Latest / Citipointe Church Caboolture / Lord of Me | Ps Rachel Eaton

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Lord of Me | Ps Rachel Eaton · Citipointe Church Caboolture

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Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
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Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
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take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
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you and build your faith, but it helps you have more of a God
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perspective for your day. Enjoy.
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When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice.
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When we as a people thrive out there, they're going to rejoice.
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And so the mission is to partner with God to make sure that we
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are thriving. We are introducing a new series
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and it is my pleasure to do so. This morning I was actually
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going to start this message with a personal testimony of what God
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has done in and through my life and my family.
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But I'm decided not to because I don't actually want to limit
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what God wants to do in you and through you through my
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experience, because if I'm honest, I've got more more space
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to grow here. This is not a message for you
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who are are new at this or or have not responded to God in in
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this area. It's such an important subject
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that we're going to bring here this morning, but there is more
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for every single person in the room.
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And I pray that there be receptiveness to what God wants
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to breathe because He's breathing.
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God is moving and we get to align with where He's taking us.
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And He's fun. He's so good.
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So this morning we are speaking about money.
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Pastor Graham's away, says a little bit of cheek.
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Coming out this morning, we're talking about money.
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Why do a series talking about money?
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Why don't we just open up God's word and talk about the love of
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God, right? Fun fact, if you actually when
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you open up your bibles you will find over 2300 scripture
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references directly talking about money, stewardship,
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prosperity. Did you know how many verses
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there are speaking about the love of God?
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Roughly over 500. What up, Lord?
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Maybe, maybe, just maybe, it's a really important subject.
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Perhaps God wants to move in this area of your life.
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Perhaps it's actually deeply connected to who we are and who
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we serve. What would bring God pleasure in
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this space for you? What is His will, his perfect
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pleasure in your life. In regards to this area, I want
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you to open up your Bibles with me to Genesis 128 where you can
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read along on the screen. It says then God blessed them
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and said, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and
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govern it, reign over the fish and the sea, the birds in the
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sky and all the animals that scurry along the ground.
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Do you know He actually wants you to be fruitful?
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Turn to the person next to you. He wants me fruitful, fruitful
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to multiply, to have dominion. This is actually the heart of
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God for you, and it's not just for you, as Pastor Mel so
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beautifully sowed the vision this morning.
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It's actually not just about us. When we thrive, the people
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rejoice. If we want to see reformation in
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our region, these chains have got to break over our life.
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We actually have to be a people that walk in abundance, that
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walk in generosity, that walk debt free, that walk faith
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filled, mission minded, ready for revival, ready for what he
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wants to do. Ladies, do you remember Layla
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this week was speaking about being ready, prep, preparation.
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So we have to prepare and be ready for what God wants to do,
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not try and just scram in the in the moment and try and catch up.
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No have a preparation and intention in this area in our
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life. And you may be filled with
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questions right now. Well, if God wants me to have
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this, why doesn't he just give it to me, right?
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And doesn't the Bible say that money is the root of all kind of
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evil? Hold up.
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You're missing a very important word in there.
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No, the Bible says that the love of money, in other words, deep
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greed, is the root of every kind of evil.
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It's not ungodly to be prosperous.
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It is not ungodly to have things.
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But we fall out of alignment when things have us.
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You see, money is a power. I think it's can't find the
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scripture here somewhere in Proverbs, it talks about money
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as a power, an enabler and an enhancer.
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See, I think it was passed to Rick over here years ago,
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actually spoke from the platform about money and he he associated
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it with an ER, hold on, just let me get there.
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You see, money doesn't actually change who you are.
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It enhances who you are. It heightens who you are.
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Now, more of who you are gets to come out.
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It brings out the ER. If you are a happy person, money
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will make you happier. If you're a greedy person, more
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money actually makes you greedier.
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If you're a generous person, more money makes you more
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generous. If you're a stingy person, more
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money makes you stingier. If you are an anxious person,
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more money's actually going to make you more anxious as it
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comes. You'd start stressing out about
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where it's got to go and if you're doing the right thing.
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It actually heightens anxiety. If you are a selfish person,
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wicked or lazy, more money will make you more selfish, wickeder
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and lazy. ER, it brings out the ER.
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But let me tell you, if you're a person who is mission minded and
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aligned with what God wants to do and what He wants to breathe,
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if you're following where He's going, then more money is going
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to bring about an enabling. It will bring out the ER and
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enhance what he wants to do in you and through you.
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Are you partnered with Jesus? It doesn't change who you are.
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It heightens it. It enhances it.
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It's a little bit like a pipe. Let's imagine you've got a tap
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here and you turn it on and outcomes some dribbles because
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there's a block in the pipe. And when you turn on the tap and
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dribbles come out. That's often how money feels
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like it comes to us, am I right? You know, drip at a time.
