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Tom LundeenJuly 24, 2022

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Passage: Ecclesiastes 5:10-19

The drive for more is appealing, but full of empty promises. Will more make me happy? Secure? Accepted? Learn what the desire to acquire actually produces in our lives if we don't use God's plan for our money and things.

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New Car Smell

 

Pastor Tom Lundeen

 

The reality is that every single person...is driven by .

Drive = to guide, control, . 

 

The drive to always want more is based on 3 : it will make me more happy; more ; and more important/popular/accepted.

 

1. The Desire to  Doesn't Produce... 

A. Greater  (note Ecclesiastes 5:10) - Your  power will always exceed your earning power. 

 

B. Greater  - our net worth and our self-worth are completely  (note Luke 12:15). 

 

C. Greater  (note Proverbs 23:5).

 

 

2. The Desire to  Actually Produces... 

A. Greater  (note Ecclesiastes 5:11) - If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, so is the water bill.

 

B. Greater  (note Ecclesiastes 5:12).

 

C. Greater  (if we lose it, Ecclesiastes 5:14, 17) - wealth can produce great  turmoil.

 

D. Greater  (note Luke 12:48b; 16:11) - life is preparation for , and God uses money as a test of our character. Our lives are  by money (note Ecclesiastes 4:8; 5:15). Where there's a will, there's always . (Warren)

 

3. God's Plan for My  and Things 

A. Be  for it (note Ecclesiastes 5:19) - everything we have is God's  (note Deuteronomy 8:17-18). For genuine Christ followers, thanksgiving isn't a holiday, it's a . Note Ecclesiastes 7:14. We can be happy when we realize in God's economy, happiness isn't getting whatever we want; it's  enjoying whatever we have (note Ecclesiastes 6:9). What does it take to make you ?

 

B. Be  with it (note Ecclesiastes 11:1) - God is very interested in how much of His money (He owns it all!) we'll keep for ourselves (note Luke 21:1-4; 1 Timothy 6:17-19). Giving/tithing is God's  plan for us. When we give, we break the grip of , and we begin to resemble God. 

 

C. Be  with it (note Luke 16:13) - whatever we are unable to give away ; we don't own it. We can be possessed by possessions and consumed by . My calendar () and my bank account () indicate what's first in my life.  

 

 

WHAT'S DRIVING ME?:

  • God doesn't need our money and stuff, but He wants all of us and money  us.
  • God wants to be first and  in our lives (note Matthew 6:19-21).

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