Transforming Our Relationship with Finances

In this episode of "Between Sermons," Pastor Brent McQuay and David Beasley engage in a thought-provoking discussion about the intersection of faith and finances. They discuss the complexities of tithing, generosity, and stewardship from a Christian perspective, exploring how our financial decisions can reflect our commitment to God's Kingdom. The conversation covers topics like the heart behind giving, the challenge of balancing earthly needs with spiritual obedience, and the impact of generosity on personal and community levels. Whether you're wrestling with questions about financial giving in church or seeking a deeper understanding of biblical stewardship, this episode offers insightful and practical guidance for navigating finances in a way that honors God and advances His Kingdom. Join us for a conversation that's not just about money, but about living out our faith through our financial choices.

If you're looking to get even more out of this podcast episode, check out the full sermon on the same topic on our YouTube channel https://go.clc.tv/ps42.

Episode Transcript

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Hey, welcome back to another episode of Between Sermons,

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where we get to continue the conversation from our

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Sunday messages and really turn that monologue into dialogue,

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where we get to go a little bit deeper,

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get a little more practical, and find out what

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people that aren't paid to preach think about the

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stuff that we're talking about. And so today I
have with me my good friend David Beasley. Welcome
back to the show.
How you doing, sir?
I'm doing fantastic. It's a little cold outside.
Yeah, it's a little chilly.
It's negative five right now, according to my watch.
Yeah, that's it. It was a struggle this morning.
It was a struggle, but we made it.
How many Teslas on the side of the road
did you pass on your way in?
No, I didn't see any, but I heard they're
struggling a little bit.
Apparently, our producer is at 12% right now, so
she's a little concerned. But she'll be all right?
Yeah, she'll make it through.
We'll pray that God supernaturally recharges the Tesla battery
for her. Yes. But we have a lot of

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cool stuff to talk about today. We are in

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a series about kingdom and really, this concept of
kingdom. We're talking about citizenship of that kingdom. And
so we had to talk about the thing that
Jesus talks about second most. So the thing he
talks about the most is kingdom. And then, second,
he talks about money a lot. But anytime we're
in a church setting and you talk about money,
it makes people uncomfortable.
It does.
I've got a couple of theories for why it
makes people uncomfortable. Kind of two directions for it.
But I'm curious, your take. Why do you think.
Well, first of all, I guess, how does it
make you feel as somebody that's sitting in the
auditorium when the preacher is like, all right, let's
talk about money. What's the first thought that goes
through your head? Are you there for it? Or
are you like, oh, here we go again.
To me, it depends on the context, right? It
depends on the individual. If I know this person
or the history behind the preacher or the teacher,
whoever the case may be. And it depends on
the situation. It depends. So here at our church,
I know that our heartbeat is to serve. Right,
when it comes to missions and individuals who are
in need. So when money comes up here, I
have no issue, because I know, like, the motives
and intentions are pretty much pure, right? Depending on
where I'm at and depending on the situation. Like,
for me, I have a thing. It's just me.
A thing that when a message is concluded and
God is moving. I feel some type of way
when the preacher says, all right, we're going to
sow into this because we read from romans 15,
everybody get a $15 seed, and we're going to
give this 15 to coincide with the verse or
something. I've seen that before. So it depends on
the situation. So there's various reasons why I feel
like people can see money being mentioned as a
form of being uncomfortable, as a moment of feeling
uncomfortable, but for me, that's how I feel.
Yeah, no, I'm with you on that. Does how
well the preacher's dressed ever affect you? It's affected
me, and I don't know, there's something about a
preacher wearing a Gucci belt that then talks about
giving, and I'm just like, I don't know, it
could be. Am I just shallow? That's a Brent
issue, maybe.
Hey, it's a personal preference. It depends what's the
reason why the money is being raised. I feel
like if communication is key.
Yeah.
So if that individual said, we want to give
to this mission, give to this ministry, give to
this issue over here, then okay. And then I
pray that they're using those funds for that purpose.
But I can see that, especially if that's a
constant topic that they touch on. I can see
why that can be a little bit troublesome.
I said I had a kind of a theory
that goes in two directions, but I think it's
summed up in one thing is misalignment. So I
think that when you're sitting there and the preacher
starts talking about money, it'll make you uncomfortable because
of misalignment, either yours or theirs. And so that's
kind of the two different directions. I think the
issue is kind of what you talked about of
romans 15. So we're going to have a $15
seat. Ain't nobody leaving until we're going to pass
the auction the third time. All of that stuff.
We have seen so much stupidity in the church
at large when it comes to misappropriation of funds,
when it comes to the motives behind things. And
I need you to send me money so that
I can buy a jet, because I can't be
flying commercial. Commercial. I need my own. That kind
of stuff, it puts such a bad taste in
people's mouths and minds. And so it really comes
to this misalignment thing. And if you've been in
a church world or you've been around somebody that
is misaligned with what scripture really talks about and
what the real purpose of Jesus talking about money
is then, because of that church's misalignment, it gives
you a bad taste. And so now you kind
of judge everybody. So it's like you could be
in a healthy place. And the moment they start
talking about money, it makes you uncomfortable because you
remember all the unhealthy or. And this is what
may get people riled up, is sometimes it's your
own misalignment, that Jesus talks about money so much
because as we're going to get into, money tries
to become your master. And if Jesus is king,
he's supposed to be the master. And so if
there's something vying for control in your life between
Jesus and something else, a lot of times that
something else is money. And when a preacher starts
talking about that thing, it's an area of weakness.
It's like if you've got a sin issue in
your life and the preacher is talking about all
kinds of other sins, you may sit there and
be totally comfortable, totally fine, but the moment he
mentions the sin that you're dealing with, all of
a sudden it starts to get a little bit
more. I don't know if I like this place
that I'm in. And so I think that for
a lot of us, we get uncomfortable when a
preacher talks about money, because we recognize that we
have an issue with money, that money has a
control in our lives that it shouldn't have. And
so because we're misaligned with what scripture talks about
when it comes to money, the moment it's brought
up in church, it's like you've got a sore
spot and the preacher starts poking it or the
Holy Spirit starts poking it. So I think it
comes down to that misalignment thing. So it could
be somebody else's or it could be our own.
And so we just have to evaluate that as
we go through it.
When I hear alignment or misalignment, I just think
about the word alignment in general, and just like
a vehicle being on the same, going the same
direction and not veering off course.
Yeah.
