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Undivided Treasure | Matthew 6:19-34 · Saint City Chapel

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Welcome back ASU. It's good to have you guys Sun
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Devils, we're glad you guys are here today.
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Welcome back from your Christmas break.
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I hope there was copious amounts of resting for you.
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Some of you might have taken AJ term class and for you, good
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job, overachiever. I love you.
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I never did that, but I respect you.
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I really do turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6.
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I'll meet you there in just a second.
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Hey, I I don't know if you've ever had this experience where
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you just know it was time for a change in your life.
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Like it was time. There was a, a moment not too
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long ago where I was experiencing a, a, a, a
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condition affecting men all over the world.
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Male pattern bombed this. Yeah, that happened last summer.
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I was like, oh, I'm losing it up top.
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So what I do, I committed to it. I shaved my head.
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That was the greatest intervention of my life so far.
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I've never actually experienced an intervention before, like a
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real 1. You know, the kind that you like
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see on TV or you hear about if you have.
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I'm so glad that you're here, but I've never been in the room
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for this very, very awkward scenario.
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You see, an intervention, if you're unfamiliar, is a party
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where everybody knows it's not a party except you.
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You're the one who shows up and every single person in that room
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is like, yo, bro, it is a time for a change in your life.
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I was listening to a comedian talk about his intervention
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recently, and he was depicting how basically every SNL writer
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was there with him. And so I'm trying to picture the
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seriousness of his intervention coupled with the most unserious
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people in America, Right? And it's over Zoom because it's
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during COVID and people are trying not to crack jokes or
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making a bit of it. But the thing that emerged from
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talking about his own intervention, that was like
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really interesting to me, that was only found in the
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perspective of him having been the one experienced
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intervention, is his denial that a change needed to take place.
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That the interesting thing about an intervention is everybody in
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the room except one knows it is time for a change.
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And the person who's being intervened, they're in utter
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denial that something has to shift.
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What's about to happen in Matthew chapter 6 for all of us?
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Is Jesus about to confront us about our relationship with
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money? He's about to have an
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intervention with your heart and with your mind on your
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relationship to money. He's going to pull us out of our
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denial, out of our divided hearts, and into the life that
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he wants for you. The best life, the flourishing
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life, the undivided life. You see, many of us experience
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anxiety here on Earth and in America because of the division
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in our hearts. We live fragmented and broken
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lives without integrity, without connection.
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We try to separate different parts of our life rather than
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having an undivided whole mind, whole body, whole heart, whole
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soul together. That you were made to live an
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undivided life and one of the greatest threats to division in
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your heart. A problematic perspective that
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you need to change out this morning to trade out is your
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perspective on money. We're going to find ourselves
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exchanging our worry and the lies of this world about money
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for the promises of the God who cannot lie and the reason why
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money. Talking about it like this from
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a pulpit can be interesting for you guys.
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You're like, man, there's another preacher talking about
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money. Did you know that Jesus talked
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more about money than heaven and hell combined?
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That there are over 2000 verses in the Bible talking about
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money? It's not that God necessarily
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wants your money. He doesn't need your money.
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He wants your heart. And the thing that's standing in
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the way of your heart, the thing that's standing in the way of
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you changing your relationship with money, is because likely
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you don't like loss. Loss of your things, loss of
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your plans, loss of your status, loss of your comfort.
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Ultimately, the thing you don't want to lose most is your
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control over your money. I think we're going to discover
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together in Matthew 6 something better for us, something that's
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going to settle our anxious hearts in a divided world.
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This big idea. Write this down if you like to
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take notes. An undivided life changes how we
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handle our money. An undivided life changes how we
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handle money, because a divided heart brings an anxious life,
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and an undivided life brings a peaceful heart.
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To live undivided, we have to offer our whole selves to God,
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holding no parts of ourselves back.
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There's nothing off the table with God.
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He is the Lord of every arena of our heart, mind, and soul.
