Rick Warren - The Habits of Financial Health—Part Two

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. Today we're continuing

with part two of a message called The Habits of

Financial Health.

I remember in the very first year of church, I

led a guy to Christ. And he was a nice

guy and he genuinely was converted to Christ. But he

was a dreamer who never could make anything happen and

it was simply one big idea after another. And one

day he came to me and he said, Pastor Rick,

this church has changed my life and I'm working on

a deal that is gonna make Saddleback Church $ 50 million.

Well now as a 25 year old pastor, I'm gonna

listen to that. Years later, I don't pay that attention

at all. I want to say, show me the money.

This dream is just a bunch, and it seemed like

about the time he'd get this big dream for $ 50 million,

and then before it was closed, he jumped to a

bigger one. No, we're not doing that anymore because this

one's going to bring in $ 75 million. $ 75 million. And then,

you know, instead of closing that deal, well, no, we're

not going to do that anymore. We're doing the $ 100

million one. And it kept on doing. And at the

end of the year, I realized I had paid for

all the lunches. Beware the guy who's got the billion

dollar idea, but he can't afford to have his suit pressed.

Or pay the meal, pay the bills. Just go out

and get a job, buddy. Just get a job, okay?

You know, you don't wait for the ship to come in.

You swim out to it and do that. So here's

what the Bible says. Look at the next verse. Proverbs 21, five.

Steady plotting brings prosperity. Hasty speculation brings poverty. Circle the

word hasty. Here's another law for you. You make financial

decisions slowly. If you wanna be wise, you make financial

decisions slowly. If it's a good deal, it'll be a

good deal tomorrow. You don't have to make, you know,

when you're in a business, when you're in a store

and that salesman is pressuring you to buy right now

and it is a major priced item, you need to

go home and think about it. You need to sleep

on it. You need to take your time. If it's

a good deal, it'll be a good deal tomorrow. Hasty

speculation leads to poverty. It means you get in a hurry.

You get emotionally involved. You want to do it now.

Now notice it says steady plotting brings prosperity. Circle the

word plotting. This is where he's saying you just keep

on doing the right thing. You do it a little

bit at a time, but over a long time, little

things build up. You save a little, save a little,

save a little, save a little, and pretty soon it

all adds up. Steady plotting brings prosperity. I've mentioned this

in every session we've done in this series. The most

powerful factor in mathematics is compounding interest. And over a

period of time, little becomes much with compounding interest. And

over a long period of time, turtles always beat rabbits.

Because the rabbits get in a hurry. And then they

stop over here to have a party with so and so.

And then they go over here to do this. And

the turtle's just plodding along and crosses the finish line

before everybody else. So God says, if you want my

blessing on your finances, first, you gotta remember that I'm

your security and I'm your source. And number two, you

gotta make your money honestly. You gotta... Be fair in

your deals and you can't charge high interest. You don't

get involved in get rich quick schemes and scams. Hasty speculation,

you do steady plotting, all right? Number three, the third

habit you have to develop is honor God first. I

honor God first with my money. Now, I don't have

to spend a lot of time on this one. We

can just kind of review it quickly and get on

to the others because most of you know this principle,

the principle of tithing. The bottom line is this. Whatever

I want God to bless, I put him first in.

If I want God to bless my marriage, I put

him first in my marriage. If I want God to

bless my time, I put him first in my time.

I'm giving the first part of every day in a

quiet time. If I want God to bless my business,

I put him first in my business. If I want

God to bless my money, I put him first in

my money. Now this is the principle of tithing. They're

right off the top. I give the first 10% back

to God. Now, again, I don't have to explain this

in detail. We've talked about this a lot. So just

look at these four verses. The promise, the purpose, the place,

and the day. That's what these four verses are. Here's

the promise about tithing. Proverbs 3. Honor the Lord by

giving him the leftovers of all your income, and he

will fill your barns to overflow. Oh, it doesn't say that,

does it? It says what? First, what does it say?

First part, first part. Now, Kay and I, 36 years ago, said, okay, look,

if we're in debt to anybody, we're not gonna be

in debt to God. God gets paid first, right off

the top. If I make 10 bucks, the first dollar

goes back to him. If I make 100 bucks, the

first 10 bucks go back to God. I may be

in debt to you, I may be in debt to

other people, I am not gonna be in debt to

God because it all comes from God in the first

place and I want his blessing on the rest of it.

So the promise is, if I honor him with the

first part of my income, he will bless me financially.

now what's the purpose of that why does God tell

us to tithe next verse Deuteronomy 14 the purpose of

tithing is because God is poor no it doesn't say

that the purpose of tithing is to teach you to

always put God first in your lives God doesn't need

my money God doesn't need your money he wants what

it represents he wants me to trust him And when

I tithe, when I give the first part of my

income back to God before anything else is a gift

to him, it says three things. Past, present, future. God,

thank you. I'm grateful for all you've given me in

the past. You're number one in my life right now.

And I'm going to trust you in the future. That's

the purpose of it, okay? The place, where do I tithe?

I mean, do I tithe the United Way, or do

I tithe to my brother who's been out of work

for three years? No, that's charity. Tithing is an act

of worship. It goes to God, not to my friend,

not to charity. It goes to God. It's an act

of worship. Malachi 3.10. Bring to my storehouse a full tenth. Now,

by the way, what's a storehouse? It's the temple. He says,

bring to the temple where you worship me, bring to

my storehouse, a full tenth of what you earn. Test

me in this, says the Lord, and I will open

the windows of heaven for you and pour out all

the blessings you need. He says, I dare you. This

is a Pepsi challenge test. Test me in this. He said,

you bring it to me as an act of worship. Now,

when do I do it? Well, you do it on

the day you worship. First Corinthians 16 says this. On

the first day of every week, That's the day we worship, Sunday.

Put aside some of what you've earned during the week

and use it for the offering. The amount depends on

how much the Lord has helped you earn. As I said,

if I make 10 bucks, I give God a return,

a dollar. If I make $ 100, I give him $ 10. Now,

on the first day of the week, the first part

of my day and the first part of my money,

then God is saying, you're really number one in my life. Now,

circle the phrase put aside. Put aside. Because notice, that

means you gotta plan this. This is not an impulsive thing,

you gotta plan it. Because I don't normally plan to

bring money to worship. Okay, so you got that, you

know about tithing. The plan, the purpose, the promise, and

the day. Now, let's go to the fourth. Number four

is save money wisely. If I want God's blessing on

my finance, if I want to get out of debt,

I must learn to save money wisely. And notice, this

is number four. First, I remember God as my source. Second,

I make the money honestly. Third, I honor God first.

And fourth, I save some of it. You say, Rick,

are you telling me to save my money before I

pay my bills? That's exactly what I'm telling you to do.

Because that's what the Bible says. If you wait until

all your bills are paid off to start saving, you

will never save anything. Most people are gonna get to

retirement flat broke because they spent all their money and

never saved anything. The Bible clearly states you pay God

first and you pay yourself second and then you spend

the rest on your bills and repayment and things like that.

If you don't, you will never save anything. John D.

Rockefeller was the Bill Gates of his day. He was

the first mega-millionaire in America. And they asked him one time, said,

how do you get to be a mega-millionaire? He says,

the 10-10-80 principle. I tithe the first 10%, I save

the second 10%, and I live on 80%. The 10-10-80 principle.

Kay and I have practiced this, well, and even more

than that, for many, many years. And if you do this,

you're systematically putting God first and putting your savings second,

it will start to add up over time. Did you

know that God says your savings account tests your IQ?

It shows how smart you are. By looking at your savings,

you can tell how wise you are with your money.

Notice this verse, Proverbs 21, 20. The wise man, in

other words, the smart man, the intelligent man, the wise

man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends

whatever he gets. Uh-oh. Okay, that's a verse you probably

ought to put on your refrigerator door. Actually, you ought

to put it on a Post-it note and wrap it

around your credit card. The wise man saves for the future,

but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. Did you

know that the average Japanese saves 25% of their income?

The average European saves 15% of their income. Last year,

the average American spent 1% more than they made. We

are not saving anything. And not only is the government

being irresponsible, we are being irresponsible. And we're not saving.

And as a result, you're gonna get to retirement and

there's nothing gonna be there. Let me give you a

little question that will help you start saving. You simply

ask this one. Do I really need this item? And

if you'll just stop before you buy anything, just stop

and ask yourself, do I really need this? Because you

could be taking that money and putting it, instead of

spending it on this little trinket, putting it in the bank,

putting in savings, putting in investment, and when you are

saving money, your money is working for you instead of

you working for your money. Most people never get out

of debt because they spend their entire lives working for money.

When you start saving it, your money works for you

because even while you're sleeping, it's making interest. and your

money is making money for you. When you're saved, you

make money work for you. Now let's look at some

of the principles of saving and investing from the word

of God. Proverbs 24 says this, verse 27. Develop your

business first before building your house. Did you know that

verse was in the Bible? Develop your business before building

your house. What does that verse mean? It means before

you go buy the new drapes, before you go redecorate,

before you buy another piece of furniture or art, you

ought to take that money instead and invest it in

something that's gonna make money for you. Now most of

you don't have your own businesses. And these days, everybody

was self-employed, everybody had their own business. But he's saying,

take your money and instead of buying a thing with it,

take it and put it in something that makes money

with it so you're investing and you're making more money

all along. Develop your business first before building your house. See,

here's the problem most people do. They get a raise

and when you get a raise, you know what you

ought to do? Keep living at the same level and

put that money, sock it away in the bank. or

in some investment. Don't raise your standard living. What most

people do as soon as they get a raise, they

go out and they buy a new car. That's the

last thing you need to do. First place, when you

buy a new car, the moment you drive it off

the lot, it's worth $ 10, 000 less than you paid for it.

