Holy Buckets - Week 6 - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. And if I can encourage this

church to just continue, when you feel God's

presence moving like it's been moving this morning

during worship, just press in. There are things

that change in the presence of God. When God's

presence manifests. Things shift, it has to,

because God, that's his glory coming down and

just getting amongst us. So just press in, just

focus on him during those worship gatherings.

And I know that's happening. I look back over

and see it taking place, but just continue to

do that because God's incredible and he wants

to come in and he wants you to feel his presence,

amen? He's not only a God who can be heard, seen,

but he can be felt as well. So thank you for

doing that. Thank you for pressing in. Well,

listen, this is the last message of this series.

Holy buckets. Say holy buckets. Yeah, holy buckets.

They're like, holy buckets. This has been a long

one, right? And this may have left you with as

many questions as answers because there's so

much to cover in God's word on this subject.

And the reason you might have more questions

is because Christians really ask themselves more

questions about money and possessions than the

average individual does. You know, when it comes

to money and possessions and our money and possession

bucket, we ask questions. a lot of times that

others just don't ask. People in the world, people

that aren't following Jesus, don't ask some of

the questions we ask ourselves. God's word prompts

us to ask some questions that an unbeliever might

not ask. One of those questions might be like,

how much money is too much money to have in my

bank account? Is it 10 ,000? Is it 100 ,000?

Is it a million, right? The world's philosophy,

they don't ever question that. They're never

like, well, I got too much. I need to give some

of this away. That's just not how the world thinks.

But we as Christians, we ask ourselves these

things. We ponder on or wrestle with the idea

of how many possessions should I have? Is too

much stuff, too much stuff, right? That's not

how the world thinks. The world thinks the more

the what? Yeah, the more the merrier, right?

The more stuff I've got, the merrier I am, right?

They don't think to themselves, where's the line

with money and possessions? They don't even know

there is a line. So as Christians, we ask ourselves

a lot of questions about money and possessions.

And we begin to realize it's not all mine. And

as followers of Jesus, excuse me, we wanna ask

these questions. And not just live for the here

and now. I don't know if you understand as we've

gone through this series in particular, but we

don't live for just the here and now. We don't

live for just a moment. In God's economy, we

live for there and then. So we ask ourselves

questions as believers that a lot of others don't

ask because we realize that this life is just

a testing ground. This is a place where we're

just hanging out for a little while. And as I

think about this, and as I ponder on this, an

image came back to my mind. I think the first

person I heard talk about this image was Francis

Chan. They're gonna put it up on the screens.

It's just a simple image. And when they throw

that up there, how many can see that right now,

right? That image is just a dot and a line. And

that line, if you can in your imagination, is

going out to infinity. And if I can give you

just a little illustration of what this life

is all about, that dot, that little tiny dot

represents this life. And the line is our life

for all of eternity with God. So anytime I want

to gain some perspective on what this life is

all about and everything that I'm working towards

and everything that I have, I remember this image,

right? That this dot, that dot just represents

my life, whether that's 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 years,

whatever God gives you represents that. But the

next life and everything I do in this life sets

up for the next life. Everything I do is setting

up, right? And determining the dot determines

what eternity is going to look like. for me.

Everything I do, everything I handle, everything

that I manage, that God has given me, it's all

about the dot, and that is going to set things

up for all of eternity. If you can picture that

line, I couldn't get the image to go out like

3D, just into infinity. So we ask ourselves the

questions that other people don't ask. Right?

We ask ourselves the questions about money and

possessions and the things that God's placed

in my bucket. We ask him. And we've done that

through this message series. We've got you to

ask a few questions, right? We got you to ask

questions like, who owns it all? Who owns it

all? He does, right? We don't own anything. Anything

that's in our money and possession bucket, we

don't really own. It's all God's. The earth is

his and everything therein. Everything in the

heavens and the earth, the word of God declares,

is his. Who really owns it all? He does. He just

calls us to be the manager. We're the ones that's

just managing it while he's gone. That's what

the word of God tells us, right? We answer questions

or ask questions like, what does Jesus want me

to do with the money and possessions that are

in my bucket? Now, that's a loaded question.

