Rick Warren - The Biblical Principles About Money That Too Many Christians Aren’t Living By

If I wanna be healthy in any area of my life,

I have to develop healthy habits in that area. If

I wanna be physically healthy, I have to develop the

physical habits of eating right, exercise, sleep, lower stress. If

I wanna have a healthy marriage, I have to develop

the healthy habits of relationships. And if I wanna develop

healthy finances, to be financially fit, there are certain financial

habits I have to develop in my life. If you

have the Bible, open to the book of Proverbs. If

you don't, if you'll pull out your message notes, and

we're gonna look at these verses from the book of Proverbs. Now,

each of these habits is in order. In other words,

the first habit is the most important one. The second

habit is the second most important. The third is the

third most important. I've listed these in their order of

how you do them. Let's get right into it. Number one,

the Bible teaches that the first thing I have to

do if I'm going to get myself financially fit is this.

Remember that God is my source. That's the starting point.

I remember that God is the source of all my supply.

My source is not my Salary, my source, is not

the economy. My source is not my savings. My source

and my security is in God. Now the reason why

this is important is you must put your security in

something that can never be taken from you. If what

you put your security in can be taken from you,

then you're gonna be insecure the rest of your life.

If you put your security in your salary, you can

lose your salary. If you put your security in your job,

you can lose your job. If you put your security

in your savings, you can lose your savings. If you

put your security in your spouse or your health, you

can lose those things. You must put your security in

something that cannot be taken from you, and that is

your relationship to God. God is the source of my supply,

not my salary, not my savings. And if a job

dries up, if a water faucet gets turned off, God

can turn on a faucet over here. And if one

door closes, God can open another door. And if that

door closes, God can open a window. So I have

to remember, first off, that God is the source of

my security, not how much money I make in life.

Now the Bible says this in Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse 18,

there on your outline. Always remember the Lord, your God,

for it is he who gives you the ability to

produce wealth. God gives you the ability to produce wealth.

Circle the word produce. I want you to notice that

the Bible says, obviously, God owns it all and he

loans it to us. We talked about this. a few

weeks ago, that you don't really own anything on this planet,

it's just loaned to you while you're here. It wasn't

yours before you were born, it won't be yours after

you die, you just get to use it for 80, 90,

100 years. But it all belongs to God, and after

you die, he's gonna loan it to somebody else. So

you don't take it with you, you didn't bring it

with you. But he says here, God gives you the

ability to produce wealth. Now, Every economy, including America's, has

wealth makers and it has wealth takers. It has wealth

producers and it has wealth users. It has wealth contributors

and it has wealth consumers. The economies get turned upside

down when there are more consumers than there are contributors.

When there are more people taking out of the economy

than putting in it. And that's what's happening right now

in America. 60% of Americans take more out of the

economy than they are putting in it. We have more

consumers than we have contributors. And yet God says, I

made you, I designed you to create wealth, to produce wealth.

I designed you to be a productive person. God wants

you to be productive. And his plan for your life,

part of it includes wealth production or wealth creation. Not

wealth redistribution, but wealth creation. Now let me explain the

difference here between communism, capitalism, and Christianity. Capitalism says what's

mine is mine and I'm gonna keep it. And if

you don't make it, well tough luck, too bad for you.

What's mine is mine and I'm gonna keep it. Communism

says what's yours is mine and I have a right

to take it. That's called redistribution of wealth. I can

take yours and give it to somebody else. That's communism.

Christianity says what's mine is really God's and I'm willing

to share it. You see the difference? That's the difference. Capitalism,

what's mine is mine, I'm gonna keep it. Communism, what's

yours is mine and I can take it. Christianity, what's

mine is God's and I'm willing to share it. You see,

when somebody taxes you to help the poor, you don't

get any credit for it. But when you voluntarily are

generous and you help the poor on your own, that

builds your character. It helps you, it helps you grow,

it helps you become more like Christ, becoming more productive

and more generous. Now, one of the reasons our economy

has collapsed is because for the last many, many years,

we have had enormous numbers of people, particularly like in

Wall Street and other places, who were creating or making

outrageous salaries, making outrageous amounts of money without really creating anything.

