Latest / #Faith4TodayPodcast / God's Math-ing -- Episode 34

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God's Math-ing -- Episode 34 · #Faith4TodayPodcast

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  That God never gives you more than you can handle.
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  And that's just simply not true. The scripture actually says God
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  will never let you be tempted beyond what you can handle.
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  And anytime you are tempted, He provides a way of escapation.
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  God will never allow you to be tempted beyond where there's a
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  way out. It's to pray.
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  Lead us not into temptation. He, he wasn't saying, God,
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  please don't tempt me today. What he was saying is teaching
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  us to pray. God, would you show me the way
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  beyond temptation? So temptation and tests are
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  different. Now testing of our faith, well,
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  that's that's there for a purpose.
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  James says the testing of our faith produces perseverance
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  because our faith isn't meant to be a fickle moment or a feeling
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  that is fleeting. No, our faith is meant to be
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  something that endures. It stands the test of time and
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  that it remains until the end. Hey, welcome to another episode
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  of the Faith for Today podcast. My name's Matthew, I'm your host
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  and it's a delight to have you with us Today.
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  We're going to be diving into talking a little bit about John
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  chapter 6, where Jesus feeds the 5000 and that man We, we hope
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  that each of these episodes not only helps inspire you with the
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  word of God, but helps you integrate it to a life of
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  loyalty. We we don't want just the Sunday
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  faith. We want to have that kind of
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  allegiance and loyalty him all week long, even, you know, late
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  in the week like a Thursday. So, hey, as this new episode
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  drops, it's episode 34 and we've been kind of making our way
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  through the Gospel of John. Now today we're going to recap a
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  message from Sunday. We're going to talk a little bit
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  of bonus content, some things that maybe didn't get in the
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  message or expanding on the subject a little bit, and then
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  we're going to talk a little bit of question and response today.
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  All right, so here's the deal. Let's get into the recap.
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  Today we're looking at John 6, specifically the 1st 21 verses.
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  And this miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000 is the only
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  miracle recorded in all four of the Gospels.
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  John gives us a few details but really condenses the others
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  because the details of this are found in the other gospel
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  accounts. And John has a heart to to get
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  us to see God. And one element of God and
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  revealed in Jesus that we see in this miracle is that God is our
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  provider. He is Jehovah Jaira, the God who
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  sees ahead and makes provision on our behalf.
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  Now all of the Scripture we believe points to Jesus.
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  And here we see echoes of the Old Testament where Moses was up
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  on a mountain and he fed and God fed miracles, fed people there
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  in the wilderness. Now it's revealing Jesus.
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  Now Jesus knows our hearts. Jesus knows our situations.
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  Jesus knows our needs before we ever ask them.
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  And what When Jesus asks us questions like he does to Philip
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  in this passage, Jesus already knows what that information is.
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  Jesus doesn't ask us questions to get new information.
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  Rather, he asked questions for our realization so that we have
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  revelation and understanding of something.
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  Sometimes God tests us not to trap us, but to reveal our
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  growth and invite us into a deeper trust in Him.
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  Now when we talk about the miracle of multiplication, where
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  Jesus feeds the 5000 and brings provision, inevitably we need to
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  talk a little bit about money. And money certainly can be a
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  trap where we start looking to money as our God and trusting in
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  money rather than trusting in God.
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  This passage, though, also teaches us that money and
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  resource are a test. The boy who gave his small lunch
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  never hesitated. He placed what he had into
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  Jesus's hands, and multiplication came as the
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  disciples obeyed. Not before, That's God's math.
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  Like seeds planted that grow only after they are sown,
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  generosity is God's way of setting us free from 2 powerful
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  strongholds, the fear of lack and the thirst for more.
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  And both of those strongholds are manifestations of the God of
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  Mammon operating in our life. Though the world tells us to
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  hold tight, Jesus calls us to give freely.
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  The practice of generosity is, I think, helpful when we set aside
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  a percentage, when we give sacrificially, when even giving
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  in secret, all of that way of generosity, it anchors us when
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  life's chaotic winds are pushing us towards fear or envious
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  greed. In the end, what looks like
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  scarcity can become the seed of a miracle when we place it in
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  the hands of Jesus. Jesus not only meets our needs,
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  He abundantly provides all that we need.
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  So the question for us is the same that He posed even to his
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  disciples. Will you trust me with what you
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  have, even if you feel like it is small and insignificant?
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  Because in His hands, what we merely have can turn into more
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  than enough, and He will meet our needs, whatever need that it
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  is. And let's talk a little bonus
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  content. One of the things that we talked
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  about was the difference between tests and temptations.
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  And I think it's really, really important that we understand
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  this difference. We said in the message that
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  there's a misnomer. Well, it's not really just a
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  misnomer. It's a deceptive lie is really
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  what it is that we have, especially in American culture
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  that this phrase that God never gives you more than you can
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  handle. And that's just simply not true.
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  The Scripture actually says God will never let you be tempted
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  beyond what you can handle. And anytime you are tempted, He
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  provides a way of escape. That's actually what the
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  Scripture says. So when it comes to temptation,
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  God will never allow you to be tempted beyond where there's a
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  way out. In other words, the temptations
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  that we face in life are there to trap us and trip us up.
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  The enemy puts those in our way. He is the tempter, the deceiver,
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  and the one trying to steal, kill, and destroy our lives.
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  But Jesus has overcome those things, and any temptation we
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  would face doesn't come from God the Father, doesn't come from
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  Jesus, Doesn't the Holy Spirit leading us to do the wrong
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  thing? No, the temptation is there to
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  try to trap us and trip us up in our loyalty to Him.
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  And whenever we face temptations, there will always
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  be a way out. I can't tell you the number of
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  times there's been a temptation in my life and, and inevitably
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  there's something that comes along the way to help distract
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  me, an off ramp so I don't have to keep traveling down that
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  road. A hesitation, a gut shack,
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  something the Holy Spirit is the one who leads us away from the
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  temptation, not into temptation. So the idea that even though
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  Jesus taught us to pray lead us not into temptation, he, he
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  wasn't saying, God, please don't tempt me today.
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  What he was saying is teaching us to pray.
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  God, would you show me the way beyond temptation to stay
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  faithful to you? And when the enemy comes, would
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  you deliver me from him? So temptation and tests are
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  different. Now testing of our faith, well,
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  that's that's there for a purpose.
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  James says the testing of our faith produces perseverance
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  because our faith isn't meant to be a fickle moment or a feeling
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  that is fleeting. No, our faith is meant to be
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  something that endures. It stands the test of time and
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  that it remains until the end. And by faith, we're not talking
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  a feeling, we're talking a conviction of allegiance.
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  We're talking loyalty. We're talking embodied trust.
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  This is faith. Faith is living with an
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  allegiance to Jesus, a loyalty to God Almighty so that when a
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  test comes, it's it's trying to purify, it is trying to help us
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  strengthen, it is revealing what God has already done in us.
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  Just like test in a school aren't meant to make you fail,
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  test are meant to reveal what you have learned to help you
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  understand where you have grown, the concepts that you get about
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  God. This is what God does when he
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  tests our faith and allows our faith to be tested.
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  And absolutely you will be in situations where you cannot
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  handle what you're facing. You were never meant to be able
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  to handle everything on your own in life because if you handled
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  everything on your own in life, you would be your own God.
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  And that isn't the case. You are not a God.
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  I am not a God. God is God, and we recognize
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  that. He is the provider and the
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  source of all that we need. And this is the story of God
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  revealed all throughout the Scripture.
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  This is the same God of the Old Testament in the New Testament.
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  It's not a schizophrenic God where he's different in the old
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  than he is in the new. It isn't that at all.
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  God tests his people, and our faith will be tested.
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  It will be purified, it will be tried and we will see the truth
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  of who we are. We will see that that that our
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  faith being revealed in those things.
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  And one of the arenas that our faith is tested is in the area
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  of finances, in the area of money.
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  God does not want us to have any other God but him, Jesus said in
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  Matthew chapter 6, You cannot serve God and mammon or money
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  all at the same time. But the the greed itself is a
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  malevolent evil animated by an evil force in the unseen realm
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  that is getting us to live greedy and jealous and envious
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  and living without content. That's greed.
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  Just this thirst, this drive to where we rely on earthly riches
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  rather than on heavenly provision.
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  Now here's the reality. Even in trusting God, God is the
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  source of all of our resource. In other words, there there is a
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  job that you have, there is a a way in which you are
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  participating in the economic realities of our culture.
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  It's not sinful. In fact, God's given you the
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  energy, God's given you the skills, God's given you the
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  ability. God gives you the time.
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  God gives you the wisdom and know how that has been developed
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  over time. That's all a gift from God in
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  and of itself. In fact, in the Old Old
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  Testament, God tells his people, listen, it is I who give you the
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  power to make and build wealth. So we participate in this.
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  But it's all a gift from the Lord.
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  It belongs to him and it all comes from him.
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  And money is a test. It's it's, it's also money is
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  the only area in which we are told we get to test God.
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  It's in Malachi chapter 3 where God says, test me in this.
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  What's this that if God won't renew won't provide?
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  In other words, God says you can test me if you are faithful to
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  bring the first of all your increased to the House of the
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  Lord. He says in Malachi 3, I'm going
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  to open the windows of heaven on your life.
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  An open heaven doesn't mean large bank account.
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  When God opens the heavens as we'll see in 2nd Corinthians 9,
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  when we live generous and when we live financially honoring God
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  first and we honor him and his Kingdom and we invest in the
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  Kingdom of God, every area of our life flourishes like the
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  blessing of God shows up in so many other areas.
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  In fact, Paul, Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 9, every area of
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  your life will be enriched. Not, not, not wealthy, not rich,
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  but enriched. You're going to see a
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  flourishing, a growth and abundant life of God show up in
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  your life because you are putting God first.
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  You're honoring God with your money.
