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You look planted. You look planted today. No wonder you're flourishing if you're new to social. We have a word for the year. That word is planted. It comes straight out of Scripture. And we read this verse every single Sunday. So guess what we gonna do today? We're gonna read it. Psalms 92, verses 13 through 15, with uplifted, caffeinated voices. Come on, let's read it as a family. 1, 2, 3. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall be. He is my rock. You sound good, Social. You sound good. Sound real good. Remain standing. We're gonna jump into our text for today. I kicked off a series last week. How many were here last Sunday? Come on. We started a series called It's. It's Giving. It's Giving. We are piggybacking on that cultural phrase. It's giving. We say that when we are sensing something. And I pose the question, if we looked at your life and my life, what would we say? It's giving. Is it giving life? Is it giving death? Is it giving anything at all? And so really, this is a series. Hear me about generosity. And generosity is not something that you graduate from. It is something that you grow in. And so last week, I don't want to give you too much of a recap. We talked about how gratitude is the engine of generosity. Work on your gratitude and generosity will follow. I want to be a 5pm person that's just so glad that I'm in the vineyard. So today we're going to add another layer to this. And I want you to go with me to Luke, chapter 12. Luke, chapter 12. The gospel according to Uncle Luke. Y'all ain't saved. Starting at verse number 13. And we're gonna go down to verse number 21. Luke, chapter 12. Start at verse 13. We'll land at verse 21. When you're ready to read, say yeah. It says, someone in the crowd, Jesus is teaching. And it says, someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. You thought heckler started in our culture? No. Here's one right here in the middle of Jesus sermon, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. And Jesus replied, man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter? Between you? Then he said to them, notice the flip. This dude shouts out something. He doesn't talk to him. He talks to the crowd. Them. And look at what he says. Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. And he told them this parable. I love story time with Jesus. The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, this is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Bigger ones. Everything is what in Texas? Oh, yeah, I did this Texas for today. This Texas for today. And there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink, drink and be merry. But God said to him, let me parenthetically part there. Generally, when Jesus tells a story, God is not so clearly seen. It's like the landowner, the master, he'll just come out and say, God. But this story is so critical. He's like, yo, I don't want you to get this confused. God is speaking. And God said to him, you fool. This is the only time we hear in a story where God calls somebody a fool. What in the world would make God call somebody a fool? He said, this very night, your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it would be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God. Lord, help us today. The second installment of this series. It's giving. I want to talk from this thought. It's giving. Never enough. Never enough. Look at the person next to you, maybe for the last time. Get in their space and just say, neighbor. When is it enough? Oh, that was the wrong neighbor. They said it with attitude. Find another neighbor. Find another neighbor. Come on, say other neighbor. I really want to know. When is it enough? If you believe God's going to speak, give him some praise up in here. Lord, have your way today. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Never enough by showing of hands. I'm curious. Are there any other preachers or public speakers in this room or in the watch party room? Can I see your hand? If you're a preacher or a public speaker. Come on. Look at all these hands. I love that. Y'all gotta clap. I'm glad I know where you are. This sermon starts falling flat. I know where I can throw the mic because I got some communicators in the building. Every communicator and public speaker and even preacher will tell you that one of the things that can really make or break a message that you prepared are the things that happen in the middle of your message that you did not Prepare for. Ooh. Hear me when I tell you. I don't care how much you rehearse. I don't care how much you practice. I don't care how much you go over your notes in your house, in your bathrobe, with remote control as a microphone. You need to know that whenever you are communicating to an audience, you are gonna have some unscripted, unexpected interruptions. Woo. Believe me when I tell you interruptions are a part of communication. Things that you did not plan for. Unscripted interruptions are a part of the communication process. You don't gotta take my word for it. Just look at culture. Culture will tell you this. We've seen this before. You can have it in your mind at the VMAs that you're just going to go up on stage and you going to thank them for giving you music video of the year. And right as you on stage thinking about, I got to thank my producer, I got to thank my manager. Right as you getting all that together, somebody on