We are kicking off a brand new series that we're calling Heart Check.
And believe it or not,
we're actually not checking in on your cardiovascular system. Okay?
I hope all that's going well for you. We have doctors for that.
You should take care of yourself. But what we're really talking about is like,
Hey, what's going on in your soul? Like, are you,
are you living life in peace or are you bound to like stress and
anxiety? But what we're gonna see is while we're checking in on our heart,
there's also this common thread that comes throughout scripture and especially
comes out in the teachings of Jesus as it relates to our heart.
And it's about something that's very near and dear to our heart.
And it's called money.
Who's excited to talk about money .
That air just gets sucked out of the room. Listen,
IIII want you to stay with me here. I don't wanna lose you right outta the gate.
'cause I know the liabilities that come with this, right? Like,
I'm well aware of, uh, the cultural impression that man,
the church just wants your wallet. Like,
I'm so aware that there are churches that have involve,
involve been involved with scandals. Uh, I'm keenly aware of pastors, uh,
that have made some really boneheaded decisions as it relates to the dollar of
the church. And in fact, I'm so aware of this, uh,
I've actually avoided talking about it. Like I've got my own excuses, right?
Like, I, I don't want,
I don't want people to think that the church is all about your wallet.
'cause we're not, um, I don't want people, uh, to, to think that, um,
I'm coming from a position of weakness or that our church is in a position of
weakness. And I don't wanna push anybody away. Like,
I really think through like what happens if there's somebody that's gonna show
up to a Hope Community Church for the first time and they've got this thought in
the back of their head, but all the church wants is my money.
And then they show up and on their first weekend we're talking about money,
this is probably a good time for me to say, Hey,
if this is your first time in Hope , so glad that you're here with us.
But I really do believe, like if you stick through this,
you're gonna see Jesus's words as it relates to our finances, uh,
our financial situation, our resources, and then how that ties to our heart.
I think it's gonna be impactful for you. But as a result of all those excuses,
I've avoided talking about it. And I gotta tell you, as your pastor,
I think I need to repent. And, uh,
it might not be for the reasons that you would think,
but we're gonna talk about, uh, money for two reasons. One,
it's because you care about it. Uh,
if you Google what is the primary cause of stress in America,
you will see financial concerns consisting of how to navigate life financially,
job security, and the economy. Uh,
is there anyone in here who's just a little bit nervous about the state of the
economy right now? Tough week in the Stark market. Don't trust, don't,
do not go home and check on your portfolio tonight. Uh,
your heart check won't turn out good. But look,
the American Psychological Association,
they did a survey and it found that 75% of Americans from Gen Z,
so our youngest adult adults,
all the way to the oldest adults around us are feeling stressed about money,
making money,
the top source of str of stress for Americans across all
economic backgrounds. And so you care about it.
Like we have anxiety and it's about money. But see,
God doesn't want us to go through life facing stress and anxiety.
And that actually leads us to our second reason we're talking about it.
And it's because Jesus cares about it.
He talks about it a lot. Most theologians would,
would argue that 15% of Jesus's recorded words that we see throughout the
gospels are around money, wealth, and possessions.
And that doesn't even touch the rest of scripture, like cover to cover.
And so if we're stressed about it, and if Jesus talks about it a lot,
I don't want you to hear Jason's talk on money.
Like what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at Jesus's talk on money.
And I'll bet it's possible that it doesn't go the way that you think.
But what I think you're gonna see is Jesus doesn't need your wallet,
but he cares about your heart. And so if you've got your Bible,
so we're gonna jump into Luke chapter 12. Uh,
what's happening is Jesus is having a conversation with some of his followers.
We're gonna start in verse 11.
We're gonna jump into this thing in mid-conversation. So, uh,
if you're looking in your Bibles, Luke,
it's the third book and the New Testament.
So the New Testament starts with four counts of Jesus' life. Uh,
we refer to them as the gospels. Uh,
they were written by guys by the name of Matthew, mark, Luke, and John.
They got wildly creative in how they named the books, Matthew, mark, Luke,
and John. But if you're looking for it,
you go to the halfway point in the Bible. Luke is just after Matthew and Mark,
and I would love for you to follow along. We're gonna,
we're gonna talk through some things.
I think it'd be great for you to take notes. If you don't have a Bible,
we'll have them up on the screens.
