Money Matters: Seek First - Archie Callahan

0.000000 5.760000 Hey, bridge. We begin a brand new series today called Money Matters. It's going to last

5.760000 12.560000 three weeks. Today, we're going to talk about seek first aligning our priorities. We're

12.560000 20.280000 so excited about what God's doing here at Bridge Church. We're one church, three campuses,

20.280000 25.360000 God's moving by His mighty power. We're excited about what God's doing in North Carolina.

25.360000 31.600000 Yeah, we're getting ready to build a building in North Carolina. We're raising the needed funds.

31.600000 37.680000 And we wanted to give you a sneak preview of what that building is going to look like on our 16

37.680000 42.400000 acres of land down in Kertak County. Check out this video right now.

42.400000 50.480000 Doesn't that look great? Man, we're excited about what God's doing in Kertak County.

51.200000 59.120000 Provision for the vision. We need to align our priorities with God. Let's look at Proverbs chapter 3

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

59.120000 67.120000 verses 9 through 10. It says, "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops,

67.120000 73.920000 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."

73.920000 79.520000 Let's go to Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 in the New Testament, which is a part of the sermon

Matthew 6:33

79.520000 87.360000 on the mount that Jesus preached. He said this, "But seek first the kingdom and His righteousness,

87.360000 94.880000 and all these things will be given to you as well." Did you know when we prioritize God in our lives,

94.880000 105.920000 He takes care of every need, including our finances. God provides for His children. See,

105.920000 114.160000 in life, oftentimes, we worry about finances. We worry about provision. But I believe we need to stop

114.160000 123.840000 worrying and trust God. Why worry? Put God first. See, worry attacks us all. Worry can suck the life

123.840000 131.200000 out of you. It can suck the life out of life. I remember one time sitting in a college class and

131.200000 139.040000 I had my own struggles with anxiety and worry. I felt the Holy Spirit speak this to me. He said,

139.040000 146.640000 "Don't worry, but begin to saturate your worry with worship." You can't worry and worship at the

146.640000 154.480000 same time. I believe as we worship God, we begin to see God and we begin to trust God at a greater

154.480000 162.160000 dimension. And I believe as we step into the presence of God, God begins to saturate our worry

162.160000 172.320000 with His presence. God provides for His children. And Matthew chapter 6, Jesus gives us an overview,

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

172.320000 179.600000 and He talks about worry. He talks about prayer. He talks about giving. He talks about fasting.

179.600000 186.880000 And He says this, "Don't worry about what you will eat, what you will wear, what where you will live.

186.880000 194.720000 Don't worry about tomorrow because tomorrow has enough cares of its own." And then He says,

194.720000 202.640000 "Seek first my kingdom." I lead a small group every Thursday on at Prenera Bread at 6.30 in the

202.640000 210.640000 morning. And there's this guy Frank. Frank is a retired Navy guy. He had served many years and he

210.640000 218.400000 was a lieutenant. And he raised four kids on a lieutenant pay. At one time, he says he had three

218.400000 226.960000 girls in college and his son was in trade school. And he was nervous about provision, but because

226.960000 233.760000 he trusted God with the tithe by putting God first and honoring Him with the tithe, which is the first

233.760000 242.800000 10% of His income. God supplied every need that He had. His three girls went through college. His

242.800000 249.920000 son was put through trade school. And all the provision that they needed came into their hands because

249.920000 259.600000 why? Because God is able to provide. See, we don't need to worry. We need to put God first. Say that

259.600000 268.240000 with me. God first. That's what it is. It's the God first lifestyle. And when we put God first,

268.240000 275.920000 we began to saturate our worry with worship. Because when you put God first, all the other idols

275.920000 284.480000 are pushed out of our lives. And we began to see Him as the provision that we need in life. See,

284.480000 291.200000 God has given us finances. In fact, God owns everything. The Bible says the earth is the

291.200000 300.640000 Lord's and the fullness thereof. And so God owns everything. Everything that I have comes from God.

300.640000 309.120000 He is the owner. I am just a manager. Did you know we are called to manage the blessings of God.

309.120000 318.400000 And one of the blessings of God that comes to us is our finances. First Corinthians 4, 2 says this,

318.400000 327.040000 moreover, it is required of stewards that a man be found, faithful. I believe God is looking for

327.040000 335.520000 faithful stewards. That word steward actually means to manage. And there are five areas of stewardship

335.520000 343.040000 for all of us. Number one, it is our life. God wants us to steward our life. That's what we have

343.040000 352.800000 received. Number two, He wants us to steward time. Every person has been allotted a certain amount

353.360000 361.920000 of time. Time, you've been given time. How are you spending your time? How are you managing your time?

