Latest / The Salt Company Denver / Instruction Manual For Life | Proverbs 11 Money and Finances | Colin Provart

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Instruction Manual For Life | Proverbs 11 Money and Finances | Colin Provart · The Salt Company Denver

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, Salt Company?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Come on.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, this is the energy I want.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is good.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, it's good to be with you guys.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: It feels kind of weird.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: It just feels like I've I've spent some time away from you guys.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is the longest I ever went without teaching at Salt Company, uh, because it was Ben last week.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't Ben do a great job.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Come on.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh then it was spring break before that, and then it was Josh before that.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because while you guys were on spring break, uh, I was gonna say I was up to something.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was definitely not up to anything other than watching basketball.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: My life was up to something though.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because we welcomed Piper on March uh March, wow, that is the big picture of me.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I let Brooklyn choose, I let Brooklyn choose the picture.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And my head is bigger than hers.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is hilarious.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we welcomed Piper on March 22nd.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: She's awesome.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: She's the best.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's been so fun to be a girl dad.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're wondering, do you sleep?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: The answer is like yes, in one hour stints, like four times over the night.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so I'm pretty tired.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll just see what comes out tonight.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like uh running on no sleep.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: It should be pretty fun.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh hey, raise your hand if you joined us for Easter service over the weekend.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Man, it was so fun to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ with you guys.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was gonna that's better.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm just thankful for what God did.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the work he's doing on college campuses, but just in our community in Arvada, in Golden, in Denver, that he's allowing Storyline to be a part of.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll hear more about this later, but I want to invite you in even more to what God's doing because over the next two weeks, we're gonna celebrate just how much God is doing, that Jesus is alive, reigning, and ruling, and still saving people.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what we celebrate over the next two Sundays is baptism, which is declaring not just that Jesus has defeated Satan's sin and death once and for all, though he has, but that he's still doing that in individuals' lives.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: That he walked out of the grave so that you too can walk out of the grave of your sin, so that you're not no longer bound by it, but live to him.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are actually people in the room that are getting into the waters of baptism over the next two Sundays.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna invite you to come back to celebrate them, but that actually might be you.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: That maybe what God's stirring in you is that I actually need to declare that Jesus has rescued me.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna declare it in the waters of baptism.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's not too late.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: We can get you baptized over the next two weeks.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so come find one of our staff members.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love to have you do that.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have a question for you before we jump in.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: My question for you is this what is something that you know a lot about?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe a better way to ask it would be if I had to put you up on the stage to have you do a TED talk, a 20-minute talk, no notes off the dome.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing your TED talk on today?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Don't need to study for it, don't need to prep for it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Turn to the person next to you.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's cooking, a book, uh, sports.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: What do you know a lot about?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can bring it back in.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone say music?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like a or a specific artist?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: No mu okay, maybe like some Swifties in the room, okay?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like three of you, more of you should raise your hand.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You guys like music.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Your Spotify hours would tell me otherwise.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, be bold.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Keep your hand up if it's music.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: If it's music, I saw a few of them.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, name every song you've ever listened to.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right, how many of you, how many of you have said something with sports?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're afraid.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're afraid.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you know something about like college basketball, March Madness?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh shoot, no.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay, sports.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone sports?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Name every Division I school.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sport of your choosing.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you think you can do that?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Name every player on that on the team of every Division I school.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you like books?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're like really afraid.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're like, I'm definitely not raising my hand.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um recite to me your favorite book from start to finish.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: In the beginning.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Three three words.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh name every book ever published.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're probably thinking, man, Colin, that's a ridiculous question.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, though that amount of information is unknowable.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no one could ever possibly know that information about any one of those questions.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, it is knowable information.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can like theoretically study and get to know all those things.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, maybe you're sitting here like, I actually know myself really well.