But you're still gonna pay the interest on all that

even though it's depreciated. You have just invested in the

depreciating item that's gonna get cheaper and cheaper while you're

paying more and more interest and it's going like this

and that creates debt. Now, I'm serious about this. If

you will take the money that you're spending on things,

instead of going and buying that big plasma screen that

maybe you can't afford, what you need to do is

take that money and put it in the bank and

let it sit there for years. You need to get

as much pleasure out of saving as you do out

of spending. A lot of people, when they get depressed,

they wanna go shopping. And there is a rush in

spending money. But you should get that attitude and change

it to saving money. Say, oh, honey, I had such

a great day today. What'd you do? I put $ 50

more in the bank. Well, good. Now, I'm serious about this.

I retired at 47. Why? Because I had been saving

since I was 17. Why? I haven't taken a salary

from this church in 10 years. In fact, 10 years ago,

I added up all the church that paid me in

the first 25 years and I gave it all back.

Kay and I live off the savings of our investments today.

I do this because I want to do this. I

don't do this to make money. But I had been

saving systematically over the years and it adds up. Now,

how do you do that? Well, in the early years,

we were just very, very careful. I went out and

rather than going buy a new car, I found a

car in the penny saver over in Leisure World for $ 500.

Now that's a car. Now I went over there and

it was a 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass and the paint was

chipping on it and the roof was all ratted out

but it only had 38,000 miles on it. I'm going

500 bucks, 38,000 miles, I can put up with this.

So I bought this car for $ 500. I drove it

across the border to Tijuana and spent $ 1, 500 getting a

completely new paint job and a completely new interior. With

the fuzzy dice and everything. The velvet Elvis in the back.

The dog's playing poker. No, I'm just kidding. Got it all.

And then I drove it for six years. And after

six years, I got tired of it, I gave it

to Pastor Tom. It's true, I did. And then Tom

drove it for, I don't know, five or six more years,

and then he gave it to another pastor. That car's

somewhere out there in pastor land today. Okay? Now, that

per mile per gallon cost on that car was minuscule

compared to yours. The car I drive right now is

a 2000 Ford and we saved until I could pay

cash for it. I wasn't about to pay interest on

a depreciating item. Because that's bad stewardship. So I saved

until we could afford it and I paid cash for

that car. I haven't had a car payment in years.

Wouldn't you like to have that? Okay, now what was

I doing with that money? Putting it in savings. and

letting it make more money, and letting it make more money,

and letting it make more money. Okay, and so this

is the principle, save money wisely.

You know, people are being transformed by these messages. In fact,

here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the broadcast today. I love

to end our time together by sharing letters from listeners.

because we get so many great ones. This one's from

a woman named Elena. Dear Pastor Rick, I've been struggling

with insomnia for many years. That's a common problem. It

has inevitably affected my family, and I've been irritable. I've

been short-tempered with them. I've even gone to sleep therapists

in hopes of regaining at least five hours of continual

sleep without sleeping pills that do more harm than good.

But it was all unsuccessful until I started listening to

Daily Hope. You know, quieting my mind, Pastor Rick, with

the messages from the Bible and my desire to glorify

God when I turn out the lights with the Daily

Hope messages has brought me back to a stable sleeping pattern.

That's amazing, Elena. That's amazing. She writes, every morning now

I wake up after more than five to eight hours

of sleep and I wake up saying, thank you, Lord,

for another night of peaceful sleep. With full comprehension, I

Turn on Daily Hope again before I start my day.

So she's ending her evening with Daily Hope and she's

starting her day with Daily Hope. That's pretty amazing. She said,

Pastor Rick, life happens and sometimes my insomnia problems come back. However,

they're not as frequent and they don't last as long

as they used to before. So thanks for your messages

of hope from God. I now function with more clarity

and more spring in my step. Ha ha, Elena. Thank

you for writing. I love you. And I'm so encouraged

that these messages have brought some peace to your mind.

And I'm going to be praying for you this week

that your nerves will be calmed, that your peace will increase,

that you will be given sleep. You know, there's a

verse in the Bible where it says God wants his

loved ones to get their proper rest. So thank you

for writing to me. And those of you listening, I

encourage you to write me. Let me know what's going

on in your life. It's one way that we can

partner together. Thanks for your financial gifts. Thanks for your prayers.

And thanks for your letters. God bless you all.

Hey, if you'd like to let Rick know how this

broadcast has blessed you, he would love it.

Please feel free.

To send him an email at rick at pastorrick.com. That's

rick at pastorrick.com. Be sure to join us next time

as we look into God's word for our daily hope.

This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and

your generous financial support.