SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grant Parkway Factor.
SPEAKER_00: Helping people to know, joy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, uh, that's what we've come to do to praise you, to make much of you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh and what we hear today from the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Let it increase our capacity to praise you.
SPEAKER_01: Let it not produce guilt.
SPEAKER_01: Guilt is not a fruit of the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And so no one's here to whip anybody with a guilt stick.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what this is about.
SPEAKER_01: So let's get that out of our head.
SPEAKER_01: This is about us being set free by the truth.
SPEAKER_01: That's what you said, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We'll know the truth, and the truth will set us free.
SPEAKER_01: Let this find us and unwind us and increase our capacity to enjoy everything that you provide.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you provide it to ramp up our enjoyment.
SPEAKER_01: So if we need to repent for not enjoying things enough, we're going to repent of that today as well.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, just have at us where our hearts are wide open.
SPEAKER_01: We're not here to hide.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us are like my friend Lance, we have a story, and some of us are suppressing that story because we don't want anybody to know.
SPEAKER_01: The truth is that you already know and you're already at work.
SPEAKER_01: So our story finds ultimate expression in the story you've been telling all along.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, turn up the volume on the story you're telling today.
SPEAKER_01: We ask this in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a C if you got a Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Invite you to take and open up to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: First Timothy chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're a guest, we're in a series right now called the M Word, uh, just for the month of January, because in January, people usually kick into resolutions, New Year's resolutions about this, that, and the other.
SPEAKER_01: And instead of increasing your determination, we want to expand your understanding.
SPEAKER_01: So we're in a series called the M Word, where we're looking at things like my relationships, my body.
SPEAKER_01: And today I'm going to talk about my money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, stay with me because some of y'all, if you're visiting for the first time, you just thought you rolled your eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Yep, there we go.
SPEAKER_01: I come to church for the first time since 1977, and the preacher talks about money.
SPEAKER_01: I will fight you in the parking lot when we're done, if you think that, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's not what I'm about, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I I want you to understand what the Bible says about money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I somebody asked me this week, I said, What's the N-word this week?
SPEAKER_01: I said money.
SPEAKER_01: And the guy said, Oh, you're talking about tithing.
SPEAKER_01: I said, No, did you not hear what I said?
SPEAKER_01: I said money, not tithing.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's what preachers usually talk about, right?
SPEAKER_01: I said, the reason preachers, when it comes to money, talk about tithing is because when the Bible talks about money, it's harder on preachers than anybody else.
SPEAKER_01: You don't believe that, do you?
SPEAKER_01: The other like, you seem very excited about this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh no, but that's why.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's like, oh, let's talk about you and what you should be doing with your money.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna see in the Bible what God says is that I provide everything so you can enjoy it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And the chances, the biggest sin most of you in this room are committing is that you don't enjoy what God has provided enough.
SPEAKER_01: Mmm, Kimo Sabe, you speak in riddles.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not, I'm not here to make you feel bad.
SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna pass salad bowls and kind of go, oh, you give something you made to the church.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read this passage right here.
SPEAKER_01: There's there's two sections you talk about poor Christians and rich Christians, and he gets after preachers in between.
SPEAKER_01: And so who's not who who's in favor of the Bible getting after the preacher?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all enjoyed that way too much.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so here's what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: Now, uh now let me before I read the passage, let me just say this.
SPEAKER_01: This is this is bonus round material.
SPEAKER_01: There's four things you can do with money, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You can earn money, you can tithe off your money, you can save money, and you can spend money.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say them again.
SPEAKER_01: You earn money, you tithe off of money, tithe is a word that means the tenth.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, What?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: God's so generous, God says, here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: The first fruits, the tithe that belongs to me.
SPEAKER_01: You bring that to the storehouse, you you you you give that, I'll take care of everything else.
SPEAKER_01: He says in the book of Malachi, he says, I'll open up the he says, test me in this.
SPEAKER_01: Put me to the test, God says.
SPEAKER_01: See if I don't open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon you until there is no need.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: No, I can't convince you of that.
SPEAKER_01: The sermon's not about tithing, but I will say this about tithing.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, free bonus, more bonus around material.
SPEAKER_01: You will raise your children in a house of provision or in a house of blessing.
SPEAKER_01: You will raise your kids in a house of provision and a house of blessing.
SPEAKER_01: A house of blessing is people that practice the biblical teaching on tithing.
SPEAKER_01: That God's gonna open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: If you're like, I'll tell you what, no, that's Old Testament, Bible, whatever internet theologian you listen to.
SPEAKER_01: You're raising your children in a house of provision.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying like some people do.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, if you don't tithe, you're gonna be miserable.
SPEAKER_01: No, I know people don't give a dime to the church and they live in large right now.
SPEAKER_01: That's another thing I shouldn't say, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Because some of y'all are like, well, I can do the same.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what haunts them, though.
SPEAKER_01: They get in bed at night and they're like, man, this is really good.
SPEAKER_01: What you should wonder is this is just provision.
SPEAKER_01: What would blessing be like?
SPEAKER_01: And you can't get there just by wishing.
SPEAKER_01: You have to practice this.
SPEAKER_01: And so, four things you can do with money.
SPEAKER_01: You can earn, you can tithe, you can save, you can spend.
SPEAKER_01: Which one of those four things is your favorite to do with money?
SPEAKER_01: Spend it.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, is my wife in the crowd?
SPEAKER_01: Where are you, honey?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so so I want to talk about my money.
SPEAKER_01: And here's look, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't check out, I feel you pull it back, like I tell you what, I ain't here for this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I want to increase your enjoyment of every dime you have right now.
SPEAKER_01: And I ain't gonna ask you for a red scent of it.
SPEAKER_01: Some guy just leaned over to his wife and said, I doubt that.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just gonna read uh from 1 Timothy chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: I'll start reading verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna point to four things in the Bible, and the Bible is gonna lay the wood to all the preachers in the room today.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: Teach and urge these things.
SPEAKER_01: If anyone teaches a different doctrine, does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.