the front row that's had a little too much Hennessy is going to come up on stage, take the trophy away from you and say, hey, I love you. I'm going to let you finish. But Beyonce had the best video of all time. Interruptions are bound to happen. Some of y'all too young. You ain't even out, y'all. You can be at the Academy Awards. This is a classy event, black tie. You can be going over the joke that landed when you were in rehearsal, thinking everybody's gonna laugh at the joke, only to find the Fresh Prince of Bel Air is gonna come on stage, slap the taste out of your mouth. Interruptions, unscripted, unexpected. You ain't got to take culture's word for it. Take my word for it, y'all. I've been doing this a long time. You can be at a youth retreat in Atlanta, Georgia, preaching your heart out. And all of a sudden, in the middle of you preaching in the back of the youth retreat, unbeknownst to you, will be a teenage girl who. Who had the strange suspicion that her boyfriend was cheating on her with her best friend. And in the middle of your message, she will have her suspicions confirmed. And rather than wait till the youth retreat and the service is over at the snow cone shop to talk to the girl, no, she's gonna get up in the middle of your message, go across the room and start fighting her in the middle of your message. And the youth leaders are just gonna be off the clock. So you gotta go from being A preacher to being a bouncer, and separate them before more hair gets pulled. Unexpected things will happen. Interruptions will happen. Oh, I can do this all day. You can be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, getting ready to close your sermon, saying, every head be bowed, all eyes closed, and one dude on the second row will not have his head bowed and will not have his eyes closed. He will be sitting in his chair, rocking back and forth, looking at you like I am crazy, and then will get up from his seat, come on stage, and then stare at you for a moment. And you will stare at him going, what is about to happen? And then he will run up to you, stop, and then give you a hug. And you will be thinking in your head, this dude is crazy. But you will say in the microphone, sometimes you just need to feel the message because God is doing something as you look at security, like, for real, unexpected interruptions. What happened, y'all? I'm telling you, sometimes the interruption isn't even a human. It's an insect. You will be swatting wasps and hornets while you're preaching. And I say that to say, if you don't learn how to pivot in the interruption, your message will not have potent impact. This is why I love Jesus, who, if anybody could teach a master's class on how to pivot on an interruption, y'all, it's your boy, Jesus. Jesus was used to interruptions. Almost all of his ministry, he was inundated with interruptions. And he had a way of using the interruptions as invitations to invade the hearts and the minds of his audience with powerful truth. I'm telling you, Jesus could flip an interruption. Jesus would flip the interruption so good, you would think he planned the interruption, because the interruption will become an illustration to really drive in the truth that he was teaching that day. Oh, read your Bible. It is all throughout the Gospels. One time, he's preaching and kids interrupted him. Little kids came up and, you know, the bougie disciples, they said, oh, back up. Jesus ain't got time. This ain't a kid's ministry. And started shooing away the kids. And Jesus said, no, the interruption is going to give me an opportunity to teach you a truth. Kids, come back, you actually can't even understand my kingdom or enter my kingdom unless you become like these little children. This isn't an interruption. This is an invitation for you to be more like them. He did it all the time. One day, he's preaching, and a woman caught in the act of adultery, y'all, they pulled her out of the bed and threw her in the temple and interrupted his sermon. Said, we caught her in the act of adultery. The law. Moses said, she's supposed to be stoned. What you got to say about it? If it was me, I would be like, oh, you know what? I'm done. That's good. I'm out for it today. Not Jesus. He says, this interruption who is an invitation to teach you the power of my grace. Y'all want to stone her? Cool. He who's without sin among you, throw the first stone. And they were like, you know what? I ain't want to be here. I'm going to go ahead and go away. And every interruption seemed to be an invitation to take us into deeper truth. That is what is happening in the Gospel of Luke, chapter number 12. Jesus is teaching. Luke lets us know. This is a massive audience. Thousands of people are there. And in the middle of Jesus preaching, you know, he probably waited for it to get real quiet. All of a sudden, this dude shouts out, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. What? Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Y'all, that interruption is so layered right there. First of all, it's giving. You weren't paying attention. It's giving. You weren't paying attention to what Jesus was actually preaching about. Because if you read the Gospel of Luke up until this point, the trajectory of Jesus teaching is getting us to understand his great care for us. That you don't have to worry that God has so much concern and care for you, so much so that he says the hairs on your head are numbered. Think about that. That when one of your hair fall off, he goes, mm, that's number 1633. That he cares about you that much. He's also trying to let them know that Earth does not have the final say that there is an eternity. Believe me when I tell you you will face eternity one day. He goes on to tell them, don't fear the person that can kill your body, because you will live on long after your body is gone. Fear the person that can destroy your body and your soul. Because there is an eternity, and you will eternity somewhere. This is what Jesus is trying to get them to understand. Now I know why Solomon writes these words. It's better for you to go to a funeral than it is for you to go to a wedding party. Cause when you go to a wedding party, you turn it up. You love the pleasure. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. You ain't thinking about anything, but are they gonna have some extra punch? But when you go to A funeral. When you look at somebody who you knew, but their spirit is no longer housed in that body, it makes you face your own mortality. It makes you realize, one day, this will be me. Did you know that death has a 100% success rate? No. I read the stats today. 10 out of 10 people die. There is coming a day where you will face eternity, and God is trying to get the audience to know. Earth is not the final say. There is an eternity. You would think the person in that audience would go, whew, that's powerful. In fact, my dad just died. And I'm realizing as you're speaking, Jesus, that life is precious. You would think that's what he would get out of it. No, this dude takes the time to go, jesus, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. I'm trying to get mine, Jesus, make him give me mine. First of all, it's giving commandment. I mean, come on. Can you at least be polite? Jesus, could you please? There is no please in this. He is commanding Jesus to do something for him. And before you laugh and say, I will never. Do you know how many people live their life like that? They live their life commanding Jesus to perform for them and got the nerve to get mad. When God doesn't follow through on your commandments, some people invert, jesus, follow me to. No, you follow me. Follow me, Jesus, and do what I tell you to do. He tells Jesus to tell his brother, give me my inheritance. Ooh, it's given you trying to command the Savior to do something he's not even interested in doing. He has a deeper mission. Elbow the person next to you because they're about to fall asleep and tell him this. It's always deeper than what you think. God is always trying to go deeper. Although this man's outburst was out of order, it was not out of the norm. Because in that culture, you would go to a rabbi not just to get truth, but you also went to a rabbi to settle your disputes. There is no Judge Judy. There is no Judge Joe Brown. So you would go to a rabbi and you'd be like, hey, I got this dispute. I need to know who gets the property, and I need you to tell me. Isn't that interesting that you could approach a rabbi, not trying to get truth that will transform your heart, but actually just trying to get your problem fixed. I don't want you to transform my life, Rabbi. I just want you to fix my problem. This is so many people in the modern church today. They approach, jesus, just fix my problem, Jesus, I Got a situation that needs to be fixed. Okay, Jesus, I'm here. I came to church now you know my bills are due on the 25th. I just need you to fix the problem. I don't want heart transformation. I just want you to change my situation. But can I tell you something? God is more concerned with getting down to the root of your issue than trying to deal with the fruit of the issue. He always wants to go deeper. He's like a walking EKG machine. He's always trying to see how's that heart. Cause he can see down into the depths of what you really need. And it trips me out that Jesus does not settle this dude's legal dispute. He chooses to go deeper. And that made me mad. Cause I'm thinking, Jesus, you know who's right. Like, you know who his brother is, where he is. You knew the dude was gonna do an outburst before he even pulled up. Why not just make it easy and settle the dispute? Cause here's what this dude wants to know. I want to know how I'm gonna get my piece of the pie. And Jesus, you could have settled this dispute and you could have done it as easy as pie. He said, I just want to get my piece of the pie and you can fix it, Jesus, as easy as pie. Wow, three pies. It's like I planned this. Here's what this dude is asking. He's asking, how do I get my piece of the pie? Put back up what he said, yeah, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. We don't even get this dude's name. But just that statement has so much in it, you just gotta dig it out. First of all, it's giving. You're not the firstborn. You're not the first one. Because the fact that he's saying it lets me know you're either the second born or the third born. Because of the culture. In that culture, in Jewish culture, whenever a father died, he made sure that his property, his pie, if you will, was divided in a specific way. And I love the way that they did it. They divided it to where, if you were second born son or third born son, you got one third of your father's inheritance. If you were the firstborn, you got a double portion. Now, this is all an illustration, but I am being biblical. It's in Deuteronomy 21. The firstborn got the