They create no services, they create no benefits, they create

no products, they create no jobs. They're simply making money

on money. That's all they're doing. And that is not

what God wants to do. God wants us to provide benefits, services, protection,

help to other people and in that it creates prosperity.

There's nothing wrong with prosperity. There's nothing wrong with prospering.

There's nothing wrong with a profit if You don't make

it your number one God and if you do it

in the right way. And that leads us to the

second habit. The second habit if I want God's blessing

on my finances is I must make money honestly. I

remember that God is my source and then I make

money honestly because God does not bless cheaters. God does

not bless crooks. God bless deceptive people or people who steal.

Now let's look at just some verses from the book

of Proverbs on this. Proverbs 15, 27 says this. Dishonest

money brings grief to the whole family. In other words,

I can go out and make a bunch of money,

but if I make it dishonestly, it's actually bringing grief.

It's bringing like a curse. It's bringing a problem to

my family. Emotional problems and all kinds of other problems.

You say, well, that verse isn't for me because I'm

not out robbing banks. No, you're not. But are you

honest in every area? Let me give you a few

ways you may be dishonest. Not giving a full day's work. Now,

if you got an employer who's paying you for a

full day's work, you come late, you leave early, you

take an extra long lunch break, and you waste time

at work, you are robbing your employer. Maybe you've never

thought of that, but it's deceptive. They are paying you

for a certain amount of work and you are expected

to give that certain amount of work. And it is

dishonest to be paid for work that I'm not doing.

That's called dishonest. And God's not gonna bless dishonesty. Christians

of all people should be known for rock ribbed integrity

that we get there on time or early or stay

to the last bell or stay late and that we

are the hardest workers in society and that we have

the most integrity and honesty. Padding an expense account is

dishonest income. Misusing resources at the office is dishonest. It's

a waste. Fudging on your taxes is a dishonest way

to make money. God says, I don't bless that kind

of stuff. It brings grief to the whole family. Now

look at some of the other ways. Proverbs 16 verse 11.

Proverbs 16:11

The Lord demands fairness in every business deal. He sets

the standard. What does that mean? It means that when

I'm dealing with you and we're making a negotiation, I

don't lie to you. I don't cheat you. I don't

tell you that the car I'm selling you is better

than it really is. I don't tell you that the

house that I'm selling you is in perfect condition when

you know the pipes are broken and the electricity doesn't

work or whatever. When I misrepresent something in a deal,

I'm being dishonest and God said, don't expect me to

bless that. If you're hiding it, I'm not gonna bless that.

God blesses integrity. Let me show you some other areas.

Look at this one, this will surprise you. Proverbs 28 two,

the Bible says, if you make money by charging high

interest rates, You will lose it all to someone who

cares for the poor. Did you know that verse was

in the Bible? If you make money by charging higher

interest rates, you'll lose it all to somebody who cares

for the poor. Now, God is not against making interest.

You say, how do you know that? Because Jesus tells

parables in the New Testament where guys double their money

by making 100% profit. One guy gets 100% return on

his money. He says, well done, good and faithful servant.

Another guy gets 100%. doubles his five talents, he says,

well done. If it's okay to make interest, it's okay

to pay interest. So he's not saying interest is bad.

He's talking about what the Bible calls here usury. Usury

means excessive, exorbitant, exorbitantly high interest rates. It's what loan

sharks do. It's when they prey on people who are

down and out, people who are hard up on their luck,

people who can't get a normal standard loan from somewhere,

and so they go and borrow from somebody at two

and three and four times the interest rate. These loan

sharks are calling usury. It is excessive. It is cheating people. Now,

in America, we have usury laws in every state. because

of this verse in the Bible. Because the Bible says

it is wrong to charge excessively high interest and take

advantage of people who can't pay. So he's talking about

slumlords and he's talking about loan sharks and things like that.

One other one, look at this verse, Proverbs 13 verse 11.

Proverbs 13:11

Let's read it aloud together. Wealth from get rich quick

schemes quickly disappears. But wealth from hard work grows. Now

I told you a couple weeks ago that Warren Buffet's

number one law of finance is you don't lose what

you already have made. He said that's more important than

even making money on your money. You don't lose what

you've already made. So many people are in debt because

they've made a lot of money but they've lost it.

