Why We Work | FreedUp Week 2

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Hi, I'm Kyle, your online community church pastor,

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and I'm currently chained to a safe.

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Why? Because this is what money feels like

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to most of us, it has more of our time and attention

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and emotions that we wanted to have.

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Put simply, we're stuck to it.

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But today we're going to talk about how to get free,

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how to take control of this

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so that it doesn't control you.

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And we're going to start with a game

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with my fellow Crossroads teaching pastors

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in which we're going to ask and answer

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the personal questions about money

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that you're not supposed to tell people.

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I'I do that as soon as I can figure out how to get out.

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(runts) Help, somebody.

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Hey, everybody, you came back.

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I'm so happy about that. It's great.

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Now, we're going to continue on our game.

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Remember, everybody else gets an app

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with helpful questions and we get a board game

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with questions that we're not supposed to ask each other.

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Great. Everybody, remember?

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Last week Brian went. He's currently in the lead.

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OK, you go ahead and pick a card. What's it say?

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— What do you splurge on that's just for you?

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How much did you spend on it last year?

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— That's a good question.

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—I'd say probably my haircut and color.

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Certainly it's just for me.

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It's definitely more than I want to pay for it,

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but I like it and I want it.

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— So how much have you spent in the last year?

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— Let's say I go like four times a year.

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If I got color every time,

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which sometimes in the summer I don't have to,

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but we won't go into that

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because you guys don't understand.

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But let's just say I colored it every time.

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It'd probably be, I don't know, a $180 plus tip,

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let's say $200 a time.

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— So like $800 for the whole year.

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— Maybe a thousand if I went five times.

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— Okay. Do you feel bad for spending money on yourself?

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— Not really.

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Not any more is probably the right way to say it.

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— Haircut doesn't sound like a splurge.

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Haircut's like something you have to do.

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— Well I don't have to get it colored

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and I don't have to go where I go.

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I could go to Great Clips and pay $12

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and I won't do that.

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I've seen how they cut my kid's hair.

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Let me go on record as saying,

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I take my kids to Great Clips and it is acceptable.

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— It's adequate for your kids.

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— But I will not take my own hair to Great Clips.

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— Now we're all going to answer this question,

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before we do, the real question behind this one is,

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is God okay with us splurging on stuff

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that's maybe not necessary, it just makes us happy?

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Is that okay?

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— I think it's absolutely okay.

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Nature is full of splurges, in my opinion.

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— Okay.

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— Nature is full of color and creativity

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and beauty that you don't have to have.

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Maybe there's some functional role that it plays.

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But if I think about God's creation,

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I see splurges all the time.

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I see splurges in His diversity

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and His differences that He creates.

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So, I do think God's okay with splurges.

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I think there's something in Him that is wired

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that wants us to just enjoy it.

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— There's unnecessary excess in creation? — Yes.

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— If I keep looking at every individual spending decision

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as is this a splurge, is this not?

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Is this too much money, is not?

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I can't be freed up because now I'm in --

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now I'm facing a new form of bondage

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of having to have a prayer service with God

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to wait for Him to say yes on this tennis shoes

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or no on the tennis shoes.

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— Chuck, your quick answer,

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what do you splurge on just for you,

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how much did you spend in the last year?

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— Yeah, I mean, I'm not freed up enough

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when it comes to splurging.

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The place where I will say I splurged

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in the last year has been camping gear.

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That's probably been I don't know.

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I mean, it's not - it's not major,

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but like probably $600, $700

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on all of those pieces combined over the last year.

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— What about you, Brian?

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Yours has to be camping, right?

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Camping, motorcycles, what'd you splurge on?

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How much in the last year.

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— I'd probably put it all in the camp

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of outdoor adventures.

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I'm at a place in my life where

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I choose not to have a budget for those things.

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So long as I'm not going into debt,

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so long as I'm hitting my giving and savings goals,

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when I want to trip comes up

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with $1,000 for an elk tag, I do it.

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I just do it.

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— I splurged on making my workshop

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a place that I enjoyed working out of

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because I was work from home for most of the last year

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and a place that I could host people in, and have some fun.

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So I put in a wood burning stove.

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I put in some windows.

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If you've watched --

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if you've ever watched me in a video,

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everybody thinks that's a set, it's not a set.

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It's my actual garage.

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— That's your place, right.

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— Where I also work out of, so that was my splurge.

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I think all in I spent about $3,000.

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I think similar to you, Ali.

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I feel guilty initially

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and it was Sarah really encouraging me like,

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"No, hey, listen, this matters.

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It matters for you to have a space

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that you that you feel happy in.

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I mean, I know it sounds stupid, but just

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like you're going to put a lot of time here,

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enjoy where you are.

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You're going to have friends over hang out."

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And it's been -- it's been awesome.

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It's perfect. Ali, great answer.

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You get to move to spaces.

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— Can I have knocked him off?

