Money Talks (Abe Berg)

It's my joy and privilege to be here with you this morning.

And Jake already said who I am and where I'm from at SEMC.

We are a team of four pastors and I have the privilege of

working with them and and it's a joy to be here with you this

morning. Pastor Jake preached at SEMC

last year. I don't remember which month,

but I know he was there and and now I have the privilege of

being here. I hear there's a game going on

right now. Is that true?

What's the score? Nobody wants to tell me.

All right, see, I know you're paying attention to it anyway,

so I might as well ask about it. I suppose our nation's

reputation is on the line as we speak, but we'll trust the

Lord's will and all those things as well.

You know, something I don't have in my notes that I only thought

about as I was sitting there. All of a sudden I realized, you

know, I really should comment on something.

A lot of you probably do know who I am, but I wonder how many

of you know that my faith journey, at least part of it,

started here at LEMC 29 years ago.

Did you guys know that? So 29 years ago I went on a

youth camp. I didn't live in Leamington, but

I had cousins that attended this church and they invited me to

youth camp and I went to youth camp with them.

And that's where I, for the very first time, understood who Jesus

was, what the gospel meant for me.

And I received Christ and I became a follower of Jesus 20

years, 29 years ago as a result of the youth ministry at LEMC.

So I actually have, I would say a strong connection here, which

I think is a pretty cool thing. There was a man walking along a

beach on his vacation, enjoying his afternoon stroll, and

suddenly he hears a woman just freaking out and panicking and

screaming. He looks over and hears this

lady knelt over her little girl. This man quickly determines that

this child must have swallowed something and is choking.

So he runs over, grabs this little girl by the ankle, picks

her up, holds her upside down, bumps her on the back.

And sure enough, she starts to sputter and cough.

And she spits a coin onto the sand.

The woman, the lady. Thank you, Sir.

Thank you. I'm so.

She was just so grateful. And she said, you seem to know

exactly what to do. Are you a doctor?

No, ma'am. I'm the head of finances of my

church. We laugh at this story because

sometimes churches can have a reputation for trying to squeeze

every dollar out of their people.

Hopefully that's not the case here at LEMCI.

Doubt it is. It can be uncomfortable and

awkward preaching on the topic of money, but I firmly believe

that that should not be. And I also firmly believe that

the topic of financial stewardship cannot be separated

from disciples as followers of Jesus.

Financial stewardship is part of our relationship with Jesus.

In fact, it's an extension of our relationship with God.

It should be keyword being relationship.

We're talking here about the heart.

We're not talking about rituals or rules that in order to be a

follower of Jesus, in order to be a good Christian, you have to

give or you have to do this or you have to do that.

We're not talking about that. We're talking about the heart.

We're talking about relationship.

We're talking about God's love for us and our love for Him.

In Psalm 37, verse four, we find this.

It says delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the

desires of your heart. So the question is, what are our

desires? What is actually the desire, the

greatest desire or desires of your heart and particularly as

it relates to finances and what are the greatest desires of your

heart as it relates to your relationship with God?

And here's the thing I just mentioned as it relates to

finances and as it relates to your relationship with God.

And I think sadly, we, we often view those two as being

incompatible. But that should not be someone

once said, don't tell me what you believe.

Show me your spending habits and I'll tell you what you believe.

Now, it's probably a bit of an overstatement, but I do think

there's some truth to it. I do think that our money talks.

It does speak. It does say something about us

that shouldn't be discounted. You see, the way we use our

money is at minimum an indication of what our our, our

ultimate desires are. Maybe the problem isn't that we

think faith and finances are incompatible.

Maybe the problem is that we hope they are so that we can do

what we want. That kind of hits close to home,

doesn't it? Maybe the problem isn't that we

think faith and finances are incompatible.

Maybe the problem is that we hope they are.

So maybe I should say it differently, so that we don't

have to give an account for how we use our money.

In order for us to have a clear understanding of the

relationship between faith and finances, we must begin with the

source. We must begin with the source

for everything that we have for all resources.

And this is the is the very thing that's an extension of our

relationship with God when we understand not only who God is

in the role he plays in my life for salvation, but also in who

God is in the role he plays in every area of our lives,

including our finances and resources.

