1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,600 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. 2 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:17,720 How do we know where to find answers to the toughest questions in life? 3 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:22,160 While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search and how do we discover 4 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:23,160 this truth? 5 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:30,160 Today, in this teaching podcast, John Metter, lead pastor of Cross City Church, takes a 6 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:38,160 specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth for the life we're searching for. 7 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:44,200 We're so glad that you're with us today. 8 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,360 Did you happen to see those six couples that got married last Sunday and I asked them those 9 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:49,360 services? 10 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:50,360 Isn't that a great thing? 11 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:51,360 Would you celebrate that with me? 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,920 Man, what a great opportunity. 13 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,760 I talked to one couple that said we got married during COVID. 14 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,400 Nobody could be there and we were actually married, but when we saw that you gave the 15 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:07,840 opportunity for us to have a formal ceremony, we joined with these other five couples. 16 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:08,840 It was a beautiful thing. 17 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:14,080 If you have your Bibles this morning, please take them and turn to Psalm 24 today. 18 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:15,080 Psalm 24. 19 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:22,480 I want to remind you, we've been in a series that is called Rooted and I believe we have 20 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:29,200 a picture of the Rooted book that we are encouraging people to find out about and to get. 21 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:35,520 This is a great book to pass on truths to new believers or those that have never been 22 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:36,680 discipled before. 23 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:41,360 This is great mentoring material because it deals with all these particular subjects in 24 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,400 a very simple way. 25 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:48,360 Sometimes people come to faith and they don't know where to find what book in the Bible. 26 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,480 They don't know about the table of contents at the front yet and they're looking through 27 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:57,080 their Bible trying to find out where do I find the truths that help me live by. 28 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:02,520 We want to be ready to help people no matter where they are begin their walk of faith and 29 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,320 begin to know what it means to embrace the truths of scripture. 30 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:07,760 Things like who is God? 31 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:09,880 How does God speak to us? 32 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:11,080 Is there an enemy? 33 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:13,320 How can I make the most out of my life? 34 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:19,400 Last week we talked about how and why do I tell others about my faith in Jesus. 35 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,280 I think two weeks from now we'll talk about what about the church? 36 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,320 Why is the church important? 37 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:27,960 And then today, what does God, how does God view money? 38 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,160 So we'll talk about money in just a few moments. 39 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:36,240 This was actually supposed to be the message that was in our series for last week but I'd 40 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:41,220 been off from preaching for 12 weeks and I knew that I was going to start preaching on 41 00:02:41,220 --> 00:02:46,480 July 14th and I thought, boy that would be so bad for me to come back and preach on money 42 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,480 the first week back. 43 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,880 So I punted it to this week and last week talked about how to share the gospel. 44 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,000 I felt really good about that order by the way. 45 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,600 So today we're going to get to it and this is a message that you're going to want to 46 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:00,600 hear. 47 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:02,280 Now next Sunday morning is different. 48 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,660 We're not going to have our Rudy series next Sunday morning but we have what we call not 49 00:03:06,660 --> 00:03:07,660 ashamed day. 50 00:03:07,660 --> 00:03:09,800 Now many of you have been to our not ashamed day. 51 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,440 It's the day when we really focus on baptism. 52 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,600 It's not that we don't baptize every week. 53 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,680 In fact, in one or other of our venues we baptize nearly every single week. 54 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,320 When people come to faith we immediately want to baptize them. 55 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:28,560 But it also is a helpful thing to do that on one day a year we say, let's baptize everyone 56 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,640 that hasn't had the chance to be baptized yet. 57 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:33,960 And so we were doing that next Sunday morning. 58 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,680 Now during the course of the service next Sunday morning, I will walk through the aisles 59 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:39,680 of this church. 60 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:44,880 I will walk up and down the aisles and invite people to come to the altar with me and to 61 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:49,600 put their faith and trust in Jesus that they never have or if they've already been saved, 62 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:54,360 they've given their lives to Christ but they've never been scripturally immersed in baptism. 63 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,760 I'll invite them to come and we'll have spontaneous baptisms. 64 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:02,200 And that's always one of those awesome amazing things that the Holy Spirit begins to work 65 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,560 and people's hearts begin to realize I need to be baptized. 66 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:10,040 Now if you're one of those and you know that you need to be baptized, let us know. 67 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:16,800 Let us get you up here and next Sunday morning celebrate what it means to publicly proclaim 68 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,400 I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 69 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,000 That's a great Sunday for us and it will be for you as well. 70 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:25,760 So how does God view Boney today? 