Good Ground, Good News | Kingdom vs. Mammon - Pastor Scott Silcox

We open the Bible to Matthew 6 and 2 Corinthians 9 and let them expose the real fight behind our finances: trust in the Father or trust in fear. We challenge mammon as a rival master, then pray for courage, repentance, and open-handed obedience that makes room for God’s provision and purpose. 

• Abundance as a blessing meant to bless others 
• Priorities in the kingdom shaping every dollar 
• Stewardship mindset that refuses self-made pride 
• Treasure as a heart indicator and a practical audit 
• Serving God versus serving mammon as a real tension 
• Sowing and reaping as worship rather than pressure 
• Planned generosity instead of accidental generosity 
• Provision posture purpose as the order of kingdom giving 
• Cheerful giving that offers God our best 
• Jewish covenant lens in Matthew 6 and the shock of deifying mammon 
• Roman patronage culture and the temptation to give for credit 
• Kingdom versus mammon as two systems of security 
• Repentance as the fastest way back to trust 
• Dismantling stored security and self-protection agreements 
• Faith that works and refuses laziness 

Transcript

Welcome To The Rock Family

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamily.tv. Now join us for a message from Pastor Scott Silcox.

Treasures In Heaven And Two Masters

Your Bank Statement Tells On You

Sowing Cheerfully And Planning To Give

Trusting Fear Or Trusting The Father

Provision Posture Purpose Of Generosity

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Open up to Matthew 6, 2 Corinthians 9, these two passages of scripture. Now you can just bookmark those, go back and read them. You're familiar with both of these already, but I just want to highlight some important things that I think are going to be really important for us as we move into this. How many know that what we learned in our first week of this series was there's an there is an abundance that Christ wants, that God wants to give to us and wants us to operate from. There's an abundance. Abundance. Pastor Larry Stocksdale talked about this, the importance of abundance and how God is blessing people so that they can be a blessing. Second week, best yet, was my wife. How to prioritize your finances. What's important, what's first? Not what's second, what's first? If what you're doing for the kingdom is down at like like number two, three, four, five, or anything other than first, then it's out of line, out of alignment. Priorities matter in the kingdom. Amen? Priorities matter. And in having a heart of generosity, there has to be a priority there. Right? We have to learn that. Third thing we learned last week is what? The mindset that is needed for stewardship. The stewardship mindset. How do I have to think about money and finances so that I can be and do what he says is my job, which is to steward the resources that he's placed in my hand. How many know that no matter how hard we're working, no matter how much that comes into me, it didn't come because you were great, it came because he's faithful. The origination of the blessing on our life comes from him. And anytime we substitute that with effort over dependency on him, we're out of alignment. And so we have to get in the way of what is the mindset I need to steward my finances well. Now, are you guys okay with this? We teach the whole Bible here. And so we just happened to land in this month where we're talking about this because we believe that the full discipleship and the full development of the believer is going to have to dig deep into how we steward our money. We're doing an entire weekend just dedicated to putting resources in your hand, which I encourage you, please take advantage of. It's an opportunity for you to get lessons, teaching, training, development, just community. If nothing else, you just get in the right room. And if nothing else, it'll just spill off on you a little something. Right? Something that you maybe didn't know that you can know. So we're going to do all the practical things, but I want to get you in the mindset of how is the Bible framing this. And it's very interesting because the two passages of scripture that I've I mentioned today, they are kind of like uh this. They're kind of hand in hand, and I want to bridge them together for you because you both have read them separately, but they actually are doing very similar things, just with two different audiences. Same concept, two different audiences. Matthew 6 is primarily a Jewish audience. It's who Christ is talking to with his disciples. They have one way of thinking. They're operating from a totally different perspective than what Paul is writing to in Corinth, right? Which what he's writing to is mainly Gentile. It's Roman. It's altogether a worldly mindset. Their view of generosity looks totally different from each other. But I'm going to show you what Jesus establishes in Matthew 6 gets carried over by Paul with like a little extra. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Is that okay? So I'm going to read a couple scriptures to us today because how many know it's important to start with the scripture. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Alright. Says this do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, what? There your heart will be also. There your heart will be also. We could just stop right there and just talk about how we prioritize what we give to, where we spend our time, where we spend our effort, is an indicator of the heart. Alright, so this is a little fun trick that we're gonna do. Everybody just pull out your phones, go to your little bank account, and let's see the first 10 transactions of this month. Come on, somebody. My wife and I do this often where you go back and say, What happened this month? What happened? And then we're like, well, let's take a look. And then I'm like, let's not. Let's not let's not look. Let's just do better next month. Isn't that what we do? We'll do better next month. We don't need to look at it. Right? And then we see something. We see something, probably not in your case, but in our case, we see a pattern. We're eating all the things. Come on, somebody. When I was a kid, I loved McDonald's. I did. When I was a kid, I loved McDonald's. Is anybody else? Does anyone remember when McDonald's sold real food? Do you remember that? Okay. That's what I'm talking about. There was a day, see, they've tricked us now. We're all eating plastic and stuff now, but there was a day where it was awesome. Right? The fries were like. But now I'm older and now I eat more expensive things. Because I can. Like Chick-fil-A. Come on, somebody. If you look at my first 100 transactions, fifty-three of those are Chick-fil-A. It's just like it's what we've been doing. The other go to Micah for our haircuts. Whom I see has returned from his honeymoon. And now I can get my hair cut again. No, you see what I'm saying? Where is our treasure going? It's an indicator of the heart. I didn't say this is what the Lord is saying. Verse 22. Go to that one real quick. We'll pick up verse 22. I don't I almost I just feel like I have to look at this or it doesn't work right. Here we go. And no, it doesn't want to do it. It doesn't. That's 2 Corinthians. We'll go one more. Okay. You don't patronize me like that, dude. I mean, what are