The M*Word - Part Three - Managing

[Music] [Music] [Music] is my soul free man he took my [Music] No [Music] down jeez [Music] balls [Music] my soul [Music] the way [Applause] [Music] [Music] all this for you [Music] this [Music] now Jesus lives in me for hours to see the light celebrate this [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] polishes continue to worsen now drawn away we don't know when that will bring down [Music] now gotta breathe [Music] my knowledge the world [Music] [Applause] [Music] the way the king of glory before we're bar [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on let's finger his power [Music] [Music] No [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so continue worshiping we're joining alive with the Bluffton campus so we can worship together as one church let's lift up our voices together let's sing of the grace that our God has for us I've been strong and I've been broken within a moment I've been faithful and I've been a reckless it every I've held everything together watched it shine [Music] my heart racing drifted home laughing desperate to find redemption every time [Music] four hours love now was yours before I was not grace to spare [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] but don't deserve this kind this kind of love is who you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we're faithful you are gracious and I'm just grateful [Music] before I was lost now yours for hours to where the sky [Music] [Applause] I don't deserve this kind it's gonna love is who you it's a grace I can never had to be somebody here still [Music] it's [Music] [Music] [Music] come on shirt stick it out [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this kind of love is who you are it's a grace I can never to be somebody you still [Music] well good morning everybody welcome to our town sure it's just an honor to have you with us today my name is Dave and I really hope that you capture the essence of that song in your heart because so many of us we just can't figure out grace we just don't understand why God would love people like us and so there's one of two responses that we have the first one is that some of you have spent this entire time feeling like God can never love a person like you that you're too broken to addicted to lost and the reality is he loves you just as he finds you the story of the gospel is a story of broken people understanding that it's never too late to become who you might have been God has a great plan for your life and your best days are ahead for Jesus died on the cross for you praise God for that love the other response that we have is that we try and earn our way to God and we feel like if we can get it all together that we can get close to God and that we would be successful in this Christian journey but God's not looking for your perfection he's looking for your submission he just wants you to give him your heart he's not trying to get you to earn your way to heaven because there's no way that you can do it on our best day the Bible says that we fall short and so we have to accept God's grace and understand that we don't live for God's approval we live from God's approval it'll make all the difference in your life I'm telling you it'll radically change your spiritual journey and I pray that you would make that shift in your heart today first of all to understand that God loves you and accepts you just as you are and get it the same time he still has a great plan for your life but it's not because you try harder it's because you surrender more of who you are and allow God's power to be at work in your life and I'm gonna pray that both of those things would happen today that you would open your heart to allow the free gift of grace to cover your life but then at the same time that you would live from that grace and not from a place of works that you wouldn't try to earn your way to God but that you would live from God's approval come on let's open our hearts to him today and every campus father we thank you for the opportunity we have to be in your presence today we thank you that you love every single person here enough to give your life for us God we know that we're not all that we're supposed to be but thank God we're not where you found this father we thank you that every day gets better and better on this journey of faith and so Holy Spirit we invite you to come and move and work in our hearts and our lives today let today be another great step in this journey of faith we pray that we will be able to leave here with a little bit more faith God with a little bit more love with a little bit more joy living the life that you have called us to live God we thank you for these moments that we have in your presence we thank you today that will leave here changed we love you in Jesus name we pray amen and amen welcome everybody to I town men it is an honor to have you worshiping with us today as I mentioned my name is Dave and I just want to take a moment to give a shout out to all of our guests who are here for the very first time come on at every campus shirts mega feel welcome today it is an honor to have you with us we know there's a lot of great churches in the Greater Indianapolis area so it's an honor that you chose to worship with us today we gave you a little piece of information called a worship guide on the way in and that will help you navigate the weekend experience it will tell you a little bit about our philosophy of ministry here at I town and it sure is an honor to have you with us services usually about an hour long and really the rest of the time we have together we're gonna study God's Word we're in part three of a series called the N word we're concluding a series about finances and God does have a great plan for your finances to bless you but we got to do it God's Way and I'm excited to share today's message with you before we get to anything else at every campus why don't we find two or three people around us give them a high five and tell them Alabama lost yesterday as you take your seats at all of our campuses in just a moment we are gonna worship God with our giving we have done that intentionally at the beginning of the service you don't think our messages are trying to work you for a end of the service offering so