. yeah And that stewardship doesn't just...
Speaker: isn't justified by the financial things that we're given. um You're a steward of your child. yeah God is giving you that child, and and that child is His.
Speaker: ah But for a time here on earth, you're you're called to steward what He's given you. And so we can get mixed up in that too, and we can make our child the king of our life and the number one thing, and we're out of priority of what God has designed it. So same thing with money. Whatever comes into our hands is given...
Speaker: to us by him and we're called to be stewards of that money. Yeah. You touched on this just a minute ago already, but I think it's the important next step in our conversation about money. The Bible tells us the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It doesn't say money itself is evil. And that's evidenced by the fact that some of the key characters of the Bible, Abraham, Job, Solomon, all of them were blessed by God to have money. right yeah So money itself was not an issue. It is the love of money. Where does that take us as as we...
Speaker: begin to think about planning for our future and planning for our kids' future and trying to provide for our homes. How do how do we overcome that desire to fall in love with the provision versus using the provision? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: We have to understand that we're not guaranteed the 20 years, um but we have to be wise with our money and to plan for the 20 years, right? And so there's this balance of just being led by the Holy Spirit with our money in the fact that I think it would be foolish not to plan for any type of future. um But it's dumb also to hold on to things expecting that there's going to be a 20 and 40 years. And so being in tune with the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to speak into those areas, and if if there's a call to give and you feel the Holy Spirit leading you, and then that's the position you should you should be in. There's plenty of places in Scripture where it says they stored up in the storehouses, but then there's also the first fruit that went directly to the Lord. And so just reading Scripture as it is and plan for the future, but we also know that there's no guarantee for the future. And so being loosely held in our hand, those things that we store up. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. So wealth itself is not inherently evil. In fact, right now, just off the top of my head, I can name two families here in America who, at least originally, as they became very, very wealthy, still held very tightly to their standards. One of them is Truett Cathy, the founder of the Chick-fil-A franchise, who became a millionaire primarily because of his honoring of God through his business. ah The other one is um the Walton family.
Speaker: The original Walton family that set us established Walmart, Strong, strong traditional Christians. Another one's the guy charge of Hobby Lobby. So there are guys, there are current examples of people who love Jesus and keep him as a priority and have been blessed with lots of really, really good wealth.
Speaker: And so it's not a matter of whether or not you have a lot that causes you to love money. There are people who are poor who love money. The owner of CAP, the heavy equipment operator, at one point I heard that he was tithing 90% and keeping 10%. I mean, he was like, he had the money to do so and he just put him, he got to put him in that position and that's what he chose to do. But things like that. Well, money is a seductive thing because it promises a lot to us. oh iss true you know yeah If you don't have money and you see someone who does have money, you go, man, if I only had that. If I had a car that ran, a house that didn't need repairs, a beach house where I could go to, if I had these clothes, this job, those kinds of things, it's really easy to fall into that trap of believing
Speaker: If I just had those things. um But it it never does. It never delivers. It doesn't make any of those promises come true to you. In fact, most guys who have money will tell you about the headaches they have revolved around money. Over-promise, undeliver, under-deliver. And I think what money does is, more than a lot of other areas of you know temptation, sin,
Speaker: it almost just opens the floodgates to more sin. You know, there's some places where it's, it's kind of like a stopping destination. Yes. Sin can be perpetual and it can kind of, you keep staying in that cycle. But whenever I think scripture, we see that it speaks against the love of money. Yeah.
Speaker: We know that that can open up so many doorways into other areas greed lust, you know ah go on and on and on and and really just kind of creates that separation and Almost this false sense of sourcing that it it can't really create it does not have fulfillment It doesn't have joy. It doesn't have all those things, but we think it does. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah We're going to get to this idea. i mean, I know this is where you think we're headed because we're three ministers sitting here talking on a church podcast. We're going get to this idea about giving and what you do on that side of it. But I think the Bible strikes a very, very strong balance between the whole giving aspect and just managing money wisely. You know, there's this responsibility we're given. God gives it to you, expects you to be a steward of it. What do you do with that money and how do you use that in an effective manner? So talk to us a little bit about that subject for us. What...
