Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Minister Max Lucado – You Can Make It Through Life With God by Your Side
Transcript
- 0:11Speaker 1: Well, Happy New Year, everyone. You received an outline as
- 0:14Speaker 1: you came in. Please keep the outline handy in case
- 0:17Speaker 1: you want to fill in some blanks. Get a pencil
- 0:19Speaker 1: handy and open your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
- 0:23Speaker 1: I'll be referring to a passage there in just a moment.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Or if you want to use your phone or your iPad,
- 0:29Speaker 1: wherever your Bible is these days, you may have one
- 0:31Speaker 1: in your glasses, for all I know. I want to
- 0:35Speaker 1: talk to you for a few moments about stuff. The
- 0:38Speaker 1: reason is because we're kicking off a brief four-week series
- 0:42Speaker 1: called Contagious Generosity. And as we understand stuff, then we
- 0:48Speaker 1: understand why generosity works. So let's talk about stuff. Your stuff,
- 0:55Speaker 1: our stuff, my stuff. Our worlds are full of stuff.
- 1:00Speaker 1: Stuff like the stuff you see up here on the platform.
- 1:04Speaker 1: A bicycle, a Travel bag, golf clubs, blender, money, sometimes
- 1:10Speaker 1: in a piggy bank, sometimes in the bank, how about
- 1:14Speaker 1: a little jewelry, an iPhone, television, stuff. How much of
- 1:21Speaker 1: life is spent in accumulating and or managing stuff? A lot, right?
- 1:31Speaker 1: I mean, we inherit stuff, stack stuff, earn stuff, measure stuff,
- 1:35Speaker 1: brag about stuff, collect stuff, peddle stuff, drive stuff, wear stuff,
- 1:39Speaker 1: polish stuff, stuff. Stuff. The stuff of life. Let me
- 1:46Speaker 1: give you a heads up. I'm not about to tell
- 1:48Speaker 1: you to feel bad about having stuff. So you can
- 1:51Speaker 1: put your guilt deflectors down. The goal of today's message
- 1:55Speaker 1: is not to make you feel guilty about having stuff.
- 1:58Speaker 1: We all have stuff. but to help us understand how
- 2:03Speaker 1: we are to look at stuff and how God looks
- 2:07Speaker 1: at stuff. The Bible gives us one simple message when
- 2:11Speaker 1: it comes to stuff, and that message is this. It's
- 2:14Speaker 1: not yours. It's not. The first four words of the
- 2:19Speaker 1: Bible set the tone for the rest of the Bible.
- 2:22Speaker 1: In the beginning, God. So the Bible begins with God.
- 2:28Speaker 1: The Bible... promotes and defines and presents God. And according
- 2:33Speaker 1: to the Bible, everything is by God and for God
- 2:38Speaker 1: and is owned by God. We don't own anything. Romans
- 2:43Speaker 1: 11 and verse 36 says, God made all things, excuse me,
- 2:48Speaker 1: and everything continues through him and for him. So to
- 2:55Speaker 1: him be the glory forever and ever. So the reason
- 2:58Speaker 1: you drive a car, the reason you have a house,
- 3:00Speaker 1: the reason you have a bicycle is through him and
- 3:03Speaker 1: for him. Everything is about him. Now this is a
- 3:07Speaker 1: countercultural thought, isn't it? In fact, I'm going to really
- 3:11Speaker 1: press you here and ask you to repeat a phrase
- 3:14Speaker 1: for me that is very difficult for us to state.
- 3:16Speaker 1: Let me give you a Surgeon General's warning about this phrase.
- 3:20Speaker 1: Some people have tried to say it and the words
- 3:22Speaker 1: literally got stuck in their throat. It has caused cardiac arrest, nausea.
- 3:30Speaker 1: It's caused people to faint. In fact, let me post
- 3:33Speaker 1: the statement up here and you read it before you
- 3:35Speaker 1: say it, just as warning. Here it is. You want
- 3:43Speaker 1: to try it? You might hold each other's hands. We
- 3:47Speaker 1: can do this together. You ready? It's not about me.
