What Do I Do Finacially?

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Today we're in part three of our series Now What?

And I think this is where we have been living.

Okay, now what?

What's gonna happen now?

In fact, uh in this season, we're faced with two pressing questions.

The first is, what's gonna happen now?

And for many of us with kids, what's gonna happen now that our kids aren't gonna go back to school?

That was kind of like one of the things we were holding on to.

Like, okay, at least we'll get back to some semblance of normalcy, and now they're gonna be home with us.

That's great, kids.

We love you.

We're so excited that you're here.

It's just a little bit of a challenge, you know.

And so as we look at this and we go, what's gonna happen in our world, in our country?

And you bring it home in the season as is extended, long after many of us anticipated, what's gonna happen with our relationships and friendships and marriages and kids and school and work.

And the truth is we don't have that answer about what's happening in the future.

And the problem is we try to leverage that question to answer the following question.

What do I do now?

Like, like, okay, now what?

What do I do now?

And we've been answering this in the book of James, as James, the pastor to the early church, these early followers of Jesus who have been going through their own COVID, persecuted, scattered, upheaval moment of now, what do I do now?

In week one, we talked about what do we do financially, or not financially, what do we do spiritually?

And then last week, Dr.

Charlie Self is so good.

Go back and listen to it, talked about what do we do uh in regards to our future.

This morning, we're gonna be talking about what do we do financially?

What do I do financially?

Like many of us, that's a question we've been wrestling with.

In fact, I remember right when COVID hit and the stock market just plunged.

And I was talking to a good buddy that I really respect, and he was giving me some advice.

He's like, I think, you know, I think the Dow was at like 18,000 or something like that.

And he's like, I think it's gonna bottom out at 15.

Get everything out of there.

And so I was listening to him.

Now, mind you, he was not a financial expert.

I have a couple good buddies that are that, Eric Frampton being one of them, I should have asked him.

And uh, and so I was like, all right, and so I got that out of that.

The minute I got everything out of there is the minute it took off, you know, and it just went right up.

I'm like, ah, dang it.

And I think that's where we're at of like, who do we listen to?

And how do we navigate these uncertain times when the economy are we in a recession?

Aren't we in recession?

What does it look like?

What's gonna happen in the future?

But I think there's a better question for us to wrestle with today, a question that will be so powerful for you in navigating these next seasons ahead is not just what do I do financially, but listen to this.

How do I experience financial peace in a pandemic?

I bet you never realized or thought that that was even possible.

For some, your anxiety level, your stress level is through the roof.

For many, there's a lot, large part of your retirement that you lost.

There's the the uncertainty of what's going to happen with your work and and where are you gonna be in a year?

Are you gonna move because financially you can't afford to live here?

And so you probably haven't even asked this question.

But this is the question James wants us to ask because it's a better question.

How can you, how can I experience financial peace, shalom, in the ever-turbulent, changing economic times.

And he's actually, James is going to give us a word of warning.

He's gonna say, watch out.

And the reason is, is James understands there are natural human responses when you're under pressure.

And often, and you get this, you've seen this, and maybe you've done this, is often an under when you're under pressure, you make decisions you regret later that seem good in the moment, right?

We all do this because we're under pressure, and so we have a limited frame of view of what we can see and do, and so we make decisions in the moment that in hindsight we look back and go, wow, that was dumb.

But it sounded and it seemed so good then.

And he's gonna give us some strong warnings.

I gotta just you gotta be aware, there's some strong warnings coming our way because he's like a good father to a young daughter or son saying, watch out, there's some perils ahead of you.

And so he's gonna be emphatic on this and tell us what not to do financially.

Three strong warnings.

If you want to have peace in the midst of a panic, uh pandemic, don't panic, don't do this financially.

And the first thing he's gonna say is this you ready?

Don't hoard it.

Don't hoard it.

Your natural tendency, my natural tendency is to hoard, to feel like there's not enough, to live with a scarcity mentality, to think like, what if I don't get mine?

What if I lose what's mine?

What will happen?

And so I hoard all that I have.

I gotta keep it for me because there's not enough.

There's not this pie is limited, and so I gotta make sure I gotta get mine.

Listen to what James says.

He says this, now listen, so pay attention, and then he says, You rich people.

