February 18, 2025 • 41 mins
Ever wondered if your childhood dreams of wealth have overshadowed the true blessings in your life? Join us as we explore the profound concept of spiritual generational wealth, inviting you to shift focus from material riches to eternal values that truly matter. In this thought-provoking episode, we reflect on our aspirations to be as wealthy as Uncle Scrooge from DuckTales and how these desires might detract from the spiritual fulfillment and joy that come from a deeper relationship with God. As we grow, the conversation naturally progresses towards the legacy we leave behind—not just in terms of material inheritance but also the spiritual heritage that shapes future generations.
We are thrilled to welcome guest artist Aaron, who shares the inspiration behind his painting based on the parable of the talents from Matthew. Through his artwork and personal journey as a father and a Christian, Aaron highlights the vital elements of faith and family, reminding us of the importance of nurturing and teaching. Our discussion delves into the steadfast faith of biblical figures like Joshua, emphasizing the power of sacrificial love and the true value bestowed upon us by God, far beyond material possessions. Together, we ponder over the joy of entering into the master’s presence and the transformative power of God’s word in our lives.
This episode also brings to light personal stories of faith and financial struggles during missionary work in France, demonstrating how the presence of God is the ultimate form of wealth. By comparing financial investments to spiritual growth, we encourage a mindset shift towards evaluating our spiritual 'return on investment' and fostering a Christ-like character for future generations. As we break cycles of brokenness and establish a legacy of faith, the sacrifices and commitments we make today can profoundly impact our children and grandchildren. Through prioritizing our relationship with God and being faithful stewards of His gifts, we lay the groundwork for a future filled with true fulfillment and spiritual prosperity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
to battle for the family.
Today, we're talking about thisidea of spiritual generational
wealth.
This week I was thinking aboutthis question about when you're
little.
How often people ask you whatdo you want to be when you grow
up and different people havedifferent answers.
Right, everything was like that.
(00:20):
But I could tell you what Iwanted to be when I was little.
I wanted to be rich.
I wanted to be really rich.
That's what I wanted to be.
When I was little, I wanted tobe rich, I wanted to be really
rich.
That's what I wanted to be.
And kids now you know they wantto be.
I want to be a YouTuber, I wantto be an influencer.
I was like, forget all that, Iwant to be rich, I want to have
deep pockets.
I'll be like Uncle Scrooge,because Uncle Scrooge has all
the money.
How do you know what I'mtalking about?
And so I would ride my bikehome from school and I would get
(00:42):
a snack and I would hang outand I would be watching
DuckTales and see Uncle Scroogewith all his money.
Uncle Scrooge has like 90 feetworth of gold coins.
You guys, it's a crazy amountof money.
And I was thinking about allthis in context and it's funny
because my parents, man, theycame from very humble beginnings
and they worked hard and theyprovided for us and gave me and
(01:05):
my brother more opportunitiesthan they had.
But in my mind I was onlycomparing myself to other people
that had more stuff than me,and so I was like, oh man, you
know, like thinking aboutso-and-so who had a new bike, or
this person who had thisopportunity, and I wasn't
considering all the blessingsthat I had, like the fact I
could come home and have a snack, because there was a home and
(01:27):
there was a snack.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout and I wasn't thinking
about it like that.
I was thinking about you know,how can I be like Uncle Scrooge
and get all the money?
That's what I'm talking about.
I need all the money.
I need.
You know cubic yards of moneyunderneath my feet, and I think
some of us that's kind of wherewe get stuck too is that we
think about this is somehowgoing to make me happier and
better and fulfill me in allthese different ways.
(01:48):
And we don't take into accountall the blessings of God that we
already have, and this becomesan interesting thing whenever
you think about all the goldthat you would try to like
stockpile in your life andsomehow it was going to make you
better and to attain all thesethings.
And what I realized was thatthe more that you want, the more
that you're not happy wheneveryou get it and you need more.
(02:10):
I'm going to stand hereawkwardly until you agree with
me, but the problem with lookingfor something that doesn't
fulfill you spiritually and inthe whole of your life is that
you just need more of it.
So it doesn't matter thatthere's piles and piles and
(02:31):
piles of gold underneath yourfeet, because you'll need more,
because it doesn't fulfill yourlife spiritually.
And so many times we try to fillthat hole in our life that's
supposed to be a relationshipwith God with all sorts of stuff
.
It could be things like money,it could be relationships or
other things, and so we're outthere chasing this stuff and
trying to be something that willattain this thing, when really
(02:53):
it's about our relationship withGod and the fulfillment that is
really only found in Him.
Really, the question that weshould be asking ourselves is
for your legacy, how will you beremembered?
And I think we get to thisquestion many of us as we get a
little more refined, a littlebit older.
You guys got the older partright.
(03:17):
As we get older, we start tothink about legacy and what
we'll be remembered for.
Not just what we will go and be, because maybe we've already
become something, but the ideais like what will we be
remembered for?
Not just what we will go and be, because maybe we've already
become something, but the ideais like what will we be
remembered for?
What will our legacy be?
What we're going to hand off toour children and our children's
children, what's going to bethe heritage of the situation,
and not just that, but theinheritance.
(03:37):
What am I leaving behind forthem?
What's the influence?
And so often we start thinkingabout all these things and we
start thinking monetarily andthings here and trust and all
this other stuff.
And those are all good things.
Nothing wrong with that.
In fact, it's good to look outand be those people who are
forward thinking.
But that's not the only thing weshould be focused on.
(03:57):
In fact, if we're reallytruthful about it, then we, as
people who are living for God,should have our minds and hearts
in heaven about eternal things.
When we start having an eternalperspective, then it changes
what we're actually going after.
It changes the end goal and ifwe're starting with the end in
mind, then it means it's goingto change what we focus on about
(04:21):
the spiritual generationalwealth that we can pass on to
not just our children orgrandchildren but the sphere of
influence around us.
And see how it changes it forthe better.
Friends, that we would battlefor the family, that we would be
those intentional as living asan example of Jesus.
(04:43):
You say amen to that.
Amen.
Today we have a friend namedAaron who is painting for us.
Give a hand for Aaron today.
Man, amazing, aaron is paintingthis.
I want to have Aaron come andshare kind of a little bit about
his art and what it means tohim.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Pardon my mess, pardon my mess.
So this painting that I'mworking on today is just kind of
to me a representation of theparable of the talents in
Matthew.
And you know, I think me as afather, like it was really
(05:26):
awesome to see the babydedication and everything like
that.
I really felt this like kind ofclick with me, even though I
already knew what I was going tokind of paint beforehand.
But in that parable a mastergives his servants money while
he goes away to travel and theparable outlines what each one
of those servants does with thatmoney.
And one of them is fearful ofhis master and he actually just
(05:50):
takes some money and you seethis guy's pointing down he just
buries it to give it back tohim because he's like I'm afraid
I don't know what to do withthis, so he takes no action at
all.
And then there's anotherservant who isn't given that
much and this made me think of,like me, how I felt in times of
(06:13):
my life where I feel like Idon't maybe have much that I can
give or offer.
I'm still working on this here,but he actually has a clock in
his hand which is going torepresent time, and I think
that's something that everyonecould find time to give.
He also has flowers over hiseyes and those flowers are kind
of representative of nurturingover time.
I think there's a lot of talkin the Bible about gardening and
(06:35):
agriculture and stuff like that, and so that makes me think of
that there.
And there was one servant whowas given 10 pieces, 10 coins.
One servant who was given 10pieces, 10 coins, and he took
that and he did the most with it, and to me this represents, it
could represent someone who islike a teacher.
(06:55):
So I said this in first service.
A lot of times I use hands asthe representation for work.
So this guy has mouths in hishands that are teaching and I
think too, like seeing thededication made me think of my
role as a father and how both ofthese things are just like
crucial in the household.
So, yeah, that's what.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Amazing.
We have a hand of appreciationfor Aaron today, using his
talent for God.
See, that's how we seeourselves very much here.
Cornerstone is people who arein need of a savior, people who
are not perfect but arefollowing after Jesus.
Our ambition is to be more likeJesus, so we use this imagery
of Christ walking with hisdisciples because none of us has
(07:36):
arrived anywhere.
All of us are still on thatjourney and people can relate to
that and we're on that journey,following after him.
We talked about in this seriesthis idea of what are you
battling for, and we talkedabout how Joshua made a stand.
Even as other people in thechildren of Israel went in and
they started following othergods.
Joshua said no, as for me andmy house, we will serve the Lord
(08:00):
, and he made this statement offaith that was declarative.
It was saying listen, I believein God and I'm going to stand
for that.
I'm going to fight for it.
We talked about what it meansto fight for something and not
against something, and how we'refighting for our families.