- 3:53Speaker 1: Take the word it's out, replace it with certain elements
- 3:58Speaker 1: of your life, and it gets even scarier. Marriage. My
- 4:03Speaker 1: marriage is not about me. Body. My body is not
- 4:09Speaker 1: about me. Career. My career is not about me. Stuff.
- 4:18Speaker 1: My stuff is not about me. This is really stuff 101.
- 4:23Speaker 1: The book of Genesis teaches us that we are resident
- 4:27Speaker 1: managers of God's stuff. And we don't own anything. Adam
- 4:34Speaker 1: and Eve were placed in the garden that God created
- 4:37Speaker 1: a beautiful garden. And they were given the invitation and
- 4:41Speaker 1: the responsibility to manage the garden. They were in charge
- 4:45Speaker 1: of the garden. They even named animals. They had an
- 4:49Speaker 1: active role in God's garden. But there's no indication that
- 4:55Speaker 1: they were to say, okay, this is my ocean, or
- 4:58Speaker 1: this is my zebra, or this is my rose. These
- 5:05Speaker 1: are God's and we are here to manage them. They
- 5:09Speaker 1: did not apply mine to what was God's, but oh,
- 5:14Speaker 1: we do, don't we? We do. Somebody gives us a
- 5:20Speaker 1: bicycle for Christmas and what do we say? We say
- 5:24Speaker 1: the bike is? Somebody gives us some new luggage or
- 5:29Speaker 1: we go buy some new luggage or we point at
- 5:31Speaker 1: it and we say, now that's mine. These are mine.
- 5:35Speaker 1: My golf clubs are mine. My blender is mine. My
- 5:40Speaker 1: money is... My jewelry is mine. My iPhone is mine.
- 5:47Speaker 1: That really is mine, by the way. This television is mine.
- 5:56Speaker 1: It's all mine. I own it. I earned it. It's mine.
- 6:04Speaker 1: So the word for mine mentality when it comes to
- 6:08Speaker 1: stuff is me-ism. Me-ism. It's all about me. It's all
- 6:15Speaker 1: for me. And it's all here because of me. I
- 6:19Speaker 1: earned it. I deserve it. I created it. It's mine.
- 6:26Speaker 1: So it's all about me. In fact, me-ism goes a
- 6:32Speaker 1: step further. Me-ism not only says, it's all mine. Me-ism says,
- 6:41Speaker 1: my stuff is me. Does that make sense? I'm wearing
- 6:47Speaker 1: new shoes, so I am cool. I am driving a
- 6:52Speaker 1: new car, so I am successful. I live in a
- 6:57Speaker 1: certain house in a certain neighborhood, so I am important.
- 7:02Speaker 1: I'm wearing a new jacket. So, you know what? We
- 7:06Speaker 1: all do this, right? We are what we own is
- 7:10Speaker 1: a lie that comes straight from the pit of hell.
- 7:14Speaker 1: But we all have a struggle. I do. Maybe you don't.
- 7:18Speaker 1: But I think we all struggle with owning stuff and
- 7:23Speaker 1: then our stuff beginning to own us because we say,
- 7:27Speaker 1: I am what I own. Now, go a step further.
- 7:32Speaker 1: If I believe I am what I own and I'm
- 7:36Speaker 1: only as good as what I own and my worth
- 7:38Speaker 1: is my net worth, if I believe that, well, what
- 7:42Speaker 1: am I going to say? How's that going to affect
- 7:45Speaker 1: my attitude towards stuff? I'm going to want what? More.
- 7:50Speaker 1: And I'm going to want better. I can never have
- 7:54Speaker 1: enough and I can never have the best. Because something
- 7:59Speaker 1: is always better, so I've got to have that. So
- 8:02Speaker 1: that then creates a vicious cycle of get more, whatever
- 8:07Speaker 1: the cost, whatever the price. It's okay to go into
- 8:13Speaker 1: dangerous debt because if I own that, I will feel
- 8:16Speaker 1: better about me. And everything is about me. And since
- 8:20Speaker 1: I exist to promote me, who cares if I go
- 8:22Speaker 1: into dangerous debt? Who cares if I don't meet my responsibilities?
