One Thing // Rich Generosity

In this message, Pastor Jay helps us to explore Jesus’ encounter with the rich ruler in Luke 18 and uncover a powerful truth: being rich in God’s Kingdom is not about what we accumulate, but what we’re willing to surrender and invest. While the ruler appeared morally strong and spiritually sincere, Jesus exposed the deeper issue—his wealth had a hold on him. This sermon challenges us to examine whether we truly manage our resources or are quietly mastered by them. Through this passage, we’re invited to rethink generosity, take an honest look at our financial habits, and step into the kind of freedom that comes from open-handed living in the way of Jesus.

Big Idea:

Being rich, from God’s perspective, is far more about what we invest than what we gain.

Scriptures:

Luke 18:18-30

Questions:

1. What is something in your household that feels “non-negotiable” to spend money on? 
2. When it comes to money and spending, why do you think it is easier to notice or judge someone else’s priorities than to honestly evaluate our own?
3. Read Luke 18:18–30. What stands out to you most in the interaction between Jesus and the rich ruler?
4. The rich ruler asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Where do you see people today wrestling with that same kind of “just tell me what to do” mindset?
5. In the message, we heard that “who you are in Jesus is more important than what you do for Jesus.” Why is that truth important when talking about money, generosity, and obedience?
6. Jesus lovingly puts His finger on the one thing that had the ruler’s heart. What are some ways money, possessions, comfort, or security can compete for the “one thing” place in our lives?
7. The message said, “The rich young ruler’s problem wasn’t that he had money. His problem was that his money had him.” How can someone begin to recognize whether they are controlling their money or their money is controlling them?
8. What is one practical step you could take this week to grow in generosity, contentment, or financial surrender to Jesus?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Refinery Church Sermon Podcast. We're so glad you've joined us today. Our prayer is that this message will help you grow in your pursuit to love and follow Jesus for life. If you'd like to learn more about the refinery, find ways to get connected, share a prayer request, or explore resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Visit us online at refineryohio.com. Now let's dive into today's message. Well, good morning. Hey, it's great to be with you this morning. Um, as Bailey already alluded to in his prayer, he's praying for our team in Guatemala that made it safely there yesterday. We've got a team of 19. There's them at the airport before they took off. Um do they have some oh, some people who couldn't go on the trip. They printed out a face of theirs, it looks like, and uh uh took them with them. And I love that. That's great. Uh I just noticed that. Something that uh I'd like to point your attention to. So every year we we have an ongoing investment in La Planada, Guatemala. And it's it's something, if you've not been on a missions trip before, especially out of the country, um, it is, I think one of the best spiritual encounters you can have is to see what God is up to outside of your little bubble here in Columbus, Ohio, because God is moving and alive and active and doing incredible things all around the world, and this is just one example of that. If you would like to join our team next year, we don't have the exact dates, but this is an interest form that you can scan. You're not committing yourself to anything. The only thing you're committing yourself to is, hey, keep me up to date on when those dates come through and when the registration goes live. Um, I'd really encourage you to do that. Um the cost usually ranges from like $1,600 to $1,900 somewhere in that ballpark. We don't know where it'll land. Um we go about the same time each year. That's about as much as I can say. But I encourage you to scan that. I'll be going on the team next year as well, so maybe that encourages or discourages you. Don't tell me which one. Um I do wear deodorant though, so I'll throw that out there. Yeah, it's um it's hot there for sure. They started, uh, our folks are in service right now, uh, the members from the refinery who went down. And uh they're in the middle of service. The only difference is their service started at 10 uh.m. not 11 a.m. And so they're they're having a great time. They're having a great time. Um I got a question for you. Uh, what's something in your household that's a non-negotiable that you spend money on? Like it might be weird to somebody else, but in your house you're like, no, I'm not going, I don't care. I might have one penny in the bank and I'm making sure that I do this. Maybe it's your car. You're like, I need a nice, reliable car that's a non-negotiable if you're I've seen Michael Vargas over there. It might have to be an orange car if you're Michael Vargas, yeah. Um things orange. Maybe it's I need a nice, I need a nice house. I will drive a crappy car. I mean, it's a tool to get from point A to point B, but I want a nice house where I can host people and family can come over. Um, and that's a non-negotiable for you. Uh it could be something more niche, maybe like uh, you know, you like to get massages every week. Um that that would be a nice one, actually. I might make that mine. Um it's massages, is it maybe it's organic foods that you have to get organic foods or it's name brands. There's certain name brands that you're gonna get and you're gonna pay more for, and it's a non-negotiable. Our marriage counselor didn't warn us