Breaking the Spirit of Mammon | The Blessed Life Week 4

You may’ve heard the saying “Money is the root of all evil”. This is a misquote. The real Bible verse says “the LOVE of money is the root of all evil”. Money shouldn’t be demonized. It’s only when we want money more than we want God that the spiritual influence of money darkens us. This effect has an ancient name: Mammon. Today we talk about how you can experience joy, peace and transformation with money and avoid the influence of mammon.

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    - Money. Is money the root of all evil?
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    Money also some would call mammon.
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    Today, we're going to talk about this epic battle
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    of mammon versus God.
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    We're doing a series called The Blessed Life.
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    We did this series several years ago,
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    and it's one of the most powerful series
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    that we've ever done.
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    And you're going to hear some stories
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    from people who went through it before.
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    So powerful that we're going to do it again.
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    Now, I've got to tell you,
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    that that kind of hurts my pride because
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    we haven't really repeated very much at all
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    at Crossroads the last 26 years.
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    The first time we're going to repeat something
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    came from somebody else.
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    We borrowed this content
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    from Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas.
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    I had pastor after pastor, person after person
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    say, "Oh my goodness, this material is,
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    sounds like a really religious cheesy word,
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    but it's true, is anointed."
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    There's something special about it.
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    And we found that's exactly what happened
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    when we did that before.
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    Churches have gone through this,
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    they've gone through it multiple times.
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    It's the first series, well, second series
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    in 26 years we're going to actually repeat.
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    And it's not even one that we came up with
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    or I came up with.
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    Man, why aren't the best things, things that I invent on my own?
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    Well, you know how we're going to do it.\?
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    It's because we want to bring
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    the blessing of God into our lives.
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    Now, listen, this is not a campaign.
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    There's no commitment coming at the end
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    where you're going to sign anything.
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    There's no big ask of you
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    to whatever, whatever, whatever.
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    This is not a campaign.
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    We are going to challenge you
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    because Jesus challenges us.
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    But we just want you to listen, consider,
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    and ultimately be blessed. That's the Blessed Life.
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    Woo! It's getting hot in here.
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    So hot.
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    If only I had enough money to buy me a fan.
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    Oh. Mmm, smells so good. Oh.
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    You know, the Bible talks about money a lot.
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    And actually, a word that Jesus uses is the word mammon.
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    Some translations say money. Some say wealth.
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    But the original word He used was mammon.
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    He could have used the word wealth
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    or could have used the word money,
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    but he actually used the word mammon.
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    Let me read you one of those verses.
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    It come from the Book of Luke, chapter 16.
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    We're going to look today at a little chunk,
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    and here's what He tells us, He says:
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    I don't think it's unrighteous wealth that would tell us
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    that all wealth is either unrighteous.
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    It would also make us very, very paranoid,
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    if someone has wealth,
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    they must be an unrighteous person.
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    He could have used different words for wealth and money.
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    He actually used the word mammon.
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    It's sometimes sort of translations
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    try to make it easy for us
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    because who knows what Mammon is?
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    I'm going to tell you what Mammon is today.
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    But tell me, understand,
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    I don't think wealthy people should be demonized.
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    I don't think people have a lot of money
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    should be demonized.
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    Recently, I was, a couple of months ago
