WEBVTT

00:00.000 --> 00:01.620
Well, how's everybody this morning?

00:07.020 --> 00:13.260
You know, sometimes I get on Pastor Igor's case on that.

00:16.870 --> 00:19.490
Because sometimes we ask those kind of questions.

00:20.830 --> 00:23.590
Just, how are you doing? We don't really want to know.

00:24.030 --> 00:26.030
It's just a greeting.

00:29.210 --> 00:35.290
I threaten to say, I can't do it because it's a bad confession.

00:35.870 --> 00:38.910
But I'm threatened to say, I'm horrible, man. Everything's going wrong.

00:39.030 --> 00:39.970
It's just falling apart.

00:40.490 --> 00:43.110
And see what a person does when they say, how are you doing, Pastor?

00:43.310 --> 00:45.210
It's just horrible. I mean, everything's going south.

00:45.910 --> 00:47.330
And see what they do with that.

00:49.170 --> 00:54.550
Because we usually ask the question and we don't want anything but a positive answer.

00:54.730 --> 00:55.630
Like, oh good, great.

00:58.410 --> 01:00.130
So you got something else to think about?

01:01.550 --> 01:04.010
All right, this morning we're going to review

01:04.990 --> 01:10.630
We're into a topic that many times people look at as being negative.

01:13.010 --> 01:14.910
Shouldn't be talked about in the church.

01:16.370 --> 01:17.630
Things like that.

01:18.390 --> 01:27.050
And it's, we're finishing a subject that the last message I spoke on it was October 12th.

01:27.130 --> 01:28.750
And of last year.

01:29.430 --> 01:32.090
And since then it's just been interrupted, interrupted, interrupted.

01:32.090 --> 01:35.150
So I've got, I'm going to get her done now between this Sunday and next Sunday.

01:35.750 --> 01:43.510
Mothers, we're going to honor you, but I will finish this just in case we hit the ditch again on my plans.

01:43.610 --> 01:45.770
And that's fine. God can do whatever he wants to do.

01:46.130 --> 01:47.430
But it's been prolonged.

01:49.890 --> 01:52.030
We've been talking about financial giving.

01:52.230 --> 01:56.950
This is the fourth in a group of series on this.

01:57.510 --> 01:59.570
And we're dealing with tithing now.

01:59.570 --> 02:04.890
And many times people look at that as being a taboo subject.

02:05.430 --> 02:06.830
You shouldn't talk about it.

02:07.210 --> 02:08.570
People get uncomfortable.

02:09.990 --> 02:12.990
And, you know, so why would you bring it up?

02:13.270 --> 02:19.430
And we're not understanding all the positive sides to it.

02:21.230 --> 02:26.610
There are a tremendous amount of benefits to financial giving.

02:29.870 --> 02:31.650
So we're going to jump back in.

02:31.790 --> 02:34.470
And since it's been over six months, coming up on seven months now,

02:35.130 --> 02:40.010
since we've touched this, I thought I better just take the whole morning and do some reviewing here.

02:40.110 --> 02:41.330
Get us back on the same page.

02:41.890 --> 02:45.490
We probably have some new people with us.

02:45.790 --> 02:47.770
So they have no clue what I talked about.

02:47.910 --> 02:54.450
So we're going to just spend this morning reviewing and talking about some of this stuff to remind us what it's all about.

02:55.570 --> 03:01.970
The first benefit in financial giving is not for God.

03:03.210 --> 03:04.270
It's for us.

03:05.370 --> 03:06.950
That's the first benefit.

03:07.610 --> 03:10.630
And it's for us in ways that many times we don't think about,

03:10.730 --> 03:14.670
because we're Americans and we're selfish and we like people to give us money,

03:14.790 --> 03:20.430
whether it be raises at work or more business in our company or whatever.

03:20.430 --> 03:24.970
But one of the things that financial giving does that benefits us,

03:26.210 --> 03:29.010
it's right there with fasting in my mind.

03:30.170 --> 03:32.130
It really challenges the flesh.

03:33.150 --> 03:37.430
Because our old nature does not want to participate.

03:39.190 --> 03:41.630
Our old nature doesn't like to fast.

03:42.350 --> 03:46.090
And our old nature does not like to let go of Abraham Lincoln.

03:47.730 --> 03:49.570
We just hang on to him.

03:50.410 --> 03:55.170
And we've got all kinds of reasons and excuses why we have to hang on to him.

03:55.770 --> 04:02.070
And one of the reasons in my opinion, and we'll give you several which fall in the same category,

04:02.590 --> 04:04.810
but one of the reasons is to challenge our flesh.

04:05.450 --> 04:08.590
It helps us grow and mature emotionally and spiritually.

04:09.690 --> 04:11.590
Folks, I don't...

04:12.410 --> 04:16.790
If I go the direction of my old nature, my fallen nature,

04:17.530 --> 04:19.210
I don't like giving any more than you do.

04:24.910 --> 04:27.110
I mean, let's be real.

04:27.370 --> 04:31.990
If you follow your old nature, it does not want to give.

04:33.850 --> 04:35.770
It'll receive real well.

04:37.010 --> 04:38.770
But it doesn't want to give.

04:40.590 --> 04:43.310
That's why it's a challenge for us.

04:43.410 --> 04:49.210
We have to step out of that realm into our new divine nature realm

04:49.210 --> 04:52.030
and start seeing things from God's perspective

04:52.030 --> 04:58.310
so that we can participate in what that divine nature is offering us.

04:58.830 --> 05:01.770
So it helps us grow emotionally and spiritually.

05:02.830 --> 05:07.290
I mean, there's times that he'll ask you to make a choice that just seems like,

05:09.190 --> 05:10.410
wow, really, God?

05:11.690 --> 05:14.510
And we're going to have one really good testimony at the end here this morning,

05:14.730 --> 05:19.150
but I've shared this before because it was so traumatic to my flesh.

05:21.030 --> 05:22.230
We were in Colorado.

05:24.950 --> 05:28.890
We had 401 or $2 in the bank.

05:32.490 --> 05:34.810
And God asked me to be in sales.

05:36.590 --> 05:39.470
It's like, God, really?

05:39.630 --> 05:42.830
And it was to teach me some things, you know, faith specifically.

05:46.370 --> 05:48.150
And we were running out of money.

05:48.750 --> 05:49.810
Call it what it is.

05:51.770 --> 05:53.810
And so we're searching and trying to say,

05:53.990 --> 05:54.890
okay, God, what do we do?

05:56.130 --> 05:58.250
And he said, here's what I want you to do.

05:59.750 --> 06:03.790
I want you to give $400 of that to a certain ministry.

06:11.020 --> 06:12.300
I knew I heard God.

06:13.160 --> 06:14.000
I didn't want to.

06:15.260 --> 06:16.880
It's like, are you serious?

06:17.020 --> 06:19.220
That's the first time he had ever asked me to do something like that.

06:20.640 --> 06:21.740
Are you serious?

06:24.400 --> 06:25.940
I'll be left with a buck or two?

06:28.220 --> 06:28.820
Rent's coming.

06:29.580 --> 06:30.360
How are we going to eat?

06:31.280 --> 06:33.900
I mean, really, God?

06:35.980 --> 06:39.420
It will challenge our old nature and our emotions.

06:40.260 --> 06:42.940
At the time, I thought, well, if we're going down,

06:43.080 --> 06:45.540
let's go down with a flame of flash, you know.

06:46.540 --> 06:47.560
Let's do it big.

06:49.480 --> 06:51.260
God did not have that intended.

06:52.240 --> 06:54.240
God had something way better intended.

06:56.220 --> 06:58.440
And as a result, you can see, we didn't go down.

07:00.260 --> 07:03.400
But by submitting number one,

07:03.560 --> 07:04.980
well, there's a number of things that happened,

07:05.040 --> 07:07.760
but the biggest thing that happened is we kicked open a door

07:07.760 --> 07:12.120
so that he could get what we needed into our hands.

07:12.740 --> 07:16.020
Because that $400, if he had just left us with that

07:16.020 --> 07:17.820
and nothing came on top of that,

07:18.080 --> 07:19.420
wouldn't have paid our bills.

07:20.320 --> 07:21.520
We needed more.

07:23.940 --> 07:25.920
So he said, kick the door open.

07:26.680 --> 07:29.320
And everything inside me, you know,

07:29.400 --> 07:31.980
if you're going to call it just really what it is,

07:32.020 --> 07:34.180
everything inside me said, this is nuts.

07:36.540 --> 07:37.920
This is...this is...

07:40.300 --> 07:40.740
Okay.

07:42.040 --> 07:43.680
But it did open avenues,

07:43.900 --> 07:45.260
and that's one of the reasons for giving,

07:45.500 --> 07:50.400
avenues of blessing that are closed if we don't do it.

07:51.320 --> 07:53.040
And I'm going to touch something next Sunday.

07:53.220 --> 07:54.300
I just mentioned it here,

07:54.300 --> 07:56.060
so it's a double thing so you remember it.

07:56.700 --> 07:58.880
We are no longer under the curse of the law.

07:59.080 --> 08:00.960
So if you don't give financially or tithe,

08:01.120 --> 08:01.940
you are not cursed.

08:05.380 --> 08:09.120
However, blessing comes with the obedience of giving.

08:10.920 --> 08:12.980
So you might say, well, I'm not cursed.

08:13.180 --> 08:13.980
Yeah, but are you blessed?

08:15.780 --> 08:18.480
You haven't opened the avenues or the doors

08:18.480 --> 08:19.920
for the blessing to come through.

08:20.800 --> 08:21.780
There is a difference,

08:21.780 --> 08:23.420
because a lot of times Christians are,

08:23.520 --> 08:25.940
are you telling me I'm cursed if I don't give?

08:27.040 --> 08:28.640
No, we're not under the law.

08:30.120 --> 08:31.800
But I am telling you this,

08:32.440 --> 08:34.380
if you don't give and open those doors,

08:34.660 --> 08:35.960
you're not going to walk in that blessing.

08:37.120 --> 08:38.260
It's just how it works.

08:39.100 --> 08:41.020
So number one, the first benefit for us,

08:41.140 --> 08:43.040
secondly, it shows God if we can,

08:43.340 --> 08:45.300
if we love him and how much we love him,

08:45.340 --> 08:46.680
I'll show you scripture in that this morning

08:46.680 --> 08:49.420
to remind you, if we can be trusted by him.

08:50.340 --> 08:53.600
And lastly, it's the way he chose to finance his kingdom

08:53.600 --> 08:56.980
to spread the gospel, provide for the ministry.

08:57.820 --> 08:59.260
And like we heard last week,

08:59.620 --> 09:03.480
it's the way that God stakes his claim in areas or territories

09:03.480 --> 09:06.600
by establishing, you could call them altars,

09:07.000 --> 09:09.080
you could, in our case, you could call them welds,

09:09.240 --> 09:09.800
it's churches.

09:11.380 --> 09:14.540
God uses it to establish churches.

09:15.640 --> 09:17.640
You know, I just heard yesterday.

09:19.560 --> 09:23.800
How, in Texas, how alarmed they are,

09:25.960 --> 09:29.300
because of the, I just got to say it the way it is,

09:29.520 --> 09:31.060
can't water it down or you won't get it,

09:31.460 --> 09:35.360
because of the Muslim influx into Dallas

09:35.360 --> 09:37.620
and some of these cities, I guess Epic City

09:37.620 --> 09:39.880
or what it's called, just received its approval

09:39.880 --> 09:43.820
and now they can build their own little compound

09:43.820 --> 09:45.440
or city setting.

09:46.200 --> 09:50.200
And some people are very, very alarmed about this

09:50.200 --> 09:53.720
and how it's, and they were, I was watching a video

09:53.720 --> 09:55.300
and they were showing the mosques.

