1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,720 Do you enjoy listening to podcasts and think, man, I would like to make my own podcast. 2 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:21,240 This is where I found myself last year, and I have learned a lot about what to do and 3 00:00:21,240 --> 00:00:23,680 a lot about what not to do. 4 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:28,720 I'm offering consulting services to help you launch your podcast, especially if you're 5 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:33,680 looking to make a more Christian or conservative based podcast. 6 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,400 Find out more information at faithfullyengaged.com. 7 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:41,760 I have a link down in the description below if you would like help on getting your podcast 8 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:42,760 started. 9 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,520 Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Faithfully Engaged. 10 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:54,520 On today's episode, we're talking about a very important topic about money, about finances. 11 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:59,800 This is something that, whether you hate numbers or love numbers, hate money or love money, 12 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:01,160 you have to deal with it. 13 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:06,160 And I think it's even more important that we deal with it from a Christian biblical 14 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:07,160 worldview. 15 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,480 So today, my guest name is Darrell Lyons. 16 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:14,080 So Darrell, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? 17 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:16,400 Yeah, I'm Darrell Lyons. 18 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,280 I'm from the South Texas area. 19 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:26,760 I live in a little town called New Braunfels now, which is between San Antonio and Austin. 20 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:33,200 And we didn't have a lot of money growing up, so I just became really curious about 21 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,600 money at a very young age. 22 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:37,560 And that never really stopped. 23 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:45,160 Even to this day, it's a curiosity oftentimes that drives my behavior and it ultimately 24 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:49,480 benefits the people that trust me with money. 25 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:58,320 Today, I provide leadership to an organization called PAX Financial Group. 26 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,360 PAX Financial Group is an investment advisory company in San Antonio, Texas. 27 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:09,800 And so I was an advisor for, since 1999, and then moved into more of a leadership role, 28 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,640 providing strategy and vision and finding kinks in the hose. 29 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:16,480 And so that's what I do today. 30 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:17,480 Great. 31 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:23,920 I would love to hear a little bit more about your curiosity about money. 32 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:26,640 And I'll give you a little bit of a personal story here, too. 33 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:35,160 I've always enjoyed just financial things, money, like trying to find ways to make it 34 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:36,520 last longer. 35 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:42,480 One of my earlier memories is I'd get money for my birthday or something. 36 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,480 And my sister, when she'd get money for her birthday, it's gone. 37 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:47,840 It was gone in a week. 38 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:51,400 And then she would look at me at the end of the year like, where did you get this money 39 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:52,400 from? 40 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:53,400 It's from birthday. 41 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:55,480 I haven't spent it yet. 42 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:57,840 So I've just always had this kind of curiosity with it. 43 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:04,520 So tell me a little bit about that curiosity on your end as a child and what you ended 44 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,960 up doing with money when you were growing up? 45 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:10,120 Yeah. 46 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:14,240 So when I was younger, we lived in a little town called Bernie. 47 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,480 It's a German town in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio. 48 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,120 And my dad was doing pretty OK. 49 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,440 My mom had me when she was 16. 50 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,600 And my mom, my dad was 20. 51 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:32,080 So they had to find their spot in the economic world. 52 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:33,560 And so my dad actually did pretty well. 53 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:35,680 He's pretty good at his job. 54 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:40,200 So there was a time where we had a house, a boat, a motorcycle, a couple cars. 55 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:41,560 It was going pretty good. 56 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,720 And then in 1987, there was a market crash. 57 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,160 They called it Black Monday. 58 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:53,480 And in the South Texas area, savings and loans collapsed and oil collapsed. 59 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:56,800 And so that left my dad without a job. 60 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,800 And so since that time, they had struggled to get their footing. 61 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:06,360 And that created, as you can imagine, a lot of marital challenges and just a lot of tough 62 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,240 times for our family. 63 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:13,680 Ended up moving to a little trailer park in Castroville, Texas, which is, again, another 64 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,520 Texas small town. 65 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,200 And we were living in this little trailer park, seeing a white trailer. 66 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,760 And I'm edging the edge of our home. 67 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:24,760 There's weeds. 68 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,760 And you got to be careful when you use a weed eater next to skirting on a mobile home because 69 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,720 it could crack the skirting. 70 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:35,200 And I'm edging and I'm wondering, how do people have houses with foundations? 71 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,920 That was the thought that was going through my head. 72 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:42,160 And there was a friend of mine and her dad was a banker. 73 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,320 And he is the president of a bank. 74 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,600 And I thought, man, they have a house with a real nice foundation. 75 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:49,720 Maybe I could be a banker. 76 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:55,320 And so I ended up getting a scholarship to a local university, St. Mary's University 77 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:56,880 in San Antonio. 78 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,120 But I had to pay for my own way. 79 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,200 And so I got a job at a local bank. 80 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:03,480 It was Bank of America's time. 81 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,640 And that's how I paid my way through school. 82 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,000 I ended up getting a degree in accounting. 83 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,160 A teacher said, hey, you understand this accounting stuff. 84 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:14,160 Can you tutor other kids? 85 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:15,680 I had an affinity towards that. 86 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:20,040 And then I took a class where they gave us a bunch of fake money and whoever made the 87 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,120 most money at the end of the semester got the best grade. 88 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:25,760 I won that. 89 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,080 And so at the end of my college career, it took me four and a half years to get to the 90 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:31,080 two degrees. 91 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:38,280 And I just didn't know what to do because I understood banking, this lending thing, 92 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:39,560 and then accounting and finance. 93 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:41,720 So I had to find a career. 94 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,320 And I found this one called Certified Financial Planner. 95 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:48,360 And so that's how that ended up being a career. 