(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're there in Luke, chapter number 12. And this morning we are beginning a brand new series on finances. And this series I'd like you to know is primarily about helping you to learn to succeed with your finances. And I hope that you will stick with it and maybe even make a point to be here for every service in this series. Because the point of this series and the purpose of this series is to help you, is to give you wisdom, practical wisdom, to help you succeed financially. Because God wants you to succeed financially. And I will tell you up front that this series is not primarily about getting you to give money. I know usually when you go to church and people preach on money, it's about giving. And I want you to know that that's not the primary purpose of this series. I will tell you this, that giving is something that the Bible talks about. And the Bible does teach that you cannot succeed financially while not being generous and not giving. So we will deal with that. But I will tell you up front, because I realize that some people get offended about these things, when that sermon is. Next week I am preaching on giving. The only sermon in this series that has to do with giving is next week. And if you come to our church, you know that we don't talk a lot about money. There's 52 weeks in a year. We hold three services a week. What is that, 156 sermons that are preached a year. And very few of them have to do with finances and with giving specifically. And what I do is I schedule in advance sermons about giving. And the sermon I'm telling you up front is next week. So if you need to miss that sermon, if you need to be sick next week, we understand we're fine with that. But other than that one sermon, every other sermon is meant to help you. So I encourage you to be here. I encourage you to be a part of that. Now, in order for this sermon series to make sense, because what we're going to do over the next four weeks is that we're going to teach you what God wants for you and your money. But in order to set the right context for those sermons, we need to begin by talking about what God does not want for your money. And that's where we're going to begin today. We're going to begin with a sermon on the subject of protecting your heart against covetousness. Now, you're there in Luke chapter 12. I want you to notice verse 15. The Bible says this. And he said unto them, this is Jesus speaking, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. The Bible says that we need to take heed and we need to beware of covetousness. The word beware means to be weary, to be cautious, to be careful of covetousness. The word covet means to lust or to desire, and it can be all sorts of things. But primarily, in the context here, it has to do with money. We would call it greed. And he says, well, why? Why do you want to be aware about covetousness? Here's why. Because, he says, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. Because a man's life is more than just money. Now, we're going to come back to Luke chapter 12 where we're going to develop this passage line by line. But I'd like you to just quickly go with me to the book of Proverbs. If you can find the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament, you open up your Bible just right in the center. You're more than likely to fall in the book of Psalms. Right after Psalms, you have the book of Proverbs. And I want to lay down three statements, give you three thoughts in regards to protecting against covetousness. And really, what we're going to do this morning is I'm going to give you a lesson on biblical theology in regards to money, what the Bible teaches about money, how God thinks about money, and how you and I should think about money. I would encourage you to write these statements down. On the back of your course of the week, there's a place for you to write some notes down. And I'd encourage you to write these notes down. Go to these references with us. Keep your place there in Luke 12. We're coming back to it. Find the book of Proverbs. And let me say this. The first point this morning, the first statement that I'd like you to write down is this, that God is not necessarily against you having money. God is not necessarily, and that's the key word, against you having money. Sometimes Christians assume, and they assume falsely, that God does not want you to have money, that God does not want you to prosper financially, that God does not want you to succeed financially. Now let me say this. It is true, and that's why the word necessarily is there. God is not necessarily against you having money. It is true that God may plan for your life, for you individually, to struggle financially or to have seasons in your life where you struggle financially, because God will often use our financial situations to draw us closer to Him and to get us to acknowledge Him and to come to Him more closely. So I'm not here to preach a prosperity gospel that says God wants you to be rich and you should never struggle financially. God may want you to struggle financially in your life, and God may want you to struggle financially for a season of life. And an example of that is the life of Job. We see that Job had a time in his life where there was a lot of difficulty. Part of it was financially, because God was working with him and God was working on him. But I want you to know this. In general, in general, it is not God's automatic will for all believers to struggle financially. In fact, God is not necessarily against you having money. The Bible says, and if you were there in Proverbs, I'd like you to find Proverbs chapter 3. The Bible actually says this, and God promises this, that if you follow the wisdom that God gives in regards to finances in the Bible, that that wisdom will actually produce riches. The Bible teaches, and God says, that if you follow wisdom, the reward of following that wisdom is riches. You're there in Proverbs 3, look at verse 13. Notice what the Bible says, happy is the man. And that same phrase is often translated in our King James Bible as blessed is the man. He says, happy is the man that findeth wisdom. And the man that geteth understanding. Now he is talking about pursuing wisdom and acquiring wisdom, and then there's a transition where wisdom actually is personified. Oftentimes in the book of Proverbs, you'll find that wisdom is personified. What we mean by that is that wisdom is written about as if they are a person. So wisdom is speaking, wisdom is interacting as a