So if our hearts and our mindsets and our
thought process can just get on course and be
in the same direction as God's word, then I

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think there'll be a lack of misalignment. It would
be more harmonious. Right. It'll be a little bit
more easier to actually go into the direction that
God wants us to go into as it pertains
to our finances. But like you said, sometimes it's
our experiences, right. We've had experiences, and I've talked
to my wife about this. Sometimes in regards to
just being a believer, sometimes when you hear the
word Christian, depending on your background, just the word
can automatically make you guilty by association, dependent on
the person's history and depending on who's talking to
you and whose mind is thinking, okay, you say
you're a Christian. When I heard Christian, I think
this. So when somebody is in church and they
hear money because they grew up in maybe a
particular denomination, they weren't around certain people. They heard
certain messages. When they hear money here, their mind
automatically goes somewhere that's not helpful or beneficial because
of their history.
So you get defensive.
Get defensive.
You're on edge on it.
And the last time I heard this, I don't
know, let me see. They start paying a little
bit extra attention and then start paying more attention
to what's happening and to how to, like you
said, the pastor's dressing or what they're driving and

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things like that because of their history. So misalignment
happens for various reasons, but that's one I've seen
plenty of times.
The sad thing about that is, so the. This
morning before the show, I wanted to pull up
the message from Sunday to kind of refresh my
memory because I wasn't the one preaching it. So
if we're going to have a good conversation about
I want to pull it. I just. I tried
to do the fast, easy thing. I went to
YouTube. I knew the title of the sermon was
Kingdom finances. So I just typed in Kingdom finances
real quick. And I had to scroll through so
many videos that honestly would make me angry, like,
if I was just sitting there listening. I mean,
so many videos was. It was. Kingdom finance was
in the title in some way, but then it
was like a tagline of how you can become
a millionaire today. One was how you can become
a billionaire using kingdom finance principles. And I'm just
like, okay, if our motivation is to become millionaires
and billionaires and all that, man, there's some stupid
stuff out there. And every single one of those
videos was made by a guy that has tons
of money, that is driving the nice cars, has
the big house. And it was one of those
where it was like, he's trying to teach other
people. It's like the guy that writes the book
how you can get idiots to send you $20
to become a millionaire today. And, yeah, it's one
of those where he's profiting off of somebody else's
desire to understand something. And so, like, scrolling through
all those videos I get it. I get why
you come to a church and the preacher starts
talking about money, and you're like, here we go
again.
Motives and intentions. So, it's a reason why those
type of videos probably have a lot of views
and have a lot of traction and they're popular
is because of the motives and intentions of our
hearts, right? And the key word is kingdom. So
our mindset has to be in line and has
to be on track with the kingdom, right? And
if you look at the kingdom, like, even look
at the principles of Jesus, of course, the scriptures
teach it's more blessed to give than to receive.
But even with that mindset of, if I fall
in line with kingdom principles, I'll get. I'll get.
I'll get and I'll get. And there's no room
for giving, right? Because giving is sacrificial, and there's
no room for sacrifice if your motives and intentions
are. Listen, I got to get as much as
I can out of this. It's almost like any
business model that's like, okay, what do I get
from this? When you first approach a situation, you're
sitting at a table trying to make a deal
with somebody. Whatever it is, a lot of times
in the business world, sometimes our mindset goes straight
to, okay, what do I get out of this?
How does it benefit me, my family? How does
it benefit my pocketbook? Right? So that mindset, honestly,
is counterproductive and contradictory when it comes to kingdom
principles, right? Because the kingdom is all about others.
It's about God first and others. So it's all
about motives and intentions is what I hear when
I see.
That I'm with you. It's hilarious to me when
a preacher will start using Paul like a letter
from Paul to teach principles for how you can
become. Like, you're quoting a guy that had nothing.
He wasn't rich. How are you using the principles
of a guy that didn't have a lot of
money to try and teach other people how to
have a lot of money. It just doesn't make
any sense to me. So, I don't know. We
got to move on because I'll just get into
that vein of just.
Like, it can go so many directions because then
you have the, yeah, we're gonna move on, but
you can have the poverty gospel, too. So you
have the prosperity gospel, which is off, but then
you have the poverty gospel, which is like, broke,
busting, disgusting. You can go to McDonald's. Like Pastor
Jerry said, whenever you want.
The less you have, the more holy you are.
Yeah, that pendulum swings both ways. So balance, kingdom,
balance.
That's what I like.
We need kingdom, balance.
That's what we need. So I've got a scripture
that I want to read that I think is
going to shape a lot of our understanding when
we come to kingdom finances and why this is
even an important subject. But how this scripture came
about for us is kind of cool. So we're
in this ten days of prayer and fasting. And
so what we've chosen to do with our family
is at our normal dinner time, we have our
devo together. And so it's ten days. We took
Ephesians and Philippians, because Ephesians has six chapters, Philippians
has four chapters. Do the math. That's ten chapters.
We got ten days. We can read a chapter
a day and get through two books of the
Bible. And so it's easy for our kids because
I've got a 13 year old, an eleven year
old and an eight year old, and so keeping
things simple for them. So I think it was
two nights ago now, maybe we did Philippians, chapter
one, and Jaden, my oldest, so when we do
the devo, everybody has to. We use soap. So
it's scripture observation, application, prayer. And so each kid
has to, or each member of the family has
to choose one verse that kind of jumped out
at them. What's their observation about it? What's their
application? What's their prayer? And so this was Jaden's
verse a couple of days ago. Philippians, chapter one,
verse 27 says, above all, you must live as
citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy
of the good news about Christ. Conducting yourselves in
a manner worthy of the good news about Christ.
And first of all, I love the fact that
my son, he knows what series we're in. He
knows what we've been talking about. He has to
listen to sermons because he's on camera most Sundays
anyways. But just that his mind immediately went to,
oh, this verse talks about this citizenship thing that
my dad just preached about. So let's pay attention
to this. But I think this whole idea of,
because there is a kingdom that Jesus clearly talks
about more than anything else, and the understanding is
that when we become believers, we get grafted into
this new family, we become citizens of this new
kingdom. And as citizens, we have to live a
certain way, and we need to conduct ourselves in
a manner that is worthy of this good news.
And how we conduct ourselves as citizens should affect
everything in our lives, but especially this area of
finance. And so as citizens. And so that's what
I hope people will get from this conversation and
even from this message on Sunday, is how do
we look at finances through the lens of, I'm
a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, and so
as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, we should
have a different priority structure. We should have a
different relationship with finances than the rest of the
world. And so I just wanted to give that
out to kind of shape this conversation.
