āItās Not About Money, Itās About Mindset!ā {Heart vs. Habit p.6}
(Final Version)
Pastor Jim Lowe III
Sunday Morning, 9:30am Stream 03/17/24 (3rd Sunday Message) (Final Version)
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{All scriptures are āNIV84ā unless stated}
Message Title:
āItās Not About Our Money, Itās About Our Mindset!ā
{Heart vs. Habit p.6} {Likely WILL start with title this time}
Matthew 6:19-21
19 āDo not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
As we talk about our heartā¦
The bible says where your treasure isā¦ THATās where your heart is.
Where Is Our Real Treasure? God Or Our Money?
Letās recap what weāve talked about this month.
{Concerning Our Finances}
Psalm 24:1
1 The earth is the Lordās, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
The things we work so hard forā¦ The things we think we own.
It actually belongs to God. Everything thing in it is his!
Our lives, our homes, our MONEY. It belongs to the Lord!
{Concerning Our Finances}
Proverbs 3:9-10
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
The bible says first to āhonorā the Lord.
Then it says how.
Using our wealth is a way to honor the Lord. if you doā¦The Lord will do thisā¦
This is telling us to keep your focus on God!
If You Take Care Of Godās Business, He Will Take Care Of Your Business!
{Concerning Our Finances}
Proverbs 30:8-9
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, āWho is the Lord?ā Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
Itās better for us to be RIGHT where the Lord wants us to be. Too much or too little can cause us to doubt God.
Our desire to be rich can be the thing that drives us from God.
āGod Donāt Give Me More Than My Capacity Can Takeā
{Concerning Our Finances}
Colossians 1:16
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
As we saidā¦everything belongs to the Lord. Including our money.
Hereās another:
Isaiah 43:7
7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.ā
THIS is about us!
God put us here for a reason.
And the bible tells us to do things for HIMā¦
1 Corinthians 10:31
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
If the bible talks about something as simple as eating or drinkingā¦ This INCLUDES the finances he allowed us to have.
Everything belongs to Godā¦
He gave us these things for his gloryā¦
What God Gave Us Should Be Used For His Glory!
What is one of the responsibilities of what God gave us?
God Wants Us To Take Care Of His House!
Haggai 1:1-2
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: āThese people say, āThe time has not yet come for the Lordās house to be built.ā ā
Godās people were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar. they were taken to Babylon.
Danielā¦Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stories.
God allowed his people after a long time to come back. But they were to rebuild and take care of Godās house. They came backā¦and didnāt do that.
The Lord says, the āpeopleā say it isnāt time to build the house of the Lord. Why did they change their mind?
What did they do?
Haggai 1:3-4
3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 āIs it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?ā
God asks the people is it time for you to live in your nice homesā¦ while HIS house remains in ruin?
This shows that God CARES what his own house looks like. He points out there is a problem with priorities with his people.
God didnāt say they couldnāt spend money on themselvesā¦
But itās the WRONG time to do so when the Lordās house is in ruin.
Do We Have Our Priorities In The Right Place?
God takes this very seriously.
Haggai 1:5-6
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: āGive careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.ā
The Lord saysā¦give thought. give CAREFUL thought.
to what youāre doing.
Look at whatās happening:
You plant a lotā¦but get a little back.
You eat and drinkā¦but are still in need of more.
You make moneyā¦but put them in a purse with holes in it.
Are these things happening for us??
The Lord Says To Think! If Many Things Are Going Wrong For Us Right Now, Is It BECAUSE Of What WE Are Doing?
Do we seem to have more money going out than weāre bringing in? If soā¦are our priorities in the wrong place?
there is nothing wrong with taking care of your needs. itās a good thing.
itās being a good steward of what God gave you.
But your needs canāt come before what God wants.
Are We Doing The Right Things At The Wrong Time?
The Lord says HE is to come first. Meaning the things he gives usā¦ it all BELONGS to him!
HE is to come first!
HIS house is to come first!
What Is Godās House?
Itās HIS temple!
Itās HIS Church!
Are we putting more focus on our own thingsā¦ when GODās house is in need?
Haggai 1:7-8
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: āGive careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,ā says the Lord.
Give careful thought to your waysā¦ He says it TWICE!
Do what is necessary to make sure HIS house is what it needs to be.
So he can take pleasure in it. and be honored.
The Lord Holds Us Responsible For The Condition Of His House!
The Lord is telling us to get our priorities in order!
Haggai 1:9-11
9 āYou expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?ā declares the Lord Almighty. āBecause of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.
The Lord says he will BLOW away what you bring home. WHY?
Because his house is not how it should be. And WE are busy with our own aļ¬airs.
with HIS money!
This is why some arenāt being blessed like they should.
Verse 10-11
10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.ā
The Lord doesnāt play about his house!! Now we know WE are responsible.
now we know itās GODās money.