person. That's what we find in verse 16. Notice what it says, length of days is in her right hand right hand, and in her left hand, riches and honor. So I want you to notice the Bible here is personifying wisdom as a lady, and it's saying, look, in her right hand, she has length of days, and in her left hand, she has riches and honor. And God is telling us, I want you to find wisdom, I want you to pursue wisdom, and you would say, well, why would I want to pursue wisdom? And he says, here's why. Because in her right hand is length of days, and in her left hand are riches and honor. Go to Proverbs chapter number eight. Proverbs chapter number eight, look at verse 17. Proverbs chapter number eight, and look at verse number 17. Here again, we find a passage where wisdom is personified. Notice what wisdom is saying. Proverbs eight, verse 17. It says, I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. Notice verse 18. Riches and honor are with me. Yea, durable riches and righteousness. So I want you to notice that in the Bible, the Bible says that if you follow after wisdom, that if you apply wisdom, that wisdom and being wise with your finances will actually produce riches and honor. Now, that's not to say that God wants you to be rich or that everybody who's a Christian will be rich for a couple of reasons. Number one, most Christians aren't following biblical wisdom. Most Christians are not actually applying the principles that are found in the word of God. And secondly, there may be, even when you are applying biblical wisdom, even when you are doing everything right, like Job, there may be seasons in your life where God wants you to struggle financially because he's working in you, because he's working on you, because he's doing a work in your life. But here's what I want you to understand. When we talk about the theology of money or the theology of finances, you must understand this, that God is not necessarily against you having money. In fact, he promises all throughout the book of Proverbs that if you follow wisdom, you will find that wisdom will bring all sorts of blessings and the ones I'm highlighting for you this morning are riches and honor. Go to Proverbs chapter eight, I'm sorry, Proverbs chapter 10, look at verse 22. Proverbs chapter 10 and look at verse 22. Notice what the Bible says about the blessings of God. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 22, the Bible says this, The blessing of the Lord, notice, it maketh rich. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich. I want you to notice that there's a contrast here between when God blesses you and makes you rich or when you pursue riches out of an evil heart. He says the blessings of the Lord, it maketh rich, but notice, and he added no sorrow with it. See, when God makes you rich, when God blesses you financially, when God blesses you with money, there's no added sorrow with it. When people pursue finances and they lie and they steal and they cheat in order to get money, you know what they also get with that money? A lot of sorrow. You know what casinos produce? Sorrow. You know what gambling produces? Sorrow. You know what getting involved and lying and stealing and cheating and lying to your boss or breaking the law in order to make money, those things all produce sorrow, but God says that if you follow wisdom, you can follow wisdom and you can do right and you can have a clear conscience, and God's blessing may be upon you, and God says that the blessings of the Lord, it maketh rich. God says that if you find wisdom, you will find with wisdom a long life. You'll find with wisdom all sorts of relational health with your spouse, with your children, with those that you live around and work with, and God says that you'll find riches and honor. So I want you to understand as we begin this morning that God is not necessarily against you having money. In fact, God often will tell us that he will bless us and he will bless us financially when we are following his will and we're following his word. In fact, let me say this, and I'd like you to keep your place there in Proverbs. You've got your place in Luke, and I'd like you to keep your place in Proverbs because we're going to go back between Luke and Proverbs throughout the sermon this morning, but I'd also like you to find 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter six, and let me just say this, just kind of as we lay this groundwork, not only is God not against you having finances, or I should say not necessarily against you being blessed financially, but in fact, many of the characters in the Bible that God used greatly were people who were wealthy. You'll find this theme throughout the Bible that God often used those that were financially set, that were financially independent, that were financially strong, that were not struggling financially. Now, I don't want you to go through all these passages. I'm going to read a bunch of verses for you. You find 1 Timothy chapter six. Make sure you've got your place in Proverbs. Make sure you've got your place in Luke, and I'll just rattle these off for you, but I want to just show you that God often used people who had their financial house in order. The first one that comes to mind is Abraham. Genesis 13, two. You don't have to turn there. I'll just read this for you. The Bible says, and Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. Here's another one, Isaac. The Bible says in Genesis 26, 12, then Isaac sowed in the land and received in the same year in hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him, and the man waxed great and went forward and grew until he became very great, for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and great store of servants, and the Philistines envied him. Another one is Jacob. Genesis 30, 43. And the man, talking about Jacob, increased exceedingly and had much cattle and maidservants and menservants and camels and asses. How about Joseph? The Bible says in Genesis 41, 41, and Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt, and Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in a vesture of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck, and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, bow the knee, and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. How about Boaz? Ruth chapter two and verse one. The Bible says, and Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. How about David? First Chronicles 29, 28 says, and he, referring to David, died in a good old age full of, so it's gonna tell us what David