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What Does Money Mean To Me? // Wicked: The Worship Of Wealth (Part 5) // Charles Metcalf
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Money isn’t everything, but it is something! What does money mean to you? In the last week of our sermon series, WICKED: The Worship of Wealth, Pastor Charles had us take a hard look at our history and relationship with finances. He guided us through...
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Welcome to Transformation Church podcast, where we represent God to the lost and found for transformation in Christ. We're so glad you're here and wherever you're listening from, we believe God will transform your life through today's message.
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Open up your bibles. Luke, chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. We're gonna read a portion of scripture from Dr. Luke today as we close out our series on finances. We've been in this for four weeks now. This is our fifth week, and it's a beautiful series because anytime you read the Word, there's a writer and pastor theologian who's gone to be on with Jesus now named Timothy Keller. But he said the Bible is written, and when you do it the Bible's way, it promotes human flourishing. There are a lot of different things you can do, a lot of different plans, a lot of different paths, but when you do it God's way, it produces the most flourishing in your life. So in this series, we've been talking about stewarding our finances, being wise with our finances, not wasting wealth, not worshiping wealth. Because all of those. It's not that there's not another way to do it, because some of y' all are like, I know a lot of people who are rich who don't love God. Yes. But the question is, is their soul prospering? Are they flourishing in all areas? And today we're going to dive into that a little bit deeper. But Luke, chapter 16, if you got it, say I got it. If you don't, too late. I'm going on anyways. Okay, Luke chapter 16, verse number 10 says this. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. Whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property or your apartment dirty, you don't even own it. Who will give you your own Property? Verse number 13. No one can serve two masters. You'll either hate one and love the other. You'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You'll. You cannot serve both God and money. I'm gonna pray for us real quick. We're gonna jump into the sermon today. Lord God, we love you so much. Thank you. Lead us and guide us, we pray in Jesus name. Everybody said amen. Amen. You're taking notes. I need you to write this question at the top of your notes. You don't have to answer it. In real time. But you do have to answer it at some point. My question is, what is your relationship with money? What is your relationship with money? We've been in a series for five, four weeks talking about money, talking about finances, talking about giving, talking about living a generous life. But the truth is, behind how you receive and release money is a dynamic that you need to be aware of, and that is your relationship to money. How'd you get introduced to money? How is money talked about in your house? Do you have a lot of money? No money. You got paid. Your family got paid. Once a week, Twice a week? No. Times a week. What is your relationship with money? And I have found in being a pastor that one of the most beautiful things that I have discovered is we really all got the same issues. The temptation would be to believe that you are alone, that nobody experiences it like you do, that nobody understands what you're going through. But that would be the plan of the enemy. To make you feel isolated, to make you feel alone. The truth is, we all going through the same thing at the same time. I have learned that there are many different dynamics and relationships you can have with money. And if you're not aware of that, you will be trying to apply to biblical principles with a broken perspective. So you will do the right thing out of the wrong spirit. You be tithing, but you're doing it out of shame. You'll be giving, but you'll be doing it because you saw somebody else give something and you feel weird and. And you don't want to. You won't give money and you'll be a. Some of y' all are great savers. Not because you're a good steward, though. Let's not get it twisted. It's very easy to do the right thing with the wrong motive. And this is what happens. It's very easy sometimes to be in this series and either exclude yourself because you feel like you got it or say, you know what? I don't need to listen to this. All based upon your relationship with money. Now, I'm not gonna make you raise your hand and maybe I'll just talk about me and my relationship with money. Cause I'll be honest with you. I be sitting in these series. I've been at this church now for almost 10 years, eight and a half years now, and known Pastor Michael for almost 10 years. And it is my process of growing through. This series has really challenged me. I came to this church with no kids, been married barely a year and 23 years old now. I got four kids, we've been married for a while. Come on. A lot of life has happened, and my relationship with money has changed over the years. Backdrop. Before I even got here, I got my first job at 14. I was working at Dairy Queen. Come on, shout out to fast food workers. Used to do the thing, walk up, Bam. You know what I'm saying? When they flip it over like, no, it's like, it's a trick. This is glue. You're about to drink this Oreo glue smoothie we made. I worked at Dairy Queen for two weeks. I got fired after two weeks. I did. I didn't get fired. They just slowly stopped putting me on the schedule. Which is a punk way to fire somebody, by the way. Going to have fire, have the courage to say it to my face. I'm like yelling at Someone back in 2001. I don't know. But anyways, I get fired from Dairy Queen. Then I get hired at Quail Springs Mall. No, no, no. What was the name of that mall? I don't even remember mall in Kentucky. I was a junior in high school, started working at