Training Series

Buck Wild

Pt. 2 - Training

I. Introduction

As a kid I was crazy about horses. It is no wonder since the tv was filled with incredible shots of horse flesh like Silver (Lone Ranger) and Scout (Tonto), Champion (Gene Autry's horse who ended up with his own series called the Adventures of Champion and of course my all-time favorite and the most famous horse in tv history . . . Trigger. Roy Rogers' horse which even having his own Dell comic book recounting his exploits. I had a plastic figurine of a horse that I loved and probably still have in the attic. (Horse Picture) That’s right this is a picture of me in my favorite Spiderman shirt holding my baseball glove and this plastic horse that I treasured.

I had a shirt that had a airbrushed rearing stallion on it. I was crazy about horses and although I didn't get to ride much I can tell you from all the books and shows that although a wild horse may provide a flashy and fun to watch ride at a rodeo, the wild horse was not really welcome at the ranch or on the range when your life and livelihood was tied up in a good horse that you could count on and trust.

So, we began to talk last week about how buck wild our bucks are and like a horse we must break our buck or it will break us. We talked about the fact that we must tame our money. We must make it mind. However, taming the buck isn't easy and it is a process. Normally a horse can be broken to minimum standards of riding in 6 weeks. Although the westerns show it being in one day the truth is this usually resulted in a horse that would buck everyday afterward. So, breaking a horse was a process!

Much like a wild horse our money must also be broken.

But breaking or taming a horse was only the first step. There was ongoing training that had to take place. The same is true about our money. In order for money to remain tame . . .

We must train our money!

Last week I said it this way . . . we must make our money mind. This week I want to say this . . .

We must make our money matter!

It is as we tame our buck by training our buck that we make our money matter. Untrained money will never matter. It is here today and gone tomorrow and even though it passed through our hands we have nothing to show for it. So, in order to train our money we must embrace two "G" words.

Join me in two passages that I believe work together as a part of the training we put our money through in order for it to mind and matter.

Number 11:4-9 (MSG)

The riffraff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, “Why can’t we have meat? We ate fish in Egypt—and got it free! (LIE)—to say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic. But nothing tastes good out here; all we get is manna, manna, manna.” Manna was a seedlike substance with a shiny appearance like resin. The people went around collecting it and ground it between stones or pounded it fine in a mortar. Then they boiled it in a pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a delicacy cooked in olive oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna was right there with it.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7; 10-11 (CEB)

What I mean is this: the one who sows a small number of seeds will also reap a small crop, and the one who sows a generous amount of seeds will also reap a generous crop. Everyone should give whatever they have decided in their heart. They shouldn’t give with hesitation or because of pressure. God loves a cheerful giver.

The one who supplies seed for planting and bread for eating will supply and multiply your seed and will increase your crop, which is righteousness. You will be made rich in every way (WHY WE CAN'T RELEGATE GOD'S BLESSING TO JUST MONEY) so that you can be generous in every way. Such generosity produces thanksgiving to God through us.

Another version says it like this. . . This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.