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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 The truth about money part 3, the title of the message is how to have it. If you are not in house, we're gonna ask that you go to watershers dot guide. Or if you don't have a piece of paper that was given to you on the0:09 way in, you can still take notes by clicking on today's message here at water church dot guide, the truth about money. You know, some people get funny when the preacher talks about money, not you people. Amen. I0:22 believe you're ready for a good word in season. So let's get to it. Ecclesiastes chapter 5 as well. So take out your Bibles, and it's real easy to find Ecclesiastes because all you gotta do is basically go0:33 halfway through your Bibles right down the middle. At least in my Bible, right down in the middle, Ecclesiastes chapter 5. I'm praying for you today at every location that God speaks to you. And the reason0:45 why I pray that is because this is a real issue for many, many people. In fact, most people struggle with finances in some way, shape, or form. I ran across an article a0:57 couple of weeks before doing this series, and I said, man, gotta share the title of that article with the church when we talk about money. And and here was the article. I I'm a I'm a bit of a stock guy. I do some stock1:09 investing here and there. But here is what the article said. Actually, we're gonna skip this slide. We're gonna go straight to the article from MarketWatch dot com. I want you to see this headline. On paycheck to1:20 paycheck, I make 350000 dollars a year, but I have 888000 dollars in student loans, 170000 dollars in car loans, and a mortgage that I pay 4500 dollars1:32 a month on. Do I need professional help? You need spiritual help. Something is tragically1:44 broken in your life when that is your testimony about money. I mean, 350000 dollars a year and paycheck to paycheck. Hey. If you're taking notes,1:56 I want you to write this down right at the top of the note page. Having money is not about the amount I have, but the attitude I develop. It's never about the amount because you2:08 can be 350000 dollars a year income and still be paycheck to paycheck. Did you did you know that in the ancient world, there was a2:20 god in in Babylon and they called that god Mammon. And it was a god that referred to your financial increase. In2:31 fact, it is that word in Aramaic, Mammon, that Jesus uses in the gospels when he says, you cannot serve god in mammon. And Jesus acknowledges that there is a spiritual2:43 power to money. Think about it. There is a spiritual power to money because money has a spirit to it. A lot of us, we can attest to this2:55 in our own lives that that when we get money unexpectedly, we immediately feel like an enormous amount of joy. And when we're tight with money and we don't have enough, we immediately3:07 feel an incredible sense of stress or depression or sadness. And those emotions are speaking to a spiritual reality behind the money that is3:19 alive and well in our culture. Now a couple of weeks ago or last week, I said to you how Americans are, by and large, very wealthy people. I wanna show you this by way of3:31 graphic here up on the screen. Did you know that America is the wealthiest place in the world per capita? On average, Americans have 176000 dollars of net worth. Hundred and3:43 76000 dollars of net worth. That doesn't mean cash. That could mean your property value, your car value, add your 4 0 1 k. Everything on everything altogether added up. What's that worth? And on average,3:55 the American is 176000 dollars per household. The second place country is Switzerland with 128000 dollars. Switzerland is second to4:06 us by a lot, by almost what is that? Almost 40045, 6, 46000 dollars less. What I'm trying to tell you is you live in the wealthiest4:17 country in the world and perhaps the wealthiest country in the history of the world. And if you are making the average American income singular as a single person,4:30 say 55000 dollars, that's the average income of an American. Did you know that you're in the top 4 percent of income earners in the world? In fact, let me put this graphic up4:42 there. This is a picture represent representing the world's population. If you were to to divide it up and and to this number of people, that's you. That's the percentage you represent4:54 of people in the world relative to your income. What I'm trying to tell you is Americans, you are not just wealthy. You are exceedingly rich by5:06 every estimation on the planet. How are you feeling about that? You don't feel very rich, do you?5:18 It's amazing because we are and yet we don't feel it. Why? Because there's a spirit behind money. And the spirit says things like, you don't have enough, you don't5:30 make enough, you're paycheck shame on you, you should be doing more, you should be having more. There's a real life waiting for you. If only you had, and the devil is always using money to speak into our5:42 spirits. Well, today, I wanna help you tell the devil to stick it. Are you ready to tell the devil to stick it? And this is what we're gonna5:54 do. We're gonna talk about a guy named Solomon. He was an exceedingly rich man, and he wrote 3 books in the new in the Bible. And I think when it comes to this topic of how to have6:05 money, we should listen to somebody who had a lot of money and whom the Holy Spirit validated by publishing his works in the bible. The bible is written not by 1 well, the bible is6:17 written by 1 author, the holy spirit, but 40 different people through the holy spirit wrote the bible. 