Speaker: I think it mean to be responsible. Well, I think of the story of the talents, right? Yeah. And you can take those as many ways as you want, whether it's an actually physical money or if it's what the talents God has given you, your treasures, your time, whatever it may be. But he gave those those three men, you know, the master did gave those three men different ratios of money and someone buried it. Right. And I gave him back the exact amount. and he's like, that was foolish. Right. And then someone multiplied it, right? And did more. And so it's like, what are we doing with what God gives us? Are we just ah harboring it for self or to impress him? Or are we taking it and multiplying it and and putting it it to to work for the kingdom? And so ah money is phenomenal.
Speaker: for getting Bibles across sea to getting missionaries across seas. And so the the large companies or the the wealthy man that sits there and donates to missions, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it pushes the gospel into areas we can't.
Speaker: And so it's, what are you doing with the money that God gave you for the kingdom? What are we doing for the kingdom? Yeah, I think too, ah from a generational aspect, man, we get so much from the way that our grandparents, parents did stuff. So as I look at my own personal, you know, um monies that God gives me whenever I, you know, get the the check in the direct deposit and I go and look at what, you know, i have to go spend on things. right I have to know what what I said earlier, what are needs and what are wants.
Speaker: And we have a really bad labeling problem here in the country because what we'll say is, well, I have to have my vacation. What do you mean no vacation? ah So we have this really horrible labeling problem, and therefore it gets our families into these really, really tight situations where we can't steward the funds that God gives us well.
Speaker: Right. Reading scripture, I think there's very clearly four things that God expects regarding money. One of them is that we're going to work to earn it. The Bible talks very much about laziness and idleness. It it honors the man who works for that and the one who works to take care of his family. Those are things are spoken of very highly. I think the second thing is he wants us to spend it wisely. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: ah not to be frivolous in the way we spend it, not to be silly with the way we spend it, not to waste it on things that don't matter. He does encourage us to save responsibly. In the book of Proverbs, it talks about the ant who works hard to store up. Even God's creatures have been trained to do that, to prepare for things. You walk around outside right now, you're likely to get with an acorn. That's right. Yeah, but squirrels are working really hard right now. You'll find those in your shop later. So saving responsibly. And you were talking about this just a minute ago, ah saving for emergency, saving for retirement. There are some people who believe that saving for retirement is not putting your faith in God.
Speaker: and And I totally disagree. um We talked about this Sunday in the sermon. You pray to God for safety, but you still lock your door at night. yeah yeah But even even in then, like say say you're you're saving for retirement, you're storing up, you're But if the Holy Spirit were to come in and press on you to give it, yes give it. If you listen to the story of Francis Chan, yeah there was a time in his life where God asked him to give everything he had back to the the kingdom, right? And he did, and God blessed him. And so it's still storing up, but then being in tune with the Holy Spirit. Right, absolutely. He might have a task for you to do with the things that you've stored up. Yeah. I think the fourth thing that the Bible is very clear about here, and we're going to unpack a little bit more of this in just a second. It warns us over and over again about being in debt and what debt can do to you. And I would say that's probably one of the top two things that create problems for families and marriages in our culture is that we too quickly assume debt.
Speaker: It's just assume that you're going to go in debt to to buy a house. It's just assume that you're going to go in debt to buy a car. Nobody thinks twice about that. And I'm not speaking for or against either one. I'm just saying that the Bible says be really, really careful what you do. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: When you put your family in debt for certain things. It says the borrower is slave. Correct. Slave. Yep. Yep. So let's talk a little bit about generosity. The Bible speaks highly about generosity. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul encourages people to...
Speaker: Let it be a personal decision between you and God, but that it's an absolute expectation of every follower of Christ that they will be generous with what they do. It doesn't speak specifically as to what generous looks like because it's different for every individual.
Speaker: um Talk a little bit more about that. what What is generosity for the believer? What does it look like? How do you handle that? You've already mentioned this a little bit about staying in touch with the Spirit. Speak some more on those things. generosity Generosity starts in the heart.
Speaker: ah At some point, the giving of the monetary things, it'll it'll stop if it's not a first originating in the heart kind of um source where God changes the man's or woman's heart and where God starts to morph into those things where he says, man, it is better to give than it is to receive. It is better to do those things than it is to continue to consume as the world consumes. I love what Paul does.
