Cultivating Contentment In a Consumerist Culture (Part 3)

You can teach them to your kids. And so number one, we said that

you should model contentment in the home.

What you do and, and what you say is what your kids are going

to see as acceptable and what you allow in moderation, your

kids are going to do in excess. And so it's important that you

be the model in the home. To this end #2 you should mentor

workers in the home. And we said that work as a means

for your provision. And that work is ordained by

God. I know we many times we look at

work as, as something that we should dread, but God ordained

work before the fall. God gave Adam the job of, of

dressing the garden and keeping it and naming all the animals

and doing all those things. And that was work.

And that was, that was before the curse.

Now, obviously by the sweat of your brow, you're going to have

to work and dig and plant and do all those things.

And that was part of the curse. But work is ordained by God and

it's a gift that's given to given to us by God.

But here's what I want to talk about tonight #3 is to manage

stewardship habits in the home. That's how you that's one way

that you can cultivate contentment, just being able to

handle your money. And you know, teaching your

children to work is a vital thing, but too many people

willing to work don't reap the blessings because they're not

good stewards of their money. And you know, there's, there's

many times when, when things come up that you would like to

be able to take part in, you'd like to be able to give to, and

you can't because you have no money because not that you don't

work, not that you don't make decent amount of money, but you

don't know how to keep it. You don't know how to spend it

the right way. And so you have no money to be

able to do the things that you would like to do or to do the

things that are important. And obviously we're in the

middle of this Belize project right now and we got a lot

that's going on down there. And, and, and I'm not saying

that you should have saved all your money so you could give it

to that, but I'm saying, you know, there's probably, there's

probably some of you who would like to have given to that

project and can't because you don't have any money, because

you haven't handled your money the right way.

There's a lot of other projects that we could that, that, that,

you know, we have an opportunity to give to maybe a missionary

project or even something in the church that you would say, man,

I would love to be able to jump in and give to that.

I'd love to be able to give to the youth to go do this.

I'd love to be able to do that, but I can't because I don't have

any money. It's not because you're not

working and that would be a problem, but it's, it's because

you don't know how to handle your money the right way.

So first Corinthians chapter 4 and verse #1 the Bible says let

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards

of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in

stewards that a man be found faithful.

And we're going to talk a little bit more about those principles.

In fact, you can turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter 16

because we're going to get there in just a second.

But attitudes regarding money are learned, and most of the

time they're learned in the home.

Children primarily learn their attitudes about money from their

parents. And you've seen it.

You know, families that that charge themselves into deep debt

often see that not that debt, but new debt perpetuated in the

next generation because that's all they ever saw their parents

do is live in debt. And so, you know, even though

they go out and they get a good job, next thing you know, they

are in deep debt on credit cards and all kinds of other things

because that's what they've seen their parents do.

And, and a lot of other things. You know, families that are

inconsistent in giving to the Lord and to his work and to

other people often see those similar inconsistencies in the

next generation because they're learning from you how to give.

They're learning from you what their principles of giving

should be. It's because of the habits of

stewardship, whether they be generous or stingy, whether they

be frugal or wasteful, whether they be budgeting or reckless,

when it comes to those things, those things tend to be learned

in the home. And so my, my, my point here is

that it's very important for us as parents to make sure that we

are handling our money the correct way if we're going to

teach our children to handle their money the correct way.

Because number one, it's very hard to teach them something you

don't know. But #2 it's very hard to model

something for them if you're not doing it yourself, right?

So you don't have to be wealthy to be able to handle your money

the right way. You don't have to be wealthy to

be able to have enough money to do the things that you want to

do. You just have to know how to

handle your money. And you know, if, if parents

don't intentionally teach those different habits to their

children, they're going to copy what you're doing anyway, even

if you're not saying this is what don't do what I do, do what

I'm telling you to do. And how many times have you

heard parents say that maybe not with money, maybe with other

things. Do as I say, not as I do.

But 99% of the time, children are going to do as you do, not

as you say, right? So all of us who are parents

could, could tell of different, you know, stewardship mistakes

that we've made. And none of us want to see our

our children make those same mistakes.

So what are some habits that we need to teach our children

regarding wise financial stewardship, or maybe we could

even say wise financial decisions?

How do we handle our money the right way in a way that's

pleasing to the Lord? And by the way, the Bible talks

a lot about money. This is not just this is not

just some, you know, some hobby horse that I have or something

like that, that that's part of being a steward of what God gave

us. God gave you money.

He expects you to steward it in the right way.

God didn't give you a ton of money.

He still expects you to steward it in the right way.

So there's a few things that I want to give you tonight.

Can you turn this down just a little bit?

I feel like I've got an echo just a little bit.

But First Corinthians chapter 16, number one is to teach

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

giving, Teach your children giving.

And again, it's hard to teach your kids something that you're

not doing. And that's what all of these

different things that I'm going to talk about tonight.

And these are probably some things that you could even write

down and just make sure that you're doing them the right way

at home. But here's what the Bible says

in First Corinthians chapter 16 and verse #1 Now concerning the

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

collection for the Saints. As I have given order to the

churches of Galatia, Even so do ye.