1 of those bibles was king 1 of those men was king Solomon, son of David, exceedingly wealthy. He was so6:29 wealthy. The Bible says that in his day, silver was accounted as stones in Jerusalem. Think about that. Silver was accounted as stones because it was that prosperous. He led the6:41 nation in prosperity. He elevated their standard of living. He prospered himself and the nation and they had reached the zenith of their experience under King Solomon's6:52 leadership. He was a a fine leader, wise leader, and he writes 3 books. When he's young and in love, he writes the book Song of Solomon, which comes right after Ecclesiastes, and that's a7:04 romantic novel between him and his wife. It's also a picture of Christ in the church. And then when he's a middle aged guy and he has children running around the house, and he had a lot of children running around the7:14 house because Solomon had a problem with women. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. I don't know how on earth he did it, but he did it. And he had all these kids running around his house, all these little boys7:25 until he writes in middle aged Proverbs. And Proverbs is about wisdom, how to avoid the the traps of life, how to avoid the dangers of life. And when he gets all the way to the end of his life, after he7:37 has been there, done that, got the t shirt, Solomon writes the book of Ecclesiastes. And can I submit to you that Ecclesiastes is 1 of my favorite books in the Bible? Because Ecclesiastes is7:49 where Solomon gets real. He gets real about life. Hard book to understand. A lot of people go to Ecclesiastes and they say, I can't believe this is actually in the Bible. A lot of this stuff is crazy to think about. It's7:59 actually in the Bible because the main theme of Ecclesiastes is 1 word. Here's the word, meaningless. He gets to the end of his life. He's like, let me just tell you about life now. It's8:11 meaningless. You're like, wow. That doesn't sound very biblical. That doesn't sound very spiritual, Solomon. But there's a key phrase that he uses when he talks about the meaningless of life. And the phrase is under the8:22 sun. Under the sun. So, what Solomon is saying is that if this life under the sun, that is the sun that's in the sky, if this life is all that there is, it's8:34 filled with trouble, it's filled with hardship, it's filled with challenges that we don't anticipate and we don't know how to handle, and there are gonna be people that challenge us and things that challenge us and even8:43 our own spirits are gonna challenge us and and even even all the pleasure and all the things that we can gain, it'll it'll only last for a moment. And at the end of the day, if this is all that we have, then life on this8:54 planet is meaningless. That's his message in this book. But as every once in a while in the book, Solomon pops his head above the clouds, looks9:06 up beyond the sun, and reminds us that there's more to this world than what we see with our eyes. He reminds us that there's someone9:18 who lives over the sun. We live under the sun, but there's someone who is over the sun, and it's not the s u n sun, it's the s o n9:30 son. And because the s o n son of god lives over the s u n, and he knows me, and he has me in his hand, and he loves me and died for me. No matter what happens to me under the sun,9:42 I've got a heavenly savior over the sun who's got me right where he wants me. I can be I can be courageous. I can be faithful. And so in9:53 Ecclesiastes chapter 5, he does this for us. He pops his head over the clouds and he reminds us, listen, there's a god. He's watching and when it comes to money,10:05 man, this will drive you crazy. This will speak to your spirit. It'll depress you. It'll stress you. It'll worry you. But if you join me for a moment, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5, if you10:17 join me for a moment, we can stick our head above the clouds of uncertainty and see that God has something to say to us. So Ecclesiastes chapter 5, I'm gonna do something I don't usually do. I want you to stay10:28 seated at all locations as we read this text. Ecclesiastes 5. And the reason why we're doing this because when y'all stand down here, you block way too much of the video screen. And let's be honest, they come to see me,10:39 not you. Amen. Okay. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 1. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is10:51 better than to offer the sacrifice of fools. For they do not know what they are doing is evil. And then this next line, be not rash with your mouth. Oh, I love that saying. Just turn to your neighbor and11:02 say, not be not rash with your mouth. Oh, boy. I shouldn't maybe I should've told you to say that to your neighbor anyway. He says, don't be don't let your heart be hasty to utter11:14 a word before god. Why? He says, because god is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be what's the next word? Few. Few. And then let's skip down to verse 4. He says, when you11:26 vow a vow to god, do not delay in repaying it for he takes no pleasure in fools. Pay what you owe. But then look what he says in verse 5. It is better that you do not vow than you vow and not11:38 pay. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? Let's skip to verse 8. If you see in a province, in a state, or in a country,11:50 if you see the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter for the high official is watched by another, and there are yet higher ones over them. But this is the12:01 gain from from the land in every way a king is committed to cultivating fields. Then look at this verse 10. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money.12:13 He who loves wealth will not be satisfied with his income. This is vanity. Another word another translation says, this is meaningless. When goods increase, they increase who eat them. And what12:25 advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is sleep to the laborer, whether he eats little or much for his stomach but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. There is a grievous evil12:36 that I have seen under the sun. Riches were kept by their owner to his own hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is the father of a son, but he has nothing12:48 in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb, he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry it away in his13:00 hand. This is god's word. Let's pray together. Heavenly father, we pray, speak, and lead our hearts to hear your voice. We pray that the holy spirit13:11 governs every atmosphere where your people are gathered in Waters Church locations. We ask god for my words to be what you want them to be and our hearts to be open and13:23 our ears to be opened to what you are saying. And most importantly, as we pray every week, help us to see Jesus. Him and him only. In his mighty name, pray and everybody said Amen.13:34 Amen. How to have money, 4 points, and then we're done, but don't get excited when I get on fourth the fourth point because I got 3 points under 4.4. So I think that's 7 points total. How do you have money? Solomon tells13:46 us. And again, we're listening to a guy who knew how to have money. Because as much as he was rich, it wasn't his riches that caused him to get prideful and arrogant. It's actually his his sexual life13:58 and that's a whole another message series and we're not talking about that here. We'll talk about that another time but but his he was not he did not have a problem with money. He had a problem with with sex and14:07 immorality. And so when we look at Solomon's words, we're looking at a guy who knew how to have it. And what does he say? Number 1, write it down. Listen to God. You wanna have money? Listen to God. Write it down in your14:18 notes there. That's what he's saying here in Ecclesiastes 5. And it's not ironic, it's not without purpose that Solomon opens Ecclesiastes chapter 5 talking about how we go to church14:30 and then he and then he winds his way down to the issue of money. He says, listen, if you wanna know how to have money, get yourself to the house of god because that's where you can learn that there's more to14:41 life than money. And think about that. I mean, every area elsewhere is talking about money or what to do with it. You get on your social media, you scroll, you're gonna see an14:53 advertisement for what you are missing out on. Or you're gonna see somebody else's post on their vacation in the Bahamas. You're think, wow, that must be nice. I wish I had the money to do that or15:05 you're gonna turn on a television and today is Sunday, you know, the weekly worship of football in America and you're gonna watch football but most of the game, come on, let's be honest. Most of the game is what?15:17 Commercials. Telling you need this, that, the other thing, and your life is missing. And then you're gonna watch these men wearing spandex, running around a football field, playing a kids game, and you think, must be15:28 nice. Must be, I gotta work for construction company. I gotta go put my hands and do all this dirty work and these guys get to play a game for a living and they get paid millions of dollars. Must be nice. Ain't anybody15:39 with me? Anybody aggravated like that? You know what I'm talking about? And so, this is what your life is like. You're constantly absorbed in this whole game of money and what you don't have and what you need15:51 to have to be happy and measuring your life against somebody else's life and looking at someone else's blessing and they, I wish I had that kind of a and that's everywhere else but listen, when you come to god's house,16:02 you listen to god's voice and god has something good to say about money and the best thing he can say to you is, there is more to life than what you have in your hand. Life is more16:14 than the amount in your checking account. The possessions of your. Jesus said, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. So, if you wanna know how to have16:25 money, first things first, listen to God. What does he say in verse 1? Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. And then he says, listen, draw near to listen. Don't just spout off at God. Let me16:37 tell you what he means by that. He means don't come to God and say, God I need. God, I ask you for. God, I wish you would do. Now, he says, first, listen.16:49 Before we speak, god has something to say. Before we tell god what we need, god has something to give us to guide us in our lives. He says, be not rash with your17:01 mouth. Verse 2, he says, this is a hasty heart. It's not good to come to god and have all this stuff up in here and just kinda unload on god with all of your cares because17:13 here's why. If you do all the talking, you don't get to hear the truth that he wants to speak to you. Let's be honest. Our hearts are liars by nature. We lie to ourselves. The scripture says in17:25 Jeremiah 17 9 that the heart of man is deceitful above all else. It means that the most deceitful part of you lives inside of you. And if you let this thing do all the talking and all the17:37 worrying and you let it all come out, you never get a chance to hear the word of life. The word that comes out of Jesus' mouth that calms the seas and stills the wind and brings peace17:49 to the situation and lets you know that God is still in control. You might not have what you think you should have. You might be going through a stressful financial season, but God has a word for18:01 you today, and the word is peace be still. I'm still on the throne. Washington DC does not dictate your life. Your boss does not dictate your financial prosperity.18:12 Your father in heaven has his eye on the sparrow and you can guarantee he's watching over you. That's the good news of the gospel. So, if you if you want to live with18:24 money the right way, listen to god's voice over every other voice and here's why. I wanna kinda unpack this a little bit more practically. When it comes to when it comes to fears, and I want you to write this down. When18:34 it comes to fears about money, we want immediate answers, but god wants expedient actions. We want answers. God, I need 50 bucks this weekend. He's like, alright. Well, you know what? I18:46 got some things for you to do that if you do these things, you're gonna have 50 bucks. You won't have to ask me every single weekend. We want we want immediate just solve the problem, god. And god's like, okay. I'll18:58 solve problems and I can but I wanna build you up with wisdom so that when this problem shows up next time, you're not freaking out, you're not falling19:09 apart, and you have firmness of faith. I don't know about you, but I like that kind of life a little bit better than the life that's always like, Lord help. Like, wants you strong, wants you courageous. He wants you19:19 managing your life well. So it is Thanksgiving week. Woo hoo. Thanksgiving. How many of you love some pumpkin pie? I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie, but19:33 I got a I got a pumpkin pie illustration. We're gonna show you here on a video of how God wants you to take expedient action. 1 simple way to have19:44 more money. You may not have ever thought about it, but it comes from God's word, and I've been doing it for years. Watch this video. Hello. This is Juliet Troy.19:57 Hey, everybody. We are in God's kitchen today, and no. Not technically God's kitchen. This is the kitchen of our Apollo Beach location. Behind me, a beautiful oven. I got some things baking. I'm excited to20:08 visualize something for you about how to have money.20:24 Okay. So your life is gonna basically come down to 3 main categories when it comes to what you do with your money. The big picture items, then the essentials, and then the nonessential secondary items. Over here, the big20:34 ticket items are government god savings. Really, what you wanna aim for is this picture. You're gonna wanna have savings for when you have an accident. You wanna put god first, and taxes and death are the only 220:44 certainties in life this side of heaven. The essential items, clothing. We're so glad that you have them today. Okay? Housing. Where to live? Where to lay my head? Food. I've gotta eat. And I have kids.20:56 I've gotta make sure that they also have these 3 items. Hobbies. Entertainment. Fur babies. What I see and what I've watched with so many people, and it's probably happening in your life, is there's no agreement in the21:07 house, no agreement between husband and wife, or maybe if you're single, between yourself and God, that you're gonna put the right things in the right places. First thing I wanna show you baked21:19 today, fresh from the grocery store, a pumpkin pie. What do we do with our pie? Our pie represents money. What we're gonna get paid every week of the week or every month. What I see21:31 a lot of people doing is they're just cutting it up as it feels good or whatever is important in the moment, they give their money to. That's not gonna work. So here's what that looks like. You cut it21:43 up, and you think, okay. I get paid. But guess what happens first in our country? A huge portion goes right to this guy, right to government. Then a lot of people say, you know, I'm21:55 going to have a mortgage or a rent. And how many know that inflation has really expanded that piece of the pie? That's gotta go to our housing. So then we also have to pay for food. That's22:07 that's an essential. That's gonna take out a huge chunk of our budget. And look at how much pie we have left. This is why we get to the end of our month, and there's a whole lot of month left to the end of our money. How22:19 much of the pie are the kiddos gonna take? Let's be honest. They're gonna take out a bunch of that pie. We're down to very little, aren't we? Look at this small little pie. And you know what I see a lot of22:31 people doing? They do this. I gotta have