Sermon Saturday's w/ Ash Cash

Welcome, welcome. Um, content, got it. All right, all right. So, so let me just put this video here so y'all can see me. All right, so welcome to, uh, Abundance Church. Uh, we call it Saturday Sermons, AKA Abundance Church with Ash Cash. Um, and today I want to talk about the one true source, right? Understanding Uh, where your power lies. Um, and, and, and one of the reasons— As long as I got my glasses, I should be fine. Wait, hold on, let me mute. Let me mute this person who— whoever's talking. Let me make you the co-host as well. Sorry, sorry, y'all. Well, you even saying sorry is messing up. I gotta start over now. No, I'm just playing. All right, cool. So, uh, Mia, I made you, uh, co-host also, if you could, um, let people in. Um, and then make sure nobody's like— everybody's muted. All right, let me start over, uh, for the, um, for the, um, recording. Well, so welcome to, um, Abundance Church, uh, or AKA Saturday Sermons with Ash Cash. And so today we're talking about the one true source, right? Understanding where real power lies. Um, man, where do I start? So there's a lot of things happening in the news, right? I want to say number one, um, we're obviously, uh, being inundated with, um, you know, with Brother Love, with P. Diddy, with Puff Daddy, a lot of stuff that's happening in the news. Um, things that, um, some vile things that he is being accused of that he allegedly done. And I'm saying allegedly, uh, because we have to, we have to give everybody, um, grace and we have to let everything play out. So no matter how true something sounds, uh, we don't want to jump into conclusion as to the validity of anything before we allow everything to Uh, to, to play out. Um, at the same time that we're being inundated with all of, with all of this, um, there's some documentaries that, that have been, uh, put out. One specifically, uh, was on, uh, I want to say Netflix, uh, focused on, uh, Nickelodeon, right? Nickelodeon and, and all of this, um, uh, uh, things that have been happening to like child stars and things of that nature. And, and when I think about the allegations against, uh, Sean Combs and the allegations against, uh, you know, Disney, Nickelodeon, these child stars and all this stuff. Um, the one question I asked myself, especially as a father, right, especially as a father, especially as somebody who, um, you know, just, just has, has, has given life to other people, um, I asked myself like, how, how can Things like this exist in this world, right? And and and one of the things that that continuously comes or people talk about is power. Like even when if you watch the Nickelodeon documentary, one of the things was like, man, this is a one opportunity that these you know you know you know people who have. Um, you know, low income, or they just see it as an opportunity to really take care or change the trajectory of their whole family and change everything, uh, for everyone. Um, and it— and, and, and sometimes when you think about, again, the allegations, you say, why haven't people said anything sooner? Um, and, you know, immediately people go to power, right? These are powerful men, these are powerful people in these powerful positions. Um, and I just wanna— I just wanna, you know, I wanna talk about that, right? I wanna talk about like who really has power, right? Who is the one— what is the one true source of power? Um, and then where does real power lie? And so, you know, in a world where the concept of power is, you know, is mainly misconstrued, right? And so because power is misconstrued, that leads to abuse, it leads to downfall. You know, it is important then for us to, you know, recalibrate our understanding and recognize what's true power, right? And so again, when you think about the disturbing headlines, right, they remind us of the fleeting and fragile nature of worldly power. And so today I want to draw up, uh, wisdom, uh, from the holy book, from, from the Quran, uh, from the Bible, from the Torah, um, and then even give you a, a parable, if you will, um, to re-anchor our perception of power. And then reminding us that that only real and enduring power comes from God, the universe, the Most High. And you know, and I say that to say, you know, a lot of times we look at these things that people do and say they have power. But again, when you look at what people have to go through, you know, the sacrifices that they that they've made, the the the people in their lives that they lost, and The deaths, it's just so— there's just so much going on that you have to ask yourself, is the illusion of power— because it's not real power, right? Unfortunately, you know, a lot of us equate money to power, right? Like, oh, this person is rich, or this person has— this person could give you opportunities, AKA money, right? And so, and so we think, oh, this person is powerful. Because of their status and business, right? They think that this person is valuable because of their status and business, instead not really realizing again that the true power comes from God. And so I want to start, you know, in the Quran, right? Surah Al-Imran says, and that's Surah 3, ayat 26. Says, say, O Allah, owner of sovereignty, you give sovereignty to whom you will, and you take sovereignty away from whom you will. You honor whom you will, and you humble whom you will. In your hand is all good, right? In your hand, right? In God's hand, right? In your hand, it's all, you know, it's all good. Indeed, you are over all things competent, right? So this verse clearly Illustrates the true power, um, and honor lies solely in God's hand, right? Reminding us of the temporary nature of