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— No, but there's a rule here.

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You went to blue and Chuck is on blue.

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So, Chuck, you're actually going to roll.

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And remember, if you get a six,

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you get the teaching challenge for the week.

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So go ahead and see what we get.

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— All right. Let's see here. — Take us home, Chuck, come on.

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— I'm going to roll like my six year old.

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— Oh, that was amazing.

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That is, in this game, that is a fully legal roll.

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That does count. — Right.

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— Yeah, that's does count. All right, Chuck.

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Your teaching challenge, you have to teach

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on being a diligent earner and a prudence spender

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using, hold on a second, whatever, whatever that is.

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It's probably an abbreviation.

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— The best movie of all time on VHS.

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— I don't know what VHS is. I don't know what those are.

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— Wow.

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— If you can figure something out with that, we'd love it.

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So head on off.

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— All right. — You're going to go that way.

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And just when you find a video crew, start talking.

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— All right.

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— Chuck's off. It's going to be great.

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How to be a diligent earner and prudent spender.

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Let's get started.

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While he heads off to start teaching,

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let me tell you what we're getting into.

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Crossroads has partnered with

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an organization called Good Sense,

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an amazing ministry that has been helping people

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find financial freedom for decades.

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And together, we've created a new program called Freed Up.

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Freed Up is an app based program designed to help people

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no matter where you are on the financial spectrum,

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from barely getting by

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to having more than you know what to do with,

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you can find true financial freedom.

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So why are we doing this?

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Because almost everyone is stressed financially.

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Financial stress is one of the biggest causes

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of divorce and anxiety that exists,

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and God promises to fix it for us if we get on His plan.

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In fact, we want this for you so much

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we're literally giving it away free.

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Freed Up costs $100, but to everyone watching this series,

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it's free, totally free.

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And you can get it for your iOS or Android device.

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Now, I'll tell you right now, you could also relax.

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This is not a financial campaign.

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We're not asking for more of your money.

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We're not building toward some big ask in the future.

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If you do give towards Crossroads,

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I want to say thank you.

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Your giving helps us be able to do things like this

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that literally change people's lives.

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This is simply us wanting to help you

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with one of the most stressful issues in life.

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This will bring you financial freedom.

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Now, these teaching episodes are just a taste

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of what you'll get in the app,

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combined with practical guidance

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and application and some creative surprises.

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Now, this entire program is based on three big ideas

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that we see in the Bible, and we've summarized them

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like this: big idea number one,

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we are free when we are faithful stewards.

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A faithful steward is simply a diligent earner

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and a prudent spender.

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A prudent spender is a generous giver first,

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a wise saver, and a cautious debtor.

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These are the three big ideas that,

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if you understand them,

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can unlock financial freedom in your life.

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So if you're ready to take a step towards freedom,

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head the crossroads.net/freedup and get started today.

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— Fifteen years ago, I was making a ton of money

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and you know what, I had all the stresses

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and worries that probably most of you have,

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whether you're making a lot, or you're making a little.

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I was bound up.

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Money had me. I wasn't freed up.

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The way I got freed up was I got on God's plan

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and I started to understand and live in to

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what He says about money.

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That's what we're talking about in this series.

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And so no matter where you are,

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if you feel bound up,

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we're going to help you get freed up.

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This is going to help you get freed up

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when it comes to money.

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Now, last talk was all about this idea

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that we are called to be faithful stewards,

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that that's the way we're free.

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If you're brand new, there are three big ideas

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in this Freed Up series.

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The first idea is this:

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that we are free when we're faithful stewards.

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That means we move from a position of owning

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to recognizing that God has given us things

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to steward, to manage in His direction,

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His way, and for His care.

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We actually get freed up when we think about

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our money and our resources that way.

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But then the second big idea is

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what we're going to talk about today,

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what is a faithful steward?

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Well, it's a diligent earner and a prudent spender.

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That's what a faithful steward is.

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It's about money coming in.

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That's what diligent earning is about.

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I'm going to spend most of my time today

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talking about that.

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But then we're also going to spend

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the next several talks really unpacking

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what does it look like to be a prudent spender,

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because you need a plan.

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And I think all of this is probably familiar

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to anybody who's ever thought of

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how do I handle my money well? Right?

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Be a giver, be a saver, be careful around debt.

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And while the plan is good, often times

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we don't live into those plans

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because our mindset hasn't changed.

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And that's what this is all about.

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Understanding that you're freed up

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as a faithful steward is about mindset

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and being a diligent earner

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and being a prudent spender is all about mindset.

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So that's what we're going to be talking about.

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You know, most financial programs

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focus exclusively on what is coming out,

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your budget, how you spend, how you save your money.

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But if you don't have any money coming in,

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if you don't have water coming into your house,

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then it doesn't matter how

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the plumbing is inside your house.

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And what I want you to hear today is this:

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earning money isn't evil.