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And so he gets to have a say in how we handle ourselves,
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particularly our money. So I want to read for you
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Matthew 619 through 34. I want to show you what it means
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for your life. If you're if you got God's word
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in front of you, go ahead and open it up there.
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If not, we have it on the screens beside.
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But follow along as I read. Matthew 6 says this.
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Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
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and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
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neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in
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and steal. For where your treasure is,
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there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body.
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So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of
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light. But if your eye is bad, your
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whole body will be full of darkness.
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If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the
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darkness? No one can serve 2 masters.
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For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be
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devoted to the one and despise the other.
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You cannot serve God and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not be
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anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will
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drink, nor about your body what you'll put on.
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Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
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Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor
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gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
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Are you not of more value than they?
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And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour
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to his span of life? And why are you anxious about
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clothing? Consider the lilies of the
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field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin.
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Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
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like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass
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of the field which today is alive, and tomorrow is thrown
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into the oven, will He not much clothe more Clothe you, O you of
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little faith. Therefore do not be anxious
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saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what
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shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all
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these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them
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all. But seek first the Kingdom of
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God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added
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to you. Therefore do not be anxious
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about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
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Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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These are God's words for us today.
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I want to help you understand what they mean for your life and
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how an undivided life changes how we handle money.
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So what needs to change and how you handle your money?
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Well, three things. The first is this 3 areas of
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change. The 1st is my loyalty, who I
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serve, what needs to change, what needs to shift, what needs
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to be different in 2026 is how you handle your money.
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So if the anxiety doesn't swell up in your life related to money
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so the worry goes down, first you need to change your loyalty.
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Who you serve. Look back at verse 24 with me.
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Nobody can serve 2 masters. For either he will hate the one
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and love the other or he will be devoted to the one who despise
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the other. You cannot serve God and money.
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Money is a crummy God. It will not save your soul.
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It might have a temporary fix of buying a jet ski and getting a
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big smile on your face, but it does not hold the keys to
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eternity. And to serve it with your life
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is to, as the Bible just said, hate the other master or to
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despise if money is your God. Guess what that's basically
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saying God hey I despise what you have to say about my life.
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It's a lesser love is what hate is.
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It's disordered. God is worthy of having the
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first place in your life, not just a place in your life.
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Jesus is the greatest treasure of your life, and money is a
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great rival to that affection. That's why Jesus opened in verse
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19 with do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
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but in heaven. We need to be loyal to treasures
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in heaven, not loyal to treasures on earth.
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There's two reasons why Jesus gives on.
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Hey, don't look at the security that money gives you.
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Don't look to it for meaning and for purpose and for your
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loyalty. Because guess what?
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Moths can get to it and thieves can get to it.
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Now, I am not a zoologist by any means.
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In fact, when it came time to learn about the animal Kingdom
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in high school, I would play my Game Boy instead regularly.
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OK, confession hour at church. I just did not pay attention.
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But I did learn something this week about moths, that the moth
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itself isn't actually what eats clothes.
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What happens is a moth will get into a closet and it will lay
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eggs called larvae. And the larvae to escape what
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they do is they eat through your clothes.
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And that's a moth of itty bitty insect flying about.
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And in the ancient world, they were incredibly great destroyers
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because a person's wealth was often attached to their clothes.
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Back then, there was no central banking system.
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Their wealth was in their closet.
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And so for a moth to destroy it was significant.
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And Jesus is saying, hey, don't put your money into your closet.
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Don't lay up treasures on earth. Don't be loyal to that.
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It can fade. It can be destroyed by a itty
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bitty insect that lays larva on your closet.
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But not only Moss can destroy the treasures on Earth, he also
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says thieves can get to it. I don't know if you like heist
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movies, but they're some of my favorite to watch, particularly
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Ocean's 11. I love that movie.
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I love the idea of them coming up with a plan and getting into
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it. Listen to me though.
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The treasures you have on Earth, the things you hold close.
