The Extra
The Extra is a podcast hosted by Crosspoint Christian Church in Conyers, Georgia. Senior Minister, Curtis Zehner, and his friend, Ken Pierce, talk through each week's sermon unpacking the extra material that didn't make the cut for the weekend message. Curtis' and Ken's conversational and relaxed style lend itself to listeners of all ages and spiritual maturities.
The Extra
Gratitude & Generosity | Give Thanks
Ever felt like you're battling for control over something as simple as office air conditioning? We navigate the art of letting go, using spiritual practices to align our actions with a higher purpose. We explore themes of control, pride, and self-esteem, drawing inspiration from the biblical story of Hannah to illustrate the power of surrender and gratitude.
Check out more at www.CrosspointConyers.com
the extra podcast Curtis Zahner, ken Pierce. Welcome, welcome. It's a rainy day today, tuesday Welcome. It's a rainy day today, tuesday, november 19th, at the time of this recording, rainy all day. There's like some kind of weather coming up from the Gulf.
Speaker 2:Coast. You know what's funny is I'll go in my office it's totally dark, not raining. Then I'll come out of my office totally light, raining, cats and dogs. I had no idea it was raining. I never know what the weather is like because I have no windows anywhere.
Speaker 1:You have no windows in your office. None, Ken. That's so depressing.
Speaker 2:On purpose. I have the most control over the air conditioner though.
Speaker 1:Ooh. So how many people are controlled by your air conditioner?
Speaker 2:There's a line of offices, so three counselors, including myself and the receptionist.
Speaker 1:Nice yeah. So whatever Ken does is what everybody else has to deal with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1:That's called ultimate power, ultimate power.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like to call it ultimate power. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:You wield it, you're like.
Speaker 2:Benevolently.
Speaker 1:Who's that superhero? Well, I guess he's not a superhero that villain in the Marvel movies. You're like Thanos Thanos. You're like Thanos of the Office. Whatever your will is, snap Is what happens. Yeah, oh man. Well, ken, how are you?
Speaker 2:feeling today. Good, we got some good news me and Faith Cat. Oh good news. Well, I got good news from Faith and Faith created the news. Okay, she told me on, let's see, it was I don't know a week ago now that her and I are going to start joining the praise band, I think once a month, nice. So we've been on a serious hiatus since the twins were born and we're going to be back.
Speaker 1:Man, that is really exciting. Have you told Grace, yet that's the back man. That is really exciting. Have you told Grace yet? That's the question Grace knows.
Speaker 2:Okay, good, she's excited and I'm downplaying it because she just wants volunteers. She just wants, like, okay, more resources, right, and I love playing behind Faith because Faith has a great voice, she's a natural harmonizer one of the best I've ever heard, and it's fun to play behind good singers, definitely. Yeah, a natural harmonizer, one of the best I've ever heard, yeah, and it's fun to play behind good singers? Definitely yeah, and all drummers are jealous of singers.
Speaker 1:So I'm not getting out of there and singing, you could do it.
Speaker 2:Sure, everybody says that Come on Until it happens.
Speaker 1:It's not that hard.
Speaker 2:Grace, it is that hard.
Speaker 1:It is that hard.
Speaker 2:Crystal, it is that hard. It is that hard, crystal, it is that hard, rory.
Speaker 1:It is that hard, yeah, oh man.
Speaker 2:Anybody listening that sings. It is that hard.
Speaker 1:Man, we have some super talented people on our praise and worship team. A lot of talented people.
Speaker 2:Sean is very talented. Faith asked me one time if I had to form a band right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And Sean's name came up as piano a band right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and shauna's name came up as piano. Well, we have. Yeah, man, shout out to the team mark trujan, super talented on the bass. The people on the bass vocals, on the bass vocals, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, yeah, our bass players, kevin and uh and angelo, angelo plays that upright bass yeah, so he's like he needs a glass glass of wine next to him Right when he plays it.
Speaker 1:That thing is really cool. Yeah, samuel, over there singing and playing at the same time. Cal is up there. We got Cal and Bo Bo on the drums.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and piano sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bo also doubles on piano.
Speaker 2:That's his training piano.