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  God, God is testing you to see if you will honor Him more than
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  you honor money, if you will love Him more than you love
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  money. God is always after a pure,
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  whole, undivided heart. And God tests our heart and our
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  loyalty to see if we will love him more than we love other
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  things. That's always the case in
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  through Scripture. And money is one of those areas
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  that God tests our heart and our faithfulness, our fidelity to to
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  him. It is Tim Keller, the the late
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  Tim Keller, a great pastor, wonderful Bible teacher.
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  I've learned many things from him and throughout the course of
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  his ministry. He's he's, he's with Jesus now.
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  But Tim, Tim Keller said it like this money effortlessly flows to
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  that which is it's God. I think about that.
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  Money effortlessly flows like, like if you don't even give it
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  thought that your money flows to something that is a God.
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  And I think that if our lives are our own gods, if we are gods
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  unto our own selves, man, I think we, we, we don't bat an
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  eye about doing some things for our kids.
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  We don't bat an eye about like, man, we're going to do it or
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  we're going to get a second job just to make sure they can keep
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  doing travel sports. We don't we don't bat an eye at
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  that, but when it comes to being generous to other people, when
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  it comes to giving to the Kingdom of God, but giving to
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  the local church like we, we hoe he and hum.
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  And we have a problem with that. Why?
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  Because because when it comes to this area, our heart is being
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  tested and and and maybe, just maybe what is effortlessly
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  giving in One Direction, we have a really struggle giving to the
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  Lord. Why?
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  Because there there are all sorts of hang ups, but at the
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  end of the day, the only time in scripture were said that we get
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  to test God is in the area of finances, in the area of
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  provision. We can test if he's trustworthy
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  by being generous and seeing what happens on the on the back
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  end of it. Tests and temptations are
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  different. God doesn't tempt us, but tests
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  are a part of our life. They refine us, they strengthen
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  us and they reveal to us what we have learned.
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  They're not meant to shame us, make us feel bad, give us a bad
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  grade pass fail. No, no.
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  They reveal the purity of our hearts.
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  They reveal the strength of our fidelity.
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  They reveal the true nature of love in our, in our hearts.
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  Now, one of Jesus's clearest teachings on, on financial
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  things is in Matthew chapter 6. He in Matthew chapter 6.
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  It's right in the middle of kind of the Sermon on the Mount, the
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  pinnacle announcement of what the Kingdom of God looks like.
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  It's, it's really the, the opus magnum of, of Jesus's mission
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  and purpose and the new Kingdom family of God, this new covenant
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  that he's establishing and the, the way in which we would be
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  identified as the people of God, the way in which we grow and
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  form in his way. If we're going to live in the
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  way of Jesus, we are people who live out the teachings of the
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  Sermon on the Mount. And God talks about possessions.
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  He talks about money and giving. You know, at the beginning he
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  says don't give to be noticed by man.
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  In other words, don't give in such a way that makes you feel
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  good about yourself. Don't give because you get
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  something in return. Don't give so that you can be
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  Curry favor with other people, right?
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  Don't give with wrong motives. He's just been just given the
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  secret and trust that God who sees all, knows all and is aware
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  of all, knows your heart, your motives and what you've done and
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  trust that he'll reward you in heaven.
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  In other words, there's reward coming in heaven for being
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  generous like God rewards. There's a reward from heaven for
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  that. Jesus is really clear at
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  alluding to that, to that fact. Now we don't give to get a
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  reward. That's that's that's really,
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  really immature way of thinking about finances.
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  We give as an expression of our loyalty and our love to Jesus.
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  We give by by helping meet practical needs for others as
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  we'll get to it in a minute. Giving as a ministry that we
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  that allows giving is a mechanism through which we
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  minister to other Saints. This is all the biblical
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  framework around around some money.
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  Jesus talks about possessions in in Matthew 6.
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  Let me let me read it Night starting in verse 19 says don't
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  store it for yourself. Treasures on earth where moth
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  and rust destroy where thieves break in and steal, but store it
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  for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust
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  destroy where thieves don't break in and steal for where
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  your treasure is there your heart will be also.
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  So one of the clearest points of all of this is Jesus is saying
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  what you do with your money reveals where your heart really
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  is. Is your heart bound by earthly
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  things or is your heart bound by heavenly, eternal realities?
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  In other words, money effortlessly flows to that which
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  is it's God, as Tim Keller said. He goes on to say this, The eye
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  is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your
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  whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad,
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  your whole body will be full of darkness.
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  So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that
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  darkness? No one can serve 2 masters since
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  either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted
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  to 1 and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and
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  and money. Here's the reality.
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  If we love money more than God, we love money and we despise the
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  fact that God even talks about money.
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  If if we love God, we will hate the idea of materialism in a
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  sense that now I can't do that. And the inverse is true, right?
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  If we love money, we're going to have like this distance, this
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  hate for the Lord. But if, if, if we if we love the
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  Lord, we're going to despise Mammon and those false weight
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  that that evil force behind behind it or that gets in our
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  hearts because of it. I should say it talks about the
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  eyes, right? And it seems like a really weird
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  phrase, but the folks at the Bible Project do a great job of,
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  of breaking this down. But this, this phrase, the eye
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  is the lamp of the body is an idiom for talking about how you
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  view something determines the the healthy way in which you're
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  you're living or the unhealthy. So, so the eye is the lamp of
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  the body. In other words, your
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  perspective, what's Jesus saying?
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  Your perspective on wealth, money and materialism will
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  determine if you have darkness in you or the light of Christ in
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  you. So.
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  Your perspective on money. If your if your mindset around
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  money is all based on worldly metrics of success, materialism,
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  status, greed, control, power. If that's your view of money,
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  then your your perspective, your your way of seeing it is so
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  corrupt and deep darkness abides in you.
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  But if if your way of viewing money is a heavenly, earthly,
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  Kingdom oriented way of seeing money and resource as a means
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  through which we honor God and minister to other people, well,
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  then all of a sudden your view of money is much healthier and
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  it impacts your life in a in a better, better way.
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  And you can't serve both God and money.
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  You will be enslaved to 1. You will either be slave to
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  money and the dollar and all of that it entails or, or you're
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  going to enslave and entrust your life to Christ.
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  You're going to trust one and despise the other or love one
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  and hate the other. And the very next thing God says
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  about possessions leads right into a talk about anxiety.
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  He says, therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life,
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  eating, drinking, provision. God provides for the birds.
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  God provides for the flowers. God takes care.
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  Hardwired into creation is the understanding that God provides
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  and if God provides for the earth and creation, won't he
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  provide for you, whom he loves more?
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  You know, there's such an anxiety that many people have
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  from material and economic provision issues.
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  And according to Jesus, the reason anxiety and worry build
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  in our life in the subject of economics, materialism, finances
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  and provision is because our perspective on money is dark.
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  We don't have a healthy view on provision and money and
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  resource. So therefore anxiety grows in
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  US. I really do think that when we
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  have a healthy view on money, we, we can see God, we can see
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  money, we can see resource in a healthy way.
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  Your heart always follows what what prioritized your money?
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  Well, your heart always follows the the money your your, your,
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  your money doesn't follow your heart.
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  Your heart is shaped by what you spend your money on.
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  How you view money is shaping and influencing and impacting
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  your your heart. It just is.
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  This is Jesus teaching us these things and what you do with it.
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  What you do with what's in your hand, what you do with the
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  resource in your life, what you do with the material
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  possessions, what you do with the financial ability.
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  What you do with those things will either cause more anxiety
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  or it will decrease your worry. Either you'll find yourself at
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  peace and wholeness, or it will be always something that you are
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  anxious over and, and, and part of the reason that is, is
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  because while money is immoral, money itself is the the thing
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  itself. The coin, the, the, the dollars,
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  those, those things themselves, they're just objects, but there
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  is a spiritual dynamic behind it.
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  And that spiritual dynamic either is light or it is dark.
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  It is either God who is inspiring, influencing, helping
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  you see handle that in a, in, in a correct way, or it's Mammon.
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  It's the false God of money. It's this evil, malevolent, a
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  force on a disembodied spiritual force that is, that is at work
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  again, biblical understanding as as I see it is idols weren't
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  just carved inanimate objects that they were, but when, when
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  sacrifices and things were made there, there was a way in which
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  evil spirits would then embody and be housed in these these
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  idols. So they they become enthroned on
• 24:39
  the worship and the praise and the adoration of people.
• 24:43
  It's our spiritual force is a big source.
• 24:45
  And so when we are worshipping money, when we are trusting in
• 24:49
  money, when we are living according to the attitudes,
• 24:53
  actions, perspectives of money, money becomes our God.
• 24:58
  It becomes a controlling entity in our life.
• 25:03
  Then we begin to open ourselves up to the impact of and the
• 25:08
  influence of those spiritual forces, evil spiritual forces
• 25:13
  begin to influence us in this area of a financial
• 25:17
  understanding. If the eye is healthy, the whole
• 25:20
  body is full of life. But if how you're viewing money,
• 25:24
  if it is impacting you and influencing you, then your whole
• 25:28
  being begins to be corrupt and dark.
• 25:31
  And Jesus says, and how dark is that darkness within you and,
• 25:38
  and, and, and money is this, this flow of, of those things.
• 25:43
  Listen, Mammon was a false God. And, and I said it in the
• 25:48
  message, it manifests two ways in our life.
• 25:51
  You know, Mammon is is kind of influencing and impacting your
• 25:55
  life that that evil force it's influencing impacting your life
• 25:58
  when you are overwhelmed with a fear of lack or agreed for more
• 26:05
  a thirst and an envy to always have more So materialism and
• 26:12
  lack a poverty mindset and a materialistic mindset.
• 26:17
  Both of those attitudes and perspectives are a manifestation
• 26:23
  of Mammon at work, the false God working on.
• 26:26
  We talk a little bit about this that Jesus conquers though the
• 26:30
  unseen world. That's what he does when he
• 26:32
  walks on the water, the chaos of the unseen, the the chaotic
• 26:36
  storms of life, like that's representative in biblical
• 26:39
  literature. The unseen realm, the the
• 26:43
  chaotic on a disembodied world was in the water underworld,
• 26:48
  right? And so here is Jesus walking on
• 26:50
  the winds and the waves, the storms, and he's walking on the
• 26:54
  water, right, right to the disciples.