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Many of us are settling for the trash and trinkets of this earth
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instead of the treasures of heaven where thieves can get to
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our trash and our trinkets. We've decided that, hey, you
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know what, this thing, it's going to go away in just like 10
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years. And we're so worried about
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getting the new shoe or the new piece of clothing with the brand
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on it. We're so worried about our car
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looking like this or our fashion looking like this, but Jesus is
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saying to us, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth
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where moths can get to it and where thieves can break in and
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steal. His point is it's going to fade.
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It does not last. It won't last.
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You can't take it with you when you die.
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Likely it won't even make it until your deathbed.
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The thing you're most worried about, we have to be a people
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who are loyal to treasures in heaven, because if you're loyal
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to the treasures of earth, you're going to be worried and
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competitive with other people about the treasures on earth
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that you have. We have expression for that
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called keeping up with the Joneses, right?
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If you're a Jones family here in the house, we love you.
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OK, that's just an expression, right?
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We are loyal, though, to the treasures in heaven, not earth.
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But not only that. Look at the next section, that
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part of the lamp and the body. We are not only loyal to God,
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not money, not only loyal to treasures in heaven, not earth,
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but we're loyal to generosity, not covetousness.
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That's what that verse 22 and 23 is getting at.
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Light is a metaphor for generosity and darkness is a
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metaphor for greed or covetousness.
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That the person who follows Jesus, the person who wants to
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live inside of God's Kingdom, the person who's listening to
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the Sermon on the Mount right now, what you are intended to
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live your life as is a person who is marked by generosity, not
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greed. The eye is the lamp of the body,
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and so if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of
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light. If you are a generous person,
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your whole. If your eye can see generously,
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guess what? Your life fills with generosity.
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If your eye is greedy, your whole body will be full of
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greed. That's another way to read that.
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And back then, loyalty. What's interesting back in the
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medieval times is loyalty wasn't actually measured by how much
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affection you had. It wasn't whether or not you
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sang the loudest songs or you did the best in listen to him
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right away, but rather this whether or not you betrayed the
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person you say you were loyal to.
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Loyalty was defined against and in contrast to treason and greed
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is spiritual high treason against a good and generous God.
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That's why God talks about money so much is greed is high treason
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against a good and generous God. There's an intimate correlation
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in scripture between a man's character and how he handles
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money. In Luke 19 you get a guy named
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Zacchaeus who upon meeting Jesus released funds that reflected a
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heart change in him paying everybody back that he
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manipulated and stole from. Not only Zacchaeus, but in Acts
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chapter 2 we have the early church releasing funds to
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another church that needs it as a heart change, selling all they
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possess so that others in their church would have what they did
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not that they could give to them.
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Not only that, in Matthew 19 you have a rich young ruler who's
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unwilling to depart with his possessions.
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And interestingly that one of the disciples, Judas, the one
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who is known and synonymous with treason, what did he betray
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Jesus for? 30 pieces of silver AKA money.
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There is a serious and intimate correlation between someone's
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character and how they handle money.
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That's why Jesus says for where your treasure is, there your
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heart will be also. What is it you actually treasure
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is not what you say you treasure, but it's where you put
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your money. I can tell a lot about a
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person's life if they show me their budget, what they actually
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value now, what they say they value.
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But where their dollars go, so goes their heart.
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So put your treasure where you want your heart to be.
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In fact, as a point of application, would you just do
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this, that if you were to look at your budget this week and
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say, ask yourself this question, based off my budget, who do I
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serve with my money? Do I serve my appetite in my
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belly with how much I eat out? Do I serve my future with how
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much I'm investing in it? Do I serve the church?
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Do I serve God and His Kingdom advancing on earth?
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Do I serve my hobbies? Do I serve my family?
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The point is, if money is going to be right, if we're going to
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have a right relationship with this year, we have to recognize
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that our allegiance to Jesus is first and foremost, therefore,
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He is worthy of our worship with our money.
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We have the undivided in it. Based off your budget, who do
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you serve with your money? Here's the next level question
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for those you've been walking to Jesus for a while.
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Has your generosity grown alongside your relationship with
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Christ? Is it the exact same it was when
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you met him when you were 20 and you're 40 now?
