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Faith-based money wisdom for the financially frustrated. Coach Lee Jenkins helps you make, manage, and multiply money God's way. Practical strategy, biblical truth, real results.
What you're about to hear is going to challenge what you believe about money because that's where the real change actually starts. This is one of my messages from the pulpit at Eagle's Nest Church where I get to deal with finances the way most experts never will, and that is through the lens of faith. Now I'm not here to just give you information today. I'm here to help guide you on managing your money God's way. I'm coach Lee Jenkins.
Lee Jenkins:This is the Stewardship Coach Podcast. Let's get into it. Well, today I'm excited about what God wants to say to us today. I believe it's going to be life changing for a lot of people. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Lee Jenkins:Father, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, we magnify you, we worship you, we honor you because you are worthy to be praised. So now, Lord, we pray that you will speak to us through your word. Challenge us, change us, stir our hearts, correct us, encourage us. Lord, we need to hear from you today. We need to be especially encouraged in this particular area, the area of money and stewardship.
Lee Jenkins:There's so much confusion, so much warfare, so much misunderstanding surrounding it, so much ignorance surrounding it. So, Lord, we pray that you will give us some clarity today, some instruction today. And, Lord, I'm praying that as we do your word, as we hear it and do it, that you will bless us and prosper prosper us so that we can be a blessing to others and so that we can honor you. May the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Lord. Help me to encourage your people today in Jesus' name.
Lee Jenkins:Amen and amen. Can we give the Lord one more hand clap of praise everybody? The Lord is good. The story is told of a man who was on his deathbed. He had about a week to live.
Lee Jenkins:He called in his three best friends, one was a doctor, one was a lawyer, and one was a preacher. He called in these three guys, he said, hey guys, I'm not gonna be here. In the next four or five days, I'm gonna be with God. He says, but I need you guys to do me a favor, and this is very important. He gave them each an envelope.
Lee Jenkins:He said, in these envelopes is $100,000. He said, so mister doctor friend, mister lawyer friend, and mister preacher friend, my three best friends, here's what I need you to do with that envelope. When I am lying in my casket, the day of the funeral, and people are coming to view my body, I need you all to walk down and put that envelope in my casket because I'm taking my money with me. $300,000. I'm taking it with me.
Lee Jenkins:I ain't leaving nothing for nobody. Do you agree to do this? They looked at each other and they said, yeah, we're gonna do it, man. They said he said, okay. Well, four days later, the guy passed away, about four days after that, they had his funeral.
Lee Jenkins:Sure enough, people came down to view the body, people came down the aisle and stood at the casket and cried and prayed and moved on and person after person, family after family. Then right at the end, these three best friends came down. The first one reached into his pocket, he took out an envelope and he put it in the casket. The second one reached into his coat pocket, he put it in there, and then the third one did the same thing. And then they went on with the funeral.
Lee Jenkins:About four days later, the preacher friend called the other two friends. He said, hey, man, I I I need to talk to you all. Did you all really put the money in the casket? The doctor friend said, man, I I feel so bad. I I feel bad.
Lee Jenkins:He said, man, I still got a lot of medical school debt. So I gotta admit, I kept $50,000 of the money for myself, and I only gave him $50,000. The preacher said, man, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I can't believe you did that. Then he took that looked at the doctor, doctor, what about you?
Lee Jenkins:He said, I I feel bad too, man. He said, I got two kids in college. He said, I also kept $50,000 and I only put 50,000 in the envelope. The preacher said, I cannot believe you all did that. He asked us to make sure that he had $300,000 in that casket.
Lee Jenkins:They both felt really bad. Then they looked at the preacher, Preacher, what about you? What did you do? He said, Well, I'll tell you what I did. I walked by there and I reached in the casket, and I got your $50,000 out.
Lee Jenkins:And then I reached in and I got your $50,000 out. And then I reached in my coat and I got my checkbook out and I wrote him a check for $300,000. That's what I did. Because he knew that check was never gonna get cashed. You see, that's what I call a shrewd person when it comes to money.
Lee Jenkins:You see, ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to money, this doesn't have to be a foreign language to us. Just because we love the Lord and just because we are Christians doesn't mean we can't be wise and shrewd and understand how money works. In fact, as I have said, every week there is more in the bible about how to handle money and possessions than there is about heaven and hell and love. It is one of the most talked about subjects through gen Genesis to Revelation. 16 out of the 38 parables in the bible deal with how to handle money and possessions.
