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[00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, good morning, everybody. I'm glad you are here. And as you know, we're in a series called Healthy. And the objective of the series is to try to reorient us toward the right priority, and that is emphasizing the importance of being healthy in every area of life. As we say each weekend, healthy people grow, healthy businesses grow, healthy churches grow, healthy things grow. So if you focus on the health of the thing, the growth of the thing will be automatic. And so we're trying to, again, reorient everyone to trying to consider how we can become healthy. And we started talking about a healthy heart. Then we moved into this section where we're talking about healthy homes. Next section we'll deal with is Healthy Habits. And then we'll be right up against Easter. Believe it or not, we're that close to Easter. And then out of Easter, we're going to be talking about healthy church. What does that look like? And how can I become a part of such a thing? And so this morning, I want to kind of transition from the church, I'm sorry, from the idea of a healthy heart and a healthy home over into healthy habits by talking about a value that we teach our kids. And that is the idea of having healthy generosity, of being generous with our love, being generous with our time, being generous with our resources. And I just want to commend, as we kind of conclude the family section of the series, I want to commend all of you, especially you parents who bring your kids to church. It's a wonderful thing that you do that you see the value of those children and you see the value of their spiritual life. I really do believe, and it's not just because of the line of work I'm in, but I do believe that the spiritual life of a person is foundational to everything else. I can base that on Scripture. The Bible says in First Corinthians 3, that there's not a better foundation. You hear the word foundation. There's not a better foundation. There's than you can lay, than the foundation that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. So building a foundation, building your life on a relationship with Jesus is essential to a successful and a productive life. And the thing about it is, if you're building on a solid foundation, even the structure can become damaged. The structure can even fall. But if you're on a good foundation, you can begin again, you can start over. And so talking about the foundation as being a relationship with Jesus, I think is essential. And so parents, I commend you for bringing your kids and being a part of a church. Because here we're teaching those kids over in Met kids in our student ministry that it's not your religion that is the most significant thing in your life. It is your personal relationship to Jesus Christ that is the most essential thing. Whether you ever are able to go to another church again, whether you're able to be a part of a religious ceremony again, it doesn't matter. It's not salvific. What is important is what did you do with Jesus? And then from there we talk about being healthy, not only with your spiritual life, but in your emotional life. That's important that we teach our kids how to be healthy emotionally and then physically. Obviously we care about the physical health and well being of our children. But this morning, one of the values we teach our kids is we do teach them the value of generosity. And you think about it, maybe you've never thought about it this way, but that's why we teach our kids to share, right? Because that's part of being generous. We want our kids to see the value of sharing. And you know why that's important? Because our, our number one interest that we all have, it is just intuitive within our nature. Our number one interest is self interest. That really is, that's our number. And you see that even as adults, when someone takes a picture and before you let them post that or let them walk away with that picture, what is the first thing you look at in that picture? Yourself. Right? And if you don't like the way you look, that thing ain't getting posted, is it?
Unless you're married and then she makes the call and you just go with whatever, right? But the point is most of us realize that we have that and that's okay. God wired us up that way. I'm not saying there's anything sinful about that. I'm saying when you cross the line into being selfish, then you get a problem with that. So we kind of monitor our kids because their main interest is their self interest. And you see it very early when they're playing with their toys. And the first thing they say when someone wants to play with Their toys is they say mine, and that's a word you never have to teach them how to say. Have you noticed that you don't have to teach them how to say because they have that. It's just in their little nature that they don't want to share. Sharing is something that takes them outside of themselves because we want them to have things and see the value of that being their toy. But as they play with their toy, we want them to play nice with others too. And so one of the values we teach them as parents is to share. Now you really see that when you go to McDonald's or you go to a chick fil a and their order comes out ahead of your order and you're sitting at the table with them looking at those waffle fries and you're thinking, I think I may reach over and get one of their waffle fries. And then what does? You almost could lose an arm if as a 4 year old ever, as a 4 year old ever threatened to take your arm right off and you're going, honey, I've got more fries are coming. This is not the only, we didn't get the last fries Chick fil a had. There are more fries on the way. And then you think about that for a moment, you think about that and you think, why aren't they willing to share with me the fries that I just bought?