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Working and earning money is a beautiful thing.

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You know, we can think that work is

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what happened after sin entered the world, right?

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No, no, work was present before

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the serpent ever started talking to Adam and Eve.

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Now, fruitless labor came after that.

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Thorns and thistles, as the Bible describes it,

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the frustrations of work came after that.

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But the idea of work is good.

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It's from God.

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And we should want to be diligent earners of money.

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Now, does that mean you have to

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make more money than you do right now?

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Maybe, or maybe not.

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But one of the things is clear,

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if you're going to be a faithful steward,

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money coming in is a big and important metric.

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And what I want you to see today is that work,

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how we earn our money, is a primary way

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we serve God and serve other people.

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All right, so here's this movie, Ben-Hur.

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What a great movie, really great movie.

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Now, some of you might be like,

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"Why is it in that weird box?"

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That's right, got VHS tapes here, VHS tapes.

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Talk about a blast from the past.

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I think this thing actually still works.

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So let's see, put this in here.

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Can you imagine, you know,

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before you were able to just click a remote

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and go to a digital library

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like Netflix or Hulu or Disney Plus

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this is how we got our entertainment.

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And I have a really, I guess you can say

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bittersweet, but mostly sweet relationship with these,

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because one of my first jobs

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was working at a video store.

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Now, let me tell you, I work at a video store

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is a lot of fun. It really is a lot of fun.

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It's got some boring parts.

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Like one of the things is this: be kind, rewind.

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People would never rewind their movies. Right?

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So we had these reminders and you had

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to like rewind all the stuff

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and put it all back on the shelves.

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I mean, that part was like redundant, monotonous.

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But but just the interactions

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with customers was really fun.

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I've got a lot of fun stories about that.

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And I also have an interesting story as it relates

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to this idea of being a diligent earner.

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It's the day I almost got fired

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for showing up for work on time.

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That's right, you didn't misunderstand me.

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The day I almost got fired

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for showing up to work on time.

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It was a Saturday and I'm a singer. I love to sing.

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And so growing up in Philadelphia,

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I was all into kind of like the R&B music scene.

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There are a lot of great artists

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that were coming out of Philadelphia,

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including one you might have heard of, Boyz II Men.

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That's right. Boyz II Men, Motown Philly, my hometown.

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And so I had this opportunity,

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I'd done a talent show and there was a guy

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that heard me singing in talent show.

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He's like, "Man, I know the guys from Boyz II Men,

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I think they would love to hear you sing."

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He was a producer. He had a studio.

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He was like, "Man, come to my house on Saturday.

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I've got a studio. I would love for them to meet you."

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So I go to the studio on Saturday

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and it was perfect because, like he said,

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"Come around noon," and I had to be to work at 4:00.

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So I had plenty of time. Right?

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So I'm talking with him

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and we're doing some stuff and I'm doing some singing.

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He's telling me about all the stuff.

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And he said, "Hey, man,

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I just got to call, Boyz II Men, they're gonna be late.

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I don't know, they're coming, but they're gonna be late."

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And so I'm like, "It's cool. It's cool."

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I've got four hours, right?

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Well, 12:00 turns into 1:00.

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1:00 turns in the 2:00.

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2:00 turns into 3:00, still no Boyz II Men.

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And I'm like, "Man, I'm getting close

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to needing to leave to go to work."

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It's like a twenty minute drive to work.

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And so sure enough 3:30 as like my dropped dead.

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I'm like I have got to leave.

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And so I never got that chance. I never got that chance.

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I should put it this way, Boyz II Men never got the chance

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to get the fifth member of their group,

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the one that may have changed everything for them.

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So their loss, perhaps,

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but it felt like my loss at the time.

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So I get to work and I worked for a guy named Jamie

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at the video store, Video Village in Chestnut Hill.

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And Jamie was like long hair rocker.

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He was in a band, love music.

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So, I come in, "Like Jamie,

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you will never believe what happened.

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I was at this guy's house, his studio.

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He works with Boyz II Men and they were literally,

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they were on their way, but I had to leave

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because I had to come to work on time."

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And so Jamie looks at me and he says,

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"I should fire you right now."

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I'm like, "What do you mean you should fire me?"

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He was like, "That's a reason to show up late for work.

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That's a reason to call off of work.

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You had a chance to audition with Boys II Men?"

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So, I like to tell that story.

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My wife loves when I tell that story because

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I make it seem as if I was this close to fame,

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because that's what I'd like to believe.

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But anyway, I learned some things when it comes to that.

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But the reason I think this is interesting is,

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you know, this is an outmoded form of technology.

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Most people do not consume entertainment this way.

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And in the same way, we have some outmoded beliefs

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and understandings when it comes to

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earning and spending money.

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E have some cultural beliefs that are outmoded

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or just plain untrue.

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And quite frankly, even in the church,

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there are some things you might learn

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in your religious circles that

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are actually outmoded or untrue.

