10-30-11 Sermon

Due to the technical difficulties we were having in church this morning the audio did not record. So sorry about this - it was a good sermon! Below is the transcript for those who wish to read it.

YOUR INADEQUACY AND GOD'S POWER

Freedom From Your Fears  -  Part 5 of 10

Ephesians 1:18-19 10-30-11 Sermon

Anytime we face something new in our lives we face the fear of inadequacy.  This is a very simple fear to describe.  It's when you look at your life and you think, "I don't have what it takes."  I don't have what it takes to be a parent, to be a leader, to be a believer.  Have you ever felt that way?  We all have.  Everyone in this room has. 

It's very important to understand that God doesn't want us to feel this way.  A lot of times we get confused in Christianity and in church.  Sometimes people confuse this fear with humility. They think God wants us to feel this way, that God wants us to feel like we're not worth much.  That's not true at all. 

Ephesians 1:19 "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know his incomparably great power for us who believe."  2 Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."  That first prayer is my prayer for you today. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be opened, that you can see from the inside out how great God's power is for your life. That's the answer to this fear of inadequacy in our lives.  You might circle "his incomparably great power".  He wants to share it with us.  How great is God's power?  He keeps the world spinning.  He keeps the sun burning.  He takes billions of stars and hangs them in place and keeps them there, every minute of every day and the Bible says He wants to take that great power and make it work in our lives. He wants to take our feeling of "I don't have what it takes" and He wants to express to us that He has what it takes in everyday life.  He wants to say to us, You are right that you don’t have what it takes, but I do.”

How?  How does He do that?  How do I experience His power in my life?  We have to learn to trade in our response to our feelings of inadequacy for God's response to our feelings of inadequacy. When you learn that, you begin to set aside this fear and begin to enjoy a new sense of strength and power and real confidence in everyday life. 

What's our natural response to feeling inadequate?  Some of the things you think of were things described to us the first time anyone felt inadequate.  It started way back in the Garden of Eden -- this feeling of inadequacy.  The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve bit into the apple and they realized they were naked and they were ashamed.  That's not a bad description of what inadequacy is all about.  All of a sudden you've got this terrible realization of what's missing in your life.  And you struggle with that. 

Look at the response.  When we feel inadequate, we cover up. Adam and Eve sewed some fig leaves together.  We cover up.  We pretend "I've got it all together.  I understand.  Everything's fine." We cover up.  We don't want to let anybody know. 

Or we hide out. Adam and Eve were very simple about all this.  They hid out in the bushes.  We're a little more complex.  We hide in our office or in our house or in our car.  We say, "I'm never going to let myself be hurt like that again.  I'm never going to face a situation like that again.  I just won't go.  I won't be there." Do you ever do that when you feel inadequate?  Hide out?

Or we put down.  This is probably the most natural response to feeling inadequate.  They blamed each other.  When you feel inadequate, the most natural response is to put somebody else down.  I'm feeling inadequate so let's make them feel inadequate too.  We do that to each other.  We try to bring other people down to the level we're feeling. 

These responses -- hiding out, covering up, putting down -- if you do these things in life it's not going to make you feel any more powerful or any more adequate.  It's just going to confirm and strengthen the feelings of inadequacy that we all face in our lives.  There is a different direction to take -- God's direction.

I am set free from the fear of inadequacy not by great successes, but from how I respond to difficult circumstances.  It's not great successes that make me feel more adequate.  A lot of people think it is -- if they can have a few successes in life they would get over the hump.  It doesn't work.  Many times the more successes you have the more you feel like you have to match up to it.  You feel more and more inadequate in life. 

Think about the entertainment world.  John Housman said, "One of the emotions of my life when it comes to acting has been terror."  Richard Burton admitted that one of the reasons he became an alcoholic was because he was terrified someone would discover who he really was.  Barbara Streisand began singing again after not singing in public for twenty years. She felt inadequate.  With a voice like hers she felt inadequate!

Successes don't do it.  You can't pile up enough of them to make you feel more adequate in life. 

The way to begin to feel a new sense of confidence and strength and power in life is to begin to learn how to respond to difficult circumstances.  God uses difficult circumstances in our life to build confidence and strength.    When we face difficult circumstances, we can respond in one of two ways.  We can get mad and bitter and feel more and more inadequate, or we can understand the way God wants us to respond.  Once you've learned that, you begin to build confidence into your life.  It would be easy this morning to just spend twenty minutes building you up, building up your confidence, telling you how great you are and you can go out and do anything. That would last about as far as the end of the parking lot, until you hit the first difficulty in your life.  That's not God's way of building confidence into our lives.  His way is to allow us to go through some tough circumstances, to show us how to respond. And when you respond in the right way, He builds confidence into your life.

There are three circumstances He most commonly sends into all our lives and the response you and I can make that can build His confidence into our lives.  The first circumstance is…

1.  INCURABLE WEAKNESS

2 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul, as great as he was, struggled with some incurable weaknesses in his life.  And because of this he asked God to take it away from him.  He said, I don't want to live with this.  God said no.  "God said to me, `My grace is sufficient for you.  For my power is made perfect in weakness.' For when I am weak then I am strong." 

