The Trap of Ownership: Finding True Freedom in God’s ‘Enough’

• Financial Stewardship and Ownership [00:50:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that because all provision comes from God, humans are stewards rather than owners, shifting the focus from personal wealth to serving God's purposes.
• Graduate Life Transitions [00:48:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The sermon is contextualized for graduates entering a new phase of life, urging them to consider their financial vision and the purpose of their money as they face the world.
• Prayer for Finances [00:47:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts short-term, need-based prayers for bills with long-term, vision-based prayers regarding the purpose of wealth, using Proverbs 30 as the model.
• Modern vs. Ancient Dependence [00:50:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > An illustration contrasting modern convenience (buying bread at a store) with ancient dependence (farming) to highlight how modern society often forgets God as the ultimate provider.
• Stewardship vs. Ownership [00:52:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that believers are stewards, not owners, of all resources, which belong ultimately to God.
• Dependence on God [00:53:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the Exodus narrative, the pastor illustrates how God placed Israel in the desert to teach total dependence on Him for sustenance.
• Sufficiency ('Enough') [00:59:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the biblical ideal as having 'enough' to do God's work, rejecting both poverty and excessive riches.
• Cultural Critique [01:03:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the Christian view of sufficiency with a culture that measures worth by material accumulation.
• The Deceitfulness of Wealth [01:08:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that wealth is a dangerous trap because it leads to self-sufficiency and idolatry, citing Deuteronomy and the tendency to 'do life differently' when financially secure.
• The Trap of Poverty [01:14:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies poverty as a real trap that hinders witness and can lead to stealing or relying improperly on others, referencing 1 and 2 Thessalonians regarding idleness and self-sufficiency.
• Sanctification of Work [01:20:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that all honest work pleases God, regardless of status, using his own experience as a bivocational pastor and waiter to illustrate that financial independence is a tool for spiritual freedom.
• Spiritual Freedom [01:22:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines true freedom not as doing what one wants, but as being free from the slavery of wealth or poverty to serve the Lord, citing Galatians 5:1.
• Financial Freedom [01:22:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines true freedom not as doing what one wants, but as being free from the slavery of poverty or riches to serve the Lord.
• Trust in God's Provision [01:24:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that praying for 'neither poverty nor riches' only works if believers trust that Jesus knows how to make them happier than they can make themselves.
• Practical Application of Finances [01:26:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to ask God specifically what He wants them to do with their budget, including tithing and seeking opportunities to avoid financial insecurity.

• Sermon Illustration [00:50:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the modern experience of buying bread at a grocery store with the ancient Israelite experience of growing grain, illustrating how modern convenience distances people from recognizing God as the provider of basic sustenance.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about hearing a drought warning and initially thinking only about watering his grass and backyard fire bans, contrasting this trivial concern with the life-or-death anxiety of an ancient farmer facing drought.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts modern drought responses (watering grass less, no backyard fires) with ancient Israel's drought (fear of starvation), highlighting how modern comfort leads to forgetting God's provision.
• Sermon Illustration [00:53:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the biblical story of the Exodus, noting that God led Israel into the desert for 40 years and provided manna and water from rocks to teach dependence, rather than taking them directly to a lush land.
• Sermon Illustration [00:54:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the geography of the Promised Land as mostly 'brown' (mountains and deserts) rather than lush, explaining this was intentional to force Israel to rely on God for prosperity.
• Sermon Illustration [01:03:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his family cutting back on expensive youth sports activities because they were 'broke' despite not being 'poor,' illustrating the difficulty of choosing God's will over personal desires.
• Sermon Illustration [01:05:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the concept of 'buyer's remorse' regarding expensive family dinners to illustrate the emptiness of chasing material satisfaction, contrasting it with the lasting joy found in God's provision.
• Sermon Illustration [01:19:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about being a bivocational pastor in seminary, hating his job but keeping it to pay creditors, and initially praying for God to deliver him from work, only to realize through Scripture that work is honorable.
• Sermon Illustration [01:12:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Eric Church's commencement speech at UNC Chapel Hill, which argues that we must attend to our spiritual lives when we are whole and satisfied, not just when we are broken.
• Sermon Illustration [01:09:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a humorous analogy about the difference in his demeanor on payday versus the day before payday, noting he is more willing to go to lunch when he has money.
• Sermon Illustration [01:22:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about being 'easy on myself' and spending money on things that are bad for him, illustrating that self-indulgence is not true freedom.