• 26:56
  Why? Because Jesus overcomes and
• 26:59
  conquers and has more power over those other things, those unseen
• 27:04
  forces. And so when the spirit of fear
• 27:07
  comes into our lives and we're just overrun with a sense of
• 27:11
  lack and no provision and God's love isn't going to come through
• 27:14
  and his power isn't there, well, man, we, we, we find ourselves
• 27:17
  overrun by those things. Now the, the fear is a spirit.
• 27:22
  There is a spirit of fear the Bible talks about.
• 27:24
  And the spirit of fear is anti to the Spirit of God.
• 27:29
  First Timothy tells us that that God hasn't given us a spirit of
• 27:32
  fail, but rather he's given us a spirit that's full of power,
• 27:34
  love and and soundness of mine. And so the spirit of fear is a
• 27:40
  spirit that prophesized to us and creates an imaginative
• 27:45
  reality in our minds where we envision life in the future or
• 27:50
  life here and now that is absent.
• 27:53
  It is missing God's love for us. It is missing God's power at
• 27:59
  work on our behalf and it is missing the very presence and
• 28:03
  peace of God helping us trust in Him.
• 28:07
  So, so the spirit of fear comes trying to prophecy these, these,
• 28:11
  these things, casting images and and crying, trying to create in
• 28:15
  us this, this worry of what if and we're not going to have
• 28:19
  enough. For me, it used to show up in
• 28:21
  really silly ways and really significant, serious ways.
• 28:25
  But I'll share a silly one with you.
• 28:27
  I remember the Lord kind of confronted me on this one day.
• 28:31
  I was getting some gum, I was getting the head and too many
• 28:35
  head sticks of gum and I I had a habit of breaking the gum in
• 28:40
  half and only eating 1/2 a stick.
• 28:42
  I didn't do that because I didn't want to chew a whole
• 28:47
  piece or I felt like I couldn't do that and it not be rude or
• 28:50
  something like that. No, no, that's not why.
• 28:52
  It wasn't because it was too strong a flavor.
• 28:54
  The only reason I was breaking the gum in half was because I
• 28:57
  was afraid I would run out of gum one day and then I wouldn't
• 29:01
  be able to buy another dollar or whatever bag of gum.
• 29:05
  I was afraid I would be in lack. Like that's a poverty mindset.
• 29:10
  That's that's being influenced by in in a thought realm by
• 29:15
  something that is fearful that is not from God.
• 29:19
  It's silly, I know. To this day, I will now take one
• 29:23
  and two sometimes pieces of gum just to tell myself no, you
• 29:26
  don't have to fear being in lack when when you need gum, got to
• 29:31
  provide it. And if you don't have gum, then
• 29:33
  maybe you didn't really need it to begin with, right?
• 29:36
  Like like there's this element. It's simple.
• 29:38
  It's silly, I know, but that's how how how sometimes imagine
• 29:45
  that the fear of lack shows up in our life.
• 29:47
  How easy it is to walk in fear in that way.
• 29:50
  Many people do not give generously, sacrificially, or
• 29:56
  biblically out of fear of lack. And you can go through story
• 30:01
  after story in the Old Testament of God showing up as a provider,
• 30:04
  God showing up showing that he took care of and they didn't
• 30:08
  need to fear lacking anything. And the miracle that Jesus does
• 30:14
  of feeding the 5000 was an embodied reminder that even
• 30:20
  though people felt like they were in lack on the mountain,
• 30:24
  Jesus still provided they didn't need to fear lack.
• 30:29
  Sometimes our fear of lack it, it seems really logical, right?
• 30:33
  We're, we're, we're afraid that we're going to be taken
• 30:35
  advantage of. We have maybe a fear of trusting
• 30:38
  digital systems and other people when it comes to money.
• 30:41
  We have afraid we're, we're afraid to talk about finances
• 30:45
  with other people that we even trust and love because we're
• 30:48
  afraid they're going to judge us even though they could help us.
• 30:51
  We're afraid to talk about financial things with other
• 30:54
  people because they might give us a plan on how to plan our
• 30:57
  financial future. But we, we, we're going to feel
• 31:00
  dumb that we didn't know how to do that ahead of time.
• 31:03
  There's, it's all sorts of fear of lack that manifests in our
• 31:06
  lives in so many different ways. And some of it is
• 31:09
  understandable, right? Like man, we're hearing stories
• 31:11
  all the time of people whose identity getting stolen, things
• 31:15
  not working the way that they thought, right?
• 31:17
  Like there's some wisdom that we need.
• 31:20
  And sometimes what we need are other people to help us see real
• 31:24
  wisdom so that we don't live in a spirit of fear of lack where
• 31:29
  we're living without some things.
• 31:31
  We've had people even in our own church in the last little bit
• 31:35
  get become victims of scams and become victims of identity theft
• 31:40
  and and that's really, really unfortunate.
• 31:44
  I think that we can be wise though, doesn't mean we have to
• 31:47
  live afraid of not having. We can still live with great
• 31:52
  wisdom and trust in the Lord. I think we need to be wise.
• 31:55
  Listen folks, when it comes to online stuff, I'm, I'm, I'm
• 31:59
  pretty savvy when it comes to digital online things.
• 32:01
  I'm not an expert in any way, but can I just like, here's some
• 32:06
  pastoral thoughts on this, right?
• 32:07
  Like be wise when it comes to your online information and
• 32:11
  financial things. Listen, no government, no legit
• 32:15
  institution will initiate a conversation, getting your
• 32:20
  password or financial information from you.
• 32:23
  They're not going to initiate it in an e-mail, in a text message.
• 32:26
  The only time you'll be prompted to put in a password is when you
• 32:31
  initiate and you go to that place and say I need to reset my
• 32:34
  password or I forgot my password.
• 32:36
  Like then you'll get emails saying, hey, click here and you
• 32:39
  can reset your password. If you never initiated that, if
• 32:42
  you never tried to login, if you never like you're not, they're
• 32:45
  not going to initiate, they're not going to call, they're not
• 32:47
  going to reach out. They just don't.
• 32:49
  They don't do that. It only occurs when you initiate
• 32:53
  or are in direct communication with them on your behalf when
• 32:58
  you initiate it, when, when you start it.
• 33:00
  Maybe we have to be aware of scams that happen on on social
• 33:03
  media, right? Facebook marketplace is littered
• 33:06
  with just unwise people, people unscrupulous trying to just take
• 33:12
  advantage of others, trying to, to, to do it.
• 33:15
  And, and they're pretty sick, you know, pretty, pretty man,
• 33:19
  pretty, pretty smart and savvy. And so if you're buying things
• 33:22
  on Facebook Marketplace or other digital environments like that,
• 33:26
  man, make sure you're talking with someone else, that they're
• 33:30
  able to verify that they're a real person and that they're
• 33:33
  really there on the other side all, all along the way as best
• 33:37
  you you can. I think we need to be in
• 33:39
  inquisitive if we're doing online things.
• 33:42
  We don't have to be fearful of things online, but we do want to
• 33:45
  be inquisitive. When you're in doubt about
• 33:48
  something, ask somebody for help.
• 33:51
  Ask somebody to come alongside it and help you.
• 33:55
  My my wife sent me a text the other day saying hey, I keep
• 33:58
  getting this text message that I have unpaid tolls right?
• 34:03
  I'm like, no, it's a scam. Don't click a link.
• 34:05
  I'm always telling our our kids the same thing.
• 34:08
  Listen, don't ever click a link from a text message or an e-mail
• 34:12
  unless you asked for that link to be sent to you or it's
• 34:15
  someone that you know personally.
• 34:19
  Listen, there's no tolls that are unpaid, no parking tickets
• 34:22
  that are going to be collected over text message.
• 34:24
  There is no prints inside area. There is no African orphanage on
• 34:28
  Instagram that really loves your stuff and just wants you to
• 34:31
  follow right? Like none of those things.
• 34:34
  I've even had a scams hit our e-mail as a staff where I'll be
• 34:41
  sitting in a meeting with one of our staff members and they'll
• 34:44
  get an e-mail that is quote UN quote from me asking them to go
• 34:49
  buy a bunch of gift cards to give to somebody.
• 34:51
  And they're like, did you just send me this e-mail about
• 34:53
  kickers? I'm like, no, I didn't send you
• 34:55
  an e-mail and tell you to like go do this.
• 34:58
  Like it's happened like multiple times, people trying to scam
• 35:01
  e-mail trying to get our our staff to go buy gift cards in
• 35:04
  some way. And I always tell them it might
• 35:06
  say my name in the header, but if you click the name in the
• 35:09
  e-mail, you'll actually see it's not a real e-mail address.
• 35:12
  It's just using my name with some fake e-mail trying to
• 35:15
  convince you that it's me asking you to go spend some money and
• 35:19
  send it to this thing or this person.
• 35:21
  Like they're always out there. I've got people following me all
• 35:24
  the time on Instagram. Dear brother, I love your work
• 35:27
  and thank you for this. Like I just ignore all of it.
• 35:32
  I think we have to be alert, we have to be aware and there is no
• 35:36
  shame in asking for help and and to be honest when it comes to
• 35:39
  online things, the best, the best practice is to be safe and
• 35:43
  inconvenienced. Like multi factor
• 35:45
  authentication, really strong passwords, different in each
• 35:50
  places. And if you can, there are some
• 35:53
  reputable online opportunities for you to pay for identity
• 35:57
  protection. Many credit cards and bank
• 36:00
  institutions have fraud protection built into them.
• 36:03
  Take advantage, know those things, be be aware and and if
• 36:07
  you're unsure, get information. God hasn't given us a spirit of
• 36:12
  fear. We don't need me to to be afraid
• 36:14
  of our times. Economic changes happen all the
• 36:19
  time. Like this isn't new to God.
• 36:23
  There's a a scripture in Ecclesiastes that says he who
• 36:27
  always is watching the wind never will sow.
