You are called to step out of comfort and into active ministry, knowing your pastor equips you for this work. By stewarding your time, talent, and treasure, you invest in true riches that last for eternity. Start today by sharing Jesus authentically and giving generously to see His kingdom grow.
Alright. Praise the Lord. My name is David John Phillips. I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor here. No place I'd rather be.
Nothing I'd rather be doing. And if this is not your first time, you've heard that over and over and over. And every time I say it, I mean it because I'm standing in the center of God's will and it is a joy. I feel like this is really loud. Yeah.
Is it is it are you guys is it loud? It's loud. Yeah. If we turn it down just a bit, that would be great. That way, when I get loud, they don't go, because sometimes I do get loud.
I'm happy. I'm not yelling at you. I'm not mad. I'm just passionate. It is what it is.
"Deal with it." Anyway, if this is your first time, we pray you encounter the love of Jesus in a very real way. As a matter of fact, for every single 1 of you, every time we come you come, we pray that you have an encounter with the love of Jesus because we know that when you encounter the love of Jesus, you will be challenged. I said this last week, and I'll say it again, you'll be challenged into the valley of decision. You can't have an authentic encounter with the love of Jesus and not be put in the valley of decision.
The place where you're choosing either to surrender to him all the more and follow his plan and his purpose for you, or you're choosing to stay the same or reject him. 1 or the other. Every time you go to church, you should you should be put in that place where you're saying, I'm going after him more. I'm encouraged to go after him more. Every time you're around other believers, just in in conversation, you should be put in that place because the Jesus is the in them is challenging you to go further in him, or the Jesus is in in you is challenging you to minister to them in ways that you haven't before, and you're beginning to live a more authentic life with Christ that looks more like Jesus than it did the day before.
"That's called Christianity." And I'll just give you a fair warning. You can't come to real church and just sit on a seat and think you're gonna be comfortable and check it off the box that you're good. You won't stay here long if that's your plan because our *purpose* is to establish you in the body of Christ and then equip you to go and do ministry in your daily life. Every single 1 of you, if Jesus is the Lord of your life, God calls you a minister of the gospel.
Period. As a matter of fact, let me just break a little box for somebody in here. Real church members know this. *Ephesians-4* chapter 4 verse 11 says, *God has given Jesus* gave the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. Those are the mentors of the church.
And you know what? The pastor's role or whatever you wanna call me, it doesn't matter to me. Verse 12, to equip the saints for the works of ministry. So FYI, my role as the pastor of this church is not to do ministry. Don't get mad if if I'm not ministering to you like you want it to happen.
My role as the pastor of this church is to equip you to do ministry, Ephesians-4:12. My role as a believer, as a Christian, is to do ministry in my daily life, and I should be doing that and leading the charge. But as a pastor, uh-uh. My role is to equip you and to do as much as I can to kick you out of the seat so that Monday through Saturday, you are living a life of ministry in your daily life, in the calling that God has for you, whether that's at your job, at at at home, with your family, you go to the grocery store, I don't care. Daily overflowing because you have a passionate and personal pursuit with Jesus that you can't keep personal because because you're so passionate about him that it has to go public.
That's called Christianity. And anything less, you're missing out. Come on. That's that's a that's a amen. If you're sitting here and you're like, oh my gosh.
Like, what? Good. Praise the Lord. You're at the right church at the right time. *Jesus* wants so much more for you because here's the deal.
*Ephesians-4:12*. Right? And and in my in my I was a mathematics major. I learned to count, and counting's important to me. In in college, I literally majored in mathematics.
And what I learned is 11 comes before 12, and 12 comes before 13. Would you agree? Oh, my gosh. So so the pastors equipping you for the works of ministry comes first, but then guess what? Verse 13 says, there's maturity and unity.
So your if you feel stuck in immaturity in your life with Christ, like you're stagnant, it's because you haven't been ministering in your daily life. You start giving out what you already have, and you'll start maturing. You keep sitting in the seat, you're gonna stay an infant. And everybody said? Amen.
And everybody said? Amen. Some people are like, I don't wanna say amen to that. Look. I love you enough to do my job and challenge you to follow Jesus with your whole heart, laying your life down like he laid his life down for you first.
You lay your life down for him saying, I'm presenting my body as a living sacrifice. Now, you might be wondering, why is he wearing that t shirt? I wore it on purpose. Everything's intentional, guys. What does it say?
Belong. Now, Debbie and Bob back has got me this shirt. I'm very thankful. Yeah. They get they get it.
Yeah. Second, Belong is a ministry that God had us start back in June and July from some friends of mine called 30 third company. Look them up. They're awesome. But we meet on Tuesday nights, and we equip the church for the works of ministry, and then send you out.