Lee Jenkins:About one out of four verses in the gospels deal with it either directly or indirectly. So it's very important that we have the right perspective, but also that we understand how to have the right habits. You see, it's one thing to understand it in your head and in your heart, but it's a whole another thing to actually live it out. So today, I'm going to be speaking to you from the subject, maximizing or maximize your money. Maximize your money.
Lee Jenkins:What do I mean when I say maximize? That means reaching your God given potential with your money. That means increasing what you have. That means growing what you have. I don't know about you, but I'm not into decreasing what I have necessarily.
Lee Jenkins:Now, we're gonna talk about this a little bit later, but a lot of people look at giving as losing instead of giving as winning. But actually, when you give, you gain. It's almost like planting a seed, you do lose the seed in the ground. But because you plant the seed in the ground, what comes out of the ground is greater than what you put in, so you actually gain. So the purpose of today's sermon is to get you to see money and not only money, your time, your talents, your gifts as something that you need to grow, to maximize, to continue to get better.
Lee Jenkins:So we're going to be taking a journey through a popular parable found in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 through 29. It is often called the parable of the talents. Now, a talent in this parable and during the bible days was a sum of money. Now, I know when we use that word talent, sometimes we talk about, well, talent could be time, it could be what what the stewards do as you'll see with your time, and and that can it can certainly be applied to that. Talent could be your your talents, your gifts.
Lee Jenkins:But in this passage, they're talking about money. Now, this principle can be applied to other areas, but this parable of the talents is about money because a talent was a particular sum of money. And by the way, it was not a small sum of money. The parable of the talent. The Gospel of Matthew, let's start at verse 14 in Matthew 25, and I'm going to be reading from the New Living Translation.
Lee Jenkins:It starts off by saying, again, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by a story of a man going on a long trip. Just that right there ought to catch your attention because it says the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated, so this is really not necessarily about the talents or the sums of money. This is an illustration of how the kingdom of God works, the kingdom of heaven. So what we are about to learn here is is deeper than money, This is how God's system works. The kingdom of heaven, what is it?
Lee Jenkins:It is the visible demonstration of the comprehensive rule of God over every area of our life. Let me say that again. When you hear the term the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, what does it mean? There are many definitions, but here's one I got from doctor Tony Evans and he says, it is the comprehensive rule of God over every area of your life. Your faith life, your family life, your fitness life, your friendships and your relationships and your finances.
Lee Jenkins:Finances. To know whether or not the kingdom of God is in your life, all I have to do is look at your life because people ought to be able to look at your life and literally sense the kingdom of God being manifest manifest in in your your life. Life. That's why in the Lord's prayer, Jesus told the disciples, pray that thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth in my life as it is in heaven. In other words, whatever going on in heaven, I want to model that here on earth.
Lee Jenkins:So it starts off again, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. Now, the man in this story represents God. Let's see what happens. In the second part of verse 14, this man, it says, he called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. Now, that is an illustration of Jesus as we know he lived here on earth.
Lee Jenkins:He he lived a sinless life he died on the cross, he ascended back to heaven. So, is also a great example of of Jesus' relationship with us, how he has left us to steward this earth and he has given us certain things, and as you'll see later, he's going to come back and we're gonna have to be accountable for what he has given So he called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. The servants represent us. And he entrusted his money to his servants. This underscores the fact that God is the owner and you and I are the stewards because this man who represents God, he owned what he had and he allowed the servants to use it while he was gone.
Lee Jenkins:So that ought to tell you something right now that everything that we have, we are managers, we are stewards of it. It doesn't belong to us. Then Matthew twenty five fifteen, the next verse. So what happened right before this man went away? Look at what he did.
Lee Jenkins:He gave five bags of silver to one. By the way, you all was reading the other night in some commentaries and some biblical experts and they said, based on what a bag of silver cost two thousand years ago, if we extrapolate that out to the present day or the present value of money, it would be close to $5,000,000. So we're not talking about a small sum of money. So when when Jesus is telling this parable, he had people's attention. So he gave five bags or $5,000,000 or five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to the other, that's like $2,000,000, and one bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities.
Lee Jenkins:He then left on his trip. So look at what he did. He divided it in proportion to their abilities. So he gave them something but he just didn't do it haphazardly. He said, I'm going to give you something to manage, but I'm gonna do it based on your ability.
