Latest / The BLAZE (Bible Study) / Morning Devotion from Hebrews: Free from the Love of Money

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Morning Devotion from Hebrews: Free from the Love of Money · The BLAZE (Bible Study)

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, family. Good morning. God bless you. Welcome back
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  Speaker 1: to The Morning Devo with your bro, Sam Lopez, a.k.a.
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  Speaker 1: DJ Sam Brock. So winners with a Z.org. Live.sowinners with
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  Speaker 1: a Z.org. There's two streaming platforms. One is the website
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  Speaker 1: for the Cellar Radio Network, and the other is the
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  Speaker 1: online church that we have on these platforms for less distractions.
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  Speaker 1: Less distractions, man. One of the secrets... to meditating on
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  Speaker 1: the Word of God is to really be distraction-free, right?
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  Speaker 1: So I try to be in the studio weekdays, 5.30 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: Eastern Standard Time, Mondays through Fridays, to do that very thing,
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  Speaker 1: to get out of the distracting environment, right, and devote
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  Speaker 1: some time to the Lord and His Word. Today is
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  Speaker 1: the final chapter that we're going to be in Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: chapter 13, the book of Hebrews. We went through the
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  Speaker 1: whole book of Hebrews. God has given me this theme
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  Speaker 1: now to just go through the books of his word. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter by chapter and extract what he wants me to extract. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: And what he wants us to learn on these morning
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  Speaker 1: devos and grab a couple of verses out of each chapter.
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  Speaker 1: And we're in Hebrews chapter 13, verses five and six.
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  Speaker 1: I'm calling this one free from the love of money.
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  Speaker 1: My Lord, God, please help us free us from the
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  Speaker 1: love of money. Amen. And I think this is going
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  Speaker 1: to help out a lot of people who are striving
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  Speaker 1: to do so much, right, financially with their own possessions
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  Speaker 1: or whatever, what have you. Amen. And finding out that
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  Speaker 1: that temporary fulfillment doesn't compare to how God himself, right,
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  Speaker 1: secures us. So let's pray. If you have any questions, comments, concerns,
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  Speaker 1: or any prayer requests along those lines, please Don't hesitate
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  Speaker 1: to leave it on a live chat. That's what we're
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  Speaker 1: here for. Also, if you're live with us on the
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  Speaker 1: online platform, someoneiswithaz.org or live.someoneiswithaz.org, there's chat rooms there as well.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go for it, man. Let's be free from the
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  Speaker 1: love of money. If you're struggling right now and you're
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  Speaker 1: in between the two, one is trying to control the
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  Speaker 1: other's offering eternity, you can't serve two masters. To serve God,
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  Speaker 1: serve money, you can't serve both. Amen? Make money your
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  Speaker 1: slave because money is a horrible master. Make money your
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  Speaker 1: slave and give everything up to the Lord who provides. Father,
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  Speaker 1: I thank you so much for this word that you're
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  Speaker 1: going to share with us, Lord God, that you're going
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  Speaker 1: to give us understanding. We ask for wisdom. We ask
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  Speaker 1: for understanding. We ask, Lord God, that we will be
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  Speaker 1: able to please you, Lord Jesus. wherever we are, whatever
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  Speaker 1: we're doing, Lord God, somehow, someway, that we would remind
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  Speaker 1: ourselves of who we are in you, and you remind
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  Speaker 1: us by way of your Holy Spirit of who we
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  Speaker 1: are in you. Thank you, Lord God, that we are
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  Speaker 1: able to come to you boldly, according to your word,
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  Speaker 1: to the throne room of grace, because we're covered by
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  Speaker 1: the blood of the Lord, and we are robed in
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  Speaker 1: righteousness because of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray, Lord God,
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  Speaker 1: I had your protection right now, In this world, there's
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  Speaker 1: many trials, many troubles, many enemies. We have the enemy
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  Speaker 1: of our soul trying to kill, steal, and destroy. I
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  Speaker 1: pray a hedge of protection over myself, my wife, our children,
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  Speaker 1: our grandchildren, my whole entire family, my whole entire bloodline.