Speaker 1:Okay, here's something I learned. This is how talented some of our musicians are okay, all of them really. I don't even know why. I would say some. So, this past weekend, who played keyboard? Forgive me, tammy, for just blanking on your name there for a second, if you're listening. Tammy was playing keyboard this week, playing the Nord right.
Speaker 1:Well, I found out she's been going through chemotherapy and um battling her cancer diagnosis that she got a little while back, but I I found out from her that, uh, she's got neuropathy, yeah, in her, the ends of her hands and her feet, so she can't feel the piano when she gets very cold a bit but bet, but it's all muscle memory. Yeah, so like she can't feel it, but it's muscle memory and she's playing it. I mean no wrong notes.
Speaker 2:Just crushing that thing, man, you never know. Yeah, that's talent, very much yeah. That is one of the marks of talent when you don't have to think about it. Yeah practice talent. Miss maryland has been up there. For maryland I mean good grief. Maryland doesn't know this, but she's intimidating when you first meet her and see her play the piano because she comes across as a teacher, like a music teacher, right, and I'm like, okay, that's who I need to watch and listen to yeah even though paul at the time was paul.
Speaker 2:Tompkins was the leader and, like maryland's, the person's face that I need to pay attention to.
Speaker 1:Yep, she was the rhythm driver for all those years, and then we started playing new music, where the drums and the guitar became the rhythm drivers. And the piano kind of sunk more into the background and some of that newer style.
Speaker 2:It's more atmosphere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, which has its pluses and minuses. You know you can't beat good old church where you know the keyboard or the. You know, the grand piano is just running the show.
Speaker 2:Or the organ. Yeah the organ. Yes, I almost majored in organ in college Really, but they were like no.
Speaker 1:You don't even know how to read music, so don't even know how to read music, so don't.
Speaker 2:even that's cute that you want to do that, but don't.
Speaker 1:Well, we all think that we're better at things than we actually are.
Speaker 2:Much like podcasting.
Speaker 1:Ken and I think that we are fantastic at podcasting some days, but reality is we're just two guys sitting at a table right now and we're going to talk about something I don't know. This is what we're gonna do today. Today, we're going to tackle the topic of gratitude and generosity, as discussed in the sermon from this past weekend, and we're going to talk about that subject with all the grace of a toddler learning to walk can you know what that's like right, yes, determined, a little bit wobbly, definitely headed in a direction emotional.
Speaker 1:At some point we're going to trip on something and fall on our face. Yeah, so let's do it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah so there were response cards handed out, oh, yeah, let's back up even more, okay?
Speaker 1:yeah, so this sunday, uh, the topic was generosity and gratitude, and that gratitude and generosity, both they're linked together. So the more you do of one, the more you're going to experience of the other, and so on. And we came from the book of Luke, chapter 12, beginning in verse 13,. Jesus was teaching to a very large crowd of people and a man interrupted him in the middle of his teaching and said teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. And Jesus didn't take to that very kindly.
Speaker 1:Actually, he was very kind about it, but he was just straight up, right, like I'm not the arbiter between you and your brother, be careful not to be greedy people. And so we looked at that parable in verses 16 through 19,. That there was a rich man who had an abundant harvest and he thought to himself what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. And this is what I'll do I'll tear down my barns, build bigger ones in there, I'll store my surplus of grain and then I can sit back, eat, drink and be merry for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1:And Jesus is challenging this mentality of greed and maybe I should say, lack of generosity and gratitude. A lot of personal pronouns, a lot of personal pronouns, right. And so we ended the sermon on who owns your life. Yeah, who owns the things in your life.
Speaker 1:And while this parable is specific to income, it's specific to your wages, your bank account, because the farmer and that's we're not talking about Jesus wasn't describing a luxury for the farmer. It wasn't like I have so many cars in my garage, I just don't know what to do with them. No, like he was a farmer. And so the grain that he harvests is his livelihood. And this year he had more than he could sell, so he decided to store them up. And so, while this parable is speaking very specifically to our income, we also applied it to, you know, just all the things in our life, all of the property that we think we own, and even our family that we think we are in charge of, and, ultimately, god owns everything. That's what it says in Psalm 24. The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. So if God owns everything, I'm willing to say that most of us don't live that way, and we should. We don't act that way. We don't act that way, yeah, and we should.