My encouragement is that everyone who calls Real Church home, I'm not making this a requirement. We're not controlling and forcing, but I'm encouraging you. Man, try to adjust your schedule so that you're able to come on a Tuesday night once every 6 weeks. Because Jesus said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Now here's a challenging thing for you guys.
Get ready. That would mean if we're following Jesus, we're becoming better fishers of people for his kingdom. And if we're stagnant, then we're not getting any better at fishing for people for his kingdom. So I would encourage you if that's an area of your life where you haven't shared the gospel with somebody in 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, or ever, Jesus is challenging you today because we're all supposed to be ministers of the gospel and not believe the lie that we can't do it or that's for the evangelist and the pastor. That's a lie that's preventing you from maturing in the gospel.
We're all supposed to be getting better at sharing Jesus with others in our daily life. And it doesn't look like standing on a street corner holding a hateful sign and screaming at people. Amen? It's very simple and real. That's why we named it Real Church.
We wanna be authentic and real in everything we do, in the way that we love people. And I'll give you a hint. Well, first, when you come on a Tuesday night, we pray at 06:30. It's powerful prayers. We equip you, and we send you out in groups of 4.
If you're like, man, I'd be really nervous. I didn't know what to do. Go in a group with people that are not nervous, and then just watch because you're gonna catch it when you see it. And it's amazing. And we equip people there real simply.
Like, 1 of the main ways that I approach people, and people are not targets, I'm being led by the Holy Spirit to love them where they are. That's it. And to serve them. So if I don't know what to say, I'll just walk up to somebody and I'll say, hey, look, I saw you, and I just believe Jesus loves you a lot. Would you mind if I say a prayer for you?
75% of people will say, sure. The other 25% will say, no. I'll say, okay. Jesus loves you. The 75% of people will say, sure.
I say, is there anything specific I can pray for you for? And they'll say, whatever it is. And I'll pray for them, and then I'll ask them if they have 90 seconds for me to share the Gospel with them afterwards. A lot of times, they're so touched by the prayer God opens their heart. Now I have 90 seconds to share the gospel.
And a lot of times, people give their life to Jesus. Now, some of you are saying, wait a second. That's not me. I can't do this, or or I've only been following Jesus for a month or 2 months. Let me just share the testimony of of a friend of mine.
And this is not the first time it's happened. It's happened this way multiple times for multiple people who have just given their life to Jesus. But here's 1 of the most recent. Dustin Sliminski gave his life to Jesus 3 months ago. Him and his wife, beautiful wife, were baptized.
He came to Belong this past Tuesday. I think it was the first time he came. Was it the first time you came, Dustin? First time he came. Did a simple training and equipping at Belong on Tuesday night.
Prayed because prayer precedes movement. Sent them out. Guess what? Dustin shared the gospel with 4 different people. All 4 gave their life to Jesus.
If you're thinking, man, I've been following Jesus for 20 years, and I haven't had that passion for Jesus since I was in the first 5 years of my life, maybe it's because you haven't been ministering the gospel to people. Let this what what this obedience of this impassion of a new believer spark fire in you and say, man, gotta get back out there. I gotta start being obedient because the chances are the Holy Spirit's probably been prompting you over and over and over for the last 20 years, but you've gotten so used to ignoring the prompt and excusing it away as if it's not the Holy Spirit. Oh, me. So so let's let's drop our excuses and start being obedient because I'll I'll say this, and none of this was my message, guys.
We're gonna get to it. I'm gonna shorten it. It's gonna be beautiful. But I said this on Friday night, and it's worth saying again, and I said it today, and I didn't plan on saying it today in our dream team service either. But you want the fire of God in your life?
The fire of God consumes a sacrifice. It has to be wood to be consumed. Amen? Well, what's the sacrifice? *Romans-12:1* and 2.
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable God. This is your spiritual act of worship. You're the sacrifice. It looks like obedience. You've heard over and over a life of faith is a life of hearing God, believing what he said, and then obeying it.
Without the obedience, it's not complete faith. That obedience is the sacrifice of your flesh in order to love God back. And in the obedience, on the other side of obedience, you see the fire of God come through you and touch others. But guess what? You're burned up too.
And you'll have more fire than ever before in your life. Just don't take too long before you're obedient again or before you step out again, and you'll see the fire of God continue to burn in that area of your life. Those areas that you've been ignoring, you probably got doused. You're probably you're probably just a coal. Start being obedient in that area and you'll see the fire of God flowing through you and burning you up.
You'll become a blaze that impacts the whole community, impacts your whole workplace, you'll change the atmosphere, it'll be beautiful. It'll be like Christianity. Amen? Amen. This is a this is a loving pastoral or evangelical whatever you wanna I don't whatever you wanna call me.
