Faithful in that Which is Least Part 1

Okay, well good morning. It is good to be here and based on some of your responses it is it is a morning we need God's grace and you know that's every morning. Sometimes we wake up with maybe a lot more excitement about the day than other days.

I suppose that's normal and the ups and downs in life but every day we need the grace of God and we have um we have been going through in the last few times that I've preached there was I think one time I branched off and did something different but I had been going through the series that I preached back at Bible school back in November and on the grace of God the windows of grace we had called it and there are there was an illustration that I used at the very beginning of that of clear lake up here in the mountains to the east of us and the McKinsey river flowing out of that it's a river that comes from a lake very clear lake a very clear water that's coming out of there and apparently there's no apparent reason why all that water is overflowing from the lake from the surface you can't see it there's a little trickle coming in from one end and a huge gushing river from the other end and it's an excellent example of a lake that is getting water from somewhere but it's not so apparent where it's coming from well we also as Christians need to be overflowing with the grace of God but where do we get it and so we've been talking about the windows of grace and I was back there at Bible school I preached five different messages and we talked about five different windows and we've covered in the first two messages we've covered three of those windows and so I don't know if anybody remembers I don't expect you to recall you know going back and saying hey what did you preach about a month ago or two months ago I don't expect you to but let's just see anyway if anybody remembers what those windows of grace were any of them that we've already talked about does anybody remember one of them humility or the verb humility is a noun the verb is to humble yourself okay good that's great what else yes giving okay uh does anybody remember another one fasting all right and there's one more we already preached about what was that prayer okay we talked about prayer so far and we talked about humility or humbling yourself that's the first one really and I think the humbling yourself was the very first one and it was a reason it was the first one was because all the others come out of that one there are ways to humble yourself prayer is a way to humble yourself it's a window of grace into your life and that's my desire for you it was my desire for those young people that we preached to preach before back there it's my desire for us here that we be channels of the grace of God so to humble yourself is extremely important to learn to pray is extremely important if you want God's grace to flow through fasting is a tool a gift that God has given us if you want to be a channel of his grace well we have another one this morning and I would like to read some passages I'll tell you where these passages are in case you want to look them up and this one the first one is in Luke chapter 16 verses 10 to 12 and the title of this one is called faithful in that which is least faithful in that which is least so I'm going to read this passage like I say if you want to turn to it you can but I'll go ahead and read it he who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and he who is unjust in what is least is also unjust in much therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to your trust the true riches and if you have not been faithful in what is another man's who will give you what is your own and so it has some passage some mysterious words in this passage it call it talks about unrighteous mammon it talks about true riches it says if you're whatever this unrighteous mammon is if you're faithful in this God's going to then give you something more important than whatever this thing is if you deal faithfully in that which belongs to someone else something that's another man's God's going to give you what is your own he's going to make you like clear lake bubbling over running over with grace that will overflow and bless other people in their life so what is Jesus talking about well I think you probably know by now it is our possessions it's our wealth it's our money we live in a country US United States of America the richest nation in in the world right now in fact it's the richest nation that has ever existed in the world at any place at any time there never has been a country like ours and so why has God placed us right here in Halsey place is right here in the richest nation that has ever existed at any time at any place in the history of the world why has God put us here and what is God's what's what's God's reason you know if it says this wealth that we see money possessions lands and houses and all these things are least that means they're not extremely important in the long run in the law you know a million years from now the whatever possessions we have now just won't be worth much at all and yet what we do with them is extremely important because it's going it's a test that God's given us to see whether he's going to give us the the true riches the the things that are really valuable if we pass the test then we get this we get this grace we become a channel we can receive all these things but if we fail the test then those same riches that God wanted to give us will not be given us now looking down through history and God's interaction with his people we see people who were given a test and that's it almost seemed like that's all it was think of the guard the tree of the guard of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden that was a test for them he said don't eat of that was it anything more than a test was there some health benefits for staying away from that tree I don't know that there were it seems like that's all it was was just a test just to see whether Adam and Eve were going to be obedient to God or not as you look we heard about Moses this morning as you look through all the mosaic laws how many of those were simply tests you know you wear these certain things and you'd put you know you don't wear these certain kinds of materials and and this and that