How Do You Keep Your Possessions From Possessing You? A Study of Matthew 6:19-24

Opening prayer and worship

Good morning. As we get started for worship this morning, we’re just going to kind of sit in the first few verses of Psalm chapter 34. You’re you’re welcome to turn there with me if you want. You don’t have to. You can just listen. But just as we approach the Lord, let’s uh hear these these words from David. Says, “I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in Yahweh. Let the humble hear be glad. Oh, magnify Yahweh with me and let us exalt his name together.”

Let me read that one more time. I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in Yahweh. Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify Yahweh with me and let us exalt his name together.

So Lord, as we come together this morning, that’s that’s our prayer that we just join in with David. We join in with these words that we will bless you at all times, Lord. that your praise will will continually be on our mouth, not just in this hour and a half this morning, but Lord, that we will take these moments and we will praise you continually. God, we we make boast in you this morning. God, we humble ourselves. We lay ourselves down before you, God. I know I I need to do that. I need to humble myself this morning, Lord.

So I just humble myself before you Lord as we approach you in worship. We magnify your name Lord. We exalt your name together. Lord we just ask that the the corporate reality of worship this morning would draw us to you. Lord as we as we can come together to exalt you that we be drawn closer to you, Lord.

So as a room we just say that we want you this morning. We’re here for you. as a room, God. We say we we humble ourselves before you. We’re not here just to be spoonfed. We’re not here just to receive a shot in the arm, Lord. We’re here to exalt you. We’re here to give you what you deserve. We’re here to lay everything bare before you, Lord.

So God, would you wake us up this morning? Even as we sing this first song, Lord, would you awake us where we’re asleep, where we’ve been prideful, where we’ve been lazy. God, would you wake us up to turn our attention and affection to you? We just give you our hearts this morning. Jesus name. Lord, we need you Lord. Oh, we worship you. Come on, let’s worship him this morning.

There is a sound. There is a sound I love to hear is the sound of the Savior’s robe. As he walks into the room where people pray, where we hear praises, he hears his face. Let our faith rise. Let our faith rise. There is a sound I love to hear. It’s the sound of the Savior. As he walks into the room where people pray, where we hear worship, he hears his faith. Let’s let it rise. We worship you Lord.

We sing awake, awake my soul and sing, sing his praise aloud. Sing his praise aloud. Oh, awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise loud. Sing his praise loud. You are worthy of all of our praisees. There is a sound. There is a sound that changes things. The sound of his people on their knees. Awake up you slumbering. It’s time to worship him. Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise. Sing his praise. Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud. Sing his praise loud.

When he made it and where he moves and when we pray where stoes. Amen. Yes. And amen. And when he moves, make no mistake. The bounds of hell begin to shake. All hell the Lord all hell the king when he man. And when he moves and when we pray to the world now sins away where every pro. Amen. Thank you Jesus.

And when he moves, make no mistake, the grounds of hell begin to shake. Oh, hell the world. Oh, hell the king, King Jesus. Oh, let the king of glory is here. Oh, fall down on your knees and worship him. Oh, let his praise rise up. Don’t hold it in. Don’t hold it in.

We sing. Awake my soul. Awake my soul and sing. Sing his praise aloud. Sing his praise. Oh my soul. Sing his praise. Sing his praise. We worship you Lord. We worship you Jesus. Yes Lord. We worship you. We worship you. We worship. We worship.

Your voice it thunders the oaks start twisting the forest sounds with cedars breaking. The waters see you and start their rising from the depths. The sun is rising and now it’s rising from the ground. Sing it out. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy Lord, the earth is yours. and singing holy, holy, holy, holy Lord. The earth is yours. The earth is yours.

Your voice throw is shaking. Mighty mountains now are true. Creation sees you. The stars composing. The fields and trees they start rejoicing. And now it’s rising from the ground. Now he’s rising from the ground. Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord. The earth is yours. and singing holy, holy, holy, holy Lord. The earth is yours and sing it. Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord. The earth is yours and singing holy, holy, hol, holy Lord. The earth is yours. The earth is yours. The earth is yours.

Sing all praises. All praises to the one who made it all. Who made it all. All praises to the one who made it all and finds it beautiful. All praises to the one who made it all who made our praises. All praises to the one who made it all and finds it beautiful. All praises to the one who made it all who made it all. All praises to the one who find it beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. All praises to the one who made it all. Who made it all. All praises to the one who made it all and finds it beautiful.

Father’s Day blessing and celebration

Yeah. Hey, I want to I want to invite you to to grab a quick seat. I want to just take a minute and and give us a chance to to bless our our fathers on Father’s Day. And I was talking to to Joelle and Brooke, two of our kids disciplehip pastors, and we’re like, should we have kids in the room, you know, especially kids between two and four, and they’re just all over the place. But we just thought, man, what a an appropriate thing for kids at all ages to be in the room to bless their dads.

And so, um, man, I I am so grateful to be a part of our church family, to be a part of, uh, of this community where there are so many just amazing dads and to be in a it feels like the waters are just rich here and not perfect, but but dads that that really love their wives well, that are laying down their lives, that are are raising up their kids, that delight in their kids so well. And we are just so blessed to be around so many fathers.

You know, the scriptures have a lot to say about God as the father. And and I know that for some today’s a hard day. Maybe this is a the the first time that you’re celebrating Father’s Day without your dad or you grew up without a father. And and so today there’s just kind of this tender spot. Just acknowledge that that for some of you this is a tough day, but for a lot of you this is a really celebratory day. And just wanted to celebrate and name that.

You know, one of the the earliest commands from God’s heart to his people is that you would honor your father on your mother’s will, but honor your father. And and so today, it’s it’s special. It’s not just a cultural celebration. This is something that we’re literally doing to be obedient to the Lord. And so we today, we we thank our dads. We we truly we we lift them up for all the things that they’ve done.

You think about all the things that that your dad does for you. the way that he loves, the way that he leads, the way that he delights, the way that he teaches, the way that he wrestles, the way that he cooks, all the things that that our dads do to help us become the people that God made us to be. And so, here’s what I want to do. We’re going to just take a minute and we’re going to celebrate. We’re going to honor our dads, and then we’re just going to take a minute and we’re going to pray for the dads around us.

And so, um, I want to invite you if if you’re a granddad and and you’re here with us today, would you would you stand up? Yeah. Let’s honor our our grandfathers. You guys stay standing. Grandfathers, stay standing. Um, hey, if if you’re a if you’re a father, would you stand up? Would you join the grandfathers? Yeah. And let’s just celebrate and and thank and honor our dads. This is an act to the Lord. It’s an act to to say thank you to to the way that you were just wearing the the name father so well.