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Or have you grown in it? I just think when you read this
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that it's just so obvious that Jesus is intending for us to be
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a generous people. Christians are supposed to be
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known as the most generous people on planet earth because
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we've received the greatest gift.
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We've received Christ himself. So our loyalty, who we serve
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with our money has to change. That's our first thing.
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The second area that needs to change is my security where I
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rest, my security where I rest. Verses 25 through 31
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consistently say this phrase, do not be anxious.
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Do not be anxious. Your Bible might translate that
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word as worry. We as human beings were made to
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rest in, to be secure in God's care and control for us, not our
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own. That's why the Bible calls a
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sheep all the time, and that's why he called it calls Jesus our
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shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd.
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I shall not want, says Psalm 23, one that the person who trusts
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that is the sheep who goes. I have a Good Shepherd who is
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leading for me, caring for me, providing for me and in control
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of my life. And that's a good thing.
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I trust Him Worry. That word there, anxiety or
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worry means this. It literally means to divide the
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mind with concern, being preoccupied.
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Think of it like mental real estate.
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That worry is a bad residence for you to rest in, to feel safe
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in. And when we worry, our security
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and rest is not in God's care and control, but our very own.
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And that is what worry is and does.
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Worry is believing the lie that you consider and care for your
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life more than the all knowing, all powerful God.
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I'll say that again. Worry is believing the lie that
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you consider and care for your life and your needs more than
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the all knowing, all powerful, compassionate Father who loves
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you. That's what worry actually is.
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And here you'll see in this section, 25 through 31, it
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occurs 6 times. That's nearly 1/3 by the way of
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that, of how that word is used in the whole New Testament.
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It's right here, right here in Matthew 625 through 31, it says
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do not be anxious about your life in verse 25, Verse 27,
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which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to this
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man of life? Verse 28, why are you anxious
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about clothing? Verse 31.
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Therefore, do not be anxious. Who is Jesus talking to on the
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Sermon on the Mount? Primarily a bunch of peasant
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farmers. This primary audience, which
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means these people had a lot that was outside of their
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control that they worried about regularly, the weather, whether
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it was going to rain or not. They worried about feeding their
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family and the livestock around them.
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They worried about thieves getting in and stealing their
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food and their crop. They worried about Roman
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occupation. They worried about heavy taxes.
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They worried about how to pay for weddings.
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They worried about war. My point is, they're not all
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that different from us. Worried about their four walls,
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worried about their future, worried about their families.
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And Jesus looked them in the eye and said, do not worry.
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Do not be anxious because worry is stealing.
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Your joy, Mark Twain said it this way, that I have known a
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great many troubles but most of them never happened.
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What a horrible place to live in.
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Your brain is worry, Paul told the Corinthians.
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I want you to be free from anxieties and that's how Jesus
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makes his argument. He just asked 7 questions.
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Is not life more than food? Verse 25 In the body more than
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clothing? Verse 26 Are you not of more
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value than they? Verse 27 Which of you by being
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anxious can add a single hour to your life?
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Verse 28, Why are you anxious about clothing?
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Verse 30, Will he not much more clothe you, O you a little
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faith. Now look at verse 31.
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What shall we eat? What shall we drink?
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What shall we wear? What's Jesus saying?
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Hey, if you're anxious about food, if you're anxious about
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fashion, God cares and considers your needs.
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The Father knows them. He cares about them, actually
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cares. Not like feigning consideration,
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no, He considers you. He cares about you.
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He cares for your actual needs, not your wants, but what you
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need. And to be anxious about them is
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to not trust in God's security, His provision, His power.
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There's something interesting about that word worry that I
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learned this week, that that word we get in English worry
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comes from an old English word that I'm not going to tempt a
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British accent on, but it's pronounced weary on.
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OK, the British got that word actually from the old High
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German word vergen. That word vergen in German means
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this. To choke or to strangle, That's
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where we get our word worry from.