what was some of that just test just to see whether they were going to be obedient I think it's possible that's the case with some of them it was simply a test but many other things it wasn't simply a test it was a test but it was more than a test there were health benefits to let's say the sabbath for instance there was very specific rules on the sabbath take one day out of seven and rest and those people it was a test they there was a death penalty for violating that law but if they did violate it it wasn't just they escaped the death penalty it was also there was some health benefits they were a more healthy a well-adjusted people by having done the things that God told them to do with the sabbath and many of God's laws are that way it's not it's a test yes but it's more than just a test and that's what this uh what when Jesus gives these these things that we're going to talk about dealing with unrighteous mammon dealing with worldly wealth dealing with our possessions it's a test we've been placed in a country that is a test for us every single day but it's more than a test there's more than that going on there's also tremendous opportunity so there's one thing in particular that I would like to look at in this subject of our possessions and I'm going to read some promises first of all and I want you to listen to these promises tremendous promises of grace and blessing tied to one particular action so let's listen to the promises first of all promise number one is in Matthew 6 number two is in 2nd Corinthians 9 and number three is in Malachi chapter 3 so listen to these promises thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly that's in Matthew chapter 6 2nd Corinthians 9 says in verse 6 to 8 God is able to make all grace abound towards you and in Malachi chapter 3 it says prove me now if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing those are some amazing promises and now listen and I'm going to ask you at the end of these verses I'm going to read those verses again but I'm going to add some context to it I'm going to add not just the promises but what's the action that precedes the blessing so listen and I want a four-letter word by the time we're done that is a verb that precedes the blessing on each one of these things so you listen for that and you tell me what that four-letter verb is so here's passage number one again these are Matthew 6 2nd Corinthians 9 Malachi 3 we've already read the promises now let's read the context take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men verily I say unto you they have their reward but when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly okay that's one passage promises action followed by promises here's the next one 2nd Corinthians 9 but this I say he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully so let each one give as he has as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound towards you that you having all sufficiency and all things may have an abundance for every good work or abound into every good work I think it's all the King James but abundance for every good work that's passage number two 2nd Corinthians 9 the third passage is in Malachi 3 will a man rob God yet you have robbed me in you say in what have we robbed you in tithes and offerings you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me even this whole nation bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and try me now on this as the Lord of hosts if I will not open for you if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour you out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground nor the vine failed to bear fruit for you in the field says the Lord of hosts and all nations will call you blessed for you will be a delightful land says the Lord of hosts so what's the action somebody say it what's the action that precedes every one of these promises four letters somebody said it give so in every one of these God says if you give I will bless if you give my father will take hit my father which seeth in secret shall reward you openly if you give God loves a cheerful giver and he's able to make all grace abound to you if you give God says in Malachi then I will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing now there's a problem here that maybe some of you are thinking about you say well I've heard lots of TV preachers say the same thing you're saying and you're right there is a lot of abuse that goes on with these very promises because you see God has given the promises but it's been abused so often in today's society in in both Old and New Testament we have these promises we read in Malachi read in Corinthians and Matthew but there's preachers that'll get up and they'll preach and they'll say God's promised to bless you if you give and so here's an address send your money to me this TV ministry and God will bless you he promised and they read these verses that I just read and so people will send them money by the gallon full bucket full and they get rich they buy their jet airplanes there they got by their thousand dollar suit coats and they fly all over the country demonstrating how God is now blessing me and I'm rich and you guys need to keep giving so that God can bless you too and they use these very verses you know just because someone abuses a verse doesn't make it untrue it's still very true that God does bless it's still very true that these promises are here but God says I mean God says if you give I will I will bless he says give extravagantly and I will bless he says give generously with the right motive and I will pour out a blessing and that's what God has said and just because a TV preacher comes along and abuses it for his own selfish motivations does not make God's promises invalid they're still there and so I'm going to take these next two sessions which I believe will be this Sunday probably next Sunday I think I'm going to go ahead and do them both together and so this Sunday and next Sunday we're going to be talking about this subject but before we even get very far into it I've only been up here what 10 minutes and we're going to go ahead and tell you how this whole thing is going to end up I'm going to end up by saying I'm encouraging each one of us to be a giver and I'm encouraging you to give extravagantly I'm