Upon the first day of the week, let everyone of you lay by him

in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings

when I come. See, generosity begins when a

child first learns to give to the Lord.

You get a birthday card and you get a $10.00 bill and that

birthday card and $1.00 of that belongs to the Lord. $10 is not

a lot on the grand scheme of things.

It may be a lot of money to a child and for them to give a

dollar away to the offering plate, that's a lot to ask of a

kid. But you know what?

When you teach them to give at a very young age, it's not hard to

give, right? If you automatically know that

10% at least, of everything that I make belongs to God, it's not

hard to give it to Him, right? It's not your money in the first

place, it's his money, right? We have any that, that, that 10%

off the top that belongs to God. I don't know what you're getting

upset about. It's not even your money in the

1st place. We haven't even started talking

about your money yet, right? That's the, that's the, the

offerings on top of the tithe, right?

It belongs to God. And, and as you, you know, as,

as your children learn how to give, he'll learn first hand

that giving is better than receiving, right?

Acts chapter 20 and verse #35 I have showed you all things, how

Acts 20 · chapter mention

that soul laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember

the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to

give than to receive. Well, that's a principle that

Jesus Christ himself gave. So if he gave it, don't you

think it's a principle that actually works?

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

We have it backwards, right? It is, this is a consumerist

culture, and that's why the title Cultivating Contentment in

a consumerist culture. It's all about what I can get,

what can I hoard, what can I have for me, right?

And now we're trying to teach our kids to give it away.

It goes against the culture, but there's a vast majority of

Christians in America who are not giving to the Lord's work.

And by the way, I'm, I'm, I don't know what anybody in this

church gives. I really don't because I'm not

the one sitting there counting the money.

I know what our offerings are every week and that's about it.

I don't know what you give. So when I preach on giving, I'm

not preaching because I know that you're not giving anything.

I'm trying to squeeze something out of your pocket.

All right. But I'm saying that when you

give, God blesses you. When you give, it is more

blessed to give than to receive. And there's a huge majority, by

the way, there there's studies that, that, that different

church organizations have done that.

Only 20 to 25% of of churchgoers actually give in the offering

plate, 20 to 25%. That's not very much, you know,

and you think that that who knows how many people are out

there making a lot of money that that wouldn't even, you know,

wouldn't even bother them if they gave, you know, something

to the Lord. But one of the reasons for that

is the lack of basic spiritual discipline.

And it may be that they were never taught how to give as a

child. I don't know.

If you don't teach your kids how to give, they're going to grow

up stingy and they're not going to want to let go of the money

that they have. So if you as a parent believe

it's a RIP off to give, then your kids are going to sense

that, right? Oh man, I got to put this money

in the offering plate again. Could you imagine what we could

have if we just didn't have to give to the Lord, right?

That's the attitude that that some people have.

And guess what? Your kids pick up on that?

Well, I want to have the stuff that they don't have.

So I guess I'm just not going to give to the Lord, right?

If that's your mindset, then you're never going to teach your

children the stewardship principles.

That would be one of the greatest blessings that they

could carry into their adult lives.

If your kids grow up learning how and knowing how to give to

the Lord, God blesses those who give.

And I've seen it first hand over and over and over and over in my

own life. And I've heard so many stories

of people who just decided that they were going to give to the

Lord and God bless them because of it, right?

We don't give just to receive, but God promises that when you

give, you will receive. That's a wonderful principle.

Teach your children the promises that God gives to those who are

faithful to give. Fact, turn over to Proverbs

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. I got a couple verses in

Proverbs, so it'll be helpful for you to turn over there.

Proverbs chapter 3. And again, I told you that

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

there's many, many verses in the Bible that talk about money and

talk about giving. So this is not just, it's not

one verse. And we pull it out and hammer it

and hammer it and hammer it. There's a lot of verses in the

Bible that talk about giving, and here's one of them.

Proverbs, chapter 3 and verse #9 Honor the Lord with thy

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.

Verse 10. So shall thy barns be filled

with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

That's the give and receive principle, right?

Oh, and this the, there's a prosperity gospel out there that

says, you know, you plant a little seed and God's going to

give you a great crop. I'm, I'm trying to buy this new

airplane. So you need to plant that seed a

little bit bigger and in a few more places, right?

And God's going to bless you for giving.

That's not, that's not what this is talking about, right?

This is not the prosperity gospel.

But what the Bible's saying here is honor the Lord you give to

him, and God will make sure that you are taken care of, right?

So teach giving #2 teach budgeting.

Proverbs chapter 27. Turn over there, Proverbs

Proverbs 27 · chapter mention Proverbs 27 · chapter mention

chapter 27. Now, the Bible doesn't

specifically give us the steps, if you will, to set up a budget,

but it sure does speak a whole lot about being a responsible

steward and handling your finances in a godly way.

And really, the only way that you are going to be responsible

with your money is if you set up a budget.

Now, I suppose if you have a billion dollars, you probably

don't need a budget because you can just go buy whatever you

want. It doesn't matter, right?

But anything less than a billion, you probably need to

have a budget set up. And if you're a secret

billionaire, I need to talk to you after the service.