09:55.760 --> 10:00.040
The place where the Dallas Cowboys used to train

10:00.040 --> 10:03.380
and work out and where the,

10:03.540 --> 10:05.380
both the team and the cheerleaders,

10:05.640 --> 10:07.380
it was the hub of where everything happened

10:07.380 --> 10:08.420
for the Dallas Cowboys.

10:08.900 --> 10:10.860
That's all gone now and it's a big mosque.

10:10.860 --> 10:14.380
And they were all very upset about that.

10:15.860 --> 10:18.440
Well, my mind went back to last Sunday's message.

10:19.480 --> 10:20.480
You know what they're doing?

10:21.540 --> 10:22.820
They're staking a claim.

10:23.940 --> 10:24.700
We're here.

10:25.160 --> 10:26.520
And we're here to stay.

10:28.360 --> 10:30.660
And everybody who looks in and says,

10:31.760 --> 10:34.520
you know, if they'd set up a big mosque in Cambridge,

10:35.020 --> 10:36.240
we'd say, wow.

10:37.660 --> 10:39.620
They're taking a stand like we're here.

10:40.400 --> 10:41.340
Well, exactly.

10:41.840 --> 10:43.520
That's what church buildings do also.

10:45.920 --> 10:48.720
And last Sunday's message that Josh gave,

10:48.880 --> 10:52.400
I mean, he just laid that out so clearly that,

10:52.520 --> 10:54.940
hey, one of the reasons God wants this to happen

10:54.940 --> 10:59.100
is he wants a presence of churches

10:59.100 --> 11:02.880
in lands where he is Lord.

11:05.340 --> 11:07.140
And they're doing the same thing

11:07.140 --> 11:08.200
because the principle works

11:08.200 --> 11:10.300
and they're just staking the claim in the other way.

11:11.300 --> 11:12.480
So, before we review,

11:12.620 --> 11:14.580
I want to answer a couple of questions that came in.

11:15.280 --> 11:16.220
One is common.

11:17.480 --> 11:19.240
Pastor, why are we talking about money?

11:20.700 --> 11:21.920
That's just a common one.

11:23.620 --> 11:25.760
Tied behind that was a suggestion.

11:26.620 --> 11:29.100
Wouldn't it be better to talk about something encouraging

11:29.100 --> 11:30.540
rather than money and giving?

11:33.760 --> 11:36.540
Well, what that tells me is you don't understand it yet

11:37.320 --> 11:39.720
because one of the most encouraging things is

11:39.720 --> 11:41.840
to understand this because if we know it,

11:41.900 --> 11:43.720
then you're not destroyed for lack of knowledge.

11:44.780 --> 11:47.040
Do you know that there's more Bible references?

11:47.220 --> 11:49.060
I'll give you some numbers a little later.

11:49.380 --> 11:52.520
There's more Bible references that deal with finances,

11:55.480 --> 11:57.900
wealth, lands, properties, et cetera,

11:57.980 --> 12:01.320
and how God looks at that and wants us to participate in that.

12:02.300 --> 12:05.420
It's five to one.

12:05.420 --> 12:09.500
In the Bible, that God talks about money, wealth,

12:09.760 --> 12:11.400
that realm versus love.

12:13.600 --> 12:15.400
Wouldn't it be better if we just talked about love?

12:15.800 --> 12:17.700
Well, God talked about it five times more in Scripture

12:17.700 --> 12:18.560
than he did love.

12:19.880 --> 12:21.780
So maybe we should talk about it.

12:22.360 --> 12:23.300
Well, it bothers me.

12:23.520 --> 12:24.600
Well, maybe you need to grow.

12:28.630 --> 12:31.630
Pastor Igor, he's helping teach in the Children's Church

12:31.630 --> 12:32.050
this morning.

12:32.370 --> 12:33.910
If he was here, I'd say he's Pastor Igor.

12:34.050 --> 12:34.810
That's syncretism.

12:36.110 --> 12:37.930
Have you been watching our podcast?

12:39.150 --> 12:40.230
You know what syncretism is?

12:40.450 --> 12:40.970
Come on, people.

12:42.110 --> 12:46.410
It's another way to get you a little further down the road.

12:47.350 --> 12:50.250
You've got worldviews, biblical worldview.

12:50.590 --> 12:55.490
Four percent of this nation has a scriptural biblical worldview.

12:56.970 --> 12:58.270
Four percent.

12:59.890 --> 13:01.770
And yet we're a Christian nation.

13:02.670 --> 13:04.830
The biggest thing now is syncretism.

13:05.870 --> 13:08.010
Ninety-two percent of this nation

13:08.010 --> 13:09.770
and the number is almost the same

13:09.770 --> 13:11.590
for industrialized countries around the world.

13:12.670 --> 13:15.390
People, their worldview is syncretism.

13:15.550 --> 13:16.090
What is worldview?

13:16.430 --> 13:20.090
Worldview is how we interact and exchange in life.

13:20.250 --> 13:21.030
It's what we believe.

13:21.630 --> 13:23.010
It determines what we think.

13:23.350 --> 13:24.490
It determines our decisions.

13:24.730 --> 13:26.690
It determines how we act, what we do,

13:27.030 --> 13:28.370
our goals, our priorities.

13:28.790 --> 13:30.150
It's how we view life.

13:32.430 --> 13:34.930
Syncretism is a cut-and-paste approach.

13:36.130 --> 13:39.410
You grab like a buffet or a smorgasbord.

13:39.550 --> 13:41.770
You grab the things you like from wherever.

13:42.030 --> 13:43.910
It could be eastern mysticism.

13:44.150 --> 13:44.650
It could be whatever.

13:45.030 --> 13:45.830
I like that.

13:46.170 --> 13:47.130
So I'm going to take that

13:47.130 --> 13:48.630
and bring it into my belief system.

13:48.750 --> 13:49.470
I'm going to believe that,

13:49.570 --> 13:50.750
and I like this, believe that.

13:51.110 --> 13:53.870
And so we build our own belief system

13:54.490 --> 13:56.130
of how we're going to live life

13:56.130 --> 13:59.850
and view the world through a cut-and-paste

13:59.850 --> 14:00.430
approach.

14:01.190 --> 14:02.530
And it's based on three things.

14:02.750 --> 14:04.830
Comfort, convenience, and what makes us happy.

14:10.320 --> 14:13.320
Can you imagine raising a child with that?

14:14.240 --> 14:15.800
Honey, you know everything we tell you,

14:16.040 --> 14:17.660
you just decide what you like

14:17.660 --> 14:20.100
and we'll let you live however you want

14:20.100 --> 14:22.240
to according to whatever makes you comfortable,

14:22.400 --> 14:23.580
what's convenient for you,

14:23.640 --> 14:24.540
and what makes you happy.

14:25.840 --> 14:28.480
You would raise a living terror.

14:31.470 --> 14:32.870
But that's syncretism.

14:33.050 --> 14:34.290
That's the worldview.

14:34.290 --> 14:36.290
So you say, well, I don't, you know,

14:36.350 --> 14:38.030
it makes me uncomfortable to talk about money.

14:38.110 --> 14:38.810
Well, maybe it should.

14:40.590 --> 14:43.190
Maybe you should get rid of your syncretistic approach

14:43.190 --> 14:44.450
and say, well, I don't do anything

14:44.450 --> 14:45.690
that doesn't make me uncomfortable,

14:45.850 --> 14:46.810
or that makes me uncomfortable.

14:47.470 --> 14:48.910
And get back to Scripture

14:48.910 --> 14:51.130
where he actually not only makes us uncomfortable,

14:51.290 --> 14:53.370
but he asks us to die to the things

14:54.090 --> 14:54.950
that are wrong.

14:56.170 --> 14:57.610
Death is always uncomfortable.

15:02.900 --> 15:05.400
Nobody's involved with dying to their flesh here.

15:06.640 --> 15:09.140
That should have been a, oh, yeah, death is hard.

15:10.000 --> 15:10.840
It's uncomfortable.

15:11.740 --> 15:12.320
Amen, brother.

15:13.040 --> 15:14.380
Well, that's what this is all about.

15:15.340 --> 15:16.840
So let's talk about it a bit.

15:17.860 --> 15:19.560
You need to see this Scripture

15:19.560 --> 15:21.600
to really understand God's review of this,

15:21.720 --> 15:22.940
why we need to talk about it.

15:23.520 --> 15:26.200
The love of money is the root of all evils.

15:28.420 --> 15:29.960
Just don't think about that.

15:32.300 --> 15:33.180
All evils.

15:33.180 --> 15:35.220
They're not attached to money.

15:35.360 --> 15:36.960
They're attached to the love of money

15:38.480 --> 15:39.880
and us craving it.

15:42.680 --> 15:45.580
So big question is, who or what do we love the most?

15:45.740 --> 15:46.780
Do we love God the most?

15:46.920 --> 15:47.900
Do we love money the most?

15:48.580 --> 15:51.720
The definition for love there is not a copy.

15:53.260 --> 15:57.140
It's that Greek word, number 5365,

15:57.360 --> 16:00.180
and the definition is to have an avarice

16:00.180 --> 16:02.120
or love of money.

16:02.680 --> 16:04.280
Well, avarice is an excessive

16:05.480 --> 16:09.780
or insatiable desire for wealth or profit.

16:11.080 --> 16:13.560
Excessive or insatiable desire

16:13.560 --> 16:14.960
for wealth or profit.

16:16.640 --> 16:18.120
Well, so the question is,

16:18.360 --> 16:20.680
if we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength,

16:20.760 --> 16:22.120
we should have an excessive

16:22.120 --> 16:24.500
and insatiable desire for God.

16:25.680 --> 16:26.800
Not for money.

16:26.800 --> 16:32.380
In other words, insatiable, I can't get enough.

16:33.700 --> 16:34.940
That's what that word means.

16:35.240 --> 16:35.960
I can't get enough.

16:36.860 --> 16:38.900
I don't have enough. I need more.

16:39.460 --> 16:42.680
That should be directed towards God, not money.

16:43.100 --> 16:44.960
When it gets directed towards money,

16:45.280 --> 16:48.060
it becomes the root of every evil thing in our life

16:48.060 --> 16:50.220
because we start building everything around,

16:50.680 --> 16:51.960
I have to have more.

16:56.610 --> 17:01.350
The excessive, insatiable desire for wealth or profit

17:01.350 --> 17:04.790
is the root of all evils.

17:06.390 --> 17:08.770
So here is a question we should ask ourselves.

17:09.990 --> 17:11.570
When do we have enough?

17:16.510 --> 17:18.030
Because that will answer

17:18.030 --> 17:20.450
whether we have an insatiable desire.

17:21.130 --> 17:22.210
When do we have enough?

17:24.690 --> 17:27.390
You know, we set goals on almost everything.

17:27.390 --> 17:29.310
If you're going to exercise, you've got a goal.

17:29.450 --> 17:30.770
You know when enough is enough.

17:31.330 --> 17:33.570
I'll go this much, I'll push my body this hard

17:33.570 --> 17:34.990
and then I'll have enough.

17:37.050 --> 17:38.650
Raising children, when is enough?

17:38.950 --> 17:40.250
How many are you going for?

17:41.650 --> 17:43.730
Everybody's got a goal on that.

17:44.730 --> 17:46.490
No matter what we do in life,

17:48.390 --> 17:50.550
we have a, well, this would be enough.

17:54.110 --> 17:57.990
How many of you have set that same goal with money?

17:57.990 --> 18:00.970
Once I get this much, it would be enough.

18:06.620 --> 18:08.140
You know what, I bet you none of us.