We also talked about last weekwhat it means to take one for
the team and to be sacrificial,even in our own selves, so that
(08:23):
other people can know the loveof God we talked about out of
John 15, this verse that saysgreater love has no one than
this, that someone lay downtheir life for his friends.
And so it's that sacrificiallove of what it means to say yes
to Christ, to have our centerof our value in Jesus.
It's not around what we own,it's not around what we've
(08:43):
accomplished.
And because that's true, thenif any of that stuff is taken
away, we are still the samevalue, and we know this.
That's why it talks about whenyou turn the other cheek.
There's no shame that someone'strying to attach to you,
because you know your value,because it comes from God and
not from what other people think.
And that's the same thing aboutyour cloak and your tunic and
(09:04):
giving it to someone elsebecause you can be get those
things back.
Whereas as we're trying tothink about this in our own mind
, we're always trying to getahead and God is saying I have
something greater for you ifyou'll live as an example for me
.
Today we continue in this ideaof battle for the family.
If your Bible is gonna move toMatthew 25, today I'm going to
(09:26):
be looking at the end of thebook there, at this parable here
, said his master, said to himwell done, good and faithful
servant.
You have been faithful over alittle.
I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of yourmaster.
Lord, we thank you so much foryour word today.
(09:48):
We pray over it.
You would make it alive and berhema to us, transformative and
challenging.
We pray in the name of JesusChrist.
Amen.
Battle for the family.
And you can think aboutspiritual, generational wealth
in this way that you can't giveto someone what you do not have
yourself.
You cannot give to someone whatyou do not have yourself.
(10:10):
And we understand this aboutpassing things on to them
fiscally.
If we're someone who wants topass things on to our children
or grandchildren, if we'resomeone who wants to pass things
on to our children orgrandchildren, if we want to be
a blessing to our community,then we have to be able to have
that to give it.
How many people know what I'msaying?
And so if we want to be a personwho's generous and is able to
give in that way, then we haveto live differently so we can
(10:31):
live differently.
Does that make sense?
So you live like no one else,meaning living within your means
and all these other things withgood investments and good ideas
and living within thatconstraint so that you can live
like no one else and be generouslike no one else, so that you
can set up the future like noone else.
Because you are living in thatkind of mentality, you think
about all the gold that we wouldtry to surround ourselves with,
(10:53):
and fiscally.
That's all sounds, sounds great.
But here's the thing that canall be taken from you.
You ever heard of the tax man?
See, it doesn't matter how muchgold we have piled up, because
uncle Sam will come and take awhole bunch of that right.
It doesn't matter what countryyou're in.
That's how it works.
And so as we start to look atthis stuff, we look beyond those
things to understand that it'sabout the investment of, not
(11:16):
just for ourselves but for thefuture.
See, so much of scripture isfocused on that idea.
We see it in Luke 1, where weheard this back two weeks ago.
Talking about, for his mercy isfor those who fear him from
generation to generation.
Friends, that's what throughoutthe scripture.
A great wealth of theirs wasnot just what they physically
(11:36):
had, but they understood thattheir family and their namesake,
like what they put in motionwas a great blessing Today, as
we saw this family that was hereand all the extended family.
What a blessing from God.
Each one of these children ablessing from God, each with
their own story and narrative ofwhat God's going to do in and
(11:57):
through their lives, how he'sgiven them unique abilities and
talents to use for him.
What a blessing because thosethings are investments for him
in the future.
And, as we see it that way, westart to change our mentality.
So much of the scripture, thethings we read.
If you read in Psalm andProverbs, you'll often see it
says, lord, that you would savethis generation.
(12:20):
The prophets would write orLord, that you would save me
from this generation that's evilor Lord, that you would help.
So the generations that wouldfollow, lord that I know we've
broken your heart, but forgiveus, lord.
We rend our hearts and not ourgarments.
Lord, we draw near to you sothat they can have a future and
would not be cut off from theface of the earth.
(12:42):
And I think that's how we feelas well.
We understand that if we'regonna be those who make a way
forward in the future for all ofthose who are behind us, then
we too need to be those that areliving that way.
In fact, it means that if we'regoing to be someone who
actually has the mindset that'scorrect, then we need to shift
(13:04):
how we see the generations tocome and invest in them the way
that we too would want to knowGod, that we draw near to them
with everything we have and soas living as an example for our
children and our sphere ofinfluence.
They see us drawing near to God, and that's the example that
(13:24):
they follow.
How often as a parent or as anaunt or an uncle, or something
you've said listen, do what Isay, not what I do.
And the kids are like like you,dumb, I'm gonna be dumb with
you.
You know what I do.
And the kids are like like you,dumb, I'm going to be dumb with
you.
You know what I mean?
No, that's not what we want.
We want them not to have to gothrough our heartache, not to
(13:46):
have to go through ourbrokenness, not to have to go
through our mistakes.
We want them to move forward.
And here's the thing.
If that's not the case and youwant to somehow be more powerful
or stronger or whatever thanyour kids, then guess what.
That's not the kind of heritagethat they deserve.
They want a heritage that'sgonna be a blessing for the
future.
And that's the tension that'shere with this whole thing,
(14:07):
isn't it?
Because it's a tension inunderstanding of the generations
to come Like for me, I'll tellyou, like you know my folks, you
know they gave so that I couldhave more than they had had
every opportunity that theydidn't have.
My dad was working a paper routewhen he was 12 to make money.
You know like he was up, youknow, before the dawn, working
(14:29):
super hard, working all the time, and they made a way for us to
do different than that but, atthe same time, still instilled
in us this work ethic, this hardwork ethic.
And I think that's the tensionthat we experience right,
because, as parents, we want togive our kids everything and, at
the same time, we give themeverything and we ruin them
Because they didn't do the hardwork that we experienced that
(14:50):
made us come to the place thatwe're in.
Does that make sense?
So my dad, he would be like JT,you're going to go and change
this alternator on the truck andI'm like I'm sorry what?
I am not a professionalmechanic.
He's like cool story, here'ssome tools Go change your
alternator.
And I was like okay, so manyhours later like many hours
(15:11):
later you know what I mean.
Like this is me under the truckwith a ratchet, banging my hands
all over the place because Idon't know what I'm doing.
But guess what fell off thetruck?
Other parts, including analternator.
We got there.
You know, later my dad would be.
He was like come, look at thisreal quick.
You see this, this is a stumpof a tree that was really large
in the yard.
(15:31):
I'm like, yeah, that's wow.
Look at that.
He's like we need this to getout of the ground.
Like we, you like that, we needthis to get out of the ground.
I was like that sounds great.
When do those guys come?
And I'll point at it.
I'll be like it's right here, Isee it, here it is.
He's like by we, he meant meand a shovel and a pickaxe
coming out of the shed anddigging it out of the ground.
Anybody, anybody.
(15:52):
And so this is my reality isthat the way I learned hard work
was doing hard work, and it waslike a miracle, because later I
would go to university inCalifornia and my friends who,
like, were sponsored byeverything right, parents on the
chest, everything, everything,parents right.
They were like well, how do youknow how to do this.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
(16:13):
Did you not have to take analternator off of a truck?
Do you not know how to dig thisthing out of the ground?
You know how to do your laundry.
You know what I'm talking about.
And there's a tension betweenadulting and responsibility and
hard work and trying to be ablessing for the generations
that follow.
See, there's a tension there,and Celeste and I talked about
it.
It's like man, we want to be ablessing to our kids.
(16:34):
See, there's a tension there,and Celeste and I talked about
it.
It's like man, we wanna be ablessing to our kids but don't
ruin them so they're no good asthey get to be an adult.
And so there's this tensionthat's followed in all of these
pieces that we wanna be those.
If we're so intentional aboutthat, then shouldn't we also be
intentional about our spirituallife and what we talk to with
our children, what we talk towith our grandchildren, what we
(16:59):
talk to with our sphere ofinfluence, that we would be
those that are also helpingothers in the journey, in the
preparation for what's ahead, Ifwe know that there could be
heartbreak ahead, if we knowthere could be hardship ahead.
Better to have the skillset toovercome it than to be those
broken by it whenever you couldknow better Friends.
We wanna be those that areproactive, that start with the
end in mind and are intentionalabout it.
(17:20):
Look to Daniel.
We talked about this before.
Daniel says this Now.
How great are his signs, howmighty are his wonders.
His kingdom is an everlastingkingdom.
His dominion endures fromgeneration to generation.
This is Daniel.
Daniel who is from the lineageof all of the great minds and
(17:42):
all of the great blessing thatGod had brought to the children
of Israel.
This is Daniel who, in his ownlifetime, even though he was
blessed and he was intelligent,even though he was experiencing
all these things, none of thatwas in Jerusalem, it was as he
was being enslaved in Babylon,friends.
He was taken away from thegreat city.
