Tear Down the Idols: Money & Greed • Ps Craig Clark

``For God so loved, he gave. I think that's the most incredible thing is is that when we capture his love, not an obligation, not an instruction, but love. See, the antidote, I think, the greatest antidote to greed is not the need to do something. The antidote to greed is grace. Grace. There was another greedy man named Zacchaeus, ruined his family, ruined everything, his reputation, but the moment he encountered grace, all of a sudden he goes, up to half, I'll give away. I'll pay back four times. The rich young ruler said, what do I have to do to get? Zacchaeus said, because I've encountered, what do I get to give? The response is grace. [00:45:10] (58 seconds)  #GraceOverGreed

Can I just say the enemy has no problem helping us gain the whole world that we would forfeit our soul? He is fine making me a millionaire so that I will give up on my calling. But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added as well. So you say, oh, Craig, so you're obviously against all these things. No. No. I'm not against them. God doesn't say we can't have other things. He just doesn't want other things to have us. Remember, idols don't start as bad things, they start as good things that become ultimate things. [00:14:38] (36 seconds)  #KingdomFirstNotWealth

Generosity is not a discipline. It's an act of tearing down the idol of greed in our lives. The rich young ruler had a lot of wealth but that's all he ended up having. Jesus tried to reveal when he said, what do I need to return to life? Go and give to the poor. He goes, but I'm really they're real I'm really wealthy. The rich young ruler did not have wealth. Wealth had the rich young ruler. And he walked away and God's heart was sad. See, we gotta realize that the bible went on to say, hey. I wasn't trying to take anything from him. I was actually trying to release more in him. [00:27:08] (36 seconds)  #GenerosityBreaksIdols

Some misquote the bible and actually say that money is the root of all evil, but in reality, the bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. One Timothy six, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and some people craving money have wandered from the true faith. So you're saying we can know the true faith, but if we're not careful in guarding and watchful, we can wander. Yes. And then they've pierced themselves with many sorrows. What does that mean? What you tried to gain and what the world and the enemy promised will never satisfy, and what you think you have gained actually we have lost. See, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. [00:13:05] (41 seconds)  #LoveNotMoney

Do you know if the whole world tithed in ten years through the church, all food insecurity across the world would be gone, all curable diseases would be resolved, education for all children would be provided, and there'd be billions left over for every good work. And we wonder why is it not doing more? I think it's because we don't trust. And it's time to trust God. It's time to place it where he asked us to place it and let's see God do what only God can do. [00:22:29] (27 seconds)  #TrustAndTithe

When we don't tithe, what we are saying is basically this, I trust my 10% more than I trust God. So let's say I I earned a thousand dollars a week, 10% is a $100. What I'm saying is, God, I can't trust you, but I'm trusting this $100 will be able to do everything I'm needing. Like, sounds harsh. Right? But but come on. When we when we look at it like that, we have to realize, come on. God's not trying to take something from you. He's actually trying to move in a greater way through you. What we're saying when we don't tithe is I'll provide for myself, I'll protect myself, and I'll live for myself. Because on the other side of our tithe, it actually enables his church to be all he dreamed her to be. [00:20:17] (46 seconds)  #ChooseToTrustGod

Surrender. God, it's not about 10%. Lord, it's all yours. God, I'm all yours. I'm not looking at the container if it ever went past of what I just put in there. No. When I gave my heart to you, I put my life in that container. I said, Lord, I'm yours. Here I am. What's incredible is God is not a God who, like, goes, oh, let's take that. See, often we think when we give to God, it's like a setback. When his holy spirit's leading us to sacrifice financially, it's a setback. No. No. It's a setup. It's a setup. For the world of the generous gets larger and larger. The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed. Those who help others are helped. [00:26:30] (38 seconds)  #SurrenderToGive

And when I read that a couple of weeks ago, I felt like Holy Spirit say to me, it's the same with the idol of money. We think we can compartmentalize our life and it's okay to have that area unsurrendered. It's only money but the truth of it is it affects the rest and if unguarded and unguided, what it will do is start to corrupt other areas and our life will sink and there will be sadly casualty in our life. But who knows we have a God who loves us, so therefore he set a clear pathway before us and through his word, come on, we don't have to live to the to the the God of our day. [00:03:30] (39 seconds)  #NoCompartmentForIdols

Some people say we give. I personally have a conviction that I don't give the tithe because it's not mine to give. Some people say, hang on, but but you know like that's mine. The world we live in, we didn't create. The breath I have, I didn't make possible. The smartness, and that's not a word. I wish I had more from God. What am I trying to say? Everything is his. Every ability you have to generate wealth came from him and all he simply says is would you trust me with the first 10? Place it where I want you to place it. Trust me in this. And you know what? Because idols wanna be first, when you place God first in your finance, it's a wonderful guard to stop the enemy trying to make an idol of materialism in your life. [00:17:13] (54 seconds)  #EverythingBelongsToGod

He's provided. He's exceeded. Honestly, I could tell you story after story after story, but you know what? The real wonder is not the things we've received, but the true riches of getting to play a small part in his eternal plan. That's the greatest story we have. The honor of serving God with our finances as a family, being used by God, and to get to use today's treasure to enable eternal transformation, that is blessing. That is far greater than you could ever purchase, buy, or acquire. [00:28:36] (41 seconds)  #EternalImpactOverWealth

