Good morning.
How are y'all doing today?
Awesome.
Hi, Mom.
We just like to start our Sundays by welcoming anybody that's here in our sanctuary for the first time,
or if you're joining us online for the first time, welcome to Hosanna.
We're so excited to worship with you guys.
I am Pastor Nathan, and this morning we are doing part four of our four-part giving and generosity series.
And this is going to be the conclusion of our series.
I hope the last few weeks have been enlightening and a blessing to you guys and encouraging.
I know for many of us, myself included, there's a little bit of like challenge and rebuke in some of it,
but we welcome the admonition of our Lord because He knows what's best for us,
and He will teach us and challenge us and even correct us when necessary.
And so, but today we're going to be looking at the last part of this series,
really dealing with some practical teachings regarding finances in Scripture.
This is obviously coming after learning the biblical admonition to be generous people in line with the nature of our Lord and Savior,
God Himself who is generous, and looking at how giving as a member of the church,
it's a part of our collective participation in the needs and the work of the ministry,
the needs and the work of the body, and this includes the support of our local churches as we gather together
to pool our time and our talent and our resources to reach out with the gospel.
And then we learned how our modern call to financially participate in generosity,
be it regularly, intentionally, generously, cheerfully, really is all based upon New Testament commands,
New Testament examples, and Old Testament principles.
So after going through all that over the last few weeks, I want to end this series dealing with really just what Scripture has to say about good financial habits.
As I mentioned in the very first message of this series, you know, when we steward what God has given us poorly,
when we practice bad financial habits, we can find ourselves really in a bad financial position.
So many people are drowning in debt.
They have leveraged themselves in debt to the point where they just can't do anything anymore because they're buried by debt.
Oftentimes in that debt relationship, people then find themselves buried by high interest rates
and having to make minimum payments on things that just can get out of control so quick.
And really a lot of people, even Christians within the church, find themselves in places where they feel like they're seemingly always broke.
They're always out of money before the end of the month gets here,
and they're barely getting by or living paycheck to paycheck and things of that nature.
And really we end up finding ourselves struggling, both for reasons that are out of our control,
and there's some of that, but oftentimes for reasons that are within our control.
And when we find ourselves struggling financially, and this is what I mentioned in the first message of this series,
the first thing we sacrifice is our generosity.
The first thing that we give up is our giving.
Starbucks will win. Eating fast food all the time will win.
You know, living beyond our means will win in the priority list, but giving will be the first thing to go often.
And so biblically we know that that only exasperates the problem.
When we stop being generous, when we stop being givers, biblically it makes it worse.
Because as we've seen in our messages, the Bible is very clear about principles of we reap what we sow.
If you give, you will get, right?
And again, it's not about being greedy and materialistic people.
It's about saying, God, I'm a steward of what you've given me.
And God says, when you steward what I've given you my way, I will take care of you.
I will take care of your needs. I will take care of your life.
And so we reap what we sow, whether that's generosity or whether that's the lack thereof.
And really the foundation of all of this is just that understanding that everything belongs to God.
Everything, you know, not just the first part of our giving, not just your tithe, if that's what you do,
not just 10% or 20%.
Everything belongs to God because He is the Creator.
He is the one that has given everything to us.
And we as His children are called to then manage it well.
And that's what stewardship is all about.
And so God has much to say in His Word about how to manage the finances and the stuff,
even our time and even our talent that He has given us.
And that's what we're going to be looking at today.
Really so that as we depart from this series,
and we're going to be going into the Easter season here just in a couple of weeks
to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord,
and then after that we'll be picking up at the very top of the Bible,
studying the book of Genesis.
But as we exit this series, this topical series we've been dealing with,
the idea is that we can move forward living as faithful, wise, diligent stewards of all He has given us,
ultimately able to follow then His example of outrageous generosity in our lives
as we want to live according to His example and after His example.
And through that, being people who experience the joy and blessings that come
from financial obedience to the Lord with what He has given us,
obedience both spiritually but also materially and financially.
So that's what we're going to be looking at today,
but we're going to start our day praising God.
We just want to worship Him.
You know, He is the giver as we've been talking about for a few weeks now,
and He has given us so much.
But the most important thing He's given all of us is salvation.
He saved our souls.
He paid a price we can never pay.
He died on the cross, a death that we should have died for our sin.
And after that, man, everything is just bonus.
But there is so much bonus for those who live obediently to the Lord. Amen.
Let's pray. Father, we love you.
We're so grateful for your Word, God,
and we're so grateful that your Word teaches us everything, really, Lord.
God, it's not just some lofty, intangible spiritual thing, Lord.
It deals with so many practical things, Lord,
that are a result of the spiritual truths we learn.
And so, God, we're grateful that you talk to us about how to handle money.
You talk to us about how to deal with the resources you've given us, Lord.
And God, truth be told, there are so many in the church today that are struggling
because they maybe live in obediently in so many areas of their life,
but when it comes to the finances you've given them,
they're living in disobedience, Lord.
And maybe, God, through this series you've been teaching us, Lord,
what your Word says and how we should be, God.
Lord, we don't want to be disobedient people,
and so maybe, Lord, some of us have learned,
our eyes have been open to what your Word says,
and maybe some of us were just being outright rebellious, Lord,
but, God, we thank you for your Word that it teaches us,
that it corrects us, Lord, that it shows us how to live,
how to be righteous people, God, because that's what you're calling us to be, Lord.
And, Lord, ultimately it's to live a life trusting you with everything,
and that includes our money, Lord.
We want to trust you with it, God.
So teach us. Speak to us today, Lord.
But first, we just want to praise your name, God.
We're so thankful for every blessing, everything you give us, Lord.
