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Money Matters · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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Thank you, Eric. It is great to be with you this
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morning, my PowerPoint guy work. It's the green power point.
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So to be the other one. I think this is going to be my
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sermon but it is wonderful to be with you and I think it is great
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to talk about the idea of a stewardship Sunday.
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I think that's a takes a lot of wisdom on the planning to think
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about it. At the beginning of the year to
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think about how we use our resources.
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Think about what we do. I think that's a blessing.
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I'm very excited to be with you excited to look at this and see
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what God's word tells us. As we look at the idea of
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stewardship. I was on the Consumer Financial
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bureau website. I guess, if you're looking for
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information about money, then that's something that you would
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want to sit there and see what they have to say about it.
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And in the midst of this website, you have people that
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were asking questions. They're our parents are asking
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questions about their children. Here are some of the questions
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they were asked him. How can I explain to my
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children? Where?
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money comes from, Interesting is just go back to the very Basics.
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Where does this come from? Why does it matter?
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What's a good way to get my child in the habit of saving?
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And when I should open a, when should I open a savings account
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for him? Next one?
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Are there activities. I could use to teach my children
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about needs versus wants another one.
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I have a preschooler who starting to ask for treats when
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we go shopping. What can I do to start teaching
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her? That things cost money?
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My children, ages six and eight years old.
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What should they know about money at that age?
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And what can I do to help? What should children entering
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their teenage years? A 11 13 years old, start
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learning about money. My kids think that I can put
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everything on a credit card. How do I explain that?
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We have a limit to what we can buy with credit, think about all
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these different things and the idea of educating them and tell
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them and those are important questions, right?
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You sort of have this basic idea when you're young, that just
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Money you just you know, mom's wife's a card and that's what
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happens or money is, do whatever I want.
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Why don't we get everything that we want?
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And you have this growing process of understanding money?
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What's it for? Where does it come from?
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I like this last one. I my oldest turned 20 last year
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and he sort of dealing with a lot of these things as well.
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My daughter, just got her first paycheck and was shocked to see
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how much was taken out, you know, you sit there and getting
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you start realizing know, even when you get money, you have
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things that that money's already called for you got things and
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people that you already owe their things and when it comes
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to the government in taxes and Social Security, and all these
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other things, when we have money were given it, but then we start
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seeing that, it's going to go out to various places.
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Having four sons. That something that I've
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attempted to do is to teach them about money.
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And if you've had children, then I think you have gone through
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that process of that struggle of trying to teach them about
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money. Well, if it comes, why do we
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want them to know? Because money holds a lot of
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power in life, money has a lot of influence money can affect
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the outcome of a lot of different activities.
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How our kids handle money is going to have a huge effect on
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their life. And that's why we sort of stop
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and say, look, I want to talk to you about income.
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I want to talk to you about saving.
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I want to talk to you about spending.
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I want to talk to you about giving why?
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Because how they use their money is going to affect them.
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Money can be the source of a huge stress in life.
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Because if you don't have enough for you have unexpected bills,
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or you have some other problem, money can cause such great
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stress. Our finances can affect our
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relationships in life and where I think about my son and
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whatever woman they're going to end up marrying some day and how
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they work and handle their finances is going to affect
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their marriage relationship. It's going to have a great
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influence on them as well. How they handle their money in
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life? Can bring stability can bring
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joy. Or can bring chaos and stress
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into their lives. So that's why anybody even if
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they didn't understand the concept of God, they still look
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and say look, how am I going to teach my children about money?
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Well, if we see the importance of it and we understand it look,
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this is going to affect how you interact with other people.
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This is going to affect how much stress you have in your life.
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This is going to affect whether or not you're going to be able
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to take care of yourself or your family or your children.
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If we know how important it is in, all these different ways.
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We teach our children. Wouldn't Our Father in Heaven,
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understand a lot of these Concepts as well.
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And that's why it's so wise to sit here and say, look, we're
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going to stop at the beginning of the year and think about
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money. We're going to think about how
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we use the things that we have. Now when it comes to
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stewardship, it can be money, but we have stewardship.
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So, I've a lot of different things of value, and as we think
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about how we use those, it's going to be very important
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because God is going to teach us a lot about it.
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If you look at Jesus teaching, there's been a lot of different
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as you analyze, all the different things that he
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teaches. So when you start looking at
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this Parables, you start looking at a specific teachings.
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When you start looking at the things that can keep somebody
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out of Heaven, you know, what comes up time and time again.
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Money. Jesus is going to talk about
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money all of the time, why? Because money is going to be a
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big part of what we do. We exchange our time for money
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and then we have money and we're going to make an exchange with
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the things we have. And those exchanges are going to
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show our values. Can show.
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What's important to me. I remember when I was a
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teenager, You're sitting in the teenage class and and Dennis
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Stevens. He looked at all of us and he
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said, if you show somebody, if you show me somebody's calendar
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and their checkbook. I can tell you a whole lot about
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that person. Where do you spend your time?
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And what do you do with your money?
