Enough Series - God owns it all - John Aureli

I actually I want to uh I want to start

uh in a bit of a unique way. Sometimes

we give opportunities for others to

share and I want to take a risk this

morning for some 90 secondond

testimonies. So you got to be good at 90

seconds. And these testimonies, you

might not have heard the word testimony.

Might be a really religious word to you.

But what I'd love is for folks if you if

there's something in your life that

you're grateful for recently, you just

feel like you want to thank God for it

and you want to do it publicly, I'd love

for you to come up. You got 90 seconds

and I'd love for a line of three people

to do it. So, come on up. Three people.

Let's go. Three people. You want to

thank God publicly.

Four is good, too.

Let's go. Introduce yourself and and

tell us what you're thankful to God for.

>> Uh, at this point, just grateful to be

alive. Uh, I have survived four comas.

So, I'm something of a walking medical

marvel. Um, so yeah, just staying alive

like John Travolt is saying, right?

Thankful to God that you're alive.

Awesome. Thank you, God.

Um, I was stuck in some terrible traffic

uh a couple nights ago and um my online

radio station gave me all these songs

that were popular um when I first became

a Christian and when or at least when I

very first started to understand it

deeply and hearing those songs um I just

was so thankful for the times that the

Lord has been with me and his grace and

um yeah I was thankful that I was

worshiping ing in the midst of this

terrible traffic, but also thankful for

a long history of God's grace in

difficult times. And yeah,

>> yeah, thank you, God.

>> Hi, I'm Christine Seir and as you all

know, I've had a lot of problems with

muscular pain and uh I got so bad that

the my hard muscles all around my neck

were being shocked by my nerves and I

couldn't function at all. I was in so

much pain and then suddenly the Lord

gave me the idea go to acupuncture. So I

got I signed up after the third

acupuncture.

I don't have any pain at all at all. I

don't the doctors kept saying muscle

relaxers and pain pills. That was it.

But they x-rayed my neck and said your

neck is fine. It's your muscles. But I

can't praise God enough for giving me

idea to go to acupuncture.

>> Thank you God for healing.

>> Whoops.

>> Hello everyone. Um I have the wonderful

just experience of working with patients

every day at work. Um and one of the

things I'm really grateful for is that I

get to see people at all stages in life

including the end of life. Um and it's

been a beautiful blessing to me to see

people at the end of the life who

believe in the Lord walk in with so much

peace and tranquility uh and just

reassures my faith and is also a

blessing to me because then it allows me

also to take that to others who do not

have that experience who don't have that

background and be able to bless them and

pray with them and and help them and

bring the peace of God. And so I just

I'm just so grateful for that because I

I think it's it's really a blessing to

me that not everybody gets that

experience. Um, and so I just want to

share that with you that like it's it's

amazing to walk at the end of your

journey and say, "Lord, I'm ready." Um,

and experience that peace.

>> Thank you, God.

>> Hi. I know you said four, but

>> you're good.

>> myself in. Hi, I'm I just wanted to say

thank you to God today for the almost

five months sober that I have.

>> YEAH.

Am

I still?

>> Yeah. Go ahead. Stand up. You're okay.

Let's cheer Rachel on.

>> And now I get to be here with my brother

Luke.

>> Yes.

>> Oh, Rachel, this community loves you. I

know. Um, Rachel first came to our

church 15 years ago, I think. Um, and we

were meeting in a preschool up on TPC

Parkway. And, um, yeah. Uh, uh, I am so

so grateful you're here today. Thank you

so much, Rachel.

Wow. Isn't it fun to thank God for good

things?

Because he's really a good God, and we

often lose track of that. Uh we're we're

in a series right now called enough.

Today's the first day and we're talking

about God's overflow in a world that

feels scarce.

I you know this is real. What you just

heard is real.

God God's abundant love, God's abundant

provision is real. God working in

people's lives is real. And yet there's

so much of the opposite that goes

through our normal day, isn't there? And

so in these three weeks, we're going to

be pinpointing exactly that. Why is it

that the world is telling us the

opposite of what's true about God?