They didn't buy those fries. That little booger didn't pop out a wallet or a money clip and throw down some money on the counter. And then you think a little more about it and you think, not only did I buy the fries, I could buy more fries. I, I, you know, I, I'm not wealthy, but I could bury that little booger in fries right now. I could go back up there and say, I want $100 in fries. I'm going to prove a point here. And you just pour them out on the tape, mount them out on the table, right? I bought them, I can get more. I, you didn't have any investment in this. And all you're trying to do is you're trying to teach them that value of sharing and then you teach them how to be responsible. It's another value we teach. I don't know if you thought about that as it pertains to generosity, but we teach them how to be responsible. That's why you say, make your bed, clean your room, pick up your toys.
Maybe you say, help me clear the table. Or as they get older, you may say, hey, I want you to take out the trash. And you give them little chores and little things. Wash the dog, let the dog out, let the dog back in. You know, some of you have cats. We'll pray for you about that. But the point is, the idea is you're teaching the children. You're teaching your kids. You're not running a sweatshop. You're teaching them responsibility. You want them to know how to manage well, how to take care of their things. You want them to be responsible. You want them to share, and you teach them, here's where I'm going. You teach them generosity. And you see that when they're invited to that little birthday party and you take them to the store and you let them pick out a toy for their friend, and then you wrap the toy and you take them to the party, and you see the joy that they have when they give that toy to their friend. And then they get to experience that value that Jesus taught when he said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. Now, he didn't say it wasn't blessed to receive. He just said, if you love receiving, you'll even love giving more. And you see that with your children, right? You see them at the birthday party, and the one thing they're watching their little friend do is open the gift they got them because they want to see the reaction of their friend for the gift that they got them. No, let's. Let's. Let's back up again and let's think about what we're teaching our kids. We're teaching them how to manage. We're teaching them how to be responsible. We're teaching them how to share, and we're teaching them how to be generous. And those are values that are important. And those are biblical values that will carry them throughout their life.
Because that's. Those are values that are essential to having a successful life. Managing well, being responsible, sharing with others, being generous. Those are biblical values. And just as we teach those values to our children, God is teaching those values to us. We as grown kids have to manage well. We have to be responsible, we have to learn how to share, and we have to be generous, because all of those things will help us be effective in our adult life, will help us and bless us in our business life, and we'll make a greater impact in our church life. And these are things I think all of us should be interested in, is learning how and doing all of those things really well. Because if you don't know how to manage, I've read an interesting statistic that said people who are given large sums of money at one time, maybe an inheritance or maybe a lottery, they're given large sums of money. If they don't know how to manage that money, within the first few years, all of that money is gone. And we've heard about those stories with professional athletes, and we've heard about those stories with artists, and we've heard about those stories who. These people who never were taught the values of generosity, of management, of being responsible, all of a sudden now they're. They're giving these. Given these large sums, and they don't know what to do with what they've been given, and they just kind of burn through it. And when I talk about being generous and teaching these values to our children, it really doesn't matter whether the sum is large or small. Because I think about my grandparents, and my grandparents, like many of yours, lived through the Great Depression.
And my memories of my grandparents were. They were very responsible with what they had. They didn't have a lot. I mean, in fact, my mom's parents were sharecroppers. My mother has had memories. My mom's in heaven. All my grandparents are there now, but my mom has memories of a little girl of them traveling up to Oregon during harvest season and working orchards up in Oregon and harvesting the fruit and then coming back to their small farm in Oklahoma, where my grandparents, when my mom was a little girl, as I said, they were sharecroppers. And then my dad's parents on their side of the line, my grandfather, my dad's father, for a period of time was a foreman on the Wagner ranch. And so they didn't have a lot of money either. They were just very poor, moderate, means people. But my memories of my grandparents as a child is they managed well. They were very responsible with what they were given. Man, my grandmother, I remember as a kid, I'd stay at their house, and the minute she'd go the mailbox to get the mail, they would go to the table and she'd start writing out the check for their bills, right? Then, you know, now we go, you got 30 days.
And until that peak slip comes, you go, no, I'm just kidding you now.
