Can I Speak to the Manager I Robert Madu I Social Dallas

Hey everyone, before we jump into today's message, we wanted to take just a moment and personally thank you for being a part of our Social Global family. Yes, we are standing in the future home of Social Dallas. Demolition has officially started and every day we're getting closer to making the space a place where thousands of people will encounter Jesus for years to come. And if these messages have encouraged you, strengthened your faith, or helped you grow in any way, would you partner with us? Your generosity helps us continue sharing messages like the one you're about to watch and helps us build a permanent home where lives will be changed forever. To support the Almost Home campaign, visit socialdallas.com slash give and select Almost Home in the giving options. Or you can text the word give to 469-715-3755. Whether it's a one-time gift or becoming a recurring partner, every gift makes impact and every dollar moves dirt. Thank you for believing in what God is doing through Social Dallas. Here's today's message. Are you glad to be in God's house today? Are you thankful for His presence that is in the room? I just believe that God is gonna do something absolutely amazing today. And come on, half the battle is won. You showed up. You showed up. And I'm so glad that you're here. I want to thank God for our Social Global family that's watching from around the world. Social Global, we love you. And everybody watching on the Pando app right now, our brothers and sisters, we love you. Today's gonna be a good day. In fact, elbow the person next to you. Say, today's gonna be good. Today's gonna be good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell them, I got confident trust it's gonna be good. Yeah, yeah. That that is our word for 2026. If you're new to social, we have a word for every year. Our word for this year is trust. Not regular trust. Confident trust in the Lord. And we remind ourselves with the Word of God every single week. And we're gonna do that again today. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 35 through 37. We're gonna read it as a family with uplifted, caffeinated voices. Come on, y'all ready? Because you ain't gonna go till I say, you're good. Y'all been paying attention. So, remember,

for just a little while, the coming one will come and not delay. You believe the coming one is coming? I believe it. I'm ready. Remain standing. We're gonna jump into our word for today. Last week, I kicked off a brand new series called Trust Issues. I'm excited about it. If you remember last week, I already diagnosed all of us. I told you, we all have trust issues. We all have trust issues. Because ultimately, life is about this question right here. Will you trust God or not? Will you trust God? And everything in your life, the issue underneath the issue is a trust issue. So, every single week through the Word of God, we're gonna let the Word of God, hear me, expose where our trust really is. Because your trust is somewhere. The question is, is it in the Lord? And so, let's look at Luke chapter 16 today. Luke 16. I want to look at verses 1 through 4, and then we're gonna jump down to verses 10 through 15. The gospel according to Luke chapter 16. If you're ready to read it, say yeah. If you still looking for Luke, say hold up. I heard you up there. I ain't judging. I'm gonna wait for you. It says, Jesus told his disciples, there was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So, he called the men and asked him, what is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer. Your brother about to get fired. The manager said to himself, what shall I do now? My master has taken away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg. I know what I'll do so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses. Let's jump down to verse 10. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy

with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? 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 money. The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, you are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others. But God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight. Yee, can you say amen? Amen. That is good stuff. It's really good. I wanna tag a title to this text today and speak to you from this thought. Can I speak to the manager? Can I speak to the manager? Do me a favor. Look at your neighbor, get in their face. Get in their face like something just went wrong. Get in their face and just say, neighbor. I wanna know. Can I speak to the manager? Just in case that neighbor was bougie, find another neighbor, find another neighbor. Come on, say other neighbor. I really wanna know.