361.920000 370.480000 How are you stewarding your time? Number three, it's our talents. What you have been given to use.

370.480000 379.920000 Each one of us have talents. Are we using those talents to maximize our lives for the glory of God?

379.920000 387.920000 Are we wasting our talents? Let's not waste our talents, but help us, let God help us maximize

387.920000 395.680000 the talents that He's given us. Number four is our possessions. What has been entrusted to us.

395.680000 402.960000 I mean, there's been a lot of things entrusted to us. Are we stewarding those possessions in a way

402.960000 409.360000 that brings glory and honor to God? And five, but not least, is our finances.

409.360000 420.160000 Finances is what we have labored for, the increase that we have labored to get. Are we honoring God

420.160000 428.320000 in our finances? We're talking about aligning our lives with God, and aligning our priorities

428.320000 435.040000 with the kingdom of God. So there are several areas that we can begin to prioritize when it comes to

435.040000 442.240000 money. And Dave Ramsey in his financial peace university gives us how to prioritize our money.

442.240000 448.000000 He gives us five different ways, and these are in the correct order that he teaches financial

448.000000 455.440000 peace. Number one, he says, "Tithe." Some of you are saying, "What is a tithe?" A tithe actually means a

455.440000 465.920000 tenth or the first tenth percent of our increase. And Dave Ramsey says, "Hey, honor God with your

465.920000 475.520000 money first." Number two, he says, "Pay all your expenses after you give God what it is." Why? Because a

475.520000 484.000000 tithe represents faith. It doesn't take faith to give God the last. It takes faith to put God first.

484.000000 490.800000 Then he says, "Pay your expenses." Then he says, "Save up an emergency fund of a thousand

490.800000 496.960000 dollars." Why? Because if something breaks, we don't have to put it on plastic. We can use that

496.960000 505.600000 thousand dollar emergency fund to pay for an accident, to pay for something that goes on the

505.600000 514.160000 blink that stops working, a car repair, a home repair. He says, "Save an a thousand dollar emergency

514.160000 522.720000 fund." Number four, he says, "Retire debt." Did you know the borrower is a slave to the lender?

522.720000 533.360000 I'm going to say that one more time. The borrower is a slave to the lender. I believe it's God's will

533.360000 540.800000 that we come up with a plan to get out of debt. See, God doesn't desire us to be enslaved

540.800000 548.240000 continually in our lives. He wants us to rise above and to retire the debt. Number five, invest.

548.240000 555.200000 An investment. You can never make a withdrawal until you've made a deposit. So I want to encourage

555.200000 562.400000 each one of you to learn to invest your money for the future. Don't depend on the government,

562.400000 570.480000 don't depend on other people. Learn to steward the finances that God's given you in a healthy way

570.480000 579.040000 so you can prepare for the future and leave an inheritance for your children. That's right.

579.040000 585.120000 Leave an inheritance for your children. When we begin to think about

586.880000 594.880000 tithing and money, oftentimes people become very resistant when you talk about money in church.

594.880000 603.360000 But they don't understand that Jesus spent a lot of time talking about money in the New Testament.

603.360000 612.880000 The gospels contain more warnings about the use and misuse of money than any other subject.

612.880000 623.360000 Did you know one out of every four verses in Matthew, Mark, and Luke talk about money and possessions?

623.360000 632.000000 Jesus talked more about money than he did heaven and hell combined. See, Jesus understood that

632.000000 640.560000 money impacts us all. One verse in every six verses in the New Testament deals with money and

640.560000 649.360000 possessions. Half of Jesus' parables, half of the short stories that Jesus tells in the New Testament,

649.360000 656.560000 talk about money and possessions. Money is a big deal to Jesus and if it's a big deal to Jesus,

656.560000 663.760000 it should be a big deal to us, how we steward it, how we use it, and even the misuse of money.

663.760000 672.480000 I believe God is looking for faithful stewards when it comes to finances and if we can faithfully

672.480000 682.160000 steward a little, God will increase us and give us more. See, money needs to be prioritized in our

682.160000 692.080000 lives. We need to put God first in our lives. Let me ask you this. Have you worried about money over

692.080000 699.120000 the last 24 hours? Have you been concerned about provision over the last 24 hours? If so,

699.120000 706.800000 we often struggle in the area where we're ignorant or where we lack knowledge.

