"FINANCIAL FREEDOM - WHO OWNS WHAT?" Pastor Larry Fryling Genesis 1; I Chron. 29:11; Job 41:11 I. Why Talk About Money? Money is important to us (i.e. political issues center around money; we depend on money to live). The Bible talks a lot about money (many verses throughout the Bible, ½ the parables talk about money/possessions). Money creates & solves problems. #1 Conflict in marriage is over money. We think if we had more, it would solve our problems. "Kingdomomics" - God's view of economics from the Kingdom of God. II. God's Perspective on Money: Everything belongs to God. Gen. 1 - Because God made this world, it and everything in it belongs to Him. We are not to worship the things that He created, but rather worship the Creator Himself. Easy to say that the mountains and oceans are God's, but the stuff we call our own - our cars, our clothes, are His, too. People were put in charge by God. He has complete ownership, but we as His image bearers, are put in charge over what God created. God is going to let us rent or lease His possessions, His resources for a period of time. Our talents, abilities, the house we live in, are on loan from God. He asks us to take care of those things and use them for His Kingdom. III. Putting God's Perspective to Use Don't worship what, worship Who. It doesn't take a golden statue to become our god. It can be sports, getting rich, our possessions that take over our thoughts, our priorities and those things become our objects of worship. We need to look at our time and what we spend our time on. We find time for our priorities. What are those priorities? We can look at our checkbooks to find out if we worship a "what" instead of "Who". 2. Every part of our lives is a spiritual matter. As the oil is essential to put in your car's engine, God should be part of us - in all parts of our lives. He should be included in our work, our marriages, our raising of our children, and dealing with money. Not only is what we give a spiritual matter, but also what we keep. Every spending decision should be made with God's perspective. 3. Be positive. God doesn't want us to grudgingly feel like we have to give, but He wants us to learn through His views how to live with joy in giving. God gave us the power to produce wealth. He wants to give you His perspective on what you do with that wealth. God has a reason for giving you what He's given. Have peace in knowing everything belongs to God, including you.

Financial Freedom - Index Continue on to "I Want To Be Rich"