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Man, all right. We're in Titus chapter number one. The title of the sermon this evening is Making lucre filthy making lucre filthy and look down at your Bible said Titus 1 verse 6 It says if any be blameless the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly For a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God not self-willed not soon angry not given to wine No striker not given to filthy lucre skip down to verse number 10 It says for there are many unruly in vain talkers and deceivers, you know, like that guy outside Especially they of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole houses Teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucres sake the Bible says now Lucre is not necessarily word that we use today to describe monetary gain or even reward Finances so on and so forth, but it is a word that is commonly used. For example when it comes to a Business people would often talk about a lucrative business a business that basically produces profit and this is in regards to gain Okay So lucre is a word that simply means monetary gains is just another word for money Now when the Bible talks about filthy lucre, it's referring to a profit that is made unrighteously Okay, it's when you get money you get a reward you receive and possess monetary gain Unrighteously or through unrighteous means it's a filthy way Basically getting that money and a couple of examples of this if you think about it in the Old Testament Anytime a person would lend unto another, you know, if they charged usury that would be considered Filthy lucre right there because they are basically making money Increasing their substance by unjust gain by usury and in fact, the Bible says go with me if you go to Leviticus chapter 25 I'll reach you from Proverbs 28 verse 8 You go to Leviticus chapter 25 in verse 35 Proverbs 28 8 says he that by usury and unjust gain increases his substance He shall gather it for him that will pity the poor look at Leviticus 25 verse 35 it says and if thy brother be waxing poor and Fallen in decay with thee then thou shalt relieve him. Yea, though he be a stranger or sojourner that he may live with thee take thou no usury of him or Increase but fear the Lord Excuse me Fear thy God that thy brother may live with thee so usury is basically the practice of lending With interest trying to make money off of someone and taking advantage of others of others necessities providing for the necessities But then asking for something on top of that when they return those resources back unto you now, this is a wicked practice Okay, and this is primarily why the Jews have been kicked out of so many countries It's not only for the rejection of Jesus Christ, but actually because of the predatory lending practices They're usury that they practice and God sees this as a wicked means and he considers this to be filthy Lucre, this is not a right way to get money by increasing your substance through charging interest The Bible says he that putteth not out his money to usury nor taketh reward against the innocent He that doeth these things shall never be moved This is in reference to an honest person the person who would dwell in the holy hill of God The person who have God's blessing on his life is the one that is honest in his business It's the one who does business righteously does not go for filthy Lucre now. What's another example of this? Well, another example in the Bible is that when people kidnap others For money that's considered filthy Lucre, right, you know kidnapping for sexual reason you think about think of the sex trafficking Trade that there is even in the United States This is filthy Lucre people use that to get money and one of the examples of that in the Bible is Joseph and his brethren Right, and in fact Exodus 21 16 says he that stealeth a man and selleth him or if he be found in his hand He shall surely be put to death the Bible says So God sees this such as such a severe sin Such a wicked crime that he says if this person be found if it would be found in your hand That person shall surely be put to death the death penalty is Suitable for a person who would steal another person for the sake of increasing their substance Okay, and that's exactly what happened to Joseph, you know his own brethren Sold him into slavery slavery because of envy. What do they deserve the death penalty according to the Bible? right That is unjust gain there. All right Now what about whoredom? For example when a woman begins to sell herself prostitute herself for the sake of making money the Bible considers that to be filthy Lucre Okay or even if a father sells his daughter to Sell her body in order to get increase their substance or their monetary gain This is considered filthy Lucre Judas who Joseph and his brethren foreshadowed Excuse me, the brethren of Joseph foreshadowed, you know, he sold the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. This is unjust gain Okay, this is filthy Lucre the Bible tells us also that filthy Lucre can be Summarized in this the wages of unrighteousness Okay, because wages in and of themselves are not wrong, right? We go to work we earn wages We put it in a certain amount of hours in order to get a certain amount of pay and the Bible considers that to be Wages something that you earn but an unrighteous wage is when you get these finances and monetary gains through unrighteous means Now, let me start off by saying the money in and of itself isn't filthy or sinful at all You know, some people see that some people see money is just completely wicked and we shouldn't even have it They'll often say money is the root of all evil, right? Don't they say things like that, but they're wrong, you know They're not even quoting that scripture correctly. They'll say money is the root of all evil money is the root of all evil No, your love of money Is the root of all evil, okay Money is a is necessary in order to live You know the Bible tells us if a man provide not for his own Especially they have his own household the Bible says that he had denied the faith and is worse than an infidel So the Bible expects a man to get a job to work to provide for his wife and his children To provide for those of his own household and if he does not do those things the Bible tells us it's like he's denied the Faith and he's worse than an infidel. He's worse than the believer Okay, this goes to show us that money is good. Right got to pay the bills put food on the table, etc The Bible also says in Ecclesiastes 2 24 that it teaches us that you know money is not only for paying the bills It's actually used to enjoy things, you know, we don't want to have this ascetic attitude Where it's just like well no fun. No, no fun and no play makes me a good boy You know just all Bible reading also winning nothing but church and just living a strict and Stringent lifestyle and we can have any fun at all. No, you are a Buddhist You are like a Hindu or something. You are in the wrong religion, buddy Okay, because the Bible teaches us there is nothing better for a man that that he should eat and drink. Amen And then he should make us all enjoy good in his labor this also I saw that it is from the hand of God And in chapter 3 it says it is the gift of God So God says here's my gift to you men that when you work you get to enjoy your finances Enjoy the fruit of your labor eat and drink and enjoy the work of your hands This is the gift of God and look there's nothing better than eating the food that you paid for you, man You know or your wife or your children eating the food that you provided for this Creates purpose within the heart of a man this helps us to realize this is my purpose in life Is to provide for my family. It's