WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.679 Let us be still and know that you are God and 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:11.400 your goodness is running after us. Lord, that's 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:16.500 such a song. It means so much to me because your 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:20.019 goodness is running after me and tackling me 00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:24.500 and putting me back up on my feet to do the things 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:26.600 that you want me to do and not the things I want 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:32.500 to do. Lord, I just pray that you would give 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:35.439 us all ears to hear what you want us to hear 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.479 this morning, and that I would say just what 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:40.439 you want me to say, and that we'd have a little 00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:50.079 fun. Amen. So don't worry. I've asked the elders 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:52.399 not to lock the doors because I'm going to talk 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:57.149 about tithing, so we'll... We'll get to that 00:00:57.149 --> 00:00:59.549 in a little bit. So the doors are open for a 00:00:59.549 --> 00:01:01.109 while, but when I get to the tithing part, I'm 00:01:01.109 --> 00:01:02.770 going to ask them to lock the doors. So if you've 00:01:02.770 --> 00:01:07.989 got to go to the restroom, go ahead. So what 00:01:07.989 --> 00:01:10.170 I'm going to talk about today has to do with 00:01:10.170 --> 00:01:16.930 eternity. It has to do with long -term investing. 00:01:18.370 --> 00:01:20.409 It's kind of like an investment seminar that 00:01:20.409 --> 00:01:23.189 you've never heard before. And my business quest 00:01:23.189 --> 00:01:26.489 is investments, but I'm asking myself, the older 00:01:26.489 --> 00:01:30.329 I get, I say, does eternity exist? And does it 00:01:30.329 --> 00:01:35.370 matter? Does it even matter if it exists? So 00:01:35.370 --> 00:01:39.569 I'm asking myself, okay, am I ready? Am I ready 00:01:39.569 --> 00:01:42.629 to go? I mean, I've had, many of us have had 00:01:42.629 --> 00:01:44.689 experiences where we've had like near -death 00:01:44.689 --> 00:01:46.689 experiences. Well, I've had a couple in my life 00:01:46.689 --> 00:01:49.890 as well. Some surfing, some driving race cars. 00:01:52.459 --> 00:01:56.200 Some at my Cooper Clinic, they told me I've got 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:58.540 something that they didn't like, but turned out 00:01:58.540 --> 00:02:00.719 to be nothing, but I was thinking about, am I 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:05.379 ready again? So how much time have you spent 00:02:05.379 --> 00:02:08.199 thinking about that? The pastor's greatest responsibility 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:13.780 is preparing us for eternity. And, of course, 00:02:13.860 --> 00:02:15.560 the time when we're here in this life is short 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:18.199 compared to our eternity, but that's what we're 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:20.139 supposed to be preparing for eternity. So let's 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:22.939 look a little bit about eternity. Now, my past 00:02:22.939 --> 00:02:26.780 has not been all that great from the standpoint 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:29.340 of being a believer. Now, I was raised in a Baptist 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:31.740 church. Now, don't hold that against me. But 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:34.680 I did do all the things that a good Baptist kid 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:36.479 is supposed to do by raising their church. I 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.340 had perfect attendance pins. You know, I tithe. 00:02:40.419 --> 00:02:44.319 I kept the Sabbath holy. I did all the things 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:46.139 that you're supposed to do. I was really good 00:02:46.139 --> 00:02:48.979 at Bible drills. I could get to the faster than 00:02:48.979 --> 00:02:53.599 everybody else. I memorized scriptures. I was 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:58.979 like the Pharisee of the Baptist church. It's 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:01.900 like I had no clue as to what it was all about, 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:04.500 even though I was baptized when I was 10. I had 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:08.080 no clue as to what it was all about. And I never 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.300 thought about Judgment Day. Who cares about Judgment 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:12.400 Day when you're a kid? You don't think about 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:17.340 that at all. So I knew I had my ticket because 00:03:17.340 --> 00:03:19.879 I was baptized when I was 10. So I had my ticket 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:24.580 to heaven. But so what did that have to do with 00:03:24.580 --> 00:03:28.219 my life right now? So I had some problems with 00:03:28.219 --> 00:03:33.680 money. This is my high school picture in my yearbook. 00:03:35.020 --> 00:03:38.539 And that... Underneath me is Diane McDougal. 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:41.680 She was in my Sunday school class. Now, if you 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.340 look closely at our lifetime goals, you'll see 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:48.219 something interesting here. I wanted to be a 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:50.360 highly paid engineer because I had accepted an 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:55.500 engineering school, but that's my life goal. 00:03:55.740 --> 00:03:58.599 So Diane said to do God's will. So my mother 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:01.280 was really upset with this. My mother said... 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:04.639 My mother was the church secretary. She was the 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:06.759 president of the PTA. She said, son, you've embarrassed 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:11.060 me. Why couldn't you put on what I am? I said, 00:04:11.099 --> 00:04:14.800 that's not what I want. I want to make the big 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:18.899 bucks. So I had a money problem. In fact, I had 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:20.579 a money problem. They arrested me when I was 00:04:20.579 --> 00:04:22.939 in high school for shoplifting. So here I am, 00:04:22.939 --> 00:04:25.420 a tithing Baptist who's arrested for shoplifting. 00:04:25.540 --> 00:04:29.360 I said, what's going on here? So I had kind of 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:34.240 a lifelong issue with money. But after college, 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:38.459 I said to the Lord, okay, Lord, what do you want 00:04:38.459 --> 00:04:41.300 to do with my life? I was 23 years old then. 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:45.439 And I said, Lord, I'll do whatever you want me 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:48.759 to do except. Have you done some exceptions? 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:51.920 I said, except I won't be a life insurance salesman, 00:04:51.939 --> 00:04:56.620 and I won't be a missionary. So I went a couple 00:04:56.620 --> 00:04:59.199 more years, and I got my first job, and I was 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:00.879 in that highly paid engineer. I was doing really 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:04.740 well. Then when I was 26, I went to a retreat. 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:07.459 Things happen at retreats that don't happen in 00:05:07.459 --> 00:05:10.160 normal life. You go to retreats. So the Lord 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:14.319 spoke to me, and I said, Lord, I've got this 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.160 engineering job. It's a really nice job. I said, 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:21.220 Lord, I'll do whatever you want me to do. I fully 00:05:21.220 --> 00:05:24.500 commit to you. Within six months, I was in the 00:05:24.500 --> 00:05:29.319 life insurance business. But the life insurance 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:31.459 business wasn't as bad as I thought, because 00:05:31.459 --> 00:05:33.560 I realized I could make a lot of money in the 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:36.220 life insurance business. I found that I could 00:05:36.220 --> 00:05:39.160 call on the very wealthy people, business owners, 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:42.879 estate owners, peanut farmers. I did a lot of 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.699 work with farmers, and they needed some insurance 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:49.839 to pay for the estate taxes. I would call on 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:52.439 the most wealthy people I could find, sell them 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:56.319 these gigantic policies, $100 ,000 premium policies. 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:00.459 Of course, you get paid based on the premium, 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:03.639 not the face amount of the policy. I was looking 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:05.740 for the old guys and the sick guys because they 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:11.279 had the really higher premiums. In working with 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:13.160 their estate planning, I found out that these 00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:16.240 people who had lots of money were very unhappy. 