96 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,280 And that's where my curiosity led me. 97 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:58,320 And going back to the childhood, one of the things that I did that I started to learn 98 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,920 a little bit more about money was actually collecting sports cards, which I still do 99 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:02,920 today. 100 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,800 I still collect sports cards to this day. 101 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,480 And I used to run little shows. 102 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,520 Like you would go to the shows and set up a table and sell sports cards. 103 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:16,640 I used to do that and learned about trading and transactions and negotiation. 104 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:17,840 But it was fun for me. 105 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:18,840 I did that. 106 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:21,800 And like I said, I still do that today. 107 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,800 Really never, I don't know if I was, I think my brother was actually a better saver than 108 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,360 me. 109 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,240 But I was never, there was never one extremer the other. 110 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:35,240 I was, if I bought something, it was always prudent or I'd have the money or I'd save 111 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:36,240 for it. 112 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:40,200 But never had anything that was money that was burning a hole in my pocket. 113 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:46,600 But the main thing is, is I became curious not only about money, but how rich people 114 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:47,600 did life. 115 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,040 I didn't know a lot of rich people. 116 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:56,080 And so I started to pay attention to their behaviors and actions and study them. 117 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:00,280 And of course, since then I've counseled tens of thousands of people with money. 118 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:03,520 Many of them are wealthy and learned a lot. 119 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:12,160 And it's made me a better person, not because, not because, you know, I just hang out with 120 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,120 rich people, but just being observant of what's worked and what hasn't worked. 121 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:21,080 But I've seen people who are extremely wealthy that are very unhappy. 122 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:27,480 And I've seen, you know, extremely poor people with a lot of joy. 123 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:34,880 And so I don't just, these experiences just don't pass in my life without me reflecting 124 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:36,400 on them deeply. 125 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:41,640 And so over the years I've just been a lot of time reflecting and writing and leading 126 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:47,320 others and taking these conversations and this wisdom that, you know, I've developed 127 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:53,960 through the lives of others and try to pass that along as best as possible. 128 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:59,560 I'm going to ask you to do something that I know you can't line out perfectly, especially 129 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,000 in the midst of a podcast. 130 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:07,040 But what you were talking about there of kind of those habits of people that are wealthy, 131 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:08,760 richer people. 132 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:17,400 Part of why I'm asking this is if you just look into probably just common culture, rich 133 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:18,800 people are evil. 134 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:25,960 They only got that way because they were born rich and we need to, you know, tax them 90% 135 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,600 and that will solve all the world's problems, right? 136 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:32,360 That's kind of the common vernacular that people see. 137 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:37,000 And I think you would be able to see that that's pretty false pretty quickly. 138 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:43,520 So what would you say are some of those common habits, money type of habits from those that 139 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,680 are wealthy and good with their money? 140 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:48,240 How do people get that way? 141 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,720 Yeah, it's a good question. 142 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:56,360 Gosh, you know, I'm not even sure if you're rich, you're good with your money. 143 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:57,360 That's the funny thing about it. 144 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:02,400 A lot of times people get rich because they've got some specific skill set that got them there 145 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:03,880 and they're just horrible with money. 146 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:06,680 I see that a lot. 147 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:11,720 But the irony of it is, is like, they'll have this skill set. 148 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,360 Oftentimes it's skill at selling something and they, they're good at selling something. 149 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:25,640 They found a niche market and then the demographics were favorable. 150 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:32,160 So you know, let's say somebody was good at selling cars and they, they were, they just 151 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:37,880 landed in the Tesla business and Teslas were real popular and during that six or seven 152 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,320 years they were, you know, they were all great at selling stuff. 153 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:47,680 And then they, the problem happens and this is why I'm just, I'm really just passionate 154 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:54,240 about my relationship with Christ is because it really in a lot of ways sets them up for 155 00:09:54,240 --> 00:10:02,400 failure because then they get this degree of arrogance that they have a skill set that 156 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,720 really doesn't exist. 157 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:10,880 So they make bets with bigger dollars on themselves and oftentimes fail. 158 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,880 And that is not uncommon. 159 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:18,360 So yeah, the, the one thing that I found was fascinating as I learned along the way is 160 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:23,080 that some people who are rich are very, really not good with money. 161 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:24,080 It's crazy. 162 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:30,360 And so, you know, sometimes they, they stop the bleeding when they make these big mistakes 163 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:31,800 and they can recover. 164 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:36,840 But I did, I did find that fascinating that people who have a lot of money sometimes they 165 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:40,760 just kind of, I mean, there was definitely skill sets, but they kind of got lucky along 166 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,360 the way. 167 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:44,360 So that's interesting. 168 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:51,520 I think worthy of just pointing out, I think that, that I've certainly recognized that, 169 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,760 that it's so dangerous to have money independent of Christ. 170 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:56,840 I mean, there's over 2000 scriptures on money. 171 00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:00,080 So this is a very serious topic. 172 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:06,880 And so the pursuit of wealth, you know, we know in Timothy says command those who are 173 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:11,200 rich and present age not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth. 174 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:15,920 But we know that when people do put their hope in wealth and they have success that 175 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:23,920 if they don't have this Christ centered way of life that there will be other things that 176 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:30,960 fall, whether it's making a big mistake because they're out there, their senses were altered 177 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:35,720 because of the altitude of where they're at, or they fumble in other areas of life, health 178 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,360 or their children. 179 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,440 So man, I just think that wealth can be very dangerous if it's done independent of Christ. 180 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:48,440 I'm really cognizant of that now, but I'm not, I'm not of the camp, which you had mentioned 181 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:53,040 that rich people are evil because I've been poor and I've been rich and I know there's 182 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,400 people and mean people in both demographics. 183 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:05,200 I've seen very, I've seen extremely selfish people, hoarders and not willing to share 184 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:14,000 and they're poor and then I've seen rich people abundantly give with just a generous heart. 