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    I was in Germany doing a tour.
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    And on that trip were a bunch of people who had money,
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    had a lot, a lot of money.
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    And that's when the hurricanes hit South Carolina
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    and hit Florida.
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    And people were stressing out and texting home,
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    like, "What's the state of my condo or my house?"
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    They're all worrying about it.
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    And I said, "I want to have a second house
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    so I can be stressed about in the midst of a hurricane.
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    I want to have a second house
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    that I don't actually need to live in,
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    that I can talk about
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    whether or not it's going to be wiped out."
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    And I was poking fun at them.
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    I had gotten to know them after about 4 or 5 days
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    so I could do that.
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    I wouldn't do that on day one.
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    But they got the point like,
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    "Hey, this really isn't an awful, awful thing."
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    Why would we get so stressed
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    about all of the bills we have?
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    And is my accounts too small?
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    Why? Why do we have these inventions of the abacus?
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    I don't even know how to use these things.
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    I've just always known this is very fun.
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    How about -- this is the new abacus.
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    I get a calculator.
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    Here's me, I'm going five plus three equals nine.
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    No, eight actually.
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    I'm like this.
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    But some of us, your CPAs, your accountants,
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    you're like --
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    Like the thumb.
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    I want to get that thumb thing.
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    Like, you guys had this massive callus.
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    Right there.
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    Money can be fun, but to be very, very clear,
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    it is and has on it a spiritual force.
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    That's why Jesus uses the word Mammon. Mammon.
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    There is a spiritual force on your money.
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    It's either the spiritual force of this deity,
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    this false entity called Mammon,
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    or it's the spiritual force of God.
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    Mammon, mam means babble.
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    Babble we know is confusion, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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    Babylon was an ancient, ancient civilization.
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    When you have the on, mam and mammon, it means a system.
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    So Mammon is a system of confusion.
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    The reason why many of us don't want to talk about
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    The Blessed Life, don't want to talk about money
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    is because we're confused.
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    It's a system of confusion
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    that is upon us and is darkening us.
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    I don't understand an abacus
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    and we don't understand how to make money work.
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    Or if we do, it becomes our God.
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    Look at first Timothy 6:10, it says:
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    The love of money is the root of all evil.
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    The love of money, not money, not having wealth,
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    but the love of money is the root of all evil.
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    When we love money, or we love things that money buys,
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    or we hate people who have money
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    and despise the things that they may have,
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    it may actually show us that the spirit of Mammon
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    is on our money and on our minds,
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    the spirit that actually confuses us.
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    I like money.
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    I like money because I get to buy things like DeWalt tools.
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    There's no such thing as a tool
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    that I don't want to own someday.
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    And there's a few out there.
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    I've got a lot of money in tools.
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    I can justify it because I do all my handyman work
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    at my house,
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    all the construction I've ever done on my house.
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    I do it all, so I can justify that
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    I'm not paying somebody to this.
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    But also at the end of the day, I just like tools.
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    You know what? That's okay.
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    It's okay to have money
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    and use money the way you want to use money