human-imposed power, right? So even though— even the people that look like they're quote-unquote winning, uh, if they're not winning, uh, with the permission of God, right? Like, like, if they're not winning with the permission of God, then That win, unfortunate—not even unfortunately—that win is not a—is not a—is not a—is not a long-lasting win, right? Like yes, they could—they could probably possess you know worldly possessions, right? And—and—and it may—it may on the outside looking in—it may look all good, but nothing is—is worth the price of your soul, right? And—and And here's the thing, right? When, you know, a lot of times when people think about heaven and hell, um, you know, heaven and hell is on earth as well, right? Heaven and hell is on earth as well. And, and, and, and based on, um, your thought process, based on how you show up in life, based on, um, your obedience to God, uh, will determine how your life on earth is gonna be. Will you, will you be living in heaven or will you live— be living in hell? And so, and so again, we have to remind ourselves that that power is, you know, is solely in God's hand. And then if we go to the Bible, right, if we go to the Bible, Psalms 62:11-12, 62:11-12, it echoes this testament. It says, the sentiment, it says, one thing God has spoken, Right? 2 things I have heard: power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love, and you reward everyone according to what they have done. Right? And so think about this: one thing God has spoken, the one thing, right? One thing, not the one thing, but one thing God has spoken. 2 things that I have heard Is that power? Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love, and you reward everyone according to what they have done. And so, to me, this verse reaffirms the real power is God's alone, coupled with his promise of justice and love, right? And so, if there's a if there's a promise of justice of in love, and then that that that means. Anybody who is doing, um, things with the wrong intention, right? Because that— because, because here's what I hear when I hear this, is it's all about— it's all about your attention, right? It's like, what is your intention, right? You know, you reward everyone according to what they have done, right? And so, and so as you are approaching yourself in this world, what is your intention? Right? What is your intention? Is your intention to hurt people? Is your intention to, um, you know, to take advantage of people? Is it to, uh, like, what is your intention? Like, why do you want to, um, ascribe— why do you want to be God's partner, right? God has no partner. It's the, it's the Most High God. So why do you want to be God's partner, right? Why do you want to try to exert a, a, a power, ask for a power that you don't actually have, right? All praises due to God. Like, God has the power, and you're trying to be the Almighty God instead of being the image and the reflection of God, right? We're all made in the image and likeness of God, which means, um, you know, our God thoughts, our God consciousness, our, you know, you know, what we do should be aligned, right? We should, we should be aligned with the goodness of God, right? God is all good. And so with us being made in the image and likeness of God, our— what we should be striving for, right? What should we be striving for is that connection, that God consciousness. And then in Deuteronomy 8, uh, uh, verse 17 and 18 cautions, uh, you may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. Right, and so this passage warns against the arrogance of believing in our own power as the source of success, reminding us That it is God that empowers us, right? Like, like, like, yeah, you could, like, you know, you could think that you are, you are him, right? I am him. I am Himothy, right? Him Duncan. You could think that, right? But at the end of the day, all praises do go to God, right? Deuteronomy tells you that all praises go to God, right? So my power and the strength of my hands have produced this, right? You may say to yourself Right. You may say to yourself that my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me, right? But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, um, and so confirms his covenant, right, uh, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. Um, and so I want to leave you with this, this parable Um, you know, uh, called The Mighty Oak and the Reed, right? And so in a lush, verdant forest stood a mighty oak, uh, its towering presence a symbol of strength and power. Uh, besides it grew a slender reed, bending gracefully with the wind. The oak, prideful of its robust stature, often scoffed at the reed's flexibility, boasting of its own might. And the fear it instilled in others. One day, a fierce storm swept through the forest. The oak stood firm, relying on its power to withstand the force. However, the storm's might was overwhelming, and the oak was uprooted, and it once— in its once majestic form, now lying defeated on the ground. The reed, however, bent with the wind. Right, and emerge unscathed, whispering to the fallen oak, you trusted in your own strength, but real power lies in not rigidity, but in the ability to yield to the greater force of the wind. Right, and so the conclusion of this is that the oak and the reed teach us a valuable lesson about the nature, right, the nature of true power. Like the oak, Individuals who believe in their own, uh, sovereignty and invincibility often fall the hardest. In contrast, recognizing the true power comes from yielding to and aligning with the divine will, as the reed does, allows us to navigate life's storm with grace and emerge stronger.