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know information outside of myself, but I know myself really well.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: How many hairs are on your head?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Cells in your body.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: See, here's the thing.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: We think we know a lot about things, and we may know a lot about things compared to other people.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: But when put up against all information of any one subject or all information anywhere, most of us know hardly anything at all.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: We don't actually have that much information in our head, though it is knowable information.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what I want you to see is that there actually is someone who knows all that information.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: That person doesn't need to study for it, didn't need to be quizzed on it, wouldn't need time to think about it, but could answer any one of those questions easily.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: God Himself knows everything.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: All knowable information God has.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't need to recall it, he just knows it.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so if there's someone who knows all knowable information that there is to know, and that someone wrote a book of the most important information that there is to know, would you read it?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So some of you know where I'm going?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the Bible.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: You should read it.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: When you finish reading it, you should start it again and read it again.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: When you finish that read-through, you should start it again and read it again.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we can have a conversation about it when you have it memorized, start to finish.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you're uh some of you are new, and that's that's great.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we're so glad that you're here.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new, we have a gift for you.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, if you're new, here's what I here's where I'm going.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Is that there is a God who knows all knowable information.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's written a book of the most important things to know, and what you'll find in that book is a book that tells you about who that God is, what he's like, and what he's done for the world.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but you're all you're also gonna find in that book some really practical things.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like prayer, right?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Faith.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: What it means to have faith, what it means to pray.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but what if I told you that in that book that the one who knows all knowable information has written of the most important things, more than faith and prayer combined, that book talks about money.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: That is, in fact, the Bible, and that's what we're gonna talk about tonight.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're actually gonna talk about money and finances, and here's what I want you to see.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Here's kind of the main point that we're gonna come back to again and again and again, and that is that money is powerful.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Money's powerful.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it matters.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And here's why we're gonna talk about it.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because there are God and there are worshipers.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And those worshipers can worship God or they can worship money, but they cannot worship both.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And here's really what I care about.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And here's kind of what this series is is kind of all centered around.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've done college ministry for a while now, and here's what I hear from friends that have graduated, or people I've ministered to from when they were freshmen all the way to when they're seniors, and they graduate and they're like, yeah, following Jesus was great, but it was like a real it was really good for my four years.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm kind of figuring something else out.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like giving my life to some other things.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like some other stuff has become a little bit more important.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like church is good and I go sometimes, but it's not a priority.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what I want you to understand is I want you to understand that my heart for you is not that you have a great four-year experience or just that you have a great four-year experience of following Jesus, but that your four-year experience in college while following Jesus is actually a springboard to following him for the rest of your life.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually think how you think about money will dictate if that is true or not.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think that if you want to be someone who's crossing the finish line of life, leaning into all of who God is and all of his kingdom and what it means to participate in that, then how you think about money is incredibly important.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna talk about it because it matters for you.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Here's where we're going.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in Proverbs 11 to start, but don't get married to Proverbs 11.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be all over Proverbs and really all over the Bible, and so just buckle in.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're gonna be a lot of the Bible.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, here's where we're going.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Money's powerful, and here's how we're gonna see the power of money.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see that it's revealing, it has a revealing power.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: It has a it's it has a power that's a force for evil, and it has a power that makes it an incredible tool for good.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Money is in fact powerful.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 11, starting in verse 4, this is what it says.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna read one verse and then we're gonna get going.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath, but righteousness rescues from death.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what Proverbs 11 is contrasting right away.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you can either kind of live your life aimed at wealth or righteousness.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the question I want to ask you from Proverbs 11 is this when life kicks you, what are you gonna trust in?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, inevitably, everyone in the room is gonna get kicked by life.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: It just happens.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Live long enough, something bad's gonna happen.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And do you trust in godly living that, like, godly living is gonna take you through?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you trust that money might somehow rescue you from it?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to see is that money is powerful and it has the power to reveal what you trust in.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Money has the power to reveal what you trust in.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you get uh screen time notifications on your phone?