#91 2/11-12/2023

Radio Seminar: God’s Third Question
Dave Ramsey: Crypto Currency
Minute with Maxwell: Commitment

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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 third 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. Today, the third and final question.
  • Plus you will hear more great teaching from Dave Ramsey having to do with Crypto Currency .
  • And during our Minute with Maxwell, Christian teacher, trainer, mentor, coach and author will share with you his thoughts on the word. … commitment

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.

Alright, let’s review: First question: “Will you show me your hand—let’s set the relationship in place.” 2^nd question: “What’s in your hand?—now let’s see what we have to work with.” And then, well then, God’s third question is implied. God’s third question is, “Moses, will you give me your hand and what’s in it? May I have it, and may I have you completely? Even if you can’t see how I can possibly use you and what you have, may I have it and you anyway?” And bless Moses’ heart, he said, “Yes.” He said “Yes.”

• Do you see the point here? God is asking you and me these same three questions right now as we begin to work through our Seminar time together.
• God is asking you, “Will you show Me your hand?” He’s asking you, “What’s in your hand?” And, God is asking you, right now, “Will you give Me your hand and what’s in it?”

Other Bible Characters:

And by the way, Moses wasn’t the only one. By implication, God asked these same questions to any number of other people in the Scriptures—some whose names you recognize but others you may not recognize. So, a bit of Jewish history can show us the example of Jehosheba. Did you ever hear of a woman called Jehosheba?