71 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,520 Would you please take your Bibles open to Psalm 24. 72 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:34,680 Staying with me as we read this Psalm, actually a Psalm of worship, it has a bit to do with 73 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:38,280 money but it actually has to do with everything. 74 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:44,000 That is everything that you and I come into contact with, everything that God owns which 75 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,000 is everything. 76 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,240 Psalm chapter 24, by the way as we dive into this, let me just tell you one of the greatest 77 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:55,960 things I can do as a pastor is to help you know what the scripture says about money. 78 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,360 Think about this. 79 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,560 Everything that we do touches money when we're in another, doesn't it? 80 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:08,080 You got in your car today to come to the services, if you brought a car, you got into your car 81 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,440 and you paid money for that car at some point. 82 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,520 You had to put gas in the car to get here, that required money. 83 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:19,000 You had something to eat before you left today and you'll have something to eat after you 84 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:20,760 leave today and that will require money. 85 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:24,280 You've got clothes on your body and that requires money as well. 86 00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:30,680 In fact, you have as many dealings with money as you do with air, air you breathe. 87 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:36,360 Every moment, the money that you deal with every part of every day. 88 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:40,800 Wouldn't it be wise to know what's God's view of money since I deal with it all the 89 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:41,800 time. 90 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:46,040 It's always my privilege today to talk about a few principles of giving and a few principles 91 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:50,040 of spending that will help us know how God views all we have. 92 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:56,160 So with that, let's read what it says in Psalm chapter 24, a psalm of worship. 93 00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:00,180 The earth is the Lord's and all it contains. 94 00:06:00,180 --> 00:06:02,880 The world and all those who dwell in it. 95 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:07,160 For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. 96 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:11,400 Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord and who may stand in his holy place. 97 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:16,400 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, who 98 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:23,760 has not sworn deceitfully, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness 99 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:25,320 from the God of salvation. 100 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:30,640 This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, even Jacob. 101 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:36,480 Father, in Jesus name today, help us as we walk through this and several other passages 102 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:41,320 in the scriptures and help us understand your view of money and why it's important. 103 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:46,480 Help us to know what you want for us, what you want from us. 104 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:48,920 Help us to know what's ahead and why. 105 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:53,760 Lord, I thank you that you do love us, that you care and that you provide for us. 106 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,320 Lord, thank you for the privilege of calling us stewards of all that you've given us. 107 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:02,760 We ask this in Jesus name and God's people said amen. 108 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:08,280 Please be seated if you would. 109 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:10,560 Every day you deal with money as we've said. 110 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,520 Every day I deal with it. 111 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:20,120 But every day that I deal with money and don't include God is a day in which I've excluded 112 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,360 him from a major part of my life. 113 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:24,360 Right? 114 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:29,440 I mean, if I trust God for my decisions, if I trust God for my relationships, if I trust 115 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:34,680 God for heaven, if I trust God for all the things we trust him for as believers but don't 116 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:41,040 trust him with money, we are effectively keeping him out of something that he wants to bless 117 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,920 and direct in a massive way. 118 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:46,280 I don't want to be excluded from that. 119 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,880 I'm just a guy that doesn't want to be left out and I don't want to leave that part of 120 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:54,560 God out of my life because he does give me principles, he does give me wisdom about how 121 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,320 I'm to approach the issues of money. 122 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:02,720 So let's look at this morning at how God views money and helps us know God cares about it. 123 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:08,880 He cares about what's his and how he's allowed us to have a part of that and I really care 124 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:14,520 today that you might be blessed in a way that lets you practice the way you deal with money 125 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,280 in a way that aligns with his purposes and his will. 126 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:21,400 So we have an adventure as we are going to take off today. 127 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,640 We're going to find out three things that God gives us when it comes to money. 128 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:29,320 So first of all, God gives us the best perspective of money. 129 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:31,520 That's where we'll start in Psalm 24. 130 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,440 The best perspective of money is found in verse one. 131 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:40,040 The earth is the Lord's and all it contains. 