Skip to content A Man's Life is Better When His Finances Please the Lord May 6 · 29 min ...more
A Man's Life is Better When His Finances Please the Lord
May 6, 2025 · 29 min
John Mark warns of the dangers of greed and the potential pitfalls of focusing solely on wealth, urging men to remember the source of their blessings and prioritize relationships and faith.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton May 6, 2025 · 29 min · "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton
John Mark warns of the dangers of greed and the potential pitfalls of focusing solely on wealth, urging men to remember the source of their blessings and prioritize relationships and faith. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark warns of the dangers of greed and the potential pitfalls of focusing solely on wealth, urging men to remember the source of their blessings and prioritize relationships and faith.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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A Man's Life is Better: Financial Health 0:02 Welcome to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Keaton. Join us as John Mark shares his insights with other men in his ministry rooted in the timeless truths of the gospel. Today's message will encourage you to0:14 inspire, inform, and invest in the lives of others. This is Men's Breakfast with your host, John Mark Caton.0:23 We've been in a series the last couple of weeks entitled, A Man's Life is Better. We've been looking at some issues, in life that if we will just get these things right in our life, our lives will be better. And if you0:34 remember week 1, if you missed any of these, you can go get on the podcast, they're available. Man, a man's life is better when we are relationally healthy. When we are surrounded by other dudes that can speak into our0:45 life, that can encourage us, and when we fall down, they can pick us back up. Also, it has to do with our marriage. If your marriage is right, man, you're just better, healthier. So a man's life is better when we are0:56 relationally healthy. So how are you doing relationally? And when you look at your friends and those that speak into your life that that have leadership in your life and, permission to lead you in your life, how's that1:07 look? How is your marriage? If so, fix it. Second week, we look, man's life is better when we act like Jesus. We just looked at some words and we saw Jesus' example, how he dealt with the difficulties,1:19 hardship and, really the disciplines that we saw in Jesus' life that we wanna model. Week 3, we set a man's life better is when we are vocationally or occupationally healthy, when we are1:31 thriving at the office. So we talked about some biblical principles about making sure that we are doing our our best at the office. Last week, we talked about the idea of a man's life is better when we know what1:43 we believe. When we have settled in our heart and our mind, man, these are my core values. This is what I believe and what I believe drives how I behave and that's really the way it is.1:55 And so we said, a man's life is better when we know what we believe. And today I want to start with this topic, a man's life is better when we are financially healthy. So let me just put a2:06 pause in your life right now. When you think about your finances and your financial health, do you feel good about it? Are you where you wanna be?2:19 Man, when someone puts a picture up there and and says, you know, we are we're deeply involved in helping the hurricane victims and, you know, if you give, is there just something in your heart that says I wanna be a2:30 part of that? And then is there another check-in your spirit that might say I wish I could be a part of that? See it's our financial health that allows us to do that. When when2:42 when the pastor stands up and, my guess is, some of you there's already a little fear and trembling in your life because you're like, I know if the pastor says money, the word tithe is going to come up. How many of2:54 you know those 2 are typically connected? And some of you are like, yeah, get after them pastor and some of you are going, golly, I wish I'd get called into work right now. You know, reality tithing, I3:06 I say, I I say tithing is is like a subscription to God's blessing. You can get blessed with or without tithing, but tithing sure gets you better service. Alright?3:19 And here's the rally, we wanna talk about being financially healthy. I'm not gonna talk about, tithing. I'm gonna look at God's word and see a number of things that we notice about money. When you talk about money, let3:28 me just give you a stat. You've probably heard these, before, several stats. You know, Jesus talked more about money than he did about heaven or hell combined. Jesus talked3:40 more about money than he did about heaven or hell combined. If you look at all of Jesus's parables, half of all of his parables talked3:52 about money or possessions. So money plays an important role. Why? Because when we think about how we make our money or what we do with our money or how much money we have stored up, the reality of4:04 it is it connects with all of us because money is a major driver in this culture and a lot of times say, you know, we in American society, well let me ask you a question. If it's only a problem for us and it4:16 wasn't a problem for them, how how come, Jesus talked about it all the time? Because it's a problem and we as men want to make sure that we are financially healthy. We handle our money well.4:28 Here's number 3, if you just look at Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 1 out of every 3 verses in those 3 gospels talk about money and how we spend it. And so when we come to this, guys, I