And the number one way, the most common way people

lose their money today is in get rich quick schemes.

And the Bible says you should never ever get involved

in a get rich quick scheme. You're setting yourself up

to be duped, you're setting yourself up to be scammed.

Most people or more people have lost money through this

way than any other way. Now every get rich quick

scheme sounds great, it sounds terrific. You're gonna make high profit,

in a little amount of time and low risk. And

they put all this thing together and it all sounds

so great and people invest their money in this and

all of that and they think they're gonna beat the

normal ways of making money by getting rich quick and

then they get duped. Now the Bible warns against this

over and over and as your pastor, because I care

about you, I wanna give you five principles, write these

down wherever you can on your outline, on how to

not get duped by a scam. These are biblical principles.

I don't have time to go into all the verses,

but let me just give them to you. Number one,

stick with what you know when you're investing. Just write

it down there on your outline somewhere. You see, greed

makes people gullible. And when we are greedy and we're

trying to get rich quick, we fall for scams and

we're easily duped. Stick with what you know. If you

don't understand an investment, don't ever put your money in it.

If you can't explain it, don't ever put your money

in it. Stick with what you know. Now, the common

denominator of every get-rich-quick scheme is they claim to have

a secret. I have a secret way of making money

that you don't know, or I have a secret product

that other people haven't got yet, or I have a

secret tip and all this. Listen, the moment you hear

that word secret, run like the Dickens. Friends, I'm telling

you right now, there are no secrets to making wealth.

They're all widely known. And there are hundreds and thousands

and maybe tens of thousands of books written on how

to increase your income, your net worth, and things like that.

There are no secrets. And anybody who claims that he

has a secret is setting you up for a get-rich-quick scheme.

And the Bible says avoid that. So never... you know,

get involved in that. Stick with what you know. Number two,

never invest on emotion. Never make a decision, a financial

decision on emotion. Get rich quick schemes, scam artists love

to play on your emotion and they grab your emotion.

And before you thought it through, you've invested money that

you're going to lose right away. Now, What they do

is they start pressuring you to decide quickly. By the way,

isn't it interesting all of these infomercials on TV that says,

buy now, buy now, operator's standing, and if you do

it in the next two minutes, then you're gonna get

this extra project. Three years later, that thing's still on TV.

Saying in the next two minutes. Have you noticed that? Okay,

it's just a con. It's just a con. In fact,

pressure is never God's will in finances. If you ever

feel pressure, in fact, the Bible says that about giving.

Over in the book of Corinthians, the Bible says if

you ever feel pressured to give, don't. And I'm telling

you as your pastor who loves you, if you ever

feel pressured by a church, a charity, or anybody else

pressured to give, you should not give. Because God clearly

says in the Bible, never give under pressure or under compulsion.

Because you don't get any credit for it. God wants

your attitude, not the amount. He says only give now.

when you are giving willingly, cheerfully, gladly. Now, that's not

just true in giving, it's also true in investing. You

should never invest, you should never make a financial decision

under pressure to decide now basing on emotion. A third

suggestion on this, never risk borrowed money. I don't have

time to go into all the verses on these, but

the Bible teaches you should never risk borrowed money. Now

you've got extra money that's just laying around, and you've

got money to burn, probably ought to give it away instead,

but that's okay if you want to invest that, but

don't you ever borrow money to invest in a get

rich quick scheme. The Bible says don't, don't do it.

A fourth suggestion, always test the idea with other people.

And I'm talking about people who are not emotionally involved.

Because emotionally involved people who have a stake in the

game are going to be as excited as you are.

But people who aren't emotionally involved in the investment can

smell a rat. They can spot the flaws. And you

need to get counsel. In fact, if you have a

business deal and you're afraid to talk to your wife

or a friend or somebody uninvolved about it, it's a

dead giveaway. You're already... Saying, I don't want other people

to know about this because they're going to say no, no,

you need to check it out. Let me give you

one more. Doubt the guy who's always got a big deal.