SPEAKER_01: He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are deprav who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine that godliness is a means of gain.
SPEAKER_01: But godliness with contentment is great gain.
SPEAKER_01: For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
SPEAKER_01: But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
SPEAKER_01: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires, and that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
SPEAKER_01: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
SPEAKER_01: It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
SPEAKER_01: But as for you, O man of God, flee these things.
SPEAKER_01: Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness, fight the good fight of the faith.
SPEAKER_01: Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who is in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time, he who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so they may take hold of that which is truly life.
SPEAKER_01: Four things I want to point to when we talk about my money today.
SPEAKER_01: And the first one is this is that the prosperity gospel is nothing new.
SPEAKER_01: The prosperity gospel is nothing new.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I say the prosperity gospel, if you know what I'm referring to, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's the people you see on TV that say, hey, send me a hundred dollars and God will give you a thousand.
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's a lie, that's not in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: And so, but but but we tend to think, you turn on the TV and you think, what's come of America?
SPEAKER_01: The church has been, it's corrupt.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: People like that have always been around.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Look back there in the very beginning, verse 3 of 1 Timothy 6.
SPEAKER_01: He said, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness.
SPEAKER_01: Translation, if you hear me say anything that that's not according to what the Bible says, you should leave.
SPEAKER_01: You should not trust me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And that what the Bible says, the person that does that, he's puffed up with conceit, he understands nothing, he has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.
SPEAKER_01: How do you know they're depraved in their mind and they're deprived of the truth?
SPEAKER_01: Because they imagine that godliness is a means of gain.
SPEAKER_01: They imagine that godliness is a means of gain.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the first prosperity preachers are right here in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And let me just say this sadly, some preachers are the most money-hungry people in the world.
SPEAKER_01: There are preachers in the world that think because I work for God, I'm entitled to whatever I want.
SPEAKER_01: There's some preachers that say, hey, God told me to tell you to buy me a$65 million jet.
SPEAKER_01: Happened last year.
SPEAKER_01: And some of y'all called me and said, What do you think about this?
SPEAKER_01: That's that's crazy talk.
SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: But if you got 65 million, you want to break my brother off a jet, I'll put that thing in sugarland.
SPEAKER_01: No, I don't, I don't need a jet.
SPEAKER_01: My favorite part is when the guy said, I need this so I can fly around the country and preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Crazy.
SPEAKER_01: But I just that's not new.
SPEAKER_01: That's always been around.
SPEAKER_01: So don't act like, oh, Christianity is corrupt.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: There's some weasley people out there trying to steal money from people.
SPEAKER_01: And don't you worry, on judgment day, God is gonna lay the wood to them skippies, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So you hadn't got to get it all in a twist about it.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to point and kind of say, hey, this has been around a long time, it's nothing new.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, and now I want to get it used.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, contentment is the goal.
SPEAKER_01: Contentment, instead of being mad at all these fake people on TV, we got to practice contentment.
SPEAKER_01: Verse six, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.
SPEAKER_01: But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're not careful, you think of this in terms of poverty or wealth.
SPEAKER_01: When in reality, this is about contentment or covetousness.
SPEAKER_01: It's not poverty or wealth, it's not the haves and the have-nots.
SPEAKER_01: Because, see, there's this there's this thought around nowadays that says, hey, I don't have anything, and there's people that do, and they they should give me some of their stuff.
SPEAKER_01: No, you should work hard for your money.
SPEAKER_01: Stop living palm up and put your head down and go to work, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Socialism is not supported by the Bible, it's just not, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So you can be lazy and like, oh, we should tax the rich.
SPEAKER_01: How about get up and go to work every day and stop complaining?
SPEAKER_01: Start there, and your life would get better, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I wish I could see your faces.
SPEAKER_01: You know, like, is he saying this out loud?
SPEAKER_01: My only regret right now is that the live stream is down.
SPEAKER_01: This is not going all over the internet.
SPEAKER_01: I believe this is every core of my being.
SPEAKER_01: Quit being sorry, lazy, dead beat, no account people.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says if you don't work, you don't eat.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of places that are hiring.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy Johns is hiring.
SPEAKER_01: I said the other day they said, You know, nobody wants to work?
SPEAKER_01: I said, How you feel about women?
SPEAKER_01: My life's available.
SPEAKER_01: She's like, shut up.
SPEAKER_01: I've got a job.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you don't work on the weekends.
SPEAKER_01: I work on Sundays.
SPEAKER_01: How about Friday and Saturday?
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_01: No, see, contentment is the goal.
SPEAKER_01: There's two kinds of poor Christians here in the Bible, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Right here in these verses.
SPEAKER_01: There's the contented poor.
SPEAKER_01: That's verses 6, 7, and 8.
SPEAKER_01: Look at him, what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Godliness with contentment is a great gain.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: We brought nothing into the world.
SPEAKER_01: We can take nothing out of the world.
SPEAKER_01: But if we have food and clothing, have you gotten over the wonder of a well-made sandwich?
SPEAKER_01: You ever just make a sandwich and just like, before I eat this, kids, come look at this.
SPEAKER_01: There's turkey and cheese, mayonnaise and mustard.
SPEAKER_01: I don't eat mayonnaise because I grew up poor.
SPEAKER_01: I eat miracle whip.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife's like, why do you eat miracle whip?
SPEAKER_01: Why you gotta question me all the time?
SPEAKER_01: Because every time I eat miracle whip, this is what I think.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't poor no more.
SPEAKER_01: I now I'm rich, but not like the people like what y'all think about rich.
SPEAKER_01: But I put tomatoes on there and pickles and banana peppers, and my wife's like, Isn't that too much?
SPEAKER_01: He zip it.
SPEAKER_01: And then I just look at it.
SPEAKER_01: I just look at it, I just back up like she's like, baby, is this a sandwich?
SPEAKER_01: No, it's not just a sandwich.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever opened your refrigerator and all that was in there was a pitcher of water and a half-eaten can of pork and beans, you'd never get over a sandwich.