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When you look at those two things, what you're going to see
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is, what is the biggest priority in somebody's life.
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So, this morning, with our class time.
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I want to look at some things with Money Matters.
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Just some ideas about money. I want to look at three basic
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truths that will see in scripture when it comes to money
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and then ask ourselves some questions and try to get some
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priorities set in our lives for us individually.
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Julie, I hope this Sunday, you're going to sit there and
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think about your finances right now as it's getting closer and
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closer to tax season. Chances are you're sort of
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looking through all the things that you've done last year.
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Our economy has really been going, chances are some of you
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have been really, really blessed.
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If you look over what's happened in the last year, may have been
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that you've seen that. Wow.
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I've been blessed in a bigger way than I've stopped and
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thought about, but we're going to see you reflect back on what
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you have done many of you. Maybe you got A new contract.
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Maybe you've been rehired. Maybe you got a raise and you're
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going to look back and see the things that you have coming in
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your life. And then you need to make some
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decisions to show your priorities.
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Through what you do also want to for the parents grandparents
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here as well. I want us to think a little bit
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this morning of how can we stress the importance of Money
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Matters to our children as well. Our high schools are not
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teaching it. Okay, if you thought somebody
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else was going to teach your children, how to handle money.
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You're going to be sadly disappointed.
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If you're wanting your children to have proper priorities and to
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figure out a lot of these questions parents grandparents.
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It's going to come to you have those conversations.
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So I want us to think about that a little bit as well.
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Well, the first truth, what do we want to see?
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Is we look at scripture number one thing when it comes to
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money, when it comes to resources.
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The first truth that we see in scripture.
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Is that it all belongs to God. When it comes to the idea of
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stewardship, it's going to be that look we are responsible for
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something, but it's not even our things that it's responsible,
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everything belongs to God. And a lot of times we get that
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out of, we get that out of balance.
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If we don't understand that if we don't really get that set in
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our mind, then the decisions we make moving forward.
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When we start thinking it is mine.
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That's going to lead to a lot of different problems, but it all
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belongs to God. My dad's 85 years old and he
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would come and talk to different folks.
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And whenever somebody's getting close to retirement age.
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You say, Well, when you're going to retire with a few more years,
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he says, well, what are you trying to get it all?
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When it comes to money. Are you going to get it?
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All none of us are going to get it all.
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It's not the way that it works. There is one being however that
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has it all, what the scripture. Tell us, Psalms 24, verse 1.
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The Earth is the Lord's. All, it contains the world and
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those who dwell in it. When we start talking about the
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idea of what we're going to do with wealth, and what we're
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going to do with the resources, never buy into the myth, that
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all that you have is yours. But that's very easy to give in
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to that. We're only stewards in a steward
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is somebody who's entrusted with the belongings of someone else.
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Jesus in, Luke chapter 12, if you'll turn their don't have it
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on the screen, but in Luke chapter, 12 verses 42 through
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48, he's going to be talking. We're in our worship Services
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morning. We'll look at some of the things
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he's saying earlier in that chapter, but as Jesus is
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explaining things to his Apostles.
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He says, this, the Lord said who then is the faithful and
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sensible Steward, whom his master, will put in charge of
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his Servants to give them their rations at the proper time.
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Blessed, is that slave whom his master finds?
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So doing when he comes? What's Jesus saying, God is
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looking for a faithful and sensible Steward.
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God is understands that everything is his and it has
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been distributed to us in various and different ways.
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And what does he want? He wants to see that he can look
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down and say yes, that's exactly what I would want.
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That's exactly what I would be looking to do.
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That is sensible. That is faithful.
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R doing what I want you to do. Look at what Jesus says will
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happen in verse 44 of Luke 12. Truly, I say to you that he will
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put him in charge of all his possessions.
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But if that slave says in his heart, my master will be a long
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time in coming and begins to beat the slaves.
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Both men and women and to eat and drink and get drunk.
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The master of that slave will come on a day when he doesn't
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expect him and at an hour that he doesn't know when he'll cut
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him in pieces and assign him, a place with the unbelievers and
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the slave who knew his master's. Will and did not get ready or
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act in accord with his will will receive many lashes.
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What is Jesus saying? He's telling a story and he's
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just sort of given this background saying look, if
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somebody had given this one person, all the possession of
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all these different things and he received all of those
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possessions and then he didn't use them the way that he was
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supposed to. He says, the Masters coming and
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some pretty harsh words. Jesus is using there, any, it's
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pretty strong when he says, look when he comes and he finds
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somebody doing everything that he didn't want done instead of
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everything that he wanted him to do with his resources.
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Going to come and he's going to punish that individual.
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Jesus goes on to say, for everyone to whom, much has been
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who for everyone who has been given much, much will be
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required. And to Those whom they have
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entrusted much of him. He will ask all the more.
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So what's Jesus telling us one day not only is the fact that it
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does not belong to us, but one day God is going to come back
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and we have to ask ourselves that question.
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That's why it's important to stop.
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Because what happens with money is just like with everything.
