Money: A Spiritual Tool for Generosity and Trust

Here are the selected quotes from the sermon transcript:

1. "It matters because Jesus talked about money a lot. In fact, 11 of the 39 parables or the stories Jesus told involved money in some capacity. Jesus talks about money more than he talks about heaven and hell. Money is the number one thing couples fight about, and it is named in one of the top two reasons people get divorced in America right now. Money is a huge deal. And here's the thing about money. When money is managed well and stewarded well, it can literally change your life and change the world. But when money is mismanaged, it can actually lead to roads of devastation. Here's the thing. Somewhere along the way, many of us have heard things about money, and we've believed it." [00:04:23] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Money is neutral in the same way a brick is neutral. A brick has no real inherent value, but it can be used to build a cathedral or it can be used to be thrown through in an act of vandalism through a stained glass window. It's neutral, but it can be used in different ways. Money is the same, but money magnifies. What does it mean? It means if you are a generous person, but you don't have a lot and you get a lot of money, you'll be more generous. But it also means if you're really tight-fisted with what you have and you get more money, what will happen is you'll just hold on tighter to the money you have." [00:06:41] (30 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "God is a generous God. It is an inescapable truth that God is generous. In fact, I would argue generosity is one of the central themes of the Bible. It's talked about more than prayer. It's talked about more than believing. It is one of the central messages in the Bible. In fact, I could summarize it by saying generosity is the very heart of God. Let me read you four or five verses, and I'm gonna read the white words and you read the yellow words, and you're gonna see if there's a theme. Ready? Most famous verse in the Bible, John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he, Romans chapter eight, Paul says, since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?" [00:10:26] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "When it comes to everything you have, all of your money, all your possessions, all your stuff, God's the owner. All of it belongs to him. But as the managers of it or the stewards of it, we have responsibilities. Now here's what I love about God. There's lots of leeway. There's lots of latitude for us in how we spend our money. But you need to understand that it all belongs to God. Let me show it to you in scripture because I want you to believe this with me. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses says this. He says, to the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the heavens. The heavens, the earth, and everything in it." [00:13:22] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "God is really, really consumed with you becoming a better person. And here's what I need you to understand. God uses everything in our life to mold us and to shape us into who he's called us to become. God uses the good days and the bad days. God uses the days when you have lots of extra money in the bank and the moments when you feel like you don't have two nickels to rub together for your good. God uses those healthy days and God uses those seasons when you're facing a difficult diagnosis. God uses that job you have or the job you've lost. God uses that relationship you have or that difficult relationship you have. All of those things he uses to put us through this development school, this character development university." [00:19:57] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "The only place in scripture where Jesus says, well done, good and faithful servant, is directly connected to how you handle your money. Better way to say it is how you handle his money. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things, so I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. Because you were faithful with what you had, I'm gonna elevate you and give you more. The man with two bags of gold also came. Master, he said, you have entrusted me with two bags of gold. See, I have gained two more, and here it is again. His master said, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness." [00:22:04] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "In this political season where everybody's hyper aware and hypersensitive, the world is watching you right now. In this world of inflation, when the price of everything's going up, but you know, money income is not quite going up as fast. The world is watching you right now. Let's go back to the story in Matthew 25. It says, then the man who had received one bag of gold came master. He said, I did that. You are a hard man harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was, I was afraid, I was fearful. And I went out and hid your gold on the ground. See, here's what belongs to you. And his master replied, you wicked and lazy servant. It's kind of the opposite of well done, good and faithful servant." [00:24:56] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "The goal, hear me on this, is joy, peace, and contentment. What does that mean? It means when it comes to your money, God's goal might be different than yours. You might think of your money as buying vacations or designer clothes or nice cars or whatever. That might be what it's about for you, but that's not really what it's about. The problem is when you have more, if you don't have security in Christ, what will happen is you feel like all of it can be taken in a moment and you'll hold on tightly. When you start to live with not a scarcity mindset, but an abundant mindset, which says, God, all of this is yours, so I trust you with it. I'm gonna hold on loosely and I'm gonna give to things that make a difference." [00:28:00] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "What would it look like if you took this and said, God, I'm done. I'm done chasing happiness. I'm done buying into the lie that if I just had more, then I'd finally be happy. What if you and I just made this decision and said, God, this is what I want. all yours. I'm going to choose to live open -handed. Let me challenge you. I challenge you to turn the dial. I challenge you to go home. If your bank account tells the truth about who you are and what you care about, I challenge you to go home and stare it directly in the face and ask this question. Does my bank account and my spending reflect how I feel about trusting God?" [00:29:10] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "God, my prayer is that we won't buy into the lies or the bad advice of culture, but instead we will trust that everything we have comes from you. You're a generous God, we wanna be like you. It's all yours, so of course we're gonna live open -handedly with what we have. And God, we trust that it's the testimony that we get to share with the world, that you're the one who takes care of us. So God, here's my prayer. I pray for a supernatural wave of generosity and trust to flow over our church. I pray that our church will live open -handed, trusting that you are our source and you are our provider." [00:30:56] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)