we doing? Ann Chant USA, what's wrong with y'all? What a rebellious congregation. My gosh. The eye is not the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, excuse me, the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of what? Yeah, so if then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness in you. Verse 24, no one can serve. This is one we know, right? This is our anchor down, right? No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. And here it is, here it is. Underline it, circle it, circle it. It's probably already lit up in your phone, and that is this. You cannot serve God and money, mammon. Right? You cannot serve those. Cannot serve both. The tension is there. So this is the tension that Jesus is trying to get down to with the disciples. And I'm gonna get to something very important about that because you have to understand the context. Before I do that, let's go ahead and go into 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians 9. We're gonna start at verse 6. Verse 6. Here we go. And it says, The point is this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, but for what? God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Right? Let's go to the next one. Verse 9. Verse 9, as it is written, He has distributed what? Freely, He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the harvest of your righteousness, and you will be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. These are some powerful anchors, isn't it? Great messaging. And what Paul is writing to is the Corinth church who is preparing an offering to give. They've already promised it. Paul's saying, I'm coming to pick it up, but this is just my friendly letter to get in front of it to make sure that it's all pulled together. That's what he's doing. He's saying, I just want to make sure it's pulled together because what I don't want is to show up with my buddies whom I've been bragging on you about and you not be ready to give. Because if I show up in that case, then the people have to give out of obligation, not because they made preparation. How often we approach giving as a, oh, you caught me, and I guess I do have an extra couple of dollars I can give. That's not us planning to advance the kingdom, that's us accidentally advancing the kingdom. That's intersecting with uh, oh yeah, you caught me. This is what used to happen. Somebody used to make this joke. Do you guys remember Philip Cameron? You guys remember Philip Cameron, an amazing minister, right? He was doing a lot of things with the girls in Moldova and stuff like that. How many know that there were times where people would just not come to service because they knew he was gonna be in the room? If if Philip Cameron's coming, people would get sick. I'm not feeling well, I'm not gonna be able to be there today. No, you know good and well. Philip Cameron's gonna talk, and your your wallet's gonna get out of your pants and walk up there and give itself to Philip. That's just the way it was gonna be. Some people just have a gift of sharing the story, and there's that conviction. So there are times that people we have a tendency to want to take steps away from what is our responsibility in terms of advancing the kingdom. This is why he gave it to us. This is why we are blessed. This is why God is giving to us so that we can be a blessing to others. And this whole passage, Paul is trying to put an emphasis on them understanding that he gives seed to what? The sower. That in your minds, in your Roman minds, you think you have it for status. You give for glory, you give for position. Paul's trying to help them understand in the early start of the church, is saying, hey, no, hold up. There's something else at work. It's generosity. Here's the problem. The tension we're feeling is trust. I'm gonna walk through this with you. It says this trusting God or trusting fear. Here's the thing why can God's people live generously without fear? Why can they live? This is a question we're answering today. Matthew 6, Jesus answers it like this, because your father provides. Matthew 6, because your pro your father provides. Yeah, but you don't know. I don't trust people. Yeah, yeah, see, you you you you don't trust the Lord. You you keep saying it's people, but but it's really the Lord because our giving is to Him, not to people. And so the tension is I I'm lacking trust because my emphasis is trying to keep all that I have so that I can remain as long as I can, so that I have what we'll tell ourselves, so we can give it away to people who will not appreciate it later anyway. Because they don't understand the value either. This is uh this is hard, this is it's gonna be okay, I promise you. Like the the sugar's coming, okay? This is just the medicine part, but the sugar's coming, okay? All right, but this is true, and this is what he's trying to get the people to understand. But in Corinth, Paul answers it like this He says, because God multiplies your your release. This is a this is a concept that he's saying. It's like, yes, it is that Father provides, but also in your obedience to let it go. There is multiplication, there is there's growth on your ability to trust him to keep your hands open. When I keep my hands open, I'm both in in I am in a neutral position that is both giving and receiving. Do you notice this? When we stay hands open with the Father, he can get things through and to me. All at the same time. When I stay closed, there's only one way. Out, not in. You can't hand somebody that don't want to be handed something. Right? Because I'm protecting what I do have. Okay. How do we know this, right? Paul says it in 9 11. God is able to make all grace abound to you. Right? That's what these scriptures are. Chapter 9, go through it. He supplies seed to the sower and bread for food. You will be what? Enriched in every way to be what? He's trying to get the early church to understand that if you really want to be the expression of Christ on the earth, generosity, nothing, nothing does it better than generosity. Generosity is like the beginning stages of that where the character of God gets to shine through to others. We'll believe it here in a minute, I promise. Okay, I gotta move fast, so I'm gonna go to the next one. Here's the order of kingdom generosity: provision, posture, and what? Purpose. This is the order of kingdom generosity. This is what God intended, and what Jesus was trying to get through the people of Israel to understand, and Paul trying to get to the early church in Corinth, these three things are important. Provision. God takes care of his children. I'm gonna just stop right here. If somebody in here could just get a revelation of that. Because oftentimes we approach the Bible because we come to the Bible with our problems in hand, our hurts and our failures, our expectations, our anxieties, and we come to the Bible, and instead of letting the Bible cast light on the dark shadows of our life, we bring the dark shadows and filter the light. We read scripture like this and we say, not for me. Well, you you don't know who I am, you don't know what I've done, you don't know my parents didn't model this for me. See, these are all good, valid, if you're looking at through the lens of man. But you're not, because you're looking through it, should be looking through it, as son and daughter.