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Else, it's just one more purchase, right?
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It's just one more bill. It's just one more thing.
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And eventually what happens is, somebody looks back and they
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say, look, I bought too much stuff.
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I don't have enough money for it.
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And also now there's a balance and now I'm owing.
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Somebody else. It's one decision at a time.
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One week at a time, one month at a time.
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And if it's on the positive end of that, what happens with
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finances, good decisions, one day one week in a month at a
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time and all sudden those resources can grow.
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But an exact same way, it can Snowball the other direction.
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So what do you have to do? You have to stop.
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If you were just talking finances this morning.
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You would say stop assess where you are assess where you're
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dead, is assess where your assets are and make a decision.
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If you are a financial advisor, spiritually speaking.
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It's no different. Sometimes we just have to stop.
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Spiritually speaking. Am I putting my money, my time,
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my energy to the places where the one who owns it all would
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want it to be. And that's why it's important at
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times. Just say, look, let's, let's
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reassess and what's neat about that is you can sort of stop
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when it comes to finances and you start making better choices
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and you're going to get a better outcome.
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You can start eliminating bad choices and things will work
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better and spiritually speaking. The same thing can happen.
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We can sit there and make those choices.
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Pieces, and as we improve our decision-making, we're blessed
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in a lot of ways as well, but we have to understand that it all
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belongs to God. It's not my money.
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It's not my house. It's not my car.
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They're not my clothes. Everything Belongs to the Lord
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and Jesus shares with us. That God cares.
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How we use it. A lot of times when you stop and
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look at resources. What you realize is it is
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incredible. How much we've been given?
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Look at your cell phone bill. Some of us lived when we didn't
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have cell phones and who would need that.
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Anyways, I remember making a decision to get my first cell
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phones like really do. I need that at all.
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You've got to have a cell phone, right?
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But you never cell phone bills to $300 a month.
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Can't you? You can have bills and you start
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looking at a cell phone bill and you look at utility bills and
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you look at how much taxes are and you look at all these
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different things. You start seeing how much money
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we're spending. I heard a really interesting
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stat yesterday, as I was driving down here.
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Eight people on this planet are worth the same monetary value as
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the one half of the world's population.
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That's kind of crazy, isn't it? And we see those people, like,
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man. Can you believe how much money
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Jeff Bezos has, what is 110 billion dollars?
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How do you even wrap your mind around that the guy who created
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Amazon? And you have all of that money
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or Bill Gates? And you see all the money they
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have like, man, all those people.
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They are so wealthy. But it doesn't take very long in
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Indonesia. Or Mexico or Panama or Proto
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Rico right now or Haiti? To see that we are the ones who
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have been given so much. Bill Gates was going into a
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little hovel, you know, with Bill Gates, Bill and Melinda, I
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think is his wife's name. They've got a foundation trying
15:31
to help out a lot of different people in there in India.
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Trying to figure out how to help those individuals.
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And there was a lady just living in a little Shack.
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And when you've been in a third world country, you see that they
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just sort of grab whatever if it's a cardboard box or a tire
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or a tarp or an old sign and they just stretch it up and
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that's what they're living in. She came in and they were like,
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look, this is Bill Gates. And she's like, okay, it's Bill
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Gates. She doesn't know who Bill Gates
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is they said, no. No, he is wealthy.
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He's like at the time, he was the richest man in the world and
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she just said, he's an American. They're all rich.
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You know, we sit around and you can watch TV or look on
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Instagram. You can sit there and look at
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all the different things to what people have, or where they're
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going or where their vacation other people are rich, but when
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we look at ourselves, look at the things that we have, the
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rest of the world is saying you're rich.
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If only, I could be in your country.
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If only I could get to your country.
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If only I had the opportunities you had if only are you kidding
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me, you get paid that much every day.
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Because they say, if you get out of bed and when you roll over
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and put your feet on the ground, if you're not putting it on
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dirt. You're better than about half
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the folks in the world. If you have running water, that
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comes into your house. We're better than many people in
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this world billions and billions of people, so we're blessed.
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So we see that it all belongs to God, but we have to understand
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that is that it is his, and he's decided to distribute it.
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If we step back and looked and said, where is God decided to
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put a whole lot of resources? He's put a lot in Wetumpka,
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Alabama. He's put a lot in America.
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He's put a lot within this country within this system.
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And you know what, we see in scripture, man.
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It's a great blessing. Yes.
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It's a But what is the master going to do?
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From everyone who has been given much much will be required.
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So what scripture tells us, so we can't start thinking about
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ours. We have to understand.
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We've been given much not only does it not belong to us.
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But one thing that we have to always understand or remember is
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we're going to leave everything we have behind. so, the question
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is, We need to make sure that our concern where the question
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is. Are we concerned with what we
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have done with what we've been given.
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If somebody came up to you today.
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And wrote you a check. They wrote you a check for 1
18:06
million dollars. 60's, they handed it to you.
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They said, I want you to take this, I want you to use this and
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I want you to perform certain things with this.