And so, here’s what I invite us to do. I want to invite the rest of us to stand up to enjoy our fathers and to just gather around your dad. And so if your dad is here, I invite you to circle up. If your dad’s not here and you know someone in the room that’s been a spiritual dad to you, I invite you to walk across the room and to pray over them to bless them. And so let’s take a minute or two and just pray over our fathers and then I will wrap up this time of prayer and and and step back into worship. And so let’s take a few minutes to pray for our dads in the room.

Yes, Lord. So today, we just are are grateful for for all the dads that are in the room, for all the ways that that they reflect you, God. For all the things that that they do that that point us to you, that help us to understand

Your your tender but your tough heart, God. Thank you for for letting us be a part of our church family. That so many fathers take it so serious. Lord God, thank you for for who they are. God, I pray that you would give every father what they need to to fully reflect you, God. That every family looks at their dad and and they’re grateful for them, for the the integrity and for the holiness and for the passion and for the the work ethic and all the things that that our dads do.

And so, God, I pray your richest blessings on every dad today that they seen that they feel seen by you and loved by you, God. I pray that that you help our dads to to in every way just bring you glory and honor and praise. And so, thank you for today, God. Thank you for the gift that that fathers are to us. And we love you for giving them to us. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Hey, I want to dismiss kiddos and and teachers to class. And let’s just thank our dads one more time before we step into worship.

You give light. You are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. It’s your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It’s your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you. Great are you Lord. You give light. You are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give up. You restore every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. is your bread in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It’s your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you, oh it’s your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It’s your breath in our arms. So we pour out our praise to you all. Our praise God. All the worst. All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you Lord. All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you Lord. When all the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. is your ins. So we pour out our praise to you in our lives. So we pour out our praise, pour out our praises in. So we pour out our praise to you. Great are you, Lord. Oh, great are you, Lord,

worthy of allship. Great are you, Lord. There is no one like you. Great are you, Lord.

Scripture reading from Matthew

Well, good morning. I invite you and encourage you to remain standing for the reading of God’s word this morning if you’re able. We will be reading out of the book of Matthew, chapter 6, starting in verse 19. These are the words of Jesus. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters. For 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 God and money. This is the word of the Lord.

Welcome and greetings

Hey, can you help me thank Logan and the team for serving this morning? Hey, before you sit down, say hello to somebody next to you. Make sure they feel welcome. Grab a Bible off the communion table if you need one.

If you’ve not already done so, I want to invite you to to grab a quick seat. Welcome to Ethos. Happy Father’s Day. So, so grateful that we get to be together. If you have a Bible, Matthew chapter 6 is where we’re going to be this morning as we keep working through the Sermon on the Mount.

Fatherhood retreat announcement

And as you’re turning to Matthew chapter 6, I want to invite you to um watch this video. One of my favorite moments from 2025 was the fatherhood retreat that we had uh last October. We’re getting ready to have it again. And uh we’ve pushed it back just a little bit this year because we didn’t didn’t want it to fall right in the middle of fall break. But we’re going to have another fatherhood retreat this year in the month of December. I want you to take just a moment and watch this and then I’ll get up and give you an opportunity to jump into that if you want.

Just there’s something about men getting together that’s like nothing else. There are few times when you’re a young father when you have the time to step back and sit and really contemplate the deeper things in life and yet they’re so important to the success of raising spiritfilled children. This is the kind of thing that probably rarely happens but should happen often

because just seeing um younger dads than me really pursuing intentionality by even being here is just been amazing to me to see and it’s just been it’s it’s been a blessing to me. My primary reason for coming was to be with other men that want to be Christian fathers and lead their household in a way that I know I can trust when I ask them questions about like some stuff tactically like okay how do you do this or how do you do that and I know that the answers I’m getting from these guys can be trusted and you always want to find others that have done it well and are doing it well and are trying to do it well and this is a place that, you know, we could find that.

I hope a retreat like this would be a springboard into conversations about being a father um becomes more of a of a common question in our in our church family. It’s just been like really encouraging like on a real level and just like the the kids that are going to be blessed from our own kids, their friends, their kids like there there’s a lot of impact going on by just having this kind of event. You can be there. You can be the dad that’s at all the events, but if you’re not open and vulnerable and willing to have conversations that lead them and guide them and show wisdom to them and also open the door for them to be vulnerable with you, you’re going to have much more of a transactional relationship than a deep um intentionfilled relationship.

I’ve got four individuals that I have to be there for and show up for and I have to see them for who they are and I have to speak into them and call them up and and and like Dave always says, call them up into something greater and I can’t do that if I’m not paying attention. It is truly iron chopping iron. So, it’s inspired me to do better as a dad even though my kids are like much older stage than than most here. um just to be more emotionally and spiritually connected along with, you know, just with that intentionality. So, it’s been it’s been challenging to me.

We can all agree, yeah, it is fun and it’s life-giving, but it’s also really hard in a lot of areas. And having that relatability is just massive as a dad.

So many times as men, we seek our own agenda, our own kingdom, our own things first. And that verse keeps standing to me of saying, “Seek, seek me first. Seek my kingdom and all these things will be added unto you.” So, if you’re a dad, you know, we’d love to invite you the first part of December. It’s just a few days where we get together with other dads and we go, how do we live and lead intentionally as as we try to disciple our kids?

It was It was funny. Last year on the first night we were together, we asked a bunch of the dads like, “How’d you end up here?” And people went around the room and shared reasons. And there were a number of dads. They’re like, “Well, my wife just signed me up and made me come.” Which was hilarious cuz guys, you can never do that for your wife. You can never say, “I’m making you go to retreat.” But um you know, women, if you’re here today and you’re like, “I don’t know what to get him for Father’s Day.” This is a great opportunity. And you’re allowed to do that as a woman. You can force him to go to retreat. And it it’s really really amazing. So, I want to encourage you guys set that aside. Um, uh, jump in with us. It fills up very fast. Spots fill up very quickly. And so, I want to encourage you to go ahead and make plans to join us today.

Prayer before teaching

So, hey, let me pray for us as we get ready to jump in to Matthew chapter 6. We’re going to cover a short amount of scripture, but a lot of spiritual territory. And so, I want to encourage you to have out something to take notes with, your phone, um, a journal, something. I’m going to reference things that we won’t have time to get into the depths of this morning. and you’re going to have to like every week do some homework on your own if you really want to get it. So, um I’d encourage you to be ready um to receive that.