We got some things we're trying to accomplish here, but Proverbs

Proverbs 27 · chapter mention

chapter 27 and verse #23 the Bible says this.

Be thou diligent to know the state of life flocks and look

well to thy herds. Well, that's not exactly, you

know, a budget, but it it sure is paying attention to what you

have and where it's going and how it's doing right.

A budget is a is a vital tool in financial planning and in wise

spending. In fact, turn over to Province

23 I I'm going to do at some point a specific class and I may

just do it on a Tuesday night or something.

But on how to set up a budget. But I'm going to give you a

couple of the basic things that you can start working on tonight

that that will help you to start going in the direction of

setting up a budget. But Proverbs 23 verse #3 be not

desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat labor

not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom.

Turn over to Luke chapter 14 because here's another perfect

Luke 14 · chapter mention

example of just exactly what the Bible is talking about when it

comes to learning how to budget and learning how to plan with

your money right. If you don't know where your

money is going, the chances are it's going and it's not coming

back, right? Riches take make themselves

wings as wings and fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

If you don't have a budget, chances are your money is taking

wings and it's just going and you're like, I don't know why I

owe on everything and I don't know why I never have any money

and I don't know why at the end of the month I can't pay my

bills. I'm making a decent amount of

money. Why can't I pay my bills?

Well, if you don't have a budget, you have no idea where

your money is going. That's that's probably a good

reason why. So Luke chapter 14 and verse #28

Luke 14 · chapter mention

for which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down

1st and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to

finish it, lest happily after he has laid the foundation and is

not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock him

saying this man began to build and was not able to finish.

That's a that's a man that did not budget his money.

He started building the house and he didn't even have the

money to finish it. And now you become a laughing

stock because you got a foundation there and you don't

even have enough money to put a house on it, right?

That's what Jesus is saying here.

What you view intending to build a tower doesn't sit down and

count the cost. First, figure it out, right?

So let me give you a couple principles here, a couple things

and not even principles, just a couple practical things.

And I don't even have any of these written down.

This is just, this is what I do. This is what we do in our

family, what I've been doing for probably 25 or 30 years.

My dad got me started on this when I was when I was young.

And I'm glad that he did because we started, we started budgets

early and we have an envelope system.

We cash every check and I put cash in every envelope.

And that may not be 100% practical for everybody,

especially if you make a lot of money.

It may be a lot more cash than what you can deal with, but

there is there what, what you need to do is sit down and write

a list of everything that you have as an expense every month,

right? And 1st off, you need to write

down your monthly expenses. So what do you have?

What do you have every month? Well, normally most people have

a mortgage, right? You got to pay your house, you

got to pay for your house. So write down what your monthly

payment is. The nice thing is that one

rarely changes. It doesn't fluctuate very much.

So write that down. How much is that every month?

And then what else? What are other things that you

have that are expenses that you that are pretty much close to

the same every month? Utilities, right?

So your electric and gas if you have it, water if you have it.

What else? What are other things?

What have student loans? Student loans, There you go.

That's for some people, right? I graduated college with no

student loans because I had a budget.

No, I'm just kidding. But but what are the things that

you have? Student loans is a good one,

right? Because if you owe on a student

loan, then you still have to pay for it, right?

What else? What are other things that you

have as an expense every month? Groceries, right?

If you have an idea of how much your groceries are, write it

down, right? What are your expenses, Brother

Ryan Yes, that's a big one, right?

If you have a vehicle and you're paying on that vehicle right

now, you should not be paying on a vehicle for the rest of your

life. Because if you handle your money

the right way, then eventually you should get to the point

where you can pay for that vehicle cash and now you're

saving up to buy the next one, not paying every month of

payment for that, right. So those are all things that

you're working toward. But what you need to do is and

everybody's are going to be different.

I'm just trying to give you a few examples of different things

that you would have as as an expense every single month.

You need to sit down and write out what all of your expenses

are. These are things that I have to

pay for every month. Because what you want to be able

to do is, wouldn't it be nice if at the end of the month the

electric bill came due and it was $250?

And instead of saying, man, I hope I have $250 in my bank

account to pay it this month. You went to your envelope and

you said there's the $250 that goes into the electric bill and

you can put it in the bank and you can make your payment,

right? By the way, there's a lot of

other things that you can do to save money as well.

Get a credit card and put it on a credit card and just pay it

off at the end of every month. If you're going to pay me to use

it, I'll use it right. If you're going to give me

miles, if you're going to give me cash back, I, I don't think

I've ever, and my wife can correct me, but I, I, I don't

think we have ever paid a late payment on a credit card or, or

one month of interest on a credit card.

Have we never because, but, but we, I have, I have 3 or 4

different credit cards, but depending on what it is and how

much it is and how much you're going to pay me to use your

card, I'll, I'll use your card if you're going to give me money

back for it, I've got the money in the envelope, right?

I'm not, I'm not buying something with money that I

don't have. I'm buying something with buying

with money that I do have. And so at the end of the month,

when that bill comes due, I just go and I take everything out of

the envelope and I put it into the bank and I pay that credit

card bill off, no interest, right?

