 All right, so Ecclesiastes chapter 5. I also want you to go and take and bookmark Psalm 128 So we're gonna be in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and Psalm 128 And I'm gonna refer back to verses in both of these places throughout the whole sermon So keep your place there put a ribbon there whatever you need to do I mean we're gonna go other places, but those will be the main point so Ecclesiastes of course I love the book of Ecclesiastes. I It's one of my favorite hands-down definitely top three books in the entire Bible I love Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiastes chapter 5 Especially is there is a lot of of sound financial advice in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 And a lot of it may seem if you've just read it for the first time or you haven't read it for a long time It may seem confusing. He's talking about how things are bad And you know it's bad to be rich and all this kind of stuff And then he says oh it's good and all this but I want to explain all that to you this evening How all that fits together with every other part of the Bible and how it's just great advice in the Bible So we're talking about The financial series and this is the close of the financial series of the fourth sermon And we're gonna be looking at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 But this evening I want to look at this idea of luxuries in our life I want to look at the idea of luxuries in our life. Is it biblical? Are we supposed to have nice things? I've told you you know we've let's just recap You know we talked about making a living we talked about we had a pre-sermon on diligence If you remember that I preached a sermon on diligence before we even got into the financial sermon That's gonna play in to this evening as well and you'll start to see why that is but we talked about Budgeting your money making a living you make a living you make enough money to support your family now You need to budget properly you need to have your savings and you know We talked a lot against things like luxuries things that you don't need non-essential things We talked a lot against that but the Bible actually speaks about that and we're gonna talk about it this evening So we talked about making a living as you budget you know that debt is bad and then you know You're not in debt instead you have savings, but the Bible says that there is nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of your labor But it comes with some prerequisites and some things that we need to understand about it And that's the the the great power of Ecclesiastes chapter 5 And I hope that after the the sermon this evening you'll go and you'll read Ecclesiastes chapter 5 again And you'll see the contrast and how God in his word is warning us and he's he's telling us about Those things that we need to always keep in mind when we do what we're supposed to do when we are good stewards of You know the things that God has given us which is a key right there There were good stewards of things God's given us we're gonna have some some blessings in our lives But there's a lot of warnings and prerequisites that go along with that So look down at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and look at verse number 18 to start off Okay, and let me just read verse 18 and verse 19 for you and then I'll read for you Psalm 128 verses 1 and 2 You're there already, but then those are our core verses for the sermon this evening. So let's read verse 18 of Ecclesiastes chapter 5 the Bible reads Behold that which I have seen it is good and comely for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all His labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life which God giveth him for it is his portion Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth and hath given him power to eat thereof and to take his Portion and to rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God now turn to psalm chapter 128 and verse number one Where the Bible says? Blessed is he Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord that walketh in his ways and verse number two says for so we see a prerequisite here that you must walk in the ways of the Lord for Thou shall eat the labor of thine hands Happy shall thou be and it shall be well with thee. So look here's the prerequisites that Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and Ecclesiastes and Psalm 128 is talking about in in the Bible Here is talking about the fruits of your labor the good that comes from that But the first thing that we need to remember is that everything comes from the Lord Okay, so everything comes from the Lord James 1 17 says for every good gift and every perfect gift is from above Okay, John 3 27. We just read it this morning said a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven That's what John the Baptist said. Okay, those aren't red words in John 3 But maybe you know it's those are words that you know as we read it this morning You know it just popped out at me because it it fits with this sermon this evening, but every a man can receive nothing Except it be given him from heaven the Bible says okay, so look that's a pretty powerful statement You can you can receive nothing unless it is from Heaven so look very carefully at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and verse number 18 And look at the end part of that verse So what comes from the Lord when I say everything you like everything comes from the Lord end of sermon. Let's pray No, but look at the very details of everything that it tells you that comes from the Lord Look at the end of the verse where it says all of his labor He taketh under the sun all the days of his life which God giveth him the days of your life God gives you the days of your life's look what the days that you live every single