Thank you for listening to this message from Lifehouse Church.
Good morning, Lifehouse.
Hey, listen, I want you to do something.
Now be gentle doing this, but I want you to do it.
Just go ahead and elbow the person beside you.
Just give them an elbow.
Not a sharp elbow, no violence here today.
Some of you did that with some attitude.
I could see it.
All right.
Listen, I had to do that because here's what I believe.
I believe the Holy Spirit is going to give some people some nudges today.
All right.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit comes in super soft, right?
Sometimes God speaks in a whisper.
Sometimes he comes in like thunder and lightning and sometimes it's a nudge.
And sometimes it's like an elbow that the Holy Spirit does.
Sometimes you need to understand like when you feel that thing inside of you that you
know is not you, but you just sense it, man, I felt it all through worship.
I could just feel the Holy Spirit just kind of nudging.
And you feel that nudge.
That's the Spirit speaking to you.
I believe that that happens during worship.
I think when we get before God's presence and we begin to open our mouths, right, and
we begin to glorify him, God opens up and speaks to us.
He ministers to us.
You feel his presence taking place.
I don't know if you felt it back there, but we sure did up here.
And I believe that's true all the time.
To just be open for God's nudge.
That thing that he's going to speak to you.
He'll speak something to you specifically.
Some of you I know, you don't pick up on everything that goes on in the message.
But if you just get, I'm happy if you walk out of here with one thing.
Just one thing that God spoke to you along the way.
So just go ahead, give somebody an elbow one more time.
Now you know the reason for it.
Just go ahead, give them a little elbow.
I'm going to wait until you do it.
All right, just elbow.
Give them.
There we go.
That's why I was waiting to see.
All right.
Well in an article called, That's When I Knew I Was Free, several former prisoners were
asked to describe their first hours or days of freedom.
These men had been wrongfully convicted, but their first days of freedom was no different
than that of the guilty or even those who have been forgiven by Christ.
And I want to just read you a couple of short clips or short accounts of that.
Jeffrey Deskovic was age 41, spent 16 years in prison.
And he said this, at times I wasn't quite sure whether I was really out and free.
I felt like a finger was tapping me on the back and saying, what are you doing?
They belong out here, but you don't.
They don't even realize that you don't.
So I just did something I wanted to do for a long time.
I wanted to sit outside in the nighttime and not have to go inside.
I could see a few stars.
I could see the lights in some other houses.
It was just a minor thing that had been taken away from me for so long.
Fernando Bermudez says this, he was age 46, spent 18 years in prison.
The first thing I did, I went running into Inwood Hill Park, where all these childhood
memories of wanting to be the first, wanting to be a geologist.
I used to pick up rocks and collect insects before I became less of a nerd and more of
a person in trouble.
I'm coming off my run and I'm doing something I sorely missed.
I'm looking at a tree.
I'm just admiring it.
I've been deprived of nature for so long.
I finally got to feel the bark.
I was literally crying and hugging a tree.
Derek Hamilton, age 49, spent 21 years in prison.
He says this, the day I walked out, my wife, my nephew, my son were all in the car waiting
for me.
There was a church right around the corner.
I would always listen to the bells ringing when I was in jail.
I didn't even know where the church really was, but I'd pray when I would hear those
bells.
It was my only opportunity to pray at the same time that others on the outside were
praying.
When I got out, that was one of the first things I wanted to do, just go around in that
church and pray.
I went in, thank God for my release, and going into that church, it was like being born again.
Freedom in any area of your life is a lot like those who have spent time behind bars
and who have gotten out for the first time.
You could feel elation.
You could feel disbelief.
You could feel gratitude.
You can feel emotional overload of some kind.
You could feel so overwhelmed that you just want to hug somebody or something, even if
it's a tree.
Or you could just sit quietly in awe at the freedom.
Look up at the heavens, maybe look out at the stars, maybe look at other lights, look
in the distance.
But no matter the reaction, freedom should never be taken for granted, never.
It is a God-given gift to be free.
God-given gift.
Jesus came to this earth.
He came, He died on a cross, He went into a tomb, He came out of that tomb so that you
and I could experience freedom.