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Some of the cultural lives around money

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include this one:

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Little more money will solve all of your problems.

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How many people think if I just made a little bit more,

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I'd be okay?

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That is a lie, there would never be enough.

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John Rockefeller, who was one of

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the most wealthy men at the time,

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when they asked him how much money is enough,

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he said, "Just a little bit more."

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You know, one of the wise prophets,

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Biggie Smalls, says "Mo money, mo problems."

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The truth is, more money is not going

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to make your life automatically easier.

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Here's another cultural lie we can believe,

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your value and mine is measured by your position

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or your paycheck or the kind of car that you drive,

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the house that you live in.

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And we all know that when we've attained,

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for those of us who have, attained that thing,

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we were still left wanting.

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I think of that song all the time, U2 song

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I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, right?

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There's still something that's going to be missing,

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even if you have all that.

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Another cultural lie, though, is:

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you know how to fix that hole? Spend more.

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Right? That spending is a competition.

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The more we have, the more we should spend.

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And all of those are lies

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and none of them lead to financial freedom.

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They don't need the freedom in your life.

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Now, by the same token, there's some lies

00:16:42

or maybe some outmoded thinking

00:16:43

that we've heard in church circles. Here's one.

00:16:46

Have you ever heard someone quote this verse to you?

00:16:49

Money is the root of all evil, right?

00:16:52

That's not in the Bible. That's not what the Bible says.

00:16:55

Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil.

00:16:58

It doesn't say money is evil and it doesn't say

00:17:01

if you have a lot of money, you're evil.

00:17:03

No, actually, there is a healthy relationship,

00:17:05

we're going to talk about it today,

00:17:06

that we can have with money

00:17:07

and even with this idea of earning money.

00:17:11

Another outmoded idea that we often hear

00:17:13

in church circles is: the more spiritual you are,

00:17:16

the poorer you are. Right?

00:17:18

That the most spiritual among us

00:17:19

are those who have taken a vow of poverty.

00:17:21

Now, here's the thing.

00:17:22

There are some people who have,

00:17:23

some people who have made a vow of poverty

00:17:25

for their vocation and it's right for them to do that.

00:17:28

But the Bible never says that the only people

00:17:30

are the spiritual people are those that have nothing.

00:17:34

Or you might have heard in church circles

00:17:36

spiritual people should never buy anything for themselves,

00:17:39

never invest in their families.

00:17:40

And I actually think the Bible

00:17:42

says something very different.

00:17:43

God has a different truth

00:17:44

when it comes to how we get freed up.

00:17:46

He has a different truth around earning and spending.

00:17:49

God wants his people to earn and spend money

00:17:54

and to do so with intentionality.

00:17:57

So what does it mean to be a diligent earner?

00:17:59

A diligent earner is one who cares about

00:18:02

what they work on and knows why they work on it.

00:18:05

And what does it mean to be a prudent spender?

00:18:07

A prudent spender is one who knows

00:18:09

what they're spending on and why they're spending on it.

00:18:14

We're going to lean into prudent spender

00:18:16

and talk about a prudent spending plan

00:18:18

in the weeks to come.

00:18:19

There's great stuff in the app

00:18:20

that will also help you with that.

00:18:21

But today, let's talk about making money.

00:18:24

Let's look at a verse in the Bible that helps frame

00:18:28

how to think about this idea of being a diligent earner.

00:18:31

It actually shows up in the book of Colossians,

00:18:33

which is a letter written to New Testament

00:18:35

followers of Jesus.

00:18:36

And Paul, who's writing it, says this:

00:18:56

You know what Paul is saying?

00:18:58

Earning money, being productive, working is good,

00:19:01

it's actually godly, especially if we have

00:19:03

a godly point of view around it.

00:19:06

And Paul would have been writing this

00:19:07

to an audience of people that would have included

00:19:09

wealthy landowners, people who made their living

00:19:11

with their hands, and people who were slaves.

00:19:14

So Paul was talking about the range of work

00:19:16

and he's saying whatever you do,

00:19:18

if it's productive work, it has dignity.

00:19:21

And it's a way that we reflect God's image.

00:19:23

So think about parenting.

00:19:25

If you're raising kids, specifically

00:19:27

if you're the parent that's at home with the kids,

00:19:29

that is dignified work.

00:19:31

That is critical work.

00:19:32

It's the most important work going on

00:19:33

on the planet, quite frankly. Right?

00:19:35

So everything from forming their minds,

00:19:37

giving them opportunities to grow,

00:19:39

bathing them, feeding them,

00:19:40

all the things that come with that is dignified work.

00:19:43

If you're a student and right now your work

00:19:45

is to form your mind, to be a learner,

00:19:48

to prepare yourself to have the skills

00:19:50

and experiences for the next level

00:19:51

of whatever that is for you.

00:19:53

Then you are doing dignified work.

