1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,500 Heidi ho, Heidi ho, Heidi ho! It's Tuesday night. It's freezing outside. At least it's not freezing in here. 2 00:00:08,500 --> 00:00:10,500 That's good news. 3 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:13,500 Yep, got a little fireplace over to warm your hands. 4 00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:16,500 Bust out the imaginary marshmallows. 5 00:00:16,500 --> 00:00:22,500 Alright, so whacked out simple stuff. This is what I was thinking we would do. 6 00:00:22,500 --> 00:00:26,000 If you're able, we're going to do it together. 7 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:31,000 Alright, what is your favorite book of the Bible and why? 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:36,000 If you can't get your favorite, just give us a good one and tell us what's good about it. 9 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Tony Tate. 10 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,000 I knew you were going to say that. 11 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000 How did you know? 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:49,000 First Peter's up there too, but Colossus is so cool because it talks about the supremacy of Jesus. 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:58,000 I don't get into it, but I can show you so much. I love the idea of where we get to see God, the visible and the invisible. 14 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:06,000 And then also just before that, it talks about how we've been brought out of darkness, not to wonder what it's like, but in a different way. 15 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,000 And the redemption of the sudden loves us and the kingdom of light. 16 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:14,000 It's just so good to wait and call, just to put it out there. 17 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,000 And that first chapter in 2-3-4 is also good. 18 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:28,000 That's why I like Colossians 1 and I've memorized it so much because I always love that peace blood shed on the cross. 19 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:33,000 I pray that prayer many times through Colossians chapter 1. 20 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:38,000 It's like one of my hit verses, so that's why I love Colossians. 21 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,000 Alright, so in how many chapters is the book of Colossians? Do you remember? Four chapters. 22 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:49,000 Alright, so now I need someone, anyone, to volunteer to read the book of Colossians between now and next Tuesday. 23 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,000 Four chapters. Sherry will do it. Sherry volunteered to do it. 24 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,000 Alright, I saw another hand back there. We'll get you. We'll get you a nice long book in a minute. 25 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Alright, somebody else give me one. Alright, Sherry, what's your favorite book? Or a good one. 26 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:11,000 I like the book of Ruth. I like the story, family, loyalty, devotion, giving, rising out of the constitution. 27 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:16,000 Yeah, that's good stuff. Do you happen to know how many chapters that is? I don't know, off the top of my head. 28 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,000 I think it's around eight, something like that. 29 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:25,000 Alright, so now I need somebody, it's a little longer, to volunteer to read the book of Ruth before next Tuesday. 30 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Great story. Back here, okay. Oh, that's an easy one. No fair taking your favorite. 31 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,000 Okay, that's fine. Alright, so Alicia will do it. Alright, somebody else give me one. 32 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,000 Alright, Caleb. 33 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:56,000 Genesis is my favorite because I love how it all, because I like the way that God can just say, let there be light and there's light. Let there be animals and it's always the beginning of the earth and that's why it's my favorite. 34 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:02,000 You like to start at the beginning, in the beginnings. Genesis means the beginnings. Alright, I need somebody to volunteer. This is a big one. 35 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,000 Alright, this is your 52 chapters. 36 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:11,000 Are you volunteering? Tony, you volunteering? Alright, Tony's got Genesis. Alright, somebody else give me another one. 37 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Ariana. 38 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:28,000 Because Jesus is born and it's probably the most detailed account of his birth. That's very good. Luke 2. Very good. Okay, and I don't know how many chapters that is. It feels like a lot. That's a lot. That's a big one too. 39 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Okay. He's looking at it. He's using the crib sheet. Okay, so I need somebody to volunteer to read the book of Luke before next week. 40 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:45,000 Tony's got a lot of chapters. Come on somebody. 41 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:50,000 Anybody? Book of Luke before next week. You can't volunteer on your own. I'm sorry. I won't let you do it. 42 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:57,000 Ariana said it's her favorite. Read it and you'll be able to tell us why Ariana thinks it's awesome. 43 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:06,000 Alright, so Ariana's got Ruth and Alicia's got Luke. Okay, we've got time for one more. Somebody else tell us a book you really like and why. 44 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,000 Isaiah. Why? 45 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:20,000 There's a lot of really good things that I've used from there to help in struggles and get a lot of wisdom. 46 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:28,000 Isaiah is the major prophet who spoke the most about the coming of Jesus. One of the most classic scriptures. 47 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:37,000 That is a really long one. I don't think it's longer than Genesis though. Maybe 66, but I don't think it's longer. 48 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:47,000 I still don't think it's longer. Alright, so we need a courageous Isaiah reader before next week. Who will read the book of Isaiah before next Tuesday? 49 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Somebody. Dive in front of the Isaiah bus. Alright, Aaron. Dive in front of the Isaiah bus. Aaron took one for the team. 50 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Alright, so then what are you going to do? What's that? It is a long book. Alright, so you can listen to it or read it. 51 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:12,000 Either way is fine. And then we're going to check back next week. And I would like you during the Wacked Out Simple stuff next week, try to bring something. 52 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:17,000 And you know, if you can't read the whole thing for some reason, you should be able to, but some of them are kind of long. 53 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,000 If you don't get through all of it, get through what you can and then bring something out of that next week for Wacked Out. 54 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:28,000 Just quick, like a sentence or two. I'm not asking, not a Tony Tate sermon, but just like a sentence or two. 55 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:34,000 Yeah, how are you going to do 50 plus chapters in a couple sentences? I don't know, just tell us something cool about it. 56 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Alright, let's pray together. Then we'll do one more song and then we'll release the children. 57 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:44,000 And I'm kind of excited about this. It's a relatively simple, but kind of really important lesson. 58 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,000 Father in heaven, I do thank you for this night, this opportunity to be together. 59 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:57,000 Lord, we know we need you. You have demonstrated to us your incredible care, your ability to take care of us in so many ways. 60 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:04,000 Your purpose for our lives. You called us out of the darkness, out of lostness, truly out of death, unto life. 61 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:08,000 And just like Caleb said, you spoke and said, let there be light or really just light be. 62 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:14,000 And you said, Dan, I want you to be. And I first said, no, that's the reality of it. I said no. 63 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:21,000 And I'm grateful that eventually I did say yes. And I am living now. And in this room are folks who are living. 64 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:27,000 And we are grateful for that. We ask you Lord to provide for us. We do pray for Sherri. She made it here. 65 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:32,000 She's here to worship you. We pray that even while we're worshiping together today, even while we're learning together today, 66 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:37,000 that you would take care of her blood pressure. And she leave this place and say it was good to be in the house of the Lord. 67 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,000 And our God is a healing God and a strengthening God. 68 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:51,000 We pray, Lord, for those across the city of Toledo who are struggling with having heat in their homes for the trailers that caught fire. 69 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Lord, I drove by one today I saw and I just saw it last week and it was fine. So I know it just burned. 70 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:03,000 And I pray, Lord, for folks who are truly suffering in ways that we don't know. We aren't in it right now. 71 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:10,000 And then there have been changes. Things happening with jobs and with health and with relationships. 72 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,000 And we just pray you'll take care of all of it. Your will be done here on the earth as it is in heaven. 73 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:33,000 We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. 74 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:46,000 My strength when I am weak, you're the treasure that I seek. You're my all in all. 75 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Seeking you as a precious jewel to give me a fight, be a fool. You're my all in all. 76 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. 77 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:17,000 In the kitchen, in the top oven is hot dogs and buns. So you can do those for kids now. 78 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,000 They're already warm. They're just staying warm. 79 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:41,000 You're my all in all. 80 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:54,000 When I fall down, you pick me up. When I am dry, you fill my cup. You're my all in all. 81 00:08:54,000 --> 00:09:08,000 Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. 