And you know what happens that builds your credit.

And then you know what happens? You start getting all kinds of

0% interest credit cards and they want you to be a customer

of theirs because you are a, a, a, a really good customer right

now. There's, there's a lot of

different things that go along with that.

And I, and if you're not, if you're not disciplined in your

spending, then I would, I would say don't get a credit card

because next thing you know, you're going to have a 25% of

interest rate on it that you're paying on top of everything

else. And almost everything that

you're paying is going to be interest.

It's not going to be going toward your, your expenses.

So if you're not disciplined, don't have a credit card and

don't do that. But, but if you have a budget

set up and you've been doing it for a while and you're used to

how everything works and they're going to give you cash back to

use your to use their card, why not use it, right?

If they're going to give you airplane miles to use their

card, why not use it pay it off at the end of every month,

right? But that's the first step that

you need to do when it comes to setting up a budget is figure

out what all of your expenses are.

And then every single dollar of your paycheck needs to have a

name, if you will. I think that's how Dave Ramsey

says it. I haven't looked at Dave

Ramsey's system in a long time, but but Dave Ramsey does a

pretty good job with the financial Peace University and

all those things. He's a financial guy.

He's a Christian guy that that helps people get out of debt and

everything else. But one of the things that he

says is make sure that every dollar has an right when you get

your paycheck every month. You don't say, all right, I got

$600.00 and I can just go spend and do whatever I want to with

oh stink, I've got bills to pay and no money, right?

That $600.00 comes in and whether it's a percentage that

you do it on or whether it's a, an amount.

OK, so let's just say that your mortgage payment is $1000 a

month will make it really easy, right?

Your mortgage payment is $1000 a month.

Easiest way to do it is to split the month up in 4 weeks, right?

Obviously there's 52 weeks in a year, 4 * 12 is 48.

So at the end of the year you have an extra 4 weeks in there

that that just are extra money that goes into it unless you're

really trying to pinch pennies and then you can do it on 52

weeks. But if you're trying to do it.

If you're doing a month, that's four weeks, then a $1000

mortgage payment means that how much per week has to go into

that envelope, $250 and guess what you're going to have at the

end of that month, $1000 in an envelope that you can put into

the bank and make your payment or send it in as a check or

whatever, however you want to pay that, right?

But the same thing with your electric bill and the same thing

with your groceries and the same thing with with all of the

expenses that you have. There is such a piece.

And by the way, the first envelope that you should have is

your tithing envelope, right? 10% automatically 10%.

And if you want to give more and you should give more than, then

put more of that in there and watch how all the rest of the

envelopes grow because you're taking care of God's work first,

right? Most people when they start

realizing that they're getting a little bit tight, they say,

well, first envelope needs to go tithing.

RIP that up, throw it out. When I can start affording it

again, I'll start putting money in there.

You're never going to be able to afford it because if you're not

given to the Lord's word, God's not going to bless you

financially either, right? But having said that, you need

to figure out how much you need to split it up on a four week

per month, how many what that paycheck looks like.

Now, some, sometimes you have people who are self-employed.

And So what you need to do is do everything on a percentage

basis, right? I know that my mortgage is

roughly 20% of my income. So I'm going to put 20% of that

into the, into the mortgage payment, whatever it happens to

be, You got to, you got to figure it out.

Every, everybody is different. Every, every situation is

different. But the main thing that you're

trying to do is figure out what are your expenses every month,

Figure out how much needs to go into that envelope every month.

That's a basic budget, right? It's a very, very basic budget.

But now you, now let's say you want to go on vacation.

You know what most people do? Throw it on a credit card.

We'll figure out how to pay for it $4000 later.

And ten years later, they're still paying and they still owe

$3982 because all they've been doing is paying interest for the

last 10 years, right? You don't, you don't, you don't

go on vacation because you feel like, all right, let's go on

vacation and just put it on a credit card and we'll figure it

out. No, you go on vacation with

money that you've saved up for vacation.

How do you save up money for vacation?

You got an envelope for it, right?

And if all you can afford to put in there is 20 bucks a paycheck,

then you're going to have to wait a little while before you

go on vacation. But you know what?

It's going to feel so good when you can go on vacation and it's

paid for instead of saying, man, this is great, but this is not

really that enjoyable because I have no idea how I'm going to

pay for it when I get back. But that's what most Americans

do. And that's why most Americans

live in debt. And that's why they that's why

they have the the financial pressure on them constantly

because they don't know how they're going to make their next

payment because they're living paycheck to paycheck, because

they just blow it on whatever feels comfortable, right?

That's what I'm talking talking about when I say that we're

trying to cultivate contentment in a consumerist culture.

A consumerist culture says if it feels good and you want to do

it, then you'd go do that, right?

Doesn't matter if you don't have the money, you'll, you'll figure

it out someday, go into debt, you just file for bankruptcy,

it's fine. And then everything goes away

and you can start all over again, right?

That's the mindset, right? But that's not the way that a

Christian should be handling their money in a way that's

pleasing to the Lord, right? And, and, and you don't have to

be a millionaire to be able to pay the, the bills that you

have, right? I, I, I think, and, and I don't

mean this in a bad way, but I think a lot of people would be

shocked to find out how little I actually make when it comes to

my salary. But you know what?