But there's just something powerful about following along in your own Bible and
kind of reading word by word and realizing like this isn't some mysterious book.
Like you really can read the Bible on your own and apply it to your life.
If you don't have a Bible, we'd love to get you one. You can head to next steps,
whatever campus that you're uh, sitting at right now,
you can go to next steps afterwards.
Ask someone for a Bible if they don't have one, my bad guys. Uh,
but they can get you one. They also have 'em on Amazon. Uh,
I did read that Bible Sales across America or up, uh,
25% right now, which is actually encouraging man.
People are engaging God's word. Yeah, we can celebrate that. That's a big deal.
Okay? Uh, we gotta preach a sermon at some point.
So let's jump in Luke chapter 12. And again, we're jumping in mid-conversation.
And Jesus says this to his followers, he says,
and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the
authorities, so this is like a big deal, right?
Like he's talking about when they bring you in front of the police,
right outta the gate, something big's going on.
Do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say
for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.
So we're jumping in big conversation, but you can tell right away,
like this is a heavy talk. He's telling them, if you follow me,
you're gonna pay a price.
Like just because you're associated with me and you're living out my teachings,
like you are most likely gonna be persecuted. But he's saying in those moments,
I don't want you to face stress. I don't want you to face anxiety.
Don't worry about defending yourself because my spirit will tell you what to
say. Don't back down. And for some of you right now,
like that might be enough word for you right there just to sit in. 'cause I'm,
I'm telling you right now,
we live in a world and in a culture where the teachings of Jesus are not widely
embraced. But man,
we've gotta trust in the spirit of God to be present in our lives,
in the moments of difficulties. He's gonna be there with us. We can't back down.
But what he's saying is, Hey, your life is valuable.
Make sure that you give it to something of value. He said,
don't sell yourself short.
He's actually talking to them about their life's mission and purpose.
Like this is a big life conversation that we're jumping right into the middle
to. But then in the midst of that, a man in the crowd interrupts 'em.
Verse 13, it says, someone in the crowd said to him, teacher,
tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. You're like,
what? Like, sir, this is not on the agenda for this conversation.
Like what in the world just happened? And this is kind of like,
like I feel like this happens in my house daily. Uh,
my kids are the world's best, uh,
at having the world's worst timing when it comes to conversations. Uh, um, um,
you know what I mean? If you have kids, like,
it doesn't matter what I'm talking about,
I could be giving the the world's greatest, uh, dad wisdom. Uh,
so much so that I'm thinking, man,
these kids must think they're so lucky for me to be their dad.
And I could be mid-sentence and I could be sharing my greatest peace of dad
advice in the history of dad advice to a question that they actually asked.
And then out of nowhere out here, Hey, what are we gonna do this weekend?
And I'm like, where did I lose you?
Like I thought you were talking to me about what you wanted to accomplish in
life and how to set goals and what it looks like to live a life following Jesus.
And in this situation, you've got Jesus of Nazareth, the creator of all things,
giving a talk on their life, mission and purpose.
And this guy's like Jerry McGuire. He's like, yeah, Jesus,
but show me the money.
And you talk about like missing the point,
like this guy, he has his mind on his money and his money on his mind,
and he's missing something that's a critical message.
And so we've gotta ask ourselves this question,
is it possible to be standing in one of the most critical moments of your life
and completely miss the point? Yes, it is.
Is it possible to show up at church every single weekend and completely
miss the point? Yes, it is.
And so when you look at what's going on here,
we can assume here that this man's father, he's died, he's passed away,
and it was a custom back in this day that the firstborn receives the
inheritance. And so this guy's possibly,
he's most likely the second born and he sees Jesus as a means to an end, right?
In his mind, that end is money. But this is how Jesus responds to him.
In verse 14, he says, but he said to him, man,
who made me a judge or an arbiter over you?
So Jesus is saying to this guy, uh,
who made me that decides what someone else should do or give to you.
I mean, you can say it differently. He says, was it you? He said, did,
did you make me so you can tell me what to do?
Or did I create you so that I can share with you your life's mission and
purpose? And we gotta recognize,
like when we're unclear on the purpose of life,
we can actually place the wrong expectations on God.
