SPEAKER_00: Good to be with you guys today and uh excited to dive into God's Word together.
SPEAKER_00: We, if you're visiting with us, we've been going through a series we called Solid Ground.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've been looking at uh Jesus' great sermon on the mount in Matthew chapters five through seven, uh, examining it specifically in light of our marriage and family relationships.
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we do family God's way?
SPEAKER_00: That's really the question we've been asking and answering through his word together.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we we are coming to the end of this.
SPEAKER_00: We got a couple more Sundays in this series, uh, studying through the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: But I think we've needed the challenge this summer, have we not?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you guys, but there's been some moments of conviction, moments of just being raw and real with the Lord, going, Lord, we're falling short in certain ways.
SPEAKER_00: We're relating with each other as husband and wife, with our kids, as parents, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and I hope and pray you guys have experienced some of that.
SPEAKER_00: Also, just a quick announcement, just some something you can be encouraged by and praying for.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have for years now been asking the Lord to do something like this.
SPEAKER_00: And we are in the process of working with uh uh someone who has been serving as a Christian therapist for decades, uh, kind of more out in Ranch Cucamonga area, Claremont, Cucamonga, that whole place.
SPEAKER_00: But uh the Lord moved them out this way.
SPEAKER_00: They've been here for quite some time.
SPEAKER_00: I've known uh for a while now, uh, and she is currently working with us to help build and develop here at Impact a professional Christian counseling center.
SPEAKER_00: So that is a big deal and something that I know the enemy wants nothing to do with here in this area.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so if you could, her name is Jackie.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you could be praying for her and her family and as the Lord is using her to get some of this stuff off the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And in the meantime, she has also communicated if anyone here is struggling, wrestling, needs to get together with someone that can provide just some good biblical insight and and Christian therapy at a professional level.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, she has agreed to kind of discount rates and help out however she can.
SPEAKER_00: So contact the office, let us know that that's something that you may be needing or interested in, and we will get you that information.
SPEAKER_00: Sound good?
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Because we go through things like this, and sometimes we just feel like we got to figure it out on our own.
SPEAKER_00: And God hasn't left us alone in that.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be in Matthew chapter six today.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter six.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and as you're turning there, do me a favor, uh, turn to somebody next to you and let them know if somebody in this moment right now gave you$10 million, what would you do?
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: Tell somebody what you do with that.
SPEAKER_00: $10 million.
SPEAKER_00: Tax free.
SPEAKER_00: $10 million.
SPEAKER_00: Man, this is the most energy I have felt in this place ever.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, guys, we don't need a PowerPoint presentation here.
SPEAKER_00: Hold on, let's bring it back.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, any creative responses?
SPEAKER_00: What would you guys do?
SPEAKER_00: $10 million.
SPEAKER_00: What's what's the first thing you do with it?
SPEAKER_00: Who said tithe?
SPEAKER_00: Come to the front of the room, Lauren.
SPEAKER_00: Well done, well done.
SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: What else?
SPEAKER_00: Retire.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good one, too.
SPEAKER_00: Retire.
SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
SPEAKER_00: What else?
unknown: Become debt free.
SPEAKER_00: Become debt free.
SPEAKER_00: How much debt are you in, brother?
SPEAKER_00: $10 million.
SPEAKER_00: Become debt free.
SPEAKER_00: That's a major blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Would anybody like buy a house?
SPEAKER_00: Buy a vacation house?
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all right.
SPEAKER_00: Beach, ocean, travel, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, where would you travel?
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: We would go everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: $10 million.
SPEAKER_00: It's fun to have that conversation, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: To kind of just have it with husbands and wives, kind of go, hey, if somebody gave us 10 million, if we won the lottery, granted, we don't buy tickets, but if we won the lottery, you know, what would we do?
SPEAKER_00: Because so many of us are in a situation that is the furthest removed from that situation of a$10 million surplus and what we do with it.
