Money is an interesting thing because money can fuel your lifestyle, but money can also rule your life. And so this morning, we wanna speak into that tension and share. Really? How do you know the difference and how can you worship God and, and really celebrate and not be fearful of your finances, but actually fight for your finances. See, in this series, the fight we wanna help you win the battles that matter most and last week, we talked about what it means to fight for your faith and to give that foundation of faith that impacts everything else. Today, we're talking about finances. Next week, we're talking about mental health that we're gonna be talking about relationships and how to fight for your marriage, how to fight in your marriage, how to fight for a family and other just practical topics to really help you apply the word of God into your everyday living. Now, when it comes to money, really, we sh we shouldn't be afraid to talk about it as a church because it's a huge impact of our daily lives. So whether you have it or you don't, whether you're managing it or whether you're wasting it really, how you spend your time and how you spend your money often reflects a huge portion of your life. And so if we're gonna do that, let's choose to worship God with our finances. And Jesus himself even spoke about money out of the 39 parables that he told 11 of them actually dealt with financial situations. So if you're taking notes, go ahead and write this down. This is what we're gonna talk about today is that the goal with our money should be to honor God and to help people, the goal of money and finances is to honor God, help people. And really, it's a reflection of the great commandment to love God and to love people that if we're gonna love the Lord, our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, that includes the portion of our life known as our finances. You know, Psalm 24 1 tells us that all of the earth belongs to God and everything within it. And so when we think of it, from that perspective, when we understand that all of creation is given by God and for God, then we want to give God worship in every area of our life. Imagine for a moment, if you gave your friend, you loaned your friend your car, what percentage of your car do you hope to get in return? You would think 100% right? Like you want. Like if you give your car out and they, uh, and your friend gives it back and say, hey, um, here's most of your car back. We are missing the right passenger doors, but that's ok. Here's most of your vehicle back. No, you want the entire thing. Well, when we view all of life and all of creation as given to by God, it allows us to live from a different place financially and whether you have a lot or whether you have a little, it's really more about your mindset than it is about the amount in the bank account. And I love the word honor because we talk so much in relationships about respect. And we like to say the phrase uh respect is earned. They have to earn your respect. Well, the truth is, is that while respect is something to be earned, honor is something to be given. And when you honor someone, as it says in the Old Testament, so Children honor your mother and father, it's not about how good your parents were. It's about your choosing to place value in their lives because when you honor somebody, you are going beyond a step of obedience and you're actually acknowledging someone's value or worth if you purchase a ticket to a uh an event or a concert or sporting venue, and you have the ticket, then when you go and you get scanned into the arena, it is honoring the value of a prepaid amount and so you wanna redeem something, you wanna honor something, you wanna acknowledge the value of something. And so when you choose to honor God with your life, that includes your finances because it's loving the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And then it's loving people as Christ has loved us. So to honor God and to help people is another way of expressing the great commandment, which is to love God and to love people. And so that's the same expression, the same outpouring if you will, of what God has done for us live out through our finances. Now, we have a couple of kiddos in gymnastics. And so shout out to North Valley gymnastics like once a week, we're down there and my one kid who likes is taking a trampoline class and it's cool. He's doing all kinds of flips and twists and things and he's having a blast. And then my youngest Chloe is just learning, you know, doing cartwheels and doing all the little things. And I'm just reminded of how bendy Children are and how lack of flexibility I have. Um But as I was there the other day and you know, they have like a bazillion classes going on at once. Well, this last week I was there and they had their competitive team and I was so impressed with these little people, their balance. They had like, it's amazing to me like I, like, I almost like here is what drew really a comparison for me. I fell or almost fell. I stumbled. I caught myself because I'm sweet like that I fell, going up the stairs to the observation deck of the gymnastics place to then walk in and see these little £30 or so kids doing flips and spins on a balance beam. I was like, we are not on the same page, but I admire their balance even from a young age. And as I was watching all the kids do their different things. Uh what struck me about the kids on the balance beam is really the ability not just to move but to do incredible things