PacSun. And let me tell you how my relationship with money started. I would. I worked so stock room in the back. It was a clothing store. So as I'm going through putting stuff on the shelves, I was going through picking one of everything in my size. So I'd be like, oh, that's dope. Okay, sit that under the shelf. Hiding stuff. Completely illegal. I would lie and be like, oh, we're so sorry, we're out of that. Yeah, no, we don't have that size. I got a whole stack of stuff under the cabinet only to then on payday, immediately be broke. I would get paid. It would hit my account. I would show up to work. I. I would get a stack of clothes out, put them on the table, and spend 80% of my check the first day I had it. That's how my relationship to money. But I was tithing, though. Hello, somebody. So God was keeping the canker worm off my back. Okay, I was just broke. But our relationship with money changes. I realized over the years there are a lot of different avenues and perspectives I've had for. Sometimes I would just avoid money. It was one of those tactics. I was talking to a friend in my tribe and they were talking about, I'm not going to name who it was, but they said, you know my tactics. As long as we don't look at the count, everything is good. Anybody else relate to that? Come on, be honest now. Raise your hand some of you. She said, yes. You know, sometimes you just don't look and feel like you got more money. I'm keeping my eyes up here because my friend is sitting in this section. But you just avoid money. Some of us, our relationship to money, it makes us anxious. Like just the conversation makes you anxious. Some of them, Some of us, we're obsessed with it. It controls every single one of our thoughts. Some of us are ashamed when we hear the topic of money. There's a sense of shame because you feel like you should have more by now or you should have saved more by now. You're not as generous as you would want to be. There are all these moving and motivating factors whenever the word money is. Is said. What is your relationship with money? And don't give the church answer. Don't give the answer of man. I don't even worry about money. That is a lie. Church people be lying and doing dumb lies. Like, I'm not even focused on money. Money doesn't have my heart. I got the king. Yeah, and you got to pay rent, so stop playing. Tell your landlord to see if you can pay with grace. No, it don't work. It doesn't have my heart. Okay, but if I said, do you. Would you like a million dollars? You wouldn't be talking about, no, I got Jesus. I don't need a million dollars. Get the heck out of here, goofy. It's just so ridiculous. What is your relationship with money? Here's my goal today. My goal today is no matter where you may find yourself in your relationship with money, if you feel you avoid it, you're anxious about it, you're ashamed of it, Maybe you're just average. You feel like, I'm not good, I'm not bad. Here's my goal, is that you would just be aware of where money should be placed in your life, aware of where it should fall on the totem pole, because there are two trains of thought. In Luke 16, Jesus is having a conversation, and he's saying, hey, listen, I. You need to understand how money works. The first thing you need to see is in verse 13, he makes a very clear statement. You cannot serve both God and money. There are some things people love to debate nowadays. And you see people on TikTok who got a podcast microphone, and so now they're a theologian, apparently, and they be going all through these things that are unclear in the Bible. Let me tell you one thing that is not unclear. Jesus makes a definitive statement. You cannot have money as your king and me as your king. It don't work. You have to choose who you're going to serve. Choose who you're going to wake up and think about. Choose who's going to decide how kind you are to people. Choose what's going to be the motivating factor of your life. You're going to have to choose. Why would you move to that state? You're going to have to choose who is your king? Who is your master? He makes a clear statement, it cannot be me and money. But before he makes that statement, there is this question he asked. He says, if you cannot be trusted with worldly wealth, who's going to trust you with true riches? Now, I did some study this week, and depending on how you grew up and what you read and commentaries you look at, there are a couple different trains of thought when it comes to true riches. Some people, when they hear true riches, they think like, getting rich rich. They're like, come on, if you can't handle no little money, who going to trust you? With the bank? And some of y', all, when you hear talking about money, even in church, some church culture, we think it is in God's will for everybody to be rich. See how silent it got? Cause you thought up until this point, I want to make a statement today. It's not a discouraging statement. It's an honest and aware statement. It is not God's will for everyone to be rich. If you are up in here thinking, okay, I'm going to give 10, I'm going to slide it over here, I'm going to tithe, I'm going to do the crazy faith offering. Then Cha Ching, I'm going get a check in the mail for a million dollars. You can go to Osage Casino if you're trying to play a game and get a trick. But Jesus, it is not in his plan for everyone to be rich. But let me say this very clearly. It is God's plan for everyone to have the ability to build wealth. And there is a difference between being rich and building wealth. There is a difference. And we have to be honest about this, because some of us, I said that some of us feel like, okay, I really. It's supposed to be about money. And then other believers act like money is not a thing at all. And that is not a good interpretation of this Scripture. There is this idea that somehow creeped into scripture and to theology and ideology of the church that if you follow Jesus, you're supposed to be broke, dry around the mouth, and can't afford nothing but ramen noodles. That's how we know you're spiritual. You smell a little bit. We don't know if you shower. Your hair's all dreaded up. Not in a vibe. Just because we don't know if you took a shower. Say now I'm taking shots. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. But that is not true. Write this down if you're taking notes. Money is not everything, but it definitely is something. We gotta be honest again. I'm trying to get us to address our relationship with money and to be aware of our relationship with it. It is not everything. So no, it should not move and control our lives. But at the same time, we do have to be aware it impacts us every single day. Money is something so much so Jesus thought. So you read throughout the scriptures. I did some research this week. There's about 150, 200 verses in the Bible on trust, 500 on prayer, 500 on faith. Guess how much on money? 2,000. So to as a follower of Jesus say money, is that not that big of a deal? Exposes that you have not seen the teaching of Jesus who wanted you to know it is gonna mess with you a lot. You are majority of the prayer requests. We pray in some way you can trace back to money. The tension in your marriage is because you bring up that. Babe, what are all these boxes doing at the door? You want to say something? Okay, nevermind, never mind. You can't even talk about money. Some of y' all, certain family members you don't talk to anymore cause they owe you $8. Not even about the $8. It's just the fact of how they took the $8. Now they want to act like they don't owe you $8. Money dominates a lot of our life. Some of us will accept jobs we know we are not in purpose for just because there's a raise involved. Again, money isn't everything, but it is something. And if you are not aware of that, you will be out here moving wild for money and still expecting God to bless you. I'm not saying that he won't because God is gracious and kind. What I am saying, if you are not aware of your relationship to money, it will be very difficult to do it God's way. Because there's something inside of you fighting every single second. It is God's plan for everyone to build wealth. There are a lot of different definitions of wealth. And one could be said, and this is kind of my working definition as we talk today, is wealth is being able to Bless anyone at any time, in any way. Being able to bless anyone at any time, in any way. Many believers, the foundation and one of the most powerful things we know is the power of prayer, the power that comes in our connection with Jesus. We actually see this depicted in Scripture. There's a moment in scripture where a guy is found begging and the apostles are talking to him, and they're saying, hey, could you give me something? And he says, silver or gold? Have I none? But in the name of Jesus, get up and walk. Being wealthy is being able to be a blessing to anyone at any time, with anything. And you need to know, because the spirit of God lives on the inside of you, you can be a blessing to anyone at any time. You can say, hey, listen, I may not have a ton of money, but can I pray for you right now? Hey, I may not know what you're going through, but I serve a God who can heal and restore. You can still be a blessing no matter how much money is in your bank account. And some of us have reserved being a blessing to people that just to being able to give people money. There are some things money can't buy. There are some situations that it doesn't matter if you have handed them the check. This takes an awareness. There are so many times. I cannot tell you how many times I'd be going through the grocery line and I'm going through the line and I'm just getting my things, and the Holy Spirit will be like, you need to talk to them. You need to pray for them. I'm like, I am not about to be weird. I'm not about to be weird, man. Ain't no way. This is me talking to Jesus. Ain't no way, bro. I'm not about to play myself like that. This is not. We got a natural. I'm just getting these organic 86 eggs because my wife said to get these. My kids gonna eat them in a day and just let me get my eggs and get out of here. And those moments are so special, so divine. You can be a blessing in that moment. You need to understand being. Having wealth in your life is bigger than just money. I wrote it down this way. Wealth is way more than money. You need to know that wealth is way more than money. But finish the point. But it does include money. Again, this is a healthy perspective because we have believers who'll be like, oh, I've got true wealth. Yes, you do. And you keep asking us for money. So money is not everything. Wealth is way more than money. But it does include It. And if Jesus says he wants us to prosper as our soul prospers, he wants us to live an abundant life. And in scripture, he's talking about money over 2000 times. Why would he not also be be talking about your financial situation? So you could be a blessing to anyone at any time with anything. It is powerful to be able to offer someone prayer. You know what's just as powerful? Somebody come to you and say, I just don't know what I'm going to do. We don't know what's going on with our house. I'm going to get evicted. And you say, let me pray for you. You pray for them. And then you say, how much do you need? See, this is a different level. We not just say settling for, yeah, I just want to walk around praying for people. That is powerful. I want to steward my finances in a way where I can bless anyone at any time with anything. There are certain things you would not have to pray about. If we could find ourselves in a position where we could say, I want to be able to build wealth in a way that could be a blessing at any moment. Do not tell me that there would not be a transfer moment in your life if someone walked up and handed you $20,000. Somebody said, Whoo. They felt that the wind of God, 20 bands right there. That's just what they need. All I'm saying today is we need to have a balanced perspective. Because some of us were on the side of obsessed with money, and that's all we think about. It dominates our thoughts, it dominates our hearts, it dominates. Dominates our minds. And then some of us, we avoid it. And Jesus brings perspective to say, hey, if you don't learn to steward what I've given