Principles, The Essential Foundation Series

Principles, The Essential Foundation

#moneymatters2

The Money Rant Video

Good Morning Maple Grove!

WELCOME – to week 2 of our 5 week series, ‘Money Matters.’

Raise you hands if you…

NOW THIS A SERIES – that is centered around 3 words and a formula…

THE – words… Attitude, Principles and Choices

THE - formula…

attitude + principles + practices = freed up financially

4 Principles: Gratitude – Contentment – Trust – Humility

4 Practices: Debt Free Living – Budgeting – Saving – Giving

AND AGAIN – I would like to throw out some statements that will help you know if you need to be freed up, financially speaking…

BECAUSE – chances are that you do in at least some areas…

• If you spend more than you make in a year…You need to be freed up

• If you don’t know whether or not you’re spending more in a year than you make, you need to be freed up

• If you don’t care that you might be spending more than you make in a year, You need to be freed up

• If you owe more on your car than your car is worth, You need to be freed up (Average car loan is now $30,000 and the average length of a car loan is 69.3 months… 5 years and 9 months)

• If you don’t know how much you owe on your car, You need to be freed up

• If paying the minimum on your credit cards is a way of life, You need to be freed up ($8,377 avg house credit card – 1 trillion total)

• If you have no method of tracking where your money goes, you need to be freed up.

• If money is one of the biggest stressors and cause for fighting in your marriage, You need to be freed up (44% of people sat that money is the primary cause of friction in their marriage and 57% of divorced couples cite money problems as the primary reason for the ending of their marriage)

• If you are a Jesus-follower and you are not a percentage giver to the church, you need to be freed up. (average Christian gives 2.43% of their income to the church, only 7% of Christians give 10% of their incomes, only 1% of Christians who make over $75k give 10%)

• If you do not know what percentage of your income you are giving to the church, you need to be freed up?

• If you have no plan for saving for the future, you need to be freed up.

• If you are really good at saving, making money, investing accumulating stuff… but you are not rich in generosity to the Lord’s church and to the poor and less fortunate here and around the world, you need to be freed up.

• If you think money is the most important thing in securing your future, you need to be freed up

• If you toss and turn at night, unable to sleep because you are stressed about money (62% of adults, credcard.com) you need to be freed up

• If most of your goals and dreams are driven by money (and the things money can buy and do for you), you need to be freed up.

• If you spend a lot of time comparing what you have and how much you make to others, you need to be freed up.

NOW – last week we looked at the first variable in our formula, Attitude, as we consider 5 new ways of looking at money.

1. Money is not the answer

Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. – Luke 12:15

2. We are rich

UNDERSTAND – when Paul said these words in 1 Timothy 6:17… Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God.

He was talking to you and he was talking to me…

World-Wide Income… (7.6 billion people)

Yearly Income % # of people on avg

who make less

America Avg 44,980 7.3 billion (99.59%)

America Poverty 12,060 6.5 billion (85.78%)

Bottom 50% 900 (3.5 billion people

(Mei-Leigh and I… ‘The Cascades’ - On Friday… after gong to Carter’s mountain)

3. None of our stuff is ours

B/S – it is time for us to have the heart and perspective, and to make the same choice the early church did.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. – Acts 4:32

UNDERSTAND – we are NOT owners of anything, we are merely stewards of what belongs to God.