Rick Warren - The Habits of Financial Health—Part Three

Hey, everybody.

Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Well, we're talking about

your money.

That's right.

We're continuing a powerful series called Financial Fitness. Rick is

opening God's Word and showing us how to manage what

we've been given with wisdom, faith, and purpose. And I

know if you apply these biblical principles, you'll start to

experience true financial freedom and lasting peace. And now here's

Rick to wrap up the final part of a message

called The Habits of Financial Health.

Look at this next verse. Ecclesiastes 11.2 is another advice

about investing and savings. Invest what you have in several

different places because you don't know what disasters might happen.

Now this is the principle of diversification. It says you

need to diversify. You don't put all your savings in

one place. You've heard the old expression, you don't put

all your eggs in one basket. You know where that

phrase came from? This verse right here in the Bible.

The Bible says you don't put all your eggs in

one basket. You put a little bit of your savings here,

a little bit here, a little bit here. You spread

it out. Any money manager will tell you this is

a balanced portfolio to minimize risk. That you don't want

to have all your eggs in one basket. You don't

want to have all your investments in one place. You

want to spread it out to minimize the risk factor

in your investing. That's what the Bible says. You need

to diversify it. Now look at the next verse, Proverbs

Proverbs 13:11

13 verse 11. Money that comes easily disappears quickly. Now

you might write out to the side of that verse, lotto.

Money that comes easily disappears quickly, but money that is

gathered little by little will grow.

Circle little by little.

This is the little by little principle of adding a

little bit every day. You need to start saving.

You say, well, I'm in debt.

You still need to start putting money in the savings.

You say, I don't have much to save. I don't

care how much it is.

It's that you start the habit, just like the habit

of tithing, that you start the habit of saving and

you do it every single week. And you put a little,

it's not the amount that matters. I started saving for

my retirement when I was 17 years old. I had

just graduated from high school, and I started putting in

50 cents a week into a retirement account at age 17.

Not many teenagers are doing that.

And then I raised it to a dollar, and then $ 5,

and then $ 10.

And then on and on. And you know what?

Over 40 years, 40 years later, that adds up. And

that's why today, I don't have to take the salary.

Because I... started saving.

Years and years and years ago and that money has

compounded and we live on the interest of my savings.

I'm retired.

Now, you're not starting that soon, but you need to

start yesterday. And you need to start saving a little

bit every time. Pay God first, pay yourself second. That's

the way God blesses, okay? And you do that over time,

it financially, it will show up. It's not the amount,

it's the consistency. All right, number five. The fifth habit

you're gonna have to develop is keep good records. This

is the principle of accounting. You need to start writing

down what you spend until you absolutely know where it's

all going. You gotta keep track of your finances. If

you don't keep track of it, money just kinda walks away.

The Bible says plan carefully. Notice this verse, Proverbs 21 five.

Plan carefully and you will have what?

Plenty.

Okay look, if you don't have plenty, you're not planning carefully.

The Bible says plan carefully and you will have plenty.

If you don't have plenty, you're not planning carefully. You

don't have anybody to blame but yourself. You say, well,

I had this emergency. Everybody has emergencies. I do, you do,

everybody has emergencies. Everybody gets laid off or has difficulties.

The difference between people who make it through and those

who don't are some people actually plan to expect emergencies.

If you don't expect them, of course you're gonna be

devastated by them. Plan carefully and you will have plenty.

If you act too quickly, that's called impulse buying, you

will never, never have enough. So you gotta keep good records.

Plan carefully, you gotta know where your money's going. You

ever get to the end of the month and go, man,

where did it all go? If you ever say that,

you're already in deep doo-doo. Because ignorance of your financial

condition plus easy credit equals disaster. You know, you've heard

that phrase, money talks, it does not. Money does not talk.

It just walks away quietly. And it doesn't tell you

where it's going. And so you have to keep a

good record in knowing where it's going. Proverbs 27, verse

Proverbs 27:23

23 and 24 is another verse about keeping good records.