What is an incurable weakness?  Some of us get weak at the knees when we see a chocolate bar.  Is that what we're talking about? No.  And it's not sin in our lives because that's curable.  We can change.  We're not talking about temptation.

An incurable weakness is a limitation.  It can be physical, emotional, a talent limitation.  It's any limitation in your life that's inherited or you can't change.  Paul had a name for his weakness.  He called it his thorn in the flesh.  We don't know what it was.  A lot of people have a lot of different ideas. It was some kind of a limitation in his life. 

"My power is made perfect in weakness."  Doesn't that sound strange?  Doesn't it seem God would make his power more perfect in our lives by causing us to be more powerful?  But it doesn't work that way.  When I face a weakness in my life it invites me to respond to God in a way that can build a new sense of confidence.  The Living Bible translates this verse, "My power shows up best in weak people."

How can you see God's power in a limitation in your life?  How can you see God's power in the fact that you're not as talented as somebody else?  One word:  Dependence. When I respond to incurable weakness with dependence.  Many times our response to our feelings of insecurity and inadequacy is we keep life pared down to our human limitations,  "This is what I can do... this is what I can't do..."  We get wrapped up in ourselves and that's usually a pretty small package. 

To help you see where you might be surrendering in your life to this fear of inadequacy, ask yourself this question once a month or so:  What am I attempting in my life that I could not pull off in my own strength that requires God's strength?  Dependence helps us to understand God's

strength in our lives.  How do you see God's power in your weakness?  Dependence on Him.  Not on yourself but on Him.

I think a lot of times when people think of depending on God, they think of a large rock and you're leaning on Him and it's a very secure place.  Maybe that's part of the picture but it's not all of it.  I think of it not as leaning on a large rock, but as getting on a large rocket.  He's going somewhere.  God is going somewhere.  When you depend on Him, it's like getting on the space shuttle, it's going to take off and fly.  There's a power there that you don't have in your life and depending on Him ties you in to that power.  The Bible tells us apart from Christ we can do nothing but in Christ we can do all things.  Proverbs 10 "A self sufficient fool falls flat on his face."  That's pretty simple! 

Sometimes God has to put us flat on our back to keep us from falling flat on our face.  So we can look up to him and say, "I need to depend on You in my life."  That's why He sends weakness into our life.  God loves to turn our greatest weaknesses into our greatest strengths. 

Maybe you're one of those people who think you could never really be a person of faith, to trust God like we're talking about.  You respect people who do, you wish you could be like that but you think you don't have that kind of faith to trust.  The greatest people of faith that I've known often have been those people who you'd looked at before they became a believer and said, "They could never be a person of faith.  Their life is filled with sin and temptation and struggle and difficulty.  They could never be a person of faith."  But the greatest people I've known of faith have been those very people. 

The same is true of the stories of the people in the Bible.  When you come to Christ in that way He often turns your greatest weakness into your greatest strength.  There are some people who come to God and say, "God, look at what you've got!  I'm pretty great!  I've got all this intelligence.  I was brought up in this Christian home and know the Bible and all this stuff."  God can't do very much with that kind of a person.  They're depending on their self.  But when someone comes to Christ and says, "I need You.  If I'm going to do this God, I'm totally depending on You." There is hope and promise in that of your becoming one of the greatest people of faith of all times.  God loves to turn our greatest weakness into our greatest strength.  If you feel you have a weak faith or no faith, depend on Him and let Him turn that into your greatest strength. 

With each of these, I want to give you a practical place to start.  Depending on God is a huge thing in life.  Where do you get started?  What's something you can regularly do to build that attitude into your life?  A starting place for responding to incurable weakness with dependence:  Worship weekly.  There is something about worship that reminds us of how powerful God is. It's a regular reminder we do in our lives.  Psalm 63 "I've seen you in the sanctuary and I've beheld your power and your glory." Psalm 40:17 "I am poor and weak and yet the Lord is thinking about me right now."  That's what worship does for us.  We realize we're poor and weak, we had a tough week, we blew it! But God is thinking about me right now!  I think one of the most significant things that happens in worship is not that I come and think about God, but that I come and realize how much He's thinking about me every moment of every day of my life.  That builds into my heart an ability to depend on Him.  It's like a weekly exercise to build your “dependence on God” muscle.  One of the things God uses in our lives to build confidence in Him is incurable weakness. 

Another is…2.  UNREASONABLE PEOPLE

Do you know any unreasonable people?  We all have unreasonable people in our lives.  They are a part of our lives.  One person said unreasonable people are like heavenly sandpaper.  They irritate the rough edges out of your life. 