So, Lord, thank you for the gift of your word. Thank you for this community that we could be a part of. God, thank you that your spirit is here with us. Lord, would you fill us this morning? Overwhelm

Us by the power of your presence. God, would you speak to us? Give us hearts that are curious and open and ready to receive all that you have. In the name of Jesus, we pray and give thanks. And God, we say, amen.

Early marriage and financial beginnings

So, uh, when Sydney and I first got married, we were living in this little rental house across the street from the soccer fields near Lipkcom University. So, if you’ve ever been in that part of town, you can maybe picture where we lived. We were there right there on the corner for six years. It was an amazing spot. And uh in those early years of our marriage, you know, 21 years or so ago, uh we had so many awesome things happening in our life. But one of the things that we did not have much of was money. And I remember in that that season of life, I was in my first job. I was in my early 20s. I was working for a university where I was starting a ministry and I was responsible for raising my salary. And spoiler alert, I was terrible at raising my salary. And Sydney was finishing up grad school and she was doing her rotations which which meant she was like in our house and spending and working and doing all the stuff that I was doing but she couldn’t yet work. And so we had a lot going for us but one of the things we did not have a lot of was money and and we were happy and it was a sweet sweet season of life.

And if you would have asked me in my early 20s, hey what do you think of when you think about money? Um I probably would have said I don’t know that I think of it a whole lot. I would like to have more. Um I don’t know if I know anybody that doesn’t want to have more, but I just didn’t think about money a whole lot. And so we’re in kind of that early season, you know, just kind of making ends meet, getting through.

The investment opportunity

And I I get a phone call one day from a friend of mine who’s about 30 years older than me, awesome, awesome, trustworthy man. And to make a long story very, very short, he said, “My wife and I have stumbled into what we believe is an amazing investment opportunity.” And this was not a pyramid scheme. It was it was like a very genuine he’s like we have stumbled into this. He said I have no benefit sharing it with you. He said but we love you. We see your financial situation. We think this would bless you. It is risky. Pray about it. Think about it. But it could really um impact you on like a generational level.

And so so many details that I’m going to skip over right now, but we we prayed about it. We sought counsel on it. We thought about it. And there’s this moment where we kind of had to decide, do we want to leverage all of our like flexible income, which was not very much, but it was all we had in the bank. Will we will we leverage it for the sake of this opportunity? And so we we thought, man, I think this might be where God is leading us. So we leveraged all the resource that we had and and put it into this investment. And then we were in this sort of long waiting game, like is this going to work?

Dreaming about money during the wait

And it was amazing in that season where we were waiting. I was just like dreaming like, “God, what might we do?” And have you ever had one of those moments where you try to make your dreams godly dreams? I’m like, “God, what might I do for the kingdom?” And go, “God, what might I do for the poor?” But like, I’m like, I’m really thinking like, what might we do? Like, and and I’m thinking about it and dreaming about it. And I don’t know if ever in my life I thought about money as much as I thought about it in that season.

The disappointing phone call

And so I I remember the day I can still remember exactly where I was at my old job. I was sitting at my desk. My phone rings. I see his name come across uh the caller ID and I thought, I’ve got to take this one outside because I do not want my co-workers to hear the joy that is going to erupt out of me when I become filthy rich. And and so I I I remember I get outside of my office, I answer the phone, and as soon as he said hello, I could tell that this had not gone the way that we’d hoped it would go. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a moment where you were almost filthy rich. It is not fun to be almost filthy rich. It was like the the the pendulum swinging my heart from thinking I’m about to set up the generations to thinking, “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe how bad this has gone.”

The revelation of money’s grip

And if you would have asked me before that whole season in my life what it is I thought about money, I would have said, “I don’t I don’t know that I think about it that much.” If you would have said, ‘Dave, do you trust in God or do you trust in money? I said, ‘I trust God. Money is just stuff. Money is just a thing. But there was something about that season that exposed the grip that money actually had in my heart. And what I learned in my early 20s and what I’m still learning now is you actually don’t have to have very much money for money to have a real grip on you. You don’t have to have a lot of earthly possessions in order for your possessions to start possessing you. And it was in that season where I realized both by the size of my dreams and by the depth of my disappointment that if I had to get really really honest, money actually had a significant hold in my heart and I was just completely blind to it.

Seeing money issues in others more easily

What’s interesting to me about money is for most of us, we can more easily see other people’s issues with money than we can see our own. Have you ever noticed this? You’re like, “Look at that greedy person, that stupid corporation. Look at that wasteful church. Look at that fill in the blank.” You know, but have you ever noticed like you very rarely see greed in yourself. You very rarely see waste in yourself. You you very rarely see that dependency like in yourself.

Jesus on possessions and the heart

And I love this Jesus because he loves us. He says, “I don’t care how many possessions you have. Your possessions are powerful and they have the ability to possess you. And so Jesus is going to talk a lot about money. In fact, as we get to this moment in Matthew chapter 6 that we’re going to look at today, Jesus is having this conversation with money and he’s not talking to a bunch of investment bankers on Wall Street. He’s not talking to a bunch of you know leaders in the seauite. Although this certainly applies to people in high places as well. He’s actually talking to a group of people who through society standards were on the lower side of the income bracket. And Jesus said, “I still want to talk to you about money because if you’re a person, you will deal with money. And whether or not you realize this, money is often dealing with you.” And so Jesus says, “I want to talk to you about this thing that you’re going to deal with every single day.”

Here’s what I love about uh Jesus and his teaching on money. He’s not teaching us on money because he wants our money. Like, does Jesus need your money? It’s not a trick question. Does Jesus need your money? No. Like, Jesus is doing fine, but Jesus wants your heart. And he knows that what is going on in your heart is often deeply connected to what is happening with your money. And so, he’s going to speak a lot about money.

How to keep possessions from possessing you

So this morning as we come to this moment in the sermon on the mount, Matthew chapter 6, one big question that I want us to wrestle with as we think about money and that is how do you keep your possessions from possessing you? How how do you keep your your things from taking ownership of your heart, taking ownership of your mind, like becoming your source of strength? You know this moment in Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus is talking on money. This is not his comprehensive teaching on money and possessions. In fact, Jesus is going to teach on money publicly almost 40 times in out his throughout his three years of ministry. And so this morning, we’re not going to try to sum up all 40 teachings in one moment. I want us to look at this one particular teaching that Jesus gives us. This is one of his first teachings on money. And I think it’s really foundational as you think about what’s happening in the heart.

And so I want to look back very briefly at what what we read just a moment ago, but we’re going to wrestle with three simple things. Here’s what I think Jesus is doing as he gives us Matthew chapter 6 is he’s going to say, I want to give you three strategies for making sure your possessions don’t possess you. Three really practical strategies for making sure your possessions don’t possess you.