while staying on the beam. Like if I could just walk from one end to the other, I'd be happy with that. Like, and, and so I think about that from a larger perspective when it comes to balance is I'm observing all the different things that these gymnastic kiddos and things are, are being done that really what they have in common are three things is that they have a foundation, they have a starting point. They, they make constant adjustments in their footsteps and then they have a focus because they're not looking around. If they're on the beam, they're not looking around every which way, right? They have a sturdy foundation, they have clear footsteps and then they have a very identifiable singular focus. Now, I think these three principles are key also for us when it comes to living a more balanced life, because when you are unbalanced, when you start to fall, that leads to stress or it leads to anxious feelings, even the word anxiety comes from these root words that really needs to be pulled apart to be pulled in different directions. And so if you feel unbalanced in an area of your life, it can lead to stress and anxious thoughts and worry. And so to live a more balanced life, we're gonna focus today on finances, but it can actually impact other areas of your life as well. And so we're gonna take this idea of walking on a balance beam and really have a foundation, ok, taking step by step and then having a singular focus because if we can do that, it can greatly impact how we worship God with our finances. The first thing here, the first key to a more balanced life is a foundation of gratitude for the kiddos on the balance beam. They're standing up right, their back and their balance here, they're getting their foot, their feet set and, and it's strong, right? And it's stable well for Christians financially to get set to have our foundation, the foundation for us as believers is one of gratitude to be grateful because it's, it's hard to be anxious and grateful. At the same time, you can waffle between the two. But when you're grateful, it helps reduce the anxiety in your life. It's not just my words here. Let's look at scripture and see what it, what the author has to say. So Paul is writing to his godson, his time is almost coming to the end. And so he's trying to encourage him on a personal level. He's leading a church in Ephesus. He's most likely in prison here. He knows his days are numbered. And so he's just trying to encourage Timothy, his godson, his mentee, like how to keep fighting, how to keep going. And he says these words in first Timothy chapter six. But Godliness with contentment is great gain. That is a great verse right there. Godliness with contentment is great gain says for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of this world. But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation into a snare into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. And it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. So he's not saying that money itself is evil. But when we make money, the idol, when we make money, the God that we are pursuing that we are worshiping that it's never enough. You're gonna struggle not having it or you're gonna struggle having what you think will satisfy and then wanting more and more and more. We live in a culture where companies spend billions of dollars. Yes. Billions with A B to convince you that you are not enough and that you don't have enough. But if you only have fill in the blank, then, then you will have purpose and meaning. But it's an empty chase. It's, it's sitting on the hamster wheel of the pursuit of things in this world that lead people down this path to destruction. That the key is to have an attitude, a heart of contentment. Now, having been a pastor now for about 18 years, we, I've seen, I've been on mission trips. I've seen people with nothing. I've seen people with a lot and the commonality when it came to worship with people that had true joy was this idea of contentment even just a few weeks ago down in Mexico with our team building a house for a family that had pretty much nothing. The joy that was on a little kid's face of just playing with a stick was amazing. And so it's easy to find ourselves like man, I wish I had that joy of that. That it's not about the amount, it's really about the mindset that have contentment along with Godliness. The same writer wrote to the church in Philippi. He's in prison, he's in jail and while he's in jail, he's actually writing about joy and he, and he says this in this passage of Philippians chapter four verse 11 to 13, he says, not that I'm speaking of being in need for, I have learned that in whatever situation to be content, I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret to facing plenty. And that's interesting. By the way, the secret to facing plenty, you would think that plenty would be like awesome and incredible. But actually the more you have sometimes the more stress that comes with it. So just gaining more stuff doesn't equal, more happiness. So he's like, I understand the challenge of having stuff. Isn't that weird? But then he also says, and I have, I know the challenge to be in need. He says, I have learned the secret of, of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. And one of the most famous verses in all the Bible, Philippians 413, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Now, I thought that verse was meant to be shared before sporting events, right? I thought he was in the locker room