What does an unreasonable person look like?  Timothy faced a lot of them.  They criticize much more than they encourage.  The attack you, always on the offensive.  They always want to get you involved in arguments.  It seems like you can never just have a discussion with this person, it's always an argument.  They tend to major on minors and they keep you from focusing on what's really important.  They are often filled with selfishness and bitterness.  Does that remind you of anyone?  Sometimes you work with them. Sometimes they are in your small group.  Sometimes they are in your church.  Some of you have so many rough edges in your life that maybe God has seen to it, that you're married to your heavenly sandpaper!  Who's words do you remember more?  The encourager or the critic?  The critic.  That shows the power of the unreasonable person in our life.  God has sent these people into your life to build into your life a sense of His power. 

I was joking a moment ago about you being married to your heavenly sandpaper.  The truth of the matter is you can't be that close to somebody without them irritating you every once in a while.  Isn't that true?  You just can't.  Sometimes that's the person God is using. 

God has sent these people into your life to develop a sense of His power.  How?  What is the response I can have that can develop that?  Patience.  Again and again the Bible encourages us to be patient with unreasonable people.  When you love the unlovely you're acting most like God.  Jesus said to love your enemies so that you can be just like your Father who is in heaven.  He sends His sun on the evil and on the good. 

Ephesians 4:2 "Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love."  Make allowance.  Say you're driving and following a large motor home, the wind is blowing and the motor home is weaving back and forth.  If you're going to pass that motor home, you're going to give it some allowance so it doesn't bump into you.  This verse is saying make allowance for people.  Give them an extra lane or two.  Realize they're going to weave sometimes, they're going to make some mistakes in life.

You've got to give yourself the freedom to fail.  This verse is reminding us you've got to give others the freedom to fail, too. That's part of being patient with other people.  Being critical and negative is not a gift of the Holy Spirit, it comes from the other spirit. 

Romans 12 "Be at peace with everyone just as much as possible." There is only so much I can do.  But as much as you can do, that's what God expects you to do.  You can't be patient for them but you can be patient for you.  Realize there is a difference between patience and capitulation.  You can give to others without giving in to others.  Being patient doesn't mean you always let them have their way or ruin your business.  Being patient simply means that you love them no matter what.  That's tough.  That's tough. 

Where do you start?  How can you develop this attitude in your life?  The starting place is to picture God's love for you.  See it.  "I pray that you may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."  He's praying that you can see it!  It's one thing for a guy to stand up here and talk to you about how great God's love is.  It's quite another thing to grab hold of it, to picture it, to see it for yourself. 

Have you ever gotten one of those postcards of the Grand Canyon that someone sends you?  How can you reduce the Grand Canyon to a 5X7 postcard?  You can look at that postcard but you'll never understand the grandeur of it.  To really understand the Grand Canyon you have to go to it and walk right up to the edge where you could fall off and see it for yourself. 

Paul writes and says, I want you to picture God's love.  I want you to see it for yourself, how high, how long, how wide, how deep it is.  Once you see that you'll have a new strength to love other people.  Once you picture how deeply God loves you, you can love other people.  God is so patient with me.  He knows every fault in my life and every stupid thing I think and say and yet He still loves me, He's still patient with me and shows His grace to me.  That helps me be patient with other people.  That's the number one thing that helps me be patient with other people! Seeing God's love for you strengthens your patience with others.

And a third thing that God allows in our lives to build confidence in him is…3.  IMPOSSIBLE PROBLEMS

He encourages us to learn to respond to impossible problems with faith.  A lot of times we think if God is trying to help me become more confident why does he often put me in places where it seems like I can't succeed?  How does that build my self confidence?  He's not trying to build self confidence.  He's trying to build our confidence in Him.  That's where the real power is.  That's where the strength is.

Jesus called His disciples timid only once.  They had a lot of problems as disciples.  They made a lot of mistakes and did a lot of dumb things but there was only one time that He called them timid.  It was when they were in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and a huge storm came by.  These disciples were fishermen.  They knew a dangerous storm and they knew this one was dangerous. They were afraid for their lives.  They were in a panic, running around, wondering what to do.  Jesus was sleeping through the whole thing.  Finally He woke up and stretched out His arms and said, "Peace, be still" and the storm was calm.  He looked at His disciples and said, "You timid disciples!  You men of little faith!"  I think, if  I'm in the middle of a hurricane or a tornado don't I have the right to be a little frightened?  To be in a panic?  I think the reason Jesus was upset was because they were focused on the storm around them and not on Jesus Christ who was in the boat with them with the answers to their problem. 

As a parent, if you have the answer to one of your kid's problems, if you could help them, and they didn't ask you for help, wouldn't that upset you?  It upset Jesus.  He knew He had the answer.  He had the power to make a difference.  The fishermen cowered from the waves in timid fear instead of calling upon the master in total faith.  The disciples were in over their heads literally, they couldn't handle this.  That's not what upset Jesus.  It was the fact that they didn't turn to Him and say, "You can handle this."  It's OK to admit you can't handle it, but when we do we need to look to the God who can. 