They were taken away from allthat God had done in their
(18:04):
narrative, giving them the landby battle and establishing a
kingship and having great nameslike David and Solomon.
But because their hearts turnedaway from God, who was the
source, then they ended uphaving devastation come to them
because God took his hand off ofthem so they could learn to
(18:25):
correct their hearts and turnback to him.
That's why so many times whenpeople go and find wealth
monetarily here in life, thenthey don't need God anymore
because they have money, butfriends that we would understand
that our wealth is not in themoney.
Our wealth is in the source ofall things, which is God alone,
(18:50):
and so that's why Daniel intruth can give worship to God.
God is glorious, he is wondrous, his works are for me.
Even in the midst of beingsomeone in captivity in another
country, he believes the promiseof God, that God is faithful.
Whether I believe it or not,whether I see it or not, he's
still faithful from generationto generation and friends.
(19:13):
That's true for you and foryour family, just like it is in
his day.
Here's what I know is that as wetalk about these things and we
talk about family, that Godcares about your circumstance.
He cares about your family.
He wants you to be united.
He wants there to beforgiveness.
He wants there to be a comingtogether in such a way that it's
(19:35):
a passionate thing wherethere's a love there and not a
brokenness.
He cares for the one who's theprodigal in your family that's
away from God.
He cares about them, just likeyou do.
He hears your prayers for themand friends.
I can tell you, as an exampleof one of them they are not
outside of the hand of God thathe can bring them right back
(19:59):
into himself that we would bethose who are proactive and we
are those who invest spirituallyin what God has for our family.
You see this picture of thisnice family.
They're all sitting here, niceand pretty and perfect.
Look how smiley they are and Iwonder about how often they
really sat there before they gotin a fight.
(20:20):
You guys know what I'm talkingabout and that's real deal.
That's how families work.
Sometimes it's like you'resitting too close to me.
Oh, you're gross.
You didn't put on deodorant.
You get the idea.
The idea is that.
So that's the thing we get tiedup in is the nitty gritty of it
, without having the mindset ofthe end in mind.
If we have heaven in mind, wehave this mindset for heaven in
(20:41):
mind.
It goes beyond, just like theway we think about it in
paintings.
It's like clouds and angels andlike this.
No, this is the spirit realm.
This is the glory of God.
It's the revelation of who heis as creator.
It's beauty and wonder.
It's all these things wrappedtogether, even John, whenever he
has the revelation from theLord.
We see it in Revelation.
(21:01):
It starts to talk about the newJerusalem and all the heavens
that are there.
It says the wall was built ofjasper, while the city was of
pure gold like clear glass.
It says in the 12 gates were 12pearls and each of the gates
was made of a single pearl, andthe city, the street of the city
, was pure gold like transparentglass.
(21:24):
So think about it like this Allthe gold that we're fighting
over here.
Really, it's like we'refighting over the asphalt of
heaven.
We're trying to dig up all theconcrete of heaven and fight
over that asphalt of heaven.
We're trying to dig up all theconcrete of heaven and fight
over that, and it's soinsignificant to God that he
(21:44):
just paves the street with it,because the wealth of heaven is
not in its gold, it's in thepresence of God.
The scripture continues here andyou see what it says.
It says I saw no temple in thecity, for its temple is the Lord
, god Almighty, and the lamb,and the city has no need of sun
or moon to shine on it, for theglory of God gives it light and
its lamp is the lamb.
(22:04):
He is the light, he is thetruth, he is the glory, he's the
wealth of heaven, he is it.
All the other things that wehave, all the other wealth that
we try to attach to a name or toa bank account or some other
thing, all of that will be takenor given or spent away.
(22:24):
Earth will pass away, but theLord remains the same.
He is eternal, and so our lifewith him is eternal.
And when we have that mindsetafter God, then guess what?
That we are great in wealthbecause we're great in the
presence of God and the purposeof God in our lives.
(22:48):
I was thinking back to when Iwas a missionary and Celeste and
I were really struggling inFrance financially.
Man, it was tough because theeuro at the time trading was
somewhere around $1.60 for oneeuro.
So it costs us $1.60 to buy oneeuro, and prices were very
expensive in Paris.
And so we, man, we just didwithout often, and I was doing a
(23:13):
life group, and so I needed totake a train into the city, and
so I was scrounging togethercoins to buy my ticket to get
into the city.
And as I was scroungingtogether these coins, man, I was
like I was complaining to theLord.
I was like God man when I wasyoung.
I left a job where I was makingway more money at 24 than I am
(23:33):
right now, at 30, as a marriedguy with kids and living in
Europe trying to do what youasked us to do.
All I have is a pocket of coinsand I really felt like the Holy
Spirit just challenged me and hewas just saying you are so much
wealthier than you what youthink, because it's not about
(23:55):
what's in your pocket, it'sabout the presence that you walk
in, which is the Spirit of God.
That is something that someonecannot buy, they cannot bargain
with and they cannot go and buythe time that it takes to be
able to approach a holy God.
So he came to us and to embracethe purpose of God for your
life.
It's so much higher a standardthan anything you can put in a
(24:19):
bank account or you can stack amountain of gold, it does not
matter, you can't buy it.
So there, as a poor missionarywith just a pocket full of a few
coins, I was more wealthy inwhat really mattered than those
of great wealth in a wonderfulcity like Paris.
(24:40):
Friends, that we would changeour mentality so that we could
be those that battle for thefamily, have a mindset of Christ
.
Now, thinking from a businessperspective, we often talk about
our return on investment, ourROI, and this is something that
we want to put our funds intoworking so that they have a
greater yield than what theywould do sitting there by
(25:01):
themselves, right, and so wetalk about this often, and this
is something that is logical todo you go and invest your money.
Every year.
We have what's called inflation, so that means your money is
less buying power this next yearthan it is right now currently.
So what we have to do is havean investment higher return on
your yield than what actuallyyou invest at the time, so you
(25:23):
can offset the amount of moneyyou're losing every year.
We following, and so in doingso, we have to be intentional to
see what our investments willdo, and that's why people track
the stock market and they buythe index and they go do this
and they go do that, and theytry and buy the calls and the
puts on different things, tryingto invest so they have a higher
return than they invested.
(25:44):
Now others will go and taketheir money and they'll use that
money as an investment inthemselves and in what they're
experiencing, and so they'llinvest their money that way, and
so we see both ends of the sameidea.
But what's interesting is that,whenever you start to really
think about it from a heavenlyperspective, what's the return
on your investment for spiritualthings?
(26:05):
See, they're so much greaterand higher because they don't
get taken away by the tax man.
They don't get taken away byinheritance tax.
It doesn't matter.
You don't have to, like, go anddo anything to try to jump
through hoops, to try to hold onto your pile of gold.
No, guess what?
Those are things that the Lordgives you as you're obedient to
him.
That it's a blessing from God.
(26:27):
It's the hand of God upon yourfamily here.
It's not just that, but in thefuture, as we go into our
eternal reward, it's somethingthe presence of God and all the
fullness of who he is isavailable to us A real return on
an investment.
You know we talk about it too aspeople who run business.
You know, if you manage a team,then you might be someone who
(26:49):
wants to look at key performanceindicators, your KPIs, and in
doing so you start to say, okay,is this person meeting up to
the standard of what we'retrying to do?
Are they performing in this way?
We do the same thing withinvestments, right?
I look at my stock.
Is it actually doing what Iwanted to do, or do I need to
reinvest a different place?
(27:16):
Spiritually speaking, if youwere the manager of you, would
you keep yourself on your team?
Spiritually speaking, how areyou doing with your KPIs?
How's your daily Bible readinggoing?
How's your prayer?
How's your forgiveness going intraffic?
See, here's what I know is thatwe end up pretty quickly on the
cutting block spiritually onour own team if we're being very
harsh.
What I love about this is thatGod is gracious.
(27:37):
God is forgiving.
He asks us to be the same, butwhat he calls us is not to live
in that limbo, but calls us to astandard in himself, calls us
forward to live for him, to bemore like Jesus.
And if that's what it's going tobe doing, then, friends, that
we need to look at our own livesand say what are these
performance indicators in mylife, how I can be more
(27:59):
intentional in my spiritualgenerational wealth and what I'm
passing on to those around me,to my children, to my
grandchildren and the Lord bepraised other generations that
follow.
What does it look like for meto invest my time with the Lord
so that I have the character ofChrist?
So, where I would normally snapat them, now I have the time to
(28:22):
listen to them and it breaks agenerational curse off my family
because it stops with me andI'm saying no more of this, no
more of this stuff.
I'm not gonna fall into thisaddiction like everybody did
before.
I know how I was treated.
I know the abuse I had.
Guess what Stops with me.
It's not gonna go forward intomy generations.
Guess what.
(28:42):
I'm not gonna have brokennessin my life anymore.
