Rick Warren - Lessons from a Shrewd Money Manager—Part Two

Hey, everybody, we are so glad you're here. Welcome to

Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is the Bible teaching ministry

of Rick Warren, and today we're going to continue with

a special message called Lessons from a Shrewd Money Manager.

So let's get started and hear what Rick has to say.

The second thing this guy does is he if I'm

going to manage my money carefully, I must make plans.

I can't just look ahead. I have to make plans.

And in verse four, this guy says, I know what

I'll do. He hatches a plan. It's a dishonest plan,

but at least he's got a plan. Most of you

don't even have a plan. Now, the Bible says, in

Proverbs sixteen to three, this on the screen, commit your

work to the Lord, and then your plans will succeed.

You know why your plans aren't succeeding. You don't have

any financial plans. You can't succeed in your financial plans

if you don't have any financial plans. In fact, Proverb sixteen,

verse nine says this, we should make plans, counting on

God to direct us. Now, some people think planning is

very unspiritual. And I think, you know, I just trust

the Holy Spirit and I just kind of go through life.

I don't need any plans. I just kind of drift

with the spirit. Here's a word for that, dumb. Okay.

God gave you his will when he gave you a brain,

and he solved most of your major problems when he

gave you an intelligence. Why would God give you an

intelligent brain and then say now I want you to

put it on the shelf and don't ever do what's

common sense? He wouldn't. God revealed much of his will

for your life when he gave you a brain, and

all through scriptures, the Bible says we plan now. God

has the right to change our plans, right, and he

does it all the time. Okay, if we miss the plans,

that's okay. He can change our plans, but we still

are to plan. Now. How do you know if you're

planning finances? Well, it's because you have this in your life.

B U d get budget. How do you spell financial relief?

Bud get a budget. If you don't have a budget,

you don't have a financial plan. Because what is a budget.

A budget is planned spending, that's all it is. A

budget is telling your money where you want it to go,

rather than wondering where it went. You see people say

money talks. It does not talk. It just walks away quietly.

And if you don't have a budget, you have no

idea where it went. And if you don't have a budget,

no budget plus easy credit equals disaster plus spontaneous spending.

Budget means I determine where I want my money to go,

and not telling wondering where it went. If you don't

have a budget, you're already in trouble. You don't spend

what you don't have. And to do that, to spend

what you don't have is presumption, and the Bible says

presumption is sin. So you don't spend what you don't have.

You look ahead, you make plans. And the third thing

he did you write this down, is you act quickly.

You act quickly. Notice when this guy got a hint

that he was going to be laid off, he sets

a plan in motion before he gets laid off, before

he's laid off. He brings the guys in in verse

five and six. He does it quickly. One of the

problems that we do is we keep delaying what we

know we have to do, like downsize in the house,

or sell the car, or sell something else that we

have that we really can't afford in this time, and

we keep putting off, putting it off, and praps don't delay.

Some of you've heard me teach on the need for

a budget many many times, and you still don't have one.

And you say, someday I'll make a budget. Where is

someday Isle? Where is that island? Someday islean? It's up,

and that's where the lost crowd is. They're on Someday

asle okay, and you're never gonna find it. Someday Aisle

doesn't work. It's like the people who say, when I

get around to it, what is a round to it?

You know, if I printed up a bunch of round

to its, would you then do it? Do it with

a round to it. I'm a poet and I don't

know it, but my feet show it because they're longfellows.

Now people say, uh, one of these days I'm gonna

build a budget. No, one of these days is none

of these days. What you're doing is procrastinating. Procrastination is

my sin. It only brings me sorrow. I know I

ought to start today in fact, I will tomorrow. And

every day you delay a budget and selling off some

stuff you need to sell and doing that garage sale

and downsizing whatever it takes to get out of debt,

you're just getting worse and worse in shape. You need

to act quickly. The Bible says this in Ecclesiastes eleven

to four. Here on the screen, whoever watches the wind

will never plant. In other words, if you're always looking

at the climate, and whoever looks at the clouds will

never harvest. If you're always waiting for perfect conditions to

get started, it's never going to happen. There will never

be a good time for you to get your finances

in shape. If you're waiting for perfect conditions, it's never

going to happen. So Jesus says, in light of eternity,

in light of the fact that everything you have really

belongs to God, it's just on loan to you, and

in light of the fact that one day you're going

to be evaluated and audited on what you did with

what He loaned to you, then you better start looking ahead.

You better start making a plan, and you better start

acting quickly so you can get out of debt number four.

The fourth thing that we learn from this story is

that money is a tool. It is a tool, and

tools are meant to be used. Money is a tool

to be used. Now, that's what Jesus tells us in

this story. In fact, in verse nine, Jesus says this.