Yeah, citizenship, that's key because you reflect where you're
from, right? You should. At least that's the whole
concept of ambassadors being ambassador like you preached on
last week, I believe, right. We're representatives of a
whole different kingdom. So, of course, the way we
operate, think function, should reflect where we come from
and who we represent, right? So when I hear
the word citizenship, it causes me to automatically detach
from a foreign mindset and attach to the kingdom
that I'm naturally a part of due to my
stance and due to my relationship with Jesus Christ,
right? And that automatically should cause us to reflect
and respond differently to every situation. So that's a
concept that we have to meditate on. And it's
something that I believe that we kind of ignore
because we're so anchored here, we're anchored to earth,
right? It's hard to set our minds on things
above. It's hard to store riches where they matter
because we're so used to and comfortable being where
we are. And we have no, unfortunately, even me,
I can fall into a place of not having
a real desire to see kingdom influence and kingdom
mindsets and things expand in a way as they
should. So I have to reflect on that more
and more. I think we have to be reminded
of that. This is actually a gut push to
the flesh, right? And to our hearts to realize,
okay, listen, we live here and we should care.
Here's the thing. It's hard sometimes because we don't
want to avoid the responsibilities that we have here,
right? So scripture does encourage us to store up
for the future as being wise. Look at the
ant, how the ant stores up while it's harvest,
because eventually it's not going to be the way
that it is. Don't be like the sluggard, right?
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding
of the hands to rest, then poverty will strike
on you, then want like an armed man. Like
the Bible warns us against being lazy. It warns
us against these things. But these are also kingdom
principles. Thinking about them from a kingdom perspective. Why
are you storing up? Are you storing up to
just fill your barns so that you can have
plenty. Well, Jesus told a parable about that.
Exactly.
He told that man, listen, your soul would be
required of you today. And who's going to get
the stuff that's in your barns? Who's going to
get it? They're going to go to who? Who
knows? Maybe family, maybe not in our country. They
can go to your family if you've designated it
to do so, or it could go to the
government and they can do whatever they want to
do with it. And at the end of the
day, you can't take it with you. So that's
a mindset we have to have and understand. Like
a kingdom agenda is a mindset that's set on
loving God first and loving others, and that's reflected
in all that we do, especially finances.
Especially. I think you hit it on the head
when you said, we still wake up here, right.
So it does become more challenging for us to
think kingdom. When you've got a boss that's breathing
down your neck for a deadline that you're struggling
to hit, it's hard to be kingdom minded, even
when it comes to finances. When you're like, I've
got a bill at the end of the month
that I don't know how I'm going to pay
when you're like, hey, I know I need to
be making these decisions financially, but I also have
a kid that needs braces. How do I navigate
wanting to be a part of kingdom while still
having to operate on an earth that is money
makes it happen. Right? Like money is the thing
that drives everything. And so I think even when
it comes to this concept of kingdom finances, the
challenge really becomes, how do we do both? How
do we navigate the things that are necessities of
life while still having this mindset? And I think
that's the challenge for a lot of people.
Yeah. The motive, I feel like, well, the aim
should be our motives and intentions. Right? God really
judges the heart. Man looks at the hour, God
looks at the heart, right? So our intentions matter.
You can approach all of those situations with a
kingdom mindset. Our motives can be, listen. Yes. Kingdom
first. So how do we do that? We set
aside finances to serve the kingdom off the top.
That shows where our heart's posture is, right. And
then what the Bible tells us, if a man
doesn't work, he doesn't eat. So you have to
provide. That's a kingdom mindset right there. Laziness is
anti kingdom, right? Each man should have his own
job and work with his hands so that he
can have something to help those in need. Paul
said each person should work not just for their
own benefit, even though what was read last week,
he gives us everything to enjoy. So that, too
is a part of the kingdom, because God wants
us to enjoy the fruit of our labor. And
Jesus said a laborer deserves his wages. So all
these things are kingdom mentalities that need to be
balanced out. So taking care of that child, who
needs that tuition paid for. If you don't work,
you don't need. You have to make sure that
child is taken care of. If a man doesn't
provide for his own household right, he is denied
the faith and worse than an unbeliever. So we
have to understand that there's a balance there, that
the kingdom mindset can be applied even in moments
of trying to save, even during the moments where
you have to provide for family, even during moments
where you want to go on a vacation. It's
all a thing, or it all comes back to
the motives and intentions of the heart. And God
honors that, and God blesses.
So I love PJ. Pastor Jerry on Sunday talked
about. It's the passage in Matthew where Jesus says,
can't serve two masters. And so I love the
principle there. When it applies, it's applicable to more
than just so. I think I drew that out
a few months ago in a series that, hey,
sometimes we just narrow this down to money, and
then we just kind of do whatever we want
with everything else. And it's, can. You can only
have one master in every area. But I love
that Jesus does tie this back into money, because
if anything is going to be fighting for control
over your life, it's probably going to be money.
And so you can't serve these two masters. And
he even refers to them as masters because we
understand from scripture there's a spirit behind greed. And
so that spirit is trying to master your life,
is trying to be in control. And so we
have to approach finances from this idea that there's
only one master, and we need to make sure
that we're putting our faith and our trust and
our hopes in him, not in the financial side
of things, which when we do that, it does
lean us into this greed. And so what do
you think is kind of the struggle for people?
Why do you think money tries to master, or
I guess a better way to say it, why
do you think money is so successful in mastering
so many people?
Yeah, I have a joke. Me and my wife
have a joke. We wake up, and it almost
feels like when you wake up, you owe somebody
$100 because money is just, every time you turn
around, you need to use it for something, right?
You look up a bill, you look up, oh,
my goodness, something broke. My son needs something. Oh,
my goodness. The tires tripping. Whatever the case, we
use money consistently all day, every day. We really
do. Even while we're sleeping. Money's working. So we
have what, we have direct deposit. We have automatic
withdrawals. We have compound interest. When money's working, when
we're resting. That's a good thing, right? However, what
we fail to realize is that money, the Bible
says money answereth all things. Of course, we know
that doesn't. Money can't save you. What the Bible
is telling us is that we need money to
solve a lot of the problems in the world
in regards to necessities like basic needs. And we
need money, right? So because of those reasons, sometimes
we misconstrue or we misunderstand money's role in our
lives. Money is never designed to be lord. There's
only one lord. And when we think of the
word Lord, we think of ruler, we think of
master, we think of the one who's in control,
and that should be Jesus. The reason why money
sometimes replaces or tries to replace Jesus in our
hearts and in our minds is because money is
so involved in so many things and because it
leaves so fast, we feel like we got to
do whatever we got to do to get more
of it and store it up as much as
we can. And, yes, we should work. And that's
why the balance has to come in. Yes, we
should work. There's nothing wrong with doing that. But
at the end of the day, it's a struggle
at times when inflation is on the rise, when
it's hard to get a house, and everything is
just cost. So more things today cost way more
than they did last week. That's how it feels.