about this uh when Faith and I were getting married. You know, sure, we like checked all the boxes, like make sure we're spiritually aligned and you know, whatever. Uh but he didn't warn us about this battle that if you're not ready for it, I grew up in a GIF peanut butter family. And she grew up in an any peanut butter family. I didn't know they made those. Um and and when we when we got married and she goes to the store and she gets in, and you know, I don't even know what brand of peanut butter um, and she brings it back. Like, I mean, if we made it through that, I I think we can conquer conquer anything together. Um creamy is what I prefer. Um I know crunchies, that's another debate, but that's a good question. Kind of a rocky start, but we made it through. Maybe you like getting your house professionally cleaned, maybe it's a subscription that you have, or travel is a non-negotiable for you, or golf, or date nights. Uh my kids and I, most Fridays, one of our Friday rituals is we go to Costco together, me and the two kiddos, and it's it's a non-negotiable. We're gonna walk out of there with some hot dogs. We always eat a hot dog at the concessions at Costco. Um, and Costco, this is really cool, they let you know when you spend a lot of money and when it's beneficial to upgrade your membership. We apparently met that criteria, I found out. Uh, and so they say, hey, you can pay even more money for your membership because you already pay so much more money here. I didn't I did the math didn't seem to work, but it's Costco, so I take them at their word. Um so we signed up, but that means we get to go in at 9 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. And we might we might be at Costco for 15 minutes just to get diapers and wipes, and we're walking out. It's 9.17. You better believe we're getting ourselves some hot dogs. Like it's it's a non-negotiable for us. It makes me think of what comedian George Carlin once said. He said this everyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and everyone driving faster than you is a maniac. I think there's some truth to that. When it comes to what we spend our money on, I've come to learn that this is how many people think. Anybody that spends money on that, I mean, I can't, they don't spend money on that. Like what? You know, we judge people for how much they spend on their car payments when we spend $1,000 a month on pet care. Uh, we can't believe people will spend that much on a vacation and we doordash our food every night. We all have our things that we spend money on, and one is not more right or wrong necessarily than the other, but every habit we have we justify for ourselves. Uh Morgan Housel, in his book, The Art of Spending Money, which I think is a must read, by the way. Anything Morgan Housel writes, he says this most debates about what's worth spending money on are actually just people with different life experiences talking over one another. I think there's some truth to that. Um, software engineer Billy Marcus, he was instrumental in Dogecoin. He says that a bit differently. When talking about finances, he says people are not rational, they are rationalizing. We have a tendency to do that when it comes to how we spend our money. We're willing to rationalize what we spend our money on. Uh, last Sunday, Landon laid the foundation in our one thing series, and what he kind of laid out for us and what we learned in Psalms is that when God is our one thing, when he is our foundation, our priority, when he's what we root our lives in, that is, I promise you this, that is the only way to experience true joy and peace and the fullness of life. He has to be, he can't be a thing, he has to be the main thing. And so Jesus, uh Landon kind of lay that out for us, that this is something that only Jesus can provide. And we needed to start with that foundation, because today Jesus is gonna help us talk about, um, very intentionally in the text, about one of the primary things that competes with him being the main thing. And if you haven't caught on already, we're gonna talk about money. So, what I want us to do is we're going to jump into Luke chapter 18, and as you kind of turn there, here's maybe what I want us, here's where we're gonna go with this conversation. Um, because I'm not gonna try to convince you what to spend your money on. We all have different preferences anyway. Here's what I want you to consider. Being rich from God's perspective is far more about what we invest than what we gain. Being rich from God's perspective, that part's important. Don't miss it, is far more about what we invest than what we gain. So Luke chapter 18, we'll start in verse 18, and where this is this is the text we're gonna camp out for the day. So you can get there on your phone, your Bibles. Let's go ahead and read it. Luke 18, 18. A certain ruler asked him, asked Jesus, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus answered. No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother. All these I have kept since I was a boy, he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still lack one thing. Everybody say one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven that come. Uh, will have treasure in heaven, then come follow me. When he heard this, he became very sad because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, How hard it is for the rich to inherit and enter the kingdom of God. Indeed, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Those who heard this asked him, Who then can be saved? Jesus replied, What's impossible with man is possible with God. Peter said to him, We've left everything we had to follow you. Truly I tell you, Jesus said to them, No one who's left home