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say like 30% of the room.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: The other 70%, you just feel too guilty about it.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: I know it.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: You're like the moment those automated things came up, you're like, I'm turning that off because I don't feel good about myself when I see it.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what's true you meah, you screen time notifications, you can justify it all you want.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like I use my calculator for claps.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're so lying.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's just like that's like five minutes of your screen time.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: You're probably going to people like, I don't have any time, and you're like, see this notification for your screen screen time swipe.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like four hours a day on Instagram, I have no time, you know.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not done, I'm not gonna soapbox on screen time.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, I'm done now.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what's true.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless of how you justify it, your screen time notification or the screen time on your phone tells you what is true.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can justify it in any way you want.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I fell asleep with it open, whatever you want.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna give you the facts, it's just gonna reveal to you what's actually true about the way you use your phone and how often you use it.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: That is exactly what the app does.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to see is that money does the same revealing power of what's in your heart.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: If I want to know what's in your heart, I'll just put a sum of money in front of you and see what you do with it.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because what money has the revealing power to do is show us what's actually in our hearts.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what Matthew 6 says don't store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust destroy, or where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where where thieves don't break in and steal.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want you to see verse 21.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a Bible, I want you to underline verse 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we want to qualify it, justify it, and make it clear in a different way.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the words of Jesus are actually pretty straightforward.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can love treasures on earth or you can love treasures in heaven, but you cannot love both.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can love treasures on earth, you can love treasures in heaven, but you cannot love both.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so what money's gonna do is it's gonna reveal what's also what's ultimately true.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what I also want you to see is money doesn't just have the power to or yeah, money isn't just have revealing power, it actually has leading power.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I should have maybe made this a point.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a point, but it but it's true.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you want to be a generous person, I so often hear I will give my money away when I start feeling generous.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to feel generous, you'll start giving your money away.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like you actually lead your heart to what you should feel, you don't react to what you feel.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to be a generous person, start giving your money away because that's the road to generosity.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Where your treasure is, I'm actually active with my treasure, there my heart is gonna be.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if I want my heart to be in a place, I'm gonna put my treasure in that place first.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my question for you.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: If I gave you$10,000 today, what would you do with it?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, be it be actually honest.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, I'm gonna give it all away.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like liar up until two minutes ago, you know?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: I know for myself, like if someone gave me$10,000, I'd be like, hmm, there are some things I have been wanting, you know?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know, I don't even know what I'd spend it on.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: But like, it and I'm not saying it'd be terrible, but like I'd probably get Rachel something nice, maybe me something nice, maybe like redo something in our backyard for Kyler.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And like those things aren't bad, but I think it reveals what's true.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I really want to provide for my family and make my family's life really comfortable.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'd redo my countertops, I don't know.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Something cool.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's the point though.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take$10,000 that I hypothetically give you for you to ask the question what do you do with the hundred dollars that are in your bank account today?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, if I had$10,000, I'd be generous.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure that's actually true if you're not generous with the$100 you have today.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because money reveals what's true in our heart.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the other thing I want you to see about money and it how it's revealed to us, look at Proverbs 23.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean I like I said, I'm gonna take you around.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to just trust in the screen, that's fine.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what Proverbs 23 says don't wear yourself out to get rich because you know better.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love Proverbs, it's hilariously practical, you know?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's like don't wear yourself out to get rich, you know better.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Stop.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: It makes wings for itself, it flies like an eagle to the sky.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: So money's revealing and it's fleeting, it's here one day and gone the next.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: But again, it continues to reveal something true about what we trust in because we think money can do something that it actually can't.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's revealing something that's true of our heart, but it also reveals the way that we foolishly trust in it.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because we think that the money we store up will last forever and that it can be can make us unstoppable.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you a few things that can't stop money.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Cancer, Alzheimer's, death.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like, have you seen the guy who spends like a million dollars a year on his body and who has like a biological age that's 20 years younger than he actually is?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yeah, maybe it buys him a couple extra years, and I don't mean to be morbid, but have you seen what happened to Kobe?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he had money, he had it.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: He was in a helicopter because he hated traffic.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's true.