Journey To Riches

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY AND BECAME RICH?

I REMEMBER WHEN I TURNED 18 GETTING A SCRATCH OFF TICKET

I won a free ticket. Took it in. Won another free ticket. Then won $2... so... I guess you can say I've bene living the easy life ever since

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

60% say Pay Off Debt

11% Say travel

11% say share and donate the money

18% say other things

To me … this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

(Ephesians 3:8)

JERRY SEINFELD (You're not... I am.)

YOU'RE ALREADY RICH. TELL YA NEIGHBOR. IF YOU KNOW JESUS, YOUR RICH.

Here's why. because God owns everything. And if God has everything you need, and he's a good father, then you have access to everything God needs you to have.

Years ago our pastor told about a southern plantation owner who left a $50,000 inheritance (perhaps equivalent to half a million dollars today) to a former slave who’d served him faithfully all his life. The estate’s lawyer duly notified the old man and told him the money was deposited at a local bank.

Weeks went by, and the former slave never called for any of his inheritance. Finally, the banker called him in and told him again he had $50,000 available to draw on at any time. “Sir,” the old man replied, “do you think I can have fifty cents to buy a sack of cornmeal?”

That story illustrates the plight of many Christians today. Paul wrote of preaching “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8)—referring not to financial wealth but to the glorious truths of the gospel. It’s as if each of us has $50,000 available in the gospel, yet most of us are hoping we can squeeze out fifty cents’ worth. We don’t understand the riches of the gospel any more than the former slave understood his inheritance.

Suppose also that the slave was not only poverty-stricken but also deep in debt for back rent. With his inheritance, he could not only pay off the debt but also buy his house. His inheritance far surpasses his debt. This is the truth of the gospel. We owe an enormous spiritual debt to God; there’s no way we can repay it. The gospel tells us Jesus Christ paid our debt, but it also tells us far more: We’re no longer enemies and objects of God’s wrath. We’re now His sons and daughters, heirs with Christ to all His unsearchable riches. This is the good news of the gospel.

WE ARE CALLED TO GO DEEPER NEW PURPOSE CHURCH

Im not just talking about knowledge. Come on. You know some people that know a lot of information but it doesn't lead them to actually do anything. Like everyone knows you should return the shopping cart... how many actually do it? It's not always that we don't know what to do it's that we don't understand why it's important that we do it!

SADLY THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF PASTORS OF LARGE CHURCHES WHO HAD LARGE FOLLOWINGS FALL OVER THE PAST COUPLE YEARS AND GET WRAPPED UP IN SCANDAL. MANY HAD A LARGE REACH FOR JESUS, AND IMPACTED THE KINGDOM, MANY REACHING CELEBRITIES BUT SADLY EVERYONE WAS BEING TRANSFORMED IT SEEMED BUT THEM.

Very famous celeb recently said this about a very famous pastor who was fired recently for living a double life.

"I think so many pastors put themselves on a pedestal. And basically the church gets surrounded by this one man. And this guy has the ultimate relationship with Jesus that we all want but we can't get because we are not the guy"

People I need you to know today that same grace, the same riches, the same relationship is available to everyone. There is equal footing at the cross.

These Pastors saw they mountain, the Sunday morning, the social media following, the interviews, as the proof that they were pursuing Jesus. And they started to convince themselves that it didn’t matter what they did Monday through Saturday because Sunday was so good.

WHEN YOU ARE REALLY PURSUING JESUS. WHEN YOU ARE REALLY GETTING TO KNOW HIM IT CHANGES WHAT YOU DO. EVERYDAY.

When you are really pursuing your wife it changes what you do. HELLO. Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church. Gave his life up for her. If you are really pursuing your wife it changes how you act. It changes your habits, your routine, it changes everything.

When you look at your life, is there a positive direction of your actions changing? Your life moving closer and closer to looking like Jesus' life. If not, have you really been pursuing Jesus? Not just listening to worship music in the car. Not just reading your Bible when you think about it. Not just going to church when it isn't in the way of your other plans. Like really pursuing Jesus.

A LOT OF US HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. BUT JUST LIKE A MARRIED COUPLE WHO'S HONEYMOON HAS ENDED WE'VE STOPPED PURSUING HIM.

You can say you know someone without actually knowing them. You can know facts about a celebrity but that doesn't mean that you actually know them and have access to them. until you know them yourself you're just living through that person. Knowing a celeb and knowing facts about a celeb are two different things.

TOM CRUISE:

1962

5' 7"

married 3 times

used to be a bus boy in NY

member of church of scientology (not church or scientific)

If you were in a crisis it doesn't matter how much you yell his name he's not coming to help you

EVEN THE DEMONS BELIEVE AND TREMBLE

ARE YOU GROWING? ARE YOU SEEKING HIM? ARE YOU MOVING CLOSER TO HIS HEART DAILY.

John 15:1–5 (NLT) — 1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

MANY OF US GO FROM MOUNTAIN TOP TO MOUNTAIN TOP AND DO NOTHING IN BETWEEN. WE WAIT FOR MASSIVE MOMENTS BUT DON'T PUT IN ANY DAY TO DAY WORK.

We live life like we are on a rollercoaster. There are ups and downs and we just need to sit back and let it happen to us. Do nothing. Sit around and wait for the ride to be over.

But church even in the valleys there is something God has for us. In fact the valleys may be where God has the MOST for us. We see the mountain top as the good times. But the valleys are what allow the mountains to be so good.

He says "He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more"

Anyone signing up for a pruning today?

THAT'S LIKE ONLY RUNNING HALF MARATHONS AND NEVER RUNNING IN BETWEEN. BELIEVING THAT THE MARATHON WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU NEED. WHEN WHAT YOU DON'T SEE IS THE DAY TO DAY RUNNING PREPARES YOU FOR THE MARATHON.

It's the non glamorous, daily following of Jesus, pursuing him when everything is going wrong, that makes the good times even better.

THIS APPLIES TO CHURCH TOO.

You will never find the perfect church. and if you do don't go because you'll mess it up.

SUNDAY WILL ONLY BE AS IMPACTFUL AS MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY WERE OBEDIENT.

BUT WHAT IF I DONT FEEL LIKE READING?

WHAT IF I DONT FEEL LIKE CHURCH

WHAT IF I DONT FEEL LIKE WORSHIPPING?

IM SURE GLAD JESUS FELT LIKE FORGIVENESS AND GRACE

WHEN YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE WORSHIPPING THATS WHEN YOUR WORSHIP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. WHEN YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE READING YOUR BIBLE THATS WHEN GOD HAS SOMETHING FOR YOU. WHEN YOU DONT FEEL LIKE REMAINING IN JESUS THAT'S WHEN YOU NEED IT THE MOST AND MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER KNOW!

OUR CHURCH IS LIKE FUDGE. SWEET WITH A FEW NUTS.

2 Corinthians 2:14 (KJV 1900) — 14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

ALL OF HELL WAGES WAR AGAINST CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AND YOU BEING CONNECTED TO THE TRUE VINE THAT IS JESUS.

WE HAVE VICTORY TOGETHER.