82 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:21,000 Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. 83 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:35,000 Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. 84 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:53,000 Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. 85 00:09:53,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Alrighty, at this time we'll dismiss the children and their teachers to the classroom. 86 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Never mind music, only our description to the moral and moral world. 87 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:45,000 To walk in hope or comprehension like nothing ever seen or heard. Who can grasp your infinite wisdom? 88 00:10:45,000 --> 00:11:05,000 Who can fathom the depth of your love? Beautiful beyond description, majesty enthroned above. 89 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:19,000 And I stand, I stand in awe of you. I stand, I stand in awe of you. 90 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:33,000 Holy God to whom all praise is due. I stand in awe of you. 91 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:47,000 I stand in awe of you. Beautiful beyond description. 92 00:11:47,000 --> 00:12:06,000 To marvelous for words. To wonderful for comprehension like nothing ever seen or heard. 93 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:19,000 Who can grasp your infinite wisdom? Who can fathom the depth of your love? 94 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:40,000 You are beautiful beyond description, majesty enthroned above. And I stand, I stand in awe of you. 95 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:53,000 I stand, I stand in awe of you. Holy God to whom all praise is due. 96 00:12:53,000 --> 00:13:10,000 I stand in awe of you. I stand in awe of you. 97 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:40,000 Thank you sir. Thank you ma'am. 98 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:55,000 Okay. Sorry I'm stealing your stool. Candy bag. I'm going to get a new candy bag this one's ripped. 99 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:25,000 Didn't fly very good. 100 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:45,000 That'll work. I'll transfer it later. Okay. We're going to talk about mammon. Mammon. Jason, what is mammon? 101 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:58,000 Alright see it's a good thing to be talking about right Tommy what's mammon? Don't remember either? Alright let's see RJ? No? Okay. Tony Tate. 102 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:08,000 White stuff they ate in the morning is manna. Yeah it's manna. Mammon is either it's a god or it's the desires of our pleasures. They call it mammon. 103 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Okay so really it's wealth or prosperity that you would desire. Okay so you got to get in there. So Jesus will quote and I don't want to ruin the end of the story but it says that you cannot serve God and mammon. 104 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:32,000 Okay alright so we're going to be in the book of Luke and we're going to be in like chapters 15 and 16 so who took Luke? That was Alicia right? 105 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:39,000 She want it with Luke? Alright so she would have got a head start but I think she's kiddling right now so alright. 106 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:52,000 So if you'll notice we're on the upper left part of the worksheet it looks like a house and then there are some lines right below the house and then it says the reference Luke 15, 11 through 17 you should have there. 107 00:15:52,000 --> 00:16:07,000 Or Luke 15, 11 dash 11 and following. Okay so those three lines are the three things that are going to be given by the man in the story. 108 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:16,000 Okay so we're going to read the story and then we'll pick out the things that he gave. 109 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:24,000 And these are the things that he gave in the first half of the story so don't get confused because the overall story adds a couple more. 110 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:47,000 Alright so the first goes like this. 111 00:16:47,000 --> 00:17:10,000 And we'll stop right there actually in 16. 112 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:17,000 So first of all we know what swine is right? Pigs. Swine is pigs. 113 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:26,000 Why would it be so bad for a Jewish man to be a job of feeding the pigs? 114 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:37,000 They're unclean animals. Yeah so after Noah there were animals that were considered clean, could be used for sacrifice, animals that could be eaten and they were neither. 115 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:42,000 They're not allowed to be eaten and they're not allowed to be sacrificed. So really a Jewish man wants nothing to do with them. 116 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:49,000 But if you're hungry you'll take a job doing whatever you got to take a job doing to put food in your mall and he wasn't doing a very good job with that anyway. 117 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:58,000 Alright so there's three things that the father had given the son and the first is wrapped up in his choice to be able to leave. 118 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:09,000 Okay so if I say it starts with the P and he had the choice to be able to leave what word would you use? Say it again? Personhood? Kind of. 119 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:19,000 But I think personhood probably entails more than just this. Permission. He had permission. Okay so you could do permission or power. 120 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:29,000 Either one would work. He had the power to leave. He had the permission to leave. Right? Okay. And then the second one was what he was giving up. 121 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:40,000 He had it from his dad but he's giving it up to go out on his own. Also starts with a P. What would you say? Kind of peace? 122 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:46,000 Not so much peace I don't think because he feels pretty much at peace at that time. You're right he does eventually give up his peace. 123 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:58,000 Okay. He gets out there, spends all his money and winds up not having enough food. Not protected. Right? So he has no safety. Right? 124 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:07,000 Somebody said another word that also could have worked there and I missed it. What was the other word? Privilege. So privilege or protection either way could go there. 125 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:16,000 So he was taken care of by his dad. His dad had a fortune and he was going to divide his fortune between the older brother and the younger brother. 126 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:29,000 And then now all of a sudden he doesn't have that. He has his portion. He's out there on his own and as we see he winds up wishing he had his dad's protection or his dad's privilege because he winds up with nothing. 127 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:40,000 So we've got power or permission and we've got privilege or protection and then the last one is a little bit trickier. It's very much like protection and I put provision. 128 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:48,000 So he had been provided for. This is old money. Right? He didn't earn this money. This is his dad's money. It's his provision. 129 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:58,000 And so he takes his power, his protection and his provision and he's leaving. Because he has the power or the permission either one, he has the right to leave. 130 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:05,000 Because he has the money, he feels confident to leave. Right? I have the money. I'll be alright. I'll be protected. I'll be okay. 131 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:12,000 And then he essentially squanders the provision. He uses it over and over and over again until it's gone. 132 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:21,000 He eats out a lot. He parties a lot. One translation says he spends it on loose women. You know that kind of thing. It's pretty bad. 133 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:30,000 Bottom line is he's enjoying his life so much that it's gone. He squanders the power, protection, provision or permission if that's the word you use. 134 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:34,000 He squanders all of it. Now he followed the arrow around to the right. As you go... 135 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:42,000 I was going to say when the famine came he had nothing saved up anyways. Nothing just squandered it. He wasn't prepared for anything bad would happen. 136 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:54,000 Exactly. So there's three lines right there next to the man. The reference is Luke 15, 11. The three lines are I put power, protection and provision. 137 00:20:54,000 --> 00:21:01,000 You can use your own words there if you want. Now you'll notice as we're going to the right that there are three lines up on an angle. 138 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:06,000 You're going to leave those empty for now. We're going to get them on the second time around the page. 139 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:13,000 We're leaving those empty. They each relate. Power relates to something. Protection relates to something. Provision relates to something. 140 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:22,000 But we're leaving them empty for now. Follow the arrow over to the right. Now what you see is bags and whether or not you believe in my ability to draw this, this is bags of money. 141 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:32,000 Those are bags of money. You'll notice at the top that there's some P's. This is what money does. 142 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:38,000 Believe it or not, if you have a lot of money, you feel like you have power, protection and provision. 143 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:43,000 You ever want to pay a bill and you can't and on Sunday you got the money and you're like, oh, provided for. 144 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,000 Or a bill comes in and you already have the money and you're like, oh, protected. 145 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:55,000 Or you come home from work after a long hard day and you don't want to cook. I'll just go out to eat. Oh, power. 146 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:02,000 So this is what money does. It looks like power, protection and provision. And for a while he had it. 147 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:12,000 As Brother Tony Tate pointed out, if famine would come or a real problem comes, he doesn't have the level of power, protection or provision that he had while he was at home. 148 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:19,000 He's out on a limb, but he feels like he's okay is the point. So money has a tendency to do that. 149 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:27,000 So we're going to read now Luke 16. This is Luke 16 verses 24 and 25. So we're going over to the right one chapter. 150 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:34,000 There's quite a lot about money in these chapters. The one thing that you will not find, by the way, is tithing. 