All Right?

Let us not be swayed by the illusion of power that the, that the world presents. Let us remember that the only real power comes from God, the ultimate, right? The ultimate source of strength, justice, and love. And by surrendering our ego, right? There go that word again, ego. By surrendering our ego and aligning our will with the divine, we tap into the true power that guides, protects, And sustain us through all of life challenges, right? And so that word, I want y'all to like, like I always, um, you know, once I heard this from Wayne Dyer, I always said, man, like, like ego is edging God out, right? Ego is edging God out. And a lot of us are falling to our ego, right? A lot of us are falling to our ego. A lot of us Um, you know, are, are, are, are asking God or allowing God to guide us in the beginning. Um, and then sometimes when it, when it, when it looks like, uh, you know, we got it right, when it looks like we don't need God anymore, we almost, we almost like throw God to the side and say, all right, I got this from here, opposed to just allowing, um, God to be in everything. Right? Like, why, why don't— well, like, like, like, why is it, right? And think about this, and we do this all the time. Think about this. Um, you have nothing to do, right, with the way, um, you know, babies are born, right? You know, yeah, you know, yes, you, you know, from a, from a, you know, from a health perspective and You know, being able to take— eat the right foods and things of that nature. But, uh, there is a divine force, right, that allows a baby to be born, um, you know, for the most part with, you know, with all of its organs and the, the, the, the, you know, the hand, the feet, and the heartbeat and all of these beautiful things that happen within a baby in the darkness. And then a baby is born, then all of a sudden we, we see this beautiful creation and we stop leaning on God for it, right? And, and so, and so an example of that, like, I use the baby specifically because metaphorically, when you think about your business, when you think about your family life, when you think about all these things that you're trying to birth, right? these dreams, these aspirations. You're trying to birth something, and sometimes you're birthing it in the dark, right? Sometimes you don't know where the money's gonna come from. You don't know where the client's gonna come from. You don't know— you don't— there's a lot of things that you don't know, right, as you're, as you're birthing, as you're birthing this, this business, as you're birthing this new life, if you will. Um, and then somehow, right, somehow through sheer Um, you know, you know, grind and, and through, through, through God's grace a lot of times, right? Like, you, you knew what you wanted, but how it was gonna happen, you didn't know, right? And then, and then all of a sudden, you're given, you know, you're given an opportunity, you're given the grace, uh, to, to, to thrive and to third, uh, you know, thrive and to, um, where I'm looking, not flourish. Flourish. I'm like, thirst? Why it sounds thirst? Flourish, right? To thrive. Because I said thrive, I was like, thirst. Uh, you're given the opportunity to thrive and to flourish, but then you start to, to, to kick God out of the equation, um, and focus on you and say, nah, I got this, I'm gonna do this my way. And this is how we get caught up, because we start to use our ego, we start to edge God out. And while we're edging God out, we're not allowing, um, ourselves to, to follow divine guidance, and we, and we make mistakes, right? And we, and we, and this is how we have these terrible things happening to people, because people are not realizing that the power, right, the power comes from God. There's no such thing as one opportunity, right? Anybody who thinks, man, this is my, my first and only opportunity to do this thing, Then you don't understand the true power, the true power of your higher power, of your source, right? You don't truly understand. If you think, man, this is, you know, I'm going to compromise myself, right? I'm going to compromise myself for this opportunity, then you don't really understand, right? You don't have a true understanding of where, you know, opportunities come from. So, um, I'm gonna stop there. Um, you know, you know, I'm gonna open it up for my people inside of the Abundance Community. Again, um, Instagram, thank you for tapping in. YouTube, uh, thank you for tapping in. Uh, remember, y'all could, y'all could go to abundancecommunity.org, uh, sign up for the Abundance Community. We have 2, uh, levels of membership, but you can sign up for the Abundance Community. Uh, tap in. We have a thriving community that allows us to Um, you know, really learn from each other on a daily basis. Uh, we support each other, um, and then we help each other sort of get to that, to the next level. Um, and then, um, you know, you know, you know, we have tons of, you know, tons of days that, that I'm on, that the community's on. Uh, and so, uh, I appreciate y'all for, uh, tapping in. As a matter of fact, I'll, I'll, I'll let y'all get a sneak, a quick sneak peek On, uh, on some of the questions, uh, so I'll open it up. iPhone, I don't know who you are because your camera's off, um, but I see your hand up, so you could go. iPhone? Yeah, it's Jay, man. Jay, what up, brother? What's good?