my hobbies. I gotta have my entertainment, and I gotta have my fur babies, and I gotta try to put it all in this 1 little piece of my pie. I'm gonna22:42 just you know what? Just to shorten the deal here, just gonna pop them all in here and make sure that we've got those things going on in our lives. This is how a lot of people use the money that God gives22:54 them. And, unfortunately, what they have left is crumbs and how terrible it is to give God what's left over.23:07 Or how about this? Your future self. Most Americans do not have enough money to last without a paycheck for more than a couple months.23:19 That's unacceptable. And let me tell you, that's where your stress levels come from. That's where your anxiety comes from. You got no freedom, no sense of I'm together now. Can I tell you that God does not23:30 want that for you at all? But if you do life like that, just letting whatever comes first get paid first and go out first financially, your life is gonna be filled with worry and consternation, and it23:42 is not at all how God wants you to live. So let's try something different. If you get these principles, this is how you're gonna be blessed and well off in life, which is what God wants for you. He wants23:54 you to be at ease knowing that you've got a backup fund. He's first, and you're paying less taxes. You're providing for your family, and you're enjoying life. It's not a problem. It's not a sin to enjoy things in life. A24:06 whole day of baking. I am exhausted. Let's do it God's way. The American government has got a secret weapon for you. If you do what I'm about to tell you, you will have more24:18 money left over for all the other things that you care about. We are Christians, and we don't just say God is first. We actually live that God is first. So I take 1 tenth of this24:30 pie, and I give it to God. So instead of taxing you on the whole pie, right now, we've just cut down not to 90 percent of what the government can get their hands on. The government of the United States also allows24:42 you to invest in your future you tax free as well. There's no other country in the world that does this. This is so beautiful. Watch this. I take another 10 percent, and I cut that out of my24:53 paycheck, and I say this is not the government's either. This is future self's. 10 percent to God, 10 percent to savings. This is the best thing you can do in life. I'm telling you, financially speaking, it25:04 pays huge dividends. I don't know if I can still find that other piece. This is the government last time when we didn't put God first. This is the government this time when we put God first. I don't know about you, but25:14 I'm a huge fan of paying less money to the government than the rest of the pie. I have to budget. I have to think, okay. I don't need to shop at Armani or25:25 Versace. I can go to some store where they're gonna sell me last year's styles for much cheaper. Housing is also much more manageable if you think about what kind of rate are you25:37 paying. Right now, don't want to refinance. Rates are through the roof. Times will shift. The economy will transition. Rates will come down, and you could lower the amount of this pie piece that you're giving to25:49 housing. You gotta keep this in mind. You gotta have this game plan in your head. And then when the kids are talking about their piece of the pie, I wanna do something. I want you to see this. And,26:00 oh, right there. And ladies and gentlemen, the best way to make sure that your kids don't suck you dry. You're gonna have to do food, and that's nonnegotiable. Look at this. Look at how26:12 much money we have left over. Oh my gosh. Look. We could even yeah. Let's throw some more at the food budget. We're gonna go out. We're gonna spend we're gonna get crazy. We're gonna go to Outback Steakhouse. That's what26:21 we're gonna do as a family this weekend. Or we're gonna pay a little bit more for the kids because, know what, they're good kids, and they're they're helpful around the house and they're doing some chores, so we're gonna26:29 give them an allowance. And then look at this, then we can still divide up the rest of the pie and put all these great things that we enjoy in life. But you're putting the right things in the right place. Who's first?26:42 God's first. Who's second? You. Your future self is second. Who's third? Government. Government comes third on this list. And then all the essentials play themselves out because you're working with26:53 greater margin as a result, and then you're putting your non essentials in the right place. And listen, it's better to have no money for entertainment 1 week than having no money27:05 for clothes or your kids 1 week. But you gotta prioritize, and you gotta learn how to tell your money where to go before you're wondering where it went. God wants you to prosper. He wants you to be27:17 blessed, and he wants to add that blessing to your life with no pain added to it.27:29 Amen. Amen. That's just a simple illustration. I know there's a lot more complication to it for some of you, but that's a start. You put God first, your future self second, and government comes third. That's point number27:40 1. Point number 2, write this down. God wants something for me, not from me. So many people get freaked out when it comes to the church talking about money, and I never understood that. I27:52 never understood it. You understand I have been doing this job now for 20, almost 25 years. 