(0:00)Don't ask about the Bentley
If you see me in my Bentley Continental GT, Hallelujah. Don't ask me if I use church money. If you ask me if I use church money, I promise you I will slap you. I'm just saying it now. You're just joking. Just joking. I'm not joking. He's just joking. Anybody that say, "Pastor, how do you buy this car?" will get and I will honestly The blood of Jesus covers me. Unfiltered.
(0:27)The Billion Dollar Experiment
Welcome back to PF Unfiltered people. My name is Esther Griffin and I have the most amazing host with me today. That is PF. Hey, what's up? You thought I was going to say you, huh? No, stop. Kenneth is the coolest. Welcome Kenneth back. Hello. Hello. He's the most amazing co-host. He's the coolest. Kenneth the kid. And then we have obviously y'all can hear his voice. Tune just got to let us know that he here always. Tunday is here as well. Um but he's going to be off camera. So, for those of you that are listening on Apple, Spotify, all the things, enjoy the content. Um, so what are we talking about today? Uh, Kenneth, we talking about money. Every time you're on the show, we're talking about money. Kenneth, money, I'm sorry. Is that what I meant was my presence causing money? I hope so. Ah, well, I thought you said my head. I thought that's what you literally head. Head head in is not physical head. Physical head. When they say your head, it means more than your head. Is your is your aura, your essence, your spirit. Energy, your energy, your vibe. Yeah. Your essence. As you can see, Kenneet is a pastor. You can tell. Okay. So, I do have a question, Pia. If you had a billion dollars, what would you do with it? M you've never thought about this before? Uh I think about it all the time. All the freaking time. Now we want to know cuz I have my own I always think about a million dollars but like a billion. What would you do with that? A lot. Would you still pastor? H
(2:13)Would a rich pastor quit?
I I think I think I would I think I would I think I would um I think it would be a liberating way to pastor you know as in I don't care whether you come to church or you don't come to church I will tell you as I see it have you noticed that people who have money are just they they talk anyhow what are you going to do to them you know that's that's the one thing that I think I just my friend, I'm not coming to church today. Do what you like. No, sit down. My life. But it's interesting though because I can I can see you in I can see you like with that kind of money, you would not even necessarily need the congregation to tithe as much, right? Cuz the upkeep of the church. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Sorry, sorry. Why would I'm saying it because we need the congregation to tie for the upkeep of the church. Say if you had a if I if I had a million dollars a bill if I had a billion dollars but I would take on easily all the financial responsibility for the church right out of a misguided sense of wanting to ease their burden. So with wisdom I won't do that because people need to um have a stake in it almost. No no no no no no. If you remove a
(3:34)The danger of removing all burdens
burden from folks, sometimes it has a delterious effect. Sorry. Say it again. It has a negative effect. Okay. Thank you, sir. People give to the house of God as an act of worship. Yes. Right. And sometimes if there's no need, people can dismiss the need for worship. If there's no material need, people can be leured into dismissing the need to worship God with their substance. You know what I'm saying? So, I I'm not sure if I would do that. Mhm. Right. Even though I can, it makes sense. You know, I don't know. I don't have a billion dollars. Okay. So, what would you do if you I mean like if you had a bill a billy right now, what would you actually do? Obviously, you know, just parse it out for us. 600 mill. If I had a billion dollars, I would pay off all the debts that the church owes, church property, all my friends, I pay off all their debts. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. What about Sorry. Go on. Let me finish. So,
(4:30)What I’d actually do with a billion
