[These are my notes, not a full transcript..]
Financially Engaging
There are 2350 verses about money. Half of Jesus' parables are about material possessions and money. Jesus spoke more about money and its application than heaven or hell combined!
Money is the greatest temptation for us. Money is a tool, a test and a testimony, when we handle it well.
In order to engage in kingdom business, we cannot get distracted. Two things that distract us from doing kingdom business are greed (the number one thing) and fear. Fear is what happens when bubbles burst. If you want to know what your hope is in, just look at what you fear. The doomsday prophets are out again. It's all about fear, all about "we need to hoard", "you better protect yourself."
People who make it through financial crisis follow five key biblical principles:
1) God owns it all. "'All [of it] is mine' says the Lord." God claims it all. It is his and he owns it all. Psalms 24:1 declares, "The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains," and in 1 Corinthians 4:7, Paul asks, "And what do you have that you did not receive?"
2) Long term written financial goals. If you aim at nothing, you hit it every time. Where's the finish line?
3) Avoid being a slave to debt.The bible says don't be a slave to the lender. It doesn't say debt is a sin, it says it's bondage. The opposite of bondage is freedom. If you choose bondage, you reject freedom. Every choice you make is a rejection of something. Look at what you're choosing and also look at what you're rejecting.
4) Spend less than you earn. And you do it for a long period of time. You need to avoid a consumptive lifestyle. It's the parable of the faithful steward: Jesus says, Hey look, if you're faithful with little, you'll be faithful with much. If you're unfaithful with little, you'lll be unfaithful with much. You need to avoid a consumptive lifestyle.
...I was a million dollars in debt...My life turned around when I started understanding what God wanted from me and understanding those principles and what was in that bible about money.
Get...
--A short term plan
Set your foundation like this:
1) Get out of consumer debt. You cannot make the return you can make by paying off a credit card. Pay your credit card off.
2) Keep one months living expenses in a checkbook and one year of cash around. You don't go to the next step until you get there. Then you...
3) Put away savings. If youre' going to need a car, down for a house etc....You put it away in savings.
^This first stage is called liquidity--you become the bank.
--A long term plan: planning for retirement.
There is accountability for your engagement.
"..that he [Jesus] might know what they had gained by doing business..."
"Well done, good servant. ....Because you have been faithful over little, you will have authority over ten cities [on the remade earth]."
"Heaven is a remade earth." (Randy Alcorn)
This man believed Jesus and obeyed him. He applied Luke 6:38? that says "Give and it will be given unto you." How much will be given to you? By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you."
This person was a grace giver. Not looking for loopholes in the scripture ("Is tithing before tax or after...") A grace giver always asks the question, "Can we?" "How much can we get there?" not "how much can we get away with?" They're asking "Can we go above the 10%?" Which, by the way, seems to be a standard.
[Hebrews 4, order of malchisadeck] "Tithe...is now given to him who now lives" Tithe is an act of worship, not a law anymore. How much can you worship?
God is saying "Move it to heaven."
Grace giver says, "How much can I get there?", not "how much can I get away with?" It's a whole different attitude.If you're ever going to be a good steward of God's money, you have got to change your attitude, you've got to have a heart change by the Lord and say, "What good is it going to do me here?"
Michael Jackson couldn't take any of his millions with him. How much impact did he have on the world? With your money or anything else? How much impact will we have? Are you going to be a grace giver or are you going to be a duty giver?
[Second servant in parable[...Duty giver always asks the question, "Should we?" Always looking for an excuse for why they shouldn't give more. Quit looking for a way out. Notice [with the second servant], there is no "Well done."
The third servant is given to fear. He thinks there's going to be an economic earthquake. He kept his money "laid away in a hankerchief...for I was afraid of you..." "Why didn't you put my money in the bank" He's saying "Here's the *least* you could have done. Could you have done something with your life, instead of protecting your life and living for this world only?" "For the one has none, even what he has will be taken away"
There will be accoutability. This servant never got in the game. We have a wrong view of this world and the world we stand in.
