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Surviving Financial Panics · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, you open your phone, you go to your banking app,
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  Speaker 1: You look at the numbers in your banking app, and
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  Speaker 1: your stomach just drops. It drops because the balance is
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  Speaker 1: lower than you expected, and because there are now rumors
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  Speaker 1: of layoffs coming at work, and everything you've built for
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  Speaker 1: years to keep your family safe feels incredibly fragile all
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  Speaker 1: of a sudden that can be paralyzing. And you stand
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  Speaker 1: in church trying to focus and sing worship songs, but
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  Speaker 1: it feels almost impossible, and all you can think about
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  Speaker 1: is next month's mortgage payment and all the other bills
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  Speaker 1: that have to be paid. How can you find any
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  Speaker 1: sense of peace or even happiness right now in this moment,
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  Speaker 1: in this experience today on aspestor John surviving financial panics.
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  Speaker 1: So many of you are emailing us right now to
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  Speaker 1: tell us this is the situation you're facing right now
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  Speaker 1: in life and today in our Bible reading, we are
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  Speaker 1: studying Luke chapter twelve Versus thirty two to thirty four,
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  Speaker 1: a timely text for a listener like Marcus. He wrote us,
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  Speaker 1: Marcus is a project manager now facing a corporate downsizing.
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, I find myself in a dark place right now.
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  Speaker 1: My company is going through another round of layoffs and
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  Speaker 1: four the first time in my life, I'm looking at
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  Speaker 1: the possibility of an unemployment check. I'm paralyzed by fear
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  Speaker 1: and anxiety every time I look at my bank account.
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  Speaker 1: I've worked hard to provide a certain life for my family,
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  Speaker 1: in the thought of losing our house or not being
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  Speaker 1: able to afford what we need feels like a failure.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to sit in church and worship when all
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  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about is the next paycheck and how I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to survive if it stops. Honestly, it feels like
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  Speaker 1: God is a distant judge watching my performance during this crisis.
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  Speaker 1: How do I stop being so anxious about money when
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  Speaker 1: the threat is so real? Is it even possible to
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  Speaker 1: be happy when you're in financial ruin? Even Here's how
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John addressed Marcus's fears from Luke twelve and then.
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  Speaker 1: I've shared with several friends, and I want to share
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  Speaker 1: it with you today.
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  Speaker 2: Here's Pastor John so Luke twelve, thirty two to thirty four.
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  Speaker 2: Of the dozens of techs I could have chosen, is
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  Speaker 2: all about worshiping God with your money.
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  Speaker 3: There are four points I want to make.
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  Speaker 2: Many more could be made. I think I counted about
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  Speaker 2: ten sermons. I'd like to preach on these three verses,
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  Speaker 2: but I'll preach one and make four points. Number one
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  Speaker 2: in verse thirty two, in particular, the first point is
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  Speaker 2: God commands us not to be afraid about money, not
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  Speaker 2: to have fear about money. When it comes to money
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  Speaker 2: things we're not supposed to be anxious. Don't worry, don't
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  Speaker 2: be afraid, he says, little flock, for your father has
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  Speaker 2: chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. That little verse,
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  Speaker 2: there is sandwich before and after with money verses twenty
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  Speaker 2: two following or all about money, things, clothing, house, and
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  Speaker 2: whether you're anxious about them. And then it's followed by
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  Speaker 2: selling possessions and giving alms and laying up treasures in
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  Speaker 2: heaven instead of on the earth. So this little verse,
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  Speaker 2: this beautiful, magnificent promise verse, the first point is don't
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  Speaker 2: be anxious, don't be afraid. But now there's a deeper
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  Speaker 2: point in this verse. And the deeper point is that
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  Speaker 2: when you're not afraid concerning money, you magnify five things
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  Speaker 2: about God.
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  Speaker 3: And that's worship.
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  Speaker 2: When you're not afraid or anxious or fearful, about money,
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  Speaker 2: you magnify five things.
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  Speaker 3: About God in this one verse.
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  Speaker 2: And when you magnify God through not being afraid about money,
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  Speaker 2: you worship.
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  Speaker 3: Here are the five things.
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  Speaker 2: These are precious things that we want to magnify about God.
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  Speaker 2: Number one. When we're not afraid about money, we magnify
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  Speaker 2: God as our shepherd. Do not be afraid, little flock.