185 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:19,240 So it's just, it's interesting because I don't, I think that there is, there are some 186 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:25,960 lessons to be learned about if you're poor and you're thinking, I often think of poor 187 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:29,680 and broke kind of different because I always think poor is more permanent and broke is 188 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:35,200 pretty temporary, but if you're in a place where you're like broke and maybe even in 189 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,600 that profile of poor and you're thinking, I want to get there, I think there are some 190 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:44,720 mindset shifts that have to take place to move from being poor to rich. 191 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:49,960 I think you, you're parsing out some really good things there. 192 00:12:49,960 --> 00:13:02,000 I'll kind of start there at the end of your financial status is more of just something 193 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,000 that exists. 194 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:09,680 Like sure we would rather be able to have our own needs met and our family needs met, 195 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:15,880 but the end goal, especially from the Christian worldview is not get as much money as you 196 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,280 possibly can before you die. 197 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:22,080 That's not a healthy goal to have. 198 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:27,480 Nor is the other end of die as poor as you can. 199 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:33,000 Those are not things that we're striving towards as a Christian. 200 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:34,960 We know what we're supposed to strive towards. 201 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,440 We're supposed to strive towards Christ to be more like him. 202 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:42,560 And he hit there as a sense there of that sacrificial love, sacrificial giving that 203 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:48,560 is absolutely a huge part, but you can do that from someone that's being wealthy. 204 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:54,760 You can do that as somebody that's, that's poor, but that is a heart perspective. 205 00:13:54,760 --> 00:14:01,560 And separating that from rich people, bad poor people, good or vice versa. 206 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:04,360 You can say rich people, good, poor people, bad. 207 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,000 We need to get out of that mindset. 208 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:13,440 And I would love for you to go further into, you're already hitting on kind of what, what 209 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,240 scripture says about money. 210 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:25,280 What do you feel like a good biblical worldview, biblical principles around finances? 211 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:30,760 If you're coaching a person, a family, what are some of those tips, those principles that 212 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:35,160 we need to have to look at finances biblically? 213 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,680 This is kind of a silly thing, but I've got it here. 214 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:44,840 I, I memorize scriptures and I write them on index cards and then I kind of carry them 215 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:48,240 around with me. 216 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:49,560 And I've, I've enjoyed doing that. 217 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:53,080 And then this year God said, okay, yeah, I don't hear God, I'll believe course, but 218 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:58,000 you know, just start memorizing scriptures on money, right? 219 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:03,800 So there's over 2000 and you know that that statistic can be, can vary because there's 220 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:08,400 different ways to think about how money is expressed in the word of God, whether the 221 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:13,720 word well, there's a lot of different, a lot of different variations and thoughts on money. 222 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:20,920 It's just so fascinating that the word of God is, is, is expressed as so much in this 223 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:21,920 space. 224 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:27,640 So I just really been really, really just leaning into this and God's just doing some 225 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:28,640 amazing things. 226 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,440 And so your question is awesome. 227 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,760 So all I'm going to do is randomly, I just randomly, I've got. 228 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:37,480 50 of these and they're around my house and they're, sometimes, you know, you get home 229 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,560 and you put your change in your keys somewhere. 230 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:42,520 Well, I also, these index cards go to that same place. 231 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,200 And so, so I just pull one out randomly. 232 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:49,400 And so you can enjoy this with me because for me, I enjoy the scripture. 233 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,320 It's sharper than a two edges sword. 234 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:56,800 So this one here says, but remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives you the ability 235 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:58,680 to produce wealth. 236 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:03,000 And so confirms the covenant, which he swore to your forefathers as it is today. 237 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,720 Now that's in Deuteronomy 18, like that's old school stuff, right? 238 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:07,720 That you would expect. 239 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,080 Okay, you're going to get some good stuff from James or Romans or some of this really 240 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:12,160 good Holy Spirit. 241 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:16,760 This is just old school stuff that's telling you, remember the Lord your God because we 242 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:23,480 are at the end of the day, we are a flawed individuals who forget all the time. 243 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:27,000 So here we have an again, a reminder in Deuteronomy. 244 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,960 Remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives the ability to produce wealth and that, 245 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,720 the humility is so important as we continue to grow. 246 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:38,640 And that's why I kind of alluded earlier that it's kind of interesting how I see people 247 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:44,040 just just the lack of humility as you start to have some success. 248 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,360 It works a lot in stock trading. 249 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:51,960 So you know, I'm in this, I do a lot of stocks and wealth stuff. 250 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,760 And so I mean, I'm financial advisor is my trade. 251 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,400 But what happens in the stock market, when you have a bull market, when things are going 252 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:07,920 well, what happens is, is you end up learning some trading strategies and you buy some stocks. 253 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:10,840 So maybe you buy Tesla as I alluded to earlier. 254 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:13,320 So you buy Tesla and you make some money on it. 255 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:16,600 You're like, man, I just spent, you know, $250 in that. 256 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:19,960 Now I'm going to go and, and I'm going to put a thousand in it because I think I've got 257 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:22,040 this thing figured out. 258 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,480 And then you do it again, you do it again, and then you're starting now you're starting 259 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:28,840 putting $10,000 in and then all of a sudden the market turns on you. 260 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:34,640 And your strategy that you thought you had really buttoned down didn't quite work. 261 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:36,560 And that's the same thing that happens in life. 262 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:44,560 And so the idea that the best antidote to is, is humility is just, is just staying grounded 263 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:48,240 and remembering it's the Lord your God who gives you the ability to produce wealth. 264 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:55,520 So if you get to a place and you're just totally confident in your skill sets, I know that having 265 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,160 confidence is important, right? 266 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,480 But that's not the issue that we have in society. 267 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,320 Our bookshelves are full of self-help confidence books. 268 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:07,320 We don't have a, a, a need to learn more about our confidence. 269 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:13,480 We have a need to learn more about engaging our creator who has confirmed in Deuteronomy 270 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:16,560 gives us the ability to produce wealth. 