An Investment Strategy That’s Recession Proof

Today, we're going to sit down with Jesus as an investment banker, and he's going to give us a strategy for not storing up treasures for ourself today, but how should we store up an investment strategy that is recession proof in the world for tomorrow? You're not going to want to miss this. Welcome to the Forgotten Jesus Podcast. I'm your host, Adam French, here with Pastor Robbie Gallaty and Candy. We've got a room full this morning. We've got some... We do. We've got some guests. Well, we've got... The whole church is full today, right? The whole church is full. The whole church is full. We've got a LifeWay Women's Conference in. No, no. Another kind of Kerygma Conference. Oh, it's Kerygma. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Scratch that. Lisa Harper and different scholars and teachers and leaders around the country. So, it's a women's conference, but really high quality speakers and teachers. So, the first time we're hosting this here, so. Sweet. Candy and I just got back from arguably the worst plane flight. I won't say this lightly because we have had a... I've had a lot of plane... Robert and I have had our share of rough plane flights. This one took the cake, and I knew we were in trouble when we were trying to beat the hail storm bottom falling out in Dallas, Texas at 540. And we were supposed to take off at five, and they literally were shutting the airport down at 540. We got out at 520, and I was excited, but it was short-lived because then I realized, wait a minute, we got to fly through this stuff that we just tried to get off the ground from. And what made the flight so bad, Candy will tell you.

So, it was normally an hour and 15 minutes from Dallas to Nashville, right? Wheels up to Wheelsdale. The pilot gets on, he says, hey, because of the storm, they've directed us to Ohio. So, we're going to go up to Ohio and then back down. So, we're going to be on the plane one hour more. I don't know what that did because that didn't erase anything. We were in turbulence, you can ask Candy, how long? The whole time. The whole time, Vivian. That's what was the problem. It was like being in a boxing match where you never get a break. It's like, just stop punching me in the face, just for a second. Yeah. You get like 60 seconds, and you'd be like, okay, thank you. Now, there's levels of turbulence. Is this like a, blah, blah, blah, blah, or is this like, brrrr? Okay, this is what I would say. Okay, I will say, if you're grading it on a scale, like, you have low, mid, or high. High, I would say, is somebody's got to be medically treated whenever you land, because it's that bad. That would be high. We would be, we were in the mid-range and could have gone towards the high. It was close for somebody getting hurt. That's how bad it was, like hitting the top or whatever. Oh, yeah, bro, I'm telling you. Low is like a breeze. People streaming like, huh, like stuff like that. Oh, no, the girl next to me, she was praying, and she was just like, and I was sitting across from her, and so I'm looking over at her, and she's just like, oh, Lord, and she's got her hands up,

and she's praying, and she's looking at me. You're like, I'm so glad I'm sitting next to her. And I'm laughing, because she's like, why are you laughing? And I'm just like, it's so like, funny to me, because I'm like, I knew it was turbulence. I didn't think anything major was happening. I was just hoping we weren't going to get hurt, because we were hitting air pockets so bad. And she was just praying the whole time. I mean, you could tell she was having a hard time. But I laugh at weird things anyway. So if I go get an adjustment at the chiropractor, and it's like all these, you know, I laugh, because I think it's kind of funny, you know? It's kind of weird. It's like an uncomfortable laugh. But it's like, I laugh, because I'm like, I can't believe this just happened kind of a thing. But you're like that with pain. I don't do that quite as much with pain, but Robbie laughs when he's in pain. No, I'll give you a pro tip on a flight like that. I learned his lesson. What else am I going to do? I was just laughing. Well, I was watching. OK, so Robert knows this. Every flight I take, there's two things we have to get. I actually told Robbie, by the way. Sorry, hon, not to tell you this. Because of the-

Don't tell Adam. You're going to freak him out. I said, don't tell Adam. I don't know that he listens to you well, because he calls me the first thing he says. The first thing he says. No, I said, can't he tell me not to tell you this? I said, don't tell Adam. He will have a hard time the next time he flies. I don't travel well, by the way. And here we are, we're just telling you all these things, and I'm like, you're never going to fly again. As long as I have Josie. It's like the kid on the show with the blanket. That's her security blanket. I would have told the person, hey, I'm sitting next to her. I'm talking about turbulence. I'd have to sit next to Josie. She's like my- Well, we booked the flight last minute, too, so that's why. But here's the pro tip. So I, Robert, will tell you, every flight I fly, if you fly with me, we go to the store, and I get two things, Robert, for every flight. Tell them what it is. Welch's. Welch's gummies. And? A Coke Zero. A Coke Zero. Every flight, OK? Well, this time, we couldn't eat dinner because we were rushing.