Right? So it's that temptation, that subtle temptation to
allow money to rule and reign because of the
needs that we have, legitimate needs. We really have
needs that need to be met. But we have
to understand in our hearts and minds, there's only
one lord and one master. And money is not
the source. That's the issue as well. It's a
resource.
Money is supposed to be a tool that we
use. I think the challenge there, too, is you
talked about needs, and, yeah, we have needs. The
greatest need in everyone's life is salvation from their
sins. But we can't see that. We can't touch
that. We don't feel that most of the time.
And so it kind of puts it in that,
like, yeah, that's the most important need. But right
now, I need food. Right now I need shelter.
Right now I need to pay this bill. I
need to buy this. So sometimes those more tangible
needs become the most important thing in our lives.
And while we know Jesus is the only one
can save us, we kind of push that off
to the side. It's like, well, salvation from my
sins. I ain't thinking about that right now. I'm
just thinking about, I gotta put food on the
table. And so we get distracted by the biggest
need in our lives or what we deem as
the most important need where it really isn't. Because
you can go hungry and still go to heaven.
But if you don't have salvation from your sins,
it doesn't matter if you're hungry or your belly's
full if you don't have Jesus. So that's the
greatest need. But we put that aside because we're
so distracted by these other needs that, man, it
does. It vies for that control. And so when
you look at, okay, who's going to solve the
biggest need in my life? Is it going to
be Jesus or this money? And I think a
lot of times we end up putting our trust
in the money. And, you know, Jesus is nice,
Jesus is good, but the money is what's going
to pay the bills. And so I think we
get. It's almost like a distraction technique that the
enemy uses to say, oh, well, I can solve
the biggest problem in your life with some more
dollars. And it's like, no, that's not actually the
biggest problem in your life. And the biggest problem
in your life can't be solved with money. And
so we make Jesus our master because that's the
only way to heaven.
Yeah. We also don't want to overlook or forget
about the fact that comparison is real as well.
So that comparison trap is very real. So keeping
up with the Joneses, whoever they are and whoever
they're trying to keep up with, we never say
that part, who they try to chase. Right. We
have to understand that part as well. Trying to
compare and trying to be like those around us
due to where we should be based on someone's
expectations and their dreams and goals. It could be
parents, it could be ourselves. It can be our
coworkers, whatever the case may be. Right. We have
to remember that comparison trap is real as well.
And we underestimate the fact that the love of
money is the root of all evil. And you'd
be shocked what people would do and are willing
to do that. They don't even talk about that.
Nobody will find out. So they think you'd be
shocked what they might do to get another zero
on that check. And we have to check our
heart, no pun intended. We have to check our
heart in those moments so that we can say,
God, I want my mind and my heart to
fall in line with you, and I'll go without.
Right.
Without money, I just can't go without you. Right.
So that's key. That's key as well.
And that's why I love fasting. Fasting is reminding
my body, yeah, there's something that you think you
need more than anything else, and that's food. And,
yeah, my body needs food, but you can go
40 days without eating and be okay. And so,
man, is this really the greatest need in my
life? And so, I love fasting. I hate fasting.
I should be honest, because I like.
To know what it produces.
But I love purpose, the process principle of fasting,
that it's saying what my body is telling me
it needs. My spirit is saying, there's something you
need more. And so it's just that redirection. And
so, yeah, I think when it comes to this
whole money thing, we've got to get it right
because it distracts us and it pulls us away
from submitting to God. And I think it's man.
Who do we have in here? Recently, Joe Sangel,
when he talks about money, is like, if you
don't have margin, you have no mission. Because what
ends up happening is you have to say no
to God because you have obligations financially that you
have to say yes to, or else you lose
your home, you lose your family, you lose all
this stuff. And so you've submitted to this new
master, and you have to tell God no to
some things. God's like, I want you go on
a missions trip. I want you to go travel
and preach the word in another country. And you're
like, but if I did that, my job would
fire me. If my job fires me, I can't
pay the bills for this house, and so I
can't do what God wants me to do. Or
God's like, hey, I want you to pay for
this person's groceries. And you're like, I'm about to
put my groceries on a credit card because I
don't have enough in the account. And so you
have to say no to what God is instructing
you to do, which means if you're saying no
to one master, so you can say yes to
another master. Hate to break it to you, but
you only got one master, and it ain't Jesus.
And so we've got to get this whole concept
correct. And I think one of the big points
that Pastor Jerry brought out was that generosity. It's
the way that we combat greed. It's the only
way we can overcome greed in our lives is
through generosity. What are your thoughts on that?
Yeah. Generosity causes you to not think about self.
It causes you to step outside of your own
world and your own bubble. It starts seeing that
there are others around you who are in positions
that they wish they can trade places with in
regards to your life. Right. That's, like, the greatest.
Generosity is a great way to destroy pride, not
just allowing us to help get our finances on
point, it'll give us the correct perspective on life.
Right. Seeing someone else in need and being able
to utilize your funds and your income and your
overflow to help others helps you realize that the
mission and the purpose of living and the purpose
of money is bigger than just us getting a
new pair of shoes. And that's key. That's why
when they asked Jesus, what's the greatest commandment? And
he said, you know what they are? He went
on and told him, the greatest commandment is this.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
mind, and soul and strength, and love your neighbor
as you love yourself. Right. We want to love
God with everything we have, and we want to
love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So if
we love ourselves, what do we do? We make
sure we're taken care of. We make sure that
we have food on the table. We make sure
we have clothes on our back. We make sure
that things are met in our lives that need
to be met in order for us to survive.
God wants us to reflect that same mindset and
heart posture to those around us. And that happens
through being generous. That happens through being hospitable. That
happens in ways that causes you to say, I'll
go without, so that others can have what they
need. So generosity is key because it causes you
to step outside of yourself and see others the
way God wants us to see them. Right. So,
I don't know where we would be without generosity.
Jesus. God is the most generous for God. So
love the word that he gave. Yeah, that's the
first thing. That's what he did. And that giving
was the very way he saved us. All right.
I love this concept of generosity. I love that
Jesus says it's more blessed to give than to
receive. And I don't know about you, but I've
been selfish with my finances at times and regretted
it. I've had buyers remorse, right? You spend money
on something, you're like, oh, man, I really shouldn't
have done that. I don't know about you, but
it messes with me, especially if it's a larger
amount. It's like, man, I shouldn't have done that,
man, it was so wasteful. I didn't really need
to do that. All this kind of regret. I
have never felt that when I was being generous
with somebody else. If I'm doing something for myself,
there's regret, there's remorse, there's like, man, I shouldn't
have done that. Never once have I felt that
way about being generous with somebody, giving to somebody
else. I've never come away going, man, I wish
I hadn't done that. That was, man, I shouldn't
have done that. I've even given money to somebody
who it was scam. It was basically like, I'm
desperate, I need help. And it's like, man, here
you go. And then 2 seconds later, they're telling
the same story to somebody else, and it's like,
oh, you didn't really need help. This is just
your get rich quick scheme. And even then, I
didn't regret it because it was like, no, I
know my heart behind this. My motive was pure.