or wife, brother, or sister, parents, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come eternal life. Have you ever been tricked into paying for something? I have. A few years ago, I had a friend call me and said, they said this, they said, Hey, I won a round, I won a round of golf for four people to play at Mearfield Country Club. Um, this isn't the Meerfield Village that the tournament was at. It's uh it's a different course, but it's still a nice course. I'd never had the opportunity to play, you gotta be a member. So I was pumped. We scheduled a day, we go out to the course, and it's one of those fancy courses where um they want to like help you with everything, and I don't know why I always get uncomfortable. I'm like, I'll carry my clubs, I'm okay. Uh so I go up and I set my clubs down and I go to check in to let them know that I'm here for my tea time. And he says, Okay, great, that'll be $150. And I was like, he could see the look on my face. So I kind of like asked the question, and he said, Oh no, your your friend won the opportunity to play a round of golf here, but you still have to pay for it. So I was like, that's a little different. Um, I didn't like that. That was a little bit of a surprise that it seems like, but I was grateful to play there, even though I wasn't grateful to pay $150 for it. Uh I'm not a fan of these sorts of surprises, but tricks like this can happen. And unfortunately for the rich young ruler, he's kind of fallen victim to a trick. Um, or I would say even a lie. And here's the lie, here's the trick that he's fallen victim to. Because I see other people, I've seen folks fall for this from time to time. Here's the trick. My standing with Jesus is about what I do for Jesus. How much God loves me is contingent upon what I do for God. And they might not say that out loud, but their life surely looks like it. This is a trick I've seen people fall for. I've seen people in the church fall for this, and it makes sense. I mean, even think of like you become known for what you you do. It's not about you become known for what you do. The New York Knicks were known for what they hadn't done in 53 years, and then last night, now everybody forgets about the 53 years. Why? Because of what they've done. The New York Knicks are now NBA champs, and now that's all anybody can talk about. They're known for what they've done. So that's true for our world, and understandably the church can fall into that same idea at times that we convince ourselves, or maybe like our past experiences have influenced the way that we think about this, and we think it's it's about, it's all about what I do for Jesus. When the truth is that who you are in Jesus is more important than what you do for Jesus. Who you are in Jesus is more important than what you do for Jesus. So the rich young ruler, he fell victim to this idea. Um, and now we don't know, we don't know exactly, like we don't know the name of the rich young ruler, we don't know exactly who this is. Um, a version of this story is brought up three times in the Gospels. So Matthew, Mark, and Luke each talk about the rich young ruler. They describe him a little bit different in each one. Um, this one says a certain ruler, and then based on the story, we know that is wealthy. Other versions say they just focus on him being a young ruler or a wealthy ruler, but he he often is kind of talked about as the rich young ruler since those are the attributes that we know. We don't know what kind of ruler. He could have been a community or like civil ruler. Most scholars think that he's actually a synagogue ruler, especially because of the high moral code that he has, um, and him even just being so diligent in following all of the commandments, as the text says. So that's what's often prescribed, but but it's this question that catches our attention. He says, What must I do? What must I do? And if you're anything like me, I love clarity. I'm I'm I'm better at what I do when I know what I'm doing. Um our Guatemala team, you know, who just left, it's in our training, one of the things that we have to continually tell them is like, hey, you gotta learn to be flexible. Now we give them a schedule, hey, here's what we're gonna do each day. Um but you gotta be flexible because you never know when something's gonna shift or change or be different than what we initially thought. Uh and so for some of the people who are hyper-type A and things aren't always going to plan, um, the what I what I do on trips is I bring some blank pieces of white paper with me and I hand it to them at the beginning of the trip if I think they're gonna struggle with this, and I say, hey, if you if you want to know what we're gonna do after we do it, write it down. Then you'll know. Like that's the most assured way, because you just gotta be flexible when you're in different cultures sometimes. Um but it's a good it's a growth opportunity, we call it. Um but just tell me what to do. We love that question. If you're if you're a kid or you, you know, you do not get enough playing time and you want to go to coach, coach, just tell me what I need to work on so that I can get more playing time. Tell me what I need to do to get a raise. Uh what do I need to do to earn trust back in this relationship? Uh, what do I need to do in order to be elevated to the next position of leadership? What do I what do I need to do? I've asked this one to help my child sleep. I'll do anything. Just tell me what I need to do, right? If if we just know what we're gonna we need to do, we're more often than not willing to do it. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Out of all the what must I do questions, I would put this one at the top. I mean, this is the most important. I actually like this question to a degree. Like if you want to know something, that's a pretty good question to ask. Um, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And then here's Jesus' answer. Verse 19. Why do you call me good? Jesus answered, no one's good. Except God alone. So Jesus is doing what Jesus does, and it's like he's not really answering the question. And he's gonna get there. But before Jesus answers, he's trying to do something very important that you cannot miss. He's trying to get the ruler to think about and consider what is actually good. Like what just so we're on the same page, before I answer your question, we can agree, right, that God alone is ultimate good. That there is nothing that is above him or beside him, and he is the ruler, right? Like, can we agree that God, it's God alone that's good. Nothing else, no amount of money, no amount of prestige. Okay, are we good on that? Alright, now I can answer the question. And he wants him to see that. Now, whether he catches it or not, I'm not sure, but Jesus continues with his answer. He says, You know the commandments. Like you know them. You're you're probably a synagogue ruler. You shouldn't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal, don't give false testimony, honor your father and mother. And he says, he acknowledges, yeah, I've kept all these since I was a boy. Which means he's grown up in them, but he knows them, he understands them. So here's my question. Jesus knows that the ruler knows these commandments. Um Jesus knows that the ruler is following these commandments. The ruler knows these commandments. He knows that he knows the commandments, he knows that he's following the commandments. Like everybody knows he's doing all of these things. So why does the ruler feel like something is missing? Why would he ask, what must I do if he knows all the commandments and knows that he's following them? I think he's asking the question because deep down he knows something is missing. There's something in his gut, there's something in his heart, there's something in about him that is saying to himself, like, I don't, I'm worried, I'm I'm worried something's not quite right. Like I've been doing all the right things, but something about me doing all the right things, there still seems to be a component of my life that isn't aligned with something that Jesus is trying to tell me. And I think he knows that. And so he's willing to ask the question. And it could be easy for us to be harsh with him because the reason why we might be harsh with him is he asks the question. Jesus says, okay, what you need to do is give all of your money to the poor. So Jesus doesn't ask for it himself, he says, give it away to the poor. Um and he walks away very sad because he thinks the cost is too great. And if we were face to face with Jesus, I would like to think that I would choose Jesus over anything. In this instance, the rich young ruler, that doesn't seem to be the case. But here's why I think what he's done is actually honorable. He was willing to ask the question. Did you know that ignoring sin and shame in areas of your life are not a free pass for you? That you don't have to surrender it. Like if you just don't bring it up with Jesus, maybe Jesus will ignore it too. Um yeah, it don't work that way. Um Jesus, when we allow him, wants to work those things out in our life. But I think so often, whether it's shame or other things, we keep those things quiet and silent, and we're afraid to ask this sort of question because what is Jesus gonna ask for me if I reveal that card to him? What's the one thing you'd worry Jesus would bring up? That if he said, Hey, I need you to give this up, what is this? What what is what would make you sweat? Like, yeah, I'm just not gonna talk about that. If in your own quiet time, if Jesus revealed your one thing to you that he wanted you to give up, this is the thing that you've been holding back or keeping to yourself or you've not given Jesus full access to, if you were willing to pray that prayer in your quiet time, I think the screen, and when we put all those on the screen, we're not gonna do that today. Uh, and we put all those on the screen, I think a lot of different things would show up, not just money, um, all sorts of different things or vices or things that we're just holding on to, that Jesus truthfully wants us to let go of so that we can live a fuller life in him. Um, because here's the truth: even a life that follows the law can have a heart that doesn't follow the Lord. So Jesus wants us to bring these things to him. However, in our text today, Jesus is not accidentally talking about money. This this one thing instance is very intentionally something about money and finances. And so, money, just like kind of like today, the power, the influence, the status that come with it, it was an idol to people. It it had the primary spot in so many people's hearts and how so many things were decided and ran, and it's often an idol in our world today, and it can be an idol for us. Jesus knows this. So he's gonna talk about it. He's not just gonna talk about do you realize money is talked about in the Bible more than heaven, more than hell combined. Over 2,300 verses in the Bible talk about money. And the reason is Jesus cares about what we do with it, but primarily he cares about the spot it has in our heart. And he doesn't want us to lose out on what he has for us because we've made something else more important. Than him. And so he addresses it and he's addressing it here. Because he knows it can lead to a divided heart. The love of money can lead to a divided heart. So here's what Jesus says. Look with me in verses 24 and 25. I