And so I decided to eat a healthy dinner, and that was a bag of Combo's pizza. Oh, shout out. Those are good, by the way. Dude, that's 90s stuff right there. Yeah, so I was- That's once in a while, though. So it was a two and a half hour flight now, because it went from an hour and 15, whatever, and now it's 2.15. So I busted that Combo's bag out, and I'm just popping them one by one. And about halfway through, I started to get a little nauseous, and I thought, I got to put the Combo's up because it's going to be bad. That's not normal stuff, baby. Yeah, the flight attendants did not get up. And my pro tip, and we'll move on is, I ratcheted that seatbelt as tight as I could go, okay? Because I wanted to get locked in. And then I grabbed the strap in my hand and I rode it like a bull. I mean, I was just holding that thing, you know? I was holding that thing and we were gone, baby. We were gone. And the part I thought was bad was when we shift, it was like a side, yeah, it was like a side. Seriously, I wonder what the two guys next to me, they were freaking out too. Like a six-seats guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was looking over the seats and just watching everybody's heads and stuff, you know?

Everybody's just. And then, so the thing I knew we were in trouble was when we had a side crosswind and I'm not making this up, I thought the plane was gonna barrel roll. You just feel it. We flip, I've never been in a plane like this. The whole plane flipped. I thought we were like in the Blue Angels for a second. It was that bad. And that's when I knew the two guys next to me were scared and I found out one of them was in the military. So he's been all over the world. He was really nervous. And my line I use is, I lean over and I said, hey, we're gonna be good. I said, I'm a pastor of a church. It's not my time. And the guy looks over. He's like, are you a pastor? I was like, yes, sir. And then I got to talk to him for 20 minutes to get my mind off of it. Right, just start engaging somebody. And so that was, but anyway, so. All right, but we made it. So we made it. Hate to interrupt the podcast, but hey, if you're enjoying this content, please subscribe now.

Like, share, comment. Get this out to people that might also enjoy it. Let's get back to the podcast. Speaking of investment plan, we almost cashed ours in there. The plane went down. But anyway, no, we did. Matthew 6, 19, we're gonna talk about an investment strategy that is recession-proof. An investment strategy that's recession-proof, Robert. You're gonna like this one. So Candy, can you quote Matthew 6, 19 through 20? We'll do 24. I don't know if we'll get to that today, but. Okay, we'll see how far we get. Don't store it for yourselves. Treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But store it for yourselves, treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Is that it? No, the I is, let's just do up to the I. Oh, the I is the lamp of the body. And if the I is healthy, then your whole body will be full of light. But if the I is dark, then the whole body will be.

Bad. If the I is bad, then the whole body will be full of darkness. And if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness? Whoa, she's still going. No. That's it. No one can serve two masters? Yeah, no, well. Is that it? Okay. Yes, but we don't have time. I don't think we're in a time for that, but we'll stop there. Okay, that's good. This past, thank you, Chris. This passage is about giving, okay? Now we've talked about giving before, but this is talking specifically about investing and storing up treasure. It's not all about money, but it's predominantly about money and possessions and things you desire personally. There was a recent statistic that I think it's 55 or 60% of believers, and this is a recent couple of years ago, but maybe more or less now, but 55, 60% of believers who are born again give nothing to the Lord for the work of ministry.

And most of that comes from a specific age group, okay? There is a study done a while back that I did in my own church previously, and I did it here at Long Hollow, where I would say 70, 75% of the people that go to our church gave nothing early on. Now it's different, because people tend to give more, but I would say on average, you just do this study in your own church. You don't have to know what people give, but you just need to know if they give anything or consistently give. It's staggering. 65, 70% will probably be your church as well. And then the question becomes, what is the reason for that, and who are the culprits for that? And the predominant age group is, guess what age? Let me guess. Okay. 20 to 30? 20 to 30. That doesn't give. They don't give anything. 35% does give. 35% gives. Okay. But I'm talking, they could give $100 or a dollar and be considered givers. Right.

