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Give Your Finances To God Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. It's time to take some time with God,
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  Speaker 1: listening to what He has to say to us in
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  Speaker 1: His word, the Bible. And all this week we're talking
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: about the importance of trusting God with our finances and
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  Speaker 1: recognising that God has.
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  Speaker 1: Given us finances and money to use for the things
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  Speaker 1: that really matter in life, the things that are eternal.
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  Speaker 1: I want to take you to a few verses in
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  Speaker 1: the apostle Paul's 2nd Letter to the Corinthians in the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: as Paul expresses the heart of God here about our money.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what he says in chapter 9, starting in verse 10.
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  Speaker 1: God, who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food,
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  Speaker 1: and in this passage when Paul talks about God giving
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  Speaker 1: us seed, it's a word picture that he's using. He's
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: expressed earlier in the chapter to refer to the money
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  Speaker 1: that God gives us in life. God, who supplies seed,
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  Speaker 1: that's the money that God has given you through your job,
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  Speaker 1: your work, your inheritance, whatever.
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  Speaker 1: God, who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food,
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  Speaker 1: will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase
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  Speaker 1: the harvest of your righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: You will be enriched in every way to be generous
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  Speaker 1: in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
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  Speaker 1: God gives you money to use for Him. You will
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  Speaker 1: be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way.
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  Speaker 1: And this is why so often when we talk about
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  Speaker 1: the money God has entrusted to us, we use the
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: word stewardship.
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  Speaker 1: If someone is a steward of something, it means it
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  Speaker 1: belongs to someone else, but they've been entrusted with taking
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  Speaker 1: care of it and using it for that person. And
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  Speaker 1: so God has entrusted us with finances, not just so
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  Speaker 1: we can spend them all on ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: But to use them for him, they're his finances. He's
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  Speaker 1: entrusted to us, and he wants us to use them
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  Speaker 1: for him.
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  Speaker 1: Well, uh, how should we use them? There's so many
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  Speaker 1: ways we can use them that really express the heart
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  Speaker 1: of God, and of course the Bible makes it very
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  Speaker 1: clear we should be giving to our local church that
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  Speaker 1: God is using in our lives to shape us in
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  Speaker 1: so many ways and to teach us what we need
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  Speaker 1: to know.
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  Speaker 1: But also you think of other ministries. You think of
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  Speaker 1: the Christian radio station that's sowing this truth into your
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  Speaker 1: life every day. Yeah, uh, the organisation I work with,
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  Speaker 1: Ambassadors for Christ International, is helping churches be more effective
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  Speaker 1: at evangelism.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's something that's dear to the heart of God.
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  Speaker 1: My wife and I support Power to Change, which has
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  Speaker 1: ministry on university campuses, reaching students for Christ. There are
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  Speaker 1: prison ministries reaching inmates. The Bible Society.
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  Speaker 1: Getting the Bible out to so many people everywhere, missionaries
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  Speaker 1: that probably have come through your church who are carrying
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  Speaker 1: the gospel to other parts of the world, all of
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  Speaker 1: these things and many more, so many things, whatever your
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  Speaker 1: heart's concern is for that has to do with the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom of God, give, right? God has entrusted you with
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  Speaker 1: finances to use them for His kingdom.
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  Speaker 1: I like to kind of think of it like, uh, uh,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: we're employees, and we're on a business trip, and we've
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  Speaker 1: also been given some entertainment money. So we can spend
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  Speaker 1: that money on entertainment and enjoy it and not feel
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  Speaker 1: guilty about it. But we recognise that all the money
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  Speaker 1: belongs to our employer that's being used on that trip, right?
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  Speaker 1: God is the one who has sent us into this
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  Speaker 1: world with a mission. He's given us entertainment money as well,
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  Speaker 1: but it's his money, and the bulk of it He
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  Speaker 1: wants to use for His kingdom purposes.
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  Speaker 1: As you look at your own finances, what are you
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  Speaker 1: doing with them that reflects the kingdom of God and
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  Speaker 1: what God wants to do through you and your finances
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  Speaker 1: in this world.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.