WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.300 Welcome back everybody. Today we'll be going through a biblical understanding of money series. 2 00:00:05.300 --> 00:00:11.000 Now there are many, many scriptures concerning money, and I'll be touching on seven different ones. 3 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:22.600 But to start, these are first off hot topics that many theologians have talked about. 4 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:26.200 Just so you guys know, I'm not a theologian. I'm a businessman. 5 00:00:26.200 --> 00:00:29.500 And so I'm going to be coming from that perspective. 6 00:00:29.500 --> 00:00:36.700 And so my perspective is one of practicality, but also one that I've learned through kind of growing up, 7 00:00:36.700 --> 00:00:40.600 studying archaeology and Hebrew linguistics in college. 8 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:47.600 So to start, we're going to be moving to Genesis 1, the creation of the world and mankind. 9 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:51.200 So we're going to be going to verse 26, 31. That reads, 10 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:55.400 Then God said let us make human beings in our image to be like us. 11 00:00:55.400 --> 00:01:00.200 They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, 12 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:05.200 all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that will scurry along the ground. 13 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:09.000 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, 14 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:13.000 he created them. Male and female, he created them. 15 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:18.200 Then God blessed them and said be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. 16 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:23.700 Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground. 17 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:28.400 Then God said, look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth 18 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:34.400 and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, 19 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:38.200 the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground. 20 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:41.600 Everything that has life. And this is what happened. 21 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:45.400 Then God looked over all he had made and he saw that it was very good. 22 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:49.500 And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. 23 00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:55.600 So the first major thing to notice here is God says that he created man in his own image. 24 00:01:55.600 --> 00:01:59.200 We have attributes from him. Even though we aren't God, 25 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:03.100 we are created to be many versions of God-like character, 26 00:02:03.100 --> 00:02:06.500 meaning that we have the characteristics of God. 27 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:11.200 One of the most foundational characteristics of God is to rule and reign. 28 00:02:11.200 --> 00:02:16.500 The word used here is rada, meaning to rule and have dominion over. 29 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:23.400 This word is not used actually very often. The idea of dominion is a very unique concept. 30 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:29.400 The idea is that we are called to have dominion over creation, but not dominate creation. 31 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:33.400 We're called to tend, develop, bring order to the wilderness of creation. 32 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:36.800 We're called to do this to improve all forms of creation. 33 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:40.200 Creation was meant to be ruled by us. 34 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:46.000 If it's left to its own devices, creation becomes out of hand and wild to the point of chaos. 35 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.100 So God uniquely brought man into the world to be the head over all creation. 36 00:02:51.100 --> 00:02:57.500 It is our responsibility to tend, grow, and develop creation for improvement and innovation. 37 00:02:57.500 --> 00:03:03.900 We're supposed to be stewards of it. We'll be judged whether we steward creation well or not. 38 00:03:03.900 --> 00:03:07.100 This goes to every part of what we do. 39 00:03:07.100 --> 00:03:11.000 Everything we do, we're called to steward through ruling and reigning. 40 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:16.500 So our first point today is that we are called to rule and reign. 41 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:22.200 Point number two starts in Genesis 3, verse 17 through 19. 42 00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:28.000 To Adam, he said, because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 43 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:32.000 you must not eat from it. Cursed is the ground because of you. 44 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.100 Through painful toil, you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 45 00:03:36.100 --> 00:03:40.600 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you'll eat plants of the field. 46 00:03:40.600 --> 00:03:45.100 By the sweat of your brow, you'll eat your food until you return to the ground, 47 00:03:45.100 --> 00:03:50.100 since from it you were taken, and from dust you are, and to dust you will return. 48 00:03:50.100 --> 00:03:53.800 So in this verse, point two, God curses the ground. 49 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:59.400 But really the curse is that it will be hard work that it'll take to pay off. 50 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:03.800 Becoming wealthy, getting things moving with your finances. 51 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:09.200 So how many times have we experienced this? How many times have we felt like it takes so much work to get ahead? 52 00:04:09.200 --> 00:04:13.200 This is going back to that curse. God told Adam to work. 53 00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:18.000 So working is not a bad thing. It's the thistles that's the bad thing. 54 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.500 Thistles or thorns are not from God. 55 00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:26.400 God is a God of order. An unruly or chaotic earth is not from God. 56 00:04:26.400 --> 00:04:30.400 We as humans are called to bring order. 57 00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:35.500 So point number two is hard work is required now because of sin. 58 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:40.800 For this next point, we will turn now to the book of Psalms, chapter 112. 59 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:42.000 So 112 reads, 60 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:47.400 Praise the Lord. How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands. 61 00:04:47.400 --> 00:04:53.300 Their children will be successful everywhere. An entire generation of godly people will be blessed. 62 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:57.000 They themselves will be wealthy and their good deeds will last forever. 63 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:59.300 Light shines in the darkness for the godly. 64 00:04:59.300 --> 00:05:00.000 Their generous. 65 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.360 compassionate and righteous. Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their 66 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:11.040 business fairly. Such people will not be overcome by evil. Those who are righteous will long be 67 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:16.720 remembered. They do not fear bad news. They confidently trust the Lord to care for them. 68 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:23.520 They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. They are free and give 69 00:05:23.520 --> 00:05:28.880 generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence 70 00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:34.160 and honor. The wicked will see this and be infuriated. They will grind their teeth in anger. 71 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:41.120 They will slink away, their hopes thwarted. So this first chapter of this verse talks about 72 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:46.400 those who are following God and keep Him first. When we are walking with God and keeping Him in 73 00:05:46.400 --> 00:05:51.680 the forefront of what we do, we are blessed in every single area of our lives. These areas include 74 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:58.960 finances, relationships, actions, etc. When a family decides to walk the narrow path of walking 75 00:05:58.960 --> 00:06:05.360 with God, the blessing continues out from one generation to the next. Talk about multi-generational 76 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:13.040 wealth. The second part of this chapter goes into the frame of mind or the outlook of godly people. 77 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:18.800 There should be a level of confidence with people that are walking with God. We as believers are 78 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:24.880 going to reap what we sow in a good way. We know that our hard work, our devotion to God, our focus 79 00:06:25.440 --> 00:06:31.920 in doing the right thing will create blessing to us and those around us. We can go out boldly knowing 80 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:37.440 that our future is bright and our impact is large. We can also be confident that the dark forces 81 00:06:37.440 --> 00:06:43.520 today that resist us won't be able to stand before us. This is our world that God has given us to 82 00:06:43.520 --> 00:06:49.520 steward and we are going to kick some serious booty. So point number three, those who keep God 83 00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:54.880 first in their lives will have huge amounts of success. So next time guys, we're going to be 84 00:06:54.880 --> 00:07:00.400 going into point number four. We're going to be going to the New Testament. So next time guys, 85 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:02.880 stay on with us and we'll be going through that together.