It's a loving thing that's in challenging you to good works. Are you guys encouraged by it? Exhorted? Like okay. Alright.
Let's get into the message. We are on part 2 of a series titled "Beyond Blessed." And it really comes from, I call him a digital mentor of mine, never met the guy. But man, I've learned so much from pastor Robert Morris in my life, and I'm very thankful for the messages and for the things that he puts out. I I feel like I'm spitting a lot today.
I'm sorry if you guys saw that. Anyway, so this is part 2. The title is breaking the spirit of mammon. Breaking the spirit of mammon. We're just gonna dive right in.
*Luke-16* and verse 9. By the way, you can sign up for Belong on that same little hamburger, get involved, there are little 3 lines on the website. Click get involved, scroll down on the bottom, and sign up for Belong. We'll tell you all the details. Feel free to do that.
Alright. Breaking the spirit of mammon. Luke-16:9. Jesus is speaking here and he says, and I tell you, "make friends for yourselves" by means of **unrighteous wealth**. Now that doesn't sound like it really goes together.
Unrighteous wealth? Oh, there's a superscript in my bible. There's a little 7 above the the word wealth. Let me see what that means. You scroll down to the bottom, it says Greek, so the Greek word for wealth is mammon, a Semitic word for money or possessions.
It's also in verse 11, and it's translated money in verse 13. Of your Bibles may have something like that or if you're on a digital Bible, can click and see it talk about that. The word actually used that Jesus chose to use here is the word mammon. So it should read "unrighteous mammon". If you're reading in the New King James Version or the King James Version, it already says that.
Now, translators of the Bible are really good. They're amazing. And sometimes, because they're people, the translators miss it or miss a little aspect of it. So praise the Lord. Your translations are great.
I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying, hey, here it should say mammon for a reason. *Jesus* used the word mammon. It's said in the bible 4 different times. Jesus specifically used it 3 different times.
The word mammon, Greek word, from Memonis. It was a Semitic word that was used to describe a Chaldean god. When you look at the definition in in the big Greek book, it says money, wealth, or riches personified or deified. Meaning, it's not specifically money. It's not specifically wealth, and it's not specifically riches.
It is the deification of that. It's the spirit behind it named Mammon. It's a false god. See, any spirit that's not the Holy Spirit is a demonic spirit. Any god that's not Jehovah God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, if it's not Jesus, it's a demonic god.
Allah is a demon. Hinduism and all of the gods that they purport are demons that are are saying things that seem good to people but are wrapping people in lies and holding them in captive and in bondage. If that offends you, I love you enough to tell you the truth so that you can be set free. I've traveled the world. I've I've preached the gospel and talked with Hindus.
I've inter interviewed Buddhist monks in Thailand. I've I've talked with animists in Africa. I've preached the gospel to Muslims who are holding a gun in Pakistan, and they gave their life to Jesus. Why? Because when people hear what the truth that they were created for and they're willing to humble themselves and acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, they are set free from their bondage and experience the freedom of the truth that is made to set them free.
They have the choice in that moment when they experience the love of God, either receive it and follow it or continue in what is comfortable. And culture is lying to you. All ways don't lead to heaven lead to heaven. Jesus is the only way to heaven, and all other ways lead to hell. And I love you enough to tell you.
*Jesus* was either a lunatic saying, I'm God, and I'm the only way to God, or he is who he says he is. And, man, when you receive him, you experience freedom. I see smiles out there because they know. He loves you. He loves you.
Not everybody receives him. Everybody has the chance. Those that reject him get the fruit of themselves. So anyway, Mammon was this false god of Chaldean origin. When you hear the word Chaldeans, that's the Babylonians, that's what it's talking about.
And and, you know, theologians, historians would say that there was 8 different gods in the Babylonian culture, and Mammon, the god of wealth or god of money, the false spirit that would try to distract from the true God, they they say he he was probably number 1 of the 8, the the leader or the head God that they worshipped. So bad that even when, you know, when they have kids and they they they wanna stop having kids, they'd start sacrificing their kids to the God of mammon in order to to be more blessed financially. I'll leave that there. So let's keep reading so that you understand what it's talking about. Luke-16 verse 9, and I tell you, make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous mammon, interesting, so that when it fails, New King James version says, when you fail.
King James version says, when you fail. The the Greek can go either way. And the word fail can also be translated as death. Just sorry. Getting in the weeds there.
But anyway, they may receive you into eternal dwellings. That makes more sense to me. 1 who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much. And 1 who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the "true riches"?