want to4:39 encourage you, don't let this be, a message of, of condemnation if you're not where you want to be financially. Let it be a word of encouragement. And the younger you are, especially4:51 let some of the things I'm gonna say here be words of encouragement because here's the deal, money flat out has tremendous power and influence. We see it over and over again. Man, the5:03 more I can gather up for myself in the right way and the right amount, more money, gives me more influence, not just in my home and my community, but also in church and5:15 gospel work around the world. So this is powerful and it's important. The truth is if you manage your money, it won't manage you. If you don't manage your money, it will5:27 manage you. That's just the way it is. So let me give you a couple of thoughts. First verse up here, First first Timothy chapter 6 verse 7. Verse, 6 to 10 here. Said, but godliness with5:38 contentment is great gain. Notice that? Godliness with contentment is great gain. In other words, if I have grown in my faith in a real way, in a powerful way, and5:50 I have contentment, which means I am satisfied with what I've had what I have, then that is absolutely great gain. Look at verse 7. For we brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out.6:02 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. In other words, how many of you came in here today with clothing on? Alright. That's good. The others didn't raise their hand. You have clothing6:14 on. That's called Alzheimer's if you missed that. Alright. You've got food in your pantry. Alright. If you have that, you should be content. That is enough. Alright. That's your basic needs. If I6:26 have clothes, if I have food, that's my basic need. Everything above that is icing. So as we continue to read on, look at verse 8. But if you have food and clothing, we will be content. Look at verse 9, those6:38 who wanna get rich fall into temptation and a trap in the many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. So listen, if all you wanna do6:50 in life is get rich, be careful. Be careful. Man, over the years, there's been so many people that have known that have fallen for get rich quick schemes. I mean, you got scammers7:02 every everywhere. What's a typical scam? Alright. Give me go buy 400 dollars worth of this gift card. I'll put money into your account. We'll get you 1500 dollars worth. Let me just tell you, that's really they're7:13 they're prying on our greed, our desire to get rich quick. Now, jump down. Look at verse 10. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Money's not the root of all kinds of evil,7:25 it's the love of it. It's not money itself. Jesus talked a lot about money. Says for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered away7:37 from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Man, some people flat out just walk away from God, walk away from faith, walk away from the church because they're pursuing greed and gain.7:50 And so we wanna make sure that's not who we are. I love this word in Solomon in the old testament, amassed a lot of money and a lot of will. Here's what he said in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 10. He says,8:02 whoever loves money never has enough. It's the old statement, how much money do you need? A little more. But Solomon said, whoever loves money, if that is your ultimate passion, if8:14 that is your ultimate lust, if that is your ultimate love, you will never have enough money if that's all you love. So he says whoever loves money never has enough, whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with8:26 their income, and he goes this is meaningless. How many of you follow a very strict diet?8:37 K. 4 of us. Good luck. That's good. How many of you follow a very strict budget? About the same amount.8:51 Alright? And what makes us physically flabby? Not following a good diet. What makes us financially flabby? Not following a good9:03 budget. Guys, if you don't have a budgeting mechanism that you have said, here's what I'm gonna spend on this and here's what I'm gonna I'm gonna encourage you to do it. They're great online tools and let me tell you,9:13 there's no better day to to start than right now because the earlier you start and the quicker you start living within your means, the better off you're gonna be today and ultimately in9:25 the long run. I love what Tim Keller said. He said, the ultimate reality is if you favor money, power, and accomplishment over human relationships, you will ultimately dash yourself on the rocks of9:36 reality. If you care more about money than you do about relationships, if you care more about money than you do about your faithfulness to God,9:48 if you care more about money than you do, about just simply being successful at the office, If you care more about money than you do caring about acting like Jesus, you're gonna ultimately dash yourself on the10:00 rocks of reality that money will never satisfy you. So when I talk about this here and I read some of the articles and the illustrations that we looked in God's work, I'm not I'm not encouraging you not to10:12 pursue money, not to take that raise. If your boss just just right now, if your boss offers you a raise today, the answer is yes. Right? Yes. We10:24 wanna do that because if I'm faithful at the office, they're gonna come in and say, man, you're doing a great job, here's a little more. If you're doing a great job, here's a little more. And the reverse of that is true,10:33 if we're not faithful at the office, we should not expect to get paid more. I love this. Let me just show you this, in Luke chapter 12, both10:46 an engaging story when it talks about money, but also 1 that chastises us. It challenges us. Look