double portion. I just want to say on record, since my father is here and I don't know what his financial portfolio is, that the firstborn got the Double portion. The firstborn received a double portion. So in all likelihood, we are either dealing with a firstborn who kept the whole thing for himself, or a firstborn who gave this second born his portion and he big mad because his brother got the bigger piece. Now before you start being mad cause you're not the firstborn and you gonna start being, you know, talking to God, how come I wasn't the firstborn? Understand the reason why the firstborn got the double portion. He got the double portion because he was considered, it was an honor thing. He was considered the first strength of his father. But deeper than that, if something was to happen to the sisters or the rest of the family, if mama was gonna be in trouble, the reason the firstborn double portion, it's because the responsibility was on him to take care of the rest of the family. Now that the patriarch is gone, firstborn is your turn to step up. And you have more resource. Not just so you can celebrate the resource. You have more resource because you have more responsibility. God gives more resource. Not just for you to shout about the resource. He gives you resource because he knows that you will have more responsibility. Come here. To whom much is given, much is required. So when God gives you more, that's not for you to walk around with entitlement. That's for you to understand. There's a bigger responsibility on me because God has given me more. Stop being jealous of people that got more because they have more responsibility and will have to answer for what God gave them. And you gotta answer for what God gave you. Preach, Robert Madhu. God gave more resource because the firstborn had more responsibility. This second boy shouts out, tell my brother to give me what's mine. So we don't know if this is an older brother who's just keeping it on for himself or this is a younger brother who's just mad that he got a smaller piece. So I'm thinking, Jesus, you know the real issue, just speak to it. He's like, no, I'mma go deeper. I'm going to go deeper and speak to what is really at the heart of this issue. Because what is at the heart of this issue is a sin that nobody talks about in the church. At the heart of this issue is a sin that seeks to take out your spiritual life and my spiritual life. At the heart of this issue is a sin that when people look in the mirror, they never think they have it. They always think somebody else has it. At the heart of this issue is. Is a sin that hides in the corridors of darkness. It's the sin that nobody wants to preach about, but I gotta preach about it today. And it is the sin of greed. Woo. This is the part where all the amens gonna go down. Cause when was the last time in your holy, sanctified life you ever heard anybody preach a sermon on greed? When have you ever heard anybody say, hey, the real issue you're dealing with is greed. Greed is the sin that we never see in ourselves, but we always see in other people. Because you will see it in how we talk about other people's stuff. People. I can't believe they went on another vacation. I can't believe they got that type of house. I can't believe while you scrolling on the $2,000 iPhone, I can't believe they spent that on those new shoes. It is the sin that we see in everybody else, but we never see in ourselves. And I came to tell you, greed is the sin that hides. Greed is always playing hide and go seek. You'll never see where greed really is. It'll hide. It'll be underneath the pie. You didn't know that was there. Just like you don't know the greed that lurks and creeps on the inside of my life and your life. You know why it's so easy for greed to hide? Because it's so easy for us to compare ourselves to other people that have more than us. So there's really no test for it. So you can always look at somebody else that has more than you. And so you can justify and say, I'm good. I mean, yes, I got a house, but I ain't got two. I mean, yes, I got a five series, but I ain't got a seven series with the upgraded package. And because there's always somebody to compare yourself to, Greed just goes, I got them. And they don't even know that I got them. It's interesting. I love being a pastor. I love the privilege. It is a holy privilege to pray with people when they have issues, when they come to you and say, pastor, would you pray with me about this? And I was thinking about all my years of ministry. I've had a lot of people come and say a lot of things. Pastor, pray with me. I got anger issues. Pastor, pray with me. It's hard for me to forgive my dad, who was never there. Pastor, pray with me. I got lust issues. Pastor, pray with me. I got an issue with integrity. I've never heard anybody say, pastor, pray for me. What is it? I'm greedy. I spend too much on myself. I bought something. I Actually didn't need, and I justified it. Nobody ever says that. So greed continues to live on. And I came to tell you that greed is the sin that will hide itself from you. Greed has a song. They stole it from the greatest showman. Never enough, never. Never enough, never. That's the song of greed. It will tell you you need more. If you got that, you would be happy. If you got that, you would feel better. If you got that, you would finally get the peace and the joy that you've been longing for. And in a materialistic culture where