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  Speaker 1: In Jesus' holy name, I pray, Lord God, that you
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  Speaker 1: will continue to do that same thing for every single
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  Speaker 1: person that's connecting now or will connect later, who's watching
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  Speaker 1: now or who is listening. now or watching now or
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  Speaker 1: listening later however you do this Lord God it's your
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  Speaker 1: business and I trust in your ways your truth and
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  Speaker 1: your life that you will continue to do what you
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  Speaker 1: can only do transform us provide for us both physically
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  Speaker 1: emotionally and spiritually I thank you Lord God for it
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  Speaker 1: all in advance all the testimonies that we are going
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  Speaker 1: to share because of your holiness and your righteousness and
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  Speaker 1: your love and your grace and your mercy Give me glory, honor, worship,
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  Speaker 1: and praise today and every day. In Jesus' holy name,
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  Speaker 1: we pray this by faith. I pray this by faith.
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  Speaker 1: And those who agree, we say amen to the amen.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go for it. Let's shine the word of God
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  Speaker 1: through these mean social media streets. Sometimes these streets are
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  Speaker 1: mean and dark. But we're going to shine a light
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  Speaker 1: right now in Jesus' name. Amen. Shine the light of
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  Speaker 1: his word. There's nothing else better than the word of God.
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  Speaker 1: So let's get into it. Hebrews chapter 13, verses 5
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  Speaker 1: and 6, the Bible is clear. And the Bible says,
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  Speaker 1: keep your lives, here it is, free from the love
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  Speaker 1: of money and be content with what you have. For
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  Speaker 1: God has said, not Sam, for God has said, never
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  Speaker 1: will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So
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  Speaker 1: we say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. I
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  Speaker 1: will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Bold statements. This is a reminder of God's power and
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  Speaker 1: authority and reign and rule, and also his love for us,
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  Speaker 1: that he's concerned with our concerns, and that he knows, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we need money to do things that needs to be done.
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  Speaker 1: We need to work for it. We need to be honest,
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  Speaker 1: serve God who is loving, And because he is loving,
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  Speaker 1: we could be honestly serving him and serving others. Amen. Honestly.
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  Speaker 1: Not devising any schemes or plans to deceive people or
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  Speaker 1: anything like that. But the theme here that stuck out
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  Speaker 1: to me is keep your lives free from the love
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  Speaker 1: of money and be content. Amen. I thank God that
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  Speaker 1: years ago, even before I was saved, amen, as I
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  Speaker 1: look back on my life, like I'd never been tied
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  Speaker 1: to money. Never. Never. Some people, you know, struggle in
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  Speaker 1: that area. I don't think I've ever struggled in that
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  Speaker 1: area of trying to prove myself by gaining wealth or
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  Speaker 1: thinking I'm less than because others have more than me.
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  Speaker 1: Never had that issue. I guess because of where I
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  Speaker 1: was raised, I tried. I have an imagination and I
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  Speaker 1: tried my best that whatever I didn't have, I tried
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  Speaker 1: my best to invent it, right? However that looked. When
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  Speaker 1: I was a kid, if people had better toys, I
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  Speaker 1: would literally try to build it. You can ask my siblings.