They're gonna walk forward inthis stuff.
They're going to understandwhat it means to go after the
hard things of God becausethey're going to walk by faith
and that's going to do somethingthat stretches them and shoots
them past what we could even dowith all of our planning and our
plotting and our graphs.
God is greater, god is greater.
(29:03):
And so, friends, the sacrificeyou make today in your own heart
and life, the sacrifice youmake spiritually to be someone
who says no, I'm gonna show mykids what it means to be in the
house of God.
I'm gonna show my kids what itmeans to be a person, a man or
woman of God, to put my prayertime at a priority in my life so
(29:23):
I can have the character of God.
Friends, that's the investmentthe family will realize, because
they get you, but they don'tget you.
They get the you version ofJesus.
That's changing, and so whathappens is that our children,
our grandchildren, start toexperience something different,
another level of what God hasfor them, because you have set
(29:49):
them up to take steps that areeven greater.
I tell you this I could neverhave said yes to Jesus as a
missionary if my parents hadn'tsaid yes to Jesus and modeled
before me what obedience lookslike.
Our kids we've prayed oversince the time they were little,
just like these ones today,prayed over them, gave them to
the Lord, and it's so hard notto try to take them back,
(30:09):
because I know a plan and apurpose and a thing that I got
great ideas.
I think you should do this andGod is like okay, are they mine
or not?
Okay?
So we just fast and pray andask the Lord to open up heaven
in front of them, open up thedoors of heaven in front of them
(30:32):
and open the right doors andclose the wrong ones, and that
he would guide and protect anddirect them, and even in the
dark places, even in the valleyof the shadow of death, he's not
gonna lose them because he iswith them.
He's guiding and protectingthem, just like he has for you.
And so the generational wealththat you experience is greater
because you get to see it livedout from those that you
(30:53):
influence.
By the grace of God and thework of the Holy Spirit in your
life and in mine, you can dogreater things for you and for
your heritage, for thegenerations to come, friends,
that we would be good stewardsof what he gave us.
He talks about this in theBible, how Jesus gives this
(31:14):
example that Aaron very well puttogether today and talked about
it's.
He gives these three servants apiece of money and he says here
, here's one, here's two, here'sfive, go and use it, I'll be
back Now.
He could have invested ithimself, but he doesn't do that.
He trusts them with the talent,and so they go and use that
talent and they use it for him,and whenever he shows back up,
(31:36):
they give back to him what theyield was on what he had given
them.
And so we pick up here in thescripture and it starts to give
us an understanding of what thatmeans.
We see, the one that he gavefive talents to had done
something great.
He had doubled it.
And it said, he who hadreceived the five talents came
forward bringing five talentsmore, saying, master, you
(31:56):
delivered to me five talentshere.
I made five talents more.
His master said to him welldone, good and faithful servant,
you have been faithful over alittle.
I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of yourmaster.
Think about that for a minute.
(32:17):
What's his reward?
His reward is not the 10.
It's the joy of the master.
And the joy of the master is somuch more than just the 10
because he had the money to giveit to all of them, didn't he?
So it's so much greater thanjust the little.
And because he was diligentwith the little, he put him over
(32:37):
much.
And we see the converse of that.
The same thing happened withthe one given two, and he did a
good job.
And he says the same.
And so we see the third onecomes, and it's just as Aaron
explained he goes and he didn'tinvest it in the market.
He didn't go in and even use it.
In fact, he just dug a hole andput it in the ground.
And so the master comes andsays you ought have invested my
(32:59):
money with the bankers.
At my coming I should havereceived what was my own
interest, like I could have donethat.
At least he says so.
Take the talent from him andgive it to him who has 10
talents, for the one who isgiven more will be given, and
who has abundance.
(33:19):
From the one who has, not, evenwhat he has will be taken away.
You think about that spiritually.
If God gives you thisopportunity, gives you a talent,
he gives you these things andwe squander it.
Well, guess what?
He can trust this other personwith it, because they showed
that they were a good andfaithful ie consistent servant
of God.
And so it's not about the much,it's about doing something with
(33:43):
what you started with.
Not everybody's given the sametalents, I could tell you.
I have friends of mine that are.
They're like the five talent,10 talent person and I'm like
man, you doing it.
I'm going to start down herewith what I got and I'm going to
be faithful to this and see theLord bless it and increase it.
See, not everybody's given thesame talent, but we're all
called to be the same kind ofinvestor in it, the same kind of
(34:06):
in steward of it.
That we would see somethinghappen with what God has given
us and friends that's truespiritually speaking and what we
pass on to those behind us.
That we be intentional withwhat God gives us, that they too
can experience spiritual,generational wealth because
we've been intentional to sayyes, god, I see what you've
(34:27):
given to me, I'm gonna be a goodsteward of it and see you bless
not just me but the sphere ofinfluence around me and my
children and the generations tocome.
Friends, that we would be thosethat battle for the family.
Today we have this opportunityto respond to Jesus, to say yes
(34:48):
to him, and maybe you're hereand you've never made a decision
to do that.
Today is your opportunity,friends.
That's what makes us a Christfollower, is that we believe him
, that we wanna be more like him, and so every one of us has had
to answer that question haveyou embraced Jesus?
See for us.
We realize none of us can earnthe grace of God.
None of us can buy our way intoheaven.
(35:09):
It's not possible.
And because a holy God requiresa holy sacrifice.
Jesus came and became that holysacrifice for us.
He lived the sinless life andhe took the sin, the weight of
the world upon himself and paidfor it once and for all.
In fact, he took your sin, hetook mine, he took it upon
(35:32):
himself and he died with thatsin on him, so that we would not
have to die and be separatedfrom God for eternity.
But the good news is is that hedid not stay dead, but he has
risen.
He is alive.
He's an overcomer over allthese things.
So we don't worship a deaddeity, we have an active
(35:53):
relationship with the living God.
That's why the symbol of thecross is so transformative for
us.
It's so empowering, because,though it was meant as a symbol
of fear, intimidation and powerby the Romans, it actually was
turned on its head as Christtook all of the weight and the
sin of the world and he took itand he paid for it once and for
(36:15):
all upon the cross.
So for us we say Jesus, Ibelieve you are who you say you
are, lord.
I believe that you lived thissinless life that you took on
the sin of the world.
I wanna invite you into my life, not just to be savior, but to
be Lord of my life.
The apostle Paul writes to thechurch at Rome and says it like
this because if you confess withyour mouth that Jesus is Lord
(36:38):
and believe in your heart thatGod raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth one confessesand is saved.
Friends, today it's your day ofopportunity, your day to say yes
to Jesus.
(36:58):
I'm gonna ask everyone in theroom if you just stand right
where you're at and bow yourheads.
If you're online, wherever youare, you prepare your heart for
what God wants to do.
Take a moment, focus in on whathe wants to say to you.
Today, in this first service,people already making a decision
(37:19):
to follow Jesus.
I believe the same, for today,as Christians are praying for
neighbors around them.
Friends, if that's you, hisheads are bowed here in the room
.
If you wanna make a commitmentto follow Jesus, you wanna
invite him into your heart andlife.
Maybe it's the very first time,or maybe you have made a
decision in the past, but thenyou walked away from making that
decision and living for him.
Today, you can recommit yourheart back to God.
(37:41):
His heads are bowed.
If that's you, if you'd raiseyour hand right where you're at
today, say, pastor, I just wantto be included in that prayer
today to invite Christ into myheart and life.
Thank you, jesus.
See the hand that's there.
Thank you, lord.
Others raising a handreinforcing their commitment to
God, friends online makingcommitments to God.
Thank you, jesus.
Going to ask if all of us wouldjust repeat this prayer after
(38:03):
me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
(38:25):
I surrender my life to you InChrist's name.
I pray Amen, amen.
Friends, we rejoice with youmaking a decision to follow
Jesus today.
What a powerful decision.
Amazing If that was you.
Hey, connect with us.
We want to put some materialsinto your hand.
You can connect to our teamback here at the prayer banners,
(38:47):
at the cafe or the welcomecenter.
Want to be able to make sureyou live this life after Jesus
successfully.
Today, as we come to this altar,we have this opportunity to
worship.
We're going to do so and wechallenge you in this.
If you have your family with you, if you have friends with you
that you would come and make analtar with God, asking him to
bless you and to open upopportunities for you to live
(39:09):
for him and be empowered by hisspirit, so that you can be those
that pass on spiritual,generational wealth.
Lord, we thank you so much, lord, as we come to your altar today
.
Lord, we thank you for yourword, which you spoke to us.
Lord, we thank you for theexample you gave to us and the
talents and, lord, therevelation you gave to John
about how we should really have.
Our focus is on you and on yourpresence.
