Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
If there's one area people are struggling with
right now, it's money. What does God say about
money? I mean, I'm not talking about the giving
side. I'm talking about just money in general.
How do you handle it? How do you work your money
in such a way where your life works? That's today.
Want to know what truly matters to you? Well,
just check your bank statement. For the Bible
-believing Christian, we know this is important.
After all, Jesus taught more about money than
heaven and hell combined, because our finances
reveal everything. Well, today on Living on the
Edge, Chip Ingram poses penetrating questions
that most Christians avoid. In this study, he
exposes how wealth deceives even sincere believers,
and he reveals practical ways to teach those
you love to manage money as God's stewards, discovering
freedom, joy, and eternal impact along the way.
I'm pleased to report that our audience is already
displaying giving hearts because we're receiving
a generous outpouring to the December match.
Remember, every dollar you give will be matched
dollar for dollar until December 31st. We'll
give more details later on so that you can double
your gift as well. But right now, let's continue
Chip's message called Teach Them to Manage Their
Wealth Wisely. My money reveals my priorities.
My money reveals my values. My money reveals
where my heart is. Imagine, if you will, your
wallet or your 401k or your black credit card
that you own or your purse. Imagine a chain connected
to that into your heart. And wherever that money
goes, that's the real reflection of my heart.
Let me give you a picture and then I'm going
to give you practical ways to pass this on. The
two pictures are one, if you ever want to read
about a man, one of my most favorite characters
is Nehemiah in the Old Testament and Barnabas
in the New. And the story of Nehemiah very briefly
is he's the right -hand man to the most powerful
man in the world. Basically, Nehemiah has the
hottest chariot, the greatest clothes, the most
money, the best food. He is... a person of great
influence and affluence. He's filthy rich and
he lives in a palace and doesn't feel guilty
about it. He's got a Rolex Sundial. God deposited
that in Nehemiah for a window of opportunity.
And he wasn't a prophet and he wasn't a pastor.
And if you studied all of God's agenda for his
people, you would find out that man was the linchpin
between all of God's prophecy going in the tubes
and Israel being restored. He sent Ezra back.
It didn't work. He sent Zerubbabel back to rebuild.
It wasn't until Nehemiah, the business guy. The
guy with position, the guy with power, the guy
with leadership gift who could mobilize everyone
to turn everything around. Stewardship isn't
feeling guilty for having money and position
and power and brains. Stewardship is understanding
it's not yours. All you get is a verse that's
hard to live with. To them, much given, much
is required. And so when you make a lot of money
and say, I tithe, God is not impressed nor is
anyone else. I mean, how hard is it to tithe
when you're six figures or seven figures or beyond?
The most generous people in the world right now
are the poor. And when things go down, the people
who stop giving first by all the research is
us rich. And Nehemiah, he's this model of what
it looks like to be godly and to be wealthy.
and to be generous. In fact, he decided, no personal
expenses for me. Barnabas is another one, very
wealthy man. He owned property on Cyprus. He
was the key. We would have never heard of the
Apostle Paul if it wasn't for Barnabas. Barnabas
was the one who had the courage to say, hey,
he's legit, guys. I mean, he really is a Christian.
I know he's been killing all the Christians,
but I've seen him, I've met him, he's legit.
And he introduces Paul to the 12. And then when
Christianity launches into the Gentile world,
they say Barnabas is the leader in the church.
Barnabas, we want you to go down there and disciple
those new Gentiles. And the text says in Acts,
so he went down to Paul's hometown, gets Paul
and says, hey, let's partner on this thing. The
first missionary journey, read the text. It's
not Paul and Barnabas, it's Barnabas and Paul.