271 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:21,920 And so going to him and just asking for this wisdom to, to understand how do I produce 272 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:25,640 wealth, nothing wrong with wealth, but that means how do I get the job that I need to 273 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:27,720 get to earn an income? 274 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:32,800 How do I impress my, my boss with my skill sets? 275 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:34,400 How do I start a business? 276 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:38,760 I mean, really getting, getting with the creator and saying, I, I don't have the ability to 277 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:40,480 produce wealth, but you do Lord. 278 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:42,600 So I'm going to trust you in this. 279 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:44,160 And so that, that's really what it comes down to. 280 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:49,260 But that's all the time that's that when you're starting out and that's when you're successful. 281 00:18:49,260 --> 00:18:51,280 So that mean, gosh, I could talk about this. 282 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,280 This is a great question. 283 00:18:53,280 --> 00:19:00,480 And continue every single car just brings life to me because I just recognize that, that, 284 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:06,400 that God has really wired us to engage with him and money and money is, is one of those 285 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,160 subjects that sometimes we disconnect our creator. 286 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:11,880 We just completely disconnect. 287 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:17,160 And I'm suggesting that that's really, that's really not the way of life. 288 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:25,200 I think that is one is, is I love the, the index card, kind of the strategy that you 289 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,120 have there of just having the word of God nearby you. 290 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:31,760 I'm a huge fan of having anything. 291 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:37,040 Now my wife has done stuff on our bathroom mirror before of writing verses. 292 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:43,240 I know people put stuff on there on their refrigerator, on their phone, yeah, whatever 293 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,120 works that you have, you can have with you. 294 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:48,120 It's that powerful. 295 00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:50,480 It's that important. 296 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:56,280 Second thing that really stuck out to me is like you referenced, this was Deuteronomy. 297 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,960 This wasn't, this wasn't Jesus words. 298 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:01,400 It wasn't Paul's words. 299 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:08,360 And sometimes, especially as Christians, there's a reason why we go to the New Testament 300 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:12,600 a lot because of Christ, like it's important. 301 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:19,160 But we forget that Deuteronomy, the Old Testament, all of it's important. 302 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:24,520 All of that is that biblical wisdom and ultimately points to Christ. 303 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,480 So we don't need to throw away Deuteronomy. 304 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:32,200 We don't need to throw away Leviticus and Isaiah and all that. 305 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:33,200 They're important. 306 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,840 There's wonderful, wonderful wisdom there. 307 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:42,520 And to tie that up to what you just said there, I mean, we could take this outside of finances 308 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:52,800 and separating Christ from your profession, from your education, from your family, from 309 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,920 anything, you're missing the point. 310 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:02,240 There's not, there's not church on Sunday and then the rest of your life, you do your 311 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:03,240 own thing. 312 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:10,480 No, that humility, like you said, we need heaping doses of that. 313 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:12,920 And I'm sure you could say this for yourself. 314 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:19,320 I say it for myself that there's many times that I'm humbled, that I look through my life 315 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,320 and I'm grateful for some of the good things I have. 316 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:27,280 And I start really believing because of all the great things that I've done of why I have 317 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:33,720 that and how humbling is that to come to scripture and realize, wait a second, this 318 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:35,280 isn't about you. 319 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:36,800 God's the one that provides wealth. 320 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:42,600 So I think that it was an absolute wonderful display of biblical wisdom there. 321 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:44,600 Yeah, thank you. 322 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:51,160 I'm just, I'm completely on board with what you said, you know, the idea of just, it's 323 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:55,800 just such a hard thing for Christians because we want to build this confidence. 324 00:21:55,800 --> 00:22:00,680 And then we also want to have Christ's confidence. 325 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:10,880 But I just really think that the idea of engaging our Creator with all things money is really, 326 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:16,080 I think the only way to go because I think about like me growing up and my, you know, 327 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:20,120 my mom, she's, you know, dad, you know, they struggled and there's times where they had 328 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:23,680 to say, you know, Christmas might not be here this year or it might be tough. 329 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:28,240 And you know, that's for a kid that's difficult to digest. 330 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:35,680 And for me as a kid, I hurt not just for presents, but I actually hurt for my parents. 331 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:39,720 I was like, man, this sucks for my family. 332 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:48,360 And but see when you're engaged with Christ, if and you're struggling like that, you, there's 333 00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:59,160 revelation that, that God in those circumstances was actually doing a good work on me to prepare 334 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,440 me for today, which was much bigger than Christmas. 335 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:08,920 Like so, so God uses sometimes we have to just when we engage with God in tough circumstances, 336 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:14,080 we can sometimes get glimpses of how God is using these tough circumstances for something 337 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:18,280 greater, even generationally in some cases. 338 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:23,720 But when we get independent of Christ, we get all squirrely and worried and uncomfortable. 339 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:30,320 But, but man, I think that it's a really beautiful relationship when we, when we can bring in 340 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:35,480 all of our financial thoughts and put them before the Lord and then go in scripture and 341 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:41,560 he reveals some of some of the powerful things he's done in the past with people he's loved. 342 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:49,080 And now he, how he, how he uses money in such a way that glorifies him. 343 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:54,160 And we just have to be patient in that process and trust him. 344 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,200 One thing when you were talking earlier that came to my mind. 345 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:04,960 So through my, through my day job as a, as a counselor, I talk about finances fairly 346 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,920 frequently depending on what's going on. 347 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:12,400 It's obviously a pretty big life stressor that people go through. 348 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:16,320 And I don't have this research right in front of me. 349 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,800 I'm sure you're aware of this as well. 350 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:27,880 And you're filled that suicide is really predicted based off of financial crises. 351 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:35,720 2008, 2009, big financial crises, suicide numbers went up pretty significantly. 352 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:41,360 And as a counselor, obviously that's, that's concerning and just as a human, like we don't 353 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:46,080 want people, um, harming themselves based off of finances. 354 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:53,240 But you can see real quick that if we separate ourselves, now it's my self worth on the line, 355 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:59,680 my confidence, my ability to provide, uh, oh, I lost all this money. 356 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:01,040 Essentially they just lose hope. 357 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,240 They lose any hope in themselves and providing. 