Speaker 2:We don't act that way. We don't act that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so the challenge on Sunday was to write down on your card what belongs to God. There was a big blank man. It was so cool. It was so cool To see the responses. Oh goodness, yeah, it was just. It just kind of happened organically. You know, like I was going to pray and then you never know if people are going to like really take the response or not. You hope, you hope. That's why you're playing it right. Yeah, but it was. It was so awesome that even before I was done praying, like half the church was already walking down the aisles to put their cards in the bucket. And it was fun. It was fun, it was emotional to watch, it was heartwarming, it was very spiritually uplifting to watch the church respond in that way.
Speaker 2:Don't mean to cut you off, there seems to be a string of moving Sundays in a row, like a lot of baptisms, a lot of good response, a lot of interaction from the congregation. That's got to be a good feeling and give you the confidence to maybe push the church in maybe some direction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it's I'm not confident in myself. I don't think that's. If that's what you mean.
Speaker 2:No confident in the work that's being done in the spirit, oh sure yes.
Speaker 1:It's reassuring. Reassuring, it's very affirming that's a good one Of all the work that goes behind the scenes and all the prayers that are prayed. It's very affirming that God is doing this thing. And so, yeah, confidence. Maybe I'm looking at that from like a you know, if you're overly confident, you're a self-centered person, true, yeah, and yeah, it's very just affirming to all of us in the office and who were praying for all that stuff to happen.
Speaker 1:And so it was just neat, man, to see that response. Almost every person, I mean, I would venture a guess that every person participated in the challenge, and so today, we've got some of those cards and we're just going to read a handful of them and talk about the next step, because just saying that god owns something doesn't necessarily mean that you've released ownership yet. Right now you have to go and live like that, yeah, and that's more difficult but the doing is always more difficult it is, but it is in the doing that we uh, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I was going to try and turn a phrase, but it didn't work.
Speaker 2:In the doing. There's growth. There's growth. You can't. I can say whatever I want to, but I can't do whatever I want to. Yeah, and once you commit to that action, take up the time and the energy which you're not going to get back. You're not going to get the time or the energy back. That means you're committed, that means you've changed and that's a big deal.
Speaker 1:Well, let's read yeah Shall, we do it. All. Right, I'm just going to take from the top of my stack here. Okay, the first one, okay, blank, belongs to Jesus. Here's one, remember, there's no names on these, right, right? So this one says my family belongs to Jesus.
Speaker 2:Okay, man as a, as a preacher, as a pastor? What do you? What does that mean?
Speaker 1:Hmm. Well how about just as a dad Okay?
Speaker 2:And a husband.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and a husband yeah. It means that I am not good enough, yeah, to take care of my family, the way that god could take care of my family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not enough period I'm just not enough. Yeah, yeah, and that's a good thing, it's okay to not be enough very good I'm glad yeah, I'm glad it's not all me, because we'd be in trouble, we would be yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It means that you know, as a husband and a dad, like God has given me the responsibility to take care of these people that God has given to me my wife and my kids and I'm going to absolutely try my hardest to do that Right and follow God and ask for his guidance, but at the end of the day, they are made in God's image and they belong to God just as much as I belong to God, and so I need to have a healthy dependence on God in order to do these things. How do you think? Let me reverse the question back to you what does it mean to depend on God as a husband and a father?
Speaker 2:Well, it means recognizing and this goes back to counseling, as always I just treat it like that Realize that you're not enough, you have limitations and in those limitations you can still work and do good. And when I say, do good, do good things, you can also do well. And when I say, do good, do good things, you can also do well. You know, and you have an opportunity to recognize okay, where are the boundaries here? Where do I stop and work? How far can my actions go? Okay, I go right here and that'll be enough. And then I have to hand it over at some point. You have to. No man's an island, right, and no matter what you're doing, you're connected to everybody and everything in some way.
Speaker 2:That means you can make a big difference, but it also means you're not going to be enough.
Speaker 1:So how do you let go, then, like, what is the actual spiritual practice of letting go you?
Speaker 2:let go by. First the physicality of it. You write it down on a card, put it in a basket.
Speaker 1:Yeah, square one yeah square one.
Speaker 2:There are physical things that make you think differently. Put your hopes and dreams in a balloon and let it float away. Or put your anger in something and throw it into the ocean, something like that. Put your resentment in this thing and let it float down the river.