to protect them as to provide shelter and food resources, etc now Understand this is that money is not wicked But God does place a greater emphasis on spiritual riches rather than on monetary gain Right the physical riches and he often talks about wisdom He talks about prudence and he talks about knowledge being like riches and knowledge to what we need and even increasing our faith Someone who has great faith is rich toward God. Okay, so they may be poor in this world But according to God he's they're rich in faith because of the fact that now they have connections to the person who owns a Thousand cattle on a thousand Hill right there. He owns all the silver and gold We pray and we increase our faith when God answers our prayers We should never set our eyes upon Physical finances Amen, the Bible says that we should seek first the kingdom of God in his righteousness and these things referring to food in raiment Should be added unto you, right? It says will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings They fly away as an eagle toward heaven He's being facetious here, but he's basically saying is like hey, you know, you understand how fast money goes through your hands How many of you can't have money in your pocket physical cash in your pocket because you're gonna spend it that's me Okay cash in my pocket. I'm gonna use it. All right, and You know money just enjoy. This is why we should not hoard money, by the way Right. We should not be hoarders of resources and finances and money There's nothing wrong with saving up for a rainy day or saving up for something that you would want that you can afford, you know However saving up money just for the sake of saving up so that you don't spend it and you don't want to be generous or liberal with it, this is not good and Though that that pile of money that you're sitting on they're gonna grow something called wings And when you die, they're gonna fly away to someone else's pocket and they're gonna use it So why not you as as a as a godly person as a person who is saved who has the Bible invest it in? Eternal Resources are in eternal things Activities in order for you to see that those finances once again in order for your finances to have eternal life Right, you can send them on ahead now How does an individual make lucre filthy go to first Timothy chapter number six if you would first Timothy chapter number six first Timothy chapter number six So money is not bad. We need to make money in order to pay the bills We need to make money in order to you know, provide for our families Money is there so we can enjoy the things of this world in order for us to you know, have leisure You know it when we work and we serve the Lord that basically takes a lot out of us attack it can tax us So what do we do? We relax we take a break we rest we enjoy life. We slow down to smell the roses and Unfortunately, some of these things take money Amen But that is used that Recreation is used so we can get back on board and serve the Lord once again and become more effective for the things of God You know so on and so forth, but a Christian can make lucre filthy through what covetousness Right. Now what is covetousness a byproduct of covetousness is a byproduct of being discontent with things Discontentment is when you're not satisfied with the things that you have and the things that God has provided for you Okay, so when you have certain possessions or a certain amount of money or you know Your vehicle or the place where you live and you're just not happy with it. You're not grateful. You're discontent if You allow yourself to be discontent for a long period of time eventually you'll become covetousness You'll become covetous. Excuse me. Okay, because covetousness is discontentment unfettered When you don't deal with discontentment when you don't increase your gratitude for the things that you have you will become Covetous because you're not happy with what you have. So what's the byproduct? You're gonna look for something that you want that you don't have you're gonna look upon your neighbors Ass you're gonna look upon your neighbors, you know things you're gonna look upon your neighbors Possessions or whatever and you're gonna desire those things you're gonna lust after those things and maybe they don't belong to you Okay, or God doesn't want you to have them And this is sin. Okay Covetousness is a severe sin You know often pastors don't like to talk about covetous because they're covetous It's like why pastors don't want to talk about gluttony How does it look when a pastor's like don't bring in all that food, you know, he's just like he has this huge belly You know, he's he's he's killing an entire two boxes of Little Caesars pizza A bucket of KFC chicken and he's preaching on gluttony. He has no credibility right In like manner, you know, the pastors often don't talk about covetousness because of the fact that they themselves are guilty of that sin Okay. Now look at first Timothy chapter 6 In verse number 6 it says but godliness with contentment is great gain You know instead of desiring the gains of this world the finances and the resources Get contentment with godliness For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out Having food and raiment let us therewith be content now I think everyone would agree that today we have actually more than just food and raiment Right all of us have food and raiment, but actually there's actually a little more than we have You know everyone in this room. I'm sure could say that Even the most broke person in here. You can say yeah, I do have more than food and raiment. Okay? You have more than you know One pair of clothes or shoes or socks or whatever you have more than that and the Bible tells us Hey, you should be content with the basics. And the reason he tells us to be content with the basics It's not because we can't we shouldn't have anything else It's because when you get something more than food and raiment, you know what that does it creates gratitude Right if you're content if you're just happy with what you have when you get the cherry on top the icing You didn't expect it because you're already content But you know what if you're discontent with what you have and you're constantly looking for something better When someone decides to be a blessing to you when God decides to load you with the benefit today Guess what you're not gonna be grateful You're just like oh, that's it. Oh That's not the one I want all one in a different color. Oh this restaurant You know, this is discontentment folks You know the Bible's teaching us Be content with the things you had the food and raiment and then you'll be grateful when you get something more than that Look at verse 9, but they that will be rich Fall into temptation and a snare and to many and into many foolish and hurtful lusts was drowned men and destruction and perdition What is he saying? Hey when you start desiring things that don't belong to you or that you can't afford you What's gonna happen is that you're gonna try to obtain that possession through unrighteous means unjust game filthy lucre Right and when you obtain that through unrighteous means the byproduct of that will be destruction and perdition It'll be punishment upon you. Okay for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after They have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows So what is it telling us here saying those who covet after these things? They love money What's gonna happen? They're gonna air from the faith. Okay, you cannot be a spiritual person and struggle with covetousness It's impossible Okay, because when you're covetous you mind earthly things you're not minding the things that are in heaven You're not minding the eternal