• 36:32
  In other words, if you're always looking at the environment and
• 36:35
  the temperature of culture to determine whether or not you
• 36:39
  want to sow your seed, Scripture says you'll never sow your seed.
• 36:42
  Why? Because there never will be
• 36:44
  perfect conditions, and there's always a chance of this, always
• 36:47
  a chance of that. In other words, don't live
• 36:50
  consumed by fear of lack. Take proper steps to overcome
• 36:58
  fear in practical ways, being educated, informed, and not
• 37:01
  alone. When it comes to money, don't be
• 37:05
  afraid to lean on other people. Ask other people.
• 37:08
  Have friends that ask them about what they do with their
• 37:10
  investments. Ask friends about how they
• 37:12
  budget. Ask friends about what they do
• 37:14
  to be secure online. Like, like one of the things the
• 37:18
  enemy does is he gets us so secretive, so silent and so
• 37:22
  ashamed on subjects like this that we isolate ourselves and we
• 37:27
  never get help when we need it or learn some things that that
• 37:32
  we could learn. So this is a manifestation of
• 37:36
  the spirit of the age of Mammon in our world of a poverty, A
• 37:40
  Mammon driven idea that that influences us and that shame
• 37:45
  sits in our lives and we live under a scope of fear, under a
• 37:50
  influence of fear in this area. I'm not saying that that we
• 37:54
  ignore reality. I'm not saying that at all.
• 37:58
  In fact, I, I remember reading a, a, a jobs report and just
• 38:03
  thinking about man, that that's not a great report.
• 38:06
  Like it seems like jobs are down.
• 38:08
  It seems like this is the case, but but think about those that
• 38:12
  were on the mountain with Jesus right here.
• 38:15
  He was, they were hungry. What Phillip and Andrew, they
• 38:18
  looked around and they didn't seem like they had everything
• 38:21
  looks scarce to them, but it was in the moment of scarcity that
• 38:24
  God did something miraculous. I'm just saying that even when
• 38:29
  it looks crazy out there, even when economics feel really
• 38:33
  uncertain and I've got my own uncertainties, I've got my own
• 38:36
  fears that I'm trusting the Lord with.
• 38:39
  I I've got my own issues on these things personally, right?
• 38:42
  Like this is a very real thing for me.
• 38:44
  At the end of the day, man, I'm not going to be afraid of lack
• 38:51
  to the point where I'm unwilling to trust God and I hold on to
• 38:56
  what God has asked me and, and not going to live based on the
• 39:00
  spirit of fear. I'm going to live with a
• 39:02
  different spirit. The second way that this
• 39:05
  influence of, of mammon shows up in our world is they thirst for
• 39:09
  more. We talked about it just just a
• 39:11
  little bit like the envious greed in our life where we are
• 39:15
  never satisfied. We always want more, more, more.
• 39:20
  I saw this the other day from John Tyson.
• 39:24
  He he says in the book True Measures of Money, Business and
• 39:28
  Life, John C Bogle shares a story.
• 39:31
  He says at a party on Shelter Island hosted by a billionaire
• 39:34
  hedge fund manager, author Kurt Vonnegut turned to his friend
• 39:37
  Joseph Heller, the writer of Catch 22, and said, Joe, our
• 39:41
  host made more money yesterday than you've earned from your
• 39:44
  famous book over its entire history.
• 39:47
  Heller simply replied, yes, but I have something he never will
• 39:51
  have enough, John writes. That line pierces through the
• 39:56
  fog of comparison, pierces through envy and a cultural
• 40:01
  ambition. It pierces through like a
• 40:03
  dagger. Enough in our in a in a world
• 40:08
  where our generation barely knows how to say enough anymore.
• 40:14
  We we don't know what enough means.
• 40:17
  We scroll, we swipe, we click, we consume, always are going
• 40:20
  after more, always trying to have better, always getting the
• 40:23
  next new iteration, always more of what we need rather than
• 40:27
  being satisfied. But if you never, ever define
• 40:31
  enough in your life, you will never be free.
• 40:34
  If you are never free, you will never be generous in obedience
• 40:38
  to God. And in the obedience to God
• 40:41
  that's allowing God to be God because we are more obedient to
• 40:47
  cultural understanding of money than we are obedient to God.
• 40:52
  On the subject of money, the Bible talks about being content.
• 40:58
  Contentment with godliness is great gain.
• 41:01
  Paul writes, I think, I think it's in in Philippians, in fact,
• 41:05
  he talks about this life of contentment being content no
• 41:08
  matter the situation, no matter the season, no matter the
• 41:12
  struggle. Learning to be content, he said,
• 41:15
  is great gain in your life. And he reminds us in that
• 41:20
  subject matter of being content, that God supplies all that we
• 41:24
  need. So whether we are abounding or
• 41:27
  whether we feel like we're lacking something, we can learn
• 41:30
  to be content in the Lord and watch what God does.
• 41:35
  Listen, the the passage says that everyone ate their fill and
• 41:40
  we're satisfied in full. And then there were still
• 41:43
  leftovers. And God Jesus instructed the
• 41:47
  sevens he collect all the leftovers.
• 41:48
  So nothing is wasted, because when there is surplus, that's
• 41:54
  really seed for something more. So there they were, having
• 41:58
  collected all of these leftovers, this surplus, and
• 42:02
  Jesus didn't want anything that would be wasted.
• 42:04
  But they had a surplus even after everyone had all that they
• 42:08
  needed. It was enough.
• 42:10
  And I think that's a beautiful understanding is, is that God
• 42:14
  wants to bring contentment into our lives that God will supply
• 42:17
  all that we need so that we lack nothing according to his riches,
• 42:21
  his glory, his purposes and man. He wants us to learn to be
• 42:26
  content in the middle of it and trusting that he is our
• 42:30
  provider. That was the big idea on Sunday.
• 42:32
  The big idea I think that Jesus is communicating and revealing
• 42:35
  about himself and about God is is that man about the Father
• 42:39
  that they provide all that we all that we need.
• 42:45
  It's interesting. They collected 12 baskets
• 42:47
  leftover. Now there is some kind of
• 42:53
  discussion and with the 12 baskets it representative of the
• 42:57
  12 tribes. And Jesus is talking about a new
• 43:01
  and perfect government, a new order that that there's enough
• 43:06
  in his government. It's kind of satisfying a
• 43:08
  government that never ends, like Isaiah prophecies.
• 43:11
  I think that that's a part of what John is alluding to here.
• 43:15
  I think at minimum, thinking about the fact that there are 12
• 43:19
  baskets leftover, I think it's a great reminder for each of the
• 43:22
  disciples, just like it's a personal reminder for each of us
• 43:26
  that it indicates God's unstinting bounty, God's
• 43:31
  undoubted bounty, that God is not a God who lacks anything,
• 43:37
  but rather who graciously and generously meets our needs so
• 43:42
  that we have more than enough. One author, I, I think, talks
• 43:50
  about these kinds of things really, really well.
• 43:54
  There's a phrase that says. I
• 44:18
  think one of the things around money, if I could, if I could
• 44:22
  say this when it when it comes to this idea of generosity,
• 44:25
  putting in God's hands, giving to the Lord.
• 44:28
  I think the scripture is really clear when we give and we bring
• 44:32
  money to to to to the Lord through the local local church
• 44:36
  when we are generous to other people helping meet needs that
• 44:40
  that we never need to do that out of guilt, right?
• 44:45
  There's not a guilt trip. In fact, one, one person said it
• 44:49
  this way. Giving out of guilt cannot
• 44:51
  sustain generosity. It only makes us ask, how low
• 44:55
  does my lifestyle need to go to appease my conscience?
• 44:59
  It doesn't liberate our hearts. It just rearranges our our
• 45:02
  shame. Jesus never used guilt as a
• 45:06
  motivator, right? When when he asked them to bring
• 45:10
  the fish to him, he didn't do it and says, and if you don't, all
• 45:14
  these people are going to go hungry, right?
• 45:15
  Like like Jesus wasn't guilt tripping, Jesus wasn't shaming.
• 45:20
  Rather, Jesus was lovingly demonstrating that he provides,
• 45:25
  that he has a plan, that he sees us, he knows us, and he will
• 45:30
  take care of what there is. And when we trust the Lord,
• 45:34
  there will be more than what we need.
• 45:36
  It's going to be like a full and overflowing cup in in our lives.
• 45:41
  Generosity is the way of those who call Christ their Lord.
• 45:46
  If Christ is your Lord, generosity is a practice we are
• 45:51
  invited into. I would even say generosity is
• 45:55
  expected in the Kingdom of God from God himself.
• 46:01
  Not only that, I think it's worth pointing out that giving
• 46:05
  it is a ministry. This is what we we saw in Second
• 46:08
  Corinthians Chapter 9. Paul talked about how it is a
• 46:12
  ministry to the Saints. We know that God establishes a
• 46:17
  people, a nation of priests. This is what every believer is
• 46:21
  Saints who minister. We are people of God who
• 46:25
  minister to God and to the people of God.
• 46:27
  That's what we do as as priest. It's our priestly ministry.
• 46:30
  It's our is our in our part of participating in the Kingdom and
• 46:35
  the family of God and giving financially is a ministry and we
• 46:40
  minister in our giving to the Lord and to other people.
• 46:46
  It refreshes others and it blesses and glorifies God.
• 46:50
  It puts God first, reminding him that out of a praise in our
• 46:55
  heart that we trust him. That's why we give.
• 46:58
  That's the cheerful nature of how we give.
• 47:00
  And 2nd Corinthians 9, Paul says that in your giving, others are
• 47:04
  seeing your for confession of faith and glorifying God.
• 47:08
  In other words, giving is a ministry where we are testifying
• 47:13
  to the allegiance that we haven't got.
• 47:15
  It's a confession and a profession of our faith in God.
• 47:19
  When we give, in other words, it's a statement of our
• 47:22
  salvation. It's our statement of our belief
• 47:24
  about God's deliverance from evil and from the things of this
• 47:27
  world and and that there's a new Kingdom coming in the future.