Speaker: I can't remember which church it was, but he speaks to the Corinthians, and I believe it was about a former church. Antioch? Yes, I think so. But he talks about the outrageous giving that they were doing and says, be like them. I mean, Jerusalem. Maybe the church of Jerusalem. I'll have to go look that up. But as he's talking about this, he commends this. yeah and And it's, in fact, talking about a church that didn't have as much money as the Corinth people did. right And it's like, they get it.
Speaker: You should get this because it changes not only the way that you handle money, it change changes the way that you handle people. Because if you work out of a place of stubbornness and and greed, sometimes you end up having so much less and not just the money of things in life. You have much less even relationally.
Speaker: think the generosity comes down to who it belongs to in the first place. yeah I saw this youth pastor one time, he before his sermon, before things started, he found a kid and he gave him a $100 bill and he said, hey, at some point during the sermon, I'm going to ask for a $100 bill. I want you to come up here and just hand it to me. Yes, sir. So he gets into the sermon and he says, hey, does anybody have a $100 bill? Kid raised his hand. He said, okay, come on and give it to me. And the kid goes up there and gives it to him. Everybody's looking around like, whoa, that was easy, you know? And he said the reason it was so easy for him to give that $100 bill is because it wasn't his to begin with, right? He was just giving out of whose it was. And so he said, if those of you who have $100 bills in your pocket, um you'd be so resistive because that's yours.
Speaker: And so when we realized that the things that we have on this earth... aren't ours the originator is christ and god who gave them to us then it's so much easier to be generous with those things that we're giving away and so that open-handedness of allowing the lord to pour in and then us being generous with what he gives us that's a good illustration i'm sitting here trying to figure out when i can steal that one for church let's go like that i like that one a lot All right, this has been a pretty pretty generic, pretty low-key a thing. Let's spice it up a little bit. Uh-oh. Let's go. I have no hundredies my pocket. Is tithing still a biblical responsibility for Christians?
Speaker: Go ahead, John. Yes. Yes. I say yes emphatically because of these things. And I'm not going to um you know dance around it other than the fact that Jesus Christ himself...
Speaker: reiterated, do not forget the law that was already in place. It says continue as I am continuing to build upon where Christ talks about the things of keeping yourself pure. Whenever we think about a sexual type of ah conversation, he said, don't even look at a woman ah because if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery. The same thing whenever we look at the money. What did we see in the Old Testament?
Speaker: that they they had their offerings that they would bring forth. there was these firstfrus It was these It was these tithes, so to speak. And Christ says, don't forget it. And we see where Paul reiterates this. You mentioned 1 Corinthians 9.
Speaker: People had to give. Like there was this nature of the greater sacrifice has been given now. So we give in light of that, not of the sacrifice that was menial compared to what Christ did.
Speaker: It's an easy one to debate, right? Yeah. Because it gives us an excuse. Yep. But like what you said is almost Jesus doubled down on the things that were already there. He said, you say lust or you say adultery, I say lust, right? You say murder, no, I say hate and it's murder. yeah yeah And so everything he took was was to amplify it. And so basically, you say 10, let's go more, right? yeah um But ah um lost my train of thought.
Speaker: Go ahead. That's right. So what you're referencing, I think, is in Luke where Jesus is talking with the Pharisees and he says to them, you know what, you guys, you're you're squabbling over things like the cumin and the dill and all those other things. He said, you should be continuing to tithe on those things while not forgetting the other stuff. Mm-hmm. So I hear friends all the time and I love them to death and and it's not a divisive thing who say to me, the New Testament does not affirm that and you know that command from the Old Testament to be continued. I'm like, Jesus said it right there.
Speaker: How many times does he have to say it before you believe it? Again, I think it's a way we try to squirm out from under what Jesus wants us to do. Now, if you want to talk about what the Old Testament really teaches, scholars have estimated that it was actually closer to 35% of the income that God required because there were all these other offerings and sacrifices that went along. So the fact that Jesus is backing down to 10% should make us even more grateful that we live under the New Testament covenant.