SPEAKER_00: Today I bring all of this up because Jesus wants to talk to us about money and finances in Matthew chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to make sure something's clear here.
SPEAKER_00: Money problems and financial stress, we know, are one of the primary areas of stress and conflict in marriage and in our family relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't need to list statistics because many of you, it is your personal experience, right?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going to talk about money today, but this is not a money sermon, which is why I titled the sermon, It's Not About Money.
SPEAKER_00: This is a sermon like the previous, as we've been studying through Matthew, about how to experience healthy marriage and family relationships that are Christ-honoring, Christ-centered, the way that he has designed them to be lived.
SPEAKER_00: And money and finances, unfortunately, become an obstacle toward that end, which is why he speaks to them.
SPEAKER_00: And we as a church say often we are only going to talk about money as often as Jesus does.
SPEAKER_00: So let's start reading in Matthew chapter 6 today, verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says this do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
SPEAKER_00: But lay up for yourselves treasures where, church?
SPEAKER_00: In heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
SPEAKER_00: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' first challenge and exhortation for us today is to have a mindset and focus that we are laying up treasures in heaven, not on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I think the reality for most of us, if we're honest with him, we spend our lives trying to build up and lay up treasures on earth.
SPEAKER_00: It is all about getting the better job, to make more money and earn more, to be able to build up our 401, diversify our financial retirement portfolio, maybe buy some investment properties, certainly travel, get some luxuries and comforts.
SPEAKER_00: We are chasing the American dream.
SPEAKER_00: And we wonder why we're not fully able to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the two are not compatible in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We give very little, if any, thought to laying up treasures in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: We don't even know how we're supposed to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Can we talk about that for just a moment?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus has a conversation with a wealthy young man in the Gospels.
SPEAKER_00: And we turn to Mark chapter 10, and we're not going to go through the whole conversation, but this young man wants to inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: This young man wants to follow Christ and do all of the things.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is speaking with him, helping him understand how to do that.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to read verse 21, the culmination of this conversation.
SPEAKER_00: We read this Jesus looking at him loved him.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to him, You lack one thing.
SPEAKER_00: Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure where?
SPEAKER_00: In heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And come and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: We lay up treasure in heaven by giving our earthly treasure to the Lord to help others during our time here on earth.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we lay up treasure.
SPEAKER_00: It is holding everything with an open hand and doing the things that God has called us to do with the money he's entrusted to us.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, we're going to consistently deal with the dynamic he lays out here.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lay up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where the money we try to hold on to continually slips through our fingers.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever feel like you just don't have quite enough?
SPEAKER_00: Like there's always something breaking, always something going wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You get a little bit ahead and suddenly you're three steps back, and you don't know why this is taking place.
SPEAKER_00: You can't get out of debt.
SPEAKER_00: You're doing everything you can, but you always seem to be spending more than you're earning.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how much we have, it never seems to be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Reading through the Old Testament, prophet Haggai, his words from the Lord to his people.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read a couple verses there, Haggai chapter 1, verse 5, to gain some insight as to why we experience things like this.
SPEAKER_00: This is God speaking through his prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways.
SPEAKER_00: You have sown much and harvested little.
SPEAKER_00: You eat, but you never have enough.
SPEAKER_00: You're essentially like a teenage boy.
SPEAKER_00: You drink, but you never have your fill.
SPEAKER_00: You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, like teenage girls.
SPEAKER_00: And he who earns wages, guys, hear this, does so to put them into a bag with holes.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever experienced this before?
SPEAKER_00: Does this resonate with anyone that you are earning and trying to get what you can and you're putting it into the purse, into the bag, and it's this like weird, hilarious picture of as you're walking, putting things in the bag, it's just falling out the bottom with a hole in it.
SPEAKER_00: This is how we live our lives in this kind of frustration and despair, feeling like we're never going to get ahead.
SPEAKER_00: We're never gonna be okay financially.
SPEAKER_00: Because why do we have these financial hardships and problems?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Lord actually helps us people understand the why.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9 of Haggai 1 says, You looked for much, but it became little.
