The way that we listen to music has dramatically changed over the last 100 years and that we've seen different devices that have come into our path that allows us to take music with us. So I was curious. So I looked up when these different music devices were first invented and brought into market. And so I just share a couple with you. So let's start off here with 1877. The phonograph was created or invented by Thomas Edison, which really gave way to the first ever record player, which came on the scene in 1895. And so 1895 now the vinyl and all the stuff that we think of in the turntables really came into play in like the sixties and seventies. But the record player itself was first on the scene in 1895. The first headphones were invented in 1910. Then by Nathaniel Baldwin, uh Baldwin brother. No, just kidding. Um But maybe connected, I don't know. Uh Then we have a 1920 was the first ever radio station we had uh in 1954 we had the transistor radio. So you get to actually take it with you. 1965 we had the eight track tapes that came on the scene, which are great. We had the first ever Boom Box actually was in 1966. We normally associate the Boom Box with your eighties rom com movies as a great way to end. But the first one actually came on the scene in the mid sixties we have in here. 1979 was the first ever Walkman. 1984 was the first ever Discman in 1998 gave us the MP3 player. In 2001, a little invention called the ipod came on the scene and then in 2007, everything changed for us as the first iphone was released to the public. And now we have countless songs and endless music available to us through our various devices, whether it's Amazon music, Apple Music, Spotify, um or if you're still rocking the vinyl, more power to you on that. But whatever it is, the way we listen to music has changed. But what's interesting about all these devices is that the device or invention is the means, but we still need artists and bands and musicians to produce the music. So there's the means. But then you have the music and why do I bring this up? Well, we are wrapping up a series today called soundtracks and we use this metaphor or image of just how a song can get stuck in your head. Both good and bad. There are certain thought patterns that get stuck in our heads and that a soundtrack for us is a thought that often gets repeated in our minds. And each week we took a look at a different category of life and we tried to really retire a broken soundtrack, replace it with a biblical soundtrack and then offer practical ways to allow you to proof your playlist and put it on repeat. So that becomes a regular part of your life. So in week one, we took a look at our minds. What does it mean to have a renewed mind and to break Strongholds? Week two, we took a look at our families. Uh actually week two, we took a look at our work and how really your work matters to God and therefore God should matter to your work. Week three, we looked at our families. Week four, we looked at our friendships in the last week, week five of five, we took a look at marriage and relationships. And then today we are wrapping up our series with a topic that is really impacts all of us. And also people don't like to associate or put in the same word with church. And that topic is money because when you say money and church in the same sentence, a lot of people go running for the other, running for the hills. And sadly, I understand why because there's been a lot of bad things happening when you have broken people and greedy people who try to use their power to get money from other people. And so there's been a lot of misuse and so we're gonna actually address some of the abuse of power and some of the wrong views of money. But here's the thing we all have or don't have money. So there's, there's an issue for all of us here, right? That, that you want something or that you have something and that we struggle with it. And so here's the reality that money is the means, but your heart determines the music. So just like there are different players for music, the record player, the discman, the ipod money itself is actually the device or the means, but your heart actually determines what song is played. And so we don't wanna address so much the means as much as we do wanna address the heart of it because when it comes to your life, what is the soundtrack when it comes to money? Because it's, it's real. Now, what's great is that we worship a God who doesn't need anything. I mean, he spoke the world into existence so he can work with nothing. So God is not after money out of your wallet. What he wants to do is address the idol that's in your heart. And so we wanna have a practical foundational conversation of what does the scripture actually say about our finances because there are wise and practical principles that when we apply them, the word of God in the Bible actually makes our lives better. And then in turn actually makes us better at life. And so we're taking notes. I want you to write this down today that when it comes to money, we have to stop chasing paper and start choosing purpose. We have to stop chasing and we have to start choosing. And there's a big difference. Last week, we took our kids to the water park here in Phoenix Hurricane Harbor. And uh it was a lot of fun, but along with us came um my mother in law so we call her Mimi. So I don't know what your grandparent name is, but her name is Mimi. And then she brought with them, our little nephew Liam and Liam just turned two. And so you can imagine the energy of a two year old at a water park for the first time. And so there