Life Long Trust | Connect Class 4

Hey, what up?

It's Mark Carter.

I'm the pastor of Fierce Church.

Welcome to our podcast.

I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.

I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.

Enjoy the message.

Hey everybody, pastor Mark, welcome back to the Connect Class series.

Hey guys, we've been at this.

This is the fourth week.

Now there's only one week left after this week and I just want to congratulate you.

Thank you so much for being a part of this.

For those of you who've been here the whole time, I'm just so proud of my people.

Man.

I know it was a little bit scary for folks to get around tables, but you have done it so well.

You've been so interactive.

I'm loving what I'm seeing God do in our church.

Today we're going to be talking about money and some would ask why are you talking about money?

Well, this whole series is about getting to know how fierce things and what the culture is and how we do things.

But one way that you could think about it is Jesus talked a lot about money because he knows money affects people's hearts.

You know this.

You deal with money every day, every week, even though we don't talk about it much, we're all thinking about it and Jesus cares what we're thinking about it and how we're feeling about it, and he has things to say about it.

He wants to disciple us into thinking about it the way he thinks about it.

What I want to encourage you to do is remain open.

You probably have things that five years ago you thought differently than you do right now, because we're all on a journey, we're all growing and you've arrived at some.

You rethought some stuff and you arrived at some new conclusions.

Possibly that might happen during this money talk.

Just be open At the same time.

Everybody.

Have grace for everybody, even at your tables.

We're not going to be real dogmatic about this.

Everyone's on their journey and so just be open.

People are where they are.

Let the spirit of God stir people and teach people and help people along.

Okay, let's take a pause on the money stuff, because I got two things to tell you.

First, next weekend we're going to be inviting people to become members of the church.

Some people ask hey, how do you become a member?

Here we call members owners, or calling it going all in or becoming an all-in owner, and really it's just saying, hey, this is my church.

So if you ever drive away and you're like, oh, that's a place I sometimes go, you probably aren't ready to be an owner.

If you're someone who says that's my church, if you get excited about coming, you're like I would if someone started to talk bad about Fierce.

I would probably get a little bit mad Then it then it probably is your church and you're ready to go all in.

It's not like a binding contract or anything.

It's just you telling the church, telling myself, telling the elders hey, I'm here, just so you know I'm here.

So we will talk more about that next week.

Speaking of owners, I want to invite all the owners to a 5 pm Zoom call.

Next Sunday night, 5 Central.

We're going to be affirming an elder candidate, bill Callas.

He's been candidating now for a year and a half.

We've never had anybody candidate that long, and it's not that he needed that long, it's just that we haven't had an opportunity to affirm him.

What happens when someone is candidating to become an elder?

They hang out with the elder team a lot.

We go to different difficult stuff that's going on in the church.

Together we make decisions, we're looking at budgets and all kinds of stuff, and we're doing it together.

But we're really getting to know this candidate, getting to know their walk, getting to know how they think and the kinds of things that they would do and say.

And I would tell you the elders are all in on Bill.

But there's still a chance.

You've probably seen on some movie somewhere someone says speak now or forever, hold your peace about a wedding.

Well, this is about the church.

We're saying speak now or forever, hold your peace about a wedding.

Well, this is about the church.

We're saying speak now or forever, hold your peace about Bill being one of the elders for the next two years.

So, no pressure, you do not have to be there.

But if that's something you care about and you wanna be a part of, it's gonna be friendly, it's gonna be Q&A and just kind of talking together.

We'll put a link on the website it might already be there and you'll be able to Click on that link and go straight to the Zoom call next Sunday at 5 pm.

Okay, we'll do breakouts in just a minute, but let's talk about some money ideas really fast.

God asks His people to tithe to teach them to trust.

He asks His people to tithe to teach them to trust.

Deuteronomy 14.23 says the purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.

So God asks for a tithe.

A tithe means a 10th part, that means 10% of your income.

He asks it of his people.

This is important.

He doesn't ask the government, he doesn't ask your neighbor that doesn't know or care about the things of Jesus.

He asks you if you're a Christ follower.

It is our responsibility to own.

He has things he wants to do in the planet, but also in our hearts, and he says I'm putting this on my people, it's not somebody else's problem.

And he teaches us.

Teaching can take a long time, man.

