Hope Church LV Sermons
Money Problems :: Part 2
Whether it's the politicians talking about a fiscal cliff or baseball players coming out of the winter meeting signing multi-million dollar contracts or the loss of the glorious Twinkie because of fighting between ownership and unions over financial issues, money has become the dominating influence in our society. And unfortunately, money is not just the dominating influence in secular society. Money also in many ways is the dominating influence among followers of Jesus. That was a statistic that we showed to you last weekend. It's by Barna Research Group and listen to what they say, 51% of Christians and 54% of non-Christians believe money is the main symbol of success in life. So this pursuit and this obsession with money and material things is not just something we can sit inside the walls of the church and talk about those outside the church. It's an issue and a problem and a situation inside the church. We have a wrong perspective in many ways about money. And yet with all of our pursuits of money, money doesn't by happiness. Another statistic I saw this week said that money is the number one source of conflict in marriage. How many of you in the room today are married? Let's be honest. All right? How many of you are married? Hold your hand up for just a minute. A lot of married folks in the room today, how many of you would confess that maybe at some point in the last few months, maybe it wasn't a big huge blow up, but there's been at least some tension, some struggle, some conversation, some conflict over the issue of money in marriage. Let me see your hand. It's okay. You're in church. Don't worry. We're not taking a picture of this. It's not going on Facebook, don't panic. I mean, it's reality. Money is a source of conflict in marriage. Money and the pursuit of money brings within a lot of problems. What does the Bible speak to any of this? Well, let me just say absolutely the Bible speaks to this. And not only does the Bible speak to this, what the Bible has to say about the issues of money and our perspective towards money is as relevant as anything you would find on an internet website today. Last weekend, we began a little two-week series simply called Money Problems. The subtitle is if it's just money, why does it cause so many problems? A lot of times we hear people say, "Well, it's just money. Well, if it's just money, why does it cause so many problems?" And the Bible speaks to this issue in a phenomenally clear way. And we thought it very appropriate at this time of year to address this subject from the Bible. Let me tell you why. Because this is a time of year, first of all, when a lot of people are putting themselves in unbelievable financial bondage in the name of Christmas. There are a lot of people right now who are outspending and shopping and borrowing and getting new credit cards and new credit cards and opening up lines of credit at this store and that store. And by the time Christmas gets here, you are so underwater, you're not going to be able to enjoy it and you're going to spend the first half of next year simply getting over what happens this month. So it's a very appropriate month for us to bring ourselves in line with a biblical worldview when it comes to how we handle money. A second reason this is a great time to talk about this issue is because January is a new year. It's hard to believe 2013 is already here. I can't even fathom 2013. It's like we just started 2012 and I hear it comes 2013. Now, what happens every year on New Year's as everybody makes all these resolutions about how they're going to change, right? I know some of you have made resolutions in the past and the number one resolution, according to those that study this stuff that people make has to do with losing weight and getting in shape, right? And that's worked great for all of us, right? Yeah, we all make that resolution every year. This is going to be the year. Well, the number two resolution that people make around New Year's is always a resolution that has to deal with money, debt, and financial management. So it's a major thing that people are thinking about right now they're evaluating. So what we want to do is take last weekend and this weekend to give you a biblical framework from which you can approach money. If you have your Bible, turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 and I want you to look at verse 17. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17, here's what the Bible says, instruct those who are rich. Now some of you just took a deep sigh of relief, right? Whew, today's sermon is not for me. He's talking to those who are rich. Well, you got to understand when the Bible uses the word rich, it's not talking to the people talking about multi-millionaires, all right? When the Bible uses the word rich, it's talking about people just like you and me. It's talking about people that have the basic necessities of life, all those things that they need, housing, shelter, food, transportation, all those basic things. I just came from a continent where I was ministering to people, many of them, who work and live off of six to eight hundred dollars per year. That's what they have all year long. In light of the global scale, I promise you, all of us sitting in this