Seminar: Financial Freedom God’s Way #4
Scam Alert: Student Loan scam
Minute with Maxwell: “Persistence”
UN-EDITED TRANSCRIPT
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 in Hiawassee, 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?
- Wow, as you know, we are starting to work our way into our Financial Freedom God’s Way Radio Seminar. And as we do, I have to tell you that the session for last week and this week are the two most important sessions of all of our times together. How so, well, you are about to find out—you are about to discover the Bible in a new and exciting way. And remember, you can always to our website at christianfinancialministries.org to either re-listen to or get a transcript of today’s program and our two earlier FFGW RS programs as well.
- Next, we all know that student loan forgiveness is here, but so are the scammers—the Better Business Bureau scam alert will tell us all about it.
- Then, during our Minute with Maxwell time together, Christian leadership author, teacher, trainer, mentor, and coach John Maxwell will share with us his thoughts on the word PERSISTANCE.
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. 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
Review:
- As we get started with our Radio Seminar time this week, recall that last week
- you discovered that according to the Bible, it is still possible for you or anyone to still make a spiritual and a financial difference in this world today, even during this lousy economy. It will take work on your part, that’s true. But it will be a whole lot easier than you might imagine. Why? Because according to the Bible, making a difference in the Kingdom of God has absolutely nothing to do with the amount or value of whatever you have. Making a difference in the Kingdom of God today has everything to do with your attitude and how you use whatever you have been given.
- ast time you also discovered the three Three questions God has asked countless folks throughout the ages who have chosen to be mightily used by Him to make a spiritual and a financial difference in His Kingdom.
This Week
- And let’s start right there this week, with those same three questions. Do you recall those three questions and their purpose?
- First, God ask you, “Will you show Me your hand?” Will you show God your hand? Here God is asking you to either get into relationship with Him or get back into relationship with Him. He’s asking you, “Will you show me your hand. Let Me see it if you really want to make a difference for me spiritually and financially. Do you really want to make a difference?” God is saying to you, “If so, then let’s first make sure our relationship squared away. Will you choose to show me your hand?” Will you choose to put your spiritual and financial history on the table—the good, the bad, and the ugly. But you say, “Lord, I don’t exactly want to show it to you right now. I mean, somebody might see…I’m not really excited about opening myself up to you…because Lord, I’ve done and said and thought some things spiritually and financially that I shouldn’t have, and Lord, there have been lots of times that I didn’t do and say and think what I should have. Lord, there has been some sin in my life.” And God says you, “Listen my child. I know. I know all about it, and you’re right, that sin is standing in the way of our relationship and My ability to teach you and use you starting this very second.” God says, “Let’s get rid of it.” God says, “Let’s put it behind you. I’m going to forget about it. You need to learn from it and move on.” You see, just like the father and the prodigal son and just like God’s conversation with Moses and so many, many others, you can know beyond a shadow of doubt, you can know that you know that you know, that you are forgiven and your relationship set in place.
- If you have never put your relationship with God into place, if you’ve never asked Jesus Christ into your heart at Lord and Savior, God is asking you, “Will you show me your hand—will you confess your sins so I can forgive you, cleanse you so we can start to walk and talk and work together and you can start to make a real difference in My Kingdom?”
- And, if you have already prayed to set your relationship with God into place, you have already asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, but you’ve walked away from your fellowship with God, I mean, your relationship isn’t broken but your fellowship needs restoring? then you need to know that God is still asking you this same question, he asks, “Will you show Me your hand, so that I can forgive you your sin, so that we can have our fellowship restored.”
- So, go ahead. We’re going to pray in just a minute. When we do, show Him your hand. Show it to Him. No matter what’s on it. He is asking you, first, “Will you show me your hand?”
- Then He is asking you, right now, “What’s in your hand? What do you have to work with?”
- You may say, “I don’t have much. I don’t have anything. If I had anything I wouldn’t even be here right now.” Or maybe you consider yourself a modern day shepherd—someone who is at the low end of the societal totem pole, someone with absolutely nothing to offer, nothing God can possibly use. But during our times together God is going to show you that He has put quite a bit in your hand. And you’ll also soon see that what He has given you is not just what you have, but also who you are. What’s in your hand? Are you an employee? A child? Perhaps you are a husband or a wife, a parent or grandparent, a teacher, a student, a tradesman, a nurse…you get the picture.
- Or maybe you believe you are nobody special with nothing special to offer. You might think, that you’re just a plain, every day, ordinary kind of an individual; that you’re not any different than anybody else; that you’re just an ordinary person. But you see, all these people from the Bible were just that, they were just ordinary people. What made each one of them extraordinary was not what they had or who they were at the start, oh no, what made a difference was God’s work through them and what they had been given, and it can be the same with you.
- And by the way, if you look, and you don’t think you have anything in your hand, ask Him to fill it.
- So, God asks you, “Will you show Me your hand?” “What’s in your hand?” And finally He asks you, “Will you give Me your hand and what’s in it?”
- Then He is asking you, right now, “What’s in your hand? What do you have to work with?”