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  Speaker 2: The word flock means we've got a shepherd, and we
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  Speaker 2: are sheep. And therefore Psalm twenty three kicks in. The
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  Speaker 2: Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want want. That
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  Speaker 2: word is the old Elizabethan word for lack.
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  Speaker 3: I shall not lack, I shall not be in want.
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  Speaker 2: That is, if I have a shepherd like this who
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  Speaker 2: loves to give me the kingdom, I will not lack
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  Speaker 2: for what I need. Therefore, if I believe that, and
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  Speaker 2: thus exclude fear, I will magnify his shepherd love.
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  Speaker 3: Number two.
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  Speaker 2: If I do not fear concerning money, I show that
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  Speaker 2: I treasure God.
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  Speaker 3: As my father.
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  Speaker 2: Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has chosen.
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  Speaker 3: Gladly to give you the kingdom.
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  Speaker 2: So not only am I or are we sheep who
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  Speaker 2: have a shepherd. We are children who have a father.
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  Speaker 2: He's multiplying images for us here to get rid of fear.
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  Speaker 3: That's what he's doing.
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  Speaker 2: Don't be afraid your sheep who have a shepherd. Don't
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  Speaker 2: be afraid your children who have a father. Now what
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  Speaker 2: does that imply? Well, Verse thirty two verses earlier makes
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  Speaker 2: pretty plain what it implies.
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  Speaker 4: All these things, eat, drink, wear, money, things, all these
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  Speaker 4: things the nations of the world eagerly seek.
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  Speaker 2: But your father knows that you need these things. Now,
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  Speaker 2: he didn't say that.
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  Speaker 3: To mock us.
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  Speaker 2: He said that because knowing that we need these things,
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  Speaker 2: he'll work to provide what we need in order to.
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  Speaker 3: Magnify his fatherhood. But now be careful. Do not come
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  Speaker 3: to God.
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  Speaker 2: With an agenda defining for him what you need.
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  Speaker 3: Come to God and learn from him what you need.
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  Speaker 3: The word need.
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  Speaker 2: Today in America is so inflated that it scarcely has
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  Speaker 2: any meaning in a universal context anymore So, if we
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  Speaker 2: are fear less about money, we magnify him as shepherd.
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  Speaker 3: We magnify him as father, and that is worship.
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  Speaker 2: Thirdly, if we're not afraid concerning money, we show that
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  Speaker 2: we treasure God as our king. Do not be afraid,
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  Speaker 2: little flock For your father has chosen gladly to give
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  Speaker 2: you the what kingdom, who has right and authority to
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  Speaker 2: give us the kingdom. No peon disposes of the kingdom.
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  Speaker 2: The king disposes of the kingdom. And therefore, not only
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  Speaker 2: is he a shepherd, loving us as sheep, father loving
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  Speaker 2: us as children, he is king, ruling us, providing for us,
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  Speaker 2: exerting sovereignty and power on our behalf as subjects against
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  Speaker 2: our enemies, including the lack of things we need. So
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  Speaker 2: if we trust him as king and shepherd and father,
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  Speaker 2: and thus overcome our fear of not having enough money,
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  Speaker 2: then we magnify him, and he is worshiped. Fourth, if
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  Speaker 2: we are fearless with regard to our money, we magnify
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  Speaker 2: him as free and generous. Do not be afraid, little flock,
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  Speaker 2: for your father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom,
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  Speaker 2: not sell you the kingdom, not rent you the kingdom,
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  Speaker 2: not lease you the kingdom for payments, mortgage payments, rent payments,
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  Speaker 2: lease payments.
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  Speaker 3: He will give you the kingdom.
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  Speaker 2: He loves to give you the kingdom, which means he's generous.
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  Speaker 2: And therefore if we let his shepherd like fatherly kingly
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  Speaker 2: generosity work on our fear, our anxieties. And I'm talking
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  Speaker 2: to battle here. You know I'm talking to battle here, right.
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  Speaker 2: We're not talking something that happened yesterday and doesn't happen tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking a weekly thing, a paycheck by paycheck thing,
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  Speaker 2: or unemployment check by unemployment check thing.
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  Speaker 3: We're talking a battle here.
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  Speaker 2: The way we battle is by preaching to ourselves what
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  Speaker 2: I'm preaching right now.
