The Father's Way | Pastor Eric Morris

What's up, men of God? Pastor Eric here, and I am so excited to bring this message to you. I want you to feel encouraged. I want you to feel hopeful. I want you to know that God is still working in your story. Our mission here at Victory City is to help every person take a step closer to Jesus. And can I tell you, man, as you're growing in the Lord, you're taking a step. So let's lean in, let's see what God has for us this week. And I know you'll be blessed for it, and I love you. Well, hey, if you are thankful for your father today, can we just say thank you, dads? Thank you, dad. Come on, if you're thankful for the gift of fatherhood, can we thank our heavenly father? Come on, if you've become a father this year, can I see your hands? Praise God for you, praise God. Bro, you're 12. I don't think you. I was playing golf with my seven-year-old. We were playing a twilight round a couple weeks ago. Twilight is just in the evenings because it's cheaper and hotter. And so we're out playing golf, and Malcolm loses the golf balls a lot because he's not very good. I don't lose any, he loses them all.

And so we were walking by the woods to see if we can find some more golf balls, and he doesn't like to go in there because there's really tall grass, and sometimes there's poison ivy. So I said, okay, I'll go in, and I hit the honeypot. There was like six golf balls that golfers had lost, so I pick them all up, and I put them in the golf cart, and I say, hey, buddy, you can just use these. So we drive to the next hole, and I go teeing off, and it was the craziest thing. There was just this really, really, really strong gust of wind that blew my golf ball into the water for some reason. I was like, man, that never happens. What's going on? So I go into the cart, and I go get one of the balls that I had just found him, and my son goes, hey, those are my golf balls. What in God? You see, I think that's a lot like you and me when we come to the Lord. Hey, that's mine, that's mine. Being a dad of four, it's taught me a lot about stewardship, because when I was with my children there in the delivery room, it was kind of a surreal experience to look and see them, and you kind of had this idea of like, I made that. It's crazy, like that's mine. But you don't own your children, do you?

No, they're a gift from the Lord. In fact, Psalms talks about this. The Song of Solomon writes this, that, man, that gifts, that children are gifts from the Lord, and we're so grateful for them. But as dads, you're a steward. You don't own your kids. They're yours, you made them. They're 50% your DNA, but it's kind of weird. You would never say, I own my kids, because that would be a little awkward, because at some point you're meant to release your children. But how you steward your children reveals a lot about your heart posture as a dad. Are you a bad steward? Are you an absent steward? Are you an over-controlling steward? You can't see it, because at some point, your children are going to leave your house, and you let them go, and you can't control them, you can't own them, you're a steward. And that heart of stewardship is how I want us as a church to approach money. You see, the Lord looks at your money, and he says, that's mine. The problem is, you do the same thing. So who's right? You see, last week we talked about money from the standpoint of really trying to get underneath the fear, and let me just pause here.

I'm not gonna ask you for anything. I know it's gonna be really difficult for you to believe a pastor, especially with everything that goes on on TikTok, and all the things that bad churches have done around money, manipulation, using tithes and offerings for the pastor's own benefit. I'm just gonna say this really quick. That's not my heart. You can choose to believe me or not. I really do want us to circle around money, and try to see it from God's perspective. And last week, we talked about this idea that God is a good God who is a father who wants to provide. And in that provision, God also has principles. And so week two is the layer of, first of all, it has to sit on the foundation that God is a provider by his very nature. He provides. But in that provision, he also lays out principles. That if we follow his principles, and walk in the ways of the Lord, the anxiety, the fear, the worry, the stress that sometimes money causes us, causes our marriage, our life, the distraction it creates, the problems it creates, is this God saying, if you'll follow my principles, I'll actually set you free from those problems. And a lot of us, we have problems around money because we don't follow his principles.

And so today's not gonna be a prosperity message, but more of a principle message. And I wanna talk to you about this idea of what is the Father's way around money. So lean into me, I got 35 minutes. And if you will do me an honor, you came here, you showed up to church. So if you'll lean in, I believe the Lord wants to shape your understanding around money, listen, to really help you go to the next level in your faith. He wants to equip you, he wants to train you. And whatever fear you might have around this message, whatever, however guarded or close gripped you are, will you give me 35 minutes just to see it from God's perspective and see if God has a way around money that could be better than your own. Can we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, I just pray over the next few moments that you would shape our hearts, that we would see that from your perspective, God, we don't own anything. That truly from the very beginning of time, you created us to be stewards of your creation, not owners. And God, I pray for the next 35 minutes, you help us see this subject from your truth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You see, from the very beginning, in Genesis chapter one, verse one,