• Pastoral Charge [00:08:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > Fill out a connection card and place it in the offertory plate.
• Pastoral Charge [00:08:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > Write a prayer request on the back of the connection card and hand it in.
• Pastoral Charge [00:09:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Check the back of the weekly bulletin for upcoming events.
• Pastoral Charge [01:00:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > Come to the altar call if the speaker has excess wealth.
• Pastoral Charge [01:02:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Have a personal, honest conversation with God regarding financial sufficiency and sacrifice.
• Pastoral Charge [01:19:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > To seek and accept employment if the opportunity exists, to avoid the trap of poverty.
• Pastoral Charge [01:21:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > To accept any available honest work (e.g., at McDonald's or Starbucks) to maintain financial independence and avoid poverty.
• Pastoral Charge [01:27:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > Ask God specifically what He wants the individual to do with their finances.
• Pastoral Charge [01:27:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > Review personal budgets to determine what portion should be given to God's kingdom.
• Pastoral Charge [01:28:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > Identify opportunities for greater provision and step outside comfort zones to address financial insecurity.
• Pastoral Charge [01:29:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > Come forward to the front for prayer, questions, church joining inquiries, or baptism/salvation inquiries.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:01:04] So good to see each and every one of you today. If you don't know me, I'm Tracy Willis, and I work with missions here at Southside Baptist. So I just want to share an opportunity with you. One of the things I've known about missions for a long time, but that we are living every day with a family serving with the IMB, is that missions is not just about the people who go.
[00:01:37] order to do missions, whether it's long-term on the field across the world or locally going with your fellow church members for a short-term mission trip. Missions takes a team, and so that's what I want to share with you this morning. Our philosophy here at Southside is to welcome in, to raise up,
[00:02:05] and to send out. And not all of us are at a point where we may be able to be sent out, but we're all at a point where we can partner and team with people who are being sent out. And so you have
[00:02:19] an opportunity to do that. For the past, gosh, since 2021, we have been partnering with ministers and missionaries in Panama. And so it's truly a partnership between Southside Baptist Church and people who are serving in Panama. And so we've had teams go the past several years,
[00:02:42] and we have another team this summer. If you will all open your bulletins, you have an insert.
[00:02:48] Show me your inserts. They're really pretty, by the way, wherever Dolly is. They look fabulous.
[00:02:53] Don't they look great?
[00:02:54] Okay, so this tells you some ways that you can help our team.
[00:02:59] First of all, I do want you to see on the spaghetti dinner side, it lists the people who are going.
[00:03:06] You can begin praying for us right now.
[00:03:09] If you don't know, one of the things that we do with missions here at Southside is if you are going on the trip, we meet regularly.
[00:03:17] We meet to be unified as a team.
[00:03:20] We meet to be spiritually prepared.
[00:03:23] and we need to be equipped to share our faith with people in Panama.
[00:03:28] So you can be praying for us right now, okay?
[00:03:32] The dates of the trip I don't think are in here, but they're July 11th through the 18th.
[00:03:37] And so you can definitely be praying for us when we leave, which we'll keep telling you and reminding you of that date.
[00:03:42] But so you can partner with us.
[00:03:45] You can either physically go, you can be prayer support and part of our prayer team, and you can be part of our financial team. Many of us don't necessarily have the funds to just go,
[00:03:58] even though God has called us. And so because he calls us means that he's calling other people to donate and to give. And so we are grateful for that. So you can actually just give in the
[00:04:11] offering plate and denote it to the Panama Mission Trip. You can give online. In our online giving, there's actually a drop-down box that says Panama Mission Trip, and you can give there.
[00:04:23] If you want to designate it to one of the 11 people on here, there's a line for you to put their name, so you can do that as well, or you can just give generally. Any general gifts are
[00:04:33] divided by all 11 of us who are going. But then two other ways that we have coming up is that we're having some fundraisers. We are doing a family movie night, which is going to be super
[00:04:46] fun. It is for donations only. It's going to be in two Fridays, I guess, on May 29th. And we're going to show the movie David, which was just in theaters. And all reviews say that it's absolutely
[00:05:00] wonderful. So it would be great for you to bring your family, come watch the movie David. We'll have drinks, we'll have popcorn, and we'll have candy bars. The first popcorn and drink is free.
[00:05:12] any things after that we might ask for a donation and then we will take donations for the candy bars so we would love for you to come we aren't going to do signups for that but we need you to show up
[00:05:24] please come and support that then on the back it talks about the spaghetti dinner it's it's a luncheon it's right after church so we will feed you you don't have to make it and you don't have to go pay well you do kind of have to pay for it but you don't have to go to a
[00:05:39] restaurant. So we just ask for donations. We're going to feed you spaghetti. Church members are helping us prepare that and we're grateful for that. And then we'll also have our fun auction that we've had the past few years. If you have been, it is a blast. If you haven't been, come
[00:05:55] because you're going to laugh. It is a great time. So we're auctioning off some great desserts and we also have some other items that we're going to be auctioning this year. Miss Debbie Whitehead is in
[00:06:04] charge of the auctions if you have any questions. We are going to take sign-ups for the spaghetti dinner, and that sign-up is on Dolly's office door. Yes, it's on Dolly's office door. If you can't stay that day, you can do takeout. So we do takeout, and we do stay in. Please stay because
[00:06:22] of the auction. It's super fun, but you can do either way. If you have questions, you can see me or any of the other 10 team members that are listed here on the sheet.
[00:06:33] But again, missions requires a team.
[00:06:36] Those going, those praying, and those donating.
[00:06:40] And we appreciate that you, Southside, are such an amazing team.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:06:51] Good morning, church.
[00:06:52] Would you please stand for our graduate processional this morning?
[00:07:28] You may be seated.
[00:07:32] Church, it's good to be back in the house of the Lord with you this morning.
[00:07:35] In case you're a little confused, this is our graduate Sunday.
[00:07:40] and we're very proud of our graduates we're going to be we're going to be celebrating them a little bit later on in our service well we're so glad that you're here with us worshiping this Sunday
[00:07:52] maybe you've been with us for a long time or maybe you've wandered in to to help us celebrate our graduates or maybe this is just your first or second Sunday here we just want to take this time
[00:08:02] to tell you how glad we are that you are here and we want you to know that this is not by accident We know that God has you here so that you can either begin or to foster a relationship with him.
[00:08:15] And that is one of the greatest relationships that you could ever have on this earth because he loves you so.
[00:08:19] And he created you for such a purpose.
[00:08:23] And that is to love him and to love others.
[00:08:25] So we're glad that you are here to do that with us.
[00:08:30] And we would also like to have a relationship with you, too, if we don't already have one.
[00:08:35] and one of the ways that we know how to do that is to have you fill out a connection card.
[00:08:39] You can find that in the pew in front of you.
[00:08:42] We would love if you would take a moment to fill that out, and you can place that in the offertory plate as it comes along a little bit later on in our service.
[00:08:50] And of course, if you have a prayer request or two that is on your heart and that has not been heard or shared yet this morning, we would love for you to flip that card over
[00:08:59] and write a prayer request on the back and hand it in the same way.
[00:09:03] they will get prayed over and they will be seen this week at our staff meeting. So we hope that you will take the time to do that if you have something on your heart this Sunday.
[00:09:15] Church, please take a look at the back of your weekly bulletin. There's always great things going on. Ms. Tracy highlighted a few of our upcoming events a couple weeks from now, so we want to make sure that you don't miss anything. So make sure that you check out the back of your
[00:09:29] bulletin this morning. Church, as we get into our time of worship, I want to share with you out of the book of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17 simply says, now the Lord is the spirit
[00:09:43] and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. There's not a lot of words there, but I want to paint the context of what that's talking about. Paul is explaining that the old
[00:09:56] covenant or the Mosaic law full of lots of these rules that the Israelites had to follow gives the sense of burden because it's virtually impossible in order to maintain covenant with the Lord because it was just so hard to fulfill all of these rules in this law. But contrasted with the
[00:10:16] new covenant that Paul is talking about, there's a burden that is lifted through this new covenant because all we need to do in this new covenant is accept the grace of Jesus Christ, amen?
[00:10:27] Amen.
[00:10:28] And we can receive the Holy Spirit once we do that who gives us this true freedom.
[00:10:33] So would you stand and would you say, I am free?
[00:10:37] You gotta mean it, church.
[00:10:38] I am free.
[00:10:41] Graduates say, I'm about to be free.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:10:44] Amen.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:10:47] We're gonna be singing a new song this morning and if you repeat after me, you're gonna sing.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:10:53] I am free to run, the dead will die, through you our hearts will pray, the dark night will come.
[00:12:13] You may be seated.