- 8:27Speaker 1: Who cares if I don't pay child support? It's all
- 8:29Speaker 1: about me. And I end up hurting people. Because what
- 8:36Speaker 1: I own is who I am. Is this making sense?
- 8:40Speaker 1: I remember when I took my kids to SeaWorld many, many,
- 8:43Speaker 1: many years ago before Shamu was even born. It was
- 8:45Speaker 1: so long ago. And one of my daughters was three
- 8:49Speaker 1: and we went into this big... fun place that's full
- 8:53Speaker 1: of little plastic balls. Have you ever seen these places?
- 8:56Speaker 1: You go in, just balls everywhere. She went in and
- 8:58Speaker 1: she grabbed up two armfuls of balls and she stood
- 9:03Speaker 1: up and she said, mine, mine, mine, mine. She thought
- 9:06Speaker 1: all those balls were hers. And then finally I said, okay, honey,
- 9:09Speaker 1: it's time to go. And she tried to walk, but
- 9:12Speaker 1: she was up to her waist in balls and she
- 9:14Speaker 1: had two armfuls of balls and she couldn't keep her balance.
- 9:18Speaker 1: And so she kept falling and she couldn't get out.
- 9:22Speaker 1: I said, honey, drop the balls and you'll be able
- 9:25Speaker 1: to walk. But she wouldn't let go of the balls
- 9:28Speaker 1: and consequently she couldn't walk. Now, was I being a
- 9:33Speaker 1: cruel father when I told her, honey, those balls are
- 9:37Speaker 1: not yours? I just wanted her to be able to
- 9:41Speaker 1: walk to get her balance back. Is there a chance
- 9:45Speaker 1: that somebody has been brought into this message today because
- 9:48Speaker 1: God is just saying to you, I want you to
- 9:51Speaker 1: be able to walk. You're carrying too much stuff. Or
- 9:55Speaker 1: you're caring too much about stuff. And he wants to
- 10:00Speaker 1: move you from me-ism. Follow me? To de-ism. Now work
- 10:13Speaker 1: with me for just a second. I understand that deism
- 10:17Speaker 1: is also a philosophy that says that God is and
- 10:20Speaker 1: God doesn't care. That's not the deism I'm talking about.
- 10:24Speaker 1: I'm talking about the original meaning of the word deism
- 10:28Speaker 1: that says God exists and he empowered us with reason,
- 10:35Speaker 1: the ability to make decisions. So from this perspective and
- 10:40Speaker 1: by this definition, God wants to move us from me-ism
- 10:43Speaker 1: that says it's all about me into a sense of
- 10:46Speaker 1: deism that says God exists and God has equipped me
- 10:50Speaker 1: with the opportunity and the ability to make decisions just
- 10:54Speaker 1: like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to
- 10:58Speaker 1: manage what he has given me. Deism invites me to
- 11:04Speaker 1: move out of me-ism by methodically going through life and
- 11:09Speaker 1: taking what I think is mine and acknowledging that it
- 11:14Speaker 1: is thine. I know thine is an old English word,
- 11:19Speaker 1: but it rhymes with mine. And so I'm using it. Okay?
- 11:27Speaker 1: The bike is thine. Thine. The luggage is thine. A
- 11:34Speaker 1: part and parcel of following God is regularly looking at
- 11:40Speaker 1: our stuff and saying, thank you, Lord. You have entrusted
- 11:45Speaker 1: this to me. It is not mine.
- 11:48Speaker 2: It is.
- 11:49Speaker 1: It's your blender. It's your piggy bank. It's your jewelry.