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Some drips are a little bit faster than others.
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So more money is like removing that block.
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Now whatever was banked up in that pipe is going to come out
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with full force. It does not change who you are.
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It will enhance and it will heighten.
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It's an enabler. It brings out more of who you
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already are. So friends, if, if there's a
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misalignment there, if there's if, if you are not aligned in
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God's purpose, more money can actually bring great damage to
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yourselves, your families, the House of God and society.
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So we must it must be aligned in God.
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He must be Lord in this area of our lives.
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Here we are Proverbs 22 seven. It talks about money being a
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power. So I want to open up to Psalm
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6211, which reads this. It says God has spoken plainly
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and I've heard it many times. Power, oh God, it belongs to
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you. All power belongs to him.
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All power, all blessing, all glory, all honour belongs to him
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who sits on the throne. Power must belong to Jesus.
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God is not apologetic about this subject of wealth, which begs
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the question, why? It's because money is never ever
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just about money. Money is about lordship.
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So the title of this message this morning is Lord of Me,
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because money is going to compete for your worship.
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Who sits on this throne today? Today is an introduction to a
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series, what the Bible actually says about money.
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We're going to bring content from a book called God, Money
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and Me. And I'd actually encourage you
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all to be reading that throughout this series.
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It's from Paul Dijon. That's called God, Money and Me,
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which I'm yeah, I do encourage, like be listening to this.
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Allow this to permeate and saturate you.
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We've got to, we have to bring change into this area in our
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lives. So this series is going to
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highlight, it's going to highlight God's heart for you
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because we can get confused through circumstance.
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We see things through our circumstance and our
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experiences, not always through God's heart and his will for
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you, which is found in here. So we're going to highlight
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God's heart for you. It's going to address mindsets,
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myths, and it's going to bring about biblical understanding
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that if you allow that, if you allow, you are invited.
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Just say yes to the invitation. If you allow, it's going to lead
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you into levels of freedom and faith.
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But this has to start with understanding who really sits on
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this throne in the area, in your life.
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Money is not separate from us. It's actually deeply connected
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to who we are. And you might go, that's not
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very Christian. I'm connected to Jesus.
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I'm not connected to money. I'm not connected to that filth.
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Why don't you open up your Bibles?
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Actually, let's open it up right now to Matthew 621, because I
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read here it says wherever your treasure is, there the desires
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of your heart will also be. What is that saying?
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That means that my money is actually connected to my heart.
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Wherever I place my money, their shows what I value.
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Their shows what I care about. It is connected to my heart.
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Your money is attached to what you value.
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Your money is attached to what you care about.
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It's attached to pretty much who you serve, and the Bible says we
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can't serve 2 masters in this area.
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It's a great revealer, Matthew 624 reads.
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No one can serve 2 masters. You're either going to hate 1
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and love the other. You'll be devoted to 1 and
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despise the other. You can't serve God and be
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enslaved to money. So who is God of you in this
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area? And I would encourage you to
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maybe not answer this so quickly because sometimes we, we can
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give a really quick response. I'm so guilty of that with quick
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responses. But instead of just going, Oh
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yeah, yeah, God's God's Lord, I would I would entreat you this
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morning to maybe just sit and ponder the question.
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Who really is Lord in this area? You can go.
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Jesus is my God. I am surrendered.
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It's the Lord who sits on this throne.
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The Bible actually cautions us that says that they honor me
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with their lips, but sometimes their hearts can be far from me.
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I want to show you something in God's Word.
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We just read. What was it?
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Matthew 621 and Matthew 624. Guess what is sandwiched in the
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middle of that Scripture in the context of money.
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Let's bring up Matthew 6. Where are we?
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Matthew 622 Sandwiched in the middle of these two verses, It
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reads your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your
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body. When your eye is healthy, your
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whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy,
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your whole body is filled with darkness.
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And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, then
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how deep is that darkness? So let me ask you, if we're
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talking about money in Matthew 621 and we're talking about
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Matthew money in Matthew 624, is Matthew 622 then all of a sudden
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off topic? And then we go back to money.
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Are we talking in the context of money and generosity?
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Yes. In case you didn't know, this is
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a, this is a scripture directly related to generosity and
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stewardship and money. And it says the light that you
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think you have may actually be darkness.
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That means we I can have judgements on myself, on
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ourselves, judgements, opinions, a self-confidence, self assured
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thoughts about who is Lord in this area in our life.
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This is not just for people who are new here.
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This is for leaders, this is for pastors, this is for me.
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So we've got to look at this and go the light that we think we
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have. That means that we can think
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that we are full of light. But it begs the question, is it
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possible? Is it plausible that we may have
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an unsurrended area in our life? That maybe Jesus is not directly
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on the throne in all areas in this space?