We're so thankful for every thing you do in our lives, Lord,
even the disciplines, God, because we know it's out of love.
It's because you love us.
So, Lord, be blessed today. Bless us today, Lord.
We look forward to everything you're going to be doing,
and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We are going to be moving forward with our series here as we conclude today,
part four, dealing with practical biblical financial habits.
And, you know, there is quite a bit of practical financial advice
pretty much everywhere you look today.
You can go online and spend hours and hours and hours
listening to people's advice about what to do.
Sadly, there's a large, large contingent of the population today,
even within the church, where we go to TikTok and Instagram
to find out the latest financial hack,
and we think that's going to fix our life and make things better.
And, you know, I mean, some of the advice out there is good,
and some of it is bad, but when it comes to practical wisdom
on how to do this or how to do that, how we should live,
God's Word should be the first and the best source for us as His kids.
You know, God has an entire book in the Bible called Proverbs.
It's all about wisdom, how to live and what to do.
And so God's Word, it gives us teaching,
it gives us principles that apply to every single area of life
regardless of time or culture, right?
God's Word, the wisdom we find there, it's an all and always encompassing
treasure trove of wisdom of what to do, of how to live,
and not just for the sake of honoring God,
which is a huge part of it, right?
We want to honor God with our lives,
but the wisdom we find in the Word is really what's going to be best for us,
because God knows what's best for us, and God's ways are the best ways.
And so what we see there is what's going to be best for us in our life,
it's going to be ultimately what's going to result in the best for us,
and that includes what we do with our money and our finances,
to honor God and to be in the place of experiencing what God has
for those who honor Him in those things.
And so as experienced by many within the church,
the body of Christ who abide in God's words,
really when we do things right according to God's Word,
which is His way because it's about His wisdom, right?
We experience right in the outcome.
That applies to every area of our life.
It's the same we call obedience,
that when we follow God's will and God's ways,
we experience the blessing of what He has for us.
And so as we've been walking through generosity and giving as Christians,
and we've looked at why we give,
we've looked at the motivation behind giving,
we looked at the call of collective participation
by every single member of the body of Christ who is in the body of Christ,
we now want to learn how, how to steward things well
according to God's Word so that we can be people who are generous,
so that as we do right with what God has given us
and we find ourselves able to then do everything God wants us to do
when it comes to being generous people.
And so really the foundation of all of this
and some of this is overlapping to previous studies,
but a proper biblical mindset is really what's foundational
to good financial stewardship.
It's important to know this right off the top.
God does not condemn wealth.
God does not condemn anybody for having wealth.
Sometimes people will think that, you know, and it's just, it's, that's not true.
Right, you go through the scripture top to bottom,
you find that God gave great wealth to Solomon, David, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph,
Jehoshaphat, and many others in the Old Testament.
You get to the New Testament, you find that there was Matthew,
who was one of the twelve disciples.
He was a man of means as a tax collector.
You have Joanna, Joseph of Arimathea, Zacchaeus, Lydia.
You have these people of great wealth and great means
that were a part of the church,
and they were very generous people as members of the church.
And so we see that, that God uses those people.
And so wealth isn't inherently a sinful thing,
but he does give grave warnings throughout his word
to those who would seek wealth more than they seek God.
And really to those who trust in wealth more than they trust in God.
You have Matthew 13, 22, the parable of the sower, right?
And he says in that parable,
the deceitfulness of wealth can choke out the word of God in our lives.
In Mark chapter 10, verse 23, Jesus said,
it's hard for those with riches to enter the kingdom of God.
Not impossible, but it's hard. Why?
Because it's easy to trust in wealth.
When you have enough money for everything,
it's easy to find ourselves trusting that
instead of being fully dependent of God.
And so there's these warnings that, you know,
although wealth isn't inherently bad or wrong,
you don't want to trust in it, you don't want to depend on it.
And then Luke 16, 13, Jesus said,
you cannot serve both God and money, right?
So we have these warnings throughout scripture,
but Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 10,
he says, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
All right?
Two things I want you to know there.
It says the love of money.
That's the problem, right?
The problem is we get money and then we start to love it
because we think it's the solution to everything in our life.
And yeah, money can solve problems,
but, you know, money itself is morally neutral.
And the problem is those whose master is wealth,
those who trust in it for life,
those who will listen to the deceitful lies of wealth
that says all you need is me.
You don't need nothing else.
You will provide for yourself.
You're definitely going to lose if that's your end all
because guess what?
None of it goes with you.
None of it goes with you,
and it can't buy what is of true value,
and that's eternal life.
Eternal life only comes through trust in Jesus Christ.
So Paul went on to say in 1 Timothy 6, 17,
he was speaking to Timothy, and he goes,
instruct those who are rich in the present age
not to be arrogant or to set their hope
on the uncertainty of wealth,
but God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.
Did you hear that last part?
God is the one who richly provides for us
or provides us with all things to enjoy.
So again, having things, it's not wrong.
Having a nice house, having a nice car, it's not wrong, right?
I thought it was funny.
Some person on TikTok commented on one of our videos
from the last few weeks, and it was some quote
and one of the teachings, and he's like, oh, yeah.
So you can have your huge salary and your nice Mercedes
and send your kids to private school.
And I was like, well, I don't have kids.
I drive a 2012 Ford Escape, you know,
and I get paid decently, but by no means am I living in mansions
and driving Lamborghinis, you know,
and I just laughed because of the perception the world has, right,
when the church talks about money.
So Paul said instruct those who are rich,
because it's okay to be rich if that's what God has for you, okay?
Just don't trust in it.
You trust in God.
He's the one that gave it to you anyways, right?