151 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:41,000 We're not going to talk about that, but I will side note mention that that is one good way to learn how to handle money in a godly way. 152 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:56,000 So Luke 16, 24 and 25, and it says, He cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame. 153 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:08,000 So this is the story of a rich man who had plenty of power, protection and provision in his life. And he winds up burning in hell. 154 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:16,000 During his lifetime he met Lazarus. In fact, Lazarus used to lay at his gate. And he never helped Lazarus, despite the fact that Lazarus had a great deal of need. 155 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:26,000 He chose to never help him. The dogs would come and lick his sores. But this man wanted nothing to do with the sick man, Lazarus. 156 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:37,000 Now he's burning and he's saying, Father Abraham, just send Lazarus to dip his finger in the water and cool off my tongue. 157 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:47,000 Can you imagine? This is the guy who wanted nothing to do with the sick sore-ridden man during lifetime. And now he wants him to dip his finger in the water and stick it on his tongue. 158 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:53,000 That's extremely intimate. He just wants a drip of water and he's even willing to have Lazarus' finger in his mouth. 159 00:23:53,000 --> 00:24:00,000 I'm going to say to you, other than maybe my dentist under those circumstances where it's absolutely necessary, I don't want another man's finger in my mouth like ever. 160 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:07,000 Unless I'm choking and they're getting it out or I'm going to the dentist. That's it. And he's willing to let Lazarus, who was a sick poor man, 161 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:13,000 who wanted nothing to do with him during life, even though he had plenty of power, protection, and provision for himself, he didn't want nothing to do with that guy. 162 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:24,000 Now he wants him to stick his finger in his mouth. But listen to the answer. Abraham said, Child, remember that during your life you received your good things. 163 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:32,000 And likewise, Lazarus, bad things. But now he is being comforted here and you are in agony. 164 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:38,000 So that was Luke 16, 24-25. That's your blanks there. 165 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:43,000 Now if you look up on the bags up there, there's some blanks on the bags. 166 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:50,000 So the big bag has two blanks and those are worship me! 167 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:55,000 Now here's the problem, and we'll get there to break this down, but here's the problem with money. 168 00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:01,000 If money is a god, all gods want one thing. 169 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:06,000 It's not even power. All gods have power by their very nature. 170 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:10,000 Now false gods I'm talking about compared to the real god. The real god has real power, right? 171 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:15,000 But the false gods, do they not bestow you? That's what we're talking about. Do they not bestow you with power? 172 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,000 They must have power in order for you to have power. 173 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,000 If you've got five grand in the bank and you want to go to Mickey D's and grab a Big Mac, 174 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:26,000 you've got the power to go buy a Big Mac anytime you want for the next ten years without, you know, 175 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,000 as long as you keep working and making basic money, you're never going to not have that power. 176 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:35,000 So these false gods, they do have power, right? But they want something. 177 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:43,000 They want worth. They want worship. So what goes on the bag is worship me! 178 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:49,000 What money wants you to do is it wants you to declare its value to everyone else 179 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:56,000 because it has built in power, protection, and provision during this lifetime. 180 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,000 But somebody don't necessarily think that. 181 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:04,000 You may come from a good family background and you may be enchanted with your family. 182 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,000 You really like your siblings. You really like your mom and dad. You really like the situation. 183 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:15,000 You may have a good family background. So to you, time with your family is more important than money. 184 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:20,000 And you take a day off to go to the family reunion in a heartbeat. 185 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,000 You take a day off to take a vacation. 186 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:27,000 Or you get off work early to see your daughter's dance recital without a question. 187 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,000 You never let your money interfere with your family. 188 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:35,000 But if money can get your attention and get you thinking how much it's worth, 189 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,000 then now it can interfere with your relationship with your family. 190 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:43,000 Now be careful because what I just described there is a war between two idols. 191 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:47,000 That's all I'm talking about. Neither one of those things, not family nor money, 192 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,000 will actually get you what you really want. 193 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,000 They'll just keep you going for a while and family can provide protection. 194 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:59,000 If you can call your mom or dad when you're sick or hurting or financially in trouble or whatever 195 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,000 and you say, Mom or Dad, I need 50 bucks. Can you bring me medicine? 196 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,000 Or how long do I bake the turkey? 197 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,000 Then you've got power, protection, and provision in your family. 198 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,000 And the same thing is with money. 199 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:15,000 Now we're talking about money specifically because Jesus uses that as an illustration. 200 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,000 Elsewhere, by the way, Jesus does use family. 201 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,000 That's where he says you must hate your father or mother. 202 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:26,000 Not literally hate them, but you have to decide that Jesus is more important than your family 203 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:30,000 in order to truly be a disciple of the Lord. 204 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,000 So the first bag says, worship me. 205 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,000 Now here's the problem. 206 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:39,000 Let's say you did agree that money was worth a lot and you started earning money. 207 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,000 You're workaholic in it. 208 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,000 So you're putting in 60, 70, 80 hours a week and you're making money. 209 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,000 And you're rising in the ranks and your investments are going good. 210 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,000 And pretty soon, you're a 30-something millionaire. 211 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,000 And you're like, wow, yay me. 212 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,000 Here's the problem. There's a second bag of money back there. 213 00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:00,000 It's got two blanks too. It says me too! 214 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,000 Because it's the same... 215 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,000 Once you put the money in the bank or in the mattress or whatever, 216 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:13,000 it's not the money that you've got so much that you're after. 217 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,000 It's the money that you need, the money that you want. 218 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:24,000 And so you get pursuing the money that's yet to come and maintaining the money that you already have. 219 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,000 And basically what happens is you don't have time for anything else. 220 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,000 If you're so busy pursuing or protecting the money you have, 221 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:36,000 using it the best way, exercising its provision, exercising its power in your life, 222 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,000 all that kind of thing, putting it to work well, 223 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:44,000 and pursuing what comes next, then you don't have time for anything else really. 224 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,000 So it's worship me and me too. 225 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,000 And what was the result of that and what we saw right here? 226 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:56,000 If you are successful and you use the money well, but Christ is not in it, 227 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:01,000 ultimately you wind up in hell and you may get the same message from Father Abraham or from God 228 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:05,000 or an angel of the Lord or whatever that this guy got, saying, 229 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,000 you got your good things in your lifetime. You're done! 230 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:14,000 Now you're paying. You received all that then, now you're paying. 231 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:18,000 And so a lot of people think that money is the finish line. 232 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,000 And if you'll notice, it goes down to the left to a guy running through the finish line. 233 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:26,000 That is what that is. It kind of also looks like a very skinny necked dinosaur facing to the right. 234 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:35,000 But it is what it is. So no, the answer is no. Money is not an end. 235 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:43,000 It is barely a means to an end. And it is only a means to an end if it is used properly. 