I live fine. You know why?

Because I've got a budget and I've had a budget for a long

time. And when you have a budget set

up, yeah, there are things that you would like to do that you

can't. But guess what?

Save up for it and eventually you can, right?

You don't spend money that you don't have.

Well, you know what? Sure would be nice to have all

new kitchen counters in here. And I mean, it's been 10 years

since we've done anything here. Let's go RIP the whole kitchen

apart and let's just go splurge and get what we want, right?

I'm not picking on you, brother. If you got the money to do it,

you got the money to do it. I'm just saying, right?

Oh, oh, oh, oh, finger pointing. No, that's what I'm saying.

Hey, listen, if you have the money to do it, you got the

money to do it. And if you do it the right way,

it works, right? And if you saved up your money

and you've worked, and I know that they have and saved their

money up for all of the years that they worked and all those

things and you want a new kitchen and you can afford it,

go get a new kitchen, right? But most people are saying, man,

the the neighbors next door just redid their whole kitchen, and

man, that sure looks nice. These appliances are all five

years old now. And boy, it sure would be nice

to have all new appliances. Let's RIP them out and throw

them away and go get new ones. Right.

Just put it on the credit card. We'll figure out how to do it.

Yeah. Yeah.

Now, I don't want your junk either, but actually they did

that, that the, the stove and the refrigerator back there is

from Brother Alan, Miss Esther's house.

They got new appliances and they gave it to the church and it, it

worked really well for us because they're not, they're not

old. But you know, that's, that's

what, that's that's what most people want to do too.

Hey, pastor, we got a new blah, blah, blah.

Do you want our old one? We're getting rid of it.

You know, most of the time it's a piece of junk and you just

don't want to deal with it. That's why you give it to the

church. They'll deal with it.

You know, I'm, I'm kidding, But all I'm saying is when it comes

to budgeting, you need to teach your children to plan with

wisdom, to plan with purpose, and you need to do the same

thing yourself. Teach them to plan ahead and

save for those large purchases. Jackson's had a budget since how

old? I don't know, but a long time

and he's been saving up to buy a car for a long time and he's

been putting money into an envelope for a long time to save

up to buy a car, right? And we have a 2007 Toyota 400

and 335,000 miles on it. And that's what he gets to drive

until he's ready to pay for his own car, right?

But save up for that, right? You don't have to have the

newest and the nicest and the best of everything.

If you can't afford it, you can't afford it.

That is not being a wise steward of the money that God gave you,

right? So teach them how to put their

financial income and their expenses on paper and to target

and track their spending, right? If you know where your money is

going, then when things get tight, you know where you can,

where you can squeeze the, the belt a little bit tighter.

If you, if you have no idea where your money's going or how

it's leaving or what it's, you know where it's flying to when

it heads out, you're never going to be able to rein it back in,

right? You ought to have a couple

months worth of of income. So what happens if you lose your

job and now all the sudden you don't have a way to make any

money? All right, most people go under

and they go bankrupt in that situation because they are

literally living paycheck to paycheck.

But if you've got a, a rainy day fund where you wouldn't expect

in the dryer to blow up, but it blew up and I didn't have a, a

budget envelope for the dryer, but I do have $1000 sitting

aside in an envelope for emergencies.

And I can just go use that and I'll fill that back in over the

next few paychecks, right? That's, that's how you handle

your money wisely. And that's how you keep from

going broke or going bankrupt when things don't go the way

that you expected it to go. So teach giving, teach budgeting

#3 and this kind of goes right along with that because you

ought to have an envelope for this as well.

But teach saving. Turn over to Proverbs 21.

See, Americans today don't know how to save anything.

There was a, there was a study that was done that said that

almost 20% of Americans save nothing.

And I think it's higher than that, but 20% of Americans save

nothing from year to year. And another 28% save only very

small amounts of their income. And, and surprisingly, the, the,

the ones who save the most are not from the highest income

households. You'd be surprised.

I mean, remember what happened in 2008 and all these people who

were in multi $1,000,000 houses were the ones who had to bail

out and leave it, go into foreclosure, right?

They're working good jobs, they're making plenty of money

and they're the ones that had to foreclose in their houses

because they're living paycheck to paycheck because they're

living at the, at the, at the edge of their means.

And they're spending every dime that they make.

And it's like, you know, oh, I'm glad I got this money in there

because I got to pay that. And then I'm going to use this

to pay that. I'm going to use this to pay

that. And they're just shuffling money

around because that's the only way they can keep their heads

above water, right? Not saving a dime.

You know, maybe they have a, their company is, is paying them

four O 1K for them or something like that.

And that's the only hope that they have for retirement, right.

So somebody and so so they did this study and one of the

analysts in that study said saving is not a function of

income, It's a function of having the ability to live

within your means and save consistently, right?

Just because you make a lot of money doesn't mean that you're

going to be wise with that money and doesn't mean that you're

going to have a lot of money in savings.

And just because you don't make a lot doesn't mean that you

can't live below your means and save up money, right?