SPEAKER_00: And when you brought it home, I, says the Lord, blew it away.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: declares the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.
SPEAKER_00: We keep having money problems according to the Lord, because we only care about our own houses, not the Lord's.
SPEAKER_00: The surest way, according to Scripture, to fix our money problems, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Hear this, is to start doing with money what God calls us to do with it.
SPEAKER_00: If we're obedient and faithful, that is when he has promised us blessing and provision.
SPEAKER_00: Building God's house, using the money he's entrusted to us for his purposes.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible calls this whole idea and concept stewardship.
SPEAKER_00: Stewardship.
SPEAKER_00: It's recognizing first and foremost that everything you and I have, everything that we own really belongs to whom?
SPEAKER_00: To the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's his.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a major mindset shift for many of us.
SPEAKER_00: Because the common objection, the reason so many of us have issues at times when we do come to church and we get on the defensive whenever money is discussed, whenever the preacher starts preaching about money and finances.
SPEAKER_00: The biggest objection is I don't want anyone telling me what to do with my money.
SPEAKER_00: Fortunately, that is not the goal, the desire.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's what the Lord is telling us.
SPEAKER_00: What God's word tells us to do is not what to do with our money.
SPEAKER_00: God's word tells us it's not our money, it's his.
SPEAKER_00: What a radical change it would make in the way that we see and understand everything around us.
SPEAKER_00: Being up at camp with Matt and all the students, I don't know if you guys were aware, this past week I've been up uh with uh the whole student ministries.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they asked me to come up and teach at the sessions.
SPEAKER_00: And I was a youth pastor for about 10 years, and and I felt very much up there this past week.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a youth pastor anymore, uh, but but what an incredible blessing to be up there just talking with the kids and and and meeting them, spending some time with them, seeing what Jesus is doing in their lives, and I've never been more encouraged than seeing how God is working in this next generation.
SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
SPEAKER_00: What a blessing to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things I got to see was awesome because you go to camp, and you know, historically we know this the camp food is not exactly wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: It leaves much to be desired, and and it's just gross.
SPEAKER_00: And so when I went to camp growing up, we would deal with the gross camp food and we just had to suck it up and eat it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if we didn't want to starve, and then we'd maybe go to the snack shop and spend extra money to get a milkshake occasionally, but you just had to live with it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, not so today, because even up in Big Bear in the mountains, if the kids are going, uh, the food's gross, they're just ordering through DoorDash.
SPEAKER_00: They were literally Door Dashing meals to the campground when they didn't like whatever meal was served.
SPEAKER_00: And what I loved was seeing some of these kids going, like, oh, you guys are getting DoorDash, and their friends are like, Yeah, and they're like, Are you gonna get something?
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't really, I don't have that, I don't have the money.
SPEAKER_00: And their friends would step up and they're like, Hey, we'll get you something.
SPEAKER_00: And it was so sweet because they would order each other something from DoorDash, and I'm like, wow, parents, be encouraged.
SPEAKER_00: Your kids were so very generous with your money.
SPEAKER_00: Does your heart feel warm right now?
SPEAKER_00: No problem.
SPEAKER_00: I'll get you whatever you want.
SPEAKER_00: But isn't that how it is?
SPEAKER_00: When we know something's not ours, when we're not having to pay the check, we're super generous.
SPEAKER_00: Have no problem giving of what doesn't belong to us.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge is when we think of it as mine.
SPEAKER_00: Because one of the first words you hear, those toddlers learn is mine.
SPEAKER_00: We learn to possess and grab hold of things.
SPEAKER_00: So from our very sin nature, we need to be deprogrammed and rescued and delivered to start seeing things rightly.
SPEAKER_00: Everything we have belongs to him, and he has entrusted us with it for a time to use according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Stewardship is managing what belongs to another.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, here's the key: in the best interest of the owner.
SPEAKER_00: See, it's that latter part we don't always necessarily follow through on.
