WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Prosperity Gospel Publishing Date: 2022-09-11T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/prosperity-gospel/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Prosperity gospel. 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:15.360 When it comes to money, you have to hold scriptures in tension, because what has often happened 00:00:15.360 --> 00:00:22.920 is when it comes to money, the church is usually divided into one side or the other, where 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:26.480 this is the way we need to be, or this is the way we need to be. 00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:31.760 When you look at scriptures, it can get quite confusing. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:37.960 For instance, in 1 Timothy, it says, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:39.960 or fall into a snare. 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:44.440 Now, how do you handle that? 00:00:44.440 --> 00:00:52.760 When later on in 2 Timothy or 1 Timothy 5, it says, put your hope in God who richly provides 00:00:52.760 --> 00:00:56.200 you with everything for your enjoyment. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.840 How do you put those two together? 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:04.520 Or how do you then take what Paul says again in Timothy, where he says, if you have food 00:01:04.520 --> 00:01:09.600 and clothing, you should be content? 00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:15.120 And then how do you take the love of money is the root of all evil, and yet God says 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:21.680 again and again, I will bless and prosper you? 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:26.920 Or how do you go with, you need to be a good steward of what God has given, and yet Jesus 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:31.680 himself says, do not even care about the things of life. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:35.800 I've just given you six or seven scriptures, some of them spoken by Jesus himself, others 00:01:35.800 --> 00:01:44.640 spoken by Paul, and you realize that it divides the church into two camps when it should not. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:52.800 We've got to hold scriptures or verses or teachings on money in tension. 00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:53.800 In tension. 00:01:53.800 --> 00:01:55.880 We've got to hold it in tension. 00:01:55.880 --> 00:02:00.600 We can't balance it off because in every context, in every nation, then every going out and 00:02:00.600 --> 00:02:04.960 coming in, the context changes and they must be maintained in tension. 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:09.440 You have to imagine walking a tightrope when it comes to money. 00:02:09.440 --> 00:02:14.240 When you have for a stick that helps you balance, you've got the scriptures and you've got to 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.280 keep balancing. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:22.720 Any questions on that before we go on? 00:02:22.720 --> 00:02:26.440 So you can't take scriptures in the Bible and say, this is how we are going to be. 00:02:26.440 --> 00:02:32.560 We'll be absolutely poor or we'll be absolutely rich because that's been the downfall of Christian 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:34.240 thinking for a while. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:39.400 And I've deliberately titled this prosperity gospel because what does it look like when 00:02:39.480 --> 00:02:47.400 the gospel says things about money? 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:59.360 So here's a premise we can start with that God who owns everything, God who owns everything 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:21.080 wants to manifest or show off or express his presence and his generosity through you, through 00:03:21.080 --> 00:03:44.520 you and therefore he will discipline you, discipline you into a mentality, into a mentality 00:03:44.520 --> 00:04:07.160 about God, wealth, self, others and the nature and relationship between them. 00:04:07.160 --> 00:04:21.520 God who owns everything wants to, this is one of his desires, I want to manifest my 00:04:21.520 --> 00:04:24.760 presence and my generosity. 00:04:24.760 --> 00:04:27.920 Most of the things that God does is with presence. 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:29.840 It's not devoid of presence. 00:04:29.840 --> 00:04:33.760 So one can be generous without the presence of God or one can be generous with the presence 00:04:33.760 --> 00:04:34.760 of God. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.080 When one is generous without the presence of God, people notice your generosity. 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:47.040 When one is present with the presence of God, then people notice both God and your generosity. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:53.400 So God who owns everything, which is to say that he has all the resources in the world, 00:04:53.400 --> 00:05:01.080 he's not miserly, God who owns everything wants to manifest his presence and his generosity 00:05:01.080 --> 00:05:02.640 through you. 00:05:02.640 --> 00:05:08.360 And therefore one of the things he wants to do if people are willing is he wants to discipline 00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:10.680 you into a mentality. 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:16.360 He wants to discipline you not into prosperity, he wants to discipline you into a mentality, 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:19.240 a mindset, a way of thinking. 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:20.580 He wants to discipline you. 00:05:20.580 --> 00:05:26.080 Discipline means instruction, discipline means training, discipline means trying you out, 00:05:26.080 --> 00:05:30.480 discipline means practice, discipline means increase. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:32.280 That's the thing with discipline. 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:35.520 Instruction is always towards increase because when we think of the word discipline, we often 00:05:35.520 --> 00:05:37.360 think some kind of punishment. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.280 That's not what God is talking about here. 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:42.560 He wants to therefore discipline you into a mentality. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:44.000 Why? 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:54.200 Because prosperity in a village in India is very different from prosperity in Kelowna. 00:05:54.200 --> 00:05:57.120 So he wants to discipline you into a mentality. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:58.120 What's that mentality about? 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:01.920 The mentality about God as provider and father. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:03.920 God as provider and father. 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:12.920 A God who is profitable. 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:16.920 A God who is a provider, a father, and a God who is profitable. 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:18.800 God is very profitable. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:24.920 Everything he does profits. 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:28.200 So God who is a provider, a father, and profitable. 00:06:28.200 --> 00:06:31.280 Then he wants to discipline you into a mentality of wealth. 00:06:31.280 --> 00:06:33.680 How does one think of wealth? 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:36.080 When one has it, when one doesn't have it. 00:06:36.080 --> 00:06:38.080 How does one think of wealth? 00:06:38.080 --> 00:06:41.960 Then he wants to discipline me into a mentality of, Jacob, how are you going to deal with 00:06:41.960 --> 00:06:44.840 money in your own life? 00:06:44.840 --> 00:06:49.000 And then he wants me to discipline myself into a mentality of, how are you going to 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:58.400 take the money in your life for the benefit of others? 00:06:58.520 --> 00:07:04.000 So this is something the Holy Spirit loves teaching because the Holy Spirit is the most 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.200 amazing businessman in the world, or money handler in the world. 00:07:08.200 --> 00:07:13.280 And he then will show you the nature of God, the nature of these four things, and he'll 00:07:13.280 --> 00:07:15.240 show you the relationship between them. 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:16.240 These are related. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.280 None of them can exist in isolation. 00:07:18.280 --> 00:07:21.160 If they exist in isolation, they will wither. 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:23.800 If it's only God and money, it will wither. 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:27.120 If it is only wealth and you, it will wither. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:28.360 If it's only you, it will wither. 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:30.520 If it's only others, it will wither. 00:07:30.520 --> 00:07:36.600 All four are tremendously connected. 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:44.080 Separate those four and it's like a chair with one leg missing. 00:07:44.080 --> 00:07:55.080 Any questions? 00:07:55.080 --> 00:07:59.320 Take away any one of those and you're done. 00:07:59.320 --> 00:08:03.100 And this is what happens in the prosperity gospel or the poverty gospel or whatever you 00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:04.120 want to call it. 