Radio Seminar #1, Scam Alert, Maxwell
FULL PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
(NOT word perfect and please excuse transcription errors–typos, etc)
INTRODUCTION
Attention
Welcome to Financial Freedom God’s Way Radio. This is where you learn to identify, 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.
Overview
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. Now, what is on the schedule for our 30 minute time together today?
- You are going to discover the first of several sessions that go together to make up our Financial Freedom God’s Way Radio Seminar. What is the goal? To make sure you know that Financial Freedom God’s way is possible—it’s possible for you starting right now. It is possible for you to learn, apply, and start to pass along Bible-based financial principles and applications. It’s possible. You can do this. Today you will see how we can help.
- Then, we will build a bit on what the Lord is showing us about financial freedom. The Bible tells us we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. To me, this means we need to check out the financial attitudes…the attitudes that drive our financial actions. So, during our Q&A time together, we will see some real-world questions that will have us prayerfully check our financial attitudes.
- Next, the Better Business Bureau will tell us all about and how to avoid a new Twitter and Instagram SCAM.
- And finally, well finally, one of our favorite Christian authors, speakers, and teachers, John Maxwell will share with us this thoughts on the word HOPE (8-17)
Motivation
So stay tuned, won’t you. It is going to be a time together with the Lord you are not going to want to miss. As the matter of fact, you may either want to take some notes or listen to this broadcast again on our website so you can take notes. Either way, let’s start by making sure The Lord is the One driving our time together—let’s open with a word of prayer. Father, we thank You for meeting with us, teaching us, and challenging us again today. Will You please give us ears to hear and the faith to put into practice all that you have planned for us today, to Your glory, in Jesus’ mighty name we ask, amen.
BODY
Radio Seminar
Now, as we start out on our Financial Freedom God’s Way Radio Seminar time together, let me ask you a couple of questions. First, are you enjoying Financial Freedom–God’s Way or do you struggle with your finances? Is your relationship with God stressed because whenever you sit down to read the Bible or pray, all you can think about are money problems? Do you and those close to you argue over money? Are your credit cards maxed out? Do you pay one credit card with another? Are creditors calling about late mortgage, car, or credit card payments? Have you considered consolidation loans, second jobs, second mortgages, or even bankruptcy?
Or, perhaps you have other financial problem areas in your life today. For example, have your personal and/or business decisions not always been God honoring. You live from paycheck to paycheck? You are not saving/investing for emergencies, college, or retirement as you know you should? Not enough of the right kinds of insurance? Don’t tithe? Can’t give the way you would like? Don’t have a will?
My friend, you need to know that Financial freedom–God’s Way is possible—for you! Now! You see, managing your finances really should not be a struggle. The financial areas of your life should be freeing, not restricting. From personal experience I can assure you that you will find life a lot more enjoyable and rewarding if your financial decisions are pleasing to God. You can have closer family relationships, a debt-free lifestyle (including your home), save for the future, and a plan to pass on part of your wealth to family members and worthy ministries and organizations.
So, yes, it is possible for you to get on the path to Financial Freedom–God’s Way! Right Now! But How? Glad you asked: During each FFGW Seminar will learn how to recognize, understand, and apply, biblical financial principles. As a result, you will better understand the forces behind your financial distress. You will learn to set realistic goals and how important it is to get on and stay on a budget. We will work together to help make things right for you and your family—spiritually, financially and emotionally—for good!
What will you hear during our times together?
- We will first lay a spiritual and economic foundation. It’s important we all start with the same basic understanding of where we are and how we got there.
- Then we will cover the two most important Biblical financial principles. If we understand and apply these two basic principles, they will help direct every financial decision we will ever make.
- We will also talk about religious folklore. These are financial “principles” that sound spiritual but do not come from God=s Word. These are worldly principles that lead us into financial bondage, not “Financial Freedom—God’s Way.”
- We will point out specific ways God wants us to use and not use money.
- We will look at financial bondage (what it is, what it looks like, and what to do about it). Then we will consider financial freedom (what it is, what it looks like, and how to plan for it).
- We will talk about finances for singles and how to train our children.
- And yes, we will talk about giving.