In First Chronicles chapter 29, David, King David, this is a

1 Chronicles 29 · chapter mention

prayer, an incredible prayer of Thanksgiving that he wrote

because he understood that everything comes from God and

belongs to him. Let's read some of these verses

here, starting in verse 10. David, praise the Lord in the

presence of the whole assembly, saying, praise be to you, Lord

the God of our Father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and

the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and

earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the Kingdom.

You are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you. You are the ruler of all things

in your hands, our strength and power to exalt and give strength

to all. Now our God, we give you thanks

and praise your glorious name. I'm going to pause there for a

bit. We're going to continue in that

chapter, but I'm going to pause for a bit, makes a few

observations here. What we've read so far we see

here as David prays. He prays and acknowledges that

everything belongs to God, Everything.

We don't have anything where the source hasn't come from God in

some way. So the question is, do we act

like entitled owners or do we act like good managers or good

stewards? We see here that God is head

over all. So if He really is head over

all, and we believe that He is not only for our salvation but

also for our lives, then the question we need to ask

ourselves is, are we willing to submit to His lordship over our

finances? And then we also see here that

everything we have comes from God.

So the question is, are we thankful?

Are we thankful? Let's continue in verse 14.

But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to

give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and

we have given you only what comes from your hand.

We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as we're all our

ancestors. Our days on earth are like a

shadow without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance

that we have provided for building you a temple for your

holy name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to You.

I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with

integrity. All these things I've given

willingly and with honest intent, and now I have seen with

joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.

What an incredible prayer David has written down here for us.

And we see here that we can be generous only because God has

been generous to us. We can experience joy and giving

and in being generous when we have a posture of worship toward

God in recognition that it comes from Him in the 1st place and

that He is the one that provides for us.

When we look at verses 16 and 17, particularly the end of

verse 17, the context there is about the Israelites having that

they had given generously for the building of the temple.

What an incredible thing, but recognizing that even that they

only did because the Lord had first been generous to them.

The foundation, the foundational principle for this whole topic

is to remember where our provisions come from.

That is key if you want to have a correct understanding of the

relationship between faith and finances.

It starts with having, with understanding where our

provisions come from. Everything comes from God, and

because of this, our posture toward financial resources

should be an extension of our relationship with God.

Let me read that again. Our posture towards financial

resources should be an extension of our relationship with God.

The second thing we want to look at is our heart motives, and for

that, we're going to look at first Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

I invite you to open your Bibles there.

First Timothy, chapter 6. The context of the book of First

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

Timothy is that the apostle Paul is writing a letter to his young

apprentice Timothy, who he had left behind to to pastor the

church at Ephesus. After Paul left, many false

teachers rose up and tried to teach a gospel other than the

true gospel of Jesus. Some of them were even teaching

the right things. But we're doing it completely

for the wrong motives, and he addresses that as well.

The main thrust behind the pastoral letter of first Timothy

is addressing these false teachers and their impure

motives. In chapter 6, as the apostle

Paul wraps up his letter, he summarizes the issues that exist

with these false teachers. And he does give us a summary in

verses 3 to 5. And in those verses we see there

that Paul says these false teachers are conceded.

They're looking for attention and are more interested in

winning arguments over controversial issues than

actually teaching the gospel of Jesus.

Their arguments are divisive, malicious, and even lead to evil

suspicions. They think their position as

teachers is a means to financial gain.

They were teaching that godliness is the way to gaining

financially is part of what they were teaching.

Now, I don't know about you, but to me this sounds suspiciously

similar to some of the prosperity teachers that I've

heard of in my day. Paul addresses these false

teachers teachings and wrong motives here, starting in verse

5, the second part of verse 5 through verse 10.

Let's read that part together who think that godliness is a

means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment

is great gain. For we brought nothing into the

world and we can take nothing out of it.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content

with that. Those who want to get rich fall

into temptation, in a trap, and into many foolish and harmful

desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and

pierced themselves with many griefs.