unknown 17:16

Okay.

Why Mammon Feels Like A God

Rome’s Honor Culture Versus Kingdom Giving

Two Systems Of Security

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Come on, listen. There's a way to approach him in our finances that we're not doing. We keep trying to hide ourselves, right? Come on, Adam and Eve. We keep trying to hide our insecurity, but he's simply saying God takes care of his children. So the primary question you've got to ask yourself, am I a child of God? If you don't have that buttoned up, right, then you will be leaking in resource. You will have, you will, it will feel like things are just disappearing all around you because you don't have this one fundamental truth locked in, and that is, am I his? Or am I mine? Do I belong to me or do I belong to him? And from that posture, you will motivate every dollar that comes through your hands. Every hour that passes through your hands will be filtered. Is it mine or is it his? And if it's his, he can be trusted. This is what Matthew 6 is what God is saying about what Jesus is saying about himself. Posture. God loves a cheerful giver. Come on, just give me your best smile. You should smile. Not even taking an offering today, not even doing an extra thing. This is just smile. He loves a cheerful giver. He loves a cheerful giver. We're learning this lesson in our house. I learned it the hard way myself from my older sister. Who she would get a Coke, and as a kid, that was special in our house. She got was old enough to buy one. We we didn't we didn't get them. Me and my other sister, we were just like, when they came in the house though, they were like special, like, oh my gosh. And then Delisca would have a Coke and be like, Can I have a sip? Can I just have a sip? I'm I'm seven years old, six years. Can I just have a sip? A sip. That's all I'm asking for. I just need a sip. Did anybody know what I'm talking about? Y'all, y'all ever had that? We're just, I need a sip. Please, just one sip. And she'd be like, okay, okay. I'm saving you one. I'm like, okay, okay. And then I'd be like, woo, I'd be off, I'm jacked up excited. Like, I'm getting the sip. I'm getting the sip. I'm getting. And so like, instead of like walking off, I stayed like, like, this is her. I was, I would like, uh, it now, now, I have that sip now? Just a minute, just a minute, just a minute. Oh my gosh. I would just, as seven, I was, I was beside myself, I'm about to get this sip. But what I I was so silly, I was so silly as a little boy, I didn't realize she was drinking that thing all the way down to all that is left is backwash. Coke that had gone in and out has has already been drunk 42 times. And there sat at the bottom, my sip. I I didn't know for years what coke really tasted like. Just just I just thought this was Coke and it was amazing. It was not. It was yeah, it passed by a Coke once, but how many know that when we're talking about generosity, he's not looking for our backwash. Right? Uh the the need isn't the backwasher, it's the it's the yeah. I had this with my kid the other day, and we learned the lesson. I was so proud of him. But but this played out in my car, and I'm like, oh, I've been here. I could hear it playing out in the back seat, I could hear it, and I was just waiting to see. And and we we didn't we didn't pass the test. We did not pass the test the first time. But later that evening, after a good, we did pass it eventually. But the point is, it's like I'm just I'm not gonna tell on them, but I'm just saying, we did pass. Cheerful. One of the things that I was trying to make a point to to my kids is like, is like, it's not gonna take from you by letting them have something now. And in fact, you're gonna find out that by letting your sister have a sip of that because you know how to share, you know how to be like Christ in your family, we prefer one another, right? By doing that, you're gonna find out by the time you get to the bottom, you're gonna forgot that you even gave a sip away. You're not gonna be one sip less full. You're not gonna be one sip less full. You're not gonna sit around and if I had just had one more sip, I would have been satisfied. And so better to go ahead and do it on the front end. What does it do? Keeps peace in the car, lets her know, right? That that someone loves her, that was prioritizing something that she wants. I didn't say give her the whole thing, it's yours. But are y'all tracking with me today? Cheerfully give. Cheerfully give. God, you don't have to take this money out of my hands. It's yours anyway. It's yours anyway. It's yours anyway. It's a thing, guys. I'm trying to tell you. Okay, purpose. How many know that kingdom giving is attached to something? Kingdom giving isn't for nothing. And that I think sometimes we think, oh, that they just want us to give, and we don't even know. Just giant vats and barrels of money sitting around. Like, are y'all serious right now? No, no, no. There's purpose behind it. There's homes to be built, there's people to minister to, there's the widow to take care of, there's the orphan to figure out stuff for. We're clothing people in our neighborhoods. We're feeding thousands of people in this city every single day. We're providing backpacks, we're providing help in so many areas that I can't even cover them all. From moms who need to just who maybe had a baby out of wedlock that just don't know how to get started. Guess what? We have a whole room dedicated for this. Come and get the resources. Why? Because we want to be generous. The church should be the most generous people ever. Ever. It should come so natural to us. Why? Because we read about it, it says God's generosity reaches to others. 