Seminar: How God Does NOT Use Money 2/2
SCAM Alert: Online Puppy buying
Dave Ramsey: Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck
John Maxwell: “Opportunity“
(UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT)
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Financial Freedom God’s Way, This is where you will continue to learn, apply, and pass on, Bible-based financial principles and applications so that you and your family will not only just survive, but can thrive during these very uncertain times.
This is Bob Louder from Christian Financial Ministries, and it is an absolute honor to have you with us—it really is. Now, what is going to be on our schedule for our 30-minute time together today?
- First, during your radio seminar, you are going to continue to discover how—according to the Bible, God will and will not use money in your life.
- Then you will learn about the online puppy purchase scam. Oh my goodness…Ouch.
- Dave Ramsey will talk with us about how to stop living paycheck to paycheck,
- And John Maxwell will wrap us up with his thoughts on the word OPPORTUNITY
So stay tuned, won’t you. It is going to be a great learning time together. As we start, let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, please give us ears to hear Your Words that help us to understand your plan and purposes for our lives. We pray for those who are listening that do not know you. Please speak to their hearts as well. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray, amen.
BODY
Radio Seminar
My friend, you have already seen the good news that, according to the Bible, there are ways God will use money and other material areas of your life to help influence how you choose to live your life.
Then, during our last time together, you began to discover that according to the Bible there are also ways God will NOT use money or wealth of any kind to help influence your life. For example, according to the Bible, God will not use money–He will not use wealth in your life to
- Cause you fear or anxiety.
- He will not use His wealth to separate your family, or to
- Corrupt you.
He just will not do it. It is not His nature. Therefore, if you see any of these situations up and operating in your life you have to KNOW they do not come from God. That was last time…By the way, if you missed our last time together or any of our past times together, no worry, you can always go to our website at www.christianfinancialministries.org to either relisten to or even read and print out the transcript of those sessions
Now, today, you are going to discover three more ways God will NOT use money in your life…you will see three more examples of some financial, some material situations that you may or may not see up and operating in your life—right now. The key is, you need to be able to know about and recognize these examples so that if you ever do see any of these life situations up and operating in your life in the future, well, you are going to know for sure that they do not come from God and they are not pleasing to God.
For example…God will not use money to buffer you from life’s problems.
- We are already hit on this is a bit. You have already seen that if you do believe that God does use money to buffer you, you are in for a rude awakening and are apt to lose a great deal of your faith. Why? Because as you have already seen, many times God will use problems in your life, including financial problems, to help mature you, and help strengthen you and help to grow you.
- According to the Bible, God will not use money to buffer you from life’s problems. He just isn’t going to do it.
Then, next for today, let me ask you…do you believe God will use money to develop your ego? No, I think when we ask that question that way you have to believe the answer is a resounding “NO;” not according to the Bible.
- But unfortunately, you can tend to get your ego out of control and out of place if you try to use money and wealth to build your self-esteem, or your self-worth, or to build your self-confidence. Remember that in a sense—in Christ, all of us are financially equal because one day all wealth, all I have, all you have, all that we have, is all going to be burned up—every bit of it is going to pass away. When that happens—not if that happens but when that happens—when all you have or had burns up, what will be left is what the Bible calls “true wealth.” This “true wealth” will include everything you have ever laid up in heaven—to include the results of your attitudes and obedience, and the souls of all those you helped come to Christ.
- Do you remember what Paul says in I Tim 6:17?
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
- There are a couple of things you need to notice about this verse.
- First point–first–you need to see that Paul does not say, “Command the rich to get rid of their wealth. He does not say that.
- He does not say, “Command the rich to feel guilty about their wealth.” He does not say that either.
- Paul does say, “Command the rich not to put their hope in their wealth.” Why? Why does he say that? Because he knows that if you tend to put your hope in wealth, you consider yourself the owner, and your ego is out of control. You believe you are in control, not God.
- As the matter of fact, I want to give you another good acronym to consider. I think acronyms are kind-a fun sometimes—a good way to help you learn, recall, and apply whatever we hear. For example, you already know the acronym for the Bible, right? Remember, the B-I-B-L-E—basic instructions before leaving earth. That’s a good one. Here is another good one—here is an acronym for ego, ego, E-G-O — “edging God out.” Is that good or what? Ego—“edging God out.”