Luke 1:37 "God can do anything."  18:27 "God can do things that are not possible for people to do."  Of course He can, He's God.  We say we believe that because it is in the Bible.  But have you discovered that in a personal way in your life?  The way that God helps you to discover that is by allowing an impossible problem in your life.  Jesus said to His disciples at the end of that storm, "Why were you so fearful?  Don't you even yet have confidence in Me."  Impossible problems are an invitation to have confidence in God not in ourselves. 

Jesus gave His disciples an object lesson in this once.  He taught them a lot about this.  He knew how feelings of inadequacy can overcome our lives.  Jesus was teaching to about five to ten thousand people one day.  The day was drawing to an end.  The disciples came up to Him, "How are we going to feed all of these guys?"  Jesus said, "You feed them."  Talk about an impossible problem!  They didn't have any food!  They found a boy who was willing to give a few loaves and fish.  They put it in Jesus' hands and He divided them and everybody was fed that day with twelve baskets left over.  There is a line from a song, "Little becomes much when I place it in the Master's hands."  My little becomes much when I place it in the Master's hands. 

All of us, when we look at our lives from time to time, we feel like we don't have much to give, much to offer.  Little becomes much when you place it in the Master's hands.  You may not feel very adequate as a parent, but your little becomes much when you place it in Christ's hands.  You may not feel very adequate as a leader, a manager, a husband, a wife, a church member, but your little becomes much.  He can multiply it when you place it in the hands of Jesus Christ. 

A starting place for recognizing how much God can do in your life is an object lesson God's put all around us.  Look at what has made!  Jeremiah 32 "Lord you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power.  Nothing is too hard for you." 

Ephesians 3:20-21 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory."  To Him, according to His power, at work within us. 

One of the characteristics of this fear of inadequacy is that you feel like you're all alone.  You feel like you're the only one that feels this way.  Everybody else is filled with confidence. They're going through life just great.  But you don't feel like you've got much sometimes.  You feel like you're all alone.  That is not true.  Just look through the Bible at some of the people who faced this fear of inadequacy.  Moses faced this fear.  He wrote the first five books of the Bible.  But he faced this fear. Joshua faced this fear.  He led the people into the promised land.  But he faced this fear.  Jeremiah who was a great prophet faced this fear.  Peter faced this fear -- one of the disciples. Timothy faced this fear -- one of the leaders of the early church. 

They faced it for different reasons.  Moses felt like he couldn't talk well enough.  Jeremiah felt like he was too young. Peter felt like he was too brash and emotional.  Timothy felt like he couldn't deal with people.  But they faced it and they dealt with it.  Un-dealt with, this fear of inadequacy can steal your life's purpose away from you.  But dealt with, the Bible presents an exciting picture of God being able to transform people who face this fear when they give it to him.  It doesn't present a picture of somebody just getting barely over the line and making it up to the level of mediocrity.  It presents a picture of people being transformed.  Moses confronts Pharaoh and Jeremiah becomes a prophet and Peter speaks so confidently that thousands of lives are changed when he speaks.  Timothy becomes a pastor at Ephesus.  Why?  Because they looked at their fear of inadequacy and they trusted God.  They found out that He is able. He is able to do immeasurably more than anything you can ask or imagine. 

You may be thinking you don't see that happening in your life. God's going to lovingly continue to send into your life these circumstances, weaknesses, unreasonable people, impossible problems.  Every time they come God is inviting you "Turn to Me."  And you're going to learn to do that and as you learn, He's going to build into your life a new sense of confidence in Him.

The power of God's love makes the difference.

Prayer:

      Jesus Christ, we need the power of Your love expressed in our life every day.  You know us.  You see us.  You see how sometimes we feel very inadequate for life.  We feel very inadequate for faith.  Help us to understand today that our confidence can be found in You, that Lord, when we come to You we don't find someone who puts us down.  We find someone who lifts us up.  We do rise with wings like eagles, by faith and trust in You.  I pray particularly for anybody today who is feeling like You can't work in their lives, You can't solve this problem.  Lord, flood their hearts with hope and strength and joy in knowing that You are a God who not only cares but who has the power and willingness to make a difference.  We turn to You, God.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

10-23-11 Dr. Fred Hembree "The Simple Laws of Love"

We were delighted to welcome Dr. Fred Hembree as our Homecoming preacher this past Sunday. Fred served as a student pastor at Forest Grove for five years. The Lord has led him back to the area as Senior pastor of First UMC Springfield.

I'm sorry we don't have a transcript of his sermon but you can listen by clicking here.

10-16-11 Sermon: Your Finances and God's Provision

You can listen to the sermon by clicking here.

YOUR FINANCES AND GOD'S PROVISION

Freedom From Your Fears  -  Part 4 of 10

Philippians 4:19 10-16-11 Sermon

There is some debate over whether the recession is over, but there is no debate that there are a lot of people who are unemployed, underemployed, or who have just given up on trying to find work.  A while back a news brief appeared entitled "It's the Money, Honey!"  It said, "Sylvester Stallone's wedding has been put on hold.  The Sylvester Stallone-Janice Dickinson wedding is said to be stalled over a pre nuptial agreement."  He's offering her a million bucks a year for each year she sticks it out in marriage up to the first five years plus $250,000 a year in walk around money after which a new deal would be negotiated.  The catch is this:  She was holding out for two million a year plus a million a year in walk around money and a million for having his child born the previous February.