Lee Jenkins:Look at this insight right here, insight number one. God assigns us work and opportunity according to our ability. So for some of us, the reason we are not experiencing the kind of opportunities that we want financially or in business. Maybe the reason we're not experiencing the kind of work that we want, it might just be because God doesn't trust our ability. Now, we're gonna address that in a minute.
Lee Jenkins:But I want you to think about this, if you are a parent, would you just give your 16 year old who just got his or her license a Porsche nine eleven? That would not be smart. I don't care how much money you had. Some of the 16 year olds say, I wish my parents would do that. Well, one of the reasons you would not do that is because you know that a 16 year old could not handle a car that powerful.
Lee Jenkins:It would go to their head, it just would not be good. God treats us the same way. He gives us responsibility. He gives us wealth. He gives us opportunity.
Lee Jenkins:But like any good father, any good parent, the last thing he wants to do is to ruin us with his blessings. He wants to make sure that we have the character to be able to handle it. So he doles things out to us based on our ability. So let me just say this, as you'll see in a little bit, so if you want more, if you desire more, then maybe you need to address your ability. Let's keep reading.
Lee Jenkins:Some of you all caught that. Matthew, now we're gonna read verses 16 through 18. So let's see what happened to these three different servants, one got five bags of of of silver, one got two, one got one. K. Look at what it says.
Lee Jenkins:The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. Now, we don't know what he invested in, maybe he invested in the stock market, maybe he invested in real estate, maybe he invested in a business, but the text says, he took the money, he took what God gave him, and he invested it. And then he earned five more, he doubled the money. That's pretty awesome. But look in let's look and see what this second servant had.
Lee Jenkins:It says, the servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. Didn't say he invested, he went to work, maybe he started his own business And he doubled his money. But then it says, but the servant who received the one bag of silver silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money. Dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money. Do not hide your talent.
Lee Jenkins:You see, a lot of you all aren't experiencing what God wants you to experience because you've been hiding your talent. You've been hiding your gift. So he hid the master's money. Well, let's look and see what happened in verse 19. After a long time, the master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money, which brings me to insight number two.
Lee Jenkins:God holds us accountable for what he gives us. One day, we're gonna meet God and we're gonna be held accountable. Accountability another word I could use is we're gonna be audited one day about our stewardship. Nobody wants to be audited by the IRS. It's a scary feeling, but that's exactly what's going to happen to our stewardship because God gives us things to manage and one day we're gonna have to stand before God and we're gonna have to give an account for what we did with our time, with our talent or our gifts, and with our treasures.
Lee Jenkins:So you all, this issue of money is a serious issue. I don't see why more churches, more pastors don't talk about this because this is a vital part of our walk with God because we're gonna be judged on how we handle it. So back to Matthew verses twenty and twenty one. Let's look and see once the master came back, how the three servants performed. Servant number one verses twenty and twenty one.
Lee Jenkins:The servant who he had entrusted five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest. I have earned five more. I mean, this dude was proud of himself. Look at how the master responded the same way God responds to our good stewardship. The master was full of praise.
Lee Jenkins:Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful. Say faithful. Faithful. He says, you have been faithful in handling this small amount.
Lee Jenkins:So now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together. I hope you caught that. He says, you have been faithful, say faithful Faithful. In handling this small amount.
Lee Jenkins:Now, I will give you more responsibilities. You want more responsibilities? Then you handle the small amounts faithfully. You want your business to grow? Okay.
Lee Jenkins:It's small now, you handle it faithfully. You want your money to grow? Okay. It's small now, you handle it faithfully. You see, Luke sixteen ten says, whatever we do with the little is what we will do with much.
Lee Jenkins:In other words, if you're faithful in the little, you'll be faithful in much. If you're unfaithful with the little, you'll be unfaithful with much. How we handle the little is a test of how we will handle much. If you're stingy with little, you're gonna be stingy with much. Now, know a lot of people say, well, if I just had more money, pastor Lee, I would do this, I would do that.
Lee Jenkins:No, you wouldn't. You just think you would. Because indication of what we will do with much. So I hope that you are like servant number one. And he says, well done, thy good and faithful servant.