Until you keep reading and then it's Paul and
Barnabas. He was a wealthy man. who had leadership
gift, who God used. It's a stewardship. It's
a stewardship. God has given you what he wants
you to have and he wants you to manage your money
as a steward. Biggest lesson I learned all this
and it's a picture and it'll help the rest play
out. I was a young pastor and 28 years old, had
no idea what I was doing. I'd been through the
parachurch so I knew how to make disciples and
I was learning how to teach. And after a couple
years, the chairman of our board, he owned a
CPA firm in downtown Dallas. And he said, you
know something, we're out in a rural area. You're
connected to all these hurting people. And I
have a heart for the poor and I have a heart
for people with needs. You have opportunity,
I have money. And he said, I want you to come
down and let's eat lunch together. So I end up,
you know, in this high rise, beautiful place,
you know, really nervous going up to the... something,
something floor. We have a great lunch. And then
he pulls out a little brown checkbook and he
puts it and he says, Chip, this is for you. I
said, what is it? He says, I'd like you to be
my money manager. I said, well, what do you mean?
He said, well, you're a pastor. You know where
the church is at. There's a lot of hurting people
and poor people, runaway teens, all kinds of
struggles. I've put $5 ,000 in that account.
And it says pastor's discretionary fund. Now
here's what I want you to do. once a quarter
or at least three times a year, I'm gonna bring
you here and we're gonna have lunch together.
But I want you to take this and I want you to
stick it in your back pocket. And I want you
to just think, John Saville is in my back pocket.
But Chip Ingram has the eyes and Chip Ingram
is meeting the people. So every day I want you
to get up and as you get up, you might see someone
that has a need or someone needs a bus ticket
or someone's electricity needs to be put on.
And I just want you to pray and whatever you
think God would have you do with this money,
In my name, will you take care of it? I mean,
he's chairman of the board. Yes. I'm thinking,
I don't know what I'm doing. I'm thinking, this
may not be a good deal. I'm going to mess up.
So anyway, I take it, and I'm real nervous. So
I lost my keys like 5 ,000 times until I was
29. And it took me 29 years, and I decided right
when I stand in the door, my keys, my wallet,
and everything in one little pile. Okay? It's
this amazing thing that I learned. And then I
started putting that checkbook with it. So every
day, everywhere I went, John, John, John, what
would John want to do? So this lady, they're
turning off her thing, and I qualified it, and
it was a real need, and I write a check, and
I pay her electricity. And then there's this
kid's runaway from home from Oklahoma, and he's
been on drugs, and I know I'm not going to give
him money, so I buy him a ticket for the bus,
and I do some counseling with him, and I get
a Bible in his hands. And so then, you know,
four months later, John says, Chip, let's have
lunch. So John is very quiet introvert, but with
the gift of evangelism. So he says, tell me what
happened. And so I said, well, here's your checkbook.
And so there was about four entries and I've
written four checks. Tell me about this one.
I tell him a story. And I mean, this is exclusive
restaurant top. you know, level, real, you know,
I'm very intimidated. And so I tell him the story,
praise the Lord. I'm going, oh, John, oh man,
dude, you are killing me. I mean, this is not,
you know, you know, tell me another story. So
I would tell him these stories and he would say,
praise the Lord in very loud words. And so we
did this and we did this for like seven years.
And then I would give it away and then I would
get, then I would notice I'd get my bank slip
and oh, I guess someone put another $5 ,000 in.
No matter how much I gave away and as I told
stories, the money just kept, as I gave, it kept
being put in. Now here's, there's a number of
lessons here. One, John and I became really close
friends. I brought unbelievable joy to his heart.
I got to help people in ways I never dreamed
I'd get to. In fact, it got from this burden
to, You know, it's kind of, here's my keys, here's
my wallet. John, I wonder what we're gonna do
today, baby, you know? I mean, just kind of,
ooh, whoa, whoa, you know? You know, you just
wonder, who are you gonna bless? I felt like
Santa Claus sometimes, you know? Now, I knew
I was gonna give an account for it, and I'm not
real detail -oriented, so I'm keeping his checkbook
better than mine. Why? Because I'm gonna go talk
to him, right? And I can't, it can't, first,
nothing can bounce, but the other is, I actually
need to add it up right. Why? Because it's his
money, not mine. I'm his steward. I brought joy
to his heart. Our hearts connected because I
managed his resources. And I wasn't asking, who
do I think I should help? I was asking, I wonder,
I mean, you know, I'm not stupid. If I gotta
really praise the Lord and that was a really
great one, I'm giving more money to that stuff.
And if it's, oh, that's nice, Chip. I'm not gonna
give as much money to that stuff, right? Because
it's his money. You are God's money manager.
