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I want to say a word of thanks to those people who are a part of our greeting ministry week

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by week, who are at the doors to give all of us as we come in a handshake and a warm

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smile.

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That's an important part of a greeting as we come into church.

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It makes us feel welcome and happy as we come in.

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Thank you for those of you doing it.

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And if you'd like to be a part of that ministry, there's opportunity for it.

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If you would be interested, just call the church office and we'll get you in touch

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with the right people.

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Something that you do maybe once a month, you can do it more frequently than that if

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you care to, but it's just a time when you in a very personal way can greet other people

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and in that way encourage them as they come to worship together with us.

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Last week we had a great time at the luncheon down in Minneapolis.

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Each month we have a fellowship luncheon in Minneapolis and then one in St. Paul.

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I think that last Thursday as we gathered there in Minneapolis, it was perhaps the most

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stimulating time that we've had.

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It was just a very enjoyable time.

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Of course the situation's not too shabby.

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We're up on the 18th floor of the IDS building overlooking downtown all the way out to Columbia

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Heights.

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I mean it does something for you to get up there that high and it's inspiring.

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And we share together a box lunch.

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And if you're interested in coming to that, there'll be an opportunity next month for

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you to make a reservation for it.

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Now this week we're having one in St. Paul and if you'd like to come to that and join

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us at the St. Paul Athletic Club on Thursday from 12 to 1, please call the church office

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and let us know so that we can count your reservations, count your reservation for that

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occasion.

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One of the things that we have determined to do in the year 1988 as a congregation and

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setting our priorities is to increase our awareness of the principles of stewardship

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in God's Word.

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We said in our ministry plan for 1988 that that is something that we feel as a congregation

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that we need to emphasize and have taught to us.

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And so this morning I'm going to begin a brief series.

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This is one way we're going to address that particular concern that we have regarding

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stewardship.

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I'm going to speak for three Sundays on this very important topic from God's Word entitled

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the Dollars and Cents, S-E-N-S-E, excuse me, S-E-N-S-E, I'm preaching on money, not spelling,

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S-E-N-S-E of finances.

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And would you turn please to the Gospel of Luke, L-U-C-E.

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We're going to read in chapter 16 beginning in verse 10.

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These are the words of our Lord when He says, He who is faithful in a very little thing

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is faithful also in much.

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And He who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.

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If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon, that is money,

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who will entrust the true riches to you, that is spiritual things?

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And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give

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you that which is your own?

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No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or

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else he will hold to one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and the mammon.

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Let's pray together.

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Our Heavenly Father, we pray that as we approach this topic, that you will cause our hearts

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to be open, teachable, that we might be made aware of what you have to say to us personally

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regarding the use of our money.

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I pray that you will make it a practical series that we enter into.

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And as a result of it, may we not only know more, but may we be doing more as good stewards

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of all that you've committed to us.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Dr. Urban Lutzer tells the story of a farmer and a preacher who were having a conversation

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regarding giving.

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The preacher said to the farmer, if you had two farms, would you give one of them to God?

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And the farmer said, preacher, you know I would.

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And he said, well, farmer, if you had $2,000, would you give $1,000 of it to God?

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And the farmer said, preacher, you know I would do that.

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So the preacher said, well, if you had two pigs, would you give one of them to God?

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And he said, now, preacher, you know that isn't fair.

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You know I've got two pigs.

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I suppose all of us can identify with the farmer to some degree.

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Every aspect of stewardship is a test of faithfulness.

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And of course, stewardship is a very broad topic in the Word of God.

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We talk about the stewardship of life, the stewardship of time, the stewardship of our

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bodies, the stewardship of our spiritual abilities.

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But the one perhaps where we tend to ease off a bit is the area of the stewardship of

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our money.

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Dr. Lutzer further said, our attitude toward money is an especially accurate barometer

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of our relationship to the world.

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God has a lot to say in His Word about money.

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In fact, there are over 700 verses that directly speak about money.

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And there are hundreds of others that indirectly deal with the same topic.

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So if God talks about something that many hundreds of times, we know that it's an important

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topic.

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It's one in which He has some important things to say to all of us.

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The use of one's finances has a great bearing on his spiritual life and his fruitfulness

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to God.

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I'd like to begin this morning by this proposition that God wants you to have money.

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That's an exciting proposition, isn't it?

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Some of you are very excited about that, I know, and you want to know where you go to

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sign up.

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Well, I want you to think about that truth, that God wants you to have money.

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All of it, all of wealth, all of money is actually His ultimately, isn't it?