18:09.060 --> 18:09.660
You know why?

18:10.080 --> 18:13.400
Because we're Americans and our culture tells us

18:13.400 --> 18:15.320
you never get enough.

18:17.220 --> 18:18.740
More, more, more.

18:18.980 --> 18:20.360
The more the better.

18:21.180 --> 18:26.060
That is exactly what Paul said,

18:27.200 --> 18:28.160
don't do.

18:31.890 --> 18:32.770
Isn't this good?

18:36.100 --> 18:38.200
Some of your faces are kind of like a donkey.

18:38.380 --> 18:39.700
They're just getting longer and longer.

18:45.440 --> 18:46.620
There's never enough.

18:47.540 --> 18:49.520
You know, my brother brought this up to me.

18:50.220 --> 18:52.440
He said, why are Christians, because he was talking,

18:52.720 --> 18:54.800
he knew a number of Christian businessmen

18:55.320 --> 18:56.780
who were multi-multi-millionaires

18:56.780 --> 18:58.320
and he rubbed shoulders with them.

18:59.180 --> 19:00.960
And he had gotten to the point

19:00.960 --> 19:02.380
where he didn't want to expand anymore.

19:02.380 --> 19:04.540
And one of the guys asked him, he said,

19:04.580 --> 19:06.700
it looks like you quit buying homes

19:06.700 --> 19:07.560
and this, that and the other.

19:07.680 --> 19:08.820
He said, what's the deal?

19:10.960 --> 19:13.180
He said, and he asked that question.

19:13.780 --> 19:15.100
He said, well, you know,

19:15.560 --> 19:19.600
how have you determined when it's enough?

19:21.520 --> 19:22.460
You know what the guy said?

19:23.860 --> 19:25.600
He said it's never enough.

19:27.980 --> 19:31.760
You always keep moving forward,

19:31.760 --> 19:33.800
leveraging your properties, buying more.

19:33.960 --> 19:35.860
You just more, more, more, more, more.

19:38.340 --> 19:40.960
That is an insatiable desire

19:42.040 --> 19:43.460
for money or wealth.

19:44.880 --> 19:46.620
That is the exact thing

19:46.620 --> 19:48.340
that we were warned about.

19:48.940 --> 19:49.520
Don't do that.

19:50.820 --> 19:52.880
How much do we need until we have enough?

19:58.220 --> 19:59.860
He said, well, why is that a big deal?

20:00.700 --> 20:01.960
Because God's watching.

20:03.980 --> 20:06.360
And he's wondering if you have the same heart

20:06.360 --> 20:08.100
towards him as you have towards money.

20:10.180 --> 20:12.420
I don't ever have enough.

20:13.380 --> 20:14.880
I don't know if you can see it from that side.

20:17.240 --> 20:18.740
I don't know if that appeared overnight.

20:19.340 --> 20:20.540
You won't see it on the cameras,

20:20.720 --> 20:23.280
so this is an inside joke here.

20:24.060 --> 20:25.920
We just had spring cleaning yesterday.

20:27.380 --> 20:29.320
Either that appeared overnight or oops.

20:30.240 --> 20:32.800
So now that I pointed out, just ignore it.

20:37.880 --> 20:39.940
Those of you who can't see it, you're going to be like...

20:44.640 --> 20:45.860
It's so obvious to me.

20:45.980 --> 20:47.500
It's like, if I can see it that well,

20:47.660 --> 20:48.720
other people are seeing it too.

20:49.740 --> 20:50.900
Anyway, back to the question.

20:51.060 --> 20:52.300
How do we know when we've had enough?

20:52.860 --> 20:54.480
Why? Because God is watching.

20:56.400 --> 20:58.740
Does money or wealth have you or do you have it?

20:58.880 --> 21:00.280
Which one is in control here?

21:03.830 --> 21:05.750
I'm going slow on some of this stuff

21:05.750 --> 21:08.510
because it's not the kind of questions we typically get asked.

21:09.390 --> 21:11.690
But yet, scripturally speaking,

21:12.410 --> 21:16.150
what did Paul tell Timothy in 1 Timothy 6?

21:16.910 --> 21:20.250
He said, and I'll paraphrase it to my language,

21:20.730 --> 21:24.730
the people who are continually after money or wealth

21:24.730 --> 21:29.310
fall into many harmful desires.

21:29.310 --> 21:34.590
And some have even left the faith over,

21:35.790 --> 21:36.870
I need more.

21:37.770 --> 21:39.050
I got to accumulate more.

21:39.950 --> 21:41.230
You say, well, how do we know?

21:41.790 --> 21:45.470
Well, Scripture gives us some insight into it.

21:46.890 --> 21:48.990
2 Timothy 3, verse 2.

21:49.170 --> 21:50.590
For people will be lovers of self

21:50.590 --> 21:52.730
and utterly self-centered, talking about our day.

21:53.450 --> 21:55.150
Lovers of money and aroused by

21:55.150 --> 21:57.870
an inordinate, greedy desire for wealth.

22:00.210 --> 22:00.910
That's America.

22:03.230 --> 22:06.370
Whether we have a little or whether we're billionaires,

22:06.710 --> 22:07.410
that's America.

22:09.510 --> 22:11.950
It's a last day's characteristic,

22:12.190 --> 22:13.710
and I'm sure it's the same around the world.

22:13.810 --> 22:16.170
I just don't travel around the world, so I don't know.

22:17.590 --> 22:19.330
But one of the ways you can tell,

22:21.210 --> 22:23.550
if you're worth 100, let's go for something

22:23.550 --> 22:24.690
that most of us are not,

22:25.170 --> 22:26.810
because then we'll listen to it.

22:29.130 --> 22:31.690
If you're worth 100 million dollars,

22:35.940 --> 22:38.640
you probably don't need that much to live.

22:39.980 --> 22:40.500
Okay?

22:43.640 --> 22:45.760
So, how much do you need to live?

22:45.900 --> 22:46.480
What is enough?

22:49.460 --> 22:50.920
What is enough to live on?

22:51.280 --> 22:52.740
Is 5 million enough for you?

22:52.800 --> 22:53.680
Is 10 million enough?

22:53.820 --> 22:54.900
What is enough for you?

22:56.460 --> 22:58.200
And you say, oh, I need 10 million,

22:58.200 --> 22:59.780
which is okay.

23:00.120 --> 23:01.260
That's your perspective.

23:02.040 --> 23:03.540
I need 10 million to live on.

23:03.900 --> 23:04.640
Okay? That's cool.

23:05.400 --> 23:07.340
Why are you holding the other 90?

23:11.720 --> 23:13.000
Why are you holding on to it?

23:16.350 --> 23:17.790
Do you know how we can tell

23:17.790 --> 23:20.410
whether money has us or we have it?

23:21.870 --> 23:22.870
By our giving.

23:24.610 --> 23:26.270
That's why it's so important to God.

23:27.670 --> 23:29.350
And you know, you can be a person

23:29.350 --> 23:31.590
who's living in poverty and money owns you.

23:33.550 --> 23:35.430
Well, I got nothing to give, sure you do.

23:37.350 --> 23:39.590
God, in his word, says he always gives

23:39.590 --> 23:40.650
seed to the sower.

23:42.050 --> 23:43.650
It may not be thousands of dollars,

23:43.890 --> 23:44.490
but you know what?

23:44.590 --> 23:46.410
You only need one kernel of wheat

23:47.390 --> 23:49.490
to plant and get a harvest

23:49.990 --> 23:51.690
and then take two or three of those

23:51.690 --> 23:53.590
kernels off the harvest and plant them again.

23:54.530 --> 23:55.950
And it only takes a few cycles.

23:55.950 --> 23:58.310
You'll have a bushel wheat off of one kernel.

23:59.530 --> 24:02.730
And a bushel is thousands and thousands of kernels.

24:05.850 --> 24:09.090
Our giving shows whether money owns us

24:09.090 --> 24:09.950
or we own it.

24:10.550 --> 24:13.490
And even go back to my illustration,

24:14.890 --> 24:17.490
that's what God was checking on Mary and I

24:17.490 --> 24:18.070
in that $400.

24:19.110 --> 24:21.490
Are you going to serve me or are you going to serve it?

24:22.150 --> 24:23.070
Who has who here?

24:24.510 --> 24:26.390
And it's a step of faith, obviously,

24:26.810 --> 24:28.790
but God's saying, are you going to obey me

24:28.790 --> 24:31.570
or money has you?

24:31.730 --> 24:33.150
And it's like, no, I can't give that away.

24:36.950 --> 24:39.390
I'm just kind of trying to come from a different angle here

24:39.390 --> 24:43.210
as we push through this to help you see it.

24:44.230 --> 24:48.390
God uses money, worldly wealth, as a test of our heart

24:49.030 --> 24:50.730
to see what we're actually serving,

24:50.890 --> 24:51.670
what we're loyal to,

24:51.790 --> 24:53.910
and to find out what we love,

24:53.910 --> 24:54.990
do we really love Him?

24:55.090 --> 24:56.670
Let me give you a few scriptures on this.

24:57.570 --> 24:59.230
No servant can serve two masters.

24:59.810 --> 25:01.490
He will either hate one and love the other

25:01.490 --> 25:03.590
or else he'll be loyal to one and despise the other.

25:03.730 --> 25:06.670
Notice love and loyalty are in this set of scriptures.

25:07.630 --> 25:09.270
You cannot serve God and mammon.

25:09.450 --> 25:11.490
That's the new King James money is the NIV.

25:12.150 --> 25:13.450
Amplified says the same thing.

25:14.930 --> 25:16.650
Amplified enlarges it to say riches

25:16.650 --> 25:18.630
or anything in which you trust

25:18.630 --> 25:20.510
or on which you rely.

25:21.930 --> 25:23.590
Here Jesus is saying

25:23.590 --> 25:27.390
you can't love money,

25:28.330 --> 25:30.850
have an insatiable desire for money

25:31.490 --> 25:32.730
and love God.

25:34.490 --> 25:37.230
You're either going to have the insatiable desire for money

25:37.230 --> 25:38.630
and despise God

25:39.270 --> 25:40.850
and we'll see that here in a bit

25:40.850 --> 25:42.190
with the Pharisees and Jesus.

25:42.410 --> 25:44.030
He gave us a story to show that

25:44.030 --> 25:46.470
or you're going to be loyal to God

25:46.470 --> 25:47.650
or you're going to be loyal to money.

25:47.650 --> 25:50.450
You can't do both.

25:52.470 --> 25:53.690
Isn't that interesting?

25:53.970 --> 25:56.230
2 Corinthians 8, just the underlined part.

25:56.810 --> 25:58.350
He's talking about giving here and he says

25:58.350 --> 26:00.350
I'm testing the sincerity of your love

26:02.110 --> 26:04.710
for you know the grace

26:04.710 --> 26:05.990
of our Lord Jesus Christ

26:08.170 --> 26:11.710
that though he was rich

26:11.710 --> 26:14.130
yet for your sakes he became poor

26:14.130 --> 26:16.710
that through his poverty

26:16.710 --> 26:18.590
you might become rich.

26:19.850 --> 26:22.030
So now there's two things

26:22.030 --> 26:23.290
that show up in this scripture.

26:26.450 --> 26:28.390
Jesus had it all

26:28.390 --> 26:31.270
and gave it all for us.

26:32.190 --> 26:32.990
Sacrifice.

26:34.550 --> 26:37.870
What you love you sacrifice for.