• 47:31
  It's a statement, It's a public act and statement of, of our
• 47:35
  trust, our loyalty, our allegiance, and our commitment
• 47:38
  to God. And anytime we operate in
• 47:41
  ministry, anytime that we're ministering to the Lord or we're
• 47:44
  ministering to others, it is a ministry out of God's grace.
• 47:49
  It is a ministry as a result of a gift that God has given us.
• 47:53
  It's a ministry as a result of the work of the Spirit in our
• 47:58
  lives. That's what ministry is.
• 48:00
  So when we minister to the Lord and we minister to others,
• 48:02
  whether we're praying for them, whether we're supporting and
• 48:05
  serving them practically or whether we are giving
• 48:07
  financially to a church or to to those things, we are ministering
• 48:12
  to the Lord and to each other. Giving is part of our ministry
• 48:18
  that we have as Saints in the Kingdom, in the Kingdom of God.
• 48:22
  Again, 2nd Corinthians 9, this is kind of what we talked about
• 48:26
  very he says now concerning the ministry to the Saints.
• 48:29
  And then he goes on talking about a zeal and a passion that
• 48:32
  they have, how the church is excited to minister to other
• 48:36
  believers through generosity. In other words, generosity.
• 48:41
  Giving gifts financially is a ministry.
• 48:45
  Now, you might be sitting there saying, well, if it's a gift,
• 48:49
  then I don't have that gift. I don't have the gift of, of
• 48:51
  generosity. Well, let me be really clear.
• 48:54
  In Romans 12, it does list giving as a gift from God.
• 49:00
  I believe. No, not, not everybody has that
• 49:04
  chief gift. It's not like a a God-given,
• 49:08
  really a benevolent element of of their life, but but same
• 49:13
  thing with administration. Not everyone has a gift of
• 49:18
  administration as listed in Romans 12.
• 49:20
  However, everyone still has to live with some order in their
• 49:24
  life. You might not be extra gifted at
• 49:28
  administration, but that doesn't mean you don't need to use
• 49:32
  administrative realities in your life.
• 49:34
  Much like this, I may not have the gift of healing manifesting
• 49:39
  in my life, but that doesn't mean I stopped praying for
• 49:42
  people to be healed. Just because I don't have a gift
• 49:47
  doesn't mean that I don't operate or practice those
• 49:52
  things. You may not have a spiritual
• 49:55
  gift of leadership, but that doesn't mean you can bail on
• 49:59
  leading your kids in their faith.
• 50:03
  We still participate in things, even if it's not our gifting.
• 50:09
  And so while there is a, a benevolent gift, an extra gift
• 50:13
  of giving where, where there are people who just seem to have
• 50:17
  been touched by God and made by God to make money, have no
• 50:21
  problem giving generously and lavishly.
• 50:23
  And it's just like this, this amazing thing.
• 50:26
  And I know there are many people, there are several people
• 50:28
  in our church that I know that have the gift of getting most,
• 50:30
  some of them know they haven't and some of them don't know they
• 50:33
  have it yet. But there's something in their
• 50:35
  life that that I've noticed and seen that there is a natural way
• 50:40
  that they're hardwired towards generosity in extravagant ways.
• 50:45
  I can see it in their life how they operate.
• 50:47
  Just like I can recognize things in people's lives often times
• 50:50
  where where men, they are just gifted with mercy.
• 50:54
  There is something that motivates them.
• 50:56
  It's a motivational gift of mercy.
• 50:59
  So there are people who are motivated and thinking
• 51:02
  generosity and financially in their life, just like there are
• 51:06
  people who think administratively in their life.
• 51:08
  Doesn't mean we don't all participate or utilize or engage
• 51:12
  in those those other things. It's just not our primary
• 51:16
  motivation in those avenues and practices.
• 51:19
  So while generosity is a gift, a motivational gift that we have,
• 51:24
  it doesn't mean we never participated if we don't have
• 51:28
  that, have that gift. I think it's important to notice
• 51:30
  that when it comes to the practice of, of, of, of
• 51:33
  financial giving and generosity, can I just say this that the,
• 51:39
  the, the practice of giving helps you stay anchored in the
• 51:44
  midst of the chaos and the storms that make you toss
• 51:50
  between being fearful and greedy, being afraid and poverty
• 51:56
  stricken and being envious and materialistic.
• 52:00
  It one of those often we get tossed and I get tossed between
• 52:03
  both of those, those, those manifestations of mammoth in our
• 52:07
  midst and in our world. And I want to be delivered from
• 52:10
  those things. And one of the ways Jesus
• 52:13
  delivers us is through the practice and discipline of
• 52:17
  giving, the spiritual discipline of generously giving.
• 52:22
  Here's some ways I think you can move forward and move toward
• 52:25
  this practice being anchored rather than being tossed by
• 52:29
  greed #1 define enough. Set a clear standard for what is
• 52:36
  sufficiency. Everything beyond that line in
• 52:39
  your life what what are the things that you have to have for
• 52:42
  a a standard of your living? Everything beyond that line
• 52:47
  treated as seed, not surplus to consume.
• 52:52
  That's mine. Define enough.
• 52:53
  Whatever that line is, define it and then live at it. 2 When it
• 52:59
  comes to moving towards the practice of giving, pick a
• 53:01
  stretch percentage. Choose a level of giving that
• 53:06
  stretches your faith joyfully, not reluctantly.
• 53:10
  In other words, don't wait to feel rich to start living
• 53:15
  generously. First Corinthians 16 and verse
• 53:18
  2, Paul is instructing the church, saying on the first day
• 53:21
  of the week, each of you set aside something and save it in
• 53:27
  keeping with how he is prospering.
• 53:30
  He's talking about saving it to give to an offering that was
• 53:34
  being collected, give towards a specific purpose, he says.
• 53:37
  On the first day of the week, each of you set aside, set
• 53:41
  something aside and save it in keeping with how he is
• 53:44
  prospering, in keeping with his increase.
• 53:46
  In other words, pick. How do you do that?
• 53:49
  It's called percentage because when your percentage is set of
• 53:54
  what you're going to give, when you choose a percentage for
• 53:57
  giving, it maintains that percentage.
• 54:00
  No matter your increase or decrease it, the percentage
• 54:03
  remains the same. This is what Paul is
• 54:04
  instructing. Keep living and giving with a
• 54:07
  percentage mindset, but pick, I think you need to pick a
• 54:10
  percentage that stretches you, that stretches your faith a
• 54:14
  little bit. I, I think just like when we
• 54:17
  fast, we, we, we do the spiritual discipline of fasting,
• 54:21
  not so that we're comfortable, but so it stretches us enough.
• 54:26
  It's uncomfortable enough, not that it destroys us, not that it
• 54:30
  ruins us, not that it does damage to our bodies, but so
• 54:34
  that we have a new dependence on God.
• 54:38
  And so we encounter God in a different way in our fasting.
• 54:41
  Same things with our financial giving.
• 54:43
  I think you pick a stretch percentage that is just beyond
• 54:46
  and it and it kind of stretches you out of a comfort zone to
• 54:50
  where you have a, a, a dependence on God rather than
• 54:54
  just a comfort zone. This is what Jesus was referring
• 54:58
  to when he talked about when he was watching people give in the
• 55:01
  temple. But yeah, Jesus watches what
• 55:03
  people give. Just in case you are wondering,
• 55:06
  he was watching what they were giving.
• 55:07
  And he sells this woman, a lady, a widow give 2 mites.
• 55:11
  And he says this widow has given more than all of you others.
• 55:14
  Why? Because the percentage that she
• 55:16
  gave in in contrast, the the stretch percentage that she gave
• 55:21
  in contrast to the surplus that everybody was giving out of just
• 55:25
  not that doesn't really matter. Here's some extra money I don't
• 55:27
  need anyways. Well, Jesus says her heart was
• 55:32
  more beautiful in that worship than all of the others.
• 55:34
  And so she really gave more, not because it was an amount that
• 55:38
  was more, but because it signified a stretch of trust in
• 55:42
  God. And so her worship had a greater
• 55:45
  value that was it was weighted in a way that was beautiful and
• 55:49
  wonderful. So I think you need to pick a
• 55:50
  stretch percentage that helps stretch you just a little bit.
• 55:54
  Practice secret giving right given hidden ways, bypassing
• 55:57
  applause and directing your reward toward heaven.
• 56:00
  It purifies your motives. And even just do something in
• 56:03
  secret, like pay for something for somebody else that nobody
• 56:05
  else knows about. Just do something in that way.
• 56:08
  It it, it's, it's, it really is joyful in a new way.
• 56:12
  I I think it's another great practice or practical tip is
• 56:15
  create what's called maybe like an agape fund, a loving a God
• 56:18
  love fund. Set aside money exclusively for
• 56:22
  Kingdom generosity, not for your upgrades, just for impact.
• 56:26
  Start small and scale it up. I think you can train your heart
• 56:31
  to love generosity because you love the Lord and you want to
• 56:35
  love the Lord. Ask God.
• 56:37
  Just ask God to form in you a joyful instinct in your giving,
• 56:43
  not out of compulsion, not out of a feeling of extortion, but
• 56:48
  out of a response to his Spirit at work in you, a grace in you.
• 56:54
  I think that's what God is honored by and and is seen in.
• 56:59
  And man, I think that that we need to train our hearts in that
• 57:03
  way. We need to to move in that
• 57:05
  direction and God will do it. He will make every grace abound
• 57:10
  towards you more and more. That's what he says in 2nd
• 57:14
  Corinthians 9. Grace will abound more and more.
• 57:18
  All that you need will be provided more and more as you
• 57:20
  recognize He's giving you seed. Seeds look small, but seeds are
• 57:26
  the opportunity for multiplication.
• 57:30
  When you trust God with your little, He says He can multiply
• 57:34
  that even more. God is a multiplication God.
• 57:37
  He just is He. He generously provides.
• 57:39
  Sometimes when I give, listen, I want you to hear this.
• 57:42
  When, when, when we practice generosity.
