#154 April 26-27, 2024

Seminar: Training Children 2/4
Q&A: Training Children
Dave Ramsey: “5 Things that will Make You Wealthy”
John Maxwell: “Advance”

(UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT)

INTRODUCTION

 Welcome to Financial Freedom God’s Way, where you are continuing to learn, apply, and even pass on, Bible-based financial principles and applications so you and your family will not only just survive, but thrive during these very uncertain times.

Hi and welcome everyone, this is Bob Louder from Christian Financial Ministries, and it is an absolute honor to have you with us again—it is.  What is on the schedule for our 30-minute time together today?

• Today,
  • During our Radio Seminar time together, you are going to continue to focus on how to effectively teach and train the children in your life Bible-base financial principles and applications.
  • After the Radio Seminar, we will move right into some great questions parents have about helping their children learn and apply what the Bible has to say about finances.
  • Next, Dave Ramsey will share with us the five things that will make you wealthy—a word of warning, it’s a classic Dave Ramsey rant with a purpose you want to hear.
  • And finally, well finally, we will spend a great Minute with Maxwell as the NY Times best-selling Christian author, speaker, and leadership coach John Maxwell focuses on the word “advance.” Advance.
• So stay tuned, won’t you? It is going to be a great time together with the Lord, so join me as we open with a word of prayer. Father, we thank You for meeting with us again today. Please give us ears to hear all that it is you have planned for us, to Your glory, in Jesus’ mighty name, amen.

BODY

Seminar:

My friend, it seems that nothing reflects the failure to teach family finances in our society today more than the national divorce rate. The data shows about half of all marriages will fail within the first six years—all marriages to include Christian marriages. What we find is that the average income of these divorcing couples is between $30k and $50k per year, so income is not the problem. What is the problem? Ignorance. Not knowing how to handle the material areas of their lives leads to debt, and debt leads to divorce. The average 28-year-old couple owes approximately $90,460 including student debt and a home loan…this is the average. What we find is that young couples simply do not know how to make the right financial decisions for their income. What we know is that according to the Bible, it is the responsibility of parents to teach their children God’s principles, and that includes His principles of managing money. You see when armed with God’s truth, our children will be able to detect the lies that our society throws at them, lies such as, “Go ahead and do it, you owe it to yourself”; “You need to stretch yourself financially if you are ever to be a success”; and “Interest is a good tax shelter.”

The bottom line is that we as parents are charged by God to teach our children how to handle the material—the financial part of their lives. To do that we as parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, Sunday School teachers, and youth leaders, need to do—well, we need to prayerfully start by

• Understanding all the negative influences and conditions that bombard our children’s lives,
• Second, prayerfully set some goals for our children—spiritual and financial goals,
• …and third is to swallow our pride and ask for help to learn how to teach our children about money.

Now, the good news is—there is help to be had.

• Organizations like Crown Financial Ministries and the Dave Ramsey organization have some outstanding materials to help you teach and train your children with Bible-based financial principles and applications.
• This next weekend you can receive some of the best from both Crown and Dave from our “How To Raise Money-Wise Children God’s Way Seminar and Workshop”—more about that in just a bit.
• And you can also ask specific questions about specific things that are going on in your family and the lives of your children, both spiritually and financially.

And that is exactly what all our Q&A times are all about—real-world people asking real-world questions. We share those questions and our responses with you, our radio audience to help you discover or rediscover that there are always spiritual and financial answers to your spiritual and financial questions. There is always hope because there is always God. Larry Burkett, Dave Ramsey, and all the others, we don’t have the answers, but God does. Our job is to help you discover Bible-based financial principles and applications so you can get them up and operating in your lives AND up and operating in the lives of your children.

So, let’s do just that. Today I have several great, real-world questions for you to consider.

Q&As:

Here is the first question.

• Bob, how old should my child be before I begin training him to handle money?
• My friend, from my personal experience, I suggest the answer is that the younger the better.
  • In the very early ages—say from one to six—you can teach your children by setting some fair, age-appropriate financial disciplines around the home. There are some jobs the children can do without pay, such as cleaning their rooms and picking up their toys.
  • Then as they grow, set up some elective jobs they can do for pay. This might include cleaning the garage, washing the car, mowing the yard, cleaning the bathrooms, and vacuuming. This will teach both the value of money and the ethics of doing a job well. The earlier you begin to do this, the better off your children will be.
  • Now, two principles should guide you as you begin to teach your children about finances.
    • First, whatever you do, be fair. Do not overpay, and do not underpay.
    • Second, be consistent. If you have announced that you won’t pay until a job is done to your liking, then stick to it. If you promised to pay when the job is done, then pay promptly when the job is done. Simply do not promise what you cannot or will not do.
  • Plus, another way to help teach young children the value of money is to help them set some financial goals. This can be as simple as earning fifty cents to buy some ice cream or saving enough to buy a coloring book or a piece of technology. Associating work with reward is an important concept. As Proverbs 16:26 says, “A worker’s appetite works for him…”
• Great question Carol, thanks so much. And what about the rest of us? Does this question come close to home?