It's the Pareto principle, which is 20% of your people give 80% of the giving of the church, right, basically. But- I've got so much I can say on this topic. Do you know why? The number one reason, I think, why 20 or 30 year olds do not give anything to the church, when I talk about financially or with generosity, why is that? Number one reason, I think. Well, you can't say they're not taught. Why? Well, you just said. Like if you're teaching on it. Like if a pastor, if they're raised in church, then most likely they've been taught the principle of giving. True. Don't you think? But if they haven't been raised in church, or maybe some churches don't talk about it at all. Well, I don't talk about it all the time. I mean, I do preach on it once a year, maybe twice a year, but the main thing is their parents didn't teach them. The parents didn't model it. A pastor can teach you all you want, but if your parents, you know, are believers and they're not, like our home with our boys,

they know, we teach them from. early age, even when they got allowance and stuff, they know everything that comes in 10% off the top to start with goes to the Lord. And we're trying to teach them this biblical principle. So what Jesus is saying is this, why do you why is this important? Because Jesus said you can literally hook up a spiritual EKG monitor to a person's bank account and determine the condition of their heart. I can look at your credit card statement according to Jesus, and see how you store and save and spend. And I can tell you the condition of your heart without telling me anything in the world. Why? Because it's what you spend your money on shows improves what you cherish, what you desire, you know, what you appreciate. So what Jesus is going to give us is two investment strategies. Okay. The first one is, and I knew and I know a little bit about this, because years ago, I took the series seven test to be a stockbroker. I failed it, thank God, and that saved my life. But I was on drugs when I took it sidebar. But thank God I didn't pass the test. But I learned about, you know, stocks and shorts and mutual funds and everything else. So I know a little bit about investing here. So let's take the first one. The first one is a temporal meaning just going to end right now. You can't take it with you a temporal investment strategy. Think of it this way. It's like taking your hard earned money, throwing it out the window as you leave from the bank, just one by one throwing dollars out the window and never see him again. That's in a sense what Jesus is talking about here. And he says don't be foolish by laying up your what? Look what he says in the text. Storing up your treasures on Earth. Laying up your treasures on Earth. Now that word lay up is an interesting word. It's the Greek word thesaurizo, thesaurizo, where we get the English word and then treasure. So watch this, play on words. Lay up is thesaurizo and the word treasure is thesauros, thesauros. Now which comes from the same root word and it sounds like the English word what? Thesaurus. Thesaurus. Is that interesting? I love the word thesaurus. The word treasure. You love the word thesaurus? I probably when I just checked my algorithm, this is kind of embarrassing for like you know how when you check your algorithm and it's like how long have you been on this app you know for the week or whatever. I had been on the thesaurus for eight minutes a day. Now tell them why though. I love the thesaurus. Tell them why. I just like words and I like to like. Well more than that. What what is it? She plays crossword puzzles. Oh no but I don't look my answers up on the thesaurus. I ask you. Oh. If I have a problem I ask you a rig and then I get y'all's help. Anytime I come in the door or from the back or out the bedroom. Hey honey uh a car from the 90s that went out of. What? What is the car

manufacturer from the 90s that went? Baby I don't know what. I just have to write my son. Honey just think. No but I love a thesaurus but I'm so interested. How does this connect to like treasure? So the word thesaurus, thesauros is the English word thesaurus and so literally this is how you transliterate the passage. This is how it reads in English if you do it like this. Treasure not for yourselves. Treasures on earth. Okay so think of it this way. When you go to the bank and you're trying to if you want to cash in a bunch of coins back before they had the machine you dump it in. If you wanted to take a bunch of quarters or nickels and get dollars for it. What did you have to do before the bank would accept it? Do you remember this? Roll it. Well roll it but you have to stack them first and then what? You have to vertically stack them and then you had to put a what? That little sleeve. The little sleeve on top of it and then you had to package them. Yeah. This is the picture of what Jesus is getting at here. It's the idea of hoarding something. It's the idea of a person amassing money to store it away for safekeeping and never to use it for what God's called you to use it for. And the key to this warning is yourselves. That's the key. He's not saying you shouldn't invest but he's saying when you accumulate treasures selfishly for your own sake what he's getting at here is you're missing the meaning of money. Money is not meant just to be stored. It's meant to be stewarded. That's what money's for. I remember Randy Alcorn said this years ago. He said God raises a person's standard of living to raise your standard of giving. That's what money's for. And so what that means is you should always live with an open hand. Now I said it's about money but it could be more than that. There's three categories we could look at. Time because time's a steward issue. Talents which you've been gifted with from the Lord and treasures. We always say time talents and treasures. But in this passage it is specifically about money. Okay so let's take the three things Jesus talks about. He says don't store it for yourselves treasure on earth where what? Moth and rust destroy. Okay moth and rust destroy. In the first century how did a person display their or wealth? Was it driving around in Bentleys with 22s and subwoofers? Was it gold chains and bling on your neck? No. How do you display your wealth in the first century? Is it a good-looking camel that has a nice mane?