at this, Luke chapter 12, pick it up in verse 15. This is Jesus telling the story and notice how10:57 many I's, my's, and myself's we'll see as we read through this passage. Here it is. It starts with this, then he told about Jesus said to them, watch out. Just stop right there.11:09 That is the strongest Greek words you could take to take positive actions to prepare or to defend yourself against an enemy.11:21 Well, Jesus says watch out. Strong word, be careful, take positive action to defend yourself about, from a coming enemy. Here it is now, he says be on your guard. So he11:33 says watch out, be on your guard against what? All kinds of greed. Why? Because life does not exist or consist of abundance of possessions. So he says listen, be careful.11:46 Life doesn't, only happen because you have so much possessions or so many things, it's about way more. And, look at this verse 16 and then he told them a parable. The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant11:58 harvest. He thought to himself, what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Notice the I, I, my, my all through this passage. Then12:10 he said, this is what I'll do, said to himself, I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones and there I, there it is again, I will store my surplus grain. Verse 19, and12:21 I'll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years, take it easy, eat, drink and be married. Look at verse 20, how many times did he say I, me, my. Look at verse 20, but God said12:33 to him, you fool, this very night your life will be demanded of you, then you will, then who will you get, to be prepared for yourself? Now notice this, man.12:45 Jesus does not chastise him for a number of things. Notice Jesus doesn't say, man, this guy wasn't good at business. Jesus doesn't say,12:58 man he shouldn't have worked so hard. Jesus acknowledges this dude was good at what he did. He he worked hard. Jesus is not saying don't buy things guys. Jesus13:10 is not saying don't build barns. Jesus is not saying don't be successful. Jesus is not saying don't accumulate a retirement fund. That's not what he is saying. What Jesus is13:22 saying, if all you do is pursue money and more, don't ever forget there is going to come a day when we're all gonna be13:34 that full and today, our life is going to be required of us. So instead, what Jesus is saying, he's saying go go work hard, go make a lot, go13:46 make sure you have barns stored up, but make sure in the process, you never forget God. You don't ever forget your family. You don't ever forget13:58 God's church. You don't ever forget about kingdom work. It's all of those. But if all we do with our money and our wealth and our possessions and our job is say, what how can14:09 I feed me me more and give me more and it's all about me and it's all about me, then ultimately we're gonna be fools? We won't be fools for Jesus, we'll be fools for Satan. Because there will come a14:21 day when it's all gonna be taken care taken away from us. Here's another warning as you think about the children of Israel. By the way, we're gonna get to the end and we're gonna give you some table talk questions so you14:31 can talk about financials, your financial life and where you are and hopefully encourage you along the way to make some good decisions. As the children of Israel are getting ready to go into the promised land, they've14:42 been, slaves in Egypt for a long time, they've been wandering around in the desert for 40 years, getting ready to go into the promised land. Here's what it says in Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 10, he says, when you go14:52 into land and you've eaten and you're satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Look at verse 11, he says, but be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God.15:05 Here's what he's saying. He said, there might be a direct correlation to the more satisfied we are financially to the more we forget God. Say that again. He's saying there might be a correlation15:18 between the more satisfied you are with your own finances, the more you forget God. And, he says be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws,15:30 his decrees that I'm giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you go to the land Well, let me tell you what, when they were in the desert they didn't store up much, right? As a matter of fact,15:42 they could if they stored up the manna and the meat, it rotted. They didn't have much, but here's what God's acknowledging, when you get into the promised land, it is going to be a great land. It is going to be a great15:53 land where you can flourish and your flocks will get bigger and your harvest will be bigger. He goes, listen, when you get in there that is a great thing, But don't forget about God and don't let yourself be16:04 satisfied. Verse 12, otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down and when your herds and flocks grow large and the silver and gold increases and all you16:16 have is multiplied, that's all good. Notice what he's saying, he's saying none of that's good. He's not saying listen, don't build nice houses. He's not saying don't, multiply your harvest and your fields. He's not16:28 saying any of that. But, look what he says in verse 14, he says here's the caution, then your heart might or will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out16:39 of Egypt and in the, and out of the land of slavery. Jump down to verse 17, He says, you may say to yourself at that time my power and my strength and my hands16:51 have produced wealth for me. I think it's interesting. If you go to the new testament, Jesus tells a story about a successful land owner that talked about his crops and his barns and his wealth