we're gonna get it out of the way give you an opportunity to worship God with your giving if you can't prepare to do that you know how to do it there all the details are on the screen of how to give and if you're a guest don't feel pressure this service is our gift to you in fact you can take your connection card right after service at every campus to the Red Tent and we'll remind you at the end but there's a free gift for you and once again want to say thank you so much for being here for those of you who are regulars a couple of things I want you to know about as you get ready to give first one is that every single month we actually have an outreach project that we do on one Saturday that happens to be this coming Saturday and we are doing our Angel Tree outreach there are a lot of different outreaches you can be involved in but one of them is our Angel Tree distribution so you can get more details about that at the Red Tent you can jump online and I tell just I'll come and get signed up if you'd like to be a part of that if you are a person who took an angel tree ticket want to make sure you know that we need those gifts return by Wednesday this week so that we can be prepared for Saturday and it happens to be first Wednesday we'll have that here at Olsen farms if you've never come to first Wednesday it's a wonderful time of worship and word and I'll be here preaching it's gonna be a fun time as we prepare our hearts for the holiday season how many y'all know you can't raise your hands because they're probably we fear from Thanksgiving but you need God's grace to deal with the family members in your life during the holidays and we're gonna get you ready on this first ways it'll be a great great time together also we've been praying and preparing as a church for December 15th that's our annual vision offering and I want you to have plenty of time to pray and prepare because that's what the Bible says to do and as you do that we've been kind of giving you the vision of how we support ministries locally nationally and internationally and today I want you to see one of our international ministry partners Pastor Dan Salas down and South America uh sure you guys can come and service the buckets check this out Hey ital this is Dan with Dan Salas ministries my wife Cindy and I are missionaries here in Central America and have been for 26 years our vision is to take the gospel to the poor and set the captives free that takes us to the people on the streets those behind bars sick wherever they may be to be able to tell them a great message jesus loves you I town Church has come alongside of us they have supported us on a monthly basis so that we can buy food we can buy supply we can go into the prison and buy them my glasses buy them clothes when they leave we can provide school supplies and they have bought the materials to build a new feeding program items Church has helped us build this new building it is a feeding program it's where children come they can be fed spiritually they can be fed physically they can be trained it can be loved on but it also serves as a training center simply put I tell you have made a difference in our lives our ministry and the people of Panama we say thank you and God bless together we are reaching the nations [Music] [Music] [Music] all right welcome everybody to I Town Church in part three of this series called the n-word wanna pause for just a moment as we always do to say hello to all of our campuses our online campus and all the correctional facilities all across the state come on church let's put our hands together welcome each other to church today go ahead grab your message notes if you haven't already there inside of your worship guide or pull up the I town church app click on the messages button and we're gonna take some notes as we study God's Word and as you get all that stuff ready I want you to know that today is the first day of December and so our tickets are available for our Christmas Eve services they'll be from December 18th through the 24th we have 12 identical experiences for you to be able to attend and so here's how this works if you've never done it before figure out with your family and with your friends that you would like to attend when the best service time is for you to come and then jump online the ticketing process is completely free it just gives us the opportunity to know when everyone is showing up to make sure all of you don't come to the very same service and like I mentioned there are 12 identical services there's nearly 20,000 tickets available for you to reserve and it's important that you reserve them because it guarantees that you get in the room early the way this works is the doors open early for those ticket holders and we always make sure that we have a little bit of margin we've never had to turn anybody away but it will save you some stress and get you a better seat if you actually have a priority reserved ticket so jump online make sure that you get those seats reserved we will have childcare for our younger children but all the grade school kids I town kids and above they'll be with us and I love our Christmas services because they are the most creative and the most out of the box that we do all year long we'll have Christmas carols as always we'll have communion we are gonna light some stuff on fire praise the Lord because this is our own building and we can light candles again praise God for that it'd be a whole bunch of fun for those of you missed it last year we were not allowed to light candles at the school but we do appreciate the opportunity to have services there since we didn't have this building finished and it'll be a great time we have an opener that you'll never forget it'll be a lot of fun and as always we have a presentation of the gospel for your friends and family members we see a whole bunch of people make decisions for Christ as well and it'll be a fun fun time together we're in the spirit of the holidays I want you to know that we actually do have some I town gear that has been released today here at the Olson Farms campus and so you can check that out sometime after service today or all throughout the week many people don't realize the cafe is actually open throughout the week and I don't know if you realize this but we have actually