(39:30):
Lord, we give you glory and wethank you, lord, for helping us
be good stewards of all you'veput us in charge of, and so that
we can be those, at the end ofour time, that we hear well done
, good and faithful servant.
Lord, today, as we cometogether as friends or as
families, lord, to your altar,we do so, lord, asking for an
impartation of your blessing, animpartation of your guidance
(39:52):
and wisdom, lord, for open doorsin the right areas, for closed
doors where we do not need to go.
But, lord, in all these things,we give you glory and praise,
and we pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
We are so grateful that you've joined us this
morning.
We are having party with thepastor immediately following
this.
So if you've been a guest ofours over the last several weeks
and we have not had the chanceto meet you, our team is going
to be in the room that is on theeast side of this building,
down the hall.
Come and join us.
It's informal, but we want tosay hi, we want to answer any
questions that you have and wejust want to get a chance to
(40:25):
meet you.
It'll be just a few moments.
If you have kids, grab themfirst and then come and join us.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Did you guys enjoy Aaron painting today?
What a blessing, so awesome.
Thanks, man.
If you enjoyed that, please lethim know.
I love how people are usingtheir gifts and abilities for
the Lord.
Before we go today, we praythis blessing over us.
(40:51):
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
We empower us by your spirit tolive your love out to those
around us.
We pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
(41:14):
Amen, amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
to battle for the family.
Today, we're talking about thisidea of spiritual generational
wealth.
This week I was thinking aboutthis question about when you're
little.
How often people ask you whatdo you want to be when you grow
up and different people havedifferent answers.
Right, everything was like that.
(00:20):
But I could tell you what Iwanted to be when I was little.
I wanted to be rich.
I wanted to be really rich.
That's what I wanted to be.
When I was little, I wanted tobe rich, I wanted to be really
rich.
That's what I wanted to be.
And kids now you know they wantto be.
I want to be a YouTuber, I wantto be an influencer.
I was like, forget all that, Iwant to be rich, I want to have
deep pockets.
I'll be like Uncle Scrooge,because Uncle Scrooge has all
the money.
How do you know what I'mtalking about?
And so I would ride my bikehome from school and I would get
(00:42):
a snack and I would hang outand I would be watching
DuckTales and see Uncle Scroogewith all his money.
Uncle Scrooge has like 90 feetworth of gold coins.
You guys, it's a crazy amountof money.
And I was thinking about allthis in context and it's funny
because my parents, man, theycame from very humble beginnings
and they worked hard and theyprovided for us and gave me and
(01:05):
my brother more opportunitiesthan they had.
But in my mind I was onlycomparing myself to other people
that had more stuff than me,and so I was like, oh man, you
know, like thinking aboutso-and-so who had a new bike, or
this person who had thisopportunity, and I wasn't
considering all the blessingsthat I had, like the fact I
could come home and have a snack, because there was a home and
(01:27):
there was a snack.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout and I wasn't thinking
about it like that.
I was thinking about you know,how can I be like Uncle Scrooge
and get all the money?
That's what I'm talking about.
I need all the money.
I need.
You know cubic yards of moneyunderneath my feet, and I think
some of us that's kind of wherewe get stuck too is that we
think about this is somehowgoing to make me happier and
better and fulfill me in allthese different ways.
(01:48):
And we don't take into accountall the blessings of God that we
already have, and this becomesan interesting thing whenever
you think about all the goldthat you would try to like
stockpile in your life andsomehow it was going to make you
better and to attain all thesethings.
And what I realized was thatthe more that you want, the more
that you're not happy wheneveryou get it and you need more.
(02:10):
I'm going to stand hereawkwardly until you agree with
me, but the problem with lookingfor something that doesn't
fulfill you spiritually and inthe whole of your life is that
you just need more of it.
So it doesn't matter thatthere's piles and piles and
(02:31):
piles of gold underneath yourfeet, because you'll need more,
because it doesn't fulfill yourlife spiritually.
And so many times we try to fillthat hole in our life that's
supposed to be a relationshipwith God with all sorts of stuff
.
It could be things like money,it could be relationships or
other things, and so we're outthere chasing this stuff and
trying to be something that willattain this thing, when really
(02:53):
it's about our relationship withGod and the fulfillment that is
really only found in Him.
Really, the question that weshould be asking ourselves is
for your legacy, how will you beremembered?
And I think we get to thisquestion many of us as we get a
little more refined, a littlebit older.
You guys got the older partright.
(03:17):
As we get older, we start tothink about legacy and what
we'll be remembered for.
Not just what we will go and be, because maybe we've already
become something, but the ideais like what will we be
remembered for?
Not just what we will go and be, because maybe we've already
become something, but the ideais like what will we be
remembered for?
What will our legacy be?
What we're going to hand off toour children and our children's
children, what's going to bethe heritage of the situation,
and not just that, but theinheritance.
(03:37):
What am I leaving behind forthem?
What's the influence?
And so often we start thinkingabout all these things and we
start thinking monetarily andthings here and trust and all
this other stuff.
And those are all good things.
Nothing wrong with that.
In fact, it's good to look outand be those people who are
forward thinking.
But that's not the only thing weshould be focused on.
(03:57):
In fact, if we're reallytruthful about it, then we, as
people who are living for God,should have our minds and hearts
in heaven about eternal things.
When we start having an eternalperspective, then it changes
what we're actually going after.
It changes the end goal and ifwe're starting with the end in
mind, then it means it's goingto change what we focus on about
(04:21):
the spiritual generationalwealth that we can pass on to
not just our children orgrandchildren but the sphere of
influence around us.
And see how it changes it forthe better.
Friends, that we would battlefor the family, that we would be
those intentional as living asan example of Jesus.
(04:43):
You say amen to that.
Amen.
Today we have a friend namedAaron who is painting for us.
Give a hand for Aaron today.
Man, amazing, aaron is paintingthis.
I want to have Aaron come andshare kind of a little bit about
his art and what it means tohim.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Pardon my mess, pardon my mess.
So this painting that I'mworking on today is just kind of
to me a representation of theparable of the talents in
Matthew.
And you know, I think me as afather, like it was really
(05:26):
awesome to see the babydedication and everything like
that.
I really felt this like kind ofclick with me, even though I
already knew what I was going tokind of paint beforehand.
But in that parable a mastergives his servants money while
he goes away to travel and theparable outlines what each one
of those servants does with thatmoney.
And one of them is fearful ofhis master and he actually just
(05:50):
takes some money and you seethis guy's pointing down he just
buries it to give it back tohim because he's like I'm afraid
I don't know what to do withthis, so he takes no action at
all.
And then there's anotherservant who isn't given that
much and this made me think of,like me, how I felt in times of
(06:13):
my life where I feel like Idon't maybe have much that I can
give or offer.
I'm still working on this here,but he actually has a clock in
his hand which is going torepresent time, and I think
that's something that everyonecould find time to give.
He also has flowers over hiseyes and those flowers are kind
of representative of nurturingover time.
I think there's a lot of talkin the Bible about gardening and
(06:35):
agriculture and stuff like that, and so that makes me think of
that there.
And there was one servant whowas given 10 pieces, 10 coins.
One servant who was given 10pieces, 10 coins, and he took
that and he did the most with it, and to me this represents, it
could represent someone who islike a teacher.
(06:55):
So I said this in first service.
A lot of times I use hands asthe representation for work.
So this guy has mouths in hishands that are teaching and I
think too, like seeing thededication made me think of my
role as a father and how both ofthese things are just like
crucial in the household.
So, yeah, that's what.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Amazing.
We have a hand of appreciationfor Aaron today, using his
talent for God.
See, that's how we seeourselves very much here.
Cornerstone is people who arein need of a savior, people who
are not perfect but arefollowing after Jesus.
Our ambition is to be more likeJesus, so we use this imagery
of Christ walking with hisdisciples because none of us has
(07:36):
arrived anywhere.
All of us are still on thatjourney and people can relate to
that and we're on that journey,following after him.
We talked about in this seriesthis idea of what are you
battling for, and we talkedabout how Joshua made a stand.
Even as other people in thechildren of Israel went in and
they started following othergods.
Joshua said no, as for me andmy house, we will serve the Lord
(08:00):
, and he made this statement offaith that was declarative.
It was saying listen, I believein God and I'm going to stand
for that.
I'm going to fight for it.
We talked about what it meansto fight for something and not
against something, and how we'refighting for our families.
We also talked about last weekwhat it means to take one for
the team and to be sacrificial,even in our own selves, so that
(08:23):
other people can know the loveof God we talked about out of
John 15, this verse that saysgreater love has no one than
this, that someone lay downtheir life for his friends.
And so it's that sacrificiallove of what it means to say yes
to Christ, to have our centerof our value in Jesus.
It's not around what we own,it's not around what we've
(08:43):
accomplished.