SPEAKER_01: You're just like I made a sandwich, and I have a big rectangular box in my kitchen that keeps everything cold.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife's like, You're a strange little man.
SPEAKER_01: Because I just meditate on it.
SPEAKER_01: I put a verse like that in my mouth and I eat it like my kids eat jello.
SPEAKER_01: I just swish it around until I can just swallow it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh, thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And it wards off self-pity.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we brought nothing into this world.
SPEAKER_01: You can take nothing out of it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We have food and clothing.
SPEAKER_01: Well, this will be content.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at me.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible's not saying that's all you're gonna get, so make the most of it.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, it's not saying that's all.
SPEAKER_01: But these are the contented poor, and then you have the covetous poor in verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to how these knuckleheads talk.
SPEAKER_01: But those who desire to be rich fall into a temptation, uh, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
SPEAKER_01: For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils.
SPEAKER_01: Money is not the root of all kinds of evil.
SPEAKER_01: The love of money, this inordinate kind of lust for more money will get you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It keeps you from just enjoying things.
SPEAKER_01: You're always comparison.
SPEAKER_01: You go to someone's house that looks like what you see people on HGTV, like Chip and Joanna came to their house, and you can't rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this question.
SPEAKER_01: Can you rejoice with those that rejoice when you're around people who have better and more and nicer stuff than you?
SPEAKER_01: Or when you go to their house, do you leave and get in the car and kind of go, Can you leave that house?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they don't need that.
SPEAKER_01: And then I probably may deal with the devil.
SPEAKER_01: And your poor husband's got to listen to you all the way home.
SPEAKER_01: It's just like, can we not just kind of go, man, I leave my peace on your house?
SPEAKER_01: This is beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: I went to a kid's basketball game yesterday.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, five-year-olds shouldn't play basketball.
SPEAKER_01: They can't even dribble.
SPEAKER_01: That ball dribbles them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just looking around, like, what is this?
SPEAKER_01: And them little suckers got colored wristbands, and you cover the guy that's got the red wristband on the other team.
SPEAKER_01: It was great.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Hey, I saw construction people in front of your house a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we got some work done.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we we got, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said, Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Because what they expect is, oh, you spent money on your house, don't you know we're building a new sanctuary?
SPEAKER_01: No, I love to rejoice with you.
SPEAKER_01: I want to celebrate with you.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh man, that is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Well, and we also got this.
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll have you, we have to have you guys over sometime.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to.
SPEAKER_01: You can, but it's not like, hey, we built this, so we should have the preacher over.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm just happy for you.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how you know that you're not one of those covetous poor people.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, when the Bible says poor, it's not destitute, it's less than.
SPEAKER_01: It's not destitute.
SPEAKER_01: There's not a one, I doubt there's anybody in here that's destitute.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's, hey, I got less than that person.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we we live in a country and we got a government that says, you know what, you got less than somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: You deserve to them to give you some of their stuff.
SPEAKER_01: No, stop making excuses and stop being lazy and work hard, and your life will improve.
SPEAKER_01: It just will.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way God designed it to be.
SPEAKER_01: And so there's the content poor, then there's a covetous poor.
SPEAKER_01: These people that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils.
SPEAKER_01: It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs, many hardships.
SPEAKER_01: They've stabbed themselves with many a consequence of bad ideas.
SPEAKER_01: Third thing the Bible says is preachers should be an example.
SPEAKER_01: I thought I was kidding when I said that, hey, preachers talk about tithing.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about money.
SPEAKER_01: Because when it comes to money, the Bible holds the pay, the preacher to a standard that don't hold anybody else to.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, What do you mean they should be examples?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: But he Paul says to Timothy, but but as for you, O man of God, translation, as for you, Pastor, flee these things.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be some money-grubbing preacher up there all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Flee these things, but pursue these things: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.
SPEAKER_01: Steadfastness is that's that that you're steadfast in difficult circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: Gentleness, you're you're you're you're gentle with difficult people.
SPEAKER_01: You have anybody in your life when you see them coming, you just brace, like, oh, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is not gonna be the Bible says of the preacher, hey, you gotta be gentle with those people.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta be gentle.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gentle every Sunday when someone comes up to me and goes, Why is it so cold in here?
SPEAKER_01: Why do you think I wear denim shirts?
SPEAKER_01: It's cold all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I crank the air up, somebody else cranks it down.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, who's having a hot flash?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, stop taking us hostage.
SPEAKER_01: But I see them coming, and you're it's like, hey, do you know it's cold in here?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, come on, man.
SPEAKER_01: I'm wearing my Yellowstone attire today because it's cold in here all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I'm John Dutton up in here.
SPEAKER_01: No, I haven't watched it, but I've heard about it.
SPEAKER_01: All y'all are like, but God said the other day.
SPEAKER_01: I think my wife's like Beth.
SPEAKER_01: I went, who's Beth?
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to know.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, now I'm curious.
SPEAKER_01: So after church, can somebody tell me who Beth is?
SPEAKER_01: If you know who Beth is, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Do I want to know?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, there you go.
SPEAKER_01: Never mind.
SPEAKER_01: Let me write this down just for a second.
SPEAKER_01: Dear Jesus, my people are watching bad TV.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, anyway, uh, preacher should be an example.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: He says, but as for you, oh man of God, flee these things, then pursue.
SPEAKER_01: You should be an example in three ways ethically, doctrinally, and experientially.
SPEAKER_01: You should look at me and you should ask, is that man ethical?
SPEAKER_01: Ethics is about oughtness.
SPEAKER_01: Is he ethical?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, does he flee these things?
SPEAKER_01: Does he love money too much?
SPEAKER_01: One of the requirements of being an elder is you don't be a lover of money.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean you can't have money.
SPEAKER_01: I have friends that are fabulously wealthy, and they say to church, they go to church.
SPEAKER_01: I love these people.
SPEAKER_01: They say, Well, we're blessed.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, blessed, you rich, man.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: No, but actually, I told him the other day, I said, uh, I don't think you're rich.