discounted all the drinks so we have like Starbucks level quality but we wanted to make sure that the cafe wasn't a profit Center for the church it's just something that literally covers its own expenses so it is the cheapest latte in town and it's the coolest environment that you could possibly find and we did that because we wanted it to be a service to you and your family a place you could pop in have a great cup of coffee and a conversation with a friend in a nice environment there are soft play toys for kids if you bring your young ones with you and it's just a great environment so anyway you can stop by there if you're from one of the other campuses you can come by during the week or after service on the weekend and there's limited release gear that may be a great Christmas present there are actual Christmas t-shirts and things and we won't reap rittany of those when they're gone all right next thing I need you to know before we study God's Word is that next weekend will be our annual run with the vision series it's going to be a two-part series next weekend on December 8th you are gonna want to be here because we are making a bunch of big announcements about the future of our church and what's coming in 2020 and we have some very exciting developments happening and I want to make sure that you get the chance to hear it first and not from your friends and family members so make sure that you are here we're gonna recap the whole year we'll have a little review there inside of your eye town church app that you can go through with all the numbers and all the giving and all the ministries that we support it and then we're gonna talk about what God has put in our hearts for next year and then part two on December 15th we'll have our annual vision offering and I have a message that I'm preparing for you about God's vision for your life and what God wants to do through you and it's gonna be a fun two-part series as we prepare for the holiday season alright this is part 3 of a series called the N word our theme verse Luke chapter 16 verse 13 Jesus says no one can serve two masters because he'll either hate one and love the other or be loyal to one and despise the other and then he says it very clearly you cannot serve God and Mammon that's been our theme verse Jesus is saying you can't serve God and the god of riches or the God of wealth Mammon was the Syrian God that represented all of that and week one we started out this journey talking about how money is spiritual and the financial system of the world has Mammon's spirit on it which is a false god who wants to control your life he wants to keep you in fear and keep you in bondage and that's where a lot of Christians unfortunately find themselves I think that's why the M word is the M word when it comes to church because we're a little bit sensitive about the topic because I do believe that we trust God for our spirituality but we trust the financial system of the world for our finances we're worshipping Mammon and I don't think it's an intentional decision I think it's something culturally that's crept in to the body of Christ and it puts us in a lot of fear and bondage in life and it's been my goal for the last couple of weeks to break that off of you because God has a better plan so week when we talked about getting God's blessing on our finances that comes in the principle of the tithe if you have questions about tithing that message is probably the best presentation that I've personally ever made from a biblical standpoint of what the tithe is all about and what it's supposed to accomplish in your life then in week two we tackled the subject of giving we talked about how you can't give until you tithe because tithing isn't giving it's returning you bring that to the local church but then God gives you the opportunity to give some of that could go to the local church but it can go anywhere the Lord leads you can give to people give to organizations and when you give you have the power to see your resources multiplied that was the story of the five loaves and the two fish if you miss that I would encourage you to jump online and watch it today I want to deal with root cause of all of it I think that we do have trouble trusting God and I think we need to put him first and all those are issues but at the core of who we are as Christians most of us genuinely believe that we just can't afford to do any of this but we have a heart to do it in fact I would say it this way we were born selfish but we're born again generous I do believe that every single Christian has a heart for generosity so I don't think my job is to convince you to try and be generous I feel like you want to be generous in fact let me say it this way I don't think you're stingy I think you're strapped I think we've just for too long embraced the world's system that's gotten us upside down financially and so we can't even fathom the idea of being able to tithe much less give because we're living in financial bondage and so today I want to talk to you about the subject of managing tithing giving now managing because there's a portion of it that is our responsibility how do we handle the resources that God has entrusted us with and in order to change that area of our lives there's two things that were going to have to change and the first one jot it down if you're taking notes is our perspective we have to change our perspective about money and hopefully this will set you free because there are some things in our perspective that need to change when it comes to the resources God has placed in our lives I'm give you three of them the first one is that it's all God's God owns it your perspective needs to change about your money because it's not yours in the first place which if you think about it is pretty gracious that the Lord only requires that we return 10% because a hundred percent of it is his and he says I just need you to bring that first 10% cuz I don't need your money but I do want your heart and I want to make sure that you know that I'm the one who has provided for you I want you to know that I'm the one who owns all of it that's what first chronicles chapter 29 says praise be to you O Lord God of our Father Israel from everlasting to everlasting yours O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor read it