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Give Your Finances To God Pt. 5 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. I'm John North. Each weekday morning, I come
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  Speaker 1: to you at this time to just bring you something
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  Speaker 1: from the Bible. Something from God, because the Bible is
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  Speaker 1: God's word to us, and it reflects what God's heart
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  Speaker 1: and priorities are. You know, in your life, there's so
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  Speaker 1: many voices telling you what's important in life or giving
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  Speaker 1: you answers or solutions to this or that situation you're in.
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  Speaker 1: But for us as Christians there is one authority that
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  Speaker 1: is above all authorities, and that is what God has
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  Speaker 1: revealed in the Bible. Any time you wonder about something,
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  Speaker 1: any time people are disagreeing about something, look first to
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  Speaker 1: the Bible for the answer. And if there's a clear
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  Speaker 1: answer in the Bible as to God's position on something
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  Speaker 1: or what matters to God, that settles it for us.
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  Speaker 1: Because that's what God says. Even if it doesn't sit
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  Speaker 1: quite right with the way we've been thinking, then the
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  Speaker 1: way we've been thinking needs to change.
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  Speaker 1: God is sharing with us His perspective on life in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, and we've been looking all this week at
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  Speaker 1: this thing that is so precious to us, and that's
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  Speaker 1: our money, and the importance of giving our finances to God,
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  Speaker 1: putting God at the centre of our financial life, just
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  Speaker 1: as we put Him at the centre of our heart
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  Speaker 1: and the centre of the other parts of our lives.
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  Speaker 1: You know something, when it comes to giving and giving
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  Speaker 1: to the work of God in this world and the
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  Speaker 1: things that matter to God, uh, so often we say, well,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I really am committed to giving, uh, to
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  Speaker 1: these things that matter to God, but, uh, I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: wait till I have a bit more money.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna wait till my business is a little more successful,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I'm really struggling now, and if I can
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  Speaker 1: just devote everything to building my business, things will be
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  Speaker 1: better then, and then I'll give and put God first.
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  Speaker 1: And I want to say to you something, having lived
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  Speaker 1: many years in this world,
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  Speaker 1: Uh, those who don't give much to God when they
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  Speaker 1: don't have much, don't give much to God when they
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  Speaker 1: get more either.
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  Speaker 1: And those who give generously, when they don't have much,
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  Speaker 1: give generously when they do get more as well.
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  Speaker 1: You want to build into your life.
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  Speaker 1: A generous life, you want to build a character of
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  Speaker 1: giving to God into your life, that's something you build.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't just happen because you've got extra money one day.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, do you know what happens? No matter how
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  Speaker 1: much money you're earning or receiving by inheritance or whatever,
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  Speaker 1: you don't ever end up with extra money.
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  Speaker 1: There's always something to do with it. Either put it
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  Speaker 1: in investments or things you want to spend money on
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  Speaker 1: because now you've got more money, you're going to buy
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  Speaker 1: a nicer car, a bigger TV, nicer house, whatever it is,
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  Speaker 1: you always will not have money left over, wondering what
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  Speaker 1: am I going to do with this. Oh, I'll give
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  Speaker 1: it to God. No, you need to build this character
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  Speaker 1: in your life as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: that God comes first in my life.
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  Speaker 1: And that's not just in the inner parts of my life,
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  Speaker 1: it's in how I treat people, how I do business,
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  Speaker 1: but also how I use my money.
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  Speaker 1: Let me read to you from 2 Corinthians chapter 8,
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  Speaker 1: as it, it describes people who have learned this way
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  Speaker 1: of life when they did not have much money.
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  Speaker 1: Paul writes to the Corinthians in chapter 8, We want
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  Speaker 1: you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that
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  Speaker 1: has been given among the churches of Macedonia.
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  Speaker 1: For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of
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  Speaker 1: joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth
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  Speaker 1: of generosity on their part.
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  Speaker 1: For they gave according to their means, as I can testify,
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  Speaker 1: and beyond their means of their own accord. It's what
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  Speaker 1: they wanted to do, begging us earnestly for the favour
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  Speaker 1: of taking part in the relief of the saints, the
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  Speaker 1: Christians in a part of the world where there was famine.
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  Speaker 1: Well, this not as we expected, but they gave themselves
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  Speaker 1: first to the Lord and then by the will of
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  Speaker 1: God to us.
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  Speaker 1: Do you see what it's saying? These people built a
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  Speaker 1: generous life, and they modelled for other churches and other
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  Speaker 1: Christians what to do, and you need to model this
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  Speaker 1: for your kids, living this generous life, giving generously to God,
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  Speaker 1: putting the things of God first in your finances. I
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  Speaker 1: can guarantee you this you will never come to the
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  Speaker 1: end of your life and think I gave too much
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  Speaker 1: to God.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.