The Healing Word

Guest (Male): The Healing Word Ministry on One Place is brought to you by the generous donations of people like you. At any time during today's message, feel free to send a prayer request or make a donation using the links provided. Now, I pray you will be blessed as Pastor Jack Morris delivers a message from the word of God that will encourage and strengthen your faith in him.

Pastor Jack Morris: Friend, it's Jesus. Say those words: "It's Jesus." Jesus for me, Jesus for my family, Jesus for my marriage, Jesus for my contentment and happiness in life. It comes from Jesus. He's the giver of every good and perfect gift, and he wants to give you his love, his peace, his contentment.

He wants to bless you materially, financially, and in every way. Some of the greatest saints in the Bible were very wealthy, wealthy people. But every one of them put God first and served the Lord with everything that they had.

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Healing Word, a radio ministry of the Largo Community Church. Here's Pastor Jack Morris with today's message that will grow your faith in God and lead you to a closer walk with Jesus.

Pastor Jack Morris: The title of the message is "You and Your Money." We have money, thank God. We use money every day. We touch it; it passes through our hands. Money consumes a major part of our living. Just think about how much of your life goes into getting that paycheck.

Your breath, your health, your intelligence, your energy, your time—all of these are gifts from God. You wouldn't have any time, no health, no energy, no intelligence; you wouldn't have any of this if God didn't give it to you. So health, time, energy, aptitude, and intelligence are all gifts from God, and it takes all these gifts in order to make money.

So it comes down to this: making money is a sacred thing. It takes sacred gifts from God. You can't earn a paycheck if you don't have breath. You can't go to work if you don't have health. If you don't have the aptitude, the intelligence, and the skills, you can't do it; you can't earn a paycheck.

But God gives all this to you, and then you give it to your job, which you're supposed to. In order to get your income, you are putting that which is sacred into earning a living. Perhaps this is the reason Jesus had so much to say about money. Because of the sacredness of life that goes into earning it, there are 38 parables that Jesus spoke in the New Testament, and 16 of those 38 parables Jesus talked about money.

Jesus talked about money more than any other subject in the New Testament. Take the subject of heaven and hell. All the scriptures on heaven and all the scriptures on hell, add them together. Jesus has more to say about money than heaven and hell combined. There are five hundred verses having to do with prayer and faith, but two thousand verses having to do with money.

Now, why? Because money excites the emotion. Money gets to a person. There's rarely a subject that a person can refer to that excites them and stirs the emotion like the subject of money. So Jesus is getting to your heart and my heart when he talks about money because he knows it's going to excite us and stir us up on the inside.

Think about it. We handle money daily. Every day you have your hands on it. I have a feeling some of you touched money already this morning. Every day we touch it, we handle it. There's not a day that goes by that we don't think about money, plan for money, wish for money, desire money, work for money, and pray for money.

So Jesus has something to say about money. Money is a source of a lot of marital conflict. Let's define marriage for just a moment. I wanted it on the screen because I knew if I read it, it would go by and you might miss it. This is by author Mike Mason. I read it and I thought that was a good, accurate description.

"Marriage: a wild, audacious attempt at an almost impossible degree of cooperation between two powerful centers of self-assertion; a furnace of conflict, a crucible in which two wills must melt down and be purified and made to conform; a struggle of the wills." Who wants to get married? Who wants to live like that? But I really can't argue with that. That's pretty accurate.

Nowhere is the struggle seen more vividly than in the conflicts relating to marriage and money. A man by the name of Bob said, and I quote him, "We've been married for 15 years. It seems that no matter how hard I work or what I make, our finances are always a source of conflict. Always."

Why is that? Here are just some of the reasons: the different ways we were raised. We saw how our parents had money. One or the other or both controlled it. Either we liked that way and we adopted that, thinking that's what we're going to bring into the marriage, or we didn't like it and we came up with a new way. But we were greatly influenced by how our parents handled money, and we bring that influence into the marriage.