It's a lifelong lesson.

Sometimes we can be very generous and we're very kind of like open-handed with our finances, and then we can go into a different season where we're kind of closed-fisted and we're getting cold and we're just maybe we didn't even notice it was happening, but now we're a little bit more cold and not so open to being generous.

Either way, god is a patient teacher and he teaches us to trust.

And that's really what is all about trust.

Hey, I want to encourage everybody.

Even if you're a non-Christian, I think you're still going to get value out of this talk.

Managing resources well adds a lot of joy to life.

Adds a lot of joy to life.

So let's start with number one.

Money is for doing good.

Money is for doing good If we can avoid some of the pitfalls and there are pitfalls that come with money.

Money can make life a lot easier.

There's a lot that can go really well when we are managing money well, but we can't forget the purpose of money.

The purpose is to do good.

That doesn't mean that we our purpose is to feel good about people or things.

Our purpose is to do good things with money, meaning we cause positive things to happen for other people on the planet.

We don't just post, we don't just thoughts and prayers.

We actually do stuff with our resources to help people.

And so one of the questions that I want everyone to be asking is, as far as how much time I've got left on this planet, how much good can I do with the money that I have?

How much good can I do with the money that I have?

I want you to imagine with me.

Okay, I'll tell you a little story.

Let's imagine that you are just waking up and you seem to be in some kind of like really nice.

I don't know if it's a hotel room, maybe it's a condominium.

You're like in a room but there's other rooms and, man, it's just really nice.

And you look over to your left as you wake up and you see this little note and it says I'm so glad you could come and get some rest.

Much of what is in here has been picked out for you and you're welcome to use any of it.

And as you look around the place, you're like, wow, I do really dig this place.

It seems like almost some of this was designed for me.

I love the furnishings and, oh, there's a little basket with a lot of my favorite candies and food.

And wow, I mean, I really am digging this place.

You look at the TV and you're like, oh, I love that and the fireplace.

And you just can't even believe someone would do all this for you.

You can't really remember how you got here.

You don't know who this is that has done this for you, but you really dig it.

In fact, you like it so much that for a little while you begin to think, wow, this is mine.

But then there's a little voice.

That's not right.

This isn't mine.

Somebody brought me here and they're showing me all this stuff.

They're letting me use it, but it's definitely not mine.

Well, you're enjoying it so much that time seems to go by quickly.

In fact, it feels like it's been almost a week or something and you've just kind of been entranced with all this stuff, enjoying it, running around in the bathrobes, rolling around in the sheet, everything you would do.

You're there and you realize, gosh, I don't even know, I haven't even been outside.

And so you go, let me find the door.

And you go and you find what seems like the door, and then you see this on a little note, just next to the door.

When I found you, you were bruised, bloody, poor and unconscious.

You crack open the door and you peer out into the hall and you're surprised to see there's doctors and nurses running back and forth, there's people walking holding IV things, there's folks who are being carted off in wheelchairs and you're like, oh, my word, this is a hospital.

I am in a hospital.

This whole time I've been in a place of healing.

I thought maybe all this stuff was for me, but it looks like I'm just one of the people that is being healed here.

You turn around and you see the closet right behind you and hanging on the hook is what seems like doctor's scrubs, but it's got your name embroidered right here and there's also another little note.

And this is what it says Hope you're feeling better.

It is a delight to have you here and provide this for you.

Please use everything in here to help people.

Please use everything in here to help people, and you realize you've been assigned to be part of the hospital staff.

Everything you've got is not really for you you got to use it, you got to get healed by it but it's really for other people.

This is a perfect picture of the gospel.

See, jesus finds us, and sometimes we don't even know how he found us, but he finds us bruised and battered and beat up and bloody and he brings us in and he begins to heal us with his forgiveness.

He sends us things, really nice things.

You've got things in your life that he picked out just for you.

He's like oh, they're gonna love this, and he gives it to you.

He even brings you people.

He might've even brought you to a great church.

He might've brought you to Fierce and he says I'm going to heal them there.

But as you're being healed and as you're being restored, stuff it's my joy for you to have and I love for you to get healed Just remember it isn't just for you, it's mine.

I gave it to you to heal others.

And this is so important.

Guys, we've got to understand this paradigm.

See, if we think it's ours, that's going to radically change how we interact with this stuff.