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  Speaker 1: I used to try to build cars, build airplanes, build
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  Speaker 1: whatever I could. So that way I know that I
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  Speaker 1: designed it and it's a custom made toy or a
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  Speaker 1: custom made object or whatever it was. And then as
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  Speaker 1: I was growing up, I was watching people who had
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  Speaker 1: businesses and who had stores, who had sports teams and
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  Speaker 1: all that stuff. We try, me and my friends, we
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  Speaker 1: try to invent our own and try to do that
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  Speaker 1: in a creative way, in an honest way. It wasn't lying, cheating,
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  Speaker 1: and all that stuff until later on when we got
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  Speaker 1: older that we started being more like the world because
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  Speaker 1: we were in the world. And some of us, some
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  Speaker 1: of my friends are still in the world and I'm
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  Speaker 1: praying them out of the world. This world is going
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  Speaker 1: to rot away. This world is going to be burned
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  Speaker 1: up soon. Jesus is coming back. We need to get
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  Speaker 1: up out of here anyway. So in the meantime, why
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  Speaker 1: don't we just be transformed and be encouraged, right? Faith
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  Speaker 1: comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. We
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  Speaker 1: can stay focused because we have a purpose. God has
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  Speaker 1: a plan, right? So we could do this one morning
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  Speaker 1: at a time, one day at a time, get closer
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  Speaker 1: to the Lord Jesus Christ and what he wants us
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  Speaker 1: to do. Because in a world that we live in,
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  Speaker 1: this world is constantly, right? You could see it every
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  Speaker 1: single day, constantly telling us we need more. We need
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  Speaker 1: more of this. We need more of that. We need
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  Speaker 1: more money. We need bigger houses. This is what the
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  Speaker 1: world is advertising to us, suggesting to us daily. Bigger houses,
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  Speaker 1: bigger cars, greater possessions. We need the latest iPhone, the
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  Speaker 1: latest Samsung, the latest this, the latest that, the latest clothing.
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  Speaker 1: And it's working well. to a certain degree, on people,
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  Speaker 1: especially when you're younger, you have to get the name brand, whatever.
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  Speaker 1: It's funny, my daughter thought that New Balances were something new.
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  Speaker 1: So I said, look it up. Use the internet, you're
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  Speaker 1: always online, look it up. I think we saw that
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  Speaker 1: it was like 100 years old, the brand or whatever
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  Speaker 1: like that, but it's old. New Balance, Nikes, all these
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  Speaker 1: so-called fashion brands that our younger generation generation thinks that
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  Speaker 1: they have to have is being promoted excellently, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: by these brands and these manufacturers. It's almost like if
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  Speaker 1: you don't have it, you're not part of the in crowd,
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  Speaker 1: that type of thing. That's what the world is throwing
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  Speaker 1: at our children. That's what the world's throwing at us adults.
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  Speaker 1: God reminds us though, that true contentment comes from his
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  Speaker 1: presence and then not our possessions. Our possessions don't give
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  Speaker 1: us contentment. our possessions, our wealth doesn't give us satisfaction.
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  Speaker 1: Temporary satisfaction, yes. Frees up some time, absolutely. The reason
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  Speaker 1: why I don't do a lot of live shows on
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  Speaker 1: the radio network is because I have to go and
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  Speaker 1: work and pay the bills that allow this to happen
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  Speaker 1: right the ministry that I'm offering is free of charge
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  Speaker 1: but the ministry that God has called me to do
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  Speaker 1: needs to be paid for if that makes any sense
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  Speaker 1: I'm not asking for you know there's always a donation
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  Speaker 1: of button on my website. It's always a donate on
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  Speaker 1: the screen, amen, but it's not no campaign to make
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  Speaker 1: you do that. My campaign is simple, to make and
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  Speaker 1: encourage us, amen, not make us, but encourage us to
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  Speaker 1: read the word for ourselves. That way we won't fall
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  Speaker 1: into the algorithm of what people are saying about the
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  Speaker 1: Lord or what people are saying about the word, but
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  Speaker 1: we have the intelligence, the real intelligence, authentic Imitationology of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, authentic intelligence, not what is it?
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  Speaker 1: Artificial intelligence. We could go straight to the word. I
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  Speaker 1: could go to the word myself. You could go to
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  Speaker 1: the word yourself and we could realize who God really
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  Speaker 1: is and what he's really doing. So money itself, money itself.
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  Speaker 1: Let me make sure you know that I'm saying, oh,
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  Speaker 1: money is bad. No, money itself is not the enemy.
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  Speaker 1: The love of money is the problem. And we need
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  Speaker 1: to be set free from the love of money, right?