The Apostle Paul is addressing and exposing several false

motives. The first one that he exposes is

treating God in his ways as some kind of currency or reward

system. In other words, they were saying

do what God says will equal gaining financially.

In other words, we could also say they were treating God as a

vending machine, not as a relationship.

It was a transit transactional thing.

It's the whole attitude that if I just do the right things, then

God will bless me with material wealth.

And we're actually not promised anywhere in Scripture that that

will be the case. Not as a promise anyway.

I heard someone say with regard to prayer, this is a while ago,

that we should approach God as a type of vending machine.

Boy, the bells and whistles and lights went off in my head when

I read this. I thought, wow, that's dangerous

and potential false teaching right there.

But then I continued reading. He said, recognizing that the

things inside the vending machine are not whatever we

desire, but rather the things He has told us in His Word that are

in there. Those things that God delights

to give us. Of course, let us be clear are

our relationship with God is not transactional, it's covenantal,

it's relationship, it's partnership.

But Scripture does give us all sorts of blessings and promises.

For instance, write this down. Ephesians chapter 1 is filled

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

with blessings and promises that God wants to give us.

Let me give you just a little snapshot.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. Praise be to the God and Father

Ephesians 1:3

of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly

realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for He chose

us. He has predestined US.

Verse 5. He loves us.

Verse 6. In Him we have redemption

through His blood. Verse 7, verse 9.

He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His

good pleasure. And the list goes on.

Ephesians chapter 1 is filled with blessings that God does

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

desire to give us and will give us when we have a posture of

worship and trust towards Him. And what a great thing that is.

Back to first Timothy chapter 6 chapter 6.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

Here I find verse 6 very interesting.

The NIV says but godliness with contentment is great gain.

Interestingly enough, the NASB translation says but godliness

actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by

contentment. I find this interesting.

Paul is saying that the false teachers aren't completely

wrong. They're not totally wrong.

Godliness accompanied with contentment does lead to great

gain, just not the kind of gain that the fall teachers were

teaching. Contentment in what we have,

whether we have much or little. Do you guys know that whether

you're poor or rich and that the poor and rich both struggle with

discontentment? This is not just a struggle that

certain people groups have. Discontentment is a struggle

that both the poor and the rich wrestle with.

In godliness. With contentment, we gain many

character qualities that are far greater than having much or

little. Verses 7 and 8 we see therefore

we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing

out of it. But if we have food and

clothing, we will be content with that contentment.

That is a gift. If you can experience

contentment, and God desires to give us contentment, there is no

greater place to be in life. And it's not hinged at all on

how much or little you have. You can experience contentment

when we look to the Lord for our hope and our strength and our

salvation in all things. The second wrong motive.

We see in verses 9 and 10 the love of money and the goal to

become rich. The second wrong motive that the

apostle is addressing here, verses 9 and 10.

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and

into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into

ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root

of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money,

have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many

griefs. OK, let's do a quick survey

here. And let's all be honest.

Let's be truthful. Who would like to be rich?

Some of you are slow to be truthful.

I think the truth is we would all like to be rich.

And if that's the case, what do we do with these two verses?

What do we do with verses 9 and 10?

I'll tell you what we do with that.

We downplay them. That's what we do with them.

We tell ourselves that rich people haven't made and that

they no longer have struggles. Those are the things we tell

ourselves. We choose to ignore what the

apostle Paul says here, or we simply just don't believe him.

We don't believe that the pursuit or goal of being rich

can lead to an increase in temptations or traps, and they

can serve to feed our harmful desires for control, pleasure,

comfort, or popularity. We don't believe that the

pursuit of money can actually lead to a whole world of

additional grief that can bring a person to potentially even

walk away from their from their faith.

But yet that's what the Apostle Paul is saying here.

But we downplay it. We don't really believe it, but

a whole world of additional grief can come when our life's

goals and posture and motives are simply the goal to become

rich. These are very real biblical

warnings that we need to heed when our hearts desire is to be

rich and when we are battling the very real idol of the love

of money. The issue is not having money or

even being rich. The issue is the love of it, the

striving for it above all else, and the lack of contentment.

Those are the core heart things that are being addressed here.