there are so many options to upgrade, greed stays hidden in all of our hearts. God help us to be generous. There's no way we can be generous if we have the blockage of greed in our hearts. If you can't say amen, say ouch. Yeah, I had to preach this to myself today. Greed loves to hide. It hides so much that after Jesus doesn't address the man's legal dispute, cut straight to the heart of the matter. In fact, let's look at how he says it. He says, watch out. Be on guard against all kinds of greed. Do you see the double warning, this red letter now? Words of Jesus, watch out. Be on guard against all kinds of greed. If Jesus himself is saying, watch out, be on guard, that lets you know how diabolical and evil this thing is. He says, be on the watch out. How many know you walk different when you watching out? This is an active defense. Let me really make it plain. We live there's like this little country spot in the back of our yard. And since we moved into our house eight years ago, there have been bobcats. Oh, yes. And there have been coyotes, y'all. I'm telling you, it's real out here in these streets. There was a coyote that. That killed one of our kittens on the front porch. I got video evidence of this. And this just ran off in the night. And so it has created a different climate. When I walk around outside in my house, and just a few weeks ago in the neighborhood chat, my neighbor across the street said, hey, bobcat, we got bobcats and coyotes. Hey, had the bobcat on the roof of my neighbor's house. How many know when you see bobcats on your neighbor's roof and coyotes, you don't just walk outside like, I'm walking out with my son's bat. On guard, watching out. And I got so convicted this week because that same on guard, that same watching out is what Jesus says. I have to watch out against greed. You mean to tell me that Greed will creep into my life so much that I need to be checking my resources, checking my bank statement, and going, is that a lot of doordash? Is another pair of shoes Is that. He says, watch out. Be on guard. And then he takes it further. Put it back up there, he says, for all kinds. You mean to tell me there's different kinds? It'd be one thing if it's just one. Jesus says there's different kinds of greed. This speaks to its insidious, hidden nature. Because you will always justify greed, which allows it to hide. Because there's different kinds. You will just. I'm not greedy. I'm just a collector. I'm not greedy. I just like nice things. You need to get your taste level up. I just like quality. I'm not. I'm not greedy, man. I grew up in poverty, bro. I grew up poor. I ain't never going back. I need a flex like this. I'm an example to the community. Gucci. I'm an example to the community. You are. And to those of you who are like, oh, I don't. I don't see. Spend. I don't spend. It'll go the other way, too. I'm not greedy. I save. Have you seen my savings? Yes, I read all the Dave Ramsey books. Have you seen how much? I have stocked up. Y'all were nervous during the pandemic. I wasn't. Savings account. Let them do what they want with the tariffs. Have you seen my investment? So it's. It's. It'll hide. You'll say, no, I'm being wise. I'm being a good steward. I'm not greedy. And it'll hide because there's all kinds. As a matter of fact, if we want to put it in two categories, I would put it in these two categories of spending or stashing. Greed can be put in these two categories. One is loud. You can see it ball out, get it. Even if you can't afford it, charge it. I'll figure it out. Don't act like you ain't ever. Go ahead. I'll figure it out. That's the loud kind. Then there's the other kind. That's more quiet. I'm gonna hoard. I'm gonna keep it. I gotta save it. I gotta hold onto it. No, you can't borrow nothing there. I go to church. Want my money. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I also know how y'all do closing my. See how it works? It's all. It's all kinds, and it generally goes to one of these extremes. One is consume, consume, consume. One is hoard, hoard, hoard. Make it real plain, you need a TV show. One is Keeping up with the Kardashians. One is Hoarders. And most of us go to one of these extremes. But watch this. No matter what category you find yourself in, both of them are all fueled by greed and fueled by fear. Here's the fear that what I have is never enough. It's never enough. It's also fueled by a lie. And the lie says, I'll be okay if I just had more. I'm telling you, if I just got that raise, if I just got that bonus, if I just had that, then I would be good. Meanwhile, the people that have it are trying to figure out, why do I have it? And I'm still depressed. And if I was the enemy, I would get you to buy into the lie that more would make you happy. If I was the enemy himself, I would get you to buy into the myth that more would make you feel better. And hear me, it is a lie. It is the lie of greed. Greed is based on a lie that life equals stuff. And here's the thing that scared me as I studied this text today. It is intriguing to me that Jesus says way more about the danger of wealth than he does about the joy of generosity. You would think if you looked at the teaching of Jesus, he would just scream about it's better to give than the joy of generosity. But if you compare scripture for scripture, there are way more warnings about the danger of wealth. Matthew 6 Don't store for yourselves treasures on earth, but store