• 57:45
  Sometimes the way in which God brings a harvest isn't in more
• 57:50
  money. Sometimes it's just in being
• 57:53
  refreshed more by other people in my life, my relationships are
• 57:56
  richer. So sometimes it is like
• 57:59
  finances, like there's a blessing that comes out of
• 58:02
  nowhere. Sometimes it's it's the fact
• 58:05
  that I feel a closeness to God like I've never felt before.
• 58:09
  Sometimes it's it's in a matter of things not wearing down that
• 58:12
  they last a lot longer than what they should last.
• 58:16
  God just takes care of those things.
• 58:18
  How don't know he's God. He can.
• 58:21
  All I'm saying is I would not be as loving, I would not be as
• 58:28
  patient, I would not be as a good of a friend as whatever
• 58:31
  level that feels like to people. I don't think I would, I, I
• 58:36
  would be experiencing the joy that I experience if I, I wasn't
• 58:41
  living generously as I am. My wife and I, we give, we, we
• 58:46
  give, we give to the Lord through the local church a
• 58:51
  percentage of beyond 10%. We, we have a stretch percentage
• 58:55
  for us and, and in some seasons this season in particular, it's
• 59:00
  definitely a stretch for us, but we're doing it not reluctantly,
• 59:06
  not because we feel like God is twisting our arm.
• 59:08
  We don't feel like we're being extorted to do it expected to do
• 59:12
  it. We're we're giving because this
• 59:13
  is what we've set in motion in our hearts to say God, this is
• 59:16
  what we feel like you're asking us to do.
• 59:18
  We're walking in obedience. And when you walk in obedience,
• 59:21
  that's when you see the multiplication.
• 59:24
  Multiplication doesn't come before the obedience.
• 59:26
  It always comes after you. You are obedient to give, to sow
• 59:31
  the seed and walk, watch the harvest come later and
• 59:35
  generosity is the way of those who call Christ their Lord.
• 59:40
  All right, we have two questions that we're going to get into and
• 59:44
  give give a response. Here's the here's the first
• 59:46
  question. What is the answer to not
• 59:49
  getting distressed and anxious when you're being tested like
• 59:53
  either by life in general or God's testing us?
• 59:56
  It's a painful process to have your faith muscles stretched,
• 59:59
  but doesn't kill you. Make sure you're stronger,
• 1:00:01
  right? I think there's a, a real
• 1:00:03
  sentiment here. I, I think that there are
• 1:00:05
  moments in our lives where we are absolutely feeling stretched
• 1:00:08
  and we feel overwhelmed. I, I, I cannot, I can't
• 1:00:14
  understate that. There are moments when we feel
• 1:00:18
  inadequate and there are moments when we don't feel like we have
• 1:00:21
  it. And I think that's good for us.
• 1:00:23
  We need to feel that, that we need God.
• 1:00:27
  We need to lean on God in in those ways.
• 1:00:31
  How do we not get distressed and anxious when we're tested?
• 1:00:36
  I think it comes to pre decisions.
• 1:00:39
  I think it comes back to pre deciding to live according to a
• 1:00:42
  standard regardless of circumstance.
• 1:00:45
  See, when you live according to principles rather than pressure,
• 1:00:50
  you live practicing your faith correctly regardless of the
• 1:00:55
  situation of circumstance, right?
• 1:00:56
  Like no matter if it's cold, hot, windy, rainy, if you have a
• 1:01:01
  certain practice and you're going to get up and you're going
• 1:01:04
  to do the same routine, there's a principle behind what you're
• 1:01:07
  doing. You're living principle to not
• 1:01:09
  under pressure. Daniel lived by principle, not
• 1:01:12
  pressure. Daniel prayed 3 times a day,
• 1:01:15
  even when it became illegal to pray three times a day.
• 1:01:18
  He had pre decided what his principles were, what his
• 1:01:21
  practices were and he did. Cannot let the cultural
• 1:01:25
  pressures deter him from living in a principled way.
• 1:01:30
  I think the same is true in our lives.
• 1:01:32
  It doesn't mean we don't have moments of uncertainty or doubt.
• 1:01:36
  That's not what we're talking about.
• 1:01:38
  What we're talking about though is not trusting in ourselves and
• 1:01:42
  trusting in God. Ultimately, I think that we can
• 1:01:46
  easily find our stress self distressed.
• 1:01:49
  And when you feel distressed, when you feel anxious, the
• 1:01:52
  question isn't are you sinning? The question is what should you
• 1:01:56
  do in response? I think the thing that you do in
• 1:01:58
  response #1 you get honest about it to God and you get honest
• 1:02:02
  with somebody else who can encourage you be because when
• 1:02:05
  you feel anxious, when you feel distressed, when you feel like
• 1:02:08
  you're under pressure, when, when times are tough because of
• 1:02:12
  testing, that's when you want to bail on your practices.
• 1:02:17
  That's when you want to create a compromise in your life.
• 1:02:23
  That's when you want to take and like steal away from some
• 1:02:26
  things. You know, there's a I'll give
• 1:02:30
  you give you kind of this, this idea.
• 1:02:37
  I think there are some things that we need to have in our life
• 1:02:41
  that are just non negotiable. Earlier in the podcast, I was
• 1:02:44
  talking about how I don't feel like I would be the person that
• 1:02:48
  I am today if I had not anchored myself to the truth that God is
• 1:02:55
  God and money is not. And I'm going to trust God more
• 1:02:58
  than I trust material wealth. And so the practice of
• 1:03:03
  generosity has become a non negotiable in our life.
• 1:03:07
  The practice of reading Scripture has become a non
• 1:03:10
  negotiable in my life. It might look a little bit
• 1:03:13
  different, but I'm still engaging in it all the like
• 1:03:17
  consistently. Why?
• 1:03:18
  Because it's not. There's a practice that I'm
• 1:03:20
  doing and there's a purpose behind it.
• 1:03:23
  I'm living based on a principle, not based on the pressures of
• 1:03:27
  the moment and circumstance. I, I think too many of us are
• 1:03:32
  being tossed to and from. James says that when we are
• 1:03:36
  tossed about by worry, by anxiety, by pressures of life,
• 1:03:41
  then a double minded man is unstable.
• 1:03:43
  Like the tossing of waves back and forth, back and forth.
• 1:03:46
  I think the practices of our faith anchor us.
• 1:03:49
  I also think the truth of who who God is anchors us.
• 1:03:54
  There have been many times in this season where again, to to
• 1:03:58
  be honest, over the last two years, financial pressures in
• 1:04:01
  our personal lives have been increased.
• 1:04:04
  We've been under some personal financial pressures and God has
• 1:04:07
  been faithful. We have not lessened or or
• 1:04:12
  decreased our commitment to generosity as as a family.
• 1:04:16
  We just haven't. We've refused to do it.
• 1:04:19
  We're, we're and God has continued providing.
• 1:04:21
  He's continued to be taking care of us and we're seeing certain
• 1:04:25
  areas of our life flourish even even in the face of other
• 1:04:31
  uncertainties and pressures that we're still experiencing
• 1:04:33
  financially just as a part of it.
• 1:04:35
  I get it. Like those are very real.
• 1:04:38
  And so when we are being tested, when we have to stay true and
• 1:04:42
  stay faithful and stay consistent in the principles and
• 1:04:46
  the practices of who it is and, and all of those principles or
• 1:04:50
  practices are formed in shaped to because of a a truth and an
• 1:04:57
  understanding of who God is for us.
• 1:05:01
  Remembering that God is my provider, remembering that God
• 1:05:04
  is my defender, remembering that God is my protector, remembering
• 1:05:09
  that God sees all, knows all and is judging my motives has led me
• 1:05:14
  to a place of continued confession with him.
• 1:05:17
  Right. Like there is just this sense
• 1:05:20
  that that there is going to be distressed.
• 1:05:21
  There is. We have to, as, as Philippians
• 1:05:25
  remind us, fix our eyes on Jesus.
• 1:05:27
  We have to keep our eyes on him. The Bible says that God will
• 1:05:31
  keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind stays on Christ.
• 1:05:36
  In other words, if if I'm looking at the the scarcity of
• 1:05:42
  5000 people and I don't know how to feed them and I'm looking at
• 1:05:46
  the problem rather than the person of Jesus, I'll miss the
• 1:05:50
  miracle. And so when pressures and
• 1:05:52
  problems come, we have to look to the person of Jesus more than
• 1:05:56
  we're focused on the problem. What we magnify, listen, what we
• 1:06:01
  magnify gets larger in our life. So when we magnify the Lord, he
• 1:06:07
  gets larger in our life. When we magnify the problems, it
• 1:06:09
  gets larger in our life. I think one of the the things
• 1:06:14
  that I have found to be helpful when I know I'm being tested and
• 1:06:18
  tried is I just take a note from Jesus's book.
• 1:06:22
  I get away often to a mountainous place to pray.
• 1:06:26
  Now I mean mountainous in terms of metaphors.
• 1:06:29
  Mountains are places of encounter.
• 1:06:31
  Mountains are places where we see God.
• 1:06:33
  Mountains are places where we interact with him and I, I think
• 1:06:38
  mountains in scripture are these high places where, where heaven
• 1:06:42
  overlaps earth a lot of times. And so when I get distressed and
• 1:06:46
  anxious and I know I'm being tested in life or God is testing
• 1:06:50
  my faith, I, I want to go meet with God some more.
• 1:06:52
  I want to be with him. We just finished a a ministry
• 1:06:55
  team night here at the church and we're kind of talking about
• 1:06:58
  with it was a great night of time of worship and ministering
• 1:07:02
  to one another, praying for one another, laughing together and
• 1:07:04
  being encouraged in the word is a really special time for those
• 1:07:07
  that were able to be here. And one of the things that the
• 1:07:11
  staff and I were talking about just recently was that man,
• 1:07:14
  those nights, no one ever really wants to come First off, right?
• 1:07:18
  It's a sacrifice to get there, right?
