Slide 1
God’s Prevailing Power Will Set You Free
photo of hand holding a rock
God’s Prevailing Power creates freedom and opportunity. In God’s plan for your life you become successful in life beyond belief – having all you need to do more than you could ever imagine.
On the way in this morning you were given a rock
I’d like you to pick it up and hold it through the entire message. You can switch hands. You can put it in your laps but you can’t put it down and you can’t give it to someone else to hold. You can’t throw it either – especially at me!
If it drops on the floor and rolls down a few rows get up and get it. If you get embarrassed about your rock becoming such a public thing, well that is the way a burden in this life works.
We all have worries and concerns. Some are bigger than others. They all weigh us down. Sometimes they become visible to everyone.
Some people make them into pets! In fact, Gary Dahl sold Pet Rocks in 1975 for $3.95 each. They came nested in a little straw in a box with air holes along with a book on the care and training of your pet rock. In six months five million pet rocks (which cost about 1 cent) were sold all over the United States and Gary Dahl became a millionaire.
Some people still make their burdens into life long companions.
This morning we are going to look at the words of Jesus in Matthew. These are things he taught as part of what we call the “sermon on the mount”. If you will hear and obey these words they will set you free from your burdens forever!
Not only that you will begin to unleash the prevailing power of God in you and in his church! Let’s read together Matthew 6:19-21 first.
Slide 2
The Problem: People Invest their Treasure in the Wrong Things
Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Don’t store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them. 20 But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. 21 Your heart will be where your treasure is.
What is treasure?
Most people think of treasure as a chest full of gold doubloons, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.
Some think of huge piles of greenbacks, bank accounts with six and seven digit figures posted to them, or portfolios populated with massive amounts of Fortune 500 company stocks.
Let me suggest a simpler definition: Your Treasure is what you willingly give your life to obtain.
Pirates in the sea faring days of old invested their lives in chests of gold and gems that they later buried in secret places.
Today, most people in our world invest their lives in the accumulation of various kinds of wealth. We build up our bank accounts; accumulate stocks and bonds; invest in land, buy houses, cars, and vacation condos – in other words we exchange our lives for lots of “Stuff”.
Money is not bad. Money is not good. Money is the simply the means by which we save, exchange, and give our life in ways and capacities that we cannot do so by any other method.
Every morning you go to work and either you sell your life by the hour (Minimum wage of $6.25), exchange your unique God given and man’s educated skills by the job, or you sell the knowledge you have to another as a writer, teacher, attorney, physician, or counselor.
Now there is nothing wrong with this. The fact is that money is a rather marvelous invention. It is the only way we have to save, store, transfer, and purchase life – yours and others.
If we didn’t have money we’d have to invent it.
But we must return to the problem: Worry about stuff sucks the life out of life!
All of this kind of treasure is easily and eventually lost. Everything is eventually gone. It all rusts and decays. Moths destroy it all. This isn’t news to you. You know this about stuff! That’s why you worry about it! That’s why stuff becomes a burden. Because it is ALL EASILY AND EVENTUALLY lost – the people who have made this “stuff” their treasure are constantly burdened by it.
They worry about getting it; they worry about keeping it, they worry about how to get more of it; they worry about having enough of it; they worry about enjoying it; and they worry about how and when they’ll lose it.
Hold up that rock – that represents the stuff in your life. That rock is your car that didn’t start last week. It’s your new home theater system that suddenly lost 3 out of the five channels. It’s your computer that keeps crashing. It’s the pile of bills that arrived in the mail yesterday. It’s the checking account that bounced a couple of checks.
Now don’t throw the rock! Especially, don’t throw it at me! Hold on to it. I’ve got good news today about that rock! God has a plan that will set you free!
Slide 3
The Plan: Invest Your Life in Treasure that Will Not Be Lost
Matthew 6:31-34
31 Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 The people who don’t know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them.
33 The thing you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you. 34 So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Invest your life in the things of God and you will never lose your treasure!
People get hurt when the economy goes in to recession. People got hurt when the market went down in 1929. They got hurt in 1987 when it went down. They got hurt again in 2000.
Invest your life in God’s kingdom and you will never get hurt! And the church has the funds to hire staff, develop ministries to meet needs and tell the story of Jesus. Some of you have done that consistently for many years. Thank you.
Some of you need to understand the importance of this issue and to make some the decision to invest your life in the work of God.
Slide 4
Your Treasure Decision is an Issue of the heart
Matthew 6:21
21 Your heart will be where your treasure is.
Jesus said, your heart WILL BE where your treasure IS. He did not say that your treasure will be where your heart is.
This is a decision. If you will be set free from the burden of “stuff” you MUST determine to make the kingdom of God your treasure and there invest your life – and then your heart will follow.
Let me tell you about the Freedom Plan!
Bill Hybels, Pastor of Willow Creek Church in Chicago talks about it. Now, hang on! This is not a scam. It is simply about what it takes to make a decision about making God’s “stuff” your treasure! This is just plain cool and fun!
Why? Because when you make the decision to work this plan it accomplishes three things:
· You invest your life in God’s work
· You are set free from worry
· You are prepared for the future – temporal and eternal
Slide 5 – build three points
God’s Prevailing Power Freedom Plan
Bill Hybels explains his version of the Freedom Plan (also called the 10-10-80 Plan)
Slide 5 – build 1
The first 10% goes to God.
That’s the tithe. Remember that the tithe is not a legalistic rule that must be followed. It is the Biblical benchmark for giving. In fact, you don’t really give it. You return it because it is God’s.
To honor him, one tenth of your increase is returned to His church for His work. It is just that simple.