Speaker: But I think for me personally, as I have prayed through it and read through Scripture, 10% was a starting point for me and my family. That's right. God has blessed me in so many ways. It's like your your kid in that example. I want to go, God, you've given me so much. Why would I dare squabble over anything? yeah Because my next dollar is going to come from you just like my last one did. That's right. I think the maybe give generously, that's my...
Speaker: train of thought came back. Got the train back. i I think the give generously can be almost an excuse because if i if I put myself in that position, I'm going to be the one who determines what generous is, right? And my flesh is going to involved with money. i'm going to say, oh, generously, I can give 5% this month. Maybe next week I can give 15. But I'm going be the determiner of that. I think that standard of 10% is like that guideline, like you said, the starting point. And it's like like there's our tithe,
Speaker: And then there's our offerings, right? And so the tithe would be like, man, this is what I'm going to give as a commitment to the Lord, as a commitment to the church. I'm going give that tithe. But then when a missionary comes in, I'm not going to pull out of my tithe to give from that. I'm going to give offering to give above and beyond. And at the end of the year,
Speaker: That 10% is long gone, right? The 10% is long gone, and it's a generous way to live. Yeah. So regardless of whether you believe, as the three of us, I think obviously our consensus here is that the tithe is still something that the Lord expects of us. Whether you believe that or you believe, hey, just being generous is is the way to go as a Christian. Mm-hmm. What you cannot deny is that we are compelled over and over and over and over again throughout the New Testament to be generous and givers at heart. If you look at Acts, when the church was first starting, they sold everything that they had, right? right And they put it towards the furtherance of the gospel. yeah And so, let's go. And to John's point, Paul several times applauds different churches for giving during famines, to give to blessed churches that are getting started. um you know you have to You have to do a whole lot of theological gymnastics to get around the idea that God doesn't want us be to tie some things together. like We just talked about, you mentioned Paul again giving to these churches.
Speaker: and some Some of you out there may be thinking... Well, why am I giving to my church? you know what Why do I give an offering to my church? Why can't I just give it to the Red Cross? Well, let me give you a little bit of a slice of history.
Speaker: Paul was going on some of these missionary journeys to plant churches for the first time ever. Some of these, the first churches in Europe. It's like we have the opportunity to go plant churches to do gospel work. And I'm talking about churches ah nationwide, even in the Southern Baptist movement.
Speaker: So why not give to the churches where, yeah, you're asking the questions of how do we how do we give these funds? How do we position these funds? Once you figure that out and you're putting it towards gospel work, why would you not want to give those over and above offerings to say, man, I want to see God do an amazing work and I'm just going to trust him and be faithful as he has been faithful. Yeah. A couple other really important things that that I feel like we need to talk about. One of them is just learning to be content.
Speaker: Learn to be content. i I used to have some friends early on, like a friend I had seminary. I knew him for about two years while I was in Fort Worth, Texas. And in two years, he probably had seven different jobs. And every time I would ask him, why are you changing jobs? Well, I'm making more money. I'm making more money. And I get that more money is a has a value to it, but there comes a place where, where what are you learning about loyalty? What you learning about commitment? And more importantly, what are you learning about contentment?
Speaker: Learning to be okay with what God has already given you. To me, contentment starts with a heart of gratitude. yeah That first dollar, be thankful for it. That fourth dollar, be thankful for it. And realize it really isn't you that's been given the capability to do that. It is God who's been giving you that capability to go out earn those things. I'd to say probably one of the biggest things that feeds our discontent is the comparison to others. Keeping up with the Joneses. Which is only made worse by social media. media. yeah if you have a trouble If you have trouble being content, um social media is not your go-to. right You probably cut that out of your life because um the anticipation of what others are doing makes you feel like you are less than or left out. And so that's what leads to the Destin Orange Beach
Speaker: you know double annual trip you know semi-annual trip whatever for people want to go on the vacation because it's what you do yes well if it's what you do is putting you in debt then you're making a wrong decision right and so if you can't do those things on top of your giving on top of your um uh tithing yeah and then do it without debt then that's a freedom that god gives us that's okay to go on vacation yeah i want to share shouldn't be a detriment real life testimony on this Y'all know that I have stepped way back, almost entirely off of social media with rare exception. And I have to be really, really honest. I drive a 2004 Ford F-150 that's beat up, scratched up, it's got rust marks, paints, yeah that kind of stuff. About a year or so ago, i was getting just about every day ads for new trucks. yeah Even new used trucks, you know, that kind of stuff and all that kind of and I could feel myself, I'm ready to go a car shopping, I'm ready to trade this vehicle in. ma i Here I am a year later still driving the same vehicle.