encouraging you to and I was talking to young people when I preached this the first time now I'm talking to a mixture I've got some older people here some middle-aged we got some little children learn to be a giver whatever it takes I'm assuming you have some of your own money I think most people here do even little children you know they got a piggy bank they got something learn to be a giver this is this is the whole point we're fast-forwarding right to the end don't wait for the next stage of life we all want to wait well maybe when I get you know I'm a little child but I'm going to grow up and I'm going to turn 16 or 17 or 18 I'm going to get a job then I'll become a giver or I'm already a you know I'm at this stage of life I'm a young person but once I'm married and now now life is settled down a little bit I'll become a giver maybe it's a young married and I'll say I'll wait for the next stage of life once I have this particular purchase made then I'm going to become a giver let me encourage you don't wait for the next stage of life become a giver do it now do it extravagantly open let me just say it this way as soon as you can open an account at a bank which is called a checking account and I was going to bring up a little packet of checks but you know what they look like paper checks some people are forgetting what those are anymore but you need what you need a pack of them okay you can even get full page ones if you print them off on a computer but but get a checking account open it up put money in that checking account it's it's it's it's it's a good thing to do I'm getting very practical here and get on the list the mailing list of ministries that are ministering to the needy poor people hungry people people that need clothes learn about these ministries get these newsletters pray over them and give to them and give like I said extravagantly give generously feed the hungry clothe the naked share the gospel this is the summation of the entire next two sessions that we're going to be talking about learn that if you don't learn anything else from this message I have now that we've talked now that we've fast forward to the end now that I've told you what the point is of these two messages we could probably go home right now we get a really early lunch and we could even skip next Sunday we wouldn't have to come back we could all sleep in because we've got two full sessions and I've already told you what the main point is but we have this time and I don't want to waste your time so we're not going to waste your time we're going to back up and lay some foundational principles for how to get to where we're talking about but you already know where we're going but now we're going to go back into scripture and we're going to look at some scripture and there's something else that we want to do we don't only want to encourage you to become givers and become a channel of God's grace I also want you to be very very familiar with what the bible says about some of these things at the end of the next two sessions the end of the next uh two weeks so I'm gonna pass out these these papers that I have um Stephen and Joshua could you hand these out I'm gonna keep one for myself should be one for everybody who enough for everybody who can read one of you take one side one the other share them back and forth if I gave one of you too many um but we're gonna start by going back into some principles of financial success financial responsibility and what are some things that we can learn from scripture that will open up the door for us to become these channels of grace that God wants us to be now I don't know how many of you have a pencil on you or not if you don't that's okay but I would like you to circle a couple of numbers on here if you would there's 10 different principles I'd like you to circle number two number four number six and number 10 so I'm going to do that on my paper if you have a pencil you can if you have somebody beside you that has one you can borrow their pencil and do the same thing and if nobody has a pencil just skip it you don't need to do this just remember those are the ones we want to look at number two number four number six and number 10 now for a living I deal with people's finances quite a bit I see people who I would call successful I see people who would not be necessarily called successful and if I you know if I want to look beyond you can read newspapers about people who are successful you can read newspapers about those who are not successful you can read stories online about success and lack of success people who failed maybe people who even ended up in jail because of some of their financial dealings dealing with money and there are some important things that we if we want to be financially successful remember I did not say financially wealthy that's a different word maybe some of you heard that but that's not what I said I said financially successful and we want Jesus to define what that means to be successful and and so we're going to look at you know we're going to look at a bunch of scriptures here in the next two sessions and find out what God says but whether even if I was dealing with a non-believer there's some of these principles that would be very true for them doesn't these are universal principles and four of them are the ones that you've circled two four six and ten and I'll just write these on the board but those those four are first of all work secondly spending thirdly debt and finally investing the first one you could change it to earning if you please but let's just put up there the word let's just put up there well it's nice nice big pieces of chalk here so work let's start with that one this is one of the things that if somebody is going to be financially successful they need to get this one under control the one about working the hand of the diligent shall bear rule but the slothful shall be under tribute and this is something that I would encourage everybody to ask whether you're young young person if it's all young people here which it was the first time I preached it mainly I encouraged him can't ask the question can I be diligent in work can I work a full 40 hours a week if that's what my boss wants can I do it for a long time can I do it week after week month after month can I be faithful in that I