Speaker 1:So do a physical act as a symbol of an emotional and spiritual act.
Speaker 2:Symbolize the letting go wherever and how you want. It's interesting, picture it. There's a thing called deep visualization, the more you visualize something because, like playing an instrument, you can visualize something before you play it and you might know how it sounds on the bass or the guitar. I know how it's going to sound on the drums and I try it and it sounds pretty good, or it doesn't. And then I say, oh no, you know what I'm going to do this next time.
Speaker 2:and then I say oh, no you know what I'm going to do this next time. And you learn like that. You put something on a card, put it in a basket. That's you committing, at least a little bit. Yes, you have to commit even further, but the physicality of doing something about it, that's the first step.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Second step is take a step back and assess what you really want to do. What could you do? What would you actually do are two different things. I could lose weight. I could work out every day. Am I in a spot to do that? You don't know. I could save this much out every day. Am I in a spot to do that? You don't know? I could save this much money every month. Am I in a spot to do that, mentally, financially? You don't know until you take a step back, assess and then put one foot in front of the other. So if you say my family belongs to God, take a step back and say, okay, what about your family belongs to God? It all does.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But what are you going to actually choose to hand over?
Speaker 1:Be specific.
Speaker 2:Yeah, be specific.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would add a step three. Yeah, I don't even know if these are like step one, step two, step three. It might just be like these are three things that you should do, and maybe you should start with what I'm about to suggest, which is seek the Lord in prayer and in his word, because if you don't know what God wants, then how are you going to be able to lead your family toward the desires of God? And God tells us what he wants, like he's very open about himself and his scripture, and through prayer, you're communicating with God, releasing your, your needs, releasing your fears, your anxieties, and just like speaking straight up with him, right? And then then there is a practice of just listening, yeah, just being still and listening, be still and know that he is God. He is the best thing for your family.
Speaker 2:Honesty with yourself. Yeah, that's tough. Yeah, it is Realizing that you've been not doing as good as you could and the reason is is because you've been trying to do it alone. That's tough realizing that. Okay, I'm not enough. That's not good for some people's personalities. Some people it actually works. But there are some people that are like I really don't like realizing that I'm not enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Was that pride? It's pride, it's control. Control is tough for everybody.
Speaker 1:Self-esteem is probably in there, yeah.
Speaker 2:Everybody thinks they're in control of a lot of things, but you're in control of almost nothing. You're in control of your actions and your thoughts.
Speaker 1:So why not lean on the one who is in control of all things?
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, exactly the one who is in control of all things. Exactly, yeah, exactly, you're in control, at least physically. In a psychological way, we act as if we're in control. If we didn't, things would look differently. Things would look much differently, you know, there would be no legal system, for instance. But if you act as if you're in control of your thoughts and your actions and then give the rest over, that's healthy. It really is healthy. I cannot control directly anything, except for my thoughts and my actions, and even then those are dictated by prior events that I was not in control of. So free will is a thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it goes only so far, because we can only picture it, we can only experience it. So much.
Speaker 1:Well, without getting too existential, let's remember, this is a one-day-at-a. Getting too existential, yeah, let's remember, this is a one day at a time process.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so if you're really going to commit to handing ownership of your family over to God, each morning you wake up and you thank God. You have gratitude that God has given you your family and, in your gratitude, give them back to God. There's a great story in 1 Samuel. Let's see if I can look it up while I'm talking. I believe her name is Hannah, I think 1 Samuel, the birth of Samuel. Let's see, yep, here it is.
Speaker 1:Her name was Hannah and Hannah prayed to the Lord for a son and God answered her prayers. A beautiful prayer. It's listed out in first Samuel, one and two. This is the narrative. And God answers her prayer and sends her a son and in the prayer she says Lord, if you give me a son, I will give that son back to you. And so she did. The Lord gave her the son, she named him Samuel and immediately she took him to the temple and left him at the temple to be raised by the priest, to be raised under the roof of the temple. So like she prayed desperately for a child and promised God that if you give me this kid, I'll give him back to you because ultimately you're the owner of my family. Wow, yeah, it's amazing Commitment, commitment, right. Stay committed. If you say you're going to do it, do it. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Stay committed. If you say you're going to do it, do it. Yeah, yeah. Commitment and integrity yeah. That's that's those are hard to come by these days.