SPEAKER_00: The question we've got to ask are what is God's interests?
SPEAKER_00: It's making disciples, it's advancing his kingdom and the gospel, it is strengthening marriages and families, bringing people into saving knowledge and faith in Christ, making us more like him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he is about.
SPEAKER_00: Are we using his resources he's given to us toward that end?
SPEAKER_00: Or do we instead continue to just spend them on ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: As I'm so encouraged as I hear reports consistently of how we as a church family are laying up treasure in heaven and investing in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Man, Matt mentioned how many gave their lives to Christ up there.
SPEAKER_00: Had about a hundred and I don't know, 40, 50, I don't know how many kids were up there.
SPEAKER_00: A lot.
SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of our kids up there.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that 42 of those students were up that mountain being poured into because of the generosity of this church family?
SPEAKER_00: Not because of their parents paying their way, but because people in this church said, Yeah, I got a jar of coins.
SPEAKER_00: I'll go and give that to the youth ministry to help get kids to camp.
SPEAKER_00: Others of you heard the need and just said, Yeah, I don't have any coins, but listen, I'll sponsor a couple of students to get up there.
SPEAKER_00: I know it made a difference in my life when I was their age.
SPEAKER_00: And because of your kingdom mindset and investment, we had 32 of the 31 of those 42 students that made a first-time decision for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you to those of you who here are missionaries stand up here and are moved by the Holy Spirit to say we want to support the gospel work wherever they are.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I had someone contact me as they were going through these information and they found out the breath of heaven, you know, the lawlers in Zambia, Africa, the orphanage that they run there.
SPEAKER_00: There are 120 orphans in on the compound there being loved in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Their lives radically changed.
SPEAKER_00: And out of those 120, 100 of them are sponsored and supported by this church family.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we're making a difference in the kingdom of God because of those who go, I want to lay up treasures in heaven, not just have things for myself down here on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: What are God's purposes?
SPEAKER_00: What are his desires for his resources?
SPEAKER_00: The bottom line is that when we are not giving as God has called us to, when we're not seeing ourselves and spending as stewards, we are choosing to spend the money God has entrusted to us on ourselves instead of investing it into the causes closest to his heart.
SPEAKER_00: And then what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: We then keep asking him to give us more so that we can continue misspending it.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine if I just made an announcement here today that, guys, next week we're gonna do something real fun and special.
SPEAKER_00: I would like all of you to come to church to worship next Sunday and bring your bake statements.
SPEAKER_00: Bring all your bank statements, your banking information, because we're gonna have one by one you guys come up and read line item by line item through everything that's been spent last month.
SPEAKER_00: That would fix our space problems here at Impact, wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Because next week, very few of us would actually show up.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not because we're ashamed or embarrassed by how much we're making.
SPEAKER_00: We would be probably pretty embarrassed for everyone to see how we're spending.
SPEAKER_00: We think we have money problems when so often we really have spending problems.
SPEAKER_00: We have a lack of stewardship problem in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: When people come and ask me to pray for their finances, and I just want to give everyone a warning here, if that's on your heart today, please be prepared.
SPEAKER_00: The first question I will most likely ask you is something along the lines of are you being faithful with what he's already given to you?
SPEAKER_00: Are you being obedient?
SPEAKER_00: Are you giving?
SPEAKER_00: Is giving a part of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you thinking of laying up treasures in heaven and building his kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it just money problems where you continue to spend on yourself?
SPEAKER_00: This matters, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Because you can come to me and say, Ryan, would you please pray for my health?
SPEAKER_00: Ask God to bless my health.
SPEAKER_00: And if if you don't first acknowledge, man, I'm overeating and gluttonous and I'm drinking way too much and unhealthy things, and I never exercise and I never do anything that's healthy for me, but God bless my health.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like going to the fast food restaurant with a double bacon ultimate greasy burger and the monster fries fully loaded with all the stuff, sitting down and like, Lord, please bless this food to my body.