- 11:58Speaker 1: It's your jewelry. No, that's my iPhone. It's thine. It's
- 12:06Speaker 1: your iPhone. It's your television. Everything I am, everything I have,
- 12:15Speaker 1: all stuff is thine. It belongs to you. So a
- 12:21Speaker 1: theology of stuff begins right here. By acknowledging that everything
- 12:28Speaker 1: we have is not mine, it is thine. And I
- 12:33Speaker 1: think that there is a passage in the Bible that
- 12:36Speaker 1: carries this message in such a succinct and powerful fashion
- 12:40Speaker 1: that I really encourage you to study it. We're just
- 12:43Speaker 1: going to look at it for just a minute. It's
- 12:44Speaker 1: in 1 Timothy chapter 6. Paul is the author of
- 12:50Speaker 1: 1 Timothy. Timothy was a pastor. of a church in
- 12:55Speaker 1: Ephesus and he was receiving advice from the apostle Paul.
- 13:02Speaker 1: And Paul was telling Timothy how to teach his church.
- 13:06Speaker 1: And so this is a very practical passage given by
- 13:08Speaker 1: an apostle to a pastor to give to his church.
- 13:12Speaker 1: And so I give it to you. Paul the apostle says,
- 13:16Speaker 1: command those who are rich in this present world not
- 13:19Speaker 1: to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth.
- 13:23Speaker 1: which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God,
- 13:27Speaker 1: who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command
- 13:33Speaker 1: them to be good, to be rich in good deeds,
- 13:38Speaker 1: and to be generous and willing to share. In this way,
- 13:43Speaker 1: they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm
- 13:46Speaker 1: foundation for the coming age of so that they may
- 13:50Speaker 1: take hold of the life that is truly life. Let's
- 13:55Speaker 1: dissect this passage for just a couple of minutes, phrase
- 13:58Speaker 1: by phrase. First of all, command those who are rich.
- 14:01Speaker 1: You want to fill in the blank? Let me remind you,
- 14:03Speaker 1: you are rich. If you have electricity, if you have
- 14:07Speaker 1: running water, you have, by having electricity and running water,
- 14:11Speaker 1: qualified yourself as one of the wealthiest people on the planet.
- 14:14Speaker 1: So let's just kind of get that out of the way.
- 14:16Speaker 1: We're rich and that's okay. The Apostle Paul doesn't tell
- 14:21Speaker 1: Timothy to tell those who are rich in this present
- 14:23Speaker 1: world to feel bad about being blessed. Okay? God just
- 14:29Speaker 1: allowed your blessings to come. So the question is not,
- 14:33Speaker 1: do you have blessings? The question is, what do I
- 14:35Speaker 1: do with the blessings? Blessings come to those who are faithful.
- 14:39Speaker 1: Proverbs 22, 4. True humility and fear of the Lord
- 14:44Speaker 1: lead to riches and honor and a long life. We
- 14:49Speaker 1: can imagine a troublemaking, fast-drinking fellow who doesn't know Christ.
- 14:53Speaker 1: He's not much of an employee. He shows up at
- 14:55Speaker 1: work with hangovers. He's got padded expense accounts. He sneaks
- 14:59Speaker 1: out early on Friday afternoons. He keeps getting fired from
- 15:02Speaker 1: job after job. And consequently, he can't pay his bills.
- 15:06Speaker 1: But then Christ moves in. Christ wins his heart. Christ
- 15:10Speaker 1: saves his soul. Christ convincing that God knows him and
- 15:14Speaker 1: that God loves him. And the result is not just
- 15:17Speaker 1: salvation of the soul, but it's really a reclamation of
- 15:21Speaker 1: a work ethic. Because this individual realizes he belongs to God.
- 15:28Speaker 1: He represents God. So he starts showing up to work
- 15:31Speaker 1: on time. He's careful. He's respectful. He's meticulous. And with
- 15:39Speaker 1: his concern and with his hard work comes a promotion,
- 15:42Speaker 1: comes a company truck, comes a company credit card, and
- 15:47Speaker 1: comes increased income. This is really the common and to
- 15:51Speaker 1: be expected cycle of when we come to Christ, we
- 15:54Speaker 1: just become better people. And the first fruit, a fruit,
- 15:59Speaker 1: shouldn't say the first fruit, but a fruit of following
- 16:02Speaker 1: Christ is often increased income. or increased opportunity, or increased privilege,
- 16:09Speaker 1: or responsibility. And so Paul says to those people, Timothy,
- 16:14Speaker 1: you need to command them, you need to command those
- 16:17Speaker 1: who are rich in the world not to be arrogant.