And one of the most powerful, important gifts
that you will pass on to those you love the most,
those first in your home, kids, those you disciple,
later grandkids for some of you, fellow church
members, is to help them manage their wealth
wisely. Now I want to shift gears and say, how?
What would that look like specifically? Now,
there's Dave Ramsey, Crown Ministry, lots of
people that go in depth on these areas and can
give you 10 times what I'm gonna give you. I'm
gonna give you the mountain peak summary of what
I think you need to pass on. And then there's
tons of great resources to get you there. How
are you managing your wealth currently? If God
gave you a report card, on how you're presently
managing your wealth in light of what you've
heard from his word, would you get an A, a B,
a C, a D, or an F? Because you can't pass on
what you don't have in you. You can't ask those
people you're helping to do what we're going
to talk about if it's not true of you. And even
if you never talk to them about it, if you actually
do it, they'll catch tons of it from you. So
where are you at? We'll hear more from Chip Ingram's
message in just a moment. First, we're inviting
you to multiply your year -end donation through
an exciting match that's active right now. Because
of the match, your donation will be matched dollar
for dollar in the month of December. And when
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methods. You're investing in a discipleship strategy
that actually reaches the smartphone generation
right where they are. Will you give to the next
generation? Double the impact of your gift at
livingontheedge .org. From a series called Leaving
a Legacy That Lasts Forever. and our Bible teacher,
Chip Ingram. What I know is since in the quote,
born again evangelical community, the average
believer gives 2 .5 % of their income to the
Lord's work. That's saying to God, I don't really
believe your word. I don't trust you for the
future. I think it's my money and I'm going to
do with my money what I think. I think God would
say if he could speak through Dr. Phil. So how's
that working for you? I mean, people are upside
down. There's huge debt. They live above their
means. See, when you give God the first portion,
as we'll talk about in the middle, it just causes
a domino effect of, wow, what are we gonna do
with the rest and how do we do it? And there
is a correlation of God blessing. Okay, there's
been some real misteaching and some bad teaching
and some heretical teaching about, you know,
sort of how money and God and those things go
together. There is no give to get mentality.
But I will tell you this, when your priorities
are in line and God can find what I think some
people wisely have called a stream instead of
a dam. Then he will keep placing resources and
people whose hearts are tender to spread it and
give it to the places that he wants it. You who
water others will yourself be watered according
to scripture. And when our finances aren't in
order, you know, read Habakkuk chapter one, the
first 10 verses. He'll put a hole in your purse.
He'll blow on your business deals. I mean, God
uses money to align our hearts with him. And
when our priorities are out of whack, I will
tell you, you know, you keep working harder,
but it seems to come to nothing, he says. He
will allow your financial situation to get you
to a point of dependency where you say, you know
something, I better get this aligned correctly.
And then there's just very often the correlation
as you do that. He chooses to bless in that area
as well as others. Well, personal application.
Now let's talk about how to help those to pass
it on. One, help them recognize the three purposes
of money are giving, saving, and spending. And
if there's, you know, I don't know if you ever
memorize scripture. And if you don't, I encourage
you to. But if there's ever a little passage,
singular, if you could only pass one passage
on money, I would memorize 1 Timothy 6, 17 through
19. And it says, encourage those that are rich
in this present world not to be conceited or
fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches.
They're uncertain, aren't they? And so it's a
protection. God's not down on money. Encourage
those that are rich in this present world, that's
us, not to fix your hope on the uncertainty of
riches. Oh, we're gonna do this when this happens.
But on God who richly supplies us with all things
to enjoy. So there's three things you do with
money. You can give it. You can save it. You
can spend it. If you grew up in my home, there
were three jars on your dresser. And on one jar,
it said giving. Another said spending. Another
said saving. And since, yes, there's proportional
giving, and we'll learn all about that later,
but you get 10 dimes. One dime goes into the
giving jar. One dime goes into the saving jar.
And eight of them go into the spending jar. And
you can dream and think and pray about what you
want to do to spend with that. And remember that
all 10 of those dimes are God's, right? Because
we give it to that one first. And by the way,
you need to be smart, so make sure you save.