132 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:42,440 That's a pretty simple principles, isn't it? 133 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:46,560 Basically that principle says everything that you have, everything that you see, everything 134 00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:51,760 on the earth, everything in the earth and the fact that you are on the earth, everything 135 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:53,320 belongs to God. 136 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,640 The principle is God is owner over all. 137 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:02,120 Now if you read the Bible, you'll find the truth about this comes early and often all 138 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:03,920 the way through the scriptures. 139 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:08,120 From the very beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and of course God created it 140 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:15,800 so personally, so dynamically, so supernaturally, no one can take credit for owning the earth. 141 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:16,800 Only God. 142 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,800 The earth doesn't even take credit for owning itself. 143 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,160 I mean the heavens declare the glory of God. 144 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:25,680 We have this perspective that God wants us to have it. 145 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:29,160 It all belongs to him. 146 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:34,040 Back in the Old Testament, the very day that he led the Israelites out of Egypt and into 147 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:40,600 the wilderness towards the promised land, he reminded them, Exodus chapter 19 verse 148 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,920 5, for all the earth is mine. 149 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,160 As you leave, just know wherever you go, I've been there first. 150 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:52,800 Wherever you see, whatever you see along the pathway, I am there, have been there and I 151 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:54,360 own it all. 152 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,400 You're walking on my hallowed ground. 153 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:04,160 Before the Ten Commandments were given in Exodus chapter 19 and then later on in Deuteronomy 154 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:09,680 chapter 10, God gives them these tablets of stone and says to them, Behold to the Lord 155 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:14,480 your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. 156 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:18,200 And he reminds his people, I own it all. 157 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:24,000 The prophet Haggai, later on in the Old Testament, thousands of years after the previous passages 158 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:29,560 were spoken by God, the prophet says the silver is mine and the gold is mine. 159 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:33,600 He says, everything is mine, declares the Lord of Hosts. 160 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:38,480 Now if you begin to read through the Bible, you'll see a framework of perspective that 161 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:43,240 everything that we see, everything that is belongs to the Lord. 162 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:49,520 And the more you read that, the more you understand what Jesus says about money when you get to 163 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:50,520 the New Testament. 164 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:54,440 In fact, when you get past the words of Jesus, you get to another passage in 1 Corinthians 165 00:10:54,440 --> 00:11:00,000 chapter 9 or chapter 6 verse 19 that says, Do you not know that your body is the temple 166 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:05,320 of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, that you have from God and that you are not even your 167 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:06,960 own? 168 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:12,800 So the earth is his, the silver and gold is his, everything we see is his. 169 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:19,800 I am his, you are his, if you're a follower of Christ, you belong to him. 170 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:25,000 So the principle that you find all the way through Scripture is that God is the owner 171 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:26,000 of all. 172 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,240 I just give this quote to you today, wherever you look in Scripture, the Bible reminds us 173 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:33,640 that God is the owner of it all. 174 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:38,280 And I would ask this question as we get into this message over these next few moments, 175 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:43,000 is it obvious that you see God as owner over all? 176 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,280 Is it obvious by the way you deal with your money? 177 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,480 Obvious by the way you deal with your life? 178 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,760 Obvious by the decisions that you make that you see that he is owner of all? 179 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,520 It's a great step to take if you haven't taken that step yet of getting to the place 180 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,640 of saying, okay God, I acknowledge it really is yours. 181 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:04,920 I mean it's in my hands, it might be my name that's on it, my account may have my name 182 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:10,000 next to it, but I understand that all I have is yours. 183 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,520 First principle, God is owner over all. 184 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,320 The second principle is our personal position with money. 185 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,800 God gives us our position with money. 186 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,400 We obviously have a role to play, right? 187 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:24,840 Because the money that we say belongs to God is in your hands. 188 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:26,640 At least it is at the moment, isn't it? 189 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:30,680 I mean you have your name on the title of a car, perhaps your name on the title of a 190 00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:31,680 house. 191 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:35,720 The only things that you call your own when we give money to one thing or another, we 192 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:40,280 say that we give our money to this or to that. 193 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:45,480 God has given you a position and that position is one of a manager. 194 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:50,760 If you go back to Psalm 24 for a second, again the passage is about worship, it's about how 195 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:55,360 to be faithful to God, it's about how to walk with God. 196 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,560 It says, who may ascend the hill of the Lord and who may stand in his holy place, he who 197 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:03,040 has clean hands and a pure heart. 