for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke chapter 6 But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your treasure. Comfort. Luke 18 and we preached it last week. The rich young ruler thought he had his money and thought he had his possessions, but didn't realize that his possessions had him. Because Jesus said, can I have it? And he couldn't let go of it. First Timothy, Chapter six those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. All kinds of evil. What would make a man who has daughters participate in trafficking the love of money? What would make people continue to create products that are harming and hurting other people? The love of money. Money is not evil. It is the root of all kinds of evil. When Jesus tells the parable about the sower and the seed that fell on good ground, it's interesting to me that he has to mention that one of the things that choked out the seed of God's word was the deceitfulness of riches, of money. That means money has an ability to hide itself from you. Here's the major one. He then says, you cannot serve God and money. God says, my number one competitor in lust in football, it's money. Because money will say to you what I'm supposed to say to you. Let me open doors for you. Let me show you your value. Let your security and your confidence be in me. You don't believe money is a God. When was the last time you were facing a challenge and you said this, man, I either need God to come through, I need like a million dollars. If you've ever thought those words or said it, it lets you know how deceitful money is. And God's saying, you can have it, but the danger of it is it'll have you. And it is sneaky. Is this helping anybody today? Jesus goes on after he warns about greed. He tells a story. I love it. It's not a long story, but he tells the story of a rich fool. This is the story of a rich fool. And maybe you're like me. You hear that story of the rich fool and you're like, pr, Save that story for another person. I ain't rich, so I don't need this parable. If this is the parable of a rich fool, I'm not rich. Save it for somebody else. But I mean, rich is relative. Sometimes rich is really contingent upon who you're comparing yourself to. How honest can I be? You ever got something that just lets you know that you are not on other people's level? Have you ever had one of those situations? I had one recently. I got invited this week at a conference that's coming up, and they sent over the information for the conference, and it let me know I'm just. I'm not on the same level of these other speakers. They sent in the invitation, will you be flying commercial or private? I said, huh? Is private an option? I didn't. I've never flown private before. But obviously the people that speak at this conference fly private. And here I am looking at an invitation that let me know I am not on a level. So it's really. It's who you playing the comparison game with that let you know whether you're rich or not? I know some of you are like, man, I ain't rich. And hear my heart today. I do not want to belittle anybody who says, hey, pr, I'm really going through a difficult time right now, but maybe I can help you with some perspective so you can compare yourself in a much better way. Those of you like, hey, hey, I'm not rich. Can I ask you some questions? Don't answer out loud. Answer in your head. How many of you slept under a roof last night? Over 150 million people around the world, according to the United nations, are homeless. How many of you had a meal today or at least knew where your next one was coming from? More than 828 million people globally go to bed hungry every night. How many of you have clean running water in your house? One in four people. Over 2 billion people don't have access to safe drinking water. How many of you have more than one outfit in your closet? Most of the world lives on less than $6.85 a day and owns just a few change of clothes. How many of you have a car or have reliable transportation? Only 1 in 8 people worldwide own a vehicle. How many of you got a smartphone sit in your pocket right now? That alone puts you in the top 10% of the world's wealthiest people. Here's one more stat that might shock you. If your household income is $50,000 or more, you are not middle class. You are in the top 5% of the wealthiest people on the planet. So maybe the problem isn't that we don't have enough. Maybe it's we don't know what to do with what we have. Maybe it's because we've been playing the comparison game. Maybe it's because we've taken more mall trips than missions trips. It's the difference. Go on a mall trip. Dang. The new collection is out. This is all going on a missions trip. You start going, God, I'm just so grateful for what I have. I'm telling you, greed is something that you have to consistently check and guard your heart. Say, God has creeped in. I didn't even realize it. Jesus tells the parable. It's interesting. Here it is, the parable of the rich fool that all of us can relate to. It says, the ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Keep going. You got the other part of it. Then he said, this is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life Easy. Eat, drink and be merry. Do you notice how many times in the parable the rich fool said, I mine. I mine. This is where all greed starts. Hear me today, greed starts with the assumption that just because it's in your hand is yours. Greed starts with the assumption that