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:10.120 One of them is missing. 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:17.120 Any questions? 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:27.080 I'm hoping that when this teaching is heard that I will actually not say, good teaching, 00:08:27.080 --> 00:08:32.800 I'll keep it in mind, but that I'll try and change. 00:08:32.800 --> 00:08:37.760 That's my fear with this teaching that is it enough for me to say, good teaching, I'll 00:08:37.760 --> 00:08:40.960 keep these principles in mind or will I change? 00:08:41.800 --> 00:08:48.800 Because God really desires to work out his presence and his generosity through me. 00:08:48.800 --> 00:08:55.800 Okay, so then the first place we go to, and this might take about two or two and a half 00:08:55.800 --> 00:08:57.440 weeks to finish. 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:01.600 The first place we go to is no one can serve two masters. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:05.140 No one can serve two masters. 00:09:05.140 --> 00:09:12.220 No one can serve two masters. 00:09:12.220 --> 00:09:14.660 That's the first point. 00:09:14.660 --> 00:09:24.520 That's from Matthew 6 24 where basically what Jesus is saying is you cannot be a slave of 00:09:24.520 --> 00:09:30.340 God and a slave of mammon. 00:09:30.340 --> 00:09:35.060 You cannot. 00:09:35.980 --> 00:09:51.180 Mammon is just a word for money plus security dipped in greed and self. 00:09:51.180 --> 00:09:59.740 It's like a Tim Hortons donut. 00:09:59.740 --> 00:10:04.220 Money and security dipped in self-serving and greed. 00:10:04.380 --> 00:10:08.380 That's what mammon or money or wealth, whatever you want to call it. 00:10:08.380 --> 00:10:14.380 So Jesus makes a statement in Matthew 6 24 saying, hey Jacob, you cannot be a slave of 00:10:14.380 --> 00:10:16.380 mammon and a slave of God. 00:10:16.380 --> 00:10:17.380 You cannot be both. 00:10:17.380 --> 00:10:19.380 You cannot be a slave of money and a slave of God. 00:10:19.380 --> 00:10:24.380 And our immediate reaction is people who believe in Jesus Christ says, but I'm not a slave 00:10:24.380 --> 00:10:25.380 to money. 00:10:25.380 --> 00:10:28.380 I don't need to write that. 00:10:28.540 --> 00:10:41.540 But I'm not a slave to money with three exclamation points. 00:10:41.540 --> 00:10:44.540 If that is the case, then here are the questions I need to ask. 00:10:44.540 --> 00:10:48.820 Why are my decisions determined? 00:10:48.820 --> 00:10:54.540 Why are my decisions still determined by money? 00:10:58.540 --> 00:11:05.820 Why are my decisions still determined by money? 00:11:05.820 --> 00:11:08.020 Why does money tell me what I can do? 00:11:08.020 --> 00:11:10.300 Why does money tell me where I can go? 00:11:10.300 --> 00:11:13.540 Why does money affect me when I get up in the morning? 00:11:13.540 --> 00:11:20.540 Why does money disturb my sleep when I go to bed at night? 00:11:20.540 --> 00:11:22.080 Why are my decisions? 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:29.320 Why is my day still determined, affected, tormented by money? 00:11:29.320 --> 00:11:30.320 It is. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:31.320 Why? 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:36.840 If I'm not a slave to it, why does it still do that? 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.720 Another question and we can talk about this. 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:48.920 Why is my life full of careful worry? 00:11:48.920 --> 00:11:52.120 Because Christians have cultivated this thing called careful worry. 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:55.200 It's not fully sinful, it's only half sinful. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:10.160 Why is my life full of careful worry about food, clothes, and shelter and life after 00:12:10.160 --> 00:12:15.160 65? 00:12:15.160 --> 00:12:18.080 Immediately the common sense screams. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:21.680 Then I won't have a job and who will take care of me? 00:12:21.680 --> 00:12:25.280 These are valid arguments. 00:12:25.280 --> 00:12:31.200 But we are trying to live at an extreme because Jesus is the model. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:39.120 We are trying to live an extreme life because Jesus is the model. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:41.960 You think Jesus couldn't have lived the same way when he was 65? 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:44.640 Because sometimes people may say, but he was 33, he didn't know what retirement looked 00:12:44.640 --> 00:12:45.640 like. 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:51.080 Trust me, he'd have aced it by the time he was 65 because he'd have had more years of 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:52.080 practice. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:13:00.800 Why is my life full of careful worry about food, clothes, shelter, life after 65? 00:13:00.800 --> 00:13:05.760 Third one, what are these questions meant to do? 00:13:05.880 --> 00:13:16.880 These questions are meant to just highlight the struggles I still have with money. 00:13:16.880 --> 00:13:20.480 Here's a third question. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:22.560 Why is it that I still desire money? 00:13:22.560 --> 00:13:34.880 Why is it that I still, and you can choose which word you want, desire, want, crave, 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:41.800 seek money. 00:13:41.800 --> 00:13:46.480 Why is it that I give it such importance in my life? 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:53.480 Why is it that I give it such importance? 00:13:53.480 --> 00:14:09.000 And pay attention to it. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:10.000 Here's another question. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:15.760 This is a very difficult question, some unfair thing, but it's so fair. 00:14:15.760 --> 00:14:39.360 When are all my possessions and money going to belong to Christ and the church? 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:49.120 If you're hearing a loud voice in your head saying, never, just deal with it later. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:54.160 When will all my possessions and my money belong to Christ and the church? 00:14:54.160 --> 00:15:02.240 When will I place it, or in other words, when will I place them in the hands of the invisible 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:06.520 Christ and the feet of the visible body? 00:15:06.680 --> 00:15:16.680 When will I place it in the hands of the invisible Christ and the feet of the visible body? 00:15:21.680 --> 00:15:26.200 For the sake of the gospel. 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:31.960 So God can distribute it, so that people can access it, so that God can distribute it, 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:34.120 and so that people can access it. 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:35.120 When? 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:38.720 Okay, now if you have any questions, feel free to ask. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:42.800 This is an extreme viewpoint, eh? 00:15:42.800 --> 00:15:47.320 There's nothing moderate about this. 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:50.360 It is a Jesus viewpoint. 00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:55.960 He lived like this. 00:15:55.960 --> 00:16:05.360 This is why it becomes difficult after teaching this to talk about tithing. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:16.280 Tithing is nice, but after you talk about this, it's like, yeah. 00:16:16.280 --> 00:16:18.960 If you teach this, then you don't need to teach tithing. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:19.960 Yeah. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:26.600 Okay, feel free guys to say stuff, or if you don't have anything to say stuff and just 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:29.960 are feeling terribly convicted, join the club. 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:35.960 The problem with training up a child the way he should go, even when he's holding them 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:42.960 apart from it, comes to mind because we have been trained and steeped in the opposite of 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:43.960 that all our lives. 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:44.960 All our lives, yeah. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:58.840 Yeah, doubly messed up. 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:05.840 This is when I think to myself, Joseph and Mary did a decent job with Jesus, because 00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:07.560 they must have advantaged him. 00:17:07.560 --> 00:17:11.160 It was not, the Holy Spirit always uses people. 00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:19.560 The Holy Spirit must have used Joseph and Mary to help Jesus have a mind that was different. 00:17:19.560 --> 00:17:21.560 Hardly anything is said about Jesus' parents. 00:17:21.560 --> 00:17:34.560 I think the fear of trying both systems until you're 65 and having one foot in either of 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.160 these operation systems is a big struggle. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:39.160 Yeah. 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:41.160 And not launching it to either one. 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:42.160 Yeah. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:49.160 And I think that fear would keep people in the world system. 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:50.160 Yeah. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:52.160 Because we don't have any proof at 65. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:53.160 Yeah. 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:59.160 We Christians are at a disadvantage, because we have to live in the world and yet we are 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:00.160 not off the world. 00:18:00.760 --> 00:18:05.560 So we put, like he said, a feet in both boats and the boats keep spreading further apart 00:18:05.560 --> 00:18:07.560 the more teaching you get. 00:18:07.560 --> 00:18:08.560 Yeah. 00:18:08.560 --> 00:18:11.560 If you aren't taught this, you can handle it. 00:18:11.560 --> 00:18:16.560 But at the end of this teaching, you'll be like this, just so you know. 00:18:16.560 --> 00:18:17.560 Yeah. 00:18:17.560 --> 00:18:20.560 Sorry, you were going to ask something. 00:18:20.560 --> 00:18:21.560 Yeah. 00:18:21.560 --> 00:18:26.560 How does this tie to Paul's words 1322 where it says, a good man leaves an inheritance 00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:28.560 to his children and his family? 00:18:28.560 --> 00:18:29.560 Yeah. 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:30.960 Absolutely. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:32.960 Which brings up another question. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:33.960 Why do we save? 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:35.960 Why do we save? 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:39.960 Do we save because we are scared? 00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:41.960 Do we save for a rainy day? 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:44.960 Do we save so that our children won't suffer? 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:52.960 Or do we save because creating an inheritance to pass it on as a secondary thing after teaching 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:56.960 Sam that God will provide for you like I can never provide for you? 00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:57.960 Which one is it? 00:18:58.360 --> 00:19:01.360 And what is meant by the inheritance? 00:19:01.360 --> 00:19:02.360 Yeah. 00:19:02.360 --> 00:19:04.360 It doesn't necessarily mean money. 00:19:04.360 --> 00:19:05.360 Yeah. 00:19:05.360 --> 00:19:07.360 It is not the primary thing. 00:19:07.360 --> 00:19:09.360 But are we able to do that? 00:19:09.360 --> 00:19:15.360 As an Indian, I come from a culture where saving money is the first thing parents do. 00:19:15.360 --> 00:19:18.360 And they save money for their children. 00:19:18.360 --> 00:19:26.360 I mean, when I decided to take up a job, my dad said, no. 00:19:26.760 --> 00:19:29.760 When I bought my own soap and shampoo, he was infuriated. 00:19:29.760 --> 00:19:33.560 He said, either buy all the groceries for the entire house, but you ain't buying no 00:19:33.560 --> 00:19:34.560 soap or shampoo. 00:19:34.560 --> 00:19:35.560 Why? 00:19:35.560 --> 00:19:39.560 Because it was this mentality that we are saving up for you. 00:19:40.560 --> 00:19:48.560 But my dad also was afraid of the fact that what if things don't work out? 00:19:48.560 --> 00:19:52.560 At least there's money to take care of my children, take care of me. 00:19:52.760 --> 00:19:55.760 So the question when it comes to inheritance and savings is this. 00:19:55.760 --> 00:19:59.760 Are you saving because you're scared of a rainy day? 00:19:59.760 --> 00:20:05.760 Are you saving because you want to make sure that you have enough when you finish working? 00:20:05.760 --> 00:20:11.760 Are you saving because it's laced with degrees of fear and doubt and distrust? 00:20:11.760 --> 00:20:17.760 Or are you saving because you love gathering money to give it away? 00:20:17.760 --> 00:20:21.760 Sometimes to your biological children, sometimes to your spiritual children, 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:24.960 and sometimes to people who are neither. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:30.960 That kind of inheritance, if we could collect and give away, that would be awesome. 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:39.960 So yes, one should gather up an inheritance to give away. 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:44.960 Every month one should put away towards an inheritance that can be given away to your 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:48.960 biological children, to your spiritual children, and to ones that are neither. 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:58.960 An inheritance is something that happens because of a relationship that the one who has gathered initiates. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:08.960 I can adopt someone and now that person becomes a partaker in my inheritance. 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:14.960 And it happens through relationship. 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:31.160 When I ask myself these questions, I realize that I'm still struggling with this idea of being free of the mastery of mammon. 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:37.160 The question is, how badly do I want to be free from it? 00:21:37.360 --> 00:21:43.360 And the answer, surprisingly, even in this church would be not fully. 00:21:47.360 --> 00:21:51.360 I don't want to go this extreme because this could really mess things up. 00:21:52.360 --> 00:21:55.360 I've got to have some kind of a backup plan. 00:21:57.360 --> 00:22:05.360 And if you want a backup plan, then you can never be like Jesus in this area. 00:22:05.560 --> 00:22:09.560 And I want to be like Jesus in this area. 00:22:18.560 --> 00:22:21.560 That's one instance, but otherwise he worked hard. 00:22:22.560 --> 00:22:30.560 Because the scary part is where everything has to come from a fish's mouth or a raven's beak. 00:22:30.760 --> 00:22:37.760 Paul could have then gone fishing or catching birds, but instead the guy had to work with canvas and leather. 00:22:37.760 --> 00:22:42.760 Jesus had to work with splinters and wood. 00:22:42.760 --> 00:22:52.760 So there is that idea of work, but it is not the only way, which we've spoken about many times. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:23:00.960 When your work becomes the means of your livelihood, you're finished. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:04.960 Because you will only get what you deserve. 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:13.960 But it depends on ravens and fish. 00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:18.960 In the end, they may come and you'll have to eat the raven and the fish because there's nothing left. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:30.960 And for me, it's not money, but there's all the systems around that are scary. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:34.960 It's like that, but Jesus Christ is not the money. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:41.960 And mammon actually is not money. Mammon is the system and the security that the system brings. 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:44.960 That's what mammon really is. It's not just money. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:47.960 It feels more complicated now than what I heard in the Bible. 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:50.960 I don't just have a little towel in my hand. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:56.960 It's a system. It's a system that tries to make you secure. 00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:59.960 It's a system that offers you protection. 00:23:59.960 --> 00:24:02.960 It's a system that promises you security. 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:04.960 It's a system that gives you status. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:06.960 It's a system that gives you comfort. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:08.960 It's a system that lets you sleep well at night. 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:10.960 Can you believe that? 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:12.960 At the same time enslaving you. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:14.960 At the same time enslaving you, yeah. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:17.960 You sleep in shackles, but you sleep well. 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:28.960 So when I see these questions, why are my decisions still determined by money? 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:34.960 Why is my life full of careful worry about food, clothes and shelter and life after 65? 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:36.960 And I'm getting there in 80 years. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:40.960 Why is it that I still desire, crave, seek money? 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:43.960 Why is it that I give it more importance and pay attention to it? 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:46.960 When are all my... this is a backbreaker. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:50.960 When are all my possessions and money going to belong to Christ and you? 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:56.960 Sometimes there are occasionally people who don't have a problem and who master this. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:24:59.960 Their problem is not a lack of generosity. 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:04.960 But another thing that happens when it says you cannot serve two masters, 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:08.960 another thing that happens with money is arrogance. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:12.960 And I think that's a very important point. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:14.960 I think that's a very important point. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:16.960 I think that's a very important point. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:18.960 I think that's a very important point. 00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:21.160 Arrogance. 00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:25.160 And I've seen this. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:28.160 Arrogance. 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:36.160 And two, when people have money, decision making is theirs. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.160 They do what they will. 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:39.160 Decision making. 00:25:39.160 --> 00:25:41.160 I can, therefore I will. 00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:43.160 I can, therefore I will. 00:25:43.360 --> 00:25:49.360 And both are scary places to live in where people have learned generosity. 00:25:49.360 --> 00:25:54.360 But it begins to take... the beast has a different nature now. 00:25:54.360 --> 00:25:57.360 They've mastered generosity. 00:25:57.360 --> 00:26:04.360 But now they step into arrogance and they step into I can, therefore I will. 00:26:04.360 --> 00:26:09.360 And when that happens, that's another way that mammon masters people. 00:26:09.360 --> 00:26:10.360 I can, therefore I will. 00:26:10.360 --> 00:26:11.360 But that's on the side. 00:26:11.560 --> 00:26:12.560 But that's on the side. 00:26:12.560 --> 00:26:15.560 That I don't think is the usual problem. 00:26:15.560 --> 00:26:17.560 Any questions or thoughts on this? 00:26:20.560 --> 00:26:23.560 My ultimate aim then should be the fourth question. 00:26:24.560 --> 00:26:26.560 My ultimate aim should be the fourth question. 00:26:28.560 --> 00:26:32.560 When will all my possessions and money belong to Christ and to you? 00:26:32.560 --> 00:26:38.560 When will I place them in the hands of the invisible Christ and the feet of the visible church? 00:26:38.760 --> 00:26:42.760 When can God distribute it and when can people have access to it? 00:26:43.760 --> 00:26:46.760 What does that look like in today's world? 00:26:50.760 --> 00:26:52.760 It looks like... 00:26:58.760 --> 00:27:05.760 It looks like not being concerned about whether I have or whether it will become less 00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:11.960 when I am prompted to meet a need, prompted to give the undeserving, prompted to give the deserving, 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:17.960 prompted to spend it for the sake of the kingdom, prompted to give it away for the gospel, 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:24.960 prompted to go sometimes 100% of all that I have, prompted to sometimes go 90%. 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:31.960 It is basically being like the tap in your kitchen which God can open at will 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:37.160 and you will not stop it till he turns the tap off. 00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:39.160 It's a scary place to live in. 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:41.160 That's how Jesus Christ lived. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:49.160 The problem is if one person in the church does that, it doesn't work. 00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:55.160 It has to be 10 people in the church and then the church begins to learn. 00:27:55.360 --> 00:28:03.360 If today, besides me, and I have to say, I have to do it too because you can't ask people to do what you cannot. 00:28:03.360 --> 00:28:10.360 I remember Paul's dad saying this once to me, that, Jacob, before you ask the church for anything, make sure you do it. 00:28:13.360 --> 00:28:20.360 And so, if I had nine others who begin to practice an extreme way of living, 00:28:20.560 --> 00:28:26.560 then this church will completely change in terms of wealth, in terms of poverty, 00:28:26.560 --> 00:28:35.560 in terms of plenty, in terms of everyone who didn't have having and everyone who have not having less. 00:28:35.560 --> 00:28:37.560 Nine people. 00:28:37.560 --> 00:28:38.560 This will change. 00:28:38.560 --> 00:28:40.560 It doesn't matter what you earn. 00:28:40.560 --> 00:28:44.560 Nine people who live like this can change a church. 00:28:44.560 --> 00:28:48.560 But to get nine people, super difficult. 00:28:48.760 --> 00:28:52.760 And the older you get, the harder it gets. 00:28:56.760 --> 00:28:58.760 Sue's saying no. Good for Sue. 00:28:58.760 --> 00:29:00.760 Praise God. 00:29:04.760 --> 00:29:09.760 But if you have 10 people like this in the church, then poverty gets banished from the church. 00:29:09.960 --> 00:29:13.960 He who had much will not lack and he who had little. 00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:19.960 He who had much will not have little and he who had little will not lack. 00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:30.960 I think the big challenge here is knowing and believing that you can trust and learning how to hear God really good. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:36.960 Because if we're not convinced that we're hearing God, we will never ever be able to live. 00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:39.160 Yeah. 00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:46.160 But the reason I start with a but is I really think this church hears well enough to take risks on this. 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:49.160 We don't need any more teaching on hearing. 00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:53.160 When it comes to generosity, be okay if you hear wrong. 00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:57.160 You'll still end up on the right side of your father. 00:29:58.160 --> 00:30:01.160 When it comes to generosity, it's okay if you hear wrong. 00:30:01.160 --> 00:30:06.160 Because you still end up on the correct side of the father. 00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:25.160 Another problem that we'll have to deal with is the love for money. 00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:28.160 The love for or love of money. 00:30:28.360 --> 00:30:38.360 There's a dirty word for love for money. 00:30:38.360 --> 00:30:40.360 It's called greed. 00:30:40.360 --> 00:30:43.360 Christians aren't greedy. 00:30:43.360 --> 00:30:49.360 But if you have a love for money, you are greedy. 00:30:54.360 --> 00:30:56.360 The Bible says so. 00:30:56.560 --> 00:31:00.560 If you have a love for money, you are greedy. 00:31:00.560 --> 00:31:02.560 Love for money is greed. 00:31:02.560 --> 00:31:11.560 And it's a wicked thing in the kingdom and in the church because it makes me self-centered. 00:31:15.560 --> 00:31:17.560 It makes me self-centered. 00:31:17.560 --> 00:31:23.560 It opposes love. 00:31:23.760 --> 00:31:33.760 Filio, agape, whatever love you want to call it, it opposes it. 00:31:35.760 --> 00:31:38.760 Because greed will always make me self-centered. 00:31:38.760 --> 00:31:44.760 And so if you have a love for money, then it's greed. 00:31:47.760 --> 00:31:51.760 Please don't sweat off because this is getting uncomfortable. 00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:55.960 You're trying to justify, you're trying to argue in your head, don't. 00:31:55.960 --> 00:32:01.960 The love for money also in our society, the love for things. 00:32:01.960 --> 00:32:02.960 Yeah. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:09.960 So greed is fueled by discontentment. 00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:12.960 Greed is fueled by discontentment. 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:19.960 When you read 1 Timothy 6, say 7 to 15, all this is presented there. 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:23.160 Greed is fueled by discontentment. 00:32:23.160 --> 00:32:28.160 Discontentment with present circumstances, present status. 00:32:37.160 --> 00:32:43.160 And greed always leads to another sin called covetousness. 00:32:43.360 --> 00:32:53.360 Or wanting what someone else has. 00:32:55.360 --> 00:33:04.360 And that leads to another thing called resentment against the person 00:33:04.360 --> 00:33:08.360 and resentment against God. 00:33:08.560 --> 00:33:12.560 Because everybody's making it rich but me. 00:33:15.560 --> 00:33:16.560 Yeah. 00:33:16.560 --> 00:33:19.560 Everybody's making it rich but me. 00:33:24.560 --> 00:33:28.560 Everybody's making it rich but me. 00:33:31.560 --> 00:33:35.560 So it just develops into one after the other. 00:33:35.560 --> 00:33:37.560 Greed is when I love money. 00:33:37.760 --> 00:33:40.760 And how do you define the love of money? 00:33:40.760 --> 00:33:42.760 Wanting more of it. 00:33:42.760 --> 00:33:43.760 Crazy, eh? 00:33:43.760 --> 00:33:45.760 It all throws us suddenly into one basket. 00:33:45.760 --> 00:33:47.760 There's a commonality suddenly. 00:33:47.760 --> 00:33:49.760 Greed is wanting more. 00:33:49.760 --> 00:33:52.760 Love for money is wanting more of it. 00:33:55.760 --> 00:33:56.760 What? 00:33:56.760 --> 00:33:59.760 So I'm not supposed to be ambitious, I'm not supposed to want more money. 00:33:59.760 --> 00:34:01.760 Sorry, I didn't say that, Jesus said it. 00:34:01.760 --> 00:34:03.760 You've got a problem, take it up with him. 00:34:03.760 --> 00:34:06.760 So greed is fueled by discontentment. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:11.960 Discontentment leads to wanting something that others have 00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:13.960 which is what the definition of covetousness is. 00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:16.960 This applies not just to money, it applies to everything. 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:19.960 Israel had a problem with greed or discontentment. 00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:20.960 What was the discontentment? 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:22.960 We want a king. 