SPEAKER_00: What does scripture say?
SPEAKER_00: Don't put the Lord your God to the test.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: You come to me and say, Ryan, will you pray for my marriage?
SPEAKER_00: It's really struggling.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I am in an adulterous relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Can you pray for that too?
SPEAKER_00: As we keep asking God when it comes to money and finances, we consistently pray.
SPEAKER_00: And we keep asking Jesus to bless our disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: God, bless me with more of what I'm already misspending and misusing.
SPEAKER_00: When we should be repenting of our sin, repenting of our self-focus, our lack of trust, our greed, and materialism.
SPEAKER_00: Saying, God, free me from that.
SPEAKER_00: I repent of that, change my heart and make me a good steward.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_00: Does this seem backwards to anybody else?
SPEAKER_00: As you're thinking about it, it seems to be more like, well, where your heart is, there your treasure is going to be.
SPEAKER_00: The things you care about is what you're going to spend your money on.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: There's this opposite dynamic.
SPEAKER_00: What you spend your money on is where your heart's going to go.
SPEAKER_00: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_00: Your heart will follow.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what it's all about with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about your money, it's not about your spending.
SPEAKER_00: It is about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: He cares where your treasure is only because he cares where your heart is.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, giving is not the goal.
SPEAKER_00: Giving is the means to achieve the goal.
SPEAKER_00: And the goal are hearts is hearts that are generous and fully submitted to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The IRS, they don't care about your heart.
SPEAKER_00: The IRS wants your what?
SPEAKER_00: They want your money.
SPEAKER_00: They don't care if you give it begrudgingly, if you hate the IRS, you can tell every IRS agent joke on the planet.
SPEAKER_00: They don't care.
SPEAKER_00: As long as you're still giving them the money that they they want.
SPEAKER_00: Not so with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need or want your money, he wants your heart's.
SPEAKER_00: Free from the love of money.
SPEAKER_00: Free from that tethering and that attachment.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the love of money creates problems for us that many of us are living in and experiencing, and we think the solution is more of it instead of seeing that the problem is the love of it.
SPEAKER_00: First Timothy chapter 6, verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
SPEAKER_00: You notice, by the way, it doesn't say money is the root of all evil, which is the common saying.
SPEAKER_00: Because money is morally neutral.
SPEAKER_00: It's neither good nor evil.
SPEAKER_00: It's how we see it and what we do with it.
SPEAKER_00: The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
SPEAKER_00: It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
SPEAKER_00: As our love of money is like being in an abusive relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And we never have what we need.
SPEAKER_00: We are mistreated and expectations aren't met, and we're manipulated and abused and controlled.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to stay in it because we love them so much.
SPEAKER_00: And any parent who loves their child, seeing them in a dating relationship with an abuser, will do anything possible to detach their heart from that abusive relationship so they can live in a healthy way and experience what love is supposed to look like.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: This is the heart of our father toward us.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've been around church long enough to hear of tithing.
SPEAKER_00: The whole idea of tithing, it's still all about the heart.
SPEAKER_00: We think of it, I know, kind of like, okay, it's our God tax, you know, the 10%, and many of us really struggle with this and we feel guilt because, you know, where we're at, we're given maybe 5%, 6%, and we still feel like we're failing.
SPEAKER_00: Can I encourage you today?
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't care about the percentage.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like, hey, you're at 9.8%, you sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Once you hit that 10, though, finally, he's so proud of you.
SPEAKER_00: We are right with God, not because of keeping the law.
SPEAKER_00: We are right with God because Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly, and through faith in him, we now have right relationship.
SPEAKER_00: It has nothing to do with us.
SPEAKER_00: So God is not pleased with us in our giving when we finally hit a 10% benchmark.
SPEAKER_00: You follow this?
SPEAKER_00: He is pleased with us in our giving when we finally give with generous hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And that may mean more than 10% for some of us.
SPEAKER_00: And others of us, we're doing everything we can to give everything we're able, and it may be a half a percent.