just because it's in your banking account, it's yours. But if you want to move from greed to generosity, you got to get to the core and understand that I am not the owner of anything, but I am a steward of everything that a good and gracious God put in my hand. I don't own anything. Every good and perfect gift come down from the Father above, whether you acknowledge him or not. I'm telling you, you don't own it. You're a steward. Go back to the first part, the first part of the verse, because some of y'all don't believe me. Look at what he says. The first part of the verse gives you the blues clue. And he told in this parable, the. The high. The what? The ground of a certain rich man yielded him an abundant harvest. First of all, God don't mind you having an abundant harvest, otherwise he wouldn't have told this story. He doesn't mind you having riches is when riches have you. But that took me out right there. The ground of a certain rich man. What you mean, the ground of a certain rich man? Don't you mean it was him? Don't you mean it was his sweat? Don't you mean it was me plowing it? Don't you? You mean it was me sowing the seed, don't you? No, no, no, no, no. That's why I love farming. Because you can plow and do everything that you want, but if there is no rain, that ground ain't going to do nothing at all. And I don't care how many degrees you got, I don't care how many zeros are on the backside of your account. You better know that if it had not been for a good God that put the breath in your body, that gave you the intellect. I know you walked across the stage, but it was his grace that gave you the strength to do it. You didn't pull yourself up by your own bootstra. The God of the ground. Oh, somebody ought to give him some praise. If you know it was his hand. It was his grace, it was his mercy. Thank you, Jesus. Don't you ever get it twisted. It was not your grind, it was God. It was not your hustle. It was his hand. Can't take the credit for anything. It was the ground and nowhere. In the parable of the rich man after the harvest, do you ever hear him lifting up his hands, saying, God, thank you for this harvest. I know I worked. I'm not denying my hard work. But if it had not been your hand, the harvest wouldn't have come. Hear me. You know you got greed in your heart if you think the pie is yours, if you say, I can do what I want with mine. You know how many people get their check, and that's how they live their life? It's my pie. You know how many my pie people there are? It's my pies, my check, my piece. So I'm gonna get the first part, and I'm gonna give it and pay my mortgage first. Can't be out here in these streets. And I'm gonna take. It's my pie. Don't judge me. It's my pie, and I'm gonna take it. You know, I got that car that I need. I gotta pay that car payment. Don't judge me. It's my pie. Now let's see what else I gotta do. Oh, Netflix, what you talking about? I ain't gonna just be looking at a tv. It's my pie. I gotta pay. I gotta pay. Netflix. And I gotta get my booze something and go on date night and go out to eat, and I gotta. It's my pie. It's my pie. They're my kids. You know, they. They take all that. Actually, let's be honest. Take the kids, my pie, and that's. That's greed. I. It's my. Oh. Oh, you want me to give, Lord? You Lord? I mean, I guess. I mean, Lord, I guess. I guess. You want me to give. I can give, Lord. Here. Okay, well, don't judge me, y'all. To be glad I'm giving, huh? There. All right, Lord. And you see it, Lord. You know how many people live their life like that and wonder why they're not under a blessing and wonder why stuff feels off? It's because of your priorities. This is your priority. You live, then you save, then you give. The problem with this order is the top two. You're first. You're first. Can I give you something that I am not saying from theory, but I've been doing my whole life since I ever got a check shout out to my parents. That instilled it in me, and I'm instilling it in my kids. Instead of starting saying, it's my pie, I start saying, God, thank you. This is not my pie. I might have worked I might have studied, but, God, this is you. My job is not my source. You are my source, God. But I thank you. And I don't just thank you. In my words, the sign that I trust, the sign that you are really first in my life, the thing that I do to make sure the stronghold of greed is not on my life is I give it to you first, God. You take the first portion, it's yours. I wouldn't even have a pie if it wasn't for you. And can I tell you, when you give him that first pie, when you look at the rest of it, that's what we'll be blessed. That's what God's favor will be on. Because you say, God, I give it to you first. I wouldn't have the pie if it wasn't for you. Oh, I hear you. I hear you. That's Old Testament tithe, and that's Old Testament. I'm under grace. Do you understand what grace is? Grace doesn't mean you do less. When you have a revelation of grace, it actually makes you do more. I'm glad you're under grace. It ought to be more than 10% if you under grace. If grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. Oh, God, thank you. I give you more than 10. I'm not telling you something social is 4 years old. I've been tithing before we planted this church. I've been going above the tithe and I've seen the faithfulness of God. There's been times I always start with this. I've looked and go, how in the world did this make it? The math ain't