Am I Doing Money Right? (North OC)

Speaker: Well good morning everybody.

Good morning.

So great to be here.

Uh, if you don't know me, my name is Maurice Lee and uh, I've got my

beautiful wife, Monica down there.

I've got Caden, who's my firstborn son, and my youngest is actually

at the Coastline Service where we actually normally are for Sundays.

Uh, I want to do a little introduction because I'm not sure if I know

everybody here, if everyone knows me, but we, uh, my wife and I

actually moved to Orange County.

Back in, uh, 2018.

And, uh, that was, uh, actually my, uh, parents had, uh, become

Christians out in the Korean ministry.

So they got baptized back around 20, I believe, I believe it was 2016.

Uh, really incredible miracle.

And, uh, from there, uh, you know, every time we come back for

vacations and stuff, my, my mom and dad were, they're getting older.

So I would be, uh, coming down and seeing my dad sort of.

On the last, literally last legs, like he would be on the walker and

he'd be sort of scooting along.

And my little four foot 11 mom, uh, so he's, my dad was about my height,

about five foot seven, five foot eight.

She'd be, you know, she'd be sort of like watching over him.

And, and we, you know, there was one vacation where I, I was really

getting nervous because he was really unsteady on that walker.

And, uh, from there, uh, I asked my mom, and this was a serious

question, is, mom, uh, what would happen if dad happened to fall?

You know, so that was actually a very real question.

'cause I was like, he's gonna fall.

Like, he could, he could literally just like, totally just fall down any

second, my mind to which, you know, she, she, uh, she, she didn't miss a beat.

She was like, yeah, you know, I'll just leave him on the floor

for like 30 minutes, 45 minutes.

And then, uh, you know, and then.

I mean, seriously, she, she opened up the drawer.

She said, oh, I've got this belt over here, so I'm gonna wrap this belt around

his waist, and then I'm gonna actually pull him up after about 30, 45 minutes.

And so you can imagine, like, I'm, I'm horrified.

She is totally serious.

And I'm like, so what would happen if this five eight.

Guy fell on you.

Right.

And I actually, that was in my mind.

I didn't ask her that, but I can only imagine two people sitting

there laying on the floor.

Okay.

And here we were, we were actually living up in the Bay Area.

I've been up there for many years.

I actually, uh, we, I became a Christian in the 19 hundreds.

So I became a Christian in 1989 as a freshman, so 18 years old.

So, woo-hoo.

Uh, grateful for that.

But anyway, so we, uh, we prayed a lot, as you can imagine.

And, uh, anyway, long story short, my wife prayed, God, you just gotta

tell us what do we need to do?

And he did.

So anyway, so long story, but, uh, we'll, we'll share it at some point.

And we moved down in 2018 and I'm so grateful to be here.

So grateful to be here in Orange County.

So grateful to be able to see folks like, uh, Twan and Koki out here.

Uh, Kenny and Julie of course got Marcel and Karina.

It's awesome.

Uh, really want to share my heart here.

So hopefully, uh, we'll be able to have some great time.

Uh, and I want to thank a special shout out to Lucia who made some incredibly

delicious burritos and that burrito.

So if you can give her a hand, not sure if she does that every

week, but my mom owned three RIAs.

Okay.

So just again, long story, not gonna go into it.

And I can definitely appreciate some delicious Mexican food.

Okay.

So, so that was awesome.

Thank you.

And, uh, very, very grateful for the fact that, you know, you're really welcome

us folks in with some delicious food.

So thank you Lucian.

Um, I, uh, uh, you know, when I think about finances, so my topic and let me

see if I can get the presentation up.

Okay, there we go.

My topic is, am I doing this finances thing right?

Okay.

So, so Marcel actually updated it a little bit.

Am I doing this money thing right?

I think I like that better actually, Marcel, so, okay, am

I doing this money thing right?

So I get the special topic of finances and money.

Alright.

And uh, you know, when I think about finances, what am I most humbling?

And keeping it real flat, embarrassing stories comes to mind.

Okay, so please as family at the dinner table.

Okay.

Please keep it to yourselves, right?

I've been a Christian for maybe like five or six years.

Okay.

Disciple of Jesus after a church service.

One day, one of my good friends, Albert, and, uh, maybe he'll

watch the live stream someday.

And he's, uh, he'll be world famous now.

Albert, I won't mention his last name.

He was a financial in administrator for our area, and he came up to me.