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Because He is the Creator.

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And it is He, the Creator, who imparts to us, creatures, the ability to get a hold of

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it and to use it.

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For example, Haggai 2.8, the Lord declares, the silver is mine and the gold is mine.

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And in the context there, He's talking about the wealth of all the nations of the world.

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So if you were to combine the treasuries of the United States, the Soviet Union, Great

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Britain, and every other country in all of the earth, and sum it up in dollars and cents,

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God could claim rightful ownership to every penny of all of it, because it's all His.

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He is the Creator.

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In Deuteronomy 8.18, it says, the Lord gives you power to make wealth.

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The Lord gives us the ability to make wealth, Proverbs 10.22.

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It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich.

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And again in 1 Timothy 6.17, God richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

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So please understand that God does not condemn making money.

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God wants you to have money.

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But that is not the prosperity false gospel that we hear today.

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I am not saying God wants everyone to be wealthy.

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That is not the same as saying that God wants you to have money.

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All of it is His, and He has given you and me the ability to earn it, to make it, to

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multiply it.

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Not with a printing press, but by other means.

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He gives the abilities.

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Now to some people, there's an immediate objection.

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They say, well that sounds to me like a capitalistic message.

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As someone in the West who lives in a capitalistic system saying something like that, I think

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that we ought to go back to what the early church did.

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And everybody's sharing common like they did in Acts chapter 2, and as it mentions

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in Acts chapter 4.

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Isn't that more fair?

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Isn't that the way that God wants us to live in this age?

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But we have to go back and think about what happened in Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter

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4.

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There were needs within the church body.

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And so it does say that they pooled things together so that there would be a supply of

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the needs of those who had none.

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But please notice with me that that was in the first place a voluntary thing.

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There was no command that everyone had to do that.

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It was completely free will.

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Those who wished to do so did.

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And then notice also in the text there that they sold the property as the needs arose.

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It wasn't that everybody went out and sold everything and then gave everything to a central

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pool.

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That wasn't what happened.

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But as the needs arose, those who had the ability simply sold some of what they had

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and gave the money so it could be distributed to those who had need.

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There is no indication in the book of Acts that that was setting a precedent for this

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whole age.

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In fact, it didn't even set a precedent for that day.

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It happened in Jerusalem, but needs were cared for in other ways and other situations as

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the church age developed and progressed.

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So understand that what happened in Acts chapter 2 and 4 was a wonderful thing, but it was

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not setting a norm for this whole age.

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God has not planned for us to live under a so-called Christian communism or Christian

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socialism.

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I don't believe that that is the principle of God's Word regarding money and how we

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are to get it.

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There is a basic difference, by the way, between communists and Christians when it comes to

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this matter of sharing wealth.

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The communist says, what you have is mine.

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The Christian says, what I have is yours.

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And there is a lot of difference between those two statements.

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Someone else says, well, you're telling us then if God wants us to have money that God

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is really tempting us with evil because isn't money the source of all evil?

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Isn't it the root of all temptation?

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Of course, the answer to that is no.

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Money is neither good or bad.

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It's amoral.

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It's how it's used that makes the difference.

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It is not money that is the source of all evil, the root of many kinds of temptation,

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but rather it's the love of it, according to 1 Timothy chapter 6.

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It's our greed for it.

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Our desire, consuming desire for it.

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That becomes then a root for many different kinds of temptation.

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But money itself is not evil.

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Money does not bring temptation.

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The temptation arises within the person.

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Money is neither good nor bad.

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Wealth is not inherently evil.

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If you look at some of the great patriarchs of old, they were men of great wealth.

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Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, David, Solomon.

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Some of God's greatest people have been people of great wealth.

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Not all of them to be sure, but some of them.

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God wants you to have money.

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And he has written into his words certain basic principles designed to help us gain

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wealth.

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Now by wealth I'm not talking about a great massive fortune, but I'm talking about money

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for what we need.

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God has designed certain principles into life to help us gain wealth.

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There are three of them that I want to mention.

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And they are found in the book of Proverbs.

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Turn with me please first to Proverbs chapter 14.

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We would expect in such a practical book as this to find some help with regards to ourselves

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and our relationship to money.

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And we do.

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Proverbs 14 and verse 23.

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He says, in all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

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Principle number one is the principle of work.

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God has designed for us to work to make a living.

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Now for some people work involves their hands.

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For other people it involves their mind or their speech.

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We work in different ways.

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But the fact is that one of the basic principles that God has written into his word and into

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human life and existence is that we gain wealth by working for it.