What that says to me is it doesn't matter how much money you make everybody has financial fears.  We all fear that we're not going to have enough.  You don't have to be poor to get anxious about money.  You don't have to be on welfare to have financial fears.  We live in one of the most affluent nations of the world.  Yet many Americans have financial fears.  In fact, the more you have the more you have to worry about, the more you have to maintain, to insure, to protect, to worry about losing.  We probably make payments on things that many people in the world have never even heard of.  Money has its own responsibility.

Today we're going to look at Your Finances and God's Provision. One of the most amazing, incredible, all encompassing promises in the Bible is Philippians 4:19.  This is God's guarantee regarding your finances.  "God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."  This verse is so packed!  I want you to circle several words. 

First it says, "God will..." circle "will".  It doesn't say, "He might meet your needs" it says "He will".  It's a fact.  He's staking His character, His reputation on it.  "I will meet your needs." 

Then it says, "God will meet all..."  Circle "all".  It doesn't say "I'll meet some of your needs"  He says all.  Does that include car payments?  Yes.  Braces?  Yes.  Homes?  Yes.  All your needs.  It doesn't say "I'll meet all your greeds."  There's a difference between needs and wants.  As a parent, do you give your kids everything they want?  I hope you don't.  Because you love them.  And your heavenly Father loves you.  He's not going to give you everything you want; you'd be spoiled to death.

But it says, I will meet all your needs according to His wealth, His riches.  It's not based on my assets, thank God.  It’s not based on the stock market.  It’s not based on the economy.  It’s not based on winning the lottery.  It’s not based on receiving a large inheritance.  It's based on what God has and He doesn't run out of resources. 

He says "... for you in Christ Jesus."  This is a promise only for believers.  This is not a promise for everybody.  God has not promised to meet everybody's needs.  God has not promised to meet the needs of people who reject His Son.  This is only for believers, for those who are in Christ Jesus.  But He says, If you're one of My children, in My family, I promise to meet all your needs."   

If that is the case, then why do you have financial needs?  Why do I know people who are believers who have financial needs?  Did God fail?  Did He lie?  Did He exaggerate?  No.  With every promise there is a premise. There are conditions, requirements.  There are things God says, "I'll do my part and you do your part."  God has laid out financial principles in His word.  There are many financial principles -- more than we can go into this morning.  Principles of saving, principles of spending, principles of giving, principles of investing, principles of using your resources. They are all through the Bible. 

There are some conditions we can look at this morning. Specifically five.  God says if you meet these conditions then I guarantee that I will meet all your financial needs.  That's a pretty big promise.  The guarantee is you do these things and you'll never have to worry about finances again.  That's exactly what God says.  So, the first condition is, God will meet your financial needs…

1.  IF I ASK FOR HIS HELP

James 4:2 "You do not have because you do not ask God."  That's pretty clear.  God is waiting for you to ask.  God never shuts His storehouse until you shut your mouth.  He wants to help.  But the problem is, you don't ask.  Last time you needed a car did you ask God for it or did you just go out and buy it?  My guess is you probably didn't ask for it.  You probably didn't pray.  You just went out and bought it. 

"Jesus says, `Ask and it will be given you.  Search, and you will find.  Knock, and the door will open for you.'"  Circle the first letter of those three words -- Ask, Search, Knock -- what does that spell?  ASK.  God's saying it three ways.  Get the message! Over twenty times in the New Testament God says, "Ask!  I want you to ask!"  One of the reasons why you may never see miracles in your life is you never ask for it.  Would you like to see God work in your life more?  Start asking. 

Here’s a principle for you:  Before you pay for it, pray for it.  Stop and ask God. Give God a chance to give it to you before you go out and charge it.  You probably depend more on your charge card than you depend on Jesus.  You're going to live within your income even if you have to charge it!  God says Ask, I want you to ask Me for things.  Before you pay for it, stop and pray for it.

Why does God want me to ask?  Because He's a loving father. Loving fathers love to bestow gifts on their kids.  I love to give my kids things and I'm a loving father. 

John 16:24 Jesus is talking, "You've not asked for anything in My name.  Ask and you will receive so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy."  Why does God want me to ask?  So He can give.  Why does He want to give?  So I can receive.  Why does He want me to receive?  So I'll be full of joy.  Why does He want me to be full of joy?  It's a great advertisement for Jesus. Joyful Christians are a positive testimony.  Sour puss Christians, sucking on pickles, are a bad testimony.  They're baptized in vinegar or something. 

If you pray as much about your finances as you worry about them you'd have a lot less to worry about.  God says Ask, I'm waiting for you to ask Me.

