SPEAKER_00 0:06

First Chronicles chapter twelve verse thirty two says the following of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, two hundred chiefs and all their kinsmen under their command. Now what's going on? First Chronicles twelve records a moment of massive national transition. Following the crisis and power vacuum left by King Saul's death, the fractured tribes of Israel unified at Hebron to crown David as their new king. Now among the twelve tribes, one group stood apart, not for their military strength or their numbers, but for something rarer wisdom. You see, the sons of Issachar were men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. In a moment of national transition, their clarity was a gift to an entire nation. Now we as Christians live in such a moment as the world's financial architecture is undergoing changes more profound than most people realize, and the people of God are not exempt from the need to understand them. This is not a call to anxiety, it is a call to wisdom. The global financial system is in the middle of a fundamental restructuring. The United States government has begun treating Bitcoin not as a speculative curiosity but as a strategic national asset. As of this writing, President Trump has already signed an executive order establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a broader U.S. digital asset stockpile, directing the government to hold and not sell confiscated Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset. This was in 2025. Meanwhile, the US Senate has advanced the Genius Act, a landmark legislation that would create a federal regulatory framework for stable coins, a digital currencies pegged to the US dollar. This was in 2025 as well. And institutions like BlackRock and JP Morgan are not watching from the sidelines. They are tokenizing real-world assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate on blockchain infrastructure, with BlackRock's BUIDL fund representing one of the first major institutional moves in this direction. Now these developments reflect what digital economists have anticipated for years, that Bitcoin and decentralized infrastructure would eventually force a reckoning with the assumptions underlying traditional central banking. John chapter 17 records Jesus praying for his disciples. I do not ask that you take them out of this world, but that you keep them from the evil one. You see, we're not called to monastic withdrawal or call to faithful presence in this world to live, to work, to give, and to steward within the very world Christ came to redeem. And this has profound implications for Christians when the Bible instructs believers to be faithful in a very little before being entrusted with much, it is speaking of money, the currency of the earthly city. Faithfulness with money requires understanding money. When Proverbs says that the prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it, it assumes that the prudent person is paying attention to what's happening in the world, in God's plan and in our lives, in our personal sphere. Spiritual faithfulness and informed awareness are not intention, they belong together. John Calvin understood this. In his Institutes of the Christian religion, he argued that Christians are not to despise the earthly gifts of knowledge, wisdom, and skill that God has distributed throughout humanity by common grace. To refuse to engage wisely with the world's structures is not piety, it is negligence. There is a quiet but powerful form of bondage that does not look like enslavement at first, and it is the bondage of the person who because they have not understood what is happening around them finds finding themselves shaped entirely by forces they never chose and they never examined. You see, an uninformed mind does not float freely above the world, it is actually carried along by it. The apostle Paul's warning to not be conform to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of your mind assumes an active, engaged intellect. Transformation is not passive, it requires knowing what you are not conforming to. A Christian who does not understand how their savings can be eroded by inflation or how a digital dollar might function differently from a paper one is not free from the financial order. They're simply uninformed about it. Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch Reformed theologian and statesman, famously declared that there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry mine. You see that claim includes the domain of money as well, markets and monetary policies. If Christ is Lord over it, his people ought to understand it. Now that claim is a burden as much as a privilege, which is precisely why pastoral care is essential here because the danger to danger runs in two directions. The first danger is ignorance, being swept along by financial changes without discernment. The second danger is absorption, becoming so preoccupied with financial systems that our security, identity, and hope quietly migrate from God to our portfolio. Jesus did not merely warn against poverty, he warned that you cannot serve God and money. Tim Keller observed that money is one of the most powerful counterfeit gods precisely because it promises what only God can provide security, significance and freedom. The goal then is not to become a crypto enthusiast or a financial prophet. The goal is to be like the sons of Isakar, understanding the times well enough to know what to do, all while remaining grounded in the one who holds both the times and our lives in his hands. Wayne Grudem helpfully reminds us that work, trade, and financial stewardship are not unfortunate necessities in a fallen world, but reflect something good and God given in creation itself. So to store it well we must understand well. So if you are a follower of Christ, you do not need to master a blockchain technology or trade Bitcoin to be a faithful person. But you do need to be awake to the world, your neighbors, your children, and your church members are navigating. You need to understand why the US government is stockpiling digital assets, what it means when stable coins start functioning as everyday currency in nations that have lost trust in their own own money, and why the tokenization of assets could reshape how ordinary people own and transfer wealth. Being informed is not the same as being anxious. Being aware is not the same as being entangled. Our citizenship is in heaven, but we live out that citizenship in a particular moment in a particular economy with neighbors who are vulnerable and with resources that God has entrusted to our care. The sons of Issachar understood the times, so may we also understand ours, and bring that understanding back to our congregations, our families, and our callings, as those whose wisdom is finally answerable to God and God alone. Well that's it. Thanks for joining us. I hope I was able to provide you a balanced approach to what is happening in the world from a Calvinist Christian life coach's perspective. Thanks for joining us, and until next time, to all who love the Lord with an undying love, may God's grace and peace abound in you today and forevermore. Godspeed.