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Give Your Finances To God Pt. 1 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. Welcome to a new week.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: In past weeks we've talked about how there are 3
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: things that are most precious to us. Our time is
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: so precious to us, isn't it? And we need to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: learn to give it to God.
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  Speaker 1: Our relationships are so very precious to us, and we
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: need to learn to give them to God as well.
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  Speaker 1: And thirdly, our money is really precious to us. We
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: value it so highly, and we need to learn to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: give our money to God as well, to put our
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  Speaker 1: finances in His hands. And that's what I want to
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: focus on with you this week.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, let me just read a few verses out of
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  Speaker 1: Matthew chapter 6 in the Bible, starting in verse 19.
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  Speaker 1: It says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that sounds like it's talking about our finances, doesn't it?
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth
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  Speaker 1: and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
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  Speaker 1: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither
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  Speaker 1: moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break
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  Speaker 1: in and steal.
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  Speaker 1: Well,
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  Speaker 1: Put God first in your financial life. That's the lesson
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  Speaker 1: for today. Later in the chapter, Jesus says, Therefore, I
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  Speaker 1: tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what
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  Speaker 1: you will eat or what you will drink, nor about
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  Speaker 1: your body, what you will put on, or where am
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  Speaker 1: I going to pay my rent.
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  Speaker 1: How am I going to buy my groceries this week,
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  Speaker 1: he says. Is not life more than food and the
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  Speaker 1: body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and
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  Speaker 1: yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: more value than they? A few verses later, he says, Therefore,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: do not be anxious, saying, What are we going to eat?
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  Speaker 1: or What shall we drink? or what will we wear?
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  Speaker 1: For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your
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  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father knows that you need them.
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  Speaker 1: Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these
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  Speaker 1: things will be added to you.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think the real message that's coming through out
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  Speaker 1: of these verses is this. Money in your life is
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  Speaker 1: relatively unimportant.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that seems completely opposite to the way we think
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  Speaker 1: in this world, right? Money is so important, and of
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  Speaker 1: course it's true, you can't buy the things you need,
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  Speaker 1: you can't buy your food without money, you can't pay
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: your rent without money. But notice that word, it's relatively unimportant.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus says, is not the body more than food, is
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  Speaker 1: not life more than clothing, uh, these aren't the really
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  Speaker 1: important things in life.
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  Speaker 1: Putting God first is the most important thing in your
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  Speaker 1: life because God meets your deepest inner needs, and listen,
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  Speaker 1: God also meets the needs you have for what you're
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  Speaker 1: going to eat, where you're going to live, what you're
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  Speaker 1: going to put on, all of these things. Put God
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  Speaker 1: first is what Jesus is saying, and then He will
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  Speaker 1: provide what you need.
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  Speaker 1: You know, something I've found in my life, I've travelled
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  Speaker 1: to many parts of the world and spent time with
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  Speaker 1: so many people who don't have a lot. They're very poor, they're,
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  Speaker 1: they're living a subsistence lifestyle, and they are overflowing with
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  Speaker 1: joy and happiness. Their walk with God is amazing.
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  Speaker 1: They know God's going to provide their needs, and they're
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  Speaker 1: living often day to day, and often giving, uh, to,
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  Speaker 1: to provide nice meals for me, that's just costing them
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  Speaker 1: so much. I feel terrible sometimes, but I
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  Speaker 1: Receive it as the gift that it is, recognising they're
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  Speaker 1: putting God first in their lives. I've also seen so
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: many wealthy people whose lives are just so full of
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: stress and pressure and unhappiness.
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  Speaker 1: Money is not what makes you happy. If you've got
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  Speaker 1: a lot of money, it doesn't mean you'll be stressed
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  Speaker 1: and unhappy, but neither does it mean you'll be happy.
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  Speaker 1: If you haven't got a lot of money, don't think
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  Speaker 1: my life would be so great if I had a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Put God first in your life. Get God at the
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  Speaker 1: centre of your life. Give God your money. Trust Him
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  Speaker 1: with your finances. Put Him first in how you use
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  Speaker 1: your money, and then watch Him provide what you need
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: in life.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.