Speaker 2: Hey, everybody.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Well, we're talking about
Speaker 1: your money. That's right. We're continuing a powerful series called
Speaker 1: Financial Fit. Rick is opening God's Word and showing us
Speaker 1: how to manage what we've been given with wisdom, faith,
Speaker 1: and purpose. And I know if you apply these biblical principles,
Speaker 1: you'll start to experience true financial freedom and lasting peace.
Speaker 1: So let's get into part one of a message called
Speaker 1: The Law of Contentment.
Speaker 2: Now, the Bible is full of money management advice. I
Speaker 2: don't know if you know this or not. But there
Speaker 2: are two books of the Bible particularly, one's called the
Speaker 2: book of Proverbs and the other's called the book of Ecclesiastes,
Speaker 2: which are filled with the laws of money, the principles
Speaker 2: of prosperity, the rules for wealth. Now let me make
Speaker 2: it very clear, we are not a, quote, prosperity gospel church,
Speaker 2: we are not. We do not believe that God wants
Speaker 2: everybody to be a millionaire. In fact, Jesus taught the
Speaker 2: exact opposite of that. But the Bible is filled with
Speaker 2: principles that he says, if you will do it God's way,
Speaker 2: then you get God's blessing on your finances. And the
Speaker 2: Bible is filled with principles of how to invest wisely,
Speaker 2: how to save wisely, principles of saving, of investment, principles
Speaker 2: of spending, principles of managing your money, principles of insuring.
Speaker 2: There are many, many laws of financial freedom in both
Speaker 2: Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. We're gonna look at these in the
Speaker 2: weeks ahead, and I hope you'll not only be with
Speaker 2: us in every one of the series, but that you'll
Speaker 2: bring people with you who you know are going through
Speaker 2: tough times, because I guarantee you, these principles are gonna
Speaker 2: help them get out of the hole that they're in.
Speaker 2: It's not easy, but it is possible to do. Now,
Speaker 2: the first law of financial freedom is the one we
Speaker 2: have to look at today, because if you don't get
Speaker 2: this one, None of the other ones will work in
Speaker 2: your life. I can't take you into the principles of
Speaker 2: how to invest wisely, how to save, how to spend wisely,
Speaker 2: how to budget, all of these principles, until first you
Speaker 2: get this first one, which I call the law of contentment. Now,
Speaker 2: this is very important because as long as your yearnings
Speaker 2: exceed your earnings, you're gonna be in deep doo-doo. You're
Speaker 2: gonna be in trouble. You're gonna have debt. And your
Speaker 2: entire life you're gonna be frustrated with your finances because
Speaker 2: your yearnings are always going to exceed your yearnings. And
Speaker 2: until you learn this principle of contentment, you're always gonna
Speaker 2: be frustrated by your money. And you're never, never gonna
Speaker 2: have enough no matter how much you make. Now this
Speaker 2: is not only a problem for individuals, it's a problem
Speaker 2: for our entire nation. The chickens have come home to
Speaker 2: roost because for decades the government has been spending more
Speaker 2: than it makes. Recently, Time Magazine did an article on
Speaker 2: this and explained that for every $ 1, 000 that Americans make,
Speaker 2: we put $ 1, 300 on our credit cards. Hello? It isn't
Speaker 2: rocket science to figure out why people are stressed out.
Speaker 2: Why people are in debt. Why people are going into foreclosure.
Speaker 2: Because our yearnings are exceeding our earnings. Now here's what
Speaker 2: the Bible says. If you pull out your message notes,
Speaker 2: and we're going to look in the book of Proverbs
Speaker 2: and the book of Ecclesiastes today. The Bible says in
Speaker 2: Proverbs 14, 30. Let's read this verse aloud together. It's
Speaker 2: healthy to be content, but envy will... eat you up,
Speaker 2: it'll eat you up. He's saying it's not only financially
Speaker 2: good for you to be content, it's actually physically good
Speaker 2: for you to live a contented life. The Bible says
Speaker 2: a heart at peace gives life to the body. It
Speaker 2: is invigorating, it is good for your health to be
Speaker 2: at peace, to not always be under tension, to not
Speaker 2: always be stressed out, to not always be worried. He
Speaker 2: said envy, this desire to always have more, will eat
Speaker 2: you up, it will eat you alive. You see, when
Speaker 2: it comes to your health, it's not just what you
Speaker 2: eat that matters, it's what eats you. And if your
Speaker 2: life is filled with worry or bitterness or guilt or
Speaker 2: resentment or anxiety, it's what is eating you that is
Speaker 2: gonna cause you to be in bad health. Now another
Speaker 2: verse in Ecclesiastes also written by Solomon. These two books
Speaker 2: were written by a man named Solomon. Solomon was the
Speaker 2: wisest man who ever lived, the Bible says. God says
Speaker 2: he was the wisest man who ever lived, so he's
Speaker 2: got some good advice for us. He was also the
Speaker 2: wealthiest man in the world when he wrote these two
Speaker 2: books with the principles of money management in them. Ecclesiastes 6.9
Speaker 2: says this. It's better to be satisfied with what you
Speaker 2: have than to always be wanting something else. That's the principle,
Speaker 2: that's the law of contentment. It's better to be satisfied
Speaker 2: with what you have than to always be wanting something else.