- Those are God’s three questions to you. Now, let me ask you a question: Why do you suppose it is that God asks you to give back to Him whatever it is He has given you?—who you are and what you have? Why does He ask you to give it back? Why? Listen my friend, because everything you choose to put back into Jesus’ hands multiplies every bit as much, as a little boy’s lunch.
- If you say I’m just a plain, ordinary person, I’m like everybody else. Then give Him the plain and the ordinary.
- If it’s your time, your skills, your health, if it’s your family, your position, whatever is in your hand, learn to give it back to Him.
- Even if its’ a lunch, five loaves and a couple of small fish.
- God is asking you, “Will you give me your hand and what’s in it?”
- And did you know that according to the Bible, did you know that if you choose to give God your hand and what’s in it, if you do, God makes you a couple of promises?
- “First of all, according to the Bible, God promises you that He will use what your give Him, He’s not going to waste a thing. He promises to use what you give Him because He doesn’t have nearly enough people who are willing to give Him their hands and what’s in them. First promise, God promises to use what you give Him.
- But then, then, according to the Bible, God makes you a second promise. He will make sure He returns to you enough to do anything He ever asks you to do
You see, as you start out on this journey to financial freedom God’s way, as you enter into this Financial Freedom God’s Way Radio Seminar, the bottom line is that you can choose to make a difference spiritually and financially. Because, according to the Bible, one person can still make a difference. As the matter of fact, according to the Bible, you are called to make a difference. That’s why you are here on this earth at this time…for such a time as this. And that’s what our time together is going to be all about. You’re going to learn to recognize what God has placed in your hand and how to use it to God’s glory. You are going to learn what God has to say, and how to get what He has to say up and operating in your life. God is going to put into your hand some knowledge and understanding of spiritual tools and biblical financial principles and applications. Perhaps, just perhaps, if you are really blessed, perhaps He even wants to place into your hand the desire and the ability and the opportunity to help someone else. You can learn, apply and pass along…you can make a difference…and you can do it all God’s way.
But I want us to stop right here, for just a minute, and go back to where we started. Let me ask you my two questions again. First, do you want to be used in a mighty way in the Kingdom of God? Question number two, do you believe it’s possible to make a difference? Are you beginning to see the process you need to go through to be in a position to make a difference?
I know that praying and asking God to set or reset your relationship with Him usually comes at the end of a seminar, or the end of a workshop, or the end of a sermon.
However, according to the Bible, it’s really the very first thing you need to do, the very first thing you need to do to begin to be mightily used by God. You see, the purpose of godly information is not mere knowledge, it’s obedience. In the past you might have been taught well Bible-based financial information but you didn’t change. You see, it’s only when you have a right relationship with God that you can change; that you can move from information into spiritual and financial transformation.
Why should you come to or back to Jesus? Because you are thirsty. Something is lacking in your life; you are parched because everything else seems so dry and empty. Someone once asked a farmer why he had those big chunks of salt where the cattle could like them. The farmer said it was because they needed to get thirsty and hungry enough to eat nutritious food. You come to Jesus because it’s time for nutritious food.
And by the way, you don’t come to or come back to Jesus by your intellect alone—or even with your heart alone. You come to Jesus because you decide to do so. It is a matter of the will. It’s a matter of choice.
So, how can you choose to have a personal relationship with God? It’s easy. You simply ask His Son, Jesus Christ, into your heart as your Lord and Savior. And if you already know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but you need to have your fellowship restored, well, you just need to ask Him. According to the Bible, you need to do one or the other to grow to be mightily used, spiritually and financially, by God.
So, lets’ pray. Please, right where you are, no matter whom else is around, if you are driving keep your head up and your eyes open. If you are not driving, bow your head, close your eyes, listen, focus and follow along with me. I’m going to start, I’ll lead you in a short prayer, and then I’ll finish up for us. Ready?
- Father, here we are before you and before You, Lord Jesus, and we hear you ask us these same questions; “Will you show me your hand? What’s in your hand? Will you give Me your hand and what’s in it?” And, Oh God, we’re just ordinary people but we would like to give it to you…to give all of it to you. We would like to see what You can do with one person who will give You all that he has, all that she has.
- Now, if you have never come to the point where you prayed and asked Jesus to come into your heart, you can, right now. Listen to me please, you can and will make a difference to God and His Kingdom but you first need to have a healthy, personal relationship with God. The only way to have such a relationship with God is to ask His Son, Jesus Christ into your heart as Lord and Savior.
- How do you ask Jesus into your heart as Lord and savior? The Bible says it’s very straight forward. Be willing to admit that you have been living to please yourself which the Bible says is sin. You need to be willing to turn away from your sins, living for yourself, and start living for God.
- You need to believe that you can live for God because Jesus Christ makes it possible. You need to believe that Jesus, as the very Son of God, died on the cross, rose from the grave and now sits at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven—all to forgive you and pay the penalty for your sins and to give you the free gift of an eternal relationship with Him that starts with living for Him right now. This gift of an eternal presence with God is a free gift—all you have to do is to reach out and take it. You don’t have to work for it or give up anything for it—you just need to decide to take it. Right now, today, you can invite Jesus to come in and control your life and begin to live for God.