What does he want me to do with the money and

possessions in this bucket is a big question.

So we just answered the first thing that you

need to do. And the word of God tells us that

the first thing that we need to do is give back

to him first fruits. That's what the word of

God says. We give him back our first, we give

him back our best, and we give him back the 10th,

the tithe. That's what the word of God declares.

And he promises if we give the first, if we give

the best, if we give the 10th, if we get the

tithe, he'll bless all the rest. It's what the

word of God declares, right? So we asked and

answered that particular question. What does

he require of us? We also asked and answered,

is it biblical to save money? And the word is

what? Yes. Thank you. You were listening. Awesome.

All right. It is biblical to save money. And

we learned this from the ant, a little insect.

We save money because we know that winter is

coming in our life. There'll be a winter season

when you're gonna need a savings account and

we save money so the rest of the colony has something

to eat because somebody's in need somewhere in

the colony. We learned that out of God's word.

We learned that you need to have a written plan.

You need to have a wisdom and you need to put

down on paper a budget. You learned this last

week, right? How many know it's not a plan unless

you really write it down? Come on, it's true.

We're always like, well, I got a plan right here.

It is right here. That means you didn't really

write it down and work it all out, right? You

got a half a plan floating around up there somewhere

in your head. It's a plan. We've answered and

asked these questions. And today I want to finalize

all this. And there's so much more. We literally

could spend an entire year just talking about

money and possessions and what God's word has

to say about it. But today I want to tackle the

question, am I serving my money? or is my money

serving me? Am I serving my money, or is my money

serving me? I want you to turn to Matthew chapter

six, and we're gonna start at verse 19. Matthew

chapter six. If you got your Bibles, if you're

getting your notebooks out, taking notes, please

get those out right now. I'm gonna pray while

we're turning. Father, we thank you for this

day. God, I ask that the word of God, Lord, it

would be a lamp to our feet and a light to our

path, and God, that it would open our hearts

and our minds, and God, that we would discover

truth. And Lord, not only will we discover it,

but we would apply it. And we thank you for what

your word does and how it guides us in Jesus'

name. And amen and amen. Matthew 6, 19 says this,

do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth

where moth and rust destroy and where thieves

break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves

treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust

destroys and where thieves do not break in and

steal. For where your treasure is, there your

heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the

eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole

body will be full of light. But if your eye is

bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If therefore the light that is in you is darkness,

how great is that darkness? Verse 24 says, no

one can serve two masters for either he will

hate the one and love the other or else he will

be loyal to the one and he will despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. Three sets of

scriptures. That Jesus lumps together, that he

packages together when he's talking about money

and possessions. He stacks them together to teach

us some things about whether we're serving money

or money is serving us. And holy buckets is really

about who is serving whom. Who is serving who?

right? Who is serving who here and now in this

time, in this moment? And I'm going to start

off with verse 24 that says, no one can serve

two masters for either he will hate the one and

love the other or else he will be loyal to the

one and despise the other. You cannot serve God

and mammon. Mammon in scripture is money, all

right? It's money and possessions. That's what

mammon means, all right? That's the definition

for it. And the word of God is telling us that

we cannot serve two masters. There's only gonna

be one master in your life. Turn to somebody

right now, look them in the eye and tell them,

you got one master, just one. You got one master,

that's it. And go ahead and say, I'm not it.

All right, please say that right now. You got

one master. There's one master. Only one leads

out front. There's only one master key. This

building has a master key. I've actually used

it a few times and they gave it back to the owners,

but there's a master key for this building. And

the beautiful thing is with the master key, it's

one key, but it opens all the doors in the building.

You go to any door at all and it opens it up.

It's a master key, right? A grandmaster is out

front, master of the universe, who's God, he

leads it all. A masterpiece is one of a kind.

It's one. It's the number one. And whatever and

whoever or whoever is master in our lives is

what is steering us in life. Whoever or whatever

is master in your life is what's steering you.

If you have multiple people in your car, in your

vehicle, the person who is the master in the

car is the person behind the wheel. All right?

