2. Kingdom Illusions

3. What Do You Own? Make the list…

4. Feeling any stress As you think through it?

5. Last Week- The "What"

6. Your greatest needs are not met By seeking to have them met But by investing yourself in God-given opportunities As God leads

7. The secret to God working In us Is God working Through us

8. Spiritual Law: Only open hands Can receive the gifts of God

9. Put Another Way: Holding tightly Always robs myself Of the very thing God wants to give me

10. One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want - Prov. 11:24

11. The "Why"

12. Christ's Kingdom: Ownership is an Illusion that enslaves

13. Christ's Kingdom: Ownership is an Illusion that enslaves Management is the Reality That sets us free

14. Colortyme…

15. We're not much different… Credit= ownership

16. My life, My spouse, My choices My kids, My house, My money, My talent, My job, My body, My car, My future, My hobbies

17. My life, My spouse, My choices My kids, My house, My money, My talent, My job, My body, My car, My future, My hobbies No need to pray for direction

18. My life, My spouse, My choices My kids, My house, My money, My talent, My job, My body, My car, My future, My hobbies No need to pray for direction Just blessings on my choices

19. Ownership is an Illusion that enslaves Management is the Reality That sets us free

20. My detailed list of what I own:

21. My detailed list of what I own: Why?

22. By design We are God's Representatives

23. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens…

24. …and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth”

25. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them

26. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion… - Genesis 1:26-28

27. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it - Genesis 2:15

28. Out of love… God did not make us Owners But Managers with a mandate And a Responsibility to the Ultimate Owner

29. Ownership: - Worry and Stress - Anger and Fear - Pride and/or Envy - Enslavement to Sin

30. Management: - Few worries (God's problem) - God repays - I can forgive - No need for Fear (not mine) - Humility and Freedom

31. Ownership is enslavement

32. Ownership is enslavement We'd all agree… - Addicts - Self-destructive spiral - Particular Personality Traits

33. Ownership is enslavement Polite and Acceptable Sins… - Greed - Worth based on comparison - Vanity and Self-centeredness

34. Ownership is enslavement Polite and Acceptable Sins… - Projecting a False Image - Morality-based Pride (old or new)

35. Ownership is enslavement Illusion of Freedom With heavy chains attached

36. Jesus wants more for you… He has sent Me to proclaim deliverance to the captives - Luke 4:18

37. Spiritual Law: Only open hands Can receive the gifts of God Holding tightly robs me of the Very thing God wants for me

38. Everyone is enslaved Believers begin to be set free As they follow Jesus To the degree they follow Jesus

39. Jesus sets free (Begins the process) IF you hold to my teaching, you are my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free…

40. "We ain't never been slaves, Jesus!"

41. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever

42. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed - John 8:31-36

43. You'll be…family A beloved son or daughter So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed - John 8:31-36

44. "You better check yourself Before your wreck yourself" - Jesus

45. Ownership is enslavement To self and all it's limits "Without me you can do nothing"- Jesus Abide in me- vine and branches

46. The Faith is Management: Representatives Empowered with Christ's Authority

47. …we have this treasure (Holy Spirit) in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us - 2 Cor. 4:7

48. All authority is given me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples… and I will be with you- Jesus

49. How am I not the owner?

50. You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body - 1 Cor. 6:19-20

51. Context: Sexuality So even in the most Intimate of things God says, "Mine"

52. I'm the Owner! - Temporary - I can't control changes - Habits/Character don't change - Can't bank on tomorrow

53. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that”

54. Because it ignores who God is: The One who Owns it All As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil- James 4:13-16

55. You are not your own; you were bought… - Permanent - God is in control - Change is promised - The future's so bright…shades!

56. Ownership enslaves Management sets free

57. You are not your own; you were bought at a price… Redeemed from the Slave market of sin

58. "What he's doing, she's doing It put me on a cross"

59. Caused me to be mocked and humiliated and tortured and to die

60. But I love her. I love him. Even while he's still doing those things

61. The payment? My blood

62. You are not your own; you were bought at a price… God Owns, You Represent What Jesus wants for you> What you want for you

63. You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body

64. Represent well Manage in a way that honors The Owner

65. Most of us Turned off to the Faith Not because of God But because of those who Claim to Represent God

66. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities… For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities…

67. Goal: Glorify God in all things …all things have been created through him and for him - Colossians 1:16

68. God did not make us owners But managers with a Mandate And a Responsibility to the Ultimate Owner

69. This is the "Why" to the "What" The secret to God working in me Is God working through me Because I'm his voice, his hands, His Representative to my world

70. If I have $100 and I give $5 to someone who is in need I'm out $5

71. If I'm in charge of $100 and I'm told to give $5 to someone in need

72. No worries… I'm just serving the Owner And I get blessed for helping!

73. One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want - Prov. 11:24

74. If someone does me wrong The Owner will deal with it I'm free

75. As I follow Jesus Work hard, give as he leads Spend prayerfully My bills become an opportunity To trust God & watch him work

76. The secret to God working in us is God working through us And it sets us free…

77. It's never how much you have Compared to Someone else It's your willingness to be a Good Manager of what Someone Else Owns

78. It's your willingness to be a Good Manager of what Someone Else Owns Life, Hopes, Dreams, Past, Future Possessions, Relationships

79. The illusion is that I can Hang on to it By closing my hands Instead, I lose what really lasts

80. We are free If we don't own it We are free If we don't own it

81. Only open hands Can receive

82. Do I really trust God? Or do I trust me to trust God When it makes sense (And there's no risk)?

83. List it Sign it over Trust God as he leads

84. Questions, Comments Disagreements

85. Pray