Here is another great question.

• How soon should my children begin to tithe?
• Oh my…now this is a great question from someone who is headed in the right direction. How so? Because this person already seems to know what the tithe is all about. Remember, you can’t effectively teach and lead your children someplace you have never been…
• OK back to the question, how soon should my children begin to tithe?
  • First of all, you should avoid the “nickel in the plate” syndrome. When the collection plate comes around, don’t scramble to find your child some change or a couple of dollars to drop in. This teaches nothing about living. Children will best learn about tithing by giving their resources. I would suggest that your child begin to tithe as soon as he or she has the resources to do so.
  • Now, at the earlier ages, you’re probably going to have to encourage, even insist, that your child give a portion to the Lord’s work. At older ages, say starting in the early teens, depending on your child, you can begin to allow him or her to make their own giving decisions.
  • Remember that giving is nothing more than an outside visible indicator to us as to what is going on inside spiritually. If your teenager doesn’t want to give, don’t force it. Prayerfully work to identify and work with the inside spiritual problem.
  • To help make giving real to your children, get them involved in others’ lives. For example, have their tithes go directly to help support needy families. If you do, your children will begin to see the direct effect of their giving in the lives of others.
  • Phillip, make sure you understand and are applying what the Bible has to say about giving, then seek some help to pass along what the Lord has shown you and why, to your children.
• Thank you for your question.

Let’s see, how are we doing on time…let’s take one more short question…

• And it’s a good one—along the same line of how soon should my children begin to tithe is the question, at what age should my children open savings accounts?
• And here again
  • Start this practice early on, but then need to be old enough to understand that a bank is not a place where they put their money and never see it again. It IS a place where money is saved for future use. Young children especially should be encouraged to save for short-term projects, such as a trip, a toy, or maybe a tricycle. This will let them associate saving with a reward. Plus, you might want to add to or match the money they save…this “bonus” may be the key to help them start saving regularly.
  • Now, you and I know that saving money is a short-term sacrifice to achieve a longer-term goal—right? So, as your children get older, help them to begin saving for longer-term goals such as clothing, a car, and maybe, eventually college.
  • Saving money is a great discipline to have and a great discipline to start sharing with your children. As Proverbs 21:20 says, “The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets.”

Boy, these have been some great questions.

Dave Ramsey

My friend, get your listening ears ready for some not-so-soft critical teaching from our friend Dave Ramsey. Are you ready? Here’s Dave with the five things you need to make you wealthy.

Great words from Dave—I just love his passion for what the Lord is giving him to do.  Why not let some of that God-given passion to surface in your own life as the Lord and you walk down your personal road to financial freedom God’s way.  Thanks Dave.

Minute with Maxwell

It is time again for one of my favorite times together with the Lord and you—it is time for another Minute with Maxwell. Recall that John Maxwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling Christian author, coach, and speaker and is considered the world’s most influential leadership expert. Today, John’s Minute with Maxwell is all about the word “Advance.” Let’s listen in.

Wow, great teaching. Change.  Advance. Prayerfully advance and keep on advancing to include purposely advancing down your road to financial freedom God’s Way.

CONCLUSION

Ok, that just about wraps up our time together for today. Recall,

• During our Radio Seminar, you continued to focus on how to start to effectively teach and train the children in your life Bible-base financial principles and applications.  And by the way, we will continue talking about the link between your children and finances for the next couple of weeks.
• Then you heard some great questions parents—real-world parents have about helping their children learn and apply what the Bible has to say about finances.
• Plus, you were blessed by a strong word of encouragement where Dave Ramsey suggested to you five ways to move financially from where you are into financial freedom God’s way and he did it with a whole lot of passion. I am praying the Passion the Holy Spirit gives Dave will rub off onto you and me as well.
• And finally, you just heard from John Maxwell the importance of movement in your life—how important it is to advance—to advance in every area of your walk with the Lord to include your financial walk.

And one more quick word, as you may know our website has been having some issues lately.  But as far as I know, as of today, I do believe if you go to www.christianfinancialministries.org, that is www.christianfinancialministries.org, you will be able to both relisten to and download a transcript of this program.

Now, well now it is time for us to close as we started and that is with a word of prayer.  Father God, I thank you for bringing us together today and for each of the days to come to come.  Help us to prayerfully begin to apply all that it is You are giving us, to Your glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a blessed day, won’t you, and remember to be back next weekend as you continue down your personal road to Financial Freedom God’s Way.