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  Speaker 1: The danger about money begins when money becomes the center
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  Speaker 1: of our lives. When money becomes our God. When money
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  Speaker 1: controls our decisions. When you have money and you feel
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  Speaker 1: like somebody has less than you, then you start this
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  Speaker 1: prideful thing. You have to fight against that. Don't talk
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  Speaker 1: down to people because you feel like you're at a
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  Speaker 1: higher level. Talk to people because there's no one higher
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  Speaker 1: than the Lord. Amen. We need to talk to each
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  Speaker 1: other as being creations of the Lord. Amen. We're created
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  Speaker 1: in the image of God. So let's respect one another.
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  Speaker 1: I don't care how much money you have. Amen. Respect me.
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  Speaker 1: I respect you. Let's keep it moving because there's a
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  Speaker 1: God in heaven that's watching. We have a father in
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  Speaker 1: heaven that owns it all. And he himself is not
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  Speaker 1: forcing us or talking down to us. He's speaking to us.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing? The God of heaven and earth, amen,
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  Speaker 1: is going to present himself free of charge. Meanwhile, you
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  Speaker 1: have these preachers, pastors, apostles, so-called prophets, evangelists, teachers, charging
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  Speaker 1: churches thousands and thousands of dollars for them to show
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  Speaker 1: up because they're anointed to do X, Y, Z. To me,
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  Speaker 1: that's between them and the Lord. But wow, Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: going to come back for free, free of charge. He's
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  Speaker 1: going to crack open the sky. Everyone's going to see him. Amen. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: He's showing up right now in the presence of His Word,
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  Speaker 1: the presence of His Holy Spirit, for free. Meanwhile, there's
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  Speaker 1: people jogging around the world, traveling the world, charging all
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  Speaker 1: this money for what we're doing right now for free. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: bigger stadiums, bigger arenas, bigger platforms, whatever. Okay, some people
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  Speaker 1: are into that. Praise the Lord, right? As long as
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  Speaker 1: God is the center of it, which... you know, it's debatable,
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  Speaker 1: then it's good. But if it's just about what you
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  Speaker 1: can get out of it or putting people in a
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  Speaker 1: place where they have to trust wealth more than they
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  Speaker 1: trust God, then that's not the way of the Lord, amen?
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  Speaker 1: So the danger is when money becomes the center of
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  Speaker 1: our lives, controls our decisions, or takes place of God
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  Speaker 1: in our hearts. That's dangerous. That's why scripture says keep
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  Speaker 1: your lives free from the love of money. Be content. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: And only the Lord can satisfy us anyway, physically, emotionally,
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  Speaker 1: and spiritually entirely. Right? So when we put our trust
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  Speaker 1: in wealth instead of the Lord, you know what you're doing, right?
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  Speaker 1: You know what I could be doing if I did that?
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  Speaker 1: We start losing sight of what truly matters. What truly matters?
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  Speaker 1: My bigger car than yours? My bigger house than yours?
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  Speaker 1: Or the Lord Jesus who owns it all? And as
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  Speaker 1: a matter of fact, pride? Sheesh. Man, God could take
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  Speaker 1: everything away from us in an instant. Well, I have
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  Speaker 1: this and I have that. I make this amount of
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  Speaker 1: money and you don't. That's not the attitude that the
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  Speaker 1: Lord gave us. That's the attitude that the world is promoting. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: And we need to stay free from that type of attitude.
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  Speaker 1: This is the thing about contentment, right? It says, keep
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  Speaker 1: your lives free from the love of money and be
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  Speaker 1: content with what you have. Like I said, when I
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  Speaker 1: was a kid, whatever I had, I would use. my imagination.
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  Speaker 1: I said, man, I don't have that, that toy that, um,
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  Speaker 1: my neighbor has. And look how big it is. How
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  Speaker 1: can I put stuff together? Let me go get a wagon.