Speaker: But i I can honestly tell you I am so content with that truck because it gets me where I'm going. yeah Even though your backup camera sucks. It sucks. I'm like, what what is happening here? I think i probably took that out on Barbara's truck one day or something. Yeah, so yeah you do. you You don't realize. Listen, let me just put it to you this way. The guys who run Madison Avenue and all the entertainment and all the advertising in America, they are brilliant at what they do. It has to do with money. And there's a reason why they spend billions of dollars putting commercials on at certain times and in certain places. So they know, hey, if I'm going to appeal to this middle-aged white man who wants a truck, this is what I've got to do. yeah And they're good at it. yep And it's why it's literally why the second you have a conversation with someone out loud about a certain item, that item starts popping up Popping up all over your thing. Yes. And you know what?
Speaker: ah you You watch... yeah I mean, just watch the habits of what happens on TV when you're watching shows at night. Every single night, you notice how the food commercials stop popping up? They know that's the time you start getting the munchies. That's right. I mean, they've studied human nature down to the nth degree, and they take advantage of it. You want to not be affected by those desires being planted in your head? Then turn off the TV, walk away from the commercials, get off the social media, and learn to be content with what you have. right.
Speaker: There's a lot joy in that. All right. One last thing want to throw out there. Our money should reflect our eternal priorities. Still in Matthew 6, this is a good verse. We all should remember. Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and your backup camera stops working and all those important things thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. What is Jesus talking about there?
Speaker: What's his command about? Whew. Storing up things of eternal value Stuff that's gonna last way beyond us and our breath ah You mentioned it Kyle We're not guaranteed 20 years from now But we sure act like it sometimes with the way that we make decisions so know where our treasure is and know what our treasure looks like. We don't even know the indicators of what treasure is. That's why when we say, you'll even see some people look at scriptures and when you see treasure, their automatic thought goes to money, things. No, when we have the better idea of ah our faith, our relationships, our spiritual relationships, then we get a better grasp of what treasure is in heaven.
Speaker: Yeah. Yep. All right. I'm going wrap up with six rapid fire questions. You do not have more than 15 seconds to respond. Okay. We're just going to wrap this up really quickly. All right. Question number one, is it wrong for a Christian to want to be wealthy?
Speaker: No. No. Okay. Good. I agree with that. Okay. Number two, God, does God promise financial blessings to people who are faithful with their money? No. Oh, look at that. We're on a roll. We're agreeing very quickly. All right. Should Christians leave an inheritance to their children?
Speaker: Yes. Yes. All right. Yay. We're for three, for three. I've got scriptures going through my head. By the way, there's a passage of scripture in Proverbs 13, 22, where it literally says a righteous man leaves an inheritance for his grandchildren. doesn't mention your children, so just leave them out, just for the grandchildren, all right?
Speaker: ah Number four, should churches talk more or less about money? Golly. Appropriate amounts. load Yeah, listen, I'm just, and this is probably hard for a pastor. I'm one of those that goes, man, I don't want to hear about your money requests all the time. And I get i get very sensitive about preaching too much about that.
Speaker: But there is a reason why Christians don't like to talk about money, and it's because Satan has convinced them it's theirs and not God's. you have to look at how often Scripture mentions money. Yeah. And it does quite a bit. It mentions it in the way we handle it, the tithe, the um the heart, all that kind of stuff. And so it is a topic to be discussed for sure. I'm going to go more than 15 seconds. It's not a lead indicator. It's a lag indicator. It's it's not because we do dave ramsey with i didn't get this from Dave. I just got this from ah Uncle Dave bad mistakes. ok But it does it's you mentioned it out of the the decisions that we make with our money shows our heart. And so I think us addressing the discipleship issues of a man or a woman's heart and teaching and preaching to that. Yes, we need to talk about money, but I think there's a good ratio right now. All right.