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  Speaker 3: That's the way I do it.
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  Speaker 2: It ain't automatic for John Piper to be fearless about money.
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  Speaker 2: Though I get paid plenty, wait plenty.
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  Speaker 3: It isn't automatic for me. It isn't automatic for you.
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  Speaker 2: We are battling fear and anxiety every day, not to
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  Speaker 2: mention greed.
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  Speaker 3: And we do it by.
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  Speaker 5: Saying, he's shepherd to me, he's father to me, he's
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  Speaker 5: king to me, and he's not as shepherd, father and king,
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  Speaker 5: folding his arms, standing off in the corner.
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  Speaker 2: Saying maybe maybe you'll get the ca ingom, I'll watch
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  Speaker 2: your performances.
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  Speaker 3: It's not the way he does it.
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  Speaker 2: Give free, free, free is what the Lord does. And fifthly,
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  Speaker 2: when we overcome our fear and live free of fear, we.
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  Speaker 3: Magnify our God as happy in his giving.
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  Speaker 2: Do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has
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  Speaker 2: chosen gladly to give you the kingdom, or it is
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  Speaker 2: his good pleasure. Another version says to give you the kingdom,
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  Speaker 2: or another version.
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  Speaker 3: It pleases him. He's pleased to give you the kingdom.
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  Speaker 3: He wants to do this. He is not selfish.
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  Speaker 2: Simony is not his virtue or vice.
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  Speaker 3: He is a generous God.
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  Speaker 2: So the first point of this message is trust him
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  Speaker 2: as shepherd, trust him as father, trust him as king,
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  Speaker 2: Trust his generosity, and trust the fact that it's lavish because.
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  Speaker 3: He loves to do it.
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  Speaker 2: Preach these things to yourself and attack fear and anxiety
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  Speaker 2: in your life with these truths, so that when you overcome.
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  Speaker 3: Fear about money, God gets the glory.
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  Speaker 2: These five glorious things shine.
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  Speaker 3: Out of your life.
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  Speaker 2: And if anyone asks you, I know that you're in
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  Speaker 2: financial straits, and yet at work you seem to be
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  Speaker 2: caring about others and fairly happy.
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  Speaker 3: How is that? Then?
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  Speaker 2: You say, can I share five things with you about
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  Speaker 2: my God?
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  Speaker 3: And he is worshiped. He is worshiped.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it ain't automatic for John Piper to be fearless
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  Speaker 1: about money. Yeah, it's not automatic for any of us.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing about this as natural, and the core secret here
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  Speaker 1: isn't a better budgeting software. The key is to remember
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  Speaker 1: who we are dealing with. A father. He's shepherd to me,
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  Speaker 1: he's father to me, he's king to me, and he
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  Speaker 1: doesn't want to sell you the kingdom or lease it
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  Speaker 1: to you. He has chosen gladly to give it to you.
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  Speaker 1: So you have to actively fight this fear. You have
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  Speaker 1: to preach this generosity to yourself, because when you overcome
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  Speaker 1: fear about money, God gets the glory. Yes, others are
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  Speaker 1: watching us, and in the hardest season, others notice how
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  Speaker 1: we speak of the generosity of our father. Obviously there's
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  Speaker 1: a lot more to say here. See the Aspectialdom book.
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  Speaker 1: In that section on biblical hope or Christians who are
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  Speaker 1: facing poverty on page one twenty to one twenty one.
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  Speaker 1: Even if poverty is not what you do experience or
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  Speaker 1: will experience, that would be worth reviewing God's promises to
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  Speaker 1: those in poverty. And then don't miss that section on
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  Speaker 1: beholding the one who never loved money on page one twelve.
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  Speaker 1: It gives me the chills every time I read that
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  Speaker 1: page one twelve, The one who never loved money glorious. Well,
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  Speaker 1: it is perhaps personal money anxieties that explain why we
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  Speaker 1: can be tempted to make small compromises at work, to
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  Speaker 1: stretch the truth, to close the deal, to fudge the numbers,
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  Speaker 1: to get the promotion next time. The danger of small
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  Speaker 1: compromises at work. And for that Pastor John rejoins us
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  Speaker 1: in the studio. Antoni Ranky will both see you back
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  Speaker 1: here on Monday. Thanks for listening.