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    if money isn't using you,
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    if the spirit of Mammon isn't over top of you.
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    - Okay. So we're learning a new word today, Mammon.
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    Can't say I use that very often. Do you?
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    No, and I would say,
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    don't look it up on Urban Dictionary.
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    - Yeah, that's a bad idea.
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    - Not going to be helpful to you.
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    Hey, we say this around here a lot,
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    like, we're community, not content.
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    And we really mean that.
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    Like, this stuff doesn't exist
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    just so you have more stuff to watch.
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    We do it because we think it will help you grow,
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    help you connect to God and connect to people.
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    We have communities all over the country and online
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    of people who are looking to grow and grow together.
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    So, if there's any way I can be of help to that,
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    I would say I want to help get you connected
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    both to God and to people.
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    Send me an email, andy.reider@crossroads.net.
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    That's my personal email.
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    I will get back to you and help figure out
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    how to get you connected to Crossroads.
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    - And if anything in you was like, "Oh, man,
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    I should do that."
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    Do it right now while you watch this story.
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    - My relationship with money growing up
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    is that we didn't have it.
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    So, when I got it, I needed to, like, use it.
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    I would buy the video game I want
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    or I'd buy the clothes I want,
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    or I'd buy the toy or whatever it was at the time.
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    I became very quickly, like, an impulsive spender.
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    You know, I think about money
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    and kind of like the stronghold that it can have
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    in relationship to, like, wealth and having money
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    and wanting to hold on to money
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    and that kind of being the thing that sustains you
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    more than anything.
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    And I think, you know, there have been times
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    where especially around saving,
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    I never really witnessed saving,
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    like, I didn't know what that looked like.
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    And so as I got into adulthood and I learned like,
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    "Oh, I should probably save an amount of money
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    and stuff, like, especially through the pandemic,
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    I was able to save a decent amount pretty quickly.
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    During that time,
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    the amount of money that I had saved up through COVID
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    and stuff like that was basically to buy a house.
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    Then I had a friend of mine who was --
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    found himself out of a job and didn't really know,
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    like, how he was going to pay for stuff.
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    And he was on the edge of, like, being evicted.
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    And when I talked to him, I was like,
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    "How much do you need?"
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    And the amount, he said, was, like,
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    almost down to the exact amount that I had.
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    And it was directly kind of in line with
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    what I felt like God was pushing on me at the time
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    and challenging me in.
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    And so I gave him that money.
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    And so what God was working on in me at the time
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    was that my purpose wasn't necessarily wrapped up
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    in the plan that I had or the places I wanted to go.
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    And so any amount of money that I could save
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    doesn't actually hold a candle
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    to what He has in store for me.
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    And so, if anything, giving it would expose
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    more of where my heart is if I wanted to give it
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    or if I didn't.
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    And if I didn't, that would show a lot more
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    about the hold that money had on me
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    that was present in my life
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    and the circumstances that I had at the time.
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    The heart change for me really has just come emotionally
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    and I feel like, I feel like more than anything,
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    as I give more, whether that's money, time, energy,