was full of in his old age, full of days, riches, and honor, and Solomon and his son reigned in his stead. How about Solomon? Second Chronicles 9, 22. And King Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. How about Job? Job 42, 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, for he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels, and 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 asses. How about Joseph of Arimathea? Matthew 27, 57. When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph who also himself was Jesus' disciple. And here's the point that I'm trying to make. Not only is God not necessarily against you succeeding financially, but God often in scripture used people who were succeeding financially, who were doing well financially, who were running businesses and had careers and had things going on in their life that were, and they were a financial success. And you say, well, is that a coincidence? Is God just like rich people? And I don't think that's it because Jesus himself spoke about the fact that it is hard for rich people to get saved. You say, well, then why is it that God, it looks like when you look at scripture, it looks like the people that God used were often doing well in their careers, doing well in their social structures and doing well financially. And here's why. Same reason I'm preaching this series. And it's because of this. When you are doing well financially, it frees you up to serve the Lord. It is not that we, you say, pastor, are you preaching this sermon because you want us all to give? If I wanted to preach a sermon about giving, I'd preach a sermon about giving. I'm gonna preach a sermon about giving. This series is primarily meant to help you get out of debt, get control of your finances, start saving some money, get yourself in a place where you're strong financially. You say, well, why are you trying to help us? Let me go ahead and confess my faults to you. I've got an ulterior motive. You say, I knew it. Here's my ulterior motive. I want you to do well financially. I want you to do well financially because here's what I know. When you do well financially and you don't allow it to turn into covetousness and you don't allow it to turn into a love of money, when you set right priorities with God and with your family and with serving the Lord and realizing that money is a tool that God wants to entrust you with, when you've got a financial bearing in your life, you know what I found? It frees you up to serve the Lord. You fight less with your wife. You fight less with your neighbors. You're less frustrated with life. Here's what I'm telling you. The people in the Bible that God used the most were also the people that were doing well financially. Why? Because when you're in debt and when you're broke, you're not free to serve God. You're so concerned about yourself. You're so concerned you can't go soul winning because you gotta go to work. You can't show up to church because you gotta go to work. You can't go to this activity. You can't go to that activity. You can't go to this mission strip. You can't go to that thing. And look, I'm not mad at you if that's you. I'm here to tell you that the Bible teaches that there are wisdom principles, principles in the Bible, that if you leverage them correctly, God says I will bless you and I can help you get a financial hold of your life. God is not necessarily against you having money. Now, I want you to key in on that word necessarily because you say, well pastor, I'm doing everything right. And I doubt that's true, but let's just go ahead and go down that road. I'm doing everything right and I'm still struggling financially. Well, you might be a joke. God may put you through seasons in life. God may put you through seasons in life where God wants you to struggle because he's working on you and we understand that. But in general, in general, God is not necessarily against you having money. In fact, in the Bible, you'll find that it is often the people who are doing well financially that God has the ability to use them because they're not being burdened down by their finances. You're there in Proverbs. Go to Proverbs 23. Let me give you the second statement this morning. Statement number one, God is not necessarily against you having money. In fact, God says that if you follow and apply biblical wisdom, the reward will be financial stability, riches and wealth. And if you study the characters in the Bible, you'll find that the overwhelming majority of many of the characters in the Bible, I shouldn't say overwhelming, but many of the characters in the Bible that God was able to use in a mighty way, God was able to use them because they were financially stable. Here's point number two. God definitely does not want you to love money. You say, well, that was something good up to there. God wants me to do well financially. I like that. Yes, here's where most people get messed up with finances is that they allow the blessings of God to become a love, not of the God who blessed, but of the blessings that God gave. God is not necessarily against you having money, but God definitely, God definitely does not want you to love money. And here's the point. Just because God is not opposed to you having money does not mean that God wants you to have a goal of being rich. Are you there in Proverbs 23? Look at verse four. Notice this command in the Bible. Proverbs 23, four. Labor not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom. Labor not to be rich. The Bible commands us that we are not to labor to be rich. The Bible commands us that we are not to set a goal and say my goal is to be rich. I had a guy in our church one time say, Pastor, my goal is to be a millionaire and I'm gonna finance things for this church and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that. I told him, you know, the Bible says that you're not supposed to labor to be rich. Oh, no, no, my heart's right, it's a spiritual thing. That guy's not in church today, you know why? Because the love of money is the root of all evil. And you say, well, I thought God wanted to bless us financially. God may necessarily, God may wanna bless you financially but listen to me, God definitely does not want you to love money and God definitely does not want you to set a goal of becoming rich. Now you may become rich. God may bless you and you might become rich but God does not want that to be in your heart. God does not want you, just because God is not opposed to you having money does not mean that God wants you to have a goal