What's going on, fam? I'm, I'm shaving right now, man. I'm not appropriate for the camera. Um, um, yo, I want to say first, man, Yo, this, this why I love you so much, man, right? Because you, you, you super genuine, right? And especially nowadays when every, you know, it's common people run around and they have conversations about, um, uh, uh, ghouls and goblins and, and, and, and the Dragon Queen and all these kind of conversations at length. But when you talk about God, people look at you like you crazy.

Yeah.

Right? People carry on nowadays like God is the fairy tale and all this other stuff is the real deal. So the fact that, the fact that this is a constant, like, in your, in your dialogue, like God is always first, like in your— y'all appreciate you, man. Yes, sir. Appreciate you. Yeah. Um, so kind of like getting on it, like the topic that— I just wanted to say that to you, man. Let you know I appreciate you for that. Thank you. The topic, uh, that you talking about, like with power, it's, it's, it's, it's really— it's funny because it's kind of like in the same vein of that because like, like Surah 2, ayat 30. say that Allah says that he told the angels, I'm going to place a Khalifa on the earth. And Khalifa is a successor. So that in line with what you're saying, any power that we have is supposed to be exercised first and foremost, knowing that you are acting in the place of God.

Of God, right. The successor of God. Right, right. Absolutely. Yep.

This is how you exercising your authority. Yep. And, and people talk like— and it's, you know, it's just, it's the thing that's become, become common now that, you know, if it's the negative, people will talk about all the negative stuff, right? So they'll talk about, you know, um, um, like this stuff. Like, first, first, I, I had my, I had my issues where I wasn't so crazy about, you know, The things that I have, I have my personal opinions on Pac, right? Period. But I don't like the way that the minute the system gets their hands on a Black person, yeah, everybody joins in, in a public lynching.

100%. Yeah.

I think it's, I think it's cowardice. Yeah, I think it's so foolish. They did the same thing to Ye. They did the same thing to Kyrie Irving.

Right.