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    especially to missions and things I feel called to,
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    I get more and more contact with people
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    having a heart change of their own.
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    I do feel joy. I feel peace.
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    It brings me transformation
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    and a reminder of kind of what God's doing
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    and that I want to be a part of that.
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    - Let's keep looking in the Book of Luke
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    and see what else Jesus says about this.
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    Now, as we've looked in this series, we've seen
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    that Jesus affirms the tithe.
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    He's speaking to a Jewish audience
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    who all understand the tithe is very, very core
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    to the Bible's meaning and message.
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    Now, who doesn't like this message?
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    People who don't want to release 10% of their money.
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    That's who doesn't like it.
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    It's always people who are under the spirit
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    and influence of Mammon that have a hard time
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    with this idea of returning to God what is His own.
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    This what Jesus is referring to here.
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    That first 10%, that first tithe,
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    that first 10%, that's God's.
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    He wants it returned to Him because it is His.
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    And so when we spend 100% of what we make,
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    we are actually stealing from God because that is God's.
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    And so what Jesus is saying is here
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    the way that you know the spirit of Mammon
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    is on your money and on your mind is if you can release
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    and return what isn't yours to begin with.
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    Because what money does is when we release it,
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    when we tithe it, we break a curse of Mammon that is on it.
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    While I was over in Germany,
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    I was really wrestling with all of the atrocities
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    of Nazism.
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    We visited Auschwitz, which was Nazi death camp
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    where 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were eliminated.
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    Buchenwald, a work camp where awful things took place.
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    And I saw and wrestled with in that culture
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    how a tide had just swept through an entire culture
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    for about a decade and caused everybody to be wrong.
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    I was actually there to study up on
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    the life of Martin Luther primarily,
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    but the Nazi regime just had me gripped
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    and negatively mesmerized.
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    And you can't go to a place like Auschwitz,
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    which is actually in Poland,
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    and not ask yourself the question:
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    If I was alive in 1937, what would I have done?
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    See, we can all right now say, "Oh, ho, ho.
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    If I was alive, I would have never --
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    I would have never stood for that.
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    I would have gone to death with it.
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    I would have done that."
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    I'm not so sure.
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    I'd like to think that, but I have to remember
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    that right now I have appropriately done enough work
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    and study and reflection to understand
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    that racism in all forms is bad,
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    and it's very insidious.
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    I'm a 21st century person who has been educated
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    and has met a lot of different people
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    and God's worked on my heart.
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    And it's actually a cultural value,
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    positive cultural value that we have here in America.
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    I can't just transport 2022, 57 year old Brian Tome,
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    stick him there and and then have him behave.
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    I'd have to take my DNA, who I am now
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    extracted from America and put there.
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    And would I stand up to it or not?
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    I see college age white males down south
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    pulling down statues of civil war generals.
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    They're making a statement, like, this is awful for history.
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    And I look at that and go, "Who are you kidding?
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    If you were a college male during the Civil War,
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    you would have served under Robert E. Lee.
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    You would have, not because you're white necessarily,
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    but because you're right now going along with the masses.
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    That's what the masses are all saying you should do