Can I speak to the manager? If you believe God's gonna preach and speak today, give him some praise up in here. Father, have your way. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Can I speak to the manager? Social fam, my title today is brought to you by my childhood. I often told you that growing up with a Nigerian father is different. It's just different. You have to learn to live with certain phrases when your daddy is Nigerian. A phrase is like, when I was your age. A phrase is like, I promise you, God is my witness. A phrase is like my personal favorite, okay, we will see. And then there's another phrase that I would hear a lot when we were out somewhere and something was not going right either at a restaurant or a department store. And not immediately, my dad would give you a chance to explain the problem and then you give him an answer. And then he'd explain the problem again and you give him the same answer. And then there would come the inevitable moment where I knew the conversation was over and we were gonna be there a while because he would look at you right in your face and say, okay, can I speak to the manager? I'm just curious today, since we're in church and you should tell the truth and not lie,

how many of you have ever asked to speak to a manager or a supervisor before? Look at all these hands. The spirit of Karen is alive and well. Oh, that's a lot of hands, that's a lot of hands. And what is interesting and perhaps problematic is nobody ever asked to speak to a manager when everything is going right. Have you noticed this? You've never finished a meal and looked at your waiter and said, hey, I need to speak to the manager and the manager comes over and you say, hey, I just wanna let you know that was the best steak I've ever had and this service was impeccable. Nobody ever does that. We only call for the manager when something went wrong, when something is off. We call for the manager when there was a gap between what we were experiencing and what our expectation was and the information that has been given to us will not suffice and so you need to speak to somebody that can not only reconcile the situation but you would like to be compensated for your inconvenience. That's when we wanna speak to the manager. And it's funny because if you think about it, asking for the manager is a trust issue. It means somewhere in this interaction, I've stopped believing that the person in front of me

has enough authority to fix what is wrong. I don't mean you're a bad person. It means I just need to speak to somebody that is above you, that has the power. to change the situation. And that's when you ask to speak to a manager. How many know, it's one thing for a customer to ask to speak to a manager. It's a whole nother thing when the owner walks in and says, I need to speak to the manager. My name is on the front of the building. I wanna speak to the manager. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the tone of our text today in Luke chapter 16, verse one. Because Jesus tells a story about an owner that asked to speak to his manager. I want you to look at it, Luke 16, verse one. It says, Jesus told his disciples, told his disciples this story. There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. Before we go any further in this text today, I need you to see who Jesus is telling this story to. Please don't miss this. He's telling this story to who? His disciples. That is who Jesus is talking to. Anytime Jesus is telling a story, if you don't know who he is talking to, you are gonna miss the story altogether.

You have to know who is he talking to. Jesus is talking to his disciples. Now, he is letting the crowd and his haters, the Pharisees, eavesdrop on the conversation, but this conversation right here is a discipleship conversation. It is not a crowd conversation. It's a discipleship conversation. Let the church say discipleship. Say it with your chest, say discipleship. Yeah, that's a buzzword today, isn't it, in our contemporary society? Because many are the believers who I've heard today say, I don't know if I can stay here. I'm not being discipled. I don't know if I'm being discipled here, to which I always ask the question, what do you mean by discipleship? Because I'm shocked to find out for many people, discipleship to them is a class or a six-week course that they are expecting the church to offer, and that's what they mean by discipleship. And hear me, don't get me wrong, I'm all for classes, I'm all for six-week courses. I love a good workbook that has a fill-in-the-blank section. All of that is wonderful, but let's not get it twisted. Discipleship is not a class you attend. Discipleship is a life you surrender. Oh, ain't nobody gonna say amen right there.

Please do not think that discipleship is something that's gonna happen in a six-week course or in three months or three sessions. Discipleship is something that you do your entire life. Discipleship is waking up every single day, and saying, Jesus, teach me how to think. Teach me how to live. Teach me how to love. Teach me how to forgive. Teach me how to handle what you've put in my hands. Because a disciple is not somebody who just learns information about Jesus. A disciple is somebody who has rearranged their entire life around Jesus. Yeah, if you need a metaphor. Discipleship is not inviting Jesus into a room of your house. Discipleship, ooh, is not even just giving him the key to your house, because if it's still your house, you can change the locks. Discipleship is when you walk down to the courthouse and say, take my name off the deed and put his name on it. Jesus is the rightful owner. That is discipleship. It's taking your name off the deed, putting Jesus' name on it, saying, my life is yours. My body is yours. My relationships are yours. My ambition is yours.