were multiple times throughout the day. I my heart goes out to her to Mimi because we would be playing, the kids would be playing. There's, if you've been to Hurricane Harbor, you know, there's a big playground of a ton of water slides where all the younger kids play and multiple times we're like, where's Mimi? And then all of a sudden we'd see coming around the corner, little Liam just sprinting whose favorite game that day was run away from Mimi. And, uh, you know how toddlers once they learn to walk and then they learn to run, there's like, nothing stopping them. Right. And so, and he was just doing laps around the playground and there's like, and if you've been there, there's a giant tub where like the water splashes down constantly. And so poor Mimi was just like, there's Liam, there's Mimi, there's Liam, there's Mimi and just running around in a circle and she, and she probably had a lot of fun, but she also went home tired that afternoon. But you know, in the same way when she was just chasing after something so many for us. So many times we find ourselves in a culture that says you have to chase. Our society is based on discontentment. Hey, you're not happy. I know you're not happy. But if you had this, if you own that, if you, if you go after this, you can be and you throw in no interest payments until then and you and happiness can be yours. And we find ourselves chasing after stuff. But it reminds me of a race when the, the dog races where they put the electronic rabbit that goes out and they chased after one time the rabbit broke and so it just stopped mid race and the dogs actually caught the rabbit and then they were just standing there like, oh, I thought that was gonna be a little more fulfilling than that. Uh Now what? Some people are just constantly chasing after the mechanical rabbit. Like I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta get more, I gotta get more. Some people have caught it and like, oh, now what, you know, because we find ourselves chasing after something that can't fulfill something because at the, at, at our core, we're longing for fulfillment and purpose in our soul, we have to stop chasing and we have to start choosing purpose because purpose is something that can drive. You think about the purpose driven life. It's not the purpose chasing life. It's, it's this idea that we have an identity and a purpose and a calling from God. And so therefore where financial situation you find yourself in, you can actually choose purpose. As a youth pastor, we would go on camps and retreats and I would often times plan a fun activity at night that was also secretly designed to just wear them out. So they would just go to bed and not prank each other. And so the activity that evening was hide and seek on the campgrounds, which now I look back on maybe not smart. But um, but we were having a lot of fun except one of the teenagers that we were searching for, decided he was tired and he just, I'm done playing the game and so he went to bed but he didn't tell anyone. So we're all searching for this one teenage boy. For like an hour, like all over like, man, he is so good at hiding. Like, where is this? And like, and now, and you get a point where you're like, you're like, this is man, he's so good. And then you move to, this is getting frustrating and then it goes to what have I done? I've lost a child and then anger and then worry and then, and they're like, oh, and then someone's like, can someone just go check the cabin and, and someone walks in and he's like, I'll just make up a name for now. So I won't call him out. I'll be like, Steve is sleeping and like, uh, so we were chasing after and hunting and seeking Steve and he was nowhere to be found. And for many of us money is that thing that like, it doesn't matter how many hours we work or how many jobs we take or how much we invest in. It's like, that's not enough. In fact, in the writer of Ecclesiastes put it this way. He said, whoever loves money never has enough, whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. But this too is meaningless. And you want to know who wrote that? That was the richest man in the world who wrote that we literally had more money. Then Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos combined by comparison. And he said, you know what the pursuit of that? What does it lead to? So some of us are after this chase, but other of us have walked in today and we are running from our mistakes and we all make mistakes from time to time and some, and it doesn't have to mean you're a bad person. Sometimes you just get turned around. We don't all have the greatest sense of direction and let me prove it to you. I want everyone right now um, in the room, if you're like listening, while driving, don't do this. But everybody here in the room right now, go ahead and close your eyes. I'm gonna count to three. And I want you to point to North, everyone eyes close. Ok. We're gonna, I want you to point to North and ho keep your hand there. All right. Point. Go ahead and point. All right. 