26:42.500 --> 26:43.040
So now

26:43.600 --> 26:46.300
and I'm not saying the advice is bad

26:46.300 --> 26:48.760
but there's and it can help

26:48.760 --> 26:50.200
move us forward financially

26:50.200 --> 26:52.280
but you can get caught in the mindset

26:54.840 --> 26:57.120
that you're actually serving money

26:57.120 --> 26:58.920
rather than money serving you

26:58.920 --> 27:00.580
and that is

27:02.200 --> 27:04.160
squeezing down your budget

27:04.160 --> 27:07.260
to the point you can't hardly live

27:08.840 --> 27:10.240
because we're going to get

27:10.240 --> 27:11.220
the cars paid for

27:11.220 --> 27:12.440
we're going to get the house paid for

27:12.440 --> 27:13.380
and those are all good things

27:13.380 --> 27:14.340
need to get those done

27:14.340 --> 27:18.540
We're going to get our debts paid for and we're going to get $50,000 in savings.

27:20.360 --> 27:26.340
But we're not going to spend money on anything.

27:28.100 --> 27:33.040
Anything. Unless it's absolutely vital to live.

27:37.700 --> 27:43.980
You're sacrificing yourself, probably your wife, your children.

27:44.820 --> 27:47.260
You're sacrificing all kinds of things.

27:49.120 --> 27:52.300
And you'd say, well, it's to get ahead financially, is it?

27:53.780 --> 27:55.700
So I ask you the question, when is enough enough?

27:59.960 --> 28:01.100
When is enough enough?

28:02.620 --> 28:04.080
Do you have that set?

28:09.390 --> 28:14.150
Because what he's talking about here is what you love, you sacrifice for.

28:14.150 --> 28:18.670
The way Jesus sacrificed himself because God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son.

28:19.750 --> 28:22.770
Love sacrifices for its goal, number one.

28:25.790 --> 28:32.030
And the end result is another benefits for our sacrifice.

28:32.410 --> 28:36.410
Well, when we're serving money, what benefits is our bank account?

28:36.870 --> 28:38.590
Not the people around us.

28:39.690 --> 28:42.430
Yet what's eternal? The people or the bank account?

28:47.270 --> 28:48.990
You're thinking this morning, aren't you?

28:50.410 --> 28:51.730
It's okay, keep thinking.

28:53.130 --> 28:54.490
We're going to talk about this.

28:55.030 --> 29:00.910
Matthew 6, do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt and thieves break in and steal.

29:01.550 --> 29:02.990
Lay up treasures in heaven.

29:03.810 --> 29:07.170
Verse 21, for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also.

29:08.670 --> 29:11.230
Okay? Two points here.

29:11.570 --> 29:14.010
Lay not up for yourself treasures on earth.

29:15.710 --> 29:18.990
There's something that is huge in America and I'm not against it.

29:19.870 --> 29:20.970
I'm for it.

29:21.450 --> 29:23.090
But when is enough enough?

29:24.810 --> 29:27.110
Laying up treasures for yourself on earth.

29:27.510 --> 29:28.150
First line.

29:31.770 --> 29:35.050
Why is America so bent on?

29:36.310 --> 29:43.250
We will struggle, we will suffer, we will keep ourselves from doing what first Timothy 6 says.

29:43.370 --> 29:45.650
God gives us everything in life to enjoy.

29:45.890 --> 29:47.550
And he put that right into the money area.

29:48.010 --> 29:49.950
We will cut ourselves short.

29:50.250 --> 29:52.490
I remember a story of a man in Colorado.

29:53.110 --> 29:57.070
He said, he was shocked.

29:57.270 --> 29:58.890
He said, I got a story, he was a fellow minister.

29:59.090 --> 30:00.290
He said, I got a story to share with you.

30:00.490 --> 30:03.930
He said, I was out to eat with my father-in-law and mother-in-law.

30:03.930 --> 30:07.210
And they would rarely buy anything going out to eat.

30:07.270 --> 30:08.650
He said, I always had to buy for him.

30:09.710 --> 30:16.710
Because he would always look at her and say, honey, do we have enough money to buy something?

30:16.850 --> 30:19.930
Maybe we should just buy some fries and we'll split them or something like that.

30:20.530 --> 30:22.710
And he'd say, no, no, I'll buy for you.

30:22.830 --> 30:23.490
Don't worry about it.

30:24.510 --> 30:25.850
He said, well, they're getting elderly.

30:26.250 --> 30:31.030
They just announced to the family they own between 6 and 10 homes.

30:31.030 --> 30:32.330
Debt free.

30:34.790 --> 30:35.850
Rental homes.

30:38.110 --> 30:39.570
In the Denver area.

30:41.070 --> 30:45.110
And at that time, those homes were probably worth 200,000 a piece.

30:45.330 --> 30:45.830
Easy.

30:46.810 --> 30:49.770
So they're worth over a million dollars.

30:51.850 --> 30:55.030
But they can't buy a burger at the restaurant.

30:58.250 --> 30:59.650
What's wrong with you?

31:02.010 --> 31:04.930
You say, well, they were paid off.

31:06.070 --> 31:08.210
The rent was nothing but gravy.

31:11.860 --> 31:15.900
He looked at me, he said, what do you think people are that way?

31:17.400 --> 31:20.160
Well, he's a minister so I could say it without him getting angry with me.

31:20.280 --> 31:21.520
I said, because they're serving money.

31:22.920 --> 31:25.020
They're not serving God, they're serving money.

31:26.100 --> 31:27.360
When is enough enough?

31:28.600 --> 31:30.840
I mean, once you got between 6 and 10 homes,

31:30.840 --> 31:33.720
he said, so once they die, he said, I'm going to be fairly wealthy.

31:34.980 --> 31:36.440
There's not many kids in the family.

31:39.080 --> 31:41.380
He said, we're going to get three, four of them.

31:43.520 --> 31:45.400
He said, if we hold on to them any length of time,

31:45.480 --> 31:48.920
he said, I'll be a millionaire off of what they just gave me.

31:53.170 --> 31:54.650
He said, well, what makes them like that?

31:55.770 --> 32:02.690
Literally, they were cutting everything out to accumulate more.

32:05.150 --> 32:06.730
Well, when is enough enough?

32:09.690 --> 32:11.770
An insatiable desire.

32:13.050 --> 32:14.630
That's what God warned against.

32:16.450 --> 32:17.830
Now, I like inheritance.

32:19.070 --> 32:20.370
You know, that's a good thing.

32:20.930 --> 32:21.910
I like to inherit.

32:22.530 --> 32:25.170
When my parents died, I inherited a little bit.

32:25.590 --> 32:27.050
They were millionaires, so I didn't get much.

32:27.530 --> 32:29.630
But what I did get was helpful.

32:30.630 --> 32:33.750
So I'm not against it, but again, it goes back to the question of

32:33.750 --> 32:42.150
why are Americans so driven to just keep accumulating more and more and more?

32:46.080 --> 32:49.040
One of my... I'll call him a friend,

32:49.140 --> 32:52.320
because if I say too much, we're online and people can figure things out.

32:52.940 --> 32:57.440
One of my elderly friends asked me, he was in his mid-topper 80s.

32:58.000 --> 33:00.180
He said, you're a minister. You should have an answer for this.

33:00.400 --> 33:03.240
I thought, oh, man, this is a trap. Here we go.

33:04.780 --> 33:07.320
And he named a certain person that both of us knew,

33:08.200 --> 33:12.500
who was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

33:14.920 --> 33:17.340
And the person was in their 80s.

33:18.540 --> 33:23.680
He said, they're still traveling around buying property, making deals.

33:25.000 --> 33:26.220
Why would you do that?

33:29.120 --> 33:30.680
Well, there's only one or two reasons.

33:31.540 --> 33:36.640
Either you really like that, and it's what you just love to do,

33:37.280 --> 33:39.360
or you have an insatiable desire.

33:41.460 --> 33:44.300
I mean, once you're worth hundreds of millions, when is enough enough?

33:45.680 --> 33:48.620
When does it come to the point of, okay, we got enough. We're good.

33:49.660 --> 33:53.200
Because we approach our inheritance in that that way.

33:53.480 --> 33:55.240
Same thing, you know, what we pass on.

33:55.780 --> 33:58.600
Don't store up treasures on this earth.

34:00.820 --> 34:06.880
Do you know statistically, wealth lasts two generations past the person who earned it?

34:10.400 --> 34:13.400
Businesses, if they don't get them out of the family's hands

34:13.400 --> 34:17.040
last two generations past the person who built it.

34:17.600 --> 34:22.480
The person who built it, sweat and blood, 80, 100 hours a week.

34:23.460 --> 34:27.800
And the kids saw that, and either they liked it or they were despised it.

34:28.100 --> 34:31.320
But they're going to get the benefit of it because they pass it on.

34:32.360 --> 34:36.580
They say usually there's enough in that next generation who appreciate it

34:36.580 --> 34:39.040
that they'll continue it, keep it going.

34:39.280 --> 34:40.740
But they don't have to work as hard for it.

34:40.740 --> 34:43.300
They're just kind of coasting with it because it's already built.

34:43.920 --> 34:47.920
Which means the grandkids never see the labor that was put into it.

34:50.300 --> 34:56.360
Statistically, after the third generation, everything that grandpa built is squandered.

34:56.660 --> 34:56.840
It's gone.

35:00.310 --> 35:05.370
You have to get outside blood in to that, make it a corporation, do something

35:05.370 --> 35:08.670
to get the family out and get outside blood in

35:08.670 --> 35:15.150
because the grandkids will spend everything that grandpa worked on all his life.

35:16.310 --> 35:17.310
That's statistics.

35:17.630 --> 35:20.710
Sometimes it goes quicker, sometimes it goes slower, but that's how it goes.

35:22.030 --> 35:24.730
Well, I'm going to take care of my kids and my grandkids.

35:24.910 --> 35:26.490
I'm going to lay up for them, really.

35:30.450 --> 35:31.790
How much do they need?

35:37.240 --> 35:38.520
When is enough enough?

35:38.520 --> 35:41.000
Do you know that?

35:42.460 --> 35:44.360
Well, there's a number of very wealthy people.

35:44.540 --> 35:47.840
If you go online, you'll find this stuff.

35:48.940 --> 35:53.680
Some of the most wealthy people are not giving their full inheritance,

35:53.900 --> 35:56.040
their billions, to their family.

35:59.420 --> 36:01.800
And I can name one person to you as far as I'm concerned.

36:01.980 --> 36:02.760
They're not even saved.

36:03.780 --> 36:04.780
They're not living for God.

36:05.920 --> 36:07.060
And they're worth billions.

36:07.700 --> 36:09.380
And they were interviewed and said,

36:09.440 --> 36:12.000
well, how much does each child get?

36:13.620 --> 36:16.540
It was compared... I mean, they owned billions.

36:17.120 --> 36:19.060
It was like two or three million.

36:19.460 --> 36:21.000
He said, I'm giving them each two or three million.

36:22.680 --> 36:23.880
And you got billions?

36:24.420 --> 36:25.220
Why are you doing that?

36:25.300 --> 36:28.900
He said, because if I give them more, I will destroy them.

36:32.610 --> 36:33.510
I'll destroy them.

36:35.790 --> 36:37.490
He said, I don't want to destroy my kids.

36:38.150 --> 36:40.270
I'll give them enough to give them a good start.

36:40.550 --> 36:42.050
I could have started on two million.

36:44.590 --> 36:46.010
That's not a bad start.

36:49.730 --> 36:52.310
But I'm not giving them each five billion.

36:53.710 --> 36:55.630
Because I will destroy my lineage.

36:55.870 --> 36:59.250
These are unsaved people who recognize this.

37:02.370 --> 37:04.610
Don't lay up for yourselves, treasures.

37:04.610 --> 37:06.910
Well, we're going to have good inheritance for our kids.

37:07.070 --> 37:08.010
Yeah, and you might destroy them.