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    in your in your class.
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    Well, and back then, you would have gone along
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    with the masses and said let's go against the north
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    and the war of Northern Aggression."
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    And so same with us.
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    We look back and we say, "If I was there in Germany,
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    would I have done?"
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    And here's what I've come up with,
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    the only way that you know
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    that you have stood on the side of God,
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    the side of righteousness is if right now,
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    right now you are taking faithful steps
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    to be faithfully subversive,
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    faithful acts of subversion.
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    If right now you're standing against the majority,
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    if right now you're doing something
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    that puts you in harm.
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    If right now you're entering into a practice
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    that makes you less well off.
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    That's what tithing does. That's tithing.
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    Now, I know it's called A Blessed Life,
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    and I do believe there's unique financial blessings
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    that have come my way because I'm trying to honor God.
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    I believe that.
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    I'm not backing out on that at all, at all.
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    But understand every time I choose
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    to return to God what's His and I take a look a
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    t the amount of money that goes out of my account
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    to go towards the local church that I'm part of
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    and the Kingdom of God, I recognize I'm doing that
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    because it's an act of faithful subversion.
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    And if you can't return to God what's His to begin with,
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    10%, and you think you'd have stood against the Nazis?
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    Oh, come on.
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    You can't live on 90% of your income.
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    You choose not to.
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    You choose not to live with 90% of your income.
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    You wouldn't have chosen to given up your life.
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    You can't change it alter your life right now for that.
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    You wouldn't have done that for that either.
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    Because it's a matter of who you're ultimately serving,
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    our own self or own comforts, the spirit of Mammon on us,
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    or God and what He wants to comfort others with.
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    This is what Jesus is getting to.
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    He's going to be what -- which do you want to be about?
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    Let's keep going and see what He says, verse 13 he said:
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    You can't serve God money.
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    Being wealthy is great.
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    There's people who are very, very close to God
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    and the Kingdom of God
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    and God is cheering on their choices,
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    who have multiple houses.
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    They're doing some other things that God knows about
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    and their heart knows about.
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    It's not about not having wealth.
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    It's not about having not having multiple houses.
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    It's about the prioritizing.
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    If you want to have The Blessed Life,
  • 00:17:17
    prioritizing, return to God what is God's,
  • 00:17:20
    and maybe going beyond that.
  • 00:17:24
    I'd love to have a second house someday.
  • 00:17:26
    It's be wonderful.
  • 00:17:27
    I can't have it right now because I know
  • 00:17:28
    the things that God's asking me to give means I can't.
  • 00:17:31
    I could easily, easily afford another mortgage
  • 00:17:35
    and a prime piece of property, easily.
  • 00:17:37
    A couple of them, actually, if I wasn't making
  • 00:17:40
    the giving choices that I'm making now.
  • 00:17:43
    And I also wouldn't be as fulfilled
  • 00:17:46
    and as close with God if I had more properties
  • 00:17:48
    that was putting money into and managing
  • 00:17:51
    as it is knowing
  • 00:17:52
    that I'm actually getting people to heaven.
  • 00:17:54
    That's what she mentioned earlier,
  • 00:17:56
    I'm actually getting people to heaven with my giving.
  • 00:18:01
    There are going to be people in heaven
  • 00:18:03
    who are only there because of my giving
  • 00:18:04
    who they're going to be thankful for me,
  • 00:18:06
    and there's going to be unique rewards waiting for me.
  • 00:18:09
    This is clearly talked about
  • 00:18:11
    again and again in the Bible.
  • 00:18:13
    And we don't see this, we don't want to focus on this
  • 00:18:15
    because we would rather have just these things.
  • 00:18:19
    And that's because the spirit of Mammon
  • 00:18:21
    is falling upon us.
  • 00:18:23
    Jesus says you can't serve both God and money.
  • 00:18:25
    How do you know -- or money --
  • 00:18:27
    How do you know -- or Mammon.
  • 00:18:29
    How do you know if you're serving Mammon?
  • 00:18:30
    If you can't release it.
  • 00:18:32
    It's a test. Who do you serve: God or money?
  • 00:18:35
    If you're not releasing it and returning it to God,
  • 00:18:38
    then you serve Mammon and not God.
  • 00:18:40
    That's why I look at who on staff is tithing and who isn't.
  • 00:18:44
    I look at the records and I know,
