Online Seminar: God’s 2nd Question
Dave Ramsey: Stop living paycheck to paycheck
John Maxwell: “Simplicity”
(UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT)
Re-Listen to or Download the audio file.
Read, “Select All” and “Print”, and/or Cut and Paste the transcript.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Financial Freedom God’s Way, where you are continuing to learn, apply, and pass on, Bible-based financial principles and applications so that 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 really is. What is on the schedule for our 30-minute time together today?
- Today,
- Today we are going to continue with our Your Finances in Perilous Times Radio Seminar as we consider the second of the three questions God has asked godly men and women down through the ages who wanted to make a difference, a spiritual and a financial difference in His Kingdom. He asked the same three questions back then that He’s asking you right now. You’ll hear about his second question to you in just a couple of minutes.
- Plus you will hear more great teaching from Dave Ramsey on how to stop living from pay check to pay check.
- And during our Minute with Maxwell, Christian teacher, trainer, mentor, coach and author will share with you his thoughts on the word. … simplicity.
So stay tuned, won’t you. It is going to be a great time together. As we start, let me pray for us. Father, 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
Your Finances in Perilous Times Radio Seminar
Recall that during this Your Finances in Perilous Times Radio Seminar, you are going to learn how to best manage the material areas of your life in ways that are pleasing to God. You will not only learn to combine key biblical financial principles and applications, you will also take a good look at some Jewish history, learn some Greek, and along the way you’re going to pick up a hint or two on how to live with a whole lot less financial stress around the house.
You see, God wants to do an amazing work in your heart. You are on a journey of discovery. What the Holy Spirit is going to give you during this journey can absolutely, positively, and completely transform your entire spiritual and financial life.
Review:
And that’s going to be a great thing for you, because you, my friend, recall you have already discovered that you are a unique part of the body of Christ. Do you remember that? How so? Because the data shows that fewer than 10% of the Body of Christ will ever step out and take the time and make the effort and even the sacrifice to learn and apply what God’s Word has to say about how to handle money? This means you would love to be mightily used to make a spiritual and a financial difference in the Kingdom of God today AND that you know, according to the Bible it is still possible for one person, any person, for YOU to make a spiritual and a financial difference.
Now, how does the Lord get you ready to make this difference? By asking you the same three questions, He asked countless others down through the ages. Recall God’s burning bush experience with Moses where God first humbled Moses by making sure Moses realized that he was God’s servant—remember, God told Moses to take off his sandals, which was a way for Moses to show that he was giving up his rights before God. Then God asked Moses three questions. Three questions that were the foundation for God’s work through Moses and those same three questions form the foundation for His work through you.
- Last time you discovered Question #1. By the way, you might want to go to our website at christianfinancialministries.org to either relisten to or get a transcript of that program.
- Do you recall that first question? God asked Moses, and God is asking you, right now, today, God is asking you, “Will you show me your hand?” Which means, “Will you open yourself up to me? Will you confess you’ve made some mistakes in the past?” “Will you confess so I can forgive so we can move on to the second question? My friend, will you choose to show God your hand? You don’t have to. It’s your choice. But it’s a choice you need to make if you want to choose to make a difference.
So, God’s first question is, “Will you show me your hand?
2nd Question: What is in your hand?
Next is God’s second question. Now, Moses and you might have thought to make a difference, to be mightily used by God, all he and you had to do was to confess your sins, to get your relationship with God squared away. However, God had another question for Moses, and it’s the same question He now has for you. God’s first question is, “Will you show me your hand.” And now His second question is, “What do you have in your hand?”
- Now, I wasn’t there at the time, but I have to believe Moses must have looked and he must have thought and must have said something like, “Well, the only thing I can see I have in my hand is this shepherd’s staff.” You see, Moses had the shepherd’s staff with him during this encounter with God because the encounter with God came at a time when Moses was out doing his job as a shepherd. The staff was the primary tool of his trade. God said, take a look at what you have in your hand—and it didn’t take a whole lot of looking.
- Now, here, we need to pause for just a minute, here you need to know a little Jewish history. You need to understand that in Moses’ day, shepherds were a despised group of folks. Recall that Moses had been brought up in Egypt, right? And you know from history and from the Bible, that Egyptians hated shepherds. Why? Because there had been a period in Egyptian history when a group of shepherds came in and conquered the whole land of Egypt. And in Egyptian history, these conquerors were known as the shepherd kings, the Hixus. So Egyptians hated shepherds because shepherds reminded the Egyptians of the conquering shepherd kings. And for the first 40 years of his life in Egypt, Moses grew up with all that hate, will all of that prejudice and with all of that bigotry directed against shepherds. By the way, that’s one reason why it would have been hard for Moses to leave the courts of Pharaoh…to take care of sheep…and they weren’t even his own sheep, they were his father-in-law’s sheep. Moses wasn’t even wealthy enough to own his own sheep.
- And so when God asked Moses the second question, “Moses, now please listen carefully here, when God asked Moses, “What’s in your hand?” Moses, because of his history, because of his education, and because of his experience, Moses must have thought something like, “I’m looking Lord, but I don’t see anything you can possibly use. All I have in my hand is this symbol, this tool, of the despised profession of which I am a part. After all, Lord, what can you possibly do with a shepherd’s staff? I mean, what good is it? God, all I have in my hand is useless to You. As the matter of fact, I don’t have anything that You can use.”