236 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,000 So in other words, if God gives you money and you don't use it for God, 237 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:51,000 then it has become essentially an end. You're the well, you're holding it, 238 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:56,000 and it may be draining out the bottom, but you're not using it for what God gave it to you to use it for. 239 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,000 And that's a real problem. So money is not the finish line. 240 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,000 So don't think, if I could just get, if I could just get. 241 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:06,000 In the early days of church planting, we really, really wanted the church to do well. 242 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,000 And we wanted to win people to Jesus and stuff. And we were hurting for money. 243 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:14,000 We just didn't have no money. Like our offerings were $34 a week 244 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,000 because everybody was still typing at their home church and stuff. 245 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,000 And so we had $120, $150 a month to do something with. 246 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,000 It was next to nothing, really. We didn't have hardly any money to do anything. 247 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,000 We'd go to conferences and stuff, and they'd say, 248 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,000 well, we can give you some money. We can give you some money. But they never would. 249 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000 And we kept thinking, if only we just had money. 250 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,000 And this is what God told me. God said, if you had the money, 251 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,000 you wouldn't do any better than if you don't have the money, 252 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,000 because it really isn't about the money. Right? 253 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,000 It's about what you do with whatever you have. 254 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:46,000 And so we learned somewhere along the road, and then we wound up with the $2 million building 255 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,000 and add on all of these other things that we never could have afforded. 256 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:55,000 In the life of this church, this coming year, it'll be 20 years since we started planting new heights. 257 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:59,000 And in that period of time, we never would have accumulated $2 million. 258 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,000 And if we right now wanted to borrow $2 million, we probably couldn't do it. 259 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:08,000 Even with our regular income of the church and everything, because $2 million is a lot of money. 260 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:12,000 And if you did buy a $2 million building, then you wouldn't have any money to maintain it. Right? 261 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,000 So the point is, you get after the money, and then you keep getting after the money. 262 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:21,000 And meanwhile, the money seems to provide the power, the protection, and the provision that you desire. 263 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:25,000 So it sounds good, and you tell other people about how you did it. 264 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:29,000 Just watch Facebook, YouTube, etc. Why do you think it is? 265 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:36,000 What's the purpose behind anybody that's made $120 million in all these different ways 266 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:42,000 on Reels, Facebook, YouTube, all those places, getting out there and teaching everybody else how to do it? 267 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:48,000 Why do they care? Why do they care if you do it the same way they did it to get $120 million? 268 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:53,000 And how many people that go after them and try to make the same $120 million ever make it? 269 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:59,000 Almost none. Right? Very, very few. One in thousands or ten thousands. 270 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:03,000 But there's money in telling others the value of money. 271 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:08,000 So they're making money and telling others about how they made money. 272 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:13,000 And that's what happens. And it's just a cycle. You won't make the money that they made the way they made it, probably. 273 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:17,000 Typically, only the first guy does that. Right? 274 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:24,000 And then they sell the plan to everybody else, and one in ten thousand or one in a hundred thousand can repeat the process. 275 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,000 But everybody else pays to get in, but they don't make any money. 276 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:33,000 So don't follow other people's testimony or worship of money because it just doesn't work. 277 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:39,000 Otherwise, if you go that road thinking money is the finish line, you will wind up like this guy did. Right? 278 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:43,000 But there is a yes road. Okay? There is a road down the other side. 279 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:48,000 And the blank right there just says, yes! on my paper. 280 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,000 And when you write it down, I want you to think to yourself, I want to handle my money. 281 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:56,000 I want to handle the blessings of God the way He gave them to me the way He wants me to. 282 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:05,000 I'm saying yes. Okay? Before we go on any further, who's got three peas? 283 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:10,000 Anybody on the back row got the three peas under the house? Sean, what do you got? 284 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:17,000 Okay. I'm going to throw candy and then you can pass it out because everyone who eats all this will get cavities. Okay? 285 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:25,000 Come here. He got one and a half. He caught one and a half out of five. Okay, that's pretty impressive. Okay. 286 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:30,000 All right. We're going to go, as I said, we're working our way around. All right. 287 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:35,000 So the yes road takes us to the cross. Imagine that. Okay? 288 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,000 And also notice there's a little New Heights logo down to the right. 289 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:44,000 Because once you get to the cross, the idea is not you just get saved and life ends. 290 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,000 Actually, it's the opposite. You get saved and life begins. 291 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,000 And you start living and growing and taking new steps and God taking you new places 292 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:58,000 and God cutting old bad nasty things out of your life and adding good things into your life and like that. Okay? 293 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:09,000 So the reference under the cross is there. In this case is Luke 16, 10 through 15. Luke 16, 10 through 15. Okay? 294 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:16,000 This is Jesus speaking. Everything that I'm going to read through the end of the 13th verse is all in red in my Bible. 295 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:22,000 So Jesus says, He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. 296 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:27,000 And he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 297 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:30,000 Now, before I go on, I want you to see two things in that one verse. 298 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:35,000 The first thing is he, and by the way, our Arjun is over there going, yes, I learned this just recently. 299 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:39,000 He's going, I totally resonate with that verse. That's your verse right there, Arjun, right? 300 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,000 That you've been preaching for the last two weeks. 301 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:45,000 He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. It means two things. 302 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:51,000 Number one, it means if you do the small things godly, the way God would want you to do, 303 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:58,000 then by extension you will become somebody who does the big things well or godly. 304 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:06,000 So if you leave out the little things, at some point in time you will not stay the course and make the big things godly. 305 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:13,000 In other words, if you can't, and I'm not trying to get on that topic, but if you can't tithe, if you can't run a spending plan, 306 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:21,000 if you can't manage your schedule, if you can't take care of yourself physically, yourself mentally, yourself emotionally, your body, your children, your friends, 307 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:28,000 if you can't manage the little day-to-day things godly, then when you get to something that's huge, 308 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:36,000 like whether you're going to deny Christ at death or whether you're going to win some guy to Christ that winds up going to win thousands more people or whatever, 309 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:42,000 when you get to the big thing that God wants to do, whatever that might be, you're not going to be ready. 310 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:50,000 What you eat for lunch tomorrow is a small domino in the chain of whether that guy gets saved. 311 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:57,000 What you wear to work or to school tomorrow is a domino in the chain of whether that guy gets saved or whether that bill gets paid 312 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:02,000 or whether you show up at the heroic moment to do the right thing. 313 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:11,000 And so it's figurative, but it's also literal. He's saying, if you're faithful in a very little thing, much. 314 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:15,000 So the first part is to understand it's a training process. 315 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,000 The little things you're being faithful in lead to a big thing or to the next big thing. 316 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:23,000 And in fact, sometimes those little things are the big things. You think they're little. 317 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:27,000 How many times do you talk to people about Jesus and they don't get saved? 318 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:31,000 And then that one time you talk to somebody about Jesus, they do get saved. 