Un-Complicating Money; What Jesus has to Say
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro
We are in a series title “It’s Complicated, but it doesn’t have to be.”
5 lies - which was a purity and living a pure life.
NW - How to Heal toxic relationships.
Boudreaux - B asked his wife Marie, if I die, are you going to get remarried. She said Baby, I don’t want to talk about that, but he insisted. She said, I don’t want to talk about dat, but I suppose if you died, I would get remarried. You gonna let him live in our house? Baby I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t even know. Probably no sense is selling the house. We will probably live in this house. Boudreaux - baby you gonna let him sleep in our bed? Marie - Baby I don’t want to talk about that. Probably. No sense in selling the bed. so he will probably sleep in this bed. Boudreaux - you gonna let him drive my truck? Marie -Baby I really don’t want to talk about this. But there is no sense in selling the truck since we already have it. So, yea, he will probably drive your truck. Boudreaux - So you going to let him use my golf clubs? Marie - No, he’s left handed.
OK. Today we will talk about a subject that impacts marriages more than almost anything. Surveys show that the three major causes of divorce are incompatibility, infidelity and money issues.
So let’s look at
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” 7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
He is saying that maybe we need to rethink our life.
Un-Complicating Money
Un-Complicating Money
There are few areas that create more complications in your life whether you are single or married than money or mis-spending it.
That’s why …
Jesus talked about money twice as much as heaven and hell
Jesus talked about money twice as much as heaven and hell
16 of 38 parables of Jesus had to with money and possessions.
16 of 38 parables of Jesus had to with money and possessions.
There are over 500 verses about prayer and faith.
There are over 500 verses about prayer and faith.
There are over 2000 verses about money and possessions.
There are over 2000 verses about money and possessions.
Why is this? It’s spiritual. It’s not no spiritual like a lot of people say. How we handle money is a spiritual discipline.
That’s why Jesus said,
21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
There is nothing more that God wants than your heart. There is nothing more that your spouse wants than your heart. There is nothing more that your kids want than your heart. And the direction that your money goes in is the direction that your heart goes in. It’s like there is a nerve that runs from your heart to your wallet. There is a connection. If you get your spending wrong, it messes up your heart. It gets complicated.
That’s why its so important to get it right.
If a person gets their attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area of their life.
It straightens out everything else.
Why is money so complicated?
Why is money so complicated?
Because it’s spiritual. If you will just look at handling money more spiritually and less naturally you will remove one big complication out of your life.
I haven’t preached on this because I am always afraid people will misunderstand it.
Look at this,
13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Mammon - Mamonus in Greek. It’s a Syrian god of riches and it came out of Babylon. Babylon means sown in confusion. So many people there is a Syrian god of confusion that is at work in our families. What we want to do is to get the confusion our of your finances.
This mammon god is the spirit of the devil that’s lying to you. He is telling you that he has this kind of power and rewards. But ONLY God can bless your life.
Book - the Day America told the Truth. Question - what would you do for 10,000,000 dollars.
What would you be willing to do for $10 Million.
What would you be willing to do for $10 Million.
25% would abandon their entire family.
25% would abandon their entire family.
23% would become a prostitute for a week or more.
23% would become a prostitute for a week or more.
16% would give up their American citizenship.
16% would give up their American citizenship.
10% would withhold testimony letting a murder go free.
10% would withhold testimony letting a murder go free.
7% would kill a stranger
7% would kill a stranger
3% would put their children up for adoption.
3% would put their children up for adoption.
Some of y'all are saying I’ll do that for free…
We want to free you from these lies and let you have peace in every area of your life.
What are some of the lies?
Having more money will make me more secure.
Having more money will make me more secure.
There is really no such thing as being financially. Steve Jobs had all kinds of money said before his early death. “If I had known my life would end this early, I would have lived it differently and handled my money differently. He thought if he accumilated enough that he would be ok. He wasn’t.
11 The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.
Imagine - it’s not true.
If you have that mindset, it’s the spirit of mammon and you grab onto something that cannot protect you.
That’s why the Bible says,
5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” 6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
God said, that he will never fail you or abandon you. You cannot let the spirit of fear into your life. God says he will never leave you. When you really believe this, you can say, I will have no fear. Fear comes from the enemy and causes us to look to artificial means of security that can never secure you.
The things I own define who I am.
The things I own define who I am.
If I have more, people will respect and like me more.
Jesus said,
15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
It can’t make you happy.
10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
The happiest people in the world are not the wealthy….
7 “Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned! 8 Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of!”
My stuff belongs to me.
My stuff belongs to me.
Listen, we are stewards. We don’t own our stuff. God has given it to us to manage. We are stewards. As a manger you handle things differently.
I live in a healthy fear of the Lord for what God has given me to manage, not just personally, but this. Your souls, your spiritual health, your marriages, your life.
I think this way. To whom much is given, much is required.
You each are blessed. You are living in 2024, in America, the greatest nation ever and you have options. You didn’t produce that, although some think that way.
There is an entitled spirit in our country where people feel like they are owed something. thank God my dad taught me that no one owes me anything. We understand that we are not owners, we are stewards.
10 David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
It didn’t come form me, it came from God.
Un-Complicating Money
Un-Complicating Money
There are 12 principles of money, but we will look at one.
Practice the principle of tithing.
Practice the principle of tithing.
If you came today and you are thinking… well I came to church and the preacher is preaching about money, don’t worry about it. This is the first time in 7 years and I am not doing it for me, but to help you.
30 “A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, is the Lord’s, and is holy.
Malachi sums it up. Israel is complaining that god has left them. It contains 4 things that they did to kick God out.
1 - Their worship wasn’t right
2 - Their relationships were not right.
3 - Possessions -
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
Here is what I hear a lot.
Isn’t tithing an Old Testament law?
Isn’t tithing an Old Testament law?
It is but we are not under the LAW. However, the principle predates the Law. Even if it was, you don’t through out the law … it’s just doesn’t save us. Murder is in the law too.
The principle is important…
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God is first.
1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
Tithing communicates that God is first.
Tithing communicates that God is first.
23 Bring this tithe to eat before the Lord your God at the place he shall choose as his sanctuary; this applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.
“I can’t afford to tithe.”
“I can’t afford to tithe.”
You can’t until you do. That’s why he said test me in this.
Tithing is a test of our faith.
Tithing is a test of our faith.
Some of us need to live lives of faith.
“The church doesn’t need my money.”
“The church doesn’t need my money.”
In a way you are correct, but…
Tithing allows the church to the the work of the Lord.
Tithing allows the church to the the work of the Lord.
Conclusion
I break fear and independance and cast it out of your marriages.
Bring us back to the truth of your word. I pray that will be no pest that devours their livelihoods and no disease that harms them.
I pray Lord that you speak to each one here. Ask HS what are you saying to me today?
Some of you have your hearts in the wrong place. Your love is in the wrong place. Christianity is simply re-aligning your love to where God is first in your life.
Salvation Prayer
God today I am re-ordering my life.