{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"New Hope Church | becomehope","title":"Are You Willing to Give Up Control?","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1622,"description":"Pastor Randy challenges believers to seek God's kingdom first, and reveals what that really means in a culture obsessed with control through hoarding, selfishness, and worry.\nTHE PROBLEM WITH EARTHLY TREASURE:\nMatthew 6:19-20 - \"Don't store up treasures here on Earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy.\"\nJesus' point is two-fold: (1) It's stupid to hoard because you can't take it with you when you die, and (2) When you store things up on earth, you become consumed with the desire for things.\nTHE RICH FOOL STORY:\nLuke 12 - A rich man had a fertile farm producing fine crops. He said, \"I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll have room to store all my wheat and say to myself, 'I have enough stored for years. Take it easy, eat, drink, be merry.'\"\nGod said to him: \"You fool. You'll die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?\"\nTHE REALITY:\nOne-third of Americans use storage facilities. There are 50,000 storage facilities in the US, MORE than the total number of McDonald's and Starbucks combined. That's 2.1 billion square feet of storage space.\nWe're holding onto things we don't use, don't need, and will never use again, because they're OURS.\nTHREE WAYS WE TRY TO CONTROL:\nHoarding - Storing up treasures on earth; holding onto possessions\nSelfishness/Tightfistedness - \"What's mine is mine; I'm keeping it\"\nWorrying - Thinking about and trying to maintain control over our world\nAll three center around SELFISHNESS. We want more and more, and what we have, we want it to be ours. Then we worry we don't have enough.\nTHE REAL ISSUE:\nJesus says: \"Seek God's kingdom first.\"\nBut most people think of \"kingdom\" as territory, possessions, things. That's not what it means.\nKing Herod was king over territory, but he didn't possess it, the Romans did. Herod just made the laws and collected tribute.\nKingdom of God is not about earthly...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/QeSOhOM9pdl7ie6YwFiWKrFHSz-rrRbE1NzVv7jCKNA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzIwMDk2LzE2MTc4/MDY0ODctYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}