Speaker 1:Well we're. We're talking about dealing with the creator of the universe. Yeah, so if you truly believe that God created everything and that he also sent Jesus to save you of your sin, then man sin, then, man, we should be compelled to give everything to God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I've thought before what is the big holdup with people just absolutely being in a state of euphoria and celebration all the time if they believe that there is a God Like, what's holding us back? That's humanity holding us back, and one of the goals, I think, of a Christian believer is to sort of shed that. Yeah, so if you can shed that humanity, become generous like God and become sort of interested in the bigger picture like God, then it becomes easier to be generous and have gratitude. Having a big picture perspective really lends itself to gratitude. Yeah, because it's not just you, it's not even just your family. It's your part, like I said earlier, it's your part of a larger network that you don't even know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm suggesting that, to actually shed yourself of those things, it begins with gratitude.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:A state of thanksgiving, recognizing that God is all powerful, yeah, that his ways are better than your ways and he's the owner of all things, and I'm grateful for that. That perspective change enables me to shed myself.
Speaker 2:And it'll feed back to generosity. Exactly, yep.
Speaker 1:All right, let's do another card. Yeah, okay, this one right blank belongs to God. This one says my PC belongs to God. That's specific, very, and I love that somebody wrote this down.
Speaker 2:You know that that is the most valuable thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah To that person?
Speaker 2:Yes, their computer. It must be. Why would they put it there?
Speaker 1:Let's speculate, shall we? Yeah, because it's an anonymous card. Maybe this person is super into video games and they just built I don't know a personal gaming computer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tons of RAM. Yeah, tons of RAM.
Speaker 1:I have no idea what I'm talking about, a NVIDIA RCX-D 1900, I don't know about a nvidia rcx d 1900.
Speaker 2:I don't know a nice card.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got a nice card. The graphics are sick, bro. Yeah, an unreal engine. Yeah, oh, there you go. Yeah, uh, maybe it's that, maybe this was from a position of the pc is getting me in trouble yeah, you.
Speaker 1:You know, um, that access to the internet or having a personal computer that you know maybe it's private from everybody else and maybe maybe it's that they're living like their own life online and there could be like um, a um, a sin habit that has been formed around the PC and maybe maybe they're saying God, this thing like A sin habit that has been formed around the PC, and maybe they're saying God, this thing like the computer, belongs to you, take this, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, either way. It is about that self-service that always gets you in trouble. And if you start looking, the more you think about yourself, the more like, the more on a path to true depression and true anxiety you get, the more you look at yourself. Why me? Why me? How do I do this? How did this happen to me?
Speaker 2:It's narcissism and anxiety and depression, and those are like the three evil stepsisters of mental illness and you can throw anger in there, but anger is like you can't stay angry the way you can stay depressed or be a narcissist. But the more you, the more you hand things over. Everything good in my life started when I just started handing stuff over and I met Faith, and then we got married and we had kids, and then we moved to Conyers and all these things and it was just this continual exercise of what if I handed it over, what if I just stopped owning this but took the ownership of the action and the attitude and not the thing? And it works out. I'm just saying on this side of the microphone it works out.
Speaker 1:You're not the only person who has said that sentiment. Yeah that when I finally handed things over to God, things started working out.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you can't really explain that to somebody who hasn't experienced it. But when you do, it makes total sense, total sense. Yeah, it's a tough one. It's like uh well, I don't want to get off on that tangent, I want to I want to close out this pc thing and let's look at it from this perspective.
Speaker 1:maybe, if you want to make god the owner of a valuable possession maybe it's a computer, maybe it's your phone, uh, you know, a tablet then, um, there's two things. If it's from the perspective of this thing is valuable and I care for it deeply because of its monetary value and I spend all my time on it, then I would say, if you're going to make God the owner, you need to replace time with that with time with God on Facebook or playing video games. Let's just say then maybe the practice is that you need to take time away from those things and then replace it with God. A vacuum is always going to fill itself, so you just stop playing video games. Again, I'm just like speculating.
Speaker 2:You'll find something. Something will fill that vacuum if you just take that away, the hours are still there.