If we think it was mercy that even got it to us and we just have the privilege of having it and we even get the privilege of giving it to others at the will of the one who gave it to us.

Guys, that is the gospel.

We're freely forgiven by Jesus Christ.

But after we're forgiven out of devotion, we begin to devote our stuff to his purposes.

God has made all of us managers of his money, of everything you've got, managers of his money, of everything you've got, and he wants us to always be about the business of doing good.

Why do you have all that stuff?

Why do you have so doggone much To do good with it?

That's why it's not just to fill up accounts, it's to do good.

So let me ask you this question Do you want to change, foster change in the world?

Do you want more emotional health in your life, feeling good about what you're doing in this world when you lay your head down?

Listen to what Micah says in Micah 6.8.

He has shown you, o mortal, what is good and what does the Lord require of you To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Friends, let's use our money to make things better.

Let's use our money to make things better.

There's a few ways you can do that.

One just happens to be today.

We are doing a quick offering for our teenagers.

They're going on this trip, the expedition.

It's really cool.

It's a discipleship opportunity.

They're going to be with leaders, they're going to be with other students.

They're going to be growing in the Lord.

I was there last year.

It was super dope, super awesome.

If the Spirit so compels, you feel free to give to that offering.

Today.

We're trying to raise $5,000 today.

They just need a little bit more to get them over the hump.

But that's not the only application.

It's not just like if the church is doing some kind of an offering, go, there might be impulses that we feel right here and it's just a little like, give that away.

Give that away, and we'll be like, oh, that's a good idea.

No, I can't do that.

No, I'll wait and see.

And, my friends, let's not wait and see any longer.

God wants us to be good managers, but he also wants us to be open-handed and he wants us to do good with the stuff we've been given.

Amen, okay, so money is for the purpose of doing good.

And number two, money is a test.

Okay, so the scripture we're going to go to.

The people of God have come back into the land.

They have rebuilt the temple.

God had sent them back to create a name for himself, to reestablish them as a nation, and they were doing really good for a little while and then they got sidetracked, as we so often do.

They had the priorities right.

They're going to do what God wanted them to do, but after a time, you know stuff comes up and they've got to put a new addition onto the house and you know there's new appliances that are going out, and so they've got to work a little more and they've got to get stuff done and they just start to miss out on what they were originally supposed to be doing, and it wasn't even just them.

See their descendants it was kind of passed on for the next 80 years and even their descendants.

They start right, like we sometimes do.

We get really on fire, get really excited, but then, you know, we kind of lose steam and other distractions come up and we get into those and we start to miss the very thing that we were sent back into the land to do.

And so God sends Malachi to this latter generation.

He says will a mere mortal rob God?

Yet you rob me.

But you ask how are we robbing you In tithes and offerings?

You're under a curse, your whole nation, because you're robbing me.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.

Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there's not enough room to store it.

God says hey guys, you were doing really good, but now you're getting off track, you're getting sidetracked and you're missing what I sent you to do.

And here's the problem.

The problem is you're getting really comfortable and your money is not even going as far as it used to because I'm causing it not to you ever have any of these times where you feel like man, it doesn't matter what I do, I just can't get ahead.

I keep trying and trying and yet it's like there's a hole in my purse, just like the Lord says See their ancestors, this is what had happened when they were first starting to build the temple.

The prophet said back then you have planted much but harvested little.

You eat but never have enough.

You drink but never have your fill.

You put on clothes but you're not warm.

You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it.

This is what the Lord Almighty says Give careful thought to your ways.

Go up to the mountains and bring down timber and build my house so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored.

There's power, oh, there's power in a God first life.

There's power in a God first life, but here's the catch there's also drain in a God second life.

It's not.

It's not neutral.

He says dude, I'll extra give you power if you put me first.

But if you don't put me first and you're mine, I'm going to begin to.

I'm just going to put a drain in your bank account.

I'm just going to install it at the bottom and you're not going to go.

Why is this not going farther?

And God says because I do not deserve to be number two, I deserve to be number one.

Paul warns us about this First.

Timothy six, 9.

See, money is for good guys, but there's also a lot of dangers that come with it.

But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

There's a lot of foolish things that come along because people, they want money the most.

It's not that they don't want God at all, they just want money the most.

