WEBVTT

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Hey, welcome back here to the Seminary Seminary.

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This is your old buddy, Pastor Jim. And I want

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to get right to the point right off the bat.

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What if the most dangerous lie you're believing

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isn't about God, but about time? We spend our

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lives building, storing, planning, trying to

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get ahead, trying to feel safe. But what happens

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when the night comes before you're ready? When

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the barns are full? The soul is starving. Jesus

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told the parable about a man who had it all together

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on paper. Wealth, strategy, security. But heaven

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had a different plan. Tonight, your soul is required

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of you. This isn't just a story about a rich

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man. It's a story about every one of us who's

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ever tried to find peace and possessions. Safety

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in our control. Tonight, we're not just looking

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at a parable. We're staring into a mirror. So,

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take a breath. Open your hands. And let's ask

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the only question that really matters. Are you

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rich towards God? I'll see you on the other side.

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You know what? You preach long enough, and in

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some random crowd, sooner or later, it happens.

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You've been preaching grace, truth, the nearness

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of heaven, and somebody in the back finally raises

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a hand, not to repent this time, to settle a

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score. You can see him before you hear him. His

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daddy's hat rides low. The brim sweat molded

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to fit his head. His hands are calloused from

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fence lines and years. He's been waiting, not

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for mercy, but for justice. And justice in his

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mind looks like getting what's his due. The air

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is thick with dust and tension. Jesus has just

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finished warning about hypocrisy and fear. Talking

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about sparrows and hair follicles. And a father

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who never misses, I mean, not a single thing.

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And then a voice cuts through from the back.

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Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance

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with me. That one line slices through the sermon

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like thunder across a still sky. The man isn't

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looking for salvation. He's looking for a settlement.

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And in that request, Jesus hears something older,

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darker. The hum of a heart convinced that life

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can be measured in ownership. You can almost

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see the dust dancing the ground as Jesus turns.

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There's that... Stillness he carries, the kind

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that precedes either a miracle or a rebuke. He

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isn't angry. He's grieved. Because, once again,

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someone's trying to drag heaven into a family

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feud. Once again, someone's begging the Lord

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of Life to serve as a probate judge. And the

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carpenter of Galilee won't pick up our gavel.

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No, he's too busy building a kingdom. And he

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raises his voice, not loud, but weighty, and

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tells a story that still rattles every barn door

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in town. Friends, the reading of Scripture from

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the Gospel account according to Luke. Someone

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in the crowd said to a teacher, Tell my brother

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to divide the inheritance with me. But he said

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to him, Man, who made me a judge or arbiter over

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you? And he said to them, Take care to be on

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your guard against all covetousness. For one's

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life does not consist in the abundance of his

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possessions. And then he told them a parable,

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saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully.

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And he thought to himself, What shall I do? For

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I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said,

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I will do this. I will tear down my barns, and

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I will build larger ones. And there I will store

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all my grain and my goods. And I will say to

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my soul, Soul, You have ample goods laid up for

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many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But

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God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is

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required of you, and the things you have prepared,

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whose will they be? So is the one who lays up

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treasure for himself? and is not rich towards

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God. The story ends in silence, and somewhere

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between the words you can almost hear timber

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groaning, the sound of a barn being torn down

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board by board to make room for more. He never

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hears the warning coming. He's too busy measuring

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rafters while heaven's counting heartbeats. The

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man in Jesus' story dies in his sleep, surrounded

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by surplus, but wakes up broke in eternity. So,

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friends, the question lingers in the night air.

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What does it mean to be rich toward God? You

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know this man. Shaked his hand at the feed store,

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shared coffee after service. He's practical,

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steady, respectable. Keeps a tidy notebook. Expenses,

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yields, maybe even a few prayers scribbled in

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the margins. But somewhere along the way, the

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notebook started keeping him. He stopped counting

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blessings. Started balancing accounts. Maybe

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you felt that drift too. That quiet turn where

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faith starts sounding like financial planning.