So how do we take care of the Lordās house?
Malachi 3:10 (a)
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouseā¦ so there will be food in his house.
Food in Godās house?
God doesnāt eat.
So why does God need food in HIS house?
The food isnāt for himā¦
itās for helping others.
So we are to bring the tithe into the storehouseā¦
so the CHURCH will have what it needs to do for others.
What Is A Tithe?
A tithe is 10% of what we earnā¦ giving BACK to God!
so there is food in his house!
THIS is why God is trying to rewire our mindset. Your money is not what you think it is.
It ALL belongs to God.
We already read:
Proverbs 3:9-10
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
Using what we have so God will be honoredā¦ Reminding us to take care of Godās business.
If we take care of Godās businessā¦ he will take care of our business!
But many of us arenāt taking care of Godās business!
Malachi 3:8
8 āWill a man rob God? Yet you rob me. āBut you ask, āHow do we rob you?ā āIn tithes and oļ¬erings.
This means we arenāt āhonoringā God the way weāre supposed to. Are we REALLY robbing God?
With HIS OWN STUFF??
Romans 13:7
7 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
We make sure to pay our taxes donāt we?
We donāt want toā¦but we respect itā¦ Do we not respect God?
Do we not OWE honor to God?
Itās Not About Money, Itās About Mindset!
The Lord says to bring the tithe into his house. Take care of himā¦
And he will take care of us.
Malachi 3:11-12
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,ā says the Lord Almighty. 12 āThen all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,ā says the Lord Almighty.
The Lord says if you honor meā¦I will honor you.
If you take care of my house. I will take care of yours.
How Do We Honor God?
By NOT robbing him!
Malachi 3:10 (a)
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
We bring the WHOLE tithe into the storehouse! not just some of it.
When God gives us anythingā¦ a way to honor himā¦
is to make sure there is food in his house! āEVERYTHINGā was created by him and FOR him.
āEVERYTHINGā has a purposeā¦ that INCLUDES the CHURCH!
And the church needs your help to do it!
and if the church canāt do what itās supposed to do.
we ALL suļ¬er!
Make Sure To Honor God With ALL That Belongs To Him!
One more point:
Both Cain and Abel honored God with an oļ¬ering. Abelās oļ¬ering was acceptedā¦
Cainās was not.
WHY NOT?
Genesis 4:3-4
3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an oļ¬ering to the Lord. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flockā¦
They BOTH brought oļ¬eringsā¦
They BOTH seemed to respect Godā¦ But one did something diļ¬erent.
Cain brought āsomeā of the fruitsā¦
while Abel brought Fat portions from the āfirstborn.ā Cain brought an oļ¬eringā¦
Abel brought from the āFIRST.ā
Some of us give based on what we currently have available. and some of us give to God from oļ¬ the TOP.
Do You Honor The Lord With The Firstfruits?
When we get our checkā¦
whatās the first thing we spend it on?
Power bill, Cell phone bill, Home internet, 12 Streaming Services, Car, Mortgage?
All these things are importantā¦
but are we building our own priorities while Godās house is in ruin?
All of those thingsā¦
are spending them on YOU. God wants us to honor him first!
Proverbs 3:9-10
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
We see that we may be missing a lot because we give wrong. or not at all.
We try to hold on to our moneyā¦
but God wants us to love him above all.
Do we put God over ourselves??
These other things MUST be taken care ofā¦ But God told us:
Malachi 3:10-12
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
Itās almost like God recognizes this is diļ¬cultā¦so he says it.
{contd}
Test me in this,ā says the Lord Almighty, āand 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. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,ā says the Lord Almighty. 12 āThen all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,ā says the Lord Almighty.
God doesnāt tell us to test him oftenā¦
In factā¦he tells us NOT to test him.. but in thisā¦
he says try me.
If We Take Care Of Godās Business, He Will Take Care Of Our Business!
In conclusion:
God Wants Us To Love Him Above Everything Else!
God is telling us to make sure of all things we take care of HIS house. If we can rewire our mindset about moneyā¦
We begin to realize that God REALLY wants our heart. Either weāll be focused on ourselves or on him.
We have a job to do.
the church has a job to do.
We all have to HELP the churchā¦ so the church can help others.
We have to make sure we make God our sourceā¦ not our money.
Luke 16:13
13 āNo servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.ā
God tells us we are supposed to give a certain way. He expects the WHOLE tithe as a minimum.
everything above that is the oļ¬ering. This is to keep HIS house as it needs to be.
When you take care of hisā¦ he will take care of yours.
If We Honor God, He Will Honor Us!
If We Are Stingy With God, He Will Be Stingy With Us!
Donāt Get Distracted From The Real Treasure Chasing The Wrong One!