And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you what is your own? Now, just for a second, right, last week, the big topic was stewardship. And this is talking about stewardship. And if you're faithful with the little, you can be entrusted and you'll be faithful with more. If you're dishonest or unfaithful with little, you'll be dishonest or unfaithful with much.
It's it's all stewardship. So just a quick reminder, what is stewardship? Stewardship is carrying out the offices and duties of a steward. So to understand what a steward is, you have to know the definition. A steward is somebody that is supposed to protect, care, and multiply someone else's finances or properties.
They've been entrusted with something that is not their own in order to protect, care for, and multiply that other's property. Amen? So multiplication is a major part of it. Now we are stewards when we give our life to Jesus. We're stewards of God's things.
Now think about this. Whose are you? Right. You remember from last week. Good job.
Who created the world? Who owns all the stuff in the world? God. Okay. Now who owns your stuff?
*God*. Process that. You are when you gave your life to Jesus, you're acknowledging you were created by him and he's the Lord of your life and dedicating yourself to stewarding, to protecting, caring for, and multiplying all good things, "all things" that he's entrusted to you, your time, your talent, and your treasure. Amen? And this life is a test of *stewardship* because what he gave you is exactly what you need in order to multiply and carry out all of the good purposes that he has for you.
Alright. Here's my review. *Luke-16:13*, no servant can serve 2 masters for either he will hate the 1 and love the other, or he will be devoted to 1 and despise the other. Now, a reminder, who's speaking here? *Jesus* is speaking.
What did he say next? You cannot. Everybody say cannot. Cannot. Meaning, it's impossible.
You cannot serve both *God* and mammon. The word there is mammon. Now, it's the spirit behind money. Mammon, the god of wealth and riches, the demon that's behind that is trying to distract you and cause you to over focus on what you do have or what you don't have in order to prevent you from living out the purposes that God has for you and being a good steward. He's a liar.
Now remember in the parable of the sower, *Jesus* sowed the seed, some of it fell on thorny ground, so it sprung up and it was choked out by the thorns. Disciples asked Jesus, what did it mean? Jesus went back and explained that the thorns were the deceitfulness of wealth and cares of this world. Did you know that wealth can be deceitful? You know, it's not actually the wealth or the money that's lying to you.
It's mammon. It's the spirit behind it that's trying to deceive you and get you over focused on what you have or what you don't have, and deceive you into being so like, to caring for that so much that you're not walking in the purposes that God has created you to walk in, in the way that he created you to walk. You're missing out on the blessing of God so because you're so focused on money, or on wealth, or on riches, however you wanna parse that. Alright. So you can't serve them both.
Oh, here's a thought. 1 of the lies or a couple of lies that Mammon will speak to you, have you ever thought, if I had more money, I'd be more happy? You ever thought that? See, this is I think it's the only *spirit* that God, like, put up against himself, like, cannot serve **God and Mammon** because Mammon tries to take the place of God. It tries to give you what only God can give you.
Money doesn't bring happiness. If I only had some more money, I'd be happy. That's a lie from the spirit of mammon. Why? Because God's the 1 that makes you happy.
*God* gives you joy. Money is just a tool. Have you ever thought, if I had more money, I could help people. I could help more people. You ever thought that?
That's a lie from the spirit of mammon. It's not money that helps people. *God* helps people. Think about this. Jesus, when he's walking the earth, did he ever say, oh, man, see this crowd?
Judges, go get the offering basket. Let's give them some money. Because they didn't need money. They needed Jesus. Jesus helps people.
Okay. Have you ever had this thought? I either need God to come through, or I need some money. That's another lie from the *spirit*
of Mammon.
Because the underlying thought is if I have money, I don't need God. That's the distraction. God is the miracle worker. The Bible doesn't say, and this is maybe most of you know this, the Bible doesn't say money is the root of all evil. Right?
*1 Timothy-6:9-10*. What does it say? 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 the root of all kinds of evil. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
It is through this craving that some have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. So it's the love of money. What is the love of money? Well, you've been coming to real church any amount of time, you know what love is. Love is sacrificing yourself for the sake of another, or apparently for something.
So the love of money would be sacrificing yourself for the sake of money, which means, remember the God of mammon? Jesus said, you cannot serve both God and mammon. So mammon is looking for servants who are willing to sacrifice themselves for its sake. The love of money is sacrificing yourself because you've been deceived by mammon for more wealth, more riches, or the other deceptions that we'll talk about in just a second. So it's the root of all kinds of evil in this life.
So let me ask you this question. I guess I should probably make my point. This point. John d Rockefeller, many think he's 1 of the most richest or the richest person in modern history. 18 or 19 hundreds.
He said, I have made many millions, but they have not brought me happiness. Okay? So just a couple of quotes. W. H.