SPEAKER_00: And God is so pleased because we give that in faith and trust in Him.
SPEAKER_00: So do we just do away with the 10%?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: What does Paul the Apostle tell us about the Old Testament, Old Covenant law?
SPEAKER_00: Romans 7 7.
SPEAKER_00: What then shall we say?
SPEAKER_00: That the law is sin?
SPEAKER_00: By no means.
SPEAKER_00: Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known what, guys?
SPEAKER_00: Sin.
SPEAKER_00: For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, you shall not covet.
SPEAKER_00: So we don't earn God's favor and blessing by finally hitting that 10% benchmark.
SPEAKER_00: But that 10% benchmark has such value and we should all strive toward it because it reveals the condition of our heart when it comes to giving and generosity.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have such a hard time even conceptualizing how it would ever be possible to give 10% of what we make back to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's crazy talk.
SPEAKER_00: 10%, that is so much money.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how much money I make?
SPEAKER_00: And again, as your pastor, I have no problem asking the Lord on your behalf to decrease your income until you can afford to give that tithe.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, it's not to bring guilt, but it reveals the heart.
SPEAKER_00: What is the law of God and the area of giving and the tithe?
SPEAKER_00: What is it revealing in here?
SPEAKER_00: Is it revealing personal greed and materialism?
SPEAKER_00: Is it revealing ego and pride, saying, This is my money and you're not going to tell me what to do with it?
SPEAKER_00: Is it revealing fear and doubt and a lack of trust in Him and His provision?
SPEAKER_00: What is it revealing?
SPEAKER_00: The law is doing its job.
SPEAKER_00: The whole idea here when it comes to the heart is that our heart will follow our treasure.
SPEAKER_00: The things that we spend on, the things we invest in are going to be the things we most care about.
SPEAKER_00: You guys remember back during the COVID time, I don't know if you guys were like me, but this is when I first became fully aware of the whole crypto stuff and Bitcoin and all the others.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm kind of following it, like watching everything just continue to skyrocket.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember going, like, man, maybe I should get into this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And so I made some little purchases with the cryptocurrency, and I could not hang on for that ride.
SPEAKER_00: It was so stressful because there's so much volatility in that market.
SPEAKER_00: So it's up and it's down, and I'm following it every day, and I'm like, I can't do this anymore.
SPEAKER_00: So I cashed out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna quit while I'm a little bit ahead and I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: No, I need something a little more stable.
SPEAKER_00: Give me some bonds.
SPEAKER_00: But some of you guys were still along for the entire ride.
SPEAKER_00: Good for you.
SPEAKER_00: I just got online this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I hadn't looked at it forever.
SPEAKER_00: Last year, apparently, Bitcoin peaked at$123,000 per Bitcoin.
SPEAKER_00: That is insane.
SPEAKER_00: Only now it's at about$64,000 today, at least as of this morning when I last checked.
SPEAKER_00: It could be up or down from there.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't been keeping track, but I guarantee you, you know who has been keeping track, who has been following every up and every down of Bitcoin over the years, you know who?
SPEAKER_00: People who already bought it.
SPEAKER_00: People who own it, who have invested their treasure there, and now they care more than I ever will.
SPEAKER_00: Because their heart's in it.
SPEAKER_00: Because we want to think about, we want to care more about the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: And yet we invest none of our treasure into the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: We want to be more heavenly minded, but we don't lay up any treasure in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Where our treasure goes, our heart is going to follow.
SPEAKER_00: And until we begin in obedience as good stewards, investing into the things of God, we're not going to care very much about them.
SPEAKER_00: I want to jump to verse 24 here, just even for the sake of time.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says this no one can serve two masters.
SPEAKER_00: For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot serve God and money.
SPEAKER_00: The word in the Greek there, maybe it reads mammon, that is money, possessions, material things, wealth, all of the above.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot serve God and money.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't say you probably won't be able to.