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In fact in the New Testament there's a verse that says, if anyone will not work, neither

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let him eat.

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There were some believers in that church in Thessalonica, some believers who were actually

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sponging off of other believers.

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They did not wish to work.

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Apparently they felt that the Lord's coming was very soon.

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And so they felt that they needed not get a job and they lived off of other people.

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And when the apostle Paul heard about that he wrote and said, if they're not willing

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to work, you're not obligated to give them any food.

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Because God's principle is that we work to gain wealth.

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Now granted there are some people who cannot work due to legitimate reasons, problems that

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they have and they need to be cared for in other ways.

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But a principle, a general principle of God's word is that we are to get a job and earn

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a living.

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A second principle of gaining wealth is that found in Proverbs 21 and verse 20.

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It says, there is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish

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man swallows it up.

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Perhaps the living Bible makes this a little clearer by way of application to us and the

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principle that's involved here.

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The living Bible says the wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever

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he gets.

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That's the principle dealing with the oil here in the dwelling of the wise.

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The wise man prepares for his future by saving.

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And so here we see the principle of saving money.

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Indeed, it is presumptuous not to save up for those things that we know we're going

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to have need of in the future.

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God intends for us to save money, to prepare for our future needs.

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Now like other things, we can take that to an extreme and we can hoard it and be misers,

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and that's wrong.

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In fact, it's sin.

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It's greedy to be that way.

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But God expects us to gain wealth by saving and preparing for future needs.

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And a third principle is found in Proverbs 27 and 23.

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Again I'll read it out of the New American Standard, but then give you the living Bible

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understanding of that, the paraphrase of it, because it helps in the application.

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Look at Proverbs chapter 27 verse 23.

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Know well the condition of your flocks and pay attention to your herds.

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For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.

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Here's how the living Bible paraphrases that.

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Riches can disappear fast, so watch your business interests closely.

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That gets the gist of it, doesn't it?

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Riches can disappear fast, so be careful about your business.

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The third principle is this, plan carefully.

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God expects us in gaining wealth to plan carefully to watch our business so that we're not wasting

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what we have.

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In Proverbs 24 verses 3 and 4, again the living Bible paraphrases says, any enterprise is

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built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping

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abreast of the facts.

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And so another principle of God's word concerning wealth is that we can preserve and gain it

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by wise planning, by budgeting for example, that is part of God's design for us regarding

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our money.

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So how are we to gain and conserve the wealth that we have?

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By working, by saving, by planning carefully.

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God wants us to have more than we need to live on so that then we can be free to give

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as He directs.

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He wants a certain margin built in there.

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It's possible for us, however, to increase our standard of living as our income increases

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so that we never have that margin.

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God wants us to develop a certain margin between what we receive by terms of income and what

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we need to spend to live.

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Dr. John MacArthur said a Christian should always be free enough to respond to whatever

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God wants him to do at any moment.

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He says we need a pilgrim mentality.

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God wants us to be free to give and to be spontaneous in that giving.

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Not impetuous, not impulsive, but spontaneous and wise in giving to those who have financial

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needs.

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Now the problem is that so many of God's people today are in financial bondage.

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There isn't that freedom.

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We can't be spontaneous because we're up to our necks and beyond in financial debt

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and obligations.

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God tells us in His word how to get out of financial debt, how to get out of obligation

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that overwhelms us, the bondage that enslaves us so that we can't be free in our giving.

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The problem is that most people don't want to do what God says to do.

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What does God want us to do if we're in financial bondage, if we're not free to be spontaneous

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in our giving, if there's not that margin?

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What does God want us to do?

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Well, of course, God wants us to work back toward having that margin in our lives.

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How do we do that?

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One way is by stopping immediately to borrow additional money.

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That is life threatening to some people to talk that way because life is built on plastic,

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but life is only built so long on plastic.

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There's an end to it and it's sooner than most people think.

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If a person is serious about getting out of financial bondage, he must immediately put

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a cap on further borrowing.

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He cannot do that.

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If it means cutting up credit cards or whatever, that must be done.

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There must immediately begin the practice in that person's life of living on what he

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has coming in.

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No more borrowing.

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Then there has to be a plan established so that the creditors that are already owed can

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be paid back.

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One of the dangers that some people fall into is that they establish that plan and part

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of their plan is that they go out and they borrow from another institution enough to

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cover the several debts that they have.

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They consolidate their loans.

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Then they extend that over a longer period of time with a smaller payment so that they

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can pay each month on that.