I wanted to be a blessing to somebody. And
even the fact that I gave to somebody that
didn't really ended up needing it, that was just
manipulating. I didn't regret it even in the slightest.
And maybe that's wrong. I don't know, maybe I'm
an idiot. But I think it's this principle of
it's more blessed to give. When we operate in
generosity, I do think it kills something inside of
us that needs to be put to death. I
think that the more we operate in generosity, like
you said, pride comes crashing down. That greed, that
self motivation of like, I need, I need, right?
When we all of a sudden put the needs
of somebody else above our own, it's a beautiful
thing that happens. And I think in that moment,
we're more like Jesus than in any other moment
when we sacrifice what we want to be able
to give to somebody else. I think generosity is
a beautiful thing.
You start realizing that what you have isn't necessarily
just, isn't yours.
That's the principle right there.
That's the principle. What you have isn't yours. It
is not just for you. I think about that
when it comes to the fact that every now
and then I reflect on how God has blessed
me and my family, home and things like that.
And we utilize it for others a lot of
times, hosting things and being hospitable and people having
a place to come and getting into the word
together and praying and worshipping or whatever the case
may be. And then I step back and realize
that's one of the reasons why we have what
we have. We have this, we have that so
that we can help others and bless others. We
live what we live so that we can be
in close proximity to individuals who need what God
is doing through us. And not just us, all
of us. Right? That neighbor that you may have,
that coworker that you may have, you have the
extra 20 because the coworker needs gas. It's true.
You have the extra, who knows? Whatever the case
may be, the extra coat in the closet, because
that coworker or that family member needs that as
well. Whatever we have, it's not just for us
to store up. It's for others to have access
to something that they need as well. And money
plays the same role.
Money plays the same role, absolutely. And you hit
on something there. The whole concept of kingdom finances,
it comes down to this word stewardship. There you
go. And there's so many parables, so many stories,
so many conversations around money that leads us to
this understanding of it's not ours and if we
will just approach it with a mindset. This was
a game changer for me years ago when I
realized my money wasn't mine and I stopped even
thinking of it in the terms of this is
mine, what do I want to do with it?
And I realized everything in my life belongs to
God. My kids belong to God. My spouse belongs
to God. Everything in my life belongs to God.
So now I need his permission and his blessing
in what to do with it, because I don't
ever want to misuse his stuff and to use
his stuff for my own personal gain. It feels
horrible. It feels dirty. That is the worst thing
I could possibly do. And so I want to
make sure that in everything that I'm doing, I'm
recognizing it's not mine, it's his. And when it
comes to generosity and greed, it is really easy
to be generous when it's not yours. Right? I
love what you know. I can be really generous
with Carlton's money. I can be super generous with
somebody else's stuff. And so if we start looking
at everything that we have on our own, as
it's not really mine, I'm just stewarding what belongs
to God now all of a sudden, I can
be generous with it because it isn't mine.
Yeah. That causes me to reflect on the fact
that everything that we have should be used in
a way that shows us that it's easy to
let go of it. Right. We forget about the
fact that idolatry is real as well. So the
Bible talks about covetousness, and Paul took it a
step further. He called it idolatry. Why? Because to
covet something is to crave something that's somebody else's
and wishing it was yours. That same principle can
apply to our money, given what you just said,
because it's not really ours, it's his. So covenanting
even after the money that's in our own bank
account, because it really belongs to God. It's something
that we have to actually guard our heart against.
We have to guard our heart when it comes
to covening, to use that extra 3000 to book
this trip. Nothing wrong with the trip, nothing wrong
with the vacation. But if God put it on
your heart, only you know that. If God didn't
enjoy the trip, that's no legalism here. There's no
like, go on vacation. This is no Pharisee.
Just don't use vacation money. If God is telling
you, hey, I want you to do something else
with, no, forget that I'm going on this vacation.
Amen. Right.
That's the issue.
Right? There's no Pharisees here trying to create rules
and getting you to jump through hurdles and hoops.
Go to Disney, have a good time.
Have a great time. Right? But if you know,
God is saying, that's extra two, 3000, take about
800.
I know you haven't been to Disney. If you
think that's an extra two.
Or 3000, maybe something. Yeah, book. I said to
book something, not the whole thing. To book it.
Right. If God has said, you know, that 3000
you got, don't use that to book, take about
500 of it. You go do something nice with
your family for a day, maybe a weekend, take
the rest and give it towards this ministry. Give
it towards this individual who needs a new car.
You know, they need a new car. Give it
towards this mission, trip, whatever the case may be.
We have to stop coveting even things that we
already possess and holding on to it in such
a way that we refuse to share or extend
the benefits of it to others around us. Because
that is idolatry. Right. And if we take it
to its further extent, the way that Paul does,
the way that the scriptures do, we can't help
but see it for what it truly is. But
sometimes we try to sugarcoat it and downplay it
and approach it like it's not what it is.
But at the end of the day, a lot
of the times, it's idolatry.
Right?
And we want to avoid idolizing things that don't
belong to us, even if it's in our possession,
we're idolizing it because it truly belongs to God.
I get the pushback. There's somebody listening to this
podcast right now going, that's stupid. It is mine.
I worked for it. The paycheck comes because of
my work, because I went to work on time,
because I did a good job, because I worked
hard at this. So it absolutely is mine. And
I just want to lovingly say, no, it's not
like, who got you the job? It was God.
No, it was my resume and my work ethic.
Okay? Who gave you the opportunities before that, that
padded that resume? Who put breath in your lungs
this morning so that you could get up and
go do that job? It was God who enabled
every circumstance, who created this world that you're able.
You can trace everything back to God. And even
if that's not the process, when you recognize, I
am a citizen of heaven. I am the citizen
of a king, guess what? The king declared everything
in your possession belongs to him. So you can
fight him on it. But he's king. There is
no other choice but to say, yeah, everything in
my life, it doesn't matter if I was the
one that earned it because of my hard work,
it still belongs to the king because the king
said, so, amen. And so we've got to remember
that. And I get the pushback and I get
somebody sitting there going, yeah, but I worked really
hard for this money. Good, you should. That's why
God put it. Look at all the parables that
Jesus tells about finances and how every time the
servant that just buried something or the servant that
just said, I know you're cruel, and all this,
so I didn't do anything with it, they're like,
wicked. You're horrible. Like, you did not work with
what I gave you. So, yeah, absolutely, you're supposed
to work, work hard, but recognize that it's not
yours. And so I think that this ties into
another principle that this becomes, I think, the 2024
stumbling block for people. And it's this word tithe,
because there's a lot of teachings. You scroll through
YouTube and you're going to get lots of teachings
that are going to tell you, hey, tithing. If
your church tells you to tithe, run, because that's
an Old Testament principle, and that means that they
don't really understand what's going on. And, man, I
get all those arguments I've said for years, look,
if you don't want to tithe, I'm fine with
that. If you think that's just an Old Testament
principle and it doesn't carry over the new, I'm
totally fine with that, as long as you understand
what the New Testament principle is. And the New
Testament principle is generosity.