37:08.850 --> 37:09.590
Just saying.

37:16.410 --> 37:17.530
So let me see here.

37:17.790 --> 37:18.530
What do I want to touch yet?

37:20.490 --> 37:23.090
So we've seen some scriptures on how we handle money.

37:23.250 --> 37:24.090
It's a test to us.

37:25.110 --> 37:26.910
God wants to know if he can trust us.

37:27.150 --> 37:30.150
Look at this scripture, Luke chapter 16.

37:31.730 --> 37:33.650
I didn't see this this way.

37:33.750 --> 37:39.170
I always had a question over this scripture until the last week or two here.

37:39.170 --> 37:41.810
It's like, oh, it just jumped off the page.

37:41.870 --> 37:45.350
And I went, wow, that's what he's talking about.

37:45.410 --> 37:46.670
I couldn't understand that scripture.

37:47.170 --> 37:49.750
The first seven verses, he's talking about an unjust steward,

37:50.070 --> 37:54.090
a manager of a business who the owner of the business

37:54.090 --> 37:57.490
caught him ripping things off and not running it right.

37:58.130 --> 37:59.610
So he said, I'm going to fire you.

38:00.090 --> 38:00.650
Get rid of you.

38:00.970 --> 38:01.830
I'm going to get a different manager.

38:03.110 --> 38:07.450
There was a number of people who owed the owner money.

38:08.130 --> 38:11.990
So the manager, verses one through seven, went to those people

38:11.990 --> 38:14.750
and said, hey, one was oil, one was wheat.

38:15.430 --> 38:17.950
You own 100, you all 100, pay 50.

38:18.090 --> 38:20.430
The other one, he said, you all 100, pay 80.

38:20.870 --> 38:22.850
And Jesus commended him.

38:25.230 --> 38:26.110
Verse eight.

38:27.290 --> 38:30.230
The master, the owner, this is how Jesus is explaining it now,

38:30.270 --> 38:33.650
so we jumped in, commended the dishonest manager

38:33.650 --> 38:35.350
because he had acted shrewdly.

38:38.170 --> 38:39.690
What was he doing?

38:39.930 --> 38:41.690
Well, if you go back and read verses one through seven,

38:41.850 --> 38:44.530
he thought, well, when I'm out of a job, where am I going to live?

38:44.670 --> 38:45.410
What am I going to do?

38:45.750 --> 38:49.870
So I'm going to cut these people breaks, so later they owe me.

38:51.850 --> 38:54.090
You know, they were supposed to, I'm still the manager,

38:54.130 --> 38:56.650
so I have the right to let them get by easy.

38:57.250 --> 39:01.670
They owed $100, let's say, and I cut it to 50.

39:01.930 --> 39:04.030
Well, later they owe me and once I'm out of a job,

39:04.030 --> 39:06.630
then I can go and collect what they owe me.

39:07.570 --> 39:11.530
The owner said, you know that, that's quite shrewd.

39:13.470 --> 39:15.310
Then Jesus makes the application.

39:15.750 --> 39:17.690
For the people of this world are more shrewd

39:17.690 --> 39:20.610
and dealing with their own kind than are the people of light.

39:21.110 --> 39:24.870
I tell you, now here's the direct application.

39:25.650 --> 39:28.790
Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself

39:29.450 --> 39:31.210
so that when it is gone,

39:31.210 --> 39:34.730
you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

39:35.650 --> 39:37.070
That made no sense to me.

39:37.150 --> 39:41.150
It's like, well, how can I, if I use worldly wealth

39:41.150 --> 39:42.690
to make Jim my friend,

39:44.050 --> 39:46.430
what does that have to do with eternal dwellings?

39:46.710 --> 39:48.110
I didn't get it.

39:49.090 --> 39:51.890
Because verse 1 through 8, he's talking about this manager

39:52.410 --> 39:54.310
dealing with other humans.

39:55.210 --> 39:57.450
And then Jesus grabs that and says, that's wise,

39:57.450 --> 40:00.490
and I'll make the application, verse 9.

40:01.410 --> 40:04.190
Use your wealth to gain friends for yourself

40:05.870 --> 40:08.490
so that when your wealth is gone,

40:09.050 --> 40:11.670
you'll be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

40:12.650 --> 40:15.470
Use your wealth to gain friends for yourself.

40:17.270 --> 40:22.290
Eternity and you is not what he's talking about.

40:23.710 --> 40:25.450
He says, while you're on earth,

40:25.450 --> 40:28.330
use your wealth to gain some friends.

40:28.650 --> 40:30.930
Where do we need friends when we die?

40:37.780 --> 40:42.660
So that when the wealth is gone,

40:44.300 --> 40:46.900
how much do people take with them when they die?

40:51.140 --> 40:53.160
Use it while you're alive

40:54.040 --> 40:56.480
to get this thing set up right,

40:56.480 --> 40:58.260
because when you die and it's gone,

40:59.220 --> 41:03.260
you will be welcomed into heaven.

41:04.520 --> 41:06.080
I never saw that before.

41:07.060 --> 41:07.860
It's like, really?

41:10.240 --> 41:12.960
How I spend my money

41:12.960 --> 41:17.920
is going to have an effect on my welcome into heaven?

41:18.540 --> 41:19.800
I never saw that before.

41:20.880 --> 41:22.700
It just confused me,

41:22.760 --> 41:25.340
because I was trying to apply it purely to the physical realm.

41:25.980 --> 41:28.920
So now, with that in thought in mind, go on.

41:30.500 --> 41:32.560
Whoever can be trusted with very little

41:32.560 --> 41:34.060
can also be trusted with much.

41:34.180 --> 41:36.120
And whoever is dishonest with very little

41:36.120 --> 41:37.620
will also be dishonest with much.

41:37.720 --> 41:39.860
He's still talking about this shrewd manager.

41:40.640 --> 41:42.120
So if you have not been trustworthy

41:42.120 --> 41:43.660
in handling worldly wealth,

41:43.780 --> 41:45.880
who will trust you with the true riches?

41:47.340 --> 41:49.060
And if you have not been trustworthy

41:49.060 --> 41:50.640
with someone else's property,

41:51.040 --> 41:52.920
who will give you property of your own?

41:54.560 --> 41:56.860
If you have not been trustworthy

41:56.860 --> 41:59.080
with someone else's property,

41:59.900 --> 42:00.960
what's he talking about?

42:01.360 --> 42:02.440
Tell me, that one's easy.

42:05.900 --> 42:07.980
Who owns the earth and the world?

42:12.740 --> 42:13.300
Oh, my.

42:14.920 --> 42:16.540
This is all over the charts.

42:18.260 --> 42:19.900
The scripture says,

42:20.220 --> 42:22.280
the earth is the

42:23.180 --> 42:25.620
and the fullness of it.

42:26.420 --> 42:27.340
So who owns it?

42:28.740 --> 42:31.460
So everything that we consider ours

42:31.460 --> 42:32.440
is actually his.

42:33.160 --> 42:35.780
He wants to know if he can trust us

42:35.780 --> 42:36.680
with his property.

42:39.180 --> 42:40.500
That make sense to you?

42:41.940 --> 42:43.740
If you can't be trusted here,

42:43.860 --> 42:45.060
you can't be trusted there.

42:45.820 --> 42:47.340
If you're dishonest here,

42:48.920 --> 42:50.680
you're going to be a dishonest person.

42:51.620 --> 42:53.680
So if you have not been trustworthy

42:53.680 --> 42:55.300
for the unhandling worldly wealth,

42:55.400 --> 42:57.900
who is going to trust you with true riches?

42:58.340 --> 42:59.900
What are true riches?

43:01.920 --> 43:05.100
True riches are eternal things.

43:08.740 --> 43:10.840
Remember, verse 9,

43:11.160 --> 43:13.180
he switched it over to eternity.

43:13.660 --> 43:15.620
Eternal dwellings, eternal things.

43:17.920 --> 43:18.800
Read on.

43:19.640 --> 43:21.120
No servant can serve two masters,

43:21.260 --> 43:22.580
and here's the one we already read.

43:22.580 --> 43:23.880
Either he's going to love the one,

43:24.200 --> 43:25.120
be devoted to the other,

43:25.260 --> 43:27.460
or he's going to despise one and love the other.

43:27.660 --> 43:29.100
You cannot serve both God and money.

43:29.800 --> 43:32.480
Now he's going to really slap somebody.

43:35.720 --> 43:36.800
Sometimes when people say,

43:36.860 --> 43:38.300
what would Jesus do? He'd slap them.

43:41.160 --> 43:42.240
We always think,

43:42.440 --> 43:43.940
oh Jesus, he's so nice,

43:44.080 --> 43:45.860
he's got this halo and he folds his hands

43:45.860 --> 43:46.960
and everything that they want.

43:47.220 --> 43:48.880
No, he actually slapped some people.

43:48.880 --> 43:51.400
So he just gave this example

43:51.400 --> 43:52.180
about money.

43:53.580 --> 43:54.620
And he said,

43:54.820 --> 43:55.980
Pharisees, hey guys,

43:56.400 --> 43:58.320
if you want a warm welcome into heaven,

43:58.460 --> 43:59.760
you got to handle your money right.

44:00.800 --> 44:02.940
You got to make sure this friendship

44:02.940 --> 44:04.780
is established before you

44:04.780 --> 44:05.840
leave the earth.

44:06.300 --> 44:08.540
The Pharisees who loved money.

44:10.620 --> 44:13.060
The beginning of the verses

44:13.060 --> 44:14.620
that we were talking about

44:14.620 --> 44:16.120
was dealing with

44:17.600 --> 44:18.340
loving money.

44:19.140 --> 44:20.700
The Pharisees who loved money

44:20.700 --> 44:22.700
heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.

44:23.040 --> 44:23.500
That's typical.

44:25.040 --> 44:26.100
Ah, what a fool.

44:26.420 --> 44:27.580
Listen to him just...

44:30.680 --> 44:32.760
He knew that, so he said to them,

44:33.780 --> 44:34.700
you are the ones

44:34.700 --> 44:36.860
who justify yourselves in the eyes of men.

44:37.600 --> 44:39.040
Well, it's for our kids

44:39.040 --> 44:40.840
and it's for their inheritance

44:40.840 --> 44:42.660
and we're going to get that free

44:42.660 --> 44:44.160
and we're going to buy a bigger house

44:44.160 --> 44:45.680
and you justify

44:45.680 --> 44:47.860
everything, your love of money,

44:48.200 --> 44:49.580
you're justifying yourselves

44:49.580 --> 44:50.600
with people.

44:51.360 --> 44:53.640
But you're not justifying yourself with God.

44:53.800 --> 44:55.740
God knows what's going on

44:55.740 --> 44:56.820
in your heart.

44:58.320 --> 45:00.000
And what is highly

45:00.000 --> 45:02.260
valued among men

45:02.260 --> 45:05.000
is detestable

45:06.020 --> 45:07.080
in God's sight.

45:11.960 --> 45:13.760
What is detestable?

45:14.000 --> 45:14.160
Money?

45:15.580 --> 45:16.300
No.

45:17.060 --> 45:18.260
The love of money.

45:20.440 --> 45:21.880
The Pharisees

45:21.880 --> 45:24.040
who loved money.

45:25.840 --> 45:28.220
The love of money is the root of all evils.

45:29.920 --> 45:32.100
Jesus saying, you know what?

45:33.200 --> 45:34.700
You guys have this

45:34.700 --> 45:36.340
totally upside down

45:36.340 --> 45:36.780
and backwards.

45:37.740 --> 45:39.060
He could be talking to

45:40.160 --> 45:41.460
the Americans

45:42.500 --> 45:43.700
who loved money

45:46.160 --> 45:47.720
heard all that Pastor Vern

45:47.720 --> 45:48.320
was saying

45:49.880 --> 45:50.360
and

45:51.300 --> 45:52.340
sneered at it.