So, that’s where are headed and how we are going to get there. So, let’s go ahead and get started. And as we do, let me ask you yet another question. How do you get rid of a bad habit? How do you get rid of a bad habit?
- The answer has two parts, doesn’t it? First, you need to recognize the bad habit. Then you must replace that bad habit with a good habit. Now, this same process applies when we talk about how to manage your money in ways pleasing to God. Before you can move to spiritually higher ground in your finances, you must first learn to identify and replace worldly financial habits with financial habits based on God’s Word.
- This means we need to know a little bit about our national economy. Now, I know that the topic of economics is very interesting – if you happen to be an economist! But I find that economists are a different breed of cat, they are a hard group to pin down. Someone once said that if we took all the economists in the world and lined them up end-to-end they would never reach a conclusion!
- None-the-less, it’s important to understand where our national economy is today because our national economy has helped shape our personal financial habits.
- Now, on the whole, most economists believe our nation will continue to suffer from an incurable disease – the misuse of debt. You see, quite often, our government chooses to spend more than it makes and then tries to make up the difference by borrowing.
- Now, is this approach right or wrong, good or bad? Who is to say? Economist? Radio and TV pundits? Our elected officials? Well, I submit that there is only one true measure as to whether our national economy is headed in the right direction…and that would be God’s Word.
- So, lets see from the Bible what God promises a nation, any nation that follows His financial and economic principles. Perhaps Deuteronomy 28:12-13 is the best first place to look. This Old Testament book of the Bible says that if we, if we as a nation choose to follow His economic and financial principles, well then…
“The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail…”
- Now, that is what we can expect if we follow God’s economic plan. However, what is God’s warning to a nation, any nation that chooses not to follow His economic plan? Let’s take a look at Deut. 28:43-44. If, as a nation, we choose not to do things His way, then…
“The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.”
- Now, I don’t believe it takes the gift of discernment to figure out where we are and where we may be headed in this country today. For example,
- Did you know that back in 1985 the U.S. became the largest single debtor nation in the world?
- And that every year we are selling more and more of our national wealth to foreign interests.
- The foreigner is rising higher and higher above us. More and more of us are working for foreign owners right here in our own land.
- Now let me ask you, do you think this is this an indication of God’s blessing for our obedience, or His judgment for our disobedience? I have to believe a reasonable person would probably agree that we just might be witnessing God’s warning being placed into action.
- You see, our problem is—the problem you and I have is that our government has taught us well. How so? Well, you and I often choose to live on more than we make and try to make up the difference by borrowing, which leads to more debt to the point debt becomes a habit and habits (especially lifestyle habits) are hard to break. Why are bad habits hard to break?
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- Because breaking a habit requires change and for most of us, change is very uncomfortable.
- For example, here is what I want you to do—but only if you are not driving, OK? If you are driving, keep your hands on the wheel and just listen and you’ll see the picture. But if you are not driving, here is what I want you to do: clap your hands. Clap your hands like you would applaud a good performance. Clap your hands. Most likely, you moved your hands from side-to-side. Right? Now, switch it around just a bit–try clapping your hands by moving your hands up and down. Uncomfortable, isn’t it? However, if you practice clapping up and down long enough, this change would become comfortable and you will have formed a new habit.
- My friend, the point is this: If you want to manage your finances in ways pleasing to God, you need to identify and change some of your financial habits. How? By moving away from the world and into God’s Word to understand and apply two key, basic Biblical financial principles.
- What are these two foundational principles”–critical Biblical financial principles—what are they? You will discover these two Biblical financial principles next time plus, you will also see how these basic financial principles lead us right to your first piece of spiritual financial armor based on the Bible book of Ephesians. It’s going to be great, so don’t miss it.
Now, as we wrap up this first FFGW radio seminar session, please know that during each of our times together, please remember that the good folks at Christian Financial Ministries have been helping God’s people who are absolutely, positively ready to get out of debt and work to build and pass on wealth since 1987. We have helped hundreds of individuals, families, churches, and small businesses through counseling, consulting, coaching, small group studies, workshops and seminars. Listen, God can use this Financial Freedom God’s Way radio seminar to help you! So, we’ll see you next week as we continue to help you begin your quest for Financial Freedom—God’s Way. Trust me, you are not want to miss a single session.