00:19:54

If you're a server and you're serving at a restaurant,

00:19:58

if you're serving in some other way in retail,

00:20:00

if you are a blue collar worker

00:20:02

or if you are a CEO, all work is dignified work

00:20:06

when it's productive work.

00:20:08

Let me share with you one of my favorite items.

00:20:10

It's this thing right here.

00:20:11

This is the watch that my dad got after 20 years

00:20:16

when he retired from the city of Philadelphia.

00:20:19

My dad worked for the water department.

00:20:21

One of his jobs was when water mains would break

00:20:23

in the middle of winter,

00:20:24

which is when water mains tend to break.

00:20:26

He was one of those people that would go underground

00:20:28

and do the work of fixing it.

00:20:29

Cold, wet. My dad worked in the elements.

00:20:32

I remember my dad getting up 5-5:30 in the morning,

00:20:36

making a hot breakfast, you know, bacon, eggs,

00:20:38

toast, kind of breakfast every day of his life

00:20:41

and then going out and putting in a full day's work.

00:20:44

My dad would come home sweaty in his uniform.

00:20:47

It was clear that he had worked hard

00:20:50

and that was dignified.

00:20:51

And so that watch for me means so much

00:20:53

because my dad did that for 20 years.

00:20:56

For 20 years, my dad made the commitment

00:20:58

to be diligent in earning money

00:21:00

so that he could provide for his family,

00:21:02

so they could create opportunities for me

00:21:03

that he didn't have for himself.

00:21:05

It was dignified work and I honor him for that.

00:21:08

I honor him for that.

00:21:09

I remember when I got my first job,

00:21:11

after I got my first raise,

00:21:13

my dad was celebrating with me

00:21:14

and he said this thing and he wasn't jealous.

00:21:16

He just said it because it was true.

00:21:18

He said, "Gosh, you're making more money now

00:21:20

than I made at the peak of my earning years."

00:21:23

You know, I thought about that and what I know is this:

00:21:26

The work that I was doing was no more dignified

00:21:29

than the work my dad did.

00:21:31

And in fact, the reason I was able to go further

00:21:34

was because the dignified work of my dad.

00:21:35

See, when you're earning money,

00:21:37

it's not just about the increase of the resources.

00:21:40

It's about the fact that you're giving dignity

00:21:42

and purpose to what it is that God has given you to do,

00:21:45

and you're giving that dignity and purpose

00:21:47

to those who depend on you for provision.

00:21:51

Work is also, Paul is saying in this verse,

00:21:54

about our development.

00:21:55

He says, work at it with all your heart.

00:21:58

When he talks about working at something

00:22:00

with all your heart, it means all of your inner being,

00:22:02

all of your character.

00:22:04

And I have found work to be a place where

00:22:05

my character gets formed in some very specific ways

00:22:09

that it may not get formed

00:22:10

if I wasn't in a work environment.

00:22:13

One of the things that work has taught me

00:22:14

is delayed gratification, right?

00:22:17

The reward is sweeter when you work for it.

00:22:19

And we all know that's true at work,

00:22:20

that there are things that you put tons and tons

00:22:22

of time and energy and effort into

00:22:24

before you ever see a result.

00:22:26

And then when that result comes, it's sweeter

00:22:29

because of the blood, sweat, tears, time,

00:22:31

and energy that you've put into it.

00:22:33

Work is also a place that's taught me

00:22:35

to be a good teammate,

00:22:36

how to collaborate with other people.

00:22:39

Think about, you know,

00:22:40

you don't usually get to pick your boss.

00:22:42

You probably didn't get to pick all of your teammates.

00:22:45

You may not have even gotten to pick

00:22:46

the people who report to you now

00:22:48

if you were promoted into that role

00:22:49

and they were already there.

00:22:51

But yet we find ourselves in work environments

00:22:54

in a place where we learn how to be a team player.

00:22:57

We learn how to work with people

00:22:58

who are different from us,

00:22:59

who have different backgrounds,

00:23:01

different perspectives, different points of view.

00:23:03

Work is a place where we get developed.

00:23:06

It's a place where we learn to give

00:23:08

and receive feedback in healthy ways.

00:23:10

I think about some of the first

00:23:12

performance conversations I had, performance reviews,

00:23:15

and it was a little bit hard to hear some critique,

00:23:19

but know that it was being given to me

00:23:21

for my benefit to help me grow.

00:23:23

Work is a place where we learn that.

00:23:25

Work is a place that develops us on how to handle failure.

00:23:28

It's also a place that develops us

00:23:30

on how to handle success.

00:23:32

Work is a place where our gifts can be discovered,

00:23:34

our passions and our purpose.

00:23:36

Work develops us, and I believe

00:23:38

it also spiritually develops us because

00:23:41

ultimately diligent earners recognize that

00:23:44

their earning power is not about them.

00:23:48

It's about dependence, dependence on God.