My future is yours. My resources are yours. Everything I am and everything I have, it belongs to you. And how many of you know, if Jesus' name is on the deed, ooh, he don't need permission to walk in any room. Matter of fact, you can tell him, I really wanna change the color on this wall, and he'd be like, yeah, I'm actually gonna knock that wall down. That is discipleship. And it's only when you understand discipleship like that, does Luke 16 start making sense to you. Jesus tells a story about a wealthy man who entrusts the management of his possessions to somebody else, a manager. So the two main characters in the story are an owner and a manager. We got an owner and a manager. Don't miss this. That relationship can only exist where there is trust. The owner is demonstrating trust when he puts what belongs to him into the hands of somebody else. The manager demonstrates. He's trustworthiness by what he does with what has been entrusted to him, especially when the owner is not physically present. Come on, somebody. Anybody can be a good steward if your boss is looking over your shoulder.

Anybody's gonna show up time if you know the boss has called an emergency meeting that day. It's what you do when the owner is not physically present that proves whether you are a good steward. Management is proven when I've been entrusted with something and I have the freedom to decide what I'm gonna do with it. So the owner's saying, I'm putting what belongs to me into the hands of you, and I'm trusting that you will handle it well. That is stewardship. That is management. And apparently, this manager in Luke 16 forgot something very important, that just because something is in your hands doesn't mean it belongs to you. Just because something is in your hands, it does not mean it belongs to you. Because the text says, word gets back to the owner that this manager has been wasting his possessions. Not the manager's possessions, the owner's possessions. We read in the text, he says, what's this I hear about you? Give an account for your management. In other words, bruh, what you been doing with what I gave you? Now, I hope you are getting the picture that Jesus is painting in this story today. Because if there's one thing

that the Bible makes abundantly clear, God is an owner. God is an owner. I know, because some of y'all got confused in the story. You're like, who's the owner and who's the manager? Am I the owner? Because I just got a few rental properties and some things are popping off of me. Let's just make it clear. God is the owner. He has always been an owner. He will always be an owner. God is not your manager. Ooh, this is messing up some of y'all. He is not your manager. He is an owner. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Everything that dwells in it belongs to God. He is not somebody that you just give him your script and say, produce this movie. No, he is the owner. Heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. Everything in your life belongs to him. You did not pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. It was God that sustained you. It was God that woke you up. It was God that gave you the intellect. It was God that gave you the gifting. It was God that put the breath in your body. It was God that kept your heart beating last night.

It was God that gave you the talent. It was God that gave you every single thing that you have in your life. He is God and beside him, there is no other. Let's be clear, he is the omnipotent, omniscient, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing owner of everything. Don't get it twisted. Just because it's in your hands doesn't mean it belongs to you. He is the owner. Look at somebody next to you and say, you know he's the owner, right? Tell him, he is the owner. And if he is the owner, then that means, I have to come to terms with the fact that I am not. I am the manager. You is the manager. Can I speak to the managers? You are, somebody got it, you are the manager. I think that's where our trust issues start, right there. Because owners have rights, managers have responsibility. An owner says, this is mine. I can do whatever I want with it. A manager says, this has been entrusted to me, so I need to know what the owner wants done with it. Hear me, social fam. The moment you surrendered your life to Jesus, you stopped living your life like an owner and you started living like a manager.