No, that's not how it works. Not how it works. How does it work? Clothes. That's it, really. I mean, jewelry, really, but clothes. Garments back then were considered investments, back in the early first century and beyond. Kind of like they are today. Depends on where you go. I mean, certain clothes can be certain. Jordans can be value. But the rich would line their clothes with something extra to just show off, kind of like bling today. They would weave gold thread, or gold yarn, or whatever it was, into the fabric, or purple. Remember, purple was a big deal. Purple symbolized royalty or importance. And they would do it down the side. And the garments were all made of wool. Moths, back then, like today, moths love what? Wool. Wool. A moth, inside of a wardrobe of wool, can destroy the whole wardrobe. An Ann Taylor loft outfit, or a Joseph A. Banks suit, buy one get two free suit sale, can be destroyed in the blink of an eye by a moth. And so what Jesus says is, the rich had a difficult time keeping clothes,

because they would get eaten. And Jesus uses that mindset to say, don't put all your eggs in the garment basket. Because just like the moth will get in, something will get in and destroy it. The second is rust. Now, rust is an interesting one, because back then, the homes were not built with metal. There weren't skyscrapers like today. So this is a mistranslation of the word. I think the reason we still have the word is because people just are so used to it from the King James. But why rust? What does rust mean? Why rust? They didn't really have a lot of metal corroding back then. They didn't have cars, and bikes, and motorcycles. So what was rust? Take a guess. What does the word rust mean? I hate to interrupt the podcast, but I want to tell you about a resource that I have. It's called Mandinity, Healing the Wounded Man. It's really a workbook. It's kind of a read, highlight, respond. And it's for people that have had trauma or had any kind of struggle in your life. You can read through this book and learn how the biblical truths can transform you from the inside out.

Let's get back to the podcast. And rust destroys. What does that mean? You tell us. OK. It means to consume or to eat, like to eat away or consume or to take away. Rust makes you think of bare metal left in the rain, but that's not what Jesus is talking about. It has more to do with food storage. That's what he's talking about here. It's interesting. Romans 14.7 is a perfect cross-reference. Go to Romans 14.7, Candy. And I want you to read what he's talking about here. Because Jesus makes this. There is no Romans. 14.7. 14.17. Sorry, 14.17. It has to do with food or things you eat. And by the way, remember back then, you didn't have large industrial freezers and refrigerators. You had to preserve your food during the winter with salt and preservatives. So watch this. 14.17. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. OK, so the idea here is of the eating

and drinking of the food. The meaning is about grain that was stored by farmers to protect against insects, or worms would come in, or rats would eat, or mice would steal. And so it was a constant battle. And so Jesus says, you guys know. First of all, you know how clothes work. You don't put all your stock in clothes. Don't put all your stock in food. Finally, thieves. This is the great equalizer. You can do your best to keep the crops stored. You can do your best to keep moths out. But you can't prevent a thief from coming into your house and stealing. And in the first century, they didn't have safes, right? You've got to put yourself back in their context. So we're going back to the original context. So where would they store their treasures? Where would they store them? Like in an urn or something? They didn't have secret compartments in the wall. Where would they store them? Like an urn. Or an urn. Well, I mean, maybe. But where's the main place? Robert, where was the main security place for treasure? Under your pillow. No, that's a good question.

Did they have a pillow? I don't know if they had pillows back then. Or just hidden in the house. Hidden in the house. That's one option. Chris, you got an answer. Chris got one answer. I feel like because later in the passage, it says birds don't gather into barns. Or like storehouses for crops and stuff. Look at you. That's where I go. That's not it, but that's a great guess, Chris. That was a great guess. No, but that's part of it. It's gotta be a place you store. The barns has to do with the second one, with the food. That's the barn houses. The guy who built, you know, remember Jesus said the guy, the guy built this big barn. and now I'm gonna, you know, and he's like, that's gonna be gone. It actually is in the ground. They buried treasure in the ground. That makes sense. Now, this will give you a more, a closer example. I was watching something on the History Channel a while back, we were talking about the Knights Templar when they came over, you know, the big Oak Island thing. People noticed from Oak Island,

but they buried their treasure in the ground. So they came over from Britain and Europe, they buried it in the ground and went back. So what Jesus is saying, though, but Jesus gives an example of this. Go to Matthew 13, 44, read this parable of Jesus, the kingdom of heaven, and we see this, because this is what he says. The kingdom of heaven, Matthew 13, 44, is like a treasure that is what? Let me see. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure buried in a field. Buried in a what? A field. A field, in the ground. That a man found and reburied. Then in his joy, he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. Okay, so let's clarify some words. When Jesus says, don't sorb your treasure on earth, where thieves steal, that means to take without permission, and break in does not mean, so again, these are words that are translated in English that help us understand, but we missed the concept. Break in literally means, in Greek, that the word means to dig through. It's the idea, remember the four friends that brought their friend to Jesus, they couldn't get in? Unroof the roof. And they literally unroofed the roof. They dug up the roof.