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How would you feel? Now in say, look, I'm going to
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give this to you but it look, I've got certain expectations
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with you when you first got here, you made their goal.
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I've got a million dollars, do it.
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I want? No.
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No, I want you to do certain things with it.
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This is how I want you to use it and they start giving you sheets
18:37
of paper. They start giving you
18:39
instructions. Say look, this is what I want
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you to do. This is how it went.
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You invested. These are the things I want you
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to spend it on. These are the things I want you
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to use it for and you start looking through all this and
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they give you all this money and they walk out of the door.
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And you're sitting there going. I have A million dollars.
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How would you feel? Anybody feel ready to manage a
19:00
million dollars? Those instructions at this
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person, entrusted, this to you and they had worked their entire
19:08
life to get that. And they said, look, I'm
19:10
entrusting it with you. I want you to use it in this
19:14
specific way. How much responsibility would
19:17
you feel? See first, you might have this
19:21
idea of excitement, but then you can start to feel nervous.
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Good knew. He might be nervous.
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You start to think, what would I do?
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And then you start looking back and maybe you start making
19:29
decisions and you sort of had in your mind what they're looking
19:32
for, and you started making decisions with it, but hopefully
19:34
you'd go back to the instructions, right?
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Hopefully, we'd go back and look at it again.
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But what would be easy to do is to all sudden start forgetting,
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the person who gave it to you, forget the instructions they
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gave you and you just start moving through life and what
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could happen. All kinds of problems could
19:50
happen or all. Kinds of blessings Could Happen
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depending on whether or not you remember the one who gave it to
19:57
you and you remember their instructions.
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So we have to consider what God wants done with his things and I
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think that's important because we've seen that he wants us to
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be faithful. Look at Luke chapter, 16 verses
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10 through 13. Jesus says again, is talking
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about money says, this is something that God is looking
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down. And understands with our
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children, every child is different.
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I've got four boys at the house and I've got one son that they
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say that guy is going to be the richest man in the world.
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He's going to be a millionaire but he's going to live in a
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ditch in a cardboard box. He don't want to spend anything.
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He's going to hold on to everything.
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He's got other one. Get something.
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As soon as he gets something. It may just fly right out of his
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hands. You have all these different
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personalities and what would happen.
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But Jesus, as he is addressing everybody.
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He says, look, I'm going to look at how you're using your money
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and that's going to tell me a lot about you.
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Luke 16:10 says, he who is faithful in a very little thing.
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Is faithful, also in much, he who is unrighteous in a very,
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little thing is unrighteous, also in much.
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Therefore, if you have been not been faithful in the use of
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unrighteous wealth who will entrust the true riches to you.
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If you've not been faithful in the use of that, which is
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another's, who will give you that, which is your own?
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No, servant can serve two masters.
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Either he will hate the one and love the other or else.
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He'll be devoted to one and despise the other.
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You cannot serve God and wealth. What does Jesus tell us?
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He says, look whenever you've been entrusted with something.
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It's almost a test of who you are and your priorities, when
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you've been given something little, and I think this is very
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important because sometimes you may come on a stewardship.
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Sunday, chances are, there's many folks in are saying, look,
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there's just not much there. We may sit there and look at
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what we have and say, look, I'm not making very much.
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I'll just got a part-time job. Everything that we use.
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Jesus says, look, don't think one day when I have this
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resource. I'll then be a giver.
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A giver is about who you are with whatever it has.
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If you've been given ten dollars.
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What do you do with $10? And Jesus says, if your
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righteous with a little and you'll be righteous with a lot,
22:15
if you don't care about a little bit of money, will one day after
22:18
the, whenever I've got a whole lot of extra money, then I'll
22:20
start listening to the lessons and start thinking about
22:23
stewardship. He says know if you can't do the
22:26
little things, right? Why would anybody trust you with
22:29
the larger things? So he says, look make sure that
22:35
God's priorities are going to be.
22:37
Your priorities are priority. That Jesus stresses is stewards.
22:41
We should invest ourselves. We should invest ourselves,
22:44
whether it be our money or our lives, our energy, and one of
22:47
the things Jesus is going to point out, is when it comes to,
22:49
what does God, what would he really want?
22:51
What would be some of his instructions with the things
22:54
that we have? He says, look, I want you to
22:56
invest in other people. Look at Matthew chapter 25.
23:00
Matthew chapter 25, 34 through 40, when he's talking to people
23:03
and he Jesus gives his picture of Judgment Day.
23:06
What does he say? He says, look what have you been
23:08
doing with your time, your energy and your money, Matthew,
23:12
25 verse 34, the king will say to those, on his right, come you
23:16
who are blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom before you
23:19
from the foundation of the world.
23:21
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.
23:26
I was thirsty. You gave me something to drink.
23:29
I was a stranger. Her.
23:30
You invited me in naked. You clothed me.
23:34
I was sick. You visited me.
23:35
I was in prison and you came to me then the righteous will
23:38
answer him. Lord.
23:39
When did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you
23:42
something to drink. When did we see you?