Riches can disappear fast.

Now let me stop.

How many of you agree with that part of the verse? Yeah,

anybody wanna give a testimony? Yeah, how riches can disappear fast.

Riches can disappear fast, so watch your business interest closely.

Know the state of your flocks and herds. Now why

does it say that, know the state of your flocks

and herds? Because obviously in those days they didn't have banks.

Shoot, they didn't even have money in these days.

In those days, all a person's wealth was tied up

in their livestock. And you could tell how rich a

person was by just looking at how many animals they have.

If you had a lot of sheep, a lot of goats,

and a lot of cattle, you were rich. If you

had a few sheep, a few goats, and a few cattle,

you were middle class. If you had no sheep, no goats, no.

Cattle, you were poor.

Now he's saying here, know the condition, the state of

your flocks. Today he'd say, know the state of your stocks.

He'd say, know your assets. Know your investments. Know how

much you've got. Know where it's going. Know how much

you're earning on it. He said, you need to keep

good records. Know the states of your flocks and your herds. Say,

I don't know where it all goes. Then that's a

warning light to you. Now you need to know four things.

Write these down. Here are the four things you need

to keep good records of.

What I own. What I owe.

What I own, what I owe, what I earn, you

need to know that, and where it's going. What I own,

what I owe, what I earn, and where it's going.

If you don't know those four things, you are already

in deep trouble and don't know it. You must keep

good records. This is the principle of accounting. Because if

you don't know where it's going, it's going to leave

without telling you. Proverbs 23 verse five says this. Your

money can be gone in a flash as if it

had grown wings and flown.

Away like an eagle. That's a pretty descriptive picture.

Your money, if you don't know where it's going, it's

just gonna fly away like an eagle. Now fortunately, the

United States government is kind enough to remind us by

putting an eagle on every dollar bill.

So when you look.

At that dollar bill, it goes, this one's gonna fly

away unless I tell it where to go, all right?

Now that brings us to habit number six. Habit number

six is I must plan my spending. These are one

of the eight habits you must do to get out

of debt and to get financially free. I must start

planning my spending. Most of you do not plan your spending.

You don't have a plan for spending. You just spend

whatever you want to spend, whenever you want to spend it,

however you want to spend it. And you do it impulsively.

Now what is planned spending? A plan for spending is

a budget. That's all a budget is. A budget is

planned spending. Everybody needs a budget. It's a plan for

how I want to spend it. A budget is telling

your money where you want it to go rather than

wondering where it went. And you need a budget for

your spending. Telling your money where you want it to go.

I want this month, I want this much to go here,

this much to go here, this much.

Rather than wondering where it went. How do you spell relief? B-U-D-G-E-T.

That's how you spell it. Budget. Budget.

Now, if you want to get out of debt, you're

going to have to nip it in the budget.

Nip it, nip it, nip it, as they used to

say on Andy Griffith. Nip it, nip it, nip it.

Nip it in the budget.

Now, Proverbs 21, verse 20 says this.

Proverbs 21:20

Stupid people, and that's none of.

You, stupid people spend their money as fast as they

get it.

Now, this is called impulse buying.

When you see something, if you don't have a plan,

you go into a grocery store. If I don't know

what I'm going to get in that grocery store, I'm

going to come out with eight things I.

Didn't plan to get. Oh, that looks good. And especially

if you're hungry, let's pull a few of those in there.

That looks good.

And then there's one word that makes impulse buying impossible.

To resist.

It is the word, yes, sale. You know, you're a

PhD in impulse buying.

Say you knew that. Okay. And Everything in.

Our society is designed to get you to do impulse buying.

To not think about it, to spend emotionally, to not

have a plan, to not have a budget. Now when

it comes to impulse buying, hell is Costco.

At least for me.

Okay, because I go in there, well I know I

don't need 100 pounds of rice, but look at the price.