2.  IF YOU'LL LEARN TO BE CONTENT

Why?  Because God's far more interested in your character than He is your comfort.  He wants you to grow up, to mature, to be like Jesus. He's not just interested in making life easy so He watches your attitude.  If I bought into the thinking that having more will make me happier, or if I just intend to use all the wealth selfishly, or if I tend to think about things more than I think about God why in the world should He aid my addiction?  He's watching your attitude.  The question is Have I learned to be content?

1 Timothy 6 "There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it."  If you've ever seen a baby born you know they don't come into the world with a whole lot.  They're not holding on to cigars and cars and stuff.  They don't come into the world with anything, just a little umbilical cord and that gets cut real quick.  And at your funeral you don't take anything out.  You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer. 

There was a miserly man who tried to take his money with him.  He made his long suffering wife promise that when he died she would bury his money with him.  She promised.  And she told a friend about it.  He friend thought she was crazy.

Well, the husband did precede his wife in death.  They had his funeral service, and right before the funeral director closed the casket the wife told him to wait.   She had a small box with her.  Her friend leaned over and said, “You are not really going to go through with this are you?”  And the wife said, “Yes, I promised.”  So she put the box in the casket with him, the casket was closed.  They went to the cemetery and the casket was lowered into the ground and buried. 

The wife’s friend came back to her house with her.  Again she said to the widow, I still just can’t believe you buried all that man’s money with him!  And the widow replied,  A promise is a promise!  Just because he was stingy and miserly all his life doesn’t give me the right to break my promise.  And then with a glint in her eye and a smile on her face she said, I wrote him a check!

You really can’t take it with you!  So the things here on earth or just for you to use the 80 or so years that you're here.  Learn to be content.

Don't sweat it.  Don't make it the most important thing in your life.  The most important things in life aren't things.  Learn to be content.

What is contentment?  Contentment is not, not having any goals. Contentment is not, not having ambition.  Contentment is not even, not having financial goals.  Financial goals are fine. Contentment means my happiness is not dependent upon circumstances.  Most people get caught into "when" thinking -- "When I get such and such, then I'll be happy."  "When I get to a certain level economically... When I get a certain job ... When I can retire ... then I'll be happy.  When I get the house paid off... When I get the bills paid off... then!"  God says "No, once you get there you'll always want something else.  You always want more."  Somebody asked Howard Hughes, "How much does it take to make a man happy?"  He said, "Just a little more." 

God says I want you to learn contentment.  It's not, not having goals.  It's saying My happiness is dependent upon the Lord not on my circumstances in life.

Paul learned contentment.  Philippians 4:12 "I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.  I've learned the secret of contentment in every situation."  Circle "learned".  Contentment is something you have to learn.  It's not something that comes naturally.  It's not natural for us to be content.  I, by my nature, am naturally discontented.  And so are you.  By your nature, you're naturally discontented.  It's something you have to learn.

How do you learn to be content?  This is the second requirement for God working in your life.  You learn contentment by stopping doing what causes discontentment.  Comparing causes discontentment.  God says it's stupid to compare yourself to others.  You compare houses, clothes, cars, jobs, spouses, pastors, churches.  Have you ever bought a new car and you're happy with it and then a new model comes out and it's got a wingding on it!  And then you've got to have one of those wingdings!  Life isn't worth living without a wingding!  And all the advertisements are telling me that.  And you aren't worth zip unless you have a wingding!  So we're constantly comparing.  And comparing causes discontent and because of discontent God says, You can't handle what I want to give you because you're putting too much priority on it in your life.  Can God trust you with wealth?  Have you learned to be content?  God says He wants you to learn contentment. 

I don't know why but God has chosen money to be the acid test of our faith.  We spend our entire lives trying to make it, earn it, save it, spend it, use it, we think about it.  So God chooses to use finances as the acid test of how much you trust Him.  He wants us to ask when we have a need and learn to be content, so our happiness isn't dependent on how much or how little we've got.  If you don't learn contentment, you'll never be happy. You'll always want more.

3.  IF YOU PRACTICE GIVING IN FAITH

This is called the Law of the Harvest.  2 Corinthians 9 "Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.  And whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. If ever you feel pressured to give, don't.  God says don't give under pressure.  Don't give under compulsion.  God says it doesn't count.  God says, I'm not just looking at the amount, I'm looking at your attitude. And the scripture says "And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times having all that you need you will abound in every good work."

Notice the promises there.   This is the principle of Sowing and Reaping.  This principle is a law of the universe and it applies to every area of your life.  If I sow criticism I'm going to reap criticism.  If I sow kindness I'm going to reap kindness. If I sow generosity, it's going to come back to me and I'm going to reap generosity.  If I sow energy, I'm going to reap energy. It's amazing but if you go to a gym and work out you'll feel tired, but the next day you'll have more energy, because by expending energy you produce more energy.  It's like giving blood:  You give blood and it just reproduces itself.  It multiplies.  Whatever you need more of you give away. 