Americans don't save and Americans don't give.
And I think I don't even need to talk about where
we're at financially as a country. We've modeled
it from the home through the federal government
and we're in a mess. You can't violate God's
principles with a lot of pain. So that's a big
one. Second, encourage them to commit to honor
God with the first fruits of every paycheck to
remind them that it's God's money and not their
own. Proverbs chapter three, verses nine and
10 says, honor the Lord with your first fruits.
Give God the very first portion and then the
promises, then your barns will be filled with
plenty and your vats where they would create
kind of the wine and a picture of overflow will
be overflowing. And so you wanna teach them early
on. And not so much the rule, the rigidity. This
is not like, okay, you've got to pay your bills.
Bill, bill, bill, bill, God, 10%. No, no, no,
no. You want to teach them the heart behind it
and your love for God. And I think when they
get older, you want to teach them, how do you
give over and above that? How do you become a
generous person? You know, the word miserable
comes from a root word. Do you know what the
root word is? Miser. I mean, I've done a lot
of work. We did a series on the genius of generosity.
I did a lot of work and research on just generous
people. Forget Christians, just generous people.
Generous people live longer. Generous people
are happier. Generous people have better relationships.
Generous people are liked by other people. Generous
people have an emotional altitude that's better
than the rest of us. The most generous being
in the entire universe is God. He gave his son.
So you want to be generous. You want to be winsomely
generous. Miserly people, stingy people, the
Scrooges of the world don't have as many friends.
They're always worried about someone taking their
stuff. They have higher levels of anxiety. They're
not very happy campers and they try and control
everything. Giving breaks the power of greed
and all of us in our flesh are greedy people.
We all are. So giving is a tool given by God,
not to take something from us, but to help us
remember, look, hey, Chip, it's not your checkbook.
It's not your money. That's John's. Spend John's
money or give John's money in a way that makes
John happy. And by the way, you know, I didn't
tell you this, but there was a time we were in
a little small church and they had the gift of
not paying me much at all. In fact, I worked
part -time in seminary and made more money than
when I pastored the church. And there was a time
where we really had a need. And John was asking
me some questions at one of our lunch. And I
forget, it was a washer, a dryer, you know, some
big thing that for us was like astronomical.
And he was praising the Lord, everything. And
then he asked me about me. And I told him, he
goes, give me that checkbook. So he takes his
checkbook. He writes out a check to me. He goes,
hey, you're the guy. Sign this one. It's in your
name. See, the whole deal is God doesn't want
you. He's not trying to get your stuff. He loves
you. He's for you. But he wants to free you.
And so pass on. Encourage him to honor God with
the first fruits. Three, make time with God their
number one priority so they know how to invest
their time, talent, and treasure that's entrusted
to them. I've had seminary professors. I got
to learn three years of Greek and two years of
Hebrew. And I've had business guys who know so
much more. They've taken me under their wing.
The greatest gift God has ever given me in all
my life that's paid the biggest dividends was
from a bricklayer with a high school education
who met me on Tuesday mornings when I was a Christian
about three or four months old. I didn't want
to get up. I didn't want to go to church. And
sometimes I pretended I was asleep. And he would
knock on the door. And I just got, I'm just not
getting up. But the next Tuesday, he'd knock
on the door. And I was a reluctant learner. And
I will tell you what that man did is that he
would open the Bible and we would go into the
little kitchenette on the floor and we would
read the Bible together and he taught me to meet
with God. He taught me no Bible, no breakfast.
Not legalistically, but Chip, feed your soul
before you feed your mouth. Chip, do you understand
this is the living and abiding word of God? Chip,
do you understand the wisdom of God has been
deposited here? You can know what to do in any
situation. Chip, do you understand? David said,
if his word had not been my delight, he would
have perished in his affliction. Chip, this is
your anchor. God will speak to you. The God who
made everything there is, there is power. It's
a living and active and sharper than any two
-edged sword. It pierces as far as the division
of soul and spirit and it cuts through the division
right down to the core of who you are. It will
reveal things to you. It'll show you how to do
marriage, how to parent, how to live. Chip, this
is the most important thing. It is your life.