00:06:17.389 --> 00:06:19.889 and I would think that people with lots of money 00:06:19.889 --> 00:06:21.649 would be really happy. Well, I was realizing 00:06:21.649 --> 00:06:24.569 that I was being unhappy because I didn't like 00:06:24.569 --> 00:06:29.250 what my life was all about. So at the same time, 00:06:29.329 --> 00:06:33.410 Pat Robertson had Regent University in Virginia 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:36.589 Beach, and I decided I would go to his college 00:06:36.589 --> 00:06:40.250 and take my master's in biblical studies. So 00:06:40.250 --> 00:06:45.170 I decided, oh, this is like a letter that... 00:06:45.579 --> 00:06:48.259 Some kid named Raphael wrote to God. It was like 00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:51.560 my story right there. I'll give you anything 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:56.100 you want except my money, you know. So anyway, 00:06:56.199 --> 00:07:00.480 I went to Regent University, and I said the course 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:02.600 I took was The Life and Teachings of Christ. 00:07:03.339 --> 00:07:05.519 And I said, okay, I wonder what Jesus has to 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:07.939 say about money. It turned out that Jesus had 00:07:07.939 --> 00:07:11.939 a lot to say about money. In fact, the most he 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:13.939 talked about in the whole New Testament was about 00:07:13.939 --> 00:07:18.300 money. So I decided to find out. So I took my 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:21.339 Bible and I went to the four Gospels and I took 00:07:21.339 --> 00:07:24.180 my green highlighter and I went to my Bible and 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:26.259 I underlined everything that had to do with money, 00:07:26.420 --> 00:07:30.720 wealth, gold, silver, mammon, the whole thing. 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:35.019 I went through there and I realized I had lots 00:07:35.019 --> 00:07:37.120 of information, but then I reduced it down and 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:39.339 reduced it down and reduced it down to one page. 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:42.279 And what was that one page? I said, what did 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:46.959 Jesus say? There were three main topics that 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:49.860 he covered. The first thing was, he says you've 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:54.120 got to pick one, God or mammon. Like Bob Dylan 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:55.980 says in his song, you've got to serve somebody. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:57.980 You may be the devil or you may be the Lord, 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:01.120 but you've got to serve somebody. Well, mammon 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:03.439 turns out to be one of those things that's really, 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:05.660 really tricky. And he's kind of warning us about 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:07.899 it, which is the second thing he talks about, 00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:11.629 the temptations of mammon. and the deceitfulness 00:08:11.629 --> 00:08:13.470 of it. And we're going to cover these in a little 00:08:13.470 --> 00:08:15.889 more detail in just a second. But the third thing 00:08:15.889 --> 00:08:19.029 he talked about was judgment. I said, judgment? 00:08:19.230 --> 00:08:23.029 What does that mean? Rewards and penalties for 00:08:23.029 --> 00:08:27.750 dealing with money. So what I've done for you 00:08:27.750 --> 00:08:31.990 all here is I've made a QR code that takes you 00:08:31.990 --> 00:08:34.730 to... I just read this paper a couple weeks ago, 00:08:34.830 --> 00:08:39.210 and I said, this paper is really good for a basic... 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:42.620 understanding of wealth from a biblical perspective. 00:08:43.019 --> 00:08:46.100 And it's a term paper I wrote. You can get a 00:08:46.100 --> 00:08:50.179 copy of it by just clicking on that thing. And 00:08:50.179 --> 00:08:53.980 this paper became the foundation for the rest 00:08:53.980 --> 00:08:58.019 of my life in terms of handling money. And I've 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:00.860 got lots of stories from there. The process of 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:03.200 sanctification does not happen overnight. You 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:05.059 don't become all of a sudden a generous giver. 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.480 I was the cheapest guy at the office. They wanted 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:12.019 United Way. I wouldn't give to United Way. Give 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:14.639 me a break. I work for my money. You work for 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:17.700 yours. I'm not giving to anything. So I was at 00:09:17.700 --> 00:09:21.580 the top of the list of being cheap. So anyway, 00:09:21.700 --> 00:09:26.000 let me move on to what Jesus had to say. He said, 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:27.539 first of all, you've got to pick one, God or 00:09:27.539 --> 00:09:32.809 mammon. So what is mammon? Mammon is the worldly 00:09:32.809 --> 00:09:36.970 system of wealth. And Jesus, because it's kind 00:09:36.970 --> 00:09:38.809 of interesting, he didn't need any mammon in 00:09:38.809 --> 00:09:42.710 his life because if he needed something, he just 00:09:42.710 --> 00:09:45.309 would ask the Father for it and he would provide 00:09:45.309 --> 00:09:49.950 it. Now, we have to deal with mammon. We have 00:09:49.950 --> 00:09:54.169 money to deal with. Money is not kingdom currency. 00:09:54.690 --> 00:09:58.870 Money is worldly currency. But it gets in the 00:09:58.870 --> 00:10:02.450 way of our kingdom currency. But you can use 00:10:02.450 --> 00:10:06.149 it for kingdom currency, which I'll get to in 00:10:06.149 --> 00:10:09.549 just a little bit. But serving mammon is like, 00:10:09.710 --> 00:10:12.190 you remember that TV program they had one time 00:10:12.190 --> 00:10:16.610 where they said, they went out into the street 00:10:16.610 --> 00:10:20.669 and said, well, would you do something for $50? 00:10:20.929 --> 00:10:23.470 It was something stupid. And they'd say, well, 00:10:23.529 --> 00:10:25.250 no, I wouldn't do that for $50. He said, well, 00:10:25.289 --> 00:10:27.120 would you do it for $100? Now, I won't do that 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.299 for 100. How about 500? Yeah, I'll do it for 00:10:29.299 --> 00:10:33.259 500. That's serving mammon. Now, in God's kingdom, 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:36.620 the price of something shouldn't interfere with 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:39.559 your decisions. It's what the Lord says about 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:41.919 it. And the Lord provides whatever that number 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:45.179 is, whatever the thing is. So that's serving 00:10:45.179 --> 00:10:47.100 mammon. And we all do it. I mean, I still do 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:49.659 it now, but not to the extent that I used to 00:10:49.659 --> 00:10:52.000 do it. So here's some of the questions that I 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.679 had to deal with when I first found out about 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:57.919 this. Did I pick my career based on how much 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:03.279 it paid? Yeah. Must I always buy things on sale? 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.179 Not that there's something wrong with buying 00:11:06.179 --> 00:11:08.639 them on sale, but if you have to buy them on 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.159 sale, what does that say? What does that say? 00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:14.600 Aren't you having like a, if the Lord tells you 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:16.039 to buy something and it's not on sale, do you 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:20.879 still buy it? Well, good answer that one. So 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.440 how about Jesus? Would he pay retail price for 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:27.500 a new car? How about if you loved the salesman 00:11:27.500 --> 00:11:31.960 and the salesman needed the money? See, there's 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.559 no money that's lost in a transaction. If one 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:38.580 gives it, the other benefits from it. No money's 00:11:38.580 --> 00:11:41.600 lost. So did I eat more food if someone else 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:45.919 paid for it? Did I fear being taken advantage 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:50.080 of financially? How about some unforgiveness? 00:11:52.419 --> 00:11:56.200 Did I react to requests for money? with indignation 00:11:56.200 --> 00:12:01.779 or anger? Do I treat people who are wealthy differently 00:12:01.779 --> 00:12:07.059 than people who are poor? Did I have trouble 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:10.179 spending money even when I had it? Because I 00:12:10.179 --> 00:12:12.879 did. I had trouble because just because I had 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.360 it didn't mean I could pay up for something. 00:12:15.500 --> 00:12:17.539 I just had to get a good deal because that's 00:12:17.539 --> 00:12:20.120 the way I was raised and my parents taught me 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:22.960 to make sure that you bought everything on sale. 00:12:24.110 --> 00:12:27.190 That's an idol. You have to understand. Nothing 00:12:27.190 --> 00:12:29.950 wrong with being a good steward, but if you have 00:12:29.950 --> 00:12:34.909 to do something on the basis of its cost, that's 00:12:34.909 --> 00:12:36.669 why you have to pray for all your financial decisions. 