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Jesus looks at that man and says, life does not

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consist in the abundance of possessions. It's

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as if he's saying the math is fine, but you're

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using the wrong equation. Because if the size

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of your barn is the measure of your soul. then

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every harvest becomes a hazard. Gratitude turns

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into entitlement. The prayer that began as, thank

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you, Lord, shifts to, look what I did. That's

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how grace gets converted into a grind. The miracle

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becomes metrics. And you don't even notice the

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shift until the ledger whispers louder than the

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Lord. Jesus refuses to be pulled into the man's

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feud because he knows the real fight isn't between

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two brothers. It's between the heart and its

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hunger. Greed rarely calls itself greed. It calls

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itself wisdom. It hides behind faithful stewardship

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and just being careful. You don't need me to

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tell you how easy it is to baptize our barns,

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to call them blessings while we nail those doors

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shut. That is why Jesus says be on guard, not

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as a financial warning. but a spiritual one.

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The man who shouts at Jesus doesn't think he's

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greedy. He thinks he's right. Greed rarely knows

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its own name. It sounds like fairness, like planning,

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like prudence. But Jesus hears something different

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in that voice. He hears the thud. of a soul trying

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to secure itself by storage. Covetousness doesn't

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begin with wanting what isn't yours. It begins

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with fear that you won't have enough. And when

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that fear grows, it builds bigger bonds. The

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man isn't evil. He's anxious. He sees abundance

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and interprets it as threat. What shall I do?

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I have nowhere to store my crops. And that's

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the first symptom of spiritual blindness. When

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grace fills your hands and your very first thought

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is storage instead of sharing, you've already

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begun to worship your own safety. He doesn't

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say, the Lord has blessed me. He says, the land

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has produced, and the miracle becomes math. And

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maybe you've noticed this too. The more a person

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tries to manage the future, the less they notice

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the miracles right in front of them. The man

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doesn't pray, he doesn't ask. His world is only

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self. I will tear down. I will build. I will

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store. I will say to my soul. When self -talk

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replaces prayer, pride isn't far behind. And

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Jesus calls him fool. Not as an insult. But it's

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tragedy. A fool is someone who forgets God in

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his calculations. The man believed his barns

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proved his wisdom, but all they proved was how

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small his world had become. The problem wasn't

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the harvest. It was the heart. Wealth wasn't

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the sin. Withholding was. A blessing that refuses

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to move becomes a burden. A gift that stops flowing

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into other gifts to ourselves and others turns

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into a grave. And you've seen it. People who

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work their whole lives chasing peace that never

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comes. Another zero, another raise, another project,

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just one more, right? And then I'll take a break,

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then I'll rest. That is the sound of the soul

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forgetting the Sabbath. The rich man finishes

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his monologue and then comes the interruption.

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But God said to him, and every self -made speech

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ends right there. One call, one accident, one

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diagnosis, suddenly all of your planning dissolves

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into silence. Fool, God says, because this very

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night, Your soul is required of you. In Greek,

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required means to return, to collect back. Life

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itself is alone, and we are all paying interest

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with our days. God didn't steal the man's life.

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He called it home. The man who had prepared for

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everything discovered, he's actually prepared

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for nothing. And we've been looking at parables

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for a while, if you have been following us in

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this parable series. And this parable burns a

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little bit differently. Because in this parable,

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there's no hero. There's no redemption. There's

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no repentance. Just a full barn and a hollow

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man. Jesus doesn't even call him wicked. Just

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forgetful. Forgetful that the field belongs to

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God. Grace did the growing. He confused management

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with meaning. He measured life by yield and storage

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capacity. You can't manage grace. You can only

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participate in it. When the man says, I will

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say to my soul, it's heartbreaking. Because...

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He's talking to himself like God isn't even there.

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He offers his soul comfort. But comfort isn't

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peace. Not without communion. And you've said

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it too. If I can just get through this season.

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But peace isn't on the far side of completion.

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It's only found in communion with the one. who

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owns your very next breath. The fool says, eat,

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drink, be merry. It's a hollow echo of Ecclesiastes.

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The original preacher ends with reverence. Fear

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God. The fool skips the reverence and keeps the

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recipe. You've walked into quiet houses that

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used to hold laughter, seen bank accounts grow

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while friendships shrink. You've stood at funerals

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and wondered what all the building was for. It's

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what Jesus is trying to spare us. The heartbreak

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of realizing too late that our barns have become

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the walls of our very own exile. The things you

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have prepared, whose will they be? That's the

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piercing, closing question of Jesus. Everything

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he stored will belong to someone else by sunrise.

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And Jesus ends with no flourish. So it is the

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one who lays up treasure for himself and is not

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rich towards God. No moral, just a mirror. To

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be rich towards God isn't about your net worth.

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It is about your soul's direction. It means understanding

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in your living that everything is borrowed. It

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means holding what you have loosely enough that

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God can move it. Possessions make poor saviors.

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They can comfort, but they cannot resurrect.

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And Jesus doesn't want less for you. He wants

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freedom. The warning in this parable isn't shame.

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It's release. Rich towards God means grace becomes

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the new reflex. It's not fear that drives you,

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but trust that frees you. The man wanted more

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time, and he lost all of it. But the one who

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trusts God with today discovers eternity sneaking

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into every single moment. And you've seen it,

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the lightness of a person who's stopped grasping.

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The one who gives without keeping score, that's

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wealth that can't be measured. And that's what

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it means to be rich towards God. Jesus told this

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story not to scold success, but to redeem it.

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Prosperity becomes blessing when it moves through

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love. And that looks like gratitude that overflows,

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hands that stay open, faith that asks, who else

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needs to eat? Friends, Grace only works in one

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direction, outward. The moment it stagnates,

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it stops being grace. The fool built barns. Jesus

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built tables. And maybe rich towards God looks

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less like a vault and more like a table. The

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fool says, my soul, take your ease. The disciple

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says, my soul, bless the Lord. The fool says,

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eat, drink, be merry. The disciple says, taste

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and see the Lord is good. The fool built barns

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for himself. The disciple becomes a blessing

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for others. And when the night comes, and it

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always comes, he won't fear the reckoning because

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his treasure has already been transferred to

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heaven. Lord Jesus, teach us how to count again,

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not by what we keep, but what we give. Loosen

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our grip, lighten our hearts, and turn our barns

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into tables. Make us rich towards you, rich in

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mercy, rich in gratitude, rich in love. Let what

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we hold never hold us. And when the night comes,

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let there be nothing left to pry from our hands.

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Church, let us be rich towards God. Amen. The

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man in Jesus' parable didn't die because he was

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rich. He died because he believed his bonds could

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hold his soul. That's the warning and the invitation.

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Because the truth is, you already know how fragile

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this life is. You've already seen how quickly

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everything could change. How one phone call,

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one moment, one heartbeat can pull the rug right

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out from under your plans. But Jesus doesn't

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tell a story to scare us. He tells it to free

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us. To free us from the illusion that control

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somehow creates peace. Free us from the lie that

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more will finally be enough. To remind us that

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eternity isn't something we prepare for later.

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It's something we live in now. So, take inventory,

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not of your possessions, but of your heart. Where

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is your trust resting? Maybe, what are you holding

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on to too tightly? And, what would it look like

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to let your barns become tables? Friend, you

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don't need to be afraid. God isn't calling you

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to poverty. He's beckoning you towards peace.

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The kind that can't be bought, sold, or stored.

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The kind that flows freely through a heart that's

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surrendered. Tonight, your soul may not be required

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of you. But one day, it will be. And when that

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moment comes, may your hands be empty because

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you gave it all away in love. If this message

00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:49.579
stirred something in you, don't keep it to yourself.

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Would you like, share, subscribe so others could

00:22:52.460 --> 00:22:56.259
hear the same truth? Not for numbers, not for

00:22:56.259 --> 00:23:00.799
hype, but because someone you know might be building

00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:06.599
barns when Jesus is offering a table. Hey! thanks

00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:10.799
for being here grace and peace i'll see you next

00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:11.059
time