358 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:09,720 And that's why it's so important to not separate that from, from Christ, like you're mentioning 359 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:10,720 there. 360 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,560 Um, yeah, you're still going to be upset. 361 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:18,040 You're going to be in despair if you lose in some cases, everything. 362 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:24,760 But as a, as a Christian, as a Christ follower, we have hope that God works all things, um, 363 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,680 to, to the good to is good. 364 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:31,400 And we may not always understand that in the moment, but we have that hope. 365 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:32,400 We have that trust. 366 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:38,080 Um, and yeah, if our hope is in that money, maybe things are good for now and maybe they'll 367 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,160 be good for a good chunk of your life. 368 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:45,840 But if things go downhill, they go downhill fast. 369 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:51,240 And we really need to be careful, especially as Christians to, like you're saying, not 370 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:55,920 separate God from that wealth, um, cause he can work those down moments just as much as 371 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,640 the up moment, um, up moments. 372 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:00,400 Yeah, he really can. 373 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,080 Um, I just, I know it's hard. 374 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:09,120 Like man, right now, um, you know, the, the healthcare, right? 375 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:14,200 Health insurance, um, we use like a Christian sharing plan, which is good. 376 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,080 But even then all that stuff's expensive for families. 377 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:23,880 I mean, so you've got that, you've got, um, you know, worried about how do I pay for my 378 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:25,200 kids college? 379 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:29,960 Um, and then of course we know inflation, you know, we had 9% inflation. 380 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,600 So that trickles through the system pretty hard, you know, groceries. 381 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,560 I can't believe how much I just go in and get a few things from the grocery store and 382 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:37,560 I'm like, that was $95. 383 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:43,720 And I look at the late, she goes, yeah, I go, that used, that, that used to be like, 384 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,240 seemed like 40 or 50. 385 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,800 So, um, yeah, man, I, I, this is tough. 386 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:51,240 I mean, it's tough. 387 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:58,600 It's, it's kind of from a, from one perspective, we, we sit here and go, you know, um, we're 388 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,280 the richest nation in the history of the world. 389 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:02,280 So how tough is it? 390 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:03,280 Right? 391 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,120 Um, you know, there's kids eating munt pies. 392 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:08,960 You know, I, I'm, I'm a, I, I have compassion children. 393 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:15,000 So I get to have a point of reference, but, um, it's not the point of reference that I, 394 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,760 you know, I could have, but a lot of us don't even have a point of reference. 395 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:31,720 So what I'm trying to say is that, um, our difficult times, um, are a not that difficult, 396 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:37,080 but B they are, they are, they are still your difficulties, right? 397 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,160 They're your unique challenges. 398 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,160 You're like, I understand, I understand there's kids in Africa. 399 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:47,400 I understand that, but I'm a mom and I don't have any more money and my kids need braces. 400 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:48,840 So this is actually hard, Darrell. 401 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:49,840 I know this is hard. 402 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:54,640 This is, I know there's kids in Africa, but Darrell, my kids need braces and this is, 403 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:56,320 I'm scared. 404 00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:03,680 I say all that because, um, apart from him, we can do nothing. 405 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:09,120 And so what does it mean to be a Christian? 406 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:12,520 What does it really mean to be a Christian? 407 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:17,080 But when it comes to money, the faith is gone. 408 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:22,880 Like how is that possible that we completely, every other part of our life on Sunday, but 409 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:28,320 we pray before dinner, but when it comes to our money, we completely, completely disengaged 410 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:29,760 from our creator. 411 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:31,680 Like there's no prayer. 412 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,000 There's, there's futile prayers. 413 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,560 There's no getting in the word. 414 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,480 There's just complete worry and anxiety. 415 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:46,840 Um, this is evident in the statistics today at anxieties at an all time high. 416 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:52,200 And so my question to Christians is we're called people of the way, you know, originally 417 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:53,200 people of the way. 418 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:58,920 So there's got to be a different way of thinking about money than everyone else. 419 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:07,800 And it's my conviction that, um, that when he says I'm the way, the truth in the life, 420 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:12,800 no one can come with the father, but through me, there's a different way of life and the 421 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:18,000 byproduct of our trust in him is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity and self 422 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:19,000 control. 423 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:30,160 So when it comes to money, it's not going to bring us joy ever independent of Christ. 424 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,720 So I'm really trying to, I'm really trying to make sure that when we, when I talk to 425 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:39,040 my community of people that we're advising, I really want us to really get in a place 426 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:44,160 where we're not having money conversations here in church on Sunday, but we're really 427 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:48,320 fully integrating our money, um, with our faith. 428 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:52,360 And, and that's, that's something that's been lost in the body of Christ. 429 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,960 And, um, I've been talking about a lot more lately. 430 00:29:55,960 --> 00:30:02,960 I think that that's again, an extremely good point that we need that infused in everything. 431 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:13,360 Um, I've had a fairly recently different perspective as far as finances go in the church just because 432 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:19,280 this past year, um, I'm the, I run the offering and do the budget and everything at church. 433 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:23,680 So I've never been behind the scenes with, with that kind of stuff before. 434 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:30,040 Um, and something I was actually really glad that my pastor, um, kind of warned me of, 435 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:38,240 uh, going in was to just check yourself because now I have access to who's giving what, um, 436 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:44,080 and he's like, you need to check yourself because you might get into, well, why aren't 437 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:45,960 they giving this much or whatever? 438 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:51,000 And the best I do, I try to just block names out the best I can. 439 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:52,440 That's not fully possible. 440 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:57,920 But, um, anyways, I've, it's been, it's been a really interesting journey just seeing this 441 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:05,640 side of things and it's gotten me really interested in how people look at church giving, um, giving 442 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:07,280 to the, the offering. 