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Which would mean then that worry is like letting your mind be
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choked, That you're letting the world suffocate your ability to
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think, that you're letting the world choke out the hope in your
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life. It's strangling the joy from
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your mind every time an anxious thought is running rampant in
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your brain. And Jesus is lovingly telling
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you today, don't let your mind be choked by anxiety.
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Settle it in the person and promises of God.
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Your Father who dresses the fields of lilies and who feeds
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the birds of the air, who provides in his powerful, He's
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with you and he's ahead of you. You have God bankrolling your
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life. Don't let the worries of this
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world suffocate you any longer. That's what Jesus is saying.
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So I think this is just a moment where we can just confess
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together in church. Like, what is it that you're
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actually worrying about financially?
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I think that's a good thing to label and to recognize and to
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define this week. What are you worried about?
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What are you so worked up about? What is strangling your heart?
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What bad outcome are you imagining?
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And here's what I want you to do.
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I want you to take a moment with the Lord this week and confess
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your lack of trust in Him. God, I gave a small thing a big
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shadow in my life. My problem was big because you
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were small. Confess that and then give that
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thing to God. Hey, Lord, I don't know how to
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make this bill payment work for school.
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Hey, I don't know how we're going to catch up with the
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amount of credit card debt we have.
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Hey, Lord, I don't know how we're going to make this happen
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when we have kids. Hey, Lord, I don't know how
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we're going to get this house. Do you see?
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Don't you see? Don't you see that is worrisome.
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That is anxiety. You can give that to God and
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say, God, I don't know how that's all going to work, but I
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know you are there and you're going to meet my needs.
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And I'm giving that to you. And I'm saying, God, you can
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provide because you have provided.
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I trust you, God. Lord, I'm giving this to you.
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I am just a steward of the life you've given me.
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I am just a manager of it. And so, Lord, here I am with the
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things that I have. I'm saying, Lord, this is what I
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need all. Would you provide and then ask
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for the faith to keep believing it?
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Because you might start that prayer for a week or for a
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month. But here at Saint City, we're
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persistent with our prayer. We keep praying again and again
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and again and again. Why?
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Because God is working in the waiting.
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He is teaching you and shaping you and forming you, even if you
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continue to pray that He has become helping you become a
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person of greater faith and the thing you can't see by trusting
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in God. Faith is the assurance of things
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hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.
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And you have a substance to your faith, a real hope and trust you
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can have because of who God is and His inability to lie to you.
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He keeps His promises. The first part of the text was a
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command to obey. This part is a promise to
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believe. God will provide for you.
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I'm going to say it again, God will provide for you.
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God will provide for you. Believe it, seek it, ask it, and
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let him be your security. Let him be the place where your
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heart and your mind and your soul rest from the worries of
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this world. Third and finally, another area
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we need to change is our priority.
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What we seek first, what we seek first, but seek first.
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Verse 33, the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
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things will be added to you. What do we seek first?
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You have to be a preacher to know what we seek first.
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It's right there in your Bible, right?
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Seek first what? The Kingdom of God and his
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righteousness. I think that's interesting.
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It's his Kingdom, his righteousness.
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Jesus is like, hey, put the First things first.
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Put me in the 1st order of priority, worthy in every arena
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of your life, of complete and total allegiance, of complete
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and total trust, of complete and total priority.
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Jesus gets the 1st place. He's the thing our whole life
27:32
orients around. He's the 1st place and that's
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important as a father. I have 4 kids and I I wouldn't
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say I'm like a kid person per SE.
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I do love my kids though. Right now it's not wrong for me
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to love my kids more than other kids.
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That's part of the nature of the relationship.
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To prioritize my kids is actually a good thing because
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it'd be pretty obvious I was a bad dad if I took care of other
28:10
kids before I took care of my own.
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If I made sure their snack stock was always supplied and my kids
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were like hey dad, where the heck are the fruit snacks?
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Dude? If I prioritize other kids
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sporting events instead of my own, hey dad, why are you going
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to that other kids sporting event and you never come to
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mind? Isn't that so obviously broken?