319 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:35,000 And 17 times you try to bring up Jesus. I don't want to hear it. I'm busy. I want to talk about it. 320 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:38,000 Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I'll think about it. It's all that. 321 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:43,000 And then the 17th time you bring it up and the guy, the person is like, oh, thank God, God sent you. 322 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:50,000 I've been wanting to know. I'm so ready. And they're bowing their head and tears dropping on the table in the middle of the restaurant. 323 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:56,000 And you're like, what just happened? 17 times I've been through this. It's been an ordeal every single time. 324 00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:02,000 All 17 of those times we're building up to that one moment in time that that one person gets saved. 325 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:06,000 Then they go home and they save their family. They change everything about their lives. 326 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:13,000 Get baptized, start telling people about Jesus. Right. And they wind up somewhere across the world and they share the gospel 17 times. 327 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:17,000 You're 17 times plus there's 34 times the gospel shared and nobody heard it. 328 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:23,000 And then they lead one. Right. And then that person becomes and that happened with DL Moody. 329 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,000 And it happened with Billy Graham. And it happened. 330 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,000 You look up every evangelist who has ever lived and supposedly won thousands. 331 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:33,000 And you'll find that the person that won them, they weren't won by some big name evangelist. 332 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:42,000 None of them. None of them. And so our little pieces are sometimes the big pieces. 333 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:47,000 They just suddenly look back and go, holy cow, I get it now. God did something. 334 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:51,000 That little piece was a huge piece of what God was trying to do. 335 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,000 Like when a lady in the church called me up on the phone and she said, hey, you know, they got that. 336 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,000 There's that school building over there and they're going to tear it down. 337 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:09,000 Maybe we could just ask them and see if they'd give it to us. And I chuckled like Sarah and went, nah. 338 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,000 Well, that hurt to ask. And here we are. 339 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:20,000 You know, it's that moment in time at which you think it's just ordinary could be the actual huge thing, 340 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:26,000 which is exactly why this is what I'm getting at is exactly why those who are faithful with the little things 341 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:31,000 will also be faithful with the big things because the little things are the big things. 342 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:36,000 Somebody needs your smile. Somebody needs your hug. Somebody needs your word of encouragement. 343 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:42,000 Somebody needs you to be there. And you may feel like you're being there doing nothing. 344 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:48,000 But that nothing is the something that God is building the kingdom out of. 345 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,000 So that who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. 346 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:56,000 If he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 347 00:38:56,000 --> 00:39:01,000 If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon. 348 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,000 In other words, money that you've gotten. 349 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:09,000 You didn't get it specifically by following God or doing a miracle or doing anything like that. 350 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:13,000 By the way, if you did do a miracle and got paid for it, that would be unrighteous mammon too, right? 351 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,000 Because we don't do our works for God to get paid. 352 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:24,000 Because therefore you have been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon. Who will entrust the true riches to you? 353 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,000 That's a rhetorical question. You know the answer. 354 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:35,000 If you've been unfaithful, right? If you failed to be faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon, of money. 355 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,000 Who would entrust the true riches to you? 356 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:41,000 Nobody. Nobody would do that. You wouldn't do that. 357 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:45,000 If you loaned a guy a thousand dollars and then next day found out he went and spent it on crack 358 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,000 and turned it up all in one weekend, you'd never loan him money again. 359 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:54,000 Why would you do that? You might buy him food sometime if he was hungry, right? 360 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:58,000 But you'd never give him money again. That'd just be nuts. 361 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:02,000 God's the same way. If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon, 362 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,000 who will entrust the true riches to you? 363 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:10,000 And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, in other words, that doesn't belong to you. 364 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:15,000 If you can't be faithful in the use of what you borrow or what is given to you to steward, 365 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,000 who will give you what is your own? 366 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:24,000 Why would God invest mighty things in you if the things that you're already getting from like your spiritual guests, 367 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:27,000 the opportunities that you have, etc., you're wasting? 368 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:31,000 Why would God keep giving you stuff if you're wasting what you're already getting? 369 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:37,000 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, 370 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,000 or else he will hold to one and despise the other. 371 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:44,000 You cannot serve God and mammon, Jesus' words. 372 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:51,000 You can't serve God and money. If money, provision, wealth, prosperity, 373 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:56,000 if those things are a thing for you, God is not a thing for you. That's all there is to it. 374 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:59,000 Now does that mean God hates money? No. 375 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,000 Does it mean money hates God? Money doesn't hate anything. Money's paper and coins. 376 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,000 It doesn't have emotions, right? 377 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:11,000 They're not hating each other. The problem is, if you love money and God says you have to give, 378 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:15,000 you're going to have a problem. And God does say you have to give. 379 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:19,000 If you love making money and God says you have to serve, and then you serve, 380 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:22,000 how long is it going to take before the enemy or an evil spirit or whatever mentions you, 381 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:26,000 hey, you know, you didn't get paid for that. You worked really hard and you didn't get paid. 382 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,000 That's wrong. You got something? 383 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:35,000 Yeah. And it's good for the youth as well as anybody, but I was a church lady. 384 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:41,000 I used to go to a friend with this girl and this one encourager, and she said, she wanted to, 385 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,000 I said, what do you want to do? What does God call me to do? 386 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,000 And she was like, well, I'm going to be a missionary in Tokyo. 387 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,000 I was like, that's really cool. I love that. 388 00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:54,000 And so remembering this verse, I, this is just how I would, you know, 389 00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:58,000 I share it, but I thought it was really good to make it really relatable. 390 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:03,000 I told her, I go, this is your Tokyo though. You start here. 391 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:07,000 Because how is God going to get you over there if you can't start here? 392 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:10,000 God wants to see you trust him here. And she did. 393 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:15,000 She began to work on her tithing in her college because you're just about to go to college and all that stuff. 394 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:18,000 She ended up being a missionary, but wasn't for Tokyo. 395 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:22,000 And she didn't go any major missionary, but she did go into missionary. 396 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:27,000 But if she didn't start there, you know, she could have ran to Tokyo, you know, and did all this. 397 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:31,000 And then she would just came on back over here where you had to start in the first place. 398 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:33,000 It's a good illustration. It's a good illustration. 399 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,000 Okay, we got to go a little further. Fourteen. 400 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:38,000 Now the Pharisees, remember who they were. 401 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:43,000 These are the educated, essentially evangelical pastors of the day, even though they weren't pastors. 402 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:48,000 They didn't have Christian faith, but they were Jews who preached and taught and tried to win people over to Judaism. 403 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:49,000 They were teaching the Old Testament. 404 00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:52,000 And they were fasting two days a week and they were memorizing whole books of the Bible. 405 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:56,000 Now the Pharisees who were lovers of money, ouch, there it is. 406 00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:03,000 They were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, everything that Jesus was saying, and they were scoffing at him. 407 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:08,000 And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men. 408 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:12,000 That is, you're doing what is necessary to look good or for people to judge you as correct. 