SPEAKER_01: I think you got money, but you ain't rich.
SPEAKER_01: And then he's like, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I said, You got money, but you're like neurotic.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, every everyone's always trying to.
SPEAKER_01: He goes to another church in another state.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Everybody, every time I go, somebody's asking me, people beat me in the park in my church, and they ask me, I said, I'm so sorry that happened.
SPEAKER_01: You see, you we'll get to this in a minute, but you can have money and never be rich.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all don't believe me?
SPEAKER_01: You're like, don't listen to that, honey.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't mean that.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll we'll get to that just in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to hold me to the stand ethically, secondly, doctrinally.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Doctrinally, I should be an example doctrinally.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12 says this fight the good fight of the faith.
SPEAKER_01: If you're prone to write in your Bible, circle the word the right before faith.
SPEAKER_01: Fight the good fight of the faith.
SPEAKER_01: Not my faith, not your faith, but the faith.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And what's the big deal?
SPEAKER_01: Because we live in a day and age where everything's personal, you know, and so we've lost the faith.
SPEAKER_01: The objective standard of historical biblical Christianity has been thrown overboard for this self-centered pursuit of whatever allows you to do what you always want to do and still consider yourself to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: But it the Bible says we got to fight the good fight of the faith.
SPEAKER_01: It's not your preferences supported by your opinion, it's the faith.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to submit to the faith.
SPEAKER_01: So what we talk about is my faith, my journey, my pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_01: And I just say wrong pronoun.
SPEAKER_01: A man in his church said about a month ago, two months ago, I said, How are you these days?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm just kind of focused on my pilgrimage.
SPEAKER_01: I said, What are you going to Mecca?
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, my pilgrimage?
SPEAKER_01: He said, No, I mean, I said, Christianity is not that individualistic.
SPEAKER_01: It's the faith.
SPEAKER_01: You so you submit to the historical teachings and tenets of the biblical Christian faith, or you're not a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, dang, bro, this is how it starts.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to be hard up in here, but but this is how it starts.
SPEAKER_01: My pilgrimage, my preference.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we got so many people.
SPEAKER_01: Corona has so baptized people's preferences.
SPEAKER_01: They got their own church.
SPEAKER_01: They got my faith, my church, meets on my couch, in my pajamas, drinking my coffee.
SPEAKER_01: And we wonder why anxiety and depression are through the roof.
SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, preacher should be an example experientially.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the look at the second sentence of verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: When he says the good confession in the presence of many witnesses, he's talking about Timothy's baptism.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
SPEAKER_01: This is what you and I were called to.
SPEAKER_01: Eternal life is not normal life going on forever.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're here today and you're not a Christian, let me just clarify something that the church has fumbled on horribly.
SPEAKER_01: Over the years.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we make it sound like.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Christianity is hard and boring, but when you die, you get to go to heaven and live forever.
SPEAKER_01: That is not what biblical Christianity is.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did not leave heaven to come to earth just to forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did not live heaven and come to earth just so you could go to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me carefully.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus left heaven and came to earth so you could live a life on earth that's been oriented around eternity.
SPEAKER_01: That's eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: It's not duration, it's quality.
SPEAKER_01: Now I don't want to talk too much about this because in two weeks we're going to start preaching through the epistle of 1 John, and it is all through 1 John.
SPEAKER_01: The first little pericopey, the first little piece of 1 John opens up and he says, Hey, we testify to you.
SPEAKER_01: What we've seen with our eyes, what we've touched with our hands, this life we proclaim to you.
SPEAKER_01: It's all through the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It's what you should look for in me.
SPEAKER_01: It's what Jesus was referring to in John's gospel, chapter 10, verse 10, when he says, I came so you could have life and have it to the full.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Have it to the full.
SPEAKER_01: If you could have this fullness of life without Jesus, then explain to me why he came in the first place.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's why he came to have this life.
SPEAKER_01: It's the life of the age to come.
SPEAKER_01: It's the life that Jesus inaugurated in his first coming, and he's going to celebrate in his second coming.
SPEAKER_01: It's this present possession, this constant responsibility, and it is all through the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: You say, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_01: You're in chapter 6 of 1 Timothy.
SPEAKER_01: Just look right over because the next page in your Bible is 2 Timothy chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Look at chapter 1, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Does it not say this?
SPEAKER_01: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let me read that again.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me for a second.
SPEAKER_01: It's like God put his arm around Paul and said, Hey, I called you into ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, see the life you see in Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: I want that life to be produced in you.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to experience that.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean you're going to be like little Jesus' or little gods.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get it twisted, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But according to the promise, he said, I promise you.
SPEAKER_01: This is why he came so you could have life and have it to the full.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself today, are you having the life that Jesus came to make to demonstrate and make available?
SPEAKER_01: You pray all the prayers you want.
SPEAKER_01: Go to church all the time you want.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is not about fire insurance when you die, it's about life while you're actually living.
SPEAKER_01: This is what biblical Christianity is.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sorry you got lied to by a bunch of chicken breath preachers who didn't tell you the truth.
SPEAKER_01: It's just life.
SPEAKER_01: I was in a store this week, and this lady said, What is it with you?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Excuse me?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, That's just something about oh, that's life.
SPEAKER_01: I sweat life.
SPEAKER_01: And she was like, What you say, yeah, I sweat life.
SPEAKER_01: I got life coming up out of me, lady.
SPEAKER_01: And she goes, I mean, everyone's alive, but they ain't got life.
SPEAKER_01: And I told her, I said, I'm gonna talk about this Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, You a preacher?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, don't hold it against me.
SPEAKER_01: I said, because the Bible says you do these certain things about doing them, you take hold of the life that is truly life.
SPEAKER_01: If there's a life that is truly life, then logic dictates that there's a life that's not really life.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That's where most church people get stuck.
SPEAKER_01: Trying harder, promising God more, but it's never gonna be enjoyable.
SPEAKER_01: Never gonna be enjoyable.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, I said it's a present possession, constant responsibility all through the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I showed you in 1 Timothy 6, showed you in 2 Timothy 1.1.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, here's a list of people in this church that you should look to in order to see what this is like besides me.