• 1:07:21
  Like you're at home on a Sunday afternoon, you're like totally
• 1:07:25
  decompressing, relaxing and chilling to like get back up out
• 1:07:29
  of the house to go to to another event on a Sunday night back to
• 1:07:33
  church. It it can feel a little
• 1:07:35
  daunting. Like is it really worth it?
• 1:07:36
  I mean, is it, I mean, necessary?
• 1:07:38
  I mean, come on, I got other things to do.
• 1:07:40
  I'm kind of at home. I'm here, I'm there.
• 1:07:42
  And it's true. All of those things are there.
• 1:07:43
  But, but I kind of tell you, when you make the choice to
• 1:07:46
  invest in sacrifice, those that made the, the, that were able to
• 1:07:51
  make the, the, the sacrifices that were able to come walked
• 1:07:54
  away refreshed, encouraged and strengthened.
• 1:07:56
  Like there is a God meets us in our moment of distress.
• 1:08:01
  God meets us in our moment of anxiousness, if we're willing to
• 1:08:07
  meet him, if we're willing to pursue him, if we're willing to
• 1:08:11
  seek him. And so we don't have to worry
• 1:08:15
  because our Father sees and He knows he's with us, He's
• 1:08:17
  strengthening us, He's encouraging us.
• 1:08:19
  And so when I'm distressed, when I'm anxious, I don't lower my
• 1:08:23
  standard. I keep living according to my
• 1:08:25
  principles and practices and I get away and be with the Lord.
• 1:08:30
  And I share those things with other people too.
• 1:08:32
  And those have been some things in my life that have helped me
• 1:08:35
  in the middle of my faith, muscles being stretched in the
• 1:08:39
  times of pressure, remaining faithful.
• 1:08:42
  I haven't always remained faithful.
• 1:08:44
  There have been times I've given up.
• 1:08:45
  There's been times I've compromised.
• 1:08:46
  There's been times I, I've wanted to bail in it.
• 1:08:49
  It's not always perfect, but I learned something in the
• 1:08:51
  process. Learned something that I, I made
• 1:08:54
  it longer than I thought I did, or I learned something about the
• 1:08:57
  way that the enemy was distracting me.
• 1:08:59
  I, I learned something in the process.
• 1:09:02
  And that's part of growing in our faith too.
• 1:09:06
  Here's the next question, and I'm going to spend a little bit
• 1:09:08
  of time trying to unpack this the best I possibly can.
• 1:09:12
  The question is this is tithing New Testament command?
• 1:09:16
  Is tithing 10% a New Testament command?
• 1:09:20
  So let me break this down. What is tithing?
• 1:09:21
  Tithing was a percentage giving. Typically 10% tithe means 10th,
• 1:09:30
  so 10% of of it was your first 10% of your increase brought to
• 1:09:38
  the Lord. In in the old it was commanded
• 1:09:40
  as part of the Levitical worship.
• 1:09:42
  It was commanded in multiple things.
• 1:09:45
  There were multiple commands of generosity actually in the Old
• 1:09:50
  Testament things as it relates to temple tax.
• 1:09:54
  There were things as it related to worship that was part of
• 1:09:58
  tithe. There was part that was in, in
• 1:10:02
  it helped provide resources for the priest and those who
• 1:10:06
  ministered in the House of the Lord.
• 1:10:09
  It was all a part of, of provisions of, of bringing it to
• 1:10:13
  the Lord. That's kind of what we we talk
• 1:10:15
  about tithe, but typically when people talk about tithe, they're
• 1:10:18
  talking about are we required to give 10% to God of all of our,
• 1:10:23
  our income? First, let me just say tithing
• 1:10:25
  is biblical. Tithing was a practice and
• 1:10:30
  modeled and demonstrated before the law of Moses ever came
• 1:10:34
  about. And many people will say that
• 1:10:37
  tithing was a part of the Levitical law and we don't
• 1:10:42
  really have the Levitical or ceremonial law anymore.
• 1:10:46
  Well, it was part of it, but also was a part of how they
• 1:10:48
  worshipped. And so I, I I think that's
• 1:10:53
  important to know. Is tithing explicitly commanded
• 1:10:57
  in the New Testament? No, but tithing isn't explicitly
• 1:11:03
  removed in the New Testament either.
• 1:11:07
  So many people who are arguing that tithing isn't in the New
• 1:11:10
  Testament, therefore we don't need to tithe anymore, are
• 1:11:13
  people who are doing it by way of absence, not by way of
• 1:11:18
  presence. In other words, they think that
• 1:11:21
  because Jesus is silent, which he isn't silent and, or, or Paul
• 1:11:25
  never commands New Testament people to tithe.
• 1:11:29
  Therefore it must not be a command because it's not listed.
• 1:11:34
  I, I, I don't find that to be the best argument for it.
• 1:11:39
  So is there a, a command in the news thou shalt tithe 10% to
• 1:11:44
  your church? No, that's, that's not in the
• 1:11:46
  New Testament. It's not, it's not there.
• 1:11:48
  However, I, I think we need to remember tithing was a
• 1:11:52
  percentage giving tithing was a percentage in keeping with their
• 1:11:56
  income. That is a command that Paul does
• 1:11:58
  give to the to the New Testament church, especially in First
• 1:12:01
  Corinthians 16 we read earlier on the first day of the week in
• 1:12:05
  accordance with in keeping with your income, your increase, your
• 1:12:10
  fruitfulness, your prosperity, set aside some forgiving.
• 1:12:15
  In other words, as you increase, set us have a percentage set in
• 1:12:20
  place so that as you increase in accordance with that increase or
• 1:12:24
  decrease, you're keeping a level of generosity that is the same.
• 1:12:29
  That's what Paul commanded them to do.
• 1:12:33
  In 2nd Corinthians 9. Paul talks about set it aside,
• 1:12:37
  be willing to give it. Don't don't make it feel like
• 1:12:40
  people are asking for it. If you treat it as a gift, it
• 1:12:43
  doesn't feel like extortion, He says.
• 1:12:44
  So come with some generosity, come with some of those things.
• 1:12:48
  But let me get back to Jesus for a minute.
• 1:12:50
  So, so we have let me say this. So in the New Testament we have
• 1:12:54
  clear precedent for some percentage giving.
• 1:12:58
  We have clear precedent for continued giving.
• 1:13:03
  Giving is definitely a sacrificial thing, and Jesus
• 1:13:06
  never undid those things. Now.
• 1:13:07
  Now, the New Testament does clearly talk about you don't
• 1:13:11
  need to sacrifice animals, you don't need to pray.
• 1:13:14
  You have a direct mediator in heaven.
• 1:13:16
  His name is Jesus. We do see Jesus as an eternal,
• 1:13:20
  permanent priest who receives worship, praise, and I think our
• 1:13:25
  adoration and our giving. I think God is still, I think
• 1:13:28
  Jesus still is looking over our generosity.
• 1:13:31
  I think he's still watching to see our giving, our heart in
• 1:13:35
  that way. I think Jesus is really clear on
• 1:13:37
  the priority of giving. There are some that say that
• 1:13:40
  Jesus never commands tithe. In fact, he rebukes tithing when
• 1:13:43
  he rebukes the Pharisees. Well, that's not true.
• 1:13:47
  They're they're talking about Matthew.
• 1:13:49
  I think it's 25 where Jesus says woe to you scribes and
• 1:13:55
  Pharisees, you teachers of the law, you tithe on, on, on a mint
• 1:14:00
  and dill, but yet you you ignore the weight of your matters of
• 1:14:06
  the law, justice and mercy, in other words.
• 1:14:11
  And then Jesus goes on to say, these you should have done
• 1:14:15
  without leaving the others undone.
• 1:14:21
  I think it's really, really clear Jesus saying, Hey, listen,
• 1:14:23
  you're, you're, you're spiritual leaders, You're, you're
• 1:14:25
  practicing Judaism, you're tithing and you're, you're
• 1:14:29
  spending so much time making sure you're getting the, the
• 1:14:32
  exact percentage right on your mint, these little plants and
• 1:14:36
  dill, these little seeds. But yet you're ignoring the
• 1:14:40
  bigger issue, which is caring for the poor and caring for
• 1:14:43
  others. What was Jesus saying?
• 1:14:45
  Jesus was saying you feel more vindicated by, by your tithing,
• 1:14:52
  your giving, by by doing this pious act of, of, of money
• 1:14:56
  donation. But you can't get your hands
• 1:14:59
  dirty to care about other people.
• 1:15:01
  You're missing the point. You're still not loving the Lord
• 1:15:04
  with all of your heart. You're still not giving him your
• 1:15:07
  full worship and adoration. You're still not living with a
• 1:15:12
  pure heart in this area. Jesus wasn't condemning the
• 1:15:16
  practice of tithing. He was condemning the duplicity
• 1:15:21
  of mailing it in, thinking, well, I gave money, I don't,
• 1:15:24
  that doesn't bother me anymore. I gave money.
• 1:15:27
  I don't need to care for other people anymore.
• 1:15:30
  I gave money so I don't need to be someone who serves others and
• 1:15:34
  takes care of poor and righteous things.
• 1:15:37
  It's just not what it means that Jesus is combing and confronting
• 1:15:41
  an attitude of their heart. He wasn't eradicating a practice
• 1:15:48
  from their midst. Now, I recognize that many would
• 1:15:52
  say that we don't have the temple structure that they had
• 1:15:54
  in the Old test or in the New Testament or Old Testament.
• 1:15:56
  I would agree we don't, but we still have houses of worship,
• 1:16:00
  houses of the Lord and the Lord still I I think that there is
• 1:16:04
  still a proper propriety to doing those things.
• 1:16:07
  In fact, Paul is really clear about generosity to the church
• 1:16:11
  and in taking care of those who labor in the word for us.
• 1:16:16
  He's really, really clear. So is there a scripture that
• 1:16:18
  says thou shalt tie 10%? No, it it doesn't.
• 1:16:21
  But let's let's zoom out for a minute.
• 1:16:26
  In the Old Testament, giving was symbolic and it was required by
• 1:16:30
  the law. It was symbolic.