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  Speaker 1: Let me put wheels on the wagon. Hey, put a seat. Honestly,
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  Speaker 1: I guess it was because I grew up in the,
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  Speaker 1: the little rascals watching the little rascals, you know, them little,
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  Speaker 1: them young kids on the black and white show. Little
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  Speaker 1: rascals is not on TV no more. I don't think, but, um,
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  Speaker 1: And they were always inventing things, right? Because they were
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  Speaker 1: depicted as poor kids in the neighborhood. They didn't have
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  Speaker 1: a lot, but they had a great imagination. Right now,
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  Speaker 1: we need to get our imagination flowing again. Younger generation,
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  Speaker 1: they're stuck on these tablets, phones, and screens. And I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if that's helping their imagination or not. I
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  Speaker 1: don't think so. But can you imagine having our younger
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  Speaker 1: generation have imaginations again, dream again, And be content with
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  Speaker 1: what they have so they can be using what God
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  Speaker 1: has given them to advance their lives, advance others, help others.
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  Speaker 1: That's another discussion. Today, stop measuring your blessings by what
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  Speaker 1: you lack. I don't have what that church has. I
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  Speaker 1: don't have what that evangelist has. I don't have what
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  Speaker 1: the neighbor has. And you're measuring your blessings according to
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  Speaker 1: your lack? Don't do that. Be free from that. Be content.
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  Speaker 1: Start recognizing the goodness of God in what you already have.
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  Speaker 1: If you have your health, you're wealthy. If you have Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: first and foremost, you're the wealthiest person in the world.
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  Speaker 1: If you have family, if you have love, if you
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  Speaker 1: have these things, you can't put a price tag on.
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  Speaker 1: So be content. Be satisfied with what God has given you. Amen? Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Because the world is not enough. The world doesn't give
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  Speaker 1: you enough. It doesn't satisfy you. Good morning, Sister Joanne.
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  Speaker 1: I see you. Good morning. God bless you. So start
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  Speaker 1: recognizing the goodness of God in what you already have.
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  Speaker 1: Your greatest treasure, right, isn't what you own. Your greatest
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  Speaker 1: treasure is in the God who will never abandon you.
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  Speaker 1: He will never leave you. Don't forsake you. It says
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  Speaker 1: it here. God has said, Never will I leave you.
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  Speaker 1: Never will I forsake you. Be consent in that. Joanne said,
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  Speaker 1: I ended up in a hospital. They admitted me. They
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  Speaker 1: have to take out my appendix now. Jesus' name helps
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  Speaker 1: Sister Joanne in that procedure. She will walk up out
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  Speaker 1: of there very soon. Again, giving praise to the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing that with us. We'll continue to
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  Speaker 1: keep you in prayer. Message us later to see if
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  Speaker 1: you need anything and what hospital you're in. God bless you, sister.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay.
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  Speaker 1: Money is a tool. Money is a tool for sure, right?
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  Speaker 1: Money could be very useful. There's ministries. And I'm trying
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  Speaker 1: to figure this out. Again, I don't want to go
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  Speaker 1: down that road. I don't understand why ministers and ministries
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  Speaker 1: have to tell us what they have. You know, the
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  Speaker 1: stories about I was preaching and a man left a
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  Speaker 1: check for a million dollars. And praise the Lord, right?
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  Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure that out because the Bible says
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  Speaker 1: not to let your left hand know what your right
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  Speaker 1: hand is doing. But yet you're in public saying, I
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  Speaker 1: did this and I did that. I got this and
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  Speaker 1: I got that. I need this and I got it.
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  Speaker 1: Because whatever reason. Again, that's between them and the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: It's really none of my business. I'm a thinker, so
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  Speaker 1: I wonder about that stuff sometimes. I know for sure
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  Speaker 1: that true believers in the Lord move in silence. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we're blessed. Move in silence. Possessions and all that stuff
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  Speaker 1: should be the result of the blessing of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: when you're humble. But if you're flaunting what you have,
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  Speaker 1: then saying, God gave this to me. You don't have it.