00:12:38.870 --> 00:12:41.110 Were personal relationships ever compromised 00:12:41.110 --> 00:12:44.730 due to a money issue? How about the guy who borrowed 00:12:44.730 --> 00:12:47.929 money from me and didn't pay me back? Oh, I struggle 00:12:47.929 --> 00:12:50.950 with that one. It was a lot of money. I had to 00:12:50.950 --> 00:12:52.889 finally deal with that and walk away from it. 00:12:53.210 --> 00:12:54.830 and forgive him. You know, he's still a good 00:12:54.830 --> 00:12:57.029 friend of mine, but he still hasn't paid me back. 00:12:57.289 --> 00:13:01.990 I mean, what do you do with that? Did I ever 00:13:01.990 --> 00:13:04.789 deduct a personal item as a business expense? 00:13:05.629 --> 00:13:09.370 I won't want to go there, okay? Because in my 00:13:09.370 --> 00:13:12.830 past life, I did stuff like that. Did I ever 00:13:12.830 --> 00:13:17.370 fudge on my taxes? Fudge, that's a nice name 00:13:17.370 --> 00:13:22.179 of saying cheat, okay? Was I using money or was 00:13:22.179 --> 00:13:25.299 money using me? And here's a question you could 00:13:25.299 --> 00:13:28.340 answer and probably write a term paper on. Why 00:13:28.340 --> 00:13:31.240 did Jesus let Judas be the treasurer and hold 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:34.700 the money bag? Maybe it says something that he 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:37.899 knew something that we didn't. Maybe he's telling 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:40.340 us a little lesson. It doesn't matter if someone 00:13:40.340 --> 00:13:41.980 steals from the church treasury. Now, I'm not 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:44.500 saying they should do that, but I'm just saying 00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:47.019 that's what Jesus' mentality on this system. 00:13:47.700 --> 00:13:50.730 So the second thing, Jesus talked about here 00:13:50.730 --> 00:13:57.409 was wealth, being deceitful. Because if you have 00:13:57.409 --> 00:14:00.690 a lot of money, what do you need God for? If 00:14:00.690 --> 00:14:03.169 you have plenty of money, you can just make your 00:14:03.169 --> 00:14:05.289 decisions based on what the heck you want to 00:14:05.289 --> 00:14:10.870 do. You have enough, you buy it. But you have 00:14:10.870 --> 00:14:14.230 to be careful because it's deceitful. Like a 00:14:14.230 --> 00:14:16.970 fishing lure. A fishing lure is something that's 00:14:16.970 --> 00:14:19.860 not... what the fish think it is. And money is 00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:21.840 the same thing. It's not something that you think 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:25.240 it is. And you can use money to do things that 00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:27.379 you really shouldn't do. You have other temptations. 00:14:28.419 --> 00:14:32.240 Probably the most unfaithful people in the world 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.679 are people who have a lot of money. They figure 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:38.899 they can buy whatever they want to. It develops 00:14:38.899 --> 00:14:44.669 an independent spirit. And Jesus talks about 00:14:44.669 --> 00:14:46.870 that. He said, you know, faith and wealth are 00:14:46.870 --> 00:14:51.049 kind of incompatible. He talks about the camel 00:14:51.049 --> 00:14:53.529 going through the eye of a needle. He said it's 00:14:53.529 --> 00:14:57.490 very, very difficult for a rich man to inherit 00:14:57.490 --> 00:15:01.889 the kingdom of heaven. So let me move on to the 00:15:01.889 --> 00:15:05.190 next topic, judgment, rewards and penalties, 00:15:05.309 --> 00:15:14.190 which I'll spend some time doing. In fact, what 00:15:14.190 --> 00:15:19.450 I wanted to do here is I have, this is my book, 00:15:19.549 --> 00:15:21.330 which I've got some copies in the back if they're 00:15:21.330 --> 00:15:26.529 still there, if you want to pick one up. Because 00:15:26.529 --> 00:15:31.649 I was struggling with money and I hated my job. 00:15:32.629 --> 00:15:35.970 And my job, I invest, I do investments. So back 00:15:35.970 --> 00:15:39.049 in 1987, the market crashed. In 1987, that's 00:15:39.049 --> 00:15:41.809 the year when I decided I'm not doing this anymore. 00:15:41.889 --> 00:15:44.490 I hate my work. I'm going to retire. And I had 00:15:44.490 --> 00:15:47.009 amassed enough money that I could retire. I had 00:15:47.009 --> 00:15:52.330 enough. So I said, I'm out of here. So I went 00:15:52.330 --> 00:15:54.889 to a retreat, like I always get my insights on 00:15:54.889 --> 00:15:57.470 retreats. So I went to a retreat in West Virginia. 00:15:57.490 --> 00:16:00.570 I went to the top of this mountain. And I had 00:16:00.570 --> 00:16:04.610 this conversation with the Lord. And I just want 00:16:04.610 --> 00:16:06.769 to read a section of this book. This is my conversation. 00:16:06.789 --> 00:16:09.029 This is almost word for word of what we were 00:16:09.029 --> 00:16:12.950 talking about. I said, God is whispering. Truth 00:16:12.950 --> 00:16:15.110 to me, a whole lot more than I am listening to 00:16:15.110 --> 00:16:17.830 it. But I'm either not interested in it or I'm 00:16:17.830 --> 00:16:21.990 tuning out because I'm busy going to Niagara 00:16:21.990 --> 00:16:24.149 Falls in a barrel every day. My best listening 00:16:24.149 --> 00:16:26.529 times come from when I wake up in the morning 00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:30.190 or at a church worship service or a retreat where 00:16:30.190 --> 00:16:35.509 I can get quiet for several days before abstaining 00:16:35.509 --> 00:16:38.970 from my daily activities. So on this retreat, 00:16:39.149 --> 00:16:41.980 I was about to have a dialogue with God. and 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:44.620 make a deal that changed my whole perspective 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:48.700 on the money business. It went like this. Good 00:16:48.700 --> 00:16:53.000 morning, Lord. What a spectacular sunrise. I 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.200 made it just for you to enjoy, Ralph. Well, you're 00:16:56.200 --> 00:16:58.320 pretty cool, and I acknowledge and worship you 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:03.700 for your creative genius. I love you. Why? I 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:07.200 haven't really done anything worthwhile. I know. 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:11.950 But I love you no matter what you do. Why is 00:17:11.950 --> 00:17:15.970 that? He said, that's who I am. Well, I'm struggling 00:17:15.970 --> 00:17:21.529 with my life. I know. Can you help? You are not 00:17:21.529 --> 00:17:24.450 made to handle money the way you do. It will 00:17:24.450 --> 00:17:28.349 destroy you. I know. I certainly can't invest 00:17:28.349 --> 00:17:32.089 for clients and enjoy my life. Why do you say 00:17:32.089 --> 00:17:36.130 that? Because the market turns me up so much 00:17:36.130 --> 00:17:39.450 that my life becomes too painful. I get upset. 00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:44.079 Depressed. And the result is all my relationships 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:47.259 suffer. My wife, my kids, my employees. I become 00:17:47.259 --> 00:17:51.400 an emotional basket case. I've noticed. It makes 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:55.759 me sad. Well, it won't happen anymore. I'll do 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:59.240 something else with my life. So, you're running 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:02.259 from the problem? Well, what other options do 00:18:02.259 --> 00:18:05.460 I have? I hate every day. Do you really want 00:18:05.460 --> 00:18:10.480 to know? Yes, help! Whose money are you investing? 00:18:11.099 --> 00:18:16.539 Mine. Yours? Well, I suppose it's actually yours. 00:18:17.579 --> 00:18:21.920 And who owns the business you run? I do. You 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:24.960 do? Well, the money I invest is yours, but the 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:28.119 business, that's mine. You need to rethink that. 00:18:29.099 --> 00:18:31.799 What do you mean? Well, when you own the business, 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:34.700 all the responsibilities and stress falls on 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:37.900 you. I didn't make you to withstand those pressures. 