with some athletes saying all right guys, we can do this, we can win the game and so we can go, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, like don't get me wrong. Like I've quoted that verse, I've said that in a locker room and I'm cheering that right now for our Phoenix Suns. Come on, folks. Let's beat L A. All right. And so I'm all in but understand the context of that verse. The meaning of that verse was actually about contentment. I can do all things I can have a lot. I can have little, but the secret is to be content in Him. In other words, to be grateful for all that God has given me. See each of these three things that we're gonna talk about today. The foundation, the footsteps and the focus. All three of them actually have a shadow side, a world side, a a side that we can easily dip our toes into for not being diligent as light is shining on me. Right now. On the stage, there's a shadow that is behind me in the same way. When you walk through life and you're pursuing the things of God, there is a shadow side, even if you might walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will walk through shadow moments in your life that where you dip into your humanity and the flesh and the cravings of this world and you end up in an empty spot. So if the key to Godliness starts with the foundation of gratitude, to be grateful, to be thankful for all that we have. The shadow side of that is actually greed to be grateful is to be thankful for all that that God has done. And who God is to be content. The shadow side is, is to be focused on greed. See, greed says I don't have enough. Greed says I need more. I need bigger. I need new. What I have is not good enough and we just crave it. And when you live from a place of craving, it never ends up well. Right. It's like grocery shopping when you're hungry. Right. It doesn't end well. Right. You end up, you end up putting stuff in your cart that you never planned on getting in the first place. Same thing is true is that when we live out of craving, as opposed to calling, it impacts our decision making in the Amazon jungle. There is this thing, um when monkeys would steal the food from the trapped people, so they would catch them and, and you know, do with them what they will. If you love animals, we'll say they put them on a farm somewhere else. But um how they would trap these monkeys was actually really simple. They would place in a hollow tree, um trunk or like a gourd or some type of larger thing that they could carve out. They would put a piece of fruit and the hole to reach the fruit on the inside would be very small. And so the monkey would come in and they would actually put their hand in and it would fit just fine. They could put their hand in and out but then they would grab the fruit, the banana or whatever it is that they were wanting. But now that they're grabbing hold of something, their hand is too big to pull out. So now they're stuck. All they would have to do to be set free is to let go of the thing that is trapping them, but they won't do it. I wonder how many of us have fallen for some type of monkey trap, right? You think you need something? If I only have, if I got this win and we put our hand and it was like, look, I'm not, I'm not defined by that. That doesn't own me. I can move my hand in and out. But as soon as you think you have that thing, you can't let go and you're stuck. That's that, that place again of craving versus calling of greed versus gratitude. Then we understand that whether you have a little or you have a lot that God is present with you and you have joy and being content in all things. It changes the game and it gives you a much stronger foundation. So the first thing is having that foundation of gratitude. The second step or the second key to a more balanced life is to have footsteps of grit. And really, these verses, these two verses found in First Timothy six really set the whole foundation for this entire series. It's where the name the fight comes from. And so here it is verse 11 and 12. But as for you, oh man of God, flee these things. In other words, flee suit of the world, flee the pursuit of the world and, and instead pursue righteousness. Godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Now, isn't it weird? The last word, there is gentleness and then the next word it says fight the good fight of faith. So it sounds weird and paradoxical, but you have to fight for gentleness. Where does that come from? Well, a grateful spirit and a content spirit to fight the good fight of faith, to take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Same author, same writer, writing to a different church in Galatians, Galatians 51 says for freedom, Christ has died to set you free. And then he says, you can do that because he gives us the fruit of the spirit. And right after he gives us the fruit of the spirit, he says this verse in Galatians 525. He says, if we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit. That means church that you will have to keep walking forward. It's not enough just to stand and stay there. That when God says, follow me, it means we actually have to follow him and take steps forward. You know, if you are a parent of small Children, you understand this battle, right. You're walking somewhere and they're like, come on, keep up. Right. You, you always have one child that is slow as molasses and you always have one child that just sprints ahead of you and, and takes off and you're like, come on, just stay with mom and dad, just