True Riches

Well, good morning, church. How many of you love Jesus today? I love it. Love the opportunity that we get to lean into the parables, the stories of Jesus, the greatest storyteller of all time. And I love that even last week, we got to hear from Pastor Nate as we kicked off the series and talked about the power of stories and how stories can almost transport you to a different setting. And they can help you connect to different shared experiences. Or you can almost feel like you're smelling and seeing and feeling the different aspects of what is being told. Love that he introduced the parables of Jesus. One of Jesus' favorite ways of teaching was through parables or through stories. And he spoke in such a way that only the hungry would really grasp what he was teaching. And if you missed last week's message, I want to encourage you to go and watch it. Or if you did hear it, it's one of those messages that you want to revisit for sure. Talked about the parable and the story of the soil and how that represents hearts, represents our own heart in our openness or a distraction or if we're close to God's word. The seed is always the same. It's always going to be powerful.

It's God's word. The impact is really going to depend on the condition of our heart. Remember that? And we had the multiple choice that we got to look at as we evaluated our own story. And do we identify with the footpath where it's treaded? And birds can come and bring doubt. And we question God's word. And then it doesn't have the full impact that it could have. Are we like that rocky soil where there's no depth, there's no roots that grow down, that we can hear the word and receive it, but we're not embracing it to the point where it really impacts our life? Or is it like the thorny soil where you have different things that are competing and robbing the elements of the soil and they're weakening the impact of that seed? And that is the concerns, the anxieties, the riches of this world. Things that would distract us, pull us away. Or can we say that we have that good soil, that fertile soil that receives, it not only listens, it believes, it embraces, and then it practices what God is saying. What a great message. What a great way to introduce Jesus, master of storytelling as he leads us

and he guides us on our own journey of growth. And I was thinking about this past summer, and I've got stories for days. How long have you guys got? We could be here all day and all week if you want. And I love being able to hear stories and tell stories and sometimes I gotta condense it because I can get kind of long-winded. But I do wanna mention something that happened this past summer. My wife and I got to travel to Argentina, which is where I grew up, and we got to visit family and friends. We were there for a few weeks. We went for the last stretch of the World Cup, but we're not gonna talk about that right now. And we'll wait till four years from now to revisit that topic. And while we were down there, I love this setup that we have here. We actually took a couple days with my brother and sister-in-law, and we went and spent some time in these hot springs down in a province north of Buenos Aires. And it was amazing. It was great. And my brother-in-law is one of my best friends, and he woke up one of the mornings, and he's like, hey, we should grill some fish. And I said, that's a great idea, but where's the fish?

And he said, we'll get one of the river fish, the golden dorados from there, and they're just very flavorful. If we can get one of those, and we'll throw it on the grill, and it's gonna be amazing. And we actually did get a 15-pound golden dorado, and I think we got a picture of that that I wanted to share. Look at that. That thing was, we ate two days straight. It was amazing. And I do wanna, there's a quick disclaimer. You know, I'm not much of a fisherman, and we didn't actually fish that. We bought it off a guy on a bike. And so. But it was, it was still, it still tasted great, right? So the mission was accomplished. So, and my brother-in-law, he's definitely one of my best friends. And I love the, whoops, don't do this. I love the opportunity to be with people that are near and dear to your heart. people that inspire you, that replenish you, and he would definitely be on that short list for me. There was another thing that happened that time that we were down there. My wife decided, you know, we're gonna do a sibling breakfast,

and none of us, the inserts into the family were invited, and we were all told to stay away, and they got together for coffee, and my wife loves to use these opportunities, talk about things that they might not get a chance to talk about later, and she said, now that we're all together, let's talk about what we're gonna do with mom and dad's inheritance once they die, and breakfast turned into brunch, turned into lunch, turned into coffee that afternoon, and it all ended well, but that's kind of a hard topic, you know, and my in-laws, they're alive, they're well. They weren't trying to speed up the process or anything, but they were saying, it's not gonna get easier to talk about these things later if you're in the middle of mourning, and you're trying to talk through all these hard, difficult decisions, and I think what had inspired it was a close friend had also gone through a moment like that, and it just caused all kinds of family tensions, because there's the grief, there's the mourning of the loss of a loved one, and then there's all these sorting through, no, mom promised me this, no, she promised me that, and then material things that don't really have that much value turn into tension points, and so I think a lot of her siblings are happy she lives in Minnesota and doesn't have