- 16:20Speaker 1: So point number two is you are in danger of pride.
- 16:25Speaker 1: If you're rich, You're in danger of pride. We're all
- 16:29Speaker 1: in danger of pride. He says, command those who are
- 16:31Speaker 1: rich in this present world not to be arrogant or
- 16:35Speaker 1: to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain,
- 16:38Speaker 1: but to put their hope in God. Me-ism trusts stuff.
- 16:46Speaker 1: And so me-ism loves to accumulate stuff because me-ism says,
- 16:51Speaker 1: I am what I own. So the more I own,
- 16:55Speaker 1: the better I am. So if my philosophy is me-ism,
- 16:59Speaker 1: then I have to brag about my stuff, right? That's
- 17:04Speaker 1: my source of identity. So I've got to point out
- 17:07Speaker 1: what I own. And the result of that is I
- 17:11Speaker 1: need to observe what you own. And I become envious.
- 17:16Speaker 1: I'm a note taker. I'm always comparing who has the
- 17:19Speaker 1: most square feet, who drives the newest car, who's wearing
- 17:22Speaker 1: the newest coat. And when you have more, then I
- 17:25Speaker 1: want more because my identity is wrapped up in who
- 17:28Speaker 1: I am. So this arrogance leads to envy, leads to
- 17:33Speaker 1: ingratitude because I never have enough. And it's just a
- 17:36Speaker 1: yucky way of life. So Paul's counsel is practical. Tell
- 17:42Speaker 1: those who are rich in this world, that's us, not
- 17:46Speaker 1: to be arrogant, not to put their hope in stuff,
- 17:48Speaker 1: but to, number three, invest in heaven. Invest in heaven.
- 17:55Speaker 1: Who would have thought we would get financial tips in
- 17:58Speaker 1: the New Testament? But this is Paul's point. He reminds
- 18:02Speaker 1: us that money and stuff is just short term. And
- 18:06Speaker 1: that a thousand years from now, after this life is over,
- 18:10Speaker 1: the stuff we're so concerned about right now will have
- 18:13Speaker 1: all perished. It will be gone. Randy Alcorn has a
- 18:18Speaker 1: great paragraph in one of his books to help us
- 18:21Speaker 1: understand this. He says, imagine you were living in the
- 18:26Speaker 1: South during the Civil War and you had accumulated large
- 18:30Speaker 1: amounts of Confederate currency. Through a series of events, you
- 18:36Speaker 1: became convinced that the South was going to lose and
- 18:39Speaker 1: your money would soon be worthless. What would you do?
- 18:44Speaker 1: If you had any common sense, he writes, you would
- 18:46Speaker 1: get rid of your Southern coins. You would put every
- 18:49Speaker 1: penny you could into the currency that is to come.
- 18:53Speaker 1: And prepare yourself for the end of the war. But
- 18:57Speaker 1: this is the point of scripture. Not that money is bad.
- 19:00Speaker 1: But that all money is short lived. That you and
- 19:04Speaker 1: I in our wallets and in our bank accounts. Have
- 19:07Speaker 1: a bunch of soon to be useless paper. Wise are
- 19:13Speaker 1: those who invest in the life that is to come.
- 19:18Speaker 1: Paul says tell the rich to be rich in good deeds.
- 19:22Speaker 1: To be generous and willing to share. In this way
- 19:25Speaker 1: they will lay up treasure for themselves. Every time you're
- 19:30Speaker 1: rich in good deeds. Every time you're generous. You're actually
- 19:33Speaker 1: making a deposit in heaven. As a firm foundation for
- 19:39Speaker 1: the coming age. So you want some insider information? Invest
- 19:44Speaker 1: in heaven. The currency of this world is passing. But
- 19:48Speaker 1: the investments... in the world to come are a firm foundation.