Your life is not your own. The moment you put your faith in him, watch this, you said goodbye to a little word, a little word that has powerful ramifications, my. Yeah, the moment you put your faith in Jesus, you said goodbye to my. You may hate me, but it ain't no lie. Bye, bye, my. You said, what I do to just keep some of y'all ADD people engaged. The moment you. Put your faith in Jesus. You say goodbye to my, goodbye to my life, my time, my talent, my body, my influence, my resources. All of that you said goodbye to, it may be in my hand, but it belongs to him. And here's the question every manager eventually has to answer. What are you doing with what God gave you? What are you doing with what God gave you? What are you doing with what God gave you? Social fam, this is what wakes your boy up in the morning. It's not the coffee or the Celsius. It's this right here, that I have a responsibility to do something with what God gave me. I have this haunting fear that one day when I get to heaven God is gonna flash up on a big old LED screen all the things that I did for him with the gifts and the talents that he put on the inside of me.

And then he's gonna flash up on another screen what I could have done with what he put in me. And what I did is gonna dim in comparison to what I could have done. And I wanna ask you, what are you doing with what God gave you, with the time he gave you, with the gift he gave you, with the influence he gave you, with the opportunities he gave you, with the relationships he gave you, with the life God gave you? What are you doing with it? You just gonna keep coming to church and sitting on your blessed assurance and singing songs off the screen like it's Christian karaoke and just preaching and saying, that ain't for y'all, it was good today and doing nothing with it? What are you doing with what God gave you? That's stewardship. Stewardship begins the moment God puts an ability in your account. Are y'all recording this? I'm gonna watch it later, it's blessing me. Stewardship begins the moment God puts an ability in your account. Do you know he put an ability in your account? Your life, there's something he put in you. The moment he gave it to you, buckle up buttercup, stewardship began. How many of you are thankful when God gives you something,

puts an ability in your account? Especially when it's direct deposit. That's the thing you just woke up with. You just woke up looking like that. Some of the people just walk in like, I mean, you might've fixed it up, but he just gave you. He gave you those looks, just gave it to you. The gift he gave you, the talent he gave you. That's why tall people, really tall people get on my nerves. Don't walk around arrogant, what'd you do for that height? Nothing. God in his goodness just gave you that height, just gave it to you. You went out in the boardroom of heaven talking about, yeah, I want these shoulders, six, no, six, seven, yeah, let me be, no. God just put, look at the you section. Is this still going? He just gave your ability to sing. He gave it to you. If he didn't put that ability in your account, don't make a withdrawal, amen. But he gave you something. He put an ability in your account, your leadership, your influence and opportunity, and it feels so good. Don't you love it when God gives you a deposit? Come on, you post it on TikTok. Look at what God gave me. We love it when God gives a deposit, but I just felt the need to warn you.

The same God that gives a deposit is the same God that will do an audit. See, I lost all my amens right there because we love the deposit. Oh, look at what the Lord has given me. What are you doing with what he gave you? Not for your brand, not for your social media. What are you doing for the kingdom of God? If he gave you a deposit, then he demands an audit. He wants to know, what are you doing with it? The question of stewardship is not merely what did God give me. The question is, what am I doing with what God gave me? Now, to be clear, all of life is stewardship. Every part of it, all of life is stewardship. But here's what fascinates me about our text today in this conversation. Because Jesus begins teaching his disciples about trustworthiness, and he could have picked any category to do it. He could have talked about their time. He could have talked about their talent. He could have talked about their relationships. He could have talked about their influence. But when Jesus wants to show his disciples what trustworthiness looks like, he chooses a very particular and a very specific topic. Money. That's what he chooses. Money.

Did you feel that? You feel the air just go out of the room right there? Somebody right now going, see, I knew I shouldn't have came to church today. I should have stayed at home. Y'all, I have been doing this long enough to know that the moment you start talking about money in church, folks start acting funny. People start rolling their eyes. People even sit different. I see it, because your glutes get tight. People start acting funny when you start talking about money in church. And listen, I will be the first to tell you I understand some of that. Come on, if we're gonna tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the church has not always handled this conversation about money well. Can we be honest? Has there been abuse? Yes. Has there been manipulation? Absolutely. There have been people who have used spiritual authority irresponsibly. And whether we like it or not, that has affected, I dare say, even eroded trust. In fact, Barna just released some new research on trust in America.