409 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,000 And they were doing that. They were doing a very good job of it. 410 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:22,000 But God knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. 411 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:25,000 Now I'm going to ask you this plain and simple. 412 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:32,000 Among men, is money, wealth, prosperity, highly esteemed? 413 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:35,000 Absolutely. Absolutely. 414 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:39,000 Who doesn't want the 12 million dollar mansion with the infinite pool in the backyard? 415 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:42,000 What young man in their 30s who's not saved? 416 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,000 I'm talking about lost people in the world, right? 417 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:48,000 They all want the Lamborghinis and the Ferraris and the girls in the bikinis. 418 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,000 They all do. 419 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:53,000 Now when they're 50, they're going to realize they wasted their life. 420 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,000 But in the meantime, it's well esteemed, right? 421 00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:01,000 Why do people watch the reels on Facebook and everything else, trying to figure out how to make their millions? 422 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,000 Why does everybody want a side hustle? 423 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,000 Because money is highly esteemed. 424 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,000 If you're wealthy, you're going to do well. 425 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,000 You're going to be fine. I'll be taken care of. 426 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,000 I'll never have to wonder where it's going to come from again. 427 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,000 Let's read the verse again. It says, 428 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:22,000 God knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is detestable in the sight of God. 429 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:26,000 Alright, so we go to the cross and we realize what Jesus has given us, 430 00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,000 we're supposed to use for God, right? 431 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:32,000 And then it takes us back up there, the arrow goes up to the left. 432 00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:34,000 And there's two ways to get there. 433 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,000 You can go down on the swoop, up to the pigs. 434 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,000 See the pigs? Those are my pigs. 435 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,000 What do you think, Jason? What do you think of my pigs? 436 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,000 Jason? 437 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,000 You could have done it better, couldn't you? 438 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,000 Yeah, probably. 439 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:49,000 One out of three pigs? 440 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:51,000 They're half dog, half pig? 441 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,000 Half dog, half pig, yeah. 442 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,000 Okay. They're going to be very fat dogs. 443 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,000 Alright, anyway. 444 00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:00,000 And then the other way, we get the shortcut and we don't go through the pigs. 445 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,000 So you get to pick which arrow you go by, 446 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:10,000 but either way you wind up there at the trail back to dad, if you will. 447 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:13,000 Okay? Alright. 448 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:19,000 Before we go, we're going to ask a question. 449 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:23,000 Jason, what's on your second bag of money? 450 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:27,000 Does it have an exclamation point? Yes? 451 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:30,000 Okay, then we get the full amount of candy. 452 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:34,000 But there's no exclamation point and you get one less. 453 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:38,000 You're not allowed to take it. 454 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:44,000 Apparently that was a curve ball. 455 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:46,000 Okay, sit next to Jason. 456 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:48,000 Run the risk of getting candy thrown at you, I guess. 457 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:50,000 And Kashan, right down the middle. 458 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:53,000 Okay, so we're following the arrows back up to the left. 459 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,000 Now the beauty of it is the story was not done, 460 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,000 so we have to go back to Luke 15 for our conclusion. 461 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:04,000 Okay? And we're going to read Luke 15, beginning in verse 17. 462 00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:05,000 Okay, so he's feeding the pigs. 463 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:09,000 Remember that's where we left him off in his story. 464 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:12,000 He was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating. 465 00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:15,000 No one was giving anything to him. 17. 466 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:18,000 But when he came to his senses, he said, 467 00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:22,000 How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, 468 00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:25,000 but I am dying here with hunger. 469 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:28,000 I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, 470 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,000 Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 471 00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:35,000 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 472 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:39,000 Make me as one of your hired men. 473 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,000 And he got up and came to his father. 474 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:45,000 But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him 475 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:50,000 and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 476 00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:52,000 And the son said to him, 477 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,000 Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 478 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:56,000 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 479 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,000 And he didn't quite get the last part out, 480 00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:00,000 but that was the prepared speech exactly, 481 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,000 but he didn't quite get the last part out. 482 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,000 But the father said to his slaves, 483 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:07,000 Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him. 484 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:10,000 Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 485 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:12,000 Bring the fatted calf and kill it. 486 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:14,000 And let us eat and be merry, 487 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:17,000 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. 488 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,000 He was lost and has been found. 489 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,000 And they began to be merry. 490 00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:24,000 Now the story doesn't fully end there, 491 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:26,000 and I would encourage you to read the response of the older brother 492 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:28,000 because there's some interesting thing there. 493 00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:31,000 But it's not necessary for what God is trying to show us 494 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,000 through these passages this evening. 495 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:35,000 So we're going to stop there. 496 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:39,000 So now you'll notice we've got two blank lines right there above the arrow. 497 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:46,000 These are the two blanks that he now gives him that he previously didn't have. 498 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:51,000 So the first one is purpose. 499 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:57,000 So in the text he puts sandals on his feet. 500 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,000 Sandals represent purpose. 501 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:02,000 Because you put your sandals on so you can go. 502 00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:04,000 If you're sitting around the house you don't have to wear your sandals. 503 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:06,000 You just sit around the house. 504 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:08,000 Put my sandals on to go. 505 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:10,000 And in their society it represented purpose. 506 00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:13,000 And so if you'll notice there's a line there that says purpose. 507 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:16,000 Over to the right there's a diagonal line going down. 508 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,000 That's sandals. 509 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:20,000 So purpose goes on the top line. 510 00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:23,000 Sandals goes on the line next to that. 511 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:29,000 The symbolism that he gave him purpose was when he gave him sandals. 512 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,000 Now there's another line there. 513 00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:34,000 And this one is in the story. 514 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,000 But it's tricky. 515 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:40,000 It's something that we don't really realize is there. 516 00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:41,000 They went to the party. 517 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:42,000 Who went to the party? 518 00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:44,000 The man who had returned home. 519 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,000 Who else went to the party? 