weekly breakfast conversations with them. It's a lot to process, you know, and so today, as we jump into the story that Jesus is gonna teach us from, we find a really similar scenario. I wanna invite you to look at Luke chapter 12, verse 13, and we're gonna talk about true riches. Jesus never shied away from the topic of riches of wealth, material possessions, the topic of money, and he wasn't talking specifically about money, he was talking about hearts and how we engage wealth and how we relate to wealth, and for anyone that is in the room now or is joining online or is watching this later, we had our offering moment, our giving moment earlier in the service, and that was the moment for today, so we're not teeing it up for an ask. This is more of an opportunity to look at our own journey, our own story, just like we did with the parable of the soils, and say, okay, what is the condition of my heart when it comes to this topic? And Luke 12, 13 says, then someone called from the crowd, teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father's estate with me. Real similar to the conversation my wife had, right? Jesus replied, friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that? Then he said, beware, guard against every kind of greed.

Life is not measured by how much you own. I think you need to underline or highlight that last phrase. Life is not measured by how much you own. On the surface, you think this is a question or something that this individual from the crowd is bringing up. It's about justice, it's about being fair, it's about equal parts, it's about the inheritance, about looking at the will and applying it, but Jesus sees below the surface. This individual wants Jesus to intervene in the context, in the situation that surrounds him. Jesus wants to deal with the individual's heart. And Jesus sees that at the root of this man's or this individual's plea, there is a struggle with greed. There is a struggle with wanting to have more, to take hold of more possessions that would maybe feel safer, maybe give him a sense of security, maybe give him a sense of, maybe there was a rivalry with his siblings and he wanted to feel like in that accomplishment he could actually beat his sibling in this distribution of wealth. So Jesus, as he makes that statement, then he goes into a story. His stories are the way that he reaches our hearts and he teaches these profound truths. So beware, guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.

Then we go to verse 16. Then he told them a story. A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops and he said to himself, what should I do? I don't have room for all my crops. Then he said, I know, I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and I'll have enough room to store all my wheat and other goods. And I'll sit back and say to myself, my friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, you fool, you will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for? Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthy wealth but not have a rich relationship with God. It's an interesting text. If you read the rest of Luke chapter 12, he goes on to talk a lot more about our engagement and relationship with material possessions. And it is, why did he choose to tell this story when he's talking about greed? And he's trying to address the heart of the issue and this individual in the crowd that's listening around him we're gonna look at some of the key powerful truths that come through Jesus' teaching. First of all, our relationship with money reveals what is in our heart. Our relationship with money reveals what is in our hearts. A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. This is good, it's not bad.

Notice something important, the man's success isn't condemned. The ground produced, he was efficient and he was good at what he did. He experienced abundance. He had more than he needed. The problem wasn't that his barns were full. The problem was that his full barns revealed something about his heart. And as you read through this and you listen, Jesus later on in the same chapter, he's gonna kinda bring the lesson back home in Luke chapter 12, 34. Jesus is gonna say wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. So he's really addressing not the amount, not the abundance, not the full barns or full bank accounts or full portfolios. He's addressing the heart and how you relate to that. Listen to the conversation this man has because he does a lot of self-talk. There's no other person in the story. It's just him and his wealth. And he says, what should I do? I don't have room. I'll tear down my barns, all big, bigger ones. I'll have room, my wheat, my goods. The entire world has become centered around himself. It's all about himself. He's the main character.

He said to himself, and there's no mention of God, there's no seeking of wisdom, there's no room for others to point out blind spots. Often I'll say that you can have blind spots or you can have honest friends, but you can't have both. And we all need close friends that will point out the areas that we can tend to oversee and neglect. His only question is, this man in the story, how can I keep everything that I have? That's the thing he's wrestling with. He saw himself as an owner rather than a steward or a manager of the things that were entrusted to him. An owner says, what do I wanna do with my money? A steward asks, God, what do you want me to do with what you've entrusted to me? There's a danger in abundance. And a lot of times we can think of how hardship will point out the issues of our heart. You know, it'll help surface things. When the cup is tipped over, what is on the inside is what comes out. But abundance will also reveal what is going on inside of our hearts. It doesn't, money in itself or wealth in itself is not, it's neutral, it's not evil, but the love of money is the root of many evils. And scarcity reveals what we fear. Abundance reveals what we love. It's gonna show, it's gonna reveal what's on the inside. It's closely connected to another truth