2 and a half decades I've been in vocational ministry. That means I've been getting a28:04 paycheck from doing what I do for 25 plus years. Every year, I've seen god come through for our church. Never once has our church had a point in life where28:15 the finances just weren't there and believe me, we've had some ups, we've had some downs, but God has always been faithful in every generation. Do you know why? Because the church belongs to28:27 him, not me. And he's always gonna take care of his church, which means that I have an opportunity to teach you about money in a way that has no worry. I'm not sitting here trying to raise money for28:39 the church. I'm trying to help you learn how to do money God's way because God ultimately does not need what you have. Ecclesiastes unpacks this in a very strange text. Verse 5, he says28:51 this, when you vow a vow to god, don't delay in paying him. He has no pleasure in that. Like like, don't make promises to god that you cannot keep man. A lot of people do that with money. They say, oh, Lord, if you would29:02 just get me out of this mess, I promise that I'm gonna give you the first 10. Don't do that. Don't make a bargain with God because he says this, if you don't do it, God's gonna get angry at your29:14 vow. It's better that you just zip your mouth and don't say it. When when you wanna make a bargain with god, better to say, I'm not doing it because I might fail. I know me.29:26 I say 1 thing, I do another. And god says, yeah, I know you too. So, don't say it in the first place. And this is another thing that is pointed out here in this text. He says, don't make the vow. And29:38 I just thought about this very rationally. It's very simple. We don't need to promise God things because God doesn't need it. Doesn't need your money. Doesn't29:50 need doesn't need you. Doesn't need me. God is totally and fully self sufficient. Acts chapter 17 24, Paul unpacks this. It says this, he is the god who made the world and everything in it.30:02 It says, human hands can't serve his needs. Why? Look at the next line. For he has what? No needs. He has no needs. He gives life and breath, everything, and he satisfies every30:14 need. God does not need what you got. So what I love about that is it makes god the only god we're serving because a god who doesn't need me is a god who will take care of me and provide for30:26 me irregardless of what I do for him. He's faithful even when I'm faithless. This is good for you. I can rest in the knowledge that my father30:38 loves me. I'm I'm gonna have some good days where I'm serving him and I'm doing my best and I'm following his word. And then I don't know if I'm talking to anybody who's honest in church today, but I'm gonna have some30:48 days where I really fail. Anybody with me on that or am I the only sinner in the house? Yeah, we're gonna have some days where like, Lord, can't believe I did that. And the good news is is that that doesn't change God.31:00 It doesn't change the way he sees us. He loves us with an everlasting love. He'll never leave us. He'll never forsake us. And my certainty now in life is to know that he is my foundation. He is my31:11 source and he takes care of me because he doesn't actually need anything that I have for him. He wants to give to me. Look what Jesus says to the disciples in Luke 12. He says, don't seek what you are to eat and what31:23 you are to drink And look at this next line, nor be what? Worried. Worried. Just circle nor be worried on your notes. Man, that's a big 1 for me. I don't know about you, but I worry a lot.31:35 I let worry come on in. And before you know what I'm worrying for 15 minutes. And you know what you need to do with worry? You need to say worry, stop it. God's in charge. God's got this. He has me in the palm of his31:45 hand. Gotta tell worry to get lost. Then he says this, all the nations of the world, they do that. They seek after all these things. And your father in heaven knows that you need them. And he says this, instead seek his31:55 kingdom. What does that mean? That means put him first. That means get involved in his movement. What is his movement? His movement is the church. And what is the church? The church is God's agent to bring people to32:07 salvation. That's what we are doing as a church every time we gather on the weekend. At Waters Church across all locations, every time we gather, somebody is getting saved. Somebody's crossing from death to32:18 life. Somebody's entering into eternal joy. Every time we gather as the church. Be involved in that because there is no greater privilege in life than to be involved in life change here32:30 on this earth and seeing someone be translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of god's marvelous light. Can I get a good amen right there? But you know what? Put God's fear put God's kingdom first. And32:41 then he says this, I love this, fear not. I love how how I love how Jesus has to tell us not to worry and not to fear in the same sentence because he knows we're propensity for fear. So fear not for it gives32:53 your father good pleasure to what? To give you the kingdom. Some of like, oh, god doesn't wanna do anything for me. I know he's up sale. No. No. No. Fear not. God takes pleasure in33:04 giving you the things you need. He takes pleasure in that. Some of