We're going to kind of begin here and just go into a little bit of review. Last week, we began the subject of money, and these are topics that we've been going through that Christians tend to avoid. We don't really like to talk about money, particularly our own, and frankly, that's fine. There's a lot of things that are private, and they should be. But in relation to money, though, the scriptures have a lot to say about it. So last week we began to tackle this subject. We have an amazingly difficult challenge, not only to properly understand money, but to do what is right with it just because of our culture. In our culture, gaining and having money is of extreme importance. Not that it's necessarily that much different than any other culture, it's just that we have so much. And there's so many things that we can need, right, and want. What we determined last week is that it doesn't really matter how much we have. What matters is, you know, our perspective on it and what we're doing with it. So we had some misconceptions about our money, and I'm going to read some of those for you since you can't see them, okay? One of the misconceptions is that Jesus spoke more about money than any other subject. And the fact is that he might have used money as an illustration, but he spoke about a number of subjects much more than money did, than he talked about money. So money was not the priority of Jesus' ministry. Secondly, we cannot obediently serve God and be rich because riches are evil. Now, again, these are misconceptions. And what we pretty much determined last week was that, no, it's not whether or not we have it. It's what we do with it. Money in and of itself is neutral. It's what we do with what we have, including our possessions. And then there were several other ones that we went through as well. But as we went through those, we also talked about some of the wrong responses that we can have in relation to our money. Let me go back to the responses. We can confuse blessing with greed, and we can confuse greed with blessing. In other words, we can kind of justify anything, or we can feel guilty about things that we don't need to. Along with that, we can become too focused on money, or we can become irresponsible with our money. Then there's the misconceptions that we often have resulting from that. Sometimes we have guilt over success and wealth, or we have confusion about the spiritual gifts that God gives to some, and that causes us to not fulfill what really God has planned for us. So today we're going to cover some sound biblical principles to help us further clarify how we are to view money and our possessions. But we're going to start with the negative. So we're going to clarify partly by looking at the negative. The wrong view of money, and we're going to have several of these points, but one of them, the first issue that we have in relation to our wrong view of money is, and by the way, I'm making us wear these things partly so that we're watching out for what could possibly happen. But the other side of this is that sometimes we can kind of fall into this. All right. Some of these may be more so than others, but the possibility is there. And the first one is scheming to get rich. Proverbs 28, 19 and 20 says this, he who tills his land will have plenty of bread. And we're looking at more of the negative side of this. There's some positive things too. But he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough. A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. In other words, there's going to be consequences. And so this warns us against doing foolish things to try to earn a living. This passage goes on to condemn following after like get rich quick schemes and things like that. And we should apply this, by the way, to the lottery or gambling. All right, because that's all that is, is just a scheme to try to get rich quick. I know that there's an emphasis on gaming, right? Having fun while you throw your money away. And I would encourage you, especially when things have been crazy online with sports betting and all those other things, to really be careful with this scheming to get rich quick. Also, Proverbs 13, 11, just the first part of that says, wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished. So, there are different ways that people can have evil plans to get ahead, to not really make a living, but almost take a living. There's dishonesty and outright stealing. A couple verses regarding this have to do with Proverbs 11.1 and then Proverbs 20.23. You can see that we have some things we're gaining from wisdom literature here. Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished. Diverse weights are an abomination to the Lord, and dishonest scales are not good. Some other things that we can think about in relation to this. Promising one thing, but providing something inferior. This can even be, you know, selling things on Facebook, right? It could be a product, it could be a service. Stealing from an employer, including a poor work ethic. That is still the same idea of a wrong kind of a scale, a wrong kind of a measurement. And then as we kind of apply all of this, even making rash decisions can be a way in which we're actually making foolish choices with not only our money per se, but also how we might want to try to acquire it. So those are the different things that we need to be careful of. And again, that is in relation to scheming to get rich. Another thing that we can do is, or that people can do, I'll try to be nice about this, accusatory, but it's the exploitation for dishonest gain. I don't know about you, I shouldn't say it like that, I probably do know about you because you probably feel the same way, which is that this can make us very angry. There's something about others taking advantage of people to get ahead. We have a couple of verses in relation to this. Micah 6, verses 10 and 12 says this. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and the short measure that is an abomination? Okay, that goes back again to this idea, the short measure of cheating people. Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales and with the bag of deceit? Waits for her rich men are full of violence. Her inhabitants have spoken lies and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. So we talked about the wrong weights and scales, right? Which is in relation to poor business, cheating people. But this goes a little bit more than that. There's some deception. There's some lying that's going on. There's coercion. There's cheating. But some of this is born out of outright violence in people's hearts. So if it's in their hearts, we know that what is in the heart comes out. So violence in the heart produces cruelty and abusive actions. And here's where the issue gets really bad, as we look at Proverbs 14, verse 31. He who oppresses the poor reproaches his maker. Now, just a quick note, obviously, what the Lord is saying is he's siding with the poor, and he's saying, if you do it to the poor, then you have no respect for me. That's a big problem, okay? But what he's communicating here is this, is that this violence, even, This treachery that takes place can be focused on the poor, those who have the least ability to be able to defend themselves, those who are in the worst possible shape and in the worst possible position to be able to even recover from this. Unfortunately, it's just a part of our society, and I don't want to make it sound like, oh, so we don't have to worry about it, right? But we need to be careful that we're not even, you know, knowingly having this happen, right? Not being a party to something like this. And so I want to read for you Psalm 10, verses 1 through 11. Psalm 10, verses 1 through 11. It really illustrates, I think, vibrant way just how bad this is. Now, this is a psalm about righteousness triumphing over evil, but it does tell us about the evil, okay? So that's what we're going to look at right here. So Psalm 10 verses 1 through 11. Why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide in times of trouble? So that's again where the psalmist begins, and this is how he's feeling. Like somehow God is being distant, but look at what he says. The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor. Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire. He blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord. The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. His ways are always prospering. Your judgments are far above, out of sight. As for all his enemies, he sneers at them. He has said in his heart, I shall not be moved. I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity. He sits in the lurking places of the villages. In the secret places, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den." How many times have we heard the word secret here, folks? Right? This is not done out in the open. This is done in devious ways. Verse 9, he lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den. He lies in wait to catch the poor. He catches the poor when he draws him into his net. So he crouches, he lies low, that the helpless may fall by his strength. So we see here that this is someone who is motivated by taking advantage of others. And this is, again, not the way that we want to be about earning what we have, and it's also not something that we want to support even with somebody else. But there's another aspect of this, and it has to do with being wasteful. Proverbs 21.20 says this, There is a desirable treasure, an oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man squanders it. This contrasts the person who saves with one who wastes. Oil was a very desirable and practical product to own in ancient times, and it was a symbol of prosperity, a symbol of blessing sometimes. The wise enjoys what he has gathered, and the foolish person continually burns through whatever he earns. So the waster spends and consumes with nothing to show for it. You might know people like that. You might have even been guilty of that before, right? So it's a warning, but it's also something that is going to be very detrimental to us, okay? The other thing that we're not to do is we're not to be overly concerned about money. Matthew 6, 31 and 33 speak to this. And we saw a cross-reference to this, what we read, So as we're thinking about this, Jesus wasn't addressing the sin of greed here, nor was he criticizing people who were truly in need. But Jesus' words also were not vague. He was warning against being preoccupied with having enough. Psalm 127.2 says this, it is vain, empty thinking, there's no purpose in this, for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep. In other words, there is nothing good about wearing ourselves out to try to get ahead, to earn a better living, and all those other things. If we are, again, burning ourselves out, that is not how God wants us to be living. This next thing is related to it, but not exactly. We have the idea sometimes that money equals happiness. Ecclesiastes 5.10 says this. And by the way, we think, oh, who came up with that catchy phrase? Well, most of the catchy phrases you find, you can find right in the scriptures, particularly in wisdom literature. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with increase. This also is vanity. It's purposeless. It is not going to be a good ending to this. Within these words, there is an underlying sense of greed, a person who loves silver or abundance, right? But Solomon, who happened to have quite a bit of money himself, warns that these will never bring satisfaction. This is one of the hardest wrong or sinful perspectives on money that we face. Because we are sold this literally every day. Every time, and I know that there's all different ways that ads can attack you today, but every time you see an ad, and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there aren't ads that promote good products, that's not what I'm saying. But many times, it has to do with something that you want. and as opposed to what you need. It's consumerism, it's getting ahead, it's being the coolest, it's smelling the nicest, you know, whatever it is. We've just gone through the holidays, and I don't know how or why they do them this way, but if you have ever seen a commercial for perfume or cologne, first of all, you never know what it is until the end. They're really strange, funky commercials. The more expensive and useless something is, the weirder the commercial is, right? But the idea is, it's all about status. and it's all about this and that because you smell a certain way. I mean if we just really kind of stopped for a minute and thought about that it's ridiculous. Not only that but we can apply that same principle to so many other things. Money does not equal happiness. Now we're going to see a little bit of that coming up but what I want to do is I want to kind of transition our thinking over now to a more biblical view of money. I know you can't see my outline but it's beautiful, it's beautiful. The first thing is that we need to prioritize God over money, all right? And that is absolutely first and foremost, but there are some other principles that we can have too. One of the things that's difficult sometimes is when you're teaching or preaching or whatever, and someone kind of has that, the answer, right? Well, we're just supposed to serve God with everything. Well, yeah, that's a great answer, but it doesn't kind of get us down to some of the, brass tacks of it, you know? Some of the deuce knows of it. So, you know, there's a lot more pages in Scripture. But we still need to start there and not minimize that. So the first thing is prioritizing God over money. And let's understand first, it's all His. Right? We don't have my money. At the very least, it's our money, and I'm not talking about my money and Maggie's money. I'm talking about our money as in this is God's. He is entrusting me with it. It's my possessions. It's my children. It's everything. It's His. That's the perspective that we're to have. So just a couple of verses, Proverbs 3, verses 9 and 10 says this, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the firstfruits of all your increase. In other words, honor God with the first best of what you are earning. So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. There's some blessing attached to this as well as a rule of life. OK, Matthew 624. Again, we go back to this. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And if you remember, that was tied to that idea that, well, you can't be rich and be a servant of God. That's not what it's saying. It's saying you can't serve riches and serve God. All right. even the pursuit of those riches. So we are told to put the Lord first, even with our money and possessions. This requires our finances to be integrated with our walk of faith. And folks, here's where the problem is. We disconnect things, right? We like do that with a lot of stuff, but especially things. Money. Possessions. We kind of put that over here as, that's my stuff, this is my life. Does that make any sense? It really doesn't. But we try to do that. No. It all comes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is all His. We're a steward of everything. And therefore, we are to first prioritize Him. Next, we're to prioritize eternity over money. Not the exact same thing, but pretty close. Again, we go back to Matthew 6, verses 19 through 21. Do not lay for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy. Where thieves break in and steal, but lay for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal." In other words, this is lasting. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So, in other words, our hearts Our treasure needs to be invested in eternal things. What's interesting is that if we look at now 2 Timothy 6, verses 17 and 19, I'm going to read those verses, but primarily concentrating on the last verse says, command those who are rich in this present age. And by the way, again, we talked about this before. That's all of us in this room. In comparison, that is all of us in this room. Those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share. And look at what it says here then. Storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. So again, the priority is on eternal things. What we gather on earth cannot be compared to the value of what we store up for eternity. So if we're all about, and don't get me wrong, I understand you've got to work so many days and so many hours in order to earn a living. I'm not talking about that. What I'm saying is that when our focus is all on what we have and acquiring it and all these other things, and we're amassing and amassing, but we're missing the investments for eternity, folks, In the end, particularly when we face Jesus Christ, that stuff is going to be worthless. There's a trite saying that we use a lot. You can't take it with you. OK, that's fine. That says it, but it really doesn't say it well enough. What it comes down to is that the all-consuming investing of the here and now is a waste. in comparison to missing what we can invest in for the future, for eternity. We