Incidentally, you need to also know that later in the New Testament times the Jews had a list of despised professions. Did you realize that? People who practiced these despised professions were categorized as unclean; and being unclean meant that they were not permitted to be a witness in court and not allowed to serve in the Temple in any way, shape or form. The folks who practiced the despised professions were considered perpetually, continually, unclean.
- Now, there were some professions on this list that make good sense to me. For example, as you might expect, tanners were on the list of unclean professions. Why? Because tanners were unclean because their job was to handle dead animals and handling dead animals was forbidden, which made them unclean and therefore they could not give legal testimony and they could not serve in the Temple. Tanners make sense to me.
- But also on the list of despised professions were doctors. Why doctors? Well, because doctors dealt with blood and dead people both of which were forbidden therefore doctors were also considered perpetually unclean.
- Now, come in real close for just a second, listen hard here, also on the Jewish list of despised professions were shepherds. Why? Not because of the way it was back in Egypt. No. Why then? Because shepherds were sometimes called upon to work on the Sabbath. If you worked on the Sabbath you were unclean, you couldn’t serve in the Temple and your testimony wasn’t considered trustworthy. You see, shepherds were at the low end of the Jewish society and part of a despised profession. Now, think about this, did you ever wonder why in the world it was that nobody paid a whole lot of attention the shepherds in the Christmas story? It was because shepherds were unclean and therefore their testimony wasn’t considered valid. But isn’t it neat that God has such a fantastic way of using people the world considers lowly, even despised, to use those who think they have absolutely nothing to offer? Look at these shepherds. They had been despised for hundreds of years while the Jews were slaves in Egypt and for hundreds of years when the Jews moved into the promise land. Yet, God chose shepherds as some of the very first folks to know about, and spread the word about the birth of His Son. Isn’t that wonderful. I’m so thankful we have a God Who does things like that.
So, God’s second question is, “What’s in your hand?” Moses, again, because of his history, his education and his experience must have answered in his mind something like, “God, there’s nothing in my hand–nothing that you could use. The thing that I hold is despised. It’s nothing–it’ not worth anything, I have absolutely not one thing that You can use.” Have you ever though that way. Have you?
Alright, let’s review: First question: “Will you show me your hand—let’s set the relationship in place.” 2nd question: “What’s in your hand?—now let’s see what we have to work with.” And then, well then, God’s third question—well, we’ll talk about the third question God asked Moses, and others, and you, the third question is next time.
Dave Ramsey.
You know, it’s been my very great pleasure to have been part of Dave Ramsey’s team of Certified Financial Coaches since 2004. He speaks financial truth based on God’s Word and gives you personal financial applications based on a whole lot of financial experience and education. Today let’s see what Dave has to say about how to stop living paycheck to paycheck.
Now, that’s a good word from someone who I believe is the top Bible-based personal financial teacher, trainer, mentor, and coach in the United States today. And if you like what you hear and you need some help to apply what you hear I suggest you get in contact with the Dave Ramsey organization at www.ramseysolutions.com. That’s ramseysolutions.com. Thanks Dave for another great word of encouragement.
Minute with Maxwell
Now it’s time for one of my favorite times together with you…it’s time for another Minute with Maxwell where Christian leadership author, speaker, teacher, trainer, coach, and Mentor John Maxwell is going to share with us his thoughts on the word simplicity.
I know it may seem counterintuitive, but John is says if you want to take your communication to the next level, don’t try to dazzle people with your intellect or overpower them with information. Give them clarity and simplicity. Thank You John Maxwell for another great Minute with Maxwell.
CONCLUSION
Okkkkk, that wraps up our time together for today. Recall, .
- During our Radio Seminar you discovered God’s second question to you as He and you get ready to head into financial freedom God’s way. First question: will you show me your hand, let’s make sure our relationship is in place.” And question number two, “What’s in your hand, what do you have we can work with?” Next week, question number 3.
- Dave Ramsey shared with us some ideas on how to stop living paycheck to paycheck, and
- John Maxwell gave us some great thoughts on the word simplicity.
- Remember to check at christianfinancialministries.org to either relisten to or get a transcript of today’s program.
And one final thought, you may be wondering why we refer folks to the Dave Ramsey organization for great, Bible-based financial teaching, training, mentoring and coaching rather that provide those services from our offices in Hiawassee. Well, the answer is simple…we don’t have enough trained Dave Ramsey Coaches. Now, if you have been trained by Dave and want to help minister to our community by joining up with our team, I would really love to talk with you.
And it’s the same with John Maxwell. We would love to offer John’s Master Mind Grouups from our Hiawassee location as well, but again, we need your help…if you are part of John Maxwell’s trained team, if you want to put your training to great use, then, please get in touch with me.
How, what’s the best way for us to initially talk? You can give me a call at 678-386-2640. That’s 678-386-2640 if you want to talk about how you can put your Dave Ramsey or John Maxwell training to great use.
And with that, well, that’s all we have time for today, except, except we do want to close in prayer. Father, we thank you for bringing us together today and for each of the days to come to Your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Have a blessed rest of your day, won’t you, and we will see you next time as we continue down your personal road to Financial Freedom God’s Way.