It's no wonder that the you know, when you think about the enemy, of course the enemy wants us cautious of giving to his church because it reduces God's house at all costs. Of course the enemy's plan is to remove God from being the first in our finance. He doesn't want you free. Of course, Satan doesn't want God's promise of protection, blessing, and provision in our life. He wants us lacking and in want. Of course, the devil wants the storehouse of God's local church to be bare. So when there's the needs of our city, we can't answer it. But that's not what God's church is meant to be. Come on, church God's church is meant to be in a in a position to be able to meet every need in our community. [00:21:52] (37 seconds)  #FundTheChurchServeTheCity

See, this isn't about ticking boxes. This isn't about you going, oh, well, I better do what I've been told to do. No. This is about opening your heart. This is about letting God in. It's about letting him reveal his love. It's about trusting his voice, and then it's about aligning to his word because I know God works in that way. We've gotta continue on, but we love God with our money. We trust God with our money, and then we serve God with our money. Serve God with our money. What does serving mean? Serving is really an act of surrender. [00:26:03] (27 seconds)  #HeartNotChecklist

I felt like the holy spirit just put me to this put this to me because he said, when you think about every other idol, money enables it. Money enables independence. Money enables your lusts and your pleasures to be fulfilled. If we live prosperous lives, be careful that we're not then caught off guard and distracted by pleasures. Because a person who is prosperous but does not have purpose to their kingdom wealth, they are distracted by pleasure and then they live devoted to that pleasure. Success, security, comfort, power, self image, all able to be accessed by money. Rupture one compartment, it will potentially sink the rest. [00:13:45] (52 seconds)  #MoneyEnablesIdols

Can you help me journey on a pathway that I could get free of the desire for mammon and the desire for material things? So what happens is is we must realize that very few of us admit that we actually struggle with a thing of we always have a a dream, a desire for more. Or that we actually place our security in the reality of where our material possessions are at. We say things like, I'm not greedy. I just have a strong appreciation for future security. Current comfort and occasional upgrades. But we must understand that god, money gods money gods method of operating includes blindness to our own heart. Yeah. Very good. Greed hides itself deeply that none of us should act confident that maybe it's not influencing me now or could influence me in the future. [00:08:51] (52 seconds)  #UnmaskGreed

See, this is totally counterculture to what the world defines today as as important, but the reality is is our personal finances are an area that are so private that for most of us they're isolated and they're inaccessible. Right? That's that'd be fair to say. How often do you go around hanging out at the workplace talking about your bank balance? You don't. Right? The the the hidden areas of our life and the the crazy the the reality is and I've heard this of others is that in all my years of pastoring, while I've had many wonderful conversations around finances and God's principles, I've actually only had one incredible guy come up to me and say, I struggle with greed. [00:08:09] (42 seconds)  #BreakFinancialSilence

The Titanic, in 1912, it was built and it was declared to be unsinkable. The ship's hull was divided into actually 16 watertight compartments and up to four of them could actually take on water or be flooded yet the vessel would remain afloat. On the 04/15/1912, over sadly, over fifteen hundred people lost their lives as many of us all know due to it colliding with an iceberg. Years later, they found it lying on the ocean floor and it was upright. Expecting to see five or more compartments ruptured, they discovered that there was only damage to one, but that one had affected the rest. [00:02:45] (45 seconds)  #SmallRuptureBigImpact

Don't diminish the power of it in your family. Don't diminish the power of it in your environments. Don't diminish it. It's not about buying a blessing. Come on. It's not pittance. No. No. No. That's about alignment to his ordinance. It's about activating his promise. It's about letting him move in ways that we can't move in our own. [00:23:46] (22 seconds)  #DontDiminishImpact

See, according to the bible, idolaters do three things with idols. Is this okay if we kinda have a bit more of a teach preach than preach? Idolaters fall into three according to the bible, idolaters do three things with their idols. They love them, they trust them, and they serve them. So in the next ten minutes, I'm gonna talk about three ways we can be masters of our money. Number one, love God with your money. [00:12:30] (26 seconds)  #LoveGodWithMoney

Yeah. It causes so much harm in lives. It causes so much extra cost in our health care, yet it's not stopped. Yeah. The sex industry, porn would be stopped Yeah. But it is not stopped. Why? Because it's driven by the dollar. It's driven by desire. It's driven by pleasure. Gambling would be stopped, but it's not stopped. Billions of dollars come through that industry. Why? Because it's driven by money. That's right. And sadly, it's got such a hold that it will cause us to forfeit our own family, forfeit our own health, and forfeit our own lives because it wants to be our God. And God says all those things are actually detestable. [00:07:21] (36 seconds)  #MoneyDrivesHarm

But you you know what I mean? Now that's not putting any shame on if we do because obviously we live in the reality of of means and and live in in in that place of your own personal conviction, but there has to be some point we don't go look up and go, well, they shop at that shop. So if I really can be influential, if I really can be someone of success, I need to live there, have that, buy that, and I just say it's a real dangerous trap. [00:11:24] (24 seconds)  #StatusSpendingTrap