706.800000 714.240000 So as we increase in knowledge, freedom comes. Jesus said this, you will know the truth

714.960000 723.600000 and the truth will set you free. Paul said this in Philippians 419, "My God will supply all my needs,

723.600000 735.040000 not my greed, my needs according to His rich in glory by Christ Jesus. God has a desire to supply

735.040000 740.720000 every need we have. We don't have to worry about the future, the present, the past. We don't have to

740.720000 748.240000 worry about how we're going to make ends meet the thing we need to do is we need to begin to align

748.240000 759.680000 our priorities with God's kingdom." That's right. Align our priorities with God's kingdom.

759.680000 768.880000 Tithing is a principle. In the New Covenant, we don't tithe under law, we tithe under love.

769.600000 777.280000 In the Old Covenant, the tithe was empowered by the law. In the New Covenant, the tithe is empowered

777.280000 784.880000 by grace. Paul speaking to the church at Corinth and 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and number 9,

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

784.880000 796.160000 he says this about the churches at Macedonia. He says they were in extreme poverty, but they excelled

796.160000 806.880000 in the grace of giving. They excelled in the grace of giving. Paul says that giving is a grace.

806.880000 818.480000 That you know when we tithe, God empowers our act of obedience by His grace. It's living the God

818.480000 828.000000 first life. Trusting God with the first 10th and allowing God to multiply the 90% that is left over

828.000000 835.520000 for our lives. See, money matters because money matters to God. And money matters often create

835.520000 842.560000 conflict in relationships. It creates conflict in homes. It creates conflict in businesses because

842.560000 852.240000 money really does matter in our lives. And money, guess what? Money is just a test. It's just a test

852.240000 862.000000 of our obedience. Jesus said if you can't handle the riches of this world like money, how can you

862.000000 872.080000 handle the true riches of the kingdom of God? Because handling, physical, worldly, money

872.080000 880.400000 indicates how well we can handle the spiritual blessings of God. Can I ask you this question?

880.400000 888.480000 How are you handling the finances that God has given you? Are you handling them well? Are you

888.480000 897.840000 managing them well? Are you sturdying it well? Because that's a good indication with what God can

897.840000 904.960000 entrust to you spiritually. So we need to align our priorities with the kingdom of God.

904.960000 915.520000 Put God first in your finances. So when we tithe, when we take the first 10% of the increase that

915.520000 920.720000 God's given us, whether that's weekly, whether that's bi-weekly or whether that's a monthly or whether

920.720000 929.280000 we own a business and we take draws off of that business, when we tithe, we align our heart with

929.280000 937.760000 God's heart. We're putting God first. The tithe goes all the way back to the book of Genesis where

937.760000 942.480000 God took Adam and Eve and put them in a garden. He says there's a tree that stands in the middle of

942.480000 949.760000 that garden. Don't touch it. If you touch it and you eat of it, that day you will surely die. That

949.760000 957.680000 tree represented the tithe of God, the first fruits of God. It represented God's sovereign authority

957.680000 965.520000 in their lives. And when they touched it, the Bible was clear. They would die. They did die spiritually.

966.400000 973.840000 Their relationship with God became disconnected. They had to leave the garden. Why? Because

973.840000 981.200000 their heart was no longer aligned with God's heart. Number two, we align our priorities with God's

981.200000 989.200000 priorities. When we tithe, we're aligning God's priorities, our priorities with God's priorities.

989.200000 1000.080000 That is so important when we think about that. Where's your heart? Where's your life? Matthew 6,

1000.080000 1009.440000 21 says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I can tell you exactly where our

1009.440000 1018.640000 heart is. It's wherever we place our treasure. If our treasure is in the house of God, our heart's

1018.640000 1026.720000 going to be in the house of God. Look what it says in Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, "Trust the Lord with all

1026.720000 1033.600000 your heart." Lean not in your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will

1033.600000 1042.480000 direct your path. God is directing your path when I trust the Lord with all my heart. Let me ask you

1042.480000 1050.720000 this, does God just have a piece of your heart or does he have all your heart? Solomon said,

1050.720000 1058.400000 this in Proverbs 4, 23, "Guard your heart with all diligence. For from it flows the well springs

1058.400000 1066.320000 of life. I have to guard my heart against greed. I have to guard my heart against coveting

1066.320000 1074.880000 somebody else's material blessings. I have to guard my heart from the honoring God with my heart