After he tells the story. The first thing he says is,

I tell you use your worldly wealth. Circle. That word

use money is to be used, not loved, but used.

Now he says, use money, use your worldly wealth. Don't

hoard it, don't stockpilot, don't worship it, don't love it.

Use it. And what's the best way to use the

money that God allows me to have? I want write

this down. Use temporary resources for permanent good. I am

to use temporary resources that's money, because no money lasts

for permanent good. Use something that doesn't last for permanent benefit. Now,

let me just talk to you about this. There are

some things that are far more more important than money.

For instance, time is more important than money. Why because

you only have a sat amount of time. You can

always get more money. You can take on another job,

you can make more money. There's lots of ways to

get more money. But you can't get more time. We

all don't have the same amount of money, but we

all have the exact same amount of time, one hundred

and sixty eight hours a week. Bill Gates has no

more time than you do. He just uses it better

in some ways. We all have the same amount of time.

And the Bible says God knows the day you're gonna die.

It is appointed on demand. Wants to die, and after

that the judgment, and that is an appointment. You won't

be late for now. I don't know how long you've

got left on this planet, but I do know this.

It's one day less than you had yesterday. So it's

getting shorter every day. So you'll never be able to

get more time. So how do you use your money?

One of the good ways to use money is to

use money to save time. Anytime you use money to

save time, that's smart. Why because you can get more money,

but you can't get more time. Does that make sense?

So you use money to save time? And if you

can save time, what are you saving when you save time,

you're saving your life, which, by the way, is what

you ought to consider when you sit down to watch TV.

Am I willing to give an hour of my life

to this program better be worth it, because you're never

getting that hour back. So using money to save time

is a wise use of money. Using money to save

lives is a good use of money. Why because lives

are far more important than money. But the point here

is money is a tool to be used. Number five.

The fifth thing we learn is that if I'm faithful

with little, God can trust me with more. If I'm

faithful with little, God can trust me with more. That's

one of the lessons of this story, and Jesus says

it in the next verse in verse ten Luke sixteen.

He says this, whoever can be trusted with very little

can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest

with very little will also be dishonest with much. Now,

this principal, friends, applies to every single area of your life.

If I'm faithful with a little, God will give me

more of it. It's true with talent. Let's say you

you just got a little talent. You're not super talented,

but you got a little talent in a particular area.

If you use that talent faithfully, you're faithful, and you

use it for good, and you use it for God

God will give you more talent, and then you use

that little bit more and if you're faithful of that,

God will give you more talent. And if you are

faithful with that talent, he will give you more talent.

And it's like a muscle. Talent's like a muscle. You

use it or you lose it. The only way a

muscle gets bigger is by using it. And I've known

people who had enormous talent and didn't use it and

lost it because they didn't use it. You use it

or you lose it. And so whatever you've got, you

take the little that God has given you, and if

you're faithful with it, and God says, I can trust

them they're managing it well, then he will give you more.

It's true with influence. If God has given you a

little bit of influence and you use that influence wisely,

give you more influence. And then if you use that

wisely and you're faithful with that, he'll give you more influence.

And if you use that influence wisely for good and

for God, he'll give you more influence. And if you

use that, he'll give you great influence. It's what are

you doing with what you've been given. It's true of responsibility.

If you have a little responsibility and it's not a

very big deal, but you take that responsibility seriously in

that small group or in that sunny school class, or

in that ministry or whatever it is at work or

at school or on a campus or whatever. And you

take that little responsibility. God is watching you, whether anybody

else is or not. And if you're faithful in that

small responsibility, God will give you more responsibility. And if

you're faithful with that, he'll give you more. And if

you're faithful with that, he'll give you more. He's watching

to see if he can trust you with what you've

been given. If I'm faithful and little God can trust

you with more. Now, this is certainly true with money.

That's what this parable is about. He's talking about money.

And if I'm faithful with a little bit of money,

then God could trust me with more. And if I'm

faithful that and I use it the way He intends

it to be used, and I don't just blow it,

and I keep good records. And I know about saving,

and I know about spending, and I know about giving,

and I know about investing, and I know about accounting

and I'm keeping good records and all of these things.

Then God will give you more. And when you're faithful

of that, he'll give you more. And he'll give you

whatever you manage wisely, he gives you more. Now in

unmanaged finances represent an unmanaged life. Finances that are out

of control mean your life's out of control. It means

you need a manager. You need Jesus as lord of

your life. I'm not talking about Oh yeah, Jesus is

in your life. He's resident, but he's not president. He's

not calling the shots. He's in your life. But you're

making all the decisions on how you spend your money,

and you're not praying about anything. And you never even

give God a chance to give it to you. You

just go out and buy it on a credit card.