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:24.960 Like every other nation. 00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:26.960 It spills into every area, guys. 00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:30.960 Covetousness, wanting what someone else has. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:34.960 When you don't get what someone else has, then that leads to resentment. 00:34:35.160 --> 00:34:37.160 Which James speaks about in James chapter 4. 00:34:37.160 --> 00:34:39.160 Why are you so upset? 00:34:39.160 --> 00:34:41.160 Is it because your prayers are not being answered? 00:34:41.160 --> 00:34:44.160 But your prayers are not being answered because you pray amiss. 00:34:46.160 --> 00:34:49.160 It leads to resentment against the person and against God. 00:34:50.160 --> 00:34:52.160 Any questions? 00:34:58.160 --> 00:35:01.160 1 Timothy 6, verse 9 and 10 puts it this way. 00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:06.360 Having money, wanting money, craving for money or the security it brings 00:35:06.360 --> 00:35:15.360 is the first step towards error, towards misery, towards pain, towards straying from the faith. 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:18.360 1 Timothy 6, verse 9 and 10. 00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:24.360 If I were to take the passion translation, the message, the NIRV, the NLT, 00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:28.360 and the NIV and the ESV and the KJV and put it together, 00:35:28.560 --> 00:35:30.560 then here's what it says. 00:35:30.560 --> 00:35:36.560 That loving money, wanting money, or craving money and the security it brings 00:35:36.560 --> 00:35:43.560 is the first step towards error, towards misery, towards pain, towards mistakes, 00:35:43.560 --> 00:35:45.560 towards straying from the faith. 00:35:45.560 --> 00:35:51.560 It ensnares you and it gives you a desire for worldly pleasures 00:35:51.560 --> 00:35:55.560 and it distorts your simplicity and plunges you into destruction. 00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:57.760 What? 00:35:57.760 --> 00:35:58.760 This is crazy. 00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:02.760 It plunges me into ruin and destruction because I want more money? 00:36:02.760 --> 00:36:04.760 That's what it says. 00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:12.760 That anyone who has a desire for money pierces himself and sets himself up for ruin and destruction, 00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:16.760 sets himself up for an indulgence in worldly pleasures, 00:36:16.760 --> 00:36:19.760 sets himself up for error and strays from the faith. 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:21.760 Anyone who desires money. 00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:22.760 Crazy. 00:36:22.960 --> 00:36:29.960 You see how convoluted, distorted, depraved the prosperity gospel suddenly is. 00:36:30.160 --> 00:36:34.160 Depraved the prosperity gospel suddenly is. 00:36:51.160 --> 00:36:54.160 Gehazi ruined his life. 00:36:54.160 --> 00:36:58.160 Aiken ruined his life and the life of his family. 00:36:58.360 --> 00:37:02.360 Ananias ruined his life and the life of his family. 00:37:02.360 --> 00:37:06.360 Judas ruined his life and the life of his family. 00:37:08.360 --> 00:37:10.360 Destruction. 00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:12.360 There's nothing short of destruction. 00:37:14.360 --> 00:37:18.360 So Jacob's question is, hey Jacob, do you have a desire for more money? 00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:26.360 If you're waiting for an answer, it ain't coming. 00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:29.360 It's a question. 00:37:40.360 --> 00:37:45.360 And the only way out of this is if I really grasp the faithfulness of God, 00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:49.360 where he says, I'll be with you, I will not leave you, I will not forsake you, 00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:52.360 I will take care of you, I will be there. 00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:53.360 I'm your father. 00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:56.360 Before a word comes to your mouth, I already know it. 00:37:56.360 --> 00:37:57.360 Look at the birds of the air. 00:37:57.360 --> 00:37:58.360 I will take care of you. 00:37:58.360 --> 00:38:02.360 Till I grapple, wrestle and actually believe that, contentment is impossible. 00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:06.360 Contentment is impossible. 00:38:07.360 --> 00:38:11.360 And as long as contentment is not possible, I will not destroy the love of money. 00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:13.360 Hear me. 00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:17.360 Without contentment, you cannot destroy the love of money. 00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:21.360 Contentment is not eating one slice of bread. 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:26.360 This is the other side of the prosperity gospel, where people have reacted so hard against it, 00:38:26.360 --> 00:38:31.360 that now it is, if I get a bit of roti and dal, sorry, 00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:38.360 if I get a slice of bread and marmite, have you tasted marmite? 00:38:38.360 --> 00:38:41.360 Oh my God, even Australians don't like it. 00:38:42.360 --> 00:38:43.360 Sorry Ruth. 00:38:45.360 --> 00:38:46.360 Yeah. 00:38:46.360 --> 00:38:47.360 Sheldon, do you remember? 00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:53.360 We went to a Bible study. 00:38:53.360 --> 00:38:55.360 I hope the person is not watching. 00:38:59.360 --> 00:39:00.360 This is in Sydney. 00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:03.360 And so, the person gave us gift bags. 00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:06.360 And the gift bags had like bottles of marmite. 00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:09.360 Veggie-mite. 00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:10.360 Veggie-mite. 00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:13.360 And I gave mine to, selflessly I gave mine to Sheldon. 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:15.360 Like Sheldon had enough to start a business here. 00:39:18.360 --> 00:39:29.360 Yeah, so the flip side of the equation is when we think that contentment is being really happy with a slice of bread and veggie-marmite. 00:39:29.360 --> 00:39:30.360 That's not contentment. 00:39:30.360 --> 00:39:32.360 That's fake it till you make it. 00:39:32.360 --> 00:39:34.360 Or fake it till you marmite it. 00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:36.360 That's not contentment. 00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:43.360 Because never forget the words that Jesus also said that, hey, I am a God who loves giving you things so that you can enjoy them. 00:39:46.360 --> 00:39:48.360 That's why this has to be held in tension. 00:39:48.360 --> 00:39:52.360 We can't go one scripture, can go. 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.360 So contentment is different. 00:39:58.360 --> 00:39:59.360 Any questions guys? 00:39:59.360 --> 00:40:01.360 Can you say again, I got distracted by your illustration about contentment. 00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:12.360 Yeah, so if I am not confident of the fact that God will never leave me, abandon me, will always be a provider to me, 00:40:12.360 --> 00:40:14.360 will always be there to take care. 00:40:14.360 --> 00:40:19.360 If I don't remember that, I will never be able to enter into contentment. 00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:24.360 And as long as I'm not content, I will always have a love for money. 00:40:26.360 --> 00:40:28.360 I'll always have a love for money. 00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:33.360 It's a terrible thing to say, but the love for money is what makes us stick to tight, 10%. 00:40:38.360 --> 00:40:40.360 I know that sounds so unbiblical. 00:40:50.360 --> 00:40:57.360 But I can tell you, as I temperature my heart, I could feel that Bible healing will leave me. 00:40:57.360 --> 00:41:04.360 sounds so unbiblical, but the love for money is what makes you stick to 10%. 00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:13.360 And I'm not saying to the church, eh? Give! Not just to the church, there are plenty. 00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:17.360 But we're not going into giving. We're not talking about giving, we're just talking about 00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:24.360 mentality right now. Yeah. 00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:30.360 Any other questions? Okay. 00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:38.360 Here's another one that we need to deal with. 00:41:38.360 --> 00:41:45.360 These are mentalities God wants to discipline us into. Fear of money. Fear of money. 00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:51.360 Fear of money. Most of us are afraid of money. Most of us are afraid of money. 00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:56.360 The world is less afraid of money. Christians are more afraid of money. 00:41:56.360 --> 00:42:01.360 Most of us are afraid of money. The world handles it better. 00:42:01.360 --> 00:42:06.360 Christians don't. 00:42:11.360 --> 00:42:14.360 We are driven by a fear of lack. 00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:19.360 We are driven by a fear of lack. 00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:28.360 We are afraid of losing it. 00:42:32.360 --> 00:42:39.360 We are afraid of not having the security that we need. 00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:49.360 We are afraid of not having the security of money tomorrow. 