stay with us. Just stay, stay, we'll walk. Ok. Right. I never, I always used to judge parents that have those backpacks with the leash thing on them and now I'm all for it. I'm wondering if I can even rock that with a teenager. I don't know if that'd be appropriate or it might embarrass him a little bit. Can you imagine out in public? I got my 14 year old on a leash. This is great this time with dad. Ok. Look to follow Jesus is to walk with him and this is where we need grit, we need grit. It's gonna be difficult. I went hiking with my wife this weekend. It was a lot of fun and there was sometimes a path and sometimes there are just boulders and you had to watch where you walked every step of the way. So even though it's something we learn as toddlers, you will always need that as an adult taking a step, you need to adjust constantly for those little gymnasts as they're balancing as they're going through, they have to make slight adjustments constantly. So whether you're just walking through life or you're competing in a sport or you're hiking or going through your day, you're gonna need to constantly adjust and get back in line and back in balance. It's gonna be difficult, but you can do that and we see that you can pursue the things of God, that you can take a step financially. What does that mean? That means getting on a budget, that means saving, that means paying down debt. There's a lot of great practical books and advice out there from guys like Dave Ramsey and Ron Blue and others that have these plans. But all the plans have the same thing in common that it's gonna take one step after another. It doesn't just happen overnight, but you can start right now. Now when it comes to having a foundation of gratitude, the shadow side is one of greed. The second step, the shadow side of grit is actually guilt. So you like to do that in, in religions and in Christianity, sometimes in church where we start with this like pursuit to fight the good fight to, to take hold of the eternal life to which you've been called. There's this great depiction of effort and belief and intentionality. But then what we do is we say, ok, but that person's not enough. You didn't read enough, you didn't do that, you didn't do all the things, you didn't check all the boxes and we start to judge and the reason we judge others is because we judge ourselves and Satan's gonna come in and say no, you're not good enough. You didn't do enough. You made a mistake. You think God's gonna love you? Now, there's no way you can get out of debt. You know, how much trouble you're in. You know how much of an avalanche and, and a mountain that you're up against. There's no way you're gonna ever gonna get out of this situation. And so we go from grit, like stand up and fight to, oh my goodness, this is overwhelming. I'm done. So why try? I'm not enough. I'm not good enough. I didn't do this, this person's better, this person's worse, right? And we start putting ourselves on a scale and judging, right? If you've ever seen somebody walk through the doors of a church and that person's here, where does that come out of that comes out of guilt and typically guilt from our own lives. So then we project onto other people and I love that we don't have a God of guilt. We have a God of grace. He said you might fall down, you might have made mistakes. But the gospel is made for people to stand up. The gospel is made for people to be free. And if you want to live in that freedom, you can take a step, you might have a long way to go. But you can start just by simply taking one step and Yes, you're gonna need to adjust from season to season. Sometimes the mistakes happen because of your own choices. Sometimes things happen because of circumstances. Outside of you, you've lost a job inflation, a move, a relationship, break up something that you didn't control, but now you're responsible for. And so you see where finance has become this way because not just you, it's other people you're like, ah, and you get so overwhelmed when we understand that, just get realigned. Just take one more step. The path you're on right now might be a little bit more rocky than you expected. But you can just take one more step. The foundation of gratitude gives us to a place of contentment out of that place that gives us the holy grit to stand up and fight knowing that God's already promised us victory. And then the last thing then if we have the foundation, we now have footsteps, we can have a focus of generosity. This is where it gets fun. This is where money can be fun, right? And it's not just about yourself, but it's about blessing others because money itself is not bad. It is a tool. It is a moral meaning, not moral, it's not moral or immoral. It is just an object. Money is like a microphone right now, right? If I take this microphone, I can hit somebody over the head with it, right? How that hurt I can set it down. I can walk away from it. I can use it the microphone and the system around here. It just, it just amplifies the message that I'm speaking into it. Right? We try to stand up here and offer hope and inspiration and encouragement. Someone else could stand up here and preach hate and judgment and think that the difference is not the microphone. The difference is the message. Money is the same way money can bless people, but it can also break people and it reveals the character inside of you. That's why if you're not generous. Now what makes you think you're gonna be generous later? It just reveals who you are. It reveals