day has been given to you by God Every day that you have is a gift the Bible says and God says also if you follow this law turn to Proverbs chapter 3 If you follow his law notice in in Psalm 128 I'm just gonna keep bouncing back between these so hopefully you have your finger a bookmark there It says in Psalm 128 it talks about eating the labor of thine hands, but verse one speaks about this It says that to those that walk in his ways to those that walk in his ways It's a prerequisite to enjoying the things that God has given you so don't forget that look at Proverbs chapter 3 in verse 1 The Bible says my son Forget not my law But let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to these so this is a Parent talking to a child right this is a parent talking to a child in Proverbs It says forget not my law, but what law is this parent talking about now? I want to show you turn to Exodus chapter 20 I don't want to spend a lot of time about this But look the Bible says you know it talks about in Proverbs chapter 3 fearing the law of your parents But it's relating that back to the law of God Okay, look at Exodus chapter 20 in verse number 12 and a lot of people are confused by this because you know There's you know You could if you have parents that don't teach you the law or you know are going against the law of God You know then it Exodus 20 in verse number 12 could be a little bit confusing But the Bible says honor thy father and thy mother and thy that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God Giveth thee so that is relating honoring your father and mother to how long you will actually live in your life Okay, but look Romans 13 still applies You know we are to obey the higher power so you're like oh man You know what if my parents aren't saved or what if my parents? You know want me to do things that are bad against God and all this kind of stuff look It doesn't you or to obey the higher powers and we can see from Proverbs chapter 3 Tying it to Exodus chapter 20 that when in that when that when the Bible is saying my son forget not my law They're relating that to the law of God. That's talking about God's law. Okay, so look the Bible relates Following God's law to not only a long life, but the ability to enjoy the things in your life. Okay, so that's That's just one side note, but look The days of your life the point of back to the point the days of your life are a gift and by the way This is a gift that everybody receives So if you ever you're ever out soul winning and you ever get this guy that's like oh, yeah, what's God ever done for me? You know you got the guy that's standing in his front yard, you know drinking a beer He's like what's God ever done for me? Well, you're breathing aren't you? You know he gave you your life. He gave you your body, which you've already destroyed He gave you your life, which you're wasting But he gave you, you know the breath that's in you right now even the unsaved they have received this gift They've already gotten it every unsaved person that has lived on this earth and died even if they go to hell They got the free gift of a physical life on this earth Okay, they already got that So that's the answer to the guy that's like what has God ever done for me? I mean that's one answer Okay, that's one answer. Here's another thing go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and look at verse number 18 again Look at what the Bible says behold that which I have seen it is good and comely for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of All his labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life So the Bible says to enjoy the good of what it says to enjoy the good of your labor And it relates that to also a gift So the the work that you have and the ability that you have to do that work is also a gift from God Did you know that turn to the first Corinthians chapter 12? first Corinthians Chapter 12 and look at verse number four the ability that you have the job that you have and You know the physical ability to get to that job to do that job Whatever capacity you need to be successful at that job to learn a skill do that job to make a living All of that is a gift from God look at first Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number four now There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit That's a great verse because that says that you know We're all going to be gifted in different areas So some people are going to have gifts that other people aren't going to have you know Some people maybe are very musical some people are very technical Maybe some people are good at certain things some people I mean that's typically how people end up especially men in certain fields and not other fields So they've been given gifts. I mean there are different administrations with the same Lord So that's saying if we're in a church and we're all saved that we're all going to have different gifts we're all going to have different abilities to do things and you know, but the same spirit Right, so I mean that's something that you know We should never forget right and we talked a lot about these types of things You know casually this morning, but we should all have the same we all do have the same spirit here Okay, so I mean that is the the beauty of the Christian life is no matter what your abilities what your talents they are It's it's a gift from God and we all have the same spirit Okay, so the fact that you can get up and you can go to work every day is just I mean That's another gift that a lot of us that unsaved people get as well The fact that unsaved people, you know, they can get up they can go to work They can make money and look some some unsaved people are really good at this They have a lot of ability. They have a lot of talent, you know, some people are really really good at making