• 1:16:31
  Think about it. The tithe was about bringing the
• 1:16:35
  first to redeem the rest. There's some verses in Leviticus
• 1:16:40
  that says that when you bring the first of the Lamb, it
• 1:16:42
  actually redeems this. The tithe redeems the rest.
• 1:16:47
  Why? It's symbolic, Symbolic of
• 1:16:50
  Jesus, the first son that God would give that would redeem the
• 1:16:54
  rest. So when they tithe, they were
• 1:16:56
  symbolically in the Old Testament, they were
• 1:16:59
  symbolically preaching the gospel to themselves that they
• 1:17:03
  would one day see as a people, that they were prophetically
• 1:17:07
  declaring that Jesus is the first, that there is a son, a
• 1:17:12
  first seed that is going to come and redeem all.
• 1:17:16
  So it was illustrative as much as it was required.
• 1:17:19
  So it was symbolic and it was required by the law.
• 1:17:22
  Zooming out in the New Testament, giving is taught to
• 1:17:27
  be systematic, sacrificial, and assumed it was sacrificial.
• 1:17:33
  It was systematic. It was assumed people people
• 1:17:36
  were sacrificing, giving land, selling land, doing these
• 1:17:40
  things, giving, giving all that they had and bringing it to the
• 1:17:44
  church for meeting needs of others, taking care of whatever
• 1:17:48
  it was that need to be taken care of.
• 1:17:50
  It was assumed that they were generous.
• 1:17:52
  Why? Because they had already lived a
• 1:17:55
  life, especially the Jews of of of assumed generosity.
• 1:17:59
  It was a part of their spiritual life and practice already.
• 1:18:03
  Just like fasting. There's there's not really a
• 1:18:06
  command in the New Testament says thou shalt fast, but the
• 1:18:09
  principle is there. And Jesus says some of these
• 1:18:12
  things only happen through prayer and fasting.
• 1:18:15
  I think there is an element. There's an assumed thing.
• 1:18:18
  In fact, it's assumed in the same way that fasting and prayer
• 1:18:20
  were assumed. Think about it.
• 1:18:21
  Jesus, Matthew chapter 6, first, He says when you give, don't do
• 1:18:25
  it to be seen by other people. Just like he says when you pray
• 1:18:29
  and when you fast. Here's your motive in that.
• 1:18:32
  Jesus comes at the motive of why we do the spiritual practice.
• 1:18:37
  He doesn't dismantle the need for spiritual practice.
• 1:18:41
  So I, I think giving in the New Testament, it is really clear,
• 1:18:45
  it is systematic, it is sacrificial and it's assumed.
• 1:18:51
  And so is there a specific versus you got to give 10% like
• 1:18:56
  that's the magic number. No, there's, there's not in the
• 1:18:58
  New Testament, but I think percentage giving is
• 1:19:01
  represented. Sacrificial giving is, is is is,
• 1:19:04
  is, is there. And it's assumed that as
• 1:19:07
  believers, you are participating in it with a willful, joyful
• 1:19:10
  heart. It, it's there, it's, it's, it's
• 1:19:13
  all throughout the scripture, Paul writes about it, Jesus
• 1:19:16
  talks about it. It's all a part of acts models
• 1:19:21
  it Even so. So for me, I think the, the, the
• 1:19:25
  principle and the practice of generosity as a New Testament
• 1:19:30
  believer is, is 3 things. I think #1 it's percentage based
• 1:19:35
  in keeping with your income. I think you need to pick a
• 1:19:38
  stretch percentage, give according to a percentage
• 1:19:40
  because then regardless of income, there's still a
• 1:19:44
  percentage that's consistent to the Lord #2 I think it should
• 1:19:47
  stretch you so that it depends more on God, so that you're
• 1:19:50
  depending more on God than money.
• 1:19:52
  It's, it's an act of worship and adoration, like the widow who
• 1:19:55
  brought her two mites to the Lord.
• 1:19:57
  I think that's the biblical model.
• 1:19:59
  Again, just like fasting stretches you a little bit, it
• 1:20:03
  stretches you to to depend. God more and to hunger for him
• 1:20:07
  more. Our giving should stretch us a
• 1:20:10
  little bit so that we depend on God.
• 1:20:12
  That doesn't mean we're foolish. I don't want people giving so
• 1:20:17
  foolishly that they can't pay bills that they can't take care
• 1:20:20
  of their family, that they can't do those things.
• 1:20:22
  That's not the point and I'm not looking for you to empty your
• 1:20:25
  bank account just to like feel some spiritual that's that's
• 1:20:29
  dumb. Don't do that.
• 1:20:30
  If God tells you to do it, there's a plan and a reason and
• 1:20:33
  you better really know, you hear the Lord, but you know, I, I
• 1:20:37
  think our hearts ought to be in that place.
• 1:20:39
  I think percentage giving is is biblical in the New Testament
• 1:20:42
  demonstrated and at points commanded.
• 1:20:45
  I think it should stretch you it it should be beyond you.
• 1:20:48
  It should be generous. Again, God is watching that and
• 1:20:52
  he doesn't want us lying about it, pretending that we are this
• 1:20:56
  or are that like I think we need to do that.
• 1:20:57
  And, and, and finally, I think you're giving to the Lord.
• 1:21:02
  When we give to the Lord, it should be first.
• 1:21:04
  So the first that leaves our hand should go to the Lord.
• 1:21:08
  The first of it goes to the Lord.
• 1:21:09
  Because I think when we give and live according to the principle
• 1:21:13
  of first, when we seek first the Kingdom of God, when we when we
• 1:21:16
  are putting God first, even financially, there was a
• 1:21:20
  redemptive reality that we are reminding ourselves of.
• 1:21:23
  That Christ has redeemed me, that the devourer is being
• 1:21:27
  rebuked for my sake, that that Jesus is Lord in my life, that
• 1:21:34
  he gave me first and I'm giving him love in this way too.
• 1:21:40
  And so I think it's right that we would return to the Lord
• 1:21:45
  first. What is his?
• 1:21:46
  Everything belongs to the Lord. That's biblical.
• 1:21:49
  We see that all throughout Scripture and whatever he's put
• 1:21:52
  in our hands to steward, ultimately we're accountable and
• 1:21:55
  we want to look at it as seed and other things along the way.
• 1:21:59
  So we want to seek God first. I think generosity is God's into
• 1:22:07
  God's Kingdom is a confession of our gospel allegiance.
• 1:22:11
  Just like tithe was a gospel proclamation, The tithe was a
• 1:22:16
  proclamation that they were making.
• 1:22:18
  In fact, in, in, I think it's in, in, in Deuteronomy, it may
• 1:22:24
  be in Numbers, but it says when you're preparing to make your
• 1:22:29
  tithe, when you're preparing the Passover, when you're preparing
• 1:22:32
  to bring your first to the Lord, you're going to make the first
• 1:22:34
  sacrifice. And he's talking about the
• 1:22:35
  principle of the first when you're bringing the first to the
• 1:22:38
  Lord. He says this, He says your
• 1:22:41
  children will ask you why are you doing it?
• 1:22:44
  And you will be able to tell them.
• 1:22:45
  We once were slaves in Egypt. In other words, we once were
• 1:22:49
  slaved to a God that wasn't God. We we were slave to other gods
• 1:22:55
  and other ways of living, other cultures that weren't Yahweh,
• 1:22:59
  but he delivered us. What?
• 1:23:01
  What do we do when we give, when we're generous, when it's a
• 1:23:04
  percentage, when, when it's first to the Lord?
• 1:23:08
  We are proclaiming until the day of the Lord returns to
• 1:23:12
  ourselves, to those around us, that our allegiance belongs to
• 1:23:16
  Jesus, that our allegiance is to God, and that God has redeemed
• 1:23:20
  us. God has set us free.
• 1:23:22
  God has done something different.
• 1:23:23
  So is there a command in the New Testament to tithe?
• 1:23:28
  No, but there's not a command not to.
• 1:23:30
  It is assumed that you're giving.
• 1:23:32
  You're giving regularly. And in the New Testament it is
• 1:23:35
  assumed that you're giving sacrificially.
• 1:23:37
  So whether that's 10 percent, 15 percent, 5%, you need to pick a
• 1:23:42
  percentage that works with your income.
• 1:23:45
  And as your standard of living in a standard of earning has
• 1:23:50
  grown, I think your standard of giving should grow.
• 1:23:53
  Once you've set a line that says this is enough for us to live
• 1:23:56
  on, we could be satisfied at this place.
• 1:23:59
  We don't have to fall slave to more, more, more, more, more.
• 1:24:03
  And we don't have to live afraid of lack and hurt and want, But
• 1:24:07
  we can honor God, trust him 1st. And in giving to him first,
• 1:24:13
  giving him the seed. Second Corinthians says those
• 1:24:17
  who have seed to God will always give seed to sowers.
• 1:24:21
  He will always give bread to those who need to eat.
• 1:24:24
  So that we can be enriched in every way. 2nd Corinthians 9 and
• 1:24:29
  that we can always be generous all the more and refresh others.
• 1:24:34
  Why? Because giving is a ministry to
• 1:24:37
  the Lord, to each other, and in the process we proclaim our
• 1:24:42
  allegiance to Jesus as Lord, even Lord in the area of
• 1:24:49
  finances. We submit to His Lordship in
• 1:24:53
  this area. So I think the practice of
• 1:24:57
  generosity, the practice of giving in the New Testament
• 1:25:00
  seems systematic and it seems sacrificial and it seems
• 1:25:03
  assumed. I feel like the best system for
• 1:25:06
  giving is a percentage based. I think it's giving to God
• 1:25:10
  first, and I think it should stretch us because it should be
• 1:25:13
  sacrificial where we kill our flesh, we silence greed and
• 1:25:17
  materialism, and we put our trust in Jesus knowing that he's
• 1:25:23
  delivering us from the evil work of Mammon in our world.
• 1:25:29
  Hey, I hope this has been helpful and encouraging and it's
• 1:25:33
  helped you have faith for today. Thanks for listening, thanks for
• 1:25:37
  sharing, and we'll see you next week, friends, I love you.