Too often we assume that anyone who is rich falls into these

negative categories, that they're greedy, that they're a

lot, that they live only for riches, or that they have the

sin of love and money in their lives.

But as we'll see in a moment, that's not necessarily true

whether you find yourself struggling to pay the bills, or

whether you have so much that you can pretty much fulfill any

dream, wish, or desire you have, both have their own desire,

their own challenges and temptations.

You can ask anyone you want who has lots of money, or someone

with almost no money how much more they would want, and the

answer is the same for everyone, just a little bit more.

Discontentment is a struggle that we all face, regardless of

the number that shows up in our bank account or what kind of

possessions we have. The issue is the motive of the

heart, not whether we have much or little.

So here's a thought, have we ever stopped to think that the

reason some people are living in poverty and can't pay their

bills could be because their life, their life's goal is

chasing riches or pleasure or materialism.

And then combine that if they have no financial structure or

self-control or budgeting in their spending, Those are the

very things that sometimes lead to incredible poverty.

It's easy for us to often be so critical of some of the

temptations and and things Scripture warns us about when it

comes to rich people. But sometimes we neglect to see

that the reason sometimes people are in complete poverty is

because of the same sins, the same struggles.

It's important to remember that some people, we need to remind

ourselves, all of us of this, live in poverty because they do

not have the opportunities that we have or because there were

circumstances out of their control that led to job loss or

bankruptcy. Our church recently sent out a

mission team to Guatemala and they came back and shared

reports. So when you hear but the extreme

poverty in a place that Guatemala, what it would be

really silly or should I dare say stupid of us to think that

those people that it's their own fault, they are, they don't have

the opportunities that we have. So we need to be careful about

not painting every person, every circumstance with the same

brush. Here in the West, there is, as a

rule of thumb, opportunity after opportunity for gaining wealth.

So we have to be careful that we don't assume that God is somehow

blessing us in the West more than he's blessing others.

And sometimes that gets used as a metric for spiritual blessings

when here in the West we have so many opportunities for financial

gain. And if we take those

opportunities and we do gain financially, even non believing

people, that applies to them, they can gain financially and

they can get ahead financially as a result of the opportunities

that we live with in this country.

But we need to be so careful that we don't assume that it's

automatically because God is somehow blessing us and loves us

more than he does. People in Guatemala or these

extreme poverty, impoverished countries in some places of

Africa, we need to be so careful about that.

Jesus says in Matthew 5, verse 45, He causes the sun to rise on

Matthew 5:45

the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the

unrighteous. We want to talk now about the

goal of all of this in verses 11 through 16 here in first Timothy

6, which we do not have time today to address these verses.

So I'm just going to read them and make a comment.

These verses, they speak to the heart of financial stewardship

because they speak to our relationship with God.

They speak here about the gospel about eternal life, fleeing from

ungodliness, fighting the good fight of faith, taking hold of

eternal life to which we've been called, and remembering who is

King of kings and Lord of Lords. Just read over those verses

together, starting at verse 11. But you, man of God, flee from

all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith,

love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith.

Take hold of eternal life to which you were called when you

made your good confession, in the presence of many witnesses,

in the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of

Christ Jesus, who, while testifying before Pontius

Pilate, made the good confession.

I charge you to keep this command without spot or wrinkle

until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will

bring about in His own time. God the blessed and only Ruler,

the King of kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal,

and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or

can see, To him be honor and might forever.

Amen. In all of this and what we've

talked about so far, Paul is not suggesting that having riches is

wrong. In fact, in verses 17 through

19, Paul points us to the goal and the solution for this whole

topic that he's addressing. Verses 17 through 19 command

those who are rich in this present world not to be

arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth which is so uncertain,

but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with

everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be

rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

In this way they will lay up treasures for themselves as a

firm foundation for the coming age, so they may take hold of

the life that is truly life. The fact that Paul has

instructions for the rich that does not include an exhortation

to stop being rich shows us that the issue is not money or being

rich, but that the issue is the love of money.