And how depressing is this for what I do? Christian pastors scored 55 out of 100. And then what they categorized as celebrity pastors scored 30. Second from the bottom of the entire index, only politicians scored lower. Now, Barna doesn't tell us why people feel that way, so I'm not gonna pretend to know. But I do know this. When trust has been broken, conversations about money can make people nervous. Not only that, I am very aware and cognizant of the season that we are in as a church. I mean, come on, y'all. We're in the middle of a building season. We're in the middle of a campaign. This is not our home. We have a home at 10110 Technology Boulevard, Dallas, Texas, 75220. We are believing God for millions of dollars to finish what he has called us to build our future home that is a tool that God is gonna use to reach more people. So I'm aware that somebody can hear me say money today and immediately think, ah, see, all right, okay, all right, PR, I know where this is going. PR about to spend the next 40 minutes trying to get us to give more money to the church and more money to the campaign. They're trying to get more letters.

So let me make something very clear right here. That is not my goal today. I am not preaching this message trying to figure out how to get more money out of you. Okay, if I wanted to do that, I have another way. Ushers, close the doors. Close. Calm down, relax, relax. It's not my goal today. That's not my goal at all today. As a matter of fact, I wanna say this. If you are not a disciple of Jesus and you have not put your faith in him, do not give a dime. Don't give anything. You need to be considering who Jesus claims to be. Give him your life. That's what you need to do. If you have not made that decision, can I encourage you? Make the greatest decision of your life and surrender your life to him. That's where your focus should be. But the question I want every disciple in this room asking today, including myself, is what does the way I handle money reveal about what I trust? Not how much does the church want from me. Not how much am I supposed to give. What does the way I handle money reveal about what I really trust?

Because according to the teachings of Jesus, money has this incredible ability to hold those things in us. What makes you feel secure? What makes you feel significant? What gives you peace? What makes you believe your future is gonna be okay? What are you afraid to lose? What do you believe you cannot live without? Those are trust questions. And apparently, Jesus thinks the way we handle money can help answer them. Because you cannot follow Jesus and tell him, you can disciple me everywhere else, but you better stay out of my finances. Jesus, stay out of my bank account. Now, my relationships, please help, because I'm single and I need somebody. But stay out of my finances. How many of you know, we already established, if you're a disciple, his name is on the deed. He can go into any room he wants. And all throughout the Gospels, that's why Jesus talks about possessions, and generosity, and greed, and treasure, and giving. He talks about what the wealth can do to a human heart. Why? Because he knows that this is not merely a financial issue. Hear me, money is a discipleship issue. A discipleship issue.

Can I show it to you in verse number 10, y'all good? Let's look at verse number 10. Jesus says, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Now, pause. I have heard that verse my entire life. And I'm gonna be honest, I have taken that verse out of context, like many people do. Because what do we do? See, trust God with a little bit of platform, he gonna make you blow up, and you'll get a big platform. Trust God with a little bit of ministry, go to social kids, and he gonna make you blow up, and he'll give you a bigger platform. And why I understand that principle may apply, how many of you know, that is not what Jesus is talking about in that text. When Jesus said, whoever can be trusted with very little, the little thing he was talking about was money. Isn't that interesting? Because we call money a big thing, Jesus calls it a little thing. You and your little money. You think Jesus care about your little money? He calls it a little thing. Now, little does not mean it's insignificant. Because apparently this little thing

reveals something that is way bigger. Are you with me? Look at verse 11, he makes it clearer. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you, don't miss this, with true riches? Hold up. Jesus, you mean to tell me money is not true riches? You mean to tell me I can have a lot of money in my bank account and still be broke? You mean to tell me there are some people who are so broke, all they have is money? Because you can't buy peace at Neiman Marcus. You can't buy joy on Amazon. You can't buy a sleep-filled night online. You can have all the money in the world and still be broke, because those are not the true riches. I would rather be broke and have Jesus, because I know I have every single thing that I need. That's what I told you last week. I serve a God that can make bread rain down from heaven. I'm glad that God can give you some money, but money don't buy everything. He let you know right there, that is not the true riches. And yet we live in a world that tells us money is the prize. Make the money, secure the bag, protect the money, stack the money.