2 Corinthians 9, right? It's what Paul is trying to get them to understand. What you're doing is for your brothers who you will probably never see. He's getting them to understand something. There's a, there's a, there's your brother. There's Jewish brothers you're raising money for. There's widows we're going to take care of that you're never going to see, but they don't have to see them to be bought into the vision. Paul's getting them to understand this now, because how many know it's not only just going to cost you in dollars in their world, it's going to cost them their lives. That's a totally different thing, isn't it? But it's going to cost them not just in money, it's going to cost their lives to stand for the gospel's sake. And if they're stingy with their money, then they'll be stingy with their life. If they're stingy with their money, they'll be stingy with the message of Christ. And the thing that's going to transform the world is the message of Christ. So the stinginess can sink down into all the other areas. Oh. Come on. Tell your neighbor, don't be stingy with the gospel. Don't be stingy with the gospel. Here's something interesting. This is how a Jewish audience hears Matthew 6. Now, this is important because you need to understand. Jesus is talking to a Jewish audience. He says something that I just want to bring your attention to. I think it's fascinating. But it's this they would have already had the understanding of this. True righteousness versus what? Pharasidic display. He's trying to tell them, if you'll pay attention to what I'm saying, what they're doing, meaning giving so that they can be seen. That's not what I'm trying to tell you to do. I'm not saying to live opulently around people and be like, see, look at the blessing of the Lord. No, what I'm trying to tell you is this righteousness is the motivator. Can you hear it? Righteousness is the motivator. How about this one? God as covenant father and provider. They would absolutely have that in their understanding. If you could take yourself back, sit down around the feet of Christ, you're in Jerusalem, you're in Israel, you're sitting with Christ, you would already understand this. This is this is done. This is they're working from this is in the done column. Does that make sense? So you have to hear this because it's important. Wealth as a what? The truest test. It's a test. I wonder how much I'm getting tested even now. With what God's entrusted to me, how is it changing the world around me? Will I look up and say, look at what I was able to do for me? Or will I be able to look up and say, look at where I look how I partnered with advancing the kingdom. This is what he's doing. And he's using everything. It's not just our money, but our influence, our time, our come on, somebody. All of it. Kingdom loyalty versus mammon. He's teaching this. Now this is important. This is important. Why is this important? Because he says something so radical. It's so radical. It's so out of bounds. And this is what I love about Jesus when he writes. He's doing things all the time, Cole, that are just nuts. And this is why he ends up getting hunted, by the way. This is why they want to crucify him, because he's talking out of his head. Or so they think. Because what he does in this passage, he deifies mammon. He deifies it. He makes a God out of it. In the same sentence, he uses God as one father, as one Lord, and he says, as master or mammon as master. He deifies money. It's not just a little resource. Now why does that matter? Because if you're a Jew, you've been practicing the Shema. Every day. You've been holding your right hand over your eyes and praying the Shema. You know what I'm talking about? Adam does. He just got back from Israel. Right? One God. You alone. We are unified, one God. You are our God. That's the prayer. Every single day. Morning and night. So why would that have been so shocking to his audience? Wait, hold up. You're implying one or two things. That God we've been dedicating our prayer life to is in full stature. You're implying that some of us are not. We're saying the Shema, but we're living with the master of money as our. This is a radical because they're like, wait, hold up. You're talking about everything I've ever known is being confronted. This is how serious it was when he's talking about it. This is no small thing. This is him trying to shake them to say, do not find yourself here. Be the true Israel. Be the people I called you out to be. Sadly, you're compromising it with your money, your love of it, your desire for it, because it now has become the provider. And what Jesus paid for was to restore us back to the garden. Intimacy with him, where he was the sole provider, the one we depend on. You see why this would be important? He's got to get them to understand that there's a way to do this, right? He's