- You know, it’s a shame, it is a real shame that so many times within the Body of Christ, we tend to elevate people—in our churches, in your church perhaps?—we tend to elevate people to positions of leadership and authority because they have positions of leadership and authority within the community. Do you ever see that happen? On the other hand, the people who seem to have the lowest positions in the community, well, they often times tend to get the lowest positions in the church—do you ever see that happening? So many times, inside and outside the Body of Christ, we tend to elevate people because of their apparent wealth, or look down on others because of their apparent–apparent lack of wealth. However, do you know what? I believe that one day–one day you and I will show up in heaven working for some little old lady we never saw, we never heard from, a single day in our life. Why? Because she lived a life this side of heaven doing exactly what God told her to do—she was prayerfully doing the best she could, with what she had, where she was, at the time. Do you realize that in the Bible, there is absolutely no evidence, none what so ever, that there is a greater reward for a preacher than the guy or the gal who drives a bus or sweeps up the floors or takes out the trash? You see, your reward right now and for eternity depends on your attitude–what you do with whatever God gives you wherever and whenever He chooses to give it to you.
Remember, again, the amount of money, position, and authority is not important to God because it all comes from Him. He does not give you His wealth to build your ego. My friend, think about it. It is not God’s will that you “edge God out.”
So, we see from the Bible that God will not use money or any kind of wealth to either buffer you from any or all problems or to build your ego.
Finally for today, you need to be assured that God does not—will not give you money to indulge yourself.
- You already know that wealth of any kind—money is neither good nor bad. It is neither pleasing nor displeasing to God. However, my friend, according to the Bible, God does not endorse lavishness. He does not. Remember? You receive a surplus for what reason, do you remember? You receive a surplus to help fund God’s work, to help God’s people, and to help other folks as well. That is why God gives you a surplus. But, if you choose to hoard it, or if you choose to waste rather than use the surplus He gives you in ways that are pleasing to Him, well, chances are He will simply remove His surplus and give them to somebody else.
- 1 Cor 6:12 says,
Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me—but I will not be mastered by anything.
- You see, according to the Bible, God will not give you money to indulge yourself. However, let us get a bit more specific here; what exactly is an “indulgence?” Well, an Indulgence is simply something that has little if any utility, very little if any use.
- Honestly, I really believe that all of us try to indulge ourselves somewhere, every now and again, somewhere along the line. How so? Well for example, today it would be easy for you and me to accept the norms of society as our norms: you know, $40K cars, $450K homes, a private education for our children. It would be an easy thing to count these as just the minimum essentials today, particularly if you believe the advertising media that you see and hear.
- Do you know what? I have to confess; I am kind-a like Larry Burkett used to be—on one way at least. How so? Well, I really love tools and gadgets. It is easy for me to indulge and over spend in this area. Now, my wife works hard to keep me honest about this, but I have to tell you, it is often hard for me to walk through Home Depot, Lowe’s or Ace Hardware and not come out with some tool or gadget that I probably already have two or three of somewhere in the house or the garage that I’ve never even learned how to use.
- By the way, do you realize that the data shows there are really only three types of people financially speaking? Three types.
- First, about 10% of us are so frugal, we tend to be so careful and balanced with our finances that we are simply never going to get into financial trouble. Having been through a divorce and a bankruptcy before the Lord got a hold of my heart, having been through all of that, having been there and done that, well, I’m telling you from personal experience, one more time around Mt Sinai is not a fun way to spend the weekend—I’m simply not going back there. Those things are just not going to happen to me again—God willing. As a result, I happen to believe that I am a very frugal guy. Now, having said that, I remember back to one time when I was leading a Larry Burkett seminar and I happened to mention the fact that I really believed the Lord had grown me into a very frugal person. But then on the way to the car after the seminar, my wife Debbie asked me, she said, “Bob, did I heard you say that you thought you were frugal?” I said, “Yes—yes I did. Don’t you think I’m a frugal person?” Without batting an eye she said, “No, I think you’re cheap and there’s a difference.” Ouch.
