Radio Seminar: Financial Bondage 3 of 3
Q&A: Parents about Children
Dave Ramsey: Best way to buy a home
John Maxwell: “Forgiveness”
(UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT)
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Financial Freedom God’s Way Radio, This is where you can learn, apply, and even learn how to pass on, Bible-based financial principles and applications so that you and your family will not only just survive, but can thrive even during these very, very uncertain times.
This is Bob Louder from Christian Financial Ministries, and it is an absolute honor to have you with us. Now, what is going to be on our schedule for our 30-minute time together today?
- First, during your radio seminar, you will review just a bit about financial bondage: what it is, the symptoms and the causes of the spiritual problems. Then you will discover what you can do to either prayerfully prevent or work your way out of financial bondage.
- Next, you will hear a couple of financial parenting questions from real-world moms and dads.
- Dave Ramsey will talk with us a bit about the best way to buy a home.
- And Christian author, pastor, and leadership teacher, trainer, mentor and coach John Maxwell will share with us his thoughts on the word forgiveness.
So, stay tuned, for some great Bible-based financial principles and applications you and your family can use and even pass along to others. As we start, let me open us with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this chance you are giving us to study Your Word together. Please give us ears to hear, apply, and even pass on what You have for us today, in Jesus’ Name we ask, amen.
BODY
Radio Seminar
During our previous Radio Seminar times together, you discovered a bit about the pain you can experience when you choose—when you choose to violate God’s financial principles—we have been talking about financial bondage.
- And the first thing you saw was, according to the Bible, financial bondage is much more an attitude than it is an action. You choose to place yourself into financial bondage when you have the attitude that anything or anyone deserves your time and attention more than God. Financial bondage is first and foremost an attitude.
- Then you took a look at some of the symptoms of financial bondage. Remember that? For example having too much debt, worry, anger, greed, resentment, and self-indulgence. These are symptoms of financial bondage.
- And you also discovered the three main causes that lead to the symptoms behind financial bondage—what are the three most common causes of financial bondage? Do you remember?
- The first is financial ignorance—you simply do not know what you need to know about what God has to say about money…and recall He has quite a lot to say about money. There are over 3000 verses in the Bible that talk about money—how to make it, store it, spend it, invest it, give it and on and on. Recall that in the Bible, God spends more time talking about money, than any other single subject, except for the subject of love. Financial ignorance is one cause of financial bondage.
- The second most common cause of financial bondage would be your un-Godly, worldly-based attitudes—your “stinkin thinkin” when it comes to money
- Financial Ignorance, bad attitudes, and finally, the last major cause of financial bondage is poor planning…God calls you to prayerfully plan all the areas of your live to include the financial areas of your life.
That is where we have been, and remember you can always go to our website at www.christianfinancialministries.org to either re-listen to or even get a written copy of the transcript of our previous programs.
So, that is a quick review: Financial bondage: what it is, what it looks like, and what are the root spiritual causes.
Today, you are going to see what you can do about financial bondage.
- Again, remember, the key to dealing with or preventing financial bondage is to prayerfully first take a look at the symptoms–because they are the most obvious. Then, begin to consider matching the financial symptoms to spiritual problems. Then and only then can the Lord and you make some permanent course changes in your life that will move you out of financial bondage into financial freedom.
- Now, let me show you how you can match the symptoms to the problems and come up with some Bible-based applications or solutions. OK?
- And here you are going to have some homework. How so? Well, at the end of the transcript of today’s program, which you will find on our website, you will see a chart to help you begin to work through this process. You will find…
- A list of some of financial symptoms,
- Some related causes and problems,
- And then some suggested solutions
Here is what I recommend:
- Take some time to go to our website at christianfinancialministries.org, locate today’s program, scroll down to the bottom of the transcript, and see if any of the symptoms hit close to home…your home.
- Then consider not only the symptom, but move on to the base problem and some of the things The Lord and you can do about it.
- Finally, continue to build this chart on your own by prayerfully considering some of the other symptoms we talked about, match them to the causes or the spiritual problems, then prayerfully come up with some Bible-based solutions.
That is your homework, and that is enough on financial bondage for now. We will come back to it later, but that is enough for now. Financial bondage:
- What it is
- Some symptoms
- Some root causes
- And some things that can be done about it.