Okay.

So I'm like, Hey, Albert.

Hey, what's going on?

He handed me my contribution check, check stapled to a sheet of paper.

Okay?

So you know something bad may be happening if your contribution check

is stapled to a piece of paper.

Okay?

He looked at me, I looked at him, and then he said.

In probably the most official tone that he could muster up.

Maurice, you can't give checks to the church anymore.

Okay.

Wow.

He went on to explain that the church, the church, the Kingdom

of God had been charged fees for all the checks that I had written.

That ending up ended up bouncing.

And from that point forward, meaning that talk and with that staple check,

he said, I could only give cash.

Okay.

Lemme let.

Let that just settle in.

Disciple of Jesus who can now only give cash.

Wow.

It's a rough moment.

Now for those of you who didn't grow up using checks, I've got a, I've got a pic

picture representation up there for you.

Okay.

Because again, I was born in the 19 hundreds, okay?

Everything is digital these days.

I know it's not a, not an app.

There's no iPhone behind there.

It's a piece of paper.

Okay?

And there's a pen, so I just wanna make sure I included the pen because that's

something else people don't use anymore.

And you write down how much you're gonna give.

And the pay to the order of line is basically where you

know you want to give it to.

So that was where I would write, you know, at that time, you know, San

Francisco Church of Christ, you know, and I write out in, in letters, you

know, and my contribution in the numbers.

And when a check bounces, just to be clear, it means that piece of

paper cannot be turned into any cash.

Okay.

So again, just just to help, help to clarify.

So the person, or in this case, the church who tries to deposit the bad check.

So I'm writing this check, I'm signing that.

My name Maurice Lee, you know, beautiful cursive right hand corner.

So the person who tries to deposit that check.

So I'm giving this check and I'm going, oh, you know, thank you

God for all that you've done.

You know, as we're probably praying for the contribution,

I'm like, ah, here it is.

Okay.

That's coming back to me stapled.

And the church has, has paid a fee because there's no cash.

Like maybe, maybe that was like 20 bucks or 30 bucks or whatever.

There's no, no backing.

So basically it came back and basically as they tried to present

to my bank, the bank said, Nope.

I mean, we know Maurice, but there's no money here.

So you get, you get it back.

Church.

And by the way, we're gonna charge you a fee because you tried to pass this off.

Who is this?

Who is this guy, Maurice?

Anyway, so I just wanna make sure it's really clear.

There you go.

Thank you.

That was me.

You might be thinking, wait, aren't you the one giving the sermon titled,

am I doing this finances thing right.

Hold on.

Or am I doing this money thing right?

Shouldn't you, Maurice, have it all figured out.

And the answer is kind of, I'm standing here today because I had to learn a lot.

God is the most patient and loving parent.

Amen.

And his training has involved some hard discipline, in other words,

allowing me to feel the pain consequences of living the wrong way.

I'm so glad that I can stand here today as somebody.

Who's been changed by God?

It's the bottom line over years, decades, so grateful and as someone who

wants to share what God has taught me.

So please, if you can get your, uh, your, uh, notes out or if you can get your,

your, your, your mental notes, whatever you you choose to use, if you can really

think through the things, hopefully it'll spare you some of these painful lessons.

There's no better way to glorify God than to show just how far he's brought me.

Yep.

Okay, let's move on.

Luke 1610.

It says, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with

much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

Okay.

Point number one, if I'm untrustworthy with little.

I'll be untrustworthy with much, right?

Yeah.

I'm kind of taking the, the, the negative path here, but of course the

positive one is highlighted there.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with very much.

I grew up just spending money.

Hey, if I had some cash, I'd do it.

And remember I grew up in 19 hundreds, so I used cash all the time.

It was in my pocket, in my wallet.

Before I went to the at m, we had ATMs back then, that was it.

I didn't really think about saving or budgeting or any

kind of long-term planning.

I just spent what I had and I remember getting a speeding ticket once.

Okay.

I mean, I may have gotten other speeding tickets, but I remember

this one once, right while driving from the Bay Area to la.

When I presented that ticket to my mom, bless her heart.

She gave me $200.

Okay.

Probably about like $500 now to go back and pay the speeding ticket.

Okay.

She's just like, oh, okay.

Here, here's 200 bucks.

Wow.

That was it.

Exactly.

That was it.

There's no lecture, no punishment, no accountability.

There it is.

Speeding.

Ticket.