This is the world we live in:
Christians earn 2.5 trillion annually. There's only 7 economies in the world larger than the christian economy in America. Far less than 20% are even willing to give at the level of a tithe. If we evangelical christians in America just gave 10%, we could add 85.5 billion dollars to the Great Commission annually. That is enough to feed, medicate and evangelize the entire third world. We have it, it's not an issue of having it.
This is what Jesus says about investing: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures." It's not a suggestion, by the way, it's a command. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth wher emoths..destroy" Moths don't eat the clothes we're wearing, they eat the clothes in our closets, which we aren't using, the things we tend to hoard up because of lack of trust in God. "But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven...For where your treasure is, there your heart [belief] will also be"
Behavior always follows belief. What do you really believe?
We have so much.80% of the evangelical wealth in the world is in the US and Canada. This means that 9% of the believers in the world have a serious impact on funding the Great Commission--and you're included in that 9%. We hold 80% of the evangelical world's wealth. Less than 6% of our giving ever leaves this country to the other 90% of people, of believers. What we tell the guy whose starving is, "Sorry, we're spending it all, we're doing this all for ourselves." We've got 80% to fund this great Comission.
The Chinese have two words for crisis: danger and opportunity. We have the most dangerous opporunity as believers ever, in the history of the world.
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the End will come." Wycliff Bible Translators figured out that all we have to do is give people the gospel of Luke and 40 stories and then we can start a church. We will have it translated for all the 7000 mother tongues by 2025.
This series is not teaching you how to hoard money--it's teaching you how to use your money and do what Jesus said: Move it! Do you want to be a grace giver or a duty giver? Or do you want to be a "no giver"--do you want to be unengaged and live for this world alone? Are you a citizen or are you a servant? What will your checkbook show? "Your checkbook is a theological document that tells what and who you worship." (Billy Graham)
What will you do with it? Which world are you living for? Some day you will give an account to Jesus. He is very clear it is Him he is talking about and it is us who he is talking to. He said: There will be accountability for it.
Financially Engaging
There are 2350 verses about money. Half of Jesus' parables are about material possessions and money. Jesus spoke more about money and its application than heaven or hell combined!
Money is the greatest temptation for us. Money is a tool, a test and a testimony, when we handle it well.
In order to engage in kingdom business, we cannot get distracted. Two things that distract us from doing kingdom business are greed (the number one thing) and fear. Fear is what happens when bubbles burst. If you want to know what your hope is in, just look at what you fear. The doomsday prophets are out again. It's all about fear, all about "we need to hoard", "you better protect yourself."
People who make it through financial crisis follow five key biblical principles:
1) God owns it all. "'All [of it] is mine' says the Lord." God claims it all. It is his and he owns it all. Psalms 24:1 declares, "The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains," and in 1 Corinthians 4:7, Paul asks, "And what do you have that you did not receive?"
2) Long term written financial goals. If you aim at nothing, you hit it every time. Where's the finish line?
3) Avoid being a slave to debt.The bible says don't be a slave to the lender. It doesn't say debt is a sin, it says it's bondage. The opposite of bondage is freedom. If you choose bondage, you reject freedom. Every choice you make is a rejection of something. Look at what you're choosing and also look at what you're rejecting.
4) Spend less than you earn. And you do it for a long period of time. You need to avoid a consumptive lifestyle. It's the parable of the faithful steward: Jesus says, Hey look, if you're faithful with little, you'll be faithful with much. If you're unfaithful with little, you'lll be unfaithful with much. You need to avoid a consumptive lifestyle.
...I was a million dollars in debt...My life turned around when I started understanding what God wanted from me and understanding those principles and what was in that bible about money.
Get...
--A short term plan
Set your foundation like this:
1) Get out of consumer debt. You cannot make the return you can make by paying off a credit card. Pay your credit card off.
2) Keep one months living expenses in a checkbook and one year of cash around. You don't go to the next step until you get there. Then you...
3) Put away savings. If youre' going to need a car, down for a house etc....You put it away in savings.
^This first stage is called liquidity--you become the bank.
--A long term plan: planning for retirement.
There is accountability for your engagement.
"..that he [Jesus] might know what they had gained by doing business..."
"Well done, good servant. ....Because you have been faithful over little, you will have authority over ten cities [on the remade earth]."