Number two: the different way society has influenced our thinking. Society says the American Dream is from rags to riches. The other day, Coreen and I were down at the dock down at Annapolis. We were walking along, and there were about eight or ten motorcycles, these big hogs, really expensive motorcycles there.

This young couple walked by. We weren't planning on listening to what they were saying, although it was very interesting what we heard. The young man said, "I'm going to get a motorcycle, and I'm going to expend my money and get one. I work hard for my money, and I'm going to get what I want."

The wife never opened her mouth. The reason I know it was his wife is because he wouldn't talk that way to a girlfriend. That had to be a wife. You only talk that way after you're married. You don't talk that way prior to marriage. "I'm going to get a motorcycle. I work hard for my money," blah blah blah.

Number three: no game plan. They get married, they're dating, they're in love, they're up there in dreamland; they don't even discuss how they're going to handle their money. I have had so many couples that have come to me for counseling, married with children, and the wife tells me, "I have no idea what my husband makes. I have no idea what his income is, and he doesn't have any idea how much I make. We just divide up the bills, and he pays some and I pay some, but we don't know."

Did you plan it that way when you got married? No, we didn't have any plan at all. How many of us would start out on a journey, on a vacation, without a roadmap? Without knowing where we're going? But people will give their lives to each other and to marriage to spend the rest of their lives together without ever discussing one of the most important subjects that Jesus took a great part of the New Testament to discuss. We don't even look at it; we don't even talk about it.

No game plan. And then, lack of communication. We just assume it's all going to be okay. Our marriage is going to be different from everybody else's marriage. We're going to get married and live happily ever after. It just doesn't work that way. It's like that woman with the windows, and the man called, and she said to him, "Hello!"

I feel like saying that to some married couples: "Hello!" You're so intelligent, but you're so dumb. And the hardship and the heartbreak you're making for yourself, and the agony that you go through, and the shame, and on and on it goes, all because of maybe some of these four reasons. Anybody going to say amen? Amen. You're going to say, "Pastor, go get another sinus operation."

Now where does all the money go? Let's put that on the screen. 87% goes for home, food, clothing, and transportation. That leaves 13% for medical, recreation, entertainment, church, and charities. And on top of that, if you use tobacco or alcohol, I didn't even include that. How are you going to give 10% to the Lord when you have 3% left for all of that?

I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but I just wonder how many people here this morning know that's where your money goes. I had a treasurer here in the church one time. When we started the church many years ago, I had just so many young converts, so many people just so innocent. It was wonderful working with them.

The treasurer told me he was just learning to tithe, and he said, "Pastor, it doesn't work when you put it on paper and you put the tithe at the end." But he said, "I learned when I put the tithe off the top, seeking first the kingdom of God, I could pay all the other things off. But when I paid them all first and then tried to pay my tithe, I couldn't do it." Wasn't that a wonderful discovery?

87% versus 13%. Last year, the American people spent more money for dog food than all the churches and all the charities combined. We don't have as high a thought about the church and the word of God and the house of God. Some say, "I was raised in the church. I love the church." Well friend, support the church! Pray for the church, tithe to the church, come to the church. If you love it the way you say you love it, where would we be without the church?

I heard a story about a dollar bill and a twenty-dollar bill having a conversation with each other. This is about as dumb as it gets, but a dollar bill and a twenty-dollar bill. They were talking about where they had been in their lifetime. The twenty-dollar bill said, "I've been in some of the most expensive restaurants. I've been in some of the greatest cruises on some of the great cruise liners. I have been in some of the most exotic places."

Then the twenty-dollar bill turned to the one-dollar bill and said, "Where have you been?" The one-dollar bill said, "To church, to church, to church!" Friend, money is not the source of happiness and contentment. It really isn't. I'm going to ask to put 1 Timothy 6:10 on the screen. Let's read it together in unison.

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." Notice it's not money; it's the love of money. What we love, we'll sacrifice for, we'll deny for, we'll put first, we'll work hard for. It's the love of money.

