Is the money root of all evil? No not really. The Bible says the love of money, is the root of all
evil. Money is very important. The Bible says money answers all things. We all work a lot of,
part of our time that's spent on acquiring money so we can provide for our families,
so we can prepare for the future and as well so we can generously give to those in need and as
well as to the kingdom of God. The Bible has over 2 350 verses on money. That's twice as much as
on prayer and faith combined. 15 of everything Jesus taught was on the topic of finances. That's
more than on heaven and hell combined. The money was the first main issue of people in the promised
land. They had to deal with Achan who took what he was not supposed to take. It's the first big issue
that Judas faced who was a disciple of Jesus. And the local church, a big issue that they had to
face with Ananias and his wife, you know trying to give and say that they give everything but
in reality they only gave half. So money plays an important role in our life. When it comes
to a Christian's financial life it really can be broken into three parts. I call it the Egypt, the
wilderness and the promised land. Not enough, just enough and more than enough. I truly believe that
God wants us to have more than enough, so that we can help those who don't have enough as you see in
the Bible. You know we as the church commanded to help those in need, not the government. And
for us to help those in need God wants to bless us with more than we need. Not because we're special,
better and not just because so we can you know, live fancy but so that we can raise the
living of other people around us by being generous with the poor, the widows and the orphans. In fact
God is the God of more than enough. If you look in the Bible you will see that God is a Jehovah
Jireh - The Lord My Provider. His name is also El Shaddai - The God Of More Than Enough. We see that
in Deuteronomy 8:18 it says, God who gives power to get wealth. We see that you know, the wealth of
the wicked is stored for the righteous in the book of Proverbs 13:22. Exodus 3:22 when that actually
happened in Egypt when all the wealth of Egypt was transferred to Israel. We see that God has
pleasure in the prosperity of His servants, Psalm 35:27. We're not His servants, we're His children.
We belong to His household. And so we see that even Jesus when He multiplied the bread and the
fish is that He didn't multiply just enough for people, He made it more than enough. There was an
overflow, there was abundance. And because He was revealing His heart, His abundant heart,
He came to give life and more abundantly. That is our God. Now I'm not in any way indicating that
the only thing that God is concerned with is each one of us to have a lot of money. That's not the
point. The point is the heart of God is very generous. If you look at, you know God build
heaven and it's full of glory, it's full of wealth and full of abundance. Streets made of gold.
If you look at the earth the way God created this earth, He put all the minerals and all the
jewels and all the different gold and pearls and diamonds into the earth. He put all of that wealth
into the earth. God is an abundant God. He's a big God. With that said God is not really against
Christians having wealth or money. And I know wealth is such a fluctuating term for some people
overseas. What people have in America will be considered wealth. For some of you,
you might consider what you have as wealth until you meet somebody who has more than you and so
it's such a fluctuating term of what that means. I think wealth is having more than what you need.
More than what you need to meet your needs and that more is to help others. And Bible says poor
you will always have with you. Why? So that we can be of assistance. So that God can examine
our hearts and to see, are we going to see this wealth as a way to think that now we are better,
more worthy. Are we going to become more proud? that's why Paul says to Timothy. He says,
tell the wealthy people, the rich people. He says not to be proud, not to get an inflated sense of
worth. Not to think that their wealth determines their worth. He says teach them to be good with
good works. Teach them to be generous. Teach them to share. He said teach him to trust in God.
So God doesn't have a problem with you having wealth. God's problem is when wealth has you. God
doesn't have problem with you having possessions, it's when possessions have you. There are people
in the Bible who were very wealthy and they were the friends of God. They were in the pursuit after
God yet they never let that wealth get in between them and God and they were always willing to part
with it if needed and to share that wealth with others who were in need. To use that wealth
to advance God's kingdom instead of love that wealth for themselves. Wealth in the Bible is
really condemned or money, wealth, money, riches, whatever the word you want to use. It's condemned
really for three main reasons. Number one is for the love of it and that's in 1 Timothy 6:10
like the pharisees. Jesus, you know any time He corrected the issue of money it drove Pharisees
crazy. When He talked about the poor and He talked about the wealthy it drove the Pharisees crazy and
the Bible says in Luke 16:14 that the reason why they didn't like His teaching on finances
is because they were lovers of money. Pharisees, they were in love with money and that's what
Bible condemns and so sometimes when people read through the scripture it almost seems like man,
God hates money. He doesn't hate money. He just hates when people fall in love with money. Money
is not something we should love which is something we should use, because God wants us to love people
and love Him. And people who love people, they will use money and those who love money,
they will use people, and God doesn't like that. The second reason why wealth is condemned in the
Bible is because people trust in it and for us as Christians we are encouraged, commanded, to trust
only in God. The example of that is young ruler in Matthew 19 it says that he came, he kept all
the commandments. The problem is that he trusted in his wealth because when Jesus asked him to give
everything away to the poor. Watch this. Jesus didn't tell him to give it to His ministry, to
Jesus ministry, to the poor. And then He says you will have a treasure in heaven. Meaning you're not
just going to go to heaven, you're going to have treasure in heaven He says and follow me. This
man left sorrowful. Why? Because he trusted in his wealth. It's because it was a sense of security.