123 point to north. All right. Open your eyes. All right, you're doing pretty good. Doing pretty good. Not bad. Ok. North is this direction right here, this direction? I, I, and I looked it up before because I want to confirm on it, but it's very easy for us to get off course, just slightly, just to get turned in a different direction and not quite know where we are. Things can come that way too, in our finances. But I want to encourage you that even when you've made a mistake, are you come in with debt or you like, ah, that's not where I wanna be there. Is hope and there is opportunity for you. And this is where God's grace abounds and that, that we can make healthy decisions today that can impact things in the future because money makes a great means, but a horrible motivation. Now, I'm not saying don't go after stuff. But normally when you have a goal in mind that money is, is, is a means to that goal, not the goal itself that you wanna save or invest or have something so that you can do something or give something. In other words, money is not a great reason for existence, but it is a responsibility and it is a resource. And so what we wanna do today is look at what does the Bible actually say about this resource and what has God called us to do and how we called to manage our money because it doesn't have to be a scary thing. And I get it any time money and church gets thrown in the same sentence, we struggle and here's why we struggle. OK? I wanna share with you before we get into God's word of what it actually says about money. I wanna address two false gospels. These are two teachings that are prevalent in our culture today that are not accurate and reflective of the actual gospel of Jesus Christ. So the two false gospels are this the Prosperity Gospel and the poverty gospel. Now the root of both these is actually pride, the prosperity gospel is, is someone who teaches that they want something from you. Oh, you wanna be blessed. If you give me this, I'll give you that and that if you just believe and have faith that you will be healed and you will do this and you have no more problems and you will have all the money in the world and all these things to you. That sounds great. But that's not what the word of God says. The word of God actually does say you will be blessed, you will be successful. But it gives a deeper meaning to success, talks about abundance of meaning and of your soul and of eternity. And so too many prideful, greedy people in the name of religion have sadly stood on a stage and says, I need your money or God's not gonna bless you. And if that's been your experience, I am sorry. But I wanna tell you that's not scripture. If we look at the word of God, the people that started, the faith went through, hardship, went through suffering, went through Brokenness. And so you might be walking through these challenges right now. But what the hope of God and the Gospel really tells you is that that struggle is temporary and that God actually redeems this world and ultimately, for eternity provides a blessed and better life and that you can experience purpose and meaning now. So you can actually choose purpose instead of chasing the paper. Now it's difficult for rich people to express need to God because they don't think they need anything. In fact, in Luke 18 verses 24 and 25 Jesus says that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And he said later in Luke 12 verse 21 he says, those who lay up treasure for themselves are not rich toward God. He talks about being rich. But when he talks about that, he talks about being rich in good works and in relationship and in your spirit, in abundance in life. So there is on one side, this idea of false teaching of prosperity gospel that if you just believe you have all the riches of the world, that's not what scripture says. But then the reverse is also a false teaching that says the Poverty gospel. They, they, they've been hurt in many ways. And so therefore, they have to completely reject all material things. And I understand the basis of that because well Jesus didn't own things. The disciples didn't seem to own things. Well, except some of them did though, like you look in the old testament, David, a man after God's own heart was a king. You look at Zachaeus who was a sinner, a tax collector. Jesus enters his house, but he doesn't actually rebuke him of the money. He rebukes him of a sin and out of his heart out of the response of the grace that he received. Then he responds and gives back in first Timothy six. Paul gives a challenge to the rich. He doesn't call being rich a sin. But he says, what you wanna be rich in is rich in good works and in generosity. And that is what life is really all about. And so yes, God might call some to leave all things to go on the mission field. I've seen that done before. And so the deeper question there is not, will you give up everything that you have and fill all position uh possessions and forsake all resources? No. The question is if God called you to do something, would you be obedient and go do it? So it's not about the amount it is about your heart and about obedience and what God's called you to do. And the root of prosperity and poverty is both pride because on one side you're saying, hey, look at me, I have everything God must love me or on the other side is pity. I don't have anything. And it's, and it's centered that no, all of us homeless to the richest person in the world. We can't take the money with us to the next life. If you're playing monopoly, all the pieces go back in the box at the end. And so it's your soul and your heart. Money is a means. But a heart really plays the music. And so where is your heart? Let's take a look at that here in scripture. You know, you see both. You see people who gave up everything. You see that Je Jesus used Joseph of Arimathea for the tomb. You see that Jesus used uh Lydia a rich businesswoman to start the early church. You see it um Aya and um Priscilla and Aquila. You see that Paul himself was a tent maker. You see these resources come. And so at the end of it, it's not just about the amount that was made, but the heart behind