23:44
A stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you, when did
23:47
we see you sick or in prison and come to you, the king will
23:50
answer and say to them. Truly.
23:52
I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the
23:54
brothers of mine. Even the least of them, you did
23:58
it to me. What does Jesus want us to see
24:02
when it comes to the things we've been given?
24:05
He wants us to see people who are hungry.
24:09
He wants to see people who are thirsty.
24:13
Somebody who just needs clothes. Somebody who needs a place to
24:18
stay. Somebody who is at a place and
24:23
here, you see it in prison or somebody who's sick?
24:27
And he wants us to look at our resources and see what we have.
24:31
And then, say, look, I want to use this in a way to bring
24:34
Comfort relief and care to somebody else.
24:38
What's Jesus asking for these individuals for us to show them
24:42
that we love them and in turn, show them that God loves them.
24:47
Do we think about stewardship? So, a lot of times we're
24:49
thinking about a check or think about what we give on a Sunday?
24:53
Many times, these opportunities are coming on Monday, and
24:57
Tuesday and Wednesday, and there are opportunities to give and
25:02
their opportunities to use our resources and our opportunities
25:04
to make a decision, with what we do with what's in our wallet.
25:08
And Jesus saying, look, I want you to have the view once.
25:12
You understand the truth, that it all belongs to God.
25:15
What would God want for this person?
25:17
And I want you to look at people and see their needs, and I want
25:20
you to care for them. And it gives us that beautiful
25:24
promise that when you're taking care of them.
25:26
It's like you are doing it to me, but all of those things take
25:30
time. Many of those things are going
25:33
to take money and it's going to make a decision that look the
25:37
things that I want right now. We're going to stop sometimes
25:39
when I see somebody else who has in need s truth.
25:43
I want to share with you in scripture.
25:44
This morning is the fact that you will reap what you sow?
25:49
We see it in scripture time. And again, it's a universal rule
25:53
from the beginning of creation. God sets this up, young people
25:57
is why Evolution doesn't make sense because what you see in
26:01
creation as you Corn and you're going to get the corn stock.
26:03
You're going to plant beans and you're gonna grow beans.
26:05
Everything always brings back after its kind, that's what
26:08
scripture says. It doesn't go to bring back
26:10
something different. You're not going to plant corn
26:12
and get squash. It's not going to happen in
26:14
life. We just see that whatever you
26:16
put in the ground. That's what's going to come up.
26:18
And anytime you have a garden, you know, what kind of garden.
26:21
You're going to have based on the seeds that you are planning.
26:23
It is universal, but it's going to be true with our money as
26:27
well. Blessings are going to come by
26:31
the use of our money. Money or difficulties can come
26:34
because of our use of money. But one thing we know is we're
26:37
going to reap what we sow, Galatians 6:7, don't be
26:41
deceived. Don't be fooled.
26:46
God is Not mocked, whatever, a man so's that he will also reap
26:50
for one who sews to his own flesh, Will from The Flesh reap
26:54
corruption. But the one who sews in the
26:56
spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.
27:00
You have this General principle in life.
27:02
And that's going to be true in so many different ways, but it's
27:05
going to be true financially, as well.
27:07
We have an opportunity to plant. We have an opportunity to put
27:10
into the ground, the things that we have, and then we understand
27:13
that God is going to make sure that we are going to reap
27:16
according to what we. So.
27:18
So, when we think about that principle, and we think about
27:21
this truth, that we see in scripture.
27:22
We have to understand some things if you continuously,
27:25
spend more than you have. You will never have Financial
27:29
Peace. If they understand that, if I
27:33
make financial decisions to always spend money and I all I'm
27:36
going to think about is whether I want something or not and I
27:39
always buy things whether I've got the money or not.
27:43
Then Financial Peace is not going to come because I'm going
27:45
to reap what I'm going to. So now the thing we have to
27:48
understand if you're spending all of your money on Earthly
27:51
things we have to realize and know there were only spending
27:55
money on things that one day are going to burn up.
28:00
We look at what we're going to do with that paycheck.
28:01
And I'm gonna go buy this. I'm gonna go buy this, I'm going
28:03
to go buy this. We're going to reap what we sow.
28:06
And whenever we sewed to the Earthly things, every time, what
28:09
it is Earthly, things lead to corruption, car your dreams.
28:13
You name it, 16 years old, get that drive and you could get the
28:17
brand-new car. And it's, you know, you name it,
28:20
your Rich, uncle just showed up, and he's going to buy it for you
28:22
and you get that brand new car. Whatever it's going to be.
28:25
I need a guy. Who's going to name a car for
28:27
me. What is it Tacoma brand-new to
28:32
come of four-wheel-drive. Do you need a lift on it?
28:35
Okay, why not? Because Uncle whoever's giving
28:37
it to me. Why not?
28:38
You get that brand new K2, coma. You get everything that you
28:41
want. Like man, this is sweet.
28:42
And you can't wait to drive to school and you just got the
28:44
butterflies, getting the key and ready to roll.
