Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / 17.3 - James 1:9-11 - What To Think When You’re Poor and When You’re Rich

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17.3 - James 1:9-11 - What To Think When You’re Poor and When You’re Rich · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  We hope that this podcast will help you to know Christ, grow in
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  his Word, and show His love to others.
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  Let's dive right in. Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  Today we are in James chapter 1 verses 9 through 11.
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  James 1, verses 9 through 11. And this book is written by
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  James or Jacob, the half brother of Jesus.
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  He was one that was one of kind of the leading pastors or elders
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  in the church at Jerusalem. And he's writing to people that
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  would once have been part of his congregation but had been
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  scattered all across the Roman Empire.
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  And he's writing to them some practical things that they need
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  to know for their walk with the Lord.
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  And today in verses 9 through 11, we're going to get really
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  like an upside down own view of our life and our circumstances
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  that I think will be a challenge to you and I and something that
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  will help us as we recognize who God is and what he is doing in
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  our lives. Let's read together.
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  Let the brother or sister of humble circumstances boast in
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  his exultation, but let the rich boast in his humiliation,
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  because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
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  For the sun rises and together with the scorching wind dries up
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  the grass. It's flower falls off and it's
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  beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person
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  will wither away while pursuing his activities.
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  OK, what's going on here? Is this just some, you know,
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  anti money diatribe? What in the world's going on?
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  Well, first let's look at verse #9 and remember how the book
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  started off. If you'll recall, the very first
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  thing that James said is considerate.
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  Count it all joy when you fall into various trials and
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  temptations. So these are people that even as
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  he says in verse #1 these are to the 12 tribes scattered abroad
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  throughout the Roman Empire. So to these people in tough
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  circumstances, he says, let the brother of humble circumstances
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  boast in his exaltation. Here, James tells these
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  believers that when you are in a low circumstance here, the word
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  humble, you would see this elsewhere in scripture.
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  This would be like low social status or relative inability to
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  cope. This would be someone lowly,
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  undistinguished, or of no account.
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  This is someone that is not special in the eyes of those
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  around them. No one's looking at this person
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  and going, Oh, yes, they're, they're a really important CEO.
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  They're just a great investor. This is the world's best, this
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  or that. This is just a person who is
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  lowly and undistinguished, and no one thinks much of that
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  person. And God says the person in that
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  type of situation has been exalted by God.
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  OK, in what way has this person been exalted by God?
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  Well first and foremost in the fact he or he describes this
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  person as a brother. This would be the Greek word
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  Adelphi. This means the person that knows
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  Jesus as their savior. Jesus was the Adelphi of James,
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  and here you are brothers and sisters with every single
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  believer in Christ in the world today.
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  And so one that knows Jesus, even when they are looked down
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  on by the world, when they do not appear to have much
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  financial wealth or security, that person is viewed as exalted
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  by God. Because if you will in the
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  economy of heaven, what matters is not your 4O1K or your earthly
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  bank account and said, what matters is your relationship
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  with Jesus. This is the same type of thing
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  that we would read in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5.
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  And we'll, we'll head back to the Sermon on the Mount several
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  times in our study in James, because James has this on the
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  brain as he's walking through these.
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  So Matthew 5 says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for the
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  Kingdom of heaven is theirs. The people that are worn down
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  and if you will kind of bankrupt just in their energy that they
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  bring, that even their spirit is poor.
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  God says the Kingdom of heaven belongs to you.
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  You are exalted even though you are one of God's children.
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  In humble, lowly, undistinguished circumstances or
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  in verse #5 of Matthew 5. Blessed are the humble or the
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  meek, for they will inherit the earth.
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  Those that are in lowly positions, God is going to give
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  them everything. We would also look at the end of
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  Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus would say, therefore I tell you,
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  don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you
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  will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.
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  Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?
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  Consider the birds of the sky. They they don't sow or reap or
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  gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
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  Aren't you worth more than they? Can any one of you add 1 moment
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  to his lifespan by worrying? And why do you worry about
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  clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of
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  the field grow. They don't labor or spin thread.
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  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was
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  adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the
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  grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the
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  furnace tomorrow. Won't he do much more for you,
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  you of little faith. So I could continue on there in
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  in the Sermon on the Mount. But I think that gives us a
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  little bit of the picture of what James is saying here, that
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  those that feel the the hurt and the emptiness of this life and
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  in the kind of dog eat dog world that we live in, realize that
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  God is lifting you up and he is lifting you up to his presence.
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  That you are a joint heir with Christ.
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  That everything that belongs to the Son of God belongs to us
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  now, and we will one day inherit it in full.
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  And so we can be glad even in needy circumstances, because our
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  sustenance, our daily living does not come from this world,
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  it comes from our heavenly Father.
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  And so we need to boast even in our difficult circumstances.
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  Verse #10 Then James says that the rich need to boast as well,
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  but they need to not boast in their exultation or in the fact
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  that they are great in the eyes of God.
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  Instead he says let the rich boast in his humiliation because
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  he will pass away like a flower of the field.
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  OK well this should bring to mind.
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  I literally just read those verses from the end of Matthew 6
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  where Jesus was talking about the flowers and he says don't
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  worry about your stuff because God cares even for the flowers
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  that are here one day and gone the next.