it and the obedience behind it. And so let's take a look at these uh scripture and see what is it that God actually says or say, what does God's word actually say to give us a foundation for our finances. Because if your foundation comes from this world, you'll never have enough. You know that famous verse that's always quoted in the locker room before the second half of the big game of Philippians 413, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Hey, that's a great verse to motivate your guys to come back from the second half. But the context of that verse is actually about contentment. Paul's writing to a church in Philippi who has experienced suffering. He's writing from prison, he's lost everything and he's writing to this church. He says, here's how you have joy. He's saying I've had everything and I've lost everything and am I here to tell you that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so it's about contentment. And so, but throughout scripture, we have these foundational passages that give a framework or principle that not only makes our life better, but in turn, makes us better at life. Now, if you wanna go deeper into this discussion, we can talk afterwards and I can share a couple of helpful resources. So we're not gonna have time to go deep dive into any of these. But I want you to see that successful practical principles are actually based in scripture because wisdom is found in scripture and it gives us a manual for life. If, if you wanna find out how a product is supposed to be used, you can read the manual, this is our map, this is our manual that tells us here's how life functions best. Here's how your relationships function best. Here's how your finances function best. OK? So let's walk through it first. Uh Psalm 24 1 talks about our mindset. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. We have to start there. Do you view everything as yours or everything as God's? Because that changes your perspective, right? Because if you view everything as God's, then you view yourself as a steward or someone who manages the resources that God has placed in your hand. If you view it as yours, you will view money like this with a fist clenched. Like, oh, I have to have, I just like, have you ever, have you ever, uh, been to, I know, uh, I forget what it was called before Sky Zone. Do you remember the before a sky zone? Oh, no, actually, no, actually, no, I'm not thinking of a Z air time where impact church ended up taking over that space, a air time. So it was kind of like a jump space s similar idea. They had this game where they would put, um, this wind and they'd have like money or little certificates on the ground and they would blow this crazy tornado air in your face and then it was swirling around and you would just try to grab, see how much you can get in 30 seconds or a minute. If you view money as that game, you're gonna be like, oh, I gotta grab it, gotta grab it, gotta grab it, gotta grab it and we hang on to things like this. When you view the world as belonging to God, you can view your finances like this. And now it's whatever is placed in my hand, I want to manage and steward. Well, things will come in, things will go. But whatever is in my hand, I want a steward. Well, so it starts with our mindset. Do we view our money and our resources as belonging to God. Next, it says here in Proverbs. Proverbs is a great, great spot. I'm gonna highlight just a couple of verses. But if you want some financial coaching read through Proverbs and it's gonna be a great starting point for you. But let's read through a couple of these Proverbs 22 7. It's the danger of debt. The rich rules over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender. Here, we are thousands of years later and this statement is still 100% true that when you're in debt, you're in danger. Now, we can talk offline about more like investment debt or things like whether, you know, we think of a house or something like that. But by and large, when you look at what you have or what you own as long as you owe money to someone or something that you are a slave to that lender principle that has worked all throughout history and all cultures and is still working today, we like to think and communicate that we're free. But if you've ever experienced a mountain of debt or maybe you're sitting in it now, you probably don't feel very free. I and so there's danger to that. And the next one here, Proverbs 1311, it actually uh preaches investing that wealth is gained hastily, uh wealth gain hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it that this steady investment over time here. It also promotes saving Proverbs 2120. The Wise Store up, choice food and olive oil. But fools gulp. There's down, I don't know who's gulping down olive oil at one time. I, that feels like a whole another thing that's not smart. But, but the concept is there is that, are we investing, are we saving? Here's, here's the thing. I know this doesn't seem like anything crazy. But are we doing it though? You know, are we like, we have to examine and our mindset and our actions and is what we're doing and saying and living matching what the word of God says, you know, are we managing our money or do we feel managed by our money? You know, it's important to look at these things in Malachi 310. It talks about this God speaking. He says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, which I believe it interprets really for the New Testament actually is the church. It says that there will be maybe food in my house, test me in this when it comes to giving and