And because that's true, thenif any of that stuff is taken
away, we are still the samevalue, and we know this.
That's why it talks about whenyou turn the other cheek.
There's no shame that someone'strying to attach to you,
because you know your value,because it comes from God and
not from what other people think.
And that's the same thing aboutyour cloak and your tunic and
(09:04):
giving it to someone elsebecause you can be get those
things back.
Whereas as we're trying tothink about this in our own mind
, we're always trying to getahead and God is saying I have
something greater for you ifyou'll live as an example for me
.
Today we continue in this ideaof battle for the family.
If your Bible is gonna move toMatthew 25, today I'm going to
(09:26):
be looking at the end of thebook there, at this parable here
, said his master, said to himwell done, good and faithful
servant.
You have been faithful over alittle.
I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of yourmaster.
Lord, we thank you so much foryour word today.
(09:48):
We pray over it.
You would make it alive and berhema to us, transformative and
challenging.
We pray in the name of JesusChrist.
Amen.
Battle for the family.
And you can think aboutspiritual, generational wealth
in this way that you can't giveto someone what you do not have
yourself.
You cannot give to someone whatyou do not have yourself.
(10:10):
And we understand this aboutpassing things on to them
fiscally.
If we're someone who wants topass things on to our children
or grandchildren, if we'resomeone who wants to pass things
on to our children orgrandchildren, if we want to be
a blessing to our community,then we have to be able to have
that to give it.
How many people know what I'msaying?
And so if we want to be a personwho's generous and is able to
give in that way, then we haveto live differently so we can
(10:31):
live differently.
Does that make sense?
So you live like no one else,meaning living within your means
and all these other things withgood investments and good ideas
and living within thatconstraint so that you can live
like no one else and be generouslike no one else, so that you
can set up the future like noone else.
Because you are living in thatkind of mentality, you think
about all the gold that we wouldtry to surround ourselves with,
(10:53):
and fiscally.
That's all sounds, sounds great.
But here's the thing that canall be taken from you.
You ever heard of the tax man?
See, it doesn't matter how muchgold we have piled up, because
uncle Sam will come and take awhole bunch of that right.
It doesn't matter what countryyou're in.
That's how it works.
And so as we start to look atthis stuff, we look beyond those
things to understand that it'sabout the investment of, not
(11:16):
just for ourselves but for thefuture.
See, so much of scripture isfocused on that idea.
We see it in Luke 1, where weheard this back two weeks ago.
Talking about, for his mercy isfor those who fear him from
generation to generation.
Friends, that's what throughoutthe scripture.
A great wealth of theirs wasnot just what they physically
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had, but they understood thattheir family and their namesake,
like what they put in motionwas a great blessing Today, as
we saw this family that was hereand all the extended family.
What a blessing from God.
Each one of these children ablessing from God, each with
their own story and narrative ofwhat God's going to do in and
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through their lives, how he'sgiven them unique abilities and
talents to use for him.
What a blessing because thosethings are investments for him
in the future.
And, as we see it that way, westart to change our mentality.
So much of the scripture, thethings we read.
If you read in Psalm andProverbs, you'll often see it
says, lord, that you would savethis generation.
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The prophets would write orLord, that you would save me
from this generation that's evilor Lord, that you would help.
So the generations that wouldfollow, lord that I know we've
broken your heart, but forgiveus, lord.
We rend our hearts and not ourgarments.
Lord, we draw near to you sothat they can have a future and
would not be cut off from theface of the earth.
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And I think that's how we feelas well.
We understand that if we'regonna be those who make a way
forward in the future for all ofthose who are behind us, then
we too need to be those that areliving that way.
In fact, it means that if we'regoing to be someone who
actually has the mindset that'scorrect, then we need to shift
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how we see the generations tocome and invest in them the way
that we too would want to knowGod, that we draw near to them
with everything we have and soas living as an example for our
children and our sphere ofinfluence.
They see us drawing near to God, and that's the example that
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they follow.
How often as a parent or as anaunt or an uncle, or something
you've said listen, do what Isay, not what I do.
And the kids are like like you,dumb, I'm gonna be dumb with
you.
You know what I do.
And the kids are like like you,dumb, I'm going to be dumb with
you.
You know what I mean?
No, that's not what we want.
We want them not to have to gothrough our heartache, not to
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have to go through ourbrokenness, not to have to go
through our mistakes.
We want them to move forward.
And here's the thing.
If that's not the case and youwant to somehow be more powerful
or stronger or whatever thanyour kids, then guess what.
That's not the kind of heritagethat they deserve.
They want a heritage that'sgonna be a blessing for the
future.
And that's the tension that'shere with this whole thing,
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isn't it?
Because it's a tension inunderstanding of the generations
to come Like for me, I'll tellyou, like you know my folks, you
know they gave so that I couldhave more than they had had
every opportunity that theydidn't have.
My dad was working a paper routewhen he was 12 to make money.
You know like he was up, youknow, before the dawn, working
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super hard, working all the time, and they made a way for us to
do different than that but, atthe same time, still instilled
in us this work ethic, this hardwork ethic.
And I think that's the tensionthat we experience right,
because, as parents, we want togive our kids everything and, at
the same time, we give themeverything and we ruin them
Because they didn't do the hardwork that we experienced that
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made us come to the place thatwe're in.
Does that make sense?
So my dad, he would be like JT,you're going to go and change
this alternator on the truck andI'm like I'm sorry what?
I am not a professionalmechanic.
He's like cool story, here'ssome tools Go change your
alternator.
And I was like okay, so manyhours later like many hours
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later you know what I mean.
Like this is me under the truckwith a ratchet, banging my hands
all over the place because Idon't know what I'm doing.
But guess what fell off thetruck?
Other parts, including analternator.
We got there.
You know, later my dad would be.
He was like come, look at thisreal quick.
You see this, this is a stumpof a tree that was really large
in the yard.
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I'm like, yeah, that's wow.
Look at that.
He's like we need this to getout of the ground.
Like we, you like that, we needthis to get out of the ground.
I was like that sounds great.
When do those guys come?
And I'll point at it.
I'll be like it's right here, Isee it, here it is.
He's like by we, he meant meand a shovel and a pickaxe
coming out of the shed anddigging it out of the ground.
Anybody, anybody.
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And so this is my reality isthat the way I learned hard work
was doing hard work, and it waslike a miracle, because later I
would go to university inCalifornia and my friends who,
like, were sponsored byeverything right, parents on the
chest, everything, everything,parents right.
They were like well, how do youknow how to do this.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
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Did you not have to take analternator off of a truck?
Do you not know how to dig thisthing out of the ground?
You know how to do your laundry.
You know what I'm talking about.
And there's a tension betweenadulting and responsibility and
hard work and trying to be ablessing for the generations
that follow.
See, there's a tension there,and Celeste and I talked about
it.
It's like man, we want to be ablessing to our kids.
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See, there's a tension there,and Celeste and I talked about
it.
It's like man, we wanna be ablessing to our kids but don't
ruin them so they're no good asthey get to be an adult.
And so there's this tensionthat's followed in all of these
pieces that we wanna be those.
If we're so intentional aboutthat, then shouldn't we also be
intentional about our spirituallife and what we talk to with
our children, what we talk towith our grandchildren, what we
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talk to with our sphere ofinfluence, that we would be
those that are also helpingothers in the journey, in the
preparation for what's ahead, Ifwe know that there could be
heartbreak ahead, if we knowthere could be hardship ahead.
Better to have the skillset toovercome it than to be those
broken by it whenever you couldknow better Friends.
We wanna be those that areproactive, that start with the
end in mind and are intentionalabout it.
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Look to Daniel.
We talked about this before.
Daniel says this Now.
How great are his signs, howmighty are his wonders.
His kingdom is an everlastingkingdom.
His dominion endures fromgeneration to generation.
This is Daniel.
Daniel who is from the lineageof all of the great minds and
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all of the great blessing thatGod had brought to the children
of Israel.
This is Daniel who, in his ownlifetime, even though he was
blessed and he was intelligent,even though he was experiencing
all these things, none of thatwas in Jerusalem, it was as he
was being enslaved in Babylon,friends.
He was taken away from thegreat city.
They were taken away from allthat God had done in their
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narrative, giving them the landby battle and establishing a
kingship and having great nameslike David and Solomon.
But because their hearts turnedaway from God, who was the
source, then they ended uphaving devastation come to them
because God took his hand off ofthem so they could learn to
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correct their hearts and turnback to him.
That's why so many times whenpeople go and find wealth
monetarily here in life, thenthey don't need God anymore
because they have money, butfriends that we would understand
that our wealth is not in themoney.
Our wealth is in the source ofall things, which is God alone,
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and so that's why Daniel intruth can give worship to God.
God is glorious, he is wondrous, his works are for me.