of being rich. In fact, we are commanded by the Bible not to work towards being rich. Look, the point of this series is not to say, hey, let's all work towards becoming millionaires so that we can give more and we can do. No, no, no, no, the Bible does not teach that. In fact, the Bible teaches the opposite, labor not to be rich. Now God wants to bless you. God, in fact, uses those who are usually financially blessed but God does not want you to set a goal of being rich. Labor not to be rich. Go to Proverbs 30. You say, well, what should my goal be then? What should my goal be financially? Because you just said that God isn't necessarily against me having money which I'm happy about that because I don't have any money. But now you told me that God doesn't want me to labor and work towards and have a goal towards being rich. So what should my goal be? Well, look, the Bible has the answers to all the questions. And we just saw that God commanded us that we are not to work towards being rich. We are commanded by the Bible not to work towards being rich. But we are instructed by the Bible to have a goal, a financial goal. You say, well, what is that financial goal? And I'll tell it to you and I'll prove it to you from the Bible. Your goal as a Christian, you say, what should my financial goal be? Your goal should be to be middle class. You say, prove that to me from the Bible. Proverbs 30, look at verse eight. Notice what the Bible says. Proverbs 30, verse eight. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. This should be your financial goal. You say, I need to have a financial goal. What is my financial vision for my life? Here's your financial goal. Give me neither poverty nor riches. What should your prayer be? Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. You say, well, why is that? In verse nine, lest I be full and deny thee. See, the problem with most people becoming rich is that when they become rich or when they get wealth, they become full, and really they become full of themselves and they deny God and they deny thee and say, notice what he says, who is the Lord? But then on the other extreme, he says this, or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. See, God says, hey, your stated goal ought to be somewhere in the middle class. Your goal should not be, and look, if you're here this morning and nobody's told me this recently and I'm not against you, but if you've got a goal, you've said this, you've said this to your parents, you've said this to your wife, you've said this to your husband, my goal is to be rich, my goal is to make X amount of dollars, you will fail in life because God tells us that we are not to love money and we are not to labor to be rich. God does not want us to make that our goal. You say, what should my goal be? Your goal should be to be neither in poverty nor riches. Don't be poor, don't be rich. Now look, while you're striving for that, God may make you rich, but make sure it's not because that's what was in your heart. And while you're striving for that, God may make you poor. And we see that in the life of Joe. He was rich, he was poor. Because God may be working in you and God may be doing, I've got this theory, and this is just my anecdotal theory, I've got this theory that if you're supposed to go into ministry and you're supposed to be a pastor, God doesn't want you to be rich, and God's probably gonna put things in your life to make sure you never get to that place. Because many a person who once had a desire to go into ministry and started making too much money, all of a sudden lost that desire. And I'm not mad at individuals who do that, I'm just telling you that's the truth. So your stated goal, your stated goal should be give me neither poverty nor riches. I don't wanna be broke, I don't wanna be rich. And in that process God may make you rich and God may make you poor, and you say what do we do with that? We learn to be content with such things as we have. We learn to be content with what God has given us. But we are instructed, we are commanded not to labor to be rich, we are instructed to have a goal of being middle class. You say why? Because God is not necessarily against you having money. But God is definitely not for you loving money. You say well what's the problem with loving money? Go back to Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12. In fact, you know what, I'm sorry. Go back to Proverbs real quick, let me share a couple verses with you about this idea of pursuing money. Because here's something that I've realized. The people in my life who have made statements to me, I've been pastoring now for over nine years, a week over nine years, and I've dealt with a lot of people. You know what I've noticed? The people who have communicated to me, and I've had more than one. And let me tell you this, every single person that communicated to me a desire to become rich is not walking with God today. Is backslitting. Is not right with God. You say well that's just anecdotal. I'm just telling you in my life, every person that ever came to me with I've got these plans and I've got these goals, eventually they stopped serving God, eventually they got backslidden. And here's the thing, when you're a Christian and you decide that you want the stated goal of your life to be rich, God says, well then I will make it my personal agenda to make you poor. Are you there in Proverbs? Go to Proverbs 28. Look at verse 22. Proverbs 28 verse 22. He that hasteth to be rich, well I'm gonna stop serving God. I'm gonna ignore my wife. I'm gonna ignore my kids. I've just got this goal. I wanna make money. I'm just gonna make as much money as quickly as possible. That's my stated goal in life. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye. Look, you can't make money the goal of your life and stay right with God. It's impossible. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and consider it not that poverty shall come upon him. The more you chase money, the more money will run from you. The more you pursue money, the more God will make sure that money will flee from you. You say, why? Because God, God is not necessarily against you having money, but God definitely, God definitely does not want you to love money. Now you say, well what's the problem with loving money? Go to Luke chapter 12. Two major problems with loving money. Two major problems with loving money. When you allow covetousness into your heart, you say, well how do I know if I'm being covetous? Answer me this, what do you talk about all the time? You find yourself constantly talking about money, possessions, things, I wanna buy this, I wanna get that, and look, we all talk about things we wanna buy and things we'd like to do, but if it's the overwhelming majority, look, the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. You find yourself just constantly talking about money and possessions and things. You know what you're telling us? That's what's in your heart. In your heart is a love for money. In your heart is a desire for things. In your heart you will find that you have money there. Are you there in Luke 12? Luke chapter 12, you know what, let me show you something real quick in Luke 12. Look at verse, I was gonna have you start there in verse 13, but before we do that, look at verse number 34, Luke 12, 34. Say, we're gonna spend all these weeks talking about money, why? Here's why, Luke 12, 34. For where your treasure is, there where your heart be also. See, money is a revealer of your heart. And where you put your money, where you invest your money, where you have your money, will reveal where your heart is. I realize that checkbooks are a thing of the past. Some of you dinosaurs still have checkbooks. I have a checkbook, I'm not making fun of you. I write checks, all right? But if we were to look at your checkbook, if we were to look at your online statements, if we were to look at your statements from your bank, you know what we would find? We would find what's in your heart. Some of you really have Starbucks on your heart. Some of you really have McDonald's on your heart. But you know what we might find for some of you? Some of you, you know what we might find for some of you? If you died, you passed away, we found your checkbook, and we looked at everything you wrote, all the bills you wrote out, all the checks you wrote out, and at the beginning of every month, at the beginning of every paycheck, we saw a check, a tithe check, giving back to the Lord from what the Lord had given you. You know what we would learn? This person had God in their heart. This person had a love for God in their heart. And see, the Bible says that the love for where your treasure is, they're where your heart be also, and God doesn't want you to love money. And you say, well, what's the problem with loving money? Two things, a love for money, if you're writing notes, you can maybe write this down, a love for money will compete with your love for others. When you decide to make riches, wealth, finances, the goal of your life, and you begin to love money and pursue money, the love for money, the reason that God says I don't want you to love money, and we're gonna look at the passage here in a minute, the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Please understand this. It doesn't say that money is the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of all evil. You say, why is it that God does not want you to love money? Here's why, because a love for money will compete with your love for others. Are you there in Luke 12? We read the whole chapter, but let's look at it. Look at verse 13. In Luke 12, God gives this parable of this covetous man, but I want you to understand the context that led into the parable, because it is the context of the story that reveals to us why it is that Jesus is giving us the story. In Luke 12 and verse 13, the Bible says this, and one of the company said unto him, so Jesus is there, and there's somebody there in his company, there's somebody there with him, and they are speaking to Jesus, and they are making a request of Jesus, and here's the request. They said, master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. So what do we have here? We have an individual whose father just passed away and has left him and his brother an inheritance, and his brother and himself are obviously fighting over this inheritance, because one is keeping it off for themselves, and the other one's saying, oh, you should divide it with me. So one of them goes to Jesus, and he says, if I can get Jesus to tell my brother, you know, he'll listen to Jesus, so he goes to Jesus, he says, master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. So what do you have? You have two family members who are fighting about money. Look at verse 14. And he said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, take heed, and beware of covetousness. You've got two brothers fighting over money. You've got two brothers who have buried their father. Their father left them an inheritance, and they're fighting about money. They want Jesus to step in and settle the dispute. And Jesus said, you know what? You need to take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists of not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. He says, your life is more than just the money you have and the things you own. Because at the end of your life, the most important thing, one of the most important things that you will have is your relationship with others. And here, Jesus saying, you want to be careful about covetousness because covetousness is a love of money. And the problem with a love of money is that it will compete against the love that you have for others, in this case, your brother. This is the context to the story. Look at verse 16. And he spake a parable unto them, saying. So you've got these two brothers fighting. They want Jesus to come in and figure out this financial situation. He says, you need to take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life because this is not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. And then Jesus says, this reminds me of a story. Let me tell you a story. Verse 16. The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. This man was an American, apparently. Because he had more stuff than he knew where to put it. And you say, pastor, you know, this sermon's not really for me because I'm broke and I'm not. Here's what I know about you. You've probably got closets full of junk that you don't need. You've got a garage full of junk that you don't need. You've got so much stuff in your garage, you have to go rent a storage room just to store more of your junk. You know what you are in the United States of America? A rich man, a rich woman. A certain rich man brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself, verse 17, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Look, I'm telling you, this guy's an American. Isn't that the American dream? Work for 30 years, work for 40 years, make a bunch of money, and then spend the next 30 years in Florida somewhere relaxing. You'll