Speaker 2: Now I can't think of a more timely subject for
Speaker 2: us to study, particularly not just this series but this
Speaker 2: message as we're beginning the next two months which are
Speaker 2: commonly known as the season of discontent. Because there's more
Speaker 2: discontent and more overspending in this time of year than
Speaker 2: any other time of the year. And over the next
Speaker 2: 60 days, your mailbox is going to be filled with catalogs.
Speaker 2: Now as your pastor, as somebody who loves you, I
Speaker 2: just wanna tell you quite bluntly, catalogs are from the devil.
Speaker 2: And they will get you to buy things you don't
Speaker 2: need with money you don't have to impress people you
Speaker 2: don't even like. And you look at these catalogs and
Speaker 2: you think, I gotta have this. How did I ever
Speaker 2: live without this? And you see it and you want it.
Speaker 2: And it creates discontent. Any retailer will tell you that
Speaker 2: you spend most of the year in the red until
Speaker 2: you get to the last two months. And then in
Speaker 2: the last two months, particularly after Black Friday, which is
Speaker 2: the You know, the Friday after Thanksgiving when sometimes some
Speaker 2: businesses turn a profit for the first time in the year,
Speaker 2: and in the last two months of the year, people
Speaker 2: are spending, spending, spending. Before you get into that season,
Speaker 2: to counter that, I want to just quickly show you
Speaker 2: what the Bible says are the effects of always wanting more.
Speaker 2: Now the Bible says that there are five damaging effects
Speaker 2: that when I want more, it brings a lot more
Speaker 2: with it, not just wanting more material goods, it brings
Speaker 2: five other things. And they're all in the book of
Speaker 2: Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Number one, the first effect of always
Speaker 2: wanting more is that wanting more brings more fatigue. More fatigue.
Speaker 2: You're gonna be more tired. If you're always wanting more,
Speaker 2: you're always working harder and you are tired all the time.
Speaker 2: Being tired all the time is a symptom of your
Speaker 2: trying to do too much. The race to get more
Speaker 2: drives us to overwork, and we see that constantly all
Speaker 2: over Southern California. Tolstoy, 100 years ago, told the story
Speaker 2: of a peasant where his master said, I will give
Speaker 2: you as much land for you to keep as you
Speaker 2: can walk around in one day. And so the present
Speaker 2: started running and he ran so much and so far
Speaker 2: trying to get so much by the end of the
Speaker 2: day he died of exhaustion. And we're dying of exhaustion
Speaker 2: for things. Giving our life. Most people give up their
Speaker 2: health in the first half of life in order to
Speaker 2: get money. They give up their health in order to
Speaker 2: get money. And in the second half of life they
Speaker 2: give up all their money to try to get their
Speaker 2: health back. Be wise and figure that out in advance.
Speaker 2: The first thing is more fatigue. Proverbs 23 verse four,
Speaker 2: the Bible says this. Do not wear yourself out to
Speaker 2: get rich. Have the wisdom to show restraint. He says
Speaker 2: it's dumb, it's foolish to wear yourself out trying to
Speaker 2: get more things. Because even if you win the rat race,
Speaker 2: you're still a rat. Now number two, not only does
Speaker 2: bringing Having more, wanting more, bring more fatigue, it brings
Speaker 2: more expenses. Did you know that? It always costs more
Speaker 2: to have more. It always costs more to have more.