Lee Jenkins:Then he says, the master, I love what he says, he says, let's celebrate together. In other word it in other words, it makes God happy when we are good stewards. Servant number two verses twenty two and twenty three. It says, the servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, I have earned two more. Man, he doubled his money too.
Lee Jenkins:The master said, well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful, say faithful, in handling this small amount wait a minute, didn't I just tell y'all that that was worth a lot of money back in the bible days and you're calling it a small amount, it's still small compared to what God can do for you. You see, what what we think is big is not big at all. And so, believe when it comes to this area of money, some of us, we have we have very small mindsets. We we're in debt or or we're this or that and and some of us just don't believe that God can get us out.
Lee Jenkins:Man, God owns it all. If you can tap into the Lord and and and make sure that you are faithful in your stewardship, there is no limit to what God can do in your life. Amen to that? There's no limit. So some of y'all, you gotta think big, you gotta expand your horizon.
Lee Jenkins:So he says, Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, I have earned two more. Look at what the master says. It says, the master said, well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling the small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. It's the same thing.
Lee Jenkins:He says, let's celebrate together. That's servant number one and servant number two. I am hoping that if you had to stand before God today, that you would fall in the same category of servant number one or servant number two. And that is where God would celebrate your stewardship. He would look at your giving, your spending, your perspective, all of the things that you do, and say, well done, thy good and faithful servant.
Lee Jenkins:Well, let's talk about this servant number three verses 24 through 27. It says, then the servant with one bag of silver came and said Look at what he said, you all. Master, I knew you were a harsh man harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. Let let me stop right there. What does that mean?
Lee Jenkins:That that means he's saying, I knew you were very shrewd, I knew you were cutthroat, I knew you didn't take any mess off of anybody. So look at what he did. He says, I was afraid I would lose your money. In other words, because you're shrewd, because you're cutthroat, I was scared, I didn't I didn't want to make a mistake, I was scared I was gonna lose your money. So what did I do?
Lee Jenkins:He says, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back. As if that was something good. Now, for some of us, that would be okay. The master got his money back, I don't see what the problem is.
Lee Jenkins:He didn't lose it, he preserved it, but it was why he preserved it. And remember, our job as stewards is to please our master. So let's let's take this let's take this a little further. I want you to see how the master replied. But the master replied, you wicked and lazy servant.
Lee Jenkins:Woah. The dude gave you your money back. I don't know about y'all, but I got some friends and they've been owing me money for thirty years. And they've got new cars, houses, I would say, hey, bro, you what? You told me you're gonna pay me back thirty years ago.
Lee Jenkins:I would be happy to get it back. But he says, you wicked and lazy servant, if you knew I harvested crops and didn't plant and gather crops I didn't cultivate, in other words, if you knew I was shrewd, if you knew I didn't take no mess, why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? Because if you had deposited in the bank, look at what would have happened. He says, at least I could have gotten some interest on it. Now, if you read this too fast, it might sound like this dude is harsh.
Lee Jenkins:But here is the principle. Look at this. God expects us to manage and multiply what he gives us. Stewardship is not just about management, stewardship is about multiplication. It's about growing.
Lee Jenkins:It's about getting better. He expects us, God does, to manage, yes, but also to multiply. In other words, whatever your gift is, you ought to be getting better. You ought to be you ought to be growing. In fact, what did he call the man wicked and lazy?
Lee Jenkins:One of the reasons people don't grow in their gift and in their money, I hate to say it, is because they're lazy. Because it takes effort to grow. You have to be industrious. You have to go look for stuff. Okay.
Lee Jenkins:Let me let me say it like this. What was the major difference between these three servants? Two of them operated in their courage zones. In other words, they took courage, they had to have courage to step out on faith and to make some investments and to take some risk. But one of them wanted to stay in his comfort zone.
Lee Jenkins:Are you in your courage zone or comfort zone? How about this? Two of them had a strong desire for success. And by the way, having a strong desire for success is not ungodly if you want to be successful for the right reasons. But this one servant, his fear of failure was greater than his desire of success.
Lee Jenkins:And you see, some of you all out there, you talk yourselves out of what God wants you to do. And the reason you talk yourself out of it is because you don't wanna fail. Well, can I give you a news bulletin? Nobody wants to fail, but failure is always a possibility if you're doing something great for God. Okay?