443 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:16,240 Um, and something that my pastor's really been counseling us on is to making giving, 444 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:23,040 um, a, making it a, a discipline and not just a, oh yeah, that's the thing we do. 445 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,680 Um, he said this. 446 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:29,560 It's kind of one of those good and bad things that we had, like this is the way I give to 447 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:35,880 that is set up like on an automatic, um, amount and his kind of counsel on that is like, that's 448 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:42,320 really good because you know, that's again, that discipline and it provides you to not 449 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:45,000 kind of just like, I don't really want to give this much. 450 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,080 Um, like you just do it. 451 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:54,240 But he said one of the issues with that is it can kind of separate the kind of the spiritual 452 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:55,240 part of that. 453 00:31:55,240 --> 00:32:00,240 Like you can, it's a little bit easier to pray over the check that you put in the offering 454 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:05,400 plate and say, you know, let this be used for, for your glory or whatever. 455 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:07,880 Um, so I guess kind of leading into that. 456 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:14,760 Um, what would you say are some ways to make, um, just giving specifically to the church, 457 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:21,680 but in general, how we can make that more of a spiritual, um, moment and, and making 458 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:25,760 it more of a joy, um, which is what we're called to do. 459 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:26,760 Yeah. 460 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:33,720 You know, I, I'm a little squirrely here because, um, you know, my, you know, my pastor friends 461 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:35,320 might not a hundred percent agree. 462 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:37,880 So you can take this for what it's worth as a throw it out. 463 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:39,800 But, um, I'm a giver. 464 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:46,560 You know, when I, um, I was completely broke and, um, had my first born and we only had 465 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:49,120 one car and I was a financial advisor with one car. 466 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:56,000 It's like having a shop teacher with four fingers and, um, I left my office keys at the 467 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:03,160 house and so I was trying to go to work really early to work myself out of this challenge 468 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:07,240 and predict that I'd put myself in because we were just starting the business out. 469 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:12,840 This was, you know, pre 2007 and my credit card had equaled my income and so I was just 470 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:13,840 trying to make things work. 471 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:20,880 I was doing cash advances and just really nonsense stuff and, um, just trying to survive 472 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,920 and, um, I was like, well, I've lived in the trailer. 473 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:24,920 It's not so bad. 474 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:25,920 I could do it again. 475 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,280 And, but the sinking feeling came, came over me that morning that I couldn't get in the 476 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,840 building cause I left the office keys at the house. 477 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:33,720 Um, and it was early morning. 478 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:35,120 So no one was able to get me in. 479 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,240 So I sat in my car and cried cause I was like, I'm going to fail as a dad. 480 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:39,640 This, I'm starting out with my first born. 481 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:42,240 We have four now, but at the time I was just nervous. 482 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:48,760 And I remember telling God, I was like, okay, I'm going to low, um, and I'm scared. 483 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:53,200 And, um, at this point I'm going to trust you with my first fruits because prior to 484 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:54,760 that I gave when it was convenient. 485 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,480 I would give, you know, sporadically. 486 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,240 But at this point I was going to make a commitment and Lord, I'm going to give to you my first 487 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:05,800 fruits, um, regardless of my circumstances and I was completely broke, right? 488 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:10,240 So I didn't have the money to give my first fruits, but I was going to do it anyways. 489 00:34:10,240 --> 00:34:12,080 Now this was not a contingent plan. 490 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:14,920 This was not like God, if I start giving you, I want you to bless me. 491 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:20,920 This was just me just saying, I'm going to try this trust me now. 492 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:25,840 And, um, um, I committed to that and I've never stopped. 493 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:26,840 Okay. 494 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,440 So this is where it gets squarely where to give. 495 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:34,360 Um, so first, well, before I get to where to give, um, some people wrestle with, do 496 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,400 I give from the gross of the net? 497 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:37,400 Right. 498 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:38,400 Okay. 499 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:39,400 Well, let's go into theology. 500 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:40,400 What does it say? 501 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:41,400 Okay. 502 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:43,280 It says render in her seizures, what is seizures? 503 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:44,360 And then she, okay. 504 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:48,360 Maybe it's that means the, you know, net, I don't know, you could get into weird theology 505 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:53,320 stuff, but, um, typically it's, it's gross, but it's a challenge. 506 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:57,120 Look, that's a real challenge because if you look at this gross number and then you take 507 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:03,440 out the healthcare and taxes, you're like, Oh, I don't really have much left, but that's, 508 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,000 that would be the goal is to, to do it on the gross number. 509 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:08,000 That would be the goal. 510 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,120 But some people just are struggling to get there. 511 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:13,560 Americans, on average, give 1.5%. 512 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:16,640 Um, Christians give 1.8. 513 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:21,720 If you go a little deeper on office, Barna or whoever did this, but if you look at practicing 514 00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:25,520 Christians, which right, we have this cultural Christians, that's why they're so close. 515 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:29,040 But if you go to practicing Christians, those that read the Bible and go to the church, 516 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,120 that's closer to 3% or above 3%. 517 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,200 So go Christians were twice as giving as the secular public. 518 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:37,800 Um, but still 3%. 519 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,200 Like, okay, wait, that's not really a tent. 520 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,160 That's really not a tide. 521 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,280 Um, so we're still falling short. 522 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,200 So here's, here's my perspective. 523 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,040 I'm like, okay, what's, what's the impediment? 524 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:51,880 Like what's the challenge? 525 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:58,760 Well, um, you know, I mean, you just scratch the numbers down and it's hard for family to 526 00:35:58,760 --> 00:35:59,760 give. 527 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:00,760 It just really is. 528 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:04,040 Um, certainly priorities are out of whack. 529 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,960 I can tell you that because, you know, they're, they're, they're still buying stuff. 530 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:09,520 They just, this giving thing. 531 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:11,680 So do I get caught up on the gross and net? 532 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:12,680 Not so much. 533 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:15,200 I'd say the gross would be a goal. 534 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,520 But if you give 10% of the net, look, okay, cool, just do that. 535 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:19,520 That's fine. 536 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:23,960 Um, and then the other thing is jump making the leap from zero to 10%. 537 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,520 I've seen that as a real challenge over the years. 538 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:29,040 Um, good Christian people haven't been giving. 