- 19:53Speaker 1: As Jesus said, don't store up treasures for yourselves here
- 19:57Speaker 1: on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and
- 20:01Speaker 1: thieves can break in and steal them. But store treasures
- 20:05Speaker 1: in heaven. where they cannot be destroyed by moths and dust,
- 20:10Speaker 1: and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. John Tillotson,
- 20:15Speaker 1: Archbishop of Canterbury said, He who provides for this life,
- 20:19Speaker 1: but takes no care for eternity, is wise for a moment,
- 20:25Speaker 1: but a fool forever. And Paul said, command those who
- 20:30Speaker 1: are rich in this present world not to be arrogant
- 20:33Speaker 1: or to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain,
- 20:36Speaker 1: but to put their hope in God who richly provides
- 20:39Speaker 1: us with everything for, look at this word, our enjoyment.
- 20:46Speaker 1: Our enjoyment. Yes. God, your father wants you to enjoy
- 20:51Speaker 1: your blessings. So let God bless you. Let God bless you.
- 20:59Speaker 1: One of our dear sisters in the first service, after
- 21:01Speaker 1: I made this point, caught me outside and said, you
- 21:03Speaker 1: mean I don't need to feel guilty about putting new
- 21:06Speaker 1: wooden floors in my home? I said, no. God blessed you.
- 21:11Speaker 1: Enjoy it. For many Christians, this is the issue. Not
- 21:16Speaker 1: that they are accumulating too much stuff, but that they
- 21:20Speaker 1: feel guilty over any stuff. Right? Right? And they just
- 21:26Speaker 1: don't let God be good to them. Can you imagine
- 21:30Speaker 1: if you gave your eight-year-old a new bicycle? And you
- 21:35Speaker 1: looked outside and saw your eight-year-old standing by that bicycle saying,
- 21:39Speaker 1: I don't deserve it. I'm not worthy. There are hungry
- 21:45Speaker 1: people in the world and here I am with a
- 21:46Speaker 1: new bicycle. Why would I get this bike? And you
- 21:51Speaker 1: as a parent would yell out the window, because I
- 21:53Speaker 1: gave it to you. because I love you. Let God
- 21:59Speaker 1: love you. Let God love you. Receive the blessings that
- 22:06Speaker 1: he gives and receive those not as an accomplishment, not
- 22:11Speaker 1: as a source of pride, but as a source of appreciation. God,
- 22:14Speaker 1: you're so good to me and let me live in
- 22:16Speaker 1: this house. You're so good to me to let me
- 22:18Speaker 1: drive this car. Thank you so much that I get
- 22:21Speaker 1: wooden floors. Thank you, Lord. Just let God bless you
- 22:25Speaker 1: There's a passage in the book of Jeremiah where God says,
- 22:28Speaker 1: I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will
- 22:32Speaker 1: never stop doing any good to them. I will inspire
- 22:35Speaker 1: them to fear me so they will never turn away
- 22:37Speaker 1: from me. I will rejoice in doing them good. What
- 22:42Speaker 1: a wonderful picture. God rejoicing when you receive a blessing
- 22:47Speaker 1: because he wants to do you good. So can I
- 22:50Speaker 1: encourage you? Has God been good to you? Well, enjoy
- 22:54Speaker 1: what God has given. Enjoy what God has given. The
- 22:59Speaker 1: Bible gives us practical steps on how to own stuff.
- 23:04Speaker 1: And really a little quiz that I've used many times
- 23:06Speaker 1: through the years. Let me... review it with you. Maybe
- 23:09Speaker 1: you've seen this before. It's just a little test about
- 23:12Speaker 1: money to help you enjoy. I'm sorry, test about stuff,
- 23:16Speaker 1: not just money, but to help you enjoy yours. Four questions.