So the Bible says this in Proverbs 21 and verse #20 there

is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise.

But a foolish man spendeth it up, right?

Similar to giving in a lot of ways.

But a commitment to save might require sacrifices along the

way. Now, by the way, I think there

is, I think there's a danger in this as well.

You can save so much and pinch pennies so much that you miss

out on opportunities that you could have, especially with your

kids when they're growing up, right?

You don't have to spend a lot of money to spend some money and

enjoy some time with your kids and doing things that are going

to make memories. You cannot make memories when

your kids are gone, right? You only can make memories with

your kids while they're in the home.

And unfortunately, it's usually when most people have the least

amount of money, right? You start to finally get on a

good sound financial footing about the time that all the kids

leave, right? That's usually the way that it

goes. And you have plenty of money.

And so now when they come into town once a year, you can afford

to take everybody out to eat and pay for it.

And that's nice. But what about all the

opportunities that you had when they were growing up to take

them out and do things right? Well, hey, I'm comfortable.

I got, I got $1.5 million in the bank, but nobody ever comes

around to do anything with it, right?

And I suppose one day my kids will have it and they'll enjoy

it. But I missed out on all the

memories, right? Saving is important and you

should be saving, but don't save so much that you forget the

opportunities that you have in front of you right now.

To go on a vacation doesn't have to be expensive to go to this

place and do this thing or go to that place and do that thing.

Don't save so much of your money that you miss out on those

opportunities. But it's financial skill that

children need to learn and it'll serve them well in their adult

lives if you teach them how to save.

Turn over to Luke chapter 15. Because the other thing, the

Luke 15 · chapter mention

fourth thing that you need to teach them how to do is to spend

and to teach them how to spend. Perhaps the best example in

scripture of a young person that did not practice wise spending

was the prodigal son, right? The Bible says in Luke chapter

Luke 15 · chapter mention

15 and verse #13 And not many days after, the younger son

gathered all together, and he took his journey into a far

country, and what there wasted his substance with riotous

living. And when he had spent all, there

arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in

want. See, young people need to learn

how to save and learn when to save and when and how to spend.

And there's four specific spending patterns, I guess that

we need to teach our kids to avoid.

Number one is the impulsive spending.

Most people are in debt because of impulsive spending.

They see something, they like it, they want it, they buy it,

right. And sometimes it's, there's

something that's not small. You're walking around in bass

pro One way, one way that you can

keep from buying impulsively is to spend on a big purchase car,

something like that. Spend 30 days praying about it

before you buy it, right? You know what happens?

A lot of times all you need is one day and you're like, you

know what? Yeah, probably probably not.

I probably don't really need that, right?

It's just that when you're in the heat of the moment, the,

the, the one of the hardest things to do to teach yourself

and to teach your kids is to walk away from something that

you really want, right? But if you can walk away from

something that you really want, then you're probably only going

to buy the things that you really need, right?

Or that are that are good, that are good decisions.

At least that's impulsive spending.

Compulsive spending is another one.

And it's dangerous for a teenager to feel that every time

he goes into a store, he's got to buy something, right?

The money when my dad always said the money's burning a hole

in your pocket, right? You finally got 10 bucks and I

got to spend it. I got to spend it.

I don't care if I'm going to buy all packs of gum.

I don't care if it's, you know, I don't care what it is.

I'm just, I've got to spend the money because it's, it's in my

pocket, right? That's compulsive spending.

Every time I go, I got to buy something at this place, right?

Traditions is one thing, but compulsive spending is something

else. Here's another one, special

interest spending. That's when somebody feels like

they've got to have the new gadget or more stuff related to

whatever their area of special interest is.

I think, I think a good example of that would be like golf,

right? The newest clubs come out and

I've got to have the newest clubs or this gadget came out

and I've got to, I've got to have that thing because man, how

cool would that be if you know, if I'm walking around in the

course and I have one of these and everybody else wants to use

it, right? Special interest, doesn't matter

what it is. There's a lot of different

things where you've got to have the latest and the best because

it's there, right? And I mean, it could be, it

could be anything. I mean, it could be cars, it

could be, you know, electronics. I mean, nothing wrong with

having a, an electronic that is, that is new and functioning.

But at the same time, just because it's new doesn't mean

that you have to have it, right? I mean, look what happens when

they announce the new iPhones every year.

The lines out the Apple Store are, are ridiculous because

people got to have it just because it's new and it's the

latest one, right? I mean, it might not even be any

different than the one before. It's just that it's new and I've

got to have it right? And, and a lot of people are in

debt because of that special interest spending.

And, and, and you want to encourage your kids to have

hobbies and, and, and skills and things like that in their lives,

but you don't want to encourage them to, to you don't want to

encourage them with a need to have, I've got to have this

right. And then the 4th one that is a

spending pattern that we need to teach our kids to avoid is

status seeking spending. And it's, it's, it's vital that

we teach our children that, that our acceptance comes from the

Lord and that it's very futile to seek acceptance from the

world, right? It's what is it always called

keeping up with the Joneses, right?

You've heard that phrase many, many times, keeping up with the

Joneses. Well, they got this.