And why is it that it's so easy to live

in that instead of the truth of what

God's up to? So today, we're going to be

engaging uh Deuteronomy chapter 8. We're

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

going to go through the whole chapter.

If you're not used to reading scripture,

you're going to be acclimated to it

today. We're reading a lot of scripture

today.

If you don't remember anything from

today, I'd love for you to remember that

God is the owner. God owns it all.

Period. And there's one way I'd love for

you to remember that. If you would take

out your wallets, everybody take out

your wallet.

Take out your purse.

Go ahead. Take it out.

Th This is not Yeah. People are taking

out their phones cuz now everything is

digital. Okay, it's fine. It's okay.

Here, we're gonna say it again. Ready?

Say it with me. God is the owner.

>> God owns it all.

>> Period.

>> God is the owner.

>> God owns it all.

>> Period.

>> All right, you can put it back. Put them

back. Don't worry. The church is not

going to take them.

That's not what our church is like. Our

truest identity doesn't come from us

being our own provider. It actually

creates a false identity when we become

our own providers. The best uh way that

the scripture says that is when Paul

talks about idols and when the Old

Testament talks about idols and he he

makes jokes about them. He says, "Your

wooden statues, you worship your wooden

statues that you can throw in the fire

and they're burnt. Those aren't gods."

And yet so many times because we try to

sustain ourselves,

the pride of our lives, the worry and

anxiety about our debt, all of those

things create a false reality and a

false identity. Our truest identity is

formed through obedience to God,

gratitude for his presence, and

gratitude for his leadership and

provision as well. So, we're going to

read through Deuteronomy 8. And in this

context, what what's happening is the

people of Israel,

they're they're being reminded of who

they are

because the world and the countries

around them live worshiping those idols.

They don't really have a God that is

their provider. They have to strive for

themselves. But if you didn't know,

Israel lived through a time of 40 years

of complete dependence on God.

Now, have you ever been a place where

you've been embarrassed? Raise your

hand. Anybody ever been embarrassed

before?

One of the biggest places of

embarrassment was when I took my wife

out on a date was before we were married

and I gave the uh the person my card and

it it didn't work.

And I needed help. She probably doesn't

remember it. I do.

And so she paid that night

and I was embarrassed.

There are many many times especially

around our finances. If you didn't know

our financial lives are very closely

associated with our spiritual lives

because what usually happens in our

financial lives is we respond and react

and plan based on not wanting to be

embarrassed in the future. And so we go

into debt because we want to have what

other people have because we don't want

to be embarrassed about that. or we put

a ton of way because we don't want to be

embarrassed in the future for being

somebody in need.

But God leads us in a different way. And

and the people of Israel were led in a

different way to be provided for every

day,

just enough for that day. But one thing

that we often forget is that it was

completely public. Israel wasn't

provided for privately.

The nations around them saw how

destitute they were and how every day

they had to get provision from God.

And so this way of disciplehip with God,

it's for it's for the sake of forming

our identity. I want us to see that as

we go into Deuteronomy chapter 8. So

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

here we go. Deuteronomy, the whole

commandment that I command you today,

this is God speaking to them. The whole

commandment that I command you today,

you shall be careful to do that you may

live and multiply and go in and possess

the land that the Lord swore and gave

and to give to your fathers. And you

shall remember the whole way that the

Lord your God has led you these 40 years

in the wilderness, that he might humble

you, testing you to know what was in

your heart, whether you would keep his

commandments or not.

So here God's identifying with them,

listen, you were in the 40 years because

you and I needed to have a different

kind of relationship that wasn't based

on you being your own provision, but

based on me being your provider. We

needed to come into a relationship where

you were my child and I was your real

father and you knew me that close. That

I was going to be loving towards you and

take care of you like a baby.

This is the relationship that I wanted.

Every day was set for reflection and

realignment. Every day they received

mana. Every day they had just enough. He

continues in verse three. And he humbled

you and let you hunger and fed you with

mana which you didn't know nor did your

fathers know that he might make you know

that man does not live by bread alone

but lives by every word that comes from

the mouth of the Lord. Now for some of

you who have read Luke chapter 4 and

Luke 4 · chapter mention

you've heard of Jesus and you know Jesus

through the temptations you might notice

this verse. Jesus quotes it to Satan

when Satan tempts him about being his

own provider.

Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days.

Just like Israel was led through the

desert for 40 years and afterwards,

Satan says, "Why don't you just make

bread for yourself? You've done so many

miracles for everybody else. Why don't

you do it for yourself?"

And Jesus says, "I'm not my own

provider."

Man doesn't live by every by bread

alone, but by every word that comes from

the mouth of the Lord. And God reminds

him, "Your clothing did not wear out on

you, and your foot did not swell for

these 40 years.

Know then in your heart that as a man

disciplines his son, the Lord your God

disciplines you. So you shall keep the

commandments of the Lord your God by

walking in his ways and fearing him.

This is the test of humanity. If if

you've ever been in a place where you

didn't have enough, then there's some

grumbling, isn't there? I I I have to

tell you as a pastor, it's hard for me

not to grumble. I see other churches,

they've been around not as long as we

are, and they have buildings and grow

and I grumble and I GO, "GOD, WHY NOT

US?" AND SO, IF YOU ever felt like you

haven't had enough in your own life, I

understand.

And that grumbling is real. And on the

so that's a danger in our relationship

with God. We can grumble so much that

the distance starts to to grow. But on

the other side, the dis the danger is

that we have so much that we just start

to take care of ourselves and we don't

need God anymore. We think that we're

our own provision and we stop looking to

him every day.

Our

church over the last year has been a bit

of an enigma. Over the last 15 years has

been a bit of an enigma. I I get to be

around a lot of pastors and I tell them

the kind of church that we are and the

kind of things that we've been able to

do and then I tell them that we're

portable and they look at me like,

"What?

We uh we've been told to do certain

things. We've been told to have

fundraisers." I had another pastor even

tell me, you should go to every single

person in your congregation, ask them

how much they make and ask them how much

they're going to give

and tell them that God told them told

you how much they should give.

We don't do that here.

We don't even have fundraisers. And

there's some of you that are frustrated

that we're not having fundraisers.

We're a bit of an enigma. But over the

last year, we've prayed and we've asked

God. We asked actually asked God, "God,

how much should we ask you for? If

you're really our provider, how much do

we need and how much should we ask you

for?" And so we put some numbers

together and in faith we said, "Hey,

let's pray for $1.5 million."

And that was a year ago. We we thought

that by July 12th, we'd have $1.5

million. That's what we we felt like God

asked us to ask for. And we don't have

$1.5 million.

And I'd love to be the pastor that comes

to you AND SAYS, "WE GOT IT. WOO.

AND there's some part of me that would

have walked out in pride about that. You

know, you're not supposed to do

fundraisers. You're just supposed to ask

God. And if you were pure and hard

enough as a church, you would ask God,

too. And then I'd tell other pastors how

wrong they are. And I'd think we were

awesome. And then all of a sudden, my

distance from God would grow. I know it

would because of how awesome we are. But

we are church very much like Israel. day

by day having just enough for all that

we need as a church.

The beautiful thing is what God did

provide over the last year is $21,000.

Ain't that amazing?

It's amazing. You can clap. $211,000

is amazing.

It's amazing. Especially because we

didn't do any fundraisers. I didn't use

spiritual abuse on anybody.

You're welcome.

It's a miracle. And when I tell pastors

that, they look at me funny again like,

"You guys shouldn't have been able to do

that."

And we didn't. God did. He's giving us

just enough for right now. And we don't

know what's next. We were trying to ask

God for money for a facility and for

future church planting and more

partnerships with our partners in

mission locally and globally. And we

don't know what's next about that. But

guess what? We get to do now? the same

thing that God asked us to do in the

beginning. Get close, listen to his

voice, and pray.

And that's a beautiful, beautiful thing

we get to do.

Deuteronomy 8:7, look what he continues

Deuteronomy 8:7

to say. For the Lord your God is

bringing you into a good land, a land of

brooks and water, fountains and springs,

flowing out into the valleys and hills.