539 00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:32,760 And then all of a sudden I'm telling them about these scriptures and how, you know, 540 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:37,600 how important it is and they're like going from zero to 10% and they put the dollars 541 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,880 on there like, I don't know, that's a lot. 542 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:44,920 So, um, I'd say, you know, ease into it. 543 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:49,800 If you need to do three, four, five, whatever it is, get there though, you can get there. 544 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,640 Finally I get to the other place where people are like, well, yeah, but I'm just not, I'm 545 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,080 just not all sold on my church. 546 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:58,040 Like, and then I say, okay, well, why are you going there? 547 00:36:58,040 --> 00:36:59,280 You're not sold on your church. 548 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,040 I mean, you know, and so they don't want to give all to their church. 549 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:06,440 Well, I, I, I, this is, this is where the pastor may take issue. 550 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:10,520 I'm not, um, I'm not really concerned about the steeple so much. 551 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:14,640 There's a lot of para churches and ministries that if you wanted to give to them, that's 552 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:15,800 fine with me. 553 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:20,160 Um, I'd say your priority should be your local church, just like mine is. 554 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:25,760 But if you wanted to enjoy the giving differently, because there's a part of the joy factor that 555 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:30,920 I think is encouraging and you say, okay, I'm going to give 75% to the church, but this 556 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:35,120 other 25%, I'm going to give to, I'm going to make it up a compassion. 557 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:36,120 Okay. 558 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:42,680 Like, I'm like, like, I don't have any issues with any of these strategies. 559 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:48,200 Um, some pastors and they say, and all needs to go to the church, the steeple church, I'm 560 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:53,160 not caught up in that because I think that we're still so far away from what, uh, from 561 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:54,160 getting there. 562 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:57,920 And I think at the end of the, without any debate that God loves a cheerful giver. 563 00:37:57,920 --> 00:37:58,920 Right. 564 00:37:58,920 --> 00:37:59,920 We do know this. 565 00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:05,760 So how we get there, I'm not so much legalistic about, but I did give, I think some approaches 566 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:13,560 that everyone can adopt and maybe some objectives and goals, uh, for people to, to aspire to. 567 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:20,000 But the, the, I've alluded to the anxiety and worry that our country has today and many 568 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,120 of us are Christians that experience this worry. 569 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,840 And I've sat down with families, kneecap to kneecap, thousands of them that have worried 570 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:28,340 deeply. 571 00:38:28,340 --> 00:38:33,040 And say they're a Christian and worry like they're not. 572 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:34,680 That's weird, but it's true. 573 00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:36,520 And I've been there and I've one of those people. 574 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,880 So I'm not, I'm not casting stones. 575 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,240 It's just weird that that exists. 576 00:38:41,240 --> 00:38:47,520 Um, but what I'm saying is a potential antidote to that worry. 577 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,760 Remember in the original Greek anti doesn't mean against. 578 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:54,180 We always think about like the anti Christ. 579 00:38:54,180 --> 00:38:57,340 It means in replace of anti means in replace of. 580 00:38:57,340 --> 00:39:03,000 So I'm suggesting one of the antidotes to this anxiety is giving. 581 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:04,240 I'm suggesting that to you. 582 00:39:04,240 --> 00:39:10,320 I'm suggesting that it's a testament of faith, like a, like a practical testament of faith. 583 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:15,520 And so what I'd suggest to anybody is the worry exists. 584 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:16,520 It's perpetual. 585 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:17,520 There's no way out. 586 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:20,920 I know it doesn't make sense, but everything Jesus said doesn't make sense. 587 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:21,920 Turn the other cheek. 588 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:22,920 That doesn't make sense. 589 00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:24,120 Like there's a lot of stuff. 590 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:26,960 Jesus reversed the script on everything. 591 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:28,440 This is a supernatural thing. 592 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:33,400 And so my suggestion is, is that we need to start giving and we need to start taking that 593 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:34,400 seriously. 594 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,360 A long answer to whatever question you asked. 595 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:38,360 Sorry. 596 00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:40,120 I know I love it. 597 00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,040 I think there's, there's, there's a ton of wisdom in there. 598 00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:50,440 And at the end of the day, um, I mean that those, the statistics that you gave, hey, 599 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:55,480 it's great practicing Christians are higher, but I mean, it's just not good enough. 600 00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:59,680 You know, like it's not about, um, making our pastor super rich. 601 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:00,680 I love what you said. 602 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:05,680 Hey, maybe we need to be looking at, if I don't trust my church so much, maybe, maybe 603 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:11,880 we need to look elsewhere and find a local body that is, is being biblical with your 604 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:12,880 money. 605 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:20,240 Um, but regardless, we have to, it is, it's something that's not just a, we have to because 606 00:40:20,240 --> 00:40:25,720 it's this command and it's this terrible, horrible thing, but because it does bring us joy. 607 00:40:25,720 --> 00:40:32,160 And it is like you said, it sounds backwards, but when you do give, now you have this vested 608 00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:33,160 interest. 609 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:39,440 Um, we were talking about this about, uh, we, we support a, uh, missionary couple, uh, 610 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:40,440 through our church. 611 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,560 Um, and now we care about the country that they're in. 612 00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:49,280 It's a lot easier to pray about that country because we have a vested interest. 613 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:50,640 We're reading the newsletter. 614 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:54,640 Um, you're, you're invested and you care. 615 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:58,400 And that's a lot of what anxiety is, is you don't have a direction. 616 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:00,840 Um, you don't really have a purpose. 617 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:03,040 You just, you just don't know. 618 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:09,360 Um, and it's that I don't know is that really causes that anxiety with this giving, you 619 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:10,360 have a direction. 620 00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:11,360 Sure. 621 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,360 You may not know where that money is coming from sometimes. 622 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:18,000 Um, and that's where the concept of faith is so important, but I love that you break 623 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:23,840 that down and just at the end of the day, we just need to do it and you'll be better 624 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:24,840 off. 625 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:29,640 Um, I liken this with a lot of my clients, uh, with, uh, just some of the mental health 626 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:31,360 things we do. 627 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:32,840 It's not complicated. 628 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:39,240 Um, but being able to have a healthier life, be able to make your finances healthier. 629 00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:40,960 It's not that complicated. 630 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:41,960 It can be hard. 631 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:47,720 It can be take a lot of discipline to do it, but we don't have to over complicate it. 632 00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:50,480 We're at 0% do 3%. 633 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:51,480 That's better than zero. 634 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:53,440 And we can work ourselves out. 635 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:57,920 But again, but at the end of the day, we have to do it. 636 00:41:57,920 --> 00:41:58,920 Yeah. 637 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:06,760 I mean, yeah, I don't know if we would have, um, I mean, corruption is obviously a problem. 