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Submission to His Lordship. It's not measured by our
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perceptions, our self assurance, our own judgments or opinions.
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It's actually measured by His authority.
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There's got to be a willingness that goes beyond a willingness
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that goes beyond a willingness that says, yes, Lord, no matter
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what. That means a willingness to
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surrender instead of just singing about surrender to
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actually come back and go, you know what?
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I'm going to allow you to press on my life and I'm going to
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choose to live surrendered wherever he presses.
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And I pray for every person here that where there may be a
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stumbling block, that where something has a hold on you,
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Holy Spirit, I even pray right now that you begin to highlight
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that within people, Lord, where you aren't Lord Jesus, where
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there is something that takes a greater place in your heart.
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I pray right now a receptiveness, I pray you
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highlight it, Lord, in Jesus name.
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I remember years ago, friends of mine, we were in church singing
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that song of surrender that says strip me back of all of my
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pride, my possessions, until all that I seek and all that I want
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is your presence. I remember being in church as
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this song was being sung and I looked around and I saw my two
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friends Jalen and Lucy. And does anyone know who they
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are? Amazing missionaries in Vanuatu.
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I looked over to them and watched them sing this song with
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tears streaming down their face as they counted the cost for
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what God was asking them to give up.
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He was asking them to lay down everything, everything, to go
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and be missionaries in Vanuatu. These are friends of mine that
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we would go out, we would have coffee, We did Thai food.
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Man, when he made dips that were Mediterranean, his family's
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Mediterranean. Oh, like you can't pay for how
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good this stuff was. We loved to catch up.
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They were a regular people, regular couple with regular
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children, just like you, just like me.
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And they started counting the cost of what God was asking of
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them. These guys had a business, they
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had a home, they had a beautiful home, they had cars, they had a
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respectable career. But Jalen had a beautiful,
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respectable career. Lucien ran a successful
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business. Their children were in private
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schools, their wardrobes were full.
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They had a boat for goodness sakes, and God asked them to
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give up everything, to go and be missionaries in Vanuatu.
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And they laid it all down. They sold everything,
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everything. So when they went over to
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Vanuatu and after serving and spending some time in the island
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with no income, no income, an agreement was made for them to
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be able to purchase a home and pay it off.
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How is that possible? It's not possible.
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Let me tell you about this home. It's 5 acres of land on the
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beach, the beach. It's not near the beach, it's on
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the beach. Their backyard is the Pacific
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Ocean and this way is 5 acres. And the provisions don't stop
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there, but it's seek first God's Kingdom.
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Seek first the Kingdom of God, then all of these other things.
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They'll be added unto you. But do we know what it is to lay
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down our will and pick up God's will?
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Do we know really what it is to put money on the altar and
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dethrone it and put Jesus on this throne?
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When you lay something down on an altar, it the altar doesn't
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actually belong to you, it belongs to Jesus, and He is good
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to take care of what belongs to Him.
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This is where faith comes in. We've actually got to trust in
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His goodness, trust in His Lordship.
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When you put it down and you dethrone yourself from this seed
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of money, all of a sudden you've got the King of Kings and the
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Lord of Lords who wants to breathe and wants to bring
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freedom into this area. He wants to break chains over
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your life. He wants to renew mindsets.
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What your parents live does not have to be your story.
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What you grew up in does not have to be your future.
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Your experience does not have to be what your child has to go
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through. There is a better way.
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There's release for this region and we're invited to partner
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with what God wants to do, but he has to be Lord.
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He's got to be Lord. He takes responsibility for that
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which belongs to him. Let's read Second Corinthians
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98. It says, and God will.
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Can you say will God will generously provide all that you
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need? Then you will always have
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everything that you need and plenty leftover to share with
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others. When can you actually keep that
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scripture up there on the screen, please?
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When you read this particular scripture from God's Word, the
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Bible, and you hold it up as a stencil.
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Oh, a stencil stencil. Someone's been a SWB.
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If you hold this Scripture verse up as a stencil and you put it
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over your life, what's it look like?
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If I'm being honest here, not all of my lines are neatly
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colored in here. There's more, there's more.
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This is the heart of God for you.
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His will is His Word, which says that there's a generous
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provision. Not just a provision, a God
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generous provision, having everything that you need.
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Do you have everything that you need?
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Do you have everything that you need with plenty leftover to
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share? Is that what it looks like?
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I've got, I've got people that I want to, I want to extend
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generosity to, yet I've got I've got room to grow in this area.
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There's some things I pray God that you align me in this area.
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Align me, bring me into your perspective and what you want to
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do. Call me higher, Lord.
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Call me higher God, because this perspective doesn't always match
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my reality. There's people that I see in
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shopping is that I'm like, Lord, I wish I had $300 extra to pay
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for that person's groceries today, but I don't.