1074.880000 1083.520000 and with my finances." So I have to guard my heart. The heart is the issue of life. See, when we

1083.520000 1091.280000 give to God, it must come out of a heart of love. And bridge church is a generous church. It is a

1091.280000 1100.960000 giving church. But what if everyone in bridge church began to honor God with their first 10% of

1100.960000 1109.680000 all their increase? See, we align our priorities with God's priorities. And then we honor God by

1109.680000 1118.320000 making him first in our finances. We honor God. That's when we talk. We honor God by making

1118.320000 1126.960000 him first in our finances. Are we putting God first? Are we honoring God first? Look what it says

1126.960000 1142.400000 at Matthew 6.33, seek him first. Seek him first. How do we do that by having our heart aligned with

1142.400000 1150.960000 God's kingdom? After all this worry in chapter 6 of Matthew, Jesus says, seek first the kingdom

1150.960000 1159.520000 and his righteousness. And all these things that you have need of will be added to you. See, in life,

1159.520000 1167.920000 we get in a rat race and we want more things and we go after things. And God says, if you put me first,

1167.920000 1173.680000 the things that you're designed will naturally come your way because I already know what you have

1173.680000 1182.160000 need of before you even ask. All I'm asking you to do is to put me first, honor me first. We honor

1182.160000 1189.120000 God by making him first in our finances. We align our priorities with God's priorities when we

1189.120000 1198.960000 tie. So we need to put God first. Seek him first. What are you seeking? What are you

1198.960000 1208.720000 desiring? Are you putting God first in the area of your finances? My mom taught me this a long time ago.

1208.720000 1215.280000 She said, son, you can never out give God. My mom taught me how to tie at the early age of about

1215.280000 1220.800000 seven when I began to work for my neighbor and cut my neighbor's grass and my mom would say, son,

1220.800000 1226.480000 your neighbor, your neighbor just gave you three dollars. We're going to honor God by giving him 30

1226.480000 1234.480000 cent on Sunday. And I said, no, mom, that's my money. She said, no, that's God's money. This $2.70

1234.480000 1241.920000 cent is your money that he allows you to spend and steward well. But we're going to take 30 cent and

1241.920000 1248.080000 we're going to give it to God on Sunday. And she taught me the principle of tithing. She taught all

1248.080000 1255.040000 her children that principle. Why? Because she saw it work in her life. And she was faithfully

1255.040000 1264.080000 obeying God by honoring God first and God supplied every need that she had ever had. She learned to

1264.080000 1274.960000 honor God and she taught her kids how to honor God. Look here, Solomon said, honor the Lord with your

1274.960000 1286.000000 wealth. Honor the Lord with your wealth. I must say that one more time. Honor the Lord. That word

1286.000000 1292.960000 honor means to put first. It means to respect to revered honor the Lord with your wealth with the

1292.960000 1299.440000 first fruits, the tide. That's how we honor honor the Lord with your wealth with the first fruits

1299.440000 1307.760000 of all your crops or your increase. So he tells us that we need to honor God and he shows us how to

1307.760000 1316.000000 do it with the first fruits with the tith with the first 10%. We honor God with our wealth.

1317.840000 1326.880000 See, tithing is very important to God. And as we become disciples and we follow Jesus,

1326.880000 1336.000000 we need to allow Jesus to speak truth into every area of our lives. He wants us to manage our

1336.000000 1342.080000 marriage as well. He wants us to manage our business as well. He wants us to manage our relationships

1342.080000 1350.800000 well, where we work well, but he also wants us to manage our finances well. I've never known a

1350.800000 1361.120000 day in my life that I didn't have. I've been practicing this principle since age seven was faithful

1361.120000 1366.400000 through high school. When I worked at McDonald's, I was faithful through college and most college

1366.400000 1374.480000 students are broke. But even when God would increase me by somebody sending me a check or me working

1374.480000 1383.360000 while in college, I would take the tith and give it to God. David said this, I was young and now I'm

1383.360000 1392.080000 old, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken or their seed begging bread. David was saying,

1392.080000 1400.160000 when you honor God and you put him first, God will honor you through provision. We are God's

1400.160000 1411.920000 children. Let's learn to put God first in everything. Tangy and I, we tithe monthly. That's how we get

1411.920000 1422.000000 paid monthly. We give back to God first. Why is it first? Because it takes faith to give to God first.

1422.560000 1432.560000 Did you know even Jesus is called the first fruits of the resurrection? Meaning he was the tithe of God.