And that's really the point I'm building up here.
It's trust God, depend on Him for all things,
and steward what belongs to Him,
which is everything you have, steward it rightly.
Because wealth, biblically, we understand wealth can enhance good,
but it can also create evil, right?
Wealth is something that can be used for selfish goals,
but it's also something that can be used for God's purposes.
And so the reality, biblically, we have to understand that wealth is simply a tool.
It's a tool, like every other tool that exists,
that we can learn to use effectively, like any other tool that exists.
And when we see wealth and use wealth biblically,
when we see it not as the end goal,
but it is a means to an end,
which is namely God's purposes in your life and in this world,
then we're not going to find ourselves loving the wealth.
But instead, we're going to find ourselves more and more in love with the wealth giver
and pursuing His purposes and seeking His will with it.
And so God says, and we've looked at this over the last few weeks,
when you steward the wealth that I've given you,
and I use that wealth just to mean your material finances,
because I know there's many of us that are like, I'm far from wealth, right?
But the money, the resources He's given you,
and this also includes things like our time and talent.
When we steward it the way God says to steward it,
that means not trusting it, not to bend on it, not to serve it,
not to worship it, not to waste it, not to squander it or hoard it,
but instead we use it.
We manage it, we build it, and then we give it.
When we do that in the way that God has instructed us to do that,
God says, I'll take care of you.
I'll make sure you have enough for your needs, right?
Not your greeds, but your needs.
So 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 6 through 9 says this,
this is really a foundational concept when it comes to managing wealth
financial or managing wealth biblically.
It says, Godliness with contentment is great gain,
for we brought nothing into this world and we could take nothing out,
for if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap,
and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge people into ruin and destruction.
And so the biblical admonition when it comes to stewarding what God has given you
is to start with this idea.
I'm content and I'm grateful for whatever I, with whatever I have.
I'm content, right?
God knows my needs, God has given me what I need,
and then everything I have is his, and so I'm going to pray and seek,
how do I use it for God's glory?
How do I use it for his kingdom?
Nothing wrong with being rich, but we see here wanting to be rich, really,
is warned against.
And it's really when we come to that place of being able to trust God,
or when God trusts us to hold everything with an open hand,
God says, hey, I want to give this to you, and it might be a million dollars.
And we go, hey, God, thanks.
And he might say, steward that million dollars.
And we're going to talk about that later when we see the principle of the talents.
God gave one of them ten, and the guy came back and said,
hey, I've made you ten more, God said, good job, you stewarded it well.
But when we hold it with an open hand and saying,
okay, God put a million dollars in our hand, and we say, cool, God,
thanks for that, I'm going to steward it well,
and then God comes along and says, hey, I need my million dollars,
we go, take it, it's yours.
When we have that attitude, God says, I can trust you with a million dollars.
You see the point?
But when God gives us ten bucks, and we go, mine, mine,
and God's like, hey, I need my ten bucks,
and you're like, oh, well, I wasted 90% of it paying high interest
on a credit card to buy something I didn't need that I don't really,
God's like, well, then I can't give you ten dollars again
because you're not going to steward it well.
You guys following that?
So the idea is when we're content, when we're not claiming
what God gives us for ourselves, well, in that there's promises
that God gives to people who do that.
And he says, as you're generous, I'll be generous.
He goes, as you give, it will be given to you.
Why?
Because I trust you to give it away.
So the Bible teaches a very important truth with this.
It's called the principle of cause and effect.
In Galatians chapter 6 verse 7, Paul writes this.
He says, do not be deceived.
God is not mocked.
For whatever a person sows, he will also reap.
We call it the law of sowing and reaping.
It's a law of the natural world as well as a law of the spiritual world.
It's something we see throughout scripture.
The law of sowing and reaping implies that there's work
and there's waiting, right?
Galatians 6, 9 says, let us not get tired of doing good,
for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up.
Now, of course, it's a farming thing, right?
You go plant seed and then you wait, and you wait for the harvest to come.
But it's a principle that applies all over the place too.
It's a sowing and reaping.
You've got to do the thing to get the result of the thing, right?
And so you've got to sow the seed to get the harvest.
Another factor of the law of sowing and reaping is that we reap in kind
to what we sow, right?
In the spiritual world, the Bible tells us that you sow to the flesh,
you reap destruction.
But you sow to the spirit, you reap eternal life.
In the natural world, it works this way.
You plant corn, guess what grows?
Apples, right?
You plant corn, you get corn.
Nobody's surprised by that.
But what a lot of people do is they'll stand around at the hole in the ground
and go, God, give me corn.
I need corn, Lord.
But you haven't planted any corn.
You're not going to get corn if you don't plant corn.
That's the idea.
This is the sowing and reaping idea here.
Actions have consequences.
Scripture is a constant dance between our faith in God, right?
We trust God, we trust His provision.
He will provide for His people.
And then our faithfulness to do the work, to do what He says to do.
And so Luke chapter 16 verse 10, here's a parable about a steward who has
squandered everything he was entrusted with.
And Jesus said this at the end of this parable, whoever is faithful and very
little is also faithful in much.
And whoever is unrighteous and very little is also unrighteous in much.
And so again, we see this idea here that having a biblical view of the resources
that God has entrusted to you, understanding it's not mine, it's His,
understanding that He is the Master is going to show up one day and go, hey,
give me an accounting of what I gave to you, that should lead to us being good
stewards of it.
And it says here, if you steward the little God has given you, chances are, or
if you steward it properly, chances are you'll steward a lot properly.
But if you waste the little, you mishandle the little that God has given you,
well, why is He going to give you more?
Because the chances are you're going to mishandle it.