Speaker 1:I was listening to a podcast on my ride in this morning and they were talking about the idea of fixed hour prayer, and it's a practice that many religions I think Islam is probably the one that people think of most fixed hour praying at certain times of the day, there's literal public calls to prayer.
Speaker 1:There's literal public calls to prayer. Hebrew people also had their own version of this back in ancient times, and just at certain times of the day, wherever you were, you were supposed to stop what you're doing and pray, and it was recited prayers in order to focus your day around the Creator. Like this day belongs to God ultimately, and so I'm going to make sure that I dedicate parts of this day to God, and maybe that's something to consider. You know, if the computer is stealing time for you, it's a time waster. Maybe you just determine on your own that you're going to do like some personal fixed hour praying. You know, set some alarms on your phone and you know, at, at, at these times, I'm going to stop and pray, no matter what I'm doing, I'm going to spend five minutes praying, journaling about it or finding a quiet place.
Speaker 1:Jesus would say in Matthew five go into a quiet room in the closet and then close the door so that nobody can hear you except for your father in heaven and um.
Speaker 1:But maybe on the other side of that, it's the sin issue. You know, again, maybe this person wrote it because there's some kind of sin habit that's going on. Um, again, I have no idea if that's true, but, um, if it is a sin issue, then what you need to do is find help to overcome that. You need to pray, but you also need to find a partner to help hold you accountable. That, listen, I'm struggling with this. I want the computer to belong to God. What can I do? There's actually like, really good. You know I'm making some wild assumptions here, but there's some great software out there that actually helps monitor computer use and then sends reports to your accountability partners, whoever that may be, and so it sends time reports and website search reports and app usage. Wow, it's really in-depth, and so maybe that's what it is. If you really want God to be in control of those things, then those are two, I think, easy ways that you can do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like having a sponsor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, Somebody that may have actually been through that before might actually that's what they say with a sponsor, like somebody that's has a massive amount of clean time but has gone through recovery and is actively working 12 steps.
Speaker 2:So, in the case of the PC, you could find somebody that was addicted to their phone, or addicted to TV or Netflix or whatever. Okay, well, I controlled it by this. I got very ritualistic about my time scheduling it. It's okay to be ritualistic and routine-oriented. It's not going to turn you into a machine, don't worry. It's not going to make your life boring, don't worry. Machines are boring, yes, but they're also productive, yeah. So think about it like that. If, if you want to cut something out, something else will fill it, structure your time, or something else will structure it for you definitely yeah, it's so important, you've got to take control of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all right, one more card, okay, yeah, I have more, but let's just do one more and see where our time is at. My money belongs to god, oh boy, my money belongs to god that's all.
Speaker 2:That's all we have for this week.
Speaker 1:If I had any, I might be able to do it now See you next time If I had any money.
Speaker 2:Money is such a sensitive subject because it puts you into it. It's involved in everything. Yes, it's livelihood, it's resources. You spend time to get it. You spend time spending it. You're just a conduit for it. Time to get it, you spend time spending it. You know you're just a conduit for it. It doesn't. This is a. It's also a good example of you're definitely not in possession of it yeah I traded time to get it, and now I'm gonna trade money to get something else yeah so it's just your caretaker of it yeah, I think that.
Speaker 1:I think that money is deeply rooted in really all of what we've been talking about. If you can figure out how to let God be in control of your money, yeah, write a book you are heading in the right direction on letting God be in control of all of your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Jesus talks about money a lot in the New Testament. It's the number one thing. He instructs people on money a lot in the New Testament. It's the number one thing he instructs people on and I think that's because we allow money to run the show. Man Wealth, the accumulation of wealth or just the ability to live, and that's no different today than it was 2000 years ago. If you have no money, you don't have food.
Speaker 2:If you don't have money, you don't have a place to live, you don't have a roof over your head and you don't feel like you're taking part in the system if you don't have any money and you don't feel free Right.