Now I just gotta stop here because right when he says that, 90% of you or more started stopped listening.

You're like, I ain't rich.

I've seen rich people.

We live in Silicon Valley.

I ain't rich.

Let me give you a definition for rich.

Rich is having more than you need.

That's the definition of rich.

Rich is having extra.

And so if you have extra of something, in this definition, you're rich.

Do you have an extra pair of clothes?

You're rich.

Do you have extra food in your uh pantry?

You're rich.

Are you able to take a long shower?

You're rich.

Do you uh have a car?

Do you have an iPhone or any other kind of phone or a computer?

If you have internet and you're able to listen to this sermon, you're rich in the world's eyes in comparison.

If you have extra, have you ever let food go bad so that you had to throw it away?

You're rich.

So this isn't just for the super ultra wealthy.

This is for us.

This is for you, and this is for me.

In fact, the other day I was um we ran out of coffee at the house.

Uh, and every morning I get up early and have my cup of coffee.

It takes a little while for me to kind of let go, everything, right?

And I ran out of coffee.

It was mean my brain to wake up.

I didn't finish that thought.

And you're like, what are you talking about?

Um, and so I sit with my cup of coffee.

Well, I was all out.

I woke up and Pete's, and you'll, this is how weird I am.

Pete's is opening up later during COVID.

It opens up at 5 30 now.

So literally, I'm laying in bed watching the clock, waiting for it to be time to go to Pete's to go get my cup of coffee.

Now, here's what's amazing to me as I began to understand this definition of rich.

I went and bought a cup of coffee, a large, mind you, because I didn't want to go back.

It cost me$3.15.

I didn't even think about it.

Now, if I did that every day, it would impact my budget, but it didn't, it didn't even register.

It's just like, yeah, I'm gonna pay it.

It didn't, I didn't feel it.

And so I gotta sit back and recognize, and you have to sit back and recognize because so many of us want to push this off as somebody else's word for them, and this is God's word for us.

Ryan, I'm speaking to you.

God's saying, I'm speaking to you.

Okay, now listen, you rich people, weep and well.

I told you there's strong words in here.

He's the goddess, because of the misery that is coming to you.

There's a decision that you're making now that feel good in this moment that are not good for you in the long run.

You'll look back and regret and do great harm.

Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.

In the ancient day, the wealth that you had was really, you know, you had clothing that was part of your wealth.

How much garments did you have?

They were incredibly uh expensive, livestock and uh and grain, and then you also had precious metals.

He's saying those have rotted, your gold and silver have eroded, their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.

Now, here's what he's saying.

If you want to experience financial peace, warning, do not hoard it.

And you're like, I would never hoard it, Ryan.

What are you talking about?

I would never hoard anything whatsoever.

You know, 2020 might go down as the great uh toilet paper crisis of all time.

I mean, think about this the beginning of the pandemic and and how insane this is.

COVID, bad, but it doesn't create even diarrhea.

I'm sorry, did I say that, kids?

Listen, but but think about this.

Why were we so consumed?

Like this was gold, you couldn't find it on the uh shelves anywhere.

You had it locked behind where you had to go and get at one point.

I bought one roll of these at a time.

Because our human nature, listen, our human nature is in under pressure is to hoard and keep what's mine.

And we do this in so many areas, and it creates great harm.

And we have the scarcity mindset.

I gotta get mine, I gotta protect mine.

What if I don't have enough?

What if I lose it?

And it will erode your peace in the way God has intended you to live.

The second thing he says is don't hoard it.

And then he's gonna say, never cut corners, don't take shortcuts.

Notice what he says.

Look, pay attention.

The wages you failed to pay workers who mowed your field are crying out against you.

Now, in the Levitical law, there was a law that you were not uh that it was unlawful to withhold anyone's wages.

And day laborers in that day literally lived day to day.

They would work, they would get paid, and with that money, they would then bring food home to their family.

If they did not get paid, they would not eat.

And here's what he's saying: when you hoard for yourself, or even you delay the good that you should give, you're keeping from others what is rightfully theirs, and God's actually attentive to this, and it might increase your bank account, it might increase your storehouse in this moment, but God will hear their cries.

He says, The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

In fact, there's a literal law, Levitical law in the Old Testament that says don't cut corners.