So, and then 1 Corinthians 4, 2, it says, in this regard, it is required that
managers be found faithful.
Faithful.
You notice there that as a part of being a steward of what God has given us with
our resources, managing isn't passive.
We don't just sit on our behind and just go, okay, well, God, you do something.
We're to be faithful.
We're to put in the work, do our part, following His word and managing what He's
given us, and in and through that, God then works on our behalf.
Now, again, this isn't about salvation, right?
We know biblically salvation is that exception to this rule, right?
That's the thing that God said, no, watch what I'm going to do.
I'm going to give you something that you didn't earn, that you can't earn, that
you don't work for.
I'm going to do something above and beyond so amazing, freely given to you
salvation and forgiveness of all your sins, and all you've got to do is
receive it.
And that's salvation.
We receive freely by faith.
And sometimes people will look at that, and then they'll look at finances and
they'll look at all these other things, and they go, well, why do we have to
plant corn?
Can't God just go, corn, and corn is, right?
Didn't He do that in Genesis?
He did light and light was.
Now, yeah, God can do that.
He is God Almighty.
But what we see in His word is that the norm that He has chosen to work through
is that He says, we obey, we do, we follow, God blesses, God brings the
harvest.
That's how He chose to do it.
Could He have done it another way?
Sure.
But what He chose to do is say, here's my word.
I want obedience, not sacrifice.
Do what I tell you to do.
Live this way, think this way, behave this way, manage the resources I've
given you this way, and things follow.
You know, everything after free salvation are choices we make to be obedient or
not to God in His word.
And so really the idea is that in our salvation we're given a new heart, we're
given a new nature, we're given this new nature that isn't meant to help us be
obedient to God, right?
We're given the Holy Spirit to help, we're given God's word to help and guide
us and direct us.
But good stewardship doesn't happen on its own.
It doesn't happen by accident.
It takes intentional, deliberate, faithful decisions and actions on our part.
So with all of that setting this up, it's already 1053, let's talk about some of
the practical steps so that then, yeah, we can steward well what God has entrusted
us with.
And then really in that, yeah, put ourselves in a position to be as generous as
He is generous.
That's the goal.
I want to give like God gives.
I want to be generous like God is generous.
And so what does He say?
Now, there are many of you here in this room, you're already doing well
financially, you're already managing what He's given you well when it comes to
your stewardship of His resources.
You're right on top of it and praise God for you, right?
Praise God for that.
And I pray that you are encouraged by what I'm about to share here through
Scripture.
Just be encouraged.
Yeah, I'm doing that.
Praise God.
I'm following the Lord's will and stuff.
Just, you know, let it be affirmation and confirmation that you're following God
well, you know?
But there's also many of us here that are on the other side of the fence.
And we're really struggling financially.
And a lot of it is because poor financial habits.
And I pray that this is an encouragement to you to follow God's way.
Okay?
So Proverbs 21, 5.
The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit.
But anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.
Did you know that the idea of budgeting is in the Bible?
It's right there.
We just read it.
You see, the concept of budgeting when it comes to what God has given you is
simply a plan for your money.
I'm going to have a plan for where my money goes.
It comes in, it goes out.
I'm going to have a plan for that.
You know, and planning is not foreign to us.
We plan for so much in our lives.
We plan trips, right?
Can you imagine, I'm going to go on a trip to Europe.
Well, what are you going to do?
I don't know.
I'm just going to show up to the airport.
I'm going to, maybe I'll end up on a plane.
Who knows?
You go, that's foolish.
That's absolutely foolish.
We plan goals.
Why not plan for your money?
And when we diligently plan, it says here where our money goes.
Diligently plan instead of spending recklessly.
Well, the difference here it says is profit instead of poverty.
A lot of times we end up poor because we're just spending and we're nickel
and diming ourselves to death and we have no idea where our money's going and
what happens at the end of every month, right?
We're like, how do I have nothing left?
Where did it go?
Wise planning on many fronts is not only seen in Scripture, but it's encouraged
throughout Scripture over and over and over.
In Luke chapter 14 verses 28 and 30, Jesus is giving a teaching that's
specifically about counting the cost of following Him.
But we see the principle of planning in this.
He says this, for which of you wanting to build a tower doesn't first sit down
and calculate the cost to see if you have enough to complete it?
Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the
onlookers will begin to ridicule him saying, this man started to build and
wasn't able to finish.
You see the principle of planning there, of thinking ahead and going, okay,
here's the resources, here's what I should do, because why?
I have a goal.
And if we have a goal of being generous the way Jesus is generous with our
finances and our wealth, well, then we have to know what is happening with the
resources that He's entrusted to us.
And that's what a budget does.
A budget allows us to know what we have, where it's going, right?
And I'm talking all the way down to every penny.
And we do that so we can make sure that every penny we got is wisely stewarded,
wisely allocated.
It's the idea of planning ahead beyond today's needs, beyond the week's needs or
the month's needs.
It's budgeting ahead so you could learn to really say, okay, if I've got to
learn how to live on less than I make so that I have extra to do things that
God is leading me to do with, budgeting is what helps you do that.
Until I started budgeting, I had no idea how much money I was really spending
stopping at 7-Eleven every Sunday morning to get a pack of donuts and a little
coffee thing because I do it in one day and I'm like, oh, it's like eight bucks.
Well, eight bucks times four days a week.
And that's not including the Starbucks trips during the week.
And that's not including the, oh, I just don't feel like preparing food today.
I'm going to stop at the fast food place, which is $20 a trip now, right?
When I finally sat down and was doing a budget, I was like, I spend how much?
I'm fast food.
No wonder I'm broke.
You know, I could save money by doing things.
So a budget helps you see what's going on with all that type of stuff.