what's already on the inside and money itself is not bad. How do I know? It's not bad because Paul says it's the love of money and the cravings of this world that are going to lead you to destruction. It's not having wealth, it's not having things, it's not pursuing purpose in that because he says this in verse 17, he says as for the rich in the present age, which means at his church in Ephesus to Timothy saying you're gonna have people with a lot, you're gonna have people with a little, both can fight the good fight of faith. It is as for the rich in this present age, he says, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. So we're not preaching a prosperity gospel. We're also not preaching a poverty gospel, right? What we're saying here is to have purpose in the gospel with all of your life. One of those areas being money and finances says they are, I love, if you're gonna highlight a verse, I love verse six. Godliness with contentment produces much gain. But I, I love verse 18. If you want to mark a verse down, mark this down, it says they are to do good to be rich in good works and to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future. So they may take hold of that which is truly life that challenge to be rich, not to gain riches, but to be rich. How can you be rich? The only way to be rich is to understand that you already are rich, meaning that God has already given you the riches of the inheritance of the kingdom that comes directly out of Ephesians 119 that you are rich with the gospel. I've seen this with people who have uh by world standards, nothing but yet worshiped God with so much joy because they realize they have riches of eternal value. And so they have much, they have little, they understand that they are rich because they have forgiveness and they have purpose and they have love and they have joy because Jesus already gave him everything. The most famous verse in the Bible for God so loved the world that he felt something. Oh though he showed him how through giving so that when we give, we can be like Christ and we can be generous and it's out of the generosity in your heart and your soul that it changes everything you can't be controlled by something that you're willing to give away. And it really is more blessed to give than it is to receive because you are becoming like Christ and as Christ gave, we can give and it, it changes your attitude and your spirit. It's really difficult to find a generous person and a bitter person at the same. And it's not about the amount, it's about that principle and mindset to be rich in good works to do good. Uh Margaret Thatcher put it this way. He said uh she said no one would remember the good Samaritan if he only had good intentions, but he had money as well. Like he didn't go up to the person on the side room. Oh, so bad. I feel so bad for you, right? He did something about it, right? That's so cool that you can impact people's lives, that you could be the answer to somebody else's prayer. Why? Well, not, not because we're looking to ourselves because we understand that we're coming from a place of gratitude. See, when you have the foundation of gratitude and you start walking in grit, you can focus on generosity because you enter every room, not looking to get something but to give something. Now, in the Old Testament talks about the principle of the tithe which means 10, give 10%. And then in Malachi, it actually says in there, God says, test me on this, give the tie, give it to the storehouse and see that I will not bless you. One of the only promises and commands where Jesus or God actually says, like, go ahead and test me on it. So we teach that principle here to, to give 10% that we practice that as a family that uh that myself and wife and I do that. We, we give 10% of what we give, right? As an organization as a church, we try to give away 10% of what comes in are committed even in this crazy love project, this new building project to give away 10% of what comes in because we wanna practice that as a family. We wanna practice that as an organization. Why? Because this is a healthy rhythm. But I've had p push back before and people said, well, yeah, but they don't talk about it in the New Testament. They don't give this or that. Uh They actually say, well, God loves a cheerful giver. I said, OK, so let me ask you something though. Can you, can you read that passage with me? Because I do believe it's true that God doesn't want you to give under compulsion, doesn't want you to give upon guilt. But what does he actually mean when he says God loves a cheerful giver, let's read it in context. OK. So it's actually found in Second Corinthians chapter nine verses 6 to 10 says the point is this, I love that. It's so clear here. The point is this that whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, 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 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 every good work. And as it is written, he has distributed freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Says He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest for your righteousness. Does that sound like a minimum generosity to you? Now, he's saying, man, if you believe that God is freely given, that allows you to freely give. And I want you to know church if you are here and you've never given anything, we're glad you're here. And I love that. I'm not asking anything from you. We, we want you to be here and explore your faith. And, and test it. But rather