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: How about Steve Jobs?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, wealthier than potentially everyone in the room will be combined.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like, Steve Jobs was so wealthy, had access to the best technology in the world.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Cancer didn't matter.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've told you the story of Jack Whitaker.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Story of a man who wins half a billion dollars in today's money by playing the lottery and then ends up throwing his life away and filing for bankruptcy, losing his daughter to an overdose.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to see is Jack Whitaker wasn't ruined by money.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Jack Whitaker had a dark heart and money just revealed it.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Money is powerful and it has a revealing power.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's fleeting.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like we try to trust in it, we try to give it ourselves to it, only to realize that it can't hold what we put on it.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: It has a revealing power, and so many of us trust in it for something it was never meant to be trusted in for.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what I want you to see about its power is it's not neutral.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like it doesn't have a neutral effect on us.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: When we trust in money, it doesn't have a neutral effect on our lives.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you look with me at Proverbs 30, this is gonna reveal to us that money and our trust in it isn't neutral.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Give me neither poverty nor wealth.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Feed me with the food I need.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, I might have too much and deny you, saying, Who is the Lord?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't I don't know the prayers that you pray, but I know if I'm honest with myself, I rarely pray this prayer.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Give me neither poverty nor wealth.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Feed me with the food I need.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, I might have too much and deny you saying, Who is the Lord?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying I regularly pray to be phenomenally wealthy, but I rarely am like, God, if you give me a little too much, that would maybe be bad news for me.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like, well, God, if you happen to give me a little too much, it's okay, I'll be a little generous, right?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Great, it's just me who like maybe struggles with a little bit of greed in here.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Goodness gracious, you're leaving me out on an island here, people.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's the prayer you pray, but it's not often the prayer I pray, but it's probably the one I should pray.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's what Proverbs 28 says.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: A faithful person will have many blessings, but one in a hurry to get rich will not go unpunished.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna go on a quick soapbox here.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna acknowledge it.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit off topic, but it's kind of on topic.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, how many of you have seen on some sort of social media platform a get rich quick scheme where they're like become a you know social media, I don't know, what do you call them?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh the people that like test products, review them, and you like all of a sudden are a millionaire overnight.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Influencer, no, but you get what I'm saying.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm talking about.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, affiliate marketer, right?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, maybe that.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: You get what I'm saying.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Or they're like, invest in real estate, it won't go wrong.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Or they're like, uh, I don't know, like start an Airbnb.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's like with what money?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if you borrow money from this person and then give it back to that person and then don't tell that person about the money you took from them here, it'll all be okay.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like that will never work.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So this is free.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Get rich quick schemes never work.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Ever.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: They always overpromise and underdeliver.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's free.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but this is probably what you haven't thought of.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let me say one more thing about that.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: If a get rich quick scheme actually worked and it actually got someone rich quick without any work, everyone would have done it.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Literally everyone.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's free.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let's keep going.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Even if there was a way to get rich quick.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like if there's a way to like click this button and become phenomenally wealthy where you never need to work another day in your life.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure you should click the button because God is telling you that working hard is producing something that He wants from you.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like hard work actually makes you a godly person.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever thought about that?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I bet you you didn't think that the Bible talked about get rich quick schemes.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now you do.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: You've learned something tonight.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: How about that?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's keep going.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so here's what I here's what I want you to see is like working hard actually produces something good in you.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I just handed you a ton of money, what the Bible is telling us through the Proverbs, and what I've found to be anecdotally true, is it doesn't often turn out well for that person.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because money is an incredibly powerful thing, and that powerful thing often is a force for evil.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: You see, at first we work hard for money, but if we're not careful or sorry, at first money works for us.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: It does what we want it to do, but if we're not careful, you start working for money.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Here's another way to say it you want money to be a tool in your hands, but if we're not careful, it quietly becomes the master of our hearts.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: We want to use money, but money ends up using us.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's incredibly powerful, and that powerful force of money often becomes a force.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: For evil.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Look at, uh, or I'll just read it.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to turn there.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: First Timothy six, nine and ten.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: But those who want to be rich fall in temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many griefs.