room, we're rich. Instruct those who are rich in this present world, not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life in deed. Last weekend, Pastor Travis spoke and he gave us foundational statement number one. If you were not here last weekend, let me encourage you. Go online, hopechurchonline.com. You can go there and this message that Travis preached last weekend is there. It's completely free in video or audio format. We want you to have this foundation, but here's the statement that he built. Life is not about money. Say that with me. Life is not about money. I'm pausing for a reason. I didn't forget what I want to say. I want it to sink in. If you believe that, say amen. Then why do we live like we live? I want you to think about how much time, energy, and effort you spend simply trying to accumulate money. Now understand, we have to work, we have to have a living, we have to provide. But in America, we have gotten so far beyond with this obsession with money and wanting more and more and more and it doesn't matter what strata you find yourself in, you can look just beyond you and find greener pastures. Because I remember in my life thinking, "Man, if I ever made this much money, when I was in God, if I ever made this much money, I don't know what I'd do with all money." And then you get there and you think, "Well, it'd be nicer if I made that much money." We just always are moving the scale, never being satisfied. Life's not about money. Let me tell you what life's really about. Life's all about relationship. Number one, it's about an intimate love relationship with God. You and I were made to live our lives out of the overflow of intimacy with God. And number two, it's about fellowship relationships with other people. Out of the overflow of our love relationship with God, we have relationships with one another. Let me tell you how I know that that's what life's all about. One of the difficulties with being a pastor is many times you're at the bedside of people who are dying. You find yourself in a hospital room, they're taking their last breaths, they're having those last few conversations. Can I be honest with you? I've never been in that situation when somebody wanted to talk about money. Never. Nobody ever wants to talk about the cars that they drove or the houses that they owned or the portfolios that they built. You know what they want to talk about in that moment? Their love relationship with God and how that spilled into their relationships with those that they love. That's what they want to talk about in that moment. Why? Because that's what life's all about. Life's not about money. Well, that's what Pastor Travis unpacked last weekend. I want to give you a couple of more statements today to kind of develop this thought further. If life's not about money, what's my perspective towards money? Well, here's what the Bible says in verse 17. Money is a valuable resource in life. Paul says first that life's not about money, but then Paul begins to help us understand that money is a valuable resource in life. This week I looked up the word resource in the dictionary. Why don't you look at it on the screen? Listen, Webster's dictionary, read it out loud, is A, source of supply. Now what word or letter have I underlined? Okay, this is going to take forever if you all still miss y'all God, all right? What word or letter have I underlined? Hey, there we go. You're out there. I've more underlined the letter or the word A, why? Because it's an important word in that definition. What word is not in that definition? V, right? The Bible, the Webster's dictionary doesn't say a resource is the source of supply. A resource is A source of supply. Here the Bible teaches us, yes, money is important because money is a valuable resource in life, but it's not the source of life. The Bible here teaches us it is God who supplies us with all things. The word supplies here is a word that means to be the source of. Here the Bible says God is really the source of all things. Now this phrase all things is a little Greek word pos that is used many places in the New Testament, but here it's used in a very rare form. And the form that it's used in here means that it's being used emphatically. Now here's what that means. If you were texting this verse, all things would be in all caps. You'd put it in all caps because it's an emphatic usage of this word. All says it is God who is the source of everything in our lives. God is the source of life. Money is A resource in life, joy, peace, contentment, happiness, fulfillment, purpose, value. All of them are found not in money, but in my relationship with God. And if we as followers of Jesus are going to deal with the money problems in our lives, it starts with a right perspective towards money. It's A resource. And I want to give you a few statements to kind of help you have some handles to leave here with this morning. Here's, I want to give you three defining truths about the believer and our relationship to money. Here's the first one. It all belongs to Him. Say that out loud with me. It all belongs to Him. How does that sit with you? It all belongs to Him. Here's what the Bible says. God supplies us with all things. If He is the source of all things, then He is the creator and owner of all things. All things