This is the principle of sowing and reaping.  Every farmer knows this.  A farmer has four sacks of seed in his barn and he looks at his barren field, no crop.  He doesn't start gripping -- "There's no crop!  I wish there was a crop!"  He just goes out and starts planting seed.  When you have a need plant a seed.  He goes out, plants seed, it reproduces and he gets more than he had when he started.  Do four sacks of seed produce four sacks of seed?  No.  Far more than that.  They multiply a hundredfold.  No farmer in his right mind would say, "I can't afford to plant, to sow.  This is all the seed I've got, only four sacks of it. Therefore I'm just going to hold on to the seed."  The only way he's going to get anything out of it is by giving it away.  He's got to plant it.  If he holds on to it that's all he's got.  But if he gives it away, it multiplies. 

That is true with your money.  It's true with everything else in your life.  It seems illogical that when I have a need, I need to give.  It is illogical.  That's why it requires faith.  God says "My ways are not your ways."  Why did God set it up that way? Because God is a giver.  He is the most generous giver in the universe and God wants you to learn to be like Him.  His number one characteristic is that He is a giver.  "God so loved the world that He gave..."  God wants you to learn to be generous. If you don't learn to be generous, if you don't learn to give, if you're stingy, miserly, always worrying about what you've got rather than giving it away, you'll never be like Christ.  When God set up the universe, He said I'll reward my children when they're like Me. 

So, every time you're generous and give, God says Give and it will be given to you.  Luke 6:38 "Jesus said, `Give and it will be given unto you.  And the measure you use to give out will be the measure which God uses to give back to you.'"   God wants to build character in you.  He wants you to learn to be a giver.  He says, Give and it will be given unto you.  The point is, when I hoard my money it's all I've got but, when I give it away, God multiplies it.

We like to say, "Lord, when all my needs are met, then I'll give some away."  God says, "No, when you give some away, then all your needs will be met."  God says you prime the pump.  Why?  Because it requires faith.  Giving out of plenty requires no faith at all.

Circle all the "alls" in this verse:  "God is able to make all grace about to you so that in all things at all times having all that you need you will abound in every good work."  I didn’t write that, Paul did.  It’s part of God’s word.  Do you believe it or not?  If that verse is really true what does that leave to worry about?  Not much.  I think "all" includes everything.  It doesn't leave anything to worry about. 

Proverbs 3 "Honor the Lord by giving Him the first part of all your income and He will fill your barns to overflow."  This is the principle of tithing .  It's the principle that every time I make $100 the first $10 goes back to God.  If I make $1000 the first $100 goes back to God.  Tithing is not charity.  Tithing is not giving to the poor or the United Way or the American Cancer Society.  Those are offerings not tithes. Tithing is an act of worship.  I don't give my tithe to somebody else, I give it to God.  It's an act of worship that says, "All of it came from You, God, in the first place and if it weren't for You I wouldn't have anything."  God says, "Put Me first in your life and watch what I do.  I'll bless you.  Your barns will overflow." 

Why does He say, Give me the first part? He doesn't say, Pay all your bills and then give.  You won't have any to give then.  When Peg and I got married we decided if anybody got paid God was going to get paid first.  The first ten percent and then some of everything we've ever made goes back to the Lord.  Because God needs it?  No.  Because He wants what it represents -- your heart.  The Bible says, "Where your treasure is there your heart is also."  If you say Jesus is number one in your life but He's not first in your finances and your time, He's not first.  Quit kidding yourself. 

And, tithing is not something you do just when you show up at a church service.  If you come to church one Sunday a month, you still owe God your tithe for the other weeks when you earned money but did not come to church. 

Tithing is not optional.  The prophet Malachi, in Malachi 3, says that to not tithe is to rob God.  Everything belongs to God, including everything that you have.  So if God tells you to give 10% of his stuff back to him and you refuse to do that, you are robbing God.  God says through the prophet in verse 10 Test me in this…and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.  Here is the one place where God dares you to test him on this, on tithing.  He says step out on faith and see how much I will bless you.

"Give and it will be given to you."  Give the first part of the income to the Lord and watch Him bless it.  When I give the first part of my income to the Lord, somehow He made that other 90% expand and I am able to pay more with that.  Some of you think you can't afford to tithe.  But I honestly say, as your pastor, you can't afford not to.  You can't afford not to if you really want God's blessing in your life. 

4.  IF YOU MAINTAIN YOUR INTEGRITY

God doesn't bless dishonesty.  Proverbs 16:11 "The Lord demands fairness in every business deal."  That includes wages, sales, taxes.  If you want God's blessing on your finances you've got to be honest.  You can't rip people off.

Proverbs 19:1 "Better to be poor and honest than rich and dishonest."  Why?  Because Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" 

Proverbs also says "The blessing of the Lord brings wealth and He adds no trouble to it."  Have you ever known anybody who made money and it just brought trouble?  Profit made dishonestly always brings trouble. Always.  You will always reap what you sow.  If you are dishonest with others that will be returned to you.  If you think you haven't got caught, the clock is still ticking.  The game is still playing, the judgment is still out.  You do not mock God and get away with it.  Whatever you sow you will inevitably reap.  Be honest.  Be honest with your finances.