198 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,920 Since this is a worship Psalm and it gives us insights into how to position ourselves 199 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:13,240 with the right kind of heart and the right kind of obedience to the Lord, then it's important 200 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,280 for us to say that's what we need to pursue. 201 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:23,040 I need to do with the money God's given me whatever is done of clean hands and pure heart, 202 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:28,120 without deception, without idolatry, without letting money have a bigger position in my 203 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:34,120 life than it should, I should be faithful to God first and foremost. 204 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:39,360 God defines that position for us as a manager, as a steward. 205 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:44,600 Now I really like the fact that God defines our role here and the reason is, it's because 206 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:49,160 if God doesn't define our role, we tend to get the idea that we should do whatever we 207 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,600 want to do at any given moment with our money. 208 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:58,240 We miss some of the barriers and the hidden reefs that are in the waters as we try to 209 00:13:58,240 --> 00:13:59,780 navigate life. 210 00:13:59,780 --> 00:14:06,600 If there's not some way to understand an ideal, the best way or God's way to deal with our 211 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:12,660 money, we're just going to go in whatever direction our desires take us and those desires 212 00:14:12,660 --> 00:14:16,000 can take us in some bad direction. 213 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:18,120 So God defines our position. 214 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:22,560 God sees us as managers over all that He's provided. 215 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:28,320 I don't own what's in my name, He does, but I'm a manager. 216 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:33,520 Some time ago I read an astounding story of a bank owner and the board of directors dealing 217 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:43,000 with the bank manager in a particular branch of a bank and this manager mismanaged with 218 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:48,920 the responsibility he was given, he mismanaged over a million dollars worth of money. 219 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:53,780 He took money from accounts, he took money from innocent people, from elderly people, 220 00:14:53,780 --> 00:14:58,400 he did all kinds of things to get money for himself, he falsified records, everything 221 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:02,600 else until he had more than a million dollars that he'd stolen. 222 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:06,880 But there came a day of accountability and an audit was done and he was discovered and 223 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:11,400 of course the owner and the board of directors immediately said, you are an awful manager, 224 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:15,480 not only will we release you from your job but we'll release you into the hands of the 225 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,400 authorities and that man is in prison today. 226 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:19,400 True story. 227 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:22,120 It happens all the time. 228 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:27,120 Managers take money that doesn't belong to them and do something they shouldn't with 229 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:28,120 it. 230 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,840 Now that's kind of a sobering story because sometimes we do that with God. 231 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:37,120 If God is owner, we're managers, sometimes we take what we're managing and we move in 232 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,560 a wrong direction with it. 233 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,520 Sometimes we do that because we have fallen into some sort of idolatry with the things 234 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:47,200 that we want to have. 235 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:52,800 Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 6, no one can serve two masters for either he will hate 236 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:57,440 the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 237 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:02,480 You cannot serve God and wealth. 238 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:07,600 And the rooted book that I'm referring you to, there's a statement that I really like. 239 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:13,600 When we lean towards money, we began to serve power, prestige, pride and selfishness, none 240 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:16,080 of which were from God. 241 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:21,600 Money has the power to undermine our love for God and our desire to serve him and it 242 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:22,600 really can. 243 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:27,480 It can get in the way of everything that God really wants to be doing in our lives. 244 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:29,400 So what's the answer? 245 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:34,160 The answer is we are to serve God with our money. 246 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:35,560 We are to serve God with our money. 247 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:41,640 We're to find out how God wants to use money in our lives, how he wants us to give or spend 248 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:46,160 or save and to move forward with his divine instructions. 249 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,200 Aren't you glad God gives divine instructions? 250 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,280 I don't know where I would be in my marriage without the divine instructions that come 251 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:53,640 from the word of God. 252 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:57,280 I don't know where I would be in my personal life without divine instructions from the 253 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,440 word of God about how to walk with God. 254 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,420 I don't know where I would be in regard to the truth and the culture that's gone crazy 255 00:17:03,420 --> 00:17:08,720 without the word of God giving me the instructions on what I am to believe and the same is true 256 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,080 of money. 257 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,360 So we are not the owners, God is. 258 00:17:13,360 --> 00:17:18,520 We are the managers and the stewards that we are called to be faithful to everything 259 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:20,240 God's entrusted to us. 260 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:26,080 Do you remember that amazing parable that Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 25? 261 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:33,040 I think we heard it recently in this room where Jesus gave or the master gave the slaves 262 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:39,280 five talents, two talents and one talent and then he left town for a long period of time 263 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:44,640 and Jesus telling this parable says that when the master came back he wanted an accounting 264 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,880 for all that he had assigned to each person. 