ultimately belong to Him. This is a principle that's taught both in the Old and the New Testament. As a matter of fact, there's one verse of scripture that is quoted in both the Old and the New Testament exactly the same. It's found in Psalm 24.1 and it's also found in 1 Corinthians 10, 26. Look what it says. The earth is the Lord's and all it contains. It's describing the earth like this large container and it says everything that's in and on the earth, all of it belongs to the Lord. Here's the reality. Everything to the Bible, everything I have belongs to God. Everything I have belongs to God. Say that with me. Everything I have belongs to God. Say it again. Everything I have belongs to God. How does that sit with you? For some today, maybe that doesn't sit just right because we think, "Now, wait a minute. I've worked hard. I've been a good employer or an employee. I've been a good manager. I understand I'm supposed to give to the Lord, but the rest of it's mine. I've worked for it. I've earned it." Can I show you in the Bible? You can do it around in chapter 8 on the screen. Verse 11, listen what it says, "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God, otherwise when you have eaten and are satisfied and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and gold multiply and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Otherwise you may say in your heart, "My power and the strength of my hand made this wealth, but you shall remember the Lord your God for it is he who is giving you the power to make well." Here's what the Bible says, "Yeah, you and I work. We earn a living. But have you ever thought who it is that gave you the health to get up and go to work? Has it ever dawned on you who it is that it's balancing the atmospheric pressure so that there's enough oxygen in the air for you and I to survive? Who does that? God does that. That gives us the ability everything we have belongs to the Lord. And when you understand this, there is liberty and freedom and joy in getting this. Let me explain it to you. How many of you this morning when you left your house made sure that you locked your doors? Let me see your hand. When you left, you locked the door, right? You locked the door because you didn't want anybody getting your stuff. You wanted to protect what you had, right? How many of you when you left your house this morning came to my house and made sure my doors were locked? Anybody? If you did that, I'd like to see you after the service because I need to get your name on a list, right? No, you didn't come to my house. Why? My stuff's not your stuff. You're not worried about what happens to my stuff. You're only worried about what belongs to you, right? When you understand it all belongs to him, there's great freedom. It's not mine anymore. It's his stuff. It all belongs to him. Secondly, he's entrusted some to me. It all belongs to him. The Bible says he's supplied some of that to you and to me, everything belongs to him, but he has entrusted some of that which belongs to him to me. And that is the principle of stewardship. You see, stewardship is managing that which belongs to someone else as though it belongs to me. Here's the principle. Everything belongs to God. But God has entrusted you and me with some of what belongs to him. And our responsibility is to manage and be a steward of that which God has entrusted to us. Although it belongs to him, I'm managing it as if it belonged to me. Here's the third statement. What he's entrusted to me, I am to use for him. But he's entrusted to me, I am to use for him everything that he has entrusted to me. I am to manage in a way that honors him. Now, this is important because he's not just here talking about what we give. Sometimes we have the idea, I'm to pray to the Lord, what am I supposed to give, then I give that and then the rest of it's mine. No, it all belongs to him, meaning that how I manage what he's entrusted to me is a significant part of my spiritual journey. I want to put those three statements back up on the screen in one list and I want us to read all three of them together. You ready? One, two, three. It all belongs to him. He's entrusted some to me, what he's entrusted to me, I am to use for him. That makes sense. Amen. Now, the rest of what Paul teaches us in verses 18 and 19 are Paul unpacking that principle of what it is to honor him with what he has entrusted to us. What Paul tells us in these verses is how we do that, how to understanding it all belongs to him and he's entrusted some to me. How am I to use it for him? Well, that's exactly what Paul tells us. Let me give you two statements. Here's the first one. Money is a resource to be enjoyed. Now this may surprise you. This maybe isn't what you thought I was going to say first, but it's what the text says first. Look at it in verse 17, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceded or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to what's the next word, enjoy. God has given us money and material possessions as a resource for us to enjoy. The word enjoy is a word that means to find pleasure in the benefits of, meaning that God delights in our finding joy in what he has entrusted to us. Here's the point. Money is not evil. Sometimes people say, "Oh, you know the Bible says money is the root of all evil." No it does not. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. It's when I have a wrong perspective and a wrong heart attitude towards money and get it out of balance that it becomes the root of all kinds of evil. Money in and of itself is neutral and as a matter of fact it can be enjoyed when understood in the proper perspective. Some Christians take a much holier-than-thou mentality and they try to make people feel guilty for enjoying material things. We're not to feel guilty for enjoying material things. Here the Bible says material things are a gift of God to be enjoyed. When my kids were little, you know, they're one of the first kind of big presents you give your kids that kind of teaches them responsibility, you give them a bicycle. When your kids get to that age where they can start riding a bike and it's either Christmas or a birthday, you'll get them their bicycle and as a dad you begin to use the bicycle as a way to teach responsibility. You talked to them about taking care of their bicycle and being a good owner of their bike and hey this belongs to you, it's your bike and you need to share it with others and want you to be responsible on how you handle it, you've got to be careful. Now in telling them all those things, we're not saying please don't enjoy this, are we? Of course not. As a matter of fact as a parent, you get incredible joy watching your children enjoy what you have given to them when they enjoy it with the right heart attitude and the right perspective and it's found. When you as a parent have invested and given your child something and you see them using it rightly and enjoying it as a parent nothing brings you greater joy than seeing that the same is true here with God. God the Bible says is the one who's given us materially everything that we have and it brings the Father joy when he sees us with a right heart attitude enjoying what he has given to us. Here's the point, money is to be enjoyed in life and not the joy of life. Money is to be enjoyed in life but it's not the joy of life and when we have that attitude the Bible says it pleases the Father. Now there are free keys that I'm going to give you throughout today that will be some practical handles and I want to give you the first two now because these are two keys. If you're going to enjoy the money that God's given you in a right way, these are two keys that must be fleshed out in your life and here's the first one, you must budget to live. Budget, that word just doesn't sound good pastor, we're going to talk about budgeting today. If you and I are going to rightly manage what God's given to us, we must budget to live. Let me show it to you in the Bible. Look here in Proverbs, Proverbs 21-5 listen to what it said, the plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage. The word plans here is a Hebrew word that literally means to have intent or to be on purpose. What he's saying is that when we have an intent, when we have a purpose, when we have a plan and we diligently execute that plan with our finances, it says it leads to advantage, the word advantage is a word that means profit or benefit or favorable position. Here's what he's saying, if you and I approach our finances wisely, we will have a plan with an intention of how we're going to spend, how we're going to manage, how we're going to execute that plan, and if we do that, here's what Proverbs says. If you do that, you will wind up in a better financial position, you will have a favorable position if you have a plan. But look what the rest of the verse says, but everyone who is, what's the word, hasty. The word hasty is a Hebrew word for urgency or it's the idea of spur of the moment. If you got a plan, how you're going to spend, it's a budget and before God you're honoring that plan and you're executing that plan with intent and with purpose, what's the intent and the purpose to honor him with what he's given to me, then you're going to be in a better position. He says, if you're somebody who's hasty and it's just always spur of the moment, well, I think I'll buy this today, I'll buy that tomorrow, I'll go eat here today, I'll go eat there tomorrow and then at the end of the month you hold your breath, hoping everything pans out in the end, here's what the Bible says. He who's hasty, it will eat surely to what, poverty. The Bible says, if we'll have wisdom about our finances, we'll have a plan with how we spend and manage and if we execute that plan with the intent of honoring him, we'll be in a more favorable position in the end. But if we just spend here and there have we want to, we'll spur of the moment, urge a type spending, it will surely lead to poverty, here's the point, budgeting is not some boring financial exercise. Budgeting is wisely managing that which belongs to God because he has entrusted it to you. I hope that changes your perspective towards budgeting. It's not some boring accounting exercise. It's being a good steward of what belongs to God that he has entrusted to you. So here's the question, do you have an intentional plan for how you manage your money to honor God? Not only would you answer out loud, here's what I want you to think about. Are you the first half of that proverb, or are you the second half? You see we like to think that money and how