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  Speaker 1: I have it. It's a little worldly to me, in
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  Speaker 1: my opinion. Tell me what you think about that. Money
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  Speaker 1: is a tool, but money is not your source. Think
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  Speaker 1: about it. If God is telling us to keep your
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  Speaker 1: lives free, keep your life free. I have to keep
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  Speaker 1: my life free from the love of money. That's showing
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  Speaker 1: me right then and there, God is telling me, money
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  Speaker 1: is not your source. Be content with God and what
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  Speaker 1: he's giving us, right? Money is not the source. God,
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  Speaker 1: our Father, our Savior. Holy Spirit God, is our source, right?
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  Speaker 1: He's not only my source, he's my strength, and he's
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  Speaker 1: my security. That brings me a lot of contentment, knowing that, well,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: God doesn't want to open his door for whatever reason.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Maybe money will destroy it. some areas of my life,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: maybe money will destroy me. If I had millions and
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: millions of dollars, maybe that wouldn't be a good thing, right?
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: So I'm content with what God has given. Whatever he gives,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: trust me, I'm going to use it for the glory
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: of God. Some people say, well, you know, I'm trying
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: to encourage leaders as well, because they say a lot
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: of things that it's not jiving with scripture. And I
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: know Maybe intentions is good intention, but they say, we
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: have a small this and we have a small ministry.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Ain't nothing small when you're in the kingdom of God.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: You can have a church with 10 people and God
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: could do mighty things with those 10 people in your congregation.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: There's nothing small about serving the Lord, right? So I'm trying,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: me first, by example, change my vocabulary. Oh, you know,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: I don't have a lot of followers. The ministry is
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: not as big as XY. I don't do that. I
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: haven't done that. I don't think I've ever done that.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: But if I have, excuse me, let me correct myself publicly.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: That's not true. I'm content with whatever God gives. Amen.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Whatever he gives is more than enough. Haven't you noticed
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: that God could take, you could go and give $ 2, right?
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: That'll be the last money you had in your pocket.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: This is all I have. You could give it to
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: a stranger. Give it to a ministry, a missions trip
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: or whatever. Donate it. Haven't you seen the goodness of
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: God multiply that a hundred times over? A thousand times over?
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: And you're wondering, all I gave was... No, you gave
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: out of your heart. You gave without being obligated to give.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: You gave with a cheerful heart. And God blesses that.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: So that's what I'm saying. You could have a lot
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: of accolades and a lot of money. You know, that
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: doesn't really, at least me, I don't know about you,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: but that doesn't really convince me of anything or it doesn't,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: what's that word? It doesn't make me go, wow, look
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: at all the stuff he has. There's a word for that, right?
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: It's not coming to me right now. But you know
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: what really is, it wows me in people's lives is
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: when they're being used by God. It's amazing to me.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, look at how God is using that person,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: that brother, that sister. It's amazing to me. Not what
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: you have. That's not the wow factor, at least for me.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: The wow factor is like, wow, look how God can
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: use this person and is using this person, amen? And
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: it's not anything else but that. So being free from
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the love of money and being content is how God
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: wants us to live, right? Because God says he will
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: never leave us nor forsake us. He won't forget about you.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: The thing is that I laugh about is that He
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: knows our needs. I go to God with my needs
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: every day. I'm not going to hold you. I'm not
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: going to lie about that. But I know He already
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: knows my needs. I'm just showing up and reminding myself
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: that I have a Father in Heaven that knows about
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: my needs and He'll supply it according to His plan,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: to His riches and His glory in Christ Jesus. It's
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: not about what I want. It's about more about what
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I need. God knows what I need. He sees the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: need and he's Jehovah Jabba, the God who sees my
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: needs and your needs and provides for every single one
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: of those needs the way he wants to do it.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: That's the top. That's the thing that transforms me, transforms
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: my way of thinking when it comes to money and
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: all that stuff. People could, you know, make fun of
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: the little I have. That's all right. Amen. Amen. But
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: at the same time, I'm looking at the Father who
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: has it all, and I'm asking God to bless them.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: The ones who try to curse me, I'm asking the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Father to bless them. The ones who claim to be
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: my enemy, I'm praying for my enemies, right? The homeless
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: that I might not have a lot to give, but
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I'll give something, even if it's just a hug or
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: a prayer. God knows what we have. He knows what
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: we don't have. We don't have to be trying to
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: act the part that we're not. I'm not looking across
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: the street at my neighbor's house and be like, man,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: I wish I had that. I'm not doing that. Amen?
