Living a Gospel-Centered Life in Finances

1) "And so how can we have a gospel-focused mindset when it comes to everything in our life, including our finances? And so I ask you the question: What comes to mind when you think about your finances? And chances are we don't think about, like, oh, man, this is a great resource that God has given us that we get to steward, to make much of Jesus through what he gives us. No matter if that's a lot or a little. Typically, that's not what we think, is it? We start thinking, like, oh, man. Well, I think about it. When I think about my finances, I'm thinking about stress. When I think about my finances, I'm thinking about fear. When I start to think about my finances, there's confusion. There's worry, there's anxiety." [39:27] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "See, Jesus often taught about money. Why? Because we are often tempted to think that money is going to save us. Finances and money and stewardship was one of the main topics that Jesus taught about during his earthly ministry. And why did he teach about it so often? Because we, myself included, all of us in this room are tempted to think that if we have enough, we'll be set. And if we save enough, then we'll have security. And if we make enough, then we'll be important. If we have the things that we want, then we'll live a good life. And all of those are lies from the enemy. What it does is it keeps us caught, and it keeps us entrapped, and it keeps us often doing the exact opposite of what Jesus wants us to do." [40:16] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "Look, used wisely, money can have an incredible impact on an individual's life and their walk with Jesus. But used unwisely, money can have an incredible impact on someone's life and their walk with Jesus. It's so true, isn't it? And as we talk today, we're going to talk about the area of spending. And look, when we talk about money, there are so many different topics that you can talk about. And I learned a lot about these topics whenever I was sitting down with this financial planner once. I've sat down with more financial planners. Don't worry. We're doing okay. Like, I know what a budget is, all right?" [41:33] (35 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "And this truth is simply this, is that you must control your spending or your spending will control you. If you don't control your spending, your spending will control every aspect of your life. All right. We know there's no stress quite like financial stress. Uh, we know that there's no pain quite like financial pain and the pains that it can bring. And look, if your spending is controlling you, do you know what's not controlling you? And it's hard for us to serve two masters, isn't it? I'm pretty sure scripture says that, right? And it's hard for us to serve money and God. It's hard for us to be indebted to one and try to be free and live with the other." [45:10] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "Contentment is this ability for us to be satisfied with what we currently have. And this is tough for us. This is real tough for us. And contentment isn't normal for our lives. Contentment isn't a natural thing for us. We crave more and we crave better and we crave different. Sometimes you just crave a Taco Bell and you go out 1 a.m. Okay. But we aren't very content as humans. We always want something else. And there's actually this syndrome. It's not really fully a syndrome, but they call it a syndrome. It's called shiny object syndrome. Have you ever heard of it? And it means you see something and it doesn't necessarily have to be shiny. But the whole thought is like, you see something and you're like, oh man, I need that. I got to get that. I got to buy that. Man, if I had that, I would feel better. If I had that, I would do better. If I had that, I would be better." [50:46] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "Contentment has nothing to do with the amount of finances you have. It has everything to do with your perspective on finances. It has everything to do with your spiritual state. And look, we spend too much money. We do. And I know things are expensive, but I can just do a little self-test as I drive through Walton County and Loganville. How are there this many storage units being built around here? Well, we got so much stuff, we have to build other buildings and pay other people more money to keep the stuff that we have. We can't even keep in our own houses. And how absurd is it? It's the lie. It's the lie that if I have more, if I have different, if I have better, then I must be more or better or different." [52:17] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "Contentment starts to blossom when you focus more on Jesus and less on yourself. And when we start to put our eyes onto Jesus and say, look, he is the one that I need. And whether I've got plenty or I've got a little, he is the one that I need. No matter what season or circumstance I go through, Jesus is the one that I need. Look, this thing won't bring me happiness. Jesus will. This thing won't bring me value. Jesus will. And this thing won't bring me contentment. Jesus will. And when we turn our eyes to him and we turn our eyes off of ourself, that's where contentment starts to blossom. And Jesus is everything that we need." [56:14] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "Contentment costs nothing. Nothing. But discontentment will cost you everything. Being content will not cost you a single dime. But if you are discontent, not only will it cost you financially, it will start to cost you emotionally and relationally. And most important of all, it's going to cost you spiritually. Because we can't serve two masters. It is vitally important for us to evaluate our relationship with money. That God cares about our spending habits because He knows how easily we can burn, burden ourselves. And today as we read Scripture, the truth that He has for you is He wants us to start to unpack some of the unnecessary weight in our life." [01:07:09] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)