And so in budgeting, yeah, you might discover that, hey, I'm squandering the
resources God has given me.
I don't have to eat Jack in the Box three times a day, right?
You know, maybe I could brew coffee at home instead of pay the $6 Starbucks,
right?
You start to learn things like that when you see it laid out in front of you,
and that's what Proverbs was talking about there when it says the plans of the
diligent.
You've got to be diligent to think through and plan for what you're going to
be doing.
And then the whole idea is you learn to live on lesson you got so that you
could save, right?
Save for emergencies.
Be wise.
Prepare and plan for what's going on with your family.
I just heard a story last night of a woman who called in to the show, and she
goes, my husband got in a car accident last week, I think it was, and he's got
permanent brain damage and he's going to be permanently in the hospital.
And she's like, he has a business, but I just found out that he's incredibly
in debt in the business and didn't share it with me.
And she's like, I have five kids.
And she goes, well, what do I do?
If that was your situation, what would you do, right?
We don't know the future.
We don't know when things are going to happen.
And so we want to be able to save.
And Proverbs 21 20 talks about this.
It says, precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of a wise person, but a
fool consumes them.
What does that mean?
It's the idea of gobbling up everything you make every time you get it, right?
The wise person has things set aside, stored in their house for an emergency.
They have resources set aside.
The foolish person consumes them.
And that's what consumes them.
It means to gobble it up.
That means spending every penny you make.
It's foolish to do so because you don't know what the future holds, right?
You don't know what could happen.
And really a question to ask ourselves as God's stewards, right, because we want
to be available for God's purposes and do serving God and all these things we
want to be available for.
But if we fall into some major financial disaster and we're not ready for it,
well, everything gets put on hold, right, because we've got to deal with some
really bad things.
And well, if we didn't save, if we didn't steward well, we find ourselves in
very, very difficult situations.
One study recently done says 48% of Americans would not be able to cover their
basic expenses past 90 days if they lost their job today.
That means for those of you with families and kids, according to statistics, half
of you, if you lost your job today, you have three months before you're going to
lose everything.
That's a dangerous statistic to look at.
And so in Proverbs 6, 6-8, this is what God says in His word.
He goes, go to the ant, you slacker.
God said that, not me, okay?
He goes, observe its ways and become wise.
Without a leader, without an administrator, without a ruler, it prepares its
provisions in summer and it gathers its food during harvest.
That's a principle of saving and planning ahead for emergencies, right?
And yeah, budgeting is hard, right?
Saving is hard.
I mean, up until fairly recently, I used to think budgeting was a cuss word,
right?
You say budget, I'm like, shut your mouth.
But then slowly God was like, hey, do you believe my word?
Well, yes, of course I do.
Well, then read these things and listen to what they say.
Because budgeting is you telling you what to do.
And I don't know, if you're like me, I go back, don't tell me what to do.
And I'm like, who's that person telling me that?
I'm looking in the mirror.
It's like, what?
Like, don't fight yourself.
Just what does God say?
And it's hard.
It's difficult to put these things into practice.
You know, Hebrews 12, 11, it says no discipline seems enjoyable at the time.
But painful.
That word discipline there literally says correcting guidance for responsible living.
So when the Bible says do this with your money and not this with your money,
it may not be fun at the time.
But look at what he goes on to say, later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness,
which is right living to those who have been trained by it.
So don't be the foolish person of Proverbs 21, 20 and consume everything you have.
Instead, plan.
Budget.
Learn to live on less than you make so you can save for emergencies,
so they don't wipe you out if something happens.
And then in that process, you're able to start setting aside things
so you can move forward being generous as God is generous with you.
Now, one of the biggest challenges many of us have financially
that really affects our generosity is debt.
Right?
A lot of us have debt.
Now, I want to be very clear.
The Bible doesn't forbid debt, right?
Being in debt is not a sin.
But the Bible does have many warnings against going into debt unnecessarily,
and it lifts up the virtue of just not going into debt.
For example, Proverbs 22, 7.
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.
Translation.
If you owe someone money, they control your life until you pay them back.
And then Romans 13, 8, Paul said this,
do not owe anyone anything except to love one another,
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The idea when it comes to debt, right, and how the Bible warns against it is
you really don't want anybody controlling your life except Jesus.
Nobody should have control over your life.
And yet when we find ourselves in debt, we find ourselves working to pay other people
because of interest and things, and it really ends up putting us in a type of slavery.
You know, and just broadly, you know, and I think the reason the Bible warns against it
doesn't forbid it, but it warns against going into debt is because debt is risky.
It's risky, and regardless of your situation,
the lender expects you to pay it back, right?
You ever called someone you owed money to a credit card or something,
and you said, hey, I can't pay you because, you know, I'm just,
you know, can you just trust me?
What did they say?
Yeah, well, you'll be hearing from our trust department.
It's called Collections.
Now, on top of that, when it comes to debt,
most of us are in debt that is charging interest in most cases.
The average credit card today, this is the average.
This is the middle number.
It charges 28% interest, 28%.
You know what that means?
That means for every $100 you charge, you're paying back $128.
You're paying an additional $28 that you didn't intend to spend
just for the privilege of being able to put it on a card.
Now, again, debt's risky.
Debt steals your money.
And the further we sink ourselves into debt,
the more of our money it takes.
Now, yeah, there are things in our lives that may absolutely require debt.
And please don't misunderstand me.
I personally believe that is a very, very small list, okay?
Because all of us are like, oh, Starbucks, I need to go into debt for Starbucks.
No, you don't.
You don't need to pay interest on Starbucks, right?
But like buying a home, that's like one of the biggest purchases people might make
in their lives.