had a phone call from a billboard caller about six months ago back in October his name was Cameron and Cameron wanted to get married he had a girl he wanted to get married to but you see the problem was his relatives were kind of concerned about Cameron his mom and dad they were a little concerned the parents of the wife to be were or the potential wife to be they were really concerned they said Cameron you really need to get a job and you really need to you know be faithful at that job and Cameron was asking me for counsel well what shall I do he says they're all concerned about me he says it's true I'm between jobs right now but he says I'm pretty sure I can get a job here in the next week and for sure by the time I get married he says I think we should probably go ahead and set a wedding date don't you think that was his proposal get a get a wedding date set like out about April and he's pretty sure that by the time April rolls around this was back in October he'll be financially stable he thought and after listening to Cameron talk for a little while I told him I says Cameron I think I would really recommend you listen to your relatives I think it's it's you know you can you can say what you're going to do if you have a wedding date set but it's a whole lot more powerful to just go ahead and prove it I would encourage you go ahead and get a job and you know it's not going to be the hard part to get a job you could probably land a job here in the next week or so it's going to be tricky though to keep that job to get that job and prove for month after month year after year even even longer than that that you can stick to it and that you can really support this wife that you would like to have and so I would like to encourage everybody be faithful in this thing this part of your life in working can you work can you be diligent can you be faithful second one is spending this is one we have to get under control as well we need to submit it can't you submit this to God can I learn to say no to purchases can I walk past something that I really really want and not buy it even though I have the money to buy it even though I can afford it both large purchases and small purchases can I learn to say no to potential spending this is something if you're going to be financially successful you need to be willing to learn to control spending and say no third one is debt what is my attitude about debt borrowing money what do I do with this do I respect the power that debt has do I do you know and we're and I'm not getting into so much as is it right and wrong to have any debt I know there's people that have made a commitment never to borrow money ever for any reason and you know I respect that decision I think people who have made that commitment probably don't regret it in the long run I know many others though that have chosen to use debt and I've watched this in in in whether it's you know whether it's personal experience people I know closely or people that are more at a distance maybe maybe again it's it's in the news but I see two kinds of people who in two different attitudes about this thing of debt and borrowing one attitude says this we'll call this attitude number one when they borrow money they're very cautious about it they borrow with the idea I need to pay that off and they borrow and then they immediately been working to pay that debt off as quickly as possible there they can't relax until that debt is paid off they consider it to be a temporary situation that they're in debt at all and sometimes in the cycles of business and that's mainly what I see is business side of things in the cycles of business there are good years and there are bad years what do these people with attitude number one do when a good year rolls around they they pay down as much of the debt as they possibly can that's what they wanted that that's why they they borrowed not to keep the debt but to pay it off and you know at the end of the year they a lot of times are showing a healthy profit because they're they're working at paying down this debt and you know if they make a profit they're probably going to pay some tax and they just well that's just the way it is we're going to pay the tax there's another attitude though this attitude says that debt is a valuable tool and I'm going to use it to the max I'm going to I enjoy the ability to borrow money and they borrow the money and they don't really even have an intention to pay it off rather they're going to refinance that debt and you know when it doesn't bother them to be in debt the fact that they have a debt that's hanging over their head doesn't really bother them they they they they have this idea that you know if the money is available the banker's willing to loan me I'll I'll take as much as he'll give me and when a good year rolls around for this attitude of this person with this attitude instead of paying the debt down they actually go into more debt they borrow more money and expand their operations even more and they keep on adding to and adding to they have this expansion mentality it's a completely different mentality from attitude number one so on the good year instead of paying off the debt they're borrowing more and expanding operations or maybe they're borrowing for another reason they want to avoid paying any income tax and so at the end of the year they found out they're there they've made some money and they're gonna pay tax if they end up the year like they are and so instead of paying down debt they borrow more money buy another you know buy more equipment buy have more expenses and try to avoid debt that's the two attitudes that I've witnessed when it comes to this whole thing of debt remember we're talking about being financially successful remember we're talking about things that apply to everyone believer unbeliever you got to get these things in order if you're going to be financially successful and the people with attitude number two they're the ones that get into trouble they don't really have a desire to get out of debt if they have debt at all they're the ones in a down year that suddenly the reality hits and these debts come back to bite them and they don't have the wherewithal to pay it off because instead of paying down debt on a good year they were they were just simply you know keep