Matthew 6:19-6 teaching

You. So look back at the word with me. Matthew 6 starting in verse 19. He says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and vermin or some of your Bibles say where rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and vermin or rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad or unhealthy, your whole body will be full

of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness. How great then is that darkness? No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and what? Help me out. You cannot serve both God and >> and money.

And so Jesus, remember, he’s he’s not getting ready to like build some huge building in the suburbs. He’s not like doing a capital campaign here. He He’s not trying to figure out how to finance his next idea. He’s not after their money. He’s after their heart. He’s after our heart. And he goes, “You you can’t deal with money without recognizing what’s happening in your heart.” And I believe in these five verses, he gives three really simple strategies for how you make sure your possessions don’t end up possessing you in the long run.

And what he’s going to do with each of these, I want you to notice, we’re going to hit them very quickly. He’ll give a strategy and then he’ll give two different approaches to that strategy. He’ll say, “Hey, here’s here’s something that you need to think about, and there’s really one of two ways that you can tackle this problem.” And he’s going to put both of these options before you in hopes that you’ll choose wisely the thing that will bring you life.

The security strategy

And so, the first thing is he’s going to put in front of us is what I just call the security strategy. Jesus looks at us and he’s going to say, ‘Hey, what is your strategy for finding security against all the things that you fear in this world? What’s your strategy for finding security against all of the things that you fear in this world? You look back at verse 19, I love this. He says, “Do not store it for yourselves treasure on earth, where all these things destroy it.” Look at the next verse, verse 20. But store for yourselves treasures in heaven.

And this idea of treasure, if you write in your Bibles, underline that word treasure. It’s a really important word. I want to give you a quick definition of it. This idea of treasure, it’s literally accumulated possessions that promise future security. So when Jesus uses this word treasure like in the most literal sense, he’s saying, “What possessions have you accumulated in your life for the purpose of trying to find future security against the things that you fear most?” That’s this idea of treasure. It’s accumulated possession promising future security.

And Jesus is going to say, “Hey, if you want to live with me,” he’s he goes, “You’re going to have to recognize what your strategy for finding security in this earth is.” And he’s going to say, “There’s two different approaches to this. There’s an earthly strategy or there’s a heavenly strategy. There’s an earthly strategy or there’s a heavenly strategy.”

The earthly approach

So, let’s look at the earthly approach for just a moment. He goes, “Here’s the earthly approach to your security strategy.” He says, “You store up as much stuff in this life as you can in hopes that everything you fear in life will be warded off. You make as much as you can. You save as much as you can. You invest as much you can. You store as much as you can in hopes that the things you fear most won’t come knocking on your door one day.”

Now, I want to be very clear for just a moment. We don’t have a time to do like a full biblical overview of of this idea, but I do want to give you some things that you can chase down on your own. I do not think that Jesus here is condemning saving or investing or preparing for the future. I don’t think that’s what Jesus is doing here. In fact, if you look at the whole council of God’s word, you’ll see over and over in the scripture that the Bible actually says it is a really good thing to prepare for the future, to store for the future, to make plans for the future.

I’ll just give you a few quick moments. You know, Proverbs 6 verse 6 through8, it says, “Hey, be like the ant who even though it doesn’t have a commander, knows how to store up for the future.” The Bible says, “Be wise like this.” Like, pay attention to that. Be be wise like that. Or Proverbs chapter 13, I love this. It says the good person is the person who leaves an inheritance for their children’s children. Like in other words, it’s a good thing to think about future generations. Or I love this next one. Proverbs chapter 21, the wise store up choice food for the future. And I could give you tons of verses on this. I believe the Bible’s really clear that to think about the future, to think about your children, to think about people you love, that’s wise, that’s smart.

But Jesus is going to say in doing that, you have to be really aware of how quickly your heart begins to attach security to those things. And so I believe what Jesus is saying here is make sure your security strategy is not an earthly security strategy. He says because things come in and destroy this. Look back at verse uh 19 and 20 with me. I love this. He says, “Because when that’s your strategy, moths come and eat it up. Vermin or rust deteriorate it and destroy it. Thieves break in and steal.”

I believe what Jesus is saying here very creatively is he says, “No matter how much you store, it loses value over time and it cannot protect you from the things you fear the most.” Does that make sense? Jesus says, “Be really careful here because in an abundance of possessions, there is often a lot of false security.” Money has this way of overpromising and underdelivering.

And I think about one of my dear friends who did phenomenally well in this life and made a ton of money and then got the stage 4 cancer diagnosis and suddenly everything he had ever feared was still true. and all of the work and all of the saving and all the effort had not prevented it. And I think Jesus is saying, hey, you’ve got to be really careful about the false promises that your money will try to make.

The heavenly approach

So he goes, don’t find your security. Remember, your treasure is this accumulated stuff to find security in the future. He goes, there’s an earthly approach. Secondly, he goes, but there’s also a heavenly approach. And a heavenly approach is he’s going to say in verse 20, instead of putting all of your security in what’s happening on earth, he says, “Put it in heavenly places. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where what you put in heaven is not as easily touched. It’s not infected by inflation or deflation. It’s not vulnerable to deterioration. It’s not vulnerable to people stealing it from you.” you. He says, “I want you to store your confidence in something that cannot be shaken.” And although this touches a lot of areas in your life, he says, “This absolutely touches your money.”

How to store up heavenly treasure

Now, let’s just talk about the elephant in the room for just a moment. If I told you today to go store your treasure in an earthly place, I think you know exactly how to do that. You get your paycheck, you put it in an investment, you put it in a bank, you know, you buy gold and bury it in your yard. Like what whatever your strategy for security is, we all know how to store things up in earthly places. But for a long time, I’d read this and I’d go, “But how in the world do you do this in heavenly places?” Like, how do you actually obey what Jesus is teaching? Have you ever had one of these moments where Jesus teaches you something and you go, “I want to obey you. I have no idea how to obey you.” This is how I feel so many times.

Sydney asked me to do something at the house. She’s like, “Hey, will you do this?” I’m like, “Yes, I will.” And then I get out. I’m like, “I have no idea how to do this.” You know, and and so I just fake it. And then I come home and realize how wrong I was at it, you know? And that’s how it always goes. And sometimes Jesus teaches and I’m like, “You are saying words. I don’t understand your words.” Are we allowed to say that in church? Like, how do you do this?

So when you read the Bible and the Bible doesn’t make sense to you, it’s worth stopping for a moment and going, I wonder if it made sense to them. because sometimes things don’t make sense to us. But I believe Jesus was a masterful teacher and I believe his audience understood what he was saying. It it made sense to them and in their culture this idea of storing up heavenly treasure. It was actually something they understood in first century Judaism in their culture of their day. There had been a lot of teaching on this.

