On Sunday, October 6, 2024, at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on select Proverbs.  This message was the final installment in the “Money Matters: Wisdom from Proverbs” sermon series.  Below you will find questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.  You will also find audio and video of the message to listen to/watch, download or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. What do you consider to be the “poverty line”?
3. In general, poverty is a part of this world because of the “fall due to sin” … however, there are a variety of other factors that impact poverty, including:  foolishness (Proverbs 13:18, 21:5), injustice (Proverbs 13:23), “spin cycle poverty” (Proverbs 28:3), and sovereign outcomes (Proverbs 10:22; 28:22).  How have you seen these contribute to the poverty you have seen or personally experienced in the world?
4. Is there any foolishness in your own life (contributing to financial problems) that you need to change?
5. What are some things you can do to help the poor around you physically AND relationally?
6. What is one need you can meet in the life of another this month in the church or in the community? (Proverbs 11:24-25; 21:13; 22:9; 28:27)
7. Throughout this series, we looked at a number of Proverbs related to money.  What has stood out to you most from this series?
8. What is one particular application you took away from this message?

Interested in giving or volunteering to Hurricane Helene Relief? 2 Organizations to consider that Wildwood has experience with in the past:

• Samaritan’s Purse
• Eight Days of Hope
• Give to Wildwood (earmarked to help churches providing assistance in the region) … Give to Wildwood online and put “Hurricane Relief” in the memo.

 

To access these questions in pdf format click here.

 

To listen to message offline, click the link:

Money Matters #3 10.6.24

 

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Money matters to us, doesn’t it?  Yes it does.  In fact, there is a direct connection between our wallets and our hearts.  As Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Money matters, in part, because it demonstrates where our heart is.  Most of the time, our heart lies hidden, but its condition is demonstrated in our actions, reactions, AND our expenditures.  This is why how we handle our money matters to God.

Over the past three weeks at Wildwood, we have been walking through a sermon series investigating the Proverbs to see God’s wisdom regarding money.  I recently did a study in the Proverbs and made a four page (single spaced!) list of all the verses in this one book that talk about money.  Money Matters to God indeed!  This sermon series has been a vehicle to showcase what I found in God’s Word.

So far, we have seen a few introductory principles, including:

• A wealth of wisdom (i.e. WISDOM is better than WEALTH).
• Trust funds?  (NO!  There is a firmer foundation to build our lives upon than our checking account.)
• Rich people opportunities (there are a variety of difficulties disguised as opportunities that people with means have stewardship over … make the most of it!)

Then, last week, we saw the connection between hard work and wages, where we saw:

• There is work that does not pay (how we make money matters!)
• Work hard as unto the Lord (generally speaking there is a positive correlation between hard work and income … AND work is not bad, it is from the LORD, so what job does He have for you in this season?)

On Sunday, October 6, we will wrap up this short series by looking at poverty, and we will see:

• Some of it’s cause.
• The relational implications of poverty.
• AND our call to generosity.

Hope you make plans to be with us as we wrap up this series on Sunday at 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00.  We will sing, pray, study the Word together, and end by sharing the Lord’s Supper.  Don’t miss it … and bring friends!

On Sunday, September 29, 2024, at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on select Proverbs.  This message was part 2 in the “Money Matters: Wisdom from Proverbs” sermon series.  Below you will find questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.  You will also find audio and video of the message to listen to/watch, download or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. What paid jobs have you had in your life?  What did you learn in those jobs?
3. Proverbs 16:8, 22:16, 28:6, and 28:21 all talk about it being better to have righteousness and integrity than wealth.  In what ways have you seen that to be true in life?  Be honest … what do you want more right now:  wealth or integrity?
4. Where are you tempted to “sell your integrity for a piece of bread” (Proverbs 28:21)?
5. Are you tempted at all in your business practices to “use false scales” to slant things in your favor (see Proverbs 11:1)?  Have you ever considered that kind of behavior as a sin against God?
6. How have you seen yourself (others you know) become a slave to debt (Proverbs 22:7)?  How can remembering this picture of slavery help you from entering into much debt in the future?
7. What is the “job” the LORD has for you in this season of your life?  What would it look like for you to work hard at this job (as unto the LORD)?  There were many Proverbs addressing this topic that were explored in this message including Proverbs 16:26, 6:6-11, 10:4, 12:27, 19:15, 28:19, 10:5, 20:4, 24:30-34, 12:11, 14:23, 20:13, 21:25-26, 22:13, 23:19-21.  Did the message of any of these Proverbs stand out to you in any way?
8. What is one particular application you took away from this message?

To access these questions in pdf format click here.

 

To listen to message offline, click the link:

Money Matters #2 9.29.24

 

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How many jobs have you had in your life? Paid jobs.

I have had only 13. Want to hear what they were?