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:14:42] Good morning. I'm Bruce Belk, and I have the privilege and blessing to be one of the deacons here at Southside.
[00:14:50] We've come to our time of prayer, but before we start our prayer, May is the Military Appreciation Month, and yesterday was Armed Forces Day.
[00:15:01] Today we display the military branch flags in honor of those who are actively serving, protecting our freedom here in the United States.
[00:15:10] So if you are an active military or have a family that's active in the military, would you please stand for us this morning?
[00:15:24] We all know some folks that are active, so we want to be in prayer for those, continue to pray for those folks, and just to uplift them and to give them the blessings and ask for protection as they serve him for our freedom.
[00:15:40] So let's go to God in prayer.
[00:15:43] Father God, we're so thankful that we can come to your house to worship this morning, to be able to worship you with our brothers and sisters in Christ, the freedom that you give us through our salvation in Christ,
[00:15:55] that you loved us so much that you sent your son to die on the cross for us.
[00:15:59] Father, we are so thankful for the blessings, the mercy and the forgiveness and the grace that you so freely give us.
[00:16:11] Father, we pray that during our worship service that we would give you the honor and the worship and the praise that you so deserve, Father.
[00:16:20] That our hearts would be lifted up, that you would speak to us in a way that only you can speak to us, Father.
[00:16:28] we also ask the blessing on those who couldn't be here with us this morning for whatever reason it is i pray that they would still feel your presence with them and that again that we would be able to
[00:16:40] lift our hearts and our voices up to you as we offer this worship service to you this morning father and father we come asking all things in the name of our lord and savior jesus christ

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:16:50] amen amen would you stand with us as we continue to worship together this morning

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:16:57] Dwayne's baseline this morning so I feel the need to say hello I'm Johnny Cash but I'm not

[00:29:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:29:34] I'm actually Pastor David Kleinitz I'm the senior pastor here at Southside Baptist Church and it is my joy to welcome you to join us as we celebrate our graduates. And if you notice the theme of
[00:29:46] freedom this morning, it's not because our graduates are free from school, but we will be talking about especially financial freedom that we can have through the wisdom that comes through God's word. And part of that financial freedom is the freedom to support the local church and
[00:30:03] support God's mission in this world through our finances. God decided that the best way to fund his mission is from his people, that he has called each and every one of us to support generously,
[00:30:16] sacrificially, and regularly the work that he is doing in this world. And so I'm going to give everybody an opportunity to do that today. However, some of you may be new with us and you're like,
[00:30:28] wait a minute, I have another church. That's fine. What we would love from you is for you to just let us have relationship with you to get to know you. We would love to reach out to you even
[00:30:38] if you're a member somewhere else. You just came because your grandson or granddaughter is graduating today. That's fine. We still want the opportunity for a relationship. And so you can fill out your connection card in the pew in front of you. You can scan the QR code on your bulletin or we have
[00:30:52] a number that you can text to. And that just allows us to start that process to get to know you better and to drop the microphone of course uh for those of you who are online chris i'm just
[00:31:06] going to give this to you because i can't trust myself with it yeah that makes sense uh for those of you that are watching online we'd love for you to have the same opportunity you can join us in
[00:31:14] giving you can join us in relationship uh all of that you can find on our website at www.sbcmoresville.com and you can find the appropriate place to connect with us there so with that let us go before the
[00:31:27] Lord in a word of prayer, ask that he would bless all that we give to him today. Father God, we come before you and we have the joy and honor to give to you because we are free in Jesus. We have been
[00:31:39] freed from the demands and penalty of the old covenant law. We are free to serve you fully as full people, regenerate by your Holy Spirit. We are free to give generously because we know you
[00:31:53] will provide for us. And so, Lord, I pray that you would, in our freedom, give us the joy that comes through serving you with gladness, honoring you with thanksgiving. Father, I pray a special blessing
[00:32:05] today on our graduates, Lord, as they prepare for life beyond the classroom. I pray that you would just instill in them a confident trust that will last a lifetime, instill in them joy that will
[00:32:20] radiate about them to all around them. And Father, we pray that all of that would be because of what Jesus has done for them. Now, Father God, bless our offering so that we can continue to do the
[00:32:32] work you've called us to do for future generations, for many more graduating classes. And Father, for new generations to rise up and lead and take the gospel to the nations. And we pray all this in

[00:32:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:32:45] Jesus name. Amen. We are honored to celebrate our graduates this morning. You guys have accomplished so much. And if we would stand here and try to list just from one end to the other, everything
[00:33:06] that you guys have done, the difference that you've made in the lives of friends and family, we'd be here all day. You have done a lot, but it is not the end for you. You are at a place of
[00:33:19] transition, not an ending. And you are going on to the rest of your life, whatever that might hold between now and when you go to meet Jesus one day. And as you go through the rest of your life,
[00:33:32] my prayer for you this week has been that you will continue to show Jesus to those around you, that you will continue to grow in your relationship with him, and that as you walk away from high school and you move on to whatever is next, that you remain active in serving in a
[00:34:00] local community somewhere in a local church. Let me read to you just two verses out of Colossians chapter 2 verses 6 and 7. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him,
[00:34:16] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude. If our graduates would stand, and you can approach the stage as I call your name, grab a gift, and then wait here. You're not done. You have to stand here
[00:34:43] just a minute, okay? Landon Cook. Matthew Hart. Madeline Kleindienst. Piero Morales. Luke Patton.
[00:35:08] And Waylon Wyatt, who could not be here today. He is at National Guard Drill this morning, so be praying for him. Now we'll recognize our scholarship committee, and they have a few words

[00:35:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:35:21] to say. I'm Anna Kate. This is Isaiah. We're here representing the scholarship committee.
[00:35:36] the Gina Martin Memorial Scholarship.
[00:35:40] Zae and I are not only committee members, we're also recipients.
[00:35:43] And so we've seen firsthand the impact that this scholarship makes.
[00:35:48] College is expensive.
[00:35:50] So any amount that we're able to take off of those students so that they're able to focus on school, we're happy to be a part of.
[00:36:02] Gina Martin is a former Southside member who tragically passed away before her time.
[00:36:07] In her honor, the scholarship was created.
[00:36:10] It is awarded to a deserving senior high school student who is going to further their education at a collegiate level.
[00:36:20] The recipient is not simply plucked out of a hat for luck, they are in fact interrogated for hours by the committee members.
[00:36:29] I'm kidding.
[00:36:35] We do stick them in a room with us and ask them a bunch of questions, more so to see see kind of what their plan is and whether or not we feel like they properly represent
[00:36:44] not only the scholarship but the church as a whole so we find out how God has moved in their life at Southside and then what their plans are after high school like what they're going to do
[00:36:56] in college and even if they don't know just understanding that God's kind of at the forefront of deciding what path they're going to take. It was a tough choice this year um but this year the Gina Martin Memorial Scholarship recipient is Madeline Kleindienst