Speaker: I'm going to point this question at you and let him handle the last one. All right. Question for you. What should we teach young adults about money before they get married?
Speaker: Um... What should we teach them about money? Besides all the wisdom you've already shared. It comes and goes. Oh, that's It comes and goes because um one day you'll have more than you ever thought you would. And then there'll be some where you're asking for, where are my pennies? Let me look in the couch. That's so true. It comes and goes. It is. I just think of my marriage alone and yeah the time that I've been married, the times that we were like...
Speaker: where is this coming from? yeah And then other times where we're receiving a drop of groceries on our front door because we can't afford it, right? yeah It's just, it's you're right. I remember about 12 years ago looking at my wife. This was when I was traveling speaking to hospitals. And I looked at my wife one day and I said, I am making more money right now than I have ever made my life and I don't know where it is. yeah It was crazy just how it disappeared. And then, you know, went back into ministry. Yeah. And suddenly we've got more money hanging around. Sure. And it's just a change in your priorities. That's right. You know? All right. Last question for you.
Speaker: How should a Christian respond when they experience financial hardship despite the fact that they're being faithful to God? uh yep i think of uh the manna when the daily bread was provided and it was they were wanting more you know that he could have given less but each day he sent something to sustain them and so regardless of your behaviors the lord provides and a lot of times we shoot ourselves in the foot financially um we're the one who wants the dot dot dot we live paycheck to chip paycheck
Speaker: And so a lot of time it's our doing, but there are times when things are stripped back and I think it's for us to to daily rely on him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's good.
Speaker: I do, unless you're closing out, I do have one more story in regards to this. um When we were doing DTA this year, the Disciple Training Academy with our students, um I asked all our students, I said, if you were king for a day, what would you do? Mm-hmm. And it kind of reveals the heart. i would do this. And it really involved wealth, finances, the ability. And some kids did good things with it, give to charity, all this kind of stuff. And at the end of it, I relayed to them that Jesus is king for eternity, and he chose to wash the disciples' feet, right? And so regardless of what we receive on the financial side, It all comes down to where our heart is, right? He could have fed all the poor.
Speaker: He could have solved world hunger. He could have done all these things, but his heart was to serve, and he served those closest to him. And so with your finances, ah God's put you in a place, whether you have $10 a week or $100,000 a week, God's put you in a place to reveal your heart to people, and that's to be generous.
Speaker: You're not always going to have control over where your money goes or when it goes or how much of it goes. You know, government has a say all that other stuff. But you're always going to have it control of your attitude. That's right. All right. We'll sum this up with four quick statements about kind of wrapping up everything.
Speaker: Understand that God owns it all. Number two, we've been given the responsibility to manage it. Number three, money must never be allowed to master us. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And number four, what we do with our money and our material well-being should always honor him.
Speaker: Yep. right. Let me pray for We're going to wrap it up. Father, I thank you for today. And I do thank you for every good and perfect gift because the Bible says it comes clearly from your hand. And that gift is beginning just with our life. the The breath that you put in our lungs, Lord, what a gift it is to have another day, to be around family and friends and to get to walk this earth and to enjoy the company of other believers. Lord, all those things are gifts that we should be grateful for.
Speaker: And I pray, Father, that the relationship of those who are listening to this this podcast today is one where um their love of you is the priority of their life. It'll put everything else into perspective, Lord. Our finances, our homes, are our material blessings, our health, all those things are put into perspective when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So for those who are listening today where money's become a struggle for them, Lord, I pray that they would be willing to do a little bit of introspection to take a look at their heart to see where they are and what's going on and see if maybe, just maybe, the problems with their finances are not because of what they own.
Speaker: but because of what owns them. We love you, Lord, and we thank you for the gift of eternal life, the best gift ever. That's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Come back join us next week. Hit the like button and share with your friends. And if you're in the area, we would love to have you come worship with us. We are now in our new facility, 8 a.m. No, no. Oh, no, no, no, no. Going early on. He's starting a third service already. I already started a third service. No, it's at 9 a.m., 1045. Come join us. We'd love to have you. If you have questions, anything else you'd like to talk about, let us know, and we will see back here next week.
Speaker: Bye.