And so Jesus asked him this question, but um, ,
he doesn't wait for him to answer. And uh, verse 15 it says,
and so he said to them, so he turns back out to the crowd.
This one guy's talking to him. And then he says to the crowd,
take care and be on your guard against all covetousness for
one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
So Jesus turns to the crowd and he is like, Hey guys, don't be greedy.
Don't covet.
And so this guy immediately becomes an object lesson for whoever's there, right?
So just be mindful of that. If you yell something out and I'm up here on stage,
you could become an object lesson for everybody in the room. But he says,
don't be covetous. Like if you don't know what covetousness is,
it's an excessive or insatiable desire for something,
especially wealth or possessions,
often with a negative connotation implying greed or envy.
Uh, and the greed, the literal translation is to desire more.
How much more? Just a little bit more,
just a little bit more. And can we be honest with ourselves for a minute?
Like the majority of our times in our lives, no matter what we have,
what we really want, it's just a little bit more.
And what's interesting is Jesus doesn't say,
be careful not to chase after stuff. That's not what he says. He says,
take care and be on guard.
In the Greek that translates like, like a military term to stand, watch,
like to be on alert.
And because what he's saying is greed and covetousness, um,
the desire to want more, you don't have to worry about it. Like, yes,
don't go after it, but it's coming after you. Like,
you have to be on guard. You have to stay on on alert. My daughter,
she is a sweet young lady, um, she looks so pretty and innocent,
but she's a wrestler.
And so if you walk out on the wrestling mat with her and stand on the line and
the referee blows the whistle, um, if you're not on guard,
she's gonna beat you up. Like you have to be ready. She is coming for you.
And what Jesus is saying, like, get ready, greed and covetousness,
like it is coming for you whether you like it or not.
And you can go through life and pretend like it's not,
but it's coming after you see covetousness and all the anxiety that comes with
it. It's not something that we pursue, that we set out to pursue.
No one wakes up in the morning and says, you know, wanna be, I wanna be greedy.
I wanna be like Ebony or Scrooge. Like that's what I wanna be.
But it's something that pursues us in life.
And so what Jesus does is he tells them a parable.
Jesus tells a lot of parables throughout the gospels, a parable. Um, it,
it means like to come alongside. Uh,
and so it's a story to help you make a point.
And so I'm trying to make this point.
So I tell you the story to come alongside of the point that I'm making.
If you get the story, you get the point. So it says in verse 16,
and he told him a parable, listen to this,
the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself,
what shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops.
So this guy has a good problem, actually two of them. One, he's rich.
That's great. Uh, two, he had a good year. Uh,
that's a problem we'd all love to have, right? Uh,
you get to verse 18 and he says, I will do this.
I will tear down my barns and I'll build larger ones,
and there I will store all of my grain and goods. That sounds responsible,
right? Nothing wrong with saving. Uh, the Bible actually says, uh,
in Proverbs that righteous is a man who leaves an inheritance, uh,
for his grandchildren. Like, sounds like he's, he's thinking smart,
but look at what money can do to our perspective, right? It's not the saving.
Verse 19. And he says, and I will say to my soul, soul,
you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax,
eat, drink, and be merry.
So what this guy's really saying is, now that I have money, I'm secure.
And you remember what we said earlier, it,
it's possible to be in a critical moment in life and completely miss the point.
And the story here, it takes a radical turn. Like thi this guy, uh,
he went from having a really great year. Uh, well, I'll just read it.
I'll let you see. Verse 20, it says, but God said to him,
you fool this night, your soul, the soul that he just spoke to, he said, soul,
you're good. Lay up, eat, drink, be married this night.
Your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared,
whose will they be?
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
So this guy went from having a great year and being a great financial situation
to being called foolish by God and losing his life. And I just want to tell you,
like none of us want to get to this place in life where we stand before God
one day. And he says, well, that was dumb.
What was dumb? I don't know like how you spent your life.
And if we're not careful, like we,
we can go through life missing the point and be giving our time, our talent,
our treasures,
the things that ultimately are not the purpose that we were created for.
And so I want you to understand the object of his foolishness was not his money.
Nothing wrong with money. God's gifted you with the ability to make money,
make money, make lots of it.
It wasn't that he tore down his barns for bigger barns.
The foolishness was that he had misplaced where the security of his soul rested.