That's literally the word here, and the Greek word, the Greek name for burglar, back in that day, was wall digger. Wow. They dig through the mud of the wall. Okay, now here's what Jesus is saying, and technology helps us here. Jesus is saying, nobody goes to the Apple Store today, and I think the iPad Air just came out, the new Air, but then I think they're releasing a new iPad Air, or a new, yeah, new iPad in the next few weeks. Nobody goes, let's say it's the iPad 6. Nobody goes to Apple and says, hey, listen, I know we got the new iPad 6 coming out. I wanna see, do y'all have the 2010 iPad 1 model for sale? Anybody have that old? Nobody does that. eBay. Yeah, eBay. But then you buy it off eBay to do what with it? Not to use it, to collect it. There's a reason it's called a collection, because it collects dust, and it depreciates in value. So, what Jesus is saying is, do not, you would never invest in something like that in the technological world. Why would you put your spiritual life, all your eggs in that temporal basket? Do not invest your life in something that can be destroyed, or lost, or taken away.

So then he flips it, and he says, invest in what? Do not invest from off of a store, but store for yourselves treasures where? In heaven. For where your treasure is what? There your heart is also. Okay, what Jesus is basically saying here is, I'm going to give you an investment strategy that's going to outlast you. Everything prior to this is going to be over the moment you die. And I don't know where you are, but think about what you're investing in now. What he's saying is, it's almost like Jesus is sitting down as an investment banker with the disciples. All right boys, come on in. Let me give you some free investing advice. And what he's saying is, don't make a poor investment. Stop investing your time, your talents, your money, your possessions, and temporal fleeting things. Stop making dumb decisions with money. Stop making decisions of things that are going to fade away and fall away. You need to think with eternity in mind. John Wesley said, I value all things, only by the price they shall gain me in eternity. John Wesley. David Livingstone, the missionary. I place no value on anything I possessed, except in relation to the kingdom of God.

If you know the missionary, Jim Elliott, Jim Elliott died trying to take the gospel to the Wai'odani people, Ecuador. And Candy and I had the privilege of meeting Steve Saint. I mean, Nate Saint. No, Steve Saint, sorry. Nate's the dad who was Jim Elliott and friends with them. We got to meet Steve Saint, who after his dad, Jim Elliott, and the other three guys died on that plane, they went back after they died. This tribe that was never seen an outside person killed them when they landed. They tried to take the gospel to them. Well, the mom, Elizabeth Elliott, Steve Saint, his mom, they went back to reach these men and women, and the tribe actually, the entire tribe converted to Christianity, and the man who killed his father became like a grandfather to him, which is a great God story. But anyway, they recovered Jim Elliott's diary. If you haven't seen the movie, Through the Gates of Splendor, unbelievable. Must watch. Chris, if you hadn't seen that movie, have you seen that movie? Through the Gates of Splendor's the book. I think the movie is. The end of the spear. Or end of the spear, end of the spear, that's it.

End of the spear. Through the Glades of Splendor is the book. But Jim Elliot has a line, and it's a famous line. He says, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. So good. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Elliot was passionate about treasures and possessions and things he had, but he wanted a treasure that would last longer than his lifetime. And he wanted a treasure, in a sense, that was recession-proof. I heard one pastor say one time, our generosity is not only for God's glory, not only for others' good, but also for our good. So you gotta think, it's not like, oh, I'm gonna give everything away, I'm not gonna be excited. No, this is actually a plan for you to be faithful to give. Now, let's talk, so that's the background. Well, let's talk about giving. For most people listening, like we said, if you're in the majority, you either don't give a lot or you don't give anything to the local church you're a part of, and I would say God's plan A, all through scripture, is what? The nonprofit world. No, no. And Adam and I both have nonprofits.