with me for everything in heaven and earth is yours come on read it again for everything and heaven and earth is yours one more time for everything in heaven and earth is yours everything so that means God owns everything and everything that you and I have is the Lord's and you might say well that's not true I have worked hard to get where I'm at I've made a lot of sacrifices and I have intellect and talent and abilities that I have used to create wealth to which I would say who gave you the intellect and the talent and the ability and the breath and your lungs who decided that you'd get to be born in America or at least get to live in America God is the one who determined all of that because everything in the world including all the people were his creation and so when we take a step back and understand that it's all God's I think it would change our perspective about finances because we are no longer our source we're not responsible to make sure that everything is paid for in life if we truly resign ourselves to the fact that it's all God's in fact over 20 times in your Bible God tells us to ask him over 20 different times God says would you just ask would you ask me would you go to me but too many times our response is we're gonna work harder we're gonna stress more we're gonna get more debt but we don't ever think about including God God says look I own everything in the world I'm begging you to let me be involved in your finances so God says I don't have any problem getting money to you I just have to know that it's going to be okay when I get it to you because I have all of it so then we have to make sure that we manage it our job is to manage it it's God's and I recognize that everything that comes into my life that's good comes from the gracious hand of God he owns all of it so now my job is just to simply manage it again changing our perspective the word stewardship is all throughout your Bible that's an Old English word for the word manage now if you're a manager at all which we have a lot of managers in today's culture business and organizations create a lot of levels of management let me give you a principle that will change your life and make you wealthy jobs instead if you take your notes a good manager manages with the goals of the owner in mind now most mid-level management manages with the idea of benefiting themselves at the cost of the company and protecting the employees under them at the cost of the company and if you want to be blessed in life that is the wrong perspective to embrace you need to make sure that you are managing it with the goals of the person who owns it in mind in fact Kate and I are pretty entrepreneurial in the way we view the world and just the way we interact with the world around us and so we're always laughing when we leave restaurants or organizations places they don't treat you right we always think I wonder if the owner knew that I just sat in that line at McDonald's for 25 minutes if they'd be pleased with that experience I wonder if they knew how I was just spoken to I wonder if they knew how cold that food was they probably would have a fit but that manager didn't seem to care I just want you to know if you have that mentality you won't be managing anything for very long you don't know I'm talking about a good manager managers with the goals of the owner in mind same thing true is true for our finances if everything truly is gods that means that I'm just managing it for him so we have to ask ourselves the question would he be pleased without him taking care of his stuff like how's God's car doing today is it clean his the oil changed she washed the windows do you think he'd be proud of his car how's his yard looking how's his house cared for how how you doing with the stuff that God is letting you borrow for a short period of time then it's quiet in this Lutheran Church y'all like this hurt me bad you gotta be a good manager because at the end of the day we will be accountable for his stuff one day you and I will slip into eternity and he's gonna look at you and say how did you do with all the stuff of mine that I let you borrow and if your mentality for this entire lifetime was that it was all yours and you could spend how you desire you can be pretty disappointed with that answer as you stand before your Creator so we have to change our perspective of how we're managing it and manage it with what he would want in mind it's all a test Luke chapter 16 says if you could be trusted with little you could be trusted with much but whoever is dishonest with little will be dishonest with much people say to me all the time oh if I had a nice car whoo buying a BMW I'd wash it all the time liar if you don't wash whatever you drive now you won't wash whatever you drive then because money doesn't change you into a better person it just makes you more of what you already are so if you are a jerk you're just gonna be a big fat rich jerk it's not gonna make you into a nice philanthropic generous person you're not gonna change you're gonna be who you are and so I had my dad actually gave me a really nice BMW and I sold it to come and play at the church and we bought this little Honda that was just a piece of junk hundred and eighty some thousand miles on it and so I took that thing home and I waxed what was left of the paint on it and I spray-painted all the hubcaps silver again and stuck those things back on there drove that bad boy for a year and then sold it for a thousand dollars more than what I paid for it you know why because you just manage everything in your life as though it's the Lord just because it was a cheaper car didn't mean I treated it any differently than every other car and people would always say oh if I had a nice house if I had a nicer car if I had a better this or that then I would I would change everything no the truth is the reason why you don't have all those other things is because you're failing the test that you're taking now you ever think about that when you fail to test what happens you have to take the test again eventually you have to repeat the grade again and if you feel like you're stuck in this endless cycle in your life maybe you ought to start doing some different things because you're failing some type of test that God needs you to pass in order to get to