Vanderbilt, world's richest man, 1877, the care of $200,000,000 is enough to kill anyone. There's no pleasure in it. America's first multimillionaire said, I'm the most miserable man on earth. Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company said, I was happier when I was doing a mechanic's job. So just to throw that out there.
Now, if you have a lot of money, don't get all worried about where this message is going. Just trust me for a second. We're gonna be biblical about this. Let me ask you a question. What is your perspective on provision?
The rest of this message is designed to help you to understand your perspective on provision and then fix it in order to line up with the way that God created you to look at provision in a healthy way so you can be a healthy steward. So what is your perspective on provision? Let's read a couple of verses. *2 Peter-1* and verse 3. I want you to be aware of how you feel as I'm reading these verses.
*2 Peter-1* verse 3, His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. A lot of times we just say life and godliness. All things that pertain to godliness. No. No.
It says life and godliness. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life. That's some radical provision. How? Through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence.
You've granted all things that pertain to life and godliness. *Romans-8:32*. Be aware of how this is hitting your heart. What does it say? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how He will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?
Everybody say, all things.
All things.
Man, that's some radical provision. Let's go to 1 Corinthians-3:21-22. So let no 1 boast in men for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours. And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. Man, that's awesome.
*1 Timothy-6:7*. Again, be aware of how this is hitting you. We're talk about it. 6 17. Sorry.
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on on the uncertainty of riches, but on God. Oh my gosh. Listen to this. Who rich ly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.
So God richly provides us with everything. This says this verse says, to enjoy. What is your perspective on provision? When you hear these verses, what bells are going off in your heart? Are you saying, oh, no, pastor.
Like, what are you what are you talking about? Are you is is something in you pushing back on provision? That that sounds unholy. Something's wrong here. Or as you hear this, are you the bell of gratefulness going off.
Wow. Thank you, God. It's amazing. You you really provide for us all things to enjoy and have all things in you? Or maybe the third 1, maybe as you hear this, you're you have something bell going off in your heart.
It's like, man, you provide for us all things? Where's that blessing I've been praying for? Where's that Lamborghini? Where's that woman? Or that that man?
You you said you provide for me all things. You see the 3 different mindsets? Which one's going off in your heart? And why? And that will probably tell which part of the path you're on in that area or how much you've been deceived by the spirit of mammon.
See, there's the the healthy road of stewardship that God's called us to walk down where we realize that everything that we have is his, and we are called to be grateful and to use it for God in God's way, knowing that he's gonna give us everything we need to fulfill the purposes and plans that he has called us to, our race not theirs, and to enjoy it. Part of the thing about real churches, real people living real lives for real Jesus having a If you're not enjoying your life in Christ, man, you're doing it wrong. I'm not saying it's not gonna be hard, but he's gonna be with you, and that's enough to have joy. Amen? Yeah.
Okay. So 3 directions you can go. There's a there's a road in Bolivia called Old Youngest Road. Old Young yeah. I didn't even think about that.
Old Youngest Road. The locals call it the "Road Of Death". And did I give you that picture, Old Youngest Road? Maybe maybe I did, maybe I didn't. You can share it or not.
I'll I'll paint the picture. Oh, there it is. Old Youngest Road. The road of death. There's there's no I think they put guardrails up now.
For for the longest time, there was no guardrails on it, so you can fall to your death like 3,000 feet. Just at many places, you can't get 2 vehicles by it. You have to maneuver interestingly. At 1 place, you can fall to your death 3,000 feet on the right side or 3,000 feet on the left side. It's like 1 of the most dangerous spots on the road.
And I think in the eighties and nineties, on average, between 203 hundred people died on this road every year. It's crazy. Old youngest road. So there is a correct path, but then there's a way to get off to the right and to the left. And that's what I'm talking about.
*Stewardship* is the right path to stay on, but there's some ditches to the right and the left. And I'll call them ditches because you can fall in a ditch and and realize when you hear the truth that you're in a ditch, repent, shift your life, and get back on the right road because Jesus is a grateful, a gracious, and merciful God. Amen? So you know what those 2 ditches are that I'm talking about? Number 1 is the poverty mindset, and 1 the other 1 is materialism or prosperity gospel.
1 or the other. If you're if you're super religious, it might be the prosperity gospel. If you're if if you, you know, maybe not super religious, it might be materialism over here. And then the left side is is the poverty mindset. Both can affect people with lots of money or little money, and we'll talk about what that looks like, but God wants you to own the the road of healthy *stewardship*, and generosity in God's way, and not in in spending within your means.
Healthy stewardship. Amen? Okay. So let's talk about both. Let's talk about the poverty mindset for a second.