00:18:38.990 --> 00:18:41.369 You mean all these years I thought I was in charge 00:18:41.369 --> 00:18:45.250 and tried to get you to work for me? Yes, you 00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:47.650 asked me to bless you and make you rich, but 00:18:47.650 --> 00:18:49.890 you weren't built to handle all those responsibilities, 00:18:50.049 --> 00:18:53.210 and you weren't built to handle all the profits 00:18:53.210 --> 00:18:56.309 either. Oh, I'm beginning to see what you're 00:18:56.309 --> 00:19:00.170 saying. Instead of you working for me, I should 00:19:00.170 --> 00:19:04.930 work for you? It'll be your business? Yes, but 00:19:04.930 --> 00:19:08.130 you don't get the profits. They're mine. Wait 00:19:08.130 --> 00:19:10.269 a minute. Let me get this straight. You get the 00:19:10.269 --> 00:19:13.269 profits? What do you want with them? There are 00:19:13.269 --> 00:19:15.509 lots of very important things that I would like 00:19:15.509 --> 00:19:17.609 to do, but the people who want to accomplish 00:19:17.609 --> 00:19:21.609 them don't have the funds. Even as we speak now, 00:19:21.710 --> 00:19:24.569 they are in tears petitioning me for funds to 00:19:24.569 --> 00:19:28.730 do very urgent and necessary things. So, you 00:19:28.730 --> 00:19:32.890 want my profits to be given to them? No, I want 00:19:32.890 --> 00:19:38.099 my profits to be given to them. Oh, I'm beginning 00:19:38.099 --> 00:19:42.000 to see, but if I do this business venture, how 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.240 am I supposed to deal with the stress, which 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:47.400 is why I quit in the first place? I'll take it 00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:49.500 from you, since it's no longer your business, 00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:54.000 you'll find peace. Okay, Lord, you're the boss, 00:19:54.200 --> 00:19:58.000 but if I have these problems again, I'll quit 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:02.339 and do something else. Agreed, you have a deal. 00:20:04.589 --> 00:20:06.930 I went right back into the business I got out 00:20:06.930 --> 00:20:12.690 of. That's 39 years ago. And my business has 00:20:12.690 --> 00:20:16.450 prospered like amazingly, and I have been able 00:20:16.450 --> 00:20:19.349 to work for the Lord, and I've set my affairs 00:20:19.349 --> 00:20:23.049 up in such a way that not only does my family 00:20:23.049 --> 00:20:30.829 benefit, but the kingdom benefits. But the process 00:20:30.829 --> 00:20:33.309 was still a hard process. The process, I went... 00:20:33.889 --> 00:20:36.190 I joined this organization called the Ministry 00:20:36.190 --> 00:20:42.549 of Money, which is like Alcoholics Anonymous 00:20:42.549 --> 00:20:47.029 is for the alcoholic. This is like Money Lovers 00:20:47.029 --> 00:20:52.309 Anonymous. And we'd go in a group. We'd talk 00:20:52.309 --> 00:20:54.569 to each other. We'd encourage each other. We 00:20:54.569 --> 00:20:56.569 went on this trip to India. I went to work with 00:20:56.569 --> 00:20:58.829 Mother Teresa in Calcutta with the poorest of 00:20:58.829 --> 00:21:02.650 the poor. It was a life -changing experience. 00:21:02.849 --> 00:21:05.089 And I thought when I got back home from that 00:21:05.089 --> 00:21:07.970 meeting that I was going to have to give all 00:21:07.970 --> 00:21:10.170 my money away and be poor because of the people 00:21:10.170 --> 00:21:11.950 I was working with was poor. And just the opposite 00:21:11.950 --> 00:21:15.230 happened. He made me go back into business and 00:21:15.230 --> 00:21:17.150 to make money so that I could make some changes 00:21:17.150 --> 00:21:22.650 to expand the kingdom. So then I finally realized 00:21:22.650 --> 00:21:26.730 why Christians have money. It's to expand the 00:21:26.730 --> 00:21:29.690 kingdom. So that's... That's the whole reason 00:21:29.690 --> 00:21:32.829 why we have more money than we actually need. 00:21:33.170 --> 00:21:39.569 So the stewardship concept is, this is where 00:21:39.569 --> 00:21:40.869 we can lock the door. I was going to talk about 00:21:40.869 --> 00:21:44.329 tithing here for a minute, because I've not actually 00:21:44.329 --> 00:21:47.329 heard anyone talk about tithing. But what is 00:21:47.329 --> 00:21:50.690 tithing? And what is stewardship? Let's talk 00:21:50.690 --> 00:21:54.730 about that. See, tithing is the first 10 % of 00:21:54.730 --> 00:22:02.079 the increase of what you have. And it's not, 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:04.859 I call it earth rent because it's just not optional. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:08.299 It's like if you would make a deal with a farmer 00:22:08.299 --> 00:22:12.180 and say, oh, I want to rent your land and I'll 00:22:12.180 --> 00:22:16.319 pay you 10 % of whatever my profits are as a 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:18.339 rent. That's kind of like the deal. Well, that's 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:20.859 kind of the deal that the Lord's made with us. 00:22:20.980 --> 00:22:24.240 He says he wants to benefit. And it's your local 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:26.799 church. That's my interpretation of what the 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:29.599 tithe is for. Not to say that that's legalistic, 00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:32.740 but I feel like wherever you're getting fed, 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:41.519 that's where your tithe goes. Anyway, the stewardship 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:46.500 is the other 90%. And the whole thing about tithing 00:22:46.500 --> 00:22:49.200 is... I think the Lord's done that to us so that 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:53.039 we can recognize where our money comes from, 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:57.779 where our income comes from. I had a funny thing 00:22:57.779 --> 00:23:03.140 happen this week. I gave my dog a really meaty 00:23:03.140 --> 00:23:10.339 bone. And he was chewing on it, and I kind of 00:23:10.339 --> 00:23:12.500 went over to him after he was chewing on it, 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:17.579 and I asked him for it back. And so what do you 00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:23.660 think he did? He gave it back to me. So he understands 00:23:23.660 --> 00:23:28.700 where is that bone coming from? It's like if 00:23:28.700 --> 00:23:33.279 you can't give it back to the Lord, then maybe 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:34.539 you shouldn't have had it in the first place. 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:39.039 So anyway, it's just recognizing that. So what 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:45.779 about the stewardship? I know people who stop 00:23:45.779 --> 00:23:48.680 going to church because they preach tithing from 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.380 the pulpit. Well, that's like voiding the oncologist 00:23:52.380 --> 00:23:54.559 if you have cancer. I mean, it's just not... 00:23:54.559 --> 00:24:01.400 So a steward and a servant are different. A steward 00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:04.819 is a servant in charge of property belonging 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:08.680 to the master. And he's given charge of it in 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:11.140 order that it may be kept secure for the master 00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:15.980 can be enriched by his activity. whereas a servant 00:24:15.980 --> 00:24:18.980 is present with the master, but the servant doesn't 00:24:18.980 --> 00:24:21.420 know the master's mind. That's a difference. 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:24.759 So the stewardship is we take whatever he has 00:24:24.759 --> 00:24:28.180 given us, the steward, and do what he wants us 00:24:28.180 --> 00:24:31.839 to do with it, whatever that might be. I have 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:35.240 a steward who runs my business for me. She's 00:24:35.240 --> 00:24:37.619 been with me so many years, she wouldn't want 00:24:37.619 --> 00:24:39.180 me to tell you how many years, but I hired her 00:24:39.180 --> 00:24:42.119 out of college. She's the president of my firm, 00:24:42.220 --> 00:24:46.660 and she is... An ideal steward. She has power 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:50.579 of attorney over all my stuff. And she asks herself 00:24:50.579 --> 00:24:53.779 the question, what would Ralph want me to do 00:24:53.779 --> 00:24:56.519 under these circumstances? And if she doesn't 00:24:56.519 --> 00:24:58.980 know, she asks me what I think. Otherwise, she 00:24:58.980 --> 00:25:02.519 does what she thinks I would do. That's the same 00:25:02.519 --> 00:25:05.180 situation we have with what the Lord's given 00:25:05.180 --> 00:25:14.509 to us. So, talking about rewards. There are so 00:25:14.509 --> 00:25:16.650 many rewards mentioned in the Bible, but you 00:25:16.650 --> 00:25:18.210 don't really see them all in the same place. 00:25:18.269 --> 00:25:21.710 So I kind of lined a few up here, what we get 00:25:21.710 --> 00:25:26.089 rewards for. Exchanging your life on behalf of 00:25:26.089 --> 00:25:36.730 Christ. Giving possessions. Hospitality. Persecution. 00:25:39.390 --> 00:25:47.890 Compassion. and prayer. So let's take one at 00:25:47.890 --> 00:25:49.390 a time. Let's give you some scripture verses. 00:25:50.230 --> 00:25:52.549 Exchanging your life on behalf of Christ. This 00:25:52.549 --> 00:25:54.829 is Matthew, Jesus saying, For the Son of Man 00:25:54.829 --> 00:25:57.329 is going to come in his Father's glory with his 00:25:57.329 --> 00:26:01.809 angels, and then he will reward each person according 00:26:01.809 --> 00:26:06.250 to what he has done. Keep in mind, these are 00:26:06.250 --> 00:26:09.490 all reward, reward, reward. That reward is epididomi 00:26:09.490 --> 00:26:12.589 in Greek. It's to give back, to repay, to restore, 00:26:12.769 --> 00:26:17.789 to reward. Let's take giving of possessions. 00:26:19.490 --> 00:26:21.650 Jesus answered, if you want to be perfect, go 00:26:21.650 --> 00:26:24.509 sell your possessions and give to the poor, and 00:26:24.509 --> 00:26:27.210 you'll have treasure in heaven. Then come and 00:26:27.210 --> 00:26:31.990 follow me. And that word for, the word is for 00:26:31.990 --> 00:26:35.950 treasure or reward. Thesaurus, or deposit, or 00:26:35.950 --> 00:26:39.829 wealth. Now, this particular scripture was the 00:26:39.829 --> 00:26:43.269 one scripture that I really hated and jumped 00:26:43.269 --> 00:26:46.730 over. Because this is where Jesus takes the walk 00:26:46.730 --> 00:26:49.750 with the rich young ruler. And the rich young 00:26:49.750 --> 00:26:53.509 ruler says to him, what do I have to do to inherit 00:26:53.509 --> 00:26:56.829 eternal life? And Jesus said, keep the law. And 00:26:56.829 --> 00:26:59.769 then he says, well, I've kept the law. And then 00:26:59.769 --> 00:27:02.410 he says, well, one thing you lack. Well, what's 00:27:02.410 --> 00:27:06.109 that? Take all you have and give to the poor 00:27:06.109 --> 00:27:08.349 and you'll have treasure in heaven. Oh, that 00:27:08.349 --> 00:27:10.349 made a bad day for him. He didn't like that. 00:27:10.930 --> 00:27:13.990 But that was me. That's why I hated that scripture 00:27:13.990 --> 00:27:19.930 for so many years. And I realized there's still 00:27:19.930 --> 00:27:24.130 hope for this guy. Because I think he left Jesus 00:27:24.130 --> 00:27:28.130 sad. Sad because he was very rich. I think he 00:27:28.130 --> 00:27:30.210 went away, but maybe he took some time to think 00:27:30.210 --> 00:27:32.970 about it. And maybe he came back and said, well, 00:27:32.990 --> 00:27:38.109 maybe I need to reconsider that. So this scripture 00:27:38.109 --> 00:27:40.670 now means a lot to me, particularly when it means 00:27:40.670 --> 00:27:44.089 that everything that I have, I could give away. 00:27:44.430 --> 00:27:47.230 I'm only holding it until he tells me what to 00:27:47.230 --> 00:27:49.990 do with it. So it's a whole new concept of it's 00:27:49.990 --> 00:27:51.769 really not mine in the first place. The word 00:27:51.769 --> 00:27:54.490 mine doesn't exist anymore. It's his. Everything 00:27:54.490 --> 00:27:59.230 is his. So let's go on to hospitality. He says, 00:27:59.250 --> 00:28:04.119 when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, 00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:07.940 the lame, the blind, and you'll be blessed because 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:11.519 they cannot repay you, for you'll be repaid at 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:15.740 the resurrection of the just. And I have to say 00:28:15.740 --> 00:28:18.720 this, that the thing in life that gives me the 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:24.279 most joy is giving to a cause where they cannot 00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:28.980 possibly repay you. it's almost like a spiritual 00:28:28.980 --> 00:28:31.980 high that I get when I give to a cause like that. 00:28:32.740 --> 00:28:37.019 And I encourage you to be more generous with 00:28:37.019 --> 00:28:39.240 every relationship that you have, and you'll 00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:44.220 find that to be the case. Now this one's kind 00:28:44.220 --> 00:28:46.180 of an interesting one. This is one that's a little 00:28:46.180 --> 00:28:48.140 different. This is in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:52.200 Blessed are you when men hate you, when they 00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:54.880 exclude you and insult you and reject your name 00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:59.349 as evil. because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in 00:28:59.349 --> 00:29:02.809 that day and leap for joy, because great is your 00:29:02.809 --> 00:29:07.490 reward in heaven. See, this is different because 00:29:07.490 --> 00:29:12.630 it says leap for joy. He didn't say this in the 00:29:12.630 --> 00:29:15.769 other ones. So it seems to me that those who 00:29:15.769 --> 00:29:19.470 are persecuted get a bigger reward than someone 00:29:19.470 --> 00:29:22.789 who just gives money. And I'm not saying that 00:29:22.789 --> 00:29:26.319 out of... I'm saying that of. It just, it seems 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:29.759 he wouldn't have said rejoice when you get persecuted 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:31.599 because he doesn't say that when you lose your 00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:33.700 money. He said that when you get persecuted. 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:39.420 So let's go on to compassion. I'll tell you the 00:29:39.420 --> 00:29:41.619 truth. Anyone who gives you a cup of water in 00:29:41.619 --> 00:29:44.759 my name because you belong to Christ will certainly 00:29:44.759 --> 00:29:50.539 not lose his reward. That's, again, the word 00:29:50.539 --> 00:29:55.519 epididomi, to give back and to repay. And lastly, 00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:01.319 the prayer. But you, when you pray, go into your 00:30:01.319 --> 00:30:03.259 room, and when you've shut the door, pray to 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:05.799 your Father who's in the secret place, and your 00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:09.460 Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 00:30:12.140 --> 00:30:17.000 So all of these are what I call in the law of 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:19.740 unbreakable link, that the choices made in your 00:30:19.740 --> 00:30:23.079 life will have consequences on your life in eternity. 00:30:26.029 --> 00:30:29.509 Our belief determines where we spend eternity. 00:30:31.509 --> 00:30:34.390 That's where we get the sheep and the goats separated. 00:30:34.750 --> 00:30:37.390 And each goes to a different judgment. There's 00:30:37.390 --> 00:30:42.490 a second judgment for each. And our behavior 00:30:42.490 --> 00:30:51.910 determines how we spend eternity. Which brings 00:30:51.910 --> 00:30:55.069 us to the bima, the judgment seat. This is a 00:30:55.069 --> 00:30:59.430 platform that we're all going to be judged on. 00:30:59.589 --> 00:31:02.109 And everything, and this is just going to be 00:31:02.109 --> 00:31:05.009 some scriptures to show us some of the things 00:31:05.009 --> 00:31:09.230 that we should look at when we consider how we're 00:31:09.230 --> 00:31:12.809 going to be judged. So we shall all stand before 00:31:12.809 --> 00:31:15.450 the judgment seat of the Bema of Christ. Each 00:31:15.450 --> 00:31:17.589 of us will give an account of himself to God. 00:31:25.289 --> 00:31:29.210 For we must all appear and be revealed as we 00:31:29.210 --> 00:31:31.349 are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that 00:31:31.349 --> 00:31:34.769 each one may receive his pay according to what 00:31:34.769 --> 00:31:38.250 he has done in the body, whether good or evil, 00:31:38.390 --> 00:31:41.369 which is considering what his purpose and motive 00:31:41.369 --> 00:31:44.309 have been, what he's achieved, what he's been 00:31:44.309 --> 00:31:46.890 busy with, what he's given himself to, and his 00:31:46.890 --> 00:31:58.759 attention to accomplishing for the kingdom. And 00:31:58.759 --> 00:32:05.900 building on a foundation of Christ is important 00:32:05.900 --> 00:32:08.960 because a lot of the things that you do are going 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:11.680 to get burned up because you do them with the 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:14.019 wrong motives or you're not doing it because 00:32:14.019 --> 00:32:16.119 the Lord directed you to do those things. But 00:32:16.119 --> 00:32:19.359 if anyone builds upon the foundation, whether 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:22.180 it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:25.359 hay, or straw, the work of each one will become 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:28.829 plainly and openly known. shown for what it is. 00:32:28.990 --> 00:32:31.910 For the day of Christ will disclose and declare 00:32:31.910 --> 00:32:35.329 it because it will be revealed with fire and 00:32:35.329 --> 00:32:37.990 the fire will test and critically appraise the 00:32:37.990 --> 00:32:41.809 character and worth of the work of each person 00:32:41.809 --> 00:32:45.630 has done. If the work of any such person was 00:32:45.630 --> 00:32:47.710 built on this foundation, which is the foundation 00:32:47.710 --> 00:32:51.049 of Christ, any product of his efforts survives 00:32:51.049 --> 00:33:02.259 this test, he will get his reward. But, If any 00:33:02.259 --> 00:33:04.839 person's work is burned up under the test, he 00:33:04.839 --> 00:33:09.740 will suffer the loss of it, losing his reward, 00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:12.579 though he himself will be saved, but only as 00:33:12.579 --> 00:33:17.000 one who passed through the fire. So our motive 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:22.740 is going to be taken into account here. And what 00:33:22.740 --> 00:33:26.220 is the fruit that remains? See, no one knows 00:33:26.220 --> 00:33:31.789 until... what happens after the fire. So don't 00:33:31.789 --> 00:33:34.450 judge anything before our time until the Lord 00:33:34.450 --> 00:33:36.569 comes and each one's praise will come from God. 00:33:40.250 --> 00:33:43.650 And what's the reward standard? It's relationship 00:33:43.650 --> 00:33:46.450 through Jesus. He says, without me, you can't 00:33:46.450 --> 00:33:49.490 do anything. He who abides in me and I in him 00:33:49.490 --> 00:33:54.130 bears much fruit. But without me, you can't do, 00:33:54.230 --> 00:33:57.829 you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide 00:33:57.829 --> 00:34:01.329 in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. 00:34:01.890 --> 00:34:03.950 And they gather them and throw them into the 00:34:03.950 --> 00:34:20.809 fire and they're burned. So the motive would 00:34:20.809 --> 00:34:24.690 be to glorify God, not to be seen of men, but 00:34:24.690 --> 00:34:29.059 of God. And Matthew 6 .1 says, Take heed that 00:34:29.059 --> 00:34:30.900 you don't do your charitable deeds before men 00:34:30.900 --> 00:34:33.820 to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward 00:34:33.820 --> 00:34:36.679 from your Father in heaven. So you have to be 00:34:36.679 --> 00:34:42.260 careful about your motive. And the test of love. 00:34:44.659 --> 00:34:47.920 Love your enemies. Do good and lend, hoping for 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:51.599 nothing in return. And your reward will be great. 00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:56.559 And you will be sons of the Most High. That's 00:34:56.559 --> 00:35:03.739 in Luke. But then there's a bad part. Suffer 00:35:03.739 --> 00:35:06.519 loss. Look to yourselves that you do not lose 00:35:06.519 --> 00:35:09.320 those things which we work for, but that we may 00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:15.219 receive a full reward. And this brings us to 00:35:15.219 --> 00:35:21.039 the parable of the amenas. Now the amena is four 00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:28.349 months worth of pay. There's ten servants in 00:35:28.349 --> 00:35:29.969 this story. I'm not going to read the whole parable. 00:35:30.030 --> 00:35:32.110 I'll read you my version of it in a second, but 00:35:32.110 --> 00:35:40.250 there's ten servants, and Jesus says, I'm going 00:35:40.250 --> 00:35:42.989 away for a while. I want you to do business until 00:35:42.989 --> 00:35:48.409 I come back. So when he comes back, he says, 00:35:48.610 --> 00:35:51.650 okay, one of them has ten times what he started 00:35:51.650 --> 00:35:55.530 with, and he says, well done, good servant. He 00:35:55.530 --> 00:35:59.630 says, you're going to rule ten cities. Another 00:35:59.630 --> 00:36:03.789 one did five times. He says, okay, you'll be 00:36:03.789 --> 00:36:06.130 over five cities. But he said no well -done comment. 00:36:06.389 --> 00:36:08.769 So the well -done was for the best one, the five. 00:36:09.409 --> 00:36:12.630 But then the next one just kind of had what he 00:36:12.630 --> 00:36:18.190 started with. And so he calls him a wicked servant, 00:36:18.349 --> 00:36:20.550 and he takes his money away from him and gives 00:36:20.550 --> 00:36:26.650 it to the guy who did ten. So he says, to everyone 00:36:26.650 --> 00:36:28.769 who has will be given, and from him who does 00:36:28.769 --> 00:36:30.929 not have, even what he has will be taken away 00:36:30.929 --> 00:36:37.110 from him, in verse 26. Then the other seven had 00:36:37.110 --> 00:36:44.389 a bad day. So what's our conclusions? So God 00:36:44.389 --> 00:36:47.690 expects us to take the resources of our lives 00:36:47.690 --> 00:36:52.650 and greatly multiply them for his kingdom. So 00:36:52.650 --> 00:36:56.500 what does that mean? What did he leave us, what 00:36:56.500 --> 00:37:00.199 message did he say to do? He said, go into all 00:37:00.199 --> 00:37:02.519 the world and preach the gospel to all nations, 00:37:02.539 --> 00:37:05.480 making disciples of all of them. So that's what 00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:08.659 he wants us to do, to go and to love your neighbor 00:37:08.659 --> 00:37:10.860 as yourself. He wants you to love and to make 00:37:10.860 --> 00:37:17.139 disciples. So God will reward our work for him 00:37:17.139 --> 00:37:19.659 in direct proportion to how much we've multiplied 00:37:19.659 --> 00:37:27.679 our life for him with eternal impact. But if 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:30.400 we don't do what he's placed in our care, we'll 00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:33.880 suffer loss of potential reward and eternal service. 00:37:39.900 --> 00:37:44.360 And then those who chose not to allow the master 00:37:44.360 --> 00:37:48.800 to rule over them were condemned to death. So 00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:55.440 I ask myself, am I a ten -minute steward? Because 00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:58.980 ruling in heaven is what we're going to get to 00:37:58.980 --> 00:38:01.440 do. We're not just going to sit on the clouds. 00:38:01.559 --> 00:38:04.400 We've got work to do there. We'll be ruling there 00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:07.480 and we'll have authority over cities. So here's 00:38:07.480 --> 00:38:14.599 my version of the ten minas. There was once a 00:38:14.599 --> 00:38:17.840 man who descended from a royal house who needed 00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:20.920 to make a long trip back to headquarters to get 00:38:20.920 --> 00:38:24.699 authorization for his rule and then return. He 00:38:24.699 --> 00:38:27.480 really was the king, but at the time only a few 00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:30.579 were aware of it. He was in the business of changing 00:38:30.579 --> 00:38:34.280 wooden puppets into living Pinocchios. His assignment 00:38:34.280 --> 00:38:37.079 given to us was to go into all the world and 00:38:37.079 --> 00:38:39.639 use whatever I've given each of you to make disciples 00:38:39.639 --> 00:38:42.719 everywhere and teach them to study and live by 00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:46.019 my instructions. Before leaving, he called his 00:38:46.019 --> 00:38:49.000 ten servants together and gave each abilities 00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:52.300 of different kinds, some teachers, some businessmen, 00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:55.699 some nurturers, some intercessors, some bold 00:38:55.699 --> 00:38:59.300 communicators. But some citizens there hated 00:38:59.300 --> 00:39:01.260 him because their personal business interests 00:39:01.260 --> 00:39:04.840 were different from their bosses. Humming to 00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:08.880 the well -known tune, I did it my way. As they 00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:11.260 went about their daily activities mumbling, we 00:39:11.260 --> 00:39:15.079 really don't want this man to rule us. When the 00:39:15.079 --> 00:39:16.760 king came back on the day of accountability, 00:39:17.159 --> 00:39:19.800 bringing with him the proof and authorization 00:39:19.800 --> 00:39:23.039 of his rule, He called each of those ten servants 00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:25.739 to whom he had given the abilities to find out 00:39:25.739 --> 00:39:31.780 what they had accomplished. The first said, Master, 00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:35.199 I attempted to think like you, tried to conduct 00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:37.960 my affairs in a way that pleased you, taking 00:39:37.960 --> 00:39:41.059 chances of failure, but being faithful in sharing 00:39:41.059 --> 00:39:44.059 your message with as many as would listen. I've 00:39:44.059 --> 00:39:47.659 initiated ten true followers, and they are now 00:39:47.659 --> 00:39:49.900 multiplying among their centers of influence. 00:39:51.880 --> 00:39:55.139 He said, good steward, great work, because you 00:39:55.139 --> 00:39:57.480 proved yourself trustworthy in this small job 00:39:57.480 --> 00:40:00.679 of giving you a reward and making you governor 00:40:00.679 --> 00:40:03.920 of ten towns, which you shall rule for eternity. 00:40:05.179 --> 00:40:07.920 The second servant said, master, I didn't expect 00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:10.599 you back so soon, but at least I was able to 00:40:10.599 --> 00:40:12.780 day trade a bit on the internet with your seed 00:40:12.780 --> 00:40:15.679 money and was able to give half my profits to 00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:18.449 various causes. that helped fulfill what you 00:40:18.449 --> 00:40:20.630 told me to do. I guess I probably could have 00:40:20.630 --> 00:40:23.530 done better if I had read your instruction book 00:40:23.530 --> 00:40:26.929 you left me instead of the Wall Street Journal 00:40:26.929 --> 00:40:30.949 each morning. The king said, I'm putting you 00:40:30.949 --> 00:40:33.090 in charge of five towns which you shall rule 00:40:33.090 --> 00:40:37.570 forever. The next servant said, Master, I appreciate 00:40:37.570 --> 00:40:40.289 what you gave me to use, but I didn't want to 00:40:40.289 --> 00:40:42.409 offend anyone sharing your message unless they 00:40:42.409 --> 00:40:46.619 asked first. It's controversial, you know. To 00:40:46.619 --> 00:40:48.480 tell you the truth, I was a little afraid of 00:40:48.480 --> 00:40:50.679 conflict and I get embarrassed when I talk about 00:40:50.679 --> 00:40:53.440 you. I don't want people to think I'm weird. 00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:57.860 I value their opinion more than yours. But I 00:40:57.860 --> 00:40:59.559 really do think you're the master. I know you 00:40:59.559 --> 00:41:02.699 have high standards and hate sloppiness and don't 00:41:02.699 --> 00:41:06.880 suffer fools gladly. But I did tithe on my gross, 00:41:07.059 --> 00:41:10.159 not my net, and went to church almost every Sunday 00:41:10.159 --> 00:41:13.139 and occasionally a missions conference. to keep 00:41:13.139 --> 00:41:15.380 up on what others are doing to fulfill the Great 00:41:15.380 --> 00:41:18.920 Commission. I accumulated a nice IRA and left 00:41:18.920 --> 00:41:22.119 my kids an inheritance. Amazingly, it compounded 00:41:22.119 --> 00:41:24.320 to 100 times my initial investment. Pretty good, 00:41:24.400 --> 00:41:27.440 huh? I spent a lot of time on Facebook encouraging 00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:30.559 my friends also. The king said, you're right. 00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:33.460 I don't suffer fools gladly, and you've acted 00:41:33.460 --> 00:41:36.659 the fool. Why didn't you at least ask yourself 00:41:36.659 --> 00:41:39.480 the simple question, what did my master want 00:41:39.480 --> 00:41:42.670 to accomplish? Then he said to those standing 00:41:42.670 --> 00:41:45.329 there, take all I've given him and give it to 00:41:45.329 --> 00:41:51.309 the servant who had a tenfold return. So asking 00:41:51.309 --> 00:41:55.929 myself, am I one of the seven servants proudly 00:41:55.929 --> 00:42:00.369 singing the Sinatra song? Or am I a one -minute 00:42:00.369 --> 00:42:04.570 servant often humming the Sinatra song? Or a 00:42:04.570 --> 00:42:07.610 five -minute servant occasionally humming hymns? 00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:11.659 Or am I a ten -minute servant waking up singing 00:42:11.659 --> 00:42:14.380 one of my favorite songs, which is, Lord, reign 00:42:14.380 --> 00:42:17.679 in me. Reign in your power over all my dreams 00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:21.579 in my darkest hour. You are the Lord of all I 00:42:21.579 --> 00:42:28.019 am, so won't you reign in me again? Randy Alcorn 00:42:28.019 --> 00:42:30.920 makes this analogy. He calls it the dot and line. 00:42:32.380 --> 00:42:35.260 All that we have now in this life is in that 00:42:35.260 --> 00:42:39.510 dot. And everything that's going to happen in 00:42:39.510 --> 00:42:43.489 the future is on the line. And what happens inside 00:42:43.489 --> 00:42:46.050 the dot determines everything that happens on 00:42:46.050 --> 00:42:53.590 the line. And the line is a long time. So where's 00:42:53.590 --> 00:42:57.230 our home? Is our home here or is our home on 00:42:57.230 --> 00:43:05.130 the line? Some of the changes I've made. The 00:43:05.130 --> 00:43:09.329 first one was retirement. from retirement. Retirement 00:43:09.329 --> 00:43:12.969 is not a word you find in the Bible. New assignments, 00:43:13.210 --> 00:43:16.010 that's in there, but it has nothing to do with 00:43:16.010 --> 00:43:18.789 age. It's just like new assignments. So you go 00:43:18.789 --> 00:43:22.190 from assignment to assignment. So instead of 00:43:22.190 --> 00:43:26.570 retirement, I run a business and the profits 00:43:26.570 --> 00:43:33.329 are distributed. Tax giving strategies. I sit 00:43:33.329 --> 00:43:36.130 down and try to maximize my business structure 00:43:36.130 --> 00:43:41.070 with activities that are profitable and so I 00:43:41.070 --> 00:43:43.889 have to pay less taxes and give more. So there's 00:43:43.889 --> 00:43:46.030 nothing wrong with paying less taxes as long 00:43:46.030 --> 00:43:49.389 as you're doing it in an honest way. I tried 00:43:49.389 --> 00:43:52.309 over the years never to give less than 50 % because 00:43:52.309 --> 00:43:57.269 50 % of my income was deductible under tax law. 00:43:59.119 --> 00:44:02.179 if you give more than 50, you don't get to deduct 00:44:02.179 --> 00:44:04.699 it. So I said, okay, how can I figure out a way 00:44:04.699 --> 00:44:07.039 to do this in a way that's different? So I set 00:44:07.039 --> 00:44:14.760 up another company, a foundation, and we do basically 00:44:14.760 --> 00:44:20.380 services for that company, and so that company 00:44:20.380 --> 00:44:23.099 gets revenues, and that revenues, 100 % of it 00:44:23.099 --> 00:44:27.300 goes to charitable causes. I have another company 00:44:27.300 --> 00:44:30.360 that is a profit for company because I have employees 00:44:30.360 --> 00:44:34.179 and I have a wife and I have some interest too. 00:44:35.559 --> 00:44:43.880 So we have an income as well. But retirement 00:44:43.880 --> 00:44:49.719 planning is something that I did as well. I had 00:44:49.719 --> 00:44:52.940 accumulated a lot of money in my retirement plan. 00:44:53.079 --> 00:44:54.760 It was like a hundred times what I put in it. 00:44:55.500 --> 00:44:58.429 And I asked myself, what is retirement? It's 00:44:58.429 --> 00:45:02.909 a hoarding account. So some years ago, I decided 00:45:02.909 --> 00:45:05.849 when the tax law changed in one year, when Hurricane 00:45:05.849 --> 00:45:08.409 Katrina came, you were allowed to give a 100 00:45:08.409 --> 00:45:13.389 % deduction for any charitable gifts that year. 00:45:13.510 --> 00:45:17.690 So I just basically cashed out about 70 % of 00:45:17.690 --> 00:45:20.190 my retirement plan, keeping some of it for my 00:45:20.190 --> 00:45:23.829 retirement. And that's kind of an interesting 00:45:23.829 --> 00:45:26.250 story, too, because I wanted to give my retirement 00:45:26.250 --> 00:45:35.150 to the Lord's work. And I remember, all my life, 00:45:35.150 --> 00:45:38.469 my retirement plan, I wanted to give to the Lord's 00:45:38.469 --> 00:45:43.130 work, 100 % of it. What's kind of interesting 00:45:43.130 --> 00:45:46.469 is I was driving in Costa Rica one time down 00:45:46.469 --> 00:45:48.710 this, I remember exactly where I was, and the 00:45:48.710 --> 00:45:50.949 Lord just said to me, remember that retirement 00:45:50.949 --> 00:45:54.909 plan you gave me? And I said, yeah. He said, 00:45:54.949 --> 00:45:57.050 well, I want to give it back to you. I said, 00:45:57.070 --> 00:45:58.769 what do you mean, give it back to me? He says, 00:45:58.849 --> 00:46:02.250 yeah, I want to give it back to you. So sometimes 00:46:02.250 --> 00:46:05.429 the Lord will give back to you what you give 00:46:05.429 --> 00:46:10.070 to him. But I still have the retirement plan, 00:46:10.170 --> 00:46:14.429 but he's allowing me to use it if I need it. 00:46:14.610 --> 00:46:17.849 But that's kind of how the Lord works. I mean, 00:46:17.889 --> 00:46:21.690 I have so many stories, amazing stories about 00:46:21.690 --> 00:46:27.519 how the Lord sells property, rearranges your 00:46:27.519 --> 00:46:31.860 affairs, and it's like his fingerprints are all 00:46:31.860 --> 00:46:35.119 over it. It's a whole other topic that I won't 00:46:35.119 --> 00:46:38.139 get into today, but he's an amazing financial 00:46:38.139 --> 00:46:44.119 planner. And let's talk about family inheritance 00:46:44.119 --> 00:46:50.280 and what I did with my family inheritance. That 00:46:50.280 --> 00:46:53.119 word, inheritolatry, that's a new word. I just 00:46:53.119 --> 00:46:57.039 read, I borrowed a book from Max that I saw at 00:46:57.039 --> 00:47:01.420 his house that the Jesus film gave him. And it 00:47:01.420 --> 00:47:03.840 basically talks about the idolatry of inheritance. 00:47:04.699 --> 00:47:07.539 And the concept of the book was David Wise is 00:47:07.539 --> 00:47:10.440 the author. He said, there's enough money in 00:47:10.440 --> 00:47:13.199 the hands of Christians to evangelize the whole 00:47:13.199 --> 00:47:16.000 world. There's $5 trillion available at the hands 00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:18.920 of Christians, but they're not... letting it 00:47:18.920 --> 00:47:22.460 be used for evangelism purposes. They're giving 00:47:22.460 --> 00:47:26.579 it to their kids. So that's the whole concept 00:47:26.579 --> 00:47:32.000 of idolatry is keeping the Lord's money away 00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:35.119 from him. So what I've done with my situation 00:47:35.119 --> 00:47:39.840 is my kids get an education and a modest inheritance. 00:47:40.219 --> 00:47:44.579 I give them something. A big inheritance may 00:47:44.579 --> 00:47:48.380 not be, it may be poor stewardship. But it may 00:47:48.380 --> 00:47:51.699 be bad for the children's own well -being and 00:47:51.699 --> 00:47:53.619 their relationship with the Lord as provider. 00:47:54.099 --> 00:47:57.119 See, if you give your kids so much money that 00:47:57.119 --> 00:48:00.519 they don't need to even work, then how do they 00:48:00.519 --> 00:48:03.159 look at God as their provider anymore? They can 00:48:03.159 --> 00:48:08.880 kind of do whatever they want to. I took my family 00:48:08.880 --> 00:48:11.159 some years back on a trip around the world. I 00:48:11.159 --> 00:48:14.829 said, I want you to see. where your inheritance 00:48:14.829 --> 00:48:17.530 is going. So we took a three -week trip, and 00:48:17.530 --> 00:48:21.929 we went to India, and we went to... Where did 00:48:21.929 --> 00:48:26.730 we go? We went to lots of places in Africa. We 00:48:26.730 --> 00:48:30.510 went to see surgeries for cleft palates that 00:48:30.510 --> 00:48:33.530 we had sponsored, some children's hospitals, 00:48:33.750 --> 00:48:37.449 some church buildings. It was just kind of an 00:48:37.449 --> 00:48:42.610 exciting trip. I remember in India with a... 00:48:42.860 --> 00:48:44.920 the little kids would come up, the beggars would 00:48:44.920 --> 00:48:47.300 come up, and it gave my kids a real understanding 00:48:47.300 --> 00:48:50.260 of what the world was like. And sometimes when 00:48:50.260 --> 00:48:52.179 you're in the United States, you don't even understand 00:48:52.179 --> 00:48:57.719 what the world looks like. So I wanted them to 00:48:57.719 --> 00:49:03.079 experience that. In fact, Gandhi has seven deadly 00:49:03.079 --> 00:49:09.980 sins, one of which is wealth without work. Another 00:49:09.980 --> 00:49:12.239 one is worship without sacrifice. But anyway. 00:49:13.800 --> 00:49:21.440 But so I asked, sometimes I said, if you have 00:49:21.440 --> 00:49:24.940 a trust set up for your financial affairs and 00:49:24.940 --> 00:49:27.659 you have a bank as the trustee of the trust, 00:49:27.880 --> 00:49:33.760 you set that up for your kids. How do you feel 00:49:33.760 --> 00:49:37.559 about your trust officer giving your money to 00:49:37.559 --> 00:49:42.840 his kids? That's kind of what we're doing. If 00:49:42.840 --> 00:49:45.659 it's the Lord's money, and I'm the trustee of 00:49:45.659 --> 00:49:49.760 that money, I want to keep the money in the Lord's 00:49:49.760 --> 00:49:57.340 hands. So we've got the foundation. I had a foundation 00:49:57.340 --> 00:50:03.500 set up at one time, and it made a lot of money. 00:50:03.599 --> 00:50:07.760 It was like way more money than, and then I read 00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:09.800 my scripture that talks about building bigger 00:50:09.800 --> 00:50:13.769 barns. So I had to just like distribute almost, 00:50:13.989 --> 00:50:15.949 not all of it, I wanted to keep a little bit 00:50:15.949 --> 00:50:24.070 for certain ministries currently. But I realized 00:50:24.070 --> 00:50:26.929 that foundations were just bigger barns keeping 00:50:26.929 --> 00:50:30.369 money under my control in the guise of philanthropy. 00:50:30.690 --> 00:50:34.550 So it's like I want to get it all out of my hands. 00:50:35.210 --> 00:50:38.599 It's like, because... if I give it away, at least 00:50:38.599 --> 00:50:41.019 I know where it's going. If you leave it to a 00:50:41.019 --> 00:50:44.199 foundation or to a family member, you don't really 00:50:44.199 --> 00:50:48.900 know where it's going. So, and my net worth statement 00:50:48.900 --> 00:50:52.679 has changed drastically. My net worth is now, 00:50:52.820 --> 00:50:56.820 I set up a lifetime giving goal, which I've not 00:50:56.820 --> 00:51:02.199 accomplished yet, but I also have broken down 00:51:02.199 --> 00:51:06.440 eternal net worth and temporary net worth. And 00:51:06.440 --> 00:51:08.280 temporary net worth is what I still control. 