But the point is, she was very, very, very responsible. And I'm saying they didn't have a lot, but they were responsible for what they had. They managed well. My grandparents were generous. I mean, wow, if she's cooking and you're going to their house, she's going to feed you. And if you pop in on them, she's still going to feed you and she's always gonna have something in the kitchen she could pull together. So my point is, coming through the Great Depression as they did, they didn't have. Generosity is not about having a lot. It's about what do you do with what you have. That's a biblical principle. In fact, In Romans, chapter 14, the Bible teaches this. It says, all of us will one day give an account for what we have. Listen, God will never hold me or you responsible for things we don't have. He won't hold you or me responsible for the things we can't do.
He will only hold us responsible for how we manage the things we were given. How responsible were we with those things? Were we willing to share with others? Were we generous? And that's the basis upon which God will evaluate what we did with what we had. So this is very important that we understand that, because the tendency we have probably is to worry about resources more than we worry about anything else. And Jesus knew that. In fact, in the great Sermon on the Mount that I want to call to your attention this morning, he was dealing with the tendency that we all have to worry about these things. And let me lift a couple of verses out for you and talk about them this morning as we talk about being healthy and being generous in Matthew, chapter 6. Look at what he said in verse 31. Matthew 6, 31. If you don't have a Bible, take a look at the screen. We've got it here for you, so do not worry. Now you say, wow, that's. That's easier said than done. Now this is Jesus talking. He said, so do not worry. Saying, what do we eat? What are we going to drink? What are we going to wear? Now, if I were to just summarize, what are those three things represent? They represent material needs. They represent things that we all need. We need to eat. We need to drink. We're worried about clothes.
The kids are growing out of their shoes. We gotta buy new shoes. School year is gonna be around the corner, right? Gotta feed those little boogers. They're hungry. They'll eat two or three times a day, sometimes more than that. So every parent in the room, every family in the room, to some level or another, we worry. Or we become anxious about the material needs of our family. And Jesus knew that. That's why he's saying to them, don't worry about these things. I know these are important. I know these are. And by the way, have you thought about it? Most people don't worry about uninvol important things.
The Things that you become anxious about are important. And I don't want to minimize it. And I know Jesus was not minimizing it when he said, don't worry about these things because he knew those things are essential and those things are important. You got to have these things note now he says, because when you worry, understand, the pagans all run after these things. And your Heavenly Father here it is, knows you have need them. He knows you need them. He said, so when you worry, you are acting. When he said the pagans, what he means by that is they don't have a dependence upon God. They don't look at him as the secret of their source. They don't see God. They don't even entertain him in their thoughts. So he said, when you are overly thinking, you are worried and anxious about the basic necessities of your life. You're acting as though you don't have a heavenly father. You're acting like the pagans. And he's reminding us not that this is not important, not that we shouldn't think about it. He's saying, don't worry about it. Because he said, you, Heavenly Father knows you have need of these things. He knows that the thing right now you're concerned about, maybe it's the mortgage payment, or maybe it's the car payment, or maybe it's just some. Maybe it's a business challenge that you've got, or you need resources. Your Heavenly Father Jesus is reminding us he knows the thing that you are concerned about. These material things that are important, not unimportant. They are essential and necessary. Your Heavenly Father knows you need these things. But look at what he says in verse 33. But in contradistinction to worry, but seek first what his kingdom. And to have the kingdom, you have to know the king. What does that expression mean? The kingdom represents his realm. His realm. The kingdom is the realm of the king, meaning his where the Lord resides and where he presides. It's that relationship and in that fellowship with God, that realm that you're trying to get into that zone as a child of God, seek that his kingdom and his righteousness. Righteousness is just doing the right thing. It's just making right decisions. And he said, when you seek that, when you seek his presence and you seek fellowshipping with God, and you do it his way, and you try to live right, here's the promise, he said, all of these things will be given to you as well. So let's break these verses apart and try to understand what Jesus is trying to Teach us as we teach our kids. Number one, he identifies the problem. And I'll come back to it again, he's identifying the problem. And the problem that we all have is the problem of. Of worry, worry. Now you're in church, so don't lie. How many of you would say, all right, Bill, I've got at least one thing I'm a little worried about. My hands up. One thing. Okay, now, how many of you would say, I'm sitting by one of those things this morning. No, no, I'm just messing with you. I'm just messing with you. That's always fun, isn't it?