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:37:15] if you have any questions or if I said anything wrong take it up with Ethan Young thank you

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:37:30] we also have two college graduates we'd like to honor today and I'm going to ask them to stand where they are and then we will pray for all of our graduates and you guys may go sit down
[00:37:52] All right. First, Audrey Young, would you stand up, please?
[00:38:01] Audrey has graduated from UNC Charlotte with a BS in accounting and a minor in history.
[00:38:08] Yeah. Emily Kleindienst, would you stand up, please?
[00:38:14] Also graduating from UNC Charlotte with her teaching certificate with a focus in special education and adaptive curriculum. You guys are going to do awesome things.
[00:38:25] Remain standing, please, while we pray for you. If you would, would you join me in prayer for our graduates? Thank you. God, we thank you so much for the way that you love each one of us.
[00:38:36] God, we thank you for what you've done in the lives of our graduates, what you've done in the lives of their families. And God, I pray that you would continue to walk with them. God, that they
[00:38:51] would continue to keep their eye on you. God, I pray that they would go and do great things, not because we want them to to be bragged about but God because we want to we want them to be
[00:39:03] able to say I've done great things because of what you've done for us God I pray for the rest of their week for the rest of the all the details that need to happen between now and graduation
[00:39:17] God I pray that all that stuff goes smoothly and Lord I thank you again for the opportunity to be here today to celebrate this transition Jesus it's in your name that we pray amen

[00:39:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:39:29] the other side and ask our children ages three through third grade oh there's a video that's

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:39:55] what we're in ages three through third grade can be excused to children's church where there's an

