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Do you care what people think about you? The answer is probably yes.. and you probably care a little too much.
The Bible warns us about pretending to be one thing when we are another. It warns us that we can exchange the TRUTH for a lie. Perhaps our generation is doing that more than any other..?
We are so image conscience. We place value on non-valuable things. We care more about the brand names we put on the outside of our body than the character we place within.

Money promises what only God can provide.

money, significance, security.. these are found in God

Are you wearing an expensive costume? It is time to take off that costume and embrace the Truth.

Costumes 3 – Financial Fakers

Sermon notes by Chris Fluitt

Redemption Church Plano Tx

**Vid bumper

We are drawing nearer & nearer to October 31^st. The top costumes for kids according to EBAY is..

Super Mario & Luigi
Star Wars Characters. (I here Salacious Crumb & Sly Snootles are big this year… not really)
Batman
Frozen
Witch
Minion
Spider-Man
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Minnie and Mickey Mouse
Power Rangers

Have you ever dressed up?
We have been begging you to share your childhood costume memories at 214 856 0550.
We also asked for you to share your favorite candy and it looks like M&Ms are the winner… So we are going to make it rain.
Certain anonymous members of Redemption Church like to dress up from time to time. One nameless person in particular is quite good at it… We have visual evidence of him dressing up like a strange cowboy for the Goal Youth Ikea Scavenger Hunt. He wanted to remain anonymous so we blurred out his face…
Here is the Picture
Here is the Picture 2

We are in our 3^rd week of the Costumes series. What is a costume?
A costume is something you wear that hides your true identity

Proverbs 13:7 One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.(NIV)
One man pretends.. he disguises himself as being rich to hide the true identity that he is poor.
Another man does the opposite.. he wears the costume of a poor man to hide his wealth.
In both of these cases someone is trying to hide who they are and the state of their life with something that is not true. They are hiding behind a costume.
Today we are going to be talking about Financial Fakers

Have you ever been in a situation where you were ashamed and tried to hide the state of your life?
I remember in jr high school my mom, in an effort to save money, bought non-name-brand tennis shoes. I wanted a Nike Swoosh but instead had a knock off check mark attached to my footwear. I was horrified. I thought how am I going to wear these to school? I am going to be made fun of.. people are going to think differently than I want them to think about me. I want to fit in. These shoes are jeopardizing my entire life…
Now the truth is that I showed up to school and they did make fun of me.. but that is not the point. BECAUSE everyone in jr high gets made fun of whether they wear Nike’s or not!
The point is that I thought my identity, my value & worth, whether people liked me, was based on the brand that I wore.
I was wearing $50 shoes to be who you liked.. To me the name brand on the outside held a lot more value than the character inside.
Now you & I could stand here and say “thank goodness we have learned our lesson. We aren’t that way anymore..” But are we really?
There is this pressure to keep up appearances in our society. It does not just effect Jr High students.
Have you ever felt embarrassed by…

The car you drive
The clothes you wear
Your house & neighborhood
The way your children or spouse or friends appear

Have you ever felt empowered or proud of..

The car you drive
The clothes you wear
Your house & neighborhood
The way your children or spouse or friends appear

We have never left Jr High have we? We are still valuing name brand on the outside held a lot more value than the character inside.
This is a human struggle. I don’t know anyone living in this part of the world that doesn’t struggle in some way with this.
We are more focused on the appearance than the truth. We will go to great cost to wear these image conscience costumes. We are Financial Fakers

We have preached many times about money issues & how to pay off debt and build wealth. We aren’t doing that today. If you want that just go to redemption-church.com and search money – you will find our past series.
Today I want to preach to you about BEHAIVIOR & BELIEF.
Around 70% of people under the age of 30 have 0 saved for their future. They would all say that their future is important to them.. That is their belief but there behavior disagrees. They may appear wealthy with cars, clothes, cell phones but they actually have no wealth.
They are financial fakers… they are wearing a costume.
We are focused on instant lifestyles instead of building up our lives. Generations past would save up for a car, save up for a house, save up for retirement, save up for a wedding ring, save up for vacations.. we charge it.
Our society says.. My life is important so I need to start ENJOYING it now!
We should say.. My life is important I need to start BUILDING it now!

NECKLACE
We live in a Bling generation… a make it rain generation. We pretend.. We wear costumes.

Raise your hand if you believe the following.. Be honest

Money can’t buy you happiness
A little more money would make your life better

You see there is a disconnect between our thoughts and our emotions when it comes to money. There is a problem between our BEHAIVIOR & BELIEF. We say we believe money is not everything in life.. but our behavior, the way we live, does not match our belief.

Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.(NIV)
We need to get this! We are warned about exchanging truth for a lie… We trade who we are meant to be for what others think of us… We ignore the truth and put a costume over it..

Christmas is coming up and your bank account tells you the TRUTH.. you can’t over spend! But culture & a perceived image tell you differently so you pull out a charge card. You exchange the truth for an image lie.
You are entering your 30s & 40s you are supposed to be buying a new luxury car.. not a used car. That is the expected image and you need to do whatever it takes to have that image. It’s a lie!
We don’t focus on what is truly important.. We exchange that truth for a costume

We worship created things instead of the creator.

We get more excited about money ( a created thing) than we do God the creator.
We celebrate material things more than spiritual things.
We worry about what we don’t have and not what Spiritual thing God is trying to call us into.

We have this belief but we exchange it for a lie through our behavior.

It is a spiritual problem… not a financial problem
You don’t need more money.. Most of you make more money right now than ever and you are still saying you need a little more..
You don’t need to worry about what others think.. You have worried about what others think and have thrown out your beliefs and changed your behavior for these people… and you are still worried about what they think.
You don’t need more stuff.. You have more stuff than you know what to do with. You didn’t really enjoy the old stuff. You are going to go into debt to by the new stuff, get it home and unbox it and then see a new add for newer stuff..
Your heart is not a job for George Washington to heal.
Your emotions are way above Abraham Lincoln’s pay grade.
Your mind and your fears are way too much for Andrew Jackson & Grant
Benjamin Franklin has never given you the life you want to live
This is a job for God..

Money promises us what only God can provide
Happiness
If I have enough dollars… if I have enough things then I will be happy…
WRONG. You will never have enough. THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH!
Significance
If I have the image then people will think highly of me… Then I will feel better about myself. WRONG. True significance comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ. His Spirit is a true source of Power.
Security
If I would just win the lottery then I would not have to worry anymore.
WRONG. Your kid has a life threatening accident and you realize your money can’t protect you or save you. It is on your knees crying out to God that you find real security.

We think our Costume makes us better… Your costume can’t provide what only God can provide.

FISH OUT OF WATER
You find a fish out of water… Is he enjoying life?
What if you gave him a lot of money?
What if you gave him a new house and a car?
What if you gave him an award and a lot of people gave him a standing ovation?
What if he became famous and was the spectacle of many?
Costumes won’t help the fish. The Fish can’t truly enjoy life until he is back where he belongs.

Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”(NIV)
Your behavior reveals what you truly believe. Take off the costume and reveal the truth.