11 Feb It’s Not About The Money | Part 1 “It’s About the Opportunity” – All Locations

For this week’s Announcements please visit: (waterschurch.org/events):

Really Big Things 40-Week Offering: Our 40-week offering collection is fast approaching! The Really Big Things offering is on the weekend of February 17/18th. Please keep saving and praying for God to Really Big Things through Waters Church for the spread of the Gospel and the Glory of Jesus Christ. For more information please visit: waterschurch.org/give/really-big-things

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Reminders:

✳ Please regularly check your Planning Center profiles for requests to join your life groups, remove members from the list that no longer attend, or add members not listed. Please ensure that you have added no-reply@churchcenter.com to your email contacts so that you do not miss an email from Planning Center and encourage your members to do so as well.  This will ensure you do not miss a member request or any emails that come from the Planning Center site. Thank you!

Waters Class Schedule:

• 1st Sunday: Discover Waters – after 1st service
• 2nd Sunday: NO CLASSES
• 3rd Sunday: Connect Class – after 1st service
• 4th Sunday: Baptism Class – after 1st service

Waters Help: Need marriage and family care  or have a group member in need of marriage and family care?   Click here:  help resources page  or visit waterschurch.org/help

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Southcoast	Text “subscribe” to 508 809-3490

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It’s About the Opportunity

Key Verse: Luke 19

Ice breaker:

Q. What’s a hobby or interest that you’re passionate about? How did you first get into it, and what about that activity brings you joy or fulfillment?

We’re heading into tax season. Some of you are stressed right now. Some of you are going to say what happened to my financial life? If you are struggling financially, God wants to set you free and empower you!

Money is a huge issue in our lives. Four in ten divorces happen because of financial difficulties. Married people, if you get this issue right, you will lower your chances of divorce by 40%. Think about what that can do generationally for your family!

Pastor Tim shared how his son received a “$1,000 winning scratch ticket” that turned out to be a deceptive sales pitch for a vacation package. He warned about similar deceptive offers in our world. Financial piranhas lurk everywhere, offering tempting deals like no-interest payments for 36 months or “buy now, pay later” schemes, trying to take what God has put into our hands.

In the Bible, Jesus talks about money more than hell and heaven combined. One out of every ten verses in the New Testament is about money or possessions. Sixteen of Jesus’ 38 parables are about money and finances. Most famously, Jesus said you cannot serve God and money.  Jesus knew that money, above all other things, can rip our hearts away from God.

In Luke 19, the Parable of the Ten Minas underscores this. Set amidst Zacchaeus’s salvation story, the ten servants in the parable were given money and told to put it to work while their master was away.

 

Luke 19:8 (ESV)

Zacchaeus met Jesus, and it changed how he handled money.

Luke 19:11 (ESV)

A parable is a story of spiritual realities about natural things in order to reveal hidden things. In this passage, Jesus reveals hidden secrets about money that Christians need to understand. We need to live as if Jesus is coming back today but plan as if He is coming back in our grandchildren’s lifetime.

1. God wants me to SEIZE financial OPPORTUNITIES.

Luke 19:12–13 (ESV)

Pragmateúomai is the Greek word meaning “engaged in business” and where we get the word pragmatic from. When it comes to our money, God wants us to be practical, not fearful. None of the New Testament authors were theologians. Luke was a physician; Paul was a tent maker; Peter, James, and John were fishermen; Jude and James were carpenters, as was Jesus. Real people with real jobs wrote the Word of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and they knew how to take advantage of the opportunities they had before them. 

 

Q. Reflecting on the warning that money can become a rival to God for our affections, how have you seen this play out in your own life or the lives of others? What steps can we take to ensure that our hearts remain steadfastly devoted to God, even in the midst of financial pursuits and challenges?

 

How do I MAKE money?

1. What can I do that HELPS PEOPLE?

John 15:26 (ESV)

When Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit, He calls Him the Helper.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV)

The Helper is inside of us! Spend time with the Holy Spirit and ask Him, “What is my helping gift?” Some general categories might be a physical helping gift (you create with your hands), a mental helping gift (you are a thinker or planner), a relational helping gift (you coordinate people), or a financial helping gift (you are great with numbers). Stop seeing your job as just something you do to pay the bills, and start seeing your job as an opportunity to help people.

 

2. What do I notice that NEEDS FIXING?

This is how you find the job that you are supposed to do. Pastor Tim mentioned the examples of Elon Musk and his pastor friend from New Jersey. Considering your “helping gift,” ask yourself, “What will fix people’s problems?”

 

3. What do I LOVE DOING?

A 30-year study showed that people who pursued their interests over high salaries experienced more financial success in the long term. If you follow your interests, your passion for those interests will fuel your money-making capabilities.