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Don't miss the brokenness. I'm not putting Jesus in the
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first place in your life. He's meant to be first.
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He's meant to hold that high value.
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He's meant to be adored and loved and followed, but he's not
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the exclusive priority in your life.
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That's what makes him so great. He is first, but he's not
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exclusive. Seek first the Kingdom of God
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and His righteousness. So seek first the Kingdom.
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It means give your offerings, give your money first to his
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Kingdom, to his righteousness advancing in the world so the
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gospel can go out and go for, so people can experience the
29:11
righteousness that is not of their own, but is Jesus Christ
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alone. That they could experience the
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good news that guess what, you are a Sinner in need of a Savior
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and one has come that you are in need of righteousness, A
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righteousness that you could never earn or deserve.
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But guess what? Jesus Christ generously has
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arrived on planet earth and He's given His life and His blood and
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His body. So you could have eternal life
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with Christ through God's righteousness in Christ.
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That's the gospel. That's the good news.
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You're never going to be perfect in doing this.
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You're never be perfect and laying up treasures for yourself
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in heaven. You're never going to be perfect
29:46
and trusting God as your security.
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But guess what? You have a righteousness that is
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Christ, and he's imported it to you, imputed it to you so you
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can have it. When God sees you, he doesn't
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see your sin or your unrighteousness, but he sees
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Christ. And what's true of Jesus now,
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true of you, That is the mystery and wonder of what it means to
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be a Christian. You can be saved from your
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unrighteousness because of Him. And that's where your dollars go
30:12
first is advancing that message, the Kingdom of God and his
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righteousness. That's the first thing, the most
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important thing for your money. And dare I say even like the
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automated thing you don't like when the budget numbers are
30:27
coming back, you're like, hey, let me just cut back here.
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And the first thing to go is always your giving.
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That's a telltale sign off so that you serve something else
30:34
with your money rather than God. The thing you're willing to cut
30:38
is the thing you're willing to sacrifice on an altar for
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something else. I'll say it this way, if money
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to the church is the first thing you're willing to cut, it is not
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God. You are worshiping with your
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money. You're worshiping something
30:51
else. It's the thing that has to stay
30:54
strong. And this isn't just evidenced
30:56
here. It's all across the New
30:57
Testament, Second Corinthians 8 and 9 and the rest of the New
30:59
Testament makes it clear the spot to do that is your local
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church. That's the first place your
31:04
money goes. And I, I recognize you're like,
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wow, that's pretty advantageous of you to say pastor.
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Like you're up there, like you're the one who manages all
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that. Hey, guess what?
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I actually don't oversee our budget.
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Somebody else does. And what I want is not something
31:17
from you. I want something for you truly,
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genuinely. I want you to experience what
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it's like to prioritize God with your money.
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It is the best way to live. Seek first the Kingdom of God
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and His righteousness. That's what we call it, St.
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City cross shaped generosity. And generosity is an integral
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attribute of God's righteousness.
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That's why we're cheerful and that's why we're generous.
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That's why we're sacrificial, because God Himself has done
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that for us. The God who you can't out give
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has given it all. What little do you have that you
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could bring to Him? He's want your money.
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He wants your heart. And so in seeking first the
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Kingdom of God and His righteousness with your money,
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you're becoming more like Jesus and building His Kingdom.
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Don't let worry grip your generosity any longer.
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Worry. The first thing to go with
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worry, the first thing it chokes out and strangles, is generosity
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in your heart. You get stingy.
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But we have a God who is lavish and his giving toward us.
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That's why in verse 34, Jesus says it this way.
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Therefore, don't be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow
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will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its
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own trouble. Each day is going to have its
32:39
own money problems. They're not going to go away.
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You have things you're planning for things you're unexpected
32:45
bills like the AC going out. You're going to have that hit
32:47
your life and it's good stewardship to save for sure.
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Be good steward, be wise with your money, but wisdom is also
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going first to the Lord with it. Take me take it one day at a
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time. Jesus is saying here, trust me
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one day at a time. Each day has its own troubles.