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Friends, money is incredibly powerful, and that power can be an incredibly strong force for evil.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so my question for you is do you love money?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, honestly, take an honest assessment of your life.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do you love money?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: How would you fill in the blank of this question?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: I will be happy when I have.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you are like incredibly good planners and you're like a full 401k.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Good for you.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you just love thrill and you're like a car that is like my dream car.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: The zero to sixty.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you say that house.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Close.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like a status that can be purchased.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: When I say money is a force for evil, what I don't mean is that I think the majority of the room is using money to do evil things intentionally.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Though if you are, you should stop.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think that's true of the majority of the room.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of the room just thinks money's neutral.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not careful, it starts to control you and control your life.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because you love it and you just need a little bit more of it to satisfy you.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I want to be really honest with you.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: When I like sit here and prep this stuff, I'm not like, ah, this is gonna get on.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like what I don't, I'm gonna get to this.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: What I don't, what I'm not out for is like money just flow.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna put up a QR code of how you can give.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna try to convince you that like when you give, I get more of it.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm gonna start driving a nicer car because I convinced all you guys to give money, or that storyline's bottom line is gonna change.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm trying to convince you of is that I've is what I've seen in my own life that when I don't check myself, I end up loving the things that the world puts in front of me.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: I love the new clothes and the new car.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I sometimes it's not even bad.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love planning.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I want money for Kyler and Piper to go to college, and I want money to retire, and those things are not all bad, but I can become so obsessed with them.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Making sure everyone else is taken care of, as though money can take care of people more than God does.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Friends, I'm with you in this.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to throw grenades at you.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to invite you into what God's actually doing in me, that if you don't check yourself with money, even when you don't have a lot of it, it will consume you, become a god to you so much so that you end up worshiping it and say, Who is the Lord?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not what I want for you.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: But there's another kind of power that money has.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna paint this picture for you.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what Proverbs 19 says kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord, and he'll give a reward to the lender.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, what Proverbs 19 is reminding us of is that God actually multiplies your investment.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, a lot of you, maybe some of how many of you would consider yourself financially savvy?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do another.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Come find me after, guys.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, I go to the school with the best ROI in the country, and I have no idea what to do with my money.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like we're gonna talk about this, okay.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, this is a side note.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was a little bit concerning, I'm not gonna lie.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So there's this little thing called interest.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: You put your money in, you get more money out, okay?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: We we know how this works.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: You like invest money, and then your money makes you money.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's it's this crazy thing, okay?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: You guys should do it someday.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what Proverbs 19 is reminding us of.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys are like so financially savvy, you're like, if I invest$100 a month, like even now, but because of compound interest, by the time I retire, that like$100 a month when I'm in college is gonna become like a million dollars and I'm gonna be rich.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Got you.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's like nice.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's awesome.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: That actually is how compound interest works.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: You should check it out.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: You should probably invest at some point in your life.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: But the greatest thing you can invest in is the kingdom of God because God actually is an investment vehicle.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: You give him money, you just won't see it in retirement, you'll see it in eternity.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you're like, yeah, but like what if like what if I like I get like compound interest?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so what if I didn't give the thousand dollars today and I gave like the$10,000 in like 25 years?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like the compound interest of your thousand dollars would would have been way better for you in eternity.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: So God actually, like the kingdom of God is actually an investment vehicle for your money.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the moment you believe that, your world is gonna change, and your eternity might too, because of the compound interest you'll get, but that's another time for another day.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, Proverbs 22 a generous person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I need more participation.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm losing you guys talking about money.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're uh you're like, I don't have any, but you're talking about it.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what to do here.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know, that's why, but hey, I'm gonna get there, don't worry.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, how many of you have heard the saying it's better to give than receive?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like Christmas.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I know who's sleeping in here because you're lying if your hand didn't go up.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's better to give than receive.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just like a quippy saying that people say at Christmas because it's cute and fun and people get the warm fuzzies inside.