Just money to make the problem disappear.

Poof, right?

I, all I had to do is drive up to where I got the speeding ticket.

Here we go.

Here's the cash.

See ya.

Were my actions trustworthy?

Not really

dishonest.

Well, maybe not on the surface, but here's the thing.

I broke the law.

I.

Never really owned up to it.

I just moved on like it wasn't a big deal.

Here's the cash.

And on this point, there's a very practical takeaway here.

Think about this.

How trustworthy have you been with little things, unquote little things because

sometimes we think the little things are not so little, and sometimes we think

the big things are very little, right?

It doesn't have to be a lot of money.

God is looking at your character and if the Holy Spirit or your conscience

right now are highlighting areas where you've been sloppy, careless,

or even dishonest, my encouragement to you is please pray about it.

Then bring someone in, not for shame, but for accountability.

Because accountability is how we grow.

And by the way, if you've gotten to a place where you don't even hear the

Holy Spirit anymore about this stuff, that might be the sign you need to slow

down and start listening to him again.

Okay, next point.

Luke 1611, it says, so if you have not been trustworthy in handling

worldly wealth, who will trust you?

With true riches again.

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who

will trust you with true riches?

Point number two.

If I want true riches, I must be trustworthy with worldly wealth.

It's a direct connection.

It's direct.

Now let's go back to that bounce check story.

Okay.

That's what it looks like, by the way.

Returned insufficient funds.

Okay.

So basically you can imagine that thing stapled to a piece of paper, right?

And I'm still standing there looking at Albert.

And at that time it's just so happened that I was leading a singles ministry

studying the Bible with people.

And trying to help others grow in their faith.

Praying for you, brother.

Praying.

Praying for you, sister.

I'm gonna help you to know God.

Sounds good.

Right?

But behind the scenes, that's a junk that was dealing with insufficient funds.

It's called NSF, by the way.

Again, another, another Ackerman.

Hopefully you'll never have to hear.

I was totally untrustworthy when it came to my finances.

I want to experience all the good stuff of ministry, fruit growth, transformation,

all those awesome words, right?

True riches.

But my financial life told a totally different story.

I was saying one thing and living another.

It's called hypocrisy, right?

Yes.

There's that saying, what you do speaks so loudly.

I can't hear what you're saying.

Right.

That was me.

I couldn't see how my personal financial chaos was affecting the

very people I was trying to help.

Yeah.

And then I watched as my ministry began to fall apart.

Interesting.

Right.

People became really discouraged.

Some walked away, some turned to unhealthy habits just to cope.

Interesting, and I was completely blind to how my personal example

or lack of one was part, or should I say the root of the problem.

My life wasn't bearing good fruit.

I was trying to lead spiritually, but my financial unfaithfulness

was like rotting fruit.

It didn't match the message.

And when our life doesn't line up with our words, people notice,

they may not say it out loud.

I mean, I don't think I was waving this, this, this check around that day.

I think I probably put it in my pocket or stuck it in my bag.

They may not say it out loud, but they feel the disconnect

and it impacts their faith too.

Here's a practical takeaway.

Where are your finances right now?

Where's, how's the money thing going?

Do you have any unpaid taxes, old debts, unsettled promises?

It's easy to call that just life and move on.

But what if these things are signals that something deeper needs to be addressed?

Right.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's about guilt.

Please don't take it the wrong way.

It's about obtaining that life that's blessed with true riches.

Amen.

That's the promise.

If we keep ignoring these warning signals, they will build up and over

time they are shaping who we are.

Not just financially, but spiritually.

Sometimes we don't change because we feel stuck, ashamed, or think it's too late.

But here's the good news, right?

God's not looking to shame us, not the point he's inviting us, to be honest,

to bring it into the light, to let 'em walk with us through it to help us.

Because every time we push off responsibility, we're not just hurting

ourselves, we're breaking trust with the one who has given us so much.

So talk to somebody.

Get advice, not because you're a failure, but because you are ready to grow.

To grow.

Let this be the moment where you say God.

I don't wanna live this way anymore.

I want my life to reflect your heartened character.

Please help me.

Okay, next point.

Luke 1612, it says, and if you have not been trustworthy with

someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?

Yeah.

Point number three, how you treat someone else's property shows whether

you can be trusted with your own.

Okay, so this next, uh, slide here,

I'm going to, I'm gonna share about a beautiful car.