things. Okay, and you air from the faith you begin to Be covetousness and desire things. Hey, well, how do you hear from the faith? Well, how about this, you know a person who wants a certain possession they become covetous So they start working on Sundays in order to obtain that possession You air from the faith Because now you have sacrificed church attendance in order to work to obtain that Possession that you want. Okay, you have greatly erred from the faith Okay, and there's many ways that people do this obviously gambling would be an example of this, right? The Bible says in Proverbs 13 7 there is that maketh himself rich yet hath nothing There is that maketh himself poor yet hath great riches, you know, don't covet don't envy The sinner amen don't envy the wealthy of this world because they may look like they have a lot of possessions But they're very empty inside Okay, very empty. They have nothing Okay, you know they don't have true joy and contentment and virtues that we value in our Christian life They don't have those things Because here's the thing, you know happiness comes from happenings, but joys of the Lord. Amen Go with me if you would to go to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 if you would Now as I mentioned covetousness is a very grievous sin You know We often I know I do I often talk about fornication and drunkenness Being those two major sins that will excommunicate someone out of the church, but they're not the only ones They're just they're just the ones that like are most popular I guess you could say unfortunately more people get involved in fornication and more people are involved in drunkenness or Smoking pot or some type of mind-altering drug where they would struggle and it would merit for them to get kicked out of church But you know what covetousness is in that same list as well Look at 1st Corinthians 5 11 says but now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or Covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such in one No not to eat. This is the famous passage regarding the man who was involved in fornication The admonition and the instruction by the Apostle Paul is that hey, you've got to get rid of this person You know put away from among you that wicked person But he also labels these people the idolater the railer the extortioner and even the covetous person So if a person is in our church and they're covetous, you say how do I know? This is how you know if someone's covetous. Okay, if they don't just shut up about money They Can't keep their mouth shut about money. That's all I talk about How to make money money this money that you know possessions this and possessions that at that point this person's covetous And look don't befriend a covetous person obviously not here, but even out in the world Because eventually that will rub off on you Okay, it'll make you discontent with the things that you have. It'll give you a desire for money as well Now I'm not saying that after church you guys can't talk about work and jobs and you getting a raise and how you can make more money at your jobs, but look there is a difference between that and someone who just redirects the conversation back to money How to make more money how to do this, you know pyramid schemes and all this nonsense that's out there Just to try to make money That's a covetous person or if they all they want to talk about is their bling bling and their clothing and you know all these things that pertain to Raymond and food and and money if that's all they want things that pertain to just Monetary gain if that's all they think about, you know that person can't be in our church You understand and look there's been times when I've had conversations with people in our church where I mark that person I'm like this person's becoming covetous. I can hear it in their speech. That's all they talk about How I can make money how he can make money how they can make money money this money that and I mark Then I think to myself I'm gonna have to talk to this guy soon if he doesn't stop Now if it's just something that comes out of the blue and it's just like hey I came across this article how you can increase your finances Maybe you can give this to your wife so that she can make money from home or whatever. That's different But when the conversation just always leads to money When it's always about making money mark it down this person's covetousness and it merits excommunication out of the church Okay Now in the church like ours, that's I would say that's a very simple thing to do right but sometimes you have churches that are a lot bigger and They can't necessarily like handle that. Okay, and especially if you have a church that doesn't practice church discipline You know There's all kinds of covetous people all over the church and what happens is they begin to exercise and flex their muscles towards the pastor And You know, they begin to use their money and their ability to get gain to influence the pastor's actions Okay, this is a wicked thing, but it merits excommunication. So I say that to say this Hey folks, make sure we don't become covetous You know, make sure you practice contentment in your home with your family, you know, you say man I have trouble with just not talking about money. Okay, then you need to be like memorize scripture or something Okay memorize scripture read the Bible get some sermons in you because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh folks What comes out of your mouth is what's in your heart? You know if you're reading the Bible if you're studying the Bible if you're doing godly things That's what's gonna come forth out of your mouth You know, if you hate false prophets, that's gonna come out of your mouth. Amen You know if you love sowing that's gonna come out of your mouth and I'm not saying it's just like, you know Oh, we got to talk about those things. Obviously. There's other things to talk about But what I'm saying is this is that if you only talk about covetous things it's probably because your heart is filled with covetousness Okay, you know the Bible said Jesus said and he said unto them take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life Consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possess it You know today people you have these what they call short man syndrome the Napoleon syndrome, right? Well, you have small guys and they'll buy these big trucks Big toys because they have this complex about themselves It's like I'm small. So I gotta make sure I make up for that somehow. Well, this is how you make up for it Get godly boy Get godly Grow in the Lord be strong in the Lord in the power of his might Be big for God. Amen You know grow in stature the Bible says that Jesus grew in stature. I don't believe he's just referring to the physical stature I'm talking about Hebrews big for God same thing with John the Baptist He was big Spiritually speaking. Okay. I don't think Jesus was like six foot five You know, I don't think so I think when it talks about his statutes referring to the fact that he was spiritually big, you know Instead of trying to compensate by buying going into debt and buying some huge truck or boat or whatever Things that make you feel bigger. Why don't you actually just get godly exercise thyself rather into godliness and godliness will contentment is great game You're talking about games, right? Gotta get games Okay, get some spiritual gains by getting godly and Adding to that contentment and then you grow in stature your spiritual muscles grow in stature in mass, right? Just know this that your life does not consist of the abundance of the things which you possess Okay The Bible says labor not for the meat which perishes But for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of