let him let him lie. Let him lie. I didn't cook. All the people who are in church on that Sunday that I made the billion, I pay off all their debts. Okay. All right. Don't worry. It's coming to us. It's coming to us for sure. It's not us. All the guys at the podcast pay off all their debt. Hey. Hallelujah. I didn't say I would give them money. I said I'll pay off their debt. I'm okay with that one. I'm fine with it. I have a lot of debt. Thank you. Because that student loan is calling out. Hey, I have a lot of debt. So that's that that I I I would like to empower people. That would be nice, right? I would like to give people freedom and I think one of the things that holds people back is debt, right? So if I paid off their debt, I think that is that would be a good use of that of that money. Um what else? And then I would just leave. You buy your car. What's that car that you I don't I don't need a billion dollars to buy my car. Energy. I don't need a billion dollars. I don't want a billion dollar car. Right. The kind of car that I want. I don't need a billion dollar. Tell us again. PF What car is it? I I said it already. Bentley Continental GT Coupe. PF. I professor in your life. You don't have to profess, but I receive it. Okay. So, I have a question. I'm turning 60 in 3 years. In 3 years, before you turn, I said I'm turning 60 in 3 years. If you see me in my Bentley Continental GT, Hallelujah. Don't ask me if I use church money. If you ask me if I use church money, I promise you I will slap you. I'm just saying it now. You're just joking. Just joking. I'm not joking. You're just joking. Anybody that say, "Pastor, how do you buy this car will get and I will honestly the blood of Jesus covers me." So, I have a question and I give me your
(6:10)Defining 'enough' for your soul
number, right? How much money is enough money for you to be comfortable? As a pastor of a church with going on over 2,000 members, how much money is enough money? Not a lot. Godliness with contentment is great. I should be content, right? With what I have right now. So, we're looking for a number PF. No, I I I really can't because the truth is if I have clothes on my back, I have food on my table. Um I can get from point A to point B, I should be comfortable. I should be content. Yeah. Right. I live across the street from the church. It's not even a question of walking distance. My house to the church is less than a minute's walk. Literally 1 minute, 60 seconds. I will get from my front door to the door of my office. Right. So I don't need a lot. Mhm. Right? Am I comfortable? I am not. What is causing my discomfort? The inner
(7:12)Greed vs. Needs
greed and covetousness on the inside. You get what I'm trying to say? And that's that's when when we say the question is what not what is enough, right? What is enough? What is enough to satisfy what right? Are we trying to satisfy? No, you don't know. Because you see you cannot you have not succeeded in isolating what you really need and what your greed and covetousness desires. M in what way? Elaborate on that. Shelter. Okay. Mhm. Right. Have safe shelter. Mhm. Right. Good shelter. Mhm. You can get a nice comfortable place. Mhm. That your children will grow up in peace and safety for less than half a million dollars. But then you have to if you don't have that money, you have to pay the mortgage on that. Okay. Okay. To the point, debt. So, so, so, so, okay. Okay. So, you you you have a million. You take $500,000 and buy a house. Cash. No debt. Wait now. No debt. Right. Then you have a nice car. Right. You don't need a Bentley. You don't need a Bugatti. You don't need five. You don't need a G Wagon. You just need a good car. A G Wagon. No, you don't. A Toyota will suffice. Yeah. Toyota is even. You just need a car that works. Okay. Right. And wait, wait, wait. No, wait, wait. We're talking about need now, right? Needs. Yeah. Not wants. Yeah. Need. Right. Okay. A car that works. Mhm. Reliably. Mhm. Right. $25,000. You get a brand new car that works reliably. Okay. Right. Um money to put for your children's tuition, a million dollars. But by the time you're done all this, a million dollars is gone. It's gone. But you have a nice house and you have a nice car and you have food on your table, right? But very few of us will say a million dollars is enough for us to feel comfortable because a lot of the things that we want are not things that we need. So what so that question is a bit is is is problematic, right? There's a lot of assumption in that question that has nothing to do with what you need. What do you really need? Can can I tell you how many rooms are in your house? Four. Four. How many people live in your house? Four. Four. You and your husband share one room. He counted the kids, didn't she? You and your husband share one room. Share one room, right? And then two, the two boys, you have two boys. They have separate rooms. No. So they sleep in one room. She's being clever. So no, but but it's the truth. So that
(9:34)Are you living for square footage?