00:23:51

Paul says it is the Lord Christ you are serving.

00:23:55

Work is a place where your faith gets strengthened.

00:23:57

Work is a place where your relationship

00:24:00

with God can be deepened.

00:24:02

I'll give you an extreme example.

00:24:03

This goes back to the video store.

00:24:04

I'll never forget the day when we had

00:24:06

a horror story literally happening in the video store.

00:24:09

This guy came in the store, big guy, big, big guy.

00:24:12

And he was drunk, high, or some combination of the two.

00:24:15

And he got mad.

00:24:16

I don't even know what happened to make him angry.

00:24:19

He got so angry, he literally started trashing the store.

00:24:23

You know, we had all these little, you know,

00:24:25

like you saw over there, the Ben-Hur thing

00:24:26

and all those you put them in the right spot.

00:24:28

He's knocking all -- whole shelves off the door.

00:24:30

He's like destroying our store.

00:24:33

And we had a little panic button behind the register,

00:24:36

this red button.

00:24:37

And in the way it was supposed to work is

00:24:40

you hit the panic button and hopefully

00:24:42

within a few minutes the police came.

00:24:45

We hit the panic button.

00:24:46

This guy is trippin and there are no police coming.

00:24:49

I mean, it went it felt like forever,

00:24:51

but I don't know, 20 minutes, whatever long it is.

00:24:53

And I remember in that moment, I just started to pray.

00:24:57

I started to pray, I mean, it was, you know,

00:24:59

I was a follower of Jesus and like I grew up in church,

00:25:02

I just started to pray and ask God to intervene.

00:25:05

And I remember this guy, literally,

00:25:07

like at points he was about to come over

00:25:09

the register to us

00:25:10

and we would not have been able to take him.

00:25:12

It would not have ended well for us.

00:25:13

And I remember this guy literally his face changing.

00:25:16

He turned out and he walked out the store.

00:25:20

Craziest thing ever, craziest thing ever,

00:25:23

and in that moment, I realized that even at work,

00:25:27

it's a place where my spiritual development can happen.

00:25:29

Now hopefully your worst days of work aren't that.

00:25:32

I'm not wishing that on anybody. But you know what?

00:25:35

Maybe you started a new business or a new venture.

00:25:37

You know what it is to pray, right?

00:25:39

You know what it is to say, "I've got a plan.

00:25:40

I've got a product. I've got a service.

00:25:43

I've got customers today, but I'm depending on God

00:25:47

to help this thing expand

00:25:48

because I've launched this thing now." Right?

00:25:51

I've invested a lot.

00:25:52

I have others that have invested a lot.

00:25:54

All of us can find ourself in places where

00:25:56

we understand the importance of being

00:25:59

a diligent earner who depends on God

00:26:03

for the money that we need.

00:26:06

So a diligent earner is someone who leans into

00:26:09

this verse in Colossians

00:26:10

and whatever it is that they do,

00:26:12

they do it with all of their heart because

00:26:14

they know that they're working

00:26:15

not for humans, but for God.

00:26:17

So they recognize and honor the dignity in their work

00:26:21

and in the work of other people.

00:26:22

They recognize and honor that work is a place

00:26:24

where they get spiritually developed and formed.

00:26:26

They recognize and have a dependence on God.

00:26:30

What about earning more money, mo money?

00:26:33

What about earning mo money?

00:26:35

Well, one of my other first jobs

00:26:37

was I worked at a gas station.

00:26:39

And I think that's an interesting analogy

00:26:41

when you think about is there a such thing

00:26:42

as earning too much money?

00:26:44

Think about gas in a car.

00:26:47

When you're going on a road trip,

00:26:49

you need a lot of gas in that car.

00:26:51

You stop multiple times to fill up

00:26:53

because you're going somewhere.

00:26:55

Now, by the same token, if the car never moves

00:26:59

and you just keep putting gas in the car,

00:27:01

gas in the car, what's going to happen?

00:27:02

Very quickly the car is going to overflow.

00:27:05

The gas is going to be wasted.

00:27:06

If you don't have a place that you're going

00:27:09

and a destination, you don't need as much fuel.

00:27:11

But can I just tell you something?

00:27:13

No matter who you are, God has purpose for your life.

00:27:17

God has a mission.

00:27:18

God has called you and I to join and participate

00:27:21

with Him in the flourishing of all creation.

00:27:25

So you have a purpose

00:27:26

and therefore God wants to give you fuel

00:27:28

and God may want to give you even more fuel.

00:27:32

Jesus talks about being a faithful steward in the Bible.

00:27:35

And Jesus says a faithful steward

00:27:37

should want more resources,

00:27:39

should work to multiply resources,

00:27:42

and should be ready for more resources.

00:27:45

He tells the story of this parable of the talents.

00:27:47

You may have heard of it.

00:27:48

These people were investing their master's money

00:27:50

and at the end of time, the master comes back.