saying this be the true Israel, trusting the Father, not wealth. Jesus. This is kind of what Jesus said. I quoted it like it was him, but this is what he's saying in Matthew 6. So what is Paul saying so we can kind of see a contrast here? How Gentiles would hear 2 Corinthians 9. It would be it would be odd to hear this. There's grace, participation, sowing in worship. Sowing is worship. What? Sowing is worship? That doesn't mean Thanksgiving? Now why would that matter? Because you're in Rome. You're in Rome. Rome's like Las Vegas and New York and Los Angeles, just combined. It's everything you want and more. It's the melting pot of the world. There's Gentiles, there's Jews in the church, there's every race imaginable there, and they're brilliant, and they're filthy rich. They've got everything. They eat the best foods, they got the best opulent homes, baths, just lounging around. It's just grotesque what they have in terms of just blessing on blessing. And then they're just smarter than everybody. Brilliant minds that have been gathered here. This is Rome. This is who Paul's writing to because there is a impetus, this small beginnings of a church, and he's trying to get them to understand. If you give through the motivation of Rome, then you're going to miss what it is that God's actually trying to do. I don't come to you because I need the gift for Jerusalem. I come to you because you have to learn the discipline of giving. And you have to learn it through the right filter. That's what he's trying to do. So instead of Roman uh patronage, which is what? Give to gain honor. Their motivation is to give to gain honor, give to get respect. So what Paul doesn't want him to do is to go through the church and say, all right, everybody, we're going to be the best church in the world. We're going to get all the glory. We're going to do what we do here in Rome, right? We're going to just gonna embarrass people with the riches that we raise. And I would like also for you to put my name on it. Because that motivation is giving with credit. I want the credit. I want it to be known so that whenever I come across my brothers in Christ, even if it's in heaven, I want them to know you have me to thank for that. This is the motivation. Why Paul is using the language he's using, it's not that he is separating himself from God the provider. He's trying to get them to understand that if we already know he's the provider, maybe he can get through us open-handed, and then he can continue to do. And in the first passage, Jesus is, we're the bird. In the second passage, we're the seed. Go back and read it and look at it. It's important for you to get a look at this, so I'm I know I gotta hurry. Johnny, somebody, please help these people. Come play. Let them know that there's hope. This one right here, this idea that there's a grace of giving. That there is this idea that you're participating. Why is that language important? Because it's not on you. It's not on you. Do you know how many people don't give because they think it'll just be on them? No, you're participating. The beauty that we have today, 2026, Huntsville, Alabama, the Rock Family Worship Center, is that you get both of these passages. The difference between the Jewish people and Paul and Corinth is 30-ish years. That's 30-something years separating these two revelations, but they're in tandem, they're together. What Christ has said, 35, 30, or 35 years, Reese, look it up, tell me. It's near there. Hand grenades, I'm killing it right now. I'm on it. Right? But it's close. But you see, this revelation is is got that kind of distance between it. What we get fast forward is the revelation of all of it. Written down for us to live out. He is the provider, and also he will multiply my obedience. He will get the credit because it was his to begin with. And the increase, the kingdom will go forward. And I get to partner with it. This is a beautiful passage. There's beautiful ways for us to realize we're in, we're working with him. Like you're a nonprofit. You're working with him. You're not, you're not some special nonprofit. I love you, but you're just you're a guy that has a heart after the Lord who wants to advance the kingdom through something that he gifted you in, which is food. And because of that, you're able to feed people in a way that shows the character of who he is. That's like it. It's not like any other magical thing. It's just, it's it's Christians who understand who they are in Christ and leverage everything they are to see his kingdom advanced through every means possible. And I love it. Behind you, beside you. It's a good name, too. Kingdom versus Mammon. Here's takeaways I want us to take away from today. I want you to think through this. First of all, kingdom versus mammon, it's two systems of security. Two systems of security. Where is your security today? Where is it? Is it in Christ? Or is it holding on to everything you get? Is it you just trying to protect what you have? Or is it God is a good father and because I'm his son and because I'm his daughter, it pleases him? Any moms and dads in here? Come on, don't be ashamed of your kids now. Come on. People are like, I don't know. Is there anything more rewarding than watching your kids do cool things?