means you've got two rooms in your house that nobody stays in. Okay. Right. Now if you Now when you talk about being comfortable now, right, you're not thinking of a four bedroomedroom house anymore. You're thinking of some mansion with 10 rooms. M how what's the square footage of your house now? 3,000 4,000 2,000. That's a lot. How what's the square footage? Like 9 almost 2,000. 2,000. So you have about 2,000 ft², right? And you're not using all of it. But you're thinking in your mind right now, I need a house that's about 5,000 ft². No, that's what you're doing. If you go and buy a house, I know when you buy a house, you're not going to buy the same size house of where you're coming from. No. See, that's I said some of us have really thought about this question. Okay, so tell me answer. Okay, let me start. M. So the house that I have is less than 300,000 cuz I don't like bills. So you remember you still have to pay the taxes on that house every year. That is not included in the mortgage. Yeah. Why not put in the escrow? I'm sorry. Go on. Go right back. So after I pay off the house with that cuz I only need a million after I pay off the house. So a million is your number. If you have a million you're comfortable. That's life changing money. Okay. Okay. Pay off the house first. Then I put 100,000 in each. Wait. Sorry. pay off the ass. So you have 700K left. No, no, I want to do the math for you. 700K left. Okay. 100K in each child's college student. Each child 500K left. Mhm. Then I pay off my student loans. Mhm. Then the car. We drive a raffle 2025. Paid off. Okay. Um right now we keep the bills low. So we're sharing a car. That's how we we work from home. Yeah. So then we'll get another car. Mhm. Why? Ah, why not? Okay. So why not? Sorry. My own million dollars. You're right. Why not? Okay. Then I'll invest money into Habiscus on Elm Africa. Shout out. Shout out. Shout out habiscus on Elm. Why? Why? H Why? Why not? So I biscuit you can make more money. He's making money now. So 1 million is not your number. Got him. Cuz you're still trying to make more money. That's But I need 1 million is the number that you can retire. You are comfortable. You're not comfortable. No, I'm not comfortable. Yeah. 1 million will only solve your immediate problems. But that's all I needed to I needed to solve it right now and then I'll work for the rest. I see. So you're going to keep working? I'll keep what do I want to do with my life? Do you see yourself? So 1 million is so so that's the thing though. You're not content. But everybody has to work any which way you do it. But I want to work out of choice not out of obligation. Okay. 1 million will do that for you. That's a yes. Interesting. For those that are looking for those so so 1 million actually 1 million can can actually sort you out for life. But there's a level of contentment that
(12:10)The contentment trap
that requires right. that a many of us don't have and we find many ways to justify our lack of contentment, right? But at the at the root of it is a lack of contentment, right? There are many people who 1 million is income for a lifetime. That's and they're happy. Well, okay. So, so if if if you lived in Africa for example, let's say you lived in um in in Nigeria for example, $1 million in Nigeria is about $140 billion naira. Right. 140 billion naira is more money than some people will see in their li in their lifetime. But they are happy. Mhm. That's good. Right. They are comfortable. Yeah. Right. But it's not enough for some of us. That tells you that our comfort is not determined by our need. It is determined by other things. Right? Because you don't need $140 billion or or you don't need a million even in America if you earn 36,000 40,000 $50,000 per anom right. No, seriously. And the people who that's when they looked at you when you said 30,000. No, but but see that's the thing though. There are people who earn that. Yeah. And are happy and content. Are they really happy? Yes, they are. Are you sure, Kenneth? So, so, so you are assuming, right, that if I don't live in Prosper, I'm not happy. No. Who said anything about Prosper? No. I don't. So, why if I don't have a $300,000 house, I'm not happy? No. But 30,000 not enough is not a living wage. What are you talking about? In America, $30,000. A one bedroom is not a onebedroom is like $1,000 plus dollars. What if you inherit somebody's house? You inherit your grandfather's house. That means you have a head start. That's different. You still got to pay the taxes on that. So even then, where where you in Appalachia? I don't know. Sorry. Pu, we could just we got we got some update on the conversion. So $1 million is actually $1.5 billion. Sorry. 1.5 I apologize. 