He's showing us here that having riches carries with it

incredible responsibilities. We need to recognize that there

are Christians who have become rich as a result of faithfulness

to God and good stewardship, not because of greed or love of

money. And we need to thank these

believers for their example and for their faithfulness.

I believe that these are these are some of them for whom we

need to be thankful, and the ones that demonstrate often the

best workplaces possible. I didn't say perfect.

They're still human, often where employees are genuinely valued

and cared for and compensated fairly, where there is integrity

in the workplace and honesty. These are the people in the

businesses that are abundantly generous and often are the key

reasons why large non for profit organizations and churches with

building projects and ministries are are able to complete their

projects. Without their godly character

and faithful stewardship of God's resources and the

opportunities given to them and their generosity towards others,

many nonprofits and charities would struggle a lot more than

they do. Christian owned businesses

should be the best place places in the world to work.

I really believe that. But the question is, shouldn't

this also include the church? That if you are employed by the

church, it should also be the best place in the world to work?

Maybe you're thinking right now that some businesses enrich

Christians, business owners that you maybe personally know.

Maybe you're thinking of someone and you know that they use their

giving and generosity as a cover up for evil and corruption.

And here's the thing, it's very possible.

It can happen. It does happen to that I say,

may their sins find them out, and may they repent and turn to

God, just like all of us are required to do with the things

that we're responsible for. But don't assume that is always

the case just because they're wealthy.

Each of us is accountable to God for what we have, whether we

have much or little. In North America, generally

speaking, we have so much opportunity for gain.

In fact, there's an aspect that living a godly life of integrity

and honesty actually in a way can lead to financial gain, as

the Apostle Paul confronts in verse 5.

But not in the sense of financial gain for preaching the

gospel. Rather, in the sense that when

believers are determined to be honest in their businesses, to

not lie, to not break their promises, to demonstrate

integrity in both their employee and customer relationships, it

can have the possibility of actually leading to such a good

reputation that they gain more contracts and bids than others

because they are trusted. So in that sense, it can lead to

financial gain. And if it does, and if that is

you, then you are simply required to be faithful with

that too. We're called to faithfulness.

Here are the Here are Paul's instructions for all those who

are rich. But hang on a second here before

I continue. Some of you just thought to

yourself, oh, this doesn't apply to me.

I think it does. I think we're actually all rich.

I think the global stats show that if your household income is

above, what is it now? Is it like $35,000 or something

like that? If your household income is

above that, you are in the top 2% income earners in the world.

Like it's crazy. And, and on a on a global level,

we are all rich. So Paul's instructions apply to

all of us here. His first one, he says, don't be

arrogant. Often, but far from always, rich

people can act arrogantly because they think they've

arrived at a higher classification of humanity or

social status. They can have an attitude of

having arrived or feeling better about themselves than others

putting themselves over others. The Apostle Paul says very

clearly, do not be arrogant. Secondly, he says don't put your

hope and wealth. It is very uncertain.

We have not been given any promises of material wealth in

this world from God. Wealth can disappear in the

blink of an eye. As I'm sure many of you have

discovered. When we put our hope and wealth,

we are dangerously close to idol worship, if not already there.

It's a form of identity that leads to idolatry.

So the question is, where is our identity?

What is our identity then? Thirdly, Paul says put your hope

in God. Why?

Because he richly provides for us.

He is our source. Unlike riches, He is not

uncertain. He won't grow wings and fly away

when the markets change. We can put our complete hope in

Him because he does not fluctuate like the markets.

When God is our hope and we rightly look to Him to provide

for us, it is then that we can experience enjoyment of the

things that God has provided for us.

And yes, the Scripture tells us for our enjoyment what an

awesome thing, whether we have much or little.

Then fourthly, he says command them.

Paul instructs in verse 14. What he instructs in verse 14 is

not only a suggestion, it's a command.

Here is what we are all commanded to do, whether we have

much or little. Be generous.

Share what we have with others. Be rich in good deeds.

Everyone, even those who do not have material resources or

wealth, can be rich in some way, particularly in good deeds.

And no matter how much a little we have, we all have something

that we can share with others. Generosity in helping the poor

are our major themes in Scripture.

Not they're not mentioned only a few times.