He said, soul,
entire being you are safe and secure because you have money.
And God said, you missed the point. He said,
you were a fool because you thought your soul and your life was secure and
money. And tonight your soul is required of you.
And if God can require something, um,
that means it was his to begin with.
And I can't require something from any of you if it's actually not rightfully
mine. So God says, you fool,
you thought your soul and even the stuff in your life was yours.
And it's not all of that was mine to begin with.
The only reason that you have this stuff is because I've given it to you.
And so we've gotta recognize in our life, our peace and our security in life.
It doesn't come from the stuff that we've been given.
It comes from the one who gives it. I'm gonna say that again.
Like our peace and security in life. It,
it does not come from the gifts that we have in life. Our 401k,
our checking account, the roof over our head.
That's not where our security comes from. Our security, our peace,
it comes from the one who gives those gifts.
I think it's important to note that when we started, uh,
we saw a guy who didn't have any money and his heart was in the wrong place.
And so what Jesus does is then he tells a story about a guy who's got a lot of
money and his heart's in the wrong place. And so our view of money,
like it can get us off course whether we have little or whether we have much,
right? We have to be on guard. It is coming for you.
So it's a problem for all of us.
So what we've gotta ask ourselves is how do we fight against it?
Like how do we fight against this thing that's coming after us?
What does it mean to be on guard? And I love this next part.
And Jesus is so kind. He's so gentle. You know, Jesus,
he doesn't need your wallet. He cares about your heart,
but he doesn't turn to the crowd like he just told the story.
And that's what God said to this guy. He doesn't turn to the crowd and say,
so listen up fools. I know you're all being foolish.
Like he doesn't guilt them. He turns to them with such a pastoral way.
And so if you find your place in this story, anyway,
I just want you to hear these words of Jesus. He says to his disciples,
therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,
what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body.
What you'll put on for life is more than food.
And the body is more than clothing. It says,
don't let your pursuit of more become your heart's desire.
Like it leads to anxiety, it leads to distortion of purpose.
It leads to seeking security and something that ultimately can never provide it.
Like these things that we chase after in our lives,
they are not going to bring us satisfaction.
And I would argue that our pursuit of more is driving this anxiety ridden
world that many of us are facing,
and it's actually robbing us of the peace and of the security and the purpose
and the rest. Like can you just,
the impact of just saying the word rest, like it's so foreign,
but it's robbing us of,
of experiencing the rest that God truly wants us to experience in this life.
And you say, well, Jason, how do you know we'll actually enjoy life?
How do we know that our needs will be met? And again,
I don't wanna give you Jason's message. I I want you to listen to Jesus's words.
He says this in verse 24. He says, consider the ravens,
which by the way, probably world's ugliest bird, okay? Like,
like completely like the worst. So he's a, he goes to the ugliest bird, he says,
consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap.
They have neither store houses nor barns.
They don't tear down barns of bill bigger barns.
Yet God feeds them of how much more value are you than the birds?
Verse 25.
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour of span to his life?
Like you can't add any time to your life by worrying, by being anxious. In fact,
medically speaking,
anxiety actually has the ability to shorten your life because it's gonna
decrease the strength of your heart. And then you get to verse 26 and he says,
and you're not able to do such a small thing as that.
Why are you anxious about the rest? He says,
you don't have the ability to save your life.
You don't have the ability to sustain your life. I'm the one who can do that.
And Jesus says, this is actually easy work for me. In Jesus' eyes, he is like,
you can't even do such a small thing to sustain your life. That's small for me,
but you can't do it. Why are you worried about the other stuff?
It goes on verse 27, consider the lilies how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin yet I tell you, even Solomon,
Solomon was a king in the Old Testament and the richest men to ever live.
He said, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so closed the grass,
which is alive in the field today and tomorrow was thrown in the oven,
it's gonna be forgot about. You're never gonna think about it again.
You're so much more valuable. How much more will he clothe you,
owe you of little faith? Jesus says,
God closed the fields like people marvel over creation.
He says,
God does that like creation doesn't toil over itself to make itself beautiful
like we should have faith that God loves us all the more we should rest in him
like church family. We've gotta recognize like we have enough
to truly find peace in the area of our finances is to really have faith
in the God that provides for us.
And when we've really gotta do business, like where do we put our faith?