1. Hawaiian Shaved Ice Stand
2. Summer Youth Pastor at ECUMC
3. Front Counter Worker at McDonalds
4. Dishwasher & kitchen worker at a fraternity house
5. Administrative help at Phillips 66
6. Call center at Dallas Theological Seminary
7. Sold used fax machines for a bartering company (no, really that was the job)
8. Window washer
9. Youth Pastor at Ovilla UMC
10. Associate Pastor at MCC
11. College Pastor at Wildwood
12. Executive Pastor at Wildwood
13. Senior Pastor at Wildwood

13 jobs over 35 years of employment (with the last 24 years … including 3 different roles … here at Wildwood). What’s your list?

In that time, I have learned a lot of things on the job … but one consistent lesson I learned is the connection between work and wages. When you work a job, you get paid. (Well, most of the time … I did have one job that I was promised a wage I never received). Some jobs paid by the hour, others paid a monthly salary, and still others paid by the job. But the steady lesson was this: “The wages of work is money.” And through that arrangement, God has provided the resources for me and my family to live.

As we saw last week at Wildwood Community Church in part 1 of our “Money Matters” sermon series, money matters to us AND money matters to God. That is why the Bible has so many sections dealing with finances. Particularly in the book of Proverbs there are many verses dealing with money. This Sunday, we will be in part 2 of our study, looking at what God says in the Proverbs about work (as it relates to money). Some great stuff there!

I think there are two big lessons God wants us to learn about the connection of work and wages from the Proverbs, and we will explore these principles together on Sunday in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 services. Hope to see you there … and bring friends!

On Sunday, September 22, 2024, at Wildwood Community Church, I preached a sermon based on select Proverbs.  This message was part 1 in the “Money Matters: Wisdom from Proverbs” sermon series.  Below you will find questions related to the message for personal reflection or group discussion.  You will also find audio and video of the message to listen to/watch, download or share.

Sermon Questions:

1. Pray
2. Why do you think money matters so much to people?  Why do you think money matters to God?
3. What is some of the advice about money you have received in your life?  How much of that advice was directed from God’s Word?
4. Proverbs 3:9-10 talks of “honoring God with your wealth.”  What do you think it means to honor God with the money He has entrusted to you?  Are you honoring Him with your money today?
5. In Proverbs 8:10-11, 16:16, 20:15, 22:1, and 25:11-12, wisdom is elevated above wealth.  Which do you TRULY desire more?  Wisdom or wealth?  Why do you value that so highly?
6. Proverbs 18:11 talks about money being a high wall in the imagination of the rich person (i.e. it is tempting for the rich to make the focus of their trust their personal resources … but security in our stuff is only imaginary … it will not stay.)  Do you find yourself trusting more in your stuff or in your Savior?  How does that impact your use of money?
7. In Proverbs 14:4 we see two sides to riches … more problems but also more opportunity.  How have you personally experienced this dynamic in your life … in other words, how have you seen MORE MONEY bring with it more challenges AND more opportunities?  If you are in a season of life right now where God has given you more than you need for today, how do you view that abundance?  More as a problem or more as an opportunity?
8. What is one particular application you took away from this message?

To access these questions in pdf format click here.

 

To listen to message offline, click the link:

Money Matters #1

 

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Money matters … doesn’t it?  At least it matters to most of us.

If we are walking down the street and saw a $50 bill laying on the sidewalk, it would probably catch our eye … we might even stop to pick it up!  We might ignore a gum wrapper on the same sidewalk … but legal tender catches our eye and motivates a response.  Money matters.

If we have more expenses in bills than we have dollars in our checking account it causes stress.  Money matters.

Our access to money often influences what car we drive or where we live or what we are able to do for fun.  Money matters.

We might take a certain job because it pays more.  Money matters.

We can use money to honor God, bless others, pay for our necessities, or save for the future.  Money matters.

Even as it relates to the upcoming election, the economy is at or near the top of the list of issues debated by the candidates.  Money matters.

Money matters to us.

But does money matter to God?

Well (in a word), YES.  Not because God needs money (He has access to all things) and not because God needs our money (again, He has the cattle on a thousand hills).  Money matters to God because how WE handle it reflects our hearts … and God cares deeply about our hearts.

In the middle of our Bibles, the book of Proverbs provides a wealth of wisdom on many relevant and practical issues:  avoiding adultery, relating to family, how we communicate, and more.  One of the categories of human behavior MOST addressed in this book of wisdom is (you guessed it) M-O-N-E-Y.  I sat down recently and read through the entire book, and jotted down 4 single-spaced pages of notes of what JUST THE BOOK OF PROVERBS had to say about money.  Over the next three Sundays at Wildwood Community Church (beginning this week, September 22), I will help us explore this wisdom.

This week (September 22), we will look at some general principles on finances from the Proverbs.  Next week (September 29), we will explore the connection between WORK and WAGES.  Then on the last week of the series (October 6), we will see what the Proverbs say about generosity and the poor.

Hope to have you join us over the next 3 Sundays in our new series “Money Matters: Wisdom from the Proverbs.”  See you Sunday at 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 AM … and bring friends!