Speaker 2:I grew up in a house that my parents constantly worried about money. We were fine, but comfortable is the word they used. And we were never comfortable, if I may, and even though my dad was a magistrate judge and my mom stayed at home, and a magistrate judge at the time was not a well-paid position. So you know, oddly enough it was after he passed away, but that's government for you. So my mom would always say we're not comfortable, we're fine but we're not comfortable. And then some months you would be like we have nothing, never, ever have nothing, can't do this, can't do that. So I'm used to worrying about money and it's sort of calloused over that muscle or that part of my brain that worries about money, and it's like money's a concern.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it always will be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if you worry about it, you're going to play things real close to the chest.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know like you're going to be real careful about what you do with the little that you have. Yeah, and so it's interesting that Jesus teaches the poor people in Israel to be generous with their money. He teaches all of us right, but in the sermon I know I referenced the Sermon on the Mount a lot in these podcasts, but really that was like Jesus' primary teaching. Throughout all of the Gospels he uses those speeches. It's just compiled as one large speech in Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7. And it's one of my favorite sections of scripture, if you can't already tell. But he's talking to the poorest people of Israel. And you know, be generous, Don't? You know, don't be greedy.
Speaker 1:A lot of the people that were there that day, in Luke, chapter 12, from the passage we read already, you know the parable of the farmer and the excess of grain in his storehouses. A lot of those people in the crowd probably they don't even know what it's like to have grain at all, much less so much that they don't know what to do with the extra, you know. And so Jesus' example is don't be greedy. And most of the people in that crowd would have just been happy with, you know, a plate of grain rather than a storehouse of grain, and I think there's something deeply rooted in it. If you're going to let God control your finances, a practical way of doing this is to, first and foremost, obey his command to give, give back to him. This is not a fundraising call. I'm not fundraising on behalf of the church.
Speaker 2:We're watching those phones light up. Man right, Be the 12th caller.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like a PBS special, ken, I'm on the phone with your mom, right?
Speaker 2:now and she wants to donate $10,000 from your inheritance fund. That sounds horrible. She really wanted to make a donation. She would never do that. That's where I learned my worry about money.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:My dad was sort of like a hippie about it sometimes, but my mom- was like no we have nothing. Don't be happy.
Speaker 1:So I'm not fundraising on behalf of the church when I say this. We're reiterating what the Bible says. God has commanded that we give him the tenth, the first fruits, of our labor, and our labor results in money. That's the first fruits, and so 10% of that we give back to God God, and we do it on Sunday mornings when the offering plate comes around. If you want to release control of your money, that is the first place to start. Learn how to give to God what he has told you to give to him and then, as you learn his blessings, pressed down, shaken together and running over, you'll be compelled to give even more.
Speaker 1:We call that offering in our church. We say tithe is the 10th and then anything above. That is an offering to God. And an offering is when you really get into gratitude, because you're doing it out of a grateful and cheerful heart, thankful for all that God's given you, not just an obligation, because God has told you you have to give this amount. You know what I'm saying. So if you want to release control of your money, then you've got to release control of your money, and my advice would be to start with the toughest one.
Speaker 2:Yes, start with money.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That would be the toughest for me. Money yeah, that would be the toughest for me. Yeah, and time would be a bad one for me because I value my own time, yeah, my solitary time, and that would be the most difficult for me. So, starting with rejoining the praise band, starting with doing a podcast, starting with attending church, you know, weekly, then it's from there. If you start with the toughest one, from there other other other ones become easier, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Possibly. No matter how you look at it, it's going to be difficult. Yeah, it's supposed to be. It's going to be hard and but? But remember that, yeah, it's supposed to be, it's going to be hard, but remember that through the difficulty of doing this, you're actually becoming more like God Not becoming God, but you're becoming more like who he created you to be. Yeah Right, you're becoming generous and grateful content, and these are all great attributes that the Lord wants us to emulate in our lives.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says this Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your paths straight. We think we know what we're doing, ken. Make your paths straight. We think we know what we're doing, ken, but ultimately, it is only God who knows how things should be in this life. Depend on him in every situation, with your money, with your house, with your family, with your computer. Depend on him in all situations and he will make your paths straight. That's just about all for today. That's it so glad that you joined us today. Hope you have a great week ahead and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday, ken. Any last words?
Speaker 2:That was a dense podcast and I really liked it.
Speaker 1:You know what? And it was under 40 minutes. Yeah, oh, we've got 15 seconds. Okay, to get to 40. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:Okay, we've got 15 seconds. Okay, to get to 40?.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:If you haven't already tuned out by now, congratulations for sticking around this long. Yeah, we'll see you next week. See ya, bye, bye, bye.