What does that look like? In the church, I think it probably originated way back in the day with this old saint called Tertullian back in like the first second century. He wrote about these monks that would sell all they have, go out into the the caves, and it was called asceticism, which is like a super spiritual word for beating yourself up in order to feel more holy. Yeah. And and, you know, so that kinda grew into where a lot or aspects of the church would find poverty as more and more holy.
Like, if if you're poor, then you're somehow holier than the guy who has more than you. You're somehow better or more spiritual, and even you have the Saint Francis of Assisu who started the the Franciscan order, and you heard about the the "vow of poverty". You guys have heard about the vow of poverty? I don't I just disagree with it. I don't think it's biblical.
I I think it's unholy and and influenced by the spirit of mammon. I know I'm radically bold in saying that. And I I I they're probably my brothers and sisters in Christ, some of them, but, man, it's it's tough. The poverty mindset is a ditch where people think or feel it's inappropriate for to have riches in this world because somehow riches are evil, and they think they're earning God's favor by portraying that they live in poverty or more poverty than the next guy. Mind if I go on a little rabbit trail?
Or should I just shoot the rabbit and keep going? It may come out in some Christians who are overly critical of church leaders who have more than them. And they call them "false prophets" or false teachers because they're jealous of the race that God's called them to run. And so they're comparing themselves among themselves, which is not biblical at all, and watching YouTube channels of people who are super and hypercritical of church leaders, and they're hypercritical because it gets them more clicks and makes them more money. And so Christians are duped and deceived and watching these hypercritical view videos because of the mindset of mammon, the spirit of poverty that's having them to look at and compare what somebody else has and think that they're holy because they have less.
If you ever thought that about Steven Furtick, you need to go repent. Can I just say pastor Steven Furtick? Do you know him? No. You don't know know him.
You don't personally know him. You just know what you've heard about him. So what right do you have to judge another man's servant? **run your race** and start stop judging somebody else's unless they start he starts saying Jesus is not Lord. If that's the case, I'll call him a heretic.
But he's not. In my calculation, he's led more people to Jesus than most people that are critical of him. So, man, in my heart, if you feel a certain way about somebody, start praying for them and bless them and help them by prayer to walk in the truth more and more and stop being critical because you might be duped and deceived by mammon. Thank you for letting me go on my rant. So it's this this thought that you're corrupted by having too much stuff.
I'll give you a quote by a reformer guy who helped start the Reformation, Martin Luther back in the day. He said, if silver and gold are evil in themselves, then those who keep away from them deserve to be praised. But, if they are good creations of God, which we can use both for the needs of our neighbor and for the glory of God, isn't a person silly, even ungrateful to God, if they refrain from them as if they were evil? Many Christians today, deep down in their gut, are duped by the poverty mindset believing that somehow they get points from God by feeling or being more poor than the next guy, and they lose points if they buy nicer things. And, by the way, the poverty mindset can affect both those that are poor and those that are rich because those that are poor look down their nose at the rich thinking that they're more holy than them in some way, and those that are rich feel guilty about the things that they have, and then the the the guys in the middle or the middle class or however you wanna view it, it depends on what day it is on which way they feel.
And by the way, what's poor and what's rich anyway? You only feel poor and rich if you've been comparing yourself to the next guy. So it's a comparison trap. Instead, what God's plan is for you is to keep your focus on Christ and run the race He's called you to run with everything that you have inside of you humbly, knowing that he's gonna give you the grace and the and and the faith to walk out what he's called you to do. So as you walk, he's gonna richly provide all things that you need for your purpose.
Stop comparing you to the yourself to the next guy. If you look over there, he might have more than you, but he's called to run a different race. And if you look over there, he might have less than you, but he's called to run a different race. So we humbly serve 1 another. It doesn't matter.
Amen? Knowing that as we're faithful with what he what he's given us in stewarded, he's gonna give us all we need to fulfill every purpose he's called us to and not their purpose. Amen? Okay. So just a couple of symptoms you may feel or think if you have this mindset or you've been infected by it to some extent.
If you feel like stuff slash provision comes from the devil, you probably have been affected. If you feel ashamed of what you have, you probably have struggled with some kind of influence of the spirit of mammon. When influenced by the spirit of poverty, you will portray that you paid less than what you really did when somebody asks you about what you have. The spirit of poverty, mammon, tries to make you feel guilty for the blessings. I'll give you an example.
Once again, my outfit is intentional today. Look at these shoes. They're awesome. I love these shoes. I really do.
About 2 years ago, I went to preach at a church that I used to work at, and I love them, and they gave me a gift. You know what the gift was? These shoes. This was before Panda Dunks were super popular and you saw them everywhere. So when I got them back home, was like, wow, these are cool.