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The problem is, that can work, but the problem is that they often then go out and borrow

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more money on the credit cards they haven't destroyed.

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Not only do they have this extended debt that consolidated their original problem, but now

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they're creating more problems by borrowing additional money.

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So the first thing that has to be done is a determination, a decision that is firm and

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fixed, I will not borrow additional money.

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Once that decision is made, then a person can go back and begin to work at the debts

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that he's accumulated.

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You say, well I think I'll pray that God will make me the winner and the readers digest

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sweepstakes and then I'll just pay it all off.

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That's a wonderful prayer, especially if you tithe it.

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I say that in jest.

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God very seldom works that way and there's a reason.

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Because God knows that if we work that debt off too easily, that we won't have learned

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our lesson.

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So very often it's been the experience of most of us who have been in that situation

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that God causes us over a period of time to feel the pain of having to pay off those debts

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little by little.

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And then when that pain accumulates, it helps us to remember not to get ourselves into that

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situation again.

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I am probably speaking to three out of four people here this morning who are at some point

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of financial bondage, if statistics are right in our society.

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Three out of four people here this morning are probably at some point of financial bondage.

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For some it's just beginning, for others it is severe and you don't know where to go.

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Let me encourage you to simply do what God says to do.

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Stop the borrowing, go back and restructure what you've borrowed and begin paying it

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off little by little.

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Now it may be that you need some godly counsel as to how that can happen.

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There are people who are trained to help you do that and to help you confidentially.

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There are lay people in our church and if you want that you can let our office know

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that you'd like to talk to someone about a financial situation that you're in.

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You don't have to say more than that and we will get that person in touch with you.

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But be serious about it before you do it.

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Don't take their time unless you mean to follow through with the advice that they will

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give you.

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They'll help you get on a budget and begin working your way out of financial bondage.

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God wants us to have money so that our needs are met, but also so that we can be free to

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give to others who have needs.

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Someone may say, I don't have enough money.

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I really don't.

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I just don't have enough money.

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I'm not particularly in bondage, but I don't have enough money.

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Well we need to ask ourselves some questions if that is our mental attitude.

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Number one, if I don't have enough money, do I really need more?

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I may want it, I may desire it for something I'd like to do, but do I really need the

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money to live on?

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Secondly, if I say to myself, I don't have enough money for this or that, I need to ask

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myself, is God testing my faith?

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00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:09,840
Is God wanting to show himself powerful and able to provide for me in some other means?

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Is God testing my faith?

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Thirdly, if I have to admit I don't have enough money, then I need to ask myself the question,

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have I wasted what God has already provided?

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Has God provided ahead of time, and I have foolishly wasted that so that in fact I now

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don't have enough money?

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And then a fourth question I should ask myself if I say I don't have enough money is this,

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have I violated some biblical principle so that God can't bless me the way that he wants

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to?

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Have I violated a biblical principle?

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You say what kind of principles?

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Well let me just list a few of them for you.

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We won't take time to look up all these verses, but the first biblical principle that we can

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violate is the principle regarding impulsiveness.

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James 13, 18 says, poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline.

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There is a whole science built up in our culture to entice people into impulsive buying.

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There are people who study that.

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There are those who have gotten their doctorates in it, trying to decide how to cause a person

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to buy impulsively and to spend what he doesn't really have or to buy what he doesn't really

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need.

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We need to be on guard against that, to be disciplined.

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It happens on television.

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If you have cable TV coming into your home, you probably have a channel on there somewhere

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where they're selling things many, many hours of the day, and all you have to do is dial

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00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:59,360
a number and put that on your credit card and you get that bargain that's there.

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00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:08,120
Have you ever wondered why the candy is up by the cash register in a grocery store or

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why the magazines are there?

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Did you know that a store places things in its place scientifically?

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It's not by accident that you come in and you find what you do in the first aisle, in

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00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:29,960
the second aisle and so on around to the front of the store.

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That is all designed, is designed to encourage you to buy.

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I think sometimes it helps just to know that we are being studied that way to be on guard

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against it.

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The point is that we have to be careful of impulsive kinds of buying.

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If we are impulsive in our spending, we have violated a biblical principle.

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We need discipline in that area.

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The second biblical principle relates to fraud.

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Proverbs 13 and 11 says, wealth obtained by fraud dwindles.

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00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:14,680
We need to be careful of ever getting involved in schemes and concepts of increasing income

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00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:23,680
that really are based upon fraud and dishonest gain.

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00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:27,960
A third biblical principle relates to laziness.