the next level and God doesn't have trouble getting money to you but can he get money through you is the question he doesn't mind you having nice cars and it doesn't mind you having a nice house that in mind you having multiple nice houses in multiple nice cars God wants you to be blessed coz you're his kids but a portion of what he gives us is for the opportunity for us to bless others and to be a blessing in the world around us and God's testing us where we're at right now if we could be trusted are you a good manager do you use the resources that I've entrusted you with with my intentions in mind are you thinking about your life are you thinking about the world around you in the world that God has called us to impact so he goes on to say if you've not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth and who can trust you with true riches which ultimately is what God cares about and that's speaking about influence and people and eternity so we have to remember first of all it's all gods second of all it's just my job to manage it changing our perspective about money so my car is not my car it's God's my house is not my house it's God's my clothes are not my clothes they're gods which makes it a whole lot easier incidentally when he speaks to you to give it all away because it's not yours in the first place so it's easier for us to obey and then ultimately I'm going to manage it with his intentions in mind that would remind me that it's people who need it it's not me who needs it it's people it's the world around me the people that God has called us to impact a few verses earlier from our theme verse and Luke 16 verse 9 says here's the lesson use those worldly resources that financial benefit that God has brought into your life to bless others to make friends to make an impact in the world around you why because then when all your possessions are gone and your life is over you'll have an eternal home there will be impacts in eternity there's a reward for us in heaven we're supposed to live for heaven not this earth too many times we live to build up treasure here on the earth and the Bible says don't do that put your treasure in heaven because heaven is where it be touched heaven is where it's preserved that's all that God really cares about so if we're using God's money to advance his cause we'd be using it to impact the only thing in the world around us that's eternal and that's people we're just changing our perspective my money's not my money it's God's I don't get to do what I want with it because it's not mine in the first place I'm simply managing it for the Lord so I need to make sure I do what serves his best interest which is impacting people for whom he gave his life now if you have that perspective that's the first thing you have to fix and if you don't fix that you won't do the rest of it it's not until we change our perspective that anything else will change in life but once we change our perspective then number two we can change our principles we can get the right principles in place and the reason why we're in the place that we're in as a nation is just because we bought in to the wrong principles we're serving Mammon as a country Romans chapter 12 don't copy the behavior and customs of the world so we shouldn't be doing things like the world we shouldn't be following their systems in other words in every area of your life especially finances so let God transform you by changing that perspective and when you change your perspective then you'll change your principles you'll see that what God wants to do is good and pleasing and perfect so let me just shed some light on the principles that are being embraced in the country in which we live this is from the u.s. debt clock org you can look it up yourself our country right now is about 23 trillion dollars in debt and this number is significantly outdated because I made it this morning at 6:30 and since then we have gone several million dollars in debt more because every day we go more than a billion dollars additionally in debt as a nation so I just want you to know that if you're following the world system you are going bankrupt very quickly because unlike the US government you don't have the ability to borrow from China and print money you gonna be in trouble and remember money is spiritual so if we don't break the curse off of our money we will follow the trend of culture and culture will make you bankrupt culture will make you strap and you'll be a servant to finances and you'll never be able to live the life that God has called you to live we have to understand the culture that we're living in and because you can't sit down after this service at your kitchen table and plan to lose a hundred thousand dollars a month and expect that your life is going to be okay and yet that's how our country is being run right now we just need to understand the world that we live in this isn't a political statement it's just a wake-up call for us as Christians we are not of this world and we shouldn't embrace the principles that this world embraces all right because of that proverbs chapter 21 says get a good plan the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty so you have to have a plan in fact it's so fascinating they did this study on Harvard Business graduates who graduate with an MBA and they found that 3 percent of the class actually outperformed the other 97 percent of the class combined and so they looked a little deeper into the lives of that 3 percent to find out what was different about them so the same professionals same class same degree and they found that that 3 percent the only distinguishing difference between them and the 97 percent is that the 3 percent had written goals they left college with a written goal of what they wanted to accomplish in their life they had a focus they understood what they were trying to accomplish and I want you to know today that you can wander into debt but you'll never wander out of it you'll never show up at church one day and be like man I am flushed with cash I don't even know how I did it I'm just so financially free praise the Lord it was an accident I can't even tell you I can't give you steps because I've even know what happened just BAM all of a sudden money everywhere it's incredible it'll never happen and so