you do money is not part of the spiritual world, that's over there, but here's what we're learning from Scripture, having a budget and having an intentional plan of how you manage what God's entrusted to you, that's part of wisely following Jesus. That's not just good financial management, let me tell you where the good financial management came from, the book, the Bible, do you have an intentional plan? Now if you're somebody who does, praise God that you understand this principle, unfortunately there are many who don't. If you don't have a plan, if you're somebody that just lives week to week, month to month, end to month, and you don't have an intentional plan, we want to help you, we want to help you. There are several ways we want to help you on our website, hopechurchonline.com. On the front page there's a banner with this series logo, Money Problems, you can click that link and it will take you to a webpage that has all kinds of resources. For example, one of the things there, in January as a part of a new ministry you're going to hear about at the end of the service called Life Center, in January we're starting a class, I think it runs about eight weeks, and that class is called, it's just a class on financial management. And we want to come alongside you and help you understand how to practice the very principle that we're teaching of putting together an intentional plan that winds you up in a more favorable position financially before the Lord to honor him with what he's entrusted to you. If you've never had anything like that I strongly encourage you, go to the website, sign up to be a part of that class. Also on that webpage we've given you a list of several books that you can purchase and you can read that give you some instruction. One of those books by Randy Alcorn we actually have available today for purchase as you leave. If you want to get that book you can pick that up. Also on the website we have links to several different websites that have great web tools that will help walk you through a process of establishing a solid intentional financial plan. We want to help you, but here's what I want you to hear, budgeting and being a good steward is part of your spiritual health. Let me give you a second key, not only budget to live, but save for the future. Save for the future. Let me show it to you again in Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 21 verse 20. The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get. What is the writer of Proverbs saying? The writer of Proverbs is saying that if you do not prioritize saving for the future, you are living foolishly. Some people say, "Well, I don't believe in saving, I'm just going to trust God." No, that's not trusting God, that's disobeying God's Word. You can't trust God and disobey His Word at the same time. Can't do it. The Word says that wisdom sets aside. It doesn't just spend everything I have. I save something for the future. Living within your means doesn't simply mean don't spend more than you earn. Living within your means also from a biblical perspective means I'm saving for the future. Now, here's the light bulb I want to go off for you today. Living and saving are spiritual disciplines. It's awfully quiet in here. I mean, we know the spiritual disciplines of reading your Bible, praying, memorizing scripture, budgeting and saving are spiritual disciplines. How is that? Because it's a part of my managing what God has entrusted me in a way that honors Him and obeys His Word. Let me give you a goal. You should try to save at least 10% of everything that you earn. You should try to save it. That's just a recommendation. That's not in the book. It doesn't specifically say that in the Bible, but it's a good goal, a good target for you to have to begin to try to save. So here's the question for you. Are you wisely preparing for the future by saving? Are you simply living on everything that comes in? Money is a resource to be enjoyed. If we're going to enjoy it, we got a budget, we got to save. Let me give you another statement. Money is not just a resource to be enjoyed. Money is a resource to be shared. You see, the reason God gives us these principles of budgeting and saving is so that He can use us in sharing in the lives of other people. Money is a resource to be shared. In verse 18, after Paul lays all of this down in verse 17, in verse 18, Paul uses four phrases that lay it on really thick. Listen to what he says in verse 18. Now, that could have a period after just that part of it. I mean, that captures it, instruct them to do good. That phrase "do good" is a word and a phrase that means to act on someone else's behalf. And it's teaching us the principle that the money that we have is just not about us. But God has given us money and He wants us to enjoy it by budgeting and saving and enjoying what He's given us, but He wants us to do that so that we can realize that the money that we have is not just about us, but God's given us that money so that we can do good on the behalf of other people. But that's not all that He said. Then He went on and He said, instruct them to be rich in good works. The word rich here is a word that means to be spilling over. It's the idea of abounding, meaning that this principle of sharing is not just something that I'm supposed