And then some of you certainly don't answer this one. How many of you get worried if you aren't worried? Yeah, some of you are married to someone like that. They're a professional worrier. And so when they're worried, you got, you got this. I'm going to let you worry about it because you do that so well, right? Some of you are really good about worrying. One of my go tos on that is at the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. You remember, and Jesus popped in. And I mean, ladies, don't you hate it when somebody just pops in? You may be a very generous person. Martha and Mary were very generous because in the context of Jesus popping in, I mean, this is Mr. Perfect coming to the house, right? So she's thinking, man, the beds aren't made. Oh my goodness, the house isn't clean. I got Mr. Perfection just showed up at the house. And so Jesus is sitting in the living room and Mary is sitting kind of at his feet, and they're listening to the stories of what he's doing when he's traveling. And Martha is in the kitchen. And the Bible says Martha is stressed to the max. And Martha finally has it when she looks out of the kitchen and she realizes her sister isn't helping her. Doesn't it help you if you are a worrier? If someone else will worry with you, at least to validate you just a little bit. And Martha, Mary's setting out there, total chill. She's not worried about anything. Martha's in the kitchen. And finally, finally, Martha, in frustration, says, jesus, would you please tell Mary to come in here and help me? Very loosely translated.
And you don't get the inflection when you read the Bible. You don't, you don't get inflection. But I love how it's worded. And I can imagine how Jesus might have said this. It goes, Martha, Martha, what he was saying. And give it to you in Texan is bless your heart.
I mean, darlin, you're worried about a lot of stuff. You're fr. You. He just said, just come in here and just let's. He just baloney. And what do you got in there? Bologna, cheese, piece of bread. That's a fine. I am lying. Very low maintenance. And just come in here and let's enjoy the moment. Let's just be in the moment and enjoy one another. But yet you've got this contrast that we see in our families between people who stress and they don't live in the moment because they overthink, and people who learn how to roll with the flow and they learn how to kind of, you know, not get overwhelmed in the moment, and they enjoy life a little better. And so Jesus is speaking to the problem that we all have. He said, don't worry. Now, it's interesting. Cause I looked at what it means to be worried and see if this definition really hits you. It means to be divided or to be pulled in different directions. I mean, it's hard to focus on something when you're worried because you're pulled in different directions. I mean, if you've ever done any target shooting. You ever done that, you can't.
You can't hit one target when you're aiming at two. You gotta be focused. And the thing that pulls your focus away from your business, the thing that'll pull your focus away from your family, the thing that will pull your focus away from getting healthy is worry. Because now you're divided, you're duplicitous. You've got two different things on your mind, and you cannot do two things. Well, someone said he was the jack of all trades and the master of none.
That's why when Paul was talking about the significance of being effective in life in Philippians, he said this one thing I do remember Curly from City Slickers? One thing.
This one thing I do. I am focused. I'm not divided. I'm not duplicitous. I'm not anxious or worried. I'm not trying to hit two things at one time.
I am absolutely not going to stress or worry about this. I read where Kim Reisham, she is an extreme skiing world champion, and she was being interviewed on how do you ski through the trees and not hit any of them? And she responded, and I love this, she said, the secret is, don't stare at anything you're not planning on hitting.
Isn't that profound? Don't stare at anything you're not so here's the thing. Don't stare at. Don't stare at the problem unless you're planning on stare at the problem solver.
Remember David in 1st Samuel 17 when he went before Goliath. And you remember his brothers were all hiding in the rocks, fearful for God because they were staring at how big Goliath was, right? And David, just a young man, he. He was great courage faces Goliath. And the principle of that moment was simply this. It's not that David didn't see how big Goliath was compared to how small he was. Watch this. Now, David saw how much smaller Goliath was to how big God is. You see the difference.
In other words, I'm not saying you don't have problems. You don't look at your problems, you don't consider your problems. But when you face your problems as though that you're the only one that can fix it, and you don't even have a God in your world and you're back to what Jesus said, that's like the pagans. You're acting like somebody who doesn't even know God. You have to look at the thing you're faced with this morning and the thing that might have you a little divided this morning, and you have to see it as it is, but see God being so much bigger than anything you face.