Lee Jenkins:In fact, if it's guaranteed, then you don't even need faith. If you know it's going to work, when I started Eagle's Nest Church ten years ago, we had 20 people who were crazy enough to follow me and what God was doing in this journey. I didn't know whether it was gonna work or not. I said, suppose we come and there's nobody that likes it, nobody comes, suppose these 20 folks leave. There was no guarantee.
Lee Jenkins:But that's what faith is all about. You have to step out on faith, you have to trust God, you're supposed to be scared. You're supposed to be turning at night saying, Lord, if you don't come through, I don't know how this is gonna work. So he was he feared failure more than he desired success. Look at these two acronyms.
Lee Jenkins:There's there's an acronym you all call FOMO. If you googled it, it means something kind of negative in the secular world, but I've turned it around to something positive. FOMO means fear of missing out. I believe the first two stewards had FOMO. They didn't want to miss out on what God had for them.
Lee Jenkins:So, had a little fear, they was like, well, you know what? I I don't want to miss out because who knows what can happen if I take this risk? By the way, if you don't take the risk, nothing is gonna happen. I guarantee you, nothing is gonna happen. So, you might as well take the risk.
Lee Jenkins:Sometimes God is pushing us out in the deep water and we're scared, but if you stay on the shore, then you're guaranteed no return. That's all you're gonna give back to God is what he gave you. But God is saying, no, I want you to give me back more than what I gave you. It's just like us planting a seed in the ground, don't we get back more? So fear of missing out.
Lee Jenkins:I have FOMO. I don't want to miss out on what God has called me to do. I I wanna stand before God and and hear him say, well done, and I don't wanna hear him say, man, you missed that. You missed that. You missed that.
Lee Jenkins:You were scared right here. You wouldn't step out on faith right here. You missed it. I had so much more planned for you. So I don't I don't wanna miss God, but but here is what a lot of people have.
Lee Jenkins:I call it FOMO. Look at this. FOMO means fear of messing up. Because we feel like, well, if I do this, suppose it doesn't work. I would rather attempt to do something great and fail than to do nothing and succeed.
Lee Jenkins:Did you all catch that? Because some of us succeed at doing nothing. Now, don't mean literally nothing, I mean maximizing what God has put inside of you. Well, let's look and see what happened. Matthew 25 verses twenty eight and twenty nine, it says, then he ordered, take the money from this servant, talking about the servant who had one gift, who hid his money, and give it to the one with 10 bags of silver.
Lee Jenkins:What? That ain't right. That ain't fair. And we wonder sometimes why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Some of it, not all of it, has to do with stewardship.
Lee Jenkins:Then he makes a profound statement. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. I hope you all caught that. To those who use well what they are giving, I hope you're using well what you're giving because what will happen? Even more will be given and they will have an abundance.
Lee Jenkins:If you want an abundance, use well and more will be given. But then look at the rest of this. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Here's the insight. If you don't use it, we lose it.
Lee Jenkins:If we don't use it, we lose it. God will take opportunities away from us if we don't use it well. God will close doors if we don't manage relationships and things well. So here's how I would like to leave this. Very quickly, I just want to give you some kingdom principles of investing.
Lee Jenkins:Because what I'm really talking about here is taking what God gives you, material assets like stocks, bonds, real estate, your business, you investing in yourself, taking your talent and maximizing it for God's glory. Here are some of the things, just some very quick principles I need you to think about when you're thinking about growing and maximizing your money. Here are a few quick things. The first one is start early and let time work for you. Young people, start saving and investing early.
Lee Jenkins:And then let time work for you. By the way, the stock market has been going crazy this year, I think it's down 25% or so. But if you have a long term view, you don't really worry about it. It's not timing the market getting in and out, it's time in the market. The longer you can stay in something and the longer your time horizon, the better chance you have of being successful.
Lee Jenkins:Look at Ecclesiastes eleven one. It says, send your grain across the seas and in time, profits will flow back to you. So you wanna grow in your business, you wanna grow in your stewardship, you wanna grow in your money, it takes time. The second thing, don't panic when things go down. Don't panic when things go down.
Lee Jenkins:Things are down right now and you can panic, but here's what you also need to keep in mind, don't get greedy when things go up. Fear and greed are the two emotions that kill people financially. And then always diversify. Ecclesiastes eleven two, I want you to see this. It says, invest in seven ventures, yes, and eight.