And Jesus says money is not even the real treasure. Money is not the true treasure. It's not. It's not. I don't care who just dropped an album. I don't care who made it rain. It's not the true treasure. What is money then? Money is a trust test. It's a trust test. Notice Jesus is not testing how much you have. He's watching what you do with what you have, which means you can have $50 and be unfaithful. You can have $50 million and be faithful. You can have $50 million and still be unfaithful. And you can have $50 and be faithful. The amount is not the issue. The issue is trust. What does the way I handle money reveal about my trust? Because something as temporary as money can reveal something eternal about my heart. Then Jesus, ooh, takes the conversation to a whole nother level. He starts the parable talking about a manager, but then by the time he gets to verse 13, don't miss it, he starts talking about a master. Hold on. I thought we were talking about a manager. How are you gonna flip the conversation and start talking about a master?

Come on, let's read it. He says, no one can serve to what? 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 money. Why are you talking about a master when we're just talking about me being a manager? Huh. Could it be possible that he's saying that the thing that you manage has a unique power to become your master? Money is something you are supposed to manage, but Jesus is warning us that the thing that you manage has the power to become your master. or master, and then he gives this competing master a name. Ooh, I wish I had time. He calls it Mammon. Let the church say Mammon. Say it with your church, say Mammon. Now, I need to slow down here because some of your translations don't even say Mammon. How many of you got the NIV? And it says God and money, but the actual word Luke uses is Mammon. Mammon is an Aramaic word that means wealth, possessions, and material resources. The philosophy is putting my trust in what I have. What's intriguing is Mammon has actually already showed up in this chapter.

We read it in verse 11. If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, that word translated worldly wealth is Mammon. Then he says you cannot serve God and money. Same word, Mammon. Jesus didn't change subjects. He's changed the role money is playing. First, it's something you manage. Then he warns that it will become something that you serve. It's as if when he calls it Mammon, that money has personified itself in a spirit called Mammon. Okay, you know it's not a Robert Medeau sermon if I don't give you a visual, okay? So this is some money, a mint and some money, and this is where money belongs, okay? This is where money belongs. Money belongs in my hand. This is something that I manage, okay? I manage my money. I'm gonna do a dash. I manage it. I'm gonna pay bills. I manage it. This is where money belongs, in my hand to manage. Look at what Jesus is saying. He's saying what is so scary about what is in your hand that you manage, what makes it real scary is this thing that you manage in your hands has the power to move from something you manage

in your hands now to something that started off in my hands to now something that is completely controlling my life. And I'm trying to figure out, you better be glad I fasted, because that's the only way you're picking me up. I'm trying to figure out how in the world does something, put me down. Stay here, stay here. Come back, come back, Mammon, come back. How in the world did something I started off holding in my hand put a grip on my life? Come back. And now it's holding me. Now it tells me where to go. You laugh, but you would be shocked at the people in this room. This is what your life looks like. I wanna spend time with my kids, but I gotta work, I gotta get it, I gotta get it. God, I wanna obey you wherever you want me to lead. What's the job? Yeah, that's the job. Oh, that's what they're paying? God, I wanna sow, I wanna be generous, but oh, I got, well, you know, the Cabo trip is next week. Mm-hmm. The thing you manage has the power to become your master, and if you don't think that thing has the power

to master you, you are in a death lock grip. Nothing else does Jesus say competes against me. He doesn't say you can't serve God in football. He doesn't say you can't serve God in shopping. It's God in mammon. Give him a hand, thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Thank you. As the worship team joins me, when people use the phrase the spirit of mammon, I want you to understand what that means. I'm not saying that your money has a demon in it. Please be clear. I mean, money in itself is not evil. It is a resource. It can feed people. It can build things. It can advance the gospel. The issue is not money. The issue. is what money starts promising you. Because money speaks about Mammon like a rival master. Here's the distinction. Money is a resource. Mammon is a competing master. Money says, use me. Mammon says, trust me. Money belongs in your hand. Mammon wants a place in your heart. Money can be managed.

