John K. Jenkins Sr - Financial Freedom Series

I’m going to start a series today on finances. I’m going to be talking about finances and I appreciate your lack of enthusiasm on that topic. We’re going to talk about money-money, money, money, money, money! Some of you are about to reveal your ages right now; the young people don’t know anything about that. So, we can say some people, yes, we can see that Reyes, the bass player, has not been in church all his life. He played it a little too well.

I want to talk about money now. I’ve discussed money in the past; it’s been a while, though — several years. Normally, every year, I try to spend some time discussing money. Since I think I last did it in person, it’s probably been since 2019. Let me see, how many of you have joined this church since 2019? Please stand if you are new to this church and were not a member in 2019. Wow, good! Y’all have confirmed my need to talk about it. The huge number of you here today affirms my need to address it, and as for the people who have been here, many of them haven 't paid any attention to me.

I want to spend time talking about it because how you manage your money reflects a lot of things. In the past, I would maybe talk for four or five weeks about it and then leave it alone for that year, only to come back the next year and repeat the cycle. I haven’t talked about it since 2019, but this time, instead of just covering a few points and then leaving it alone, I’m going to go through everything I know about money. I’m going to talk about it until I’m done, because somebody in your row needs this. Look up and down your row and see if you can figure out who needs it.

I’m proud of you; this young man here is raising his hand. He says, «I need it.» I’m proud of you; amen! Now, I wish I could just dive into it, but I can’t because there are some things I need to tell you to prepare you. Over the years, I’ve learned as a pastor — this is my 35th year at First Baptist Church -that people, especially African-American people, will sit here and look at you while you preach, then get up and walk out and do what they want to do anyway. It 's unfortunate. They go out, make decisions and choices, and end up in trouble. Then they want an appointment with the pastor for help or counseling, and I keep wanting to say, «Well, where were you when we talked about this?»

I’ve taught you not to date people who aren 't saved, but you call yourselves evangelizers. I try to tell you, I try to teach you, I try to show you, but you don’t listen. The hammer is coming down today, and it’s going to continue for the next several weeks. I’m not holding back anything. I’m giving you everything. If you don’t listen to me this time, it’s on you. It will not be because I did not tell you. I’m going to teach on different aspects of finances until I’m done.

Now, I 've got to set the stage because there are some things I need to tell you ahead of time. Did I tell you that already? Okay, so I need to give you some preliminaries. Let me start off with Ecclesiastes 10:19. I encourage you to take good notes. The latter part of Ecclesiastes 10:19 says, «Money answers everything .» That 's true. Money provides so many solutions and gives direction for life. One way I determine whether to do something is by considering if I have the money for it. I know if I don’t have the money for something I want to do, that’s a pretty clear sign God doesn 't want me to do it. But what do you all do? You go out and charge it up, accumulating debt on your credit cards with interest rates of 22-23% or whatever. Money provides solutions to a lot of things, as it says in Ecclesiastes 10:19.

I don’t know why I thought that when I prepared this message today, I would have time to give you all three preliminary points plus five sub-points. No, I can only give you three today. I’m trying to keep all the services at the same pace. Even though I would have time at the 12:00 service to give you all eight points, I’m only going to give you three so that all the services are synchronized. I try to keep the church together. Amen. Thank both of you very much.

Let me give you these preliminary points. I’ll start off with Isaiah 55 to lay the foundation, and then I’ll let you go. Isaiah 55, beginning at verse 8-this is God.