It don't matter how you feel about them. You do not see— I'm gonna give you a perfect example. You do not see the Jewish— it don't matter what they do. You don't see the Jewish community gathering together publicly lynching. It doesn't matter what the person did.

Yeah.

So it's stuff that we should handle behind closed doors. So for the negative, everybody clamors, right? Then I met yesterday, I met Marilyn Mosby. She was the state attorney for Baltimore. She was the one that actually indicted those cops for murdering Freddie Gray.

Yep.

She had a position of authority, she had some power, and she did the right thing. She did the right thing. The only person to stand up and do it when men wasn't doing it. They turned around and indicted her on some fraudulent some fraudulent charges, talking about some mortgage fraud, the same way people been filling out their papers for years.

Yeah.

Right? Indicted on that, and people don't say a thing about it. There's no support for it. She stood up, but that wasn't just Baltimore. She stood up. We was feeling that all around the country.

Right.

2017, when they was doing us, we was feeling that all around the country.

Yeah. But you know what, Jay? Let me unpack some of what you said, because I think that Um, it's important to, to realize as it, as it relates to what, what we were talking about, it's, it's because we all have a false sense of where the power comes from, right? We have a, we have a false sense of where the power comes from because if we understood where the true power came from, um, then we wouldn't be in a position, right? We wouldn't be in the position of, you know, ready to crucify, right? Ready to crucify and condemn without the proper— Um, without proper evidence, right? Because, because, right, what Pac said, only, only God could judge me, right?

Right.

And so, and, and so number one, because we think we have the power to judge and condemn, right, we, we assert that power, number one. Number two, um, also because unfortunately, um, when— whenever there's a public lynching of a Black person Um, it, it usually starts at the hand of, uh, someone who is not Black or brown. And because of that, right, because of that, um, we feel like if, if we come to the aid of this person, right, then all of a sudden, then, then these people, quote unquote, who have the power will take us down as well, not realizing again that, that there's only one true source of power. And so, and so what's right is right, what's wrong is wrong. And if you're like— for me, I always just look at consistency. If you're gonna be, if you're gonna be loud, uh, when somebody does something wrong, then be, be loud when somebody does something right.

Right, right.

If you like have opinions on both ways, and, and, and, and, and like, and like what you just said, you know, about the Jewish community, like people are so afraid To even utter those words, right? Why? Because a lot of a lot of those in the Jewish faith, right? They they put they put God first, right? They put God first, and they and they and they and that commonality, right? That commonality of understanding where their power comes from, right? That commonality of of them understanding where their power comes from gives them this level of, um, confidence, if you will, right?

Yeah.

This level of confidence that allows them to present themselves in the world. And, and again, I think that a lot of us, you know, you know, you know, Black and brown people, um, don't show up in the world the way that we're supposed to show up in the world because we don't know where our power comes from, right? Like, like, like what you mentioned earlier, I'm not afraid. So like, I, you know, I've made a lot of money, I've lost a lot of money, I've had a lot of success, I've, I had slow, right? Like, like there, there hasn't been an experience that I have not, um, um, experienced, right? And I'll tell you, all of the experiences in my life that have been the most fruitful were the ones in which I put God first. Right?

Wow.

And so, and so if I had that experience, right? If I, if I made $1 million and, and, and I made that $1 million and I'm not happy, then I go and I, and I, and I, and I, uh, you know, give somebody $5 and that fi— and me giving them $5, uh, fulfilled me. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, like, like, why wouldn't I, why wouldn't I continue to do more of what makes me happy? Like, why, why would I, why would I chase after, uh, uh, uh, trophies and trinkets and things that, that make other people proud and happy and want to be connected when at the end of the day, um, you know, I serve God, right? Like, like, like, like, I'm serving for God and I'm— I want God to be pleased with me. I don't care. Amen. I don't care if If, if people are pleased with me, right? Because at the end of the day, at the end of the day, and trust me, I promise you, at the end of the day, and we see this, the same people who are rooting for you are the same people who are gonna, who, who are gonna turn their backs on you and, and criticize you when they think you did something wrong.