Man shall given to you for him had God the Father Sealed he that trusteth in his riches shall fall the Bible says in Proverbs 11 28 But the righteous shall flourish as a branch now go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 9 if you would So we see there that a Christian Nothing wrong with money. Nothing wrong with finances, but they can make Luke or filthy when they become covetous Because then the temptation is to work on Sunday The temptation is to try to get it through some unrighteous means by lying by cheating by you know Extortion by usury. This is unjust game. And at that point the lucre becomes filthy Okay. Now, how does a pastor? Make lucre filthy now. Let me just start off by saying that a pastor should be able to make an honest living from pastor Okay, this is not a house church It's not no go you should go follow that dude. He needs someone in his house church Okay, it looks like he's struggling This fool he what did he say? He's like Because I said the guys were out there and I say hey look, it's the dumb ass speaking with man's mouth You know, don't worry folks that's a verse from the Bible. Okay, and ass is not a cuss word either You know, he's a dumb ass speaking with man's mouth And then he he's like he said something like he tried to flip it on me and then you know He goes I got to look at your dumb ass every time I watch YouTube your channel And then one of the guys says like then why are you watching? And I told the guys I was like guys, can you please subscribe to this guy's channel Apparently he's struggling with his views in his watch time He has to drive all the way out here and I know you're watching on YouTube there, buddy stupid fool Here's here's the public service announcement go to hell you wicked modalist and all the gods people said hey man, you know people like this are wicked and But what I'm saying is this is that I don't even know how I got off and that was good So a pastor should make a living Pastoring. Okay, and some people would say oh no, he should do it for free He should do it for free. You know, God's Word is free Yeah, it is free and I don't charge anybody when they come to my church. I Don't go to people and say all right, that would be 525. That's gonna be 10. I don't charge anything. Okay You know and in fact, I don't even know who gives in our church Put it that way you like do you know who's the biggest the biggest giver? Nope. I never Look at the finances. I have zero clue who gives what okay because I don't care Because here's the thing. Who's my boss God? Jesus is my boss. Okay. What if you don't make enough money to then I'll just go get a regular job But I'll keep pastoring here Because at the end of the day, I'm serving God, okay But here here's the thing. It is biblical for a pastor to be paid For the work that he does The past the priest made a living off of the Old Testament offerings in the in the Old Testament and then like man of the Pastor in the New Testament should earn a living as well. Let me give you proof 1st Corinthians 9 7 It says who go with the wayfare any time or fair any time? Excuse me at his own charges who planted the vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof Or who feedeth the flock and eateth out of the milk of the flock It's like, you know, we don't live in a communistic society folks you know if a guy is Feeding the flock then he should live of the flock If he's planting the vineyard then guess what? He should live off of the vineyard if a pastor is preaching the Word of God and he's leading a soul a successful soul winning ministry Then he should live off of that Say I these things as a man or say it's not the law the same also For it is written in the law of Moses thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn Does God take care for oxen or say it all together for our sakes for our sakes no doubt This is written that he that ploweth shall plow in hope and that he that thresheth in hope should be Partaker of his hope if we have sown unto you spiritual things Is it a great thing if we shall reap you carnal things? He's saying look if the pastor is preaching the Word of God. He's instructing you in the ways of righteousness He's helping you to fix your life Is it weird that if he's helping you in these areas that he reaps of carnal things that he gets a paycheck for it No, because he's putting in the work He's the workman that needeth not to be ashamed he's rightly dividing the word of truth If others be partakers verse 12 of this power over you are now we rather Nevertheless we have not used this power but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ Now people will take that and say well, there you go. You know Paul knows I'm taking a paycheck Paul's not a pastor Paul is a missionary evangelist Okay, Peter was a pastor. So guess what Peter's getting paid for what he does Do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple and They which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar even so hath the Lord ordained Commission ordered right that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel white because it takes work It takes work to go sowing it takes work to preach the to preach the Word of God. It takes work to build a church It takes work to deal with idiots like that outside I'm serious. It takes work You know, what if he had some sissified limp wrists to pasture? And you're just like Margo deal with him You know, hey, I'm thankful that the men in our church got guts to by the way You know, he came out and then all of a sudden I look behind me I had like 10,000 on my right hand and on my left and he was just like He started back anything he thought we were gonna fight him he's like I'm like you think we're gonna fight you or something What do you think? We're gonna like jump you The wicked flee with no man pursue it Homie, you know, but the righteous are bold as a lion You're just afraid of the boldness is what it is. You thought you're gonna come here and spread your stupidity Ain't gonna happen here You know, this is what the pastor's for by the way This is this is one of the reasons I'm the pastor here is because I have to protect the flock of God from idiots like That I have to rebuke them make them a public example Just rip their faces off and still fear in the heart of that idiot the others may fear This is why his buddy didn't show up You Know this is when he knew he messed up He's like, what was I think I should have gone home I should have stayed home This is important, you know and look Pastors today are getting paid ridiculous amount of money They're paying themselves a ridiculous amount of money and false prophets and false teachers come into their congregations all the time And they do nothing about it Not on my watch and not in my church Okay So people often have two schools of thoughts when it comes to paying the pastor Okay, or when the pastor receives a paycheck for what he does. They'll say well the pastor shouldn't be paid Well, you just saw right there that they should but none of that people will have this mindset That if the pastor gets paid then he works for me No Doesn't work that way They try to push around their way and use their way to try to get their way in church Okay, and try to make it seem as though the pastor works for them No, the pastor offers a service and if you don't like the service then you go somewhere else right Pastors don't work for you pastor works for God if you come here you like preaching of God's Word welcome But you know what? If you don't like it, we don't force you to stay go somewhere else Take your rear end to some other church where you can boss the pastor around But it's not gonna happen here and look there are churches out there where