Speaker 2: It brings greater expense. You know, I always say that
Speaker 2: if the grass is greener on the other side of
Speaker 2: the fence, so is the water bill. Because somebody had
Speaker 2: to pay for that green. Now Ecclesiastes 5.11 says this.
Speaker 2: The more you have, the more people come to help
Speaker 2: you spend it. I like that, it's true. The more
Speaker 2: money you got, all of a sudden you gotta have
Speaker 2: an accountant, or you gotta have a housekeeper, or you
Speaker 2: gotta have somebody mowing your lawn. The more money you have,
Speaker 2: the more money you spend, and it says the more
Speaker 2: people you have, the more money you have, the more
Speaker 2: people help you spend it. So what's the advantage of wealth,
Speaker 2: except perhaps to watch it run through your fingers? I
Speaker 2: saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, I
Speaker 2: used to dream of the salary I'm now starving on.
Speaker 2: You know, that's not funny. That's reality. You used to
Speaker 2: dream of the salary that you now are finding it
Speaker 2: hard to make ends meet on and just about the
Speaker 2: time you get ends meet somebody moves the ends you
Speaker 2: say I'm trying to keep up with the Joneses well
Speaker 2: don't because they just file for bankruptcy Now, we think
Speaker 2: that we don't make enough. We think that's the problem.
Speaker 2: We think we don't make enough. The truth is we
Speaker 2: want too much. That's the real problem. We want too much.
Speaker 2: And a lot of things we think are needs are
Speaker 2: actually just greeds. Now, God has said, my God shall
Speaker 2: supply all your needs. He has not said I will
Speaker 2: supply all your greeds. God is not obligated to just
Speaker 2: give you anything you want. So, It brings more frustration,
Speaker 2: it brings more fatigue, it brings more expenses. The third
Speaker 2: thing wanting more does is it brings more anxiety. More anxiety,
Speaker 2: because the more you have, the more you have to
Speaker 2: worry about. If you don't have it, you don't worry
Speaker 2: about it. You know, I have to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: I never, never worry about my yacht getting barnacles. I
Speaker 2: just never worry about it. Why? Because I don't own
Speaker 2: a yacht. And if you don't own something, then you
Speaker 2: don't worry about it. And the fewer things you own,
Speaker 2: the fewer things you have to repair, the fewer things
Speaker 2: you have to maintain, the fewer things you have to insure,
Speaker 2: the fewer things you have to pay the taxes on,
Speaker 2: and all these other things. And now we have so
Speaker 2: many things you can't even keep it in your house,
Speaker 2: you have to buy a place to rent to store
Speaker 2: the things. Now what's the logic of that one? You're
Speaker 2: paying rent on stuff you're not even using. So more anxiety.
Speaker 2: The more you have, the more you worry about. Ecclesiastes 5.12.
Speaker 2: A working man can get a good night's sleep, but
Speaker 2: the rich man has so much that he stays awake worrying.
Speaker 2: What's he worrying about? How to save it, how to
Speaker 2: invest it, how to maintain it, how to insure it,
Speaker 2: how to avoid taxes. I read a study once that
Speaker 2: said insomnia increases with income. Isn't that interesting? That the
Speaker 2: more money you make, the more likely it is you
Speaker 2: are to have sleepless nights. Why? Because you worry about more.
Speaker 2: You got more to worry about. Now, if you have
Speaker 2: more fatigue plus more expenses plus more anxiety, you know
Speaker 2: what that equals? Number four, more conflict. You're gonna have
Speaker 2: more conflict in your home because of these things. Because
Speaker 2: when you're tired, and you got more expenses, and you're
Speaker 2: more anxious, you get in more fights. You have more conflict.
Speaker 2: It causes more turmoil in your family. Proverbs 15, 27 says,
Speaker 2: a greedy man brings trouble to his family. And we
Speaker 2: know that today, the number one cause of divorce is
Speaker 2: financial tension. Every study shows this. The number one cause
Speaker 2: of divorce is people divorce over money. Money issues. It
Speaker 2: is now till debt do us part. First Timothy six,
Speaker 2: verse seven says this. People who long to be rich
Speaker 2: fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and
Speaker 2: harmful desires that plunge them into ruin. He's talking about debt,
Speaker 2: financial ruin, and destruction. Why? Because when you long to
Speaker 2: be rich, you are a sucker for get rich quick schemes.