money Out in the world. They're not saved, but that's a gift from God all the same It's a gift from God all the same you think about a rich person, you know They're just really good at just making tons of money. You know, it's the Bible says it's a gift. It's a gift Okay, now look your labor is also a gift Your labor is also a gift But I want to point out something that it is very clearly pointed out in Psalm 128 and in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 That is your personal labor It is your personal labor look back at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 I mean it talks about, you know enjoying the fruit and the good of your labor, but it talks about it being yours Personally for you to enjoy it look back at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 in verse 18 I'm gonna read it again. It is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy all the good the good of all his labor It doesn't say to enjoy the good of somebody else's labor Okay, it says his labor in a Psalm 128. It's the same thing in verse number two for thou shall eat the labor of Thine hands that means your hands Personally you singular one person is talking about, you know, you can enjoy and eat the labor of your hands You're supposed to eat the labor of your hands So the blessing from the labor will only come if it's yours the Bible says Okay, and you're like, oh man Sorry, it has to be yours in order for this to work the Bible gets us again Right the Bible knocks communism down again But the point is there's a lot of things that the Bible says here are gifts from God Which is a prerequisite to what we're gonna talk about this evening and we see that it must also be yours So what are the gifts? It's your actual wall your actual physical life is a gift Your actual ability to go to work is a gift your actual Job or your place where you work or you're a you know the opportunity that you have to work somewhere is a gift The Bible says and then the good or the fruit of your personal labor is Also a gift these are all gifts from God That's the first thing that we need to understand so the title of the sermon this this evening is luxuries right is is tips on enjoying having and enjoying Luxuries in your life you say what are luxuries? Well luxuries are if you remember the last you know sermon on budgeting Lodge luxuries are those things that are non-essential the things that you don't need right the the restaurants the the vacations the Extra vehicles or whatever that you have you know basically Wastes of money If you think about it from a financial point of view They're basically just things that are just waste of money things with little to no Financial return if you want to think about it that way things you don't need if you want to think about it that way Ashley and I every Saturday morning before we come soul-winning we go and we get coffees together and Every single time every single Saturday morning. It's ten dollars and ten cents if you take that over a year It's gonna cost me five hundred some dollars to have coffee with Ashley It's a complete waste of money It's a luxury. It's something that we don't Need it's something that you know, we just Decide to do I just decide to do okay? So look, let me just give you a couple of tips on how to enjoy and have luxuries in Your life Biblically turn to Galatians chapter 6 Galatians chapter 6 So luxuries are those things that we don't need they're the things in the budget that get cut first if you Can't budget properly and we don't have enough money and you're working through the budget You're doing all these are the things you cut out the luxuries, okay? Turn to Galatians chapter 6 the first tip I want to give you on luxuries and we saw the prerequisite on this is that you must always remember That everything is a gift from God Everything is a gift from God the first tip is this you can't have everything right away You can't have everything in your life right away. You say that's obvious. Well, it's a common mistake today It's a super common mistake to me today amongst young people Especially, you know this this if you want to be in a financial position in the future Or anytime in your life, you must get rid of this attitude now or you will fail This I must have everything right now. This is this is American This is millennial or the next generation after that gen y or z or what are they even calling them anymore? But the point is is that this have everything right now attitude will ruin you if if you if you can't get rid of it If you feel like you need to have everything right now, you will never have anything Is the bottom line? You will have net well you will have something okay You will have something and what you will have is debt And what you will have and is is slavery you're like I'm against slavery me too, but you'll have it You can't get rid of that must have everything right now attitude. You will end up in slavery You're like slavery is illegal. You'll end up in it You'll end up in financial slavery So here's a prerequisite to financial success in your life look down at Galatians chapter 6 and verse number 9 You say this is great advice, but you're just giving it to us No, this is straight out of the Bible Galatians chapter 6 and verse number 9 says and let us not be weary and well-doing for in due season We shall reap if we faint not let me read to you Romans chapter 8 and verse 25 But if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it You must have patience to be financially successful in this life Okay, and now I understand that these are largely Spiritual applications, but it works in your secular life as well. You must have Patience everything that is it you know in due season you shall reap the Bible says you need to have some patience in your life And your Christian life, that's true in