have to put these in perspective. Now, keep those things in mind because we're going to be hitting some important points here. Remember, we're talking about a biblical view of money. We're talking about positive things here, okay? So we're prioritizing God. We're prioritizing eternity. We also need to prioritize life over possessions. And this idea of life here that I'm talking about is everyday living, even primarily, I would say, home, okay? Prioritizing life over money. Better is a dish of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox served with hatred. All right? Let that one sink in a little bit there. This proverb contrasts a meal of vegetables with a meal that included fine cuts of meat, specifically, what we would call veal. Right. Now, back in the day, to be able to feed and harvest an animal for food well before it was mature was a symbol of wealth. All right. In other words, we're not going to let this animal grow up to be fully grown. We're going to I know it's like This is an agricultural society, folks, okay? Don't be squeamish with me, all right? If you're not a vegan today, then it's just a different form of protein. But the point is this, is that they're harvesting the animal before they've made the full investment, before they get all they can out of it. You with me? Because why? It's more tender then. It's a delicacy at that point. So here's the point of the Scripture. It is better to have a loving home life with a little, rather than having wealth but no love for one another. And then Proverbs 17.1 says this, better is a dry morsel with quietness than a house full of feasting with strife. These contrasts are awesome, right? The picture here is a small piece of stale bread without even having butter to put on it. All right? But even though that's all you have, in this illustration that he's giving, you have harmony at home. This is contrasted with a celebratory feast in a home full of tension and conflict. Maybe that resembles a Thanksgiving meal you've had recently. I don't know. Much of life in the ancient world, including work, by the way, centered around a large family group living together. It was more clannish in that day. So he's talking about people that were immediate family, but maybe slightly extended as well. Cultivating a loving home with healthy relationships is far more important than material wealth. Folks, years ago, as a youth pastor, I asked, and I may have said this before, but it applies, I asked young people, I said, and I told them, I said, look, I want you to be blatantly honest with me. And we had a good relationship, and I believe that they were. But I said, how many of you would rather have your stuff, and I named that, I'm not gonna go into details, or would you rather have more time with your family? Not one person. raised their hand. Not one teenager raised their hand and said, I want my stuff. They were willing to give that up to spend more time with their family. So what might come out isn't necessarily what they really want. And no offense to young people, we don't have very many in here right now, but think about it, right? They may not be mature enough to always tell you what they really need and even what they really want because they might be getting caught up in some of the things that we said are not so good views of money and possessions. That's just called maturing. Okay. So I'm going to ask you a question here, even though we're not quite to application, what does your heart and your life reveal about what you are pursuing? What does your heart and your life reveal about what you are pursuing? Now, let's go on to a couple of more things. A biblical view of money means that we're going to have some integrity in business. In Proverbs 11, the last part of verse 1, it says, But a just weight is the Lord's delight. Okay, we talked about the crooked kind of business, but here's the more positive side. Everything from precious metals to grain was weighed to determine its value. By the way, I have a beautiful picture of an ancient scale here. You can't see it. All right. And then Proverbs 16, 11 says this on its weights and scales are the Lord's all the weights in the bag are his work. And you say weights in the bag. What does that mean? Well, again, I have a really cool picture here of weights, but and they're actually marked with Hebrew symbols. So there's different size weights and they're basically stone balls. Right. That someone would have in their business bag. And so when they're doing business, they're pulling the weights out. They're scaling up what they're purchasing or what they're selling. Now, you've got to understand something. Most everybody did this in some way, shape, or form. You still do this when you go to the grocery store, when you fill up your gas tank. What do you see at the gas pump? This has been checked by. Why? Because they had an idea, hey, we can run this little meter up faster than they're pumping it in. So the idea here is that we need to have honest dealings with people. We don't want to be, you know, earning, that's in your quotes, right, off of somebody else's misfortune or by, you know, deliberately tricking them or whatever. We want our earnings to be from integrity in any and all of our business dealings. And I realize, folks, sometimes that gets tough out there. There's pressure sometimes from those who are unscrupulous, the things that they would maybe try to require you to do. And then there's the idea of working diligently. Proverbs 10, 4, the last part of that verse says, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. And then Proverbs 21.5a says this, the plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty. Now for some of you, you're like, okay, now there's a life verse I can have. But seriously. Diligence means hardworking, reliable, and thorough. A diligent person's activities and plans produce good results. One of the best examples of this is when God prospered Joseph, but we also were told that he was very good at managing whatever he was given, whether it was Potiphar's household, the prison, or all of Egypt. Right? He was just great at managing and working with figures and planning out and all those kinds of things. God's Word gives us many examples of diligence, including being materially successful. As a rule, a diligent person will be blessed with earthly things. So, again, hang on to these thoughts for a minute. One more is contentment. 