SPEAKER_01: Look right there.
SPEAKER_01: This is our staff, our elders, and our lay pastors.
SPEAKER_01: So just pick one of those names, write it down, and just go up to them and say, Hey, man, I want to have coffee with you, or I want to get lunch with you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you may be thinking, did you call all those people and ask their permission?
SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't.
SPEAKER_01: Have your lawyer sue me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: If you people ain't living this life, what are you doing in leadership positions in the church?
SPEAKER_01: We're not running for political office up in here.
SPEAKER_01: Though somebody asked me a while back, hey, would you ever consider political office?
SPEAKER_01: I'm ready to be the president right now.
SPEAKER_01: Because I will go berserk up there.
SPEAKER_01: He said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: I said, January 6th, if I'd have been in the Capitol, I'd have been capping some fools.
SPEAKER_01: In the kneecap, of course, nothing mortal, center mass, but I'd have shot them like bad boys sideways.
SPEAKER_01: Pap, pap.
SPEAKER_01: I'd have played it on the on the intercom.
SPEAKER_01: Bad boys, bad boys.
SPEAKER_01: And the guy's like, he had his card out.
SPEAKER_01: He went, well, maybe I'll hold on to this.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't looking for a job.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, these are people.
SPEAKER_01: They not they're not perfect.
SPEAKER_01: They're just they did they this life of eternity is coming out of these men and women, and not just them, it gets better.
SPEAKER_01: You should expect the same thing from their spouses.
SPEAKER_01: These men can't be in the leadership of the church and go home to a miserable woman.
SPEAKER_01: You should go up to my wife.
SPEAKER_01: She's the blonde headed woman running out somewhere and just say, hey, what's he like at home?
SPEAKER_01: Is that man good to you?
SPEAKER_01: What's he really like?
SPEAKER_01: She ain't got the energy to lie, she'll tell you.
SPEAKER_01: Now why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I want you to know it's available.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just, it's not just me, the guy that stands up here.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the last thing I want to say to you.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says to you, uh, if you're rich, then be rich.
SPEAKER_01: So y'all are.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a play on words.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Don't send me emails.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you what?
SPEAKER_01: No, uh-uh-uh.
SPEAKER_01: Just let the Bible say what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: If you're rich, then actually be rich.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a play on words.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference in having money and being rich.
SPEAKER_01: If the only kind of wealth you have is money, then you're not rich.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is why the Bible says what it says in verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: As for the rich in this present age, there was poor Christians and there was rich Christians in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, these rich Christians, that was where the church met in their houses.
SPEAKER_01: They had big houses, and that's where they met.
SPEAKER_01: As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when this is what the Bible says to rich Christians, three things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, don't be haughty.
SPEAKER_01: That word means high-minded.
SPEAKER_01: Think you're better than everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and this is just free bonus rap material.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell your kids that everyone's, don't teach your kids that everyone's jealous of them.
SPEAKER_01: They're not.
SPEAKER_01: That's lazy parenting on your part.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm and I'm I'm out of myself here because when my kids were little, uh, we'd go to Disney World and come back and then, oh, my friend's like, oh, it must be nice, go to Disney World because I pulled my kids out of school.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if they miss four days of school.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to Disney World.
SPEAKER_01: And their friends are like, oh, it must be nice.
SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to go, oh, you're your friends are just jealous of you.
SPEAKER_01: I was being a lazy parent instead of engaging with the emotional well-being of my daughter and sitting on her bed and saying, Hey, when your friend said that, what'd that make you think or feel?
SPEAKER_01: Because I start going, where's my 40 cow?
SPEAKER_01: I'll go down to that school.
SPEAKER_01: No, I just like, hey, don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be haughty.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, he says this: don't set your hopes on money, but God.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Don't be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God.
SPEAKER_01: And then thirdly, believe this.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I want to say to rich Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Believe this.
SPEAKER_01: What's this?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, why should you put your hopes on God?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Because He freely, right here in the Bible, He freely provides everything for us.
SPEAKER_01: He He richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're not careful, you're gonna miss it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so let me read it again right out of the Bible, right there.
SPEAKER_01: It says, He richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: He richly provides you with everything.
SPEAKER_01: So everything you have, God has richly, He's not stingy, He richly provides it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what He does, and here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Listen carefully.
SPEAKER_01: To enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: So you got to ask yourself, is there anything in your life currently that you're not enjoying like you should?
SPEAKER_01: Like I asked my wife this weekend, hey, is there anything in your life that you're not enjoying the way God intended?
SPEAKER_01: And she just looked at me and she's like, I can't think of anything.
SPEAKER_01: Take your time, there's time.
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, No, she's folding tiles.
SPEAKER_01: No, I can't think of anything.
SPEAKER_01: Are you sure?
SPEAKER_01: We're not in a hurry.
SPEAKER_01: No, I thought about it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm enjoying it all.
SPEAKER_01: The way God intended.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the Bible says that God richly provides everything to enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what God is saying.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we miss.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just enjoying your stuff.
SPEAKER_01: It's when you enjoy your stuff, it's an extension of enjoying God.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I have a friend I just met, not God, new to our church.
SPEAKER_01: Uh came, had lunch with him and his wife.
SPEAKER_01: Delightful couple.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't see him for a couple weeks.
SPEAKER_01: I don't take role, by the way, if you're new to our church.
SPEAKER_01: I just like, oh, hadn't seen him.
SPEAKER_01: So I sent him a text because sarcasm is a spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all didn't get that, only I got that.
SPEAKER_01: Me and a few of my friends.
SPEAKER_01: And so I texted him because I'm kind of sarcastic.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hi, my name is Neil, I'm pastor of church here in the city.
SPEAKER_01: You should come sometime.
SPEAKER_01: I think you'd enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01: He texted back.
SPEAKER_01: I'm at the ranch.
SPEAKER_01: Dear honey.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'm glad you ruled over creation.