520 00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:48,000 All the servants. 521 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,000 Who else went to the party? 522 00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:52,000 The dad or the father. 523 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:56,000 So this line is presence. 524 00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:58,000 This he lost. 525 00:48:58,000 --> 00:48:59,000 He gave it up. 526 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:02,000 But if you think about it he kind of didn't have it. 527 00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:05,000 He looked at his dad and he said dad I want my part of the inheritance. 528 00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:06,000 And he tried to leave. 529 00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:07,000 That's all he wanted to do. 530 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:08,000 So I'm out of here. 531 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:09,000 I just want my part of the inheritance. 532 00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:10,000 He already wasn't really. 533 00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:12,000 He was living in the same house as his dad. 534 00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:14,000 But he wasn't really with his dad. 535 00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:16,000 He already had a heart to be separate. 536 00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:18,000 His dad falls on him, kisses him on the neck. 537 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:20,000 His dad is back. 538 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:22,000 His dad is in his life full form. 539 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:23,000 And he takes him home to party. 540 00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:25,000 And he goes to the party with him. 541 00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:26,000 And so it's presence. 542 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:30,000 And then the diagonal down line there is himself. 543 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,000 He's present in the young man's life again. 544 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:39,000 And it's symbolic or the symbol in the story is himself. 545 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:40,000 Now follow the trail up. 546 00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:42,000 You'll see we had power, protection, and provision. 547 00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:43,000 Let me ask you. 548 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:46,000 Does he get all of those things back again? 549 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:47,000 He does. 550 00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:49,000 He gets them all back again. 551 00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:53,000 In fact, he gets them all back again and more. 552 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:56,000 Now he already spent his portion of the inheritance. 553 00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:58,000 So he kind of gets a huge bonus. 554 00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:00,000 Because now he gets inheritance again. 555 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:02,000 He's brought back into the family completely. 556 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:04,000 So he gets a better inheritance than he ever 557 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,000 would have gotten in the first place. 558 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:08,000 But it's not about the money. 559 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:09,000 So he's got purpose, presence. 560 00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:11,000 Now we already said power. 561 00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:12,000 Or I think somebody said permission. 562 00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:14,000 We've got protection, provision. 563 00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:15,000 All right. 564 00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:16,000 So that's my piece. 565 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:18,000 Now the diagonal lines up. 566 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:21,000 In the story, he returns home. 567 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,000 God puts a ring on his finger. 568 00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:25,000 Or the man in the story who represents God 569 00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:26,000 puts a ring on his finger. 570 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:28,000 That ring represents power. 571 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:32,000 In the olden days, men would wear a sigil ring or whatever 572 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:34,000 to have their little family crest on it. 573 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:41,000 And they'd say, take this 3,000 coins, silver coin, 574 00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:43,000 whatever, talents, whatever, and go pay for it. 575 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:46,000 And then use my ring to stamp the contract. 576 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:48,000 And so you give the ring to your son. 577 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:49,000 The son goes in there. 578 00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:50,000 Nobody knows your son. 579 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,000 And they might not even know what you look like. 580 00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:55,000 But if he's got the ring, he's got the power. 581 00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:57,000 So he puts a ring on his finger. 582 00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:58,000 It represents power. 583 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:01,000 Then he puts a robe over top of him. 584 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:03,000 That represents his protection. 585 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:07,000 If he puts that robe over top of him, that's his boy. 586 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:09,000 You mess with him, you mess with me. 587 00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:12,000 This is not some shabby thing from the goodwill. 588 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:14,000 This is what protects him. 589 00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:17,000 This is what marks him as belonging to that family. 590 00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:18,000 Here you are. 591 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:19,000 You've been through it. 592 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:22,000 Let me put my robe, my best robe on you. 593 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:26,000 And so protection is represented by the robe. 594 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:28,000 And then the provision is represented 595 00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:31,000 by the party or the calf. 596 00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:35,000 So he kills the fatted calf to provide for him 597 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,000 and his friends and his servants and everybody 598 00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:39,000 to eat and celebrate. 599 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,000 And he can do that again the next night if he wants, 600 00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:42,000 because he's wealthy. 601 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:43,000 He can do as often as he wants. 602 00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:47,000 And so the power and the protection of provision are there. 603 00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:51,000 And I submit to you that they are there in earnest 604 00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:55,000 for the first time. 605 00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:58,000 Before, he had what he thought was power, protection, 606 00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:01,000 and provision, but he didn't really have it 607 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:02,000 because his heart wasn't in it. 608 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:04,000 He was ready to go. 609 00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:07,000 He took what looked to him like power, protection, 610 00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:09,000 and provision and left. 611 00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:15,000 And then he spent all of that and wound up in want. 612 00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:19,000 Then he came to the realization that he had sinned 613 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,000 against God and his father. 614 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:23,000 And then he went back and he said, 615 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:28,000 forgive me, I'd better be a hired man in your house, 616 00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:29,000 a servant even. 617 00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:32,000 I don't want to starve to death. 618 00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:35,000 But he didn't even get that part out because his dad said, 619 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:36,000 no, I love you. 620 00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:38,000 You were lost and now you're found. 621 00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:43,000 So on the gospel side, this is our great story. 622 00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,000 I was 25 years living apart from my heavenly father. 623 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:49,000 Now not truly apart, right, because God is everywhere, 624 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:51,000 but under conviction, not having a good relationship, 625 00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:53,000 not living for him, not using things correctly, 626 00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,000 et cetera, et cetera. 627 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:58,000 And then I one day realized that, hey, I needed a relationship with him. 628 00:52:58,000 --> 00:52:59,000 You get saved. 629 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:01,000 You're invited in as a son, 630 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:05,000 not as some outsider who just gets to rent a place in the kingdom of God, 631 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,000 but you're taken in and you get power, you get protection, 632 00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,000 you get provision, you get purpose, and you get his presence. 633 00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:13,000 That's about being saved. 634 00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:16,000 But this lesson is about money. 635 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:18,000 And what we learn from these associated texts, 636 00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:20,000 and there are other places we go and read that, 637 00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:22,000 what we learn is we have to be careful. 