I don't know if you knew that.

Literally, if you own a property with uh grain and you're you're harvesting it, don't cut the corners.

You leave part of what is yours because all is God's for others and for the poor to take care of one another.

By the way, we do not need the government to solve our socioeconomic disparity.

We need the church to begin to apply the word of God.

We're called to be the solution, not a politician or even politics.

And when we step into that and when we begin to apply his word, we'll see change in our world.

But it begins with us not cutting corners.

It says, never cut corners.

I know lame.

Okay, I get it.

I get it.

I that's stupid.

I I'm fine, I'll put that one down.

Never cut corners.

What does that mean?

Unfair wages.

Have you ever paid someone below?

Maybe you're an employer, and you have to make that right.

Unjust gains where you've manipulated things for your benefit, but it took advantage of another person.

Dishonest business deals.

My wife's a real estate agent, and she was listing this home recently.

And it's interesting how under pressure, how we have to make sure I'm gonna cut corners so I can take care of my family, some of these sort of things.

And they went in under contract, and three days later, the real estate agent said, We're out.

Like, why?

What's interesting is his candidness.

We actually put a couple offers in on houses, and they decided which one they wanted, and we're gonna leverage the contingency here to get out of this one.

Illegal, by the way, unless they're able to pay for both houses.

It was underhanded, it was cutting corners, and it was taking advantage of the moment, and we do this.

We apply this in different areas.

It might be with your work.

In fact, we might be cutting corners because of working at home.

Cutting corners with how we do what we do and how we take care of another person.

It says, Don't hoard it and never cut corners.

And then finally, he's going to say, resist.

Now he's not really going to say it this way.

So you just read it up on the screen, but he doesn't say these exact words.

I I put it into our context.

Resist retail therapy.

This is what we do.

This is what we're doing.

In fact, if you search, there's a lot of posts right now to help us not do this.

Resist retail therapy.

He says, You lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.

That's the excess, excessive, unrestrained gratification of one's appetite, desires to live for your pleasures, to indulge yourself.

You fatten yourself in the day of slaughter.

And then he goes on, you have condemned and murdered the innocent one who is not opposing you.

That that I can live for myself and keep all for myself and continue to pour this out and not care for the person who has nothing.

You know, I was going, I had two days with where I didn't have coffee at home.

So the second day I went to Pete's early in the morning.

And as I walk out, there's a homeless man.

I've seen him around.

Um so I recognized him, and he asked me if I could give him some food.

And I said no.

And I walked on.

I got in my car and I was just so convicted.

And I was like, okay, what does it look like where I can buy a cup of coffee?

This is my own self-gratification.

Do I need it?

The answer is yes, I do need it.

No, no, I don't, but I kind of do.

But I can spend three dollars on me to get a cup of coffee, but I wouldn't spend three or five dollars on him to feed him.

This is what he's saying here.

And so I began to drive away.

I'm telling you the honest story, okay?

Because you need to hear.

And the Spirit of God, the further I got away from Pete's and the closer I got to home was just louder and louder and louder.

And it was easy that I was teaching this passage, and the Spirit's like bringing it to my mind.

And uh and so I turned around.

And I went to him, I said, Hey man, I'm sorry.

I would love to buy you breakfast.

What can I get you?

And Noah's bagels was right there, and can I get you a bagel?

And he said, No, I don't like bagels.

Oh Lord.

He's like, Can I get a taco?

Like, it's 5 30 in the morning.

Where do you get a taco at this time?

And he got quick answer.

Jack and the Bell's Jack in the Bell.

Jack in the Box?

Clearly.

I I anyways.

Jack in the Box is right over there.

I'm like, okay, I can't walk into here.

Fine.

I drive over, buy him six tacos and a Coke, I bring it back to him, and he says, Oh, thank you for this.

What's in here?

Uh Coke?

I normally have milk in the morning.

I'm like, I don't know.

Oh man.

Here's the reality.

I tell my kids this all the time, and then I tend to forget it.

God has given us a lot, not so that we can hoard it, keep it, and make ourselves better.

God gives us a lot so we can give a lot.

And he says, James is going to say, if you want to experience financial peace, there's three warnings.