that Jesus taught in the parable of the soils. Remember that thorny soil? Luke 8, 14, the seeds that fell among thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. So they never grow into maturity. Remember when Jesus said that it is harder for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to go through a needle's eye. And there's, you know, there's archeological studies about a gate that was called a camel's or the needle's eye and how camels had to strip themselves from all the different. things that they were carrying, to be able to kind of kneel and crawl through that. Whatever the case, it's a hyperbole. He's making a point. He's saying it's really hard to cling on to riches and to keep Jesus at the center. Again, you might be feeling like, well, thank God. I mean, I don't feel identified with that abundance. I'm not rich. This is probably for someone else in the crowd. And if you do have full bonds, it's not, Jesus is not against that. We're gonna get to that point in a minute. He's not against saving. He's not against retirement. He's not against good stewardship. It's an issue of the heart. That's what he's pointing out. On the surface, it can feel like a question about justice, about, you know, how to do investment and how to manage things, but it's really dealing with the heart. The second powerful truth from this story is that greed promises what money can never deliver. Greed promises what money can never deliver. Luke 12, 19, my friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me. You know, early retirement or I don't know how old he was, but you get, you know, you're able to enjoy, and Scripture talks about that, about how we are able to enjoy the

fruit of our labor. At a first glance, it sounds like a great financial plan, like successful business, full barns, financial independence, early retirement, time to enjoy life. So what exactly is wrong in this? Is Jesus against wealth? Is he against savings? No. Is he against retirement? No. Is he against enjoyment? Not at all. In fact, Paul says in 1 Timothy 6, 17, God richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. God richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. How many say, thank God? Okay, good. I don't have to cancel that trip that I had planned. He does encourage us to enjoy, and he provides. Part of what God gives us is to cover our needs. Part of what he gives us is for us to enjoy. Part of what he gives us is for us to honor him through giving and make sure that our hearts know that he is at the center, that he's our priority. Part of what he gives us is for us to share with others. But that enjoyment piece is part of what Scripture teaches. The problem isn't enjoying what God gives us. The problem is asking money to give us what only God can give us. Who are we engaging with? Who are we relating to? Are we relating to God as a source, or are we looking at our full barns and talking to ourselves? The problem this man faced is that he was looking for his possessions to provide security, peace, identity, control, a guaranteed future. And that's where money becomes something more than money. It can become an idol. Twice in Scripture, it talks about greed being idolatry. It says that in Ephesians 5.5 and Colossians 3.5, it talks about a greedy heart is idolatry. And it's interesting. That ambition for more, for retaining it all, for looking for that security, looking for that safety, looking for that sense of control, looking for whatever it is that we're trying to get, that should not come from material wealth. It should come from God. And I think that's at the heart of why Jesus teaches this, is because he doesn't want thorns to crowd out the power of the message in our lives. He wants his voice to mature, to take root, to lead us to a place where we don't depend on what's happening in the financial realm around us. Because God's economy is not linked to gas prices. He has a different way of approaching the universe. And if our heart can be fully grounded in him and trusting him, then what happens around us is not going to knock us over. It's not

going to determine our lives. Greed promises what money can never deliver. Matthew 6.24, Jesus, again, he teaches about this throughout Scripture, throughout the New Testament. You can never serve, you cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. Jesus doesn't describe money merely as something we possess. He describes it as something capable of possessing and owning us, if we allow it to. Greed takes different forms. Greed isn't simply, I want to be rich. It can look like the accumulation. I need more. It can look like comparison. I need what they have. It can look like control. enough so nothing can threaten me. It can look like security. I'll feel safe when I reach a certain number. It can look like comfort. I want a life where nothing inconveniences me. It can look like fear-based hoarding. I can't let go because I might not have enough later. For someone who has experienced financial instability or trauma, and I think a lot of us can think at moments of scarcity in our own story, and we're like, I don't want to go back to that. And I remember moments in my own journey as a family where we had, in 2013, we were down to our last $10. And we still had to pay school lunch bills. And we had to figure out how to pay for all the things. There's something that happens in your prayers when you're at that point. But why should we pray less or depend on the Lord less when we do have abundance? Why should we not keep him at the center of our heart or attention when we feel like our barns are full?

And I think that's the thing that Jesus is aiming at. He's aiming at that moment where our hearts can say, am I being crowded out by the thorns around me? So for someone who has experienced financial instability or trauma, greed may not look like something extravagant at all. It might look like something disguised as wisdom. Eventually, we have to ask, how much is enough? Ecclesiastes 5.10 says, those who love money will never have enough. It's insatiable. If money becomes a thing that makes us feel safe, there will never be a number big enough for that. And we'll be chasing something that can never be attained. The third powerful truth we see in this story is that the fool builds his life on false assumptions. It's interesting, because if you look at the story and Jesus isn't telling it, you'd be like, this guy knows what he's doing. He's probably gone to Financial Peace University. He's got full barns. He's built margin. He's thinking about how to increase and how to actually enjoy it. But the problem is he's full of these assumptions that are distorting his perspective and his heart. Luke 12.20, but God said to him, you fool, you will die this very night in this story, in this parable. Why does God call him a fool? Not because he's wealthy.

And I want to make that super clear. Because throughout Scripture, you see God's blessing expressed through provision and through wealth as well. So it's not a number thing. It's a heart thing. Why does he call him a fool? Not because he was successful. Not because he planned the future. The problem is that he built his life on false assumptions. Assumption number one was, I have plenty of time. And he didn't realize that he didn't own his time, his days. He says, you have enough stored away for years to come. God says, tonight is your last night. He planned his finances carefully, but he planned his whole life as though eternity didn't exist. He's so caught up in the temporary nature of life that he forgot that there is eternity on the other side. The second assumption, false assumption he had, is wealth will always be there. Markets change, businesses fail, economies shift, health changes, circumstances change. Paul points this out. Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. And that's in 1 Timothy 6, 17. That false assumption is that wealth will always be there. Scripture teaches that it is unreliable. It can rot. The moth can take it. It can be stolen.

It can be like a mist. Third assumption, negative, false assumption is I am in control. That's what this man felt. That's what made him foolish. He had planned everything except the one thing he couldn't control, his next breath. Foolishness neglects the bigger picture. The fool asks, how much do I have? Wisdom asks, what am I building that will last? The fourth powerful truth that we learn from this story that Jesus tells is that he, Jesus is the one that defines riches. Jesus defines what true riches are. Luke. 1221, yes, a person is a fool to store up earthy wealth but not have a rich relationship with God. This is the destination of the whole parable. It's kind of like the punchline or the clincher at the end. It's the way that Jesus ties together this whole story that he's told. In just a brief paragraph, he's telling the story of this man, wealthy man, successful man that's about to die and has not thought about his relationship with God or has not thought about eternity. What if the ultimate measure of life isn't how much did you earn, how much did you save, what house did you live in, how successful were you, what did you accomplish? But what if the ultimate measure of life

is did you truly know God? What if that is the ultimate measure and test of if we've lived life right? The greatest thing we can achieve in life isn't wealth, isn't financial success, it isn't comfort, it isn't even family. It isn't even a reputation for righteousness. The greatest treasure available to you and to me is to be rich in our relationship with God. And this is why it's so linked to that parable of the soils because there's so many things that can compete in our heart for the place that only God should have. Luke 12, 31, seek the kingdom of God above all else and he will give you everything you need. That's the right sequence. He will provide everything we need but it will happen when we seek him, when we pursue his kingdom, his will. Thy will be done, thy kingdom come. Those are parallel phrases. His will, his desire, his reign in our life. If I seek that first and foremost, everything else will be recalibrated in my life and he will provide for everything that I need. The trouble is, the issue is material possessions are a lot more tangible. They're a lot easier to see. They're a lot easier to control in a sense and we can often get distracted

from making him our priority. So today as we learn from these powerful principles, there's three action steps that we can take as we uproot greed and cultivate a rich relationship with God. Three things that we can do, that we can practice from this day forward that will help us uproot greed and also cultivate a rich relationship with God. Ready? This is my last list. I don't have like another five lists after this. Some of you are like, oh, I thought we were, point number four, he should be wrapping up soon, but no, hey, surprise, three more points. The first thing we need to do to uproot greed and to cultivate that relationship with God is trust. It's interesting that on our currency, we have that phrase, in God we trust. But that doesn't always play out in real life. It doesn't always play out in the direction of our heart. God is my source, that's what trust declares. He will use different means to provide, but he is always the source. If he is your source, it'll be traumatic to have a change in your job or in your finances, but you won't be knocked over, because he's your source. If he's your source, an unplanned medical issue won't knock you to the ground. Yes, it will take some adjustment, but he is your source. If he's your source, then like Elijah,

when the creek dries up and the ravens don't come anymore, and you're in the right place where God told you to be, you don't have a faith crisis, because you know that he's already prepared the next means that he's gonna use to provide, and he'll guide you to that, because he's your source. Trust is to see him as a source of every good gift, and to live that way, to practice that, and how we engage our material wealth, and how we steward it, how we teach our kids, what the tone is, love that we, earlier in the service, sang the doxology. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. This is a family tradition on the Graham side. Anytime we'd get together with my grandparents before a meal, they're all super musical. Some of us would just mouth watermelon through the song. But we would sing the doxology as a reminder that every blessing flows from him. If he's our source, we can trust him. He's reliable, he is trustworthy. Trust is built with time. Trust is built by walking with God through a relationship with him. That's why we need to be rich in a relationship with him. It involves that relationship. You can't trust without having a relationship with him. Spend time with God, talk to God, listen to God. And there's two very concrete practices. I lied, there's another list, here we go.

I can't help myself, gotta love your list, right? Okay, if we call him A and B, does that still count as a list? So ways that we can very practically express our trust in him. And again, we've already had our giving moment, but the tithe is one of the most concrete ways of building that value of trust with God when it comes to material possessions. Because it's a habit that recalibrates our values. It's saying, God, the first dollar out of every 10 is what I'm gonna dedicate to you. And if I'm not the owner, if I'm the steward, and this is what he's taught me, then I'm just bringing it back to him. Now, you maybe have heard that I, at points, I'm like, I might, you know, I got some bills to pay, it's gonna be the eighth dollar this month, Lord. And then before I knew it, it was the ninth, and then it was the 10th, and then it was like, and then I was writing IOUs to him, right? And it can drop off your values if you don't build it into a habit. Now, something happens in that declaration of trust. And yes, there's blessing and he provides all we need, but something happens in our hearts when we establish that trust with him. And we're saying, God, I am aware that you are my source. And this is, I'm gonna put my money where my mouth is. I'm gonna put, I'm gonna, where my treasure is,

that's where the desires of my heart are. And I want to make sure that I am not neglecting my relationship with him. It's not a transactional thing where he's like, okay, your monthly fee is behind, and you're actually gonna get, you're gonna have to pay interest next month. He doesn't need my money. He invites me to cultivate a relationship with him, and this is one of the clearest ways of avoiding greed. The founding pastor of Emmanuel, whenever he would do offerings, sometimes he'd say, when we give in the offering, we keep money from crawling from our pocket into our hearts because we just practice generosity. And we interrupt that moment. And it's true. One of the best ways to interrupt that is by declaring our trust in the Lord. Tithing every time I give to God, the first dollar to every 10, I declare my security isn't in what I keep. My security is in the God who provides. And the math is amazing, because the 90% always outplays the 100%, if it's in my own hands. Second thing that you can do to strengthen that trust in the Lord, and there's really, this is kind of a recent, current journey that I'm on,

is the practice of rest, or Sabbath. And it kinda ties into the tithe. It's pretty fascinating. Remember when God created the world, and he created during six days, and then on the seventh day, he rested. Thank God for that. I love that. I love that verse. I love that principle. What day did he create humanity? Did he create Adam? The sixth day. So what was the first thing that Adam got to experience in creation? Rest. Adam didn't live for the weekend. He lived from rest, as a foundation. And we live in a hustle society, where time is money, and if I rest, then I'm missing out. I could be making some more, and I could be collecting manna on the seventh day, just in case he doesn't show up tomorrow. You see where the lack of trust is? So the statement of pausing, of breathing. Breathing, of enjoying the things that God has, enjoying God, enjoying family, of refraining from working is a statement of trust in the Lord, just like the tithe.

Because we're saying, I don't need to be in control because I know that you will provide. And I get schedules that are crazy, and this is a journey that I'm working. I'm working on this muscle group myself because it's a little underworked. But sometimes when we don't know how to have a rhythm that involves rest, just like God has taught us, then what happens is we weaken our trust in Him. We try to put our trust in our own efforts. And we can be like that fool. We think we have all the time in the world. We think we are in control. We think we own everything we have. But God knows that He's designed us with that cadence that requires a pause to reflect, to refresh, to think, to rest, to enjoy time with Him, company with Him. That's a whole different, we can go off on a tangent on that, that's a soapbox for a different day. But trust will uproot greed, and it will strengthen that rich relationship with God. A second practice that we can take today that'll uproot greed and strengthen our relationship with God is contentment, contentment. Paul has some amazing teachings on this. It says in Philippians 4, 12, and 13, I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secrets of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach

or empty with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Probably you're familiar with that last verse with 4.13, you know, and that's, a lot of athletes use that. But it's connected to this inner wholeness and contentment balance that's unfazed by lack or by abundance, because it's grounded in a rich relationship with God. Notice that contentment works in both direction. Paul knows how to live with little and Paul knows how to live with much. Contentment doesn't mean that we can't enjoy what God gives us. It means my joy isn't dependent on having more. It can distinguish between what I need, what I can enjoy, and what I don't need to possess. 1 Timothy 6, 6, and 7, yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. That's actually in the Bible. You know, that whole, you'd never see a U-Haul attached to a hearse thing. That's actually not that original. It's here in scripture. The final action that we can implement, that we can adopt through this trust is contentment that are gonna help to uproot greed

and strengthen that rich relationship with the Lord is generosity. Not everything God gives me is meant for me. Part of what he has entrusted to me is meant to be shared. He doesn't need me in the equation, but he loves to involve me and invites me to catch his heart for the need around me. To be part of his answer to other people's prayers. Part of what I have is meant for me to pay my bills. Part of what I have is meant for my enjoyment. Part of what I have is actually I should start with. Part of it is to honor and worship and to establish that statement of trust. And part of it is meant to be shared. I love that as a church, you know, this is, it's really a heart thing that we get to process as we go from this place. Am I gonna be like that third soil that's just at the mercy of thorns and weeds that's living anxious and is living depleted and tired and feeling like things are out of control? Is it's drowning out? It's not allowing faith to mature in my heart? Or am I gonna cultivate a rich relationship with the Lord? And as I do, inevitably, God will bring me along in a journey that ends up blessing others. As I walk, wherever you're at, you'll be known for being a generous person. because God will provide for your needs and then he'll use you to bless others.

I do want to mention that, I love that at our church, you know, we have Sunday morning settings and then we have other places to really navigate and play this out. And one of the key classes that we have that's coming up this fall, and I got to do a plug because I love, you guys know me, you know that I love announcements. But we do have a Financial Peace University class coming up. And if you're interested and you're like, okay, how do I go about resetting my finances or digging out of debt? What if you, what if instead of having to pay so much money and interest on debt, what if you could use that money to bless others? Can you imagine? And God can help lead you and guide you, support you to get there. And we do have a class coming up, got the info on that, seat back if you do want to scan it. But a generous heart keeps the big picture of eternity and others in mind. The rich fool's mistake was assuming if it came to me, it must be for me. Kingdom people think different. Some of what God has put in our hands may be intended to flow through our hands. Final verse, actually two verses, 1 Timothy 6, 18 and 19. They should be rich in good works and generous with those in need, always ready to share with others. That's the encouragement that we get from scripture, trust, contentment, and generosity. What if we could carry those with us? What if we can live those out? What would that do with our hearts? And if our heart's in a good place, maybe God can trust us with more. Amen. Would you stand with me today as we pray? And in your journey of trust, of contentment, of generosity, my prayer is that if there is a sense of insecurity and greed and trying to find that sense of security in what money can't offer, that that grip would be broken and that you could experience the rich relationship with God, with our provider, our father, the God of all peace, the God of all comforts, the God of all comforts, our shields, our strong rock, that our hearts could be knit with his. Today as we conclude, I want to pray. I want to ask the Lord to lead us in introspection, that he would lead us as we look inward to our hearts, that we would not measure our lives by what we have materially, but that we could become people that are known for having a rich relationship with him. Let's pray together. Father, we just thank you today for the teaching of Jesus. Thank you for how much you care for our hearts. Thank you for the way that you continually provide, but Lord, you don't allow things to become a distraction. God, you want that rich relationship. You invite us to walk with you, to talk with you, to listen to you, to know you more, to build that trust. God, I pray that over each of us.

God, I do pray that you would continue to provide, that you would bring abundance, but that would never compete with the place that only you should have at the center of our lives. We worship you, Jesus. We worship you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.