than asking something from you, I want something for you that to grow in your faith, to worship God with all that you are, includes your finances and that you cannot out give God. And when you give freely of your time, your talent and your treasures that God blesses that and God is honored by that. But you do so, not from a place of compulsion or guilt, but you do so as an act of worship. And so I invite you into that process that wherever you are, we want you to know that God loves you and that if you wanna be like Christ, that think about giving freely as God has freely given to you. It says this, Jesus himself says this in Matthew 6 1921. He says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there. Your heart will be also, we'd love to read it the other way where your heart is there, your treasure will be. But he actually says, where your treasure is there, your heart will be for a God that created the world that spoke nothingness into everything that we see. Do you think He actually needs your money per se? No. But what he does is that he's saying if you want to change the attitude, if you wanna have a freedom and not be trapped by things in the pursuit of things, be generous. Now we talk about a shadow side for everything, right? The shadow side for gratitude really is this place of greed. I need more, I need more, I need more. And there's grit to, to make adjustments to, to go back and forth, to pursue God, right? There's wisdom in that. So again, it's not wrong to invest. In fact, it's wise to invest. There's a whole book. Proverbs, it talks about wise investing and sort of go after it. But the shadow side of grit is guilt. It's when we realize the idea, oh, I'm not enough, I'm not doing enough, they're not doing enough and we start judging other people and judging ourselves. Well, when you get to a place of generosity, the shadow side is actually one of pride. And let me tell you as a pastor who loves alliteration, I really tried hard to make that A G but it says in there, it says for those who are rich do not be haughty. In other words, do not be prideful. You don't hold your money over people, you don't give it away says, look what I did and make it about you. It says you don't have to pursue riches because you are rich in Christ. And so when you give out of the abundance of the forgiveness and love that God has given you. It allows you to be free and not defined by it. I want that freedom in your life. I want that freedom and that freedom comes as scripture tells us that the goal with our money is to honor God and to help people. If you want a more balanced life, consider for a moment to start with the foundation of gratitude, be content. Do you struggle always wanting more? Maybe instead of thinking about everything, you don't have pause and thank God for everything that you do have. Consider starting your day by writing two or three things down in a journal of what you're grateful for. It's really hard to be mad and grateful at the same time. Imagine how different our society would be if we started from a place of gratitude. And next, understand that your battles won't stop there. That following Jesus is gonna take constant adjustments. And I tell you right now, if you haven't recently, you will soon make a mistake and you might make repeated mistakes. That's where the grace of God comes in and the grit of faith comes in to stand up. So your life, your family, your finances is worth fighting for, to take one step when you have gratitude and you have grit that lands you in a place of generosity. That's where you can collectively go and you enter every room, not trying to get something, but looking to give something and you are the most like Christ when you give and that goes well beyond finances with your life. But it does include your finances. Can you describe your life as it being generous as God has been generous to us? A theologian? Oh, wait, just kidding. He's a golf instructor. Um, he says this with a swing. He says if you do keep doing the things you're doing, you're gonna keep getting the things that you're getting like in sports. If you, if you try to change your swing, if you try to change your approach, if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over again, you're gonna get the same results, right? It's a definition of insanity doing the same thing, expecting different results. What are you doing right now? When it comes to finances, what are you doing right now? When it comes to your faith and finances, if you want to change, you can do that and God's with you and it's worth it together. Let's honor God and let's help. Some people will you pray with me dear. Only father. We thank you that we can worship you with all that we have God. We wanna honor you with our finances as well. We want to be grateful for everything that you've given to us, help us to be content and then God help us to fight to, to have grittiness about us. To keep pursuing you, even when things are hard that even when we fall down, just to get back up and to take a step and then God help us to have our focus on you. Have your fo our focus and all that you gave us and your grace so that we can in turn, be generous God. I want us to be a generous church. I want us to be generous people and want us to give as you are freely given. We, we will respond to you today and be encouraged by your word. Thank you for giving us all what we need to be rich and be loved and have joy in this life. We give everything we have to you and your sense and we pray amen.