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I've seen a lot of folks, through the

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years, have money and lose it.

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I've seen businessmen who saw their dreams come

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true financially, only to watch it disappear suddenly

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into nothing.

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This happened to many back in the crash

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and recession of 2008.

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Men lost their business and never ever recovered

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again.

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Maybe it happened to you, friend.

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I know it sure happened to me.

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I knew what it was like to stand

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on top of the world and have it

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all.

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I often made more money in a single

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morning than many made all year.

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I was living high on the hog, and

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I was giving to God in a large

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way.

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The more I made, the more I gave.

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Every month, I tithed not on what was

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in my paycheck, not after taxes, but I

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tithed 10% of my income before taxes.

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I not only tithed 10%, I often gave

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15 or 20%.

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On top of all that giving, I made

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love offerings to ministries and individuals who needed

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support.

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My wife and I bought automobiles for families

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that needed them.

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We covered the cost for people to go

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on short-term mission trips.

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We lived large, but we gave God back

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large.

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Looking back at those years, I only have

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two regrets.

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I should have spent less on me and

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my family, and I should have given God

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even more.

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Because a day came when my world came

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crashing down, and I lost it all.

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I mean, I lost it all.

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I was standing atop a rotating world, and

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sooner or later, it turned just enough to

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toss me off, and that could happen to

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you as well, friend.

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Through it all, I learned a valuable lesson

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of God's ownership and man's stewardship.

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This business of saying that one-tenth is

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the Lord's and the rest is yours is

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not the reality from God's perspective.

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There isn't a dollar you've ever had that

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wasn't God's.

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And you don't go fool yourself, friend, for

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one skinny minute and claim ownership on the

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other 90%.

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It all belongs to God.

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It's God's money and God's resources that should

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be employed for the advancement of God's kingdom

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and the spread of the gospel.

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And a day will come when you will

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have to answer for the other 90%

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that you mistook for your own.

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Every bit of it belongs to God, and

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you have to give an account of every

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bit of it, every dime of it, how

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you spent it or how you wasted it

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and why.

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If you're saved individual, friend, God has made

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you a steward, his steward, and he's entrusted

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his resources in your hands.

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If your stock portfolio is growing by leaps

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and bounds and making you richer and richer,

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God will make you give him an account

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of how you managed it for him.

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Did your self-preservation turn into greed for

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a grabbing and getting of more of this

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world for your own selfish satisfaction?

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Or did you give God a bigger percentage

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while he was blessing you?

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Or did you just hoard it for yourself

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and your family?

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Did ministries suffer want because you failed to

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support them?

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Did foreign missionaries suffer want on the field

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because you neglected them?

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Did Bible translation fail to come to fruition

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because you refused to dip in your bulging

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bank account and give to it so others

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could have a Bible in their native tongue?

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Whether you realize it or not, friend, you

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are standing atop a rotating world and your

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finances could vanish like a vapor in the

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wind by a sudden stock market crash.

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And then the day will come when you

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wish you gave God more, but now you

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can't because you no longer have it.

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Most folks don't have a clue how risky

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the financial markets really are and how unstable

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they can quickly become.

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That they could lose 50 or 80 percent

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of their money very suddenly in what securities

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they own.

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It could just all vanish.

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We are long overdue for a market meltdown

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and your net worth may just be a

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rug under your feet.

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But they'll be soon pulled out from under

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you.

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There are still 1,200 foreign languages that

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still need Bible translation.

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And there's more than enough money in Christian

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hands right now to eliminate that need.

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But the tribesman in Africa waits for the

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word of God in his native tongue because

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you get your self-worth from looking at

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your investment portfolio.

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But you stand atop a rotating world and

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it will rotate you off sooner than you

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realize.

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Proverbs 11, 24 states, there is that scattereth

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and yet increaseth.

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And there is that withholdeth more than is

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meet, but attendeth to poverty.