I mean, what a deal. I mean, really, what a deal. Okay,

I don't really need five gallons of shampoo, but look

at the price on it. Do you really need a

five-gallon barrel of jalapenos? Two years later, it's still taking

up space.

In your refrigerator.

The jalapenos have turned purple, but you saved a lot

on it.

Okay?

Now, when somebody comes over, look what I saved.

No, you didn't save anything. You spent. You didn't save anything.

That money could have gone in the bank, in the savings,

could have been making you money, but now it's sitting

in a jalapeno jar in your refrigerator. You didn't really

need that many jalapenos. But you bought it because of

impulse buying and sales. Have you ever bought anything you

later regretted?

Yes, of course you have. And you do it without thinking.

The Bible says plan your spending. That's having a budget. Again,

look at Proverbs 21, five. Plan carefully, plan carefully, and

you'll have plenty. If you act too quickly, you'll never

have enough. And look at this next verse on your outline.

Proverbs 21, verse five says, good planning and hard work

lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts, that means looking for

the quick deal, the sale, the fast, hasty shortcuts lead

to poverty.

All right? Number seven.

The seventh habit I have to develop is set up

a repayment plan. If you're in debt, you're not going

to get out of debt automatically. You're not going to

get out of debt by accident. You're going to have

to plan.

To get out of debt.

And the only way you're going to get out of

debt is by setting up a scheduled repayment plan. You

didn't get into debt overnight. It took a long time

to get in the mess you're in. But you can,

you're not gonna get out of debt overnight either. It's

gonna take probably some years. I want you to get

out of debt. That will not happen without some discipline,

without making some tough choices. But I don't want you

under the tension, as your pastor, I don't want you

under the tension of financial bondage for the rest of

your life. It'll take five years off your life, it'll

ruin a lot of your days, it'll cause more arguments

at home than you need to have, and so many

other things. If you could take that pressure off your

back and you were financially debt-free, then God could do

all kinds of things in your life that he can't

do because you're in bondage right now. So you've got

to set up a debt repayment plan. Now look at

these verses. The Bible says in Proverbs 3.27, don't withhold repayment.

Of your debts. In other words, if you're in debt,

you need to be paying it down. And then the.

Bible says in Romans 13 verse eight, let no debt

remain outstanding.

Do you know what an outstanding debt is?

It's when you're paying interest payments only. If you have

an amount on your credit card and you're not paying

that credit card off every month, but you're just paying

the minimum, you have an outstanding debt. And God says,

no good. Because you're paying interest on interest on interest,

which is dumb. And the thing you bought, you're paying

for two, three, and four, five times over because you're

paying interest on interest on interest. So an outstanding debt

is when you're not paying down the principle or you're

behind in your payments and things like that. You gotta

set up a repayment plan. Okay, number eight. The eighth habit,

and this is the bookend, is committed.

All to God. I must commit everything. it all to God.

Now remember the first habit is I must realize it

all comes from God and the eighth habit is I

must commit it all back to God. I say God,

my life, my time, my relationships, my money, my future,

my job, it's all yours and I'll do it your

way from now on. Not my way, I'm gonna do

it your way. Proverbs 16 verse three.

Here's a promise.

Commit your work to the Lord and then Your plans

will succeed. Circle the word succeed. I want you to

succeed in life. I don't want you to be a

failure in life. I want you to succeed spiritually and

emotionally and relationally, and I want you to succeed financially.

Commit your work to the Lord, and then your plans

will succeed. You see, the problem, your biggest problem is

not debt.

No. Debt is a symptom of a deeper problem. It

is a symptom.

of dissatisfaction and a lack of contentment. I have to

have more to be more happy. I have to have

more to be more secure. I have to have more

to be more liked. I have to have more to

be more valuable. None of that is true.

None of that is true.

You know the older I get, the more mature I get,

the wiser I get, the more I realize how little

it takes to make you happy.