00:27:52

And for those who multiplied,

00:27:54

who were diligent earners, look at what the master

00:27:56

who represents God says in Matthew 25:23, he says,

00:28:09

God wants you and I to be diligent earners.

00:28:12

He wants to give you and I more to manage,

00:28:17

more to join in the work that He has for us to do.

00:28:20

His call to action today for you and for me

00:28:23

is to be diligent, care about your work, earn money,

00:28:28

in fact, be open to earning even more

00:28:30

if that's where God is leading you.

00:28:31

Ask some questions like,

00:28:32

hey, do I need to take a second job?

00:28:35

Do I need a different job?

00:28:36

Do I need to ask for a raise?

00:28:38

Do I need to further my education

00:28:39

so I can go further in life?

00:28:41

Listen, I don't know those answers for everyone,

00:28:44

and I'm not saying that the same answers for everyone,

00:28:46

but God is interested

00:28:48

in you asking Him those questions.

00:28:51

Because work is good, it is godly.

00:28:53

Earning money is good and godly.

00:28:55

It's one of the primary ways we serve God

00:28:57

and we serve other people.

00:28:58

And here is the wonderful news.

00:29:02

No matter what you do,

00:29:04

no matter how much you earn or not,

00:29:07

your value in the eyes of God

00:29:08

is never based on what you do.

00:29:10

It's never based on what you earn.

00:29:12

It's based on who you are in His eyes.

00:29:13

If you are in relationship with Jesus,

00:29:15

then you are a beloved son and daughter of God.

00:29:19

Work is not your identity.

00:29:20

It is not your identity.

00:29:22

It is simply a way for you to participate

00:29:25

with God in the flourishing of creation.

00:29:28

So let's live out that truth.

00:29:29

Let's live out God's truth.

00:29:30

So be a diligent earner.

00:29:32

Be someone who lives into Colossians 3:23:

00:29:35

Whatever it is that you do,

00:29:37

work at it with all of your heart

00:29:39

as working for the Lord.

00:29:41

Be someone who also understands 1 Timothy 5:8,

00:29:44

which says anyone who does not provide for their relatives

00:29:46

and especially for their own household,

00:29:48

has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

00:29:50

God wants you to earn.

00:29:52

He want you to be able to provide for your family

00:29:54

in the same way that my dad

00:29:55

was an incredible provider for our family.

00:29:58

And let's remember this.

00:29:59

Let's remember that when you get resources,

00:30:02

it's not in our power,

00:30:04

that there's a dependence on God that produces

00:30:07

the kind of earnings that we experience.

00:30:09

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 says:

00:30:22

It is God that gives you and I

00:30:24

the ability to be diligent earners.

00:30:26

And it's God that wants to give you and I

00:30:28

the wisdom to be a prudent spender.

00:30:30

For the next several weeks

00:30:31

we're going to talk about that.

00:30:32

The next several talks are all about

00:30:34

a plan to help you and I manage well

00:30:37

the wealth that God gives us.

00:30:38

Don't miss that, because together

00:30:41

those two things will free you up financially

00:30:44

and will allow you to be a person who frees others.

00:30:48

— Let's hear a story from someone at Crossroads

00:30:50

who's experienced that kind of freedom.

00:30:52

— Growing up, my parents did not talk about money.

00:30:54

And the examples that were set for me

00:30:56

is if we don't have the money right now,

00:30:58

we put it on a credit card.

00:30:59

So when I turned 18 years old,

00:31:02

I opened a credit card and that started

00:31:05

my journey into quickly going into debt.

00:31:08

I bought things well outside my means.

00:31:10

It was the mentality that

00:31:12

I'll take care of it later.

00:31:13

That's a future Bailly problem.

00:31:15

That's not a today Bailey problem.

00:31:16

And quickly found myself spiraling into a path

00:31:20

that I didn't think I could get out of.

00:31:23

My anxiety was out of the roof.

00:31:26

It was uncontrollable.

00:31:27

I was on medicine to help manage that.

00:31:30

I often lost sleep about that.

00:31:34

I went to my parents far too often

00:31:36

and it got to the point where they said,

00:31:38

"We can't help you. You're her grown woman,

00:31:41

you need to figure out how to pay your bills."

00:31:43

And you'd think that would be enough

00:31:44

for me to look within and make different decisions,

00:31:48

but it took me falling flat on my face

00:31:51

to realize that.

00:31:53

In 2016 my car was repoed and I found myself

00:31:59

in a place where I had so many debt collectors

00:32:01

calling me that I kept my phone on Do Not Disturb

00:32:04

24 hours a day because that was easier

00:32:07

than the constant nagging saying you owe me money.

00:32:11

When I came into a relationship with the Lord,

00:32:14

I was wrecked and turned upside down.

00:32:17

I realized that I was living for worldly ways,

00:32:21

that I was always seeking and wanting something else

00:32:24

and was filling a void with stuff and not with Him.