In fact, in the Psalms and Proverbs we find over and over

again that those who are unwilling to be generous or to

help the poor, we are told that they are taunting God.

Another place in Proverbs that says anyone who turns a deaf ear

to the poor God will turn a deaf ear to them.

The ultimate goal of all of this is what we find in verse 19.

Living like this leads to a life that is truly life, not some

counterfeit version of life. A life that has encountered the

gospel of Jesus Christ, where our sins are forgiven and where

we have been redeemed. This word that redeemed that's

used here in this passage and in Ephesians that I read before and

many other places is literally the root Greek word of it of it

is a financial term. It it's a money word.

It means to buy back. God has redeemed us and bought

us back. So our lives should be a

reflection of that, a posture of Thanksgiving and worship, a life

built on the firm foundation of Christ that leads to a rich

relationship with God. Taste and see that the Lord is

good. Delight yourself on the Lord and

He will give you the desires of our of your heart.

So the question is, what are our desires and what do we delight

in? Mostly I want to just end by

leaving you with some take home points that will help us keep

our eyes focused on the goodness of God and help us live in a way

that demonstrates that faith and finances are not incompatible

#1. Remember the source.

We need to remember the source. That's the number one thing.

As we read before from First Chronicles chapter 29 in David's

1 Chronicles 29 · chapter mention

prayer, we need to remember the source and how.

What is a good way to remember the source, practically

speaking? I'm glad you asked.

Thank you #2 It's tithing. It's the biblical principle of

giving of our first fruits, the 1st 10% of our income back to

God. Bring it to the temple as an act

of worship. This is all over the Old

Testament. And in the New Testament, Jesus

addresses it. And I forgot to write down the

the passage, but I believe it's in Matthew.

He addresses it. And he says you should not

neglect the former and you should still do the latter.

He's talking there about giving. He's addressing the Pharisees.

He's addressing legalism where they are being inconsistent.

And he talks there about that. What was done in the old should

not be neglected, but you should still do.

You should still be generous, and you should still give.

And I regret that I didn't write that passage down.

Giving it the first 10% of income is an act of worship.

It reminds Us Weekly or monthly that God is our source.

It helps us to not divide our worship in our minds and in our

hearts. It reminds us that God is the

source of all things. God instructs it for our good.

So I suggest we should obey. Margaret and I have made this a

principle from day one of our marriage.

And we have never gone through a season where we were not able to

pay the bills or have gone hungry.

And we have gone through various seasons of having very little,

but also seasons of having much. And God has been faithful in all

of it #3 plan, make a budget, plan for big purchases, for

retirement. Planning is a biblical

principle. We need to plan to give.

Planning leads to being a cheerful giver as God desires

from us, as the apostle Paul addresses to the Corinthian

church in the book of Second Corinthians, to plan to give.

Here's the thing. Some people say they don't plan

because money doesn't control them.

Wow, I beg to differ. I think that not planning

usually leads to money controlling us because when

there's no plan, money can disappear and all of a sudden we

find ourselves in so much debt or chasing after ways to pay our

debt. And it's usually because there

was no plan. And then my next one before I

reveal it, this next point that I'm going to give you is earth

shattering. If I if you apply this next

point, it's pretty much 100% guarantee to financial success.

Do you want to see it? Are you ready for this?

Go ahead and display it. Isn't that incredible?

Spend less than you earn. A very simple financial

principle that unfortunately many of us have been guilty of.

But it's powerful. And then #5 be generous.

This is what we are called to do.

It's a command. We are commanded to be generous.

Let's pray, Heavenly Father, and all these things, we come to

you, and we recognize, Lord, that You are our source.

But Lord, in that recognition, we also realize that we are so

often guilty of not trusting You.

We have trusted You, hopefully for our salvation.

And for those who haven't, I pray that they will.

But then somehow we forget to trust You that You will provide

for us. And somehow we put this division

in our hearts and minds between faith and finances.

Father, we pray for your forgiveness.

Or we pray that how we use finances would be an extension

of our worship to you and our relationship with You, realizing

that you are the source of all things.

We love you, we thank you in Jesus name, Amen.