And I know many of you think, oh, that reality is never going to exist anymore
in our market.
But it's a big one, right?
And very few of us would have the money to go out and buy a house outright,
especially with the cost of housing today.
But the idea biblically is if there's any way to avoid going into debt,
if there's any way to not do it, don't do it so that you won't be enslaved
to the lender.
You know, I was looking up stats on this,
and you got the four big credit card companies, MasterCard, Visa, AMEX,
and Discover.
And recently over the last few years, I found the thing that said they spent
$4 billion marketing to us to get us to use credit cards.
How could they spend $4 billion to get us to use credit cards?
You know why?
Because they made $88 billion off of interest and penalty fees.
That was $88 billion that nobody intended to spend,
but it was the hey, thank you for letting me buy it on a credit card cost.
When we don't plan, when we don't save, when we don't budget,
and instead borrow ourselves into slavery unnecessarily going further
and further into debt, we're simply not being good stewards of what
God has trusted to us.
God didn't say I gave you this so you could spend $88 billion of it paying
interest fees to lenders.
So you've got to be careful, right?
When we do plan, when we do budget, when we do learn to live on lesson we
make, when we do get ourselves out of unnecessary debt or all the debt we
have, then guess what, you're able to have money set aside to save for
those emergencies, right, those financial catastrophes.
We see this in Genesis chapter 41 where Joseph got a vision and God said
there's a famine coming.
What did he do?
He started saving up grain, right?
And it saved the whole nation because he planned ahead.
They didn't eat all the grain as they got it.
They budgeted it out.
We're also then able to start somewhere with generosity as the Lord teaches us.
So say, okay, God, I want to be generous so you're generous and we talked
about that last week.
It's not about the amount, it's about the heart.
Ephesians chapter 428, it says do honest work with your own hands so that you
have something to share with anyone in need.
That's a biblical mandate.
You know what Paul said in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3?
He said you don't work, you don't eat, right?
The church is here to help.
We as the body of Christ are here to help.
We have benevolence ministries and things like that, but the Bible has a whole
lot to say about how you qualify to get help from the local body of Christ
when you're in need.
And it's pretty strict actually, you know?
It's not to say we don't want to help people, but there are far too many people
who want to take advantage and so the Bible is very clear.
Work.
If you can work, work.
You need to work so that you earn, so that you have something not only for
yourself, but to help those that are in need.
We're able to provide for the needs of our families when we're saving for
emergencies without worry or anxiety.
And again, this is one of those verses, 1 Timothy 5, 8, but if anyone does not
provide for his own family, especially for his own household, he has denied the
faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Wow.
We're able to then save for our future, right?
Save for retirement or save to leave something behind for our families
generationally.
Proverbs 13, 22, it says, a good man leaves an inheritance to his
grandchildren.
And yeah, that's more than just money, right?
But the whole idea of planning appropriately so that you can leave
something behind is biblical.
And this all comes from the blessing of stewarding what God has given you
faithfully.
Stewarding what God has given you biblically.
As we are faithful in the little, God can trust you with more.
And as God trusts you with more, you could do more with more.
Right?
Did that make sense?
Yeah, I think so.
All right.
But why does God give you more when you're faithful in the little?
Because he knows you're going to manage it well.
You're not going to squander it.
You're not going to gobble it up.
You're not going to waste it.
And that's the idea here.
I want to kind of close out here on a parable that Jesus told.
And this is a parable that adds one final element to biblical stewardship
that I want to add in here.
It's in Matthew chapter 25, starts in verse 14.
And it's really talking about the coming of the kingdom of heaven is the
precise context.
But it says, it's just like a man about to go on a journey.
He called his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one
talent, depending on each one's ability.
Then he went on a journey.
Immediately the man who had received the five talents put them to work and
earned five more.
In the same way, the man with two earned two more.
But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground,
and hid his master's money.
After a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts
with them.
The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents,
and said, Master, you gave me five.
See, I've earned five more.
His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.
You are faithful over a few things.
I'm going to put you in charge of many things.
Share your master's joy.
The man with two talents also approached, and he said, Master, you gave me two
talents.
See, I've earned two more.
His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.
You are faithful over a few things.
I will put you in charge of many things.
Share your master's joy.
The man who had received one talent also approached and said, Master, I know you.
You're a harsh man, reaping where you haven't sown and gathering where you
haven't scattered seed.
So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground.
See, you have what is yours.
His master replied to him, You evil, lazy servant.
If you knew that I reap where I haven't sown and gather where I haven't
scattered, then you should have at least deposited my money with the bankers,
and I would have received my money back with interest when I returned.
So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents.
For everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough.
But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
This parable teaches a universal truth that has universal application.
Since the very beginning of time, since the very beginning of the creation of
mankind, every single individual on earth has been entrusted with resources
of time and resources of ability and resources of material wealth.
Now, yes, it all belongs to him because he is the master.
It is all his.
But we are responsible for managing those resources well.
And we see that we are to use those resources in such a way that they
increase in value.
If he's given you a calling, you are to develop that calling so that that
calling increases in value to the body and the people around you.
If he's given you time, you are to use that time doing what is of greatest
value that has the greatest return, right?
He said redeem the time for the days are short.
If he's given you a natural ability that can bless others and glorify his name
and his kingdom, develop that ability.
That one's easy one like with worship ministry, right?
You know, if God calls you to a worship team and you give an ability with an
instrument, you're expected to develop that ability.
If you're a speaker, get better at speaking.
If you're a servant, if you're an organizer, just do better with those
abilities.
But also, whatever he's given you materially, financially, wisely manage it
so that it will have the maximum effect, the maximum return.