to do on occasion. It's to be the rule, not the exception, I'm to be somebody who's abounding in good works. Then He uses another phrase, to be generous, instruct them to do good, instruct them to be rich in good works, instruct them to be generous. Paul's landed on thick. He's not giving them any wiggle room here. He's not giving them a room to say, "Well, I interpret that differently." No, He's making it pretty clear. The word generous here is a word that means to be ready to distribute. It's the idea of being open-handed. It's the picture that we've used here at Hope many times. Take your hands and hold them out in front of you like this. Everybody do this. Wiggle your fingertips like this. That's what the word generosity means. It's the idea of living with everything that I have, knowing that it belongs to Him and not to me. I'm holding it loosely on my fingertips and I'm looking for opportunities. That's the next phrase that He uses. He says, "And be ready to share." That's the idea of being on the lookout. I'm to live on the lookout, understanding that what God's put into my hands, He's put it there to do good in other people's lives and I'm to always be looking for the opportunity to abound in good works, to make a difference in somebody else's life, to share what God's given to me with other people. Here's the point, the defining characteristic of how we as believers should manage that which God has entrusted to us is generosity. It's generosity. I'm going to ask you a question. The people that know you the best, would they describe you as being generous? Paul here is laying out this principle that everything we have belongs to Him and we've got to manage what He's given to us in a way that honors Him. The way we do that is by enjoying it through budgeting and saving. We don't budget and save so we can just pile it up. He says we do that because we understand God gave it to us to benefit and bless other people and we're supposed to share, we're supposed to give, we're supposed to live generously. My mentor, Johnny Hunt said, "You're never more like Jesus than when you're giving." Think about it, the very heartbeat of the gospel for God so loved the world that He, what? Gave this idea of generosity that is undeserved is the very core essence of the gospel that is so radically changed and our way of thinking generosity makes us nervous because we start thinking about living like this and we start thinking what about me? Who's going to take care of me? We understand generosity but typically as Christians we don't live like this, we live like this because we worried about us, here's what we've forgotten, He didn't give it to us just for us. It is for us to enjoy but in enjoying it He's given it to us so that we can share with others. You see in God's economy generosity makes perfect sense. You do understand it, God's economics and our economics aren't always the same. Let me show it to you in the Bible, Proverbs chapter 11 verse 24, look at it on the screen. There is one who scatters and yet increases all the more, that didn't make sense. There's one who's always given it away and yet they're increasing all the more. Well that doesn't add up on paper, that doesn't add up on paper, that's God's economics. Now look what he says, there's one who withholds, who just pows it up for themselves and yet it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous and he who waters will himself be watered. Let me give you the law of generosity, the one who gives gains, the one who holds loses. Now here I'm not describing a give to get mentality but what I am describing for you is the principle that God blesses generosity. As you and I live generously, God blesses us. You cannot out give God. Now here's the third key that I want to give you, I've given you two, budget to live, save for the future, here's the third one, give to the Lord, give to the Lord. Another way that we manage what he's given to us and a way that honors him is by giving to him. Now typically when you talk about Christian stewardship, we don't talk about budgeting and saving, we go straight for the jugular of just giving but it's a whole package deal. You can't live this principle out if you're not living out the principle of budgeting and saving. We're to give to the Lord. Listen the way Proverbs says it, Proverbs 3-9, honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce, two very important words there. First of all the word wealth, excuse me the word produce, the word produce is a word that means increase or revenue. He's talking about every source of revenue and increase that comes into my life. Here's what he says, I'm to give first, which means best, the chief, the choices part, out of every source of income that I have, I am first to give to the Lord's work. That doesn't mean that I first take care of me and then see what's left over. The Bible says I'm to first honor God and then trust him to provide for me with what he's given. I've given these three keys to you in this order, budget to live, save for the future, save to the Lord, but in actuality they're reversed. The way the Bible teaches them, I'm to first and foremost establish out of my income what God's leading me to give. Then after I establish that before God, then I'm to set some aside to save for the future and