1.5 billion those for those people that are looking at say ah please I apologize I I study philosophy not mathematical so so so 1.5 billion so 1.5 billion naira mhm right or $1 million is a boatload of money right and people have survived flourished and thrived with so much less right and if one person right can if you can have food and shelter. Mhm. Right. And security. Mhm. Right. When I say security, relative security, as secure as any human can be with a million dollars, right? It should be enough. Right. Yeah. But everybody in this room will tell you it's not enough. No, I is enough. But you're using it. It's not It's not enough because clearly you're still trying to make more money. Give is enough. So you There's somebody that's watching that wants to give a million. give a million. It's possible. Listen, if you give a million dollars, we appreciate. Absolutely. We will appreciate but but see. So the question that question of what number? What is enough? Right. It's a very it's it's it's an oversimplification. Enough for what? Mhm. To feel comfortable, right? I am comfortable in expensive clothes, but I can be comfortable in less expensive clothes. Yeah. Right. Yeah. All of us in this room have our our income has has increased. Mhm. As our incomes have increased, so also our expenses have increased. Yeah. And some of these we're spending money on now, right? Yeah. When I met one of our producers here, uh, in fact, our our main guy, he lived in a house, right, that was bigger than this room, but not much bigger. Had yellow walls. That's crazy. Humble beginnings. Yeah. That same guy now lives in a house with marble floors, right? God did step up. When I met him in that house, he was happy. Was he really? He was. Yeah. In fact, he's more stressed in this new house. No, it's true. You can't If you call him now, he's like, "I'm busy. I'm busy. I'm busy. I'm busy. I'm busy." He's got five jobs. Yeah. And a side gig. It's tough. He was happy. Him and his wife were happy. Right. Fast forward, he's making more money now. He's more stressed. Exactly. The point I'm trying to make is this, right? If he did not have the world on his back telling him you need more, you need more. If he did not have social media telling him, you need more, you need more. Right. If he did not have um um parents at home asking him for stuff, right? Yeah. He's okay. But there's a lot of pressure that have nothing to do with our need. You know what I'm saying? It has everything to do with what is with our pride and with our lust. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Period. But but is that not fair? Like should we cuz I felt like everything you just kind of spoke about, that's the ideal world, right? The ideal world is the world in which you would need to support any family member, right? where no one is asking for for something. Even if even the people that are asking for, they're asking for more than they need. You can say that. No, no. They're asking for more than they need, right? Mhm. So, what's that threshold then? What is the threshold for asking asking for more than you need? What you mean? Okay. For instance, this is just this is very elementary. Please guys don't eat me up cuz y'all be trying to eat me up. You think about someone that for instance, right, is quote unquote homeless. No. Okay, let's say they're homeless. Technically, they can go to a food pantry and they can have food to eat for the day. They can go to a shelter and have somewhere to sleep for the night. Um, there are many programs to be able to support the homeless. Mhm. That person can then say, "My needs are met on a daily basis without me having to necessarily work regardless of whatever reasons why you're not working." Right? And would you then say that person is then happy? If the person is the one that determines that, they are the ones that said my needs are being met. I didn't say that. They said, "Right, they there are people who could be happy with that, right? with with with that kind of life, right? But societyy's going to tell them there's something wrong with them for that, right? Why would you be content with having people give you you should have your own? Well, there was a prophet in the Bible that God said to him, "Go and sit by the river. I will send birds to feed you." And then after he sat there for a while, then God said to him, "Go to the widow's house and eat there." Right? Jesus Christ said, "I don't even have anywhere to lay my head." Wow. Right. So, I'm not advocating right that you don't have. Mhm. I'm saying that we can do with a lot less or that you don't walk or that you don't work. Now, as I'm saying that mean that I'm sitting here right God has I am I I I am for example what I'm wearing right is more than I need. I don't need this watch. I don't need these shoes. And that's the truth. I like them, but the the pursuit of them is not driven by need is driven by things that have nothing to do with need. Right? And and and when we ask so when we ask that question, what is what will make you feel comfortable? Comfort is I would like what what would make me feel comfortable is that when I'm with my friends I'm not looking