Even in the midst of beingsomeone in captivity in another
country, he believes the promiseof God, that God is faithful.
Whether I believe it or not,whether I see it or not, he's
still faithful from generationto generation and friends.
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That's true for you and foryour family, just like it is in
his day.
Here's what I know is that as wetalk about these things and we
talk about family, that Godcares about your circumstance.
He cares about your family.
He wants you to be united.
He wants there to beforgiveness.
He wants there to be a comingtogether in such a way that it's
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a passionate thing wherethere's a love there and not a
brokenness.
He cares for the one who's theprodigal in your family that's
away from God.
He cares about them, just likeyou do.
He hears your prayers for themand friends.
I can tell you, as an exampleof one of them they are not
outside of the hand of God thathe can bring them right back
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into himself that we would bethose who are proactive and we
are those who invest spirituallyin what God has for our family.
You see this picture of thisnice family.
They're all sitting here, niceand pretty and perfect.
Look how smiley they are and Iwonder about how often they
really sat there before they gotin a fight.
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You guys know what I'm talkingabout and that's real deal.
That's how families work.
Sometimes it's like you'resitting too close to me.
Oh, you're gross.
You didn't put on deodorant.
You get the idea.
The idea is that.
So that's the thing we get tiedup in is the nitty gritty of it
, without having the mindset ofthe end in mind.
If we have heaven in mind, wehave this mindset for heaven in
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mind.
It goes beyond, just like theway we think about it in
paintings.
It's like clouds and angels andlike this.
No, this is the spirit realm.
This is the glory of God.
It's the revelation of who heis as creator.
It's beauty and wonder.
It's all these things wrappedtogether, even John, whenever he
has the revelation from theLord.
We see it in Revelation.
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It starts to talk about the newJerusalem and all the heavens
that are there.
It says the wall was built ofjasper, while the city was of
pure gold like clear glass.
It says in the 12 gates were 12pearls and each of the gates
was made of a single pearl, andthe city, the street of the city
, was pure gold like transparentglass.
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So think about it like this Allthe gold that we're fighting
over here.
Really, it's like we'refighting over the asphalt of
heaven.
We're trying to dig up all theconcrete of heaven and fight
over that asphalt of heaven.
We're trying to dig up all theconcrete of heaven and fight
over that, and it's soinsignificant to God that he
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just paves the street with it,because the wealth of heaven is
not in its gold, it's in thepresence of God.
The scripture continues here andyou see what it says.
It says I saw no temple in thecity, for its temple is the Lord
, god Almighty, and the lamb,and the city has no need of sun
or moon to shine on it, for theglory of God gives it light and
its lamp is the lamb.
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He is the light, he is thetruth, he is the glory, he's the
wealth of heaven, he is it.
All the other things that wehave, all the other wealth that
we try to attach to a name or toa bank account or some other
thing, all of that will be takenor given or spent away.
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Earth will pass away, but theLord remains the same.
He is eternal, and so our lifewith him is eternal.
And when we have that mindsetafter God, then guess what?
That we are great in wealthbecause we're great in the
presence of God and the purposeof God in our lives.
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I was thinking back to when Iwas a missionary and Celeste and
I were really struggling inFrance financially.
Man, it was tough because theeuro at the time trading was
somewhere around $1.60 for oneeuro.
So it costs us $1.60 to buy oneeuro, and prices were very
expensive in Paris.
And so we, man, we just didwithout often, and I was doing a
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life group, and so I needed totake a train into the city, and
so I was scrounging togethercoins to buy my ticket to get
into the city.
And as I was scroungingtogether these coins, man, I was
like I was complaining to theLord.
I was like God man when I wasyoung.
I left a job where I was makingway more money at 24 than I am
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right now, at 30, as a marriedguy with kids and living in
Europe trying to do what youasked us to do.
All I have is a pocket of coinsand I really felt like the Holy
Spirit just challenged me and hewas just saying you are so much
wealthier than you what youthink, because it's not about
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what's in your pocket, it'sabout the presence that you walk
in, which is the Spirit of God.
That is something that someonecannot buy, they cannot bargain
with and they cannot go and buythe time that it takes to be
able to approach a holy God.
So he came to us and to embracethe purpose of God for your
life.
It's so much higher a standardthan anything you can put in a
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bank account or you can stack amountain of gold, it does not
matter, you can't buy it.
So there, as a poor missionarywith just a pocket full of a few
coins, I was more wealthy inwhat really mattered than those
of great wealth in a wonderfulcity like Paris.
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Friends, that we would changeour mentality so that we could
be those that battle for thefamily, have a mindset of Christ
.
Now, thinking from a businessperspective, we often talk about
our return on investment, ourROI, and this is something that
we want to put our funds intoworking so that they have a
greater yield than what theywould do sitting there by
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themselves, right, and so wetalk about this often, and this
is something that is logical todo you go and invest your money.
Every year.
We have what's called inflation, so that means your money is
less buying power this next yearthan it is right now currently.
So what we have to do is havean investment higher return on
your yield than what actuallyyou invest at the time, so you
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can offset the amount of moneyyou're losing every year.
We following, and so in doingso, we have to be intentional to
see what our investments willdo, and that's why people track
the stock market and they buythe index and they go do this
and they go do that, and theytry and buy the calls and the
puts on different things, tryingto invest so they have a higher
return than they invested.
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Now others will go and taketheir money and they'll use that
money as an investment inthemselves and in what they're
experiencing, and so they'llinvest their money that way, and
so we see both ends of the sameidea.
But what's interesting is that,whenever you start to really
think about it from a heavenlyperspective, what's the return
on your investment for spiritualthings?
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See, they're so much greaterand higher because they don't
get taken away by the tax man.
They don't get taken away byinheritance tax.
It doesn't matter.
You don't have to, like, go anddo anything to try to jump
through hoops, to try to hold onto your pile of gold.
No, guess what?
Those are things that the Lordgives you as you're obedient to
him.
That it's a blessing from God.
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It's the hand of God upon yourfamily here.
It's not just that, but in thefuture, as we go into our
eternal reward, it's somethingthe presence of God and all the
fullness of who he is isavailable to us A real return on
an investment.
You know we talk about it too aspeople who run business.
You know, if you manage a team,then you might be someone who
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wants to look at key performanceindicators, your KPIs, and in
doing so you start to say, okay,is this person meeting up to
the standard of what we'retrying to do?
Are they performing in this way?
We do the same thing withinvestments, right?
I look at my stock.
Is it actually doing what Iwanted to do, or do I need to
reinvest a different place?
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Spiritually speaking, if youwere the manager of you, would
you keep yourself on your team?
Spiritually speaking, how areyou doing with your KPIs?
How's your daily Bible readinggoing?
How's your prayer?
How's your forgiveness going intraffic?
See, here's what I know is thatwe end up pretty quickly on the
cutting block spiritually onour own team if we're being very
harsh.
What I love about this is thatGod is gracious.
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God is forgiving.
He asks us to be the same, butwhat he calls us is not to live
in that limbo, but calls us to astandard in himself, calls us
forward to live for him, to bemore like Jesus.
And if that's what it's going tobe doing, then, friends, that
we need to look at our own livesand say what are these
performance indicators in mylife, how I can be more
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intentional in my spiritualgenerational wealth and what I'm
passing on to those around me,to my children, to my
grandchildren and the Lord bepraised other generations that
follow.
What does it look like for meto invest my time with the Lord
so that I have the character ofChrist?
So, where I would normally snapat them, now I have the time to
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listen to them and it breaks agenerational curse off my family
because it stops with me andI'm saying no more of this, no
more of this stuff.
I'm not gonna fall into thisaddiction like everybody did
before.
I know how I was treated.
I know the abuse I had.
Guess what Stops with me.
It's not gonna go forward intomy generations.
Guess what.
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I'm not gonna have brokennessin my life anymore.
They're gonna walk forward inthis stuff.
They're going to understandwhat it means to go after the
hard things of God becausethey're going to walk by faith
and that's going to do somethingthat stretches them and shoots
them past what we could even dowith all of our planning and our
plotting and our graphs.
God is greater, god is greater.
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And so, friends, the sacrificeyou make today in your own heart
and life, the sacrifice youmake spiritually to be someone
who says no, I'm gonna show mykids what it means to be in the
house of God.
I'm gonna show my kids what itmeans to be a person, a man or
woman of God, to put my prayertime at a priority in my life so
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I can have the character of God.
Friends, that's the investmentthe family will realize, because
they get you, but they don'tget you.
They get the you version ofJesus.
That's changing, and so whathappens is that our children,
our grandchildren, start toexperience something different,
another level of what God hasfor them, because you have set
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them up to take steps that areeven greater.
I tell you this I could neverhave said yes to Jesus as a
missionary if my parents hadn'tsaid yes to Jesus and modeled
before me what obedience lookslike.