Notice some people. Who are these people? Eager for money, they have wandered from the faith. People of faith. The Bible is written to people of faith. The Bible is not written to the unsaved. It tells the unsaved how to become saved, but it tells the church how to go save them. But the Bible, for the most part, is written to the believer.

It's the believer who has pierced himself or herself with many griefs, many sorrows, simply because they haven't used that which is sacred. They have only blessed themselves and given to themselves that which is sacred. God has given the health, the strength, the mentality, the time, the energy, and they said, "Bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me."

In their pursuit of what they call the American dream or more riches, thinking that riches are going to make them happy, they have just pierced themselves through. They've wrecked their marriages over money. Is it really worth all of that? No, it really isn't worth all of that. But they turn around and get married again and do the same thing over again.

It's like that woman that said, "These men said they'll pay for themselves in a year." And it's been a year. We know this, and we tell this, and we preach this, and we have seminars, and yet we still are so locked into doing what we think is best. Friend, let's become wise unto the Lord and give God praise and thanks with all of our heart.

It says in 1 Timothy 6:6, "But godliness with contentment is great gain." Happiness and contentment do not come from what you have in your life, but who you have in your life. We're talking about Jesus. Do you have Jesus? I have him, but you're taking him for a ride.

It's like an airplane. Jesus should be in the pilot's seat. He should be directing the plane, directing the life. Instead of that, we've got him on the plane all right; we've got him in our life, but he's like a passenger. We're doing it our way, and he's along for the ride. Friend, let's make Jesus king. King of kings and Lord of lords. Give him our heart, give him our life, give him our all, and he will bless and he will make the best life possible for you.

He'll truly bring contentment. Jesus will bring contentment. Do you hear me? Jesus will bring the contentment, the happiness, and the joy that we need and so desperately want, and it has been elusive all of these years, all of this time. It isn't possessions and money; it's Jesus. He gives the contentment; he gives the peace that transcends all understanding.

People hear me preaching, and they're saying, "Pastor, I believe every word you're saying, but it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense." Of course it doesn't. That's where faith comes in. Faith does not make a whole lot of sense, but you step out on faith and you do it God's way, and the blessing of God will come.

Do it God's way and see what God can do. Do you think if you do it his way, he's going to let you fall on your face? Who wants a God like that? But if he's the God that you believe in and the God that you've given your heart to through Jesus Christ, now obey him in every aspect of your life. Watch what happens to your life personally, to your personal contentment, in your family, in your finances, in your possessions.

Jesus had a lot to say about money. If we'll do it his way, the blessing of God will come. Contentment cannot be earned. You're saying, "Pastor, I've been working hard, and I'm getting my life straightened out now." Friend, if you can straighten yourself out and straighten your life out and straighten your family out, straighten your marriage out, you are a messiah unto yourself.

You're your own savior. No, let Jesus take your life. Let him take control of your life. There's so much discontentment in our society. We have something that is called the "if onlys." Some are saying, "If only I had more money." Young people are saying, "If only I were older." Guess what older people are saying?

"If only I were younger." Short people: "If only I were taller." Single people: "If only I were married." Married people—some married people, not all: "If only I were single." Kids are saying, "If only my parents would do this." Parents are saying, "If only my kids would do this." We've got the "if onlys," and on and on it goes.

Friend, it's Jesus. Say those words: "It's Jesus." Jesus for me, Jesus for my family, Jesus for my marriage, Jesus for my contentment and happiness in life. It comes from Jesus. He's the giver of every good and perfect gift, and he wants to give you his love, his peace, his contentment.

He wants to bless you materially, financially, and in every way. Some of the greatest saints in the Bible were very wealthy people. But every one of them put God first and served the Lord with everything that they had. Put the Lord first. Don't talk about seeking first the kingdom of God—do it! And see what God will do.

How many people are going to do that this morning? Let's look up at the screen and read together the conclusion: Seek Jesus and make him the goal of your life, then all these other things will be added to your life. You see, Jesus is not a minus sign; Jesus is a plus sign. That's why the cross is in the form of a plus. It's a plus sign.