Mammon wants to be served. Mammon starts making promises that only God can keep. Ooh, Mammon will talk to you. I'll give you security. I'll give you significance. I'll give you peace. I'll give you a future. I'll guarantee your future. If you just get enough of me, you'll finally be okay. Hear me, church. Mammon is after our trust. It's after our trust. Mammon wants me to believe that if I have enough money, I'll be okay. And God says, I'm your source. Now, here's why this message has to hit all of us today. Because God says, watch this, you cannot serve both. Not you shouldn't. He doesn't say, it's probably not a good idea. He says, it's impossible for you to serve both. Because eventually, the two masters are gonna give you different instructions. Because God's gonna say, give, and Mammon's gonna say, you better keep it. God's gonna say, you have enough. Be content. Mammon's gonna say, you need more. This pair of shoes is different. God is gonna say, rest. Mammon's gonna say, no, take the extra hours.

Work harder. God is gonna say, trust me with tomorrow. And Mammon's gonna say, you better make sure you can take care of yourself. And when the two masters speak, the one I obey reveals the one I trust. The one I listen to. So how do I know if money has become something more than I manage? Hear me, y'all. This is so deceptive, because nobody thinks they're in the grip. Come on, we don't think, nobody thinks they're greedy, because you can always see somebody else that's doing more than you and be like, no, I'm good. I only got one house. There's always somebody to compare yourself to. So what could we ask ourselves to see if just possibly Mammon has started to speak and become our master? Here's some questions. And I'm asking you what I have to ask myself. Number one, does money determine how you feel about yourself? Do you feel more important when you have more? Do you feel less valuable when you have less? Does your confidence go up when your account goes up? Because if my worth rises and falls on my net worth, money has become more than a tool. It's my master.

Number two, does money determine whether you have peace? I'm not talking about financial responsibility. You should have a budget. You should save. You should invest. You should plan. You should act your wage. Amen. Amen. That's wisdom. I'm asking when the number in your account changes, does your peace change with it? Can one unexpected loss completely rob you of your peace? Because there's a difference between financial wisdom and financial worship. Number three, does money get the final vote on your obedience? That one's scary. Because I can say, God, I'll obey you if I can afford it. God, I'll do what you told me to do once the numbers make sense on paper. But if God says one thing and money says another and money gets the final vote, I have to ask, who is really my master? Number four, do you believe more money will finally fix your life? If I could just make this much, if I could just hit this number, if I could just buy that, you know the spirit of mammon has creeped in. If you've ever said, God, I need you to come through

with a miracle, well, I just need some more money. That is a lie from the enemy. I remember a lame man in Acts chapter three who was stuck, who was broken, busted, and disgusted. And shout out to Peter and John who went to that man. couldn't get himself up and said, guess what? Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I'm gonna give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Get up and walk. Thank God they didn't have silver and gold that day because that man needed more than money. He needed the mobility of his legs and maybe there's somebody in here that is stuck in a situation and I'm telling you money is not what's gonna get you out, but there is a God that says I've got the power to lift you up from anything that the enemy can ever hold you down in. Money you are not my master. God is my master. God is my source. God is everything that I need. God is my provider. God is my master, not money. Mammon always puts salvation on the next number. If I get more and more keeps moving. Number five, does generosity feel like you're losing security? Does generosity feel like you are losing security? I'm not asking have you ever given anything, I'm asking what happens inside of you when God asks you to release something? Does fear start negotiating? Does generosity make you feel vulnerable because you're letting go of money makes you feel like you're letting go of your security? Because sometimes the hardest thing about opening up your hand is discovering what was holding your heart. Hear me, this is my prayer for me, for you, for our church. I don't want the money I hold to have a hold on me. I don't want the money that I hold to have a hold on me. I want money to be something I have, not something that has me. I don't want to look to money to be my master. I only have one master who is every single thing that I need. We only call for the manager when something is off. So today, can I speak to the managers? Since you're not the owner of anything in your life, can I speak to the managers Can I speak to the managers and ask you what are you doing with what he put in your hand? Are you treating it like it's yours? Are you treating it like this is a gift from a gracious owner who gave me everything? I have to remind myself every single day nobody owes me anything. God gave me everything. I got every single thing that I need.