1432.560000 1441.120000 For God so loved the world that he gave. How many, you know, when we become givers, when we become

1441.120000 1449.440000 generous, we're taking on the nature and the character of God. For God so loved the world that he

1449.440000 1459.120000 gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

1459.120000 1468.480000 Jesus was God's tithe to the world. He was the first fruits. He was the only son. He was the

1468.480000 1480.400000 forgotten son given for you. And God was willing to give his very best. See, oftentimes we think

1480.400000 1486.240000 God's trying to get something from us. When in fact, he's trying to get something to us.

1486.240000 1494.160000 When we begin to honor God and put him first, I can't count the blessings

1496.160000 1505.920000 that God can send our way. I believe as we honor God in the area of finances, he meets every need

1505.920000 1515.120000 that we have. Notice Paul didn't say he'll supply all your greets. He said, he'll supply all your needs.

1515.120000 1521.280000 And when you really begin to become a disciple and a tour in Christ, you begin to recognize,

1521.920000 1529.360000 you begin to recognize that God owns everything, not just the 10%. The 10% is what he asked for,

1529.360000 1537.920000 but he owns everything. Everything is his. Everything that I have, my home, my clothes, my shoes,

1537.920000 1546.480000 my vehicles, my finances, all that is God's. And he's given me the ability and he's called me to

1546.480000 1556.480000 steward it well in a way that honors him. See, honoring God first is not a hard thing. No, it's not a

1556.480000 1565.280000 hard thing, but a hard thing. Honoring God comes from the heart. And Jesus speaking to the Pharisees

1565.280000 1574.320000 and the New Testament in Matthew, he said, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts

1574.960000 1582.160000 are far from me. Did you know it's possible to sing worship songs and praise songs and not

1582.160000 1591.680000 truly worship God because it's lip service and not heart service? See, worship is a posture of the

1591.680000 1601.600000 heart. Praise is a posture of the heart. All giving to God in all generosity flows out of gratitude.

1602.240000 1609.360000 Praise is gratitude. Praise is thanksgiving. Praise is thanking God for what he's done for what

1609.360000 1616.880000 he's doing and for what he will do. So when I'm praising God, it comes out of a heart of gratitude.

1616.880000 1623.600000 When I give and I worship God through the giving of time and the giving of an offering,

1623.600000 1630.000000 guess what I'm doing? I'm saying, Lord, I am grateful. I am thankful. I am so honored that

1630.000000 1636.320000 you're my father. I want to worship you by bringing what's already yours. So I'm going to bring the

1636.320000 1642.160000 time and I'm going to bring an offering saying, Lord, I thank you for my job. I thank you for my physical

1642.160000 1646.800000 help. I thank you for the provision that you've given me. I thank you for my business. I thank you

1646.800000 1652.800000 for my children. I thank you for life. I thank you that you woke me up this morning. And because you

1652.800000 1659.760000 did that, Lord, I'm bringing you something from a heart of gratefulness and thankfulness because

1659.760000 1669.520000 you have looked after me and you have saved me. All generosity flows from a grateful heart.

1669.520000 1679.760000 Oning God first, it's not a hard thing. It's a heart thing. And Jesus was the heart of God given

1679.760000 1687.600000 to all of us for salvation. See, money matters because money matters to God.

1687.600000 1697.680000 Money shows us where our heart truly is. I want you to bow your heads. I want to pray with you today.

1697.680000 1705.520000 Lord, I just thank you. God, that your word is true and it speaks into every part of our

1705.520000 1712.240000 laws. I pray right now that you would touch your people supernaturally. God, help us to trust you.

1712.240000 1719.360000 God, if we can trust you for eternal life, if we can trust you for salvation, surely we can trust

1719.360000 1725.520000 you with our finances. We can trust you with our marriages and our kids and our businesses. God,

1725.520000 1731.680000 you are trustworthy. God, I thank you for supernatural provision. I thank you for what you're doing

1731.680000 1738.400000 at Bridge Church. And God, we thank you for the finances to build that campus in Kurdut County.

1738.400000 1744.400000 We know it's coming in from the north, the south, the east, the west. God, we're going to put you

1744.400000 1750.480000 first. We're going to honor you. And God, as we talk over the next two weeks about money,

1750.480000 1760.080000 God, may we not close our hearts, but may we open our hearts. God, revive us, do a work in us in Jesus' name.

1760.960000 1761.800000 Amen.