you dads know this. You know this experientially because your father your sons come to you and they want something and they wanna do33:16 something. And and you know what? If you're a good father, you don't sit there and say, well, I saw you last week. I saw, you know, you did that and the other day, I'm not sure I wanna give you. No, you take pleasure in33:26 giving your kids thing and providing for their needs. That's what good fathers do. My son came to me the other day and he said to me, dad, I wanna I wanna get an electric guitar. And I'm like, that's awesome. Let's33:38 get an electric guitar. Ran right over to the store. We got a guitar. He brought it home. And then I said, not so awesome to have an electric guitar in the house. Anyway, but I was pleased to be part of that process to33:50 say, yeah, I wanna bless my child. Ladies and gentlemen, if I know how to do that and I am not God, God in heaven knows how to do that way more than me. He wants to give you34:02 he wants to bless you because he doesn't need anything from you. Number 3, how to have money. Here's what Solomon teaches us. Expect the unfair and look to god.34:14 Oh, I wish I could spend a whole message on this mess on this point. Expect the unfair. Ladies and gentlemen, I got news for you. Equality is an illusion34:26 this side of heaven. This world will never be equal. This world will never be fair until Jesus Christ comes again.34:38 And anybody who tells you differently is running for office. I don't need your vote. I can tell you the truth. And the truth34:50 is everybody in this world is ultimately looking for looking out for themselves. And that includes the politician who wants to tell you that it's the 1 percent's fault35:02 or the rich people's fault or the billionaire class's fault. At the end of the day, those people have the resources to tell you that stuff because they are funded by billionaires and the 1 percent.35:14 I am not that person. I am here to represent what god's word says and I'm telling you what Solomon says here from 2800 years ago in Ecclesiastes. He says, this is what's happening in the world and it's always always35:25 gonna be there. Look what he says in verse 8. If you see the oppression of the poor, the violation of justice and righteousness, what's the next line? What does he say? Be amazed. Says, don't be amazed. It's going to35:37 happen. This is life. Life is unfair. So you're gonna waste, and I wish the young people would just tune into me for a moment real quick here here. You can35:49 waste 10 plus years of your life waiting for someone else to make life fair or you could lift your eyes above the system of this world and36:01 put them squarely on your father in heaven and give your life fully to him and watch him work through the unfairness for your good and for your favor. Amen. I'm telling you, choice is36:13 yours. The choice is yours. I mean, you can stress and complain for 10 plus years or you can trust god. That's what Solomon says here. He says, look, if you see this stuff, and36:25 here he is, he's the king in Israel. He could have done something about it. And I guarantee you that many times, Solomon was like, I'm gonna make I'm gonna fix that. I'm gonna fix that. I'm gonna fix that. And you know36:34 what I think he did after about 20 years of reigning as king, he was probably like, this is too much work. I can't solve everybody's problems. This is too much unfairness. This is too much inequality. This is too much36:46 injustice. So so we've gotta realize something. And here's what he tells us. It's very strange text. But again, some of the best nuggets of wisdom are in this book Ecclesiastes. He says, don't be amazed because the high36:57 official, the politician is watched by a higher, someone who's donating to their campaign. And they have ones who are higher over them, the people who give them the money. Verse37:08 9, but this is the gain for the land in every way. A king is cultivated because he says, look, the guy who promises to take care of you from the politician's office, at the end of the day, he's just looking out for37:19 himself too. This is the human heart. There are no angels in human skin. We understand that? We're good with that? Like there's37:31 no angels. I like to think about that when it when it comes you're voting for the guy, you're voting for the girl. Oh, they're gonna fix no, they're not. They're going to they're going to bow to whatever source is theirs37:41 and they're gonna watch out for themselves. So, here's what we do as god's people. We don't play that game. We march to the beat of a heavenly drummer and we37:52 trust that the 1 who knows us and died for us and rose from the grave for us is watching over us and he will help us. Yeah. That's what Psalm 1 21 says,38:04 my help what? Comes the lord. I wanna say my help. You all say comes from the lord on the count of 3. My help. I said on the count of 3, I didn't mean that. Just say38:16 it. Alright. Anyway, my help comes from the lord. He made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. The lord is your what? He's your keeper. The lord is38:28 the shade at your right hand. And so the point that I'm trying to make and what I think Solomon is saying here absolutely is, there's always gonna be inequality. There's always gonna be injustice. Couple months ago, IShow more
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