Perhaps you feel captive yourself.

You’re here this morning…
You have come to worship and honor God…
to give gratitude…

But you feel like there is more to this faith than what you have experienced.

Maybe you’ve come like that rich man—you’ve come to be told what a great job you are doing by following the commandments and not killing other people and betraying your relationships (because that’s so hard to do!)—you’ve come to remain just as you are.

Or MAYBE you’ve come because you want to take the next step…
You want to let go…to find release…to live more fully into God’s will & way.
- are you truly coming to God to hear THE answer??

This rich man wanted to stay in his comfort zone and was exploring stepping beyond it into the growth zone by asking, “What deed must I do?”

OR…he thought Jesus would say, “You’ve done everything you need to do.”

I choose in good faith to see as truly coming to Jesus for some guidance.

What he didn’t expect was learn he needed to RELEASE the thing he held most dear and comfortable—his wealth and possessions

I don’t know what he had or owned…
I don’t know if he lived in a large house and had fancy things.

We know he had many possessions…so many that to even think about releasing them and be released from them sent him into panicked flight deeply grieved.


My guess is more than a few people here today gave your church attendance slightly more thought this week if you knew we were doing our stewardship focus.

You might’ve, if even for just one second, thought about how uncomfortable you were willing to be—if you even thought about it being your discomfort.

Something might’ve made you think…maybe I’ll just stay home.

I hope you came with full knowledge of our stewardship focus because you know you want to grow.

My hope is

you are ready to see whatever it is you’re holding onto too tightly.
You truly want to come and discern your next step of growth.
You’re willing to be made uncomfortable for the sake of exploring a more mature faith that is seeking growth.

I’m not the only one in need of further growth & maturation, am I?

We all need RELEASE.

We all are hanging on to our wealth and stuff more than we should.
And…our wealth and stuff is hanging onto use more than it should.
But how can we find release?

We find in our scripture, it starts with REMEMBERING all God has done for us.
Everything God did for us we did not and could never earn—we’re not asked to!!
Once we remember, then we can trust in the God of RELEASE.

God longs to RELEASE us from everything that holds us captive.

From our behaviors and practices that tear away at our humanity and soul, yes
From our idols — anything that influences our life more than God, yes
But ALSO…from our wealth and stuff


The Good News is we know where to find our growth…
To find life itself:
Jesus LEADS us into a Life of RELEASE, if we can just follow him wholly.

We all have the opportunity to consider Our Money Story:
as individuals and as a church.

Does your story tell of someone who is released?
Does your story witness to a life holding on to nothing but following Jesus?
Does your story MATCH the story God calls you to, where you find the life of the New Age here and now?


If we can trust Our Money Story to God:
If we can work toward letting go of everything else…
If we can free our hands to hold on to Jesus only and fully…
If we can follow him completely WHEREVER he will lead us—no matter how uncomfortable…
We will find RELEASE and we will find LIFE.

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