Generosity.
And so the issue I have is anytime, and
we talk about this anytime we talk about finances,
my issue is anytime somebody tries to say that
generosity means doing less than what was required by
law. And so, yeah, we're not under the law
anymore, but why would the abolishment of the law
mean that you get to do whatever you want,
and generosity now becomes whatever you define it as?
That's just stupidity. And to me, that's just greed.
And so I say it all the time. Generosity
begins at 11%, because one through 10% is just
returning back to God what he's already asked for.
And then generosity begins at eleven. But there's this
idea that I wanted to kind of hit on
PJ, hit it a little bit on Sunday, but
honestly, I wish he had kind of pushed on
it a little bit more, because this idea that
a lot of us, when we grew up in
this tithing mentality, it came across, as long as
I give God 10%, I can do whatever I
want with 90%, that my obligation to the king
is over at 10%, and as long as I've
done my part, then I'm free to do whatever
I want. But tithing, this principle is recognizing 100%
of it belongs to him. So I automatically give
him the first 10th, because that's what we read
in scripture. So I'm submitting that to him. And
then from there, I'm asking, what do you want
me to do with the other 90%? And the
believer that lives life not consulting God on the
90% because they think, hey, I'm good, I'm clear.
I already gave him ten. Now I can do
whatever I want. I feel like that person is
blinded to this idea of stewardship and master servant
relationship. And if 100% of it belongs to God,
then I need to consult him on what to
do with the 90%, not just with the 10%.
How's that strike you?
Yeah, see, first of all, I want to touch
on the fact that the generosity piece, I believe
maybe it was you that preached this a while
ago, how the New Testament takes things up a
notch in general. So the Old Testament tells us,
the old covenant, of course, which is still holy,
tells us, don't commit adultery. But Jesus said, don't
even look with lust because you commit adultery in
your.
Heart, takes whatever the law was and turns it
into a heart issue.
A heart issue.
And the reality there is the heart issue is
way more complicated, way more difficult than the outward
appearance of it.
To hate equates to murder. Right? So we got
to be mindful of that. So if he took
it up a notch, then of course, generosity should
be viewed in the same manner. Of course. So
downplaying the seriousness of it is an issue because
of the fact that generosity, like you said, starts
at the 10th. And what you said earlier is
also key. If you don't agree with tithing, fine.
But the principle is something that should still be
applied, because the principle sets our hearts up to
be generous. So after the 10th, we feel like,
okay, God, I've given my 10th to you, and
yet you still provide it for me. I would
see it as God. I wonder how much more
of a blessing can I be and how much
more can I bless others with the remainder, because
you took care of me with the 10th, I
want to see how you're going to take care
of me even with this 90, as I'm using
some of that as a form of a sacrifice
to bless and help others as well. That's something
we have to be mindful of, too. Looking at
the 90 as it's just ours, literally causes us
to look at generosity like it doesn't matter. Generosity
now all of a sudden is reduced to just
a to do list, checking things off on the
list and saying, God, okay, I did my part,
now I'm good. When in reality, generosity, like you
said, starts at the ten, where it starts at
eleven. And that eleven can be that neighbor next
to us, like I said, or that person we
see on the street all the time, or that
commercial we see on tv, and we're saying, you
know what? I want to give to that. But
no, I gave my ten. Yeah, I don't need
to.
I think it's even worse than that, because I
think what happens is people will equate the 10%
as their generosity. That I have been generous. Exactly
because I gave the 10%. But that's just obedience.
And I think there's a difference between obedience and
generosity. That you have obeyed scripture in giving the
10th. Now is your chance to operate in generosity
right. But when we deem that 1st, 10th as
we've been generous, that means that I can choose
not to be generous with the rest of it,
which, that's a horrible way to live life. And
so if you get to a place where you're
like, well, I've already done my generosity thing. I've
already matched scripture because I've done the ten. It's
funny, because when I talk about tithing, I do
have some old school christians. They're like, oh, man,
brent kind of just doesn't even care about the
tithe anymore. Like, man, that's kind of rough. And
I'm like, man, I'm kind of with Jesus on
this, I'm making it harder on people, not easier.
Like, yeah, if you don't want to tithe, don'tithe.
But I expect you to give more than 10%.
And anybody that's ever come to me arguing, hey,
the tithe is not a new Testament principle. Without
fail, that person is giving less than 10% and
operating in less than generosity. And I don't even
care if you don't trust us. Don'tithe at ClC,
like, tithe another church, do whatever you need to
do. We're going to be transparent. We're going to
show you everything that you want to know about
the finances. We're never going to do something crazy
with the money, but if you don't trust us,
look, I'm not trying to get more money for
the church. I'm just trying to help people understand
a principle of generosity and kingdom. And where money
falls in, that is, it's not mine. I need
to steward what God has given me. I need
to operate in generosity because that's what Jesus told
me to do.
And that's why transparency is key. As a church,
as a know, this church, humble brag is very
transparent. Right? You all share what's going on, why
we're doing it, where it's going, and how it's
going. That's something that we don't see growing up.
Right. I didn't see that necessarily. Like, I would
have liked to growing up in church, you have
a meeting about the finances. We want to give
to this and we start it, but we don't
know what's happening, how it's going, what's the progress,
and things like that. So understanding and knowing where
the money is going can encourage us and encourage
people to say, you know what, this is good
ground. But what I also like was the fact.
So tithing off the top, starting at eleven, being
generous, I liked how pastor Jerry mentioned the fact
that you can give to anywhere you feel led.
Yeah.
For a pastor to say that shows the heart
posture of the leadership, and that's for any church.
Because a lot of times, you see, storing up
and hoarding money isn't just a pew thing, that's
a pool pit thing, too, a lot of times.
And some churches want to store it up for
themselves as well, for whatever reason. But the fact
that an option was given. So you know what?
Give to this fundraiser, give to this company, give
to this cause as well. These are things that
show generosity not just in the pool pit, but
it also shows a generosity, a generous mindset and
heart from the pool pit. And that's something that's
amazing as well. So just realizing that generosity can
be done in a plethora of ways, in multiple
directions, is also key.