And a little habit got started a couple days
a week and then finally I do it four or five
days a week and then after about four or five
years it became, not just drudgery and duty,
but gosh, God speaking to me more often. And
I didn't like to get up. I was a night owl. And
years later, I remember just saying, God, this
is, you just wake me up whenever. And I stopped
watching the 11 o 'clock news. And God started
waking me up earlier and earlier. And not, I
didn't ever felt like if I missed my time, I
didn't think God was mad at me. I just knew that
I made a great cup of coffee and I got into a
habit for about 25 years of meeting with God,
getting out a journal, sharing my concerns, asking
him my biggest questions, reading his word, asking
him for wisdom, sitting quietly and hearing answers.
Mark 135 says, after recording the busiest day
of Jesus' life, he was pressed, there was demands.
I mean, some of you right now, and it's like,
this is overwhelming and there's money issues
and wisdom issues and what am I gonna do here
and I've got this one son and some of my kids
are already grown or I don't have any kids and
I'm trying to help this guy or I'm in this women's
group and these three ladies are coming to my
mind and I'm not sure what to do with all of
this. Stop. And the greatest thing you can do
is say, God, I want your discernment and your
wisdom, and I'm going to meet with you first.
And it says after this demanding day of teaching
and preaching and healing and casting out demons
and everybody wanting a piece of Jesus, I mean,
I think he felt like, I think his emotions were,
if he were today, he opened up his computer and
there was 500 emails and then he looked at his
PDA and there's 150 phone calls and there's people
knocking at the door and the people closest to
him said, by the way, by the way, by the way,
we think you ought to do this. I think that's
the emotion he felt. And it says a great while
before dawn, he went to a lonely place. To get
alone with his father and pray. Sometimes we're
asking people to solve stuff or a book to solve
stuff. God wants to solve it. And if you will
do that and model that, that's what you want
to pass on. You want to pass that on to those
you love the most. Life's message is, your life
is a sacred stewardship. It's sacred. There is
a creator who owns everything. And you are a
creature. He is the master and we are the servant.
This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
He's been showing us how to teach our families
about managing wealth with wisdom. And this teaching
comes from the series called Leaving a Legacy
That Lasts Forever, How to Give Your Kids and
Grandkids What Money Can't Buy. Please stay with
us because Chip has an important word about the
next generation coming up in just a moment. Well,
Living on the Edge is celebrating 30 years of
God's faithfulness. and what started as one man's
ministry on radio has blossomed into a full -blown
movement of God. Last year alone, this daily
program has been listened to more than 100 million
times. It's staggering to see what God has done
through His people. And today, our heart longs
to reach the next generation with the timeless
wisdom of the Bible, providing those young men
and women with honest answers to tough questions.
Chip? Picture this. It's 2 a .m., and a mom can't
sleep. Her daughter has just come home from her
first semester at college, and over dinner earlier
in the day, she just casually mentioned that
she's deconstructing her faith. The mom's mind
is racing as she looks at the digital clock.
Where did I go wrong? What do I say? How can
I help her without pushing her away? Well, I
want you to know Living on the Edge has heard
that story from a lot of people, and we've become
a lifeline for parents and grandparents in that
exact situation. We're providing moms and dads
with tools and language and a biblical framework
to help meaningful conversations with their kids
about doubt and faith and truth. We did a series
where we interview people like Rebecca McLaughlin
or Sean McDowell, or we have teaching and resources
about how to actually start conversations when
your kids start down that path without pushing
them away. Your gift to this match doesn't just
reach the next generation directly. It equips
parents to become spiritual leaders with their
kids that are in desperate need. Would you help
us reach the next generation by equipping moms
and dads who can literally talk to their kids
in a way that makes sense, that's biblical, that's
winsome, that's kind, and doesn't compromise
the truth? You can respond to Chip right now
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this number, 888 -333 -6003. Our collective gifts
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Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta,
Georgia, 30024. You can also call 888 -333 -6003
or visit us online at livingontheedge .org. How
do we instill wisdom in our kids and grandkids?
I'm Dave Drewy, inviting you to hear Chip Ingram
provide a biblical answer tomorrow on Living
on the Edge.