[00:44:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:44:42] age appropriate lesson for them they can come to the front exit out my left for those of you that remain if you will turn with me in the scriptures today to the book of proverbs chapter 30 i'm
[00:44:56] reading verses 7 through 9. And I'd love for you to follow along in your Bibles as I read aloud from the word of the Lord this morning. So Proverbs chapter 30 verses 7 through 9. And we're doing
[00:45:14] something a little bit different. I'm preaching from an iPad for the first time. So we're going to see how that works. We ran out of toner, so I wasn't able to print the message. So we're going
[00:45:28] to see how I do with an iPad. So hang on to your seats because it's going to be a bumpy ride.
[00:45:34] All right, let's pray. Let me read. Two things I ask of you. Deny them not to me before I die.
[00:45:43] Remove far from me falsehood and lying. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor
[00:45:55] and steal and profane the name of my God. Now we can pray. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for the day you've given to us. Lord, we thank you for the busyness of graduates and those who are
[00:46:07] moving into a new phase of life. Father, I pray that the word this morning would be a blessing to them. Give them a solid foundation on which they can build their life. The solid foundation
[00:46:19] of Christ, his word, and his instruction. For Father God, they are going to face some very shifting sand and winds that will toss them about. But Lord, by your spirit, through your word, you can guide and direct them. And Father, for those of us who have graduated or who have
[00:46:36] graduation on our horizon, Father, I pray that your word would speak to us as well. And Lord, guide us and direct us. So for some of us, refocus us on the things that are eternal.
[00:46:47] And for others of us, help us learn anew the way in which we should go.
[00:46:54] Father God, I pray all of this would lead to your praise and your glory in Jesus' name.
[00:46:59] Amen.
[00:47:01] Nod your head if you've ever prayed about your finances.
[00:47:06] Oh yeah, I have.
[00:47:08] I have.
[00:47:09] And if you're like me, those prayers are usually something like, God, the bill came in today.
[00:47:15] I don't know how to pay it.
[00:47:17] I'm going to need your help with this one.
[00:47:19] Now, you might not have had a bill that you didn't know how you're going to pay.
[00:47:22] Maybe the other way you pray is something like, Lord, bless me financially.
[00:47:27] Help me to increase in the wealth that I have.
[00:47:31] But a lot of those prayers are very kind of short-term, in-the-need prayers.
[00:47:36] And that's not wrong at all.
[00:47:38] That's how Jesus taught us to pray.
[00:47:40] When Jesus said, give us this day our daily bread, for us that means daily income our bread is purchased from stores not grown from the ground and so to get our daily bread we're going to need some daily income but how often or have you ever
[00:47:59] prayed about a vision for your finances a big picture perspective like at the end of your life where do you want to be financially? And have you ever considered what your money is for?
[00:48:18] And so that question presents us with the passage that we have this morning. Part of the reason why I wanted to preach this passage is because I know we've got some graduates who are getting ready to
[00:48:30] head off and have to consider these things for themselves for the first time. This is the season of life in which we're going to get a lot of commencement speeches where people are going to
[00:48:39] impart wisdom to graduating classes about facing the world. And so I feel like we can learn a lot from what they say, but we can learn more from how the Bible prays. And here we have the only
[00:48:52] prayer in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 30 tells us that this comes from the words of Agur, son of Jacob. Now, I don't know who Agur is. I don't know who Jacob is. But they were included
[00:49:07] in the book of Proverbs because of the wisdom of this perspective and this vision for a financial life. And so I'm going to talk a little bit about how this prayer can help us have a vision for our
[00:49:24] financial futures to tell us not just how to get money, but what that money is for. And first of all, it says, two things I ask of you, deny them not to me before I die. Now, anger is not asking
[00:49:40] God that this would be the case before he dies, but throughout his life, he wants these requests to be fulfilled. He wants God to constantly supplying the answer to these requests. And before we talk about the specific requests, one thing has to be noticed is that Edgar's assumption
[00:50:03] is the first note in your bulletin this morning, that all that we have comes from the Lord.
[00:50:13] All that we have comes from the Lord.
[00:50:16] He is asking God for the things he needs in his life.
[00:50:20] He has the perspective that if God doesn't allow it, if God doesn't provide it, no matter how much he works, no matter how much he labors, it's not going to happen.
[00:50:32] And brothers and sisters, I have to tell you that we live in a world in which we can't assume that everybody believes that all that we have comes from the Lord.
[00:50:43] We are far removed, as I said, from the things that we need to do in order to be provided for.
[00:50:52] What I mean by that is this.
[00:50:54] You buy your bread from a grocery store.
[00:50:58] You don't grow the grain in order to produce it.
[00:51:02] So we're not concerned about the weather the way that a farmer is.
[00:51:09] When I heard that we're in a drought, I thought to myself, well, I'll have to water my grass less.
[00:51:16] Oh, no, I can't build the fire in my backyard because of a burn ban.
[00:51:21] But if you're in ancient Israel and you hear there's a drought, you're thinking, how am I going to eat?
[00:51:29] And so we are removed from the conditions necessary to sustain our lives, and we take those conditions for granted.
[00:51:38] A lot of us assume that with my paycheck, I can get what I want, I can get what I need.
[00:51:45] And so we get to the point where we forget that it is provided to us by Almighty God.
[00:51:53] Yes, it may be your labor. Yes, it may be your job.
[00:51:57] But ultimately, everything that you have comes from the Lord.
[00:52:02] And because it comes from Him, it belongs to Him.
[00:52:06] The world that he made, the life that he has given you, the steps that you take every day, all of it comes from him and belongs to him.
[00:52:21] And so in this life, we are not owners, we are stewards.
[00:52:27] And so before we talk about what is a vision for our financial future, we have to make very clear that money is not primarily for us, but it is for us to do what God wants us to do.
[00:52:44] God's financial provision in our life is so that we can serve God's purposes for our life.
[00:52:53] And so when we're thinking about what we want for our financial future, we have to first start with the assumption that everything we have belongs to God.
[00:53:02] Now, this attitude is so hard to internalize, that God had to go through great lengths to teach it to his people Israel.
[00:53:13] Some of you may remember the story in the book of Exodus, how God freed them from Egypt.
[00:53:17] Some of you may know that story from the Prince of Egypt or from Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. But you remember that when God freed his people from Egypt, he didn't lead them out of
[00:53:30] Egypt onto a cruise ship that went to Hawaii. The first thing he did was take them into the desert for 40 years. For 40 years, they had to learn to be totally dependent on God. God had to supply
[00:53:48] them their food through the form of manna. When they got tired of manna, he sent the quail. He made water come out of rocks. He had to get them to understand that their whole life was absolutely
[00:54:01] dependent on them and everything they were going to receive belonged to him. And so he did that by marching them through the wilderness. But not only that, the land flowing in milk and honey, the promised land? Again, not Hawaii. If you look in your Bibles, if you've got some of those
[00:54:21] picture maps on the back of your Bibles, there's something pretty startling about it.
[00:54:28] There's a lot of brown on that map. Brown does not mean plants, trees, crops. Brown is mountains and deserts. Now, I'm not a farmer, but I'm pretty sure it's hard to grow food in mountains and
[00:54:50] deserts. Why was God's promised land full of mountains and deserts? Well, he did that for two reasons. Number one, to teach Israel that their prosperity, their advancement in life was going to be because of their relationship with God. And because God could be the only explanation
[00:55:13] for their prospering, God was going to use them as an example to the neighbors around them.
[00:55:21] If you have tremendous crops in a beautiful, lush place, everybody's going to say, well, that makes sense. But if you're growing food and sustaining an entire nation in mountains in the desert, you're going to say their God must really be taking care of them. And that's what God
[00:55:40] was doing with his people all the way in the Old Testament. He was teaching them to trust him because it all belongs to him. And so brothers and sisters, in our day, before we think of what am I
[00:55:53] going to do with my money, we have to shift that mentality to what does God want me to do with his money. If you are a college graduate, if you are a high school graduate, you're going to have to
[00:56:08] answer that question for yourself probably for the first time. Before that, a lot of your finances were dictated for you. You got allowance. You understood that the money I receive actually belongs to mom and dad. I can't really do with it what I want to do with it. You may have had some
[00:56:27] some jobs on the side but you didn't have the full weight of full adult responsibilities and before you step into that world i want you to understand that that world comes with the mentality that you are working with god's resources for god's purposes so when augur says two things i
[00:56:52] ask of you he has the understanding that it belongs to the lord and his vision for his financial future is not going to work without the lord but verse 8 also tells us remove far from me
[00:57:07] falsehood and lying give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with the food that is needful for me. Now, in first looking at that, we're going to think the two requests are a request for an
[00:57:24] honest life and a balance when it comes to our material wealth. But in a lot of scholars, they'll take that perspective that Agur is first asking to live a life of integrity and honesty, and second, he's asking for neither poverty nor riches. Now, I happen to agree with Dwayne Garrett,
[00:57:44] who's a brilliant biblical scholar. And he thinks that the first part removed from me lying and deceitfulness is not the request, but as an introduction to the request. And if you take that perspective, what he's saying is in all honesty, without deceiving myself and without
[00:58:06] trying to deceive you, Lord, I am making this request. And I think that's important to look at it from that perspective, because there's a lot of us who kind of knows the things that will
[00:58:19] get us some approval in church, the kinds of prayer requests we can pray. We can learn them pretty early, how to sound like you really love Jesus, even if you don't mean it. And some of the