like a wretch right but what does that mean? Mhm. I'm surrounded by people wearing Rolex watches. So definitely I can't be the one wearing a tag. Yeah. Pate I can wear the PK is the senior brother. You don't even know. You don't know anything. You don't know. You don't know. You don't know. Okay. So, I want I wanted real quick. I want to ask you say something. So, Christians, we run into trouble with God. And we quote Philippians 4:19 says, "My God shall supply all your needs according to all your need." according to his riches in glory. According to his riches and glory, not your wants, not your desires, right? That's number one. Number two, he says, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that so that having a sufficiency in all things, you can abound to good works, not so that you can consume more, right? So when we go to God and we're asking God for a promotion, right? Why you are making now pays your bills, right? And you have some left over for tomorrow. Some not enough so that you never have to work, but some left over for tomorrow. Right? And you go to God and Lord, Lord, Lord, please, why are you doing me like this? Please, a better job, a bigger job, more money. You're not thinking about good works. You're thinking about a bigger house, a bigger car, and more vacation. Do you know what else we're thinking about? How we don't want to be dependent on God for our next meal. Yes. Yeah. And stuff. So God, so sometimes God doesn't answer those prayers, right? And and and life happens, right? If you have an education, you're diligent at your job, chances are you will get promoted, right? I mean, can can we play like can we do a semin called like Eve's advocate? I don't want to deal with advocates cuz it just sounds bad. Why Eve? I don't understand that, but it's okay. But I I didn't know what to say after you the way. Anyway, let's put David. Okay, sorry. I don't understand the English. Sorry. Okay. So, um imagine the person in a scenario where okay there's a lot of to what you mention like this conditioning that is making me strive for more. Not necessarily like I'm inherently greedy. It's just if I look around and let's say I thought about as an analyst I can be my abuser myself as an analyst. The next level here if you're in the consulting realm is probably like you know a consultant and a senior consultant and then you want to be a manager like just the natural progress of a career development is what's driving them even though needs are already met. If someone someone was listening and they said okay like PF I'm not the kind of guy that is full of greed and covetousness. I'm not the kind of gal. Mhm. I just I'm following and tracking on what career progress is. Excellent. So so then so good works. So, so, so God is adding more to you because promotion does not come from this, not from this, right? So, God is lifting you up, but he's saying, he's saying to you, right? Scripture is saying to you, uh, I have made grace abound to you, so that when you are an analyst, you hit sufficiency. By the time you get to manager, right? This is more than enough. You just use that more to bless. So, so, so the, so the the the excess between the sufficiency that you get from being an analyst and a manager is not meant for you to consume. I got you. Is meant for you to abound onto good works. Right? Now, I say that knowing that that is not what obtains. Right? But I'm not one of those people that uses life to judge scripture. I use scripture to judge life. Right? So if the Bible says A, A is the goal, A is the mark and I tell you everything other than A is not acceptable. But what we do, a lot of us do, you say, man, that's this is the reality. No, this is the truth and we need to bring everything else to this point, right? As opposed to say, okay, you that you're talking, you're wearing a Rolex. I know but I should be moving towards a place where I'm okay with being able I have a clock on my phone. I mean it looks like a procedur now I can run and buy PK. Right. I'm not wait but I can right. But do I really need it? Right. Right. Right. And if the church right does not stand up and say you don't need a PK PF you don't need a Bentley right who is going to say it we facilitate this conspicuous consumption we're facilitators of it they're tagging like tag me on a previous episode of PF Unfiltered we were talking about how much should pastors be paid Mhm. And you made the point. Should you be ahead that I was you made the point that if a pastor of a certain caliber is pastoring a particular Yeah. Uh I know the point I made go me. I have to say for the people that are watching this because they didn't watch that one. So if the pastor is is pastoring a particular group of people and a particular amount of people, they then can accept a particular payment to buy a jet if that if they wanted to do that or a Rolex if they wanted to do that. Now you're making another point. What are you talking