He's always going after, he's always chasing the big deal,

but he never seems to reel it in. Now I'm

not talking about serial entrepreneurs who build a company, sell

it off, then build another company, sell it off, build

a company, sell it off. They have a legitimate business

and a legitimate profit. I'm talking about people who are

always waiting for their ship to come in, but it

never seems to come in, but the ship seems to

get bigger and bigger and bigger with each dream. And

while they're not able to pay their bills, they're out

there trying to think on this deal that's gonna make

$ 1 trillion. And the more zeros, the more out of

touch they are with reality. I remember in the very

first year of the 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 about, 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. What?

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 want to be wise, you make

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

a good deal tomorrow. 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. Well, 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. 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. 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 tied the first 10%, I saved 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. 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, you know, another piece of furniture or art,

you ought to take that money instead and invest it

in something that's going to 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 first. 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 want to 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. So serious that in the early years,

Many of you know that I retired financially 10 years ago.

I retired at 47, why? Because I had been saving

since I was 17. I haven't taken a salary from

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

I added up all the church had 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 retired 10 years ago. 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, and I mean the whole, the dogs 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. Now that's per mile per gallon cost on

that car was minuscule compared to yours. The car I

drive right now is a 2000 Ford. I bought it

11 years ago 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 11 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. Look at this next verse,

Ecclesiastes 11.2 is another advice about investing and saving. 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 13, verse 11. Money that comes

Proverbs 13:11

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 money. You say, well, I'm in debt.

You still need to start putting money in to save.

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, right?

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 23 and 24 is another verse about

Proverbs 27:23

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 gonna 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 going to 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

going to 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 spendings. 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. B-U-D-G-E-T. That's how you spell it, 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, yeah, 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. And during

the next two months, particularly November and December, all of

the advertisers and all of the stores are planning to

get you to impulsively buy Chia Pets and things that

you would never buy any other time of the year.

You know, stupid, stupid stuff that is just a waste.

But even nice stuff that you can't afford and it's

impulsively and you see it and want it 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? Okay? Now,

when somebody comes up, look what I saved, honey. No,

you didn't save anything, you spent, okay? 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, okay? You didn't

really need that many jalapenos, okay? 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 gonna get

out of debt automatically. You're not gonna get out of

debt by accident. You're gonna have to plan to get

out of debt. And the only way you're gonna get

out of debt is by setting up a scheduled repayment plan.

Now we have trained advisors in our church who can

help you do this. You didn't get into debt overnight.

It took a long time to get in the mess

you're in. And you're not gonna get out of debt

overnight either. It's gonna take probably some years. 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 8,

Romans 13:8

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 outstanding 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, ah, 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 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 our 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. All right, let's pray. And I'm gonna ask

all of you to join us. The Bible says, When

two agree as touching anything, it shall be done. And

so we've certainly got more than two people here. We're

gonna pray for a miracle in the lives of our friends,

our family members here today. Father, you know the stories

behind each of these who are standing right now, our

dear brothers and sisters that we love. Some of them

are facing a major bill. Some of them are upside

down in their house. Some of them are out of work.

Some of them are barely getting by. Some of them

are just having a tough time. They've had an illness recently.

Or some crisis that's left them with really little. And

they're struggling right now. And so together, as a church family,

we pray for our family. For these who are standing,

we pray that you replace pressure with peace. That you

replace tension with trust. Replace frustration with freedom. And replace

debt with with deliverance. Help them to get out of

the hole and onto the pathway of financial freedom. Lord,

what we're asking for are miracles. Whether the economy turns

around or not, we ask for some personal recoveries. And

as we develop these eight habits together as a church family,

as we begin working on our financial fitness, as we

end this year and begin a new one, Lord, as

we do it the way you tell us to do it,

I ask that you bless each person here. Make some

job openings appear. Just do some miraculous things that people say, wow,

God did that. God was faithful and helped me when

I needed him most. I pray, Lord, that you reduce

the anxiety and the fear and the tension that so

many are feeling in this economy right now. And we

ask for miracles today. of jobs and miracles, of blessing,

miracles of money, miracles of turnarounds, create some unexpected income,

we pray. Father, we're gonna be faithful to do it

your way, to follow your path. You have said, commit

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

We commit these, brothers and sisters, to you and we

pray your blessing on them and we pray this In

the name of the Father, and the Son, and the

Holy Spirit. Amen.