- 23:19Speaker 1: Number one, are you achieving stuff dishonestly? Well, if the
- 23:24Speaker 1: answer is yes, turn yourself in. Stop that. Okay. But
- 23:29Speaker 1: if the answer is no, if you're earning your stuff honestly,
- 23:32Speaker 1: then move on to question number two. Are you achieving
- 23:35Speaker 1: stuff irresponsibly? By this, I mean with dangerous debt, by
- 23:39Speaker 1: neglecting your family or your priorities out of whack just
- 23:43Speaker 1: so you can have more stuff. Well, if the answer
- 23:45Speaker 1: is yes, then you need to address that. We have
- 23:48Speaker 1: a wonderful course here at the church called Financial Peace University.
- 23:53Speaker 1: I recommend it to anyone. That would be a good
- 23:56Speaker 1: step for you to take so you can learn to
- 23:58Speaker 1: acquire things responsibly. But if the answer is no, if
- 24:03Speaker 1: you're not doing things irresponsibly, then we move to question
- 24:06Speaker 1: number three. Are you giving 10% of your gross income
- 24:09Speaker 1: to God's work? The Bible is very clear. God owns everything,
- 24:14Speaker 1: but he considers the first 10% of your crops or
- 24:17Speaker 1: your paycheck, everything is holy. It's really his. If you
- 24:22Speaker 1: can say that everything is his, but that first 10%
- 24:26Speaker 1: is really his. And when you keep it, you're really
- 24:30Speaker 1: robbing God. from God. You say, Max, that's a heavy statement. Well,
- 24:36Speaker 1: take it up with the Bible. Malachi, the book of Malachi,
- 24:40Speaker 1: God says, should a person rob God? But you are
- 24:43Speaker 1: robbing me. You ask, how have we robbed you? You've
- 24:46Speaker 1: robbed me in your offerings and the tenth of your crops.
- 24:49Speaker 1: So a curse is on you because the whole nation
- 24:52Speaker 1: has robbed me. That's serious, isn't it? God is serious
- 24:55Speaker 1: about tithing. We should be as well. We give to
- 24:58Speaker 1: God first because as we do, we are declaring it's
- 25:02Speaker 1: all thine. It's not mine. And my first act of
- 25:07Speaker 1: worship is to give you what you have claimed. One
- 25:10Speaker 1: final question. Are you achieving stuff at the expense of
- 25:14Speaker 1: your loved ones? We see this every so often. People
- 25:19Speaker 1: acquiring stuff and neglecting even the medical care of their
- 25:22Speaker 1: kids or the concern for their family members or paying
- 25:27Speaker 1: child support. Another surprisingly stern passage from the book of
- 25:33Speaker 1: 1 Timothy, whoever does not care for his own relatives,
- 25:36Speaker 1: especially his own family members, has turned against the faith
- 25:40Speaker 1: and is worse than someone who does not believe in God.
- 25:45Speaker 1: So the last question, are you caring for your family?
- 25:47Speaker 1: If not, you should. But if you are, if you're tithing,
- 25:53Speaker 1: earning money honestly, managing money responsibly, caring for your loved ones,
- 25:57Speaker 1: then enjoy. Enjoy. Let God bless you. If he gives
- 26:02Speaker 1: you wooden floors, you dance on those wooden floors. And
- 26:05Speaker 1: if he gives you Mexican food, eat Mexican food. If
- 26:09Speaker 1: he gives you Italian food, enjoy. Enjoy what God gives you.
- 26:14Speaker 1: And don't get all tangled up in the guilt that
- 26:17Speaker 1: the devil can bring and cause you to lose the
- 26:20Speaker 1: joy that God has. So, in summary, three quick ideas.
- 26:24Speaker 1: Number one, rename your possessions. Go through your house today
- 26:28Speaker 1: with a sticky pad and put thine on everything. You
- 26:33Speaker 1: can even do that with your dog, thine. With your
- 26:36Speaker 1: husband or wife, thine. But just rename everything. Okay, it's
- 26:40Speaker 1: all yours, Lord. I want to be a steward, which
- 26:43Speaker 1: leads us to number two. Reconsider your role on earth.