Our kids we've prayed oversince the time they were little,
just like these ones today,prayed over them, gave them to
the Lord, and it's so hard notto try to take them back,
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because I know a plan and apurpose and a thing that I got
great ideas.
I think you should do this andGod is like okay, are they mine
or not?
Okay?
So we just fast and pray andask the Lord to open up heaven
in front of them, open up thedoors of heaven in front of them
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and open the right doors andclose the wrong ones, and that
he would guide and protect anddirect them, and even in the
dark places, even in the valleyof the shadow of death, he's not
gonna lose them because he iswith them.
He's guiding and protectingthem, just like he has for you.
And so the generational wealththat you experience is greater
because you get to see it livedout from those that you
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influence.
By the grace of God and thework of the Holy Spirit in your
life and in mine, you can dogreater things for you and for
your heritage, for thegenerations to come, friends,
that we would be good stewardsof what he gave us.
He talks about this in theBible, how Jesus gives this
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example that Aaron very well puttogether today and talked about
it's.
He gives these three servants apiece of money and he says here
, here's one, here's two, here'sfive, go and use it, I'll be
back Now.
He could have invested ithimself, but he doesn't do that.
He trusts them with the talent,and so they go and use that
talent and they use it for him,and whenever he shows back up,
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they give back to him what theyield was on what he had given
them.
And so we pick up here in thescripture and it starts to give
us an understanding of what thatmeans.
We see, the one that he gavefive talents to had done
something great.
He had doubled it.
And it said, he who hadreceived the five talents came
forward bringing five talentsmore, saying, master, you
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delivered to me five talentshere.
I made five talents more.
His master said to him welldone, good and faithful servant,
you have been faithful over alittle.
I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of yourmaster.
Think about that for a minute.
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What's his reward?
His reward is not the 10.
It's the joy of the master.
And the joy of the master is somuch more than just the 10
because he had the money to giveit to all of them, didn't he?
So it's so much greater thanjust the little.
And because he was diligentwith the little, he put him over
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much.
And we see the converse of that.
The same thing happened withthe one given two, and he did a
good job.
And he says the same.
And so we see the third onecomes, and it's just as Aaron
explained he goes and he didn'tinvest it in the market.
He didn't go in and even use it.
In fact, he just dug a hole andput it in the ground.
And so the master comes andsays you ought have invested my
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money with the bankers.
At my coming I should havereceived what was my own
interest, like I could have donethat.
At least he says so.
Take the talent from him andgive it to him who has 10
talents, for the one who isgiven more will be given, and
who has abundance.
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From the one who has, not, evenwhat he has will be taken away.
You think about that spiritually.
If God gives you thisopportunity, gives you a talent,
he gives you these things andwe squander it.
Well, guess what?
He can trust this other personwith it, because they showed
that they were a good andfaithful ie consistent servant
of God.
And so it's not about the much,it's about doing something with
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what you started with.
Not everybody's given the sametalents, I could tell you.
I have friends of mine that are.
They're like the five talent,10 talent person and I'm like
man, you doing it.
I'm going to start down herewith what I got and I'm going to
be faithful to this and see theLord bless it and increase it.
See, not everybody's given thesame talent, but we're all
called to be the same kind ofinvestor in it, the same kind of
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in steward of it.
That we would see somethinghappen with what God has given
us and friends that's truespiritually speaking and what we
pass on to those behind us.
That we be intentional withwhat God gives us, that they too
can experience spiritual,generational wealth because
we've been intentional to sayyes, god, I see what you've
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given to me, I'm gonna be a goodsteward of it and see you bless
not just me but the sphere ofinfluence around me and my
children and the generations tocome.
Friends, that we would be thosethat battle for the family.
Today we have this opportunityto respond to Jesus, to say yes
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to him, and maybe you're hereand you've never made a decision
to do that.
Today is your opportunity,friends.
That's what makes us a Christfollower, is that we believe him
, that we wanna be more like him, and so every one of us has had
to answer that question haveyou embraced Jesus?
See for us.
We realize none of us can earnthe grace of God.
None of us can buy our way intoheaven.
(35:09):
It's not possible.
And because a holy God requiresa holy sacrifice.
Jesus came and became that holysacrifice for us.
He lived the sinless life andhe took the sin, the weight of
the world upon himself and paidfor it once and for all.
In fact, he took your sin, hetook mine, he took it upon
(35:32):
himself and he died with thatsin on him, so that we would not
have to die and be separatedfrom God for eternity.
But the good news is is that hedid not stay dead, but he has
risen.
He is alive.
He's an overcomer over allthese things.
So we don't worship a deaddeity, we have an active
(35:53):
relationship with the living God.
That's why the symbol of thecross is so transformative for
us.
It's so empowering, because,though it was meant as a symbol
of fear, intimidation and powerby the Romans, it actually was
turned on its head as Christtook all of the weight and the
sin of the world and he took itand he paid for it once and for
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all upon the cross.
So for us we say Jesus, Ibelieve you are who you say you
are, lord.
I believe that you lived thissinless life that you took on
the sin of the world.
I wanna invite you into my life, not just to be savior, but to
be Lord of my life.
The apostle Paul writes to thechurch at Rome and says it like
this because if you confess withyour mouth that Jesus is Lord
(36:38):
and believe in your heart thatGod raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth one confessesand is saved.
Friends, today it's your day ofopportunity, your day to say yes
to Jesus.
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I'm gonna ask everyone in theroom if you just stand right
where you're at and bow yourheads.
If you're online, wherever youare, you prepare your heart for
what God wants to do.
Take a moment, focus in on whathe wants to say to you.
Today, in this first service,people already making a decision
(37:19):
to follow Jesus.
I believe the same, for today,as Christians are praying for
neighbors around them.
Friends, if that's you, hisheads are bowed here in the room
.
If you wanna make a commitmentto follow Jesus, you wanna
invite him into your heart andlife.
Maybe it's the very first time,or maybe you have made a
decision in the past, but thenyou walked away from making that
decision and living for him.
Today, you can recommit yourheart back to God.
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His heads are bowed.
If that's you, if you'd raiseyour hand right where you're at
today, say, pastor, I just wantto be included in that prayer
today to invite Christ into myheart and life.
Thank you, jesus.
See the hand that's there.
Thank you, lord.
Others raising a handreinforcing their commitment to
God, friends online makingcommitments to God.
Thank you, jesus.
Going to ask if all of us wouldjust repeat this prayer after
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me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
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I surrender my life to you InChrist's name.
I pray Amen, amen.
Friends, we rejoice with youmaking a decision to follow
Jesus today.
What a powerful decision.
Amazing If that was you.
Hey, connect with us.
We want to put some materialsinto your hand.
You can connect to our teamback here at the prayer banners,
(38:47):
at the cafe or the welcomecenter.
Want to be able to make sureyou live this life after Jesus
successfully.
Today, as we come to this altar,we have this opportunity to
worship.
We're going to do so and wechallenge you in this.
If you have your family with you, if you have friends with you
that you would come and make analtar with God, asking him to
bless you and to open upopportunities for you to live
(39:09):
for him and be empowered by hisspirit, so that you can be those
that pass on spiritual,generational wealth.
Lord, we thank you so much, lord, as we come to your altar today
.
Lord, we thank you for yourword, which you spoke to us.
Lord, we thank you for theexample you gave to us and the
talents and, lord, therevelation you gave to John
about how we should really have.
Our focus is on you and on yourpresence.
(39:30):
Lord, we give you glory and wethank you, lord, for helping us
be good stewards of all you'veput us in charge of, and so that
we can be those, at the end ofour time, that we hear well done
, good and faithful servant.
Lord, today, as we cometogether as friends or as
families, lord, to your altar,we do so, lord, asking for an
impartation of your blessing, animpartation of your guidance
(39:52):
and wisdom, lord, for open doorsin the right areas, for closed
doors where we do not need to go.
But, lord, in all these things,we give you glory and praise,
and we pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
We are so grateful that you've joined us this
morning.
We are having party with thepastor immediately following
this.
So if you've been a guest ofours over the last several weeks
and we have not had the chanceto meet you, our team is going
to be in the room that is on theeast side of this building,
down the hall.
Come and join us.
It's informal, but we want tosay hi, we want to answer any
questions that you have and wejust want to get a chance to
(40:25):
meet you.
It'll be just a few moments.
If you have kids, grab themfirst and then come and join us.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Did you guys enjoy Aaron painting today?
What a blessing, so awesome.
Thanks, man.
If you enjoyed that, please lethim know.
I love how people are usingtheir gifts and abilities for
the Lord.
Before we go today, we praythis blessing over us.
(40:51):
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
We empower us by your spirit tolive your love out to those
around us.
We pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
(41:14):
Amen, amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
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