your spiritual life That's true, but it's true in your financial life as well You must have patience. This is why we had the first sermon before this series even started What was the sermon? It was on diligence and what is diligence? It is persistent consistency There is a time element to diligence You have to be persistent Over time and you are diligent if you are that if you work hard over time You are diligent Look, you're not diligent if you go and you hit it for a day and then you sleep for six Okay, I mean that's not diligence. There's a time element here and look that takes patience That takes patience the only way listen very carefully The only way and this is the reason and this is the reason that this series will not help a lot of you The reason is this because you have to number one understand the sermons of debt of diligence of debt of making a living Which takes a plan that is a workable plan that you must execute of budgeting and Then you must execute that understanding over time Consistently that's why a lot of you will not Get much out of this series or some of you or whatever I hope all of you do but if you fail at having this change the way you are living your life It's because you're not practicing it over time If you get it right and you're like, oh, yeah, we're not going to fast food restaurants We're gonna do this stuff and we're gonna budget we're gonna be like this and then two days go by and you're back to normal It's a waste of your it's a waste I'm just a bunch of hot air up here You know doing nothing for you. It must be practiced over time. That's the difficult part making a living You have to hold the job over time You have to hold the job like one of the most important metrics That the secular world will use turn to Proverbs chapter 10 This is one of those things remember this morning This is one of those things that even though somebody in the secular world that said that won't even claim to believe the Bible They've figured this out. They know the Bible is true here Even if they don't even know it's in the Bible They know this is true because they've seen it be true so many times it becomes a literal business practice for them Look at Proverbs chapter 10 The Bible says he that he become a poor that dealeth with a slack hand But the hand of the diligent make it rich That's why if you walk into a bank and you want to get a loan for a home One of the first questions they will ask you they will ask you they will ask you where you work And then they will ask you how long have you worked there? You know why they ask that they're doing a diligence check on you They are seeing how diligent you are they are seeing they're doing a Proverbs number 10 check on you Because they know that somebody who's diligent a Good loan to a bank is an asset that a bank makes money on If you take out a loan from a bank and you pay off that loan for years pay on that loan for years and pay it off They made money on you You fulfilled that vow you I mean it worked out well for both of you Hopefully that's why people enter into a contract But the point is they're doing a diligence check on you because if you take out a loan from them They give you a bunch of money, and then you don't pay it back. They're gonna lose a bunch of money on you so they're trying to Whittle down the losses that they have they want to have as many W's over here as they possibly can and limit the L's That's what they're trying to do. They're doing a Proverbs 10 check on you Say that to your banker next time you're doing a Proverbs 10 check on me. They what? But that's what they're doing They're doing they're seeing how diligent you are because the diligent will pay the loan back is the bottom line So look the Bible is true whether you believe it or not and people have figured this out Right, so look making a living getting into that job that makes you a living getting into that job that makes you a living Just getting into that job. Did you hear what I said getting into that job that makes you a living will take years Years You find any man in this church any man Wherever that makes a living and I guarantee you it took him years to get to that point He he paid his dues for years. I Mean Think of that young people. That's what it takes Think of that young people that you know, you're like, I don't know if I should stay in this job for more than two months Or whatever look it takes years It takes years and look if you don't be diligent in in in searching for that way to make a living Do you think God's gonna open any doors for you? Do you think God is gonna show you a path? How about you get diligent in your labor and Pray that God opens doors for you and I bet things happen for you Budgeting The third sermon it takes budgeting over time This is what will produce a situation where you actually have some savings if you budget over time Budgeting for one month or one week a month will do you no good. Don't even try You'll just frustrate yourself So don't wonder why someone by the way since there's this time variable and we're talking about patience if you wonder You know don't wonder why somebody who's older maybe Your parents whoever, you know, they've had more time to be diligent They've had more time you have to apply these lessons over time and if you do that if you do that in five years in ten years You can afford some little luxuries in your life and the Bible says that that's okay That's at that is okay. So look that's all intro Let's talk about enjoying the good of your labor look back in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 That's all okay. That's all Intro this was all about how you get to that point You know you have to practice the first four sermons over time You have to be diligent in every one of those things like sounds hard Well, if it was easy everybody would do it