people come in with a lot of money And the pastor knows it and he likes it and he just like oh sit down here on this good seat Yeah, they'll preach whatever they that person wants to hear as long as that person's putting in the money for the building fun and all These other things, you know, they become a respecter of people. This is wicked People who try to control the pastor and they try to use money as a leverage, you know Those type of people should be thrown out of church People who try to use money to you know, that's how Eric Ballesteros was literally he came to me one day This guy we threw out of our church came to me with a roll of money Hey pastor, where should I put this? This is my tithe. I'm like, I'll go tell David What is that to me? Like I don't handle any money He thought he thought was coming. Oh Just put it right here, buddy Right there That's what he wanted He wanted me to just just salivate and just get all excited about all the money that he was giving I can give a rip How much money that dude gave and apparently from from what I heard from reports? This guy was like our biggest giver. Well, guess what that didn't deter me from throwing him out. I Can care less about that. See ya sucka Cuz money is not to be used as leverage When they try to push their weight around that money perish with thee That's what the Bible says We're not gonna make lucre filthy here at our church. Hey, look, this is why we don't have a building fund or any type of funds where you know you have to give and we make you make an oath and a vow and sign a card and you have to you know, fill that out and we keep tabs on you and No And look I was part of a church that did that and there's a lot of well-meaning people including myself who gave to those things Because we thought we were serving God. Okay But at the end of the day, it's not right, you know The Bible tells to go to Galatians chapter number six Galatians chapter number six The Bible says in first Timothy 5 17 let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor Especially they who labor in the word and doctrine honor is right there. It's referring to finances Providing resources look at Galatians 6 6 it says let him that is taught in the word Communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. What does it mean to communicate means to give okay? Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever man. So it that she shall he also reap Skip down to verse number 10. It says as we have therefore opportunity. Let us do good unto all men Especially unto them who are of the household of faith so that communicator is referencing giving go to first Timothy chapter number six Now look me as a pastor I Make it I make a living off of pastry Now I try my best to just provide for my family. Just live a normal life. I don't live all bougie Okay, I try to live a comfortable life with my wife and my three children and that's it And as our family continues to grow obviously the finances increase if they increase here And if not, then we just trust God amen Now you on the other hand it's not wrong for you to make money Right just like we said in the beginning It's not wrong for you to earn a living and make lots of money the problem is with money begins to make you Right when money has a hole on you when you start missing church in order to go to work to earn a paycheck Even though your bills are already paid Even though your your necessities are already being being provided for at that point it becomes wrong Or when you're trying to push it around as leverage look what the Bible says in first Timothy 6 17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches But in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy that they do good that they be rich in works Ready to distribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life now It's not wrong for you to have an abundance, but you know it would be wrong for you to be just filthy rich Just filthy rich you have just millions and millions of dollars all kinds of things. I believe that's wrong and I don't think any Christians capable of dealing with that amount of money That's a lot of money You know I think that's a major temptation for people. That's why you know Christians don't win the lottery I Don't you know if they played they don't win I don't think God wants them to win obviously he doesn't want to win gambling is wicked But what I'm saying is you know he doesn't want his people to have this insurmountable amount of finances and resources Millions of dollars all tied off of it. I promise God doesn't care about that. It's gonna destroy your life Okay So we see there that the pastor should get paid now look at first Timothy chapter 3 this needs to be in tandem with first Timothy 3 because it tells us in first Timothy 3 on the qualifications of the pastor Verse 3 it says not given to wine No striker not greedy a filthy lucre, but patient not a brawler not Covetous Titus 1 7 says for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God not self-willed not soon angry Not given to wine. No striker not given to filthy lucre They should not be greedy of filthy lucre, so it's okay for them to earn a living pasturing But they should not be greedy of filthy lucre based upon how we have defined how the Bible is defined filthy lucre What does that mean basically doing the pastorship? Unrighteously in order to get filthy lucre, okay, what does that look like well? You know when a pastor chooses to preach lame smooth sermons in order to keep the people happy. He's greedy and filthy lucre When he's not willing to give the whole truth and nothing but the truth Because he's scared that he might scare away the biggest tither because he keeps track He's greedy of filthy lucre now look Save men can get involved in something like this This is why the it's even in there for the qualification of the pastor say hey don't be greedy of filthy lucre Don't be covetous because it's a temptation But this is a temptation and what they'll the way it manifests itself is through the sermons, okay? They'll say well You know we got to preach You know to the Sunday morning crowd and we can't offend people and we're just as basic as possible Don't offend it don't call out any names if you offend them. What are we gonna? Do it's just like dude you need to go I get some stones And just preach it like it is just preach like Ezekiel just preach like Isaiah preach like Jesus Who cares who gets offended and look great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them? You know my one of my purposes is to offend you sometimes Right it's kind of hurt sometimes It's got a hurt sometimes. It's got to be uncomfortable I have to step on your toes on your ingrown toenail every once in a while to get your attention To wake you up, so you can change Sometimes you have to change and hard preaching. I don't care what anybody says changes lives What type of preaching keeps the life exactly the same or better yet it actually causes the life to atrophy smooth preaching We're just it's a smooth sermon. It's a motivational speech. It's making love to the mic it's the soft voice and the encouragement for that week This is a person who's greedy a filthy lucre, and you know what liberal churches liberal fund centers are filled with this They're filled with this type of preaching right here. Okay, because they need to pay for their stupid purple lights For their fog machines, and you know the pastor has to have the the Bentley or whatever They have to have their boat. They have to have all these things so they got to make sure they crank out the lame sermons To keep the the wicked people there who have the resources in order for them to get that Unjust unjust gain the Bible says in Jeremiah 6 13 