00:32:28

When I came to that realization,

00:32:29

I learned that I needed to surrender at all,

00:32:31

and it began with my finances.

00:32:33

That I needed to create a thing called a budget.

00:32:37

That was something I did not have ever.

00:32:40

There was just charge, charge, charge.

00:32:42

And the first thing I did

00:32:43

was I stopped charging things

00:32:45

and I started aggressively paying off that debt

00:32:49

because I realized that I was not the owner,

00:32:52

I was just the manager,

00:32:53

and that He had given it to me

00:32:54

and I needed to be a better manager

00:32:56

of the resources He had given me.

00:32:58

That meant cutting things like

00:32:59

the eating out every single day at lunch

00:33:02

was no longer a thing,

00:33:03

that the biweekly nail appointments

00:33:06

were no longer a thing,

00:33:07

that the weekly shopping trips went to the curb

00:33:11

and that my spending plan had to change a whole lot.

00:33:16

And you have to take that first step,

00:33:18

the first step in cutting up that one credit card

00:33:21

and paying off that one debt

00:33:23

and that first step in moving forward with Him

00:33:27

knowing that He's not going to lead you astray.

00:33:30

Through all of this I also began tithing,

00:33:32

about three months before quarantine hit.

00:33:37

I took that step to begin giving

00:33:40

the first 10% back to the Lord.

00:33:42

Two months into quarantine, I also lost my job

00:33:45

and I thought, "Oh, my gosh, are you sure

00:33:47

you want me to continue tithing, Lord?

00:33:49

Like, I don't have an income right now."

00:33:52

And then jobs kept popping up,

00:33:56

people reaching out and saying,

00:33:58

"Would you help me with my children?"

00:33:59

"Would you watch my dog."

00:34:01

"I'm going out of town.

00:34:03

I need someone to stay at my house.

00:34:04

I have a pool. And like, you could eat

00:34:06

and drink whatever you want

00:34:07

and I'm going to pay you to do that."

00:34:09

I felt like God bless me in my obedience

00:34:14

to give Him back the 10% that was His all along.

00:34:17

And I wish I could say to myself 10 years ago,

00:34:22

"Just start tithing and trust that

00:34:25

He will supply everything you could need."

00:34:29

— Chuck covered a lot of ground today

00:34:31

and you might be feeling inspired

00:34:32

or challenged or maybe a bit overwhelmed.

00:34:36

One of the best things you can do

00:34:37

in that situation is to take whatever

00:34:40

you are feeling and bring it to God.

00:34:42

It's called worship

00:34:43

and it's an important component of our spiritual lives.

00:34:46

Let me introduce you to my friends Robbie and Amy

00:34:49

who are going to help get us started.

00:36:30

— Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

00:36:34

These words and melodies are hundreds of years old.

00:36:37

It's a simple acknowledgment of origins.

00:36:40

We're acknowledging God

00:36:41

as the originator of every blessing,

00:36:44

every provision,

00:36:45

pointing value in praise towards Him.

00:36:48

Let's take this from simply singing

00:36:50

to consciously acknowledging Him personally.

00:36:52

Simply say, "God, I praise You

00:36:54

for the roof over my head, the clothes on my back,"

00:36:57

or whatever else comes to mind. Try it yourself now.

00:38:35

— What has God done for you?

00:38:37

What do you have that you don't deserve, you didn't earn?

00:38:41

Let's simply sit and think about that.

00:38:44

Whatever pops into mind, thank God for it.

00:38:47

Doing this acknowledges God as the source

00:38:49

of all the good that has happened in our lives.

00:40:15

— I'll be honest, that line

00:40:17

you haven't failed us yet

00:40:19

hasn't always been easy for me to sing,

00:40:21

because the truth is there are times in my life

00:40:24

where I have felt that God failed me.

00:40:26

But the truth of the Bible is that

00:40:29

God hasn't failed us yet because the story's not over.

00:40:34

God is the God of the breakthrough.

00:40:36

What is the breakthrough you're waiting for from Him?

00:40:40

The story's not over.

00:40:41

Ask Him right now to see that breakthrough

00:40:44

all the way through.

00:41:49

– Interested by what you heard today?

00:41:50

Well, a great next step for you

00:41:52

is to download the Freed Up app.

00:41:54

It's a personalized experience designed to guide you

00:41:56

to a new place of financial freedom.

00:41:58

Now normally it cost $100.

00:42:01

But from now until the end of May, the Freed Up app

00:42:04

is available to the Crossroads community,

00:42:06

that's you, for free.

00:42:08

Just head to Crossroads.net/freedup

00:42:11

to download it. We'll see you next week.

	How Money Feels 💰	0:00
	How Do You Spend Money?	1:08
	Is It Mine Or God's ?	8:43
	Can I Have Too Much Money?	26:40
	When We Get Out Of Control	30:52

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