00:42:56.360 --> 00:43:01.360 But the world takes bigger risks with money than Christians do. 00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:09.360 Pardon? Which part? All this? 00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:14.360 Fear of lack. Fear of lack is a fear of money. There's lack. 00:43:14.360 --> 00:43:18.360 Yeah. So you can... Yeah, yeah. 00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:24.360 Fear of lack. Afraid of losing the money. These are things that we are afraid of. 00:43:26.360 --> 00:43:32.360 The other way to deal with this is to just say, I'm going to survive on a hundred bucks. 00:43:32.360 --> 00:43:38.360 Regardless, you won't take risks. The fear of money paralyzes you from taking any risks in the kingdom. 00:43:38.360 --> 00:43:43.360 And the kingdom is a kingdom full of guaranteed risks. 00:43:47.360 --> 00:43:52.360 Because that's the other way of dealing with it. You know what? I'm not going to play this game of fear of money. 00:43:52.360 --> 00:43:57.360 I'm just going to survive on a hundred bucks from now on. And I'm free of... That's not free of... 00:43:57.360 --> 00:44:03.360 That's just making sure that you plan for the worst case scenario and stay there and don't take any risks. 00:44:04.360 --> 00:44:08.360 So God will not be able to do much there. But that's for another day. 00:44:08.360 --> 00:44:13.360 Fear of money. We are driven by a fear of money. Fear of lack. 00:44:13.360 --> 00:44:19.360 And whenever there's fear, someone else is master. Whenever there is fear, someone else is master. 00:44:20.360 --> 00:44:23.360 Whenever there is fear, someone else is master. 00:44:26.360 --> 00:44:30.360 I know I've said this before and the old timers probably have heard it a few times. 00:44:30.360 --> 00:44:36.360 But in Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents, the guy goes and buries his talent because he's afraid of two things. 00:44:36.360 --> 00:44:42.360 One, he's afraid of losing it or it being stolen. Two, he's afraid of his master. That's why he buries it. 00:44:42.360 --> 00:44:48.360 And he's the only guy who gets chucked out. The guy who gives back what he was given is the guy who gets chucked out. 00:44:48.360 --> 00:44:52.360 Because fear will never allow money to multiply. 00:44:52.360 --> 00:45:01.360 Fear will never allow money to multiply. In the area of your life that you have the fear of money, in that area, money will not multiply. 00:45:04.360 --> 00:45:11.360 I've rarely met anyone who's not afraid of money. In fact, I know only one guy who's not afraid of money. 00:45:11.360 --> 00:45:16.360 And no, I'm not talking about me. There's not some Paul saying, I met a man once. 00:45:16.360 --> 00:45:24.360 It's definitely not me. It's a rarity to meet a believer who's not afraid of money. 00:45:26.360 --> 00:45:29.360 Believers are scary cats when it comes to money. 00:45:32.360 --> 00:45:36.360 It's true. I did home parties with two different companies. 00:45:36.360 --> 00:45:42.360 We would quickly learn that it was better for us to get outside of the church and get to know each other. 00:45:42.360 --> 00:45:49.360 We would quickly learn that it was better for us to get outside of the church community for having successful business. 00:45:52.360 --> 00:45:54.360 We need to change this. 00:45:58.360 --> 00:46:02.360 These topics are not so that your offering will increase. 00:46:02.360 --> 00:46:05.360 That's very easy. I can just tell you, increase your offering. 00:46:06.360 --> 00:46:15.360 This is not for that. This is so that we live a very different life and it will begin to let God's presence and generosity begin to affect others. 00:46:24.360 --> 00:46:30.360 The fear of losing money is what plunges me into stockpiling, into protecting, into prolonging it. 00:46:31.360 --> 00:46:33.360 How I prolong, eh? 00:46:35.360 --> 00:46:42.360 I mean, you can go into homes today and you will find gifts that you gave them three years ago, still on the top shelf. 00:46:42.360 --> 00:46:47.360 Because it was supposed to be used three years ago, but let's use it next year. 00:46:47.360 --> 00:46:55.360 Because we've got to finish this. The soap is down to a sliver and the toothpaste, like even torture won't bring out any more toothpaste. 00:46:55.360 --> 00:47:05.360 But, my God, to throw away that toothpaste or to not use that last sliver of soap as you're using it, it's breaking up in your head. 00:47:05.360 --> 00:47:08.360 You think it's dandruff. No, it's just soap. 00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:21.360 It's crazy, man. Doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor. This is not a rich or poor thing. It's a human thing. 00:47:25.360 --> 00:47:34.360 And we call it, this is the worst, after we do all that we still call it good stewardship. 00:47:42.360 --> 00:47:51.360 Embarrassing, man. I remember once taking a toothpaste and then putting it and then running something over it this way so that the remaining of it would come out. 00:47:51.360 --> 00:47:55.360 And I'm thinking to myself, what are you doing? And then part of me is saying, good stewardship. 00:47:55.360 --> 00:47:59.360 This is not good stewardship. This is like torment. 00:47:59.360 --> 00:48:01.360 Torment. 00:48:11.360 --> 00:48:19.360 Jesus made a high... So we have a tendency to prolong things into the future. And it's because of our fear. 00:48:19.360 --> 00:48:29.360 There is another side to it where one can be reckless and lose everything. What was supposed to be meant for tomorrow gets squandered today. 00:48:29.360 --> 00:48:36.360 So one teaching cannot cover both ends. So we'll deal with that another day. But I'm talking about some of our common problems. 00:48:36.360 --> 00:48:46.360 The other thing is, guys, Jesus made a highly irresponsible statement in Matthew 6 where he says, 00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:54.360 do not worry about these practical details of life because they and not the devil will choke the life of God out of you. 00:48:54.360 --> 00:49:02.360 Do not worry about these practical details of life. What you eat, how you shelter, what clothes you wear. 00:49:02.360 --> 00:49:06.360 Meaning the practical things of life that we are investing and saving up for. 00:49:06.360 --> 00:49:14.360 Jesus said, do not be worried about them. Do not spend time thinking about the practical things of life. 00:49:17.360 --> 00:49:26.360 Because these cares are what chokes the life of God out of you. It's not the devil, but the cares of life that choke God out of you. 00:49:26.360 --> 00:49:35.360 That goes so against the grain of kingdom stewardship that is taught in seminars all over the world. 00:49:39.360 --> 00:49:45.360 Your common sense begins to shout inside your head saying, that's absurd. I must consider how I'm going to live. 00:49:45.360 --> 00:49:54.360 I must consider what I'm going to eat and drink. And Jesus summed up common sense carefulness in the life of a disciple 00:49:54.360 --> 00:50:11.360 as careful unbelief. Careful unbelief. I love this line. When I take the pressure of provision, 00:50:11.360 --> 00:50:24.360 when I take the pressure of provision upon myself, when I take the pressure of provision upon myself, 00:50:24.360 --> 00:50:35.360 I place mammon or money or wealth or security at the center of my life. 00:50:35.360 --> 00:50:42.360 Once anything is in the center of my life, it orders my life. 00:50:42.360 --> 00:50:48.360 This is what Adam did. Adam took the pressure of provision on himself. 00:50:48.360 --> 00:51:04.360 When I take the pressure of provision upon myself, he decided that he would gain knowledge on his own. 00:51:04.360 --> 00:51:11.360 He decided that he would begin to become like God. It was going to be taught to him. 00:51:11.360 --> 00:51:17.360 Instead he took it into his own hands and then he was abandoned to toil the ground by the sweat of his brow. 00:51:17.360 --> 00:51:26.360 We still toil the ground with the sweat of our brow. So when I take the pressure of provision upon myself, 00:51:26.360 --> 00:51:36.360 I place mammon at the center of my life. Any questions? 00:51:36.360 --> 00:51:43.360 So amassing treasures for the kingdom becomes something that I can only do when I get old or when I get rich. 00:51:43.360 --> 00:51:46.360 Amassing treasures for the kingdom is not something I can do now. 00:51:46.360 --> 00:51:52.360 Right now my main concern is can I amass treasures of the world that can be eaten by moth and rust? 00:51:52.360 --> 00:52:10.360 That's my focus right now. Once I have enough, I'll amass the treasures of the kingdom. 00:52:10.360 --> 00:52:14.360 So think about taking care of my parents. Think about taking care of everyday needs. 00:52:14.360 --> 00:52:22.360 Go back to what Jesus said. Very irresponsible statement. Why are you concerned about that? 00:52:22.360 --> 00:52:35.360 Do you not know that I can take care of it? That is so impractical. Go back to what Jesus said. I will take care of it. 00:52:35.360 --> 00:52:49.360 Either he is saying the truth or there is some hidden meaning in Aramaic that nobody has found out yet. 00:52:49.360 --> 00:53:07.360 Extreme positions. Extreme son of God. 00:53:07.360 --> 00:53:15.360 That aside, it's very hard to scale spiritually in terms of expectations. Let me write it down. It's too long a sentence. 00:53:15.360 --> 00:53:24.360 It is very hard. It's very hard to scale spiritually. 00:53:24.360 --> 00:53:38.360 It's very hard to scale spiritually in terms of expectations, adventures, and fierce generosity. 00:53:38.360 --> 00:54:05.360 If I am averse to taking risks, taking God-directed risks with mammon, which is just another Greek word for money and security. 00:54:05.360 --> 00:54:19.360 It's very hard to scale spiritually. Any church that does not take risks with its money will not scale spiritually in expectations, in adventures, and in fierce generosity. 00:54:19.360 --> 00:54:32.360 That's why I always suggest to any church leader to appoint non-accountants to run the church finances. 