you here, I can't give you true riches. What is Jesus talking about when he says true riches? What is he? What is he? What is he getting at? Now, there is one train of thought that I've heard preachers preach, and I totally get it. And that is to demonize worldly wealth. That is to say, there's worldly wealth that is demonic, and then there's true riches. You could do that. I just don't think it's a fair assessment of the text. Because we need the worldly riches to do righteous things. There's a practical side of being a blessing and helping orphans and widows, that you need physical, tangible money to do that. What I really read this scripture, one interpretation could be read, and you see it is that there's traditional riches and then there's True riches. And here's the difference in those two things. If I said, do you want a traditional marriage? Do you want a true love? Do you want a traditional love in your relationship? Do you want a traditional way? Or do you want something a little bit deeper? It's not to make the other one evil. What we are saying is there's something that's on the surface, and then there's something that's a little bit deeper than the surface. There's something that doesn't shake you so much when you wake up on the 1st and 15th. There's something you can build your life on that people can't mess with. There's something that's below this. Not that you don't need this one. It's just if you build your life on this one, it'll be like the sand. And when the waves come and the wind comes, it'll knock you down. True meaning, something a little bit more anchored. True riches. True riches really starts with understanding your relationship to money. And today, I have a very simple message. I'm going to walk you through three ways to be healthier with your money. Three ways to be healthier. I'm not saying these are the answers. This is part of my R and D research and development. And trust me, I've had a lot of research and development. Come on. I woke up with no money. Woke up with money. You didn't know where it came from. Find $100 and think, Jesus came back in your pocket. Come on. I've had times where some of y' all know this. Where you. You get to the end of the month. I used to do this. I had a. My first car was a 1987 Volkswagen Rabbit and dream car. Still my favorite car. And at the. I would. You know, I would spend all my money at the PacSun. And then I would eat my mom and dad's food. And then around like, the 12th, before I got paid again, I would go to the gas station, and all I knew is on my debit card, if I had $1. See, some of y' all ain't ever been this broke. If you got $1, you run that debit card as a credit card. They just check for that $1. Fill that boy up. It ain't gonna hit for a couple days. By the time it hit, my money done hit. Bam. See, y' all ain't never been broke before. Some of y' all are like, what? Just try it for fun. I know you got bans in your bank account, but run that debit as A credit. See what happened? Same. Some of y' all, like, that's how I got to church today. I drove from Kawita on that $1 debit, 13 gallons. Oh, man, that's the best. Okay, three ways to be healthier with money. If you're taking notes, write down my first point. It starts with the truth. You're gonna have a healthier relationship with money. You gotta start with the truth. The truth of where you are. Pastor Michael. It's been so beautiful in our journey as friends and as my pastor and my leader and all the different hats that he wears in my life. But I remember there was a moment or he was talking to me, and I was like, hey, man, you know, I was talking about money. And he was like, be honest with me. Pastor Michael is the only person in the world that calls me Charlie. He's the only person. And he has a special, beautiful green card for that green light to call me Charlie. So he calls me Charlie. Nobody else has it. Cause ain't none of y'. All. That's my pastor. He says, charlie, be honest with me, bro. You good with money, you bad with money. I'm being like, what you mean, bad? Like, I be having it sometimes. He said, okay, so you're bad with money. But it starts with being honest. You need to know, are you a spender or a saver? You need to know in your marriage who is going to not look at it and who's going to over obsess. And we tense for no reason. Some of y' all are. Your budget is not bring you freedom. It makes you a slave. You can't have no more peace. It's more shame to you. You got Dave Ramsey, got your dollars, your envelopes, and we all waiting in line waiting for you to get them dollars out. And you're like, hold on, let me film through and get my. You got to be truthful about your relationship to money. Be truthful. Where are you at? And where did you get your truth about money? Where did you get your understanding? Because some of you think if you have enough money, bad things won't happen to you. Some of you think if you have money, you will have the peace you need. Some of you think if you have money, you'll get the friends you need. Some of you think if you get more money, you'll then become a generous person, and it is not true. You have to start with the truth about how you relate to your money. The truth is you are in a job working that you don't love because you Know this provides the security you need in this season and you. And that's okay if you know that. If you don't know that, it's dangerous. What is the truth about money? It starts off with saying, where am I at? It could be very easy to listen to this whole series as a spectator because you're not even aware of where you are. What happens when you get more money? How do you feel when you get more money? What does money do to you? Does it make you more generous or does it make you hoard? What is the truth about money? Jesus gives us so much scripture on the truth about money, and he says it in this verse 13. You cannot serve both God and money. You have to decide. And if you do not decide, it will decide for you. You have to establish what is your truth and how in your house do you handle money. What do you do with your money in your house? Some of y' all know this, but in the Metcalf house, we are