"Heaven is a remade earth." (Randy Alcorn)
This man believed Jesus and obeyed him. He applied Luke 6:38? that says "Give and it will be given unto you." How much will be given to you? By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you."
This person was a grace giver. Not looking for loopholes in the scripture ("Is tithing before tax or after...") A grace giver always asks the question, "Can we?" "How much can we get there?" not "how much can we get away with?" They're asking "Can we go above the 10%?" Which, by the way, seems to be a standard.
[Hebrews 4, order of malchisadeck] "Tithe...is now given to him who now lives" Tithe is an act of worship, not a law anymore. How much can you worship?
God is saying "Move it to heaven."
Grace giver says, "How much can I get there?", not "how much can I get away with?" It's a whole different attitude.If you're ever going to be a good steward of God's money, you have got to change your attitude, you've got to have a heart change by the Lord and say, "What good is it going to do me here?"
Michael Jackson couldn't take any of his millions with him. How much impact did he have on the world? With your money or anything else? How much impact will we have? Are you going to be a grace giver or are you going to be a duty giver?
[Second servant in parable[...Duty giver always asks the question, "Should we?" Always looking for an excuse for why they shouldn't give more. Quit looking for a way out. Notice [with the second servant], there is no "Well done."
The third servant is given to fear. He thinks there's going to be an economic earthquake. He kept his money "laid away in a hankerchief...for I was afraid of you..." "Why didn't you put my money in the bank" He's saying "Here's the *least* you could have done. Could you have done something with your life, instead of protecting your life and living for this world only?" "For the one has none, even what he has will be taken away"
There will be accoutability. This servant never got in the game. We have a wrong view of this world and the world we stand in.
This is the world we live in:
- 50% live in abject poverty--no shoes, no consistent food source, no clean water
- 40%--two pairs of shoes, generally consistent food source, clean water, no medical care
- That is 90% of the world.
- 5% are getting by--some housing/shelter, clean water, some medical care, clothing, some educational opportunities (places like eastern and western europe and places in the US)
- 4.5% live an american middle class lifestyle--about 50,000 a year of income.
- .5% live american wealthy lifestyle
- 2/3rds of the world live in depression every day of their life
Christians earn 2.5 trillion annually. There's only 7 economies in the world larger than the christian economy in America. Far less than 20% are even willing to give at the level of a tithe. If we evangelical christians in America just gave 10%, we could add 85.5 billion dollars to the Great Commission annually. That is enough to feed, medicate and evangelize the entire third world. We have it, it's not an issue of having it.
This is what Jesus says about investing: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures." It's not a suggestion, by the way, it's a command. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth wher emoths..destroy" Moths don't eat the clothes we're wearing, they eat the clothes in our closets, which we aren't using, the things we tend to hoard up because of lack of trust in God. "But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven...For where your treasure is, there your heart [belief] will also be"
Behavior always follows belief. What do you really believe?
We have so much.80% of the evangelical wealth in the world is in the US and Canada. This means that 9% of the believers in the world have a serious impact on funding the Great Commission--and you're included in that 9%. We hold 80% of the evangelical world's wealth. Less than 6% of our giving ever leaves this country to the other 90% of people, of believers. What we tell the guy whose starving is, "Sorry, we're spending it all, we're doing this all for ourselves." We've got 80% to fund this great Comission.
The Chinese have two words for crisis: danger and opportunity. We have the most dangerous opporunity as believers ever, in the history of the world.
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the End will come." Wycliff Bible Translators figured out that all we have to do is give people the gospel of Luke and 40 stories and then we can start a church. We will have it translated for all the 7000 mother tongues by 2025.
This series is not teaching you how to hoard money--it's teaching you how to use your money and do what Jesus said: Move it! Do you want to be a grace giver or a duty giver? Or do you want to be a "no giver"--do you want to be unengaged and live for this world alone? Are you a citizen or are you a servant? What will your checkbook show? "Your checkbook is a theological document that tells what and who you worship." (Billy Graham)
What will you do with it? Which world are you living for? Some day you will give an account to Jesus. He is very clear it is Him he is talking about and it is us who he is talking to. He said: There will be accountability for it.
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