math. And all I can think is the faithfulness of God. I have had moments where it didn't just make it, but God is so good, he'll do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you can ask. I didn't know that was under there. God, I want to thank you for. Hear me. It's not a message of condemnation. It's not a message of the church trying to get your money. I just want to know, how else are you going to break the stronghold of greed off of your life if you don't have some measure of generosity? There ought to be something automatic that says, lord, this is yours. And then there ought to be something above and beyond, which means, watch this. You gotta learn to live with some margin that actually gives you the opportunity to not be a reservoir but to be a channel of generosity. And you're looking at a pastor who applies this message to himself. And in every Season of my life. I have to look and go, Is greed creeping in? Do I really need this? It's interesting. Later in the text, Jesus will say, I took care of the birds, I took care of the lilies. I'll take care of you, you. But know who he's speaking to. He's speaking to an audience that doesn't even know where their next meal is going to come from. He's speaking to an audience that has one pair of clothes, most of them, and he's saying, don't be anxious. And here we are today, the anxious generation. I wonder if it's an anxiety that's rooted in a comparison that comes from agreed, this is never enough. My prayer over you is what the Bible calls great gain. That you would have godliness with contentment. To say Jesus died and gave me everything I have, everything that I need doesn't mean you can't have stuff. But if the stuff has you, greed has creeped in and you don't know until he asks you to let it go. I'm gonna ask every head be bowed and eyes be closed today. Father, thank you today for your word. God. I'm praying for a revival of generosity that is first grounded in gratitude and God that is allergic to greed. Father, this is not something I'm preaching out and not applying to myself. But Lord, will we all check our own hearts rather than trying to look at somebody else? God, I'm looking at me and say I want to be someone who lives with godliness and contentment because it is great gain. Father, would you speak to us as you do, so softly, so lovingly and so gently and remind us when it's enough. God, give us creative ideas of ways God, that we can actually downgrade so that we could be a blessing to somebody else. And God, not just with our resources, with our time, with our love, with our encouragement. Father, let generation generosity flow through us in Jesus name. Heads bowed, eyes are closed. You're here today and you've never surrendered your life to this generous Savior. Our salvation is predicated on generosity. For God so loved the world that he he gave and all he asks is that you respond. And so with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're here today and you say, hey pr, I've never surrendered my life to Jesus. I'd love to give you that opportunity today. Maybe you're somebody that you have it all and you wonder why you're still empty on the inside. It's because what you're looking for cannot bring you the contentment that you Need. There is a God sized hole in your soul that only he can fulfill. And in this moment, in this room, watch, party room. I want to give you an opportunity to respond. If that's you, would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see it, saying, I need to give him my life today. Just lift it up. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Yeah. Anybody else? You can put it right back down. Heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed. If you're here today and you say, you know what? God was speaking to me about an area of my life, I've been saying it's never enough. And today maybe it's something practical you're gonna have to do this week for somebody. Maybe it's to start trusting the Lord with the tithe for somebody. Maybe there's something that you can downgrade so that you can actually have margin to be generous. For some of you, it's gonna be as practical as having a budget. It's gonna be as practical as not going to the mall in places that keep reminding you of what you don't have and stop scrolling and seeing everybody else's life and saying, God, I'm content with what you've given me. That's you. And you know God's speaking to you about an area where greed has crept in. You say, God, I'm responding today. I want to be a channel, not a reservoir that you would just lift up your hand as a sign to say, God, I, I hear the area that you're speaking to me about. To me, that's the thing. It's not our job to be the greed police and look at everybody else. Look at your own heart. Thank you, Jesus. Can you repeat this prayer after me? I'm gonna give you the words, but you say it from your heart. Would you just say this? Especially those of you who responded to putting your faith in Jesus, would you say this? Say, jesus, I need you. I cannot do life without you. Lord, thank you for allowing me to be the beneficiary of your great generosity. God, I have an inheritance of salvation, of life, of joy, of peace. So Lord, today I surrender. Forgive me if I sin. Make me brand new. From this moment forward I'm living for you. Freely. You've given to me so freely I will give. Not driven by greed but by generosity. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.