for from the least of them even into the greatest of them Everyone is given to covetousness for from the Prophet even into the priest everyone dealeth falsely So what does that mean? It means they're lying? So sometimes pastors will preach and those are just straight-up lie Just to make money Some pastors will even how do they make lucre filthy? They'll even steal from the church Embezzlement Right you know they get the offerings no one counts the money and they're like Take it all themselves They start taking off the top using the money. You know for gas money They use it for gas money. They use it for food They use it for whatever and they're not accountable these people are trying to make filthy. They're greedy of filthy lucre Okay and most of these pastors are just they're just wicked as hell To go to a church with the purpose of making money is a wicked is a very wicked person To do something like that, okay? Now who was guilty of this in the Bible how about Aiken Right the Babylonian garment is not a bad garment But he made it filthy when God told him don't take it and he took it Hey Gahazi Right the servant of Elisha You know Naaman offered Elisha all these rewards for healing him of his leprosy Elisha denied it He didn't want it, and he takes off and then Gahazi runs after him and says hey Yeah, actually my master told me to come after you and he did want something for so and so they gave it He gives them the the clothing and gives them the treasures comes back Elisha's like did not my heart go with you brother And then now the leprosy that was on Naaman is on you now Because he was greedy of filthy lucre. He lied. He just completely lied about it Balaam son of bozor right who loved the wages of unrighteousness Who taught Balak? How to cause the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed into idols and to commit fornication In order for God to be able to curse the children of Israel Balak wanted to curse the children of Israel, but Balaam could not do that because they were God's chosen people, right? So what Balaam did was say well if you can get them to eat things sacrifice them to idols if you can get them To fornicate at that point that hedge of protection is removed and God will curse them So he taught Balaam how to cause them to stumble in order for him to get wages from that. That's very very wicked Okay Judas selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver now how to pastors do this as well Well, how about when they make the house of God a house of merchandise? This is filthy lucre folks go to Matthew 21 Matthew 21 making the house of God a house of merchandise is wicked, you know Now how many of you are from old IFP churches raise your hand I'm surrounded by them Let me make sure I got the scripture, right So if you're from an old IFP church, you know exactly what I'm talking about Right, you know what I'm talking about Don't get ahead of me They make the house of the made the house of God a house of merchandise What does that mean? In other words, they begin to sell things at church Okay. Now, how do they do this through a bookstore? food activities Christian school Bible College Right, they make money they charge. I mean Bible College is one of the biggest scams there is You shouldn't say that I Graduated from Bible College, so I got room to talk and I taught in the Bible College You know this is and then but here's the thing once I came to the knowledge of the truth you know, I confess the sins of my father's I Confess and I said, okay. Well, you know, this is wrong. This is not right. We shouldn't be doing this Because no, you know information should never we should never charge for information People tell me why don't you monetize your channel? You know make some money off of that you must make a lot of money because you got subscribers and a lot of views I'm like cuz information is free And I don't care about making money people people literally think like I'm making a grip of money right now off of YouTube people have said this I'm like, what are you talking about? All you got thousands of subscribers. Don't you make a lot? I'm like, no, I don't They're like man pastor Anderson must be making bank I Like he doesn't we don't make any money off of YouTube why not Because that's not what we're in it for We want people to just get the information Learn the Bible get saved. This is more important The soul is far more valuable than any paycheck The saving a person from false doctrine is far more valuable than anything else You know, so Bible College is a way of making filthy lucre And here's the thing. They're not even teaching good doctrine. Sometimes at those colleges The doctrine is whack It's it's it's lame. I'll be honest with you I was there for a very long time. So I know what I'm talking about And look I was there with the right motive to to learn Bible. I Remember we I took a class called Hermeneutics okay, and Hermeneutics is basically how to study the Bible and I was excited. I was like man. This is great I want to learn how to study the Bible teach me how to study the Bible that that's that's a great class I'm down for that and we literally took a class and all it was Was just giving me resources of Charles Haddon Spurgeon Commentaries lexicons All this nonsense and outside material on what you have to read in order to understand the Bible I'm thinking myself. I don't want to read it this and this is before I even knew anything about you know Hey, we shouldn't go to commentaries. I just ever since I got saved. I just thought we should just stick to the Bible. I Read the Bible. I read John 14. I read that the Spirit of God shows us all things and I just knew hey Well, I've learned more from the Holy Spirit than I had from J. Bernard McGee who's burning in hell And I used to tell people like why are we happy? Why do we have to read J? Bernard McGee he tells people that alcohol is okay. He questions the King James Bible. He tells people not to tithe to their church Why are we reading this stupid book? Well, he's got a little couple good things in there. Like what I Just named you the fact that he mocks the King J. He corrects the King James Bible Toilet paper folks, that's all it's good for You know Charles Haddon Spurgeon Calvinist That's what they would give you in order to understand. Look this lucre is really filthy Because you didn't even get your money's worth You don't get your money's worth now. Did I learn things in Bible college? Yes. I'm talking about good things I learned good things in Bible college Okay I learned character I learned discipline and I even learned some good doctrine because there were teachers there Who I learned from there were doctrinally sound and they taught me very good doctrine and I'm thankful for them But there's also idiots there too Who taught stupid doctrine who I taught them? I'm serious, you know But this is an example of when a pastor makes lucre filthy is by adding a Bible college and or Christian school Christian school is basically a program to make reprobates out of teenagers Okay, and the Christian school unfortunately has a higher standard than the actual church does Because if this Christian school or the Bible College has fornicators or drunkards they kick them out They're out of here, you know But not in the church They hold people to a higher standard in the in the actual Christian school in Bible college. And why is that? Because they're paying the money Okay, and even then they make exceptions So, you know making the house of God look what it says in verse 13 and said unto them it is written My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves That's interesting that he chose to use that name a Den of thieves. What does that mean? They're making filthy lucre. They're