00:51:08.599 --> 00:51:11.460 My eternal net worth is what I've given. And 00:51:11.460 --> 00:51:13.780 it's gotten really lopsided now so that what 00:51:13.780 --> 00:51:17.159 I've given is a lot more than what I've kept. 00:51:18.300 --> 00:51:23.840 In fact, that's how you basically determine levels 00:51:23.840 --> 00:51:28.219 of philanthropy is how much do you keep compared 00:51:28.219 --> 00:51:36.800 to how much do you give. The biggest philanthropist 00:51:36.800 --> 00:51:40.079 I've ever heard about was the widow who gave 00:51:40.079 --> 00:51:46.300 two mites. She gave it all. I want to meet her 00:51:46.300 --> 00:51:48.400 sometime. I really want to talk with her. She's 00:51:48.400 --> 00:51:53.780 my idol. Idol, that's not a good word. She's 00:51:53.780 --> 00:51:59.980 my example. Multiplication stewardship, I give 00:51:59.980 --> 00:52:03.989 to just a few causes. that use a multiplication 00:52:03.989 --> 00:52:07.389 factor. I'm looking for, like I would for an 00:52:07.389 --> 00:52:09.949 investment, I'm looking for someone who's accomplishing 00:52:09.949 --> 00:52:14.469 good stuff. They're very effective in what they're 00:52:14.469 --> 00:52:20.110 doing. Effective ministries. I remember, well, 00:52:20.150 --> 00:52:22.630 last year, for example, I just found out that 00:52:22.630 --> 00:52:26.829 the Jesus film is a film in 2 ,000 languages 00:52:26.829 --> 00:52:30.489 that is all over the world shown. It's a very 00:52:30.489 --> 00:52:36.360 effective, evangelical tool. Last year, they 00:52:36.360 --> 00:52:40.980 had 671 million exposures to the film, 12 million 00:52:40.980 --> 00:52:45.019 decisions. So each decision cost about one or 00:52:45.019 --> 00:52:49.340 two dollars. So I'm asking myself, gosh, for 00:52:49.340 --> 00:52:52.039 a dollar or two, I get one salvation? I said, 00:52:52.079 --> 00:52:54.659 that's a good investment. So I'm looking for 00:52:54.659 --> 00:53:06.000 good investments. Forbes magazine has been my 00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:10.360 favorite all my life. And it's just all about 00:53:10.360 --> 00:53:12.960 money. And I still get it because I don't read 00:53:12.960 --> 00:53:18.179 it like I used to. They have an annual Forbes 00:53:18.179 --> 00:53:22.079 400 richest people, which I love to see who's 00:53:22.079 --> 00:53:25.880 got it and who's new in the list and who's off 00:53:25.880 --> 00:53:30.019 the list. But I was always in the back of my 00:53:30.019 --> 00:53:31.980 mind thinking, you know, If you wouldn't have 00:53:31.980 --> 00:53:35.539 given so much stuff away, maybe you could have 00:53:35.539 --> 00:53:40.940 made the Forbes 400 richest people. But I wanted 00:53:40.940 --> 00:53:42.880 to let you know that there's another publication 00:53:42.880 --> 00:53:46.039 coming out, and that's the one you want to be 00:53:46.039 --> 00:53:48.420 in. And that's the one I want to be in, and it 00:53:48.420 --> 00:53:56.679 looks like this. It's the Bema 400. So who's 00:53:56.679 --> 00:54:01.139 in that one? Okay, pastors? humanitarians, evangelists, 00:54:01.280 --> 00:54:07.480 martyrs, missionary, prayer warriors, philanthropists, 00:54:07.539 --> 00:54:09.639 and I know that the lady, the widow who gave 00:54:09.639 --> 00:54:12.199 two mites, she's going to be there too. I know 00:54:12.199 --> 00:54:22.539 she's going to be in that thing. So I asked myself, 00:54:22.719 --> 00:54:26.539 is my life centered directly or indirectly on 00:54:26.539 --> 00:54:29.199 the Great Commission and building? Kingdom currency. 00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:33.360 And I ask you, have you wasted your best years? 00:54:33.719 --> 00:54:36.519 You can still make up for it. E .V. Pierce in 00:54:36.519 --> 00:54:38.619 his book, The Supreme Beatitude, talks about 00:54:38.619 --> 00:54:41.820 making up for lost time if you've accumulated 00:54:41.820 --> 00:54:48.900 wealth. A lot of people say, you know, should 00:54:48.900 --> 00:54:51.019 I have been called in the full -time ministry? 00:54:51.860 --> 00:54:54.340 And they've decided not to. They've decided to 00:54:54.340 --> 00:54:56.539 go into business. Well, those people have accumulated 00:54:56.539 --> 00:55:00.820 something that they can still convert. into kingdom 00:55:00.820 --> 00:55:05.699 currency by giving it into the cause of evangelism. 00:55:06.219 --> 00:55:10.920 I remember if you don't give it while you're 00:55:10.920 --> 00:55:13.340 still alive, you know, you don't get credit for 00:55:13.340 --> 00:55:16.579 it. When I was in Ethiopia for some travel one 00:55:16.579 --> 00:55:20.059 year, I remember I had some Ethiopian, I think 00:55:20.059 --> 00:55:25.210 you can call them burrs, their currency. And 00:55:25.210 --> 00:55:27.849 I was told that if you take that home, it's good 00:55:27.849 --> 00:55:29.530 for nothing. You can't convert it to anything. 00:55:29.849 --> 00:55:32.530 So I said, well, I better convert it here before 00:55:32.530 --> 00:55:35.030 I leave this place. So I took it to the jewelry 00:55:35.030 --> 00:55:38.210 stop and I bought a little cross, a little gold 00:55:38.210 --> 00:55:41.889 cross from the jewelry store there. So I did 00:55:41.889 --> 00:55:43.710 my kingdom conversion because when I got home, 00:55:43.769 --> 00:55:45.449 that money's going to be not worth anything. 00:55:46.829 --> 00:55:49.630 So that's kind of like it's going to be if we 00:55:49.630 --> 00:55:52.190 die with our money. with our stuff, and it's 00:55:52.190 --> 00:55:54.630 not converted, we don't get any credits for it. 00:55:57.369 --> 00:56:01.809 There was a woman, I gave a talk to the Jesus 00:56:01.809 --> 00:56:07.449 film back over probably 20, over 20 years ago, 00:56:07.570 --> 00:56:12.389 and she came up to me in the elevator at this 00:56:12.389 --> 00:56:15.449 convention, and she said, I want you to know 00:56:15.449 --> 00:56:21.960 that because of what you said, I gave away my 00:56:21.960 --> 00:56:25.860 kids' college money. And, you know, that kind 00:56:25.860 --> 00:56:28.699 of hurt me when she said that. I said, oh, I 00:56:28.699 --> 00:56:33.639 did that. She said, yeah, but the Lord really 00:56:33.639 --> 00:56:40.579 encouraged me to do that. So I forgot about that. 00:56:40.739 --> 00:56:42.400 I mean, I've completely forgotten about it. And 00:56:42.400 --> 00:56:47.719 last year, I got a call from her 20 years later. 00:56:47.860 --> 00:56:50.269 I didn't even remember her name. She called and 00:56:50.269 --> 00:56:52.989 she said, the Lord put your name on my heart 00:56:52.989 --> 00:56:55.050 to call you, and I want to tell you what's just 00:56:55.050 --> 00:56:59.969 happened to me. So this is 20 years later. She 00:56:59.969 --> 00:57:02.829 said, my kids got through college fine. The Lord 00:57:02.829 --> 00:57:06.269 provided for them. She funded the whole Swahili 00:57:06.269 --> 00:57:09.969 language of the Jesus film in Africa. That was 00:57:09.969 --> 00:57:13.630 what she was led to do. And she said, and I've 00:57:13.630 --> 00:57:17.460 just inherited several million dollars. And I 00:57:17.460 --> 00:57:21.619 want you to invest it for me. So it's like, that's 00:57:21.619 --> 00:57:25.360 how the Lord works. He'll take whatever you give 00:57:25.360 --> 00:57:27.980 him, and he'll multiply it like he does loaves 00:57:27.980 --> 00:57:30.880 and fishes. He does it with whatever you're doing. 00:57:33.320 --> 00:57:36.639 Mother Teresa said it this way. She said, everything 00:57:36.639 --> 00:57:43.059 that's not given is lost. So what did Jesus say 00:57:43.059 --> 00:57:48.389 on the last page of the New Testament? He said, 00:57:48.449 --> 00:57:51.849 behold, I'm coming quickly and my reward is with 00:57:51.849 --> 00:57:54.989 me to give to everyone according to his work. 00:57:56.090 --> 00:58:00.050 And that Greek word reward literally means paycheck. 00:58:01.949 --> 00:58:05.690 So if we really lived our life knowing that there's 00:58:05.690 --> 00:58:10.510 a paycheck waiting for us, I mean, some say it's 00:58:10.510 --> 00:58:15.190 wrong to give with the motive to get. Well, I 00:58:15.190 --> 00:58:19.280 think it... it's not quite that easy to understand 00:58:19.280 --> 00:58:22.119 it that way. Because here you're not really getting. 00:58:22.239 --> 00:58:25.320 Now, if you give, if you're in the prosperity 00:58:25.320 --> 00:58:28.500 preaching mode, you say, if you give, you're 00:58:28.500 --> 00:58:31.420 going to get. That's mammon. If you want more 00:58:31.420 --> 00:58:35.079 money, but if you want more investment in the 00:58:35.079 --> 00:58:41.719 kingdom, Jesus encourages self -interest, not 00:58:41.719 --> 00:58:45.639 selfishness, but self -interest. And that's what 00:58:45.639 --> 00:58:48.280 we can... And he commanded us to lay up treasures 00:58:48.280 --> 00:58:51.460 for yourselves in heaven, not here on earth. 00:58:53.500 --> 00:58:56.820 So some of us are going to get to heaven with 00:58:56.820 --> 00:59:00.099 no kingdom currency. Your pockets will be inside 00:59:00.099 --> 00:59:03.159 out and you're going to say, why didn't someone 00:59:03.159 --> 00:59:07.039 tell me? Well, I just did. So I want you to know 00:59:07.039 --> 00:59:10.340 and I want you to continue to read the scriptures 00:59:10.340 --> 00:59:13.340 with that in mind. There's nothing wrong with... 00:59:13.559 --> 00:59:18.119 wanting to live in eternity with that, like Jesus 00:59:18.119 --> 00:59:20.559 said, I'm going to prepare a mansion for you. 00:59:20.880 --> 00:59:22.980 Well, I want you to have a nice big mansion so 00:59:22.980 --> 00:59:41.719 I can come visit, okay? So to close here, I wanted 00:59:41.719 --> 00:59:46.909 to say, This is why Jesus talks about rewards. 00:59:47.269 --> 00:59:50.369 Because he loves you. And he wants you to know 00:59:50.369 --> 00:59:54.250 what's ahead. He says, no eye has seen, no ear 00:59:54.250 --> 00:59:56.909 has heard, no mind has imagined or heart can 00:59:56.909 --> 00:59:59.570 understand the things which God has prepared 00:59:59.570 --> 01:00:04.710 for those who love him. So, do you love him? 01:00:05.889 --> 01:00:10.429 If you love him, he said, if you love me, I will 01:00:10.429 --> 01:00:14.369 keep my commandments. And he said, if you love 01:00:14.369 --> 01:00:18.050 me, greater love has no man than you give your 01:00:18.050 --> 01:00:21.590 life for your friend. So are you giving your 01:00:21.590 --> 01:00:26.329 life for him? Because it's not always easy to 01:00:26.329 --> 01:00:28.469 give your life, but that's what he wants of us. 01:00:29.530 --> 01:00:33.969 So I'd like to just end with a short video from 01:00:33.969 --> 01:00:42.789 the Jesus film. It just will speak for itself. 01:01:06.289 --> 01:01:10.769 Give, and it will be given to you. For the measure 01:01:10.769 --> 01:01:14.989 you give will be the measure you get back. How 01:01:14.989 --> 01:01:17.530 happy is the mother that bore you and nursed 01:01:17.530 --> 01:01:20.190 you. Rather how happy are those who hear the 01:01:20.190 --> 01:03:09.539 word of God and obey it. My hands. I commit. 01:03:12.000 --> 01:04:07.800 My spirit. Lord, we just thank you for what you've 01:04:07.800 --> 01:04:12.460 done for us. We offer everything we have for 01:04:12.460 --> 01:04:28.780 you. Our time, our money, our worship. We love 01:04:28.780 --> 01:04:29.960 you. Amen.