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  And if God cares for the flowers, how much more does he
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  care for you? He says here for these rich
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  people, He says you need to be glad in the fact that your stuff
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  is temporary. You are not going to have it
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  forever. And so instead of trying to
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  cling onto and hold onto your riches for as long as you can
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  and trying to amass as much stuff as you can, he says
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  rejoice when you lose stuff, rejoice when you're 4 O 1K tanks
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  a bit. You can rejoice here in this
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  circumstance. Perhaps some of those that would
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  have had riches in Jerusalem or in Judea or in Galilee, and as a
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  result of their faith in Jesus, they lost those things and they
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  had to flee. Whether from persecution from
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  Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee who turned into Paul the missionary,
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  whether it was because of the persecution from Herod or from
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  the other Jewish religious leaders of the time, whatever
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  their circumstances were that they were being humiliated, that
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  they were losing out on their worldly goods.
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  James wants them to know that's not the loss of who you are.
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  You don't have to if you will feel like you are dying just
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  because you're losing stuff, he says.
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  Instead, you are getting back to what God views as most important
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  in your life, That though the flower is there and it fades
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  away, God loves and cares for and provides for the flower in
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  the moments when it has all its petals and in the moment when
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  winter comes and it has faded away.
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  God still has a love for the flower, and God still has a love
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  for these rich individuals. And so don't find your identity
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  in your riches, find your identity in your God.
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  Verse #11 For the sun rises and together with the scorching wind
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  dries up the grass. It's flower falls off and it's
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  beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person
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  will wither away while pursuing his activities.
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  Even as we would read in I believe it's First Timothy
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  chapter 6 that Paul commands Timothy command those that are
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  rich in this world that they would not be high minded that
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  they wouldn't just be thinking about their materials and think
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  great things about themselves. Instead he says, I want you to
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  have them focus on what they can give to others, how they can
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  bless and benefit other people, not on what they can do for
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  themselves. And so here as well, James is
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  saying, just as surely as winter comes or the here, the the
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  summer comes and burns up the grass and and the flowers, the
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  plants and all of the beauty that it had goes away.
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  He says rich people realize that what you have is so temporary,
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  so you cannot live for the money, you cannot live for the
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  job, you cannot live for all of the stuff.
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  It's all going away. So don't rejoice in your things.
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  Don't rejoice in the exaltation that you have on this earth.
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  Instead, rejoice in your humiliation that one day it's
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  all going to be gone. What part will you play in where
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  your money goes? You get to choose.
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  Am I going to give my money, if you will?
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  Is it going to go to the Funeral Home and is it going to go to
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  taxes and is it going to go to paying off my dad's?
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  Is it is my money while I have it, is it going to be spent on a
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  great life for me or is it going to be spent in investing in the
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  Kingdom of God? I was talking with even our
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  church elders the evening before.
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  I'm recording this and we were talking about our own personal
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  giving and the fact that we are able to be a part of what God is
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  doing in our local congregation right now through our giving.
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  And we could hoard our finances, but then we would not get to see
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  God do incredible, amazing things through our money.
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  And I want to encourage you all. I don't often do this, but if
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  you have been given financial means by the Lord, don't just
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  lay up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and and rust
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  destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for
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  yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
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  destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal.
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  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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  And if, if you're like, OK, well, where do I give?
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  If you have a local congregation, give to that local
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  church. If you're like, I don't really
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  have a local congregation, we have so many ministry needs at,
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  at Tabernacle, I'll just throw our name in the mix and you can
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  give it any time at tbces.sex.com/give.
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  tbces.sex.com/give. And if this podcast has been a
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  blessing to you, that's not going right into my wallet.
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  Like my, my salary is not based on how many, you know, podcast
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  listeners or, or viewers that I have.
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  It's not determined by, you know, if there's greater and
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  greater and greater money being given to the church, that
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  doesn't affect me in my day-to-day.
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  Frankly, for me, I've been praying that God would bring
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  along another staff member, another pastor that would be
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  able to join me and my fellow elders at Tabernacle in the work
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  that we have here, especially to be able to minister to children
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  and youth and parents. And so I am praying that our
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  church family as we're all giving together and as God
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  brings in new people and God's forwarding the work that we
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  would be able to financially support a family.
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  There was 1 gentleman that even reached out a few months ago
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  that was looking for a full time position and absolutely like
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  amazing guy and had a, had a background of ministry work and
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  of ministry education and experience that I was like, wow,
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  this is amazing. And I so wish, oh man, I wish we
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  could bring this gentleman on because God has used him in some
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  incredible ways. And I believe that God will use
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  him in some, in some incredible ways.
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  And so even for our church, I'm praying like Lord, would you
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  help us not to be focused on building our Kingdom?
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  Would you help us to be focused on building your Kingdom and on
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  enabling your people to do the work of the ministry?
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  And so I say all of that to say this, we we would love if some
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  more people were joining us in the work in in supporting God's
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  work here at Tabernacle. And if God leads you to help out
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  in that way, just know that it's going to good gospel causes,
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  it's going to the the word of God and the gospel of Jesus and,
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  and the proclamation of salvation going out honestly,
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  all across the world now through Tabernacle talk.
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  It's going out in our little corner of the world.
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  And I'm so excited to see what God is continuing to do in and
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  through our church. So kind of in summary of what
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  we've learned today, I took a little bit of a rabbit trail,
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  but thank you for for sticking with me even through that.
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  When we're in difficult circumstances, rejoice knowing
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  that God thinks the world of us. And though the world doesn't
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  think anything of us, we are joint heirs with Jesus.
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  And so we can rejoice even in our humble circumstances because
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  God is lifting us up. And when we have things in this
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  world, don't hold on to, don't love the things, love Jesus.
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  And so that way one day when all of the stuff is gone and when
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  you have passed off the scene, you have laid up for yourself
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  treasure in heaven, not just treasure on this earth.
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  Hope there'd be an encouragement to you today.
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  I know today was a little bit of a weird episode, but glad to be
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  able to spend this time with you.
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  Hope that you have a wonderful day.