You can look at this in the Old Testament. Lots of teaching on storing up treasure in heaven. You can look at this in the second temple sort of intertestamental period if you want to sort of nerd out. There’s all of this writing and rabbitical teaching in between the Old Testament and the New Testament. We don’t consider it our scripture, but it’s helpful for understanding their culture. And the rabbis of the day taught a lot on storing up heavenly treasure. And here’s the thing, you’ve seen this all throughout the sermon on the mount. So many times Jesus, he would critique

Storing treasure in heaven

their understanding of things. You see this? He says, “You’ve heard that it was said, but I’m telling you.” Right? This is one of those moments when it comes to money where he acknowledges their teaching and he doesn’t correct it, but he affirms it. He takes what they knew culturally and he affirms it. He says, “Don’t store up on earth, but do what your rabbis have been teaching you. Store up things in heaven.” And there really three ways they thought about storing up heavenly treasure. I’m not going to get into all of this, but they thought about this in regards to their time. their talent and their treasure. How do you use your time in a way that lines up with the things of God? How do you use your gifts in your talents in the ways that line up with the things of God? And here specifically, he’s talking about money. How do you let your money point to what you say you think and actually believe about God?

The way that they thought about storing up their money in heavenly places, it was really connected to three ways. tithing. First 10% of your money goes to the house of God. That’s the way they stored up treasure in heaven. Second was almsgiving. So after your tithing, when you see an opportunity to help a person in need, to help a poor person, he goes, “This is a way that you are investing in the kingdom of God.” Look at Proverbs 19:7. I love this. He says, “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay them.” Which is a really beautiful moment. Jump back to that graphic for just a moment. So they thought about treasure through tithing, through almsgiving, and through free will offerings. God, you’ve done something and out of my heart I want to give. This is that 2 Corinthians 8 sort of principle. So in their culture when they thought about storing up treasure in heaven, this was the teaching. How are you using your time? How are you using your talents? How are you using your treasure? Tithing, giving to the poor out of the overflow of your heart, caring for people in need.

Jesus said, “What you’ve learned about this is actually true. It’s really helpful.” And he said, “In light of all the stuff you’re doing on earth, are you also putting your money in things that matter?” I believe what Jesus is getting at here is the best strategy for finding your security is putting all of your life in God’s hands. The best strategy for finding your security is putting all of your life in God’s hands, including your what? Not a trick question. Including your >> Okay, three people are listening. Including your >> your money, making you uncomfortable. Next week, come back. We’ll talk about anxiety. That’s the next part of the sermon on the mount. So, we’re just we’re going to offend everybody every week. Step on every toe. No. Jesus cares about your heart. So, he’s going to talk about your money.

The candy story

Remember years ago, one of my sons uh he had come into this like just stash of candy. I can’t remember who gave it to him, but I mean he was just like a little candy raccoon. and he had stored up all this candy. And one day he’s eating his candy and his brothers come into the room and they see this stack of candy and they’re like, “Ooh, can we have some candy?” And and immediately he’s like the little, you know, like the king of Candyville. Like, you know, he he has all his candy and he’s like trying to discern if they’re worthy and what are you going to do for me and what’s going to happen here? And so, so I walk by and I hear this conversation going down. I’m like, “Hey, dude, if you will take care of them, I will take care of you.” He’s like, “What’s that mean?” And I’m like, “That’s it. You take care of them. I’ll take care of you.”

But dad, how you take care of them, I’ll take care of you. Okay. Okay. So, he goes back in, he sits down with his brothers and looks at him and probably had a prayer meeting, I don’t know. And he gives one one piece of candy, another another piece of candy, goes in his room and eats it all to himself. Just like crushes like all the candy. And I’m like, “Oh, dude.” Like, like, “Did you not hear a word that I said?” Like, and and I’m just like that little greedy heart, you know? And and and then I’m just the Lord’s like that’s you. That’s me. Like that’s who I am. Like father, how much do I have to give to appease you? How much do you have to give to to get by? And God goes, you take care of them. I take care of you. It’s the greatest security strategy. What my son did not know was literally in our cabinet, we just bought all the candy for Halloween. You know, all the neighborhood kids come and just like raid our house. And so I literally take him to the cupboard. I’m like, “Dude, look at all this could have been yours.” He’s like, “I learned my lesson. Do I still get it?” I’m like, “Nope, you don’t.” Like, you don’t like like this is because I wanted I wanted him to know.

Security and the heart

And Jesus is going, “Hey, listen. The more you find your security in your money, the more insecure your heart becomes.” The more security you find in your money, the more insecure your heart becomes. I don’t care if you make 30,000 a year, 300,000 a year, three million a year. This is a truth. And Jesus says, I don’t want your possessions to possess you. And if that’s going to happen, you have to have a strategy for finding your security. And that is absolutely going to touch the way you think about your money. He doesn’t stop there though. He doesn’t just give us a security strategy. Second thing is he gives us a strategy for seeing.

Strategy for seeing

He goes, “What’s your what’s your strategy for seeing the world in relationship to your money?” Now, I remember when I was a kid, I would read this part of the sermon on the mount and it felt like Jesus had gotten distracted. Are we talking about money or are we talking about eyesight? He talks about money and then he he breaks into this next part. Look at this. He says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body is full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness? So, I remember reading this and I thought, wait, I thought we were talking about money. Are you trying to give me an eye exam now? I don’t I don’t understand what you’re saying. Once again, if it doesn’t make sense to us, we should stop and just ask, did it make sense to them?

I think Jesus was a master communicator. I don’t think he got distracted here. He’s still on this same thing around this idea of money. He’s about to give us the second strategy. But before you understand it, I want to give you a brief word about Jesus and idioms. Okay? I know that sounds like a random detour, but you have to understand idioms if you’re going to understand this this moment. So, an idiom is just a common phrase or expression that has a figurative meaning. So, maybe you remember this from eighth grade. You know, it’s a it’s a common phrase or expression within a culture that has a figurative meaning. So, for instance, if I said, “Hey, we were going to go watch the baseball game last night, but it was raining cats and dogs.” Like, you know that I’m not talking to you about an abundance of household pets. Like, you you you understand. I’ve used two words in a phrase that means something totally different. Or if I see Logan’s kids running around here later and I’m like, “The apple did not fall far from the tree.” Do any of you think we’re having a conversation about agriculture right then? What are we talking about? Somebody help me out. What are we talking about? talking about like, oh, his kids are a lot like him, right? Like that’s that’s the idea of an idiom.