It doesn't take a lot.

And if I can get all that, then

I'll be happy. No, you're as happy as you choose

to be. Happiness is a choice. And if you're not

happy now, you're not gonna be happy in 10 years.

You're not gonna be happy in 15 years. You're not

gonna be happy in 20. Happiness is a choice. And

I can show you people in places like Sudan who

have nothing at all and are happy.

Happiness is a choice. So you don't need it all.

I would suggest you go home and make a list

of all the things that make you happy that cost nothing.

Like watching the sunrise.

And enjoy those things, playing with your children or grandchildren

or whatever. You know, the problem is not debt. The

problem is an unmanaged finances. And unmanaged finances are symptoms

of an unmanaged life. Your life is out of control.

Your life lacks discipline. And as a result, you are

drifting and you're being driven by forces, including economic forces.

instead of being directed and purpose-driven and knowing where you're going. Now,

one of the major problems we have today is that

people go out and buy things they don't need with

money they don't have, and then they spend all their

time hustling, hustling, hustling to make the payments on stuff

they didn't need with money they didn't have. And they

spend so much time trying to pay their debts off,

they don't enjoy what they've got. They don't enjoy it

at all. Look at what this verse says here. The

Bible says in Ecclesiastes 5 that God.

Created it all for our enjoyment. If God gives us wealth.

And property and he lets us enjoy them, we should

be grateful and enjoy what we have. We should enjoy

what we've got. We should enjoy what we've worked for.

It is the gift from God.

Now, look up here.

Here's the way most people use their money. They do

the same five things over and over. First thing they do,

as soon as they get money, they get a check.

First thing they do is they go out and spend it.

Without even planning it, they go out and spend it.

Then they worry about the fact that they don't have

enough money. And then they try to pay their bills,

do a repayment. And then if there was any left

over and there isn't, they save it. And then after that,

if there's any left over, they give some.

That's not the plan God blesses.

God says, no, no, first you recognize that I'm your

source and I'm your security, and then you work honestly

for a living, you give the first part back to

me and you give the second part to yourself. You

pay me first, you pay yourself second, and then you

live on the rest. You say I can't live on

the rest. Then you're living beyond your means. You're living

beyond your means. And you need to make some tough choices.

What a fantastic message from Pastor Rick. You know, Daily

Hope is changing lives every day. Here's Pastor Rick with

a letter from one of our listeners.

You know, friends, it always encourages me to hear how

God is using Daily Hope to help you. And so

thanks for your letters. And I want to read one

to you today from a woman named Judith. She said,

Dear Pastor Rick, After college, I met and married a

man that God did not intend for me, but I

became pregnant with triplets. And the marriage was tumultuous and

I endured more pain and more loneliness and more sadness

than I could have ever imagined. But God still showed

me his grace and love. and he sustained and he

comforted me. But as I was left to work and

care for three babies, I clung on to God and

I listened to your daily podcast every day. And sometimes

it was as if God was speaking directly to me.

I read your Daily Hope devotionals and I read the

Bible and I prayed and it was tough. But I

survived and I'm still surviving because of God. You know,

after your series on tithing, I felt convicted and started tithing,

even though mathematically it was literally impossible for me to tithe.

But I trusted God with what I had and God

has covered the tithing and blessed me with even more.

And I'm now starting your series on prayer. And I

can't wait to grow closer to God and walk in

his purposes for my life instead of my own purposes.

Thank you, Pastor Rick, for doing God's work. Well, Judith,

I want to thank you. Thank you that you wrapped

your arms tightly around God during such an incredibly hard

season in your life.

You've been through some.

Really challenging times, and I'm blessed to see that Daily

Hope has played a part in deepening your trust in God.

You're seeing God's faithfulness. and you're seeing his provision, and

that's increasing your trust, then that makes me smile. God

bless you, Judith.

You know, Pastor Rick would love to hear how this

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