SPEAKER_01: It's a doing it.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote back.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not ruling over anything.
SPEAKER_01: But then he sends me a picture.
SPEAKER_01: This little river with a beautiful, the sky's painted orange, everything.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm saying that because I was sitting waiting for a friend at a restaurant.
SPEAKER_01: And I just look at the picture and I was like, man, that is beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Like the next day, I was like, I'm gonna look at that picture again.
SPEAKER_01: That is beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what I didn't think was, and then my buddy walked up, he goes, What are you looking at?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Look at that.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that beautiful?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, What is it?
SPEAKER_01: I said, it's a it's a guy I just met, he it's this ranch or getaway, whatever you call it.
SPEAKER_01: I call it a ranch.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, He that center's been up there the past two sudden hadn't been at church.
SPEAKER_01: And my buddy goes, Does that bother you?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Heck no, it doesn't bother me.
SPEAKER_01: I said, the only thing when I said he sent me that was one night sent me that.
SPEAKER_01: I just thought, I just prayed, God, help him enjoy that the way it's intended to be enjoyed.
SPEAKER_01: Do you can you feel how otherworldly that sounds to some of you?
SPEAKER_01: You're like, you should tell him to feel guilty.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: You think Jesus left heaven, went through hell on earth, died on the cross, rose from the dead, and looked at you and goes, now feel guilty.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the God of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: The God of the Bible says, I richly provide you with everything to enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: You should ask yourself today, what am I not enjoying enough?
SPEAKER_01: Or you may be thinking, How do I enjoy what God provides?
SPEAKER_01: Great question.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you three things in the Bible right here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, number one, by doing good.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how you enjoy verse 18.
SPEAKER_01: They are to do good, do so much good that people think you're rich in good works, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, be generous.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody anybody ever accuse you of being generous?
SPEAKER_01: Now here's the third one that just slays me.
SPEAKER_01: And ready to share.
SPEAKER_01: That sounds so innocent, but that word ready to share in the Greek, it means this sociable, ready and apt to form and maintain communion and fellowship.
SPEAKER_01: Hello.
SPEAKER_01: Hear that part again.
SPEAKER_01: Ready and apt to form and maintain communion and fellowship.
SPEAKER_01: Tonight is a community group night.
SPEAKER_01: We meet in homes all over the city and we discuss questions around the past couple of sermons that we've heard.
SPEAKER_01: And can you maintain communion and fellowship with other people?
SPEAKER_01: Or do you just show up once and then don't come again?
SPEAKER_01: Then he says, inclined to make others sharers in one's possessions.
SPEAKER_01: Inclined to make shares, uh, others sharers.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, people, you're inclined for people to enjoy what you enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, here's what it means: ready to share means you share yourself and you share your stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this question: which one of those are you most comfortable sharing?
SPEAKER_01: You share yourself and you share your stuff, because ready to share means both.
SPEAKER_01: There was a guy that went to church here.
SPEAKER_01: Before I became the pastor, I traveled and preached all the country, but I was a member of this church.
SPEAKER_01: I was here like 10 Sundays.
SPEAKER_01: There was a man back here.
SPEAKER_01: When I first started coming to the church, it met in the high school across the street.
SPEAKER_01: That man scared me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: He kind of wild-eyed, crazy.
SPEAKER_01: He was from like New Hampshire, somewhere on the East Coast.
SPEAKER_01: He had an accent, and the brother smoked like wet wood.
SPEAKER_01: The smoking didn't bother me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So if you smoke, I ain't here to jam you up.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but that brother carried that aim and flame in his back pocket like a grill lighter and would light his cigarettes.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, dang, bro, wind can't blow that out.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you remember him, some of you don't.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say his name, and people start laughing.
SPEAKER_01: His name was Bob Hamilton.
SPEAKER_01: If you remember Bob Hamilton, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Bob Hamilton scared me to death.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'd see him and he'd go, Oh, he put his hands in his pocket.
SPEAKER_01: And if you were like right here, he would get right up in your personal business.
SPEAKER_01: So you're Neil.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Yeah, I'm Neil, man.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, what's up?
SPEAKER_01: I'm Bob.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get lunch.
SPEAKER_01: And Bob, I'm I'm going to Detroit.
SPEAKER_01: I got to speak to the thing.
SPEAKER_01: When you get back, what are you writing a book?
SPEAKER_01: Leave that chapter out, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh very unnerving, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Very unnerving.
SPEAKER_01: But Bob Hamilton loved to share.
SPEAKER_01: He was ready to share.
SPEAKER_01: He he wanted to get to know you.
SPEAKER_01: He, you, I was playing before they ruined it down here in Old Orchard and built houses.
SPEAKER_01: There were three nine-hole golf courses there.
SPEAKER_01: And I live right here, so I can go play there all the time.
SPEAKER_01: And the guy looked, I'd play 18.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey, how much play that the other night?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Hey, you're the preacher guy, right?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, go play.
SPEAKER_01: No one's out there, just go play.
SPEAKER_01: No, great.
SPEAKER_01: Bob and I go play all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Bob showed up one time with some graphite shafted ping golf clubs, nice clubs.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey, Bob, nice clubs.
SPEAKER_01: We're teen off about the fifth hole.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Hey, man, try this six iron.
SPEAKER_01: I hit that thing and it just smoked it out there.
SPEAKER_01: We got done.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Man, those things are really man, that's really good feeling club.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you got them.
SPEAKER_01: We got done playing.
SPEAKER_01: We're taking them off the our our bags off the car.
SPEAKER_01: Bob says, You want these?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Bob, I don't want your golf clubs.
SPEAKER_01: No, seriously.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can get more.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Bob, I don't want your golf clubs.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: They're nice clubs, but they're your clubs.
SPEAKER_01: All right, those them in the back of his van.
SPEAKER_01: You go to Bob's house.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, Bob, that's a nice lamp.
SPEAKER_01: You have dinner.
SPEAKER_01: When dinner's over, he unplugs it and walks out with you.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you want this lamp?