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually woven into the fabric of who you are that God has made you to be a generous person who gives things away more than a person who consumes other people's generosity.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like God's made you to feel a certain way when you experience or when you begin to participate in generosity financially, with your time, with the giftings that you have, like when you give away what God has first given to you, you're actually becoming the type of person God wants you to be.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it actually makes you feel a certain way.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I want you to see is that God actually, in generosity, wants something for you.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that that generosity is a tool that can be used for good.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so some of you may not know this, so let me just give you a quick history lesson.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you have been to a hospital that's named like Lutheran something, Presbyterian something?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, you're like, why?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's kind of weird that they call it that.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Here's why they call it that, because churches gave money so that hospitals could be started.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know the first hospitals in history were started by Christians?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like the fourth century, hospitals started because they're like, okay, God has told us to care for the vulnerable and the sick, and so we're gonna start institutions that care for the vulnerable and sick, and we're gonna call them hospitals.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, maybe it's orphanages.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like orphanages were started by people who had resources who wanted to see the kingdom of God come to specific places.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Educational institutions.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, those are not people's generosity, that's me paying for it.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, you're totally right now.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: But originally, like, people's generosity started finding educational institutions like Harvard so that people could actually be educated with the word of God and go and train and teach others on what God has said to be true of the world.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's generosity.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: So many social reforms were started by Christians who absolutely were convictional about certain things, but also who wanted their generosity to help bring the kingdom of God to other places.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I feel so here's what I'm passionate about tonight is I don't want you to leave by feeling like, man, Colin yelled at me that I'm a bad person for how I use my money.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to catch a glimpse and a dream of how your money can actually change the world.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I think we actually need to be a little bit more creative on how gospel generosity, on what God might do with our gospel generosity.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, would he take the gospel to unreached places because you worked incredibly hard from your nine in your nine to five, maybe even worked overtime, so that you could earn extra money, not for the sake of yourself, but for the sake of the gospel going to places where it's not yet.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: My sister wants to give her life to 20 years on the other side of the world to translate the Bible into a language it hasn't been translated into.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: She lives because other people work hard in sacrifice.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the greatest gospel investment that you could make.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you are gonna be so generous that your campus is gonna be so changed by your gospel generosity that in 10, 20 years it'll be impossible for a student to for someone to be a student on your campus and not hear the good news that Jesus loves them, has died for them, and has purchased an inheritance for them that they can receive by faith.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because of your gospel generosity.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's actually less like long-term.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just, man, I have a vision for being generous with my roommate so much so that they can't help to see God's generosity to them.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: And here's how that generosity often looks it often looks really ordinary.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think a lot of us want extravagant generosity.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: I write a million-dollar check that I get my picture by, where I have a ribbon cutting ceremony for something epic that I become the hero of.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: And friends, that's not gospel generosity.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's like greedy generosity.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Gospel generosity looks like giving to ordinary people and ordinary places that do what ordinary work looks like.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let me give you a picture of gospel generosity.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Our church.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like these lights.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: 5,200 adults got to hear the gospel last weekend.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because of everyday normal generosity.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you and give you another example.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, side note.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, side note really quickly.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how many of you have had your lives impacted?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be fun.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be fun.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you have had your lives impacted by one of the six residents on staff with Salt Company?
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll name them.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like Ben, like just like it could be something he taught, it can be something Gabe taught, it could be a conversation in the lobby.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Keep them up, keep them up.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Ben, Gabe, Ashton, not see, it looks like I'm being tested.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Jonathan, uh, Nate, and Brooklyn.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: I got them.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, hold them really high.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: One residence.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is pretty cool.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for your hard work.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're kind of getting to the end of the semester, and uh, the six of you, I'm so proud of you.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love you.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the Bible tells us to bring honor to whom honor's due.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: We honor you guys and we love you guys.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so proud of you guys.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: But keep yeah, you can clap for him.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: You can clap for them.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna make you put your hands back up.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna make you put your hands back up.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna make you put your hands back up.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what's true about all six of those people is all six of those people rely on the generosity of other people and you don't know any of their names.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's a list somewhere of hundreds of names of people that give anywhere from five to$250 a month so that your hands could be up right now.