here's what we have to do here's the first principle that we have to change we need to build a working budget and by working I mean you can't plan to lose money you have to actually spend what you have you have to have a plan that works I brought this verse to you a couple of weeks ago Haggai chapter 1 says you need to think about what you're doing give careful thought to your ways don't live a thoughtless planless life make sure that you have direction and vision because here's what happens when you don't have a plan you plant much harvested little you eat but you never have enough you drink and never have you feel you put on clothes but you are not warm you earn wages but you put them in a purse with holes in it I'm not accusing you of being lazy I think Americans and especially Christians are very hard workers I think we have bad principles and so what happens is we work really hard we take on extra jobs we we we spread ourselves as thin as possible and yet we never get ahead and it's just because we're not embracing biblical principles of Finance so the first thing that we have to do in building a working budget is give every dollar a name let's give you some practical steps here that it help you out if you've never built a budget then just go through your budget that's how much money you make after you give and after the government takes their share then you write down what you have left over and then you say okay we've got our tithe set aside and the government's taken their part now with the rest of what's left over every single dollar has to have a name and the way that we budget in our household we we love Dave Ramsey think he's great but I don't like carrying cash and so we just have multiple bank accounts like we have a bank account that we buy our groceries out of it we have a bank account that is our discretionary we have a bank account that we spend our bills out we pay for our bills out of it and we give out of we just kind of have it all divided like that in different bank accounts because it helps us and then we have every dollar has a name we just know how much we're gonna spend on the different things that we set out to spend as a family and you need to do that very same thing you don't need to know where your money is actually going because too many of us we just kind of live and it all just happens and then we're not even sure where it all went so jesus said it this way and luke 14 suppose you want to build a tower well first wouldn't you sit down and figure out the cost and then see if you have enough to complete it we need to do the same thing we need to make sure that we know what our goals are for the month and that we have a dollar for our name for every dollar so that we kind of know where it's going and then the second step is to create some margin margin is the gap between what you bring in and what you spend what's required of you most Americans do not live with any kind of margin we budget ourselves to a hut percent of our income and it's one of the things that Mammon uses to keep us trapped to keep us from feeling like we can participate in God's plan and so instead of getting arrays and using that extra money to pay off debt or to save we just go get a nicer car we go get a better house we just increase that cost of living and so especially in the greater in an emissary a-- we make a ton of money but we spend a ton of money we have a lot coming in but we have a whole lot more that's going out and we never live with any kind of gap we never live with any kind of margin and it's important for us to create that margin because it's what gives you the ability to have some flexibility in cleese acity says it this way better one handful with tranquility then two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind so there's lots of ways that you can create margin like you just look at your budget you look at the things that you're spending money on and you make some conscious decisions especially if you're in a tight financial place and you're not participating with God's plan I'm just telling you it's not an income problem it's a spending problem like I hear people tell me all the time that they don't have any money and yet I look on Instagram and they Black Friday shopping they're eating out with friends all the time they're drinking Starbucks all the time and I'm thinking men I need to introduce you to Maxwell House to Folgers it will become the best part of waking up and some folders I used to laugh all the time back in the early days of the church I do all the counseling and that wasn't good for the church because you know in the first five seconds I could figure out what your problem is the next five seconds I'm gonna blurt it out at you and then we're done like five minutes you good I'm feel good and they didn't feel good they don't carry that because they needed me to lead them to the conclusion that I had already figured out it takes me longer so we have better people at counseling now but they would cut lots of couples to come and get financial counseling and I think that's great they would want help with their finances because they were spending too much they're in debt feeling pressure and every single time I'm not I am that this is not a joke as God is my witness every time I did one of those they would show up with a cup of Starbucks in their hand every time I think you were coming to a meeting about how you have no money and it's destroying your life and your marriage you can't tie if you can't give and you're drinking a five-dollar cup of coffee with a brand-new iPhone it's like the latest model like hello am i the crazy one here I don't think there's anything inherently evil with Starbucks and I love technology I think it's great to have the most updated technology as long as you can afford it like Charles Barkley said gambling is not a problem if you can afford to lose the money because he had a lot of money to lose but guess what it's a problem right it's a problem when we don't have self-control it is a problem and the reality is many of us are a slave to these little things in culture like eating out and drinking five dollar cup of Starbucks and the different things that we get to do and I don't know if you realize this but 80% off a piece of junk you don't need it's still a piece of