never find that in the Bible. You know that in the Bible, you never find this concept that you're just supposed to have this whole entire season in your life where you're just supposed to sit and relax and do nothing. I realize that as we get older, we're supposed to rest and take our, and not be just fully working. But listen, in every season of your life, you gotta be engaged in work. You say, well, do you mean I have to be working a secular job? You should always be working for God. You should always be serving the Lord. I thank God for some of the retired people in our church that they're retired from their secular job, that they're never retired from God. You know, they do what they can. They count out invitations, they assemble mailers, they help around, they help, they do whatever they can to help. And look, here you've got this man, and he says, hey, I've got more goods, I've got so many goods that I don't know what to do. I'm gonna build greater barns, I'm gonna store them all, and then I will take mine ease, I will eat, drink, and be married, verse 20. But God said unto him, what does God think about this man's financial plan? He says, thou fool! This night, thy soul shall be required of thee. Then, then, and I want you to notice that the emphasis is upon his relationships. Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? See, you can live for self, or you can live for others, but know this, if you choose to live for self, you will probably end up by yourself. Because life consists of more than just in the abundance of the things that we possess. There is something in life that is more important than money, you say what? Relationships, and a love for money will compete with your love for others. And here's what I mean, understand the context, Jesus is telling this story, he's saying, you know there was a rich man, he said, let me tell you a story, there was a rich man, he was so rich, he had more than he could put, in fact, he put his barns down, and he put it all up, and then when he was finally ready to retire, he died, and there was nobody, nobody that benefited from his riches. How do you think these two brothers that are arguing about money are feeling right now? You know what Jesus is saying? Focus on your relationships. Don't fight about money. Because the love of money will compete with the love of others. Verse 20, but God said unto him, thou fool this night, shall thy soul be required of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Verse 21, so, this is what Jesus says, here's the application, I love Jesus and his preaching because he doesn't just give you the principles, he always gives you the application, here's the application, verse 21, so is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. This is where the life of a love of money will lead. And here's what he's saying, here's what he's saying, a man's life consists of not in the abundance of things which he possesses. You say, what's the big deal about loving money? I love money, what's the big deal? Here's the problem with loving money, a love of money will compete with your love for others. When a husband decides that his goal in life is to succeed financially, is to have money, is to have houses, is to have riches, is to have wealth, is to have success, and there's nothing wrong with that, if God blesses you in that area, there's nothing wrong with that. But when you decide that that will be the stated goal of your life, I will tell you right now, your relationship with your wife will suffer. Your relationship with your children will suffer. Your relationship with those around you will suffer, why? Because a love of money will compete with the love of the people that you have around you. That is one major reason why you don't wanna love money. There's a second major reason why you don't wanna love money, you wanna hear? Well, even if you don't, here you go. Not only will a love of money will compete with your love for others, but a love of money will compete with your love for God. Look at Luke 16 and verse 13. Luke 16, verse 13. If you're there in Luke 12, just flip a few pages over. Luke 16 and verse 13. Notice what the Bible says. No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Pretty easy to understand, right? Then he brings in the application, right? Because Jesus never just gives you principles. He gives you principles and an application. He says, here's what the Bible says, and here's what you should do about it. Here's what the Bible says, and here's how you should apply it to your life. He says, no servant can serve two masters, for either he will either hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Then he makes the application, and he says this. Ye cannot serve God and. So he's about to tell you about two people that you could serve, two areas that you can serve, two masters that you can serve. Because he says, no servant can serve two masters. And then he says, the application is this. Ye cannot serve God, who should be your master, and. Now here's the thing. If I was writing the Bible, and if you were writing the Bible, here's how we would probably end the statement. We would say, you cannot serve God and sin. Or we might say, you cannot serve God and Satan. Or we might say, you cannot serve God and self, right? That's what we would think. If we were thinking about something that's competing against us serving God, we would say, well, sin is competing against us serving God, or Satan is competing against us serving God, or self is competing against us serving God. But that is not how Jesus ended the statement. Jesus said this. Ye cannot serve God and, and he uses this word, mammon. Which is an older word that's not used commonly today, but here's what the word mammon means. It means material goods, money, riches, or wealth. And it's interesting that Jesus says, and Jesus says that you cannot serve two masters, and he says you can't serve God and, he doesn't say sin, he doesn't say self, he doesn't say Satan, he says money. You say why? Because a love for money will compete for your love for God. And because a love for money will compete for your love of others. So God says, I don't necessarily, I'm not necessarily against you having money, but I don't want you to develop a love for money. Go to 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy chapter six, look at verse nine. If you found 1 Timothy, I asked you to go there earlier. All the T-books are all clustered together. 1 Timothy Thessalonians, 1 Timothy Titus. 