So that if you partake in Christ and you partake in the salvation that He provides, we know
freedom from sin.
But it doesn't just stop there.
His freedom actually extends way beyond just being free from sin, just being washed clean
of the sin that we've been involved in.
And over the next few weeks, I want to give you a little opportunity to hear about God's
freedom in a particular area.
Now I'm starting this this week.
Next week is Mother's Day.
I'm not doing this next week.
I'm not even speaking next week.
But on down the line, I'm going to continue to speak along the lines of freedom.
And what I want to talk about is freedom in the area now of money and possessions.
OK, freedom in the area of money and possessions.
And here's my approach to tackling this, what often could be a very sensitive subject.
Right.
So you bring up money and possessions, people like, right, they clench up, you know, and
what's he going to say?
What's he doing?
Right.
Here's how I do this.
I'm going to give you the truth straight out of God's word.
What you do with the truth is on you.
What you do with that is between you and God.
I'm just going to give you the truth.
I don't manipulate people.
I don't believe in that.
I'm not fundraising.
I promise you.
In fact, the church has had a great couple of years financially, and I'm not here to
get a raise.
All right.
No matter how much you give, I don't get a raise.
That doesn't work that way.
My paycheck set by the Church of God.
It's a standardized thing.
So if you give more, it doesn't matter.
If I'm not going to get a raise out of that, I'm not here for any of that.
I'm just here to give you the truth about money and possessions.
What does God's word say about that?
And what's the truth about that?
Amen.
Is that all right?
Come on.
Good.
All right.
But before we get into the specifics, you know, of finances and possessions and those
kind of things, I got to lay out some foundational truths in God's word, because if you don't,
how many of the foundations not right?
Everything on top is just going to crumble.
I don't know if you've ever, if you know anything about a foundation of a house, if
you, if the foundation's cracked and breaking off, what happens to the house?
It begins to crack, right?
It begins to fall apart.
I've gone into some houses where I've seen that, where the foundation has shifted, the
walls pushed in, and what you'll start to see is you'll start to see things cave in.
So if you don't get the foundation right, if you don't understand some very foundational
things in God's word, you're not going to understand what God's really saying about
money and possessions.
So we're really going to start that this morning.
I want to talk about foundational principles that will help us understand and help us find
the truth about money and possessions in God's word.
And I want to start with eight, John 8 31, because Jesus said this, and this is probably
the most quoted verse in all the Bible.
A lot of people say it's John 3 16, but I actually think this is probably quoted more.
And Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples
indeed and you shall know the truth, say the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
The path to freedom is always paved with the truth.
Freedom and truth are always accompanying each other.
And this is not just sometimes.
This is not just occasionally.
This is not just once in a while.
This is not just one things, you know, or just right.
It's not just on every third Sunday of the month.
It's not.
This is an always kind of thing.
Freedom, the path to freedom is always paved with truth.
Only the bricks of truth will get you to a place of freedom in your lives.
And that's not just in money and possessions.
It's really in everything.
But the bricks of a lie always lead to bondage.
They're opposites.
All right.
The bricks of truth lead to freedom.
The bricks of a lie always lead to bondage.
If you and you can count on this without fail, it's foundational.
Say foundational.
I want you to get this in your spirit.
This is something you can take to the bank.
Have you ever heard that phrase before?
All right.
You know what I'm talking about?
That means you can count on it.
The truth always leads to freedom and a lie always leads to bondage.
Now let me ask you a question.
How many of you have ever lied?
Raise your hand right now.
Raise your hand.
Okay.
All right.
Some of you didn't raise your hand.
If you didn't raise your hand, you're lying right now.
All right.
See, just go ahead and raise it up now.
How many of you have ever lied?
Raise your hand.
Thank you.
Hundred percent participation.
All right.
You've already lied.
There's bondage in lies for all kinds of reasons.
First and foremost, the word of God says it's a sin.
All right.
God says this is a sin.
Lying is a violation of God's moral law.
It really is.
It's completely contrary to God's nature.
It is completely the opposite.
Matter of fact, the word of God even says that God hates lying.