Yes, nonprofits are great. But the plan A for the world, to get the message out, nonprofits will come and go, they always have. But the church of Jesus Christ will be here forever. So the way I look at it is this, would you ever go to the Chinese restaurant, let's say, in town, let's say you love this Chinese restaurant, it's kind of a funny story, but you love the Chinese restaurant and you've been there for years, but, and you've been there forever, but there's a Thai restaurant down the street that's about to close the doors and it's failing, and they need your help. But you go to the Chinese restaurant, you eat a nice meal with your family, you love it, high end, it's a high end Chinese restaurant, by the way, high end. So you love it. Candy's laughing because she doesn't like any Chinese restaurant, but P.F. Chang's made it, P.F. Chang's here. I just like to make my Chinese food. Okay. So you eat this, Chris, you like Chinese food? I love your Chinese food. I do like it. It's just like, I want it to be healthy, so I'm a-

So you finish the meal, you have this big meal, your whole family's there, and you're like, hey man, we love the food here, but I know y'all don't need the money. I'm going to go help the Thai restaurant down the street because they need, I mean, they really need help and they need help. Would you ever do that? No, you couldn't do that. Why? Because you would never eat a meal or be fed by one restaurant and then fund or pay, or better yet, pay none of them. Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the meal. No, you pay, in a sense, in response for the services or the investment rendered through the meal. That's good. Listen to me. If you go to a local church and you're being fed spiritual manna, which is light years, infinitely greater than physical food, which will come and go, you should have this, at least this desire to give back something to, if your kids are benefiting from student ministry,

if your family has benefited from Celebrate Recovery or incarcerate, you know, it blows us away, and Vivian will tell you, Robert will tell you, and you know this, the amount of people in our incarceration ministry through the Pando app, and if you're listening, and those who are through our local jails and prisons, the amount of people, Chris, that send tithe checks, or just checks in general, there's a lady in Florida who sends, once a month, a $40 check to Long Hollow once a month, and she said, hey, you, with the podcast and your sermons at Long Hollow, you've blessed me, I wanna give back, out of her commissary. $40. You know what that, put that in perspective. This is a woman who has never, and probably will never, stepped foot on the campus of Hendersonville, Long Hollow, or Gallatin, and yet, she sends money more than 65, 70% of the people who call Long Hollow home.

Let that sink in for a moment. Some of them send, like, pennies, like 30 cent, like, 30 cent, whatever. It's interesting about this, every time, this whole time you've been talking, I just think about how, one, the enemy is, because this is all about value, what we value, and that's connected to what we think, our passions, our actions, everything we do is connected to what we find worth in, what we find value in, right? And so, the enemy attacks that value system, and God comes, Jesus is coming right at the very thing, and contradicts everything the world says. The world says, this is what, actually, you should be putting your thoughts, your energy, your actions in. This is what is valuable. And Jesus is saying,

you got the math wrong. Like, this is, and I think that's when you, when you asked that question earlier, I was thinking about those who are under the age of 40, whatever, and the reason is, is because they don't see the value in it. Even if their parents taught them, at some point, you have to own your own faith. Correct. So we don't see the value in tithing. You don't see the value in generosity. When, you know this too, like in our D group we had last year, very, very successful person. We're going around telling testimonies. The most successful person in the room financially. And he starts off his testimony with what? Just learned to be generous at an early age. We're all like, what? Like, no, no. And we're sitting in his, in a very, you know, like I said, nice place, nice home, nice off land. And he goes on to share the story of how he got to where he is. And all he talked about was tithing and giving and generosity from the very beginning. And they just don't, that's what I'm saying. So, you know, I think that we can, there's a difference

between like understanding a definition or understanding something intellectually and then putting it into practice and seeing the results. And so somehow, you know, that's maybe a way that we can improve as a church body. We got to start showing our young people early on. Hey, why don't you try this? Like when somebody first comes into recovery, what we tell them when they don't know the Lord, we say, well, just start praying. Just try it out. See if that works. And we're okay with that because we know that's going to work. Yeah. Well, so whenever I got saved, so I obviously made a profession of faith when I was young, but I really don't feel like I understood the gospel till I was almost 21. And, you know, I was raised in a church that, you know, taught the principle of tithing. I don't know how much like my parents, I wouldn't say they were regular givers. I don't even know what their giving would have looked like because we didn't like talk about it. But when I got saved, I knew that I should give to the Lord, right? And so for me, it was, I'm going to start doing this as just a single woman who's working and going to school. I'm going to start tithing because one,

I wanted to be obedient to that principle. And two, I wanted it to be a form of worship. And in a way that I was like really putting God first in that area of my life. And so this is a funny story, but when I met Robbie, I didn't have many things on the list that were deal breakers for me, but tithing was one of them. Well, and the Lord promised her, if you tithe, I'm going to send you a guy who's established, has a lot of money, no debt. No, no, no. It was a little opposite of that, honey. He's going to have a lot of debt. He's going to be an itinerant broke preacher. He's going to be a full-time. Yeah, but there was a couple of things like I really, I needed for the person that I was going to be with. And I was like, if he is, I'm like, Lord, if he's not a tither, we're in trouble. Because I knew if he, I was so tired of dating guys who were Christian, but then wouldn't go to church on Easter Sunday. And I'm like, you have lost your marbles. Like, no. And so I was like, I was tired of playing. And I was like, if this person is serious and he loves the Lord, then he will give to the Lord. And thank heavens. When I asked Robbie that question.