That's why most people don't do it because it's not easy Look back at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 Look at verse 18 Behold that which I have seen it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of All his labor. So here you are you're living on 80 percent Maybe less if you're saving even more, you know, all your bills are paid every single month You're given 10 percent to the Lord. You're not robbing God You know, you're you're saving 10 percent maybe more and you have some money left over Like hey, you can afford to waste some money At this point you can afford to have some luxuries and and God's not against that God's not against you enjoying the good of that labor. Okay, but look, here's a couple tips on Those luxuries tip number one is this your luxuries Men married men with children and families your luxuries should involve your family Your luxuries should involve your family going to coffee with your kids You know camping with your kids, whatever things with your family and it should not degrade Any of God's law Romans 13 Always comes into play any of God's law or your responsibilities as a husband as a dad Or as a Christian in general It should not dig into any of those Responsibilities I mean don't be this married dad that is constantly just spending all his money on himself and running off with his single friends I mean don't be that guy because that's degrading your responsibilities as a leader of your home I mean look you're you're the one out working and making money But look your wife is working in your family as well and your wife Deserves those same luxuries, you know that you do I mean she you could make it argument that the wife raising the children is more important than you Just making money. I Mean she has that the care of the upbringing of the children in the home. I Mean that's a pretty big make-or-break situation So everything just remember everything should center around your responsibilities as the leader of your family and your responsibilities To the Lord. Okay. I mean go on a vacation you bring everybody. I Mean spend some time with your family. I mean nothing Nothing I do on my own. I Never do anything on my own. I would never go out and buy Some sports car that I just enjoy by myself It's all about something that I'm doing with my kids and I try to make things as even as possible If I go fishing with one kid, you know, I send the girls horse riding or something like that The luxuries should be shared by the whole family and I mean ideally most of the luxuries should be done together turn to Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 and then even Ecclesiastes, but just go to Matthew chapter 7 Matt Ecclesiastes 5 13 I'll just read for you. The Bible says there's a sore evil I mean so it's talking about evils in a class Ecclesiastes chapter 5 as well evils of riches evils of you know things Right, there's a story evil, which I've seen under the Sun Namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt So if you're just like hoarding all these riches and all these, you know things that you know all these luxuries for yourself Look, that's just going to be to your hurt. If it's a selfish thing for you That's going to be to your hurt. You say who are you holding it for me? Look at the next verse, but those riches parished by evil to prevail and he begeth begetta the son and there is nothing in his hand But he's given he's like he just took it all for himself. He was like providing nothing for his children Like that is not what Ecclesiastes chapter 5 is talking about. So there's all these prerequisites and Clauses and all these different things and Ecclesiastes chapter 5 Hey, it's great to have labor to do what you're supposed to do and to end up with some things that are extra God wants you to have those blessings, but he wants you to use it for the the greater for his kingdom He wants you to use it for your family. He wants you to provide for your children He wants you to use it for something other than just yourself What happened to the guy that built the barns and just looked at the barns. He's like, look at awesome I am God killed him. It wasn't the barns. It wasn't because they were full There was plenty of rich people in the Bible that God just blessed and blessed and blessed And it was fine. It wasn't the barns or the fact that they were full It wasn't the storehouses. It was that he was just look at me. Look what I've done. I'm just gonna eat drink and be married That was the problem. He kept them to his own hurt and in that case death. I Mean, so it's I mean there's some pretty big clauses that we don't want to miss in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 That's why you have to read the Bible. You have to you can't just take verses in the Bible See, oh see God wants me to be happy, you know, and just whatever I want, you know I mean look you have to read the Bible you have to understand what you're reading the Bible is a complicated book There's all these things in there that are you know, they don't contradict each other And there's all these clauses in Ecclesiastes chapter 5. That's like hey, these are all good But this this this and this pay attention. I mean the guy died in his sleep Look at where you at Matthew 7 look at Matthew 7 Look what the Bible says so this is kind of comparing God to the kind of parents that we should be Just looking at you know Well, let's just read it the Bible says for everyone that that's that asketh receiveeth And he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh that shall be opened I'm still seeing a white spot from that headlight. That was really bright. I'm sorry for shining on that in your face, brother I mean I'm seeing a white spot on the pulpit here anyway Or that what man is there of you if his son asked bread will give him a stone