it on expanding and now they got a bad year and suddenly the cash isn't there to service that debt so somehow or another I would encourage you be awfully cautious about this thing of debt learn to handle work learn to control your spending learn to be very cautious about debt and then the final one is investing you say what is this word investing mean so in to invest is to live for the future you're not living for the present you're living for another time another day you're learning to take extra earnings today and put it somewhere that it will be secure for the future someplace that you can enjoy it in the few if you only if you only spend it as quick as you make it there's really nothing left for the future at all so these are the four areas that anybody including unbelievers need to get in order working spending debt and investing if they're going to be financially successful let's go through these these verses now you have them on your paper let's just go through them we've highlighted four of them number two four six and ten but let's just see what the God says in these I think these are all in the Old Testament what God says now for people who fear the Lord this started back during the time of the of the Old Testament Jews what does God say about our possessions and finances so we'll start with number one responsibility and stewardship divine ownership the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof Psalm 24 that's the first acknowledgement that a believer in God needs to recognize this is not mine this is God's number two responsibility and working diligence the hand of the diligent shall bear rule the slothful shall be under tribute number three responsibility and giving these were now God fearing Jews he told he tells them be a giver even in the Old Testament he said that he that giveth unto the poor shall not lack but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and he will pay back what he has given number four responsibility controlling our spending there's treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise but a foolish man spendeth up he who loveth pleasure shall be a poor man he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich number five responsibility and honesty and integrity a false balance is an abomination to the Lord and a just weight is but a just weight is his delight number six responsibility with debt there are many verses we could read but just one the bar will just read one the borrower is servant to the lender number seven responsibility and planning the plans of the diligent shall lead surely to plenty but those of everyone who is hasty surely to poverty number eight responsibility and keeping records be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds number nine responsibility and receiving counsel where no counsel is the people fall but in the multitude of counselors there is safety and number ten finally responsibility in investing living for the future wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished but he that gathereth by labor shall increase or in the NIV it says he who gathers money little by little makes it grow that's what God says about all of those ten subjects so we have these four especially those four that I've highlighted here working spending debt and investing and in the face of this this set of principles Old Testament principles God fearing Jews that Jesus was preaching to Jesus comes along and begins to give them some instruction and he's he's assuming that these people have been instructed in the ways of God they have the fear of God they've learned to work they're not lazy like the nations around them they're not overspending they're not they know better than to get deeply into debt and and not be able to manage that they're there they know about living for the future these God-fearing Jews and along comes Jesus now and he starts giving them some instruction he doesn't really talk too much about these first three he kind of assumes that they are in order but then Jesus does talk about number four the investing one and we find out Jesus is also very very in favor of investing somebody who lives for the future somebody who lives not just for hand-to-mouth living day-to-day but living for the future now maybe we should clarify just a little bit on this one of investing maybe there's still a question in your mind what does it really mean to invest what is that whole concept think of think of an illustration I've used this before maybe you'll recognize it but just a man who has a bunch of money in his pocket maybe he made a sale on his business maybe got his paycheck for the month or the quarter or whatever it is let's say he's got $10,000 in his pocket he's walking down the street and he stops at a gas station and buys himself a Pepsi now before he went in the gas station and afterward he's a little bit poorer afterward than before he went in right yeah okay so you come back out a little bit less money in his pocket he keeps walking down the street and he he stops at maybe a the power company pays his power bill for the month he pays off his his electric bill now he comes out he's a little bit poor he's got another expense so expense expense maybe he even stops and pays his rent bill for the month maybe he's renting a house maybe he's renting a car maybe he's renting something but he pays that and then that's another expense and he comes out of that building a little bit poorer maybe he stops and gets some gas at a different gas station and on down the line he goes every time he walks in or I'm sorry every time he walks out he's a little bit poorer than when he went in those are all expenses now keep going now he gets down the road a little bit further he comes to a bank he walks into this bank and he talks to the teller behind the counter and says I'd like to open a savings account and he pulls out a thousand dollars and hands it to the teller and she puts it she opens a savings account gets all this information and she puts it in a savings account for him and he comes out of the bank now and he also has lost money in his pocket but is he poor than when he went in you say was that an expense he just put a thousand dollars in a savings account was that an expense what was that and the answer is no it wasn't an expense it did not make him poor