  • 00:18:46
    there's somebody who's not faithful.
  • 00:18:47
    We have conversations, I know them.
  • 00:18:49
    When my daughters were dating,
  • 00:18:51
    we would have young men come over.
  • 00:18:54
    I had different ways to send them a message.
  • 00:18:57
    Some guys I put one of my guns out on the counter.
  • 00:19:00
    So, they come into the house and just see a gun there.
  • 00:19:02
    You know, they went away.
  • 00:19:04
    And I would also just want to talk with them.
  • 00:19:06
    One guy I would take -- took actually --
  • 00:19:09
    He's actually running camera right now.
  • 00:19:12
    He's actually my son-in-law right now.
  • 00:19:14
    I actually took him out to --
  • 00:19:17
    took him out for a milkshake when he thought
  • 00:19:18
    he was going to take my daughter out on a date.
  • 00:19:20
    I said, "No, no, no, you're going to take me out."
  • 00:19:22
    And I actually sat him down
  • 00:19:24
    and I try to understand what his heart is.
  • 00:19:26
    What I should have done, because I know better now
  • 00:19:28
    I actually should have understood
  • 00:19:30
    what they do with their money,
  • 00:19:32
    because if they're not faithful with God in their money,
  • 00:19:35
    why do I think they'll be faithful with my daughter?
  • 00:19:38
    See, it matters. It makes a difference.
  • 00:19:41
    You can't release something that owns you.
  • 00:19:43
    The reason why I were crushed when our boyfriend
  • 00:19:47
    or girlfriend leaves us
  • 00:19:49
    is because we thought we owned them.
  • 00:19:52
    No, no, we actually don't love them.
  • 00:19:54
    They're a possession for us, so it was making ourselves
  • 00:19:56
    feel better and more comfortable.
  • 00:19:57
    When money is a possession for us,
  • 00:19:59
    it makes us feel better, more comfortable ourselves.
  • 00:20:01
    We can't -- We can't release it.
  • 00:20:03
    We can't give it away.
  • 00:20:05
    You don't love your girlfriend when she tells you
  • 00:20:08
    she wants to break up with you and crushes you.
  • 00:20:10
    Because if you loved her,
  • 00:20:12
    you'd want what's best for her.
  • 00:20:13
    And if she says the best for her
  • 00:20:15
    is you not to be in her life,
  • 00:20:16
    then you should be able to get okay with that eventually.
  • 00:20:20
    But we don't because we're serving the idea
  • 00:20:23
    that you are mine.
  • 00:20:25
    Just like when we have money and can turn to Mammon
  • 00:20:28
    because the system of disorganization
  • 00:20:31
    disorganizing our mind making us
  • 00:20:34
    want it more than we want God.
  • 00:20:40
    You can have money, you can have God.
  • 00:20:42
    We've got to return to Him what is His
  • 00:20:44
    and tell Him that you're faithful
  • 00:20:46
    by the subversive act of faithfulness known as tithing,
  • 00:20:51
    then maybe going beyond.
  • 00:20:53
    That's all I've got for you.
  • 00:20:54
    Let's pray. God, I'm thankful for Your goodness,
  • 00:20:56
    Your patience with people like me. Help us.
  • 00:21:01
    Help us to see the truth that You've given us. Amen.
  • 00:21:06
    - Another great message in this series.
  • 00:21:08
    Good Job by Brian. Incredible.
  • 00:21:10
    - Yes.
  • 00:21:11
    Hey, we talk about being community, not content.
  • 00:21:14
    Did you know that Crossroads
  • 00:21:15
    actually has 28 regional leaders,
  • 00:21:18
    28 people all over the country?
  • 00:21:21
    So, no matter where you live,
  • 00:21:22
    you've got somebody close to you.
  • 00:21:25
    We'd love to help you connect with them.
  • 00:21:27
    Again, just to make it simple,
  • 00:21:28
    you can email me directly andy.reider@crossroads.net.
  • 00:21:31
    I want to help get you connected to people in your region.
  • 00:21:36
    - Well, we want to help you in any way we can.
  • 00:21:38
    If this series is hitting you,
  • 00:21:39
    if you want to take a step towards tithing,
  • 00:21:41
    we've made a simple way for you to engage in that too.
  • 00:21:43
    Take some of the some of the angst out of it, maybe.
  • 00:21:45
    It's called the 90 Day Tithe Test.
  • 00:21:47
    Super simple, works like this.
  • 00:21:49
    You try tithing for 90 days
  • 00:21:51
    and if at the end of the 90 days you're like, "Meh,"
  • 00:21:53
    we'll give you all your money back.
  • 00:21:54
    Just that easy, no questions asked.
  • 00:21:56
    Sign up at crossroads.net/tithetest.
  • 00:21:58
    - That's right.
  • 00:21:59
    Hey, next week, we're going to be continuing
  • 00:22:01
    with The Blessed Life, but this is a special one
  • 00:22:04
    because actually Kyle will be teaching
  • 00:22:05
    and you just got back from the other side of the world.
  • 00:22:08
    - Yes, yes. I got to go to Israel
  • 00:22:10
    and learn specifically for this message.
  • 00:22:13
    And there's some things I found there
  • 00:22:15
    that I'm pumped to uncover.
  • 00:22:16
    I'll just small thing.
  • 00:22:19
    I learned something that's fundamentally changed
  • 00:22:21
    the way I view how Jesus ministry happened
  • 00:22:23
    that changes how I think about generosity going forward.
  • 00:22:26
    So anyway, watch next week and you'll hear all about it.
  • 00:22:29
    - See you next week.
  • 00:22:36
    - Would you like to be rewarded by God
  • 00:22:38
    and have Him multiply the impact of your life?
  • 00:22:41
    I know I would.
  • 00:22:42
    - Yeah, me too. - Same.
  • 00:22:44
    - Okay, cool.
  • 00:22:45
    Well, it comes down to the answer to the question:
  • 00:22:47
    Am I generous?
  • 00:22:51
    - Hey, make sure you hit the playlist button ahead
  • 00:22:54
    so that you can keep up to date on videos just for you.
  • 00:22:57
    And don't forget to hit the subscribe button below
  • 00:23:00
    to keep up to date on all the latest content
  • 00:23:02
    coming your way from Crossroads.
  • 00:23:09
    - This is only the beginning.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend-Follow Up This is the group part of the Bible Challenge, so your questions are based on specific Bible passages from the weekend message. Each week, your group will discover what God might be saying to you, and how you can respond through a group discussion.

  1. Let’s say you just won the lottery - way to go! What would you use that money for?

  2. What stood out to you most from this week’s message?

  3. How has the world impacted your view of money?

  4. What could it look like to not be stressed over money? What would have to be true in how you view money?

  5. What makes it hard to honor God with your money?

  6. What is one step you can take this week to be a steward of the resources God has gifted you?

  7. Let’s end with prayer. You can say something like, “Jesus, thank you for giving us the ultimate gift. Please help us look to you and you alone for our peace and provision.” Amen.

More from the Weekend

Bonus Questions! Check these out if you’re on a roll and want to go a little deeper.

  • How can you see yourself managing money differently when you start to see it as a tool instead of a savior?
  • In what ways would your life change if you stopped relying on money alone to solve your problems?

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(This stuff helps us figure out how many fruitcakes to make come December)

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Got it! Enjoy your discussion.


Nov 18, 2022

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