unknown 37:22

Grandkids.

Repentance Rebuilds Trust With God

Dismantling Self Protection In Finances

Yielded Prayer For Courageous Obedience

Prayer Over Hearts And Finances

SPEAKER_01 37:23

And grandkids. Yeah, grandkids are I hear they're better. So I got all these grandparents like, yeah! We love our grandkids. You know. Yeah. Yeah, we're still here, guys. No, I'm right here. That's how I feel sometimes my own parents like here I am. They're like, yeah, get out of the way. You know, is it is there anything more rewarding? Seeing your kids, the lights come on, they do something special or unique that you know they learned. And that, you know, I don't know how to explain this, but like I do I get this when I watch my kids play sports. I used to think I loved playing sports. I actually love watching my kids play sports better, and I never thought that would actually happen. Because I just loved it. I loved it myself, but now it's something about watching them, it's their fulfillment, it's their life. I I love when I see them do things the right way, and you see the growth in their life, and you're like, oh my gosh, how awesome is this? For every like bad thing, there's this like amazing things that redeem all of that. Right? The way uh when when when when you see your your your son or your daughter uh uh respond to the other parent in an appropriate way, right? Or just like you you you catch eyes and then they're all snuggled up and they're all sweet, and you're just like, they're amazing. They're amazing. There's that sense. Do you know that when God looks on us, he is not looking through the filter of you as a failure? He's actually not looking at you through the view of, well, if you knew how to if you knew how to manage your time and your money, I'd give you more. No, he doesn't look like this. He knows what you're capable of, and he keeps his eye on that. Come on, let that sink in. He knows what you're capable of. He knows, come on, listen. He knows who you have the potential to be, and so he stays fixed on it. He isn't, he isn't, you know, man, y'all just didn't get it right this time, so you're not getting any more. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's looking for interaction of obedience to him, yieldedness to him, repentance. Can we talk about that? You know, you know, the best way for us to regain our trust with the Lord is start with repentance. I I mean, I know that you find this hard to believe. You're not perfect. You're just not. You're not. You ain't getting it right all the time. Sometimes it's really helpful for you to just take the time and just say, God, hey, I'm asking you to just forgive me. I don't even know. God, I feel like I've I overstepped in this area. I feel like I just I didn't manage this right. And here I am trying to hide from you, acting like I am. This is me trying to act like, you know, don't look at my bank statement, God. He's not. He's looking at your heart. He's looking at your heart. Covenant trust versus stored security. I don't know. I just try to come up with a decent way to say that. Maybe it doesn't sound that that good, but covenant trust versus stored security. What is covenant trust? It's dependence on God. Stored security, self-secured life. I'm in control of me. I'm gonna make my way, I'm gonna do it my way, I'm gonna do it the way I need to do it. I'm gonna protect my house, I'm gonna do my things. And this this is nothing wrong for taking responsibility of what God's placed in your hands. What the problem is, is that responsibility starts to cloak itself in being Lord. And you become Lord over everything, which means you begin to Lord over everything, which means that's usually a good sign of someone who's moved themselves into lordship is someone who's likely quick-tempered, super quick to jump into something, constantly looking for the next big thing without prayer. Constantly looking for the next. Look, how many YouTubes you've watched of ways that you can invest in finance and get an Amazon uh uh I just need to make an extra, yeah, I got an Amazon uh uh store. Come on, I'm just telling you, it's all out there for you. It's all out there to bait us into being our own Lord. If you really understand this, is that what the enemy is constantly trying to do, he is not trying to make you poor. He's trying to make you Lord. He wants you to believe your Lord. He's only going to impress upon you what got him kicked out of heaven. He wanted to be Lord. And there's only one room and one position available for that. Alright? So if you go back and you can look, how I have been being moved around is oftentimes is to get my heart on something other than what's on his heart. Does that make sense? Dismantle wealth security. This is a prayer I'm gonna pray over us today. Because I do believe this. Anything that