For you, yeah.
For your family, yeah.
For your future family generationally, sure.
For your spiritual family, yeah.
But for God's kingdom and God's purposes to his glory forever.
And that parable tells us that if we manage well with what God has given to
us, he will entrust us with more.
But if we waste $88 billion enslaved to lenders, paying out monies far and
above what we purchased because, well, I couldn't wait to save to buy that
thing I wanted.
I couldn't wait or I just wasn't prepared for that financial emergency and
now it's wiped everything out.
Or we're just simply gobbling up everything we make on ourselves because,
well, after all, my own pleasure is the most important thing on my priority
list.
And then we come around and try to say, oh, Lord, I'm so sorry.
I can't give.
I can't be generous in the way that you're calling me to be generous because
I don't have anything.
I'm broke.
And we do that instead of taking responsibility for maybe our poor
financial habits and maybe taking responsibility for what might be unwise
spending or whatever in our lives.
Well, Scripture seems to be very, very clear on that.
You sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly.
Sow generously, you will reap generously.
Now, because I believe so strongly in not just telling you guys, this is what
the Bible says, but equipping you guys.
I like to try and put tools into people's hands.
That's why we provide tracks so you can go out and evangelize.
But I really want to provide tools to the body here to help you guys learn how
to be better stewards, right?
And really, in just the practicality of just managing money well according to
biblical principles, you saw two of our community groups that were launching
this season.
It's a resource that we're able to make available to every single family here
in the body.
And it's designed to teach and equip each one of us on really applying these
biblical principles in our lives.
Now, it's a program that is designed to work best in a group format.
That's why we're kind of launching it with our community groups.
But you can do it on your own as well, you know.
But the idea is that we're going to be launching these groups so that people
can enroll in this class.
It's a nine-week class called Financial Peace University.
I do know that it's, you know, it's not the end-all gospel in financial stuff.
It's just one tool that we've come across.
I've personally been in some of the classes and I've personally benefited
from it as well as I've seen specific people benefit from some of the
teachings.
So we just wanted to play it, just a real quick video to show you kind of what
the class is going to go about.
And then I'll tell you a little more about it.
But the idea is to take what Scripture says, buckle down, learn, and apply.
That's the idea, right, to put into practice.
And, you know, if you're like me and budgeting is a cuss word, right, you
might have to learn some things, to unlearn some things so that you could
then start doing good with what God has given you.
But if we could just roll that clip real quick, that would be great.
And then we started saying, okay, these principles that we're learning, what
do you do first?
Do you save money and invest?
That's important.
Do you get insurance?
Do you have your emergency fund first or do you get out of debt?
What about paying off your house?
You know, what about building wealth?
What about the power of compound interest and getting that working for you to be
a millionaire?
Which of these things do you do first?
And it was confusing and people said, I don't know what to do first.
And I said, well, I don't either.
And then I just ran into this thing and it said, you can do anything if you do
it a bite at a time.
That's how you eat an elephant, a bite at a time.
And so we start figuring out that good financial planning and applying these
principles in order works, and we call them the baby steps.
Baby step one is you save $1,000.
Baby step two, as soon as you've done that, is you work the debt snowball.
And then baby step three, once you've done that, you go back to that $1,000 and
raise it up to a fully funded grandma's rainy day fund of three to six months
of expenses.
Once that's done, then we do four, five, and six simultaneously.
We start working on retirement, kids college, and any extra money we throw up
paying off the house early.
And then that brings us to baby step seven where we just live and give like no
one else, where we build wealth and we're outrageously generous.
And that's our outline of what we're going to go through together.
This is the process we're going to go through together to take these principles
of living debt free, of living on a budget, these principles, and how do we
apply them in what order?
That's the order.
So again, I've been through the course myself, and I think the principles are
solid.
You know, they seem to work.
There's over 10, 20 million people that have been through what they call
financial peace university and really have their lives changed, you know, when
it comes to their financial outlook.
And so as we mentioned in the intro thing, there's a whole slew of teaching
and training and resources that they have a part of this.
And usually it's like $130 to have this service that you're committed to.
And, you know, I always hear people that are struggling with money going, well,
I have no money.
How am I supposed to, you know, pay something to make money?
And that's another conversation we could have.
But because I feel you, the church has actually made an investment to make
that whole thing available to you guys for 20 bucks.
So we figured $20 is affordable for most people.
And if you can't afford the 20 bucks and you want to take the class, please talk
to me, okay?
Because I really do believe the principles when we learn these biblical principles,
and he drills down into stuff much deeper than I did, and learn how to apply
these principles, it really is life changing.
Now, I'm telling you this just because there's a clock on it.
We have a one-year opportunity to make it available to you guys for the price
we're able to make it available to you guys.
And so that one-year clock starts in April.
So if you decide to wait six months and go, okay, I want to do this, you only
have six months available for all the training materials and stuff.
But I share all of that because I pray you take advantage of the tool.
If you're not going to take advantage of that tool, do something.
Do something, right?
Learn what Scripture says and apply these things because the end result is
that we're stewarding what God has given us well.
That's the end result, right?
Like I said, this particular training content, it's not the end-all gospel to
financial stewardship, but it's a tool among tools, and we want to make it
available to you guys.
But there's truly much more that Scripture teaches about money and how to
steward it biblically, right?
And I pray that in your own reading, in your own devotional time, in your own
just sitting down with the Word of God and seeking Him that you learn, that the
Lord would speak to you about what He has to say about your finances and how
to steward those things well so that you could benefit from that.
But, you know, just as a real quick recap here, and then we'll be done, you
know, get on a budget, right?
Because Proverbs 21.5 says, the plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit,
but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.