The reality is we operate the same way that
we tell people to operate.
Right?
So as an organization, christian life center, we tithe
as well. So the first 10th that comes in
immediately, automatically goes into missions. That's our way of
tithing. But that doesn't mean that we only give.
So, like, if we have a business meeting we
do once a year, where we just give the
financial statements to whoever comes to the meeting. It's
usually, I think, the second Sunday in February or
right around that time. So it's coming up in
a few weeks. And in that, you'll be able
to see, hey, the church actually gave more than
10% to missions. You know why? It's because we
automatically do 10%, and then we operate in generosity.
So the first 10th, we don't even think about
it. It's automatically set aside. It's automatically used to
further the gospel through our partners around the world.
And then you'll see that, okay, ClC actually ended
up given 15 20% in emissions. How did that
happen? Well, because when we tell you generosity starts
at eleven, we operate that way too. Like, our
generosity begins at 11%. So we don't claim to
have been generous with the first 10th. We claim
generosity after that moment. And so we're never going
to ask people to do something that we're not
doing ourselves. And I mean that from a personal
standpoint, like me and my wife, we're never going
to ask somebody to do something that we're not
doing personally, but as an organization, the same thing.
Because we want to honor God's word and we
want to honor. What if we're challenging people to
do something, but we're doing it for our motives
or to like, it's funny, my paycheck doesn't go
up or down Sunday to Sunday, depending on how
much people gave. It's not affected by it. Now,
if giving is down for a long time, my
salary would be affected by that, sure. But that's
also because as a leader, I would rather take
a pay cut than have to fire somebody because
our bills can't be paid. Now, thankfully, CLC is
a generous place and we've never run into that
issue. But basically, the point of this is it's
not for our benefit. It's not what we're trying
to get out of it. I love PJ. Used
to always know when we talk about tithing, it's
not about what we want from you, it's what
we want for you. And this principle, it really
does affect your life.
I agree. Amen.
This is a fun subject matter to talk about,
but I'm curious. So we'll kind of wrap up
with. PJ's last point was about using our money
to do good. And there's the old joke of,
you never see a hearse pull in a u
haul. You can't bring any of it with you.
And so what are you doing with your finances
today? To do good around the world, in your
community, in the neighborhood, in the lives of family
members, all of that. And so that's really the
challenge that we put out there for our people,
is to do good. It's one of the values
here at CLC. At CLC, we do good. And
a lot of times that does have a financial
component to it. Like scripture even talks about how
if you see somebody that's hungry and you just
say, hey, God bless you, I'm praying for you.
But you don't actually feed them, then that's not
love. If you didn't give them a clothing when
they were cold, that's not love. And so we
want to operate in a way that, yeah, it
takes money to be able to put shoes on
all the women in India that we did a
couple of years ago, the beautiful feet campaign. It
takes money to send some of the dental teams
to Uganda and to other places that we've done.
It takes money to build the water wells. And
so sometimes doing good doesn't require money. Sometimes doing
good is just being with somebody, sitting with them,
letting them cry on your shoulder. But a lot
of times, in order to do good, you need
some money. And so what does that principle look
like in David Bees's life? Totally going to get
personal, just jumping in there. Tell me all your
dirty. So how do you as a family operate
in this principle of using your finances to do
good?
Two things. One, we want to make sure we're
on the same page as God is. Right. So
we try to be attentive and aware of what
the Lord is leading, especially when we get extra
income or things, unexpected blessings and things like that.
We want to be a blessing with the blessing.
Right. And also, we don't look for anything in
return from individuals.
So Dave Ramsey says this, and I agree with
know when he says, you know, they call into
his radio show and they'll ask, know, I want
to give somebody a loan on this and blah,
blah, blah, how should I view it and how
should I go about doing it? Anybody that knows
Dave Ramsey, he doesn't really rock with loans at
all. So he'll say just give it and don't
expect it back. If you're going to give it,
make it a gift. Don't make it, don't hanging
over that loved one's head that you need that
back. That's something we apply. If an individual in
our family or a friend or whoever the case
may be needs something, we never say, I need
this back. We never say please, we needed that
for the mortgage. We needed that for this bill.
If we don't have it, we don't have it
because I'd rather not give it to you because
we genuinely don't have it, than to hound you
and be another debt collector that may be bothering
you.
We don't want to do that. So we want
to give without expecting things in return. And we
just want to be a blessing. So just being
a blessing is another thing we try to do.
We try to find ways and moments and opportunities
to be a blessing in a way that doesn't
just bless the person receiving, but blesses us as
the giver, because if we don't feel like we
need it back, we feel like we're being blessed
right there because we had enough access to bless
somebody else.
And we also, like I said earlier, we want
to be in tune with God. Maybe almost a
month ago, me and my wife, so from the
house budget, and then my wife has a business,
so I felt led to give a certain amount
from the house budget. I just felt led to,
my wife felt led to give a certain amount
from her business budget. We talk later. I come
to find out. I said, I gave this today.
I felt like the Lord wanted us to do
this. She said, really? Because the business gave this
much. How much? The same exact amount. The same
amount. We didn't talk about it or anything. Now,
we had a little rough patch financially, the stuff
happens. And in my mind, I was trying to
hold on to as much money as possible, preparing
what could possibly happen in the future, things like
that. It happens to all of us. Just trying
to be responsible, save. I felt led to give,
and I'm questioning God. God, okay, now I'm trying
to be wise. I'm trying to store up while
it's harvest because the cold is coming, or could
come, whatever the case may be.
But I felt led to give from what I
felt like was lack. But it wasn't lack, it
was still access. My wife, the same boat, she
did the same thing literally the next day. No
exaggeration, I won't go into the details, but the
next day, God answered and responded. That tells us
and teaches us time and time again that God
provides and God takes care of us.
If we. Well, he'll do it. But it's very
important that we are in line with and in
tune with his voice and his guidance and his
leading. Giving in a sacrificial way under his leading
and guidance is something that we try to practice
daily and consistently. And giving in a way that
shows that we don't need nothing back from you.
We're not giving, and we want that same mindset,
and I want to encourage others. That's the same
mindset we should have with God. Even though the
Bible says give and you get it back.
And those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly. True
principles. The issue is, I feel like sometimes we
can distort that in our own hearts and minds
and say, I need a million dollars, so I'm
going to give 10,000 if I got it. Because,
hey, if I sow sparingly, I'll reap sparingly. But
if I sow generously, I'll reap generously. That's a
principle that shows. Yes, that's a principle that applies,
period.
These are not stock options.
It's not. This is a principle that God follows.