- The bottom line is this: About 10% of us are frugal, or at least believe we are frugal. However, at the other end of the scale are about 10% of the folks who seem to be made of money. Do you know anyone like this? They make so much money that if they get into some negative financial situation, they just cut back here and there on a few of their indulgences—on their extravagances and sooner or later their financial ship seems to right itself. There are those kinds of people.
- So, you have about 10% on either end. 10% are frugal and 10% think they do not have to be frugal. Then there is the group in the middle; there is the third group of people, financially speaking. This third group makes up about 80% of the population in this country today to include about 80% of all the folks in the Body of Christ. These are the folks who are not frugal and who do not have enough money to be sloppy and get away with it. What do they do? They indulge themselves and face constant shortages and financial disasters. They may not think they indulge themselves, but they so often buy with little or no utility. They buy what they cannot afford, and most of the time they tend to buy on credit. And again, unfortunately, this represents all too many folks within the Body of Christ today.
Wow, these are some great words for you to prayerfully consider. Last week and this week you have discovered that, according to the Bible, God will not use money or any kind of wealth in your life to
- Cause you fear and anxiety
- separate your family,
- Corrupt you.
- Buffer you from financial problems
- Build your ego—remember, ego “edging God out”
- And finally He will not use wealth according to His definition to allow you to indulge yourself.
So, let me ask you again—just like last week. How many of these situations do you see up and operating in your life–right now, today? On the other hand, maybe not today, but at some point in your not so distant past? Well, the more of these you do see up and operating in your life at home, at work, at school, at church…the more of these you might see, the more you are choosing to move away from God in the financial, in the material areas of your life—and that ought to raise a red flag for you. Remember, according to the Bible, you can choose to be a steward, or you can choose to try—to try, you are never going to make it but you can choose to try to be an owner. And if you choose to try to be an owner, then you choose to move away from God. Remember also, God tells you that He will never move away from you. But you can flat choose to move away from Him. And, what do you tend to lose if you choose to move away from God? You tend to lose things like your passion, your power, your purpose, purity, prudence—you tend to lose the capacity to see danger for yourself and your family, you lose insight and wisdom, you lose your perspective—you just might lose your Witness.
As the matter of fact, the more of these you see up and operating in your life, the greater the probability that you are experiencing what is called financial bondage. Financial bondage? What is it? What does it look like? How do you fall into it? What can you do about it? How can you get away from it and stay away from it? Well, all that and a whole lot more—next time—don’t miss it.
SCAM Alert
Unfortunately, it is time for yet another SCAM alert. This time having to do with folks who try to buy puppies on the internet.
- This is how it works. Scammers try to take advantage of dog lovers by offering cute puppies for sale on the web. In one instance documented by the BBB, a woman paid $850 for a Dalmatian puppy, only to receive additional requests for money—first $725 for travel insurance for the dog, then another $615 for a special crate. In the end, the buyer lost over $2000 and never received the puppy.
- Now, you can help yourself avoid this scam in a couple of ways. First, simply check out the dogs available at a local animal shelter or from an individual in your area. If you do spot a puppy you like on a website, insist on seeing the pet in person before paying any money.
Dave Ramsey
As you probably already know, Dave Ramsey is an American evangelical Christian personal finance personality, businessman, radio host, and an eight-time best-selling author. Today Dave is going to talk with us about how to stop living paycheck to paycheck and start building wealth.
Wow, saving money is really hard to do when you have no money left at the end of the month. Start saving by following Dave Ramsey’s proven plan is a great idea. Thanks Dave, and by the way, you can learn all about Dave Ramsey at www.ramseysolutions.com
John Maxwell
Now it’s time for one of my favorite times together with you…that means it is time for another Minute with Maxwell where John Maxwell is going to talk with us about the importance of the word, opportunity. .
CLOSING
That great word from John Maxwell wraps up our time today. Remember to be with us next week to learn what financial bondage is all about, and how to avoid it, and a whole lot more. Plus, remember to check out our website at www.christianfinancialministries.org to relisten to or get a transcript of todays program.
For now, let me close us in the same way we started, and that is with a word of prayer. “Father, thank You for speaking to us today about our finances through your Word. Please help us to understand, apply and pass along all that you gave us today, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Have a blessed rest of your day, won’t you, and we’ll see you next time as we continue down your personal road to Financial Freedom God’s Way.