1 Timothy 6.6, we probably have memorized this verse, most of us. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness with contentment is great gain. And then Hebrews 13.5 says this, let your conduct be without covetousness, there's the negative part, be content with such things as you have. For he himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Contentment comes from both godly character, positively, and from not being covetous. That's, you know, not doing the negative things. But here's what I want us to kind of glean from and lead to here. This is very, very important. There is an appropriate balance between diligence and contentment. Can we work hard and pursue excellence, even pursue business success, while still being content? The answer to that is absolutely. Anything we do in life that is done in a godly way cannot have evil results. But I've talked with many people who have struggled with this very issue. Either they're feeling guilty because of what they have been blessed with, or they're feeling like, I can't do this or that because that would be pursuing the wrong thing, right? They genuinely struggle with success or the possibility of it. But here's the thing, what people consider success can widely vary. There's a lot of people that are afraid of success, so to speak. They're not talking about being a multi-billionaire or even a millionaire. So I want to go back to this concept of balance. If we aren't pursuing money for the wrong reasons and we are living righteously, then money isn't going to rule us. We aren't going to manipulate. We aren't going to lie. We aren't going to take advantage of. We aren't going to spend it all just on our wants. You see where I'm going here? Because this leads us to something. This leads us to another biblical view of money, and it was hinted about in some of the things we've read already, and it's to be generous. Hebrews 13, 16 says this, do not forget to do good and to share. We already read this in a different part, but we've emphasized the other passage. For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. Now, I want to go to Romans chapter 12, which is a list of spiritual gifts that God enables the church to have so that the church can function well. I'm gonna read for you the introduction to that. It says, for as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ. Now, just real quick, what he's saying is this. There's many of us, but we still all function as one body. We have different functions, but it's still for the body. So we're individuals, but we unite as a church, right? and individually members of one another." Now, we're going on to the last verse. "...having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us." A little note there. "...let us use them." Now, we're going to move down later on the context. In verse 8, it says this, "...he who gives with liberality." This is listed with several other things, including encouraging people, leading, showing mercy. Someone who has the gift of giving is supposed to give. They have the gift of generosity. The desire of the heart is the same whether we have little or whether we have much. But here's the point. God has increased some people because they have this gift. I have known people. I don't know how they do it because I haven't managed to be able to. They can acquire wealth. but they are not necessarily spending it all on themselves. They're using much of that wealth to invest in missionaries, to invest in the poor, to invest in others in different ways, to invest in the church. And then back in 1 Timothy 6, 17 through 19, we read this earlier. And I'm just going to just hit a couple of notes about it. It says that, command the rich not to be poor, not to be poor, not to be prideful, that's what I meant to say, right? But instead, doing good works, being ready to give. And what does it say? It says that they may hold an eternity, that they may have a foundation for the time to come. So again, I'm just throwing this back in there to understand that, you know, the pride that we have is what is going to cause us the problem with what God has given to us. Because who does it come from? Where does it come from? It comes from the Lord. So we take and use what God has given to us, which includes our abilities, by the way, and then we invest the proceeds, so to speak. So there's this balance between blessings that God has given to us and even enjoying some of the fruits of our labors, but there's also putting ourselves in a position to where we're not all about just stuff and us and everything else, but we in turn make a difference in the lives of other people. Furthering the gospel, making a difference in eternity. for eternity, right? All those different things. So that's why I wanted to kind of bring all those things together, folks, because sometimes I've known of people where they're like, you know, I, I got to put the brakes on because this is just, it's just not feeling right. Well, why is it not feeling