And so that's what life becomes about.

And many of us I mean guys, here's the I know by our demographics here.

I know where we live.

Most of us.

I don't know about everybody online, but I know where we are.

And for most of us, compared to the rest of the world, you're doing pretty doggone good.

You don't need a message about like, hey man, you do need a message.

God's going to come through for you.

Yes, that's true, but most of the time we need hey man, you need to be a little bit more generous with all God has given you.

Money fights for a heart.

It fights God.

It wants to replace God in our hearts.

Money asks for your time.

Money asks for your energy.

Money gives you an appetite for things that will not satisfy.

Have you noticed that as soon as you get the thing, it's like three hours, man, and then you're like well, what else we got around here?

Because money can't keep any of its promises.

All it can do is suggest that there's something else that you need to truly be happy instead of.

Well, I get my happiness from God and then he helps me use all of his stuff and enjoy a lot of it, but use it for his purposes.

The Puritans used to say it like this.

They said money puts a veil in between you and God.

Money.

Now see, I can see you guys through this kind of.

I can see you kind of, and people will say well, you know, carter, I can make money a giant priority in my life and I can still discern what God is doing and I can see him.

Well, I think you can.

I think you can just like this you can see the outline of what he's doing.

But if you want to see in 3D precious.

If you want to see in high def, if you want to see in high def, if you want to see in living color, if you want to see in 8K.

It's not that you have to get rid of your money.

It means God wants to be first and it's a test.

Will you do it?

And that's where we get the fierce code you can't out.

Give God Hear what he said.

He said see, if I won't throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing, there will not be room enough to store it.

He said you don't even have room for what I will do for you.

But the test is will you trust me with a tithe by giving to me first?

That's the test.

That's the test.

And someone would say well, carter, you know that's easy for you to say because you're a pastor and it's going to go to your church.

So that's real convenient, isn't it?

And I get that dude Like yeah, that's true, that makes sense.

Here's the challenge I would give anybody.

How about this?

If that really is a sticky point for you, okay, give to another church for three months and when you see God start to blow your mind with how he's blessing your finances, then remember who taught you that.

Okay, come on back here, go ahead and do that and some would say well, carter, you know what.

10%, though, man, that's just a lot.

Here's what I found Start with what you got, just start wherever you are.

Start with what you can do, and God will start to give you more so you can do more with it.

You can trust him, man.

He's super gracious and super kind.

He just wants to see a heart that will start and he wants open hands.

Here's another other thing.

The Puritans said they're really smart.

They get a bad rap a lot, especially the English ones.

They said we should wear our money not close to our heart, like my clothes here, like you'd have it'd be.

It's not, it'd be hard, but it'd be harder than just taking off my coat.

If I wanted to take it off, money should be like the outer coat, like yes, it's here, I'm thankful I've got it, but I can super quick get it off and give it away to somebody else because I'm not holding tightly to it.

Hold your money, you can have it, dude, just don't put it like right here.

Have it, just hold it loosely so you can give it away.

Number three money is a trust.

Money is a trust.

That's where we started.

We said the purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives or to trust him.

The Bible teaches that even wise financial principles, even if they'll make you a ton of money, if they're separated from the heart of God, of active faith and trust in him and him alone, we're not really doing it the way that he wants.

We conflate success and having a lot of money.

That's how it works here, right, like if you want more success, you need to get more money, and if you want more money, you're going to need to get more success.

And that does work that way down here sometimes.

But it's not the way God works.

God works the way that it's faithfulness to his ultimate purposes, and Jesus wants us to think critically about this.

So he tells us the parable of the shrewd manager.

This is a little bit of a complex parable but to simplify it greatly, there is a man who figures out.

Jesus says that he's going to be let go.

You guys have probably had this, some of you.

You've been at work somewhere and you hear down the line they're going to let some folks go and you're like, oh crap, I hope it's not me.

This guy knew it was him.

He's going to be let go, but for a brief, limited time.

He still has access to all his employer's contacts, he still has access to all the stuff, and so he has an idea.

He's like you know what I'll do.

I will do favors for all these clients so that when I am let go, they'll do me favors, maybe they'll hire me, Maybe they'll give me a place to stay, and so that's exactly what he does.

And some get confused because it seems like Jesus is applauding him for deception.