28:47
Life is good ten years from now. You got a ten-year-old Tacoma.
28:55
It's got 150,000 miles on it. Those tires.
28:58
You're getting kind of bald. The stress are getting a little
29:02
war because you put that lifts on in that mess of stuff up
29:05
eventually. And then what's happening,
29:08
whatever, we bought, whatever we had physical things.
29:11
Just go bad. You can build a brand new house,
29:14
but what happens about year 10 or 15 and all the new things
29:18
that you had or now that Heating and air units about to go out,
29:23
right? The hot water heater.
29:25
Are you kidding me? There's got to leak.
29:28
And now you're calling a plumber.
29:29
You're doing all of these things.
29:30
We know that there's all kinds of physical things that we want.
29:33
But whenever we invest in planning, physical things, they
29:37
can be really cool for a moment in time.
29:39
But eventually that trucks going to go to 0.
29:42
Something's always try to tell my boys, you can spend whatever
29:44
money you want on stuff with wheels on it, but things with
29:46
wheels on it. Generally speaking are going to
29:48
eventually go to 0. So decide how much money you
29:52
want to lose and go spend that on a car.
29:54
Eventually, it's going to go down, right?
29:56
You reap what you sow. Now, you're going to get the
29:58
experience of that, but eventually, all of those things
30:02
are going to go away. So someday, we're going to reap
30:07
and we have to understand there's things that we spend
30:09
money on once you spend money on.
30:10
It's like well, whatever you get for that moment is going to be
30:13
about it because eventually those are going to go away.
30:19
You just you had to bring up a Tacoma, didn't you?
30:24
I got my 96 Tacoma. I'll stick, she asked V6 the
30:30
olds body style loved it. Got it. 1998, drove it for 18
30:34
years. My son who turned 20 got it and
30:37
I gave it to him and you had to bring up a lift.
30:41
We put a 2 inch lift on it and that truck was pulling a little
30:44
bit to the right. I was going to get it aligned
30:46
the next day and it pulled him right into a bridge.
30:50
And my 18 year old Tacoma got crushed Gone.
30:57
Gone, Gone. My son popped, his mouth pretty
31:02
good. He was swollen up and he came
31:03
in. And of course, he was all tore
31:05
up because he loved that truck and he had waited forever.
31:07
And that was the family truck and he got it.
31:09
We had put new wheels on it, put a lift on all this other full of
31:12
stuff is going to go to zero. He came up as I go to bed.
31:16
I'm so sorry. You don't.
31:17
He was course. His face was also swollen from
31:19
an airbag. He said that was your baby.
31:24
I said no, son. That's not my baby.
31:30
Yo, you're my boy and that's really what matters.
31:35
And when you think about stuff, so we can get caught up in all
31:39
of this stuff. And yes, it hurts me back in the
31:42
back of my mind, that my 96 Tacoma is now in a junkyard.
31:46
That's not what matters, and we know that, right?
31:48
All of us would make the same decision, if somebody was like,
31:51
who cares about the car? Are you?
31:53
Okay when these storms are rolling through and you've got
31:55
houses that are getting knocked over.
31:57
There are people that don't care anything about the house because
32:00
we're safe, right? See, there's some things that
32:02
are Eternal and there's some things that are just temporary.
32:05
And we got to ask where what, what am I planning towards, if
32:09
I'm going to reap, what I sow, how much, and how much
32:12
importance in my placing on my relationships?
32:16
I'm going to reap what I sow with in my marriage.
32:20
Am I making the right choice? Is there?
32:22
See when you start talking about stewardship.
32:24
A lot of times we think about money but man we could go so
32:27
many different places. What's the most valuable thing?
32:30
You have been given? And what are you doing with it?
32:37
Well, God owns it all. He's given it to us.
32:41
He's given us the principal time.
32:42
And again in the truth that we're going to reap what we sow.
32:47
So we have to make sure that we're making those choices as
32:50
well. Eric, did you say 9:45?
32:54
All right, after get moving. All right.
32:58
Well, what do we want to do? We want to make sure that as we
33:01
get money and as we have things, we want to make sure that we use
33:04
those in the right way. Thank for the, our boys.
33:07
What always told them. I said, look, whenever you're
33:08
given money. I want you to think about three
33:10
things. You have this money.
33:12
You've gotten a job. You got the paycheck.
33:14
How much of this are you going to give?
33:16
How much of this are you going to save?
33:19
How much of this are? You going to spend?
33:21
And when it comes to being a good Steward, you need to make
33:23
that decision ahead of time. What you don't want to do is get
33:26
to the end of the week and then decide, what am I going to give?
33:29
You don't want to get to the end of all the other emergencies
33:31
that can happen and then say am I going to put my priorities in
33:35
order? Priorities mean first things
33:36
first? And the Old Testament.
33:38
It was about first fruits whenever that crop came in the
33:43
first thing before. Anything else happened.
33:46
Who are you going to honor with that?
33:48
And that's so important? To make sure that we do, what is
33:51
right. At various times.