Don't hoard it, never cut corners, and resist retail therapy.

You're like, okay, what's the picture?

Well, I have two.

I have a credit card right here, because we can just charge it, forget about it, and then live under this immense amount of weight.

And then I have my Costco card, and yes, it's really messed up and broken, all this sort of stuff.

But I gotta let you know, I was just at Costco yesterday shopping for the family, and this passage was so good reminder because when I see the kayak, no, I don't really care about the kayak, but there are so many things at Costco that you just spontaneously buy and you just don't even think about it.

And you go, resist it, resist it.

Okay, so if that's what not to do, what do we do?

Let me give you the path to financial peace.

So if you don't hoard it, the biblical call all throughout the Bible is to steward it.

We're called to steward it.

It was never yours to begin with.

All that you have is God's entrusted to you to steward.

And so we are to ask this question God, with my check, my banking account, with my resources, my finances, how would you want me to spend this?

Don't hoard it, spend it.

Well, what does that look like?

First, give.

Give first.

For some, the minute COVID hits, you stop giving.

Many, you started to give more.

And I'm so grateful because we're able to do what we're able to do as a church because of your generosity.

But I know many people that the uncertainty stopped giving.

That's when you know you're hoarding.

See, it's not bad to save.

We're gonna talk about that in a second.

In fact, it's not even bad to have wealth, it's what you do with your wealth.

Are you a steward or are you a hoarder?

Stewards lean into generosity first.

This is what we said as a church.

We said that we are going to err on the side of generosity.

Even though this season is uncertain, even though we're not sure how giving's gonna look, we're gonna err on the side of generosity.

And so we figured out how can we partner with Del Mar?

How can we continue to take care of our staff?

How can we step into the needs around us and turn on lights over here for a family that lost their electricity and give food to over here?

We have said we're gonna lean into that, and that's what we're called as individuals to do.

You know, as a church, we have decided at the very beginning we would give at least 10% of our general budget away.

Because we just believe that's what we're called to do as people.

And so this year, and this is amazing, we've given$132,671 away just out of our general budget.

And then above and beyond, we gave another 130k away, 260k away just like that, as a church, leveraged together, leaning into generosity.

That's I mean, it's amazing when you do this.

And by the way, you cannot give God, we've been taken care of.

Give first, steward it, give first, begin to tie that awakening.

If you're wrestling with that, begin to give to a great organization that loves God and is doing good.

But give first, then save second.

Save second.

See, it's not wrong to save.

In fact, the proverb says a wise person, a prudent person, a good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children.

But often what happens is we we save first or we hoard instead of give, and then save.

This is what we're doing as a church and individually.

We're we've been saving up for a long term location.

We're leaning into generosity, give first, save second, begin to put some money away.

Stop living on credit cards, especially those that are.

Youthful that are just going like, well, I can charge it, I can charge it.

You will pay later.

Do not pay later, save today.

Give first, save, second, then live on the rest.

So that you can take care of your needs, pay your mortgage fee, live off what you have.

Okay?

Give first, save, second, live on the rest.

Pat to financial peace, don't hoard it, steward it.

Then, secondly, never cut quarters, work with integrity, work with honesty.

Work in such a way that it honors God.

And whatever you do, whether word and deed, the apostle Paul will say, do it all unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

That you'll say, What I say, what I do, how I respond, may it honor you.

What I say, what I do.

No matter how I respond, may it honor you, Jesus.

The Proverbs says it's this way: whoever walks in integrity, walks securely.

You want to have peace?

Walk in integrity.

But whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

One little step, and I just want to brag on the leadership of our church.

So this isn't me, this is our leadership council.

We had a big decision with uh PPP, the Paycheck Protection Program.

Yeah, there's a lot of words to say uh right there.

Like, do we take it in the early days of COVID?

And well, our giving was really good, and I'm so grateful for you all in that.

And we, because we use wise financial stewardship, we have money in the bank and we spent less than what was coming in.

So we weren't in danger of not being able to take care of our team and our staff and cover our cost.

And so we said, you know what, we're not even gonna apply for PPP.

We know other churches are and other people are, and that's great.

But for us, it was a conviction of integrity not to do that.

Why?

Because if we were to apply and get it but not need it, it would have taken it from someone else who did.