or if he asked a fish will Give him a serpent so he's saying what man what kind of what kind of bad Person if a son asked him for you know something would just give him a rock or give him a stone or whatever He said if he if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts under your children Say even the worst of you know how to give good gifts under your children is what he's saying How much more show your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him So look at talking about praying here and asking things of your heavenly father But he's comparing it to how like a normal man Should want to give gifts to their children should want to provide things for their children So you shouldn't just you know think that you have some extra have some luxuries and just hoard all that to yourself That would be a terrible thing that God will come down on you for So look luxuries should be spent on the family things that can make I mean why not spend them on things that can make your Family stronger spend time together You know get activities going look I own some things that from a financial perspective are complete waste of money But here's the thing you know what another luxury is Another luxury that you will end up with if you are diligent in your life Another luxury you'll end up with is this thing called time you will be able to trade money for time And let me tell you something especially those you know There's a lot of people here with little kids you are going to blink your eyes and those kids are going to be 19 And you're gonna be like what in the world? happened there These kids that I'm looking at here are going to be 19 just like that and You will wish you will never say We spent too much time together So you know what here's another reason you know just to get away from this idea of Storing up bank accounts and investments and all these types of things if you are diligent and you do the things in this Sermon series diligently over time. You will have time You will have time and You will be able to spend that time because let me tell you something you will never find somebody that says I spent too much time with my family I Spent we went we went on we went on too many hunting trips We went on too many camping trips together. We spent too much time together I spent too much time with this child and too much time No, I'd spent too much time with my wife You'll never find somebody that says that because time goes too fast and there's never enough of it I mean our lives are a vapor The Bible says we can't get this back James 414 whereas you know that she'll what she'll be on the tomorrow on the moral for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away So look there is nothing there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying the fruit of your labor, but it comes with all these warnings and side notes and prerequisites and you need to use it in a way that strengthens and not separates your family that strengthens your relationship to the Lord You know look you can't have Some luxuries and then and then use those luxuries and that luxury of time that you have to all of a sudden You know get out of church and all of a sudden stop doing the first works And and look it's not going to go well for you because in the end you'll turn those blessings of your life into curses I mean that is the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon that's exactly what he did God gave him everything God gave him wisdom God gave him Riches he gave him everything Solomon was a very wise child in a very humble child when he took over the kingdom and he asked God he Want I mean he won God's heart right away and God said I'm just going to give you everything I'm just going to give you everything even though you didn't ask for it because you didn't ask for it I'm going to give you everything But look back now at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 And look at verse number 10. So Ecclesiastes chapter 5 I'm proving to you shows that you can hey you can enjoy the blessings of your life Right you can enjoy it you can work hard you can make money You can save money and you can enjoy all that and God wants that God wants you to enjoy it, but he doesn't want you to turn on him He doesn't want you to use it to your yourself To your own he's like because if you use it to yourself any clean any Ecclesiastes chapter 5 He's like enjoy the good don't use it to yourself for that'll be to your own hurt. Why because God will hurt you Don't use it to your own hurt and then look at verse number 10 in the same chapter You think it's a coincidence that it's all in the same chapter That there's this point in the Bible where God you think God maybe God knew that people would read a verse that says hey Enjoy all the good of your labor people are like yes. I Could do whatever I want It's okay to just go get rich and just forget the Lord just go get rich and just forget my family No, no God puts all this stuff in here in the same chapter So we don't get confused yet. We still will get confused look at verse 10 He that love a silver should not be satisfied with silver. That's an interesting little curveball If you start to love money, you'll never be satisfied by it I mean, who do you think invented that rule that law of nature? Well, that's all that's a that's a natural law right there if you start to love the bank accounts and the stuff and Whatever the cars or the houses and you start to love all this stuff. It'll never satisfy you. I Remember when we lived in Texas, we just first moved there and We my wife and I we didn't have any kids We we both were I mean we never you know, we never had money like this We you know, we didn't have I mean we didn't have a lot But I mean we didn't we never made money before and now we're both working and all this and and like We