Now he's seeing here, manage it wisely. It will increase.

Jesus said it like this, Matthew twenty five, twenty nine,

here on the screen. To those who use well what

they are given, even more will be given and they

will have an abundance. God says, I'm watching to see

what kind of manager you are with my money that

I'm loaning to you during your lifetime. Would you write

this down. Faithfulness in little ways produces fruitfulness in big ways.

Faithfulness in little ways produces fruitfulness in big ways. Let

me say it another way, faithfulness in secret ways produces

fruitfulness in public ways. Every time you see somebody that

God is blessing in a great way publicly, you need

to know they're doing something behind the scenes that other

people are unwilling to do, because faithfulness in secret ways

produces fruitfulness in public ways. Now I hear people all

the time. They tell me, Oh, you know, Rick, when

I make it big, I'm really gonna serve God. No

you're not. No, you're not. If you're not faithful in

little things, you're not gonna be faithful in big things.

It's like the guy who says, you know, when I

make it big and I really hit the big time financially,

I'm gonna be really generous. I'm gonna tithe. No, you're not.

If you can't tithe when you're broke, you'll never tithe

when you're rich. If you can't be generous when you're scrimping,

you'll never be generous when you got a lot. In fact,

you're never gonna get a lot. Because faithful and little

means faithful and much so God is watching and saying,

if I'm faithful with little, can he trust me with more?

Number six This goes right along with it. We learn

from this story that money is a spiritual test. Money

is a spiritual test. In fact, it is the biggest

spiritual test in your life. You know, God doesn't just

trust trust his power to anybody. God just doesn't go

out and pour out his blessing and his spiritual power

on anybody. He tests us first to see if we

are trustworthy to handle his power, to handle his grace,

to handle his blessing and I and he tests us continually.

It's not just once. It's over and over and over

and throughout scripture. God has said, more than anything else,

I use money as the acid test of your faith

in your life. More than anything else. The greatest test

on your faith will always be in the area of finances.

Why because the most sensitive nerve in the human body

goes from the heart to the wallet. And when you

start talking about my wallet, I get real sensitive about it,

real quick. I get real defensive. All kinds of defenses

go up, and it's me, mine and mine, And you know,

I start worrying all about it. God says, I use

money as the acid test of your faith. Now, Verse

eleven is one of the most important verses in the Bible,

and most people have never read it. Verse eleven of

Luke sixteen says this, So, if you have not been trustworthy,

that means dependable, reliable, a good manager. If you have

not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth. What's worldly wealth?

It's your income, it's your salary, it's how you make

a living, it's your possessions. If you're not a good

manager with your money, your worldly wealth, who's gonna trust

you with true riches, spiritual power, spiritual blessing, spiritual anointing

in your life. My guess is most believers are totally

unaware of this verse. That there is a connection here

between the two. The Bible says very clearly, not just here,

but many places, that how I handle my money determines

how much God can bless my life. That God is watching.

Am I a responsible money manager? How I handle my

money determines how much God can bless me with power

and blessing and spiritual anointing and all these things. If

you have not been trustworthy in handling your own income,

who's going to trust you with true spiritual riches. Friends,

this is why I'm teaching this to you today, because

there is a direct yes I want to get I

want you to get out of debt. But more than

getting out of debt, I want you to have the

blessing of God on your life. I want you to

have the power of God on your life. And this

is the acid test. The Bible says many many places

that there's a direct connection between maturity and money. How

I handle this determines how mature I am. There's a

direct connection between possessions and power in your life. And

if my possessions are out of control, my life is

out of control. There is a direct connection between the

bucks in my life and the blessing in my life.

They go together. And so that's why you know, if

we say, well, why my life such a mess? I mean,

I talk to people all the time who say I'm

spiritually stuck. I'm in a spiritual rut. I'm stuck at

dead cinder. I've got spiritual laws. I don't feel God's

presence in my life. I don't see any answers to prayer.

I'm not growing, I don't feel any power in my life.

In fact, my life is a spiritual roller coaster. And

one day I feel like I'm close to God and

I can trust him for everything, and then the next

day I'm in the pits and I'm out of work,

or that I'm going to lose my job and I'm

going to lose my house, and I'm in debt, and

i go from highs to lows from high schools and

I'm just bouncing all over the place. And my spiritual

life is not solid and stable. It's out of control.

And my advice to you, as somebody who loves you

as your pastor, is check your checkbook. Check your checkbook,

because there is a direct connection between how you're managing

your money and how much God can trust you with

spiritual blessing. It reveals your priorities you see. Inconsistent giving

produces inconsistent living, and unmanaged finances are symptoms of an

unmanaged life. Out of controlled debt is representative of an

out of controlled life.

What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something

I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to

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