[00:58:35] scandals we're seeing in the Christian world are because people figured out how to sound like you love Jesus without meaning it. And so Augur wants us, before asking a specific request, is to say, without deceiving myself and without trying to deceive you, Lord, my request is that you give me
[00:58:54] neither poverty nor riches and that you supply the bread needful for me. And so the second perspective that we have this morning, after we get this sense that everything we have comes from God, we need to know that God's desire is for us to have enough. It's for us to have enough.
[00:59:21] God really wants to give us enough of what we need. Part of what Jesus was doing when he said, give us today our daily bread, is to start getting this habit that God wants to supply us with our
[00:59:39] daily needs today. And he wants to supply us with our tomorrow needs tomorrow. But that God has given us a sufficient amount for what he has called us to do. And so we have to learn how to
[00:59:57] be content with what God has provided, neither poverty nor riches. And so for some of us, that is going to take a shift in the way we see what we have. I mean, I guarantee you, I've never heard
[01:00:14] somebody say, Pastor David, do you have any ideas of what I can do with all this excess wealth I have? By the way, if that's your situation, you can come up during the altar call and I will have
[01:00:29] some ideas for you. But my suspicion is, is that when we look at our bank accounts, when we look at our budgets, we wonder, is this enough? Is this enough? And now, without looking at your
[01:00:47] personal finances, we don't do that at Southside, but I'm wondering, could some of us actually honestly say, what I have is enough to do what God wants me to do, even if it's not enough for
[01:01:02] what I want to do? What if we actually took a real look at our finances and asked ourselves, do i have enough to do what god wants me to do does god really want me to have all those
[01:01:18] subscription services i mean has god called me to has god decided to supply my needs with door dash or maybe he's called to supply my needs to all these maybe god has decided that i don't have
[01:01:41] enough for this wonderful vacation to Tahiti because maybe he's calling me to serve him in missions. Now, again, I don't know what your personal financial situation is. And if you come to me after the service and say, Pastor David, I heard what you said. Do you think God wants me to
[01:02:03] cancel this subscription? I'll tell you, I don't know. That is between you and the Holy Spirit.
[01:02:09] You really have to have that conversation with God.
[01:02:14] I'm not a person that tries to micromanage the lives of believers.
[01:02:21] But with the Spirit and God's Word, you can have some tough and honest conversations with Him about, God, if you've given me enough for what you want, what do I have to sacrifice of what I want?
[01:02:41] Because God's goal for you really is to have enough.
[01:02:48] Neither poverty nor riches, but the food that is needful for me.
[01:02:58] And I know how hard that is to hear in a culture like the one that we have.
[01:03:04] We have a culture that evaluates who you are, how important you are, based upon how much you have and what you have.
[01:03:16] And it really is a pushback against the entire culture to say, I can't do what God wants me to do and pay for that.
[01:03:27] Some of us may have to be honest about our kids' after-school activities.
[01:03:32] We had to.
[01:03:33] And guys, it is hard.
[01:03:35] Do you know they have found ways to help you spend money on youth sports, even if your kids aren't that good at sports?
[01:03:48] It's remarkable.
[01:03:51] And we found ourselves in a situation in which we were paying a lot of money for our kids to do after school sports and stuff like that.
[01:03:59] And we had to get to the point where we said we can't afford it.
[01:04:02] and yes it is hard to tell your kid hey this thing that you really love we can't pay for and we've had the conversation in our house are we poor no but we are broke there is a difference
[01:04:20] we will have the money for what we need but that doesn't mean that we can afford everything we want and so if we have this perspective that we have enough some of us are going to have to make some
[01:04:38] really tough decision to decide that God's enough means that I can't have certain things that I want. Brothers and sisters, I want to tell you, if you're in that situation, God loves you.
[01:04:56] His enough is better for you than what you want for yourself. I don't know how many of you have ever had buyer's remorse? Where you go, you spend money you don't have to get what you don't need,
[01:05:14] and then you find out you didn't really want it? Oh, I've had that happen. We get this craving to go out to eat, and we say to ourselves, hey, there's five of us. We didn't have plans for dinner.
[01:05:29] Let's go try this new place. Guys, it is expensive to go out to eat with five people now.
[01:05:34] And so when we get that bill back, and it's like $100, and we didn't like it, oh, it just ruins the whole experience.
[01:05:44] Now, back when things were cheap, like 20 years ago, we'd be like, well, I didn't like it that much.
[01:05:51] But at least it was like $20, no big deal.
[01:05:53] But now, like, things cost a lot, and there's a higher expectation.
[01:05:59] and brothers and sisters that feeling of buyer's remorse that we paid all that money and it just didn't live up to what we expected you know god does not want you to have that feeling for your
[01:06:12] life can you imagine facing retirement facing um end of life decisions and thinking to yourself I spent all my money on what I wanted and I am not satisfied. I'm not happy. In fact, I'm quite
[01:06:36] miserable. It doesn't take much to see stories of people who are rich and successful and could have more than you could ever imagine for yourself, and yet they still felt like life was a waste and not
[01:06:52] worth living. The Bible over and over and over again tells us that our default is to waste our life chasing stuff that doesn't matter. But God's enough is good enough for our lasting joy.
[01:07:16] Jesus reminds us that heaven's bank account doesn't get broken in by thieves. Moths can't eat it and rust can't touch it. What we do for Jesus with our finances is the stuff that will last forever. And we will do far more for the Lord if we are satisfied with his enough. And so give
[01:07:43] me neither poverty nor riches. But look, verse nine tells us why. Lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
[01:08:02] Now, out of all the temptations in life, if I had to pick from a menu, my preferred temptation would be the temptation of riches. If I walked out of the church today and found a winning lottery card in the parking lot, I'd be okay with that struggle of what to
[01:08:25] do with those finances. And I think most of us, if we had to pick between the challenges that come from wealth and the challenges that come from poverty, we would say, bring on the rich
[01:08:37] challenges. But the Bible has a different perspective. You see, in the Bible, wealth is not bad. And unlike certain people in our world, we can't say that just because somebody has a lot of money, they've done something wrong. There's a lot of discussions about eliminating
[01:09:01] billionaires as a class, and I think that's problematic because class is genus, and to eliminate is side, so that sounds like genocide, but anyway, it's problematic. And from the Bible's perspective, you can have wealth and be righteous. But also from the Bible's perspective is wealth
[01:09:28] and righteousness is rare because riches are deceitful. Paul talks about the deceitfulness of riches. When you have a good amount of money, when you have some wealth, you tend to do life differently and if you think that's not true think about you the day you get
[01:09:51] paid versus the day before when it's paycheck friday i do life differently there's a lightness in my step when people come and say pastor david would you like to go out to lunch with us
[01:10:07] why yes i would whereas the thursday before payday it's like guys pray for me i don't know I can come to lunch today. We do life differently when we tend to have some money. And on a smaller
[01:10:22] level, we see that to be true. Imagine if you had the kind of wealth in which you were dependent on no one. You would probably do life different. In fact, God knows that's the case. When God promised
[01:10:39] Israel that he was going to lead them to the promised land, in the book of Deuteronomy, he kind of laid out what was going to happen. God was going to so live up to his part of the
[01:10:52] relationship that he was going to overwhelmingly bless them. In fact, if you turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 20, it's really interesting about this passage. Deuteronomy 31 verse 20 is God is announcing the plot of Israel's story before Israel even got started on their
[01:11:14] trajectory. Right when they were getting ready to get into the promised land, God knew how things were going to go. In fact, notice in verse 20, it says, for when I have brought them into the land
[01:11:28] flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them and despise me and break my
[01:11:46] covenant. That God was going to so provide for his people that they were going to forget their need for the Lord and serve other gods. And brothers and sisters, I got to tell you, one of
[01:12:00] the most dangerous places for idolatry in our life is not when things are bad, but when things are good. I don't know how many of you got to hear the Eric Church commencement speech in UNC Chapel
[01:12:13] Hill. It's pretty good. My in-laws recommended it, and I actually did what they said and watched it.
[01:12:19] But Eric Church actually points out that we need to attend to our spiritual life not when we're broken, but when we're whole. And that's the basic point that God was trying to teach the people of
[01:12:32] Israel in Deuteronomy. As bad as things were in Egypt, as much as they pitched a fit in the wilderness, their real temptation was going to be when they were full and satisfied. I've seen this happen in Christian lives where people get happy and blessed by God and just stop going to
[01:12:55] church. It's not because things were bad, it's because things were going well. And so the danger of wealth is we get to the point where we lose our sense that we need the Lord. And the damage
[01:13:12] that will do to our life is not just temporary, but will be eternal. And so brothers and sisters, I want to tell you that even though it's not obvious, wealth is a trap that we need to avoid.
[01:13:30] we shouldn't be pursuing wealth for the sake of wealth we need to be satisfied with god's enough but the second one notice he doesn't want wealth lest he denies the lord agar also says in proverbs 30 in verse 9 or lest i be poor and steal and profane the name of my god
[01:14:00] poverty is a real trap as well not only is it hard not only is it unenjoyable but believe it or not real financial challenges give us challenges to the ability to serve the and witness for him i mean after all how difficult is it to say would you like to know jesus as your
[01:14:31] Lord and Savior after you say, hey, can I have $10 for gas? It really does hurt your witness when you need somebody as a resource, but you also want to share Jesus with them.