Or, you know, imagine one of my kids is getting ready to go, you know, be in that like second grade Christmas play at their school and and I write them a letter. Hey buddy, I hope you do so great. I’m praying for you. Uh, I pray you break a leg. Like, am I wishing harm on my child? Like, I just love the idea of like maybe 2,000 years from now, somebody finds my prayer journal and is like, I pray little Judah breaks his leg tonight. and they’re like, “This father is insane.” Like, idioms get confusing over time. They bring clarity in their cultural moment. So, in in in the first century, there was an idiom for a generous heart. And the idiom was this. A generous person was a good-eyed person. A stingy, greedy person was a bad person. And so Jesus is using a cultural idiom, a shortcut here to bring understanding.

He says, “If you want to have security, put your treasure in heaven, not just on earth.” And he goes, “That’s your security strategy. But in order to have that strategy, you’re going to have to change the way you see everything.” He goes, “You cannot be a bad person. You have to have the good eyes of the kingdom.” You see this in the scripture. I want you to see this idea of a bad person. You know, Proverbs 22:9 says, “The generous,” I want you

The meaning of ‘generous’ and ‘stingy’ in Hebrew

to look at this on the screen. The generous, that word generous in the Hebrew literally is one with good eyes. So, if you were to read this verse in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew, it would say, “The one with good eyes will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” That was such a culturally common phrase of talking about generous people that they would often just say, “Oh, you’re a good-eyed person.” In the same way, in the next chapter of Proverbs 23:6, it says, “Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread and don’t desire his choice.” That word stingy in the Hebrew is literally a person with bad eyes.

Bad-eyed approach to life

And so Jesus is just taking something they knew and he says, “In order for you to live the way with a heart that is free and secured in heavenly things,” he goes, “you have to change the way you see everything.” Most of us, whether we realize this or not, we are living life with a bad-eyed approach to everything. A bad-eyed approach is where you’ve been trained to see everything through the context of dollars and cents. That everything is driven by a bottom line.

Consumerism, comparison, and classism

I’ll give you just a few quick examples of this. There’s a a chart that I’ll put up on the screen for just a moment. a a bad eyed life is often marked by consumption, comparison, and classism. So, so consumerism, here’s the lie of consumerism. Consumerism says, “The more stuff I have in my hands, the more joy I’ll have in my heart.” Have you ever believed that before? Like, more stuff in my hands, more joy in my heart. More vacation on the calendar, more joy in my heart, more this in my heart. like like consumerism says the accumulation of stuff will elevate the level of joy and we have to acknowledge on some shallow level that is actually true but Jesus is just going to say that’s not a great strategy for how you see and operate in life so you have to watch out for consumerism you have to watch out for this idea of comparison comparison is where you begin to base your value against somebody else’s means this is when you go over to a friend’s this new place and you walk in a new place and you’re like, “Oo, four bedrooms instead of three HOA. Oh, they have a gate and like whatever the thing is, you know, like have you ever done the thing where you go to somebody’s house and then you get in the car afterwards and you look it up on Zillow. You’re like, I just I know you’ve I’ve never done it, but I know you guys have done that.” And and you’re lying to yourself. You’re just like, “Oh, I wonder how God blessed them. I wonder what sort of deal they got.” like just that self-deception, you know, but what are you what are you doing there? You’re comparing like have you ever been in somebody’s house and felt worse about your own? Seen somebody else’s vacation and felt worse about your own? Seen what somebody else is wearing but felt worse about your own. This is the trap of it. It’s bad-eyed thinking.

Bad-eyed thinking consumes. It compares. It classifies. Bad-eyed thinking. You start looking for friends that will help you get up the ladder financially. You give more time and energy to rich people than poor people. You begin to classify people in all of these ways. And Jesus is going to say, “You got to be really careful for this bad approach to life.” He says, “Because it will cause you to put your security in false places.”

Good-eyed approach

He says, “I want you to have good eyes, generous eyes.” And here is the good eyes approach. The good eyes approach is suddenly going to begin seeing everything not through dollars and cents, but you begin to believe that people are more important than possessions. You begin to believe that God really does love you and see you and he’ll take care of you. So if you take care of them, he’ll take care of you. And suddenly those things that used to dominate your heart are getting turned upside down.

I want you to see this chart one more time. So consumerism is suddenly replaced with contentment. When you begin to see the li life through a good-eyed approach, contentment begins to take over. Where there used to be comparison, suddenly there is celebration. God, thank you that you blessed my friend this way. Thank you that you blessed my family this way. Thank you that you blessed so and so this way. And where there used to be classification of other people based on wealth, there’s now genuine community, friendship, blessing.

Seeing strategy and serving strategy

And Jesus is going to say, “Hey, if you want your possessions to be a thing that are used for God’s glory and not something that possess you because you need a security strategy, this is going to touch your seeing strategy. It’s going to change the way that you see everything.” And last but not least, he says, “And then it will impact your serving strategy.” Like like when it comes to your resources, who or what are you actually serving?

Serving two masters

Look at verse 24. He says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you’ll hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. In the original language, that word money right there was actually an Aramaic word which means mammon. And that was a personalized way of of talking about the spirit or the power behind money that entra us, that lies to us, that holds us in, that makes us fearful. It was that spirit of mammon that was getting me to dream about the idea of being rich. And it was that spirit of mammon that caused me to go into that place of depression and frustration when Sydney and I did not get instantly rich.

And Jesus can say, “Hey, when it comes to your resources, either you will use your resources to serve the things of God or your resources will become a God that you serve.” And there really is no middle ground no matter what your friends, co-workers, neighbors, parents tell you. He’s going to say there’s two different approaches to this serving strategy. There’s the mammon approach. This is where no matter what, at the end of the day, money makes the decision in your household.

Mammon mindset examples

I’ve seen some amazing followers of Jesus give up great community, great churches, great opportunity with family, and uproot, move everything to some distant place where they have no church, no community, no friends, no opportunity, and they do all of it for money. That’s a mammon mindset. I’m not saying God can’t redeem it. I’m just saying it’s a mammon mindset. I’ve seen people enter into marriage not because they were in love but because they were trying to get security by marrying up the ladder. That’s that’s a mammon approach. When you look at every opportunity in front of you and your first question is not is this of the Lord and instead you start going hey if we do this how will it impact this this this and this. That’s a mammon approach.