right? You have been given a gift. You have an ability Yeah, but there's a certain dollar amount where obviously if I hit that, if I make a certain amount or if I get a certain position or whatever, and again, not by just burning myself out, but just by the ability God has given to me, the position that God gives me, right? Then there's something wrong. No. What's wrong is what you do with what He's given. That's it. And oh, by the way, maybe you don't reach the upper echelons of this or maybe you're not super successful in that. But God has still given to you generosity, that heart that says, man, I want to share. There's still ways that you can do that. There's ways that you can put yourself in that financial position to do that. Remember, it is based upon what God gives, how God enables. That's what is based upon. Now, all of us, All of us are to live like that to a degree because we're putting God first, we're putting eternity first, we're putting our loved ones first and our relationships first, not in the acquisition of everything. But at the same time diligent work is going to do what? It's going to bring about the fruits that it does. Some of that is going to be the things that we enjoy. We happen to live in a country that gives us a lot of freedom to be able to make a decent living, to even thrive. Sometimes it's humorous, sometimes it's inspiring, but if you ever watch Shark Tank, like some of these people come up with, it's like, well, who would ever buy that? Then you find out, yeah, we're multimillionaires now, but we want to be multi-multimillionaires, you know? For example, Crocs, right? I won't make any jokes about it, but you know, they're plastic shoes. That's what they are, plastic shoes with holes in them. Somebody said, hey, let's make some little things that we can put in those plastic shoe holes that look cool. People are making millions of dollars off of a little doodad that you stick on the weird shoe. America, right? So what's the point? Point is we've got to be careful, right? We can waste our money on a lot of different things but at the same time we can be diligent, we can plan well, we can execute the gifts and abilities that God has given to us in a way that we can in turn make an investment both here and now that matters for eternity. Sorry, we had a lot of delays earlier. I don't know why it's not that big of a deal. But what's our takeaway from this today? I just want to be real brief. We need to check what our hearts are set on. This drives our actions. That's always the case. But man, like I said before, it is really tough with money because we can kind of take our wallet and put it over here and say, that's a different department, right? But it's not. A wrong pursuit stems from covening and idolatry and gives only hurt, disappointment, and bad relationships. A correct pursuit shows a right relationship with the Lord and results in blessings, even material ones, contentment, generosity, and healthy relationships. So it's not the money itself. It's not the pursuit of money itself. It's why we're doing it. It's what it's all about. So in one sense, oh, man, finances and what we do and everything else is all complicated, right? The tax code's easier. Yeah. What do I do with this? How do I do that? What should I keep? What should I give away? All those other things. But really, if we're committed to Christ, if he comes first, These things are going to get much more simple. They're going to become much more clear. And it might result in a slightly different way that you work, that you plan your schedule, that you spend your money. What I would say is this, and I'm quoting from a friend to give proper credit. A friend of mine once said that for a believer how we give, and we're not talking just church, we're not talking just giving to the church, we're talking about just how we invest what God has given to us ought to make a difference in our lifestyle. In other words, if we are living our lives and really there's no change, there's no modification at all in how we're living and the level at which we're living based upon how we're giving, then that's probably not reflecting the priorities that God would have for us. Notice, I didn't tell you how to give. Again, that's renewing God and that goes back to individual's liberty, right? But what we do with what God has given to us ought to make a difference in the here and now. Why? Because it's ultimately investment in eternity. It's ultimately us putting ourselves under his authority in all that we have and in all that we do. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, it's not always easy to deal with these things and to make those judgment calls. Lord, I think that without just giving ourselves a pass, we sometimes need to be careful. Some of us can just become guilty about enjoying anything in life and that's certainly not reflective of your word. But Lord, as we've seen some of the traps, some of the false ways that we can view money, and even some of the motivation behind the love of money, I pray that we're just not only sufficiently warned, but informed of how we can possibly even change some of our thinking, repent, have a different change of heart and mind, and place ourselves under your authority in a greater way, to be obedient to you with all that we have. Lord, the real trick, so to speak, is going to be taking this and having some conversations possibly with our spouse or others or with you and making some decisions, making some determinations, actually being diligent with putting you first when it comes to our possessions. We thank you, Lord, that there are many, many blessings that are associated with that. Some here and some for eternity. In Jesus' name, amen.