I've never, you know, would have bought them myself. But I started wearing them, and all the people that know shoes and the younger people were like, woah, those are panda donks. Those are cool. I wore them to the gym 1 time, dude said, why are you wearing those at the gym? I'm like, every time somebody would say that to me, I'm like, they were they were a gift.
They were a gift. Why? Because I felt a little bit ashamed that I had this blessing from God. It was a it was a spirit of poverty. Not okay.
Understand? *Repent. And just say thank you. Praise the Lord. Be so confident in your identity in Christ* and so focused on the race you're running that it doesn't matter.
Who cares what other people think? Are you their servant and what they think? Are you serving God and what he says? Amen? Okay.
God is a God of growth, increase, and blessing. He created Adam and Eve and and delegated stewardship of the garden and the world to them and said, be fruitful and So if you're living in your purpose, you're gonna see fruitfulness and multiplication in the things that you steward so that you can fulfill the purpose that God has called you to run. Run your race. And when that increase happens, the spirit of poverty wants you to feel guilty and sabotage it. Amen?
So don't do that. That wouldn't be good. The other ditch. You guys ready for the other ditch? So we have poverty mindset, the spirit of poverty which can affect both the rich and the poor, but then you also have the materialism mindset, or prosperity gospel, depending.
And this is giving money and stuff and things, like the things that God wants to bless you with and you to steward. It's make taking those things and making them the ultimate thing. The idol that I'm running after. I'm laying my life down to go after these things instead of him first. But pastor, didn't didn't Jesus tell the rich young ruler to sell everything that he had and follow him?
Yes, he did. Do you know why? Because the rich young ruler, his riches were his idol. He was putting that first over Jesus, and everything that you are putting at the center of your life that's not Jesus, Jesus will eventually put his finger on and say, mine. And test you by asking you, are you willing to give it to me and trust me with your future?
And that's the test of lordship. What's really lord? Is it that thing? Comfort? Relationships?
Money? Or is it him? He loves you enough to make you confront it. And that's what he did with the rich young ruler because that was the idol in his life and what the rich young ruler did do. He walked away sad because he had great wealth and possessions.
Don't walk away sad when Jesus puts his finger on something in your heart. Say, walk up to him glad. Say, take it. Thank you for identifying the idol. I give it to you, and I wanna follow you with every aspect of my life.
Amen? So materialism or let's say the prosperity gospel says says, I need to gain as much things, as many things as I possibly can. The 1 who dies with the most toys wins. So bless me. Bless me.
Bless me. Bless me. Bless me. Oh, how do I how do I follow this list of rules and and code of things in order to get what I want? Oh, I need to tithe, and I need to give more offerings?
Yeah. Let me tithe and give so I can get get get. I need to pray this way and claim it this way so I can get that super nice car. Never asking God, what's your will for my race? That's so much junk, and it's the lie of the spirit of mammon.
I don't preach give to get, by the way, like my mentor, doctor Robert Morris, digital mentor. I don't know him. We preach, I get to give. At Real Church, we get to give. Amen?
I'm *faithful with the little God* has given me. And does he give me more? Yes. But it's not so I can be focused on the more, and so I can be more focused on him and running the race he's called me to. Alright.
So it let me contrast the 2 real quick. If the spirit of poverty says stuff comes from the devil, then materialism says, you earned it. You deserve it. If the spirit of poverty says, be ashamed of your stuff, materialism materialism says, be proud of it and flaunt it so everybody can see and want it too. The spirit of poverty tries to make think if the spirit of poverty tries to to get you to make people think you paid less for things, the spirit of materialism makes you try to get people to think you paid more than you really did.
*Spirit* of poverty says I mean, the spirit of materialism says, your hard work and initiative are the only things responsible for your success. Work harder and go after it. Why? Because the the spirit of mammon wants you to be distracted by wealth and riches, and so focused on that that you're not stewarding what God has given you for His purposes. Instead, you're building your own kingdom.
Those that are caught in the material of mindset will probably be workaholics and not know how to rest because they're trying to control their own future by their own effort. Those that are caught in the poverty mindset may be lazy because I shouldn't have anything anyway. Why should I do anything? Now, there's aspects of truth to both. Wait a second.
I'm supposed to rest in *Christ* in a holy way. I'm supposed to Sabbath. And as a matter of fact, I'm supposed to work from rest. But like Paul said, I strenuously work with all of the energy and power you've placed in me. So I'm working from rest, but my working from rest with His grace looks like harder work than the guy that's a a materialism guy.
I'm I'm working, and everybody else is saying, wow. Why are you doing that? I'm like, man, because I'm following Jesus, and work is worth it. And then they say, how do you take a a Sabbath day? Because I trust God, man, and I'm at full rest and peace and joy because I love Him.