265 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:52,400 And we pick up that story in Matthew chapter 25, just read a few verses here. 266 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:56,800 Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 267 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:01,400 Now the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more saying, Master 268 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,920 you've entrusted five talents to me, see I've gained five more talents. 269 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:10,320 As master said to him, well done good and faithful slave, you were faithful with a few 270 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:18,040 things I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master. 271 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:22,600 I love this parable because it really makes sense when we understand God's principle of 272 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:24,320 money from the Old Testament. 273 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:28,400 God is a master and he's entrusted it to us. 274 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:33,160 In fact in this parable are two words that you need to highlight or underline here and 275 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,280 one is the word entrust. 276 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:40,000 We've been entrusted something for this life but the second word is faithful. 277 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:45,240 That's how we are to use money in faithfulness to God. 278 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,840 For those of you that haven't heard my stories, we have six children, my wife and I and the 279 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:55,440 youngest is 27, almost 28 years of age now and I can remember when all six kids were 280 00:18:55,440 --> 00:19:00,880 at home I was pastoring in Irving, Texas, a very modest salary but six kids were moving 281 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:06,560 into driving age and then college was on the horizon and I mean it was always hard to make 282 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:11,120 ends meet and yet at the same time I was a leader in the church, I needed to lead the 283 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:16,880 way, it was important for me to give generously to our church and obediently before God and 284 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:20,400 there was a lot of trusting that went on during those times. 285 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:26,160 In fact today in recent days I've had adult kids ask the question, Mom, Dad, how did you 286 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,480 all make it during that era? 287 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,000 Because we kind of know what your salary was and we don't know how we made it. 288 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:38,480 We don't know how we always had food on the table, we always had everything that we needed 289 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:44,980 and my response is always this, I can't show you on a spreadsheet, I can't show you exactly 290 00:19:44,980 --> 00:19:49,280 how it all worked but I can tell you this, we were faithful to God and God was faithful 291 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:56,960 to us and whenever we were without it seemed that God was able to just meet our need in 292 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:03,740 ways that were either supernatural or opportunities that required hard work but nonetheless allowed 293 00:20:03,740 --> 00:20:06,440 us to see every need met. 294 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:13,560 Some of you have heard the story I told years ago, most of our kids were still at home, 295 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:17,760 we were going on vacation one time and I put six kids in the back of a suburb and we would 296 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:19,880 go to Florida is where we were going. 297 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:25,160 I had a preacher friend named Wayne Barber, he was my exact size who said if you'll swing 298 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:30,360 by Tennessee on your way to Florida I have a couple of suits I would give you and I needed 299 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:34,760 some suits, the pastors need suits, you know that. 300 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:38,120 And I just remember during that period of time our church was trying to get out of debt, 301 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:42,280 we'd made a commitment and part of the decision making was that I didn't need to buy any new 302 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:46,480 clothes during that commitment, we were just going to give to get that free which we did 303 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:51,360 get that free but the need was big for me to have some new clothes. 304 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:55,440 So he said drive by the church and I'll give some to you. 305 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,160 So we went actually worshiped with him on Sunday morning. 306 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:03,600 By the way another interesting fact, Wayne Barber was 6'5 and weighed 240 pounds which 307 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,080 is exactly my size. 308 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:09,720 I mean that's kind of crazy, I've weighed 240 pounds for a long, long time. 309 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:15,880 But Wayne had gained 40 extra pounds and couldn't wear all these tailor-made suits so he said 310 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:17,720 come get them. 311 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:22,320 So that Sunday morning we worshiped with him, we went out to his car and I made some room 312 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:26,320 in the back of my suburban about that wide for three or four suits, whatever it might 313 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:31,240 be and he gave me some and I stuck them in and I closed the door and he said no there's 314 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:36,520 more, opened it back up so I stuck some more in, closed the door, he said no there's more 315 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,320 and he just kept coming and kept coming. 316 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:43,200 And before long I was just stuffing clothes in, I didn't care if they were going to be 317 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:47,280 nice or not when we got there they were going to be all crumpled and wrinkled of course 318 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:52,080 but these were free clothes, they fit me so I just kept stuffing them in there. 319 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,640 By the time we got to the hotel that night, hours and hours later I took them all out 320 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:57,640 and put them in a closet. 