want to dig in here. Verses 24 and 25. Here's how Jesus responds. Jesus looked at the rich young ruler after he walked away sad. And he says, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. So he's making a declaration there. It's hard. Indeed, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. If I'm in that circle and I have wealth, I do not like what Jesus just said. But let me give you some cultural background. In Jesus' time, if you were traveling and you were to enter the city, there would have been a small gate to enter through. This was a way to almost like a customs process, that there was order to the matter. And so you would come up with your camel, you would have to get off of your camel. All of the luggage and things that your camel was carrying, everything would have to be taken off of the camel. And in a way, it was kind of a way to, you know, ask questions, make sure, inspect things, that you don't have anything you shouldn't have, or bring something into the city you shouldn't. And so they bring those things in after they've inspected them. And then the camel would quite literally, so that way people just couldn't charge through with chariots and with camels and things like that into the city. It would have to get on its knees and almost like the camel would have to crawl through this really small gate that was intended for people. And the camel would go into the city and then you could put the luggage back on and then you can carry on. And the listeners, you know, they know this, and Jesus is clearly trying to emphasize it's very, it's very difficult. It's very difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Only problem with that is none of that's true. There was a small gate, it wasn't used for camels. When Jesus says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God, he's talking about a real camel and he's talking about a real pin-sized needle. In other words, it's impossible. Not it's kind of hard, not it's kind of difficult, not if you if you, you know, look, it's it's it's if you have a lot of money, it's it's he's saying, no, no, no, it is, it is, this is a hyperbolic example. It is impossible for this to happen. Here's how Jesus follows it up. Those who heard asked him, who then can be saved? Because they know, okay, so it's impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. So who then can be saved, Jesus, if if if these people are counted out. But here's what Jesus replies What is impossible with God, forgive me, what is impossible with man is possible with God. What is impossible with man is possible with God. But the the key phrase there is that the end, similar to when Jesus at the beginning and how he responds to the rich young ruler, you realize it's God alone that is good, right? Like nothing else is good. He's the ultimate good, nothing can take that spot, nothing can compete with his goodness. Okay, and we're clear on that. And then he kind of bookends it with this idea of God. It's only possible with God. God is the equalizer, he's the only part of the equation that anything that we have, anything in our life, whether it be money, status, wealth, talent, I mean, you name it. I don't care what it is, it has to be with God. Or what's the point? There's no part of our life that God is not interested in. In fact, I think he's particularly interested in the things that are most prone to becoming our main thing. But all of this means money's not the real issue here. The rich young ruler's problem was it actually wasn't that he had money. It was that his money had him. It wasn't that his heart was, you know, that that it wasn't the fact that he had money. It was this fact that the money had him. And so Jesus, he puts his finger directly on this one thing, and this isn't to shame him, it's to free him. Him inviting him to give his money away to the poor is the invitation. This invitation is not punishment, it's his prescription. It's how you loosen the grip that money has on your life. And so Jesus is trying to teach him that generosity is how you work against that, actively work against that. Just like the enemy is actively working against the good things that God wants to do in and through your life, we have to work against that. So, how do we do that? This is the prescription for that. Generosity is. I'll say this again: being rich from God's perspective is far more about what we invest than what we gain. How much money you make, it's not about that. It's about where money sits on the throne of your life. I like what Dave Ramsey says. He's a financial expert. He says this wealth doesn't make us good or bad, it simply magnifies what is already there in a person. I hear so often people say, hey, once I make X amount, then I'll be, then I'll give, then I'll be generous, then I'll I'll give to people in need, and then I'll do those things. Um But I think what he says is true because, you know, once you say, hey, once my kids are out of sports, sports are expensive. Um, hey, once my once we're out of the diaper phase, once they're out of sports, hey, once we're, you know, once we've paid for college, once they're out of the wedding, oh, but when all that happens and your kids are to the house, then it's well, once we're done with our traveling, you know, we're we've got refresh, you know, we don't have kids, we don't think so. So once we're done traveling, there's always gonna be a once we are done with scenario. I promise you. The world makes sure of that. There are tons of once we're done with scenarios. Once we once we're done, because something else is gonna take that place if you do not name it yourself. And so generosity isn't gonna wait for you to get rich. It's a matter of the heart right