God says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Sometimes we can look over this passage as just kind of an intro, but God is making a claim here. And if you're a believer in Jesus, if you are a Christian, this is what we sign up for. God has created everything in the heavens and the earth. He has created all. And you would look and go, well, he didn't create my wealth. No, but he did give you the ability to create wealth. He gave you that. In fact, if you'll take a moment with me just for an object lesson, can you, everyone in the room, can you take a big deep breath? God gave you that breath. You see, you may go, well, we create wealth, and there's a lot of conversation in America and economies about wealth creation. But the problem is this, is Michelangelo did not create the marble. Michelangelo did not create the ability to see the image within the marble. And so as humans, we are creative, but we are not the source of all creation. And so God comes in and he says, whoa, whoa, whoa, before we even get started, you didn't do anything except the last mile. God did not, you did not create your mental faculties. You did not create the economy you live in. You did not create the air you breathe.

You did not, God did not, you did not create anything that which you operate. All we do is the last mile. We worked a job. We worked a job. And that's where, going back to the child, ah, that's mine. And so at first, if we do not see ourselves as stewards of what God provides us, and we see ourselves as owners of what we have, we are immediately out of alignment with God. We're out of alignment. And when you are out of alignment, the only thing that can happen is anxiety, fear, worry, stress, and problems, because you are living outside of your design. It's like taking a gasoline engine and trying to put diesel in it. It's just not gonna run as good, because it wasn't designed for that. So when you come to money and you see yourself as the owner of that money, you are now living outside of how God has designed you around resource, and therefore you will not operate the way God has designed you to. Can I tell you that being a steward is actually incredibly freeing? If I'm just a steward, then it doesn't start or end with me. I'm just the person who manages it. I'm the person who gets trusted with it.

And Deuteronomy is actually a very challenging verse if we listen to it. Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse 17 and 18 says, "'Beware lest you say in your heart, "'my power and the might of my hand "'has gotten me this wealth.'" Pause. If you're honest with yourself. Have you ever said to yourself, I did this, this is mine? God continues and he says, "'You shall remember.'" for the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth. Let me land it like this. You didn't create it, you were trusted with it. But here's the good news. The good news is this, is to own something, I must own it from the very beginning. Can I tell you that you do not even own your own life? You did nothing to possess the life you have. The very life you have that you are living is a gift. You were given life. Genesis two verse seven says this, then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And that man has become a living creature. Lean in with me. My whole premise today is to try to help you see

again or anew that you are a steward of what God has blessed you with. And when you begin to live like a steward of what God has blessed you with is when you begin to live free. Because many of you, you are carrying the weight of being the wealth creator, the wealth manager, the wealth catcher, and what it's doing, it is overwhelming you. And lean in with me. The anxiety you have around money is not a character flaw, it's an engine light warning telling you you are carrying too much that you were not intended to carry. The weight of it, where's it gonna come from? How am I gonna get it? Will it be enough? What's gonna happen? All the fears, all the struggles, all the greed, all the problems, all the pride is because from the very jump, you have viewed money as mine. Mine. And the Lord is saying, no. I have the cattle on a thousand hills. I am limitless in my resource. I can get you whatever you need, and I can bless you, and I can provide for you. But the first principle around money is this. I must see myself as a steward of what the Lord has blessed me with.

Whether it is $30,000 a year, or whether it is $30 million a year, it is all the Lord's. Can I tell you how freeing that is? God, I know that the resources that you have are limitless. And when I get closed-fisted around money, what does that do? That creates anxiety in me. That creates worry in me. It robs the joy around provision. It causes me to think about it and ruminate it, and what it does is it becomes a little baby God in your life, who you begin to serve. First Corinthians chapter three, verse six and seven, Paul is saying here, he's going, I planted Apollos' water, but it's God who gave the growth. So he who neither plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth. What's he saying? Everything starts with God. I may have a role, I may work, I may save, I may manage, I may steward, but the source is the Lord's. And let me just tell you, if you are a Christian, if you are a believer and you believe that Jesus is the way and his scriptures are true, you have to come into alignment with this. None of what you have, not your time, not your ability, not your eyesight, not your hearing, not any of your human faculties, not your resources is yours, it's all God's.