There's nothing you've ever taken to God that he said to you in return or a response. Let me think about that.
That's pretty big. I'm going to have to get back to you on that one. Oh my goodness. Wow. I thought you were. You really messed up.
No, there's nothing he can't handle. Your prayers won't shock God. Your prayers aren't too big for him to handle. I'm just saying the Bible says take everything to God in prayer.
In fact, in Philippians 4, the key to not worrying is worry about no things he said, but everything through prayer and thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4, 7 and 8.
So what you do is when you're worried or you're divided and you're faced with that problem, pray about the thing you're worried about.
And so Jesus begins by talking about the problems that worry can bring. I read an interesting article in Psychology Healthcare. It's a great little periodical and it reported the top three things people worry about. Top three things people worry about. Number one, finances, resources. And everybody in the room say, yeah, you, you may be okay personally, but you running a business or you're in A business or you're watching the economy. Everyone has in the back of their mind, what are interest rates going to do? We got a lot of realtors in the house. I mean, everybody is preoccupied. We have business people in the house. Some of you own restaurants, some of you own different types of businesses. So you would agree that that is truly the top worry that you face, that we all face our resources. Right. Number two is relationships. Relationships. Things in the marriage aren't quite right. Things with kids aren't quite right. I mean, preoccupied with the relationships that you have. So finances. Yes, Relationships, yes. And then number three is health. Health concerns. Those are the top three things Americans across the board said they worry about more than anything. Now let's go back to what Jesus said. Jesus said, worry about none of these things. Your heavenly Father knows about all of these things. In fact, when you read those 10 verses there in Matthew 6. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. 10 verses in Matthew 6. Five times. In those 10 verses, he says five times, he says, stop worrying about these things. Now, understand? He didn't say, stop thinking about these things. He said, stop worrying about these things. So that's the problem. Number two, Jesus goes immediately to the priority. He says, stop worrying, but instead seek first, establish a priority in your life. Now, this goes back to one of the priorities he said in the top ten in the Ten Commandments. Remember in Exodus 20, he said, you shall have no other gods before me. Before me means in front of me. Before me means instead of me. Before me means ahead of me. He is saying, the priority of my life. And the priority of your life, if you're a Christ follower, to keep me from worrying is to make sure God is the priority of our life. Now again, I'm going to go back to where I started. I don't mean God in relationship to your religion, which would be your church. I mean God in relationship to your relationship. He should be first. Now, I was a. I'm a pastor's son. And I can tell you that there's a lot of skewed priorities that happen in church world. And in church world, sometimes people hear make God the priority, and they think that means make church the priority. Now, as much as I want you to make church a priority, it cannot be the priority. It's not. It's down under when you look at it. God established worship in the garden, but he established worship after he established a relationship with Him, a relationship with the family. Take care of this place, your job and career. And then he said, here's the system of worship. You're to follow a blood sacrifice. So I can argue that it's a priority, but your church can't be the priority. I had a guy, he was this man, superstar volunteer. In my old church, he would volunteer for everything. He was there all the time. I mean, he'd come up on Saturday, he'd see the facility. Guys, man, is there anything you need cleaned or get ready for Sunday? And he was amazing. He's the first guy you thought about, man, when you thought about something needed to be done because he's on it, man. This guy's here all the time. He's volunteering. How's he doing that? I mean, he had kind of a flex schedule with his work. Freed him up until one day his wife calls and wants to have an appointment to see me. And I said, okay, that's great. Your husband's amazing. And she goes, yeah, he's an amazing volunteer, but he's a terrible husband.
I went, huh?
And after I talked to her a little while, I kind of understood that, why he was spending so much time at the church and not at home.
That works on two levels, folks.
But the point is, his volunteerism was really tied to the fact he didn't want to be in the house. He didn't want to have to deal with that chick. And so he was a superstar at the church. But I realized to help them kind of fix where they are in their home, he had made church the priority. And so I had to pull him in and have a different conversation with him. Lost a really great volunteer, but it saved their home. So what am I saying? I'm saying the seductive thing about priorities is sometimes good can take precedent over best.
The devil is smart. He doesn't get and fill your life with bad things. Instead, he will fill your life with good things instead of the best things.