Speaker 2: If you are contented, you don't fall prey to get
Speaker 2: rich quick schemes. Nobody can scam you. You're not gonna
Speaker 2: take risky things because you are contented. People who are
Speaker 2: discontent are always looking for a way to make a
Speaker 2: fast buck. They're always looking for the get rich quick scheme.
Speaker 2: They're always looking for the fast solution, the double your
Speaker 2: return on your money instantly and all of that. And
Speaker 2: the Bible says over and over and over and over again,
Speaker 2: we'll see this when we get to investments, do not
Speaker 2: ever get involved in get rich quick schemes. If it's
Speaker 2: too good to be true, it is. And people who
Speaker 2: are always in a hurry to pay off their debts,
Speaker 2: instead of what the Bible teaches, little by little, systematically, sequentially.
Speaker 2: They're always in a hurry to get out of debt.
Speaker 2: They're always in a hurry to make it big time.
Speaker 2: They are setting themselves up for temptations, traps, foolish desires
Speaker 2: that plunge them into ruin and debt and destruction. People,
Speaker 2: when they're not content, fall prey to get-rich-quick schemes. They're
Speaker 2: always looking for a fast way. Warren Buffett, Warren Buffett,
Speaker 2: the wealthiest man in the world, his number one rule
Speaker 2: of investment, you know what it is? Very simple. Buffett's
Speaker 2: number one rule is this. Never lose the money you've
Speaker 2: already earned. In other words, it's more important to keep
Speaker 2: what you've got than to take the big risk on it.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if you make a high return, if
Speaker 2: you keep losing stuff, you're going backwards over time. Buffett's
Speaker 2: number one rule for becoming a billionaire, never lose what
Speaker 2: you've already earned. And yet people lose it all the
Speaker 2: time in an attempt to get rich quick. And it's foolish.
Speaker 2: I have to tell you, Kay and I have never
Speaker 2: lost a penny to get rich quick schemes. I've never
Speaker 2: lost a penny that I've earned on the lottery. I've
Speaker 2: never lost a penny in Vegas, why? Because I'm not
Speaker 2: about to involve myself in those easy come, easy go,
Speaker 2: get rich quick schemes, which really, you're gonna lose it.
Speaker 2: You may as well just go to Vegas and just
Speaker 2: hand them the money and come home. The house is
Speaker 2: going to win. Somebody pays for those tall buildings, it's you.
Speaker 2: You pay for it. And the odds are not in
Speaker 2: your favor. And the Bible says that's foolish. When a
Speaker 2: contented person is not lured, ever lured by the lottery.
Speaker 2: Because you're contented. So you're keeping what you've got. And
Speaker 2: as I said last week, Albert Einstein said, the single
Speaker 2: most powerful force in the universe is the power of
Speaker 2: compounding interest. That you set it away a little bit
Speaker 2: at a time and you let compounding interest It'll make
Speaker 2: you rich, not instantly, but over time. I started putting
Speaker 2: away 50 cents a week toward my retirement at age 17.
Speaker 2: And that's why I've served this church for free for
Speaker 2: 10 years. Because essentially I retired 10 years ago. Because
Speaker 2: I don't have to take a salary. Why? Because I
Speaker 2: had been saving since I was a teenager. And the
Speaker 2: power of compounding interest builds up over time. It's called
Speaker 2: the little by little principle. We'll look at that. Now,
Speaker 2: he says you're gonna get trapped if you're not contented.
Speaker 2: Now there's one other problem that happens. The effect of
Speaker 2: always wanting more is that wanting more brings more dissatisfaction.
Speaker 2: It brings, number five, more dissatisfaction. You see, we think
Speaker 2: having more will make me more happy. Having more will
Speaker 2: make me more secure. Having more will make me more important.
Speaker 2: Having more will make me more loved. None of that
Speaker 2: is true. Now, it is true that you can buy
Speaker 2: happiness for short term, but it doesn't last. The feelings
Speaker 2: don't last. They go away very quickly. It's true. You
Speaker 2: can go out and buy a new car and when
Speaker 2: you get that new car, you're gonna be happy. You
Speaker 2: can buy happiness for a short period of time. And
Speaker 2: you'll be happy and you get in the car and
Speaker 2: it smells, you know that new car smell?
Speaker 1: Ah.