see expenses always make you poorer after you spend the expense than when you beforehand but an investment is different an investment is something you're keeping for the future he still has that money it's still his money in the bank as long as the bank doesn't go broke or something it's still his money that's the difference between an investment and an expense and so now that we know what an investment is we're looking at this one right here and we have Jesus coming along and Jesus I'm going to give you some instruction about this and you know we might be able to find some things about these other three but mainly he looks at this one called investing and says I wouldn't give you some instruction about your investing first of all he's in favor of it first of all he says you should be living for the future but now he says how are you going to invest and so here's what he says in Matthew chapter 6 verse 19 I'm going to back up a little bit to my own journey in this my own journey was that I was you know looking at these things at a time in my life when I was studying to be an accountant I was you know encouraging people to live a certain way and somebody pointed out this passage to me so I'll just read what Jesus said Jesus said do not lay up for yourselves now that would be as close as we can get in the biblical terms to the word invest do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust it destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth and rust destroys and where thieves break through and steal before this Jesus had given or in other passages Jesus had already given the idea that investing can be to one of two places it can be in heaven or on earth and he says the way to invest in heaven is through what we already talked about giving by giving in the name of Jesus by giving with the right motives by giving with love in your heart by giving secretly not for the praise of men but giving for the right motives is actually laying up treasure in heaven what do you say the rich young ruler he told that rich young ruler you know he came to him and he said you know I want you know what do you want me to do keep the commandments okay yep I've done that but what else well go sell and give and then Jesus said you will if you do this you will have treasure in heaven and we know what the rich young ruler he walked away but either way Jesus was offering him investments in heaven so we have these two categories now in heaven and on earth and Jesus simply says here in Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 and 20 don't make investments on earth but do make investments in heaven or you could say other words maybe investing isn't the best word maybe a word called accumulate would be another one maybe store up save up Jesus said lay up very similar lay up treasure so lay up treasures he said do it in hell do it in heaven don't do it in earth so back to my own journey I was young married I was promoting Christian stewardship which I called it we called it back then Christian stewardship in that context at least in my mind at that time meant earning working diligently it meant controlling your spending it meant tithing taking you know 10% maybe even more than that but at least you know somewhere around 10% of your income and giving it away that was good stewardship but then the rest of your money the idea was start accumulating put it in savings account put it in retirement account invest in properties do something with that money and try to make sure you're a little bit richer at the end of every year than you were at the beginning that was good stewardship in my mind that's what I was promoting I was encouraging people to do this I would share charts with them about how they could practice good stewardship first of all earn secondly tithe and then with whatever is left over make sure you get a little bit richer every single year on with you know with money savings accounts retirements whatever and I believed it I believe it was all my heart I was passionate about it and I would promote it somebody then challenged me on that they said hey would you listen to this sermon and I was handed a sermon and they said something that grabbed my attention that I didn't know what to do there was I was shocked when they talked about this whole idea what I was promoting as Christian stewardship and accumulating as much wealth as possible they said that whole idea is worldly whoa I grown up knowing what worldly meant worldly meant things to do with how you dress worldly meant things to do with the kind of music you left listen to worldly meant the kind of entertainment that you take part in that's what worldly was and by the way it certainly does or certainly could mean all of those things but here this preacher was saying that to keep excess wealth for yourselves is a worldly idea it's not a kingdom of God idea and I had no idea what to do with this message that I had just received and so I started digging into scripture I knew this preacher was wrong and so it was my goal to prove him wrong to dig into this to find out what what was you know what was wrong with what he was saying I didn't know exactly why it was but I was pretty sure I could prove him wrong and some of us you know we like to debate and argue and so forth well I was one of those and so I thought I could for sure do this so I said well first of all I'm gonna arm myself I'm gonna do some studying and so I started I started doing some more studying and my studying started turning over some things that I didn't know were in the Bible one of them was this word this verse lay not up for yourself I'd read it many times don't get me wrong I'd read through the Bible multiple times with this one do not lay up for yourselves or do not make investments on this earth that was the one that I did not know was there or accumulate on this earth maybe there's various ways to interpret that that was when I didn't know it was there another one that caught me off guard even more perhaps was found in Luke chapter 12 verse 33 there was a command there and by the way commands of Jesus we as a church preach that keeping the commands of Jesus is important how many believe that by the way keeping the commands of Jesus important I see a raise of hands okay that's good how many of you ever have ever