Mm-hmm.

Not, not when they know you did something wrong. This, I promise you, the same people, right? The same people who are, who are rooting for you, who Who are like, yo, you this, this, that. And so if, if I know that people are fickle, why wouldn't I lean on the true source that never changes?

Amen.

That never changes. You know what I'm saying? Amen. Facts, facts. You know what I'm saying? So, so, so it's, it's, you know, I mean, for me, again, I've, I've, I've, you know, I've had enough, uh, and I thank God for it, right? I, I've had enough experiences, um, in life to know what's real and what's not real. Um, and, and, and, and for those who, um, give the power to anything other than God, I pray for them, you know what I'm saying? Like, I pray for them. I, you know, I, I, I, I, you know, I, I hope, you know what I'm saying, I hope that, that they'll realize, like, it's, it's the source, right? And here's the thing though too, is that I also realize that all things work for my greater good, right? And I think that's, that's why, that's why it's so powerful. Because get— because guess what? If I'm relying on, um, myself, let's just say, for success, now when I lose the success, now I don't, I don't know where to go, right? Now I'm, now I'm confused now because, because, because all I want is the good. Right? But at the end of the day, if I'm leaning on a higher power for my success, then I understand, right? I understand that even in the things that seem like they're, they're, they're bad or seem like they're going in the wrong way, I know that God is perfect. God is actually leading me to what I— to my desires, right?

Um-hmm.

Like, God is actually leading me to my desires. So who am I, right? If I don't question God when, when something looks like a miracle, then who am I? question God when, when, when it's something that looks like it's going on. Like, like, like, how, how, how hypocritical would I be, right? How much of a hypocrite would I be if I get a deposit, you know what I'm saying, for a million dollars, and I'm like, thank you, God, and then all of a sudden I lose, I lose money, and then I'm like, God, why me? Nah, thank you, God, for that too. Thank you, God, for that too.

Why?

Because who, who knows what that money— like, I promise you, there's, you know, there's situations that would have— that happened, right? Situations that happened in which there's no reason why I wasn't supposed to make a lot of money from this particular deal, right? But then the deal went south for whatever reasons. In hindsight, later on, I, I look and I'd be like, yo, God, yo, God, just, just, just help me dodge the bullet. Like, thank you, right? Thank you that this deal didn't go through. Thank you that I wasn't tied to this, this person or this company. Like, thank you, right? Because, because, because guess what? When it— when, when, when the fit hit the shed, yo, they went— they went— you know what I'm saying? Like, they went down, right? And imagine if I, if, if I, if I was still, you know, still in business with them, you know. What I'm saying? So my point is that you know when you really know, I'm talking about when you really know, not like this fake. You know what I'm saying? Like not like nothing fake, this fake knowing. But when you really know, yo, nothing. Yo, when I tell you nothing can't faze you, yo, nothing can't faze you. You yo, you you are you are uh you will always. I'm talking about everything. I'm talking about you whatever you whatever you could think of. All of it. All praises, all praises go to God. All of it. Okay. And that, and that, and that level, that level of living, there's nothing else like it, y'all. I'm telling you, like, there's nothing else like it. There's nothing else like it, you know what I mean? So appreciate you, brother. I'm opening up. Let me, let me, um, yo, IG, I appreciate y'all. Let me, let me, uh, let me, uh, you know, IG, YouTube, thanks for tuning in. Uh, if y'all need to, uh, join us, y'all can join us. Go to abundancecommunity.org. Uh, you can join the conversation. We'll, we'll, we'll be, we'll be on, uh, for some time, you know, just, just talking and just, just chatting some more. Uh, but I appreciate y'all. Uh, again, join the Abundance Community, abundancecommunity.org. YouTube, love y'all. See y'all later. Peace. Um, no, no, I don't want to stop recording. I want to stop the YouTube. Stop