1 Timothy six, look at verse nine. Pastor, why are you preaching this sermon? Here's why. Because over the next four weeks, over the next four weeks, I'm gonna teach you what the Bible teaches, how to apply some biblical wisdom principles that will, if you apply them properly, will help you succeed financially. But I want to make sure that you don't think that because I am now succeeding financially, then I can make the pursuit of my life to just make money and be rich and to love money. Because God says that he does not want you to love money. You say why? Because a love of money, listen to me, if you don't hear anything, just hear this. When you love money, it will literally ruin your life. That's what the Bible says. 1 Timothy six, verse nine. Notice what the Bible says. But they that will. You see that word will there? The word will means a desire to covet, to lust after. We often talk about, oh, what's the will of God for your life? Meaning what is God wanting for your life? Here he's talking about the will of man. He says, but they that will be rich, they that have a desire to be rich, they that have a desire, that have a stated goal, my goal in life is to be a rich pastor. I'm gonna make a million dollars and I'm gonna donate it to the church, blah, blah, blah. But they that will be rich, notice what the Bible says, fall into temptation and a snare. You know what the word snare means? It's a trap. God says don't fall into the American dream trap. Don't fall into the trap of loving money, of pursuing money, of worshiping the, they even call it the almighty dollar. You say why? Because they that will be rich fall into temptations and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. See, that's a little intense. Verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after. Oh no, pastor, I can pursue money and still love God. Well, not according to God because you can't serve two masters. And he says which while some coveted after, notice, everyone that coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Remember, the blessing of the Lord brings riches with no sorrow. But when you love money, when you pursue money, the Bible says that you pierced yourself through with many sorrows. And here's all I'm telling you, and I'm not against you, I'm trying to help you. When you make a love for money the pursuit of your life, that, the end of that road, at the end of that road, there is sorrow. You say why? Because a love for money will compete with your love for others and your love for money will compete with your love for God. Go back to Luke chapter 16, we're almost done. I said number one this morning. God is not necessarily against you having money. Key word, necessarily. God may want you to struggle financially for a season in life. God may want you to struggle financially for a time of life. God may want you to struggle financially for the rest of your life. And if you're going into ministry, please let me tell you something, if you're going to the ministry, just get, just become okay with that concept. Peter said, silver and gold have I none. All right, so look, if you're in ministry and you're rich, you're not doing it right. That's called a false prophet. Okay, that's called a wolf in sheep's clothing. But you know, but for those of you that aren't going into ministry, and that's the vast majority here, realize that God is not necessarily against you having money. Now God may want you to struggle financially for a season in life. God may want you to struggle financially because he's working on you. God is not necessarily against you having money. In fact, in the Bible, God often used people that were doing well financially, and God says that if you leverage the biblical principles of wisdom in regards to finances, that you will find that wisdom has in our hands, riches and honor, and that the blessing of the Lord brings riches. But with that said, God definitely, God definitely does not want you to love money. Just because God is not opposed to you having money does not mean that God wants you to make it a goal to be rich. You say, why? Because God specifically commanded us not to work towards being rich, and God has instructed us to have a financially stated goal of middle class. Now while you pursue that, he might make you rich, he might make you poor. Learn to be content. God does not want you to work towards being rich because God does not want you to develop a love for money. You say, why? Because a love of money will compete with your love for others, and a love for money will compete with your love for God. Here's point number three. God certainly does not want you to mishandle your money. See, the problem with this financial theology is that there's these extremes, and people like to go on these extremes. People will say, and I've heard pastors say, God doesn't want you to love money, so therefore let's be foolish with our money. Let's not track any of our spending. Let's spend it all, and let's just live like nothing. God doesn't want that. And then other people say, no, no, no, God wants you to be wise with your finances, and God wants you to leverage the principles of finances, but then they start loving money, and pursuing money, and having covetousness in their heart. You say, well, what is it that we're supposed to be doing? Here's what we're supposed to be doing. We're supposed to be leveraging the principles that God gives us in the Bible to manage our money well with a stated goal of being middle class so that we can be free enough to serve the Lord, because that's what life is about, so that we can be free enough to serve God and to love others, so that we can be free enough to serve God and to spend time with our spouses, and with our children, and with our family. That should be your goal, and while you're doing that, God may make you rich, God may make you poor. That's up to God, but please understand this. Just because God does not want you to love money, which is absolutely true, God certainly does not want you to mishandle money, and here's the point. The key to God's blessing is learning to manage the resources that God has given you. God has given you resources. God has given you something, and the key to having the blessing of God is to learn to manage the resources. Here's the biblical word, to steward the resources that God has given you. Luke's chapter 16, look at verse 10. You say, I don't know if this series is for me. I don't have a lot of money. This series is for you, buddy, because the Bible says this. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much, if therefore he have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon. Notice the application. Has to do with your material wealth. God says, if I've given you a little bit of material wealth and you've not budgeted that well, you've not spent that well, you've not prioritized that well, why would I give you more? He says, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in that which is least is unjust also in much, if therefore ye have been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust to true riches, because remember, life is about more than just money, because remember that a man's life consists of not in the abundance of things which he possesses, and God says, I want to bless you, and money's just a small part of that. I want to bless you, and money's just an insignificant part of that. I want to commit into your life true riches, but if I can't trust you with something as simple as money, why would I give you anything else? The key to God's blessing is learning to manage or steward the resources he's given you, and the key to properly managing or stewarding the resources that God has given you is realizing that it all belongs to God. Say, Pastor, I don't manage my money well. Here's the problem. You think it's your money. See, if you were hired to do the accounting for a business, you wouldn't just, ah, you know, whatever, spend it on that, go there, do this. If your job was to steward somebody else's money, you would probably do a good job with it, because it's not your money. Well, let me let you in on a little secret. All the money you got, it's not yours. Luke 16, 12. And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? So the truth of the matter is this, that every good gift cometh from the Father of lights. Every blessing in your life, not 10% of it, the whole 100%, came from God, is to be used for God, and belongs to God. And God says, I can give you more. I can give you more if you manage it well, if you steward it well, if you learn to be responsible with what I've given you, and here's the truth, and I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, I'm just trying to help you. The reason you're probably struggling financially is because you're not applying the biblical principles that God has laid in his word about money. The reason you're probably, look, I've been doing this for a long time, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, I'm not trying to upset you, you're a pastor, you're preaching about me. Look, there's lots of people in this room are broke, all right, it's not just you. Lots of people in this book, in this book, good night, lots of people in this book, and lots of people in this book are heavily in debt, and it's making you struggle financially. Lots of people are not doing what God has called you to do with your finances, and here's what I'm telling you, God wants to bless you, but you have to learn to leverage the principles, leverage the principles that he has given us in scripture. So let me review real quickly. God is not necessarily against you having money. God is not necessarily against you having money. God definitely does not want you to develop a love for money, and God certainly does not want you to mishandle your money, and that's what the point of this series is. The point of the next several weeks, as we study in the Bible, is to teach you, is to teach you what the Bible teaches about money, because God wants you to manage your money well, and when you manage your money well, and your heart is right, God says, I can bless you. I can trust you with that blessing. Now, here's the thing. You have probably been taught some bad things in regards to finances. You have probably been taught some bad things in regards to finances by the world. The world has taught you some bad financial principles. As we dig into this in the Bible, you'll realize, wow, God said that? God doesn't want me to do that. That's not what the world says. I know, most of the world is broke. Most of the world's in debt. You've probably been taught some bad things financially by the world, and you've probably been taught some bad things financially by pastors, because unfortunately, most pastors are a financial mess, and they're not dealing with their finances properly, and you say, why? Because they're not leveraging the principles found in scriptures. Here's the point. This series is about helping you. This series is about helping you, and I want to encourage you, I want to encourage you to make it a prior to be here every week as we study this. You say, why? Because you're trying to get something out of us? No, because I think that if you begin to succeed financially, that will free you up to serve God, to love your family, and to enjoy your life, because life consisted more than just in the abundance of the possessions that we think we own, but actually own us. That's fire heads, and I have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, I don't know how else to try to encourage this church to get their finances in order, not because it'll benefit us, but because it'll benefit them, and it'll benefit their walk with God, and Lord, I pray that you'd help all of us to realize that when we leverage the principles found in scripture, you want to bless us. You want to help us. You want to favor us. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to do so. Lord, I pray that there'd be some people here today that would say, you know what? I need to start making some changes. I'm gonna commit to be here every week. I'm gonna take notes. I'm gonna learn, and I'm not just gonna learn. I'm gonna apply it to my life, and I'm going to begin some changes in my life. Lord, thank you. Thank you for giving us a book that gives us the answers to all of life's problems, including finances, and Lord, I pray you bless this series as we begin to learn and dig into these truths. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray, amen. We're gonna have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song, but I just want to remind you, tonight at six p.m., we are finishing up the Drop Dead series, and we're gonna be talking about Herod, and we're gonna be talking about why Herod dropped dead, some lessons we can learn from that, and then of course, don't forget, we've got church on Wednesday night at seven p.m. I'm gonna be explaining to you the Ezekiel end times prophecy and what that temple's all about and all those things, and if there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know, and Brother Matt, please come up and lead us in a final song.