washed in the pool of Siloam could I see a raise of hands nobody okay not yet you're okay that is a command of Jesus here's another command of Jesus go call your husband some of you have called your husband but there's some of you who have never done that that's a command of Jesus here's another one stretch out your hand I suppose most of you have done that maybe for some reason or another but that's a command of Jesus as well but some of you and some of these commands you could say well I've never done that before and the question I would have is why not why haven't you kept the command to call your husband if you've never done that why haven't you kept the command of washing the pool of Siloam if you've never done that and I think the answer is maybe obvious but you never thought about it this before and that is that there are two different categories of Jesus commands there's the commands that Jesus gave to specific people for a specific time and it doesn't apply to the rest of us when Jesus looked at that woman and and said or that blind man sorry and said go wash in the pool of Siloam he meant for him to go wash in the pool of Siloam he didn't tell the whole population to go wash in the pool of Siloam when he said to the woman of the well go call your husband he was giving that command specifically for her well how do you now know the difference if there's these two different commands of Jesus how do we know which ones are category one given to you know that we should obey in category two which are not for us to obey well Jesus also gave us that clue as well if you go to the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 Jesus says go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son Holy Ghost and teaching them to do what to obey the things I've commanded you who's the you his disciples so when he's given commands to his disciples in a teaching context he tells them go teach others to obey these commands as well but when I give a command to the woman at the well you don't need to tell the whole world to obey that when I give commands to the the the invalid who had a withered hand he says you don't need to tell people to obey that command those are for those people specifically well I ran into this command of Jesus that said sell what you have and give alms and if you would have asked me at the beginning of this journey which category that command is sell your possessions and give to the poor basically I would have told you that's a category to command he gave it to the rich young ruler he didn't give it to his disciples and so therefore we don't have to obey that well then I found somebody pointed out to me Luke 12 verse 33 listen to what he says here think of it which is it which category is this category 1 category 2 do not fear little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom sell what you have and give alms provide yourself money bags which do not grow old a treasure in the heavens that doesn't fail where no thief approaches nor moth corrupts and there it is and it doesn't say anything about the rich young ruler and you go forward to the beginning of the chapter and into the end of the chapter and the rich young rulers nowhere there I couldn't use the excuse that I had in my mind about this verse this command it simply wasn't there you have to go six chapters forward later before Jesus said the same thing to the rich young ruler and so I had to do something with this command it was right there it was in the Bible I couldn't say it wasn't in the Bible I couldn't say it doesn't apply to me I could have if it was a category to command but I couldn't with the way it was right there in Luke 20 Luke 12 verse 33 and I would encourage all of us do something with these commands of Jesus maybe you don't know what to do well that's probably okay but do something with them don't ignore them that's not a good way to to handle this there's all kinds of bad ways you know when we feel trapped and I did feel trapped trapping a person who feels trapped it it doesn't work out a lot of we do crazy things it's like it's kind of like um if you you know if you ever find I can speak from experience here if you ever go out to the barn late at night and discover there's a skunk inside your barn I would encourage you don't trap the skunk don't try to corner that skunk cuz skunks just do things that you don't really want them to do when they feel trapped you know if you got two guys behind the skunk with a gun and big three big black Angus steers in front of them and the skunk doesn't know which way to go and he feels trapped and they just they don't act right okay I'll just say that and and so don't trap skunks but what if a person feels trapped well that's how I felt when I got to some of these passages and I started thinking well surely Jesus didn't mean what he said sell and give I thought surely you know if he would have his disciples would have done something with this well then I started reading Acts Acts 2 verse 44 after Jesus gone back to heaven what does it say that they did now the believers were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and good and divided them among all as anyone had need and then two chapters later what does it say again now the multitude of them for Acts chapter 4 the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own but they had all things common and with great power the Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all nor was there anyone among them that lacked for they were they that who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the Apostles feed and distributed to anyone as he had need and then it talks about Barnabas who did this and how great grace was upon them all and so wow it almost seemed like again I'm trapped like the skunk I'm not sure what to do here I feel these I got these commands coming and and I'm not sure what to do you know as the journey went on I I kept on studying once again talk about this more of this in a week some more of these commands of Jesus many more commands many more things that I was discovering eventually wrote it down in a you know in a book that some of you have seen through the eye of a needle the doctrine of non-accumulation and you know I've I've kind of gathered that as some of the interaction what him down through the years that