is on your life is is on your life because you mantled it onto your life. Let me say it like this. Mantle is a terrible, it's an older word nobody uses. You've agreed with it. You've made an agreement in in your finances, you made an agreement in your mind, in your spirit. Like, for instance, agreements like this. Uh, because I didn't have, I'm going to fill in the blanks. Um, because I'm afraid uh my husband won't provide what he needs to provide, I'm going to low-key make provision for myself in ways so that when he doesn't do what I know he's not gonna do, I'll have a way out. So this is that's real. I'm gonna do not I'm gonna come and pray and we're gonna get a strategy with the Lord. I'm just gonna figure out how to come on, some I I'm just gonna say this because it needs to be said in here, okay? Listen, some some of you moms, some of you wives are working harder than you really are supposed to. And so this is me saying to the men, like, like, pull up the bootstraps, repent to your wife and to the Lord, and to your kids if you need to. Come on. And then ask the Lord with your family on a on a plan that He wants to bring you out of that place where you're just allowing everyone else to work around you and you're not willing to do it. Come on, somebody. I'm telling you, this is this is a thing. You have to be confronted with the Lord on this. This is so real in our world right now, you're seeing this play out. I'll tell you how it's playing out. You ready? Do you know that there are more people, more young people refusing to get married right now at a young age? And you know what actually this attributes to it. This is actually part of the reason. It's because the way they've seen lived out in their family home, they don't want to put themselves into it. And so they're giving themselves permission to stay longer so they can be more successful, more established, so that when they do marry, they don't have to worry as much. Guys, I'm I'm just telling you this is this is real talk. And that and that all boils back down to this dismantle. We got to dismantle that, amen. How many of you want that broken off your life? I'm just saying, like, any okay, how about this? How about those who say who say, I just every single month there's more bills and more months than there is money, right? If that's the case every single month, how many know there's months where you're just strapped? I can't, I let everybody's gonna go through that. Everybody's gonna go through that. Right? So I don't feel sorry for everybody that has to go through that periodically. That's just gonna happen. But but when that's consistent for long periods of time, a year, two years, three years, now we're really in. How many know there's probably some unholy alignment somewhere? And that's either in some things I'm doing on the side, that's some bad investment advice I've been given, that's me not being transparent in my home, that's not me getting the help I need when I know I need it, it's me trying to fig leave myself through life. And I got great news for you today. Jesus has an answer for all of it. Jesus has an answer for all of it. The revelation that He's given to the disciples is there. He said, I'm a good father. Trust me. Put your faith in me, put your hope in me. Don't be lazy. Come on, faith isn't lazy. Somebody's typed that in their phone. You need to write that on a on a little posty, stick it in your car. Faith is not lazy. Don't don't pass off faith as lazy. I'm just having faith. No, you're not. Get a J O B. No, you're not. Get a job. Get a job. Get a job. Have faith enough for that. How's it? We have faith that he'll show up with a magic money that drops from the ceiling, but we won't have faith that it'll open up a door of opportunity for you to work. Jesus forms the heart, but Paul directs the hands. The beauty that we have today is this. We have both. Jesus is directing our heart posture. Paul's teaching to the Corinth is to say how that heart posture is to manifest in life. How can this come out and through me to be a blessing to somebody? Does that make sense? Would you stand to your feet? Thank you for your patience today for us getting through that, but it's important, amen. Guys, the stuff that we're talking through is critical. The next phase of this series, we're going into good ground. Good ground. The good news. It's good news. But the idea is this. We're moving into where generosity is not just generosity for my money. Please, if you can, just I want to pray over you before you leave. I know you gotta go. I know you're hungry. I know you're hungry. But I want to pray over you. I genuinely want to pray over you because I want to dismantle some of the lies. I want to partner with the Lord and give him an opportunity to take and lift off some of the nonsense. Amen. We want breakthrough