Where do we put our hope? Verse 29.
And do not seek what you're to eat and what you're to drink nor be worried
for all the nations of the world seek after these things and your father knows
that you need them. He says, don't worry about, don't stress about,
don't be insecure about what you may not have. He says, you know who does that?
You know who worries like that?
Everyone like the world. He says, don't be like that.
Proverbs 1412 says this. And I really believe in today's day and age,
like we should all have this verse on our refrigerator,
like on our rear view mirror. Proverbs 1412. It says,
there is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
But hope God takes care of his kids.
And I have this conviction that we as the family of God,
we need to be awakened to the fact that God created us to know
and experience a life of peace and security and belonging
and purpose. And if he's the God of all creation,
and that's what he created us for. Like how do we lose sight of that?
But the world gets distracted. And you know where it all started?
Genesis chapter three,
like the devil shows up on the scene and he led Eve to believe that God was
holding out on her. He told her a lie. And he said, but, but,
but believing in him by obeying God,
you're not experiencing everything in life that you could. And she bought it,
hook, line, and sinker. Adam didn't protect her. And ever since then,
we've been chasing the wrong things the wrong way.
And it leads to death.
It leads to our heart being riddled by stress and anxiety.
And so hopefully you're tracking along with this and maybe you're at this place
where you say, but Jason, how can we trust that God will provide?
How do we know?
And I would tell you it's because God has already given us his best in Jesus.
Like God has already given us his best in spite of us rebelling against God in
spite of our shortcomings, in our own lives, and pursuing the ways of the world.
God loves us so much that he sent his son to this earth to teach us how to live,
to die, the death that we deserve to die on a cross.
He rose him from the grave overcoming sin and death so that we could experience
the true life that we were created for.
Like that is the good news of the gospel.
Like if you're a part of the family of God, you've believed in this good news,
why in the world would he go through all that and give his first and give His
only and give his best, and then they'll stop providing for us now,
like, do you know how easy it is for God to provide for us in our areas of
need? I mean, think about that.
He's the creator of the universe. Church,
we need to allow our hearts to rest. We need to be at peace.
I would say don't hustle and don't strive and don't get anxious,
and don't try to provide the security for your soul.
And do not try to save your own soul what you can't do anyway.
And I'm not saying don't work hard, right? God created us to work. He said,
subdue the earth,
Bible tells us we should put our hands to the plow to sit in front of us,
be faithful to the work that God's called us to.
But that's not where our security comes from.
That's not where our hope comes from. That's the work that God's called us into,
but it's God who provides us with our security.
So in verse 31, he says, instead, instead of doing all these things,
here's what you do, seek his kingdom.
And all of these things will be added to you. He says,
seek first and I'll add through the gospel. Seek first through the gospel.
Seek the kingdom the way of life that Jesus is calling us into.
And your security and your belonging and your purpose,
that's gonna be added to you because Jesus cares about your heart.
And I love this next part. Again, it's so pastoral. I mean,
this is just what Jesus does. Verse 32, he says,
fear not little flock.
He's talking to us in terms of being sheep. Fear,
not little flock for it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
And I'm just gonna read that again, fear, not little flop.
16: I.
14: I was gonna share this story at the end, but I I wanna share it now. Um, I, uh,
so we've known for about three months we were gonna do this series, okay?
It was originally gonna be, if you've been around,
it was gonna be immediately after the Nehemiah series. But through that series,
we kept seeing Nehemiah stopping and going to the Lord in prayer and showing his
dependency on God that I just felt this conviction. We gotta push that back,
man. We as a church,
I believe God's calling us into this season of dependency and prayer on God.
So we spent three weeks in that 21 days of prayer.
And so all of this got bumped back to this week.
So I've been in this text like, I'm ready for this week.
I'm ready for next week. Uh, and wouldn't you know it,
all of this talk and time studying, like,
what does it mean to find our security in God? Um,
I get a text message from my wife on Tuesday and, uh, says, Hey,
can you gimme a call? I give her a call and it sounds like she's crying.
And she says, I don't know what just happened. I just got let go of work.
Um, just had a great annual performance review. Um,
she said, uh, my boss sent me a,
a message saying that I need to jump on into a meeting. Sent me a link.
I jump onto the meeting.
There's a woman on the other side of the computer I've never seen before.
Apparently she's from hr. Uh, unless it was a great big prank,
which I don't think it was. Uh, and, and tells her, listen,
I'm sorry that we're meeting under these terms, but due to financial challenges,
um, we're cutting across multiple departments, uh, due to your seniority.
I've been here only a couple years. Um, your position's being eliminated.
When we hang up this call,
you will no longer be able to log in into any of your stuff. Uh, that's it.
No questions answered, no severance. You're done. And, um,
I gotta tell you like, well, the timing of this is pretty unique.
And so when I say I need to read this again, like I want you,
this is not like a pastor up here just telling you what the Bible
says. Like this is a guy who's who, who's wrestling through this stuff.
And Jesus's words to us is fear, not little flock, fear not Jason.
Fear not Diana. Fear not little, little flock for it.
Is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom?
He refers to us as sheep.
You know what sheep can do to provide for themselves Nothing.
they can't do anything. They, they, they don't have claws.
They have dull teeth. They can't run fast.
They could probably be taken out by a domestic house cat on a bad day. I mean,
it's not a good picture, okay? Uh, but Jesus says, don't worry,
God takes care of his kids. In fact, it's actually his good pleasure. Listen,
my kids, my children do not worry if mom and dad is gonna put food on the table.
And that's because I work hard to be a godly father.
But how much more so is our heavenly Father?
How much more so does he love us?
And how much does he have control over what's provided for us?
Now, we're gonna jump into verse 33. Don't put it up yet. Uh,
but I want to tell you, this is where,
this is where this causes some people to start to struggle, right?
Everything sounds good. Like, hey, Jesus doesn't need your wallet. Now,
there's something to that.
Like God does want you to understand everything that you have in life is given
to him, you by him, and you should be giving Porsche back. And, uh,
the Bible says you can't serve two masters, God and money. There's all that.
What I'm saying is Jesus doesn't need your wallet.
We all love the sound of that. Jesus cares about your heart.
We love the sound of that, um, Jesus. Uh, and,
and God should be the place where we find our hope and peace, right?
I'm jelling with that. But then you get to verse 33. And remember, Jesus said,
following me is gonna cost you something. You get to verse 33, it says,
here's what you do. Sell your possessions and give to the needy.
Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old with treasure in the
heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
Remember the truth, Jesus, Jesus doesn't, isn't after our wallets,
but he cares about our heart.
And Jesus knows that you were created in the image of a generous God.
And the only way that we will experience the purpose that we were created for
listen,
is to rebel against the way of the world and live a radically
generous lifestyle because it's coming for you.
Like Jesus doesn't need your money. He feeds the ravens,
he closed the field, but, but,
but greed and anxiety is coming for us. And Jesus says,
we need to live into the purpose and into the mission that we were created for,
which is really where this whole conversation started before this guy
interrupted. And so Jesus, the creator of the universe, if this is true,
I need you to tell me why I need to give and to be generous.
How does all this fit together? This is the why.
This whole thing culminates with verse 34.
This is why we're calling the series Heart Check. But Jesus says,
for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
And this is different than what Jesus said in just six chapters earlier.
Luke chapter six, verse 45, where he says, out of the overflow of your heart,
the mouth speaks Like, if your heart is happy, happy words.
If your heart is angry, angry words, your words follow your heart.
But what leads your heart, your treasure,
your money leads your heart. And I'm telling you, I've,
I've been a pastor for over 20 years. Um, I've sat down with many people.
I've come into my office, we've talked on the phone. I'm going to their house,
and I've sat down with people and they've said, listen, I just don't get it.
Like I'm going to church. I'm serving, I'm in a small group.
I'm trying to serve my community, but my heart,
I just don't have this peace in my life.
And, and so I asked him, I said, well, can I be direct with you?
Can I ask you some hard questions? Sure, sure. Um, and it's two questions.
Are you engaging with God? And reading through scripture,
reading and through prayer. And then I say,
are you being generous with the resources and giving back to the God who
provided everything for you in your life? And that's the one I usually get,
like that deer in the headlights love.
And the reason I ask that question is because like,
if we believe that Jesus predicted his death and resurrection,
went on a cross, went on the tomb, called his own shot,
and rose from the grave, like, we need to pay attention to what he says.
And Jesus says, where your treasure is there, your heart will be also.
But if we're gonna go through life and throwing all of our resources at things
that ultimately at the end of the day cannot and will not bring us the peace and
the security and the purpose that we're looking for in our lives,
we can't be surprised when we don't have that peace in our lives.
And so we have to decide, like, do we want our treasure?
And do we want our heart to go to the things that ultimately can't bring us
peace and security?
Or do we want our treasure and our heart to go to the things that have eternal
impact on the world around us,
and allow you to experience the peace that Jesus came to make available to us?
The way to stand guard against greed and anxiety in the area of our finances
is to rebel against the world with a life of radical generosity.
And I wanna wrap up with this. When you give money,
what you're doing is you're saying no to the world. You're saying, no,
I'm not gonna buy into the system that,
that I have the ability to create my own security in my life.
I trust in God to take care of me,
and I'm gonna give money for his glory and his purposes. But I want,
I wanna say this differently. Like if, and this is like a, this is,
this is an exhortation . If,
if we show up on Sundays or on Thursday night,
whenever you're hearing this and we sing loudly and we study the Bible,
but we're not intentional about being generous,
we need to know that two things are gonna happen. One,
we're not gonna find peace and purpose in our lives.
We're just not because we're giving of our treasure into things that are
never going to create that security and that hope and that peace and that
purpose force in our lives. And secondly,
a watching world doesn't believe our faith. They just don't.
The world knows what has our heart
And the world needs to see something different.
And it drives me crazy as a pastor,
as a follower of Jesus to look out around the world,
to look in our community and see all these needs that we, we would love to meet.
We see these needs around the world that we can't meet.
And I'm talking about not just hope like the big C church, collective church.
We don't have the resources to be able to meet those needs.
And a lot of times it's because there's some of us that are followers of Jesus.
And maybe it's because we haven't learned it yet. Maybe we don't know how.
Maybe we're in a tough financial situation,
but we have not grabbed onto and embraced this truth where our treasure is
there, our heart will be, and we haven't bought into it.
Like that is where our peace and our purpose is going to exist.
Jesus doesn't need your wallet, but he cares about your heart.
And he knows how you were created, and he knows the character of God,
of which you were created in that image.
And my prayer is that we would take Jesus' word to heart,
that we would be a church that isn't just known for getting together on the
weekends and having a great time of worship and having some solid Bible
teaching,
but we would be a people who are truly free from the anxieties of this world and
live with this big,
bold faith in our God that allows us to model for others and call others into
the gospel in a way like we've never seen.
But Jesus says it requires a check.
And so this week was all about the heart and, and my,
and I'm trusting and believing that there's many of us across all of our
campuses, um, that are hearing this. They're like, okay, that makes sense.
That makes sense.
I know I haven't been believing this about my life and I wanna make some
changes, but I have no idea how. And that's okay.
Like we've got classes around here at Hope, we have financial coaches,
we'd be happy to help. Um,
but next week what we're gonna do is we're gonna get really practical at what
this has looked like for God's people for thousands and thousands of years,
and then look at how we can take practical steps as a church family to move in
this direction together. And so I'm gonna challenge you, uh,
if this is your church home, you need to be here This week.
What I want you to reflect on, on this truth,
I want you to reflect on this truth. Our security, our hope and our purpose,
and our peace is not in the gifts that we've been given in our lives,
but that security and that peace, it comes from the giver of those gifts.
And that's our God. Father, I thank you, uh,
just for a time and we can look at your word, uh, where we can see, uh,
the truth, where we can see a pitfall where Jesus, you, um,
in your grace and mercy called us on into being on guard against something that
can capture our heart and lead us to living a life
that is without and is away from the purpose that we were actually created to
live for.
And so my prayer this week that we as as Hope Community Church is this church
family, that your spirit would just do a work in our hearts. Lord,
help us to know what you want us to see. Help us to see what you want us to see.
Help us to know what you want us to know, and that more importantly,
help us to move in the areas and that you would have us move. And Lord,
we ask this ultimately for us being the church,
being the followers of Christ that you would call us to be for us,
being the church that you would call us to be.
And ultimately for the sake of your name and your glory, Lord,
we pray all these things and the mighty name of Jesus, and everyone said, amen.
Love you.