My friend, remember this: Financial bondage is much more an attitude, than a financial condition—yes, it is. But you need to know financial bondage is both an attitude and a condition. Spiritually speaking, you are in financial bondage when you choose to allow anything material to interfere with your relationship with God. And remember, you can be in financial bondage even if you have a little or if you have a lot.
The key is this: Once you step beyond the boundaries God establishes for your life, spiritual conflicts start to pop up. You know this. You have seen this. When spiritual conflict begins, you tend to try to deal with the symptoms rather than problems. Yes, you must recognize the symptoms—yes you do. But you must prayerfully determine and focus on the root spiritual causes. If you do not, if you try to just treat the symptoms then whatever relief you might find will only be temporary and the next set of symptoms will likely be worse than the last. If you are in financial bondage, your problem is that you violated one or more of God’s spiritual principles. Until the Lord and you deal with your spiritual problems–until you bring those spiritual problems under God’s authority, your relief will only be temporary—not where you want to go.
Now, the good news about financial bondage—and there is good news–the good news is, there is a way out. You do not have to keep coming back in different ways at different times all because you only try to treat your financial symptoms and never deal with your spiritual problems. Again, one more time around Mt. Sinai is not a fun way to spend a weekend.
And this is exactly where I want to leave you for this Radio Seminar time together.
- There are things you can do about financial bondage—the symptoms and the causes.
- Remember, there is hope; according to the Bible there is always hope in Christ, there are always ways out of financial bondage.
- There is a way out…
- 1 Corinthians 10:13 saysNo temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
- My friend, there are ways out of financial bondage that lead you into Financial Freedom—there really are. You see, by the way, you are either in the one or in the other. You cannot be anywhere in-between. So where do you want to be—where do you want to go? Financial freedom, naturally. Ah, financial freedom. What a blessing. A blessing you are going to begin to discover next time.
Q&As
During our Q&A time for the last few weeks, we have been looking at common questions real-world parents have about the best ways to teach their children how to apply what the Bible has to say about money. I have a couple more for you this week.
- Here is the first.
- How can a mother teach her children the value of money if their father spends it foolishly and spoils them continually with gifts? Won’t the children learn to imitate the parent who is the least disciplined?
- Now, think for just a second—how would you respond if someone would ask you this question—how would your respond?
- Let me share with you one possible response. This is the response we gave to Susan. Susan, yes, sometimes children will imitate the least-disciplined parent because children just love to spend money, particularly when they are younger. However, many times children do tend to migrate toward the disciplined parent, because that person represents security. If a permissive parent–or grandparent—gives too freely, he or she can lose the children’s respect. What can you do? You and your husband can sit down together and prayerfully talk about this, clearly and objectively, based on God’s Word. Help him understand that love does not mean giving children all they want whenever they want it. The Bible says that God disciplines those he loves, and it ought to be the same way with parents. A parent who really loves a child will establish boundaries for giving. Why? One of the reasons is to help teach the concept of biblical stewardship. If you are not able to talk about this with your husband, I suggest you write him a letter to tell him how you feel. Base your letter God’s principles of discipline found in Proverbs 13:1, 15:5, and 19.18. You might also seek out a professional counselor who could help both of you understand the balance between giving too much or too little. Remember, too, that God rarely puts two identical people together. Usually, one will tend to be more of a giver, and one more of a saver. Working together, you can reach a better solution than either of you can reach individually. Susan, I pray this response is helpful.
- Here is another question from a real-world parent.
- Bob, (and boy oh boy does this hit home today; see if this may hit a little too close to home for you and your family) I know that as my teenagers grow toward independence, they will be deluged with credit card offers. I’m concerned that they will get trapped by easy credit. What can I do now to help prevent problems in the future?
- Again, let me ask you. Based on what you know from some of our prior radio programs, how would you respond to this question?