generosity. This is the one area where God actually looks at his people and says, go ahead and test me because I'm gonna tell you, you can't out give God. It says the Lord Almighty and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it again. I say this because God doesn't need your money. Like God created everything from nothing. So why does he challenge us with this? Because it goes back to that mindset. If someone gives you $10 and then, and then ask for one back. If you view those $10 as yours, you're like uh no, but if you view it from a sp a state of gratitude, it's that relationship building. Now, there's some debate over what is the tithe and what it, what it means, what I believe it teaches and what it's described everywhere. It's used in scripture is 1/10. So 1/10 1st fruits. And you see that in the Old Testament say, well, that's Old Testament, not New Testament. Well, Jesus actually mentions the tithe in Matthew 2323 and in Luke 1142. And so it continues on and that concept is that, do you believe that God can do more with nine than you can do with 10? And it's not that he needs the money, but it's, it's that relationship and trust factor that the 10th really is the floor, not the ceiling. Now again, I'm not after anything. I'm not like saying, oh, you have to do this because there's been too many people do that and that's not gonna be me. And so let's actually go deeper than that. There's a scripture principle to the tithe. But then also it goes deeper into the heart and So here we have that Paul writes about it in Second Corinthians chapter nine verse 6 to 8, it talks about generosity. The point is this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. He says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in good work. So abounding in all sufficiency at all times and good work sowing bountifully. And then in the middle of all that, he says, God loves a cheerful giver. So do you really think he's saying here give as little as possible? I don't think so, but I don't, I don't see that as this intense thing. I see it as an opportunity or a door open because here's what I know to be true. Very rarely. In fact, I can't name a person that is both generous and really angry. Like, have you, have you met genuine and talked with genuinely generous people? They are some of the happiest people. You're gonna find why? Because their mindset is that they cannot out give God and I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna speculate on a number or a certain thing because again, I believe we're a work in progress. All of us are in a work in progress. Right. We do this in every other area of life. Maybe we're trying to control our tongue, maybe we're trying to learn to read the Bible, maybe we're trying to act a certain way. None of us all of a sudden get saved. And then we're like, oh, I'm perfect. I will never sin again. Now, we are messed up, including our finances. But you know what's beautiful is that God loves us throughout all those things. And so I want you to know if you've never given a dime here, I want you to know that you are loved and that you are accepted and God is great and we want everything for you. And so I want you to know that. But what I also want you to know that we serve a generous God and that our model, our picture is Jesus Christ who literally gave his life for us. And then he says, if you want to reap bountifully, you have to sow bountifully. So then the question is, what do you, what do you want to reap? And I think when we read scripture and we receive grace in turn, we wanna be grace filled and grace, extended and generous people. I wanna be that personally. I want that to be in our church. That's why we gave away last year, over $43,000 outside of the walls of the church to give away. So we wanna model this as an organization. I get it, that there's different points and different points along the way. So we wanna have a conversation, we wanna be with you and that there's God's grace in that. But what the word of God says is that everything belongs to Him, that your money is a means not a motivation, that it is a resource that we're called the Stewart and that we have the opportunity to be generous. Because when you are, that's what it means to be blessed because you don't approach life like this. You get to approach life like here. And when you hand what you have to God, it's amazing what he can do. Little boys handed Jesus their lunch bowl of fish and bread and he turned around and fed 5000, right? If you give a football to me, you know, I might be able to throw it as far as Uncle Rico. But if you give it to Tom Brady, the ageless annoying wonder that he is that I thought we were finally done with him. He says no, I'm coming back. Thanks Tom. Anyway, I'm not bitter anyway, like, but you throw some like like you throw it in aqua man, that ball is going forever, right? You have a basketball to just a random person like, oh yeah, I can dribble. You get a basketball with Steph Curry, that's a different ball game, right? Like when you put some a resource in someone's hand who's a master at it, it changes its capacity and usage. And so what scripture teaches is that when we are generous, we get to be like Christ as it says in the word of God that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. Now, don't get me wrong. I like receiving right if receiving is fun. Ok? But it doesn't say receiving is bad. What it's saying is that when we are generous, when we give, we exhibit the heart of God. And so he's inviting us into it, you know, he heals the leper on the side of the road. He's not like