638 00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:29,000 Because mammon or money can seem to give you power, protection, and provision, 639 00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:34,000 and you can settle for that, and it's not enough. 640 00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:36,000 It will run out. 641 00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:40,000 You can save your whole life, go into retirement, 642 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:43,000 and not have enough to live the way you'd like to live. 643 00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:48,000 I met that guy on the bench at the library, and he had gotten cancer, 644 00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:49,000 and he was cancer-free. 645 00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:51,000 He was sitting on a bench crying. 646 00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:52,000 I said, what is going on? 647 00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:54,000 I was trying to witness to him about God. 648 00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:55,000 And I said, what's going on, man? 649 00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:56,000 Let me pray for you. 650 00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:58,000 How can I talk to him about Jesus? 651 00:53:58,000 --> 00:54:01,000 And he said, I just found out I'm cancer-free. 652 00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:02,000 And I'm like, well, that's awesome. 653 00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:06,000 I thought for a second, he doesn't look like he's crying tears of joy. 654 00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:08,000 He looked like he was really down. 655 00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:10,000 I'm like, something's not right. 656 00:54:10,000 --> 00:54:14,000 We're cancer-free, bawling like a baby on a park bench in front of the library. 657 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:19,000 And he said, the problem is he worked his whole life, 658 00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:22,000 gave up his time with his children, worked overtime, 659 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:24,000 worked his whole life to accumulate. 660 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:28,000 And when he retired, he had whatever number he gave me, 400 or 800,000, 661 00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:30,000 a ridiculous amount of money in the bank when he retired, 662 00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:34,000 plus what's supposed to be his retirement, whatever. 663 00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:39,000 And he said, they took it all. 664 00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:40,000 They took it all. 665 00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:42,000 He said, I would pay all my medical bills. 666 00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:45,000 He said, all that extra medical treatment, everything they did to save my life, 667 00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:48,000 none of it was covered by insurance because it's all extra. 668 00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:49,000 He said, none of it was covered. 669 00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:51,000 And they took everything I have now. 670 00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:52,000 I'm retired. 671 00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:53,000 I'm too old. 672 00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:54,000 I have to work. 673 00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:56,000 He said, I might be able to, but I'm beat up pretty bad. 674 00:54:56,000 --> 00:54:58,000 He said, it pretty much can't work. 675 00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:01,000 I have to work part-time probably and live on Social Security, 676 00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:02,000 and that's all I've got. 677 00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:05,000 Social Security and whatever I can earn in a small part-time job. 678 00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:08,000 When I retired, rich. 679 00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:13,000 And he said, what's killing me is not that they took my money, 680 00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:18,000 but essentially when they took my money, they took my life 681 00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:22,000 because I spent my whole life to get that money. 682 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:24,000 I gave up everything. 683 00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:26,000 And he said, so I don't know who to be mad at. 684 00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:31,000 The people who took my money are me because I should have known better. 685 00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:32,000 This is what money does. 686 00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:34,000 Money buys for once your worship. 687 00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:38,000 You go after it, and then there's more, and it's me too, me too, worship me too, 688 00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:40,000 worship this, me too, me too. 689 00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:43,000 You can have this, you can have better, you need better, sell that, get a better one, 690 00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:45,000 et cetera, et cetera. 691 00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:49,000 And it becomes an end unto itself if you let it, but you can't. 692 00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:52,000 Instead, you have to say, no, I'm going to go to the cross, 693 00:55:52,000 --> 00:55:57,000 and then if God puts money in my life, I'm going to use it for a way that glorifies God. 694 00:55:57,000 --> 00:56:01,000 Remember, that which is considered good by men, 695 00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:08,000 if people pick up and say, yeah, that's awesome, that's considered detestable by God. 696 00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:11,000 And we're at the point now where people look at Christians and they say, 697 00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:13,000 yeah, you're a Christian, you seem to live faithfully or whatever, 698 00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:17,000 but they kind of look down on us for it a lot of times. 699 00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:22,000 You could get real persecution out of it or whatever, who knows what God has planned exactly yet. 700 00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:29,000 But the bottom line is, get money in its proper place, or money will become a God, 701 00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:34,000 and the truth is, man cannot have two gods. 702 00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:35,000 You cannot do it. 703 00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:40,000 Now, you might be sitting here thinking, the principles of this applies to some other god, 704 00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:50,000 my family, my recreation, my entertainment, my vehicles, my house, and it's absolutely true. 705 00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:55,000 And that's what Tony Tate was getting at when he was mentioning how mammon can actually be other things as well. 706 00:56:55,000 --> 00:57:00,000 Whatever you can collect, it becomes important to you, 707 00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:08,000 important enough that having it drives you, motivates you, pushes you, entertains your thoughts. 708 00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:14,000 If any of that, then that's becoming a god in your life, and a man cannot have two gods. 709 00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:18,000 You'll wind up loving that thing and hating God, or if it's your family, wouldn't this be terrible, 710 00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:21,000 if you wind up loving God and hating your family? 711 00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:25,000 Or what if it's your job and you like your job, you enjoy doing your job, 712 00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:29,000 and you realize one day that it's becoming a god, and you start to really think how valuable it is, 713 00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:32,000 and then you go, but I love God, so now you hate your job. 714 00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:36,000 How many men I've had come to me over the years and say, well, if I could just not work at all, 715 00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:40,000 I could serve God all the time, and I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job. 716 00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:44,000 That's what happened. The job became God, in a sense. 717 00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:48,000 Now we don't want that anymore, we want God, God the most important. 718 00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:50,000 And so then we're going to cut that out. 719 00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:54,000 But you know how many people out there serving all over the Kingdom of God have said, 720 00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:59,000 I want to serve God, and I'm going to work 25 to 40 hours a week to do that, 721 00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:01,000 and then they go out and they'll serve God 40 hours a week. 722 00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:09,000 On top of that, pastors, 51% of churches in the U.S. that have a pastor serving in the pulpit, 723 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:11,000 they're bivocational, including me. 724 00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:15,000 Church doesn't pay me a full salary, I get paid through the life station. 725 00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:20,000 And so are you willing to do, are you willing to work and serve and spend, 726 00:58:20,000 --> 00:58:25,000 and whatever it takes, manage your health, manage your eating, manage your sleep, 727 00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:30,000 manage your relationships, manage all of that, so none of that gets up on a pedestal and starts to become, 728 00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:33,000 hey, worship me, hey, me too, me too. 729 00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:35,000 And that's what's going to happen. 730 00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:40,000 And if you can do that, put Jesus first, and then everything else He puts in your wheelbarrow, 731 00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:41,000 you can use it to glorify Him. 732 00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:47,000 But if you won't do that, then it's going to be Jesus and, Jesus and, Jesus and for your whole life, 733 00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:49,000 and that's a hard road. 734 00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:54,000 And unfortunately, eventually, when it's your deathbed, 735 00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:58,000 or the deathbed of a family member that you love so much, 736 00:58:58,000 --> 00:59:02,000 it's going to be that person or Jesus. 737 00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:05,000 And you'll choose that person, or you'll choose that situation or whatever, 738 00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:09,000 and Jesus will just sort of fade away. 739 00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:10,000 And that's not good. 740 00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:32,000 Let me pray for you, and we're through.