321 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:02,600 I tell this story sometimes to our kids, I remember taking all those clothes out and 322 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:07,440 putting them in a closet rod and kind of calculating, this had to be at least $6,000 worth of new 323 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:11,560 suits that he couldn't wear anymore because he'd been abundantly blessed with food and 324 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:16,360 I could wear them by then. 325 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:22,400 In the middle of the night after putting those suits on a wooden closet rod we were awakened 326 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,880 in the middle of the night because that rod broke and it went boom and everybody in the 327 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:33,160 hotel room woke up and immediately when we heard that I thought of Malachi chapter 3, 328 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,320 see if I won't pour out a blessing that you can't even handle, I'll open the windows 329 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:41,600 of heaven and pour out a blessing you can't receive. 330 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:47,000 Now I've moved past most of those seats but I keep one of them to remind me that God is 331 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:53,920 able to meet needs in ways you can't even imagine if you're trusting with what you have. 332 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,920 What an important lesson for people to have in life. 333 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:04,520 I've got in front of you several things here and this is what I would call produce. 334 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:10,280 The Bible says in Proverbs 3 verse 9, honor the Lord with the first of your produce. 335 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:15,600 Now this would be kind of the horn of plenty look that a lot of families that were farmers 336 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,080 would have in Old Testament Israel. 337 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,280 This principle meant very practical things to them. 338 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:26,760 It meant that when they had the harvest that they immediately worshiped God and gave him 339 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:32,240 a portion of that and that portion that we find in scripture is the tithe, is the tent. 340 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,040 I think I've got seven different kinds of fruits and vegetables over here so I'm going 341 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:41,280 to start putting them over here and hope they don't roll off but I've got cantaloupe and 342 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:48,000 I've got oranges and grapefruit and I've got apples and I've got peaches and I've got 343 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,760 areas of corn right here and I think that's about seven of them. 344 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:57,640 So what you're looking at right now is one-tenth of all the produce that is on this table. 345 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,480 I want you to take a good hard look at it for a second and I want you to see that when 346 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:09,600 God gives us a principle of giving this is what He wants for us and this is what He wants 347 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,120 from us. 348 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,800 I think it's important to see the visual of this. 349 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,880 Sometimes when God asks us to give a portion of what He's blessed us with and we think 350 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:25,600 it looks more like this and God there's no way that I can live on this but that's just 351 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:26,800 not what God is asking. 352 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:34,760 God is asking us to keep this, to spend this, to meet all the needs that you have in your 353 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:40,040 life and in your future with this and then to bring a tenth to Him and say we worship 354 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,000 you with this. 355 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:46,440 It's not a legalism, it's a worship. 356 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,160 It's done by faith. 357 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,720 It doesn't secure our salvation. 358 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,360 What it does is it says Lord we trust you with the things that you've blessed us with. 359 00:24:55,360 --> 00:25:01,760 It's not even giving back to God because you're really just sending it to where God says to 360 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:06,120 send it to the storehouse, to the New Testament church in New Testament times. 361 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:10,440 So we've got this principle going on and part of what I learned when I was growing up was 362 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,600 there's the principle of the tithe and my mom and dad taught me that by giving me ten 363 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:19,880 dimes on Saturday afternoon so that I would give one dime to the Lord in church the next 364 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:20,880 morning. 365 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:24,280 My dad was so smart he knew he should not give me a dollar bill because if the offering 366 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:30,960 plate passed I would say I can't give because I haven't broken this bill yet. 367 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:36,040 He gave it to me on Saturday night so I couldn't spend it anywhere else before church on Sunday. 368 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:41,240 He said well that was a cheapskate dad, a dollar. 369 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,240 But do you know what a dollar could buy at a five and dime store back in the day I grew 370 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:45,240 up? 371 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:49,840 In the day of penny candy you could get sick on 50 cents back in that day. 372 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:51,640 I mean that's all a kid would ever need. 373 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:56,000 But my dad taught me look you take a tenth and you give it to God and there's plenty 374 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,040 for you the rest of the week. 375 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:02,640 And he would say to me son if you run out just remember I'm your father and I can help 376 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,360 take care of you with whatever else you need. 377 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:10,560 And I learned as a kid that you can give a tenth to God and still have all the needs 378 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:12,840 met in your life. 379 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:19,120 So we've got this picture for you today that God wants this for you and He wants this from 380 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:22,560 you as an act of worship. 381 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:26,560 I think this is an incredible picture for us to look at and to remember. 382 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,880 It's really more simple than what we would normally make it to be. 383 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,200 Now my dad was really wise when it came to financial principles in the scripture but 384 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:39,800 he wasn't wise in the way of putting away something for the future. 385 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,760 Thirty-five years ago an older mentor came to me. 386 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:46,560 He knew we had a big family and he said John what are you doing for the future? 