very big on confessions. We just did. We have our Metcalf confessions. We say them all the time. We said them before we came out here every single day. We say Metcalfs carry peace and purpose, kindness and compassion, boldness and bravery, love and light. And we recently added on because God chose me. We say that every single day. And that is to tell ourselves this is who we are, regardless of how we feel, regardless of our situation. This is what Metcalfe's carry. There's been a truth that I've had to learn through talking with some of my friends of my relationship to money was so up and down. I did not have a good confession for money. My money. My confession for money was like, hey, well, we got it. It's cracking. If we ain't got it, we can probably get it. Like, that's all I had, as a matter of fact. And I'm just being honest with you, I'm trying to say this up here. So some of y' all feel here has been my relationship to money for a long time is because I had no problem from an early age being generous. Not a problem. I just. And here was why my parents are such hard workers. Metcalf. My parents had me very, very young. My dad had always been working. My mom worked very hard. All these different things. So I always felt like, as Metcalf, if you work hard, you can make money. So here was my relationship to money, because I always felt like I could work hard and make money. It made it very easy for me to give money away. So I'd have stuff be like, oh, you need 20 bucks? Boom, here you go. And it made people feel like, oh man, Charles is a very generous person. Me and my wife have gotten to give away so many different things. It's been a blessing. Here's the other part of it that was not healthy because I felt like I could always make more. It also didn't matter if I spent it while this is what I mean when I say being aware, just because you're doing one thing that God would shed light on does not mean you have a pure relationship. To do it right holistically, you have to be truthful about where you are with your money. My little brother recently got married about a year and a half ago. And I really thank God for him marrying a normal, amazing person, you know, because let's just say there was a time we didn't know, but me and my little brother, we FaceTime almost every day, almost probably two or three times a week. We're just sitting there, FaceTime, me and my wife and him as his wife. And we've been talking about money and I'm trying to help him along the way. And they got their first little apartment. We're talking about stuff. And I said, you know what, bro? Our relationship to money, just as a family, we've got to work on this. And you've got to fight to lead your family in this way. And. And I said, I want you to know, here's because he was talking about starting his business and his wife is this amazing, creative. And they were trying to think about stepping out and doing this. And he was like, I don't know about making a lot of money and blah, blah, blah. And I said this to him and some of you are going to have to hear the whole sentence because you'll be like I said, here's my frame from money that I've worked on. I've gathered through conversations with my friends and some help I got to make money. As a matter of fact, Metcalf, here's the full confession. I'm gonna give it to you. I was gonna give it to you because I'm afraid you're gonna judge me. As a matter of fact, I don't care, cuz God chose me. So here we go. I'm gonna give it to him, Carl, so you might as well do it. Metcalf's got a lot. Make a lot of money because I got a lot of difference to make in the world. God, I. I have to have access to resources because God wants to make a lot of Difference in the world. And I told this to my little brother. I said, the reason you got to make money, bro, is because you have a difference to make in the earth. And you cannot have money having you make decisions that you know are not God. You cannot have yourself fitting into boxes that you were not supposed to fit in. And some of you need to get a new truth about money. You are not controlled by money. You are not going to live your life always at this spot. But God is going to give you wisdom to steward your money and to make money. Because you've got a difference to make in this earth. That is the truth. You've got to start with your truth. What is your truth about money? How are you going to get healthier with money? The next one. You got to start with the truth. The next one is you got to try. You got to try. My favorite, one of my favorite preachers and friends, I heard him a long time ago. He said the best version of the Bible to read, the one you read, very profound. The best budget for you to have is the one you gonna do. And I just want to say that because some of y' all are so overwhelmed by the idea of a budget, by the idea of talking to someone about finances, by the idea of going to a financial peace class or to a money class just because you don't want to try, because you don't want to fail. And until you address that, some of your relationship to money is a fear of failing, a fear of not having money, you will never try. You will never try to get a budget. You will never try to be generous. You will never try tithing. Tithing doesn't make sense. Absolutely. It don't make no sense. We passed making sense. A 33 year old got up out of a tombstone next week. We passed making sense. So that card is out the window. You worried about tithing? I got some other stuff that can really throw you for a spin. But until you understand and you be honest, you won't ever have the courage to try. And if you want a healthier relationship with money, all I'm saying is whatever that area is that's intimidating, that you avoid, that makes you anxious, that makes you obsessed, whatever that is, try, try talking to somebody. Try putting $5 in your wallet and say, I'm gonna give this away this week. $5. Now, some of y' all are like, $5. That's not a lot of money to you. It's not a lot of money. And let's be honest, if you can't give $5 away. Don't even act like you're gonna give 50,000 away. It's not gonna happen. Some of you, if you got the lottery