And don't get it twisted. God doesn't ask you to release because he needs something. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Trust me, he's good. I'll say it again for our church. This is not a message because we need you to start giving. We were good before you got here. This is about a God who knows where my treasure is. There my heart will be also, and he refuses to compete with any other master. Would you stand to your feet all over this place today? I'm gonna ask every head be bowed and eyes be closed. What are you doing with what he gave you? Later in this text, even though he was talking to the disciples, the Pharisees felt some type of way. They started sneering at Jesus because he started talking about money and he calls them out and says, huh, you love money. And I know what's in your heart. Interesting that Jesus was not talking to them. He was talking to his disciples, but they heard the conversation and immediately they felt some type of way. And I say this in pastoral love today. I have learned in my own life that often the thing that I get defensive about is the thing that God is trying to expose. Often the thing that makes me go, how dare you? It's the actual thing. How dare you deal with that? It's the thing that God wants. to deal with, and this is a message to say, God, we choose as the managers to trust you by stewarding what you've placed in our hands. I'm gonna ask every head be bowed and eyes be closed today. If you're in here today and you say, hey, PR, man, this message is for me. I can see where the spirit of mammon has taken over. Hear me, Jesus warns because it's so easy to let what you've been managing become your master, and I love it because it's never too late to make it right. In this parable, we'll find out that even this manager, Jesus applauds his shrewdness because he made a decision to fix it, he made some things right, and today you can say, God, no longer am I gonna look

to money to be my master. Today I turn, I say my trust, my identity, and my security, my self-worth is in you. That's you today, and you need to respond to this by saying, Lord, you are my master. Would you just lift up your hand as a sign to say, Lord, I'm responding today to your word. Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Lord, thank you, God. Anybody else, just lift it up. Thank you, Jesus. Put it right back down. Head still bowed, eyes are still closed. I said earlier, if you're not a disciple, God doesn't want what's in your wallet. He wants your life. So today, I'm asking you to give him what he paid for on the cross, your life. So with heads bowed, eyes are still closed, today, if you'd be so honest, say, hey, PR, I've never surrendered my life to Jesus, but today I'm giving him everything. That's you, would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I could see it? Say, today's the day I'm giving Jesus my life. I see that hand, thank you, Lord. Anybody else, I see that hand. Thank you, God. Yes, anybody else? That's what he wants. He wants your life, he paid for it, paid for it.

He thought you were so valuable, he did not even wait for you to make a decision. He paid it forward, paid in advance with his blood. Anybody else? Thank you, God. If you lift up your hand that second time, we're gonna repeat this prayer, we're gonna say it as one big family, but especially those of you who responded, would you say this, say, Jesus, I need you. Lord, I know I cannot do life without you. You are my life. Lord, thank you for loving me enough to pay the price for my sins. Jesus, I believe that you lived the life that I was supposed to live, and you died the death that I was supposed to die. You took my place, you bought me with a price. So my response is to give you everything. Jesus, today, I'm not inviting you into a room. I'm giving you the deed. You are the owner, I am the manager. From this moment forward, all that I am is yours. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen. Come on, somebody give God the greatest hand clap of praise today. Come on, you can do better than that. Would you give King Jesus some praise today?