So I've got to have that and I've got to one up them because

they got this and I got to have that, right, status seeking.

And it's just, you know, but it's a very dangerous thing too,

because many times that gives you a great desire to be just

like the world, right? It's the newest pair of shoes

that came out. I got to have it because if I

have those and everybody's going to, you know, everybody's going

to be fawning all over me. And I've got to have that car

because it's the newest and nicest.

And I've got to have this type of house because this is the

style now. And I've got to have these

things in my house because if you have a house like this, you

got to have that. And it's all about seeking a

status, right? It's all about, it's all about

being recognized by people from the outside.

And man, that's exactly what happened in 2008 when that when

everything crashed, they had to have it.

They had to have it because, well, I, I'm ACEO of this

company and I make millions of dollars.

So I've got to have a couple $1,000,000 house.

You know, some of the, some of the wealthiest people and some

of the people who, who have generational wealth live in

something that's way smaller than you would think they could

have. And they drive something way

cheaper than you think they could drive, right?

Some of these guys that, that, that have the most money.

That's one of the reasons why they have that money.

So, you know, some, sometimes when it comes to those kind of

status seeking things, it's going to mean holding the line

as a parent and not overspending or letting your kids overspend

just to just to gain the attention of other kids, right?

I think one of the one of the good examples of that for me,

especially growing up was, was basketball, right?

Everybody had to have a pair of Nike basketball shoes because

that meant you had the good shoes, right?

Here I am buying Warner Brothers on the clearance rack at Kmart,

right? My parents didn't let me

overspend. Now I didn't want to because I

didn't have the money and I was buying it myself.

And that's one good way to keep your kids from overspending.

But even if they have the money, even if they worked and somebody

gave them $200 for mowing the grass and they got money in

their pocket that's burning a hole in it and they can afford

to buy a really expensive pair of basketball shoes, it's not a

good idea to let them buy it, right?

I mean, I'm not, I'm not saying that they have to buy the

plastic bottom shoes at Payless, but at the same time they go to

the outlets and buy a pair of shoes that's 40 bucks.

They, they last the same amount of time.

And just because they don't have the, the little swoosh on the

side of it that everybody thinks you got to have to be able to

play basketball, doesn't mean that they have to overspend just

to have that status, right? So those 4 stewardship

principles, giving, budgeting, saving, spending, those are

habits that we have to instill in our children and they need to

see us practicing those biblical financial stewardship of things

ourself. And, and then they need us to

teach them how to manage those, those basic habits of godly

stewardship as well. I want to move into one more

thing, and I'll be very quick with this, but #4 is this in

order to teach contentment or to cultivate contentment?

And that is to maintain biblical priorities in the home?

Turn over to Hebrews chapter 13. See, when it comes to teaching

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

our children contentment, it's not only about what we do in the

ways of budgeting and working. It's also about the attitude of

our hearts. That's probably what expresses

our priorities more than anything else.

And so sometimes people work hard and they're disciplined in

theirs their budget simply because their priorities are

that they want to have bigger and better later, right?

Nothing wrong with saving up, right?

Working hard and being disciplined and spending are,

are, are great ways to plan for a large purchase.

But that's not the kind of priorities that we want to focus

on. We need to focus on setting and

modeling 2 basic priorities of contentment.

And, and they're this number one, trust in the Lord.

That's what we want to focus on setting and modeling as a

priority when it comes to contentment, trust in the Lord.

See the the heart of biblical contentment is trusting that God

is enough, then he's going to provide for our needs, right.

Hebrews chapter 13 verse #5 let your conversation be without

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he

had said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

What is the goal here? If you if you look at that

verse, what's the goal is it have things be content.

But what does he, what does he say?

That we should be content with things.

Be content with such things as you have.

For he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

Who's the focus? He is right?

I'm not going to leave you and forsake you.

You don't need anything else. You have me be content with the

things that you have, right? I've, I've already told you, I'm

not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.

What else do you need? Be content with what you have.

That's what he's saying. So trust in the Lord.

Sometimes what we do for the Lord or in giving to others

doesn't make sense financially. You know, you, for example, if

you go to a financial counselor, they're probably not going to

recommend that you give 20% of your income to the church,

right? They're probably not going to

recommend that because it doesn't make sense financially.

There's been many times when, when we've sat down and said,

man, I've no idea how this is working out, but it does because

God blesses you when you do it his way, right?

And, and it's not always that God is going to give you

everything that you desire. It's not God's going to make you

a millionaire because you give to him or you're going to walk

Outback. And sure enough, that money tree

is actually going to be growing in the backyard and you can just

start plucking dollars off of it, right?

Doesn't work that way. But you know what happens?

You know what God does? He allows your washing machine

to last way longer than you thought it was going to, right?

Your car can have 275,000 miles on it still running just fine,

right? That's how God blesses the

people who financially take care of him first, right?

It may not be that God gives you all the money that you need, but

He'll keep you from having to spend the money that you have,

right? So trust in the Lord.

Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10. Bring ye all the ties into the

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me

Now herewith, saith the Lord of host, if I will not open you the

windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall

not be room enough to receive it, that's a pretty big blessing

just forgiven to the Lord, isn't it?