 

4. What OPTIONS are AROUND me right now?

Sometimes, God puts a test in front of you. Can you be faithful with something you don’t love doing but might lead to an opportunity to do what you love?

 

Bonus Question: Am I getting in the “BALLPARK” of what I LOVE?

If you want to get to where you’re doing what you love, get around people doing what you would love to do and treat them respectfully. You can then begin to ask for opportunities and advancements in your pathway to a career.

Jesus wants you to get busy practically. Pragmatically engage in business, and the money will come.

 

Q. How can we align our careers or financial pursuits with helping others? How might we discern our unique “helping gift” and leverage it in our work to benefit others?

 

2. God wants me to SUCCEED in my OPPORTUNITIES.

Luke 19:15 (ESV)

Riches can be a trap where we forget God, but poverty can be a trap where we curse God. Success is a godly thing. Our Father in Heaven does not want us to fail through life and then eventually go to heaven. When the Master comes back, He’s looking for an increase in your life. We need to get out of our poverty mindset and embrace the “gain” that God wants for us.

 

A. Make a PLAN. 

Proverbs 21:5 (ESV)

You can be hasty, or you can plan. A budget is a plan that lets you tell your money where to go before you’re wondering where it went. You have got to be prepared for the money that comes to you. Make a plan that God would approve of, not a plan of hasty actions that lead to poverty.

 

B. Think LONG-TERM.

Proverbs 13:11 (ESV)

God is a long-term thinker. The time from the sin in the Garden of Eden to Jesus’ coming and dying for our sin was 4,000 years, and today it is 2,000 years later! Instant gratification offers zero long-term satisfaction.

 

C. Work DILIGENTLY. 

Proverbs 10:4 (ESV)

The word “diligently” does not mean work hard but rather “sharp or decisively.” God is a decision-making God who sticks by His decisions, calling people and sealing them with the Holy Spirit. Stop vacillating. Make a firm decision and stick with it!

 

D. Live GENEROUSLY.

Proverbs 19:17 (ESV)

God is a generous God. Generosity is a blessing waiting to happen in your life.

God wants you to seize the opportunities and to succeed in your opportunities.

 

Q. Reflecting on the idea that God wants us to succeed in our opportunities, how can we shift from a poverty mindset to embracing the gain that God desires for us? How might our understanding of success align with God’s perspective on wealth and prosperity?

 

3. God wants to REWARD those who SUCCEED in their OPPORTUNITIES.

Luke 19:16 (ESV)

The first servant’s mina earned a 1,000% increase, and he was rewarded.

Luke 19:17 (ESV)

God says, “Well done, good servant.” This line is what many Christians think God will tell us when we stand before the presence of the Lord in heaven. Have you considered that this line comes from the parable where Jesus is talking about how His people managed His money? The Lord says well done to those who have used His money wisely, shrewdly, decisively, and generously. God is a Rewarder. The servant who was faithful with little will now have authority over ten cities!

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)

“… must believe that He exists and that God rewards those who seek Him.”  In Luke 19:20-26,  we are told of the third servant who hid his money instead of investing it because he believed his master to be “exacting, demanding, and severe.” Some people think God is out to get them, and they are convinced that the Church just wants their money. They have the wrong perception of God. He is a giver, not a taker.

Jesus says the third servant is condemned by his own words, and now he will live in his perception of God. His mina is taken and given to the servant who has ten mina. Those who steward God’s resources well get more of God’s resources. Use God’s resources faithfully or lose them eternally.

Romans 8:31–32 (ESV)

Philippians 4:19 (ESV)

If God gave you Jesus, there’s nothing He won’t give you that you need or even some things you want!

 

Q. How does the knowledge of God’s reward for faithful service shape our outlook on life and our pursuit of opportunities? What steps can we take to ensure that we are faithfully seizing opportunities, stewarding resources wisely, and trusting in God’s abundant provision and rewards?

 

The Father wants me to take the OPPORTUNITIES before me, strategically use the RESOURCES He gives me, and expect His generous REWARDS to come to me.

It’s not about the money. It’s about the opportunity.

In this parable, there are three people: the foes who didn’t want the King to reign over them, the faithful who were wise stewards of God’s money, and the frauds who said Lord, I knew you were an austere man, and ended up losing everything. If you’re not in the faithful category yet– you can be! Start honoring God, and He’ll bring you rewards you never dreamed of.

 

Challenge: This week, identify and take action on at least one opportunity presented to you for personal growth, fostering a new relationship, or advancing in your career. Cultivate an attitude of expectancy regarding God’s abundant blessings and rewards in your life. Trust that as you faithfully steward the opportunities and resources He provides, He will pour out His grace and favor in abundance.