If you own the car, but you're not behind the

wheel, how many know you're not the master of

the craft? Amen? It's true. Whoever is behind

the wheel, and some of the men need to amen here,

right? Whoever's behind the wheel is king. Come

on, say it, amen. We control it all as soon as

our wives tell us what to do. We're the king.

If the wife or female is behind the wheel, it's

a male, female, they're the king. But whoever

is behind the wheel is master of the vehicle.

They steer the vehicle. And if there's two people

in the car, three people in the car, six people

in the car, whoever's riding in the car, you're

going wherever the master steers. How many know

that's true? You can complain, you can fuss,

you can make a... deal about the whole thing,

but you're gone wherever the master takes you,

wherever they steal. And that's how it is in

our lives. Whatever is master in your life is

steering your life. It's moving you down the

road. It is controlling where you're going, whether

you believe it or not, it's true. Whether you

say amen or not, it's true. Whatever is master.

And Jesus used these descriptive words in this

particular verse. And he says, what we love,

right? You'll love one and you'll hate the other.

You'll be loyal to one. will despise the other.

I'll stick to one and I'll forsake everything

else. It's what's master, definitive, decisive

words. He's not mincing words. He's talking straight.

And he puts them together to create this idea.

You cannot serve God and money. Can't do it.

And it's super interesting to me that what Jesus

says or does not say right here. More in factly,

what he does not say. You know, we're talking

about spiritual things. And I would expect Jesus,

when he would make a statement that bold, that

he would say, you know, you cannot serve God

and Satan, right? They're the two opposing forces.

That would make complete sense to me. That would

be very understandable because there's only two

kingdoms in the spiritual world. There's the

kingdom of God and there's the kingdom of darkness.

There is heaven and there is hell. There is Satan

and there is God, right? There's the two. So

it's super interesting that Jesus is in this

conversation and he's saying, you cannot serve

God and money, money. My expectation would have

been something completely different. Why did

he say this? Why did he talk about serving God

and money? Because Jesus knew something. He knew

that he was talking, first of all, to his people.

And he was talking to the people of God. And

then even if they weren't the people of God,

it's a weird thing to say Satan is my master,

right? How many know the average person is not

going to come up and say Satan is my master?

How many know anybody that's ever said that to

you, ever? Raise your hand, all right? Maybe

one or two in the house, right? They don't say

that. It's not a desirable statement, especially

for a Christian, but a non -believer even to

say, you know, that Satan, the devil is my master.

even for an unbeliever, even somebody who's far

from God. And if you ask most people how they

feel about the devil, you're going to probably

get a couple of different responses. You know,

if you ask somebody how they feel about the devil,

some people say, well, I don't even believe he's

real. And so others are going to say, you know,

I just want to stay away from all that. That's

scary stuff. If they're not Christian, like,

I just don't, I want to stay away from that.

But there's a, you know, they're not going to

say I'm loyal to the devil, right? I love the

devil. You're not going to hear that come out

of their mouth, even from unbelievers, but there,

and Jesus knew, he knew that that was not going

to be a temptation, but he did know that there's

going to be deep temptation. There's going to

be desire and acceptance that accompanies the

idea of loving money, being loyal to money, putting

money in first place as a master. It's the literal

definition of success in our society. If we measure

success in our society, we look at how much money

they got in their account, this house that they

live in, this stuff that they drive, and that's

immediately what we do. We do a visual scan like,

oh, they're successful, right? They got it. Jesus

knew exactly what he was saying in his money

and possession conversation when he focused the

listener to ask the question, who are you serving?

Who are you serving? Where do your loyalties

lie? What do you love? Because we will never

master what's in the bucket if the bucket is

mastering us, right? We'll never love God. We'll

love what's in the bucket and it will master

us instead of us mastering it. It'll be all a

role reversal. So we got to ask ourselves the

hard question and answer where I'm really at.

What do I love? Where do my loyalties lie? What

am I serving? And answer, what is the master

of my life? What's mastering my life? It's true.