SPEAKER_01: Like, Bob, I don't want this lamp.
SPEAKER_01: I can get another one.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Bob.
SPEAKER_01: No, I don't want.
SPEAKER_01: I don't.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, man.
SPEAKER_01: Go back in the house.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Bob was dying.
SPEAKER_01: Bob got a glioblastoma brain tumor and was dying.
SPEAKER_01: Bob's dead now.
SPEAKER_01: He's in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Uh now, Bob.
SPEAKER_01: Now Bob was telling me one Sunday at church, he said, man, where you been?
SPEAKER_01: I said, it's the summer.
SPEAKER_01: I do 10 weeks of youth camp, dude.
SPEAKER_01: I see my wife.
SPEAKER_01: She's about the only person I see in the summer.
SPEAKER_01: Well, there's a great restaurant called the Topwater Grill.
SPEAKER_01: Have you been to the Topwater Grill?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what?
SPEAKER_01: The Topwater Grill.
SPEAKER_01: It's down the water.
SPEAKER_01: It's like over an hour from here.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, We'll go meet me there and I'll buy.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh, oh, oh, okay, Bob.
SPEAKER_01: I went to Bob once with uh once I lunch Bob one time.
SPEAKER_01: He showed over the homeless man.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is Jimmy.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy was hungry.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy smells like a squirrel.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy smells like a squirrel who likes to smoke meth.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy makes me uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: And Jimmy's like, I was on the side of the road and this guy pulled over and said, You want some hot soup?
SPEAKER_01: It was cold, so yeah.
SPEAKER_01: We were at the Fold My Noodle House over here on Highway 6 by Target.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy came in there, and Bob's like, I got Jimmy and Neil.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Jimmy, you got your sharp objects in your coat.
SPEAKER_01: Open that coat up.
SPEAKER_01: Bob was ready to share with any and everybody.
SPEAKER_01: We go to the topwater grill.
SPEAKER_01: He orders three appetizers, oysters on the half shell, shrimp cottage, something else.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is great.
SPEAKER_01: And bring us some of that other stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And we got an entree, and we got done.
SPEAKER_01: And let's go outside on the deck.
SPEAKER_01: I want to smoke a cigarette for dessert.
SPEAKER_01: Just what I wanted, Bob.
SPEAKER_01: Secondhand smoke.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So I go out there, we hang out.
SPEAKER_01: Over a year later, Bob's diagnosed and dying.
SPEAKER_01: He's got two months to live.
SPEAKER_01: I called him up.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Bob, what can I do to bless you?
SPEAKER_01: Take me to top water grill.
SPEAKER_01: So we go top water grill.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Bob, I'm paying.
SPEAKER_01: You bought last time.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, All right, I want these three appetizers.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.
SPEAKER_01: And he looked at me after he ate his entree.
SPEAKER_01: He had some kind of shrimp thing.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, You wouldn't deprive a dying man of dessert, would you?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, No, we'll go outside.
SPEAKER_01: You can smoke.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: I want dessert and then I want to go smoke.
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: He was ready to share.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_01: Because when I first met Bob, he made me uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: Not because he was wrong or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: I just wasn't ready to share.
SPEAKER_01: I would fly into places, speak, fly home.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have to share myself, those people.
SPEAKER_01: I mean Detroit.
SPEAKER_01: Next week I'm in California.
SPEAKER_01: Next week I'm in North Carolina.
SPEAKER_01: Next week I'm in Florida.
SPEAKER_01: Bob Hamilton, he was ready to share.
SPEAKER_01: What you doing on Tuesday?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, Bob.
SPEAKER_01: Let's spend some time together.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Imagine saying the Bible thinking, why?
SPEAKER_01: Just because we're friends.
SPEAKER_01: He was messy.
SPEAKER_01: Called me one night from the Colorado Club up here on 59.
SPEAKER_01: If you know what the Colorado Club is, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: He called me.
SPEAKER_01: Bob, what's that music?
SPEAKER_01: I'm getting at the Colorado Club sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: No, you're not.
SPEAKER_01: Get out of there.
SPEAKER_01: The next Sunday?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not making this up.
SPEAKER_01: See, we're not on the internet, so I can tell you stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sitting right back over there.
SPEAKER_01: We're in this building now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sitting right back over there.
SPEAKER_01: During worship, Bob just walks back there.
SPEAKER_01: He's sobbing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh God, here he comes.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife just giggled and he's like, come here, come here.
SPEAKER_01: Grabs me, marches me down in front of everybody, kneels down on the altar, sobbing uncontrollably.
SPEAKER_01: And like, yeah, I I just wanted to go in that place and I use Jesus as an excuse.
SPEAKER_01: Could you ever forgive me?
SPEAKER_01: Because he called me and he said, Hey, destiny and mystique, they need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Bob, put Mystique on the phone.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Hey, he's a good guy.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes he he lays down his discernment to be good.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: So if you get money from that guy, God might smite you.
SPEAKER_01: You tell him to leave.
SPEAKER_01: He got a wife.
SPEAKER_01: And she was like, okay.
SPEAKER_01: He was just ready to share.
SPEAKER_01: His self and his stuff.
SPEAKER_01: See, if you're gonna be the church, you're gonna have to share yourself and your stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Don't go down there and witness to mystique and destiny.
SPEAKER_01: That ain't part of it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: And then the Bible says this crazy thing, and we'll be done.
SPEAKER_01: You still with me?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all done got me worked up and I've gone over again.
SPEAKER_01: Man.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what it says.
SPEAKER_01: After it says all that stuff, it says they're to do good, be rich in good works, be generous, ready to share.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19, thus, storing up treasure for themselves is a good foundation for the future, so they may take hold of that which is truly life.
SPEAKER_01: Thus, storing up treasure for themselves is a good foundation.
SPEAKER_01: Not about buying your way into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You should have people in your life who ask you eternal questions like, How much treasure do you think you've stored up for yourself?
SPEAKER_01: What kind of foundation have you laid for your future?
SPEAKER_01: 1987.