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Walk with me day by day. In fact, if you could invert
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this verse 34 and say it in its opposite.
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Here's what would be true. He's like, hey, breathe today
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instead of being choked by worry and anxiety.
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Breathe, for today is the only day in troubles that you
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actually have. That's what he's saying.
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Seek first a cross shaped life and let it hit the church.
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Let it hit others. Let your generosity hit waiters
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and fundraisers and family members at Christmas giving them
33:37
gifts. Be the most generous person
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somebody knows. It's a great way to tell others
33:42
about Jesus. It's a great way to reflect that
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an undivided life changes how you handle money.
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I remember when I was 20 years old, I was in college and I was
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just being confronted with my greed for the first time.
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Greed is a besetting area of sin in my life.
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Just so you know. It's an area where I think often
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confess to God, like, hey, I am greedy.
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I am in need of your help. I'm in need of you transforming
34:08
my heart. And I remember this moment as a
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sophomore in college, not wanting to do ministry because I
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was afraid of being broke. My whole life I'd seen friends
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who had pastors for dads and I just saw their life.
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And I was like, I don't want that.
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I don't want that for my family. I was letting worry choke out my
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trust that God would provide. And I had to confess my greed.
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And I started marching towards ministry full time.
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But let me just tell you, this is an area of our lives, Maddie
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and I, that we constantly have to go back to Lord and say Lord,
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don't let us be consumed by worry, but let us be trustful in
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worship that we're, we're in the same economy y'all are in,
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right? We're figuring it out week by
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week, month by month. But I'm committed to you.
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I'm committed to living an undivided life with money that I
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won't let worry choke me out anymore.
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That's not the life God purchased for me with Jesus.
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It's good to live an undivided life.
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It's good to have God change your relationship with money
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because guess what? It will settle anxiety in your
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life. Let's live that way this week in
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Jesus name. Let me pray.
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Lord, thank you for the opportunity to worship you and
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to get to know your heart for us.
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Thank you for your gospel which purchased for us the hope of
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heaven. God, we can actually hope for
35:31
treasures. We can actually believe and
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trust that treasures await us on the other side of this life,
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that this life ain't it. And so if we look out and see
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our lack of treasures here on earth, God, we don't have to
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grow discouraged because we don't live for here and now.
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We live for then. That day when you will return,
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that day when we can worship you.
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That day where the greatest treasure we have ever known,
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Jesus, we get to see him and be with him face to face.
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And God, I cannot wait for the treasures of heaven.
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I cannot wait to be with you every single day.
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God. What's great about knowing you
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is that's also true now. That your Spirit lives in me and
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I can walk with you day by day. That the greatest department
36:16
bank account is the treasure of the Holy Spirit living inside of
36:20
me. That I don't have to make my
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home in worry. I can make my home in trust
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because You are with me wherever I go.
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And so, Lord, help us to live an undivided life.
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Help us to not be concerned and gripped by the cares of this
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world. Help the seed of that to not be
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choked out by the worries of this world.
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But God, would you bear fruit? Would you bear fruit in being a
36:42
generous church? God, will we be shaped by
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Matthew 6 so deeply and so formatively God that when people
36:48
meet people from Saint City, they'd be like, Oh my gosh,
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y'all are some of those crazy generous people in Tempe.
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God, I can't create that. I can't even lead that.
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What I can do is I can pray for you to do that in our hearts
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because God, I believe that Christians are intended to be
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this way and a watching world is seeing how we handle our
37:08
finances. And if we are just like the
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world, then maybe we're just of the world, but would we be in it
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and not of it? Would we be different?
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Would we be Kingdom people who are seeking first the Kingdom of
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God and his righteousness and trusting that You will Add all
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that we need in the midst? And so, Lord, we ask Jesus for
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your name to be big and bright as we chase down generosity, as
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we chase down obedience, as we chase down trusting in you for
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security, for loyalty, and for priority.
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God with the name of Jesus be shouted from our hearts and
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lips. Jesus name, Amen.