and his17:03 this and you go back to the old testament, notice what you see right there. Before the children of Israel were going to the promised land, he said, be careful of me, myself, and I. Be careful of17:15 making it all about you. And and and and and God is basically saying, listen guys, when you are blessed, acknowledge your blessing from God.17:29 Build wealth, but don't forget God because in verse 17 he says you that you may then say to yourself my power and my strength and my hands have produced this wealth for me. Look at17:41 verse 18, but remember the lord your god for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. Man, my prayer is every dude in here, just like we said a few17:53 weeks ago that you're you're vocationally healthy, don't ever forget God gave you your talents, God gave you your abilities, God gave you opportunity, man, we are blessed to have a God that loves us, who has given18:05 us so many talents to work hard, and I wanna encourage you, do everything you can, whatever industry you find yourself in, be the very best you can be.18:16 Don't settle in and don't settle down. Say, I'm gonna strive for success, but I'm never gonna let my success get in the way of my spiritual growth. And that's the warning all the way back18:28 from when the children of Israel were into the promised land that, listen, he says, you're gonna go in there and you're gonna be more successful than you ever thought you could be when you were a slave in Egypt. But he's18:38 also gonna say, be careful of that success. Be careful of of money. Be careful of your stuff, because then you'll start patting yourself on the back, and read verse 18 again, but remember the lord18:50 your god, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce well, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore by your ancestors. How faith you19:01 faithful are you with what you have? It's a it's kinda been an interesting thing over the last couple of years. My wife was always a school teacher. How many school teachers we have in here? A couple. You know, as a19:13 school teacher, here's what you knew. You you knew exactly what you were gonna make every month. Right? You knew exactly what you were gonna make every month. And so years ago, we would just roll in our online giving and19:24 our tithing. It was my salary. You know what everything you're gonna make and exactly what you're gonna make and her salary and it just went in. Couple of years ago after COVID, she made a transition and a shift, to, to19:35 basically become a realtor. And I was like, well let's just guess. And she goes, no I want to give every time I do a deal. And, it's kind of been interesting in 2 ways. 1, every time she does a deal she celebrates that19:47 she goes in and she makes a gift. She goes online and says here's what I made, here's my gift, here's everything. But, here's what's come with that. Every time she makes 1 of those payments, she looks at me and she says,19:58 now don't go slack at the office. I'm paying your salary. And all of a sudden she's really interested in church finances because she goes, listen. I just20:10 gave I just gave more than I made last year or last month as a a as a teacher or something like that. And so here's the I idea. She's excited to do a deal to give.20:22 Now I know some of y'all are sitting here going, hey, pastor. Did you fall and bump your head? No. There's also a downside to having your wife as a realtor. That means you become her stager. Right?20:34 I got this carrying, an armoire down the stairs the other day staging a house. And so I go into Lifetime the other day after it happened. This happened Friday night when I should have been at a football game somewhere.20:45 She told me I was gonna do that. I go into Lifetime the next day. The number 1 question everybody's asking me is what happened to your hit? I text her about halfway through and I said, hey, number 1 questionnaire in a20:54 lifetime is, you know, what happened to your head? She texted me back and she goes, that's free advertising for J. K.eton real estate and they may not know that we have free staging services.21:06 And, but here here's the point, I don't know how you give. If you are it as easiest as if you make a standard salary, just to say man here's 10 percent, here's my tie that's gonna go in there21:18 immediately after I get paid. That's the way it is. Or if you're a person that ties off your deals. Either way, make it a joy. Make it your heart a desire that you get the opportunity21:30 to give to God's kingdom. And I will also tell you and and like my wife, then understand, look around at the ministers because ultimately we are paid out of your gifts and your tithes and your salary.21:42 Think in your mind exactly what my wife does. Don't slack at the office. Man, I want you to know just like I'm gonna encourage you, when you head into the office to tear it up,21:54 for those of us in ministry who get blessed by not only do we get called to be in the ministry, we get paid because we are in the ministry. You have to have, and you can have, and should have high22:06 standards for us as well. That we're working hard, that we're just as faithful. But I also want you to know, not only we're working hard just as faithful, but it's important for us22:18 that I should be just as faithful with what I'm given as you are. Now let me tell you what, if you have someone in the ministry and they don't tithe, get them out of the ministry. That's just flat22:30 out my my my belief. I've had people tell me over the over the years in ministry, hey, you know what, you know, I I just can't I don't make enough to give. If you make anything, you give.22:43 Jean and I developed this pattern years and years ago when I was an intern in