So this is another cringe-worthy story here,

and as I'm looking at this, I'm going, wow.

What a, what a, an awesome, awesome car.

My parents, as you might have guessed by now, spoiled me like crazy, okay?

They meant well.

I'm so grateful for them.

They had lived through war hardship in Korea and their native

land didn't want their kids to experience the same struggle.

So they're like, if you want some money, if you want some things, we got it.

We're giving it to you.

Just ask.

Sometimes I didn't even have to ask.

They're like, here, here it is.

So when I graduated college, they bought me a brand new black Honda Accord.

Okay?

Woo hoo.

What you see is this one's not black.

I couldn't find a nice looking black one, but you can see

the alloy wheels, you know?

Wow.

Right.

Nice.

Woo hoo.

For those who are car buffs, vtech engine, vtech.

Yeah, Vicky, you look it up.

For those that don't know what that means,

whole thing.

Look at that thing.

Wow.

It's got a little, you know, little faded out there in the middle.

I think it was like from a magazine.

We don't have those anymore either.

You know what I did with that poor, poor car?

Not just physically.

Though, yes, there was a big dent that was rusting.

The back.

The trunk, right?

So you can imagine a big dent.

I wrecked.

It wasn't an accident.

I was the accident.

The poor car happened to get the wrong owner.

That was me, Maurice Lee.

I drove around on a spare, you know, one little, I don't know.

Again, some, some of you made the little spare donut tire.

Actually, it says on the tire you must not drive more than 50 miles on this tire.

I had that thing on the back of my car driving on it probably for

like hundreds of miles, hundreds.

Okay.

I mean, people were probably wondering at that point, what is this guy doing?

What's going, in fact, somebody helped me out.

And bought me a tire to put on that thing.

Okay, so just another, another long story.

I left fast food drinks in the little cup holder in the middle.

So long the plastic cups melted

and there was actual liquid sitting in the holder for who knows how long.

Okay?

Okay.

I want you to picture this guys.

I'm just driving around and you're getting in my car.

Here, I'll give you a ride.

And you look in the middle and you're like, there's liquid in there.

It's like an inch of, I don't know what that stuff was.

Maybe like a Dr.

Pepper at one point.

You know what?

That card became a reflection of my character, how I treated that gift.

Revealed how careless, ungrateful, and self-centered I was at the time.

Still can be.

But the point is, is that that was like a living representation of it and you,

and please don't catch a ride in my car.

'cause it probably smelled as well that I didn't even realize.

I wasn't thinking like a steward.

I was acting like it was mine to waste.

That's the real issue.

It wasn't about the car.

It was about what was going on inside of my heart.

This was a gift.

Look at this thing.

The gift.

What a blessing, right?

I didn't treat it like one.

Instead, I treat it like it didn't matter.

Practical takeaway.

What's God entrusted to you?

Rented apartment, job, car.

Your church, your relationships.

These may not be technically be yours, but how you treat them says

something about your heart, right?

This isn't about being perfect or trying to impress God, okay?

Please don't take it the wrong way.

It's about living it a way that reflects God's heart.

When we take what he's given us and treat with care, respect, and gratitude,

even in the small things we're saying to him, God, I want to honor you.

I want to grow.

I want my life to match what I say I believe.

Yeah.

And if you realize you haven't been doing that, don't run to shame again.

Don't run to shame.

Yep.

Run to grace.

That's called unmerited favor, right?

God isn't condemning you.

He's calling you.

He's calling us.

This is about invitation, not condemnation.

Let it be a moment where you say, God, I don't want to live with a divided heart.

I wanna be someone you can trust.

Help me to grow into that.

Amen.

Okay, finally, it says, Luke 16, 13 to 15.

It says, no one can serve two masters.

Either you'll hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted

to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

The Pharisees who loved money hurt all this and were sneering at Jesus.

He said to them, you're the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of

others, but God knows your hearts.

What people value highly is detestable.

In God's sight.

Final point, can't serve both God and money.

Period.

That's it.

Enough said, right?

It's very simple.

Let's just be honest here.

I've had to come to terms with the fact that in my sinful nature,

okay, I love money actually.

I love it.

Not just for what it buys, but for the illusion of control,

security, and identity it offers.

I used to tell myself that checking my bank account five

times a day was responsible.

I'm just gonna check it again.

Okay.

Maybe I can check it again.

I'll check it again.

But truthfully, it was probably more greed,

more about fear.

I wanted to feel safe.