Heavenly approach to resources

And Jesus going to say hey you have to be really careful. If you want security it’s got to be in heaven. It’s going to change the way you see things. And the the the the reality of that is when you’re serving, you’ll either use your resources to serve the kingdom or you will begin serving the resources. He says, “Don’t have a mammon approach.” He says, “I want you instead.” He said, “I instead want you to have a heavenly approach. I want I want God’s approach to your resource to be the way you think and you act and you live where you go, God, all of it belongs to you.” Literally, all of it belongs to you. It came from you. It goes back to you. I take none of it with me. Lord, would you use my life? Would you use my resource to advance the things that you care about? And I trust that you will care for me if I do this.

Generosity and grace

Guys, this is the beauty. I really believe you can’t outgive God. And as you give, and as you give, God does something really great in you. See, generosity does not save you. I want you to hear that very clearly. Generosity does not save you. But when you are saved, generosity does grow in you as you begin to listen to the Holy Spirit. Generosity doesn’t save you, but it does grow in you as you listen to the Holy Spirit and you begin to walk with him.

Where your treasure is

So, we we skipped over one verse that I want to come back to very very quickly and it’s verse 21. It’s this idea that Jesus, remember, he’s not after your money. He’s after your heart. Jesus is after your heart. And this is what he’s going to say in verse 21. He’s going to say, “Where your treasure is, there your what will be also.” Where your treasure is, there your >> There your heart will be also. And this is really important because I think Jesus is saying money is both a thermometer and a thermostat in your life. I want you to think about the way that this works for just a moment. A thermostat a simply tells you the temperature. A ther sorry a thermometer simply tells the temperature. A thermostat changes the temperature. So he goes, “Hey, you want to know the spiritual temperature of your life? Let money be your thermometer for just a moment. How do you use your actual resources? If you had a friend that wasn’t here today in this sermon

And you just said, “Hey, look at my wab account. Look at my banking account.” If you just had a friend look at how you spent your money last year and said, “Hey, would you just tell me what you think matters to me?” Would your friend look at the way you use your money and say, “You are passionate about Jesus, his kingdom, and his mission.” That’s a tough question when I sit with that personally. I’m not talking to you. I’m just talking about me. I’m like, what would they see?

Money as thermometer and thermostat

See, see, money is a thermometer. It reveals the temperature, hot or cold. And the good news is, if you don’t like what it reveals, it is also a thermostat that can change the temperature in your life. Because Jesus says, where you put your treasure, there your heart is going to follow. So if you don’t like what you see in your heart, if you don’t like what you see in your bank account, go, “Hey Jesus, I want to give to things that matter to you.”

If you don’t care about the nations, start giving to the nations, and I promise you’ll start caring. If you don’t care about the poor, give to the poor. I promise you’ll start caring about the poor. You don’t care about the local church, give to the local church, and I promise you, you will start caring about things in local church. This is what happens. Jesus says, “Money is both a thermometer and a thermostat. It reveals and it brings you into something greater. And Jesus goes, I want your heart to be free. And if it’s going to be free, you need a security strategy. You need a seeing strategy. And you need a serving strategy. And none of this is about the bottom line. It’s really just about your heart because Jesus came to make you free.

What does Jesus know about money?

Now, here’s where here’s where we’ll end this morning very briefly, and then we’ll take communion. Um uncomfortable question. I think it’s really important to ask. What does Jesus really know about money? I think if we’re really honest, a lot of us are sitting here and this is a question that’s just kind of in the operating system of your heart. Like, okay, but he’s the son of God. He made loaves out of fishes. He kind of like, what’s he really know about money?

Have you ever noticed you are never looking to take advice about money from a poor person? I know that’s uncomfortable. I’m just saying that. Have you ever thought like, I need some good financial planning. Who’s the poorest person I know? It’s not the way you think. We typically don’t take financial advice from poor people. And this is the reason a lot of church people don’t take financial advice from Jesus. Because we wrongly think he’s poor. Jesus is not was not poor. Not the way that we think about it.

The rich young ruler

This was the fundamental error I believe of the rich young ruler. Do you remember that story in Mark chapter 10? this rich young guy in his early 30s, so successful. He comes up to Jesus. He’s having this conversation with Jesus, who’s also in his early 30s. Jesus is this traveling teacher, uh, philosopher, priest, prophet, whatever language the culture wanted to give him. They saw this young guy comes to Jesus and he goes, “Hey, Jesus, I want to talk to you about spiritual things. How do I get in eternal life?”

Remember this Markap 10 21 Jesus one of my favorite moments looks at this rich young guy and he goes this is what Mark 10:21 says. It says Jesus looked at him and he loved him. And this idea of looking like in the original language it’s like he literally peered into his heart. It’s like Jesus is saying I intimately understand your situation in life. That’s the idea. It’s not just physical sight. Jesus goes, “I understand your situation in life.” Says, “Jesus understood him and he loved him.” And then here’s what Jesus said from his place of understanding and love. He said, “Oh man, God’s got something great for you. Sell all your junk. Come walk with me.”

You have no idea what God wants to do in your life. And it says the guy walked away sad because he had lots of possessions. As a moment, he discovered his possessions possessed him. He’s one of the only guys in the New Testament that was an almost disciple. He almost got a front row seat to the things of God. He almost got to see the miracles. He almost got to hear the teaching. And the reason he became an almost was because he fundamentally misunderstood who was standing in front of him.

Jesus’ true wealth and the invitation to trust

Before Jesus was a poor nomadic preacher walking the earth, he was the richest young ruler of all young rulers. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says it this way. I love it. He goes, “For the grace of the Lord Jesus, though he was what? Though he was rich, for your sake, he became poor so that by his poverty, you might become rich.” Jesus is looking at this rich young guy and he goes, “You have no idea. Your portfolio is nothing compared to my portfolio. Everything belonged to me. All comfort, all success, all joy, all fame, all praise.” He goes, “I laid that aside for a season. I’m trusting my father’s business. He goes, I want you to come do the same thing with me. Jesus did not ask the rich young guy to do something Jesus himself had not already done. And if that rich young guy could have seen Jesus for who he really was, I think he would have had the courage to have trust him. But instead, he looked at him and said, “Who’s this poor guy giving me financial advice?”

And Jesus turns and looks at his disciples and he says, ‘Hey, anybody that’s courageous enough to trust me, this is the end of Mark chapter 10. We’ll get a hundred times, family, houses, all this stuff in this life and the life to come. He goes, that guy didn’t trust me. I want you to trust me, guys. It’s amazing how easy it is to be almost rich in the faith, to be almost a disciple of Jesus, to be almost a person who’s free because you trust. And Jesus says, “There’s a thing here that I want you to discern.”

Five questions for reflection and action

And here’s here’s how I end this morning. I want to give you just a few questions to help you reflect and act. You know, you you’re not going to like make a decision right now and go do something. I’d encourage you as somebody that you love this week to sit down and maybe as a baseline wrestle with these five questions. I’ll put them up on the screen. Take a picture of them. You can you can sit with these questions. I’ll just go through them very quickly.