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Proverbs 20 and verse 13 says, do not love sleep lest you become poor.

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As I said before, God intends for us to work.

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If a person is lazy, that is the breaking of a biblical principle and God is not obligated

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to bless in that situation.

385
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There needs to be an awareness and confession of breaking the principle so that God can

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bless.

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Another biblical principle is that of indulgence.

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It relates to indulgence.

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00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:07,320
Proverbs 23 and 21, the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty.

390
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If we are self-indulgent in our living, we are breaking a biblical principle.

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I've been amazed, I shouldn't be, I suppose, at the naivety of some people who come by

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00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:28,720
the church office asking for a handout.

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These are just people off the street and it happens occasionally because we're so close

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to a major artery.

395
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:37,920
They come by and they desire a handout.

396
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:45,120
They've got to have gas money to get to Mankato or somewhere.

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00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:49,520
One of the first things that strikes me is that often you see a package of cigarettes

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00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:53,960
in their pocket.

399
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,960
My feeling is if they've got enough money to buy those, don't they have enough money

400
00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:01,520
to buy gasoline?

401
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,840
You usually get down to the heart of the issue when you say, well, you go up here to the

402
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:11,040
gas station up the street here and you put in $10 worth of gas and we'll call up an

403
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:12,600
OK-IT and they'll bill us.

404
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,000
Oh, no, no, they don't want that.

405
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,200
So what does that tell you?

406
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,020
They don't want gas money.

407
00:31:19,020 --> 00:31:20,360
They want more money to be self-indulgent.

408
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:28,280
It happened all the time on the streets of Chicago when I was a student there.

409
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:32,960
People would come up and ask for money for this or for that or for the other thing.

410
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:36,640
It was very obvious as they spoke to you and breathed into your face what they wanted the

411
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,000
money for.

412
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,520
It was the next bottle.

413
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:45,400
And it helps them not at all to give the money in that situation.

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00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:52,040
Well, it may be that we're not indulgent in those ways, but there are other ways in which

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00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:54,640
we have been self-indulgent.

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00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:56,360
Beware of that.

417
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:58,520
Proverbs 28 and 19.

418
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:00,520
Here's a principle relating to carelessness.

419
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:08,720
It says, he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty and plenty, carelessness with

420
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,320
money.

421
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:16,160
And then one more in Proverbs 24 verse 33.

422
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:20,840
Here is a principle that deals with procrastination.

423
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:24,560
Proverbs 24 verse 33.

424
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:30,780
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.

425
00:32:30,780 --> 00:32:37,480
Then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man.

426
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:42,160
Here's a person who puts off until another time what he might do now.

427
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,640
He says, oh, I just need a little more sleep.

428
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,800
Just 10 more minutes on the alarm clock.

429
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,400
A folding of the hands.

430
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:58,400
And when that kind of an attitude possesses the life, that attitude of procrastination,

431
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:05,280
putting off the inevitable, then that's a breaking of a biblical principle.

432
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:09,160
That doesn't mean you can't use the snooze on your alarm clock in the morning if you're

433
00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:10,160
tired.

434
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:14,040
But the point is that when that becomes a habit of life, it's the breaking of a biblical

435
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:15,040
principle.

436
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:20,320
And so when we say, I don't have enough money, there's an examination that we need to go

437
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:22,360
through.

438
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:23,520
God wants you to have money.

439
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:29,120
But not only that, God wants you to think properly about money.

440
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:33,960
God wants you to think properly about money.

441
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:40,160
Turn into the New Testament to 1 Timothy chapter 6.

442
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:52,000
I'll begin reading in the sixth verse of 1 Timothy 6, but godliness actually is a means

443
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:57,560
of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

444
00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:07,760
For we have brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either.

445
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And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

446
00:34:16,240 --> 00:34:23,320
But those who want to get rich, the thought there, those who make it their aim to get

447
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:32,380
rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge

448
00:34:32,380 --> 00:34:37,040
men into ruin and destruction.

449
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:44,160
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered

450
00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:49,760
away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang.

451
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:57,360
In the first place, God does not want us to love money.

452
00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:05,120
He does not want us to set our affection on it.

453
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:13,800
In our culture, that is very difficult to obey, because the whole force of our culture

454
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:24,280
involves the gaining of money and living for it, loving it, and doing whatever is necessary

455
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:27,120
to have it.

456
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:34,320
What the word of God says is that if we love money, it will destroy our lives.

457
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:37,280
It will absolutely ruin us.