then I take what's left and budget to live. You see what that does, it puts God first, it honors him first. It says, Lord, it's yours, it all belongs to you. I give first, I save for the future and out of that I'll be able to give more and Lord I want to budget on what's left. Now here people always ask the question, well, how much is a believer supposed to give out of their income to the Lord? This is where Christians begin to have unending debate and everybody wants to debate whether or not the tithe that was taught in the Old Testament, the 10% principle, the 10% of everything you give belongs to the Lord. Christians some will say we're to honor the tithe, other Christians will say that's an Old Testament principle, we're not to honor that in the New Testament, well really it's a mute debate, let me tell you why. Every New Testament example of giving goes far beyond the tithe and not one of them falls short of it, not one. If you study the New Testament and you read in the book of Acts, for example in chapter 11, or you read in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8 and 9, or you read in Philippians, chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4, as you read those biblical New Testament expressions and examples of giving, they far exceed, so whether you want to talk Old Testament or New Testament, the principle is we're to give a portion of what God's given to us, what He's entrusted us we're to use that to give back as an investment in His activity through the local church. Now, how much? Well I can't give you how much. What I can do is share with you my personal conviction, all right, now I want to qualify it by saying to you what I'm about to share with you is my personal conviction. You have to determine before the Lord your own personal conviction about the starting place for you. And my wife Christian I, 20 years ago, sat down together and one of the greatest gifts my dad ever gave me. When Christian I first got married, my dad came to our apartment there in Florence, Alabama, he sat down with me, he took a blank ledger and he taught me how to begin the budget. And he taught me as a new husband to sit down with my wife and to talk through this conversation and we began to map out our expenses and we talked about our income and we first established what we were going to give. And my dad had always taught me that the starting place for giving was 10%. And so for my family, 20 plus years ago, that's where we started together as a couple. We said, Lord, the first 10% of everything that we received, God, we're giving that to you as a tithe. Now for us, the tithe was kind of like training wheels. Training wheels are what you put on a bicycle to learn how to ride. Once you learn how to ride, you don't have to have the training wheels anymore, right? It's been a long time since my wife and I've had a conversation about 10%. Why? Because over 20 years of marriage, we've grown far beyond that now. We give much more of our income than that to the Lord because God's continued to teach us and show us this principle. But for us, the principle is you start with a tithe 10%, then above that, you begin to give offerings, just free will offerings because of a love relationship with Jesus. And let me share this with you. This is the only principle in the Bible where God says, if you don't believe me, you just test me. It's the only place in the Bible. Let me show it to you. Malachi chapter three and verse nine. Look what it says. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house and test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing, hear what he says? You don't believe me? You just test me. And here's what he says. God says, I'm in heaven and I'm ready to bless you. And if you'll simply honor me with the principles of Scripture, if you'll honor me by budgeting and saving and giving, God says I will bless you, but you know what so many Christians do? They don't trust them. And so they think they know better than God knows. They think I can't afford to live that way, so I'm going to live my way. And they remove from themselves the opportunity to enjoy the blessing and favor of God. This principle will set you free. Now what I want to do for you is I want to give you these three keys in a little bit different format. I want to put up on the screen a target, it's a bull's eye. And we've taken these three keys and we've designed a target, give to the Lord at the very core 10% is a goal. Save for the future, 10%, budget to live, 80%, 10%, 10, 80. I want to give you this as a target. Now maybe you're looking at that right now and you're going, wow, 10, 10, 80, listen, I understand some of you, this is the first time since coming to know the Lord, anybody's ever taught you these principles from scripture, why are we giving it to you like this? Because what we're giving you is a target. We're not giving you a law, we're giving you a target. The first question I want you to answer today is, are you even aiming at this target? For some of you today, this is a new target. You've never even been aiming at it. You know you hadn't been hitting it, but you've not even been looking in the direction of this target. For some of you, you've known about this target, but your aim's been off. For some of you today, it may have to start