right now, I don't know what it is, it be getting up there to $250 billion. I'm like, we should be using this on some other stuff. We giving this to random people at a gas station anyways. But. But if you don't feel like you would be generous with what you have, why would you be generous with more? You got to start with a try. Truth. Try the last one. Get a healthy relationship with money. Point number three. Trust. Trust. And here's what I mean by trust. For a long time, anytime I got money, depending on how I stewarded it, if I felt like I had money and then I spent it on things I wasn't supposed to, or maybe there was something I didn't foresee. Y' all ever had those money moments where you feel like you really trying, and then randomly you get a flat tire and then. Right. It's always the left back tires. Like, what? Y' all be putting something in there, man. I swear. But you. You. You're trying and you're trying to do the thing, and then it just feels like somehow you end up at the same spot you swore this was. This. I'm gonna get it right. We're gonna pay our things. We got the taxes, we got all this stuff, and you're doing everything right, trying to get it all together, but you still find. Find yourself at the same spot, still feel all the pressure, still feel like you don't have enough. Still feel like you should have done more with what you had in the last season, and now you don't have it. And that's where you are. When I say trust, here's what I really mean. Because in my life, a lot of my relationship to money was shame. It was, I should have more. I should have saved more. I should have spent it more. You. Here's what I'm saying. To trust. Trust that his mercies are new every morning. Trust that God is a good father. Some of us, our relationship to money is so tense because you feel like God is looking over you and down at you and you read Luke chapter 16 like this. You think, I'm going to give you more. You won't handle that. Don't come asking me for no more money. I gave you money already. You spent it. Good luck. That's how we read the scripture and we separate God's nature and how he talks through all scripture and how he'll come find you no matter how far away you are, how he'll come rip you up out of the dirt. And we take that and put that over here. But when it comes to money, you better figure this thing out. You better not mess up. If you spend your money, that's your you better get more tithe. You're about to be cursed. You cannot separate God from his character. And you cannot talk about money and your relationship to money and not include God's love and his grace and his mercy and his redeeming power. God is not looking at you with a budget saying, you better don't mess it up. Don't mess this up. If you mess this up, I'll never give you more. Luke chapter 16 is a clear principle, and here's a beautiful lens to see it through. Because I know the power of money, because I know what it has the opportunity to do. I want to give you time to figure out this amount. Because if you don't figure out this amount, if you're reckless with this amount, if it produces anxiety with this amount, if it causes you to feel overwhelmed with this amount, if it changes your character with this amount, if I give you more, it's only going to further the anxiety. It's only going to further you feeling overwhelmed. It's only going to further the shame to so in my grace and in my mercy and in my kindness, I'm saying, hey, be faithful with this small amount. I promise you I want to bless you. I promise you I'm going to provide for you. I promise you I'm going to take care of for you. But I got to give you time. The Bible tells us he's not being slow about his promises as some of you would think, but he's being patient with you, giving you time to repent. He wants to provide for you. He wants you to be a blessing. He just doesn't want it to crush you. So he says, hey, you can trust me. I'm still here with you. Yes, you made a mistake. Yeah, we didn't see that coming. Yeah, you didn't see the divorce coming. And now you've got money and you don't know and the child support isn't coming yet. I see all of that, but I'm here and I'm with you and you can trust it. What is true riches? What is your relationship to money? As a matter of fact, I didn't have a title for this sermon, but I got it. What does money mean to me? Where does it fall in my heart Is it really, really high up there? And it can. It can send me over the edge at any moment. What does money mean to me? You got to ask yourself that. And what is true riches? As I close today, there is a perspective I want to submit to everybody. We're going to close. We're going to get out of here. At the end of service, make ask you to stay for a moment. We're going to do a moment. I want to pray for everybody in this room. But there's a scripture I want to read to you. It's actually in Second Corinthians. It says this in Second Corinthians 4. We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your bond, servants for Jesus sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Verse 7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. True riches. The scripture tells us that there is this treasure. And this treasure in the context of the scripture is they're telling these people, they're explaining to the church, hey, there is an ultimate treasure that you need to understand, and it is the good news of Jesus. The treasure is the gospel. The treasure is that you didn't do anything to earn this love. The treasure is that God loves you and he'll meet you where they are. The treasure is that you can be free, filled with his power, and it can empower you to live the life you're called to live. There is this treasure. And where does he hide the most valuable treasure? He doesn't put it in a vault. He doesn't hide it away where you can't find it. He puts his most valuable thing in earthen vessels. And it's really hard to understand your relationship to money. It's really hard to use money the right way. And if you don't understand that the truest riches is not paper, it's people. And some of you, if you do not, if you confide your life to being rich, to making money, to