[01:14:46] And so we also have the real temptation that because of our need financially, we can take advantage of others. So when the Bible tells us that I would be tempted to steal, It encompasses not just taking bread without paying for it, but it also encompasses other
[01:15:10] things. Using people's resources when they don't want us to. Relying on people to do for us what God has entrusted us to do. Both of these are ways we can also steal. And look, let me prove it to
[01:15:32] 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 9 through 12. Look with me. Paul deals with this problem in the Thessalonian church. They're brand new baby Christians, and he's trying to get them set up on the right foot. And one of the things that he has to warn them about is the issue of idleness.
[01:15:50] 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 9 through 12. Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. So he talks about loving one another. For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout
[01:16:06] Macedonia. So this is a passage about how to love each other. But we urge you brothers to do this more and more and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your
[01:16:24] hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. So Paul's vision for how Christians act in the world is for us to live a life that is not
[01:16:43] flashy, that is not attention-seeking, to literally mind our own business, to work hard so that we can take care of ourselves and not be reliant on other people. This is Paul's genius strategy for how these baby Christians can reach their neighbors. None of that sounds like brilliant
[01:17:10] strategies. If I went to a church who asked me, hey, pastor, how do you think we can reach our neighborhood? Well, don't make a big deal out of yourself. Mind your own business. Get a job.
[01:17:24] and pay your bills. Oh, but that's a big deal. And the reason is, is that if we are not taking care of what God has entrusted to us, we are not going to be free to love other people.
[01:17:43] And so the concern that Paul has is this issue of people taking care of their own affairs.
[01:17:50] And the reason I cite this as an example of stealing is because in 2 Thessalonians, Paul has to deal with the same problem. It's the problem of idleness. You had some believers in the Christian community who, instead of working and supporting the community and
[01:18:10] doing their part, they were mooching off of other people. They had the ability to work, but they refused to. Now, it's not clear whether they refused to because they thought, Jesus is coming back soon, so why bother getting a job? We don't know if it's because they thought
[01:18:29] that they were more spiritual than everybody else. We do know that manual labor, a real job where you have to work with your hands and get dirty, that that was beneath the Christian community. And that was beneath especially the Jewish community. And Paul's instructions was,
[01:18:48] guys, didn't I tell you in 1 Thessalonians, you needed to do that? Well, I tell you what, anyone who does not do that, they don't get to eat. They don't get to share in the provision
[01:19:00] of the church because we take from others when we require them to supply for us what God has entrusted us to do. And that's not a way that we want to do life. It's a trap. And so brothers and
[01:19:20] sisters, I want to tell you, if you have the opportunity to work for money, do it. It's worth it. But pastor, the jobs that I can get, they're not careers. That's okay. That's okay. Sometimes
[01:19:40] it's good enough just to get a paycheck. And brothers and sisters, I'm not telling you this because I am the pastor that made great financial choices for my life, and I'm teaching you from my
[01:19:52] successes. Okay, quite the opposite. We're having to learn lessons from some of the things that I struggled with and didn't do so well at. When I was going through seminary, I had to have a full-time
[01:20:05] job. I was a bivocational pastor. I took courses, and I had a young family, and it was driving me crazy. I hated the job, but I needed to keep it because my creditors still wanted to be paid,
[01:20:21] and I prayed to the Lord, God, surely if I have faith in you, you will deliver me from having to have a job. And then I read the Bible. Quite the opposite, in fact. And brothers and sisters,
[01:20:43] one of the things that we have to do as a church is we have to be very careful of what kind of work we honor. I want you to know something. If you have a job in which you are working hard,
[01:20:58] you are paying your bills but it's not flashy nobody's impressed by it god is pleased by you it impresses the lord so if you're when i had to wait tables i remember other pastors would see me
[01:21:14] and i knew they thought less of me because i had to wait their tables guys god is impressed when you have a job just because you have bills to pay it pleases him so we have to be very careful
[01:21:27] do not tell your college graduate, hey, if you don't go to college, you might have to work at McDonald's. Work at McDonald's. If Ronald wants to put his name on your paycheck, take his money.
[01:21:41] It's okay. Oh, you might have to be a barista at Starbucks. Fine, be a barista at Starbucks.
[01:21:48] It's okay. If that's what it takes to avoid the trap of poverty, go ahead and do it.
[01:21:57] it pleases the Lord and you will be surprised at what opportunities you have to serve him where you're at but because God wants us to avoid both traps of poverty and riches this is your third
[01:22:15] point this morning God's goal for our finances is freedom is freedom what God really wants for your money is for you to be free to serve him. That last part is very important because freedom to do what you want to do is not a real freedom. I am very easy on myself
[01:22:44] and I will have myself spend money on things that are just not good for me.
[01:22:50] And the way that I would do life is so bad for me that I would probably end up in a hospital somewhere. That's not freedom. You see, real freedom is serving the Lord who knows you,
[01:23:03] who made you, and who knows how your life flourishes best. And if we can avoid the traps of poverty and riches, then we can be free with the enough that God has given us to serve him and do what he wants us to do with our finances. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1,
[01:23:31] this verse sums it up very well. In Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, Paul says very succinctly, for freedom christ has set us free stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of
[01:23:54] slavery now paul is very specifically applying this to the situation of the mosaic law talking to gentile believers about not getting circumcised but the point holds for even our finances god's goal for your finances is freedom don't give yourself to the yoke of slavery of either
[01:24:19] wealth or the slavery of poverty settle for god's enough and you will find that you have everything you need to do what god calls you to do and so augur's prayer only works Notice, this prayer for neither poverty nor riches,
[01:24:41] it only works if we really trust that God knows how to make us happy.
[01:24:49] I want you to think about this.
[01:24:50] To say, God, give me neither poverty, that means that you're going to want me to do the work I need to do to avoid poverty, even though I'm not a big fan of work.
[01:25:02] For some of us, it means do not give me riches.
[01:25:05] It means, God, I'm asking you to take away from me stuff that I could use to buy stuff with.
[01:25:12] That kind of radical prayer only works if we believe that Jesus knows how to make us happier than we can make ourselves.
[01:25:23] Brothers and sisters, I want you to just understand why that shouldn't be a stretch for us.
[01:25:29] if we can trust Jesus to get to heaven why can't we trust him to make us happy on earth if we can trust Jesus with our forever future why do we doubt that he can satisfy us today
[01:25:49] I mean the greater issue is that the gulf that stands between us and Christ that he paid with the cross. Paul's point in Romans is that if God was willing to do that while we were sinners,
[01:26:06] why would he not give us everything we need right now to do what he has called us to do?
[01:26:15] You can trust Jesus for your finances because you can trust Jesus with your eternity.
[01:26:23] And so for us to say we want God's enough for our life, we understand that it all belongs to him and that he's apportioned to us enough to do what he's called us to do, then we also
[01:26:37] understand that he knows how to satisfy us best and allow us to be free. So I want to close the sermon this morning by asking just a couple of questions. And during our response, I'm going to
[01:26:54] ask you to have a real conversation with the Lord. Your real, true, honest self before Almighty God.
[01:27:05] And here's the first question. First question is, have you asked God what he wants you to do with your finances? Have you honestly asked God what does he want you to do with your finances? God,
[01:27:30] it ultimately belongs to you. You have apportioned some of it to me. What would you like me to do?
[01:27:41] Second question, what in your budget needs to be given to God's kingdom? God, here's my budget.
[01:27:50] Here's what we have. That's probably not something you can do right now. Some of you may have an app where you can actually look at it. That'd be cool. But more than likely, you'll have to take this
[01:27:59] home and look at the budget and say, God, what do you want me to do with what I have for your kingdom? For some of you, that's going to mean tithing, or that's going to mean a different
[01:28:13] amount depending on your different circumstances. Again, I'm not going to tell you what that is.
[01:28:18] The Holy Spirit can do that instead of me. But to honestly ask the Lord with the budget, with the money you have, what of this belongs to your kingdom and what do I need to give away?
[01:28:30] And then finally, what opportunities do you have for a greater amount of God's provision?
[01:28:39] So if looking at our budget and asking what of this needs to go to your kingdom, if that protects us from wealth, then to protect us from poverty, we need to be honest with God and say, God, what opportunities are you giving me to free me from financial insecurity?
[01:29:00] What am I not willing to do that I need to?
[01:29:04] How do I need to step outside my comfort zone?
[01:29:07] Because that's how you've decided I'm going to get a paycheck.
[01:29:11] And notice all of these things are not easy.
[01:29:14] It takes real trust and it takes a real reliance on the Lord to trust that he knows how to satisfy us best.
[01:29:25] But if you will ask those questions in our time of response, I believe you're going to take a real step in the direction of God's vision for your finances.
[01:29:36] neither poverty nor riches but what is needful for us to do what god has called us to do and so with that we're going to have our song of response you come forward if you want to ask those questions
[01:29:50] and prayer with me at the front you can do that if you need to come forward to join the church you want to inquire about salvation or baptism you come down too or for any other need that you
[01:30:02] may have if you want to pray with the pastor i'm going to be forward you come pray with me But let us go into the presence of God, asking him what he wants us to do with what he has
[01:30:13] given to us.