387 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:47,920 I said what do you mean? 388 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:52,360 He said well I know that you give, I know that you're faithful with the money God's 389 00:26:52,360 --> 00:26:54,320 provided for you but what are you doing about the future? 390 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:58,760 And I said well actually nothing because it takes all I have just to meet the needs of 391 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:00,440 my family. 392 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,840 He said well didn't you trust God in giving the tithe to Him? 393 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:04,840 I said well I did. 394 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,560 He said don't you think you could trust Him if you put some aside for the future? 395 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,840 And I said I guess so. 396 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:17,040 So I began to take ten percent and put it aside for the future at His insistence. 397 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,280 He said John who's going to take care of you in the future if you don't think about it 398 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:21,280 yourself? 399 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:26,320 And so I began to do this very same thing with the future and making sure that we took 400 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:30,360 a portion of our income and put it to the future. 401 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:35,000 I don't know how many of you are financial people but if you do something like this for 402 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:40,000 thirty-five years I can assure you it will grow and it has. 403 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,920 And I still trust God with the eighty percent. 404 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:45,800 I worshiped Him with the ten. 405 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:54,000 I set aside the ten percent and I trusted Him with the eighty and God has been faithful. 406 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:59,160 The reality is we can trust Him with anything small or large but the reality is the way 407 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:07,360 we trust Him is by following His principles and commands as He gives us those commands. 408 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:11,080 And I just think of what's happened with this tenth over the years. 409 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:12,560 I've been involved in some great churches. 410 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:18,680 This is a phenomenal church and I know that when I give it goes to impact people for the 411 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:19,680 Kingdom. 412 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:24,600 I can't tell you how many people have come to faith in Jesus through folks like you and 413 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:31,200 I who give and make that fund the things of evangelism, the things of discipleship. 414 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:35,960 People are counseled to have their baby instead of aborting their baby. 415 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:40,520 People are hearing about the gospel on the other side of the world because faithful people 416 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:45,880 give a portion of their income to the Lord and worship and the church makes that have 417 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:48,160 impact throughout the world. 418 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,440 We're a part of a larger organization as well. 419 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:54,600 We have four thousand missionaries and every part of the world, literally every continent 420 00:28:54,600 --> 00:29:00,160 of the world has missionaries that we support through the gifts like this tenth percent 421 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,280 would give us the ability to do. 422 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:09,080 And I think of God's master plan and I wonder how can I have a better plan than God had 423 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:10,680 it for my life without this. 424 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:14,960 I can't find a better plan than God has for my life. 425 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,760 You'll hear us say that we're all about real people which means that you matter to us. 426 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,000 In fact, I would love the chance to meet you in person. 427 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,600 We have a guest reception every week after this 11 a.m. service on the U.S. 10. 428 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:29,320 Let me have four other services where you can meet our people. 429 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:33,480 How you spend the 80 now, God may lead you one way, may lead you another way and that 430 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,640 is your stewardship before him. 431 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:40,480 Sometimes God leads us to take another portion and do this for a building or he leads us 432 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,000 to take another portion and do this for the future, whatever it is. 433 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,040 But God leads us and God provides for us. 434 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:52,600 I want to make this super principle, super simple this principle and then I want to ask 435 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:53,600 you a question. 436 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,960 What do you do from here? 437 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,000 You may find that you don't practice this or this. 438 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:05,600 You may find that you see all that you have as something that is yours and only yours. 439 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:12,160 But I would challenge you to test God and to trust God because God is trustworthy. 440 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,280 I'm looking back on my life now and I'm thinking, oh I'm so glad I learned the financial principles 441 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,280 and the giving principles that I learned. 442 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:22,680 I'm glad I had a father that took the time to give me ten dimes instead of a dollar bill. 443 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:27,200 I'm glad for all those things because my life is counted for something because I think about 444 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:32,440 God in all the things that deal with money and you can too. 445 00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:34,720 What do we do from here? 446 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,520 Well if you're already doing this, keep it up. 447 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:39,520 Keep it up. 448 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:40,520 Keep praying. 449 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:41,520 Keep trusting. 450 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:45,880 If you're not doing this, I would encourage you to make a decision. 451 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:50,120 Make a decision to start trusting God in an area that touches literally on every part 452 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:51,120 of your life. 453 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:55,600 If you haven't trusted Him yet, you can begin to trust Him. 454 00:30:55,600 --> 00:31:00,840 In this book called Rooted, there's a line that says, if you want to respond to God and 455 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,680 His challenge for money, write a prayer to God, turning over trust to Him. 456 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:12,280 You can just confess your misplaced trust and that what God has done in your life, you 457 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:13,760 want to be faithful with. 458 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,880 Pray for strength as you turn over your faith to God and relinquish control. 459 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:24,920 And I like those last two words, relinquish control, surrender to Him. 460 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,040 I've been walking with the Lord for a long time. 461 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:32,520 There's not one thing in my life that I've surrendered to Him that I wish I had back. 462 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:34,080 Not one thing. 463 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:38,280 There's not one thing I've surrendered to Him that I regret surrendering to Him. 464 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:40,160 And here's what I know. 465 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:45,920 Whatever I surrender to God is better in His hands than it is in mine because He's God 466 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:51,120 and He knows how it works. 467 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,080 Now we know that financial principles are not easy. 468 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:55,400 I love the ministry that we have. 469 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,320 We have something that we call, I guess the slang term for it is the money ministry. 470 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,000 And the money ministry is helping people know how to manage their money. 471 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,360 I'm going to put a screenshot up here from our website. 472 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:11,400 These two fine looking young men, Ryan and Alex, would love to talk to you about how 473 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,600 to walk with them in their financial freedom classes. 474 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,560 They're actually being our guest central, or guest, I guess central at the end of our 475 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:19,560 service today. 476 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:20,560 They'd love to talk to you. 477 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:21,560 We have classes for this. 478 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:23,320 We have material for this. 479 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:29,240 But the bottom line is we want you to be blessed by the principles that God has given us in 480 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:31,960 the way of money. 481 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:32,960 God is the owner of all. 482 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,600 And He's asked you to manage wisely what He's given you. 483 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:41,520 And manage that with the wisdom that He's given us in Scripture. 484 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:45,320 I want you to bow your head for just a moment, close your eyes. 485 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,780 In just a few moments I'm going to have a closing word of prayer. 486 00:32:48,780 --> 00:32:51,800 We have decision stations that we have at every door. 487 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:57,040 And I know today I've not talked a lot about that important decision of salvation. 488 00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:02,040 In fact, today I would say to you that this only makes sense to us when we've already 489 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,600 surrendered our lives to Jesus. 490 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:09,560 I mean if I can trust Him for heaven, I can trust Him for earth, right? 491 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:14,040 And so today if you've never started that relationship with Jesus Christ, we want to 492 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:15,560 talk with you about that. 493 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:17,600 We want to help you with that. 494 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:22,200 Stop by the decision station and say I really think I need to start with my relationship 495 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:23,200 with Jesus. 496 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,120 And we would agree that's the first place. 497 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,760 Secondly, I invite you to our guest reception room. 498 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,440 If you're a guest today, I'd love to meet you and talk to you a little bit more and 499 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:33,400 help you know what God is doing here at Cross City. 500 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,600 And thirdly, we invite you to come back to what most would say is one of the most exciting 501 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:39,280 services of the year. 502 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:40,280 And brothers, I'm not ashamed. 503 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:42,200 I bring somebody with you. 504 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,400 Bring somebody maybe that doesn't know Christ. 505 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:48,560 And what they're going to hear is testimony after testimony of people that have put their 506 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,480 faith in Jesus. 507 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:51,480 It's exhilarating. 508 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:53,960 Would you stand with me as I close in prayer? 509 00:33:53,960 --> 00:34:02,000 Father, I am so grateful today for simple principles that affect us in everyday ways. 510 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:08,040 Father, thank you that you care enough about us to show us what we are to do with even 511 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:12,640 our finances with the produce that we've been blessed with. 512 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:16,760 And Father, I thank you for these truths and pray that they'll resonate within our hearts 513 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:21,800 as we all make decisions based on what you say, what your Word says. 514 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:27,680 And Lord, I pray that as folks take the step of trusting you that they will also see that 515 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:33,240 you can be trusted and that you will prove that you're able to bless them and meet their 516 00:34:33,240 --> 00:34:34,240 needs. 517 00:34:34,240 --> 00:34:39,240 Father, as I look back over my life, I am so very grateful that I learned some of these 518 00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:43,560 principles and that you were so faithful in blessing and providing. 519 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:46,440 And Lord, I know that you'll do that for others as well. 520 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:48,600 Thank you, Lord, for all you've given us. 521 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:54,160 Thank you that this earth we walk on belongs to you and we belong to you. 522 00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:56,760 We ask all these things in Jesus' name today. 523 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:10,280 Amen.