give me your money first, right? He offers salvation to the woman at the well, he he he speaks love and heals and offers grace to everyone. But then the common thread is that people that receive that grace, receive that generosity, then turn around and wanna be generous to others because it changes you and that's what God's after. So let's get practical here as we close. I wanna give you just a simple money equation. This is not crazy. But how many of us are doing it though? Myself included on this? Like we have to examine this. I'm in it with you here that money plus consistency plus time equals wealth. He didn't come up with it but shared it from Pastor Craig Rochelle, but talked about this, that this money that you have to live below your means, right? Paying off debt starting to save when you get to that point where it's there plus consistency plus time, man, things can happen. And I would even change this equation a little bit and say money plus consistency, ultimately times time because you start to get this compound effect with things, they can change things. It seems simple but yet do we do it? And yes, we've made mistakes but it's more about our direction. Like where do you wanna go? 10 years from now? You, you can't reap what you don't sow. And so what do you want to start sowing right now at whatever stage you're in? And then last, I wanna share just a practical mental process to think through. As you go into this week, this comes from Dave Ramsey, the financial expert and he puts it this way. He says now then us them, now, then us, them. So for many of us it starts with now and, and the reality is, and it's not a shame thing. It's just a reality of the circumstance that you're, you're working to pay the bills, to work, to pay the bills and you're just trying to get through the week and you wanna know something you can honor God with that. But as you start to grow, as things start to change, as you start being intentional with certain things, either reducing expenses or increasing income, you start to now focus on the future and think what do I want for my family. What do I want in the future? What do I want to retire? What do I wanna have? What do I wanna give? And your vision starts going from here to here. And scripture says where there is no vision, the people perish. And so this, this works in our relationships, this works financially. This works in a lot of things that you have to decide what you want to read and then begin to sow today. So you move from now to then. And then the second thing is you move from us to them. You start thinking about self and then you start thinking about family. You start thinking about the legacy you want to leave and then you start to go beyond yourself and think what are the needs I wanna meet. And God place burdens on your heart and God place opportunities in your life and you start to expand beyond yourself and you start to impact the lives of other people. And as you start to do that, you e you start to experience that sacrificial serving love that Jesus did. And it starts to transform your mind and your heart and your life. And that's when we as a church can start loving people the way that Jesus has loved us. So we move from now to then us to them. And so when it comes to our money, we don't have to be scared about it. The world, there's all kinds of corruption in the world. But it's just a means and our heart determines the music. And so when it comes to your money, I just encourage you and I invite you to stop chasing paper and to start choosing purpose and say, you know what? I want to be intentional with my finances. Today, I want to be intentional in my relationships today. I want to replace the broken soundtracks of this culture and I wanna replace them with what the word of God says. And I wanna live how God's called me to. And more than just information I believe. If you do these things, if we apply these things, if we walk into that grace that we're gonna see transformation, there's hope for all of us. Let's pray dear heavenly Father. Thank you for your son who gives us the picture of generosity. God, I pray for those right now who've come in, maybe they're stressed and they're anxious. I pray that you would relieve that God. We know that you can work in all situations. And so God, we pray that you would be present with us, that your power of your spirit would be present with us, that you will meet the physical needs a around us that we as a church can meet the needs of each other. And that ultimately, we can follow the principle of saving, investing, being generous giving. God. I mean, we reflect that so that we can love one another, the way that you have loved us. And in turn, we can put better soundtracks into our minds and into our lives. So we're not afraid of money. We're not afraid of relationships. We're not afraid of, of what work means and what work does. That money is not an idol that, but instead money is a resource or means through which we can help others. God, you love us and you love your kids and and you want to bless us. But that blessing comes ultimately from knowing you that we don't have to chase purpose, that we can live with purpose because our identity is securing you. And so because of that, we give our lives, we give our families and we give our finances to you. God help us to move from now to then to be future focused, help us to move from us to them, to look, to meet the needs of people around us, to be generous as you have been generous. And thank you for the grace that is available to all. And so we lift our life to you and your son and we pray amen.