having things, you will live a big life in some ways and a very small life in other ways. And some of us have failed to realize that the truest rich he has placed in your life is that person sitting next to you that has the same situation you're in. But for some reason, God has placed the most prized possession, and that is his good news on the inside of that Broken, messed up, hurting, undeserving person. Do not get it twisted. We are not on this earth to make money. We're on this earth to share the good news that there is a God, that he loves you and he has a plan for you. This is not about money. It's about people. And until you understand that, you will rob yourself of so much joy, of so much life, and you will work hard for a long time to make a lot of money and have no one to share it with. What good is the budget if you don't have anybody to talk to? I'm not saying it's bad, but what I am saying is if you make your whole life about money, it's all you think about, it's all you obsess about. And you get to a point where you got it. The only reason God wants you to get it is so that you can share it with somebody else. True riches is people. And we cannot miss that because a means to overcorrect, to get it right. We will miss out what God says is the most beautiful thing. And there's so many points in Scripture where Jesus alludes to this. There's one of my favorite moments where there's this woman at a well, and this is a completely racially charged situation. If you just read it now, you wouldn't know. But culturally, at the time, there were a lot of things happening that Jesus should not be doing. But for some reason, Jesus always did the stuff that the church people said he shouldn't be doing. That's why I like Jesus. But Jesus is there, and this woman is coming at the well at noon because it's really, really hot and she don't want to see nobody. The reason she don't want to see nobody is because she would have been the talk of the town. And Jesus is sitting there and he has this beautiful exchange with this woman. And he says, you know, if you drink from this well, you're going to get thirsty again. Let me tell you, if you live your life for money, there is no end to that journey. Let me just tell you. I was listening to an interview this past week, and there was this entertainer. They said, you know, it's actually a blessing because I have found myself to reach the end of the material world, and I've realized there's nothing out there. So if you want to keep searching, you can have it. But we've got story after story after story of people who continue to drink from the well. That money can be all my people. And it doesn't work. But he says, if you drink from me, you will never thirst again. I'll give. I'll give you something money can't buy. I'll do something that your bank account can't fix. And here's the beautiful thing. The disciples come up, and they're definitely kind of eyeing Jesus. Like, why is he talking to her? He should not be talking. Does she know who she is? He's. They're saying all this stuff, and they're like, hey, Jesus, you want to go and get some food? Jesus says this. I have food you don't know about. What he's talking about is, I found something deeper than what this earth has to offer. I found a fulfillment that is deeper than working to make a paycheck to pay a bill, than to put it in an account, then to spend it. I found something deeper. And it's not for me to serve money, but for money to serve me. And I'm not going to be afraid of it. I'm not going to be intimidated by it, but I will find it and use all of it for the sake of God's most prized possession and his people. If you want a little perspective of how God. He talks about money on earth, very important when you get to heaven, streets are gold. What is he saying? The thing that's most important to you down here, up here, we. We use that to. Just because we got to get from A to B. So we close service today. My hope is maybe you just become aware of what has your relationship with money bid Become aware of? What. What's the truth about where you are? What do you need to try? After Easter, we're starting some more discipleship classes. Some of y', all, you need to try getting in a discipleship class. We have Bible study. We have a fitness class. We have a finance class. We have so many different things we're working on. But. But you. There just needs to be a try. Not I got it, not I nailed it, not as perfect a try. What happens if you fail? What happens if you don't fail? Why are you so worried about what happens if you fail? What happens if you get it and you don't have to feel that shame for so long? What happens if you actually do take the step and it works? And last thing is trust. Trust God's love. The Bible says it's his loving kindness that draws us to repentance. I'm gonna close out service today. I'm gonna ask everybody to stand all over this room, and I want to take a moment. We'll Be out of here in five minutes. I want to take a moment to pray for you. And I would specifically want to pray for people who. I don't know where it falls, but you feel like when you ask yourself that question, what is my relationship to money? There's something in there that feels a little unsure specifically. I know for me, many years, my relationship to money was really centered around shame. What I should have, what I didn't have, what I should have had, what I could have done. If you're in here today and is any part of you that when you feel or think about money, or you think about a budget, or you think about getting paid, or you think there starts to be a heaviness or a shame, when what I'm gonna do is just a moment, ask everybody to bow their heads and close their eyes. Matter of fact, go ahead and do it right now. Everybody bow your heads and close your eyes. If you're in here and there is any weight. That's the word. There's any weight. When you think about money, it's a weight. It's not joy, it's not excitement, it's not opportunity. It's not what God can do, but it's pressure and it's weight. If there's anybody in that room, in this room, watching online, I want you to take a moment right now and be brave. I