SPEAKER_00: It is an exclusive, clear-cut, definitive statement.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot serve both.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, can we not admit, as Christians here in America, we do our darndest to do just that?
SPEAKER_00: To serve God while still serving and devoting ourselves to the Almighty Dollar in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Because money and finances for so many of us, even as Christ followers, is an idol.
SPEAKER_00: It is a false God that we devote our lives to, that we chase after and serve.
SPEAKER_00: We are always thinking about it.
SPEAKER_00: We're always stressing about it.
SPEAKER_00: We're always talking about it.
SPEAKER_00: We even pray about it.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the irony of that.
SPEAKER_00: We continually ask the Lord to bless us with more of our idol.
SPEAKER_00: God, please give more of my idol in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Please bring to me, Lord, enough of this where I don't need you anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Where I don't need to trust in you and your provision because I've got so much of my other God taking care of me.
SPEAKER_00: And these are our prayers, are they not?
SPEAKER_00: Money becomes an idol, and we keep asking God to bless that idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: Obeying Jesus, I understand.
SPEAKER_00: Obeying Him, especially in the area of finances, guys, it can be terrifying.
SPEAKER_00: In our marriage and our family, the money thing, it's a scary thing.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the questions start bombarding us even now.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what if I don't have enough?
SPEAKER_00: Like what if we give and start giving and then we don't have enough to pay the bills and so we're afraid?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Jesus speaks to that too.
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue, can we?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will put on.
SPEAKER_00: Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
SPEAKER_00: Look at the birds of the air.
SPEAKER_00: They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.
SPEAKER_00: Are you not of more value than they?
SPEAKER_00: And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
SPEAKER_00: I feel like there's some in here who need me to read that verse again.
SPEAKER_00: Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
SPEAKER_00: And why are you anxious about clothing?
SPEAKER_00: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
SPEAKER_00: They neither toil nor spin.
SPEAKER_00: Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
SPEAKER_00: But if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What we what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?
SPEAKER_00: For the Gentiles, right, the unbelievers, they seek after all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
SPEAKER_00: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
SPEAKER_00: Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus points us back to who God is, our loving heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_00: If he cares about the birds and the flowers, how much more will he care for us?
SPEAKER_00: Guys, why do we doubt his goodness?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we doubt his protection, his provision, his love for us?
SPEAKER_00: Parents, would you not, as loving parents, do whatever is necessary to make sure your kids are taken care of?
SPEAKER_00: Now it's important because you as a parent want to give your kids everything that they need.
SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure and you'll do anything to ensure that their needs are met, but you will not do anything to make sure they get everything they want.
SPEAKER_00: And we, as the children of God, still have to learn the difference between needs and wants.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus here is talking about God providing for our needs.
SPEAKER_00: But for so many of us, the problem isn't that we don't trust him to meet our needs.
SPEAKER_00: We are frustrated because he's not meeting our wants.
SPEAKER_00: And we've lost sight of even what those are.
SPEAKER_00: Food, clothing, shelter.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00: But is it brand name those things?
SPEAKER_00: Is it a really nice house that we're wanting with all of the backyard stuff and the house stuff and all the bells and whistles that people can go, wow.
SPEAKER_00: We may have a vehicle for transportation, but it is a really nice ride that we're proud of.
SPEAKER_00: That people look at and go, nice car.
SPEAKER_00: The clothing that we wear, the luxuries we want to experience and surround ourselves with.
SPEAKER_00: These are wants and desires that God has never fully promised us to meet.
SPEAKER_00: He may bless us with things at times, but his promise is provision.
SPEAKER_00: His exhortation here as we bring this thing home, I hope and pray that we hear from him today.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Oh you of little faith, why are we doubting the love and goodness of God?
SPEAKER_00: Oh you of little faith.
SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, when we are reluctant to give, to be generous, to give back to the Lord, it comes back to a heart that lacks faith.
SPEAKER_00: We're not trusting him.
SPEAKER_00: We feel like we need to hoard and gather and collect and protect because we're not trusting his provision.