junk you don't need hello Walmart on Black Friday Allen handle Nate why do I need an 18th television I don't care if it's 85 inches for $400 it's the most amazing deal ever I don't need it you don't you just don't need it but you see everything in our culture is programmed you to believe that your life will end if you don't have it and so we end up spending money we don't have for things we don't need to impress people we don't like because it's the American Way this is what we do now we got to create margin we got to create margin why because we need to get out of debt we got to get we got to get rid of the debt issue because for some of you debt is keeping you from the life that God's called you to live they said for everybody some of you have financial freedom you've got your finances in a good place but others of us I just want I just want you to know that you're not as broke as you think you're actually doing a lot better than you think you just have to adjust some priorities and embrace some biblical principles so there's margin there you use that margin once you give that dollar every dollar a name you'll find the places of waste and then you start creating margin and then you use that margin to start paying off your debt and then you'll truly find some financial freedom the Bible says the rich rule the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender and if you don't think you're a servant to the people that you owe money to then just stop paying the bills you'll find out real fast who's in charge and I just wonder how many of us are unable to follow the call of God in our lives because we're strapped because money's actually in control we have to go to that job that we feel like is a trap in a dead-end is sucking the life out of us because it's the thing that pays for our cars in the house and the school bills and the credit card bills and everything else that we've amassed in life see how the devil's tricked us to keep us from being able to truly be free not only are we in the place that we feel like we can't tithe and give but we can't even respond as the Lord would lead because we're strapped and so much of it is for stuff that you and I just don't need do you know that in 1960 there was no such thing as a storage unit some of you remember 1960 there were no storage units today there are forty eight thousand five hundred facilities that bring in 36 billion dollars a year as a nation we are spending 36 billion dollars to house junk that's right all your stuff in storage is junk or you be using it I'm trying to help you alright I'm just trying to help you grandmas gone alright can you sell the furniture it's okay she won't know we love you grandma if you're here but when you go we're not storing your stuff forever there's more storage units in America than there are McDonald's and Starbucks combined think about that hello and every year 65 million dollars in storage units are auctioned off look the show is real I thought it was fake I thought they were staged and all that stuff and cut locks off of people's stuff and it's real they actually are finding people's junk and reselling it that's real the show is real it's probably like the message of the day the store shows people do have like real stuff think about this why do we have all this stuff because you've been taught that you can't live without it it's a material world and I'm a Material Girl I need it but we don't we don't we don't we need to leave this service and light some storage units on fire I'm just telling you see why do we spend $1,000 a year to store things that we could repurchase for a hundred bucks when we need it I'm not an accountant but that's good math all right so we're gonna embrace God's plan with this working budget by giving every dollar a name creating margin reducing debt why so that we can save the Bible tells us that we should have savings proverbs 20:1 says in the house of the wise our stores of choice food and oil but it's a foolish person who devours all he has God has never designed for us to always be a slave to debt we should be in the place that we have savings so that when the Lord speaks to us we can actually respond so we got to change these principles not only do we need a working budget but the reason why we do all of that and create savings is because ultimately God has called us to be radically generous God has called us to be like him he's the first giver he loved you and I so much that he radically gave His one and only Son you never more like God then when you get sick Corinthian says it this way here's God's plan in a nutshell for your finances you'll be enriched in every way that's what God wants to do for you so that you can be generous on every occasion every time I read that verse it blows my mind that God wants me to be so blessed that every time I want to buy someone's meal I wouldn't have to think about it did I'd be blessed enough to be able to do that then every time I see somebody at the grocery store who I feel like I should pay for their groceries I should be able to do that without having to worry about it that every time I meet someone who's in desperate need of a car and trying to dig their way out of a situation that they shouldn't be in and they're fighting for their life but they just don't have the resources that we as the body of Christ should be able to pay for their car pay for the college pay off the college debt help them get in a home that we would be able to make a difference God wants to do that in the world around us but he can't if the body of Christ is broke because it takes resources to minister to people remember used the unrighteous mammon to win friends to get paper why because ultimately it's about building heaven not earth be closed with this thought the word belief shows up in your Bible 272 times the word pray 371 times the Bible tells us to love 714 times and yet we are told to give 2161 times God wants us to be givers I don't think you're stingy I think you strapped God has called us to have the heart of generosity but you'll never get there you never be at either and a giver if you're not a good manager we have to learn how to embrace biblical principles to care what the Lord has entrusted us with why because all of it ultimately is his and one day you and I will stand before