in our life. I want to see families who are thriving as family units, but how many know that's hard when there's such a heavy burden on the financial piece? I just, I'm just, I'm, I'm doing it myself today, this morning. We're gonna do it again. Lord, I'm I've just put put it on the altar again. This is yours. God, I'm not gonna be the Lord of my life. You already have that role. I don't need it. I already gave up that kind of control. What I'm asking for is the grace, the courage, courage. The courage to be obedient when you speak. That's my prayer. I want the courage and the grace to be obedient when you speak. Tell us what to do, Lord. And that's gonna take humbling our hearts, isn't it? It's gonna take humbling our hearts to each other and to the Lord. If you're here today and you say, hey, that's me, man, I'm asking you, would you pray for me when you pray? Is there anybody else here that would like me to pray for them as we're praying today? One, great. Two, there's three. Okay, there's a handful. They're getting more. There's more. Good, good, excellent, excellent. Don't have to know anybody's business, it doesn't matter. This is a yielding opportunity. That's all I'm talking about. It's a yielded. God, I am yielding every area of my life, and specifically as it concerns the finances of my life today. I'm giving up control. I'm inviting you back in to control it, and I'm asking you to give me the grace and the courage to be obedient when you speak. See how easy that is? Can we just get our heart around that? Heavenly Father, we love you today. God, we do honor you. We thank you for your mercy, for your grace, because it is sufficient. It's sufficient. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in this room that is hidden from you. Forgive us for trying to hide. Forgive us for trying to be our own Lord. Forgive us for trying to rule and reign from a perspective that wasn't submitted to your Lordship. God, we step down from the throne of our hearts and we replace you. We ask you to take your seat again. God, we ask you for our lives personally, for our salvation. You've already secured it through your Son Jesus. Now, Lord, we're asking you to manifest it through every area of our life. In this area specifically of finances, God, we submit it to you afresh and anew. God, we don't claim to have all wisdom, all understanding. God, we do have a submitted heart. We're asking you, God, as we give you access to that, give us a grace, God, that is supernatural. God, we're asking you for radical obedience as we step out and respond to your prompting. God, our our ask today is for courage to say yes when you say go, or when you say stop, or when you say go left, or you say go right. God, in whatever area that you see fit, we give you, Holy Spirit, access to our hearts to guide and direct us in our finances, in our relationships, in our businesses, in our dreams, our ideas, our grandiose visions that we've been sitting on, God. We ask you to help us steward all of those things better than we're capable of doing on our own. We yield ourselves to you today. God, we we resonate with your message to your disciples. You are a good father, you are a provider, you have made way, you are trustworthy, and we are your children. And because of that, you see us. You see us who we are, you see who we're striving to be. And God, it pleases you when you see us move in obedience. God, that's our desire today to always, always make you proud. God, I thank you for your people today. I thank you. God, we just dismantle the lies of the enemy that have been crippling our people from moving forward with you. We we lift off every stronghold over families who have believed lies, who have made commitments in their minds and their hearts, who have tried to self-protect in the spirit of good decisions, of safety, of control. God, we we ask you forgive us. And would you would you rush in and would you help us move forward in what you've called us to be and to do? God, I thank you today that today the lie of the enemy is broken off of your people. God, we thank you that that in this posture, when you increase, you will also increase our capacity to steward more and better. God, we're not asking for an increase for the sake of money, just to have it, not to store up. No, we're asking, God, in the same way you increase the flow of finances, you increase our willingness to be obedient. And in that place, we stay open-handed. Everything that can pass through our hands to advance your kingdom. And God, we know this. This is not dependent on us, it is not riding on us. It's already done. And God, we stand in it today. And we thank you for what you're doing in Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen.

Blessing And How To Stay Connected

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