had friends and when we knew my wife and I knew that when we had kids that that she was gonna stay home with the kids I wasn't even saved but I had this right I mean I had some things right and so we bought a house that would be that could be supported by just my salary alone And we had all these friends that were just you know They were they were single or not they weren't single but they were married and didn't have children They're buying these huge houses and Look they would buy a huge house You don't know the kind of mansion you can buy in Texas for you know The I mean the price that what you can buy a doghouse for in California But the point is they had all these big houses and then like all they could all they cared about after they got into that house Was the next neighborhood that they wanted to move into They didn't even they didn't even enjoy the house that they lived in it was just about oh so-and-so moved into this neighborhood And so-and-so I mean it was terrible like they didn't even enjoy what they had but look at you know Please ask these five times. They'll never be satisfied by silver They'll never be satisfied by it nor he that love it the bundeth with increase. This is also vanity So as you do these things and I look I have talked to some of you very Specifically about this if you come to me and you want detailed advice and how to put these sermons in a practice in Your life, I will help you and I will I will guide you and I will show you I will show you how to save and help you with all these different technical details of what you have to do How to how to work hard and give you you know some advice on that making a living you know It's whatever you want, but I will always say as you plan your lives And as you do this you are gonna end up with stuff five years down the road ten years down the road You're gonna have something there But don't you get obsessed with this stuff You always keep a warning about this, you know, you just you get your account set up You get your automatic transfers set up you get your job career going and working hard and then you set it and forget it You don't let it affect your Christian life You don't let it affect or derail anything of what you're doing today If anything it should make you stronger here And then you know you're doing it right So be very very careful because what will happen is when it says you know he that love a silver That means your heart goes into it Your heart always needs to be here your heart always needs to be with the Lord Your heart always needs to be with your family and pushing you know your family in you know The things of the Lord and the minute you see something like that starting to pull you away from that That is a huge warning sign. You need to recognize that Look It's just it's just money And at the end of the day look you have to have it you have to have it to make a living to support your family That's a command from God If you don't support your family you're worse than an infidel. There's strong language in the Bible about this But it look it's all gonna burn It's all gonna burn in the end So do it right, but your heart Can't go there because if your heart does go there you're gonna turn those blessings into curses and That is where you know the treasures of darkness will come in for you and what did God do? to Belshazzar With his treasures of darkness You know go read on Babylon sometime. It was one of the richest cities You mean they talk about how Babylon was I don't know if it was 20 miles by 20 miles This city was huge golden everything hanging gardens all these different massive riches Everywhere yet he had to pull the the cups and everything from the house of God To have a party you don't think he had golden everything everywhere He had to blaspheme God it wasn't good enough and he had to turn those Treasures that his grandfather had who you know Nebuchadnezzar God humbled him and he's he got saved But he turned those treasures into treasures of darkness and God took them away and gave them to somebody else So don't turn your treasures your blessings into treasures of darkness darkness that you know things that basically will steal your your heart from the Lord You know Ecclesiastes you can think about Ecclesiastes just the book of Ecclesiastes it's pretty amazing, right? I mean it's pretty amazing when you think about Ecclesiastes You have a man who started out a very young king probably you know less than 20 years old And he started out a young king. He did some good things. Yeah, you know He was a humble started out humble as a young he was a humble young man I mean what in the world who could find one of those I'm just kidding guys But the point is he was a humble young man He was a humble young man and God blessed him greatly and then he just turned his back on God He married all these wives. I mean he even started building temples for all his wives for all these other gods I mean he just totally messed up his life. I mean look at verse number 17 of chapter 2 What did he say? I mean you think about Solomon you think about Solomon is the only person in the history of the World that I can think of that actually won the keeping up with the Jones's game You easy ass these chapter 2 he's sitting there And he's giving you this big list of all these things that he did he's like I had this and I had this and whatever He's like whatever my eyes wanted I had I Spare you know I didn't I didn't I didn't you know keep anything from myself Whatever I wanted I had it Whatever I wanted I got He's like anything says I had more than anybody that was before me Like he literally had more than anybody. He's like keeping up with the Jones's won it He won the game verse 17 therefore. I hated life He hated his life, isn't that don't we see that today? Don't we see that with all these all these all