him and he'll ask how'd you do with the stuff I gave you I want to have a good answer for that I wanted to have leveraged every dollar that I possibly could to make a difference in the world around me I don't want to spend my life trying to worship God and money at the same time I want to remind you one more time you can't do both it's one or the other but if you trust God with everything in your life it's the most refreshing and freeing decision that you'll ever make and in an ironic that most of us here are counting on him to come through as the savior of our souls and yet we hesitate to trust him to manage our finances I think it's time we changed our perspective with every head bowed and every eye closed I want to take a minute to pray that God will bless your life today because I do believe that God has a great plan for your finances and we need to break the curse of Mammon that fear control that the financial system of this world has over us and we need to truly be free embracing God's principle of finance but first I wonder how many are here and you're far from God today maybe it's because you've always served money it's a incredible false god that promises safety and security and significance and yet even if you found success you know that deep inside there's a god-shaped hold that money could never fill maybe it's not money maybe it's something else that you have pursued in life but today you find yourself far from God I want you to know that he loves you he wants to provide for you in every way and he made the first move by being the first giver He gave His life to rescue us maybe that's you today and you're ready to surrender your life to Him I'm not gonna make you stand or come to the front not trying to embarrass you and all of our campuses today with no one looking around I just want to pray with you right where you're at if that's you would you do me the favor just to slip your hand up high right where you're at come on right now put your hand up I say Dave count me and I need Jesus it's time for me to totally surrender to him great job great job I'm so proud of you all over the place you can put your hands down on all of our campuses you can put your hands down I'm gonna give you the words to pray you can pray them quietly in your heart because it's between you and the Lord just say Lord Jesus please forgive me today for all of my sin and mistakes I repent come into my life make me brand new fill me today with your presence and with your power and help me to serve all the days of my life and Jesus name now if you're comfortable at every campus would you just open your palms right there in your lap let me pray for you before we go Kyle we thank you today that you are our provider your father you want us to experience good things in this life I pray that you would help us to make the perspective shift today that it's not ours in the first place everything belongs to you we just simply get to take care of it for you God with that perspective in mind I pray that you would help us to leverage every dollar every gift every moment that we've been given to further the cause of Christ on the earth god we thank you that as we embrace the principles of your word to get a good budget in place and to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as we're able to create margin and say father we thank you that you lead us the opportunities to give and as we give lord we thank you that will allow people to see how good you are Lord I pray today that you had helped the great state of Indiana to be a hard place to go to hell from simply because of the generosity of your people help us Lord to be able to be generous on every occasion now thank you for the opportunity to invite you into our finances today one last time we break the power of Mammon off of this church and off of our lives we thank you that we can truly be free in the area of our finances to serve you we love you today Jesus name we pray and all God's people said amen come on in every campus I celebrate with those who prayed that prayer [Applause] you just prayed that prayer with me today I would love to encourage you to text the word salvation to six three five six six because we have a text message response that we'd like to send you you're not signing up for a text program we're never send you another text we just want to make sure that we get you the information that you need to take the next step in your journey of faith another great thing for you to do is to join us for the grow plant it happens every weekend here at I town and all the details are at the Red Tent on your way out so please find out about that because we would love to help you take your next step in your journey of faith and if you're a guest please remember to take that connection card with you to the red tip because we have a free t-shirt for you to say thank you for being here and I just want to thank you for not running away during this series and for continuing to come to church has been an honor to pastor you through this and I am praying that God's incredible blessing would be showered on your lives make sure that you are here next weekend we have a lot of big announcements for our vision series it's gonna be a fun party as we look back and celebrate all that God has allowed us to accomplish this year together and we'll have a great great time and then join me for first Wednesday this week if you are available it's just such a refreshing time of worship and the word and I'm excited to share those moments with you on your way out if you have Marjan stop by the gear in the lobby and you can buy some stuff take all your Black Friday junk back and get you some I town swag all right we love you guys thank you so much for being here this weekend have a fantastic week we'll see you next weekend thank you so much for joining us online today we hope you enjoyed the message if you're within driving distance of one of our physical campuses we would love to invite you to join us in person next weekend otherwise you can join us live online every Sunday morning at I Town Church com until then we love you and we'll see you soon

Channel: ITOWN Church

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Id: lspWoqirj6A

Length: 64min 17sec (3857 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 08 2020