about? You just said the jet has to be used for good work. We can check you essentially. Let me tag you. I did not. They've been waiting for this thing. They've been waiting for I I know I I know the irony. You know the irony of it is that in their eagerness in their eagerness eh you misqued the ball. You should have waited and caught me. You jumped into you jumped in too early. What I said is this. This is what I said. Right. And you can rewind this. This is what I said. Yeah. The church uh should say this is the right way. Let all of us follow it. Right. But you uh you are you are doing the one that even Nebuchadnezzar is embarrassed about. Then you now want to say that the pastor should be the oneh you know example. It's not for you to tell me to be an example when you are not being an example. Right. Just mercy. And if the pastor is taking from the church more than the church can afford. Mhm. Right. More than the church is able to do. Remember I had this conversation and I said that under no circumstances will I say I should get paid Mhm. over and above somebody who is homeless. If somebody who's homeless comes to the church and my paycheck is what is going to put Mhm. right get them right. Yeah. Then the conversation then becomes okay how much do I need to pay my rent? If my rent is paid why should I insist that they pay me more? Mhm. Do you get my point? So if I if I sold my house, pocketed the profit and became homeless. Mhm. Yeah. Are you saying that you would forfeit your salary for me to be able to have a place to stay? Well, you have money now. First of all, you're a thief. Last time somebody did that and an Safari, they fell down and died, right? That's how you did that. Yeah, but they weren't honest. I would have told you like you'd have told me that I'm homeless. You'd have told me that pastor me I sold my house and I have in my bank account in my bank account. I have the profit. Absolutely. Which is a couple of hundred thousand. Absolutely. In my bank account. However, I want to come and take what you have. which is crazy to go homeless. No, no, no. I want to take what you have, right, and pay my rent, right? The reason why I am homeless because I have money in the bank. Cuz I don't have home. But you have money in the bank. Yeah. Okay. You are mad, right? Only Okay. Okay. Why they call money? Ah, thief money on a more serious. So, okay. Just to tie. Okay. I I I get the there's a certain way that pastors and when we talk about money and the the association to pastors having a lot of money and the the regular human being for lack of better having a lot of money, right? I get how those pressures can be different, right? But what if again like from a diasporian context, right? Like I have a I I'm doing my best. I'm trying to be contented. I'm not living beyond my means and I have a African you know yeah a family member that just because I'm United I'm because I'm better materially than them there is an expectation that look you should be you should like give us more than you mean not more than you have but stretch yourself to give us something I think you can stretch yourself you can't break yourself okay right I think that there's a limit to what you can do okay Right? You shouldn't go and rob a bank, right? To support. I believe something. This is something I have learned and I believe this. If God wants me to help you, God will give me the resources to help you. Mhm. If if I am unable to help you, right? Mhm. If I do not have the resources to help you, Mhm. then God must have other plans of helping you, right? So the pressure from diaspora, I get it. When you come to America, there's an assumption that everything is rosy here. You know, you're making $1,000. We convert it to Naira. We think that ah but the truth is this. If I'm making $1,000, like you said, is that can that pay my bills? And I'm talking about basic needs, not even I don't have enough money to go to Mexico. Mhm. On vacation. You know what I'm saying? You have to be able to say to the folks back home, right? Yes, I'm in America, but this is the reality of it. This is how much I earn. This is how much I spend in rent. This is how much it costs to eat food. And people are not going to understand sometimes. But but hey, hey, it is not your responsibility. Mhm. Right. It is not your responsibility if if if somebody is drowning, right? You can't. One of the things that they say when you rescue a drowning person, you knock them out. Yes. Right. Otherwise, they they will pull you down with them. Right. The the reality of it is this. You cannot do more than God has given you the ability to do. Period. If God has given you the ability, you are now making manager money. Right? Maybe you don't need to be spending manager money. Do you know what I'm saying? Because what we do is we make more money, our throat gets bigger. And then we're saying that, oh, we can't help anybody. We can't help anybody. You can maybe do