David Platt had just taught me not long ago. So it wasn't very long. I was like, are you? So David Platt, we gotta give thanks to David. I'm married to the David. Thank you, David. I know you're legit if you give to God. Because I was not. So that was the litmus test. That was the litmus test. She was testing you. Oh yeah, that was it. And I was like, because I'm not. She's like, do you tithe? No, she's like. I wasn't going to argue. I didn't worry about that testimony. I'm a former drug guy. I'm not worried about all that. I'm giving to the Lord. That's a money shot there, baby. Oh, it is, the money shot. It was really important to me because I was like, I'm not going to argue about my money with the person that I'm going to end up with. I'm giving to the Lord. It's kind of like, you know, how are you going to raise your kids? You know, you have these conversations, hopefully. And I was like, this is not, this is a non-negotiable.

And so we learned, I learned, and then obviously, thank you, Lord. He learned, this was never an argument. This was, this is what we do. Never been a question every single week of our life since we've been together and before that. And it is such a tangible way to, like I said, be obedient and then worship the Lord through that, like trusting God through that, you know, all the things that come along with realizing you have no control and what you have is actually not yours in the first place, right? And like learning that and then staying committed to that. And obviously like we teach the boys that. And I remember somebody told us years ago, if you don't want the Lord involved in your health insurance, let's say, then you pay your health insurance bill first. Yeah, pay that first. If you don't want the Lord in charge of your- Protecting your kids driving, then you pay your own. Pay it and then God will save you. So like, it's like, we pay all these bills and we do all these things first because we think we're like taking care of ourselves and we're being responsible partly. But then it's like, if you don't want the Lord involved in all of those things, then do all of those things first and then you give God what's left over.

And then we're like, no, that's not how it works. You give God first, you give God best, and then you allow him to work through that process. And Robbie and I used to kind of maybe argue a little bit. about this a little bit, because I was always like, when someone would come to me and they don't give, let's say, they don't practice this. And I'm like, 10%, right off the top, go. And he's like, no, not everybody can do that. And I'm like, oh, yes you can. I'm like, the Lord will bless you. You have to trust. And so Robbie was like, you gotta have people like, you gotta have them start at like 3% or whatever, or start at 5%, and I'm like, nope, 10%, let's go. Kenny's legalistic, fundamental, King James, old school, man. We would like kind of argue about it. So I actually have scaled back, and I'm like, listen. She's a little more gracious. She was law, I was grace. I'm like, every person, if you give nothing, you need to go have a conversation with the Lord and let the Lord tell you what to do. Maybe the Lord says, I want you to start with $10 in the plate. I want you to start, whatever. I don't know what God's gonna tell you. I know what he told me back then, and this was before I was married, it was before I had all these bills.

So I was laying a foundation from the start. But if you're like 20, 30 years into your Christian journey and you've never done that before, yes, it could be a big step. And so you have to pray and say, God, what am I supposed to do here? Like, you show me how to do this, you know? And whatever he tells you, that's what you have to obey. Yeah, you know, the joke in the church is the last thing to get baptized in a Christian's life is his wallet. Ooh. We know it's crazy. I'll surrender everything, Lord, but not that. Hell yeah, you know what's wild about what you said is, it's still today, statistically, it's getting close for infidelity, but what's the number one cause of divorce? Money. Finances. And you were talking about how you guys, I thought you were gonna say Facebook. Probably Facebook. Facebook, yeah. But no, finances is still, I think infidelity's right there. Number one cause of frights, for sure. Yeah, so, well, divorce, they say it's over finances. Yeah, well, here's the thing, too. That makes sense.