Jesus is applauding him, but not for deception.

He's applauding him for using this brief period of time very wisely, and that's how we're supposed to act as well.

Jesus sums it up here's the point Luke 16, 9.

Here's the lesson Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends.

Then, when your possessions are gone, ie when you die, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you into an eternal home.

We'll jump back to it in a second.

But just picture this.

Okay, every one of us, you have a limited time and you are going to die.

Back to it in a second.

But just picture this.

Okay, every one of us, you have a limited time and you are going to die.

Congratulations, and you have access to your current resources right now for a limited time and you are going to run out of time.

And Jesus says it's really wise to take what you have right now and invest it in people so that when because some of those people are going to beat you to heaven they're going to die first and you want them, as you're rolling up to the gate, you want them to be like yo.

I've been waiting for you.

See, I got here because you invested.

Let me show you around.

That's what Jesus says would be wise.

Use your time now.

And he says if you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful with large ones.

The little things are the things here on earth.

He says these are little things compared to the big things.

I want to put you in charge of there.

If you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful with large ones.

But if you're dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

And if you're untrustworthy about worldly wealth, that just means the money that we have, all the stuff that we have, it's worldly because it can be used for evil, though it's not always used for evil.

If you're untrustworthy with that little, not really even real riches, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven.

Let's look at some of Jesus's assumptions.

Some of his assumptions are one your life is not over when it's over.

The world tells you to live like this is all there is.

And Jesus says yo, this is not all there is.

Live like something's going to happen, because something is.

Everybody spends eternity somewhere.

And Jesus says you want to leverage now because that's eternal and this is only temporary.

By the way, do you notice that in the last verse, who will trust you with true riches of heaven?

He says the true riches are the riches of heaven.

This is not even real riches.

Can you believe that All the stuff that you have, jesus, is like?

That's like practice riches, that's like training wheels riches that's not even the real stuff.

Jesus, I want to know that you're using that well and if I can trust you to do what I want with that, oh, baby, it's going to pay off when you invest that, because if you prioritize the master's outcomes, he says I can trust you with a lot more there, and there is a very long time.

I want faithfulness in small things and you're not even going to be able to.

You can't even imagine entirely what God wants to put you in charge of If we'll be faithful.

And it's dude, it's open to anybody.

So even if you don't have much money, he's not looking at how much you have.

He's looking at how much of it you invest in him and his kingdom and his people.

So what do we do?

We invest now in what will benefit others now and us later.

We trust and we're faithful with what we have so that Jesus can reward us with more later.

And guess what?

I know that this flies in the face of really the ethic of the world, which wants you to just only focus on what's right here and miss the entire forever that is out right after it.

But, my peeps, jesus is not lying to you.

He's super kind, he super loves you and his heart is.

I want you to have the best possible version of eternity that you possibly can have.

And you're going to get there.

And probably every one of us is going to be like wow, if I'd only just given a little bit more, if I'd only prioritize God's priorities just a little bit more.

Now you won't be sad because you wouldn't have me tripped out how awesome it is, but it'll still be a reality.

What if Carter?

What if I got it wrong, though?

What if I've messed this up at different points in my life?

What if I kind of fell off the wagon?

Hey, I got some great news, man.

Oh great news.

Jesus is super kind.

He takes the penalty for everything we ever did wrong, including that, and he says I love you the way you are.

Why don't you just start now?

And if you fall off the wagon again, start again.

And if you fall off again, start again.

Jesus is only applauding you, my friends.

He's only behind you.

He's not condemning you.

He's not like mad at you for like, wow, are you finally going to get your act together?

No, any little step that you take toward him.

He's like yes, I shed my blood for you, for you to have the best possible version of eternity you can.

I love it when you cooperate with me, so give yourself grace, like Jesus does.

This is a lifelong trust test.

This takes our whole life.

We fall off and we get up.

We fall off and we get up.

For today, I just want to plead with you in Jesus' name, for Jesus' glory and out of love for him.

Get back on and run with everything you got.

Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.

If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being his witness in our generation, check out Fierce Church.

We'd love for you to join us, either digitally or in person.

Also, if you're looking for leadership development related content, don't forget to check out the Fierce Leadership Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts from.

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Whatever challenges you're facing, I know you can make it.

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Thanks again for listening.