It's healthiness. It's stewardship. I'm stewarding the time that He's given me, and the energy, and the effort, and the giftings in order to fulfill the calling that He has for me. Period. And I'm not living outside of my means.
It's good stewardship. I'm sacrificing the way that I live in order to follow God's principles in every single way because it's good stewardship. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. So how do we break the spirit of Mammon? Is that clear?
You guys good? How do we break it? Let's go back to our first scripture. Luke-16:9. By the way, Gabe did an amazing job preaching on I think he preached on this maybe in September on kings and priests.
Was it kings and priests where you used the scripture? It's great. I'm coming at a little different angle, but I'd encourage you to go listen to that message, September 3, kings and priests. *Luke-16*, and that's on our podcast, you can get it on the on the website. It's great.
How do we break the spirit of mammon? Luke-16:9. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth or unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you, the friends that you made for yourself may receive you into eternal dwellings. 1 who is faithful in little is also faithful in much. 1 who is dishonest in little is dishonest in much.
If then you have not been *faithful* in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? What is a true riches? It's not money, wealth, and riches as we think about it or as we've been talking about it. Look around at each other. Look around.
That's true riches. The only thing that's gonna last for eternity is souls. It's people who are following Jesus, healthy disciples of Christ. So how do we take unrighteous mammon and use it to gain true riches that will last for eternity? We understand that the unrighteous mammon that's been entrusted to us is not our own.
It's his. So we follow his principle and we'll talk about this more later in the series. We'll follow this his principle what is is tithing. We take the first of what he's given to us and he's declared it his and give it to him. What does he do?
He redeems it, blesses what the other 90% he entrusts to us so that we can then steward it to multiply, to enjoy. Right? Remember that verse? Enjoy and multiply his kingdom. So we take it, give to him, he redeems it, gives it gives the 90% back to us and say, hey, this is still mine, but I want you to enjoy it and use it to multiply my kingdom.
It's like having an apple. You've heard me say this before. I got an apple that God gives me. Okay. There's meat to eat, there's meat to share, and there's seed to sow.
If I eat the seed, it doesn't multiply. Amen? So *God*, of this that you gave me, what is the meat to eat and enjoy, take care of my family and and enjoy time together? And what is the the the meat to share? And what is the seed to sow?
Everything I have is in is yours. Well, he blessed it. See, money always has a spirit on it. It's either the unrighteous spirit of mammon that's trying to deceive you in order to be distracted by what you have and don't have, or it's the Holy Spirit that's trying to lead you into fulfilling the purposes that God has on you has for you. When I place it in his hands, he blesses it, puts his spirit on it, now I'm supposed to steward it by his leadership in the way that he's called me to.
And that will always be to enjoy and to expand his kingdom. To enjoy and to expand his kingdom. Not yours. His. To enjoy, to multiply, and to expand his kingdom.
Your time, your talent, and your treasure. Enjoy it, *steward* it so that it multiplies and expand his kingdom. Do I need to say it again? Yes. Yes.
Enjoy. *Steward* it so it multiplies and expand his kingdom in the way that he's called you to because you're so focused on the race he's called you to run. You don't care about everybody else as far as comparing yourself among yourself, but you're so set free from the spirit of mammon and materialism that you're not greedy for what your friend has. And when he gets blessed, you're not saying, oh, man. Why did he get that?
Not me. That's the spirit of mammon. Repent. Start celebrating for what he has. Cheer him on in his race while you're running yours.
Amen. And so when you do that, you're winning friends for eternal dwellings. You guys have been doing that. You're radically generous. It's amazing.
You guys are a part of this church. You're tithing. You're giving. And because of that, our church is growing. Discipleship is happening, and it's an amazing thing.
People are giving their lives to Jesus and being connected. Look around. We've grown by, shoot, almost a 100 people in a year. It's awesome. But not just here.
Shoot. We have 55,000 at least now that were 3 years ago unbelievers in Pakistan that are being discipled weekly by leaders that this church has been a part of pioneering because of your gifts, because of what you're doing. We have hundreds of people that are giving their life to Jesus in Uganda because you impacted what my African dad, John Wander, when he came 2 or 3 months ago. God is doing amazing stuff around the world through you, and you are a part of it. So I wanna end this message.
We're gonna play 1 of my favorite old timey songs. And I want you Some of you are gonna This is gonna be nostalgic. Others of you, you're gonna weep because it's the first time you've heard it. So let's turn it up, and I want you to listen to it and read the words.
School, and I was only 8. Every week, he would say a prayer before the class would start. And 1 day, am so glad you came.