- Let me share with you how we responded. Johnathan, one way you can prayerfully begin to teach your older children how to handle credit and credit cards is by letting them each have and use their own credit card while still home. “Ouch! Now wait a minute Bob, I know Dave Ramsey would never agree with you on that—no way.” You are right, Dave would not. But hear me out. I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with credit cards. It is how they are used or misused that creates the problems. You can allow your children—I suggest sixteen or older—you can allow them to each have a single credit card if you set and enforce some simple rules. What rules? Let me suggest five. (1) They need an income from either a job or an allowance (that is a topic for another time). (2) Set maximum credit card limits as you, your wife, and your children agree. (3) Do not let them use their cards for anything that is not in their budget—their written budget. This means they must have and be living on a written budget before they get the credit card. (4) They must pay off the entire balance each month. (5) The first time they cannot pay the complete balance when the bill comes due, you destroy the card, and not allow them to have a new card for six months. I am telling you from experience, if you prayerfully work with your children to set and faithfully enforce these five simple credit card rules now, your children are unlikely to have credit card problems as adults. How so? Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Johnathan, I hope this gives you a good platform for you and your wife to help your children learn to manage credit—thank you. for your question.
Let’s see…how are we doing on time—Great, I believe we have time for one more question.
- Bob, recently I read the Old Testament tithe was a lot more than 10%. Is that true?
- Well Peggy, actually, the Old Testament describes three different tithes the Jews were responsible to give. Each year they would first, give one tithe for the Levites and a second for the festivals. Then, every third year, they would give an additional tithe for the Gentile widows and orphans living in the Jewish city. Thus, the average yearly tithe back then was 23 1/3%. In addition, Jewish families also gave special offerings, including burnt offerings of animals, sacrifices, contributions, offerings made in honor of vows, freewill offerings, and first-born offerings. The Jewish communities were giving communities. If you spend some careful time with Deuteronomy chapters 12, 14, 18, and 26 you will discover the Jews communities were giving communities. They were full of concern for the spiritual and physical welfare of the individual, the family, and the community. We would all do well to look at our own tithing and giving today from the same angle.
And by the way, if you have a real life personal financial question, how about dropping us an email from our website at www.christianfinancialministries.org.
Dave Ramsey
My friend, I know that it is tight out there, particularly in the north GA and western NC mountains, to find a place to live that you can afford. I get a question every now and again and it is amazing to me that it is still a question. I get the question that asks, “Should we wait until we can buy a house for cash?” Let’s see how Dave Ramsey answers that question. Do I really want to pay cash for a house? Dave, what do you think?
Wow, what do you think? I don’t know about you, but I need to listen to Dave on this another time or two. You can do that by heading over to our website at www.christianfinancalministries.org
Minute with Maxwell
Now it is time again for one of my favorite times together with you and that means it is time for another Minute with Maxwell. This week, Christian pastor, author, and leadership teacher, trainer, mentor, and coach John Maxwell is going to share with us his thoughts on the word forgiveness.
CONCLUSION
Forgiveness—what a great way to finish up our time together this week. Thank you John Maxwell.
Recall that this week we also
- Wrapped up our look into financial bondage. You now know what it is, what it looks like, the causes, and even how to get out and stay out of financial bondage—and remember your homework at the bottom of the transcript of today’s program located on our website at www.christianfinancialministries.org
- We also responded to three real-world questions that I hope were blessings to you.
- And of course we were challenged by Dave Ramsey to consider that the best way to buy a home just might be for cash.
Next week we head into financial freedom God’s Way—those are going to be some great times together.
For now, let me close us in prayer. Father, we thank you for bringing us together, and teaching us from your Word again today, and for each of the days to come all to Your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Have a blessed rest of your day, won’t you, and remember to join us next weekend for Financial Freedom God’s Way Radio.
Financial Bondage
Applications
SYMPTOM PROBLEM SOLUTION
- Past due bills, worry, excessive credit Financial ignorance, self-indulgence Discipline, Excellence
- Abnormal losses, risks, hasty decisions Get-rich-quick attitude Patience, prayer, planning
- Protection, overwork Wrong priorities Knowledge, prayer
- Envy, resentment, bitterness Covetousness Contentment, accept God’s authority
- Sloppy records, deficient accounts, no budget Slothfulness, laxness Develop plans
- Self-indulgence, lavishness, waste, ego Greed, pride Discipline, moderation
- Inconsistent sharing habits Lack of spiritual commitment Transfer ownership to God