Lee Jenkins:You do not know what disaster may come upon the land. And then lastly and most importantly, save and invest only when also giving. I want you to save and invest. I want you to make investments in yourself, in the stock market, in real estate. I want your assets to grow, but not at the expense of you being committed to God's kingdom.
Lee Jenkins:In fact, in Luke chapter 12, there's a story about a guy and they they called him the rich fool because God blessed him tremendously. And as he made more money, he just built bigger barns. And he said, now I have enough. I'm just gonna eat, drink, and be happy. And then God said, today, I'm gonna take your very life and then who's going to inherit what you have?
Lee Jenkins:And then God says, how fool foolish it is for a person to be rich here on this earth and not rich toward heaven. In fact, let's look at that verse, Luke twelve twenty one. Yes. Every man is a fool who gets rich on earth, but not in heaven. Now, if that had stopped right here, if there was a period right here, we would all be in trouble.
Lee Jenkins:And I'm glad there's not a period right here because it doesn't say every man who is a every man is a fool who gets rich on earth. In other words, there's nothing wrong with being rich on earth. But if you're not rich in heaven as well, we have a problem. I want to end with this story about a pastor who was invited to the palatial mansion of a multi multi millionaire. He was invited to this guy's mansion for dinner.
Lee Jenkins:They were standing out on the porch and the businessman who lived in the palatial mansion, he said, pastor, God has blessed me tremendously. He said, twenty five years ago, I was broke and look at what I have now. He says, look at all this I have invested in. Look at what he said. He says, to the East are oil wells.
Lee Jenkins:That's all mine. I own all of these oil wells. He says, to the West, there are huge herds of cattle. They're all mine. Then he says, to the North, there are sprawling fields of grain.
Lee Jenkins:They're all mine too. And then he said, to the South there are beautiful forest and they're all mine as well. The pastor looked at the rich multimillionaire businessman. He says, I see that you are very rich down here. Congratulations.
Lee Jenkins:You've done a good job. But what I want to know is are you rich up there? You see ladies and gentlemen, I want to encourage you and I use this word loosely, but I wanna encourage you based on your godly stewardship to manage well what you have and be rich, whatever that means to you. For some of you being rich is just being out of debt. For some of you being rich is not living from paycheck to paycheck.
Lee Jenkins:To some of you being rich is having hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. I don't know because it depends on your ability. But what matters is whatever God gives to you, you have to be faithful to grow that thing. So I believe that God wants to bless you so that you can be a blessing. And there's nothing wrong with being rich as long as you're rich as well.
Lee Jenkins:Let's pray. Lord, we thank you. We love you. We praise you. We need you.
Lee Jenkins:There are those under the sound of my voice, Lord, who dream about being rich. Some of it is greed, but then some of it is not greed. They just they just want to be better off financially. So Lord, I'm praying that you will teach them how to be better stewards and that you will increase them as they are faithful to what you have given. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to give back to you through our lives and through our resources, and we ask, oh, God, that you draw us closer to you.
Lee Jenkins:With all heads bowed, all eyes closed, even those of you online, I want to give you the most important invitation you can have, and that is not to open a new credit card statement, but it is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and to decide to follow him. So with all heads bowed, all eyes closed, if you have never made a 100% commitment to follow Jesus, I wanna give you an opportunity to do that right now. I'm gonna say a prayer. If you believe this in your heart and you want to make this commitment, and we would love to know who you are. Dear Lord, come into my heart, come into my life.
Lee Jenkins:By the power of your holy spirit, change me and make me a new person. I believe that you are Lord and that God raised you from the dead. So I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that you are the lord. Thank you for saving me by what you did on the cross and for giving and for forgiving me of my sins. Make me a new person in Jesus' name.
Lee Jenkins:With all heads bowed, all eyes closed, if you said that prayer and if you mean that with all of your heart, I'm not gonna ask you to come down, but would you just raise your hand and give us a wave? If you're out there, we have some of our elders looking around, and we just wanna be able to connect with you after the service. If you're online, all you have to do is put it in the chat. Or you can just text life, life, l I f e, to 37746, and we'll be in touch with you. Father, we thank you for this time.
Lee Jenkins:In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Let's give God praise everybody. Yes. If something in this message challenged you or gave you a next step, that's what it was for. Don't just sit on it, do something with it this week, and let me know what resonated with you the most in the comments.
Lee Jenkins:Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. God bless you, and I'll see you in the next one.