with less to help the people who God has put in your life. Mhm. Remember, God is able to make all grace abound to you. So that having a sufficiency, you can abound onto good works. We have a sufficiency, but our sufficiency, we keep increasing it. So we can't abound to good works. Yes. So we can't abound to good works. So you were living in a house where the mortgage was $750. Right now you're living in a house where the mortgage is $7,000. Yikes. You will never help anybody. You will never help anybody. And you will justify it. But do you need to be in a $7,000 house? If this is what I say, if you cannot help anybody, you're spending too much money. That's good. If you cannot help anybody, you are spending too much money. If you can't give, you're spending too much. You there has to be a there has to be room in your income, whatever it is, and for you to be a blessing. If you don't bless anybody, everything that comes in you stuff your face with it, you're doing too much. Can you leave like someone in the audience PF with like three or four Bible scriptures that we can take away? Cuz you already mentioned like two already that I'm trying to like write down to remind us again of what the scripture actually says versus what we're actually doing. The Bible says a and this is the most important one for me. God gives you an abundance so that you can and abundance is which is more than you need. There's your need and then there's more. Mhm. So that you can be a blessing. If you cannot be a blessing, what we say is that if we can if I'm not a blessing, it means that I need more. Mhm. No. If I if I cannot be a blessing, I don't need more. I'm spending too much. Too much. You need to you need to step back a little bit. Mhm. That's that's number one. Number two, um godliness with contentment is great game, right? I believe that we should be content with whatever God's will is, not less than that. Mhm. Right. I'm not asking or expect anybody to be content with less than God can do for them. Right? But there's a point at which our consumption becomes conspicuously inordinate, inappropriate. Right. Mhm. And for me, those are the two scriptures that guide me. Yeah. Right. So, if I buy a pair of shoes and after I've bought that pair of shoes, I can't help anybody. Those shoes are too much. Mhm. Right now, if I buy a pair of shoes and there's still more and I do the math, it's like church, right? I believe that one of the ways that a Christian can worship God is with your giving. Right? For me, I do a tenth of my income. In my mind, if I can't give that 10th, I've spent too much. Right? And many people, that's where we are. We're so we've spent so much, right? That we cannot give 1% of our income to anybody. Wow. Talkless of God, right? And this is the thing. What we are spending now, we didn't always have. So, what is happening is that as our income is growing, our expenses are growing. You know, it's called lifestyle creep. Yep. Yes. It's not a creep. It's a leap. We're not creeping. We're leaping. We we we we now how much is a starter home now? Oh, easily 350. 350. So, a starter home is 350. Mhm. Right. And the next step is what? Just FYI, that's 400. That's not in the city either. I know that's in the BBS. The next step up is what? It's not 400. It's 550, right? Yeah. And many of us want to do starter home for one year or two years, right? 2 years for taxes. And next thing you know, we're looking at 700 800. And when they tell us, oh, your mortgage should not be more than 30% of your income. We're looking for the lender that will give us a mortgage like 70% of our income. So many people we say we we're house poor. You got a big house but you ain't got shishi after the big house. That house is too big for you. If the government can recognize Yeah. that 30% is where you should max out. If math people who do math can be where you should max out on on your house, right? And some of us, our cars, the mortgage, the note on our car is bigger than the mortgage on some people's houses. It can happen. The point I'm trying to make is this, right? If you cannot be a blessing to anybody, you are spending too much. How do you learn how to be content with what God has given you and where you are? See, let me tell you, it's either you are content or you are not. God will not God is not going to facilitate it. You will learn it by force. M m God does not um how do I put it? God is not going to facilitate or enable your greed or your covetousness. Right? So you're going to have to step out of God's will sometimes to Yes. You're going to have to do things sometimes that you yourself after you did you feel a little dirty, right? To get to get more than God has planned for you. But even in that Mhm. Mhm. Right. Yeah. It is a lack of contentment that pushes us to squander the abundance that we should use to be a blessing. You get that's powerful for me because like I know like sometimes I might be driven by honestly