out 98, one and one, right? But you're beginning to move towards a target. I want you to take this target. When you leave today, we're going to give you a copy of this with these three principles on it and simply the question, how's your aim? We want you to begin to think about this target in relationship to your life. 2013 is going to begin in just a few weeks. And here's my challenge for you today. My challenge for you today is to take this target and before the Lord, understanding this to be the teaching of scripture and principle. God may 2013 be a year that I align myself more with your word and the target that you've given me when it comes to financial management. I know because I've counseled with many of you. I know that there are a lot of people financially that things are not where you want them to be. Let me tell you the first step to getting them where you want them to be. Then to honor God's principles of financial management, which includes giving to the Lord saving for the future and having an intentional budgeted plan to honor him with what he has given to you. If that makes sense, say amen. Let me share with you one final principle while you think about that challenge. Because I'm going to ask you to do something with that challenge in just a minute. Here's the last thing I want to share with you. How you manage your money in this life impacts the life to come. That's what Paul says here in 1 Timothy 6 at the very end of the chapter verse 19, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. I don't know all that that means, but here's what I do know it means. How I manage my money in this life impacts the life to come. I want to close by telling you a story about five or six years ago. A young lady walked into our fellowship from here in Las Vegas. She was in a difficult financial situation. She needed financial help. One of the ministries that we have here is a benevolence ministry where we can't obviously help everybody, but we are able to help some financially with a bill to pay or some food to eat or a groceries or whatever that may look like. She came in in a very difficult situation, hurting, away from God, had a boyfriend. We had people sit down with her, start talking with her. We met that physical need and we're able to meet that physical need because of your generosity, because of your giving. We were able to pay that light bill for her and get their electricity turned back on. Through meeting that need, it opened the door to have a conversation. We began a dialogue about the gospel and someone got to lead her and her boyfriend, both the faith in Christ. They both gave their lives to the Lord. They both got married. They both been serving in our fellowship now for a number of years. After I heard that story, about six, eight months later, I got an email and the email was from the mother of that young girl who'd walked in off the streets of Vegas looking for help. The mother began to tell me the story of how she and her daughter had been estranged for a decade and how she'd prayed for her daughter and lost touch with her daughter, didn't know where she was, but she was a Christian and she wanted her daughter to know the Lord. She wanted to tell me in several paragraphs how her daughter had shared with her the story of how she'd walked in our church and how God had saved her and saved her boyfriend and put their family together and how God was doing unbelievable things in their lives and how they were growing in Christ. This mom was just, as you can imagine, only a mom after a decade of estrangement could be was just bubbling in this email. At the end of the email, she said, "Pastor, I am the executive assistant to the undersecretary at the United Nations from the country that I live in, and it's a country on the other side of the world." And she said, "Pastor, I just want you to know that if your church ever wants to do anything in our country, all you have to do is contact me and the doors of our nation are wide open to you." Now, three months ago, as a church family, we adopted an unreached people group called the Wadi people in the Arabian Peninsula. 700,000 people with no access to the gospel, they have no gospel, no witness, no missionary in their language. One of the strategies to reach them is to find pockets in the world where that language group exists, where we can go minister to them there, see them one to Christ, and then they go back into their home culture to share the gospel. Well, as we've been studying, there are only four pockets in the world where these people live. Guess where one of them is in that country where that lady sent us that email and has opened the door to us. Here's what I want you to hear me say. We thought we were doing benevolence ministry. God was opening the door to a people on the other side of the world that has never heard the gospel before so that we could take the gospel to them. Now, here's why I say that, today and weekend and week out, when you give, you know how we helped that girl that day with money that you put in the basket that's going to be passed around here in just a few minutes. You were just dropping some money in and God was opening the door to a people on the other side of the world. How I manage my money in this life impacts the life to come. [BLANK_AUDIO]