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I thank God that I wasn't in that mode. I
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: don't think I ever was in that mode of envy
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: and pride when it comes to somebody else's success. I
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: grew up in the projects. When somebody came up, I
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: would celebrate that person. I said, man, that's great, man.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: How'd you do it? Show me how to do it.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Let's do this together. Let's advance. Let's get up out
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: of the ghetto and all that stuff. I was always
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: been that person. You can ask people who knew me
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: for years. Always been that way. Praise the Lord. I
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: didn't know God during my younger years, but I knew
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: enough to know that if somebody was doing good, celebrate them. Amen.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Because I came from a family that, you know, we
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: didn't have it all, but what we did have, we used.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: The little that we did have, my mom used to say,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: we're going to have to make this money stretch. My
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: dad would be like, we're going to make this work. Amen.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Used to go to the bodega. And when we didn't
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: have food, he would get the credit. Fial, right? Credit
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: from the bodega. I said, man, I'll pay you Friday.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I seen him do that. Humbly. Amen. A man that
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: was trying to survive and trying to help his kids.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Because him and my mom were not married. Trying to
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: help his kids. And he would go to the bodega
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: and ask the owner, listen, man, I'll pay you Friday.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I need some groceries right now. And the owner would
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: do it because my dad was good at his work.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: When Friday came, he looked at his check. He was like, man,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I have to pay this to the bodega and then
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: whatever's left. That's how I learned. That's what I learned.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: I guess I'm answering my question now because I'm trying
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: to figure out why I was never bonded to money.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: I guess because I saw my parents, my dad especially,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the little he had, he would give. Amen. And that
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: to me is amazing. And that to me, I think,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: is an attribute of the Lord. Give freely. Stay free
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: from the love of money and just give what you
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: have and be content with what God has given. You know,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: it's a simple message, but I think it's a powerful
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: thing if we live that way. So what matters to
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: you more today? Does it matter how much you have
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: or how much you don't have? Or does it matter
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: what God says about money? Does it matter about what
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: God says about being content, being satisfied, amen, with what
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: he has given? There's nothing little or nothing small about
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: what God gives us. So I'm trying to stay free
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: from the vocabulary, oh, we don't have a big church,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: we don't have a big ministry. I'm trying to stay
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: away from that type of vocabulary because I have to
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: remind myself, wait a minute, I'm serving the King of
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: kings and the Lord of lords. That's huge. That's bigger
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: than anything the world can ever offer. I'm not going
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: to say this is small, that's small because of whatever reasons. Amen.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: And I hope that, you know, you could change that
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: up too. So share this devotion out, man. Share this
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: with somebody who needs this word. I know I need
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: this word daily. I need God daily, you know, but
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: share this devotion with someone who needs a reminder that
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: God's presence is worth more than worldly riches anytime, any day,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: any way. Amen. So the time of this recording, it's Friday.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: So that means the weekend. So God bless your weekend.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: God bless your day. Brother John, peace and blessings. Have
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: a beautiful weekend to you, my bro, as well. And
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: let's go for it, man. Hebrews chapter 13. Read the
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: whole chapter for yourself. This is the last chapter of
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: the book of Hebrews. So we're going to move on
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: to another book, Lord willing. Amen. We're on five and six,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: but I suggest you read the whole chapter. So I'm
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: out of here. Thank you so much for hanging out
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: with me. Amen. I hope this encouraged you somehow, some way,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: so we can move past this whole deal with money
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: and possessions and be content. with what God has promised. Amen.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: God bless you all. God keep you all. And remember
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: always that God is good. Peace.