Luke chapter 6, verse 38. Give, and it shall be given unto

Luke 6:38

you. Press down, good measure,

pressed down and shaken together, and running over shall

men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that

you meet with all, it shall be measured to you again.

So teaching them the priority of trust in the Lord is is is truly

more important than anything you can give them materially, but

not only trust in the Lord, but also serve the Lord.

And I'll just read this to you for the sake of time.

But first Samuel chapter 3 and verse #1 in the child Samuel

1 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord

was precious. In those days, there was no open

vision. See, serving others and teaching

our children to serve others helps them to develop an

attitude of contentment because it turns their attention from

their wants and their desires to the actual needs of others.

And I tell you, probably one of the the biggest eye opening

experiences for for me when I was young.

And when I was in 9th grade, I went on a missions trip to

Mexico. And boy, you think that you have

it rough in the US because you didn't get to buy your Nike

shoes because you didn't, you know, get to have the nicest of

this and you don't have all the money in the world.

Go to Mexico and go to some of these little villages where they

have dirt streets and they have a house that's made out of

cardboard. And Belize is the same way, man.

That's why that's that's one of the reasons why I want to get

our kids down there to Belize and let them see how good we

have it in the US. I've been in a lot of places in

this world and there is no place like the United States of

America. And even the poorest of the

people in the United States of America live like kings compared

to most of the rest of the world.

You want to cultivate contentment, go out and serve in

some of these underserved communities.

Go into some of the projects and see how they live.

Because the parents are drug addicts and they spend all their

money on, on booze and, and dope and these kids that, that are

running around, you know, with nothing on but a diaper and it's

full because they have no parent to take care of them, because

the parents are crackheads and everything else.

And then go home and act like you don't have something to be

content about, right? Serve others.

And as a parent, you can help mold and model those basic

priorities of trust in the Lord and service to others by doing

both of those things yourself, by creating opportunities for

your kids to participate in those things as well.

Is there a cost? Yeah, there will be right money

time, but the benefits far outweigh the cost.

And so all that to say that the road to contentment begins at

home. You want your kids to grow up

and be content in a culture that tells them that there is no way

that you can be content because you always got to have at least

one more dollar. You always got to have at least

a little bit bigger house. You always got to have a little

bit newer car. You got to drive a little bit

better. This, you got to have that and,

and this culture that tells us that that the way to succeed is

just keep gathering and gathering and gathering and

gathering. You want them to grow up and

live for the Lord and be content with what they have.

Then we've got to model these things.

We've got to teach them to our kids.

They're not just going to grow up knowing how to do them, but

if you're going to teach them to your kids, you've got to do it

yourself. You've got to live content.

You've got to live in a way that's pleasing the Lord.

You've got to live in a way that's financially responsible.

You've got to do these different things that that help them know

how how to do those things. And so, you know, children who

learn those principles and skills enter adulthood with

financial and social maturity beyond their years, and they

begin their adult lives with these principles and these

habits that are going to set them up for the rest of their

lives. Man, when they know how to save,

when they know how to spend, when they know how to budget,

when they know how to how to give to the Lord, they're going

to begin their adult lives with such a huge advantage on the

rest of the world. And best of all, most of all

because they'll have contentment.

They'll always have enough. They'll always have enough.

Doesn't matter if God calls him to the mission field and they're

living in a Hut somewhere. They'll have enough because

they've learned contentment doesn't matter if God calls them

to, to, to go to Belize. And boy, you saw some of the

pictures of some of these houses that are just made out of

plywood and that's it. If that's all you can, that's

all you can have, then you'll be content because you've learned

how to live content with whatever you have.

Be content with such things as you have.

For he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake the you

have him. You have enough.

You have a you have, you have clothes to wear, food to eat, a

house to sleep in. You've given enough, right?

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all

these things will be added unto you.

Put in first. You teach that to your kids.

They'll always have enough. They'll always be content.

We need to model that ourselves. We're spoiled Americans, that's

what we are. We're spoiled Americans and

we've been, we've been conditioned to have everything

given to us the second we want it.

And Amazon doesn't help, but most of us live uncontent

because what it said it was going to get her overnight

between 4:00 and 8:00, and it didn't get here till noon,

right? But we got to model those things

for our kids. And if we teach those things to

our kids, then they will grow up knowing how to be content no

matter what happens, no matter where God calls them, no matter

what situation they end up in, and they'll always be taken care

of. What else do you want?

What else do you want? We got to teach it to them.

Now let's pray. Father, again, we thank you so

much for your goodness. Thank you for the opportunity

we've had to be here together tonight.

And I know this has been a long series and, and a lot of things

talking about when it comes to contentment.

God, I pray first and foremost that you'd help us all to be

content, but then that we'd be able to pass that on to our

children and help them learn that contentment as well.

And God, may you help us to be purposeful and raising our kids

for you, raising our kid with kids with biblical principles

and godly mindsets. And God, may you help us to have

young people that grow up and go on to serve you with their lives

because of it. Thank you again for all you do

for us in Jesus name, Amen. Let's stand in our seats with

our heads bowed and our eyes closed.