Sometimes the pressure to get ahead -- or just the pressure to keep up -- is so overwhelming that we, even as believers, are often tempted to compromise our ethics.  And maybe to do a little shading of the truth in order to make a buck.  Maybe we overvalue something or maybe we just don't tell somebody what's wrong with it when we're selling it to them or maybe we take a deduction on the taxes that really isn't there.  Or maybe we just don't tell the truth in a situation.  Why?  Because the draw to make a buck is so intense in our lives that we sacrifice our integrity. 

God has said that He will meet my needs if I ask for his help, and I learn contentment, and I give in faith, and I maintain my integrity.  That decision to do what is right and trust God is not a once for all decision.  It is a daily moment by moment decision. 

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

5.  IF I TRUST HIM WITH MY LIFE

Matthew 6:33 "Your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well what you need and he will give it to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to." 

When I was a kid, anytime I had a need I'd go to my father and say "Dad, I need money for this... Dad, I need money for that." Not once in an entire lifetime of growing up did I ever wonder or worry about where he was going to find the money.  It's his job. He's the father.  I'm the kid.  Fathers make.  Kids spend.  It's a deal we have. 

Many Christians act like spiritual orphans.  You forget that you've got a heavenly Father.  It says your heavenly Father already knows what you need.  He's just waiting for you to ask.  He will provide.  Does God take care of little birds?  They don't worry.  Nothing in all creation worries except human beings.  Do those birds worry?  No.  Do plants worry?  No. The only things in all creation that worry are human beings. Everything else trusts the heavenly Father and creator to care for their needs.  The Bible says if God takes care of the birds, don't you think He'll take care of you if you trust Him.  That's the issue. 

That's the bottom line there.  How much do you trust God?  Worry is really just a form of atheism.  Every time you worry you're acting like an atheist.  You're saying, "It all depends on me." If it's to be, it's up to me.  That's just not in the Bible. Your heavenly father has a big hand in all of this.  Worry is a warning light that you're doubting the love of God and you always get in trouble when you doubt the love of God. 

I must trust Him with my life.  It says, "If you give him first place."  Why?  Because as long as I love anything more than God that thing or person or item will become a source of anxiety.  If you allow anything besides God to take first place in your life that item will become a source of anxiety because you can lose it. 

1 Timothy 6 "Don't put your hope in wealth which is so uncertain. But put your hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."  No matter how much you make you can still lose it all.  It's uncertain thanks to lawsuits, thanks to long term illnesses, to hospital bills, to disasters, to economic downturns.  There are many ways you can be wiped out in a matter of months no matter how much you've got.  You must always remind yourself, my security is not my bank account.  My security is in the Lord.  Don't hope in wealth.  Hope in the Lord.  If God turns off one faucet, He can turn on another.  If He turns off one job, He can turn on another.  You must seek the Lord. 

Psalm 111:5 "He gives food to those who trust Him.  He never forgets His promises."  The book of Romans tells us that God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for you to pay for your salvation.  If God loves you enough to send His own son to die for you, don't you think He loves you enough to take care of your bills?  Don't you realize that any other problem is minor by comparison, that He solved your biggest problem when He saved you?  The bottom line is really this:  Am I going to believe God to do what He says He will do?  That He will provide for me.  Am I going to believe Him enough to do what He tells me to do as evidence of that faith?

The theme verse for this series is Psalm 34:4 "I sought the Lord and He heard me.  He delivered me from all my fears."  The answer to your fears is a person, Jesus Christ.  You need to hope in the Lord.  When you're afraid in any area it's that you've forgotten what God is like, who He is, and what He's promised to do.  In this case in the area of finances.  So every week we come back to this.  Seek the Lord.  The answer to your fears is a person. 

If you're serious about being set free from financial fears it's your choice.  But you must choose to do what God has clearly told us to do.  He's laid it out.  He said, "I will do this -- the promise -- if you will obey the premise."  I want to challenge you to solidify your commitment this morning.  Are you're going to start asking God more for help in your finances, not just going out and charging it, but asking God for help.  Are you going to start learning to be content, stop comparing?  Are you going to start tithing the first part of your income as God has commanded and in faith that He's going to take care of my needs as an act of worship?  Are you going to live with integrity and be honest in your finances, not cheat?  Are you trusting Jesus Christ completely with every area of your life? 

If you're not going to do any of the first four, don't kid yourself.  You're not really doing number five.  Jesus said, "If you love me, you keep my commandments." 

Prayer:

      Father, thank You that You are a heavenly Father and You've promised to meet all our needs.  The ball's in our court. It's up to us to decide if we'll follow the conditions that You've laid out.  Thank you God that you never fail to keep a promise that You've made, that You are trustworthy.  I pray that, today, many will trust You and take these steps.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.