Speaker 2: But how long does that new car smell? About a
Speaker 2: couple weeks. And then, you know, the moment you drove
Speaker 2: it off the lot, it was less $ 10, 000 than what
Speaker 2: you paid for it. Because it's not new anymore. You
Speaker 2: just lost $ 10, 000 in equity just right there, bam, just
Speaker 2: like that. And then in a couple years, you don't
Speaker 2: care about it anymore. Now this is true with everything
Speaker 2: you buy. You go out and you buy a piece
Speaker 2: of art and you go, man, I just love that art.
Speaker 2: And you put it up in your house and it's
Speaker 2: beautiful and it looks so great and it makes you
Speaker 2: happy for a while. But after a while, you're not
Speaker 2: happy anymore. And you get new drapes and you love
Speaker 2: those drapes, but after a while, you're not happy anymore. Why? Why?
Speaker 2: Because things, people change and things don't. Things don't change.
Speaker 2: So we get bored with them and we have to
Speaker 2: redecorate and we have to remodel and we have to
Speaker 2: refurbish and we have to rearrange and we have to
Speaker 2: replace and we are addicted to upgrades. And you get
Speaker 2: a new dress or you get a new shirt or
Speaker 2: you get a new pair of shoes and the first
Speaker 2: time you put it on you walk out and you go,
Speaker 2: I am sexy. You're looking good. You're feeling good. The
Speaker 2: fourth time you wear that shirt or that dress, you
Speaker 2: don't feel sexy anymore. It doesn't even bother you anymore.
Speaker 2: You don't even think about it anymore. Why? People change,
Speaker 2: but things don't. So contrary to what you may think,
Speaker 2: the Constitution does not say every American has the right
Speaker 2: to life, liberty, and the purchase of happiness. Because when
Speaker 2: you purchase it, it's not going to last.
Speaker 1: What a great message from Pastor Rick. I hope it
Speaker 1: touched you just like it touched me today. And now
Speaker 1: let's end our show with a closing thought from Rick.
Speaker 2: God has five purposes for your life. He wants you
Speaker 2: to know and love him. That's called worship. He wants
Speaker 2: you to belong to his family. That's called fellowship. He
Speaker 2: wants you to grow in character, to be more like Christ.
Speaker 2: That's called discipleship. And he wants you to learn to
Speaker 2: serve using your gifts and talents. Serve God by serving others.
Speaker 2: That's called your ministry. Finally, he wants you to share
Speaker 2: the good news and your life message with other people
Speaker 2: around the world. That's called your mission. I'd like to
Speaker 2: close today to talk to you for just a second
Speaker 2: about your personal mission. Did you know that the Bible
Speaker 2: says every time somebody accepts the Lord, they throw a
Speaker 2: party in heaven? Did you know that? It's right there
Speaker 2: in Luke 15, verse seven, where the Bible says there's
Speaker 2: more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes his
Speaker 2: heart and life than over 99 who don't need to
Speaker 2: turn to Christ who are already there. The day that
Speaker 2: you accepted Jesus Christ, there was a party in heaven
Speaker 2: for you. And by the way, the day that you
Speaker 2: help somebody else come to know the Lord There's gonna
Speaker 2: be a party in heaven, but there's also gonna be
Speaker 2: a party in your heart. I wanna encourage you today
Speaker 2: to look outward, to look around you and see the
Speaker 2: people who need to hear about the love of God,
Speaker 2: about the message of Christ, about the purpose of life,
Speaker 2: about the daily hope that we have in our hearts.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, always be ready to share the hope
Speaker 2: that is within you. Could I pray for you? And
Speaker 2: as we bow in prayer, you might wanna pray this
Speaker 2: prayer with me. Say, Father, I want the joy that
Speaker 2: you've given me to be shared with other people. And
Speaker 2: a lot of times I'm afraid or hesitant to talk
Speaker 2: about you to others. Would you give me so much
Speaker 2: love for other people that the love overcomes my fears
Speaker 2: and gives me the right words to say as I
Speaker 2: share the hope that's in me? Allow me to help
Speaker 2: others find you to find real hope, to find joy
Speaker 2: through knowing you. Thank you, Lord, so much for trusting
Speaker 2: me to help bring others to you. I want to
Speaker 2: accept my mission, and I want to use it for
Speaker 2: your glory and in the power of your spirit. Thank you, Jesus.
Speaker 2: Put somebody in my life today that I can tell
Speaker 2: about you. In your name I pray. Amen.
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 1: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.