He really does.
He doesn't hate the liar.
He hates lying.
He hates the lie.
We don't say that much in our house, especially with the grandkids around.
We don't use that word hate very often.
Matter of fact, when our kids were little, we wouldn't let them use it.
If they said the word hate, we made them just hug it out.
They just had to hug it out.
But we didn't use that word, but it is used at times.
God literally hates lies.
The Bible tells us that the nature or the moral operandi of a lie really stems from
Satan.
As a matter of fact, the word of God says that Satan is the father of all lies, that
all lies stem from him.
Anytime there's something connected with Satan, anytime there's something connected with the
enemy, you can bet there's bondage that's going to follow.
So a lie always leads to bondage.
So if we purposely practice lying, bondage is in our future.
It really is.
Can I give you a very quick and convincing scripture on this?
Revelation 21 says this, and he said to me, it's done.
This is God speaking in Revelation.
It's done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega.
I am the beginning and I am the end.
I will give of the fountain of the water of life for Lee to him who thirsts.
He who overcomes shall inherit all things and I shall be his God and he shall be my
son, but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murders, the sexually immoral,
the sorcerers, the idolaters and all what?
Liars.
So have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone and which is the second
death.
This is the ultimate bondage.
If you're a practicing liar, you might want to change your practice because practicing
liars, this is what it leads to.
The word of God's clear.
It talks about hell and the lake of fire and eternal separation from God.
There is bondage long term in lying and it's in the here.
There's bondage long term and there's bondage in lying in the here and now.
Long term.
I just gave you the verse for that short term.
There's bondage as well.
How many know if you tell one lie, then you got to tell about 12 other lies to cover up
your first lie.
Right?
You tell one lie.
There's probably it's not a one and done.
You just got you have to tell a bunch of lies.
Do you ever notice how hard it is to remember the lies?
But it's super easy to remember the truth.
Right?
Because the truth actually happened.
You know, the truth is easy.
You remember what took place.
You remember what was said.
You remember what's actually there.
Right?
It's easy to remember a truth.
It's difficult to remember all the lies.
You know, when you get lies, they start stacking up.
Right?
They start.
They start adding up because if you tell one lie, you got to tell some more.
Right?
If somebody asks you, did you take the last cookie?
And you know you took the last cookie.
All right.
Did you take the last cookie?
No, I did not take the last cookie.
Lie number one.
Right?
Well, where did the last cookie go?
I don't know.
Lie number two.
All right.
My brother must have ate it.
Right?
You don't have a brother.
Lie number three.
All right.
Lie number three.
Right?
Well, it must have been my sister.
All right.
Your sister isn't here.
Lie number four.
Right?
Your sister's been gone for four years.
She's at college.
Okay?
You just start stacking them up and you start getting under pressure and you got to start
digging your way out.
Right?
So you start there's bondage in that.
You start speaking lies.
You start not telling the truth.
You start covering up.
Right?
You just keep on shoveling.
How many of you ever just keep on shoveling, get yourself in trouble?
You just keep going shoveling a little deeper, a little deeper.
And then you get labeled the liar.
Right?
You're lying about the cookies.
I know you're lying about the cookies.
And then once you get labeled, then you got to confess.
Right?
You got to fess up.
You got to confess.
Then you got to repent to make it right.
So that means you got to change.
And then you got to prove yourself.
You got to start building trust back up.
Right?
There's bondage.
Right?
A lie.
Right?
You lie on your resume.
And they ask, you know, you lie about your education on your resume.
And they ask for the transcript.
Right?
It's bondage, man.
You lie to the tax office, right?
To the IRS.
And they demand proof.
All right.
How many know there could be bondage in your future?
All right.
There can be.
The truth always leads to freedom.
And a lie always leads to bondage.
It's foundational.
Understand that.
Anything in God's word.
Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
And that is completely true even in the area of money and possessions.
Freedom is knowing the truth.
It's attached.
It's connected.
I have never yet met a person who says, you know, you know, I've sat down across the table
from them and they come talk to me as their pastor.
I've never had anybody sit down and say, you know, pastor, I tried out some financial bondage
this year.