Slide 5 – build 2
The second 10% goes to you
You pay yourself. What would that do for you in that same ten-year time period? Let’s say that you are 35 years old making $35K per year and you invest 10% of your earnings every month—about $290—in some investment that makes about 8% per year and you just let that investment grow. By the time you are 45 you will have accumulated over $49,000. That’s quite a nest egg in just ten years.
Proverbs teaches us that the wise person saves for the future—it is the foolish man who sends all he earns.
Slide 5 – build 3
The remaining 80% goes to everyone else!
You pay your rent; mortgage; car payment; consumers power or the Lansing Board of water and light; your cable bill; put gas in the car, milk in frig, pop tarts in the pantry, … and on and on. Planning the use of that 80% is important.
It so sad that so many folks come to the end of the month broke, wondering where the money went — and they literally have no idea.
They live paycheck to paycheck, and wonder why they are not getting ahead. They wonder why they can’t seem to make ends meet. It’s because they have not planned the use of their money. That’s not good management of the life God has given to you.
God wants your to be free and if you manage your money well and learn to live on what you have you will obtain attain financial freedom.
The beautiful thing about careful planning is that it gives you a real sense of freedom. You know what you’ve got, and you know what you can spend. That way if you set aside a little for a romantic weekend in Chicago or Traverse City, then hey go ahead and splurge. Sit at the Holidome and say to yourself, “Life is good!” And if you go to a movie you can get the big tub of popcorn – with butter on it! Live a little! [adapted from Hybels]
God wants us to enjoy the fruit of our labor. If you have a plan that lays out what you can spend on the necessities, then it can also tell you what you can do with the luxuries. And, if you have that plan and always pay God and yourself first, then you know that you are honoring God, planning for the future, and you can enjoy that other 80% to the max.
There is something very strange about this plan – you live better than when you spend 100% on yourself.
When Donna and I lived in Marquette we knew a lot of people who would cash their paychecks, run to ShopKo and buy what ever they wanted – and then pay bills.
When they got to church they would look to see if anything was left and give God the leftovers – Usually a couple of bucks. But their heart was not in it because this was not where there treasure was!
And they never had enough… no matter how much they had.
When it is all yours - It all goes to someone else and then they are usually in the mailbox with a bill asking for more. Your heart is in the treasure that is easily and eventually lost
Donna and I have been living according to the 10-10-80 plan for 7-8 years now – really does work! (Before that we were on the 10-90 plan)
But Listen and this is critically important! It’s not about the plan… It’s not the tithing, the saving, the good management of your finances… It’s about the person. It is about God.
Slide 6
The Person: It’s not about you – It’s about God
Matthew 6:24
24 “No one can serve two masters. The person will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.
Choose your Master Well
Jesus said: “No one can serve two masters”.
In those days it was not uncommon for a slave to be owned by two or three people. It was a matter of economics. Slaves were expensive and so the cost was often shared. There was a problem, though. Two people might own the slave, but that slave is going to prefer one master to the other. “For you will hate one and love the other,” said Jesus, “or be devoted to one and despise the other”.
Then Jesus drives the lesson home: “You cannot serve both God and money”.
Money is our master when we make it the emphasis of our life
How can we know if money is our master? Jesus said:
“Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be”. This leads me to a very simple test. I have two questions to ask you, if you answer either of those questions with a yes, then you are in danger of having money as your master.
Question 1: Does the love of money or the love of God dwell in your heart?
Do you see the returning of the tithe and the giving of offerings as a matter of joy and an act of supreme pleasure?
When you love someone you lavish him or her with gifts. When you don’t – you don’t. What you do give them you resent.
The Scripture says that the love of money, not money itself, but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Does the love of money or financial gain dwell in your heart? That is the first question.
Question #2: Does money consume your thoughts or does God consume your thoughts?
Let me put it this way, are you always trying to think of a way to make another buck, to get rich quick…? Are you always looking for an angle? If we are to attain financial freedom you need more than a plan – you need Jesus.
It’s one of those paradox things… If you want to find your life – you have to lose it!
Jesus is the person who can throw off our yoke of slavery to money. Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters—we cannot, said Jesus, serve both money and God.
So, we need to make a choice. Who are you going to serve, money or God? What are you going to orient your life around, money or God?
Jesus invites us to follow him, become his disciple, and serve him and him alone.
Let me show you the very simple difference between serving God and serving money.
Money will always demand more of you—more work, more money.
God will always give more to you—more love, more grace, more forgiveness, more freedom.
Slide 7
Exchange your burdens for His burden and gain His freedom
Matt 11
28 “Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29 Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. 30 The teaching that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light.”
Still got your rock?
Getting heavy? That rock represents your worries… The bills, the pressures, the problems that keep your focus on the things that won’t make a difference in eternal matters.
I want to offer you a deal today. I’ll take those rocks off your hands. Better than that – I’m an agent representing someone who’ll take those rocks in exchange for you taking from him that which is his burden…
Ready?
People.
People who live near you, people who are jogging by this place every week. People who are investing their lives in all the wrong stuff.
In a moment I’m going to invite you to come up to the front and make a pile of the rocks you have been given and to take a card. This card has a picture of the prevailing power logo we’re using in this series and it has some words on the back with a blank line. Let me read you the words…
There will be some people up here, In fact, I’m going to ask them to come right now, who are ready to pray with you about your burdens. Come while the musicians play and sing this song with them. Come and leave your burdens that worry and concern you. Come and take his burden from him. Put the name of a person that needs a personal relationship with the Lord of Lords and pray for them.
Pray for God to give you the opportunities you need to reach out to them in the coming weeks. Pray that you will be able to invite them to discover what it really means to live life fully and completely. Invite them to our Open House.
Invite them to experience the community of believers.
May be you need to accept Jesus. Today can be the day. The Prevailing Power of God can set you free.