All of it is the Lord's. Can I tell you that stewardship doesn't take from you, it actually takes the weight off, and the steward is the one who is free. Can I tell you this, for those of you, because I'm like this, sometimes we think a steward is just a miser, I'm just gonna hold, and I'm gonna protect. Can I tell you that a good steward actually grows what he's been given? Let me talk to you, you might not hear this in a stewardship message, but I can tell you that you're commanded to grow what the Lord has given you, not just spend it. You see, a lot of us today, what we do is we actually just spend everything that God gives us. But the Lord has actually called you to grow it. He wants you to multiply what he's given you. Pastor Eric, that sounds like prosperity gospel. Absolutely not. Jesus gave talents to three servants. He gave different amounts, five, two, and one. And he says here, I'm trusting you with this. When Jesus came back, the person who had five had turned it into 10. The person who had two had turned it into four. The person who had one kept it as one. And who got rebuked? The person who didn't multiply it. Can I tell you that actually for some of you

entrepreneurial people, can I tell you that God has given you a business idea and he's given you enough resource right now to start that? Can I tell you that God's command to you is not just to steward, but in stewardship to actually multiply? So I don't want my money just in a savings account. I want my money where it's earning interest. I want to deploy my money. Come on, lean in with me. That's actually freeing. For some of you who want to multiply what is the Lord's, that's a really good desire as long as you know why you're multiplying it and who it belongs to. So for some of you, you've done a really great job at this. You have multiplied what the Lord has given you. Let me ask you a question. In that multiplication, has the possession of that multiplication drifted from God to you? Can I tell you that you can deploy the resource that the Lord has given you into training? Maybe I need to grow. Maybe I need to go back to school. Maybe I need to start. Maybe I need to invest. Maybe I need to do something with it. In fact, the Lord rebukes the person who only buried it in the ground and kept it as wine. So for some, I might only be talking to 10 to 15% of my audience right now, but for that 10 to 15%,

can I tell you that the Lord, as the steward, he says, multiply it and watch this, and enjoy it. Enjoy it. The Lord has given you resource to enjoy it. I can multiply and I can enjoy it as long as I remember whose it is. So that when he comes knocking, hey, I need some of that back. We don't go. No. No, not yet. Later. You see, when God comes knocking for it is when stewardship is really tested. It's like my son. Hey, I just gave you six of those golf balls for you to use and enjoy, and I doubt you're gonna multiply them, but you can enjoy them. Can I get one of those back? No, that's mine. Can I ask you, honestly, in your own hearts, when the Lord asks for your resource, do you wince? No. I think there's four distinct faces that reveals our heart when the Lord asks for his resource back. Four faces, and I think the first one is fear. Fear, they're gonna throw it on the screen here. It's fear.

It's this. God, if I give to you, I won't have enough. God, if I do that, I'm not going to have. The second one is greed. God, if I give to you, that means I don't have to spend on me. I don't wanna give it to you, because it's mine. The third is deferral. God, not right now, but I will later. Come on, church. Some of you have been saying that for 30 years. God, not right now, but I will later. The fourth is pride. I just don't want to. Here's the crazy thing. Lean into me right here. In my own life, I have personally experienced all four in varying degrees. There have been moments in my life when Natalie and I were first beginning, when I was on a $27,000 a year salary, and the Lord was asking me to tithe. You know what the dominating factor was? Fear. Fear. There have been times in my life when I was out of ministry, working in the business world, I was in oil and gas, and what I was making a year was what I was making in a month in oil and gas.

You know what it was then? Greed. There's been moments in my own personal journey when we're raising four kids, it feels like a lot. It's like, God, you'll understand, man. I'm in the midlife squeeze right now. Man, when I'm in my retirement, that's when I'll do it. Can I tell you that I've been tempted with that? Can I tell you that there's been moments in my life when I've been tempted with that? I have had returns on my investments, Can I tell you that I've been tempted with that? and the Lord's gone, hey, that? Can I tell you that there's been moments in my life And I felt, no. I can remember in 2013, I've told this story before, I'll tell it again for those of you who haven't heard it. I was day trading options, and I remember I put an option on Apple stock the day before earnings, and I thought it was gonna go down, and I made a trade, and the next morning I woke up, and the thing that I had leveraged had turned into $250,000. Come on, y'all. Like, 250 doesn't move you, I know what I'm saying? 250 does something to me, right? Like, it changes my insides a little bit.