00:54:32.360 --> 00:54:50.360 Have an accountant to do the books, but do not appoint an accountant to manage the money because they will be careful. 00:54:50.360 --> 00:54:56.360 That's not something against accountants. 00:54:56.360 --> 00:55:17.360 Nurse. That's nothing against accountants. We've got Aaron, we've got Dilna, we've got a few others. Nothing against them. 00:55:17.360 --> 00:55:23.360 Any questions, guys? 00:55:23.360 --> 00:55:27.360 Maybe we'll have to stop at this next one. 00:55:27.360 --> 00:55:36.360 The prosperity gospel at the end of the day feeds into all this. The prosperity gospel basically says, hey, sow some money and you'll reap some money. 00:55:36.360 --> 00:55:47.360 The prosperity gospel feeds into the love of money. It is perverse. 00:55:47.360 --> 00:55:54.360 It is this idea of sow some and you'll get some. The children of God are blessed. 00:55:54.360 --> 00:56:04.360 It feeds into lack. It feeds into fear. It feeds into love of money. That's what it does. And it is exploitative. 00:56:04.360 --> 00:56:16.360 And it is so popular because everybody has this problem. Therefore, this is the biblical solution. 00:56:16.360 --> 00:56:23.360 We'll talk about the prosperity gospel from Jesus' perspective later, but to sum it up, it's very simple. 00:56:23.360 --> 00:56:32.360 And you've heard me say this many times and it's brilliant. As a son, I lack nothing. 00:56:32.360 --> 00:56:44.360 This is the true prosperity gospel. As a servant, I own nothing. 00:56:44.360 --> 00:56:58.360 The day you hit this, two things will happen. You will prosper and you will be the happiest person on earth. 00:56:58.360 --> 00:57:07.360 There are moments that I've hit this, but they're so fleeting that I couldn't capture and put it in a bottle because otherwise I'd have sold it to you and would have done a TV ad. 00:57:07.360 --> 00:57:15.360 Please send me the opening. I mean, can you imagine the stuff that is sold to make you rich? 00:57:15.360 --> 00:57:21.360 Take this towel and put it on your head and tomorrow your debts will be solved. 00:57:21.360 --> 00:57:29.360 Take this oil. Take this shadow. Take this photograph. 00:57:29.360 --> 00:57:41.360 It is feeding into the love of money, the fear of money and the third one. 00:57:41.360 --> 00:57:47.360 Love of money, fear of money and serving mammon. This is the prosperity gospel, but we won't go there today. 00:57:47.360 --> 00:57:59.360 So let me end with this one. Money orphans you. Money orphans you. 00:57:59.360 --> 00:58:06.360 Money orphans you. And so we've got to fight this because it orphans you. 00:58:06.360 --> 00:58:13.360 It is one of the worst things that money does to us. It orphans us. Money orphans you. 00:58:13.360 --> 00:58:29.360 Money has the power to turn you into an orphan. Money has the power to turn you into an orphan. 00:58:29.360 --> 00:58:43.360 Money has the power to turn you into an orphan because it cultivates in you a fear of abandonment. 00:58:43.360 --> 00:59:09.360 And it cultivates in you a fear of abandoning yourself to the father's nature and commands to the father's nature. 00:59:09.360 --> 00:59:15.360 Money has the power to make you an orphan and it does it in two ways. 00:59:15.360 --> 00:59:23.360 One, it cultivates in you a fear of abandonment. If I don't have money, who will take care of me? 00:59:23.360 --> 00:59:27.360 If I don't have money, who will take care of my future? If I don't have money, how am I going to do this? 00:59:27.360 --> 00:59:35.360 So the father is completely left out. It renders your father distant. It renders your father sometimes not faithful. 00:59:35.360 --> 00:59:43.360 It renders your father incapable of taking care of practical needs. It renders your father as some kind of spiritual father and not a real father. 00:59:43.360 --> 00:59:50.360 It renders your father's love measured by how much you have or how much you don't have. 00:59:50.360 --> 00:59:58.360 It renders your father's words as words that are some kind of contract that he has to oblige. It orphans you. 00:59:58.360 --> 01:00:06.360 And then the second thing it does is it makes you an orphan in the sense that you have a fear now of abandoning yourself to the father's nature and commands. 01:00:06.360 --> 01:00:15.360 When he gives a command, it is not possible to follow through because you're scared that if you abandon yourself to that command, what's going to happen to your finances? 01:00:15.360 --> 01:00:24.360 One of the tactics the enemy uses when it comes to money is he begins to delay what is supposed to happen in your life. 01:00:24.360 --> 01:00:32.360 And as the delay begins to happen, you begin to question everything that you stood for. 01:00:32.360 --> 01:00:39.360 God is saying, I'll do this this year. And you begin the year with all kinds of faith. 01:00:40.360 --> 01:00:47.360 And then as the delay happens, as you don't see the results that you thought would happen, it begins to create fear. 01:00:47.360 --> 01:00:53.360 And as it begins to create fear, you begin to tell yourself, never again. Or you begin to question the decision you made. 01:00:53.360 --> 01:01:01.360 Or you begin to make plans that you were never supposed to make so that God could fully have full charge of whatever he wants to do. 01:01:02.360 --> 01:01:06.360 Plan B, screw up. Plan A. 01:01:18.360 --> 01:01:26.360 It's a mindset that is afraid. An orphan is someone who's afraid. An orphan is afraid. An orphan is afraid. 01:01:31.360 --> 01:01:34.360 An orphan remembers lack. 01:01:40.360 --> 01:01:44.360 Pawan came up and said he had a $20,000 debt. I had a $60,000 debt. 01:01:44.360 --> 01:01:53.360 It took me seven years to get rid of it. And I remember this couple who called me to their home and I paid off the last $5,000. 01:01:53.360 --> 01:02:00.360 And they said, Jacob, we want you to come home because we want to burn this paper on which the outstandings were. 01:02:00.360 --> 01:02:05.360 And we went and it was a bonfire of sorts because the paper was long. 01:02:07.360 --> 01:02:13.360 So what would happen is for years after that, I would talk about the lack, talk about the lack until one lady I remember coming and telling me, 01:02:13.360 --> 01:02:22.360 Jacob, it's time to let go of it. You keep talking about it. It's like you've got to run this flashback in your head for everyone who talks to you. 01:02:22.360 --> 01:02:28.360 Get rid of it. Sometimes it's okay to talk about it for a while. 01:02:28.360 --> 01:02:34.360 But one of the things an orphan does is, my God, he remembers his lack and it frightens him for the future. 01:02:35.360 --> 01:02:43.360 Doesn't matter that he has a father now. He'll go into elaborate 16 chapters of how I was an orphan and two chapters of now I have a father. 01:02:46.360 --> 01:02:51.360 An orphan tries to secure tomorrow. 01:02:53.360 --> 01:02:56.360 And the only way you can secure tomorrow is by controlling it. 01:02:58.360 --> 01:03:01.360 And control is an illusion. 01:03:04.360 --> 01:03:09.360 An orphan is afraid. An orphan remembers lack. An orphan tries to secure tomorrow. 01:03:09.360 --> 01:03:12.360 The only way you can secure tomorrow is by controlling tomorrow. 01:03:13.360 --> 01:03:19.360 And just when you thought you controlled it, you realized, oh, shucks, it's an illusion. You've got to control more. 01:03:19.360 --> 01:03:22.360 An orphan is careful with generosity. 01:03:23.360 --> 01:03:28.360 An orphan covets what others have from their fathers. 01:03:30.360 --> 01:03:32.360 An orphan is careful with generosity. 01:03:36.360 --> 01:03:38.360 And an orphan is careful with faith. 01:03:38.360 --> 01:03:42.360 An orphan is exposed to the unrelenting demand of the soul. 01:03:43.360 --> 01:03:48.360 Is at the mercy of the unrelenting demand of the soul. 01:03:51.360 --> 01:03:53.360 And one of the demands of the soul is provision. 01:03:58.360 --> 01:04:02.360 An orphan is at the mercy of the unrelenting demand of the soul. 01:04:02.360 --> 01:04:04.360 And one of the demands of the soul is provision. 01:04:08.360 --> 01:04:11.360 And one of the demands of the soul is provision. 01:04:13.360 --> 01:04:17.360 Do you understand now why we started with that sentence saying God needs to discipline us into a mentality? 01:04:21.360 --> 01:04:25.360 Ah, here's another highly disguised form of orphanhood. 01:04:26.360 --> 01:04:30.360 Choosing, there are people in this church who think like this. 01:04:30.360 --> 01:04:32.360 And I'm not looking at you. 01:04:34.360 --> 01:04:48.360 Choosing self-sufficiency and not the sufficiency of the Father. 01:04:48.360 --> 01:05:07.360 A highly disguised form of orphanhood is this idea that has been cultivated in the Western world in particular. 01:05:08.360 --> 01:05:11.360 That one needs to be self-sufficient. It brings glory to the Lord. 01:05:12.360 --> 01:05:13.360 And once we are self-sufficient, we can help others. 01:05:13.360 --> 01:05:20.360 Self-sufficiency is a method of avoiding dependence on the all-sufficiency of God. 01:05:27.360 --> 01:05:31.360 Choosing self-sufficiency and not the all-sufficiency of the Father. 01:05:32.360 --> 01:05:41.360 Self-sufficiency will never let you get into the place of prospering for King and Kingdom. Never. 01:05:41.360 --> 01:05:42.360 Never. 01:05:45.360 --> 01:05:57.360 When you look at the rich man who came to Jesus, now you see the full picture of all this at work as the man stands before the Son of the Living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord of the universe. 01:05:58.360 --> 01:06:03.360 And he walks away because of the love of money, because of the fear of money. 01:06:11.360 --> 01:06:25.360 Every so often, just be aware that God, because he loves you and finds me getting into a place of self-sufficiency, God and not the devil will rock my boat. 01:06:26.360 --> 01:06:31.360 He doesn't do it to destroy me. The devil does things to destroy me. 01:06:32.360 --> 01:06:35.360 God does it so that he can bring me from self-sufficiency again back to all-sufficiency. 