638 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:11,440 But if we, you know, if we were following God's plan, I'm not sure we would have the 639 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:13,960 homelessness or world hunger or anything. 640 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:18,760 I mean, obviously, like I said, obviously the, you know, corruption in the Congo and 641 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:24,440 all that is, is makes it problematic, but really are it's, it's, you know, I've got, 642 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:28,960 I've got, I started ministry overseas in Moldova and, uh, we get kids off of the streets on 643 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:33,800 the basketball court, love those, love those players and people. 644 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,320 And, uh, you know, when he comes over here, we just have, we become friends over the years 645 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:40,280 and he's just like, you know, just so crazy. 646 00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:46,160 Now Americans just are so kind of, I mean, he doesn't say selfish, but just caught up 647 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:47,720 in our own little world. 648 00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:52,280 And, um, he just brings perspective in my life. 649 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:53,840 So I appreciate that. 650 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:54,840 Yeah. 651 00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:56,840 No, I think that's great. 652 00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:03,280 And that's why I guys, I was going to say, I've seen, I've seen people with millions. 653 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:07,360 I've seen Christians with millions, millions, millions that don't give, but I've also seen 654 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:09,000 poor people who don't give. 655 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:13,520 Like, and again, it doesn't matter to God does not need our money. 656 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:19,840 Um, I'm just surprised that, that, uh, this is a, this is something that we don't take 657 00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:22,920 a little bit more seriously, but I'm also not surprised because it's a sensitive topic. 658 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:28,440 And if we're depending on a pastor to, to shepherd us, this is one that it's hard for 659 00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:33,320 them to, to really, uh, take on directly. 660 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:39,400 And you may do it like a pastor may do it once or twice a year, um, or maybe even, you 661 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,680 know, four times a year, but there's 2000 scriptures on money. 662 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:47,960 I mean, to a certain degree, this is, it should all, this, this topic of money could be a subject 663 00:43:47,960 --> 00:43:50,160 every single sermon. 664 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:52,440 But of course a pastor, that's going to be challenging. 665 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:57,000 Not only is it challenging to him because some of the, the nuances of money can get 666 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:02,840 overwhelming, but it also comes across as, you know, uh, you know, conflict. 667 00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:12,320 So my point in that is that, um, I, I, I just know that there's a gap in this space of thinking 668 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:17,280 critically about God's plan for money as people of the way. 669 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:22,640 And I, I, I've just been out about, you know, trying to help people read, you know, reconsider 670 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:23,640 it. 671 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:26,400 I, I, I absolutely love that. 672 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:30,760 And I think what you're, you're doing and, uh, how you're sharing the importance of thinking 673 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:34,440 about money in a biblical way is just so incredibly important. 674 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,880 That's something I like to do for the audience. 675 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:42,880 Um, I really like this podcast to be centered on, on action. 676 00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,840 That's why I like to bring people in that are actively doing things. 677 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:51,000 If you had to give the audience just maybe one or two takeaways from our conversation, 678 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:54,680 what, what would you encourage them to, to take away from this? 679 00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:55,680 Yeah. 680 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:59,640 Um, one is, is I'd like for you to start giving. 681 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:07,960 Um, I'd like for you to give more, um, ideally to your local church, but at least, you know, 682 00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:11,640 if not, then to those that are hurting and hungry in some capacity. 683 00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:16,040 Um, and then second, I'd really like for you to get in God's word and see what he says 684 00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:17,040 about money. 685 00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:18,040 It's fascinating. 686 00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,200 Um, and he does, he's indifferent. 687 00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:24,880 Like he, if you, if you're, there's plenty of cool people who are rich. 688 00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:27,480 Um, so there's no problem being rich. 689 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:28,480 There's no problem being poor. 690 00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:33,920 It's very interesting how if you read a Dr. Rabbi Lapin's work, thou shall prosper. 691 00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:39,320 Um, he says that the one unique characteristic in the Jewish community that's different than 692 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:43,120 most is that they believe that being wealthy is inherently good. 693 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:49,640 Um, and so what we've done in our culture is kind of shun that idea, but read the word 694 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:51,200 of God and see what it says to you. 695 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:52,920 I mean, it's sharper than a two edges sword. 696 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:56,800 It will, it'll amaze you what you'll learn about money if you study his word. 697 00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:58,720 And I'm not talking about for you to be wealthy. 698 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:03,760 I'm just talking about for you to, to live a fulfilling life, the life that he says is 699 00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:04,880 abundant. 700 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:06,560 You can learn a lot about money through the word of God. 701 00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:09,280 So those two things start giving and read the word. 702 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:10,280 Absolutely. 703 00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:11,280 Love it. 704 00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:16,160 Uh, those of you that, that are listening in the show will probably want to either know 705 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:19,200 more about Darryl or, or be able to be in contact with them. 706 00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:21,720 So where can they find you after the show? 707 00:46:21,720 --> 00:46:22,720 Yeah. 708 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:28,640 Um, so you can go to packs financial group.com, PAX financial group.com. 709 00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:30,600 I have a lot of resources on there. 710 00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:33,480 Um, I do have a podcast retire in Texas. 711 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:34,640 So give some commentary. 712 00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:38,600 I kind of keep it secular in nature, but you get the, you get the feel that I'm a believer 713 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:39,600 in throughout. 714 00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:41,840 So I'm giving a lot of economic commentary. 715 00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:45,720 So I'm trying to help the public there, but, but people, people know I'm a believer. 716 00:46:45,720 --> 00:46:50,320 Um, and then I'll have my biblical responsible investing book that'll be out. 717 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:54,680 It's already printed, I have it, but it'll be my publisher will launch in January 30th. 718 00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:56,280 So you can be on the lookout for that. 719 00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:59,600 Uh, and then of LinkedIn, LinkedIn's a good way to connect with me. 720 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,080 So those are just kind of some ways. 721 00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:03,080 Awesome. 722 00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:08,400 Well, I appreciate you again for, for just sharing so much biblical wisdom about finances 723 00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:10,760 and, and for being on the show with us today. 724 00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:12,240 Yeah, it's been fun. 725 00:47:12,240 --> 00:47:13,240 You asked great questions. 726 00:47:13,240 --> 00:47:14,240 So thank you. 727 00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:15,240 Absolutely. 728 00:47:15,240 --> 00:47:18,720 And thank you to everybody that tuned in for this episode. 729 00:47:18,720 --> 00:47:20,720 We'll see you on the next one.