Because if I don't ask myself this question,

if I don't search God's word in this, money and

possessions will become this cheap substitute

for God. That's what money and possessions can

become. They have the potential to become. a

cheap substitute for God. Because money and possessions

promise something. They offer something that

all of us crave. Now, it's a false offering.

It's a false notion. But all of us crave security,

significance, and power. Every one of us in our

lives, there's a craving for us inside. And it

can be in different orders, right? That security

might not be your first one. Significance might

not be, or maybe power. But every human being,

there's this piece of us that looks for and desires

security and significance and power. And if you

break us down to the core of who we are and what

we really desire, it'll come back to these three.

It'll come back to security, significance, or

power. And these are things that money and possessions

seem to offer, right? But never really deliver

on. Never really deliver. 1 Timothy 6 .10 says

this, for the love of money is the root of all

kinds of evil. It is through this craving that

some have wandered away from the faith and pierced

themselves through with many pangs. I use this

in one of the other messages. Let me prove to

you what I'm talking about a little bit. Security,

right? Money can cause me to think that I'm insulated,

that somehow money is gonna remove all my problems,

that if I just had enough money, all my problems

would disappear, right? How many of you have

ever said, you know, if I just had that first

million bucks, anybody ever say that? Come on,

I have, right? You know, if I just had that first

million bucks and you're thinking in your head,

all my problems would go away. They'd all disappear.

I'd be set. There'd be no worries in life. It'd

all be cool, right? And we think that because

we think we can buy our way out of problems.

We really do. We think if you got enough money,

you can buy your way out of a problem. And we'd

feel secure with all that. We think if we get

enough stuff around us, right? We feel we got

enough equity buildup, but we got enough stuff.

If we got enough assets just allocated in the

right places, we're going to feel secure, right?

And we feel it. That's why you hoard stuff. Some

of you hoarders out there, you know who you are.

Sometimes there's a sense of security that goes

along with that. And if I get enough stuff accumulated,

right, it makes me feel secure. But this is something

that money and possessions can't deliver. You

can't get enough money and you can't get enough

possessions to feel secure. You really can't.

It is God and God alone who will give you eternal

security. He's the one that will make you feel

secure now in this life and in the next. And

if you don't believe me, read the book of Job.

I've been reading in the book of Job. Job lost

all his possessions in one day. He was wealthy

beyond wealthy. And in one day, the enemy took

it all, all of it from him. Security. The second

one, significance. Significance, right? Money

offers false promises of significance. It really

does. If I had enough money, I would be respected.

If I had enough money, I'd be popular. If I had

enough money, I'd be invited to a lot more places

than I'm invited to right now. How many of you

got lots and lots of money? People like to invite

you to places, right? Because they want to get

your money, right? I would matter if I had lots

of money. I could buy the car. I could live in

the neighborhood. That really matters, right?

There's significance tied to it. I will be well

-respected. I will matter. It's time for money.

People will notice me. But mammon, man, money

and possessions will only offer or deliver a

superficial significance. It'll be surfacy. Don't

believe me? Take a good look at Hollywood right

now. Most of the people in Hollywood are a mess.

Amen? They need Jesus. They really do. They're

grabbing for significance in all the wrong places.