01:06:36.360 --> 01:06:46.360 Every so often, he'll just shake it saying, Son, you're getting too self-sufficient. You'll run after me for too long to mess up towards the last half of your life. 01:06:47.360 --> 01:06:52.360 Come on. Let me just rock your boat a little. 01:06:54.360 --> 01:06:57.360 There's a way to avoid it. Just don't go down that route. 01:06:58.360 --> 01:06:59.360 Do you have an example of what that may look like? 01:07:00.360 --> 01:07:02.360 Oh, yes. How many examples do you need? 01:07:02.360 --> 01:07:05.360 As many as you want. 01:07:10.360 --> 01:07:12.360 Nicely, nicely put. Touché. 01:07:13.360 --> 01:07:15.360 I'm not going to mention you. 01:07:16.360 --> 01:07:19.360 Thank you. Thank you for giving me freedom. 01:07:19.360 --> 01:07:24.360 I remember getting very dependent on a charge card that I used to use. 01:07:25.360 --> 01:07:30.360 It's not a credit card. It's a charge card. You can spend as much as you want. 01:07:31.360 --> 01:07:33.360 At the end of 45 days, you just paid off. 01:07:34.360 --> 01:07:36.360 I remember getting dependent on that. 01:07:37.360 --> 01:07:43.360 In my mind, God's new name was Yahweh who pays off my charge card in 45 days. 01:07:43.360 --> 01:07:48.360 I wasn't any more dependent on God. I was absolutely confident that this card, 01:07:49.360 --> 01:07:54.360 you can spend as much as you want, and then 45 days from now, somehow you'll have to provide. 01:07:55.360 --> 01:07:56.360 So dependency shifted. 01:07:57.360 --> 01:07:59.360 I remember one day the company just called and said, 01:08:00.360 --> 01:08:02.360 We just realized we gave you this card without checking your credit, 01:08:03.360 --> 01:08:04.360 and so we're taking the card back. 01:08:05.360 --> 01:08:08.360 They said, Oh, by the way, all the money that's on the card right now, 01:08:09.360 --> 01:08:10.360 you can use it to pay off your debt. 01:08:10.360 --> 01:08:12.360 And they said, Oh, by the way, all the money that's on the card right now, 01:08:13.360 --> 01:08:14.360 you've got to pay it in 10 days. 01:08:15.360 --> 01:08:16.360 Freaked me out, man. 01:08:18.360 --> 01:08:19.360 It worked out. 01:08:20.360 --> 01:08:26.360 But I remember repenting before God, saying, Father, I'm sorry I began to call you Yahweh 01:08:27.360 --> 01:08:28.360 who provides every 45 days. 01:08:29.360 --> 01:08:36.360 And I'm sorry that I became dependent on this card as a means to everything. 01:08:36.360 --> 01:08:37.360 Every so often God does that, eh? 01:08:44.360 --> 01:08:48.360 Or I love what he does with Elijah. He really didn't need to do it. 01:08:50.360 --> 01:08:52.360 What's wrong if a brook keeps flowing, man? 01:08:53.360 --> 01:08:57.360 What's wrong if ravens bring you meat from different fast food joints? 01:08:58.360 --> 01:09:01.360 Like KFC one day, Burger King another day, 01:09:01.360 --> 01:09:02.360 Patty from White Spot. 01:09:03.360 --> 01:09:06.360 He could have kept that going, but he deliberately dries up the brook. 01:09:07.360 --> 01:09:10.360 Why? Because he loves changing the source 01:09:11.360 --> 01:09:13.360 so that you don't get dependent on the source, but stay dependent on him. 01:09:14.360 --> 01:09:18.360 That has happened too, where I expect that this is the source that the money is going to come from. 01:09:19.360 --> 01:09:21.360 And you get a call from the source saying, Oops, sorry. 01:09:22.360 --> 01:09:24.360 And you think to yourself, Oh, shucks, you made so many commitments. 01:09:25.360 --> 01:09:26.360 What's going to happen now? 01:09:27.360 --> 01:09:30.360 And then, you know, you're going to have to make a call from the source, 01:09:31.360 --> 01:09:33.360 and God says, Well, now you'll have to depend on me. 01:09:34.360 --> 01:09:36.360 And then the whole thing begins again. 01:09:41.360 --> 01:09:43.360 That he does because he loves you. 01:09:44.360 --> 01:09:45.360 It'll never destroy you, don't worry. 01:09:46.360 --> 01:09:48.360 It'll make you feel a little less dignified, 01:09:49.360 --> 01:09:51.360 and you'll be upset with him for a couple of days. 01:09:52.360 --> 01:09:53.360 He can handle that. 01:10:02.360 --> 01:10:04.360 My thinking, I'll end with this. 01:10:05.360 --> 01:10:11.360 My thinking when my guard is down is like a fingerprint that can identify my mindset about money. 01:10:12.360 --> 01:10:18.360 My thinking when my guard is down is like a fingerprint that can help identify 01:10:19.360 --> 01:10:22.360 the mentality or the mindset I have about money. 01:10:23.360 --> 01:10:27.360 What or how am I thinking in those moments when my guard is down, 01:10:27.360 --> 01:10:32.360 as in when I'm not quoting scriptures, when I'm not in the worship zone, 01:10:33.360 --> 01:10:36.360 when I'm not sitting in a church, when things happen with regard to money, 01:10:37.360 --> 01:10:38.360 what is the first reaction? 01:10:39.360 --> 01:10:43.360 That usually is a fingerprint, as in is the identity of your mentality. 01:10:44.360 --> 01:10:45.360 How do you react? 01:10:47.360 --> 01:10:48.360 What is the first gut reaction? 01:10:49.360 --> 01:10:51.360 What do you say in your mind? 01:10:51.360 --> 01:10:58.360 That usually is a betrayal of true condition. 01:11:02.360 --> 01:11:06.360 And be ashamed sometimes at your reaction, 01:11:07.360 --> 01:11:10.360 because it shows you how distant you are from the Father. 01:11:13.360 --> 01:11:14.360 That's not a good way to end. 01:11:15.360 --> 01:11:16.360 Be ashamed of your reaction. 01:11:17.360 --> 01:11:18.360 Let's end on a happier note. 01:11:18.360 --> 01:11:23.360 I said be ashamed of your reaction because it's fascinating how after all these years, 01:11:24.360 --> 01:11:30.360 after knowing the Father so well, how ashamed I am of my responses to God and money. 01:11:34.360 --> 01:11:35.360 I don't know if I've shared this. 01:11:36.360 --> 01:11:37.360 The camera is on, right? 01:11:39.360 --> 01:11:42.360 Don't turn it off because they'll think I've got some deep secret hidden. 01:11:43.360 --> 01:11:45.360 I remember going to a certain place and I was like, 01:11:45.360 --> 01:11:49.360 I remember going to a certain place and a church giving me a certain amount of money. 01:11:50.360 --> 01:11:53.360 And I go and exchange that money to Canadian dollars. 01:11:54.360 --> 01:11:55.360 And I'm walking happily in the airport. 01:11:56.360 --> 01:11:58.360 Then I come to another exchange where the rate was better. 01:12:00.360 --> 01:12:02.360 I regretted it for two hours. 01:12:05.360 --> 01:12:09.360 And I'm even saying stuff like, Father, why couldn't you have sent me to that exchange first? 01:12:10.360 --> 01:12:11.360 You could have easily directed me there. 01:12:12.360 --> 01:12:13.360 You know how much more I'd have gotten? 01:12:13.360 --> 01:12:14.360 About $76 more. 01:12:15.360 --> 01:12:16.360 Two hours I'm regretting it. 01:12:17.360 --> 01:12:20.360 And then I'm sitting in the plane and God is saying, two hours ago you didn't have that money. 01:12:21.360 --> 01:12:25.360 Two hours ago I provided you through someone else's generosity. 01:12:26.360 --> 01:12:27.360 I provided you money. 01:12:28.360 --> 01:12:34.360 And do you realize, son, that you have spent the last two hours lamenting about $76 you didn't get 01:12:35.360 --> 01:12:36.360 because you went to the wrong exchange? 01:12:37.360 --> 01:12:38.360 What's wrong with you? 01:12:39.360 --> 01:12:40.360 It's kind of like the gas stations. 01:12:41.360 --> 01:12:42.360 Yeah, the gas stations. 01:12:43.360 --> 01:12:44.360 I don't understand it. 01:12:45.360 --> 01:12:48.360 I know guys who will travel from here to Coquitlam to get two cents off gas. 01:12:49.360 --> 01:12:50.360 I don't understand it. 01:12:51.360 --> 01:12:52.360 Yeah. 01:12:53.360 --> 01:12:59.360 And then worse, after they do that they say, I just wanted to be a good steward. 01:13:00.360 --> 01:13:01.360 That! 01:13:06.360 --> 01:13:08.360 This, we sometimes need to face our true conditions. 01:13:08.360 --> 01:13:18.360 I think when the Lord said, you spent two hours, you wasted two hours of your life lamenting over a bad exchange rate 01:13:19.360 --> 01:13:20.360 when you didn't have that money two hours ago. 01:13:21.360 --> 01:13:23.360 It is pathetic thinking. 01:13:24.360 --> 01:13:26.360 It is poverty mentality. 01:13:27.360 --> 01:13:32.360 This is what feeds and fuels the prosperity gospel preached on TV. 01:13:33.360 --> 01:13:38.360 The only guy who does not have a choice to preach the prosperity gospel is Creflo Dollar 01:13:39.360 --> 01:13:40.360 because with a name like that what can you do? 01:13:41.360 --> 01:13:43.360 He didn't have a choice, but most others have a choice. 01:13:44.360 --> 01:13:47.360 I mean, if I had a name like Creflo Dollar, what else can you preach on, man? 01:13:48.360 --> 01:13:51.360 I mean, I like some of the stuff he does, but moving on. 01:13:52.360 --> 01:13:53.360 That's not how I wanted to end either. 01:13:53.360 --> 01:14:03.360 So, the only way, the only way to break this is to grapple, grasp and come back to God as a father and you as a child. 01:14:04.360 --> 01:14:10.360 The only way to break all the things we've said is to grasp, is to grapple as in wrestle, 01:14:11.360 --> 01:14:18.360 grasp as in catch hold of and come back to God as a father and you as a child. 01:14:20.360 --> 01:14:22.360 If that doesn't happen, we will struggle with this. 01:14:23.360 --> 01:14:29.360 Next week we'll continue with what's the false prosperity gospel and what is the true prosperity gospel looks like. 01:14:30.360 --> 01:14:31.360 Then the week after that we'll see. 01:14:32.360 --> 01:14:34.360 Cool. This week house churches start. 01:14:36.360 --> 01:14:39.360 Strange, there are no worship songs about money. 01:14:49.360 --> 01:14:52.360 It's much easier to lay down your life than lay down your money. 01:14:53.360 --> 01:14:55.360 Good morning.