• She’s married to Jehoiada. Does that help? Probably not. We don’t know that name very well, do we? She’s not very high up on our list of well-known Bible characters. But, one day, the Lord said to Jehosheba, “What’s in your hand?” and Jehosheba set out to do something for God. And the Lord said to her, “Jehosheba, will you give me your hand and what’s in it?” and Jehosheba said, “Gladly.”
• Now, let me tell you what she had in her hand. First of all, she was a wife. Jehosheba was the wife of Jehoiada who was the High Priest during the time of King Ahaziah’s rule over the nation of Judah after the kingdoms had been divided. Now King Ahaziah was not a particularly great king and as the matter of fact we don’t know a whole lot about him. About all that we really know from the Bible is that early in his reign as King, Ahaziah went out into battle and got himself killed. That’s just about all we know about King Ahaziah. But we do know that the death of this King presented a particular problem. His death left his children as heirs to the throne. But his children were very young, much too young to rule the Kingdom.
• So what happened? And I have to tell you, I think this Bible history stuff is really interesting…what happened, according to the Bible, King Ahaziah’s mother decided that she would usurp the kingdom. It wasn’t hers but she decided to take it anyway. And her name was Athaliah. Now, I don’t need to tell you, do I, that this was one evil, mean and nasty lady. I mean, anybody who has the name Athaliah has got to be evil—right? The name even sounds evil, don’t you think? It’s not a nice sounding name. (Oops, you don’t have any children named in your family named Athaliah, do you? I don’t imagine so.) To me, Athaliah is a very evil sounding name, and the Bible shows you that this was one evil lady. Why? What did she do? Well, first, she took over a throne that she knew wasn’t hers. Then, then she knew that the only way to keep the throne was to get rid of anything and anyone who stood in her way. So she conceived a plan that to me would be absolutely inconceivable for any grandparent to consider much less try to carry out… she set out to murder her grandchildren so she could keep the throne.
• Now Jehosheba heard about Athaliah’s plan. And one night Jehosheba left the chamber on the side of the Temple where she lived with her husband the priest. She went very quietly across the little causeway that connected the temple to the king’s palace. What you are looking at right now is really the best graphic I could find to show you the relationship between the Temple and the King’s palace, what it might have been like back in that day. OK? Ok.
  • So, Jehosheba went up the stairs into the palace, went down the hall to the right then up another set of stairs, around the corner and down the hall to the right again until she stood at the door to the nursery where the royal children were sleeping. Now, I know, I just know in my heart, that in her heart she would have loved to save every one of the King’s kids but she knew she couldn’t. If she tried to save them all it would immediately be noticed and they would all be destroyed. So in my mind’s eye I see her standing at the door to the nursery, praying, I just know she prayed about it, “Lord, which one? Which one shall I save?”
  • And God drew her attention to one little boy over in the corner of the nursery. Now you’ll probably recognize his name. The one that God gave her to save was named Joash. So, she went over and picked little Joash up and said to him, I just know she must have, she said, “Oh little Joash, if ever in you life you were quiet, be quiet now. Not one little peep out of you.” And she wrapped Joash up in a blanket, and then took him and his nurse quietly out of the nursery, back down the hall, back down the steps, around the corner and down the other hall, down the steps out of the palace, back across the causeway and back into the Temple.
• Then, the Bible tells the story of the next six years in a single sentence. The Bible says, “And Jehosheba hid him in the Temple for six years.” That’s all it says. But let’s use our imagination here just a little bit. Let’s imagine for just a minute, what those six years must have been like. This will be a whole lot easier to imagine if you have or have ever had small children in your house. I mean, did you ever try to keep a kid quiet for just ONE rainy afternoon? How many millions of times do you suppose Jehosheba had to answer the question, “Now what shall we play?” And how many times do you suppose she had to take him aside and she tried to tell him, “Honey, sweetheart, listen to me. I am so very sorry but you can’t go outside and play with the other kids. Because if you do the queen will see you, and when she sees you she’ll want to know who you are, and when she finds out who you are she will want to take you away and kill you.” And Jehosheba and little Joash had to live like that for six long years.
• And God asks Jehosheba, “What’s in your hand?” “A little boy one year old, but God what could you do with a little boy, one year old?” And God said, “Will you give me your hand and what’s in it?” And Jehosheba said, “Oh God; that I will do.” And so she trained that little fellow for six years.
• Now, let’s fast forward a bit. Imagine in your mind’s eye a day six years later. Begin to think Jewish by beginning to see the Bible in pictures.
  • Picture in your mind a setting where little seven year-old Joash was standing looking out the window. He was probably standing on a table or a chair or maybe he was standing on a table AND a chair because he’s still only seven years old; he’s still a little short in the britches. So he’s looking out the window. Now, the window was not a window as you know it today, it was simply a rather narrow slit in the wall, rather high up on the wall to let light and air into the room—that’s what they had as windows in the Temple, slits in the wall. So Joash had to have been standing on the chair, looking out the window which was a slit in the wall, with his head in his hands watching the other kids play. And he was looking really sad and pitiful. And I’m telling you, if you’ve ever had a seven year old boy who wanted to look sad and pitiful, well, he could really look sad and pitiful. And that’s exactly what little Joash was doing; he was standing there looking as sad and as pitiful as he possibly could.
  • Jehosheba must have come into the room, watched him for a minute or two, then went over and put her arm around him and saying something like, “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
  • And he would have said, “I wish I could go out and play and I can’t. I know I can’t. I don’t know why she hates me; I never did anything to her. I never even seen her. I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t thing she’s very nice. She never comes to the Temple to worship God. She never comes. She doesn’t even let the people come. Boy, I tell you, things would sure be different around this place if I was King.”
  • And do you suppose Jehosheba took him and she turned him around so that he was looking right at her and she said, “Joash, what would you do if you were king?” And he said, “Well, if I was king, I…I don’t know.” You know, how a seven year old can look and sound disgusted…”I don’t know…I don’t have a clue….” And she said, “No, no, no. Wait a minute. Think about this. What would you do?”
  • Joash thought this must be a new game so he decided to play along a bit, but play along in a disgusted way, so he said, “What would I do if I was king?” And then he thought, then he looked up, smiled at Jehosheba and said, “Well, I’d let me go outside and play, that’s the first thing I’d do. Now, what do you think about that?”
  • “Nope, wrong, Joash, what else would you do?” “Ok. OK. What else would I do…let’s see. Well, I’d clean up this Temple, that’s what I’d do. This place is truly a mess. Nobody ever comes here to worship God anymore and this place is a mess. I’d clean it up and I’d tell all the people they should come back and worship God just like uncle Jehoiada says they should. And. and…I don’t know.”
  • And do you suppose she put her finger under his chin and tipped his head back so that he looked right into her eyes and she said, “Joash, sweetheart, listen to me, I want to tell you something. Joash, you are king.” … “I am?”
  • And do you suppose she turned him back around so he could look out of the window, and she said, “Do you see those pillars over there? In just a few days your uncle Jehoiada is going to take you outside—and you don’t have to be afraid because all of the priests are going to be there to protect you, they’re going to have David’s shield and spears to help you and they’re going to guard you—and we’ll call all of the people of Israel to come into the court of the Temple and your uncle Jehoiada will stand with you out there beside one of those pillars and he’ll take the King’s crown and he will hold it high over your head so all the people can see it, then he’ll lower it and put it on your head and then all the people will shout, “God, save the King.” “Oh, Joash, what will you do when you’re king?”
• Well, we know what he did, don’t we? You read all about Joash in 2^nd Kings 11-12 and 2 Chronicles 22. We know he did clean up the Temple. He started all of the festivals all over again. He called the people back to prayer. Do you know that for a while under Joash, a revival swept the whole land? Would you like to know why? Because, one day, God asked a woman, whose name we can’t even remember most of the time, He asked, “What’s in your hand, and will you give Me your hand and what’s in it?” Jehosheba said, “I don’t know what you’d do with it, Lord. It’s just a little boy, one year old, but, Yes, I believe I will.”

OK, that’s enough for this week. Will you show Me your hand? What’s in your hand. And, will you give Me your hand and what’s in it? If you truly want to make a difference financially and spiritually for the Lord, you need to know, understand, and life on a regular basis, these three questions. We’ll tie all of this together next week, so make sure and be here.

Dave Ramsey.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I know very little about Crypto Currency. But evidently Dave Ramsey does and he has some great advice as to what to do with the Cryypo Currency you just might happen to have right now. What’s that advice, let’s see as we hear a great word of teaching from Dave Ramsey.

Remember, Dave knows what he’s talking about. However, it’s up to him to give you advice, but it’s up to you and the Lord to prayerfully decide what to do. Remember, you are God’s steward of all that He has placed into your hands, you are, not Dave. So, listen, pray and act. 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 Commitment.

Now, that is a great word to prayerfully consider as we start to dig deeper and deeper into the year.

CONCLUSION

Okkkkk, that wraps up our time together for today. And what a great time it’s been: God’s three Questions, Dave Ramsey, John Maxwell, and a whole lot more of the same next week. And remember to check at www.christianfinancialministries.org to either re-listen to or get a transcript of today’s program.

And now, well now, let me closes us in a word of 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.