ministry making 500 dollars for several years. Let let me tell you, you're not getting rich on 500 dollars but 50 dollars out of every 1 of22:55 those checks went to God's house after taxes. And so I want you to know, just as I'm telling you I expect and God will bless you if you will tithe and you'll be faithful financially, you23:07 have a you have a right to expect your staff to do the same thing. And I'll just tell you right now, if you got someone on the staff that doesn't tithe, they're being disobedient to23:19 God, they don't have faith and they don't have faithfulness, you have right to question that minister's heart for the lord, heart for the church, heart for the kingdom, regardless23:31 of their salary. But we also wanna turn it around and make sure, guys, that we are making the right decisions financially in our own life. I I love what, Haggai said in Haggai chapter23:43 1 verse 2 to 6. He says, here's what actually, we'll just pick it up in verse 5. He says, here's what happens when when we when we work, but we aren't faithful in giving. He says, now this is what the23:55 Lord God, this is God saying, here's the key, give careful thoughts to your ways. Look back over your ways. Give careful thought to your ways. You planted much, but have harvested24:06 little. You eat, but never seem to have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not worn. You earn wages24:18 only to put them in a purse with holes in it. Man, if you think about all that, does that feel like your life? Does that feel like where you are24:30 in your journey financially that I'm making more, I'm planning more, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, but I never have it? Say, why why might that be? Because I'm not being faithful financially.24:43 So guys, I I wanna say a word of encouragement. If you've never heard this, here at here at the church, the simplest plan that we present all the time, if you go through 1 of our financial classes, we we present this24:55 simple plan. You might wanna write it down. It's the 10 10 80 plan. And if you don't have a budget, I would encourage you, go back. This is the simplest plan that you can ever ever have. It's 1025:07 10 80. Go back and look at your income, look at what you bring home. The first 10 percent, write this down, first 10 percent of everything you make goes to God. First 1025:18 percent goes to God. Second 10 percent, pay yourself. Pay yourself savings, retirement, 4 0 125:30 ks, whatever it is. So first 10 percent is God, second 10 percent pay yourself, especially the younger you are, do it now. Man, the compounding effect of of long term25:42 investment and let me tell you, if you are blessed to be in a company that will do some sort of matching, don't ever leave money on the table. If you've got a company that'll match, you25:54 take your retirement contribution all the way to the max double of what your company will give you. And you say, alright, pastor. First 10 percent to God, second 10 percent to myself. What do I do with26:06 the eighties 80 percent? Whatever you want. Spend it like crazy. So I'm strictly encouraging you to live on about 80 percent of your income. That way you're doing what you26:18 wanna do with the church, with God, and with the kingdom. You're having savings and retirement set you up for the future and then live on that last 80 percent. And let me tell you what, here here's the26:30 key. I can look around this room. How many of you know if you just look around this room, some of our 80 percents don't go as far as some of other people's 80 percent? How many of you know that? Alright. So that's when26:41 you look around and you see what kind of car a dude drives and ask if they have a boat and do they have a beach house and you befriend that guy with a really26:53 big 80 percent. That's what you do. Alright? You want friends with big 80 percent 's. Guys, I want you to know, hey, if you've got lake houses and stuff,27:05 I'm not gonna look with you. I'm not gonna be jealous. I just want an invitation. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Right? Just just oh, you got a nice boat? Good. Hey. When are we going out on that boat? You27:16 got your ranch? Hey. When can I come out on that ranch? Got your new 4 wheeler? What can I crash your 4 wheeler? I mean, that's what we wanna do. So it's just that simple. Alright. So guys, as we come to the close, I27:26 I've got a couple more. Here's here's 1, ultimately. The average Cottonwood Creek person gives about 2.9 percent of their income to the church. About 2.927:38 percent of their income to the church. Violating principle 1. What does it say in Malachi? Bring the whole tithes into the storehouse. The whole tithes. If27:50 you were just to do that delta between 2.9 percent and 10 percent, we would never have to have a make room campaign. We'd pay for it from the tithes of our congregation. So if people say, you know,28:02 hey, why are we doing another campaign? Well, I can tell you, we would never have to do a campaign if everybody in our church tithed. That building would be built with cash if we were just28:14 faithful to give a full 10 percent. So guys, this is not me throwing heat at you, but this is me telling you what God's word says. If all you do is want28:25 more, more, more for me, me, me and my, my, my, you'll never be satisfied. You'll never be as happy as God wants you to28:37 be.28:40 Thank you for tuning in to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Caton. For more information on John Mark's ministry and resources, please visit johnmarkayton dot com. Until next time, remember, we're28:52 on this journey of life together.In this video 0:00 A Man's Life is Better: Financial Health
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