- 26:46Speaker 1: You're not an owner. You're a caretaker. You're not a proprietor.
- 26:53Speaker 1: You're a manager. And then number three, reevaluate your identity.
- 26:59Speaker 1: You are worth much more than your net worth. You
- 27:03Speaker 1: are not what you own. You are God's child. And
- 27:08Speaker 1: you have a ticket to heaven no thief can take.
- 27:11Speaker 1: You have an eternal home no divorce can break. Every
- 27:14Speaker 1: sin of your life has been cast into the sea.
- 27:16Speaker 1: Every mistake you've made is nailed to the tree. You
- 27:20Speaker 1: are blood bought and heaven made. A child of God
- 27:23Speaker 1: forever saved. So be grateful and joyful. Isn't it true?
- 27:28Speaker 1: What you don't have is much less than what you do. Amen. Lord,
- 27:35Speaker 1: now hear us as we talk to you about our things.
- 27:40Speaker 1: We pray that you would recalibrate our hearts, begin with mine,
- 27:43Speaker 1: that we might see things the way you see them
- 27:47Speaker 1: as yours and see our job the way you see
- 27:50Speaker 1: it to care for what you've given to us. Thank you, Lord.
- 27:55Speaker 1: We bless you for giving us so much for we
- 27:57Speaker 1: are rich, but not just rich in things, Lord. We're
- 28:01Speaker 1: rich in love. We're wealthy in grace. We're overflowing in
- 28:07Speaker 1: your kindness and your mercy. You have been good to us.
- 28:13Speaker 1: And we say thank you. In Jesus' name. And all
- 28:18Speaker 1: the church said, Amen. Thank you.
- 33:23Speaker 3: I'll be all right. You don't have to stay. If
- 33:31Speaker 3: you've already chosen, I won't stand in your way.
- 33:39Speaker 2: I can feel it in your distance, in the way
- 33:43Speaker 2: you barely speak. Like your heart is somewhere else now,
- 33:50Speaker 2: somewhere I can't reach. I was trying just to hold
- 33:55Speaker 2: us While you slowly slipped away Now I'm left with
- 34:02Speaker 2: all the silence You didn't want to say Maybe I just.
- 34:11Speaker 1: Held on To something already gone I'll be fine. You
- 34:24Speaker 1: can leave.
- 34:26Speaker 4: You don't owe me anything.
- 34:30Speaker 2: If your heart is found away out.
- 34:34Speaker 4: Of what we used to be, I'll be fine.
- 34:39Speaker 1: Don't look back.
- 34:41Speaker 4: I'll survive this empty space. Not tonight, maybe not soon,
- 34:48Speaker 4: but I'll learn.
- 34:51Speaker 1: To be okay.
- 34:56Speaker 3: We don't need to fake the feeling.
- 35:00Speaker 2: I can see it in your eyes There's no reason
- 35:04Speaker 2: left for staying.
- 35:07Speaker 4: When the love already died.
- 35:12Speaker 1: Through the quiet in your eyes.
- 35:20Speaker 4: I can hear your choice.
- 35:25Speaker 1: I'll be fine. You can leave. You don't owe me anything.
- 35:33Speaker 4: If your heart has found a way. Out of what
- 35:37Speaker 4: we used to be.
- 35:40Speaker 1: I'll be fine. Don't look back.
- 35:44Speaker 4: I'll survive this empty space.
- 35:48Speaker 1: Not tonight.
- 35:49Speaker 3: Maybe not soon.
- 35:51Speaker 4: But I'll learn to be okay.
- 35:56Speaker 1: I don't need a reason why. I can see it
- 36:01Speaker 1: in goodbyes. And it breaks me, it does.
- 36:06Speaker 4: But I won't ask you to stay. I'll be fine.
- 36:15Speaker 1: You can't leave. You don't owe me anything.
- 36:21Speaker 4: If your heart is found away, how do I'll be
- 36:28Speaker 4: all right.