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- If this is the desire of your heart, please pray after me, doesn’t have to be out loud, God hears your words and He reads your heart…so, one way or the other, pray after me—and remember, if you are driving keep your head up and your eyes open, otherwise you’re your head and pray after me…Lord Jesus, I truly want to get close to you. But I know that I have done and said and thought things that I shouldn’t have, and I’ve not done and not said and not thought so many things that I should have. I need your forgiveness. God please forgive me. Jesus, I believe that You died on the cross, I believe that You rose to life again, to pay the penalty for my sins just so I can be forgiven and receive the free gift of eternal relationship with you. Jesus, today I stop living to please myself and start living to please You. Please come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank You for coming into my life Lord Jesus. Amen.
- Now, if you prayed to ask Jesus to come into your life sometime in the past and today, right now, you know that you’ve fallen away from Him, that you’re out of fellowship with Him, for any reason, you can show Him your hand and get back into fellowship and you too can grow to really make a difference. If that’s where you are, and then please pray with me—head up and eyes open if your are driving–Father God, I’ve sinned. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Please begin to teach me to Your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen
- Now, let me close for us…Oh God, will you please use us to your glory. Lord, help us to see that it’s Your heart to have us make a difference in Your Kingdom. Forever in Jesus’ name. Amen.
OK, good start, right? Now, if you just prayed to ask Jesus Christ into your heart and Lord and Savior there are three things you need to do…
- First, tell someone about the decision you just made. You can talk about God…Jesus talks about you!
- Second, if you’re not already there, you need to find and get active in a strong Bible teaching, Bible believing church.
- And finally, if you need someone to tell and some help finding a church in your area, please give me a call at 678-386-2640. We have some folks standing by eager to help you start or restart your walk with the Lord.
Wow, what a great Radio Seminar session together.
- As a result of our time together, you’ve had the chance to decide whether or not you truly want to be used by God to make a difference to God and all those around you. You have chosen to make a difference.
- And you now know the process by which He and you must go through so that He can get you into a position to make a difference. You now know God’s three questions to you.
- Will you show me your hand, God wants to make sure your relationship with Him is squared away…you just prayed and settled that issue.
- That leaves the second and third questions, “what’s in your hand.” And “will you give me your hand and what’s in them?” These are the questions you’ll work through for the rest of our Radio Seminar times together.
SCAM ALERT
It appear that scammers wasted no time capitalizing on the Biden Administration’s plan to cancel some federal student loan debt bogus forgiveness calls and emails
Here’s how this scam works. You receive a call or voicemail from someone claiming to represent a new student loan forgiveness program. To see if you qualify for forgiveness, the scammer insists that you need to complete an online application form, which asks for personal information, such as your bank account details.
For example, one consumer received a voicemail from ‘the Biden student loan forgiveness program’… She returned the call and spoke with “Peter,” who asked for her email address and telephone number. He asked if she wanted to see if she qualified for the loan, but when we started asking him questions… he got frustrated and ended the call.”
In other variations, the scammer insists that you need to pay an upfront fee or even redirect your current student loan payments to them.
Another person targeted by this scam got a “Final Notice” email. Thinking it was from the federal student loan department, the consumer called, had to change their bank account password in order to redirect all their loan payments to the scammer.
So, that’s how the scam works, now, how can you avoid loan forgiveness scams?
- First: When in doubt, contact the government lending agency directly. If you receive a message that seems legitimate, but you aren’t sure, stop communicating with the person who contacted you. Then, verify their claims by contacting the government agency they say they represent.
- #2: Never pay fees for a free government program. Government agencies will never ask you to pay a fee to benefit from a free government program. Don’t let scammers persuade you otherwise.
- The third thing you can do to prevent getting scammed is to think twice about responding to unsolicited calls, emails, or text messages. Usually, government agencies won’t reach out to you unless you request to be contacted. Out-of-the-blue communications are a red flag.
- Finally, please, please, please, do not give in to scare tactics. If someone claims you’ll miss out if you don’t act immediately, be careful—better yet, simply hang up or delete the email.
MINUTE WITH MAXWELL
Now it’s time for one of my favorite times together—it is time for another Minute with Maxwell where Christian leadership author, teacher, trainer, mentor and coach John Maxwell shares with us his thoughts on the word PERSISTENCE.
Wow, what a great word. What do we learn? Well, we see that what is worthwhile, takes time. That we must be willing to take small steps that lead to larger leaps as we continue to grow spiritually and financially.
WRAP UP
And that wraps up our time together for today. But before we go I want to remind you again that you can both re-listen to or read a transcript of this of any of our Financial Freedom God’s Way Radio Seminar sessions by heading over to our website at www.christianfinancialministries.org. That’s www.christianfinancialministries.org.
Wow, what a great time together today, I’m praying you counted it a blessing. Now, well now, let’s close as we always close, and that is with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for bringing us together and teaching us today and for each of the days yet 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.