So when you're evaluating priority, you have to say, is this good, or is there something better? Or even if something that could be described as the best for me, particularly in this season of life. So in establishing priority, you have to say, my relationship with God has to be absolutely first. Now, when I talk about being first, seek first, here's what that literally means. I'll give you a definition. It means to set in order and consistently pursue. Set in order and consistently pursue. That means to seek first. And by the way, it takes, what, seven weeks or so to establish a habit? So it's going to take a little time. It's going to feel weird at first. Like if you're reading your Bible for example, and you haven't been doing that on a regular basis, and you start that's going to feel awkward a little bit at first because you're not in the habit of doing that. Maybe prayer, maybe that hadn't been a part of what you do every day. So, you know, it might feel awkward at first. Maybe you haven't been in the habit of giving. And so, hey, I'm going to start giving to my. I'm going to give money where I'm receiving ministry. I'm going to get in on this tithing and offerings. I'm going to do that. I'm going to establish that priority. I'm just saying any of the disciplines that you choose to follow, any of those things are going to be awkward at first because you're trying to get some memory muscle. You're trying to get used to that. You're trying. If you're not naturally a generous person and you start being more generous, then all of a sudden it's gonna feel a little awkward at first. But if you'll continue to do that, you'll get into the habit, you'll get into the discipline it's to consistently pursue. And that happens when you seek. First 1 Corinthians 10:31. Paul said, Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all. Do everything you do to the glory of God.
That's interesting. What does that expression glory of God mean? What does that mean? That sounds like Christianese, doesn't it? There's a lot of expressions we use in ministry that people go, huh? What's that mean? Let me give you the best definition I've ever heard on glory of God. The word glory could be defined simply as everything that God is.
When Paul said in Ephesians, unto him be glory in the church. That means, may this church be a reflection of everything that God is. He's loving, he's, he's. He's generous, he's forgiving. For God so loved the world he gave. He is, he is sacrificial, he is selfless.
When I'm bringing God glory in my life, then everything God is is being reflected in who I am. That's why he said it's a process. That's why in Romans 8:29, he says, we are being conformed into the image of His Son. We're not there yet. It is a lifelong process that isn't completed until one day we step into his presence. And when that happens, Third John says, beloved, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when we shall see him, we shall be like him, for we will see him as he is. One day we'll be perfectly conformed into his image, but we ain't there yet. So it's process.
So I have to cooperate in that process. And it begins by establishing a proper priority, the priority of putting God first. For example, he should be. He should have the first devotion of my heart.
I love this principle in Revelation 2, verse 4. It talks about him being your first love. Your first love, meaning that he is. Has that devotion. He. He's the premier one that you love in your life more than you love anyone or anything else. So he has the first devotion of my heart. Number two. He has the first thoughts of my day. The first thoughts of my day. Psalm 5, verse 3. In the morning will I seek you first. The Bible talks about in Psalms, communing on your bed. It's the idea even before you get up, prop your pillow up, set up, you got a little app. Start reading your scripture. Start in Proverbs, maybe look at the day. Today's the 16th. Read Proverbs 16, read a Psalm. Psalm's gonna be edifying and encouraged. Go to Psalm 16. Let that be where you start. I had a good friend of mine that said, I'll read the Bible until I feel God has spoken to my heart. Sometimes it's a verse, sometimes it's a chapter, but that's what. So however way you do it, there's no wrong way to do it. I'm just saying prop up in the mornings, begin your morning, let him have the first thoughts of your day, and then open your day up in prayer. If you take a shower in the morning, then maybe your shower times your prayer time. On your drive in, just kill the radio and just let that be your prayer time. I'm just saying let him have those first thoughts of your day, the first devotion of your heart, and make him a part of these resources. As we talk about generosity, let him have the first fruits of your income, as Proverbs 3, 9 and 10 encourages us to do. Say, God, I'm partnering with you. I love what Dwight L. Moody said about that. Dwight L. Moody said, if God, if he is your partner, make your plans big. Partnering with God in the area of our resources, seeing the value of being generous. Here's the third thought, and we'll go home. I've talked about the problem. I've talked about the priority. Now let me give you this. The promise. The promise. He said, stop worrying about this stuff. I know you need it. You're going to continue to need it as long as you're on this earth. I know that. I'm aware of that. I'm with you. Make me the priority. And here's the promise. He said, look at it again. Seek first look at the last part, and all these things shall be yours as well.