Figure out what you got, figure out where it's going, and then figure out how to
tell it where you want it to go.
Then you get on a budget so that you could learn to live on less than you make
so you have that extra margin, and so we do that because Proverbs 21.20 says a
fool spends whatever they get.
You learn to live on less than you make so you can get out of debt because
Proverbs 22.7 says the rich rule over the poor and a borrower is a slave to the
lender.
You get out of debt so you could start having money to save for emergencies and
plan for those things because Proverbs 21.20 says precious treasure and oil are
in the dwelling of a wife's person.
And so now you're kind of saving and, you know, just setting yourself up to be
safe for those emergencies, right, when the car needs a surprise repairs, when
the kid needs to go to the emergency room or something, and so now from a place of
financial stability and security you can start to then multiply what God has
given you through wise stewardship, right?
The whole idea is to do more so you could bless more and on and on.
And this all takes effort and diligence and planning and focus, and you may not
like it at first, but, you know, Hebrews 12.11 says no discipline seems enjoyable
at the time.
But if you learn to not squander everything you make, you can not only save
for difficult situations, but you could be in that place of leaving a legacy
because Proverbs 13.22 says a good man leaves an inheritance to his
grandchildren.
And through the whole process you learn and seek and, God, I want to be generous
the way you're generous.
Show me where to start.
Show me where to get started in this, and then as you grow and manage what God has
given you well and get yourself out of debt and not be wasting all your money on
things that are frivolous or whatever, then you're going to find yourself
increasingly more able to be generous the way Jesus is generous.
And you get to live without the worry and the fear of financial emergencies and
without the restrictions of, oh, I'm just paycheck to paycheck.
You get yourself out of debt completely so there's no more interest payments just
leaking out the thing, and you go from just being a giver to being an
outrageous giver.
Didn't be able to give a lot, which is so much fun, you know?
When you go from, okay, God, I'm trying to find out the minimum amount I could
give to still be obedient to you.
When you're able to go from that to, God, I just want to give lavishly,
hilariously, cheerfully.
I want to do things for people the way you do things for people, and we seek
that. Why?
Because 2 Corinthians 9.7 says God loves a cheerful giver.
And that's really the goal, is to steward what he has for us so that, yeah, we're
taking care of our family, we're taking care of our business, we're taking care
of all those important things, but we're able to be generous as he is generous.
Cheerfully, willingly, lavishly, right?
That word hilarious when it says God loves a cheerful giver, I always look at
that word hilarious, and it's that kind of like giving where you kind of laugh
nervously after you did it.
I just gave how much?
Wow.
Whoo.
But isn't that our God?
Who just gives over and above?
And he just wants us to be just like that, you know?
And I am by no means a wealthy individual by any means, but I could tell you
generosity is fun.
And many of you in here have experienced that when you're able to, you know, not
just hand someone a few dollars, but God brings you to the place where you're
able to give someone a car.
And they're just like, oh, my goodness.
Can you imagine being able to pay off someone's house that's struggling?
A single mom who's just like praying, God, please, I mean, God could use you to
do that.
But he can't do it if you love the money.
It's when you stop loving the money that he gives you the money.
It's just a weird dichotomy of his kingdom.
Seek him.
Seek to be obedient to him.
Seek to do with what you have, what he is teaching you and calling you to do
with what you have.
And give cheerfully, lavishly, willingly.
Start wherever you're at and figure out what that is, right?
There's no percentage to be right and wrong.
There's no this is the sinful percentage.
This is the godly percentage.
Start somewhere.
Be faithful, and I guarantee you, watch God bless you.
And you get to step in those shoes that he has to be just like our Lord and
Savior.
And when you're a giver, you get to experience being like him in ways some
people never get to experience, and it is awesome.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Father, oh, Lord, you are so gracious.
And you call us to be gracious as you are gracious.
Lord, you are so generous, and you call us to be generous as you are generous.
So, Lord, I pray, God, that your Holy Spirit would deal with our hearts, Lord,
that we wouldn't be consumed by materialistic thinking.
We wouldn't be consumed by fear and anxiety that would cause us to hoard and
hang on to everything because we're just constantly expecting the worst to
happen.
And then, Lord, we wouldn't be people who are expecting the worst to happen
because we haven't done anything to be ready in case something bad happens.
But, Lord, we would learn what your word says to not just get the theory of
giving, but, Lord, the practical application, Lord, of things like
budgeting and planning ahead, saving for emergencies so they don't wipe us out
when they happen.
Being ready, Lord, if you tarry and we're still here for another generation or
ten more generations, Lord, that we're able to leave a legacy to our
grandchildren.
Lord, that we would be faithfully using what you give us, Lord, and that God be
people where you would look and say, I trust you with whatever.
Lord, that you would look at us as your people and say, I could trust you with
this because you're going to manage it well.
That you're going to be generous as I am generous.
You are going to help the poor and you're going to help the suffering and you're
going to take care of those in need, God.
And that we as a church, as we collectively pull together to do that,
Lord, we would not be restricted by these practical, tangible things, Lord,
but that we would really experience the blessing you have for us individually
and then as a body of Christ, Lord, that we would be able to do whatever it is
you're calling us to do without having to think, can we afford it?
But, Lord, in and through all of that, we want to serve you.
We want to follow you.
We want to trust you, Lord.
And so, Lord, never give us so much that we don't trust you.
But, Lord, also keep us out of these places of having such lack that we blame you.
Because we know, Lord, that we are called to be stewards of what you've given us.
So teach us and help us to make right choices.
And bless us that we would be a giver just like you are a giver, Lord.
Cheerfully, joyfully, hilariously.
We love you so much.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Let's worship, guys.