[01:30:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[01:30:22] Church, like Pastor David said, I'm going to play for a moment before we sing our song of response.
[01:30:30] And the altar is open for you.
[01:30:32] If you feel so led to use it, just be at your seat and spend a quiet moment with the Lord.
[01:30:40] This is the perfect time to do that.

[01:35:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:35:16] Emphasize both money and finances in our lives.
[01:35:22] But ultimately, everything we have really does come from you.
[01:35:26] you matter more but God just because that is true we do not want to be foolish when it comes to our finances either so God we do ask what would you have us do with the wealth that you have given
[01:35:44] to us how do we use it in a way that honor and serve God for some of us we can't even ask that question because we're not quite sure we can trust you to satisfy us we're far more likely to use
[01:36:04] what we have for temporary comforts, temporary joys. And so God, I pray that you would work in our hearts to help us really believe that you know what makes us happiest, what brings us lasting joy, and that you can be trusted even with our finances. So God, I pray that as we grow in
[01:36:36] our understanding of your word. We become better managers of your stuff. I pray that we are greater witnesses in this world. More and more people can find the freedom in Christ that comes through repentance and faith in him. And so, Father, equip us to be sent out to do the good work of your
[01:37:02] kingdom, that we may be blessed. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. And before we go, I just want to give one reminder that tonight at six o'clock, we do have our reception for our
[01:37:16] graduates, and that is open to everybody. So if you have any kind of relationship with anybody who is graduating, has been recognized this morning, come by, tell them you're praying for them, wish them the best in Jesus' name. And I know that'll mean a lot to them. It'll mean a lot
[01:37:32] to their families so that's in the fellowship hall tonight at six o'clock i hope to see you there with that let us lift our heads and hands and hearts to receive the lord's blessing as we go
[01:37:39] may the grace of our lord jesus christ and the love of god and the fellowship of his holy spirit be with you all this week as you walk in his wisdom in jesus name amen you are dismissed