I wanted to feel in control.

But Jesus said, God knows your heart.

So you can either take this as a really encouraging statement or

it's gonna be sort of disturbing.

Like, oh, bad God.

Oh God knows my heart.

Whoa.

Oh, you can go.

Oh, that's awesome.

Thank you, God.

You know, he sees past excuses and rationalizations and because.

He loves us.

He lets us come face to face with those deeper truths.

Not to condemn us, but to free us.

His goal isn't punishment, it's transformation.

He wants our hearts.

That's why we're all here.

Not to just sit there and have you feel guilty and shamed and

just end up run to run right now.

Please pray for me.

Actually, I'm done saying like right now, but please pray for me because

my job situation is uncertain.

I'm on a contract, may end soon.

My wife and I recently talked about what will give for our own

special admissions contribution.

If you looked at it through a purely practical lens, you'd probably say we

should pull back, say, protect ourselves.

In other words.

I'm sort of going month to month in terms of whether my job is gonna end or not.

I'm not sure.

But we're not living for the practical, we're living for God, and we've come to

realize this isn't just about a number or a contribution, it's about our hearts.

This is a moment where we get to say, God, we trust you.

We want to live in a way that honors you.

Not just with our words, but with our choices.

So if you're feeling that same tension, right, that same conflict between

what makes sense and what fails, call what faith calls you to do.

Don't push it down, please don't push it down, lean into it.

We're having to, we not sure whether I'm gonna have a job necessarily in

another couple months, but guess what?

Special missions contribution.

And by the way, our weekly contribution week to week.

They're all happening, right?

The discomfort that we're feeling might be the Holy Spirit

showing you where freedom begins.

Not to guilt you, but to awaken you because money

will never satisfy your soul.

But God will, and I know my wife and I, we just had to sort of pray

through this and work it out, but we're given and I think the point.

Really that God is really calling us to is to trust in him more than ever before.

Never been in this position, but thank God that we're able to really

make decisions and have God help us to be able to do the right thing.

Final scripture here in one Timothy six, nine to 10

says, those who wanna get rich fall into temptation and a trap, and to

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 wonder from the faith and pierced

themselves with many griefs.

So in conclusion, am I doing this finance this thing, right?

Am I doing this money thing right?

Maybe the better question is, does my financial life reflect the heart

of someone who walks with God?

Because this isn't just about tithing or budgeting or generosity,

it's about whether our character.

Lines up with a calling God has placed on our lives.

On my life.

Jesus said that a good tree produces good fruit.

Our financial choices, big or small, are some of that fruit.

They show whether we can be trusted.

They reveal whether we're building on faith or fear, whether we worship

God Almighty or the Almighty dollar in one of the wealthiest and most

religious counties in the country.

That's Orange County.

The issue is.

Isn't just about doing the right things.

I know that's a topic talking about doing by doing it right, but I want

to extend that further to it's about being the kind of people who want

our God in every part of our lives.

So yes, I.

Let's check our bank accounts and budgets in order to be responsible, but more

importantly, let's check our hearts.

Are we living like stewards or owners?

Are we using money as a tool or serving it as a master?

Are we willing to let God reshape the way we think about giving,

earning, saving, and spending?

This is your invitation, not to shame, but to freedom.

Not to pressure, but to peace.

God doesn't just want your money.

He wants your heart because when he has your heart,

everything else falls into place.

Yeah, that's when your finances start to reflect real faith, and

that's when the deep work begins.

When your heart is shaped, your character is formed and hope begins

to rise because faithfulness in finances isn't just about money or

things, it's about transformation.

It shapes who we are, and in that refining process, we don't just find peace.

We find the kind of hope that sustains us.

Yeah,

and the scripture says, not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we

know that suffering produces perseverance.

Perseverance, character and character.

Hope and hope does not put us shame because God's love has

been poured into our hearts.

Through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

That's the journey.

It's not shame, not guilt, but perseverance, suffering,

perseverance, character hope.

I'm not standing here because I've mastered all these perfectly.

I'm standing here because I've been changed by God.

God has worked through my heart, through the failures, struggles, and fears.

And when I finally started running this area of my life to God, that's

when the real transformation began.

When our hearts are aligned with God in this way, even in something

as everyday and vulnerable as finances, we become living proof

that he really does change people.

That's not just a testimony about money, that's a testimony

about God's unmerited favor.

It's called grace.

Thank you.