SPEAKER_00: And if we get rid of this, what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00: It goes back to what we talked about even last week: the manna in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: Give us today our daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: Enough for today, but we don't want that.
SPEAKER_00: We want more baskets full so we can look at those full baskets and go, look at we've got enough for the next month and feel secure in the baskets, not in the one who filled them.
SPEAKER_00: Oh you of little faith.
SPEAKER_00: This is why when we give, we're called to give in faith.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, it was referred to as first fruits offering.
SPEAKER_00: We see it in Leviticus 23 and other places in God's law.
SPEAKER_00: First fruits.
SPEAKER_00: What that means is an agrarian society that was dependent upon the fruit of the ground for their sustenance and livelihood.
SPEAKER_00: They would have a crop, harvest it, it would last them all year long.
SPEAKER_00: And then they would replant the seed, recultivate the crops.
SPEAKER_00: God would bring the rain, and then when it was the next season where the fruit would come and things were really running low, and they needed that fruit to be able to survive the next year.
SPEAKER_00: God says that first fruit that grows in the new crop, when you're running low on the old year's crop, that first fruit belongs to me.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to bring that to my storehouse, my house.
SPEAKER_00: Invest in me and trust me to provide with the rest of your crop.
SPEAKER_00: What if the rain stops and everything dies?
SPEAKER_00: Trust me.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, hold on a second.
SPEAKER_00: What if there's like locusts and a famine and everything just completely just collapses and we have no food?
SPEAKER_00: Trust me.
SPEAKER_00: It is giving in faith.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the way we do that today, because I don't think we have a whole lot of agrarian farmers here in the house, especially in Menaphy, if so, God help you.
SPEAKER_00: The way we do that today, give in faith of our first fruits, is saying we earn, we make a paycheck, and God, we have this budget.
SPEAKER_00: The very first thing that goes out after we receive from our labor.
SPEAKER_00: What goes out first is our giving to you.
SPEAKER_00: And we will restructure and reshape the rest of our lives from our bills to our pleasures and experiences.
SPEAKER_00: We budget everything else around giving to you first.
SPEAKER_00: Is that scary?
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what if, what if, no, no, who is the one who provides?
SPEAKER_00: Who is the one that takes care of us and has promised as we are obedient to do what he has called us to with these resources, that he is with us no matter what.
SPEAKER_00: And let me close with this Hebrews chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've heard the statement of Jesus, I will never leave you or forsake you.
SPEAKER_00: Can I read the whole context of that?
SPEAKER_00: Which matters?
SPEAKER_00: Keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
SPEAKER_00: So we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear.
SPEAKER_00: What can man do to me?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We can keep our hearts free from the love of money because we know He is with us.
SPEAKER_00: We know He will never leave us or forsake us.
SPEAKER_00: We can trust His goodness and provision in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you today need to take that first step.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a giving message, it's not a church thing.
SPEAKER_00: This is about you and your family, your first church, and being good stewards of what God has entrusted to you.
SPEAKER_00: And saying, Lord, forgive us.
SPEAKER_00: We have been asking for more, even we though we've been spending it on ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: God bless our obedience today as we repent and you change our hearts and we start doing what you've called us to in this area of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Can we stand together?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that you will do whatever change is necessary in our hearts today.
SPEAKER_00: That you will make us good stewards.
SPEAKER_00: That we will hear from you.
SPEAKER_00: Well done, good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, that is my prayer for us as a church today is faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: That we will be faithful with what you've entrusted.
SPEAKER_00: God, remind us of who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And may we go home even today, not giving the enemy even a moment to work on us and try to get us back to that place of fear, lack of trust, and self focus.
SPEAKER_00: May we leave here and immediately say, We're gonna look at this to say, How can we give our first fruits to Him?
SPEAKER_00: God, deal with our anxious hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Remind us of your love.
SPEAKER_00: We love you, Jesus, and we pray all of this in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.