Back to the Drawing Board
Life and Legacy Week 3
Pastor Kris Freeman
Revolution Church
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Scripture: Luke 10:38-42 (NLT) and John 12:1-8 (NLT)
Before we look into this week’s topic, let’s look back at this scripture from last week. What happens when you are trying to do everything right and then everything goes wrong? You feel like you are captive!
“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7)
Just because you run into a struggle does not mean the story is over.
But when you do struggle, there are three major things which can happen. Will you have a spirit of:
- Pride
- Poverty
- Gratitude
1. The Spirit of Pride
38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)
The spirit of pride comes from performance based wealth. We have a lot because we work hard for it.
Scriptures we use to back this up - 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Proverbs 10:4, Matt. 25:39
Hard work is a good thing but it’s not always the guaranteed thing.
Three counters to the spirit of pride: embrace suffering; learn from failure; culture of grace.
2. The Spirit of Poverty
12 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself. 7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” (John 12:1-8)
The spirit of poverty says that wealth is evil and the only way to be Godly is to be poor.
“When you build wealth, you open yourself up to criticism from people who think wealth is evil. First of all, wealth provided by God can never be evil because He would never promote evil in the lives of His children.” - Dave Ramsey
The Bible actually says the love of money is the root of all evil. Not money itself! (1 Timothy 6:10 NLT)
The spirit of poverty is not only a twist of scripture, it has two siblings: envy & jealousy.
There’s a huge difference between cheap and effective. (Carey Niewhuof)
A spirit of poverty makes us feel guilty about doing things the right way.
3. The Spirit of Gratitude
The Spirit of Gratitude causes us to live thankful and with a life of worship.
“Obedience, generosity and excellence are natural outcomes of the spirit of gratitude. They are offerings of worship we make to God because we are thankful. It’s not how much we have that matters, but whose it is that matters.” - Dave Ramsey
Finishing it up - you get to choose which of the spirits you take toward your journey.
Whichever spirit you embrace will be the spirit you feed.
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