SPEAKER_01: Read a book called Desiring God, Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.
SPEAKER_01: I was in college.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I made my brain hurt.
SPEAKER_01: One of the things I read in 1987 was this.
SPEAKER_01: A guy named John Piper.
SPEAKER_01: He said, the reason the use of your money provides a good foundation for eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: It's not that generosity earns eternal life, but that it shows where your heart is.
SPEAKER_01: Generosity confirms that our hope is in God and not in ourselves or our money.
SPEAKER_01: We don't earn eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: It's a gift of grace.
SPEAKER_01: We receive it by resting in God's promise.
SPEAKER_01: And then how we use our money confirms or denies the reality of that rest.
SPEAKER_01: Just ask yourself, does the way your does your theology of money does it affirm or does it deny this rest that comes from resting in God's promises?
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a guest, relax.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing dramatic is going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: We like to teach the Bible and leave you alone.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that God understands you and your words.
SPEAKER_01: And so we want you to just think and just take about a minute and just think and just ask God, okay, what do you want me to walk away from with today?
SPEAKER_01: And so let me just voice a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: God, thanks for how how how thought-provoking the Bible is.
SPEAKER_01: When it comes to money, the Bible doesn't try to beat us up and make us feel bad.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tries to set us free.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, stop feeling guilty.
SPEAKER_01: You got Christians that have less, Christians that have about average, and Christians that have a whole bunch.
SPEAKER_01: None of them.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus died for all of them.
SPEAKER_01: Money is never gonna get us an inch closer to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: But we get to live this life that says everything I have is because God richly provides me with everything.
SPEAKER_01: And he does so for me to enjoy it and to ultimately enjoy him more.
SPEAKER_01: And when we do that, God, we take hold of the life that is truly life.
SPEAKER_01: This life that is that is stained with the eternality of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's winsome and free and generous.
SPEAKER_01: And I do good deeds, not because I'm trying to work my way into heaven, but because God's been so good to me, for me to not do good deeds, I would be the biggest hypocrite anybody knew.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, let's think about these questions that come up on the screen as we think about you.
SPEAKER_01: God, the truth is that preachers have talked about tithing for years and not about money.
SPEAKER_01: And so when people get a little bit of money, they feel guilty and secretive and like, I don't want anybody to know.
SPEAKER_01: Or I just pray God you'd wash that off of us.
SPEAKER_01: Just liberate us to get busy enjoying what you provide.
SPEAKER_01: Stop envying other people and coveting what they have.
SPEAKER_01: Let's rejoice with those that rejoice and let's weep with those that weep.
SPEAKER_01: Because God, the story that you're telling is a good story.
SPEAKER_01: It's a big story, it's a deep and wide story.
SPEAKER_01: There's room for everybody in this room and their story inside your story.
SPEAKER_01: And so we love you today, God.
SPEAKER_01: Increase our capacity to enjoy you as a result of what we heard today.
SPEAKER_01: This is our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest, let me say thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_01: You're always welcome.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions about anything you saw or heard today, some of our pastors will be down front when we were dismissed here in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to answer any questions you have or pray with you if you got something going on in your life, okay?
SPEAKER_01: All we ask of you in the meantime, if you're our guest, if you pull those guest cards in the seat back pocket, fill it out if you haven't already, and drop it in one of those wooden boxes by the doors.
SPEAKER_01: And if today's the day where you realize that God's freely provided everything for you to enjoy and you want to steward that well, that's where you would do that as well.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Want to make you aware of a few things, so let's give our attention to our announcements.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: Here's some things we want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: Giving statements for 2021 are now available for the next two weeks.
SPEAKER_00: You can find yours in the line.
SPEAKER_00: D Now Weekend is happening on February 25th and 26th.
SPEAKER_00: Sign up at Grandparkway.org slash events.
SPEAKER_00: Virgil Brown is the lead pastor of Redemption Church in Portland, Oregon.
SPEAKER_00: Grandparkway is engaged with Redemption Church through support of their financial needs and mission trips.
SPEAKER_00: We are hosting a lunch on February 6th after our services to hear from Virgil how God has been at work in the life of this church.
SPEAKER_00: Register at Grandparkway.org slash events.
SPEAKER_00: The table is happening January 23rd at 6 30 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: All women are invited for an evening of worship and to have the incredible opportunity to hear from Kathy Lorzella, the co-founder of the Alander Center in Seattle, Washington.
SPEAKER_00: Come hear how God transforms the wounds of our emotional pain and trauma into unlikely guides to living out your deepest calling.
SPEAKER_00: Register for childcare at grandparkway.org slash events.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new or would like someone to pray with you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_01: Two things I want to highlight in that.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, uh, that God has so blessed you, and you're so you steward that so well that we not only pay all of our bills, build a new sanctuary, we also financially support Redemption Church in Portland, Oregon.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and and so I don't want you to think, and there's we have other missional parts.
SPEAKER_01: We support missionaries in France, we support people all over the place.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's not about, oh, yeah, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: It's about God richly provides everything for us to enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so Virgil will be here in a couple weeks.
SPEAKER_01: I want to highlight that.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, I want to highlight the table.
SPEAKER_01: Ladies, next Sunday night, do not miss.
SPEAKER_01: Kathy Lorzelle is a brilliant thinker, uh, but she's accessible.
SPEAKER_01: She's not gonna talk over your head.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, she specializes in this fact that everybody's had some things in their past that happened that were traumatic or negative or just didn't feel good.
SPEAKER_01: And she talks about how you can kind of use that as a pathway to where God wants you to be.
SPEAKER_01: It's next Sunday night, 6:30, right here in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_01: It's women only.
SPEAKER_01: Some man said, Well, can I just sit in and audit that class?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: No, don't be a creeper, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's all.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's women only.
SPEAKER_01: Uh 6:30 to 8, but my wife didn't get home to 10.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what y'all do from 8 to 10, but anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we stood in the parking lot and dog.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Uh so great opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Do not miss that, all right?
SPEAKER_01: We're about to conclude our service with smoking blessings, so stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.