33:57
I'll have Young, Folks come in and talk about marriage
33:59
counseling. And one of the times that we do
34:00
in the midst of premarital counseling is talking about the
34:03
idea of a budget. And what always sit down with,
34:07
I'll say, look, okay, figure out what you have.
34:09
And for a lot of times people haven't done that.
34:11
Maybe that's what this Sunday needs to lead you to do, is that
34:14
you need to sit down and actually think about the money
34:16
you come in and sit down and do a budget, very easy, get online,
34:20
print off a form. Start putting down how much
34:22
money we have coming in. How much money I have going out.
34:24
Where is it going? Is that where I want it to go.
34:27
So it's an important wake-up call.
34:29
But as I talked to them about giving you sit there and you can
34:31
pick whatever decision, you know, whatever amount of money
34:34
you want to give. You look in scripture.
34:37
If you're looking at Old Testament, looking at a tithe,
34:39
just on the tithe aspect of they're giving you could say 10%
34:43
Obviously as you see other things, they did in the Old
34:45
Testament. They were giving much more than
34:47
that. But if you are thinking about
34:48
that, if you just said, okay, well we're going to decide to do
34:51
10% if that's what you decided. You're making a decision.
34:57
Do you think God can bless you more with only 90% of your
35:02
money, then you could bless yourself?
35:05
If you kept every dime. A lot of times we get most like
35:11
nothing all look. You don't understand my bed.
35:12
You don't understand my household.
35:14
I need every dime that I get. The average American, they say
35:19
is spinning about 101 percent of their income.
35:25
At math and add up, does it? When you start looking at how
35:29
much debt there is in the world, when you look at the debt, we
35:32
have as a country, when we look at the average credit card load
35:35
of an American household. Everybody is spending more and
35:39
more than they can possibly have, they're spending more and
35:42
more money Non-Stop and that sort of leads us to the idea of
35:48
the third truth. I want us to look at if you love
35:51
money. You'll never be satisfied.
35:55
Crazy-ass these 5:10, he who loves money will not be
36:00
satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income.
36:04
This too is Vanity. We have to understand when we
36:08
start looking at these truths and we understand it.
36:10
Look it all belongs to God. We're going to reap based on
36:13
what we sow and then we need to understand that look, if we
36:15
decide to love money, if I decide that I want stuff, you're
36:21
never going to get enough. Based on that truth.
36:26
We need to ask ourselves. A couple questions is disciples.
36:29
Number one. Do I love money too much.
36:35
Do I love money too much? Well, how can you answer that
36:41
question, effectively? How much time are you willing to
36:43
spend just for money? How much energy are you
36:48
spending, just for money? How much of your mind are you
36:52
giving on a regular basis towards money.
36:57
Another question. You may ask is that the desire
36:59
for more spiritual things hindering, your family's
37:02
spiritual growth? Dads, are you working so many
37:07
hours just to get more money that you don't have time to
37:10
raise. Your children, the way you'd
37:13
want to. Are we given so much time to
37:17
chase after that job? And because we got to do these
37:20
jobs. And we've got to work these
37:21
hours because I've made priorities over here on the
37:24
spending. In of it, that keeps me from
37:26
being the wife that I need to be the husband that I need to be
37:29
have. I let money get in.
37:31
And what I planted is a lot of greed and covetousness, and I've
37:35
just wanted more and wanted more, and now we've got all
37:37
kinds of stress. People talk about the problems
37:42
in marriages and relationships. What's the number one problem
37:44
that causes a marriage breakup is a money problem.
37:48
It's not a money problem. It's a priority Problem.
37:53
People with all kinds of money that have huge amounts of income
37:59
can fight over money. It's about how you set them up
38:04
and how you prioritize them. Jesus talked about the idea that
38:08
when we think about money, we want to thank you about how
38:10
we're using it. It's okay to plan for the
38:11
future, Jesus implies that will do that in Luke Chapter 14 verse
38:15
28. When he says which of you have
38:17
any plans to build a tower does not first.
38:19
Sit down to calculate the cost to see if he has enough to
38:21
complete it. We're not saying that money
38:24
isn't important. At all G says, look, if you're
38:25
building a house, you got to figure out how much you can
38:28
build. Do you have enough money to
38:29
complete it? You're going to plan towards
38:31
those things. But they shouldn't be in control
38:34
of you. Just another question.
38:36
Are you controlling your desire for more money in things?
38:39
And I think this is so important.
38:41
You look at the warning in first, Timothy chapter 6, verses
38:44
9 and 10. He says, those who want to get
38:47
rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and
38:53
harmful lust, which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
38:58
Do you want to be rich? Do you have a desire for more
39:04
wealth? It is.
39:05
That's what is that? What is driving you?
39:08
He then says, For the Love of Money is the root of all sorts
39:11
of evil and some by longing for it of wandered away from the
39:15
faith and pierced in through with many, griefs find it.
39:20
Very interesting that Paul is talking to Timothy here and he's
39:23
saying, look just be careful. Sometimes God has blessed a lot
39:28
of his people with great wealth Solomon asked for wisdom.