just call it greed and covetousness. Maybe it's on me. Yeah, but to your point like when you said either I'm contented or not. Sometimes when I talk to my wife, I can see that okay, I'm not contented. And that revelation is actually very powerful if my interest is obviously contentment cuz I see that okay you might be doing the most. I do know there's again we talked about like the external pressures sometimes which you kind of clarified whether it's you know careers or family related that might drive me from drive me to ambition then I consume but do you know the most the most powerful pressure is not even the diaspora it's the ones that in the spora it's the Joneses the Joneses Joneses are the biggest undermine underminers of contentment Jones, I'm telling you the Joneses. I admire a person who does not give a rat's behind about the Joneses. Honestly, and there people like that. Mhm. Who are just like, you know what? Let me face my friends. I I I my wife my wife is somebody who I am God brought into my life to teach me contentment. My wife this evening on my way here, my wife brought out a dress, right? She's had that dress for at least 10, 12 years. I do not have anything in my closet from that long. Mind you, pastor AK is fl she's very flat. She she she she ak Let me tell AK's I'm not going to embarrass her. In fact, she won't be embarrassed. She doesn't care. She Larry knows her very well. My wife shops in the cheapest places on this planet. That's smart, right? She be looking cute. She looks great. Yeah. AK's criteria for what she wears any given day. Comfortably. No. Is it clean? Oh, clean. And do I like it? Huh? Mhm. When she married me, then I became a factor. That's why there's a problem now because, you know, I like nice things. So she has to. But AK AK doesn't even know there's anything called the Joneses. Mhm. I'm telling you the truth. She She's I don't know. I I don't know how her father raised her. Yeah. Sometime like how can you not know how you look? She says, "No, I know how I look. I just don't care what anybody thinks. Next level." Yeah. It's next level. So I'm I'm learning from her. It's been slow. I'm curious for the people that are watching. Want to say thank you. one. Like, comment, share, subscribe, subscribe, right? I learned that today. We want you guys to put in the comments. You know, how do you guys feel about keeping up with the Joneses? How do you guys feel about being content? Are you content? But, but sorry, everybody's going to tell you that. No, I don't care about the Joneses, though. It's a lie. Call us a spade, y'all. So, like I know we're about to kind of wrap things up and uh FYI, it's day and that's in the back. We want to thank our our sponsor by revenue for at least we know that bread would produce contentment. When you eat that bread, that's why that bread content. You get satisfied if you try to get satisfied in my household. We order that bread now. It's bi-weekly at this point because the bread is going by too fast. That's what they're only no they order it for the period for a certain period. You don't order more than they can eat. Also, I'm ordering and I'm gifting. So, I'm also ordering and I'm gifting because there are a lot of people that haven't tried organic. That bread is organic. That's a good one. So, you're blessing somebody. So, you're not you're not using your 10 fingers to eat it. Exactly. And it ties away about like when God gives you more, you use it for good works, not for not for consumer. Yeah. Exactly. It's like that's why we have an obesity problem. That's a different episode here. We eat. We eat more than we need to eat. Yeah, that's a different episode. I'm just saying. Yeah, we eat more than we need to eat. We consume more than we need to consume. Even us skinny people, y'all. Please don't. And again, last plug. Last plug. Did I Please cut to that part. Last plug. Please. But seriously, the last plug like the the ingredients that I know B Avenue uses as well. It's is organic like you were saying. They're they are sourced sourced organic. You know, organic. Only six ingredients in the bread. So, when you go to the grocery store, it's over 25, right? Yeah. So, um anyway, yeah. Well, that's it. That's it. For those of you that enjoyed it, we appreciate you guys. Absolutely. Um share with your friends. Again, like, comment, save. Um save. Save is a new one. That's the new thing. Share with the people that need that it need to be shared with. Yeah. And remember, the scripture says, "A party gives laughter, wine gives happiness, and money gives everything. What? Everything. Everything. Who would that solo? Cynical cynical guy. That's a guy, man. Life. He said that you should enjoy the fruit. It's a blessing from God to enjoy the fruits of your labor, you know. But when you enjoy to the point where the fruit is turning your belly, you have en you have over enjoyed. Anyways, we'll see you guys next time. Next one. Unfiltered.