these people to just push to be rich and all these rich people That end up committing suicide Or end up having their kids. I mean hey, hey, you're rich. That's great. Your kid killed himself. Oh I Wonder how much money they would pay to have that not happen You think oh man, you know these people with these big yachts and just like what must that be like to live that life? I remember Jacob and I were out fishing and we're cleaning fish in the back of our boat There's like this big 128 foot yacht that parks there and they're all looking down on us as I'm cleaning fish and like my My skipjack, you know and and they're just like and I'm just like you know what? You wish you were here. That's what I was thinking You wish you were here, you know covered in fish guts with your son is what you think is what you wish But look there's nothing wrong with being rich in itself, but he that will be rich Will fall into a snare Is what the Bible says he that will be rich when it says that it means you have it doesn't mean he that will Be rich like you're gonna be rich. It means that he that has the will to be rich Look, I don't have the will to be rich God doesn't want me to be rich. I already know that personally Look, I have the will to work hard. I have the will to trust the Lord I have the will to thank God for the blessings that he's given me and Use those for the Lord and for my family to serve the Lord and to raise children that will that will Grow up to serve the Lord That that's the will I have but if you have the will to be rich, you're not gonna be satisfied even when you do get rich So you have to you have to guard Yourself here Make sure that these things that God's gonna bless you with just just let the blessings come Thank God for the blessings and just keep moving forward in your Christian life That's what you do Joy true joy comes from the Lord True joy comes from Lord always remember this so look in closing in this financial series I I hope you listen and understood it, but it's easy to understand really I Don't think that I preached anything in these four sermons these five sermons that was super hard to understand But it's really hard to implement and there's a reason that I'm saying this over and over and over again Because I want you to implement it. It's hard to implement go home You know if you go home and you wonder, you know, why are things not going the way I want? Why can't I pay the bills? Why can't I hold the job? Why can't I get a good job? You just need to go home and just watch this series again You need to get diligent you need to think about debt and how serious that is to your life And how that will it will literally put you in slavery, you know I mean think about all the I mean if you walked around and you're like, hey, I think slavery is good today I mean people will go crazy People go crazy. I mean slavery you say the word slavery and people like would just freak out Because slavery is I mean such a hot topic even today Over you know slavery yet people just put themselves in slavery all the time voluntarily Look, it's real folks. It's real slavery if you end up buried in debt. The slavery will be very real to you You will suffer You will suffer Physically from debt You understand how serious it is that is why the Bible talks about it because guess what it's natural law It doesn't have anything to do with what the political climate is at the time if you get into debt You will be in slavery Natural law. It's just gonna happen to you. It doesn't matter when you lived It doesn't matter. You know look now is probably the best time you could live and get into debt But you will still be in slavery even in this country even if they don't throw you in prison You will feel like you are in prison You will feel like it Like I said imagine going to work every single day To make payments that are just interest payments that aren't even paying off loans on things that you don't even have That's where people end up getting People that go up and run up a bunch of credit cards and go on a bunch of vacations and want to have everything right now They end up. What a terrible life People commit suicide over stuff like this I mean, it's that serious. It is slavery, you know budgeting I hope you you look at what your budget is every single month and get this figured out Or you've just got a boat that's got holes in it and you're gonna sink and you're gonna end up in slavery Because if you don't have enough money to cover your bills, you're gonna end up in debt And then if you get all these things right, maybe you'll have some luxuries and God wants you to have that God wants you to enjoy the good things from your labor The fact that you can get up every morning men men when you when you complain about your work And you want to complain about your job you think about the fact that God has even allowed you to go and have a job I mean that is one of the big takeaways for me this year is I'm so thankful that God has allowed me to have a job I am so thankful that that the men in this church and that that you know People in this church have been able to have a job and have been able to just continue having that blessing from God to go and labor And go and work and go in and be able to do that to have that ability. It's all a blessing from God But of course they that will be rich will fall into temptation and a snare So as you get it right and as God blesses you You know don't go. I mean look many people in the Bible were rich being rich is not a problem Unless you make it one unless you use it to turn against God David Abraham Joseph think about all these people I mean they had they had all kinds of increase God just kept giving them more and more Everything's a gift enjoy it, but remember from whence it came Is the key let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer