Practices, The Necessary Actions
#moneymatters4
Good morning MGCC!
Welcome to week 4 of our 5 week series of conversations called, ‘Money Matters.’
Money what? Money matters…!
And it really does right?
AND HEY – do you what or who else matters you!
I matter to God!
And that’s all
That matters to me!
OKAY – let me read 3 passages of Scripture and then we will pray into our conversation…
Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. – Matthew 7:24,25
Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. – John 13:7
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. – James 1:22-25
Prayer
AGAIN – this is week 4 of Money Matters…
WEEK 4 – of unpacking the following formula…
Attitude + Principles + Practices = Freed Up Financially
AND REMEMBER – that to be freed up financially
= no longer being a slave to money
= no longer being a slave to… money worries, money stress, money desires, money worship, money lenders…
= no longer being a slave to the myth of more, but rather finding your contentment in your relationship with Jesus
= no longer being a slave to the ever elusive and ever changing ‘status symbols’ of this world, but finding your ultimate status is being a – chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people belong to God. I MEAN – I don’t know but being a child of the Sovereign King of The Universe seems to be the Ultimate Status Symbol
NOW…
In week one we unpacked the first variable in our equation, ‘Attitude’ which led to us making 5 declarations…
THAT - for many of us is a new way of looking, of thinking about Money.
• Money is not the answer
• I am rich
• None of my money belongs to me
• It’s okay to enjoy money
• Money Can lead to real life
AND – for the last 2 weeks we have been unpacking the 4 foundational principles that MUST be driven down deep into the bedrock of our hearts and minds if we are to be freed up financially…
Gratitude – Contentment – Trust - Humility
• Being grateful that God is both our provider and redeemer
• Finding contentment in our relationship with Christ and not in the pursuit of more
• Trusting that God gots us and Trusting in what God tells us in His word about money
• And humbling ourselves like Jesus before God, finding our status in Him
AND LISTEN – if you have missed any of these messages…
I cannot encourage you enough to check them out
• On our website
• Maple Grove podcast on iTunes
• Google Play
• Maple Grove Facebook page live fed
NOW – this morning we are going to begin unpacking the final variable in our formula for being freed up financially…
Practices, The Necessary Actions
HOWEVER – before we do that…
There is something else in our formula that I think is worth mentioning…. The plus sign.
OKAY
Think about the sign that we use for addition and what it communicates. NOW - the plus sign is an operation, a function.
UNDERSTAND – attitude and the principles of (gratitude-contentment-trust-humility)… can and must be acted upon.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. – James 1:22
UNDERSTAND B/S – the 4 practices that we will begin unpacking this week are rooted in the Word, of God…
AND WE – must do them, not merely listen to them.
ONLY THEN – will we be blessed.
ONLY THEN – will we be building our financial lives on the bedrock of God’s truths.
YEAH – the plus sign is important…
I MEAN – think about it…
When Jesus walked this planet he often used the plus sign.
AND – what I mean by that is that Jesus often required people to take action, to do something, to act on His words to be healed.
• The blind guy in John 9 had to go to the Pool Siloam and wash his eyes, he did, and then he could see.
• The lepers in Luke 17 had to go show themselves to the priests… they did and then they were healed.
In like manner… we also must do, we must act – on the practices in God’s word about money in order to be
Freed up, healed, in order to see past our blindness…
Get It?
NOW – I want you to know up front that I am pretty pumped about today’s message.
BUT – to be honest, I wasn’t that excited at first.
FOR – a 2 main reasons
#1 – At first it didn’t seem all that exciting, powerful or spiritual…
I mean – it just seems like a bunch of practical stuff
#2 – because I have not always done that great with the 3 practices we are unpacking today… now the practice we will unpack next week… I am pretty solid on… but these first 3 I have not always done so good…
The truth is they still need some work in my life.
IN FACT – This Thursday I was talking with Laurie telling her…
That my head was spinning from all of this stuff I was trying to cram in and then out of my head onto paper.
And that one thing that was making this conversation so hard to put together was that it is about things that I have not always done well with…
And she wisely said, ‘that’s probably why you are having to talk about it…’
AGAIN TODAY - we are going to be talking 3 of the 4 practices… that we must take actions on… IF - we are to be freed up financially…
Debt-free living, Planned Spending and Intentional Saving
AND LISTEN – there have been countless books written and seminars given on these topics… By men and women much smarter and more qualified than me.
SO – my goal today is simply to (introduce us to) or (remind us of) these 3 practices…
AND YES – with time we have left we will only be scratching the surface in this room today…
HOWEVER – like with any conversation we have on a Sunday… the most important thing is not what happens as we listen in here… but rather what we do with that HS conviction when we walk out those doors.
Great Websites and Resources
• Too Much – Gary Johnson
• The ABCs of Financial Freedom – Barry Cameron
• Crown.org
• Goodsesnsemovement.org
• Rightnowmedia.org
AND LISTEN
MAPLE GROVE – this seminar will help launch an ongoing ‘Good Sense Financial Team’ that will be ready and willingly to help people in our church get freed up financially.
Mark Murray is heading up this team.
Let him know if you want to be on it.
markmurray1986@yahoo.com
UNDERSTAND
WE – as a church want to come along side of people in an area that is critically important in their every day lives and is of extreme importance to God and the spread of the Gospel and expansion of His Kingdom…
That is why there are 2000+ verses in the Bible where God talks about Money.
MGCC – money matters.
Practice #1
Debt-Free Living
OKAY…
I think we all know what debt is right?
Anybody here ever been in debt?
Anybody find being in debt a freeing and fun to live?
Probably not, right…?
Check out what Mary Hunt wrote in here book, ‘Debt Proof Living’…
“Just for fun I looked up the word debt in my trusty Roget’s (roh zhey) Thesaurus.
Here’s what it said: Debt – obligation, encumbrance, in the red, pound of flesh, arrears, inability to pay, bilked, bound, beholden, up to one’s ears, over one’s head, mortgaged to the hilt, in the poverty trap, unable to keep the wolf from the door, hard up, beaten down, financially embarrassed, strapped, stripped, fleeced, and busted…
She continues… that’s not the way God wants us to live.”
NO – debt is not a fun or freeing place to be… amen?
HOWEVER – we currently live in a country that is drowning in debt… Debtville USA.
Friday morning I went onto the website usdebtclock.org
Now that sight will make your head spin
and the nationaldebtclock.org
4,115,648 in 10 minutes
US National Debt – ~ 20.6 trillion dollars
(if you put $1 bills end to end our debt would wrap around the earth 80,080 times)
Federal Government Income – 3.354 trillion
Federal Government Spending – 4.023 trillion
Budget deficit – 670 billion
Yearly Interest payment – 276 billion
US Debt held by Foreign countries - 6.4 Trillion
Mortgage Debt - 14.8 Trillion
Student loan Debt – 1.5 Trillion
Credit Card – 1 trillion 19 billion
US Total Debt - 68.1 trillion ($ 208,709 per citizen)
CRAZY…
INSANE…
NOW - I want you to imagine that you are completely out of debt – that you moved out of Debtville to Freedupville.
LIKE - you do not owe anything to anyone.
QUESTION…
Have you ever dreamed about that?
I MEAN - have you ever thought about what it would be like to know that this Friday is pay day and that there is not a single place where any of that check is obligated to go?
NOW – just thought of being debt free gives most of us a great feeling? Why - because we were not created to live under the bondage of debt.
AGAIN – just think of the possibilities if you were totally and completely debt free.
NOW - think for a moment what we as a church could do if everyone in our church was debt free.
I MEAN - suppose a missionary happened to drop in on a Sunday and we found out that he was returning to India at the end of the month and that he is hoping in the next several years to raise $100,000 to build an orphanage and a hospital… in an area that so desperately needs both.
SO – you huddle up with the church leaders…. And then we make an announcement at the end of the service about doing a special offering for this missionary…
AND LISTEN - since everyone is debt free we raise the total amount for him…
SERIOUSLY - just think of all the good you could do in the name of Jesus if you were completely debt free…
I MEAN - You could…
• Buy groceries for a single mom
• Help a struggling widow with her utilities
• Rescue someone from human trafficking
• Take a short term mission trip every year or help someone else go on one
• Adopt a child who has little hope of having a family
• Buy clothing, food, and school supplies for at risk kids
• Help someone pay their rent who lost their job due to illness
• Help plant a church that will reach people who are not yet Jesus followers
• You could
The list is endless…
But unfortunately most of those things probably will not happen (at least not that often) because too many of God’s people are in debt.
Let’s answer a few questions about debt…
How do we get in debt?
Now…
BEFORE - we get in to some of the reasons why people get into debt…let me clarify something from the get go.
UNDERSTAND - there are times when our debt is caused by circumstances that are beyond our control…such as…
• when a husband or wife is left in a financial crisis because of a divorce…
• when a family has physical difficulties that lead to overwhelming medical or hospital bills…
• when a natural disaster hits and destroys all of your possessions or
• when a person loses their job because of circumstances beyond their control.
YES…there are times when debt can be caused by things that you and I can’t control.
BUT LISTEN - a lot of times…debt is caused by things that are with-in our control…
In his book “Too Much” (living with less in a land of more) Gary Johnson talks about the wrong thinking that leads to debt by using the acronym D.E.B.T.
D - DESIRES
In 1989 the English rock band Queen wrote a song entitled “I want it all” and the lyrics actually describe the behavior – that gets us into debt. The chorus repeats over and over…
“I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now.”
UNDERSTAND - that is the mindset of too many Americans.
We have no sense of self control.
AND – that is why we end up in debt.
“We want it all, we want it all, we want it all, and we want it now.”
Even if we cannot afford it now.
So we spend money we do not have… on things we probably do not even need… with little pieces of plastic.
E – Entitlement
UNDERSTAND – when President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960’s introduced the great society – not only did he give birth to entitlement programs, but he gave birth to entitlement thinking.
We think that…
• we are entitled to the best – the most.
• we are entitled to living the American dream.
BUT LISTEN – when we think we are entitled to the good life, (that we are entitled to - going out to eat or to the movies, having an iPhone, or taking vacations, or having a lot presents under our Christmas Tree) it often comes with great cost.
BECAUSE – when we make the American come true with purchases paid for with debt, that dream can quickly become a nightmare.
YES – entitlement thinking fuels debt.
B – Bigger and Better
We are in debt because we want bigger and better….
YOU SEE - we have to have the latest technology, why… because what we have is not fast enough.
AND - we do the same with the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, and the homes in which we live.
And listen there is always something bigger and better, and to have it – we borrow even bigger bucks.
T – Taught
Let me quote Gary Johnson here…
“All too often, we do what we’ve been taught. It may be that we had parents who struggled with debt, or we had relatives and friends who lived - … appearing to have it together but beneath the surface they frantically tried to keep it together.
When the government cannot pass a balanced budget amendment or operate within it’s budget, why should we?
When we consider the example set by our debt-ridden government, along with that of our family and friends, it’s no wonder that we think a debt-driven life is normal.”
Yeah far too often we spend money we don’t have on things we do not need… and that leads to debt.
Time Magazine says for every one thousand dollars we make, we spend one thousand and three hundred dollars.
So, clearly, we have some problems.
A Pastor in Texas named Barry Cameron uses an acrostic to define the word Debt. He says it stands for…
Dumb
Excuse for
Buying
Things
Gerri Detweiler, author of The Ultimate Credit Handbook, says,
“Credit-card companies have been very successful at making us think credit is just another way to pay. But you should think of credit cards as plastic tools for taking out loans.
Would you go to a bank and borrow forty dollars for dinner? That’s what we do.
There’s not a problem with that as long as you can pay it off.
What the bible says about debt?
Here are a few things…
It is not a sin to borrow money
While the Bible offers many warnings about the dangers of debt, it never says that you are out of God’s will or violating one of God’s commandments when you borrow.
NOW – we can debate the wisdom of incurring debt under certain circumstances, but it is never a black and white issue. And as we said earlier there are certain cases where debt is simply unavoidable… medical emergencies, job layoffs…etc
Debt makes us someone’s slave
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender. – Proverbs 22:7
UNDERSTAND B/S – debt takes away your freedom, because debt tells you where some of your money MUST go.
It is a sin to borrow and not repay
The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously; - Psalm 37:21
And listen, the reason they can give generously is because they are not in debt
Going into debt assumes the future
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. – James 4:13-15
I can’t afford that item now – but I assume that I can make those $500 car payments for 72 months.
Or I don’t have the cash now but they say 3 years is the same as cash…
(footnote – accrued interest at 25.6%)
One time a miscalculated and was a week late.
And boom – got hit with $250 in interest
Going into debt may be denying God an opportunity to provide for you
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:19
UNDERSTAND – sometimes borrowing is just an easy way out of a situation that would other wise force us to grow in our faith.
Debt-free does not make you a better or superior Jesus-follower
I have sensed this is some people at times
How do we get out of debt?
Make an irrevocable commitment to God and to yourself that you are going to get out of debt
Also share this with other people… so that when they see you driving a new car… 2 weeks later…
They can say, “Yo bro, what’s up…”
Do not take on anymore debt
Put God first in your giving
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. – Proverbs 3:9,10
LISTEN – if you wait until you are out of debt to gave back to God what he asks, how long will you be waiting?
Develop or adjust your spending plan
NOW - we will talk about that in just a moment
BUT IF – you don’t have one, you need one.
AND IF – you have one and you are in debt (beyond your mortgage) your spending plan is not working too good
Snowball your current debt
• list all of your debt from smallest to largest
• pay off the smallest
• when the smallest is paid off – celebrate and then apply the amount you were paying to next smallest debt
• rinse and repeat
Okay that’s the first practice to being freed up financially is debt-free living…
And hey can you see why those 4 principles (gratitude, contentment, trust, humility) are so foundational
The second practice is…
Planned Spending
NOW – if you read the bible you will see that the bible places great value on the concept of planning…
I MEAN – in Scripture…
• We see Joseph planning during Egypt 7 years of plenty so they would be ready for the 7 years of famine.
• We see Nehemiah planning as he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.
• We see David making plans for his son Solomon to build the Temple of God.
NOW – here are a few verses about planning financially…
The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. – Proverbs 21:5
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. – Proverbs 24:3-4
But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you.30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ - Luke 14:28-30
The lesson here is that we need to count the cost.
If you are remodeling your kitchen, building home a home, preparing to go to college, buying a car – you need to count the cost…
And the way you do that is by developing a budget.
QUESTION…
Do you have a budget?
NOW - a budget is simply planned spending. That’s all a budget is. A budget is simply planning your spending.
If you don’t have a budget you don’t have a plan.
A budget is telling your money where you want it to go rather than wondering where it went.
QUESTION – ever wonder where your money went?
In His book ‘Too Much’ Gary Johnson writes…
There is a problem. Not everyone wants to live by a budget. Peter Dunn a financial planner writes:
People hate budgeting. They just do. It’s kinda like people hate exercising. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do both.
It’s no surprise that those people who hate exercising and budgeting the most are often the people who need to exercise and budget the most.
Increasing numbers of people do not live by a budget because they do not have a budget.
A family budget identifies income and expenses, enabling a family to live within it’s income.
When a family or individual does not have a spending plan, people take financial risk.
An old familiar saying reflects this reality, “To fail to plan, is to plan to fail.”
Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations. – Proverbs 27:23,24
REMEMBER – the Bible was written in an agriculture age.
THEREFORE - wealth was held in livestock and crops.
SO - the phrase… know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds
MEANS TO US – (in our day and time) that we are to know the condition of our bank accounts, our different assets, our property, our debt and more.
WE MUST KNOW – every aspect of our finances, and the practice of planned spending allows us to do that…
OKAY…
SO – here are the basic steps for developing a budget…
AND REMEMBER – those resources I mentioned and the upcoming seminar…
Step One – List All Sources of Income Each Month
Step Two – List All Expenses
I have some copies of this sheet on the back table that has suggested percentages for each….
Step Three – Calculate the Difference and Make Adjustment
Step Four – Use, work and track your budget
Intentional Saving
The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down. – Proverbs 21:20
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
– Proverbs 6:6-8
What is saving?
The practice of intentionally setting aside a portion of what we earn today for the tomorrows of life.
NOW - saving is not the same as hoarding… Like the guy in Luke 12…
Hoarding is saving beyond our needs or using our goals as excuses to build bigger barns.
What things should we save for?
Rainy Day savings
$ 1000-2000
Emergency savings
(3 months of basic living expenses)
Replacement savings
For large expected purchases
Long term savings
Retirement
Gifts, College, Vacations savings
(note – if we have not saved for them… like this Christmas
the chances are we will go into debt for them)
Where should we save?
Bank savings accounts
Mutual funds
Stocks and bonds
Real Estate
Money Market
Certificate of deposit
Precious metals
Etc
Why should we save?
To care and to share
To care for ourselves and others
And to share with others
When should we start saving?
Now
Even the smallest amount is good idea in order to develop the habit
May need to adjust your spending plan.
Attitude + Principles + Practices = Freed Up Financially
AND – 3 practices that we must take the necessary action to ensure they are in our lives are…
Are…
Debt-free living
Planned spending
Intentional savings
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12:1-3