I'm like, dang. Can I tell you the first thought I thought in my head? I'm gonna have a million by the end of the week. It was not, thank you, Lord. My wife came in and said, pull it out, baby, pull it out, we can pay the house off, we can do this, and I was like, nah, I want more. In six months, it was gone. I didn't tell my wife. I'm scared. She's gonna kill me. I'm laying awake at 3 a.m., y'all, I'm not even playing, I'm not exaggerating this, I'm laying awake at 3 a.m., how am I gonna tell her, what am I gonna do? And that drove fear in me, fear in me, and I went chasing again, chasing again, chasing again. All of it was driving from what? It was fear, it was pride, it was greed, it was deferral, it was all that cocktail in me because I thought it was mine. And one day Natalie came in and said, hey, I'm thinking about that money that you made on the stock market, here's what we need to do. See, what happened was, is like, there was this like crazy event, it was like wild, she looked at me and she goes, it's gone, isn't it? I've never felt more humiliated in my life.

And it was at that moment, I'm not kidding you, the Lord said to me in my heart, you can not believe me, you can be cynical, and the Lord said to me in that moment, I am your source, and I can get it to you, and I can take it away from you. You see, what you practice reveals what you're becoming. Can I tell you that a lot of us, we would say I want to be a generous person, I want to be a good steward, and the question is, are you practicing generosity? See, you can want to be something all day long, but if you're not practicing it, you are not becoming that. So I can want to be forgiving, but if I'm not forgiving people, I'll never become a forgiving person. You see, I can want to be a loving person, but if I never love somebody, I'm never gonna become a loving person. I can want to be an encouraging person, but if I never encourage somebody, can I tell you, I'm not being an encouraging person. And what we like to do to God is go, God, you see my heart, and God goes, I do, and I also see your hands, and what your hands do tells me what's in your heart. And so this, you can tell God all day long, God, I want to do that, but if you're not doing it, God's saying you're never becoming it. And so my thing is this, is if we want to be a steward,

we have to be practicing stewardship. God, I want to be a good steward of what you've given me, because the Lord says this, right? The Lord says in Proverbs 11 to 24, he says, the one who gives freely yet grows all the richer. This is a principle that God is saying. If you will follow this principle, God's not the slot machine, but he is principled, and he literally gives you a cheat code. He says, here's the cheat code to money. One who gives freely, what does that mean? Does that mean I'm giving all my money away? No, it means this, that when the Lord asks for it, I go, sure, Lord, it's yours anyways. He says that that person grows all the richer. And he goes, another person who withholds what he should give only suffers want. Meaning this, it's never enough, it's never enough, it's never enough, it's never enough. And the problem with someone who is not a steward is this, they're never content. They're never content. I think that's a big problem in our world today, man. We're never just content. Like, would we ever just pause and go, God, I'm actually good? I don't need any more. Have you ever prayed that prayer? Hey, God, stop the blessing.

I'm good. Anybody? Come on, lean in with me. Has anybody ever prayed their prayer, God I am totally good with $50,000 a year. I don't need any more. No. Why? Because we're not content. We think that if we had $75,000 we'd be more happy. If I had $150,000 I'd be more happy. Now here's the deal. I'm not an idiot. I know that more resources help with practical needs. I totally understand that. I'm not a fool. I know that there's certain stresses that the lack of money creates and so hear me. I'm not trying to be silly here. I'm trying to get to the heart of it. God says this, the one who gives freely, you're gonna find yourself richer and richer, but the one who holds, you're never gonna be content. The happiness you're chasing, you'll never find it. It's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You're always chasing it. 1125 in Proverbs says this, whoever brings blessing will be enriched and the one who waters will himself be watered. God is laying out principles. He's saying I am literally giving you the playbook if you'll just follow it because you're a steward not an owner. You see a steward has no problem. In fact, let me ask you a question. When you use the company card, do you worry? Come on that per diem, you're like, I'm balling now. When you're booking flights on the company card, are you like economy plus? It's not my money, it's the company's money. I'm just a steward. Help me Jesus. Let me just help you with this. You see some of you are living your life closed-fisted and it looks like this. It's mine, it's mine, it's mine, it's mine, and the problem is is a closed fist can't carry much and so we come to God and we go, God bless me, bless me Lord, bless me, bless me, and the Lord goes, okay, well will you surrender some of that? Yeah, bless me though. Can you just open up the windows of heaven? And some of you are praying this prayer, open up the windows of heaven Lord. Let me hit the lottery, but your fists are closed and so even if he did, it would all spill out. God, God bless me, God give me all the riches of heaven. I want some cattle baby, I need some ribeyes, and the Lord goes, okay great, can I have some of what you've already got? Okay, you can hit this.

Come on, we want thimble obedience, but we want ocean blessing. Come on, let me help you here. I know I got a little confrontational there, I'm sorry, but some of you, you got thimble obedience, but your prayers are ocean blessings. And can I just tell you something? Let me just help you really quick. When you begin to live open-handedly to the Lord, when he does open up the heavens, my hands are open. I'm ready to receive. I have followed the biblical principle of tithing my whole life. I was taught from a very young age to tithe. I learned what to do before I learned why to do it. I am NOT a perfect case when it comes to money. I've just told you my flaws. I've told you my mistakes, but can I tell you truthfully and honestly? The Lord has done a work in my life where I know that I can be happy and content with whatever God places in my hand. That my joy does not come from just eating at Perry's. I can be joyful at Burger King. It might shave ten years off my life, but I can be joyful. The scripture says in Luke 16 verse 10, he says, one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. The one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. Again, God is giving you the principle. You see, as a steward, here's what the Lord is asking you to do. He's saying, view yourself as a steward. Multiply what I've put in your hands, and then this, just be faithful with what I put in your hands. And the more you're faithful, the more I'll make you fruitful. But many of us, I don't know how to say this, maybe I'll say it like this. One of the common themes in out the Bible... Bible when it comes to God's relationship to humanity is humanity is often deceived and so some of you you have this critical spirit around giving and around generosity and around money because you think the church has deceived you and all the people who are giving they're the idiots like if the Lord were to look at your life he would actually say you're the one that's deceived because you think that you own it and he God's going naked you came into this world and naked you will leave this world and so the thing that you think you own you actually don't own and the problem is the resource that God has placed in your hand you're not investing it into kingdom business you're not

investing it into the Lord you're not enjoying it you're not managing it you're not stewarding it you're hoarding it and you're consuming it all for yourself and some of you lean in I love you I want to say this really quick some of you are masters your master is Visa and you have become a slave to debt you have two options they're both painful the first option is to control your spending because it's not your money it's the Lord's and you can go 18 months of getting out of debt or you can go 10 years making minimum payments I can't do that you can if you just cut all the subscriptions all the coffee some of you the most humiliating thing for you would be to turn in your car and go buy a $5,000 car so that you can make those payments towards your credit card company that'd be so terrifying yeah like some of you would hate to not eat out for the next 18 months both are painful getting out of debt is painful which is more staying in debt or getting out of debt it's God's money let me close with this what breaks the cycle okay here's the scary thing I'm just gonna let you know there can be biblical revelation listen to me in this we're God's principles are revealed to you here's the thing sometimes we think revelation is this like out-of-body experience where we're like oh and like there's goosebumps and there's like an angel in front of us and we're like this is the revelation of the Lord okay sometimes God's revelation is a middle-aged balding white man who shows you God's principles and goes will you follow this and so here's what I want to help you with and lean in this is a statement here I want you to catch catch the heart of it more money will not make you a better steward it'll just make you a bigger version of whoever you're practicing being right now more money isn't gonna make you a better steward it's just gonna make you bigger of what you already are and when you get revelation from Scripture here's the thing it's going to feel scary because it's possibly a road you've never walked it's going to be humbling it's going to be difficult but when you practice the ways of the Lord do you believe that he's good enough he's strong enough he's resourced enough to lead you on a journey that actually sets you free from that that's the real question here today

is does God know better than me does God know better than me and it may feel awkward and it may feel weird and your business partners and your friends may look at you and go that's absolutely crazy but John 17 says this if anyone's will is to do God's will lean in what that says if anyone's will is to do God's will what's God asking you to do he's saying get your will in alignment with my will and the start is to see everything you have your time your children your marriage your life your breath your gifts and your money as gifts from the Lord and so we go God I want my will to be your will and it says to know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority Jesus is saying test it test it test what it looks like so here's what I want you to do how many guys got a smartphone we're gonna close right now I got five minutes. Get your smartphones out if you do. How many guys you have a banking app on your smartphone? Okay I don't want you to open the banking app up because you're sitting next to people. But I just want you to go and have the icon on your screen. Okay we're gonna we're gonna end with a little bit of practice. I use Wells Fargo. So okay if you use well how many Wells Fargo people in the house today? Okay the first step in practicing this stewardship idea is actually pretty simple and it's this. It's gratitude. So you know the figure or you know the approximate figure that's on the other side of that banking app. You know if you click that did face idea you would see a figure. Let me ask you this. Can you start this week with whatever's there by saying thank you Lord. Thank you Lord for providing this. Is it going to be overnight transformational? No. But is it going to move you one degree at a time? Yes. Because the minute you start saying thank you to God for something that for so long you believe you owned is going to begin to transform your heart. Can I tell you you can say thank you even if it's negative. Thank you even if it's low. God I thank you for that $300. God I thank you for that $3,000. God I thank you for that $3,000,000. God I thank you. And if you will start with just a thank you and now here's the prayer I want you to pray. Every day when you do

look at your accounts and it's this prayer right here. I want you to start with this. I want you to say thank you Lord for what is here. Don't thank him for what's not there yet. Thank him for what is there. Pastor Eric I'm going through. Thank him right now. Pastor Eric you don't know what. Thank him right now. You don't know the challenge. You're right I don't know. But thank him for what you got. Thank him for the breath in your lungs. Thank him for the ability to work. Thank him for industry. Thank you for a creative mind. Thank him for everything you have in your life. And can I tell you here's what it does to a close fist. A close fist like this right. It's mine. It's mine. It's mine. Gratitude just one digit at a time. And here's the scary prayer. Some of you won't pray it. Some of you will. Because some of you don't want to pray it because you know God's going to talk. And then you're going to be held accountable for what he says into your heart. And it's a simple prayer. Looking at the resource you have. With it open. With the app where you can see the numbers this week because we are going to be acute in the treatment. This is not general. You need to know the figure. Open up with your app and I want you to pray this prayer. Father all of it. Literally just begin to speak that. God this number is yours. God my 401k is yours. God my stock market account is yours. God my crypto is yours. God my business is yours. God my real estate is yours. God those cars out front even though they're hoopties they're yours in Jesus name. They're yours. Some of you can even feel right now the idea of giving God thanks and naming what's in your account as his. Already begin to stir something in your heart. Why? Because that's the Holy Spirit going this is the design. This is the way you've been deceived. And then I want you to pray something. This is the scary prayer. You ready? God if all of it is yours show me what I need to stop doing to steward it well. Heyo. God what do I need to stop doing? Because this ain't my money it's yours. So I need to sit down with the director of finance of heaven. Think about the HR team calling you in. We've noticed some expenses in your company card. We'd like to have a conversation about it. You have 17 TV subscriptions. Do you need all of those? You're subscribed to four only account

only fans accounts. Do you need that? Think about it. You're using God's money. That's just $4.99. I'm meddling now. What do I need to stop doing? I promise you if you pray this this week? He'll tell you. And here's the scary one, it's to set up for next week, and I'm gonna know if y'all are really about Jesus whether you come next week, because I'm making the ask next week. I'm just gonna tell you, I'm making the ask of participation next week. I'm gonna show it to you, I'm gonna lay it out, I'm gonna make it plain as Pastor Earl says, and that's this prayer. What should I start doing? What should I start doing? For some of you, it could be beginning to multiply what the Lord has put in your hands. You've been living in fear around a resource, you've got a little nest egg, and literally inflation is decaying that. And the Lord's saying, multiply that. Just start with a mutual fund. Put that towards a business endeavor. Multiply that thing. Sometimes we're living in so much fear because we're afraid we're gonna lose it, and the Lord might just be literally, it's not even give to the church yet, it's multiply that. Put that to work.

For some of you, it's time, what should you be doing? Man, okay, I'm gonna get an extra, I'm gonna drive Uber to pay off the credit card debt. What should I start doing? And all of it comes down, all of it comes down, God, you're a steward. I'm gonna close with one last verse, and then we're gonna pray. First Chronicles 29, 14 says this. But I, but who am I? And what is my people that we should be able thus to offer willingly, for all things come from you, and of your own have we given you? What does this say? God, it all comes from you. What does this say, man? God, it all comes from you. So let's do it again. We're gonna open-handed prayer at the end, because we live open-handed lives. So I want you to pick all of your net worth, and I want you to imagine it's in your hand. If you're like, bro, that's some quarters, praise God, put it in your hand. Symbolically put it in your hand. And I want you to pray a prayer of stewardship. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that my church would begin to see themselves as you have designed them to live, and that is a steward of the multiple, multiple blessings

that you have brought into our life. And Father, a steward lives free. A steward lives free. And Father, I pray that you would begin to shape our hearts. God, God, free us from the deception of the enemy that is all mine. God, how often that gets us into problems and troubles. Lord, set us free from that. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.