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I've got family members that I want to purchase houses for.
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If I wanted my parents, if they needed a place to come and stay,
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I need the means to be able to provide their own space for
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that. I'm like, Lord, there's more
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need. I am a chaplain at a school.
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I've got 1000 kids that need to come to a scripture union camp
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and hear about the goodness of Jesus in my region.
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The stencil that's not always coloured in.
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So I'm like Lord call me higher into your perspective, bring me
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lower. Lord call me, show me, reveal to
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me Holy Spirit what it is that I need to know that I can walk in
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this in Jesus name. The security that money promises
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must be dethroned. Jesus must sit on this throne.
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I want to show you a picture. Just a very brief demonstration
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of what Lordship looks like in this area of your life.
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Yeah, Yeah, I know. Prop queen.
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Uh oh. Can someone help me?
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Thank you. Kingdom has have kings, right?
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This is the first prop that's gone badly.
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Thank you, Josh. Josh is here.
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He's coming to save the. Oh, we got it.
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It's all right. The girls have got it.
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Thank you. I actually like that.
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It matches my outfit planned by Jesus.
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Kingdoms have kings. Kingdoms have citizens.
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Yes. So when when we're talking about
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lordship especially, we are talking about money, but this
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applies to any area of our life. When when people come to
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Australia, refugees, they seek out refuge in Australia, they
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actually give up their everything to try and purchase
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citizenship into a nation that provides safer security, right?
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So and they will give up their lives, they will pay as much
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money as they can to come into a citizenship that promises A
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safer, A safer living experience.
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We are have been invited into a citizenship where Jesus gets to
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be Lord, where he gets to reign. And so this is the picture of
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Lordship when I live under this umbrella of His lordship, I live
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not just within His protection, I live within the realms of
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everything that this Kingdom provides.
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I live in safety, I live in security, I live in prosperity,
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I live in abundance because this is the realm of security that is
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provided within God's Kingdom. Here's your scripture.
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Submit to the Lord, resist the devil and he must flee.
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And you're like, what does this have to do with anything where
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there is submission to God's lordship?
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Wherever in your life Jesus gets to be Lord.
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Wherever you place Jesus on the throne in your life and go, God,
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you have access here. You have access with money, you
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have access in my relationships, you have access in my attitudes.
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You have access, Lord, with my life.
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Every area that gets thrown down on the altar where Jesus gets to
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be Lord, you live within the protective barriers and the
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coverings of His Lordship. You live within the realms of
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everything that this Kingdom has to offer you.
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Now let's have a look at that verse backwards.
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We're going to tip it up on its head.
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When there's no submission, where there's no surrender in
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any area of your life. See, this is more about just
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inviting Jesus to be Lord of your life.
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This is about inviting Him to be Lord over every area.
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Any area in your life that is unsurrended or unsubmitted to
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God means you lose the power to resist the devil because you're
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playing in a Kingdom that does not belong to him.
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And the devil has a legal right. He has legal right out here
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outside of God's protection. The devil is here to kill, to
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steal and destroy. It's not a playground where
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there's fun. It's a playground that's going
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to eat you from the inside out under this umbrella when you
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live undercover. That's the definition of
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lordship is where you have invited God to be Lords of that
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area of your life. It's where you've put something
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down on the altar and here you live and you breathe and you
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exist within the realms of His protection.
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So many people ask the questions.
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Why are my finances always a mess?
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I even tithe. Oh, I know, I've got some some
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silence out there then. The Bible actually even says in
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there that the the Pharisees were careful to tithe even the
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tiniest part of their income. Guess what?
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God didn't have their heart. This is so much more than a
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percentage. It's so much more than than a
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gift. This is about surrender.
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Who sits on this throne? Who sits on the throne?
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Any area in your life? You're like, oh, Lord, actually,
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yeah. No, I'm not really into the
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tithe. I just want all of the benefits
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of the Kingdom without actually signing, without paying for the
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citizenship. He's paid for your citizenship,
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but that means that it's got to belong to him.
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We got to lay it down. People do this in all kinds of
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areas in their life. I mentioned relationships
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before. You might be in an ungodly
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relationship and you're like, why does it just never seem to
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work out? It's because you can.
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I can invite you into my heart, Lord, but oh, not in that area
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of my life. Attitudes, yes, I show up and
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like God should be grateful for what I do, right?
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Grateful for what I bring. I managed to get out of bed and
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get here this morning. God, you should be so grateful
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for what I bring and God's like actually, can I have that
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attitude? Any unsurrended area, we throw
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off His lordship and then we throw off the realms of His
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Kingdom in that area of our life.
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Gotta be surrendered to what He wants to do and what He wants to
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bring.