45:53.020 --> 45:54.020
Yeah, what a jerk.

45:56.720 --> 45:57.680
So Pastor

45:57.680 --> 45:58.560
Vern said to them,

45:59.520 --> 46:01.160
yeah, you're the ones who justify

46:01.160 --> 46:02.980
yourselves, you got all the excuses

46:02.980 --> 46:05.060
and everybody who you tell, oh yeah,

46:05.120 --> 46:07.100
they agree with you, but God knows your heart

46:09.000 --> 46:09.480
that

46:09.480 --> 46:10.240
you love money.

46:12.620 --> 46:13.780
And what you value

46:13.780 --> 46:14.440
so highly

46:15.400 --> 46:16.760
is detestable to God.

46:17.980 --> 46:19.220
So it's a good question

46:19.220 --> 46:20.160
to ask ourselves.

46:21.440 --> 46:22.580
Am I guilty of that?

46:23.400 --> 46:24.820
I don't want to be guilty of that.

46:25.720 --> 46:27.380
I don't want to get in front

46:27.380 --> 46:29.520
of God on judgment day

46:29.520 --> 46:31.180
and Jesus looks at me and says, well,

46:31.260 --> 46:33.120
you're saved by grace through faith, you're here.

46:33.720 --> 46:35.080
But you know how you lived?

46:36.200 --> 46:37.220
I detest you.

46:40.680 --> 46:41.960
I don't hear that.

46:43.540 --> 46:44.980
You know the decisions you made?

46:45.400 --> 46:45.840
Detestable.

46:46.780 --> 46:48.520
They were so contrary to me.

46:51.320 --> 46:51.640
Whoa.

46:54.520 --> 46:55.600
How we handle money

46:55.600 --> 46:56.520
is a big deal to God.

46:59.660 --> 47:00.100
According

47:00.100 --> 47:02.020
to scripture, he wants us to have it.

47:04.100 --> 47:05.000
He wants us

47:05.000 --> 47:06.420
to be made rich, and that is

47:06.420 --> 47:07.820
the actual word that applies

47:07.820 --> 47:09.140
to money so that we can

47:09.140 --> 47:11.260
be generous on every occasion.

47:11.380 --> 47:13.080
Not so we can hand on millions

47:13.080 --> 47:14.720
of dollars of inheritances.

47:15.060 --> 47:16.680
Not so we can hand on

47:16.680 --> 47:18.600
all kinds of

47:19.460 --> 47:21.220
prestige and honor.

47:22.240 --> 47:23.240
Well, you know the

47:23.240 --> 47:25.140
peltzes. They were very

47:25.140 --> 47:25.980
well to do.

47:30.600 --> 47:32.080
That's not what we're after.

47:34.040 --> 47:36.380
God says, I want you to be rich.

47:36.780 --> 47:37.160
Why?

47:37.740 --> 47:40.200
So you can give it away.

47:40.200 --> 47:40.940
Amen.

47:45.860 --> 47:46.920
See, that makes a good

47:46.920 --> 47:48.140
American blood goal.

47:54.740 --> 47:56.160
Let him who stole

47:56.160 --> 47:58.100
steal no longer, let him labor

47:58.100 --> 47:59.540
working with his hands, but what is

47:59.540 --> 48:01.960
doing what is good that he might have something to

48:01.960 --> 48:02.580
give

48:03.860 --> 48:05.660
to him who has need.

48:08.380 --> 48:09.960
So, we're not going to get through this

48:09.960 --> 48:12.360
whole thing this morning, so it'll take me three Sundays, and that's okay.

48:13.380 --> 48:14.780
I think I got you thinking.

48:14.780 --> 48:17.320
And I think we need

48:17.320 --> 48:19.060
to be thinking about some of these things.

48:23.360 --> 48:24.620
Here's one to think about.

48:25.760 --> 48:27.360
If God would ask you for some

48:27.360 --> 48:28.760
of your money, would you give it to him?

48:32.020 --> 48:33.180
Oh, it depends how much.

48:39.700 --> 48:40.140
Because

48:42.560 --> 48:43.440
in reality,

48:44.640 --> 48:45.660
that question is already

48:45.660 --> 48:47.480
answered according to Scripture.

48:50.260 --> 48:51.700
He's already asked us.

48:53.260 --> 48:55.480
In fact, you know that when we entered into

48:55.480 --> 48:57.180
Covenant, we gave it all up.

48:58.220 --> 48:59.660
Covenant is a full exchange.

49:00.340 --> 49:01.720
Everything I am or I have

49:01.720 --> 49:02.400
becomes his.

49:05.040 --> 49:05.600
Newsflash,

49:06.140 --> 49:07.760
it was his before we

49:07.760 --> 49:08.600
ever got saved.

49:10.960 --> 49:11.660
He's just

49:11.660 --> 49:13.680
checking our attitude and making sure we're

49:13.680 --> 49:15.740
going to reciprocate.

49:15.880 --> 49:17.940
Once we know, oh, I'm in Covenant

49:17.940 --> 49:19.760
with God, this is all his.

49:20.920 --> 49:21.760
It was all his

49:21.760 --> 49:23.080
before you were ever born.

49:24.960 --> 49:26.140
So it's not like

49:26.140 --> 49:27.800
all of a sudden it became all his.

49:28.340 --> 49:29.160
It was his.

49:29.360 --> 49:31.160
Remember, Psalms, I'll just give you some of things.

49:31.280 --> 49:33.120
This is review. Psalm 24 verse 1,

49:33.480 --> 49:35.200
the earth is the Lord's a fullness of it.

49:37.240 --> 49:39.500
Remember in message number 5 of Tithing,

49:39.860 --> 49:41.720
we went through all kinds of things

49:41.720 --> 49:43.840
that God said, this is mine, this is mine.

49:44.280 --> 49:45.820
The world and everything living in it.

49:46.280 --> 49:47.520
All bodies and spirits.

49:47.820 --> 49:49.820
All the silver and gold. The heavens are

49:49.820 --> 49:51.260
his. The secret things are his.

49:52.000 --> 49:53.500
Interpretations to dreams are his.

49:54.220 --> 49:55.420
Mountain peaks are his.

49:55.600 --> 49:57.360
I thought, you know that, I thought

49:57.360 --> 50:00.060
when I said that back in message 5,

50:00.200 --> 50:01.600
I thought, mountain peaks, what's the deal

50:01.600 --> 50:02.460
with the mountain peaks?

50:03.300 --> 50:04.940
Why would you want the mountain peaks?

50:05.280 --> 50:06.540
Coming out of last Sunday?

50:08.080 --> 50:09.560
Now I know why he wants

50:09.560 --> 50:11.580
the mountain peaks. I want all the high places.

50:11.780 --> 50:13.720
I want to own it all.

50:14.540 --> 50:15.340
They're mine.

50:16.220 --> 50:17.620
Salvation, glory, power,

50:18.800 --> 50:19.340
everything.

50:19.580 --> 50:21.520
100% of what we consider ours

50:21.520 --> 50:22.700
is actually his.

50:24.200 --> 50:25.340
So since it's his,

50:25.560 --> 50:27.480
here are some questions we could ask ourselves

50:31.020 --> 50:33.540
to determine our own attitude, our own heart.

50:35.120 --> 50:36.700
When you buy something,

50:37.340 --> 50:39.920
do you ask him if you should do it?

50:43.120 --> 50:44.880
I'm not talking about a stick of bubble gum.

50:45.300 --> 50:46.580
You know, it's...

50:46.580 --> 50:47.920
I think there's room for that.

50:48.820 --> 50:50.980
Now if you have diabetes, he might say don't buy that.

50:53.980 --> 50:54.340
But,

50:54.520 --> 50:55.240
I'm talking about

50:55.880 --> 50:57.240
stuff we spend money on.

50:59.340 --> 51:01.080
God, are you okay with me spending

51:01.080 --> 51:02.700
5 bucks a day on coffee?

51:05.200 --> 51:05.980
It's your money.

51:07.500 --> 51:08.540
Where are you at on this?

51:09.560 --> 51:11.260
And my wife does it too, so now we're at

51:11.260 --> 51:11.500
10.

51:16.740 --> 51:18.160
Yeah, we're not going to get through it anyway.

51:18.280 --> 51:19.020
I'm going to share the story.

51:21.540 --> 51:22.920
When we were back in Colorado

51:22.920 --> 51:24.860
early years of being back in Colorado,

51:25.160 --> 51:25.880
so this is

51:27.240 --> 51:28.460
late 80s, early 90s.

51:31.960 --> 51:33.780
Mary and I had two ATVs

51:35.120 --> 51:35.940
and we were

51:36.300 --> 51:38.460
criticized for having two ATVs

51:39.140 --> 51:39.940
because he,

51:40.100 --> 51:42.160
your pastor, he probably got too big

51:42.160 --> 51:44.320
a paycheck that you can afford two ATVs.

51:48.680 --> 51:50.000
Now the ones we owned were actually

51:50.700 --> 51:51.660
three-wheelers.

51:52.020 --> 51:54.880
Not the quads, they were the early three-wheelers.

51:56.820 --> 51:58.300
But anyway, we were criticized

51:58.300 --> 51:59.580
for having ATVs.

52:01.760 --> 52:04.340
The person who was criticizing me

52:07.240 --> 52:08.540
and I'm not trying

52:08.540 --> 52:09.900
to be mean or anything, I'm just,

52:10.180 --> 52:11.620
this is what caught my attention

52:11.620 --> 52:13.060
and probably was God.

52:14.180 --> 52:15.540
This is not long enough, but

52:17.900 --> 52:19.140
yeah, pastors

52:20.280 --> 52:21.640
they got all this money.

52:25.180 --> 52:26.940
Apparently you get too big a paycheck

52:26.940 --> 52:28.600
because you got two ATVs.

52:28.620 --> 52:30.420
What does a pastor need with an ATV?

52:33.480 --> 52:35.020
This caught my attention.

52:37.460 --> 52:38.780
Everybody's at where they're at,

52:38.780 --> 52:40.140
they're growing, doing whatever, but

52:42.560 --> 52:44.780
and I heard this still small voice

52:44.780 --> 52:45.540
in me said,

52:46.720 --> 52:48.100
yeah, go ahead and say it.

52:53.070 --> 52:54.950
So I thought, okay, let's go for it.

52:55.710 --> 52:57.890
I said, different subject, got a question for you.

52:58.770 --> 53:00.630
How many packs of cigarettes you smoke a day?

53:02.290 --> 53:03.430
Well, I don't see where that applies.

53:03.570 --> 53:04.310
Well, I'm just curious.

53:05.390 --> 53:07.190
Well, I'm about two, two a day.

53:07.610 --> 53:08.930
Now back then you could get them

53:08.930 --> 53:10.830
for like $2.50 a pack.

53:11.590 --> 53:12.910
They were still a lot cheaper.

53:14.330 --> 53:16.270
$2.50 a pack. Is your wife smoked?

53:17.130 --> 53:18.870
Yep. How much she smoked?

53:18.970 --> 53:20.350
Well, she's not quite as much as me.

53:21.070 --> 53:22.070
Maybe a pack a day.

53:22.590 --> 53:24.010
So we're talking three packs a day.

53:24.850 --> 53:26.250
$7.50 a day.

53:27.490 --> 53:28.590
How much is that a week?

53:30.650 --> 53:32.090
Well, it's over $50.

53:34.170 --> 53:35.930
How many weeks are there in a year?

53:38.930 --> 53:39.550
No, it's 52.