want you to lift your hand, say, that's me. Say, man. My relationships with money, in some way, it's heavy. In some way, it feels overwhelming. I'm still figuring it out. Thank you so much with your courage. You put your hands down. God, you see every hand that was lifted. God, I pray right now for every single person that was brave enough to admit the truth of where they are. God, I thank you. You always meet us right where we are. And I speak peace. Right now, in the name of Jesus. I speak peace, Lord. I speak against Lord God. Every negative thought, everything that would come to steal, everything that would come to rob. Lord God, the pressure and the weight that has been crippling Lord God, the anxiety it has created in your relationship. I speak the peace of God. And right now, I speak supernatural wisdom. In the name of Jesus, give us the power and the desire to do what pleases you. There's another group of people in here, every head bowed, every eye closed. Some of you specifically. That last thing I talked about, seeing treasure in people. Maybe you got the money thing right. Maybe money isn't that big a deal of you. Maybe the true issue of stewardship, the true Thing that you feel like you're wasting is the people around you. I want to take a moment. I just want to pray. Even this week, we got Easter coming up. Statistics tell us people will be so open to coming to church. I want to pray right now that God would help us to see the treasure in people. Lord God, I thank you that, Lord, you saw treasure in us when it was hard to see. Lord, you saw things in us that no one else saw. So I pray that this week. Give us eyes to see people the way you see them. Give us eyes to see people. Not as something to use or to get past, but something your children, your prized possession. Lord God, give us intentional moments this week and the courage and the boldness to step outside of our comfort zone. See people as your treasure. Every head still bowed, eyes still closed. Last group of people. If you've listened to this whole sermon, maybe you've lived your whole life and you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. What that means is, is you've been carrying the pressure of life, the responsibility of life, the difficulty of life. You've been carrying that all by yourself. And you are realizing that it is crushing you, my friend. You do not have to live that way. There is a better way, and it is surrendering to the name of Jesus Christ. All it does is say, says, I cannot do this life by myself. I need help. And Jesus stands ready and willing to meet you right where you are. You don't have to stop doing a bunch of stuff. If you accept him into your life, that is the very power you need to become the person you know you're supposed to become. So right now, in this moment, I'm gonna count to three. When I get to three, if you want to accept Jesus into your life, you want to give your life to him for the first time, or you want to come back to him? Some of you know you've wandered away, and this is your moment. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. You don't have to wait till next Sunday on Easter to get your life right. You can decide right now that you are giving your life to him. And next week will be a celebration for the decision you made. 1. He loves you. 2. Raise your hand. 3. Right now. Give your life to Jesus, you say, I want to accept him right now. I see you. So proud of you. I got you, ma'. Am. So, so proud of you. Keep that hand up. Put it up high. High. So proud of you. I see you. So proud of you. So proud of you. I See you up there. Hey, listen, all together as a family. Can we pray out loud together? Everybody say, dear God, thank you for loving me. Dear Jesus, I admit I need you. Save me, change me, make me new. In your name I pray. Amen. TC can we give God a shout of praise for everybody who just gave their life to Jesus? Hey, listen, if you just gave your life to Christ, we would love to know about it. Text the word saved to the number 828282. And, man, I would encourage you. Tell somebody, Somebody on your row as you're walking out, tell somebody, hey, I gave my life to Christ. We would love, love to know about it. We're going to close our service the same way we do every single week. We have prayer in the back of the room, right under that sign that says prayer. You need prayer for anything. Our team would love to pray with you. Our worship team is going to sing and worship, and some of y', all, maybe you just need a little extra time. Some of y', all, you ain't gonna go out there and fight that parking garage. You're like, you know what? I'm gonna let them do their thing. I'm gonna sing this song, and I'm gonna be all right. We're so grateful for you. Next week's gonna be a beautiful, beautiful time. Invite your friends and your family. Hey, we do something called meet the pastors right across this hallway. I'll be over there. My wife, our entire team, we just love to meet you. If you're looking for a way to get connected, maybe you've been coming to the church, but you've never got involved in the church. It's an easy way to do that. Also, as you leave today, we got tribes that are happening. We got leaders who are wearing shirts you've been looking for community. Walk up to someone in one of those shirts. They'd love to help you. Listen, I'm gonna pray for you. Pray over your week. This week, we're gonna worship God. God, we love you. Thank you. Thank you for giving us true riches, and that is the gift and grace of your son. I thank you. This week would be filled with joy, with a lightness and experiencing you. It's the name of Jesus. We pray and everybody said amen. Until next week, Go out and live a transformed life.
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Thank you for joining us today. If you said that prayer and accepted Jesus into your heart, it's the best decision you could ever, ever make. We want to celebrate with you, and we have some tools to help you on your journey. Text saved to 828282 and to find out more about TC Text connect to 828282. Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening. Now go out and live a transformed life.