A land of wheat and barley, vine and

figs and trees and pomegranates, a land

of olive trees and honey. A land in

which you eat without scarcity, in which

you will lack nothing. A land whose

stones are iron and whose hills can dig

copper. And you shall eat and be full.

And you shall bless the Lord your God

for the good land he's given you. Now

whether that's in this time or in the

kingdom to come, this is what God has

for us. Isn't that beautiful? God's our

provider. And you know what? This life

is not eternal, but in Jesus, our life

is eternal. And so, we get to inherit

eternal life filled with all of this

perfect provision.

He continues in verse 11, "Take care

lest you forget

the Lord your God by not keeping his

commandments, his rules and his

statutes, which I command you today,

lest when you have eaten and are full

and have built good houses and live in

them, and then when your herds and

flocks multiply, your silver and gold is

multiplied, all that you have is

multiplied, then your heart would be

lifted up and you forget the Lord your

God, who brought you out of the land of

Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who

led you through the great and terrifying

wilderness with its fiery serpents and

scorpions and thirsty ground where there

was no water. Who brought you water out

of the flinty rock? Who fed you in the

wilderness with mana that your fathers

didn't know, that he might humble you

and test you to do you good in the end.

Beware, lest you say in your heart, "My

power and the might of my hand have

gotten me this wealth." You shall

remember the Lord your God. For it's he

who gives you power to get wealth that

he may confirm his covenant that he

swore to your fathers as it is today.

Beware

that you say in your heart, "My power

and the might of my hands got me this

wealth."

If we do receive wealth, it's because

he's given us the strength to receive

it.

Even the strength to hold out our hand

to be able to receive the wealth that we

have comes from God. There is no part of

our own ability

to get the wealth that God lets us have.

He gives us even the ability to hold out

the finger of the hands to be able to

receive what God would have for us.

And so I want to say to you, wealth is

not evil.

Wealth is not evil.

But if wealth becomes the thing that

keeps us from God because a lie begins

to build that somehow we were the ones

who made it then it becomes evil in our

lives.

The same thing with poverty. Poverty is

not evil.

Poverty is not evil. But if poverty

begins to be the thing that changes our

identity and tells us, well, God doesn't

like me or he doesn't provide for me

well enough or he's not enough or he's

not he's not my father or whatever. Then

poverty becomes evil.

My my favorite quote by Mother Teresa is

somebody asked her, "So what do you

think about the billionaires in the

world while you're trying to serve those

who are dying on the streets?" And she

said, "Our calling is to be present

before God, whether we're poor or we're

wealthy."

And so if you have nothing to say, okay,

God, what do you have for me today? I

have nothing. Or if we have a a lot to

say, "Okay, God, you given me a lot.

What do you have for me?"

If we receive wealth, it's because he's

given us the strength to receive it.

It's strength that the scripture in

Deuteronomy says is sustained by

obedience

and gratitude.

Obedience and gratitude. But if we make

wealth our goal, we risk losing sight of

the God we depend on. Success often

blinds us to God's provision. And God

hates that pride. He associates it with

a word that I've already used, which is

idolatry.

See, God always led the people in the

desert to make sure that they weren't

building idols for themselves. Not

because he was against making figurines.

But the most important thing to God is

not our wealth or our poverty. It's the

relationship that he wants with us. He

wants to be our father and he's going to

do whatever he needs to do in order to

keep us close.

There's a theologian, his name is Walter

Bugamman, and he says this, "Israel will

be cared for and Israel will be safe in

every circumstances."

40 years of trekking is a long time. And

in that time, one may rightly expect

their clothes to become tattered and

their feet to become sore, but it didn't

happen because the wilderness was not

what it seemed to be. It seemed to be a

resourceless, anti-life place. It was

however a place of safety and well-being

because it was a place over which Yahweh

presided.

Is your heart a place over which Yahweh

presides?

Is your poverty a place in which Yahweh

presides? Is your wealth a place in

which Yahweh presides?