53:42.590 --> 53:46.930
So now we're spending $2,600 a year on...

53:49.150 --> 53:50.170
Is that how long you've been smoking?

53:50.290 --> 53:51.630
Oh, I've been smoking since I'm a teenager.

53:53.250 --> 53:54.410
I said, that's cool.

53:54.590 --> 53:55.450
When you plan to retire.

53:57.230 --> 53:58.090
When I'm 65.

54:00.270 --> 54:02.170
So let's say you start to work at 20.

54:02.310 --> 54:03.690
So you've got 45 years.

54:06.170 --> 54:07.610
You've been smoking two packs a day.

54:07.710 --> 54:08.710
Yep, pretty much all my life.

54:10.450 --> 54:12.390
I said, do you know how much you're going to spend

54:13.350 --> 54:14.890
in 45 years

54:16.270 --> 54:18.330
of you two packs and her three?

54:19.950 --> 54:21.350
$2,600 a year.

54:22.510 --> 54:24.390
10 years is $26,000.

54:25.290 --> 54:27.590
40 years is $104,000.

54:28.650 --> 54:30.890
Another five years is $13,000 beyond that.

54:30.990 --> 54:33.010
You're going to spend between $115,000

54:33.010 --> 54:34.290
and $20,000.

54:36.610 --> 54:37.590
He had a cigarette.

54:38.130 --> 54:39.510
This is not a cigarette.

54:41.150 --> 54:42.870
I said, you're going to spend between

54:42.870 --> 54:44.530
$115,000, $120,000

54:45.470 --> 54:46.870
and you will have nothing

54:46.870 --> 54:48.250
to show for it but smoke.

54:50.070 --> 54:51.450
And you're telling me

54:53.010 --> 54:55.230
I can't own an ATV?

54:58.920 --> 55:00.780
All the money you're wasting,

55:01.240 --> 55:02.720
I'm not. I'm not smoking.

55:08.820 --> 55:10.140
White entered the head.

55:10.580 --> 55:12.340
It's just kind of like all the blood drained out.

55:13.800 --> 55:14.940
The poor guy had never

55:14.940 --> 55:16.060
thought of it like that before.

55:17.900 --> 55:18.960
You know how many ATVs

55:19.360 --> 55:21.540
I can buy in my lifetime for $120,000?

55:24.640 --> 55:27.120
I can just line them up every year, get a new one.

55:27.540 --> 55:28.500
Then I'll get criticized.

55:29.980 --> 55:32.080
You're set every two weeks to get a paycheck.

55:32.800 --> 55:34.680
We give, we tie whatever

55:35.380 --> 55:37.200
net after bills

55:37.200 --> 55:37.900
kind of deal.

55:38.640 --> 55:40.020
But then we...

55:40.020 --> 55:42.060
She got pregnant, David

55:42.060 --> 55:43.460
with her first born

55:43.460 --> 55:46.040
and when it was coming time

55:46.040 --> 55:48.060
to get birth towards the end

55:48.060 --> 55:50.520
her water broke

55:50.520 --> 55:52.020
what we thought her water broke.

55:52.180 --> 55:53.180
It was eight weeks early.

55:53.800 --> 55:55.580
So we go in the hospital

55:55.580 --> 55:57.880
and David pushed

55:57.880 --> 55:58.800
through the placenta.

55:59.580 --> 56:01.520
So he...

56:01.520 --> 56:02.580
she was basically...

56:02.580 --> 56:04.660
he was losing fluid.

56:06.440 --> 56:06.960
So...

56:06.960 --> 56:08.660
doctors said, well, we have to

56:08.660 --> 56:10.880
wait a week so the lungs

56:10.880 --> 56:11.860
are fully developed.

56:12.580 --> 56:14.080
Then we can induce her

56:14.080 --> 56:16.200
and go from there kind of deal.

56:16.760 --> 56:18.660
So we waited a week

56:19.260 --> 56:20.120
and then

56:21.000 --> 56:22.680
when the birth started coming

56:22.680 --> 56:24.680
so basically she was in labor for seven days.

56:24.940 --> 56:26.880
We saw people come in, give birth,

56:27.000 --> 56:28.460
leave and we were just walking around the halls

56:28.460 --> 56:30.340
and watching babies get born.

56:30.340 --> 56:32.600
It was kind of frustrating

56:32.600 --> 56:33.700
for those seven days.

56:34.520 --> 56:35.080
But when

56:37.160 --> 56:38.360
labor started

56:38.360 --> 56:40.300
he went Billy up

56:40.300 --> 56:41.840
and it was a dry birth.

56:42.120 --> 56:43.800
There was no liquid or nothing

56:43.800 --> 56:45.100
and when he went through

56:45.100 --> 56:47.900
he stretched his arms in her hips

56:47.900 --> 56:49.440
and got stuck in there.

56:50.020 --> 56:51.640
And then I can hear

56:52.340 --> 56:54.700
the monitor from the heartbeat

56:55.240 --> 56:56.760
boom, boom, boom

56:56.760 --> 56:57.900
boom, boom

56:58.490 --> 56:59.440
and done.

57:00.640 --> 57:02.560
And then it was like cold

57:02.560 --> 57:03.680
red, cold yellow.

57:04.140 --> 57:05.940
There was only two nurses and a doctor

57:05.940 --> 57:08.360
and the doctor, I got surrounded

57:08.360 --> 57:10.920
by like 40 people in this little tiny room

57:10.920 --> 57:12.120
and I'm freaking out.

57:12.260 --> 57:13.940
I wanted to go in there and grab them out.

57:16.680 --> 57:18.540
So the doctor went in

57:18.540 --> 57:20.160
they had to do an emergency

57:20.160 --> 57:21.980
they had to cut my wife basically in a half.

57:21.980 --> 57:24.980
The doctor went in

57:24.980 --> 57:27.180
broke my son's collar bone

57:27.180 --> 57:28.200
his arm

57:28.200 --> 57:30.040
and pulled him out

57:30.040 --> 57:31.980
and I'm expecting a baby

57:31.980 --> 57:33.300
like crying or whatever

57:33.300 --> 57:35.500
it's black, purple, blue

57:35.500 --> 57:36.760
not breathing.

57:44.680 --> 57:45.800
It's all right

57:45.800 --> 57:47.200
little expression of emotion

57:47.200 --> 57:47.880
is appropriate.

57:54.010 --> 57:55.850
And then my wife's like

57:55.850 --> 57:57.490
hey, why is he not crying?

57:59.410 --> 57:59.850
Then

57:59.850 --> 58:01.350
I turn around and look her

58:01.350 --> 58:03.090
her eyes roll back and she's bleeding out

58:04.610 --> 58:05.590
my wife's gone.

58:13.070 --> 58:14.970
And at that second I see this doctor

58:14.970 --> 58:16.030
coming in with a syringe.

58:16.190 --> 58:18.410
It was huge, eight inches

58:19.210 --> 58:20.630
and stabbing my son.

58:20.830 --> 58:22.270
That's not breathing right into his heart

58:23.190 --> 58:24.490
and they got his heartbeat

58:25.230 --> 58:27.090
and then they shove a tube down his throat.

58:27.290 --> 58:28.430
So for the first eight hours

58:28.430 --> 58:29.170
he didn't breathe.

58:29.730 --> 58:31.970
A machine gave him oxygen

58:32.630 --> 58:34.310
they put him in a little incubator

58:34.310 --> 58:35.930
and rushed him away

58:36.710 --> 58:38.490
and then I'm looking

58:38.490 --> 58:39.410
where I'm supposed to go

58:39.410 --> 58:41.930
with David or with...

58:41.930 --> 58:43.330
we didn't name him maybe yet

58:43.330 --> 58:45.490
it was Bruce Bennett

58:45.490 --> 58:46.410
we didn't have a name for him

58:46.410 --> 58:49.030
it was Jolietzky Boy or whatever

58:49.030 --> 58:52.150
so they told me

58:52.150 --> 58:53.950
they're like hey you gotta sign the papers

58:53.950 --> 58:54.950
we gotta take him to

58:55.770 --> 58:56.890
Ronald McDonald's

58:56.890 --> 58:58.410
Kids Emergency

58:58.410 --> 59:00.190
where premies are.

59:00.710 --> 59:02.550
He was seven weeks old

59:02.550 --> 59:06.050
and doctors told us he was supposed to be five pounds

59:06.050 --> 59:07.750
he came out eight pounds two ounces

59:07.750 --> 59:09.170
21 inches long

59:09.170 --> 59:10.590
seven weeks early

59:10.590 --> 59:11.890
he was massive

59:11.890 --> 59:14.010
to me he was a baby

59:15.890 --> 59:17.650
so I signed the release

59:17.650 --> 59:19.490
to have them go because

59:19.490 --> 59:20.910
he had to be rushed because

59:21.450 --> 59:23.250
if he wasn't going there he would not

59:23.250 --> 59:25.970
made it or if it was a 50-50 chance

59:25.970 --> 59:27.790
and it was a 50-50 chance

59:27.790 --> 59:29.230
with my wife surviving because

59:29.230 --> 59:31.230
at this point she's pale

59:31.950 --> 59:32.830
not responsive

59:33.390 --> 59:34.770
and they're trying to stitch her up

59:34.770 --> 59:36.370
put her butt in her like

59:37.130 --> 59:39.590
I got on my knees and it was the first time

59:39.590 --> 59:41.970
like I was a lukewarm Christian

59:41.970 --> 59:43.810
like I went to church

59:43.810 --> 59:44.290
we tied

59:44.810 --> 59:47.050
I did all the motions I prayed

59:47.050 --> 59:57.650
But I never... I still drank, I still partied, I had my past life never stopped at that point.

59:57.790 --> 01:00:05.290
I got on my knees and I wanted to pray to God. God saved my wife and son and at that moment

01:00:05.290 --> 01:00:10.270
I realized, no matter what I prayed, it's His will. So I asked God, I said, God, let it be

01:00:10.270 --> 01:00:18.190
a will if they live, or not to be a will if they live. It's up to you. So I gave Him the benefit

01:00:18.190 --> 01:00:24.690
of doubt. It's like whatever the outcome is, I'm still going to praise you. That was like a prayer

01:00:24.690 --> 01:00:31.730
of repentance at my... That was the first prayer in my life where I felt my spirit praying, not my

01:00:32.390 --> 01:00:44.290
world body. So she came to and then I had her sister come to watch her because she was not mobile

01:00:44.290 --> 01:00:50.970
for about a week. Then I went to see David at the Children's Hospital and that was heartbreaking.

01:00:51.190 --> 01:00:59.770
When I went to see him, his eyes opened and I saw him and he was a fuzzy, dark, bruised cast.