getting finances and resources through unjust gain Unjust manners ways. Okay, and most of these churches who use these platforms in order to get more money They actually end up with less money because God can't bless that Cannot bless that now. What is the the philosophy of our church simple? It's just everything's free Everything is free. Okay But here here's the flip side to that it is for that reason that we can't have activities every single week You know, we can do all kinds of crazy things every single week because the church is provided for it Okay, and so we have to moderate that and choose I have to choose where we're gonna you know Delegate the finances for whatever activities or whatever may be But here's the great thing about that is that we can invest all those resources in the most important thing, which is sowing Materials Sowing things that pertain into the gospel Okay But we will not make the house of God a house of merchandise. We will never sell anything here Everything is free by the way song books free So if you want a song book take it, you don't have to come ask me. You don't have to like feel all weird like I Not gonna like get on you or anything like that because you know, some people come from different churches and they they're still flinchers Are you sure like take it take the song books take whatever you need, okay You know, obviously don't just start taking furniture Let me take this chair real quick and hey, hey, you know just start taking stuff Within reason folks, okay things that you need Okay You know activities in our church are free They're free Okay You know when we sponsor something it's free when we sponsor things for the teenagers It's free when we sponsor for example the couples activity to Lucille's that's free Everything's gonna be free because we are sponsoring that. Okay now you said how are you able to do that? Well, number one because I believe that God's hand of blessing is on our church and it is God's hand of blessing is heavily on our Church and the reason for this because I believe we've just been very generous with the finances here but number two when you don't have to Spend money on the Christian school or on Bible College or whatever you could actually allocate that money to things that really matter You know, we don't have when you don't have to pay teachers and You know Christian school teachers, you don't pay Bible College teachers. You don't pay for all this nonsense You can actually take that money and allocate it to things such as activities Such as resources things that are actually important. Okay? so This is why I believe God's blessing our church and look I hope God continues to bless our church with even I want God to pour tens of thousands of dollars on our church Tens of thousands hundreds of thousands. Why would go you what kind of car do you want? What kind of bling bling you're looking for? The heavily bling bling. Amen. I Want that money so we can take that money and invest it more into the gospel because you don't want to cost You know, you know what we have to do in order to get the gospel across the world money You need money, right? You need money for tracks. You need money for YouTube cards You need money for for preaching you need money for all these things And so this is why I want oh, you mean you don't want to pocket it. I could care less about the money Look, give me neither poverty nor riches Just give me I just look a week from now. I just need one meal I'll be on Oh mad. I'll just need one meal I just need my family to be fed for us to be clothed. I need a church to go to I need my car to have gas You know, well, don't you want to get a nicer car than that? No I don't it works And when it doesn't work then at that point, I'll pray for a new vehicle Okay, because the most important thing is the gospel. We will never make this house a house of merchandise And people who go to churches where the where the Church of God is a house of merchandise they begin to see They begin to see their eyes begin to open they begin to realize Something's wrong here Because we're pouring all thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars into these ministries and for some reason we're still in debt For some reason we can't get things done No, so owners are being produced. The church has fallen apart. You know, why because you're doing it the wrong way That's why remember when I talked about God's order. There's a God's order when it comes to finances as well So it becomes the filed and worthless the Bible says in 1st Peter 5 to Feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind and look I Took those Bible college students out there Hey come to my church and I'll teach you the book of Revelation for free and you'll get more I promise you I Promise you you will get more From hearing the book of Revelation here then from getting taught the book of Revelation in a Bible college. I Guarantee That you will learn more hundred percent you will You say you say how do you know because I heard a pastor teach the book of Revelation in Bible college and it sucked You know all the book of Revelation in that class was about is just defending the Jews and how pastors even engines the devil and Anybody replaces preachers replacement theology is from the devil Oh, thank you for this wonderful wisdom that you're imparting them to me about the book of Revelation Thank you for revealing these things unto me. Thank you for teaching me the Bible, you know Garbage teaching you'll get more here and I won't even and I won't charge you I Will not in fact if you come to my church and hear the book of Revelation. I'll take you out to eat I Take you to I'll take you to a steakhouse to go eat because I can't eat burgers right now You know, I'd rather do that you'll get more Because this is God's system The local New Testament Church is where people are supposed to come here and learn the Word of God and deep doctrine You don't have to pay to take a class on deep doctrine. You can just get it in your local New Testament Church That's the way it's supposed to be so teaching false doctrine or smooth sermons, this is what people do This is what we saw in Titus 1 Regarding the Jews it says whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they are not for filthy Leukers say go to 2nd Peter chapter number 2 this new schedules throwing me off So I'm not really sure what time I started then we know Anybody know 615 615 now 515 is that when I started maybe All right, I'm basic yeah, I'm pretty no I'm not done yet I'm not done Look at the Bible says We already read this or I quoted it But look what it says in verse 12 it says but these as natural brute beasts Made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things which they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall Receive the reward of unrighteousness as they they counted pleasure to riot in the daytime spots They are in blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children now 2nd Peter 2 is a chapter Specifically dedicated to teaching about the false prophet. This person is not saved This person is possessed with the devil this person is wicked He's a pawn of Satan to be used in order to corrupt churches. Okay Verse 15 says which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray Following the way of Balaam the son of bozo who loved the wages of unrighteousness But was rebuked for his iniquity the dumbass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet So we see Balaam the son of bozo loved the wages of unrighteousness. What does this tell us? This tells us that there are pastors out there in church leaders who literally come to church and want to gain a position In order to make money It's all they want That is all