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: You can put them down.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know their names, but they care enough about you to give money even when they won't get the credit for it.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's gospel generosity.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's what generosity looks like.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is unknown, unseen little amounts of money that actually have a profound impact over a long period of time.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe for you, what generosity looks like is beginning to be generous today.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like when we handed out, I don't know, 300 some Bibles on Easter, those Bibles cost eight dollars.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe for you it's like, I'm just gonna give a Bible a month for my time in college.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give eight dollars a month to Storyline or to the church that I'm a part of.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And here's, I'm gonna be really honest with you guys.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is me saying, like, we're not out for your money, really, truly.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because if everyone gave eight dollars a month, like someone would probably be like, that's kind of cool, but it like probably wouldn't change the bottom line of storyline all that much.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not gonna like change, fundamentally change the way we do ministry.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: If everyone in this room started giving$8 a month, but here's what I promise it'll do, it'll start to change you.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: If I told you it costs you$10 a month to become the person God wanted, if if God told me it cost me$10 a month to become the person God wanted me to be, I'd start with 15.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's less about how what you're giving affects what you're giving to, and more about how giving makes you the person God wants you to be.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Luke 16 reminds us whoever is faithful with very little is also faithful with much.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever is unrighteous in very little will be unrighteous with much.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you, you will not become a generous person when you have money.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: You'll become a generous person when you start to give whatever amount of money you have today.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you, I do not want something from you, I want something for you.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Money's one of those weird things because it has a lot of power.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: It can do evil things to us and it can do good things through us.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, money, we all are failing with our money.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: We love it, we want more of it, we see it as more powerful than God in a lot of ways, and as a tool for our own kingdom building.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: But what you need to be reminded of is that money is never gonna satisfy you.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ever.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Ever.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: It always overpromises and under-delivers.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like money won't make you happy.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm just gonna say as many of the things, even if they're redundant as I can, it can't, you can't have enough of it, give enough of it, do enough with it to satisfy the longings of your heart.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, what we need in our life is not earned and is not purchased, but is given to us.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Generosity is not something we initiate, it's something that we respond to.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because what the real need you have in your life is not more money, it's something that it's it's a response to sin.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: We all struggle with it, and what's funny is we try to buy our way out of sin.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: We try to buy it through generosity, we try to buy it through like, man, sin has corrupted my body, and so I'm gonna invest in my own body so I look a certain way, or so I live a certain amount of time.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or even we try to respond to sin in silly ways by like buying our way out of it.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're mean to your significant other, you're like, I'm gonna take him on a nice date tomorrow, you know?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like we try to buy our way out of sin, but sin isn't something we can buy our way out of.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: No matter how sad you are, an experience isn't gonna fix it.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: No matter how scared you are, a savings account won't satisfy it.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: And whatever status you think you need, more things won't actually give it to you.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: What we need is to respond to generosity that's been given to us.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Second Corinthians 8 9 is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says it says, For we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich for your sake.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: He became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's the gospel.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you're new here.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to hear is not some guy telling you how you should or shouldn't spend your money, because we could do, man, a hundred of these talking about stewardship and investing strategically and what that means.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, man, I don't give all my money away.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: I do invest for retirement.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: I do invest in my kids' college accounts, though I haven't started for Piper.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Piper, but you're two weeks old, you'll be fine.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um like I I like am trying my best to do what I can with my money, but ultimately what I don't want you to hear is that you need to do something great with your money, but the one who owned everything did something great when you had nothing.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: The one who owned everything was phenomenally rich, looked at your poverty, your spiritual poverty, that you could do nothing about, and said, I care enough about that to leverage my life, to give my life so that you can share in the inheritance that I have.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: The good news is that Jesus went to the cross when you were a sinner and was victorious over Satan's sin and death, so now you can have an inheritance that only Jesus Christ deserves and earns, given freely to you when you place your faith in Jesus.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: That is the good news of the gospel, not that you're generous towards God, but that God has been phenomenally generous towards you.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so, how do you respond to God's generosity?
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Do you say, here's a little bit of money?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's actually far too small of a response.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think when you're the way you respond to God's generosity is you say, God, here's my wife.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Everything I have is yours.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna end quickly by telling you a story of someone that responded like that.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Any of you know uh the story of a man named William Tyndale?
• 39:39
  unknown: Yep.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Great, more of you should, but more of you are gonna know after tonight.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: How about that?
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, William Tyndale was a 16th century uh academic scholar preacher in England.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time in England, uh having a Bible was uh really illegal.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: The state controlled the church, and so the Bibles were only available in Latin, which means only high-class people who had access to it could read it, but even then they were really hard to come by, and so really only some priests and clergy were able to read the Bible.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: So most priests and clergy didn't even know what the Bible says and were teaching from what the church had taught them.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the church over time had kind of drifted away from the teachings of the Bible.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: They were teaching to pad their own pockets and to give themselves power.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so throughout the years, people had kind of pushed back on the state and pushed back on the church and had been executed for doing it.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Enter William Tyndale, who's convinced that God has been so gracious to people that he wants people to know it, that there's nothing outside of faith that saves people.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's quoted with saying this.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to ensure that a boy that drives the plow would know more of the scripture than a clergy.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so Tyndale would give his life to it, but I want to tell you about someone else who probably none of you have heard of, unless uh you've done a lot of Christian history.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a guy by the name of Humphrey Monmouth.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: Humphrey Monmouth also lived in England in the 16th century.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's wealthy, he's a merchant, he's not a preacher or a scholar, but a man of conviction.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: In 1523, Tyndale and Monmouth meet.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Monmouth appreciated just how simple of a gospel Tyndale presented and the conviction that Tyndale had, and so Tyndale shares his dream of translating the Bible into English so the layman can understand it with Monmouth.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: And Monmouth said, I love that dream.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want to do anything and everything in my power to make that dream a reality so you can live in my house.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'll feed you, I'll clothe you, I'll give everything you need so that you can do the work of translation.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the police would end up uh learning about the work that Tyndale was doing.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: Tyndale's a criminal at the time, Monmouth is a criminal for housing Tyndale, that Tyndale ends up fleeing to Germany to meet with a guy by the name of Martin Luther.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: Martin Luther translated the Bible into German.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: So Tyndale is now in Germany doing the work of translating a Latin Bible and the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts into English, into the Bible that's in the seat in front of you.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Just so we're clear.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is the work that Tyndale is giving his life to.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: He ends up finishing the New Testament, but he's been so exiled from England that there's no way to get these New Testament translations of the English Bible back into England.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: So he calls his friend Humphrey Monmouth.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: Says, I know you've worked your whole life to like leverage everything you have for this to become a merchant.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Access, influence, money.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: Could you help me out again?
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: All throughout Monmouth's life, he's been helping Tyndale and he says, I got you.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: So he gathers all his merchant and trader friends and they begin smuggling English Bibles back into England.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: One New Testament translation at a time.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: So now a baker and a blacksmith are reading the Bible in a language that they understand.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Monmouth would be so committed to this work that Tyndale's doing that Monmouth would end up getting arrested.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: Here are the charges.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just read them to you.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's smuggling in books from Luther, he's aiding Tyndale in translation, he's helping the New Testament printed and multiplied throughout England.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: He believes that Christian men should worship God alone and not the saints in the church.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth one.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's arrested for this, for affirming that salvation is by faith alone, without any works.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Monmouth has so much influence in the economy that he ends up a year after he's arrested getting set free from prison because he goes to uh the like legislators at the time and he's like, your economy is doing so poorly with me in prison, you should let me out.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so they did.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: True story.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, a few years later, Tyndale is arrested.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: He finishes his translation uh of the English Bible in prison, and after he finishes the translation and then it's snuck out of prison, Tyndale's executed, hanged, and then burned at the stake.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: A year later, Humphrey Monmouth is also uh also dies.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: They never see the work that they'd given their life to, prayed for, or fulfilled.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: The thing they'd prayed for, the thing that they'd given their money, their time, their energy, their life to.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: But two years later, after each of them has has died, their prayer is answered because in 1538, the king of England says it's now legal for every household in England to have a Bible.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so Tyndale's work that Monmouth spent his life sponsoring ends up becoming the King James Version of the Bible that has now been translated in different ways, that is now the Bible sitting in the seat in front of you, and that you have access to on your phone.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: You see, the story of William Tyndale is really the story of two men.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: Story of one that's a scholar with courage, and it's a story of another with resources and influence to see what God might do through his gospel generosity.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: And together they ignite a movement that would put the word of God into the hands of really ordinary people like you and me.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to see is that God is going to change the world.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's what he does.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: And what I want to invite you into is that your generosity, however big and small, might just allow you to play a small role in the work God's gonna do to change the world.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for you.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that you would protect the hearts of people in this room.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: God, I know how quickly my heart can fall in love with money, can fall in love with.