458
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:44,760
It will send us on the skids to destruction if we begin to love money.

459
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:51,120
But it will also make us useless to God if we love money, because we began in Luke chapter

460
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:57,080
16 where it says you cannot serve God and money.

461
00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:04,880
So if we love money, we then are useless to God.

462
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,960
We can't love them both at the same time.

463
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:13,480
Thirdly, if we love money, it will lead us to compromise.

464
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:15,080
It will lead us to compromise.

465
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:22,780
Inevitably that will happen, because everybody you see has a price.

466
00:36:22,780 --> 00:36:28,360
The question is, what's your price?

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I can guarantee you this, that if you have set a price for obedience in your life, Satan

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will meet that price.

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The story has been told about a famous author who was at a banquet in New York City.

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He was seated beside a lovely lady.

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In the course of the banquet, he asked her a question.

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He said, would you spend the night with me for $100,000?

473
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:19,080
She blushed and she said, well, yes, yes I would.

474
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,160
He said, well then, would you do it for $10?

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She said, well, what do you think I am?

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00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:28,600
He said, we've already established that.

477
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Now we're just negotiating the price.

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What's the price for your obedience?

479
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:47,440
Satan will meet that price, because he seeks to get us to compromise and to disqualify

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ourselves for God's service.

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Do not love money.

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00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:54,000
God warns us about that.

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Do not set money as the priority of your life.

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And then God wants us, secondly, to be aware of its nature.

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00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:09,040
Jesus warned in Mark 4.19 about the deceitfulness of riches.

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He says it chokes the word.

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Money is deceitful.

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Because it tells us, and our world tells us, that if we have enough of it, we will be satisfied.

489
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:34,080
Several months ago I read a story in a magazine about Julio Iglesias, a very famous singer,

490
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,920
especially in the Spanish world.

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A man who has homes all over the world and jet planes so that he can fly his girlfriends

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00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:48,440
from one home to the next, wherever he's going to be.

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00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,120
He has unbelievable wealth.

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00:38:51,120 --> 00:39:00,440
And yet in the article he confessed that basically he is an unhappy man.

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Money is deceitful.

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00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:09,080
It says, if you can only get this much, if you can only buy that, you will be satisfied.

497
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,760
You will have enough.

498
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:21,840
That is lying, because contentment is not found in how much we have.

499
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:31,160
Contentment is found in our heart attitude toward whatever we have.

500
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:36,280
Then God wants us to be aware that money is also temporary.

501
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:37,960
Money is not deceitful only.

502
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:43,400
It is also temporary, 1 Timothy 6, 17, right here where we are.

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00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:48,280
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their

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00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:55,680
hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things

505
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,860
to enjoy.

506
00:39:58,860 --> 00:40:00,420
What is the object of our faith?

507
00:40:00,420 --> 00:40:03,920
Is it money or is it God?

508
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:05,740
Money is uncertain.

509
00:40:05,740 --> 00:40:15,240
It can pass away in one day in the stock market.

510
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:21,620
It can pass away in one second with the end of life.

511
00:40:21,620 --> 00:40:24,820
Money is uncertain.

512
00:40:24,820 --> 00:40:26,820
God is dependable.

513
00:40:26,820 --> 00:40:30,380
God wants us to think correctly about money.

514
00:40:30,380 --> 00:40:32,920
God wants us to make money, our servant.

515
00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:36,280
That is the third thing he wants us to know about it.

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00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:43,280
As we think about money, he wants us to see ourselves as the masters of our money and

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00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:46,840
not money mastering us.

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00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:58,400
He wants us to learn to use the mammon, the money of this world, for the glory of God.

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00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:03,520
Luke chapter 16, the first half of the chapter is all about that.

520
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Using our money wisely for the sake of eternity.

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00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:16,820
He says if we do that, then there will be entrusted to us the real riches, spiritual

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00:41:16,820 --> 00:41:20,360
riches in our lives.

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God can entrust to us ministry if we can learn to handle money.

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00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:40,800
But I believe he does tell us there that we need to learn to handle our money first.

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00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:46,440
God wants you to have money for good purposes.

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00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:51,440
God wants you and me to think properly about our money.

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00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:56,680
We'll pick it up at that point next week.

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00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:03,400
But as you think about your money today, as you think about your attitude toward money,

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are you thinking rightly?

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Or is your money mastering you?

531
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:18,400
Or is the lack of money mastering you?

532
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:25,000
God does not want our lives to depend upon having money or lacking money.

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00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:30,840
He wants our lives to depend upon him.

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Let's pray.