It was his identity. Honestly for him, he felt good about himself because of all the things that
he wore, the places he ate, the zip code he lived in, the car he drove. Course he didn't drive a car
but you know what I mean. Because it became his identity, sense of worth. It became his security.
And for us as Christians these three things is who Jesus is. He's our identity. He's our worth
and He's our security. And so why wealth is condemned is when you make wealth your security,
your identity and your sense of worth. When you trust in it. That's why Paul says to Timothy,
teach the rich people not to trust in their wealth. And you don't have to be wealthy to
trust in wealth. You can be poor and trust in wealth. You can be poor and be greedy. And so
it's not about how much money you have. It's who do you trust with that money? The third reason
why wealth is condemned in the Bible is the wrong way of obtaining that wealth. It's when we steal,
when we cut corners, when we get rich but at the expense of other people.Meaning other people
are not improved, their livelihood is not improved because of us. Example of that is Zacchaeus in
Luke chapter 19. He got really rich at the expense of other people. He ripped people off, he cut
corners and that not only displeases God it brings the wrath of God upon our life and it actually
opens the door to the enemy because we directly reflect his heart and his nature. So to finish
this off maybe you are in the season of the Egypt today but it's not enough, you're struggling. I
want to encourage you God wants to take you to a different season financially. Be faithful,
be generous, work hard, you know, stay out of debt, curb your spending, be wise with
investments, keep your heart focused on Christ and you will see that you will see God's blessing. He
will take you to a season of having just enough. This is a season of manna. It's a beautiful
season. It's when God supplies your needs according to His riches and His glory. It's when
God sends the ravens. It's when God sends manna. It's when you go fishing and you find exactly the
amount of money you need to pay for taxes. It's a supernatural season but it's a season of having
just enough. You should be grateful in that season. You should be thankful to that season
to God for that season. You should not complain in that season if you see somebody who is in a better
season than you. Learn to see God's blessing not only in abundance but also in sufficiency. But
there is one more season I believe God wants to take Christians to and that's the season
of the promised land. The promised land is a season of more than enough. I believe the reason
why God wants to take many Christians to that season is because He knows when your heart is
truly converted you will resemble His heart toward the poor and toward the needy. When a drug dealer,
a pimp, a mafia man, a corrupt politician, a corrupt businessman gets more than he needs they
will use it on themselves. They will use it to propagate ungodliness, worldliness and craziness.
When the Christian has more than enough they'll support missionaries, they'll support projects,
they'll help the poor, they will create business, hire employees, give people,
help people. They will live an honest way of life that will help others. The promised land is the
land of milk and honey. It's a land of more than enough. But I want you to notice it was not a land
where God gave them more manna. In fact it was the place where manna stopped. The sufficiency
came to an end. The brook dried up. If I could use that phrase, and God allowed them to work,
fight, conquer, conquest and then, whatever they fought for they had. Which was more
than enough. But in that season God warned Israel never to forget about Him. Never to forget that it
is God who gives power to get wealth. Meaning as Christian that you never look at your blessing and
think you're better than other people and think that somehow it was your own hand that gave you
all of that. Your education, your connection, the fact that you lived pure, you lived holy, the fact
that your parents gave you an inheritance. Now you're somehow special. Instead of realizing that
when you have more than enough you're not special. You're responsible. You are accountable to God
to keep Him first. To realize and acknowledge He's the owner, you are a steward. Never to be entitled
to this. Never to feel like you're more important. Never to exalt yourself above other people and
never to think that all of this is for you. God wants to get things through you to other people.
And always to remember that no matter how we live on earth, what matters is where we're
gonna spend eternity and how we're gonna spend that eternity. You can transfer your wealth here
into eternity. Jesus says, "Lay treasures in heaven." That means how you use your time,
how you use your treasures and how you use your talents will determine the kind of treasures
you will have in heaven. I pray that God will give you wisdom. I pray that honestly you will be free
from this poverty mindset that tells people that somehow God doesn't want you to have more than
enough and I pray that God will deliver us from the world mindset that, things it's all about us
that it's all about money and it's all about us. Where we love money instead of loving people
and we use people instead of loving people. And I pray that God will give you eyes of
eternity. That you will not just live about now, here and investment for your retirement.
Whether you will plan further than your retirement into your eternal account. Thank you for watching
this video. As always don't forget to hit thumbs up, drop it in the comment of what
you learned. Make sure you share it with other people. I know this topic is kind of sensitive.
I know this topic is also controversial and then pastor or preacher talking about this.
Usually people just kind of cringe and everything and either call it prosperity gospel or poverty
gospel or whatever it is and I just want to bring a balanced teaching from God's word and
bring clarity in this topic. I believe in God's blessing but I also believe that God wants us to
be a blessing. I live that and I want to model that to my generation and I also want to teach
that to inspire you to do that in any season of your life. To bring God the most glory by helping
others. Don't forget to subscribe to this channel. Click on the bell so you can be reminded each time
that we go live. We go live every Thursday at 7 pm pacific time. Until next time. God bless you.