I think I like it.
All right.
It's kind of cool.
All right.
I think I'm going to do it again next year.
It's never a conversation I've ever had.
Right.
Never happened that way.
I've had plenty of people in tears about financial bondage.
I've had lots of people frustrated and stressed out about financial bondage.
And I've had people who've walked out of financial bondage.
They learn the truth of God's word and they celebrate the whole time.
They're telling me, I don't ever want to go back to that again.
I don't ever want to experience that again.
Right.
Know the truth because the truth can set you free.
Know the truth about money and possessions.
Know the truth about everything in God's word.
There's this freedom in that part of why part of knowing God's word is about setting us
free.
Amen.
All right.
So let me give you a principle.
Number one, maybe this number two, number two, realize that you are a manager and God
is the owner of everything.
Okay.
Now you got to get your head around this completely and you got to learn to function from this
because if you don't function from this, this will kind of get warped.
Things start to get cracked in the foundation.
The perspective of is that God is the owner of everything and I'm just a manager.
Okay.
If you get your perspective with this, if you get your head in this, there's freedom
at the end of this.
There's freedom that awaits you truly.
Okay.
The truth is kind of like a set of railroad tracks.
If you get on the right tracks and you keep going, you're going to get to the destination.
It's a one way trip to freedom.
God owns it all.
I mean, he really owns it all.
He owns everything that we have.
Having this in your house, I want you to do a mental picture right now.
You can close your eyes if you want to.
I want you to just start a picture in your house.
I want you to look inside your house and maybe take a stroll through the living room and
through the bedroom and through the garage.
Because God owns it all.
He owns your house.
He owns the 70 inch TV you got hanging in your living room.
He owns the things that are stuffed in the basement.
You don't even know what's there, some of you.
It's been in the boxes for years.
He owns that.
He owns the juicer sitting up on the top shelf that you forgot about that's stuffed in the
back.
He owns the stuff that's on the countertop.
He owns the siding that's on the side of your house.
He owns it all.
It's all his.
Pinch yourself right now.
Go ahead, pinch yourself.
Better yet, pinch your neighbor.
It's more fun to pinch somebody else.
Come on, pinch somebody if you know them.
He owns you.
Do you know that?
He owns you.
He owns your body.
He owns the mountains.
He owns the valleys.
He owns the desert.
He owns the lush jungles.
He owns the moon and the stars.
He owns the earth beneath our feet.
He owns your family.
He owns your children.
He owns your mother-in-law, right?
Your grumpy uncle.
He owns them, right?
He owns them.
Everything you see, touch, smell, feel, hear, it's his.
He holds title to it.
Understand, he's the owner.
We're the managers.
Psalms 24, 1 and 2 says this, the earth is the Lord's and everything that is in it.
The world and all its people belong to him, for he laid the earth's foundation on the
seas and built it on the ocean depths.
Psalms 89, 11 says, and the heavens are yours.
The earth also is yours.
The world and its fullness, you have founded them.
Job 41, 11, this is God speaking.
He said, who has preceded me that I should pay him?
Everything under heaven is mine.
First Chronicles 29, 11 says, yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory
and the victory and the majesty indeed everything that is in the heavens and earth.
Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and you exalt yourself as head over all.
He owns it all.
He has dominion over it all.
Nothing will change your perspective in money and finances more than realizing and not just
realizing and believing that you don't earn any of it.
It's all his.
It's his.
Now listen, he gave you the ability, right, and the opportunity to earn a wage so you
could buy the right to manage his stuff.
It's not so you could own it.
He gave you the ability and the opportunity to earn a wage so you could buy stuff that
you could manage for him, not to own it.
We don't own a thing.
We just earn the right to borrow what is his and to manage what is his.
Listen, if we don't believe this, not just think about it, just not that it's a nice
concept, but like actually get it in your belief system.
If we don't believe this, our foundation, our financial foundation, a godly financial
foundation will be cracked.
We'll live under the delusion that we control everything or even some of the things, you
know, when it comes to money and possessions.
We'll think that we call the shots with the money and possessions instead of him, right,
calling the shots.
We won't pray about large purchases, right?
Now I know you don't got to pray about getting toothpaste.
I don't think anyway.
You could challenge me on that.
Maybe you do.
All right.
But, you know, God gives you the ability to those things.
But if we don't believe this about God, we'll never consult with them.
We never check with them and say, hey, is this a good idea or is this not a good idea?
Right?
Come on.
Don't get all tense on me.
I'll go as far as to say that we'll pick and choose what truths in the area of finances
and possessions that we want to and we'll leave the rest behind.
He owns it all.
It's his.
Get it in your spirit.
Get it in your heart.
Get it in your head.
It's his.
Because it's it's dangerous as a follower of Jesus to believe something different.
Believe Jesus and believing that I'm the owner of the money and the possessions in my possession
is a dangerous way to live.
It really is.
It's a dangerous way to live.
Because one day, one day I'm either going to stand before God when I pass from this
life to the next or one day Jesus is going to return and I'm going to stand before him.
And as a follower of Jesus Christ, he's going to say, what did you do with my stuff?
Right?
What did you do with the things that I gave you?
And let me prove this to you.
All right.
Because you might not want to take my word for it.
But I want to show you in God's word, Matthew 25 14, Jesus tells a parable.
He tells a story and he lays this out so so easily.
And it says this at the beginning of this parable.
It says, again, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated.
Anytime you see this in God's word, anytime you see the kingdom of heaven is like, anytime
you see the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by this story.
This is how it works in God's kingdom.
This is what you can picture this.
You can pull a million different truths out of this.
But I assure you, this is how it works in his economy.
This is how he structures things, not the world around you, but how he does it.
He says the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip.
Guess who the man is?
God.
Right?
He called together his servants, who is us, and entrusted his money to them while he was
gone.
He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver
to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities.
Then he left on his trip.
The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earn
five more.
The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more.
But the servant who received one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's
money, which his master did not tell him to do.
After a long time, their master, the owner, returned from his trip and called them in
to give an account of how they used his money.
The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more
and said, Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I've earned five more.
His master was full of praise, well done, my good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I'm going to give you more
responsibilities.
Let's celebrate.
The servant who received the two bags of silver came forward and said, Master, you gave me
two bags of silver to invest, and I've earned two more.
The master said to him, well done, my good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I'll give you more responsibilities.
Let's celebrate.
The servant with the one bag of silver came and said, Master, I knew you were a harsh
man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate.
He comes in and first of all starts insulting the master.
Bad idea, okay?
I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth.
Look, here's your money back.
But the master replied, you wicked and lazy servant.
If you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant and gathered crops I didn't cultivate, why
didn't you deposit my money in the bank?
At least I could have gotten some interest on it.
Then he ordered, take the money from the servant and give it to the servant who has the one
and give it to the one who has ten bags of silver.
To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given and they will have
an abundance.
Come on, there's a principle there.
But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
Now throw this useless servant into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.
Who experiences freedom in this analogy of the kingdom of God?
The two that managed well, the two that God put something in their hands and said, the
manager put something or the owner put something in their hand and said, go manage this, go
use this, go expand this, go make this larger, go use this for the kingdom of God, right?
Go and do this.
And those were the two, the one who didn't, the one who just went and did what he wanted
to do.
Just thought, well, you know what?
I'm going to make up my mind and how this is all going to work.
I'm going to stick it in the ground.
I'm going to cover it up.
And then when the match comes back, I'll just hand it back to him.
Things will be good then.
No, it wasn't.
Because the owner said, go and invest it, go use it.
Everything you got in your hand, everything that God's placed in your hand, that's a tool
for the kingdom of God.
You can use anything you've got in your home, in your possession, right?
Anything that you have can be used for the kingdom of God.
He said, just go use it.
And he said to the one, to one who didn't, he said, listen, there's going to be bondage
and torture, right?
And I quote verse 30, now throw that useless servant into outer darkness where there will
be weeping and ashing of teeth.
That's tough, right?
I know it is.
Believe it.
But instead of just the manager, it's a dangerous proposition in the kingdom of God.
That's a bad idea, right?
We got to understand.
He's the owner.
I'm the manager.
Several years ago, we got the opportunity.
We're part of a denomination of the Church of God.
And of course, the Church of God has about seven million members worldwide.
The big denomination.
And we got the opportunity to go down to the denominational headquarters and tour the headquarters
and I remember I was in this small group and they're taking us through and they're showing
us the offices and they're showing us all these things.
So we go into the office of the general overseer of the Church of God.
Now, he's the top dog.
Okay.
He's the boss of all bosses.
He's my boss's boss's boss.
Okay.
He calls the shots with a whole group of other council, different people, but they all take
us into his office, you know, and we march in and it was just really kind of just a regular
office.
And one guy took us in and he marched us all in and I was like, I don't know, I can't remember
like eight of us, something like that, ten of us.
And he said, hey, by the way, if you want to, you can just sit in his chair.
He wasn't there.
And we're all looking around like, is this an integrity test?
You know, that's the boss's, that's the boss's boss's chair.
You know, we're like, are we supposed to say yes here?
We supposed to, you ever wonder if something's a trick question?
Because the door guy was serious.
We're like, really?
You can just take a, sit in his chair and take a selfie?
And like all of us declined.
We're like, no, because he might come back in, right?
Here I am with my feet propped up taking a selfie in the general overseer seat, right?
That's what we do with God.
We sit in his seat and we say, Oh no, I'm the owner.
I take a selfie.
He says, no, you're not.
You're the manager.
Right?
It's foundational.
He's the owner.
We're the manager.
He'll bless your socks off, right?
He did the service, right?
You just do it his way.
Listen, God is not about against you having things.
He really isn't.
Remember in fact, you know, you can go into God's word.
There's a lot and I'm going to unfold them in the weeks to come, but some of the most
wealthiest people in the world were, were, you know, following God.
Solomon was one of the wealthiest men who ever walked the face of the planet, if not
the wealthiest.
Job was wealthy.
Abraham was wealthy.
You know, Isaac and Jacob, they're all God's not against God's.
What it is, is a mindset.
It's about, okay, can I trust you with what I put in your hands to manage?
How many of you came into this world?
You're going out with nothing, right?
You came in with nothing.
You're going to, you're not going to take anything with you.
I don't care what they stuff in your coffin.
All right.
You don't have as much gold in your coffin as you.
It's going to be, they could dig it up three months later.
Guess what's still going to be there, right?
If you put a bunch of gold in your coffin, somebody's going to dig you up sooner.
All right.
It just, you're not taking it with you when you go.
God says, manage it.
I'm the owner.
Manage it and watch what I can do to expand it.
One with the five, five more.
One with the two, two more.
When you do things, I tell people this all the time and it's completely true.
I'm going to get you to stand as the worship team comes and just go ahead and stand.
Understand this principle.
If you do what God says in his word, do you know that it's already blessed?
You don't have to ask for it to be blessed.
You don't have to come and say, God, I'm going to obey you in this.
Please bless me.
You don't even have to say that because God says what I say is already blessed.
If you walk in it, it's already done deal.
If you step in it, you're already going to have the blessing.
If you follow in obedience, it's already there.
He wants to bless his children, but he says you've got to do it my way.
That's why he says things in the word of God like the kingdom of heaven is like this because
the world sees it completely opposite.
Do you know that?
This is what he says.
One principle I want you to get in your head and your heart this morning is this.
One thing, one thing.
Close your eyes just for a moment.
I want you to block out anything that's around you.
You're not worried about who's standing beside you or what I'm saying or doing or moving.
Do you see yourself as the manager or the owner?
Because freedom begins when I believe that I'm managing for the owner.
That's where it begins.
In finances and possessions, this is where it begins.
Now while you got your eyes closed, I know I took you through your house a little bit
quickly virtually, right?
Now I'm going to ask you to do, you get a little test you can do for yourself.
Little manager test versus owner test.
Would I be willing to give away anything God told me to give away?
Anything that God's placed in my hand?
Right?
Anything that is in my hand.
Now listen, if you borrowed money for whatever's in your hand, you don't really own it.
You own it with somebody else.
You'd have to ask them.
But if you own it, would I be willing to give it away?
Because if you're just the manager and you don't really own it anyway, why would you
worry about it?
And if we've got a God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and can supply anything
that we want, anything that we need, why would we worry about it?
This is the difference between owning and managing.
If God spoke it, if the owner said, give it away, would you give it away?
I want you to look back up at me.
God will test you in this sometimes.
He really will.
Just about a year ago, I'm not much of a...
I look at possessions as a tool to do God's kingdom and whatever we're doing.
God will give you things for the benefit of your family and to do kingdom work.
I don't know if you know that or not.
We'll unfold that along the way.
He really will.
But I don't hang on to things much.
I'm not very sentimental with stuff.
It's just stuff and it's just things that God gives to use and to give.
But I have a few things, those things that you hang on to.
I remember about a year ago, God said, give it away.
I was like, it's just this one thing, God.
I really like this thing.
I have some attachment to it because it was tied with family.
I had all this thing and I kind of argued with God for a little while.
Honestly, I didn't really want to give it to the person He told me to give it to.
I should be perfectly honest.
God said, no, I need you to give that away.
I fought with God for a little bit about it because I was owning it.
Finally, I just gave in.
Now I'd love to tell you, God returned that to me six-fold.
He didn't.
I just gave it away.
But it was something I needed to do.
It was something He said, okay, just let go.
Just let go of it.
Just let go.
I'm not the owner.
He is.
We're just the manager.
He has promised you.
If you're following Him, He has promised you all of heaven.
There's a place in His Word, He says, just try me in this.
We're going to get to that in another message.
Just try me in this and see if I don't open the windows of heaven and pour upon you blessings
that you can't contain.
He'll take care of you.
He'll meet your need.
Whatever it is.
He's just looking for faith.
Do we trust Him?
Bow your heads now.
All right.
You did the tour.
You've got to ask yourself the question.
One question today.
Am I the owner or am I the manager?
I'm going to let you grapple with that.
That's between you and God.
Father, we come knowing, Lord, that you own everything.
Lord, the earth is yours.
God, everything above and below the earth.
God, everything that surrounds the earth.
God, as far as the universe is stretched, Lord.
God, we don't even know where that ends or if it ends.
Lord, it is yours.
Lord, I pray right now that in my small little world that I have, Lord.
Lord, I realize that I'm just the manager and I'm not the owner.
Lord, I turn over to you this morning.
God, the things that are in my hand because they're yours and they're not mine.
Lord, I thank you.
God, there is such freedom in you and there is such freedom in your word.
Lord, I pray that right now, Lord, that I don't just think this is a good concept or
I don't just kind of grab hold of this, but I actually believe it.
Lord, help me to believe and to change my perspective on how I live and how I move.
Lord, I ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Here's the freedom in this.
I can't tell you the amount of stress that will come off your life when you begin to
realize that you don't own it anymore and you're just simply a manager because you don't
have to be responsible for all of it.
You just got to ask God about it.
That's all.
And He'll work it all out.
There's this freedom in God that when you truly step in and you truly believe, you're
just free because you're consulting the one who cannot fail.
Amen.
How many know I can fail?
If you don't believe that, Dickey and I can talk to you.
I've made some investments and failed.
Okay.
Long story.
Let's share that another time.
All right.
I've made some investments and failed.
I can fail.
But I didn't consult God on it.
Right.
Consult Him.
Amen.
Man, got all kind of stares going at me right now.
It's good to be in God's house.
I know this.
A lot of times we're looking for deliverance for something.
We're asking God to move us out of something, a tough situation.
And sometimes God does that immediately.
Sometimes there's a moment in time when you can pray and that takes place.
But a lot of times it's walking out God's process.
It's walking out His word.
But I'm telling you, there's freedom on the other end.
There's freedom.
I could take you to a half a dozen people in this house and they would talk to you about
finances and how God set them free in so many ways.
Know that.
Thank you for tuning in to this message from Life House Church.
We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message.
If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with
us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com.