God said, it's not a matter. He'll meet our greeds.
He'll meet our needs. He said, I'm going to take care of you now. He'll bless you sometimes with things that we don't really need, but he's just blessing his kids because God loves to do that. We give. Don't you give your kids sometimes things they want? Not necessarily things they need? You look at all those toys and you think, that kid doesn't need all those toys. But they wanted them. Man, I was the world's worst. And now that I'm a granddad, I'm really the world's worst. I take those kids to the toy store. They're with me. Oh, my goodness. It is just. They pretty much can. Honest to God. They pretty much get whatever they want.
I mean, I'm dead serious about that one. And I'm unashamedly dead serious about that one.
You know, Shannon, when she was a little girl, she was always, you know, she'd fly. She was our compliant child. She'd stay in the lane and fly in formation. And if the budget at Toys R Us was a certain amount of money, she stayed within that. And then she'd find something that might run, you know, 30 or 40 cents more than her little allotted budget for Toys R Us. She would actually fret a little bit to Cindy or me, this is a little more. I can put it back. And you'd appreciate that you say, oh, no, honey, that's fine. Billy, on the other hand, he doesn't have those curbs. He never understood that. He just. He was a negotiator. You know what I mean? Did you have one of those kids that was a negotiator? The budget was where you started.
That's not where you ended up. And we would start there. And then it was. Taking him to Toys R Us was torture. Torture. He would not leave. Shannon could pick out what. She's very decisive. Pick out what she want. He would have this and that. And which should I get? If I get this, I'm gonna want that. And then on the way to the car, dad, should I have gotten that? Should I have gone for it? The love of God, son. It's a toy. It is A toy. But it was interesting to see how they were when they were little. And we all have that. But I'm saying we would give them things that they didn't necessarily need. And I'm saying, God, if we love our kids that much, how much more does he love his kids? So it's not prosperity theology. I'm just simply saying God's promised to provide for our needs. And then along the way, you know what, he'll bless us with some wants. He'll give us some things that we didn't really need. But just to bless us from time to time, he does that. You've got things, I've got things that I don't really need. I wanted, and God just blessed me and let me have it, you know, so that's kind of cool to see how he works. And so I'm just suggesting the promises, all of the things that you need, those things will be yours. So let me stop kind of with where I started. He just said, don't. Don't worry. Don't overthink this. Don't get divided by this. If you go to New York City and you go to the Rockefeller center, out in front of the Rockefeller center, you'll see this massive statue of Atlas. If you haven't been there, you've at least seen pictures of it, right? A massive status of the strongman Atlas, that mythological figure. And on Atlas's shoulders is the world. And you see Atlas as he's straining. Every muscle in his body is straining to carry the world on his shoulders. Atlas. But if you go across the street into St Patrick's Cathedral, you'll find just inside the cathedral, the statue of Jesus as a little boy. And Jesus as a little boy has his hand extended. And in his hand is the world.
He's got the whole world in his hand.
And sometimes we look at that and we try to go through a service like this, like Atlas, I got this, God. I can do this.
And God is saying, no, I got this. You're partnering with the wrong thing. You're relying on the wrong thing. You need to trust me. The world is it. I've got you. I've got everything you need. When I have you, there's nothing you need to worry about. I got it. I got you. Trust me. Seek me first, and all the things you need will be added. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you, Father, that it is so practical.
It's understandable. It's something. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can actually. We can actually do this. And yet, Lord, your word is powerful.
It can transform habits, transform lives. It can change businesses. It can change churches. It has the power to transform a community and really has the power to transform a country. There's nothing your word cannot do. It is rhema. It is living.
And so, Father, I pray, as James encouraged us, so that we not just be a hearer of your word, but as we break out of this big holy huddle this morning, we'll go be doers of your word. We'll put it into practice. And finally, Lord, I pray for my friends in the room or those watching online or those listening through a podcast who may never have trusted you as their personal savior that this might be the moment when they swallow their pride and they humble their heart and they just simply pray and say, lord Jesus, I can't do this by myself anymore. So at this moment, with all I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:39:38] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