The big caution is Deuteronomy 8:19. If

Deuteronomy 8:19

you forget the Lord your God and go

after other gods and serve them and

worship them, I solemnly warn you today

that you shall surely perish. Like the

nations the Lord makes to perish before

you, so shall you perish.

And it's not because of wealth or

poverty.

It's because we wouldn't obey the voice

of the Lord their God.

In your wealth or in your poverty, are

you obeying the voice of the Lord your

God?

In each place that you might be living

in, maybe you are right in the middle in

comparison to the rest of the world. All

of you are living in wealth.

But either way, we must not get confused

about who the owner is. Do you remember

how we started? God is the owner. God

owns it all. Period.

And so if you might notice that in the

world as people become more successful,

they might also might become more

greedy, more moody, and more anxious.

When we forget we're just the managers,

we start to take a closedfisted view of

money. We wrap our fingers around it and

we won't let any of it go. And that

happens when we're poor and when we're

rich.

French uh French philosopher Antoine

Rvoli said, "There are men who gain from

their wealth only the fear of losing

it."

With a wrong view of money, we go on the

defensive. Instead of living life with

an open hand, giving generously as God

directs, we close up and acting like

everyone is after our money. And that is

no way to live. And so I want to remind

you church what we say almost every

week. God doesn't need your money. And

the church doesn't need your money. You

know why?

God owns it all.

Period. And so this church doesn't rely

on a special donor

or manipulation.

We rely on the living God who says,

"This is enough for you. Follow me in

it.

He's good. He's good." Psalm 24:1 says,

Psalms 24:1

"The earth is the Lord's and everything

in it. The world and all of its people

belong to him." The earth is the Lord's

and everything in it. The world and all

of its people belong to him. Do you

belong to him

in your poverty? Do you belong to him in

your wealth? Do you belong to him? Stand

with me, please.

Today we come against the worldly

thought that somehow true liberty is

means that we get to have do whatever we

want when actually true liberty means

coming under the lordship of Jesus

Christ.

And so today might be the day that you

need to do that. And so in a minute I'm

going to ask you to say a simple prayer

with me. Sorry, thank you please. Sorry,

thank you please. sets in right motion

the places in our lives that need to be

under the authority of God and under not

under ours. Sorry just says, "God, I

know that I've been living a lie. That

somehow I believe that I'm in charge of

all of this." And God, to be honest, my

anxiety has been building because of it.

I'm so sorry.

Thank you. Is thank you for dying for

me, for dying on the cross. for

forgiving all of my sin, for making a

way that all that can be broken off of

me as a curse, and instead I get to be

exchanged for life that you have for me.

Thank you for dying for me on the cross

for my sin.

Thank you. Sorry. And then please,

please come into my life. Fill me with

your Holy Spirit. Lead me. I want you to

be my Lord and my Savior. I want you to

be in control as you rightfully are.

Thank you. Sorry, please. Would you pray

with me right now?

And are there some of you that need to

say that again today or say it for the

first time? Anyone?

Let's pray.

God, thank you so much. Thank you so

much for being us. I'm sorry. Sorry,

God. I'm so sorry for my sins. I'm sorry

for believing a lie, living my life off

of those lies that I'm in control.

I'm so sorry, God, for the sins, for

making idols, for the pride, for all of

it, God. I'm sorry for making decisions

out of embarrassment instead of the true

identity that you have for me.

I'm sorry, God. Thank you, God. Thank

you for dying on the cross for me so I

could be forgiven and set free. Thank

you for the gift of forgiveness. I now

receive it. I now receive it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Please, please come into my life right

now by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Please God, make room for yourself. I

want you to be Lord of my whole life. I

welcome you into my whole life,

especially my finances because I know

how close they are to identity in my

heart.

Please come into my life by the power of

your Holy Spirit and be my Lord. Lead me

forever.

Amen.

Steve is going to come up and lead us

through a time of response to some

different ways that the church has been

praying for you this morning.

And there's an opportunity for you to

respond. If you prayed that prayer with

me, I'd love for you to see a prayer

team this morning. Or if there's

anything else that God might be doing in

your life that Steve's going to read

off, please respond in prayer this

morning. worship team, would you come up

and begin to

lead us?