Q&As
Now, let’s build a bit on what the Lord is showing us about financial freedom. The Bible tells us we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. To me this means we need to check out the financial attitudes that drive our financial actions. Right? We just talked about that. So, let’s continue to talk about financial freedom, as we see some real-world questions from real world folks that will help us prayerfully check our financial attitudes.
I believe you will see what I mean by way of this first question: Bob, my wife and I have serious concerns about the affluence in the United States today. Is it scriptural for Christians to maintain this level of affluence, or should we drastically change our life-styles so we can help feed the world’s hungry?
- Now, that’s the question—and you can see it is not a soft ball pitch. First, what about you. Have you ever felt just a little guilty about having so much compared to so many who have far less? Let’s dig a little deep here for just a moment and see what the Bible has to say.
- And as we do, we discover that the Bible has a whole lot of references about concern for the poor—Psalm 82:1-4, Isaiah 1:17, Matthew 25:34-40, James 1:27, and 1 John 3:17-18—just to mention a few. No doubt, our affluence can blind us to the real needs of other people. Many Christians’ biggest concern is how to reduce their tax burden, not how to help put bread on the table. But to put all this in balance, God’s Word does not prohibit a Christian from having a surplus. In fact, I have to believe that God places Christians at every level of society, from the poorest to the most affluent, so we can witness to those around us.
- Psalm 37:4 says this: “Delight yourself in the Lord; and he will give you the desires of your heart.” What are the desires of our hearts? For those who seek to serve God, it is not material indulgence.
- God promises His people an “abundance” if they care about other’s needs. Psalm 112:5 tells us that “It is well with the man who is gracious and lends.” You see, God has no difficulty with our affluence, provided that it is used to help others and glorify Him.
- So, does this question give you reason to check your financial and spiritual attitude?
What about this Question? Bob, we have a controversy going on in our church…oh oh. Our pastor believes that, if you have any problems in your life, it is an evidence of sin in your life. I’m concerned with this philosophy. Eventually nobody will admit to any problems for fear that others will think he or she is sinning. Can Christians have financial problems that are not sin-related?
- Mark, let me say right off the bat, I’m not the right person to answer your question—I can and will give you a response, but you really ought to sit down and respectfully talk about this with your pastor—he is your spiritual leader—the Lord has you placed under his teaching. So the first thing I can say is that do not let this controversy divide your church—talk about it with your pastor.
- Having said that, let me share this. The attitude that Christians ought never to have any financial problems is more wide-spread than you might think. It’s often thought that when Christians do have financial problems, it’s because God is punishing them. Wow, what a defeating philosophy!
- Consider this: In James 1:2, God says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various problems; knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” If you paraphrase that verse, it says, “If you really want to have your faith perfected, you need a problem to test it.” Therefore, we know with certainty that problems are not THE evidence of sin—we’ve already seen that problems, including financial problems, are never THE evidence of sin, they may be an evidence of sin, but never THE evidence of sin.
- That is to say that problems can be an indicator of sin, but there will also be many other indicators, including the sin itself. Christ promises that if we yield our rights to God, we will have peace. The Lord Himself had plenty of problems during His time on earth, and if we follow in His steps, we also will have problems. Through our difficulties, we are to be witnesses to others who are having similar problems. By observing us, they will know that our God is the real deal.
- Mark, here is one final thought. The last thing someone having a serious problem needs is another Christian asking if he or she has confessed all known sins. Most of the people we counsel have confessed every sin at least twice and several they had never done, just to be sure.
Well, there you have it…a couple of great questions I suggest you prayerfully take before the Lord to check your attitude about finances.
SCAM ALERT
Now, let me ask you yet another question—boy, today has been a program of questions, right. Here’s the question: Are you verified on either Twitter or Instagram? If so, you need to know of a scam that directly targets you.
Let me explain. According to the BBB, social media has long been a favorite haunt of scammers. In this new scam, con artists are going after businesses and individuals with verified accounts—and recall that verifying your twitter and Instagram accounts was supposed to help you prevent scams…ouch.
| Here’s how this scam works. |
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