39:31
And what did God say, man? What a great.
39:34
Great, great request because you didn't ask for all these other
39:38
things. I'm going to give you great
39:39
wealth as well. And if you wanted to look at a
39:43
lot of the downturns of Solomon's life.
39:47
Wealth can lead you away. Then say money is the root of
39:51
all evil. He says the love of money and
39:53
how we view it, as the root of all kinds of evil and what a sad
39:57
description, some people have wandered away from the faith.
40:03
Because money is drawing them away.
40:04
And what do they do? They simply pierced themselves
40:06
through with many griefs. The love of money when you plant
40:09
it brings about so many difficulties.
40:12
So Paul then goes to tell Timothy look with a lot of other
40:14
things. He says flee these things run
40:16
away from it, what you do with your money and how you set, your
40:19
priorities can help to protect you from these type of things.
40:23
Don't let your desire to have things, get in the way of the
40:26
things or the people that are most important.
40:29
Those of us that have influence over our children need to be
40:31
asking ourselves. What am I stressed?
40:34
And in my home when it comes to money?
40:37
What a my kids. Thank you.
40:39
When it comes to money. Is it constantly?
40:40
Go go, go. It's a constantly vacation.
40:44
Is it constantly? The next thing I want to buy
40:46
this and I want this and I want this and every time we pass a
40:49
car lot. I would you sit there and think
40:51
what are they learning? They're constantly watching and
40:55
if we want to educate them, we have to understand their
40:57
learning from our actions. So let's ask some questions as
41:01
we close. And I think I've got these up on
41:05
the board when it comes to raising people within our racing
41:09
children within our families, our grandchildren as well.
41:11
Here's some questions. We might ask at what age do my
41:15
children need to start giving to God?
41:18
The list of questions that we had at the beginning.
41:20
It was all just about this world consumer Business Bureau.
41:24
What are they going to tell you? Well, they need to manage that
41:26
and they need to have resources for retirement and for health
41:28
plans emergency, but they'll tell you all of the physical
41:31
things, but they've missed out the most important thing which
41:35
is the spiritual things. How can they lay up for
41:38
themselves? Treasures in Heaven?
41:42
And now what you're asking when is a child old enough to lay up
41:45
for themselves, Treasures in Heaven.
41:48
How can I explain to my five-year-old that everything in
41:51
the world belongs to God? Would that be a great
41:56
conversation this week? How can I show my family that
42:02
they're more important to me than making money?
42:08
Have you ever decided? Maybe I don't need this job or
42:12
this many hours. Have you ever decided?
42:16
Look at this part of my life? And this season of life, may be
42:21
less money and more times more important.
42:25
What could I let go of? On my 7 and 9 year olds ready
42:30
for me to explain that. I am just a steward of God's
42:33
things. At what point do the kids need
42:35
to understand? Yeah, we could buy this, we
42:37
could buy this, we could buy this, but no, we've got an
42:39
opportunity. God has blessed us with this and
42:42
we're going to make choices that are going to bring him glory and
42:44
honor. There's some things we aren't
42:45
going to do but that's okay because greater things will
42:48
happen. Do you know what?
42:50
This money whenever it goes to this Mission work?
42:52
Can do, do you know what this money can do and see we're not
42:55
going to live totally. All these things are not just
42:57
For us for child, 7 and 9 years old.
43:01
Can they start to learn those things as well?
43:04
How can I teach my teenager? That it really is better to give
43:08
than to receive? How can I make my kids not love
43:14
money? Am I showing my family by the
43:20
way that I live that how I handle Money Matters to God.
43:27
You look at a lot of these different questions and you see
43:29
the idea of teaching those kids and you see the idea of trying
43:32
to impress those things and you think about the important things
43:34
of having those conversations and doing it.
43:37
But, you know, what they re what really teaches them that Parents
43:42
grandparents. Is given our lives to answer
43:47
that question. There's times where you need to
43:51
say things and there's times where you need to give
43:53
instructions, but what they're really doing is they're just
43:55
watching us every day. They're watching us when we see
43:59
a need. Some of us had parents or
44:04
grandparents that were always finding a way to give to
44:07
somebody else. That missionaries shows up and
44:11
there's always a handshake. That's a little bit more than a
44:15
handshake. There's work that's going on and
44:18
you start to see where they've sacrificed.
44:21
And what happens? Their lives gave us a perfect
44:25
model to follow. So as we think about
44:28
stewardship, I wanted to start with kids because what I want to
44:31
know is it is about us, but it's about more than us.
44:34
We're leaving a legacy. We're leaving an opportunity to
44:36
help the Next Generation. We're leaving a legacy that's
44:39
going to help the church moving forward.
44:41
Everything that we're doing is going to build and we've got so
44:45
many folks that are watching and what do we want to do?
44:48
We want to bless them because it all belongs to God.
44:53
We're going to reap what we sow. So, let's make sure that we're
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being the stewards that God wants us to be.
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Thank you so much for your attention.