01:01:00.410 --> 01:01:07.530
He was just beat up. It looked like he went through a washing machine. He didn't look like a cute

01:01:07.530 --> 01:01:20.850
baby. But at the same time, going to go see him, I went through all the units where all the

01:01:20.850 --> 01:01:30.690
preemies were. I saw babies the size of my thumb, my hand. It was so heartbreaking. I thought my

01:01:30.690 --> 01:01:38.290
kid was small. When I saw him and I saw his eyes open up and then eight hours later, they took

01:01:38.290 --> 01:01:44.350
the breathing tube out and he breathed on his own and our fingers touched. And then I looked at

01:01:44.350 --> 01:01:47.910
him and I was like, man, you look like a David. You're like fuzzy. David from the Bible. That's

01:01:47.910 --> 01:01:56.450
what we named David. He's a miracle baby. Going forward, they all survived. Six weeks we spent

01:01:56.450 --> 01:02:06.670
in the hospital. At this point, I started, this was December 2014, May of 2014, I opened my company,

01:02:06.750 --> 01:02:11.330
my business. But I was still working at the factory. And it wasn't much money. I mean,

01:02:11.330 --> 01:02:18.850
after taxes, you make three to four thousand. So our budget was that. And then the church we were

01:02:18.850 --> 01:02:28.010
attending, so side note, at the hospital, I signed to buy a flipper home while my wife was in labor

01:02:28.010 --> 01:02:38.950
under her social screening number. So I was like, great, we got this. Not including the medical

01:02:38.950 --> 01:02:43.470
debt that we were going into. So you understand what like, I was like, sweet, you know, my wife's

01:02:43.470 --> 01:02:48.050
going to quit her job. She's gonna be at home mom. So I need to use her credit now while she has

01:02:48.050 --> 01:02:55.010
employment to get this house kind of deal because I couldn't do it under my name. So

01:02:55.010 --> 01:03:02.310
in my mind, it was working out like great, you know, this would be great. So she didn't know

01:03:02.310 --> 01:03:06.830
she was signing. She was miserable. So she signed the papers. I ran downstairs, gave it to my

01:03:06.830 --> 01:03:12.490
my relative. I was like, here you go. She signed them. I'm like, yep. I don't think she knew what

01:03:12.490 --> 01:03:20.890
she was signing. But then after we came home, brought David home six weeks later,

01:03:21.630 --> 01:03:25.290
or almost about two months, we stayed at the Ronald McDonald's house. We were at the

01:03:26.910 --> 01:03:33.310
NICU for like four weeks there. And we were the only parents that spent night with our baby.

01:03:34.330 --> 01:03:41.550
It was heartbreaking. I saw so many premiums, so many kids there that just no parents, no love,

01:03:41.630 --> 01:03:47.930
no touch, no nothing. And I almost got kicked out twice myself by yelling at the nurses by

01:03:47.930 --> 01:03:52.030
manhandling David because he had a broken collarbone arms. And they'll take them,

01:03:52.090 --> 01:04:03.290
toss them around like a pinata to change them. I'm like, we don't. He's crying. It's

01:04:03.290 --> 01:04:09.970
Christmas we came home. Day after Christmas. And then we had to go back and forth for physical

01:04:09.970 --> 01:04:17.310
therapies, arm is cast, moving forward towards, I think it was springtime. The church I attended,

01:04:17.730 --> 01:04:24.670
I used to pray for kids and offerings for the service. And at this point, I'm not working

01:04:24.670 --> 01:04:29.420
for about two months. My wife's not working, and I didn't have any leave. I worked at a

01:04:29.420 --> 01:04:36.080
factory. It's like, all right, so bills are piling up. No money. We had five grand in our savings,

01:04:36.600 --> 01:04:41.720
or check in. We had one account. That's all the money we had. And the pastor's like,

01:04:41.740 --> 01:04:49.080
hey, I want you to pray for offerings and bless it. I'm like, okay, well, that Sunday,

01:04:49.220 --> 01:04:53.520
then the next time I was supposed to do it. And then that week, we get hit with medical bills.

01:04:54.260 --> 01:04:57.780
Now, the way the insurance worked, there was a health HSA health savings account,

01:04:57.780 --> 01:05:04.840
12 and a half thousand out-of-pocket deductible, then 70% they cover. David was born December 10th,

01:05:04.840 --> 01:05:09.120
like I hit with 12 and a half grand. January 1st, I hit with 12 and a half grand. 25 grand,

01:05:09.200 --> 01:05:15.020
right there, right there, right away. And then my wife's side came in. So between me and my

01:05:15.020 --> 01:05:23.140
wife, we owed about $125,000, $130,000 in debt, just medical, just for those two months.

01:05:23.700 --> 01:05:27.200
And then I'm supposed to go preach next Sunday and pray for offerings.

01:05:28.600 --> 01:05:35.280
And I was heartbroken. I didn't know what to do. And then I was reading the Bible that

01:05:36.160 --> 01:05:43.740
this is the God factor. God says, trust in him. Be bold. And the only place in the Bible that

01:05:43.740 --> 01:05:52.860
tells us is to test them on is our finances, our money, our wallet. And I gave them all.

01:05:52.860 --> 01:05:59.160
I told my wife, it's like, if we give 500, it's not going to scratch. We're done. We're going to lose

01:05:59.160 --> 01:06:06.200
the house. We just signed on. We're losing everything. We're done. We're finished, basically.

01:06:07.180 --> 01:06:11.340
So I'm going to trust in the Lord. I was bold. I told the Lord, here's all my money. Here's my

01:06:11.340 --> 01:06:17.700
$5,000. I blessed it. We prayed at church. I gave them that check. And so basically,

01:06:17.840 --> 01:06:21.160
we went to zero. We didn't have a dollar. We didn't even have money to fill up our gas tank

01:06:21.160 --> 01:06:28.260
at all. Like, it was everything. Because I was like, God, you said test you. So right now I'm

01:06:28.260 --> 01:06:33.420
testing. I'm giving you everything I have. Because even if I keep that extra $500, it won't

01:06:33.420 --> 01:06:38.740
even scrape a portion and make a difference to get me out of what I'm getting out of.

01:06:38.940 --> 01:06:46.740
And it'll take me 20 years to have the warehouse job to pay it off. And I opened that business,

01:06:46.740 --> 01:06:55.480
no advertisement, no contacts, no nothing. That Monday, I got a job for about four grand.

01:06:56.040 --> 01:07:03.480
End of that week, I made $25,000. First week and within... It was about that, right?

01:07:05.180 --> 01:07:10.420
And then by the end of the 10-month period, I paid off all of our debt, moved into our

01:07:10.420 --> 01:07:17.400
new house. And financially, we've been giving our gross. Every sometime, I get a check from

01:07:17.400 --> 01:07:23.500
my job or anything. I don't think about taxes. I don't think about anything. I know by what

01:07:23.500 --> 01:07:29.000
I prayed and I promised the Lord, I told him, I was like, I'm going to give you my first 10

01:07:29.000 --> 01:07:36.120
always. Always. And I've done that. And he's always blessed us back. And we went to a point...

01:07:38.320 --> 01:07:42.160
We've housed three families that moved here from different countries. We supported

01:07:42.960 --> 01:07:48.440
family with three kids. They had nowhere to live. They lived with us for a year. We had

01:07:48.440 --> 01:07:55.600
multiple families we supported by going through tragedy. God gave us more and above.

01:07:56.100 --> 01:08:06.100
Instead of just tithing, we started giving more and more. And it's just one of the

01:08:06.100 --> 01:08:13.840
God says, test them on it, do it. Because he's gonna... He's... How do you say? He always

01:08:15.060 --> 01:08:21.440
make things work. And to this day, I've been self-employed since 2014. I don't have the

01:08:21.440 --> 01:08:26.860
security of every other Friday. I get a paycheck. There's months, seasons in life where

01:08:26.860 --> 01:08:31.880
there is no work. Winner. But God makes a way in the small things. Every month,

01:08:31.880 --> 01:08:36.340
all the bills get paid. Finances always come. Get a deal.

01:08:38.120 --> 01:08:48.680
That's cool. You got it. That was good. That was good. I got two things to say or ask. I got

01:08:48.680 --> 01:08:56.420
one question and I got a statement. So your business that God blessed after you gave that

01:08:57.660 --> 01:09:03.640
extravagant giving, your business was a baby business. You had no advertisement. If I heard

01:09:03.640 --> 01:09:08.960
right, you had no advertisement. You had nothing. Nothing. Okay. So it was super natural that that

01:09:08.960 --> 01:09:15.360
business came to you. Yeah. Everything that came to that business was a God factor. If it wasn't

01:09:15.360 --> 01:09:18.760
for God, I don't know where the clients came from. I don't know where the builders came

01:09:18.760 --> 01:09:26.520
from. They just appeared. They called me. They found me. So God sent people to me

01:09:27.140 --> 01:09:32.740
and gave me the way of the finances. Without that God factor, I wouldn't have a business. I wouldn't

01:09:32.740 --> 01:09:40.160
have anything at all. Yep. That's what extravagant giving does. No, I just have one little piece

01:09:40.160 --> 01:09:45.840
of information. If you were a lady, an eight-pound baby is a big baby. I know.

01:09:50.120 --> 01:09:54.560
You might look at it and go, I was a little baby. She's looking at it like, holy moly, looking

01:09:54.560 --> 01:09:59.540
the size of that kid I just broke. Imagine if he went full term. Well, yeah. If he

01:09:59.540 --> 01:10:03.560
didn't went full term, that could have been. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that.

01:10:11.210 --> 01:10:15.190
And Natty, the only advice I got for you is now you just have to accept that's what

01:10:15.190 --> 01:10:19.110
happens when you marry a big guy. You're gonna have big babies.

01:10:23.390 --> 01:10:30.030
It, I'm not that big, but my lineage, especially on my mother's side, is big.

01:10:31.450 --> 01:10:38.250
And back in, my mother shared this with me so all ladies can feel good after I share this story.

01:10:39.810 --> 01:10:47.350
They would have midwives back then. They didn't go to the doctor. This was early 1900s. And

01:10:48.250 --> 01:10:53.610
there was a couple of times it didn't work out. I don't know what the issue was.

01:10:54.090 --> 01:11:02.770
But my grandmother on my mother's side, they had huge men, big guys. She and one,

01:11:02.930 --> 01:11:11.510
she gave birth to numerous babies that were more than 12 pounds. But she gave birth,

01:11:12.140 --> 01:11:18.670
one particular one that my mom shared. She gave birth in the bathroom on the floor

01:11:18.670 --> 01:11:25.250
during the night to buy herself to a baby that was between 14 and 15 pounds. And she did not

01:11:25.250 --> 01:11:34.670
wake anybody in the house. So that eight, nine pounder you had that?

01:11:36.870 --> 01:11:44.850
Of course, I'm a guy. I can talk. We would not have a population problem in this world if

01:11:44.850 --> 01:11:53.530
guys had to give birth. Maybe one. Maybe. After that, we'd be done.

01:11:55.090 --> 01:12:02.350
So my hats off to you ladies. Powerful, powerful story of what God can do.

01:12:03.310 --> 01:12:07.590
And, you know, he had his own business. So it's easier for God to just infuse all

01:12:07.590 --> 01:12:13.030
kinds of finances in when you got your own business. But even as a wage earner,

01:12:13.030 --> 01:12:21.610
God would have found a way to reward extravagant giving. And that I just thought before we're

01:12:21.610 --> 01:12:26.110
done with the series, we got to hear one testimony on extravagant giving. And I know

01:12:26.110 --> 01:12:33.650
there's other sitting here that you've shared and it's been like, really? But here we are.

01:12:34.110 --> 01:12:37.090
And God came through and we all have a story and God was faithful.

01:12:37.730 --> 01:12:46.270
So Lord, thank you. Help us to see this whole thing from your side. Not from our side,

01:12:46.370 --> 01:12:52.110
not from this earth side, not with the American culture side. Help us to see it from your side

01:12:52.110 --> 01:12:56.050
so we can get our attitudes and our motives and everything readjusted

01:12:56.050 --> 01:13:01.270
to line up more and more with you. Because that's where the blessing really flows.

01:13:01.870 --> 01:13:06.250
So help us with that. Lord, we're asking for it. We believe your word is true.

01:13:06.250 --> 01:13:11.690
We believe what you've done in these people's lives is true. We've had numerous testimonies

01:13:11.690 --> 01:13:16.590
over this series. We believe every thing that they're sharing. They're not lying. This is

01:13:16.590 --> 01:13:21.030
truth. This is what you've done in their lives. And we give you all the credit and the praise

01:13:21.030 --> 01:13:22.810
for it in Jesus' name. Amen.