now. And then that can grow with you once you've done that. So, according to Jesus, the problem it's not if you have money, the problem is if your money has you. So, with our last seven minutes, here's what I want to do. Um, I I I spent a I don't want to over-spiritualize this, but um I spent a lot of time praying about how to close. Um about what to leave you with, what to think about, what to process. And what I felt like God kept calling me back to is just a I think I want to be really practical with the way that we close, um, which feels a little ironic because I want to talk about what we actually do with our dollars and cents. Um, even though I know that the rich young ruler, what did he ask, what can I do? Um he made it, he was more concerned about what he did instead of who he was. Um I mean, what did I say in the beginning? Who you are in Jesus is more important than what you do for Jesus. However, I know something else to be true as well. While my habits won't change God's love for me, God's love for me should change my habits. Recognizing, realizing how much God loves me, it should actually change what I do so that I can grow in that love. So I think our what we do is important when we consider who God is and what he's done for us. It doesn't, God's love does not grow for us because of that, but I think our love actually grows for him when we're willing to step into those things. And so I want to orient my life in that way, and I care about what I do because I know God cares about me and loves me. So here's that's what I want to jump into. So if you've not taken notes up to this point, um, I'm gonna, whether it's a phone or something, I've got six like practical things that I have found help loosen the grip that money has on my life and keeps God the one thing and money a tool and a thing to steward for his kingdom and his purposes. Um, everything that I'm sharing with you, this is something else that I think God made clear to me. Um, everything that I'm sharing with you are things that my wife and I practice. I am not asking you to do something that I have not done or I'm not trying myself, and for some reason that felt very important uh to share, just so you know where I'm coming from. The first couple of these are um related to couples, so forgive me for that. The next four, so we're gonna have six things, or uh, you know, anybody will apply to any stage of life. But number one is of how God's inviting us to live with our finances. Share a bank account with your spouse. Um, you might say that sounds wild to me, but here's what I've learned. Um, when I know that I can hide things from my spouse, I don't make as good decisions. Um, Jesus wants to bring all things to light. So faith knows every purchase I make, I know every purchase she makes, or have access to it, right? It's not like we're getting on every day and seeing what one another bought. Does this mean that I was unable to surprise her for Mother's Day because she saw what I bought her? Yes, but it's okay. She loved it. So I'm willing to take that risk. Number two, have monthly budget conversations. If you I think this is one of the most important things you do. When I do premarital counseling for folks, this is one of the first things that we talk about is you need to set a time on your calendar, just like you would schedule anything else. You need to set a time. So we do the last Sunday night of every single month. We have down, we sit down and we have a monthly budget conversation. How did the month go? What do we need to think about in the month ahead? Um, and it is a it is a rich conversation in the sense that it gets us on the same page of where our dollars and cents need to go. If that doesn't sound fun to you, so that's fun for me. It's probably not fun for most people. Um bake cookies, I don't know. Go get smoothies while you do it. Do something with it that is fun, that you'll look forward to it. Um, but schedule it, talk about it, and give every dollar a name in your budget. Number three, have financial accountability partner or couple. I think every single person should have a financial accountability partner or couple. This has been an absolute game changer for Faith and I. We have friends and mentors who know how we budget and where our dollars go. We have friends and mentors who, when we're making a purchase above X amount, we call them to see if it is a wise decision. We want that accountability in our lives. And if you're sitting there thinking that I don't want anybody to see what I spend my money on, I think you need to lean into this one. Seriously. Somebody to call you out and to recognize, like, hey, why do you why are you spending your money in this way? Um, because we can all grow in stewardship. This is something that we have found helps us tremendously, knowing that we're walking with people who are keeping us accountable to honor honorably steward our funds. Number four, give toward the advancement of God's kingdom. Generosity, it it this is the recipe that Jesus points to in this text. He says, give it, give it all away to the poor. Because he knows that's the only way to kind of break the grip that it has on his heart. Generosity, it loosens the grip that money has on our life. And I promise it'll make a difference. Um, even if you start with 1%, start with $50. Um, I'm not gonna say there's some golden percentage per se, even a tithe, which means a tenth, um, is more of an Old Testament principle. What you'll find is that Jesus, any law or thing in the Old Testament, he usually ups the ante in the New Testament. He says, You've heard that it was said, don't murder your brother, but I say don't even be angry with him. You've heard that it was said, don't commit