And mammon becomes this cheap substitute for

God. You don't even know what significance is

until you come to Jesus Christ. Do you come into

faith and you start to understand what it is

to be a son or a daughter of the Most High? I

did not know what significance was until I started

to understand who I was in Christ Jesus. That

is significant. When you start to understand

that he's got an eternal plan for you and that

he's got an inheritance and that he's got a heritage

and that he's walking with you and talking with

you and he wants to walk you the whole way through

and take you into the next life and bless you

beyond anything that you can even imagine. If

you want to understand significance, understand

who you are in Christ because everything in the

world will suddenly go dim, right? It'll fade

away. into nothingness. It is significance. Mammon

makes me think I can get power, right? It's a

false power. If you have the bucks, you call

the shots. If you have the bucks, you are the

big shot, right? If I got enough money, I own

the business. I own the organization. I own the

city. I own the state. I own the country. I own

it. When I talk, people listen and they serve

me at my pleasure. What I choose to do. Money

can give you a false sense of power. But Jesus

said this in Luke 22. He said, that's not how

it's gonna be with you if you follow me. He said

this, now when there was a dispute among them,

which was the disciples, as to which one of them

should be considered the greatest. And he said

to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercised

lordship over them, right? That's how the world

works. And those who exercise authority over

them are called benefactors, but not so among

you. On the contrary, you who are greatest among

you, let him be as the younger and he who governs

as he who serves. For who is greater, he who

sits at the table or he who serves? Is it not

he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you

as one who serves. Security, significance, and

power. Money will give you a false sense of all

three. It'll make you think that somehow you

have this and it is a cheap promise of the enemy.

The devil is behind the idea of the love of money.

The word of God says that the love of money is

the root of all evil, not money itself, but the

love of money. And Satan is perfectly happy to

hide behind the money for you never to mention

the word Satan or devil or his name as long as

it draws you away from God, as long as your dependence

pulls away from God. He's perfectly fine with

you hanging on to the buck and sliding right

into hell with it. He's okay with that. I'll

never forget my brother -in -law. And this was

some years back now, probably two decades or

more ago. But I remember my brother -in -law

working for a company, a smaller company in Indiana,

Pennsylvania. And the work that he did, that

business began to get very successful. And this

young business owner was in his 30s, was wildly

successful. He was one of those guys that just

shot up from the bottom and rose to the top.

And he had the cars. He had the house. He had

a plane, right? He had a jet, actually. He did

it. He was one of those guys who made it, right?

The world called successful. He had it all. It

was all at his fingertips. Everything was happening.

This same guy put a gun in his mouth and ended

his life in the middle of his money and his possessions

all around him. falsely drug in with significance,

security, right? And power by money. And he ended

his own life. He ended his own life. If the worship

team would come. Jesus talked one more thing

in this clump of scriptures where he's talking

about money possessions. And it's super interesting

what he says. In Matthew 6, 22, he says this,

the lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore

your eye is good, your whole body will be full

of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole

body will be full of darkness. If therefore the

light that is in you is darkness, how great is

that darkness? Now, let me ask you a question

because we've been asking questions all through

this series. What's in your eye? What's in your

eye? What's in your eye? Look at the person beside

you. Say, what's in your eye? What's in your

eye? Go whisper. Go ahead. Whisper. I know it's

a quiet moment. What's in your eye? This passage

makes complete sense, but yet at the same time

sounds contradictory, right? Because Jesus says

if the eye is good, the whole body will be full

of light. If you open your eyes, how many of

you woke up this morning and opened your eyes?

Raise your hands. This is one of those questions

I tell if you're paying attention, okay? I know

the answer, right? When you woke up this morning,

you opened your eyes, and it was dark because

your eyes were closed. And as soon as you opened

your eyes, your body was filled with light. Light

came into your eyes. You began to see what was

around you, right? And if your eye is bad, if

my eye goes bad and I've injured my eye already

and had to have it pasted shut, right, as they

treat it, then it's dark and you can't see anything.

That makes complete sense. But when you read

this scripture a little further, there's a curve

ball, right? There seems like there's a contradiction

in this because Jesus says, if therefore the

light that is in you is darkness, how great is

that darkness? That sounds really contradictory

to me because how many know light and darkness

can't exist in the same place? They can't. Light

dries out darkness. But Jesus said, if therefore

the light that is in you is darkness, how great

is that darkness? And it sounds contradictory.

It sounds like double talk. But what was Jesus

saying about money and possessions? Because that's

what he was talking about here. If money and

possessions are the master of our life, they

possess the power to appear as light in our eyes.

Money and possessions, they have the appearance

of light. It is false light that can actually

be darkness if we love the money and possessions.

And Jesus said, how great is that darkness? How

great is that darkness? He was warning us. Money

and possessions hold the power to fill our body

with what appears to be light. And it is false.

It is darkness. If we love the money, if we love

the possessions, if we gain significance and

security and power because of the money, and

in the end, it will bring nothing but destruction.

Who's serving who? Who's serving who? I'm going

to ask you to stand. Visit our website at www

.lifehousecog .com.