there's people that say hey I don't really like your book I don't like your opinions and and so forth and you know one way to get to deal with that if you feel like a trapped skunk is to just get rid of the preacher that's one you know one way to deal with it the problem is you get back to the Bible after you get rid of the preacher and you'll open it up and while those verses are still there so I'm not sure that's a real good solution I have a better solution I would suggest to you and that is this turn these commands that are bad news turn them into good news that's what I would recommend because it is good news if Jesus said it it's good news if he said lay not up on earth it's good news if he said sell and give it's good news even though the rich young ruler didn't think so it really is good news it's part of the gospel and it he knows the value of treasure in heaven that's why he set us free to invest in heaven because he knows the value of treasures in heaven he knows what a wonderful investment it is he knows the promises that are associated with he knows that the great grace will be upon them all he knows that your father will reward you openly he knows that God's able to make grace abound to you he knows that Malachi says prove me now if you obey these commands test me and I will throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing there will not be room to spare he knows that Jesus knows that if you give to the poor you're actually making a loan to God and he will repay you and so that's the thing that that I wanted to to share with you you know it's it's like it's like somebody coming along and offering to trade you you have a pile of gravel out in the driveway they want to offer you gold in exchange for your gravel and you say I don't think so I think I need my gravel we'd say well you're crazy come on he's trading you gold straight across a bucket of gold for a bucket of gravel who wouldn't take that the only person who wouldn't take that is somebody who doesn't know what gold is worth that's what Jesus is saying I will trade you you you if you're willing to you know if you're willing to do what I say obey my commands pass the test I will give you gold in exchange for it I have just I'm just gonna read one chapter here from from what I wrote down it's called the real mistake of the rich young ruler and we'll just read this in closing most Christians know the story of the rich young ruler very well yet if you ask them what this man's problem was most of them would give approximately the same answer they would shake their head sadly and reply that this man simply loved his earthly possessions too much although it's certainly true this man loved his riches too much he also made another very obvious mistake that most people miss this mistake in many ways was an even greater mistake than of having valuing earthly possessions too much it was the mistake of valuing treasures in heaven too little you see Jesus had not said go throw your money into the sea just so he could get rid of it rather he told him to give it to the poor and that when what would be the result he would receive Jesus said treasure in heaven in other words Jesus was presenting this young man with an investment opportunity an investment opportunity to exchange the earth treasures on earth for treasures in heaven it was an invitation to put his money into an investment that would never be affected by moths rust or thieves this investment would never go down in value despite crashes in the stock market or slumps in the real estate market this investment would earn an outstanding rate of return a hundredfold this investment unlike normal investments would not even be taken from him on the day of his death instead he would be able to enjoy it for all eternity in the world in which he lived this young man obviously was a financial genius his friends probably said everything he touched turned to gold in reality though his success had not come by mere chance it happened rather because he had trained himself to recognize a good investment when he saw one this young man become an expert at buying low and selling high he knew how to spot a bargain that no one else would recognize he had also learned when the right time was to cut his losses and get out of an investment diligent research consistent self-discipline natural ability had given him a position among the financial elite of his time to a man so obviously skilled at recognizing value when he saw this offer from Jesus should have jumped out at him as the deal of a lifetime what an opportunity he should have thought I can trade assets of last several decades at the most for assets that will last forever yet no matter how brilliant he was at picking stocks playing the futures market or snatching up real estate bargains this man somehow missed seeing the investment opportunity of the century by simply giving to the poor in the name of Jesus he could have gotten in a deal that would have totally eclipsed the IPOs of Microsoft Walmart or General Electric his net worth would have instantly leapfrogged that of John Rockefeller Bill Gates and King Solomon all put together despite his genius at making investment decisions he somehow overlooked the incredible worth of this deal he was being offered and he chose to pass it up or as we would say today he blew it big-time well you and I blow it let's bow for prayer father we come to you in the name of Jesus and we are grateful to you God that you want to make us channels of your grace and so I pray that you would teach us what it means to give give generously given the name of Jesus teach us what it means to obey your commands about not laying up treasures on earth and laying up instead treasures in heaven where moth and rust and thieves won't affect it I pray Lord that you would just lead us in that and Lord I thank you for this opportunity thank you for each one that's here thank you Lord for these scriptures these good news these gospel verses that are truly good news for us who receive them help us to receive them as you would have it have us receive them and if there's any question we would just continue to lay those questions before you and ask you to teach us and yield ourselves to you in every way thank you God so much in Jesus name we pray amen thank you for your time