adultery, but I say don't even lust after a woman. He usually ups the ante. And so if we're trying to play a percentages game, the percentage is a whole heart devoted to Jesus, knowing that everything is his. And so I want to be generous with that kind of life. So that's what I would say to that. Start with 1%. Start with the first thing that you budget when you have that meeting, let it be that. Towards some organization that is doing meaningful kingdom work so that it advances towards God's kingdom, but really it's a recipe for your heart to rely more fully on Jesus. So I encourage you to do that. Um, of a goal that Faith and I have, and we're not there yet, is we want our giving budget to be the largest expense item when we do our budget and our expenses. We want that to be the highest number. That's like our ultimate goal of where we want to land. We've got a lot of work to do, but uh it we think it's a fun goal to seek after. Um, uh, budget for spontaneous giving. So this is different. I think you should have something recurring that you're investing in in a meaningful way. Um, but we set $50 aside or $100 aside for spontaneous giving as well. Um, some of you might think, is it less spiritual to plan to be spontaneous? And I would say, I think it's less spiritual to not take advantage of those opportunities at all, and planning for it helps us do that better. And so we know that we have $50 set aside. So our prayer for the month, when we set that money aside, is God, show me who needs uh who needs a blessing. God, show me who we can show up for today. God, show me where you want us to step in and meet a very real and tangible need. Um, and so whether it's the groceries or the gas pump, we've had some really cool God moments when we're willing to lean in and do things like that. Um so that was number five. This is kind of 5B or 5.2. And I say this, I said this in first service, I just felt the spirit kind of wanting me to go here. Um, you might be sitting here and saying, Jay, I I don't have a penny that I could give right now. And I'm gonna say that's a hundred percent okay. In fact, you might be thinking, I'm trying to feed my family this week. I I don't I can't even listen to this conversation right now. Um call us. Email us. Let us help you resource that. Um don't let shame keep you quiet because you're you're ashamed of maybe that you can't do that. Um please reach out, like genuinely. That's why we're here. That's why we exist. We're a family. Um I didn't ask permission to say this, but seriously, call us and reach out. Um I mean that. Number six, pray for financial wisdom and discernment. This is the last one. Um, and I would argue this is the most important one to pray for financial wisdom and discernment. Uh, this won't result in God revealing you the winning lottery numbers. I already tried, didn't work. Um so you can't bank on that. But here's what praying for God's discernment does. Um, for the last year or so I've been praying this prayer, God, help me better steward all that you've given me so that I can better serve you. And secretly, sure, I was hoping for more dollars and cents. I mean, I I was even shared with God, look, if you need someone to carry the burden of financial abundance, I will volunteer as tribute. Um, like, don't worry, I'm I'm more than happy to take on that burden. Um here's what happened, though. I prayed for discernment, and I saw our wealth grow, but we didn't hit a big stock, we didn't win the lottery, and we didn't 2x our income. As we surrendered what we had to Jesus, our wealth grew because our contentment grew. And when your contentment grows, it'll feel like, and you will see your wealth grow. Meaning that when you realize, oh, I don't I don't need that. I need him. I promise you, God's math doesn't work like our math. And Faith and I felt our hearts grow in contentment. We don't need all of these things. We still had everything we needed, and it felt like our wealth grew. Be careful what you pray for. Our wealth increased because our contentment increased. The easiest, I think this is the easiest way for your wealth to increase is to increase your contentment, and generosity helps you do that. So let me remind you again as we close. Your financial habits, guess what? They're not gonna change God's love for you. You giving more does not gain you anymore. Straight up. But I do think that God's love for you should change our habits. So I want you to think about that and sit with that. Maybe there's one of these practical things that you uh say, hey, I'm not gonna work on applying one of those things. Um I hope that Jesus is inviting you to that. Let me pray first. Jesus, thank you so much for today. Thank you for your love, your grace. Um help us to see that everything we have is from you. Whether it's a lot, whether it feels like a little, everything we have is from you, and everything we need is in you. So as we think about our week and our life and the and the tools that you've given us that you want us to steward for the advancement of your kingdom, um, I pray that you would help each of us as we invite you into those spaces to take one step forward in further loosening the grip that money wants to have on our life, and that we might begin to see how you can use it for purposes that we could never imagine because we were willing to entrust it all to you. Jesus, we love you. It's in your holy name we pray. Amen. You guys have a blessed day. We'll see you next week. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. If you're ready to take a next step in your faith, please reach out to us through our website, refineryohio.com, or you can email us at office at refineryohio.com. We hope you have a blessed day.