And we said, we're just not gonna do that, even though we didn't know what the summer is gonna look like.

We had no idea that July would be the best July giving of the entire history of our church.

Isn't that amazing?

In the midst of a pandemic, it is the best giving we've ever seen.

But it's whoever walks with integrity walks securely.

So proud and honored to walk with those who walk in integrity that way.

Walk and work with integrity.

And for some, because you're working at home, you can cut corners.

There's ways to get around things, and you're like, well, okay, the first part was really about employers.

Let's bring it down to employees and how we work and how we go about what we do.

Would you, would you begin to say, I'm gonna walk and I'm gonna work with integrity?

All right, don't hoard it, steward it, never cut corners, work with integrity.

Finally, remember, resist retail therapy.

Okay, what do I do then?

Leverage your resources for good.

Leverage your resources.

Now notice I said resources, not just your money, all that you have.

I just want to read a few Proverbs here for you.

Proverbs 14, 31 says, Whoever presses the poor shows contempt for their maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors the God, honors God.

I gotta tell you, I've been sitting in these Proverbs, and the way that I see homeless people has changed.

I've seen a lot more because I've been aware a lot more lately, and I cry a lot more, realizing they're image bearers of God.

They're somebody's son or daughter.

You know, we have a team that goes out with their resources with blessing bags and is loving on the homeless right now.

Proverbs 19, 17, whoever's kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.

Church, may we be a church that leverages our resources for good that is kind to the poor.

The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

Resist retail therapy, self-indulgence.

How do I just make numb myself and make myself feel good?

But then lean in.

If you want to experience financial peace, lean in.

Leverage what you have for good.

And it begins with your treasure, your finances.

Wherever your heart or wherever your money goes, there your heart follows.

Would you lever it with your finances?

Would you leverage it with your time?

And we can begin to hoard our time because we're afraid, aren't we?

This is an uncertain season.

I just want to challenge you with this one thought.

Would you begin to pray for those in need and then ask God what he wants you to do?

When you begin to leverage your time by praying, and then invite him to show you he will.

And he'll begin to move you and ask you to do some things that might be uncomfortable, but he'll bring about great good with your talents, with your skills and your abilities.

I just think of the teams that are starting up right now.

I think of the team uh we have a foster care team.

I mean, this is amazing.

As a church, we just wrote a check this last week for$25,000 for Foster the Bay.

When we want to sit back and answer the question, how are we going to make a tangible, long-term, sustainable impact when it comes to racial justice, when it, when it comes to uh the homeless uh in our area, when it comes to uh just the whole idea of how do we love the marginalized, we believe it's in the foster care system.

And so we're making a strong commitment the next six months, giving$50,000 to foster the Bay.

And we have a team that's leveraging their skills and gifts to build out a foster care team for Awakening Church.

If you're interested, let me know.

We'd love to get you a part of that.

But they're leveraging their talents, their abilities, and their skills to do incredible good.

See, the question I want you to ask is am I leveraging my resources for the good of others?

See, financial peace isn't about a paycheck, it's about a pathway.

It's not how much money you have in the bank, but it's what are you doing with what God has given you to bring glory and honor to Him.

See, how do I experience financial peace?

Don't hoard it, steward it, never cut corners, work with integrity, resist retail therapy, leverage your resources for good.

I just want you to imagine.

Imagine if just our church began to do this.

Hundreds of people.

What's amazing is more and more people are watching us from all over the country and even all over the world.

Our church has expanded in ways that are beyond our imagination.

Hundreds and hundreds of people beginning to apply this.

Imagine the impact when we join together what God would want to do, not only in you, but through you.

And then imagine, just in your home, whether you're in an apartment, you're single, whether you're married, maybe you're a family, maybe you're an empty nester, and you began to apply these principles.

Imagine the peace that God wants to bring you and the good he wants to do through you.

And when we bring this to him, this is the church that God wants to use in this season to bring hope and life and healing.

Let us be that church and let's stop using the excuse we have to go to church.

You are the church, lean into it, let's live it out, and it begins right here, right now.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your word.

It is convicting and we need it.

Break us out of the slumber, break us free from our our own justifications, and make us a generous people that bring about great good in the name and the power of Jesus.

Amen.