Who is shaping your real view of money? Is it Jesus or is it some collection of other people, teachers, thinkers? Who’s shaping your real view of money? Bible’s a great place to start. There’s another great book called Redeeming Money by Paul David Trip that you might find helpful if you want a biblical framework for thinking about money.

Second question is, what do your financial habits reveal about how you truly view God? What do your current financial habits reveal about what you really think about God? Number three, are you currently living within your financial means? Truth is, if if you’re still paying for last year’s vacation, last year’s clothes, last year’s school, last year’s thing, it’s going to be really hard to see the world with the good eyes of Jesus. Are you living within your means?

Number four, do you have a strategy for giving more or just getting more? Everybody I know has a strategy for getting more. Do you have a strategy for giving more? Number five, what step of obedience is Jesus asking you to take in this season of life? What’s that next step? You know, for some of you, it might be tithing or caring about the poor or investing in global missions or what’s the next step? What’s the thing that God is asking you to do?

Generosity and communion

Generosity does not save you, but saved people become more generous. And in the process of becoming more generous, your heart becomes more free. And suddenly your security is exactly where God intended. This morning we’re going to end our time together by receiving communion. We have bread and juice all around the room and we come to the communion table and we go, “Jesus, thank you for your generosity. Thank you for giving your life.”

If you’re a follower of Jesus, this is a place where we come and we confess sin. We pray for each other. We ask God to renovate our hearts and to do what only he can do. And from that place of grace, we step into places of greater love and obedience. As we’re taking communion, if you want to see a prayer, there’ll be men and women that’d love to pray over you. And then we’ll end with a song or two. Let’s stand together. And I’ll pray for us as we end.

Father, thank you for just the way you love us and you speak to us about things that are so practical that we deal with every day in our life. Jesus, would you loosen money’s grip on our hearts and would you loosen our hands on money? And God, would you use our lives as a reflection of what matters to you? God, this morning we come and we just acknowledge that had you not been willing to let go of all of your riches, we would have never had the opportunity to come into your family to receive grace, to be forgiven of sin, to be raised back to life by the power

Of the gospel. And God, we thank you that on the other side of your generosity has been uh blessings that have flowed into the downstream of our lives in ways that we could never ask or imagine. And so God, this this morning, would you help us to receive the generosity of your life and to begin reflecting that back to the world around us? In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Hey, I love you. Let’s receive communion on the tables all around the room. Come receive prayer at the respond banner if you’d like prayer and then we’ll wrap up with a song or two of worship. You can take as much time as you need to pray together. Then once you’re finished, you can stand and worship with us.

Worship song

Here it is. my alabaster heart. I’m keeping nothing back from who you are. No hidden treasure ever. You’re a lifetime worth of worship and that’s only just the start. Here it is, my every waking day. The minutes, hours, the years of endless praise for your worthy far beyond our lifetime worth of worship in the nuance of your names.

So let it rise like incense. My whole life a fragrance. Every ounce here broken at your feet. Every breath and offering my heart cries. These long sing over you my worthy king of kings. Oh. Oh, there it is. Your Alabama cross. Giving all you are for all I’m not. I can’t believe that’s the kind of king you are. How could I not bring a life somewhere a worship to you God?

So let it rise like incense. My whole life a fragrance every ounce here broken at your feet. Let every breath and offering my heart cries these sing over you. My worthy king of kings. You’re worthy of it all. You’re worthy of it all. All of us. You’re worthy of it all. Everything we have to give.

Oh, you sing. All my love. All my love. Oh my love. All my love. You can have it all. All my love. All my love. All my love. You can have it all. All my heart and all my soul and all. You can have it all. All my heart and all my soul. Oh my. You sing it to him. Oh my love. Oh my love. Oh my love. Oh my. You can have it all. Oh my love. Oh my love. Oh my love. You can have it all. Oh my heart. All my soul, all I know, you can have it all. All my heart, all my soul, all you can have it all. You can have it all. Oh, you can have it all. Everything you can have it all. Every voice sing.

Let it rise. So let it rise like incense. My whole life a fragrance. Every house here broken at your feet. Every bre and offering my heart cries this long sing over you my worthy king of kings. Let my hallelujah be a heart surrender. Let my whole life sing how I love you. I love you and my words fall short and I have nothing more. Let my whole life sing how I love you. I love you.

Let my heartal be a heart surrender. Let my whole life sing how I love you. I love you when my words fall short and I have nothing more. Let my whole life see how you can have it all so you can have all my moments, all my days. I give you all my worship. Jesus, you can have all my moments. All my days, I give you all my worship. Jesus, let my heart be a heart. in my heart. See how I love you. I love you. If my words fall short and I have Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Jesus. You can I give you all my Jesus. You can have all my moments, all my days. I give you all my worship. Jesus, you can have all my all my days. I give you all my worship. Jesus,

Closing announcements

I so grateful to be here with you today. Want to remind you of a couple things. It’s our mission here at Ethos. We exist to love God, love people, awaken a movement.

Um, two quick things with that. Hey, a lot of our kids volunteers are out this summer because of traveling or because they’re college students and they’re away. And we’re asking that if you’re a parent or if if you’re interested in serving, you’re able to serve, that we’re looking to to ask parents to serve three times between now and September. And so if if you can help us in this way, we’d love for you to sign up to do that. ethosurch.org/ org/volunteer.

Second thing, no prayer gathering tonight. Invite you to to enjoy time with your fathers if you’re able to. Um, enjoy time in community tonight. No prayer gathering. We’ll be back next Sunday.

Prayer for William

Hey, if you could help us get ready for the 11 here in just a minute, I’m going to invite you to to straighten up, throw your trash away, but before we do that, I want to pray. I want to pray a blessing over us. And then one quick thing, if you guys know William, William’s a part of our church family. William is having open heart surgery this week. And so, I invite you. William sits up here to my left. And so I invite you before we dismiss just to close your eyes, just to extend your hands specifically over this part of the room. We’re going to pray over William.

And so Lord, we’re grateful for today for the opportunity to gather to worship you. Lord, would you send us into this week to be your people to fully reflect you in every way, God? Thank you for this morning, for our time in your presence. God, thank you for every person in this room and God, the things that that are that they’re wrestling with. God, would you help them? God, specifically for William. We ask for a su a successful surgery. God, we ask that you would um just let him make a full recovery. We’re grateful for who he is. God, we love you. We’re grateful for your son, Jesus, who gave it all for us. In your name we pray. Amen.

You guys have a great Sunday. We’ll see you here next week.