And that while we're talking about what you value and then there's a struggle there, and if you don't have that in the beginning, like you said, first thing is, hey, all of our money is the Lord's. Yes. And then everything else falls from there. That's the main thing. I think people think they're owners and not stewards, and that's the big thing. They think it's my job, it's my education, it's my upbringing, it's my hard work, it's my college degree. All right, well, let's back that up, because here's how I look at it. If you're listening, did you choose the parents you were born into? No. Yeah, no choice. Okay, did you choose the country you were raised in? No. Did you choose the elementary school you were brought? No, the high school. No, you didn't choose any of that. Did you choose from God? No, I think I'll take this skill and that gift. No, you didn't choose anything. So once you start looking at life as everything that you have has been given to you as a gift to steward,

and you give back and trust the Lord. See, the issue with finances is about control. Candy hit the nail on the head. When you say, because when you're saying to God, I'm not gonna trust you financially, you're saying to God, I don't need your help, I've got this under control. And you're saying, this isn't yours, this is mine. Right. That's what you're saying. Well, you can control your life until we know it becomes uncontrollable and unmanageable. And at that time we cry out to Lord, I need your help. And God's like, wait a minute, you didn't want my help before. And you, that's in a sense how I look at it. Now, a lot of people listen and say, well, wait a minute, are you saying we have to give 10% a tithe? Are you saying us as New Testament Christians are under the 10% tithe? Hear me clearly. The answer is no. No. I wrote a whole commentary. I wrote a commentary about this on Malachi. The New Testament Christian is not under obligation or law to tithe. Why? Because we're not under the obligation of the law

as New Testament Christians. However, however, if the Old Testament saints who were under the law were expected to give 10%, how much more should we as New Testament born-again, blood-bought believers, spirit-filled, how much more should we give to God? Should we give less than the law, those of us who are filled by grace? And the answer is no. So I tell people 10%, God's not gonna send you to hell for not giving 10%, but God says, why don't you start at 10%? Here's the way I think of it. 10%, 10% of your income, net or gross. I tell people whatever, the rule at our house is whatever we bring in, now, we give more than 10, and we've tried to raise it every couple years for 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, I mean, anyway, the point is, you just wanna raise the point. So the point is, you wanna keep raising it, and you say, our policy, anything that comes in goes out, right? So if you get, somebody gives you $1,000 check for speaking or whatever, $100 is going out before everything, okay? So that's how we look at it. But here's how you gotta think of it. 10% is the training wheels, that's where you start. Now, in the Old Testament, people don't know this,

a lot of people don't know this, guess how much the Old Testament saints were required when you take all of the expectations financially on the nation? People don't know this, it's not 10%. Wasn't it 18? Close, 23%, 23% when you take the drachma tax and you take these other taxes. And so what I try to say is, grace supersedes the law because grace always expects more from you as a person. Jesus said, you've heard it say, don't commit adultery, but I say, don't even look at a woman with lust. He raises the bar. That's grace. Jesus said, don't kill or murder. That's the law. But I say, don't even call a person fool. He raises the bar, right? Expectation. So go ahead. No, I was just going to say there, there's a trust factor here in that, you know what I mean? In this whole giving conversation. And we've said it earlier, but it's like, you, you have to practice and grow the trust muscle when you're giving, because a lot of people would say, well, I live paycheck to paycheck, or, you know, they look at it and logically it's just not going to make sense or whatever. And it's kind of like someone who says they don't have time to read the word or whatever. And you're like, if you have all the time in the world, or if you have no time in the world, you better be in the word or we have a serious problem. It's the same principle with giving. Okay. And it's like, if you have all the money in the world, if you have very limited money in the world, you better start giving somewhere, somehow, if you want the Lord to honor your obedience in that. And so obviously when we got married and all, we, we, we didn't have hardly anything, you know, I mean, we were very new couple, like every new couple that starts out, you don't have a lot of money, but we knew we wanted to give. And then literally nine months into our marriage, eight months into our marriage, we lose everything we own in Hurricane Katrina. It was, it's as if you walked into your house today and everything under the roof of your house is gone. Everything, your closet full of clothes, your pajamas, your jewelry, everything. We literally left the house that day with one vehicle, our little dog and a weekend bag that we had packed because we were each. Okay. Before you go, okay. Hold on. Cause I want to, I want to, I want to catch this up in

its entirety, but we're going to leave them with a cliffhanger for the next episode. Cause I want, I want, I don't want to go. Cause this there's a lot here. I want to unpack and I don't want to miss it. So we're going to leave you hanging on by thread because next week we're going to talk about the eye is the lamp of the body. And the only way to understand that is to put the words back into their Hebraic context without you miss it. You just think healthy. That's a good looking eye. That's like an ophthalmologist. That's a great looking. That's a bad looking. That's not what he said. It actually, I'll give you a hint. It actually has to do with generosity. And so we'll catch that next week. So Adam will fix it. We'll put a comma there. Pause there. Come back. Yeah. Love it. Thank you so much for tuning in and listen, if you're enjoying this content, could you share it with someone also subscribing, liking comment helps this content get out to people that want to know more about Forgotten Jesus.