And reaping bountifully may look different. It may not
be finances, it may be a whole different thing
that God does as a response to your obedience
and your sacrifice. So I'm starting to realize, like,
more and more in our home, being in tune
with God, and when both of us are in
tune with God, me and my wife, we're on
one accord. God blesses that right. And being able
to give in a way that says, yeah, God
bless. I don't need anything back in return. And
having that same mindset with God because he's not
a genie. So these are things we try to
apply in our lives. And God has never, ever,
I mean, never. When that happened, I looked at
my wife, I said, can you believe, like, God
literally never lets us down? Never. He promised to,
and we can look back and see he hasn't.
The track record is perfect, but sometimes you can
be fearful and wonder, God, I don't know, but
he showed himself strong yet again, like he always
does. And that's something that we remember and try
to apply every time we face a situation. And
just in general, just being a blessing.
Yeah. For me, my mindset with it is when
scripture says that we need to store up treasures
in heaven, I take that to heart. And so
when I look at how can I do good,
my number one priority or my emphasis, my thought
process is, is my generosity in this moment going
to result in somebody going to heaven? And so
I lean very heavily in that direction. Now, I
know people that lean very heavily into meeting needs
here on earth and all that, and I'm not
against that.
I'm not opposed to that. I've used the quote
all the time of it's really hard for somebody
to hear the gospel over the sound of an
empty stomach. And so we do need to meet
needs here, and yes, we should alleviate poverty here.
It's part of our value system as ClC when
it comes to missions and what we're trying to
do, alleviating poverty, is a huge thing.
But for me, it always comes down to, is
this going to result in, or can this result
in souls being saved? And so we approach a
lot of our generosity in that mindset. And so
if we've got a neighbor that's not a believer
that needs help, we're going to be more inclined
to help them in that moment, because it may
be the thing that opens a door to have
a conversation, hey, why would you do that for
me? Oh, I did that for you because Jesus
tells me to.
And so it may open a door where we
can present the gospel. I give, first and foremost
to organizations around the world that I know either
personally or we have enough relationship that I know
the good that they're doing.
And so I'll send money to one hope who's
given God's word to every child on the planet.
There's an organization we can't really talk about much
around here called Elam, but it's because they're working
in Iran and a few other places where it's
actually dangerous for their workers. So we can't publicize
things. They'll send us newsletters like do not post
this anywhere. So I'll give towards them.
We've got partners in Israel that are working in
some dangerous places even right now. And so my
heart, it goes immediately to those places because, okay,
if my $100 here or my $100 there or
whatever can actually impact somebody's eternity, I want to
do that more than just whatever kind of temporary
need, because like we said earlier, you can still
go to heaven with an empty stomach. But I
want to prioritize those things. And I try my
best not to turn a blind eye to tangible
needs because like I said, it's hard to hear
the gospel over the sound of an empty stomach.
So I want to make sure that I'm doing
whatever I can. So if somebody's hungry, I'm going
to feed them.
But my priority, or where my heart immediately goes
is how is this making a kingdom investment? And
I don't mean that as investing in the church,
I mean investing in the kingdom of God. That
there is somebody that as a result of this
giving, I'm going to be able to see them
in heaven one day. And for me, that would
be the greatest joy. But doing good, man, there's
a lot of ways to do that. And I
think every person has to prioritize. What ways am
I going to do good? Am I going to
prioritize family? Am I going to prioritize neighborhood community?
Is there a cause that just breaks my heart?
You may look at the trafficking thing happening in
the world and go, I have to do something
about that.
You may be driving down the streets of Chicago
and seeing the homeless and just going, man, I
got to do something about this. But whatever God
has put on your heart, we need to be
people that are in a place financially where we
can do something about it. And so, yeah, I'm
not on board with the poverty gospel. I'm not
on board with the prosperity gospel because so much
of the prosperity gospel becomes me.
Me. I am about kingdom. And so I want
to make sure that my finances are, I'm handling
them in a way, or I'm looking at them
in a way of saying, God, what do you
want me to do with this? And if you
want me to sell my car and get a
beater, I'll do that. If you want me to
downsize my house, I'll do that. Whatever you want
me to do. I don't want my comfort to
be the deciding factor on what I do with
finances. And if I need to eat rice and
beans for a while, because we made a commitment
to give more towards missions, I'll eat rice and
beans. We'll do whatever we have to do to
be able to view money not as master, but
as a tool that we use in service of
the true master.
I want to encourage individuals also to not minimize
anything either. Don't minimize your impact.
Yeah.
So some people can approach scripture generously, hit generosity,
and they can think, I have nothing to offer.
How can I be generous? Right. God blesses even
the smallest amount you.
Give because widows might.
The widows might, right? She gave more than anybody
here and that's all she had to give. Even
though those in their riches, they gave from that
access and their riches. But God noticed the heart
posture of the lady to widow who gave what
she had. And I don't want anyone to minimize
their impact because it's kingdom. Any investment into kingdom
agendas will reap a kingdom reward, because God sees
the motives and intentions of the heart behind you.
So don't minimize because I don't have this much
or that much, or whatever the case may be,
or if only I had, I would. God wants
to utilize you where you are, and he wants
you to watch how that impact and that sacrifice
goes far to the point that, Lord willing, that
day, when you see Jesus face to face, you'll
also see the individuals who were blessed by your
sacrifice. As small as it may have been, look
at what the results were, right? So we don't
want to minimize that at all. God wants to
bless whatever you're willing to sacrifice.
I love it. It's beautiful. I think as citizens
of heaven, we just have to look at finances
from that perspective, right? And so if it's not
mine, if I am submitted to a master, I'm
just stewarding what he's put into my life to
steward. And if he gives me more, I'll steward
that. If he gives me less, I'll steward that.
I'm going to be faithful with whatever he's given
me, because it's not mine. And Paul said, I've
learned to be content in all circumstances. If got
more, good. If I got less, good. Because it
doesn't matter. The stuff doesn't matter. It's my relationship
with God that matters. And as citizens of the
kingdom of heaven, that's how we must approach finances.
Because at the end of the day, it really
comes down to trust. Are you going to trust
money as your master? Or are you going to
trust God as your master? Where's your trust? Are
you trusting the bank account? Are you trusting the
paycheck? Are you trusting your employer? Or are you
trusting the God of the universe? And so for
me, I'm going to trust the God of the
universe. I'm going to trust the king of kings
who reigns well over this kingdom as a citizen
of it, I'm submitted to the king.
Submit it. Amen.
Good stuff, man. All right, we got one more
message in this series on kingdom, so we'll see
you next week for that. And then we got
our first love conference. It's going to be a
wild, crazy weekend coming up. We're going to have
a good time, some awesome stuff on the horizon.
Hope to see you there and hope to check
you out on the podcast next time. See you.
It's.