they want if they have to teach people false doctrine They'll do it if they have to teach a wrong way of salvation Don't do it if they have to teach promiscuity and tolerance towards fags and all these things they'll do it They'll do whatever it takes To make the wages of unrighteousness The complete opposite of a man of integrity now look at Ezekiel 34 with that in mind go to Ezekiel 34 Ezekiel 34 the Bible says in Isaiah 56 11 yay, they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough and They are shepherds that cannot understand they all look to their own way everyone for his gain From his quarter the Bible says now look at Ezekiel 34 verse 1 and the word of the Lord came unto me saying Son of man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel Prophesying saying to them thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds woe be to the shepherds that of Israel that do feed themselves Should not the shepherds feed the flocks So he's saying look I want you to go and preach against these false prophets who are actually feeding themselves or not Teaching the Word of God now, what are they feeding on? Look at verse 7 Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord as I live saith the Lord God Surely because my flock became a prey and my flock became meat to every beast of the field because there was no shepherd Neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not my flock Therefore all you shepherds hear the word of the Lord thus saith the Lord God behold I am against the shepherds and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to Cease from feeding the flock neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore For I will deliver my flock from what their mouth That they may not be meat for them. So who are the shepherds feeding on the flock? making merchandise off of them Doesn't the Bible tell us that in Acts chapter 20 the grievous wolves shall come and try to just destroy the flock of God They come not to feed the flock they come to feed on the flock Why because they're wolves and sheep's clothing the Bible tells us that You know, it says through covetousness covetousness shall they with faint words make merchandise of You and so go to Revelation chapter 2 and is the last scripture These are the wicked false prophets, this is the Judas these are the Judas's of this world Okay, these are the Balaam's of this world, you know, they masquerade as independent fundamental Baptist This is why Bible college is dangerous Because Bible College teaches false prophets how to look at and talk like Baptist Right and look looking back. I can think of some false prophets who were in my Bible college that I was in for sure Knowing knowing now I can look back in hindsight and say yeah, I think that person definitely was a false prophet There for the wrong reasons there because he wanted to learn how to look like us in Order for him to gain trust and make money, okay So pastors make lucre filthy also when they embrace the ballers What does that mean when they embrace the rich men of this of the churches? Okay, now Revelation 2 I didn't get to talk about this too much But the church at Pergamos in verse 12 look what it says into the angel of the church of in Pergamos, right? These things saith he that hath a sharp sword and the two edges He says I know that works and where thou dwellest actually skip down to verse 14 for the sake of time It says but I have a few things against him because that was there that there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam Who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed into idols and to commit fornication So guess what this angel which is the pastor was not teaching the doctrine of Balaam He just had people in his church who were Right He had people in his church who loved the wages of unrighteousness and were teaching the doctrine of Balaam These are the pushers of the church the ones who make money and try to influence the pastors to do things their way Because they love money. Okay, and this is a wicked thing to do now What is that? What is the gist of the sermon? It's simply this, you know money is not bad But it becomes filthy when we earn it by unrighteous means as an individual. Don't be covetous Protect yourself from discontentment if you feel that sneaking into your heart Don't let it go unfettered put it in check become grateful You know learn gratitude learn gratefulness count your blessings. Amen Learn to delight yourself in the basics of life Learn to learn to appreciate the small things in life so that when you do get something more than that You you're grateful. You're surprised you're thankful for it Okay, don't allow lucre to become filthy to you, but for the pastor and the churches guess what? You know, we're never gonna have a House of merchandise here, you know as far as I know I'm never gonna preach smooth sermons Okay, I don't have a smooth bone in my body My spiritual body and I don't plan on every preaching any kind of false doctrine for filthy lucre sake That's not that's never been my agenda and never will be Okay Now when I die or if something happens to me and another pastor takes over Whoever takes over better make sure that they're not greedy a filthy lucre and they don't fall into that trap That's temptation and that snare that will bring them into destruction and perdition But not only that we see that sometimes churches will have a pastor who's just a complete false prophet and They're greedy a filthy lucre. They're there just to make money You know, we need to be aware of these things and not say well that person is just a little misled That pastor. Yeah, I know he talks about that, but he just he comes from Hugh Hugh. He came from Paul Chapel Church. There you go point proven You know, we need to make sure that hey folks the Bible talks extensively about false prophets and why they want a position It's to make money obviously sometimes they're there to take advantage of the innocent You know to to to molest children or just to teach false doctrine for whatever sake they want the preeminence among the people But a lot of the times it's the Judas complex where they want the money and they'll do whatever it takes to get it May that not be said of anybody who ever takes my position after I'm gone, but may not be said of any church You know church members need to wake up from their churches and see man. That sounds like my pastor You know, he that's what he does, you know, and I'm not saying that every pastor is a false prophet who is greedy a filthy lucre But you know what if they're lying if they're embezzling money if they're stealing if they're being crooked and they have a consistent You know track record of doing those things false prophet folks False prophet. Okay, inspire heads and have a word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word Help us Lord never to be greedy a filthy lucre Help us to be content and thankful with what we have Lord and I pray God that Lord we would rejoice in the basics of life That we would be content and happy with that Because when you give us when you load us daily with benefits, it just creates more gratitude. It makes us thankful It helps us not to have a spirit of expectation that we deserve something more Contentment is just happy with what we have and I pray that you'd help us to do So help us never to be unrighteous and how we gain monetary things or resources Rewards help us to do a righteously, you know If we strive for mass any any person who strives for masteries, we must do it lawfully And you know, we're not gonna be crowned except we strive lawfully and I pray God that you'd help us to do So we love you so much and we thank you and we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen