Jacked Series- Priority- Speaker: Jason Haymaker
It's not always easy to talk about money. There's been so much damage done by the church at large earning a reputation about being gold-diggers- there is a fundamental distrust.
If you're not a follower a Jesus, nothing is expected from you. If you're a Christian and here visiting looking for a church, take your time to find the church fellowship God's leading you to commit to. Then give. If you're a part of our family- put your hand ON your wallet. But, and make your own judgment on this... we're not gold-diggers. At all. We want more FOR you, not just from you... and your giving is a big part of that... for you.
For us to understand how the Jacked Life works, finances propel it or impede it.
Where your treasure is- your heart is there too. Sounds familiar.
Jesus talked more about money than heaven and hell.
Jesus makes an assessment, that we are consumed. In Matt 6, Jesus indicates that. There is distrust, worry. Worry about food, about your body, about your image.
"Jesus knew that we tend to worship the provision rather than the provider."
Instead, how about this "precept and a promise..."
Precept: Seek Me
Promise: I Will Take Care Of You
When we give, we are advancing His Kingdom. We are Seeking First.
"If every Christian in America tithed, we'd be able to feed and clothe every person on the planet, and have est. 60-70 billion left over to advance the Kingdom."
"It's amazing how we trust God with eternity and not with our checkbooks."
Jesus' Mission: To Seek and Save that which is lost.
What stresses Jesus out? The plight of the poor. His heart breaks for them.
The Bible says that if we know there are poor people and we ignore their cry, then we will not be heard by God.
Church; the mechanism God has chosen to change the world is you.
A church should never have money problems... unless as a church you do nothing for the poor. If you do nothing for the poor, either locally or globally, you should have money problems. Your mind is deceived.
Do any of us give to the Lord out of guilt rather than joy, and deep down resent it?
"What consumes us is the protection and advance of ourselves, not the protection and advance of the Kingdom."
The church DOES NOT belong to those who give the most. It belongs to Jesus.
If you are a spectator, you need to start giving. Stand up, step into the gap, and give the way Jesus has called us to give. If you're not, don't think that you're worshipping God.
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