Speaker 1: Hey everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Well, we're
Speaker 1: talking about your money. That's right, we're continuing a powerful
Speaker 1: series called Financial Fit. Rick is opening God's Word and
Speaker 1: showing us 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. Well,
Speaker 1: we're getting off to a great start with part one
Speaker 1: of a message called The Habits of Financial Health.
Speaker 2: If I want to be healthy in any area of
Speaker 2: my life, I have to develop healthy habits in that area.
Speaker 2: If I wanna be physically healthy, I have to develop
Speaker 2: the physical habits of eating right, exercise, sleep, lower stress.
Speaker 2: If I wanna have a healthy marriage, I have to
Speaker 2: develop the healthy habits of relationships, the way I talk
Speaker 2: to people, the way I listen to people, the way
Speaker 2: I respond to problems. These are habits that I have
Speaker 2: to develop. And if I wanna develop healthy finances, to
Speaker 2: be financially fit, there are certain financial habits I have
Speaker 2: to develop in my life. God loves to do financial miracles,
Speaker 2: and he does them all the time. I've seen many, many, many.
Speaker 2: But he says first, you gotta get your act together.
Speaker 2: You gotta do it the way that I said to
Speaker 2: do it. Now in this series, we've been in on
Speaker 2: financial fitness for a few weeks. We looked first at
Speaker 2: the fundamental laws of money that God talks about in
Speaker 2: his word, in the Bible, in the book of Proverbs
Speaker 2: and in the book of Ecclesiastes. Today we're gonna take
Speaker 2: a little turn and this week and next week we're
Speaker 2: gonna look at some practical areas. Next week we're gonna
Speaker 2: look at the five ways to make money work for you.
Speaker 2: The five best ways to use your money on this planet.
Speaker 2: And that's a good message I'm excited to share. But
Speaker 2: this week we're gonna look at the eight habits for
Speaker 2: getting out of the hole. Eight habits for getting financially free.
Speaker 2: And they're all in God's word. If you have your Bible,
Speaker 2: open to the book of Proverbs. If you don't, if
Speaker 2: you'll pull out your message notes, and we're gonna look
Speaker 2: at these verses from the book of Proverbs. Now, each
Speaker 2: of these habits is in order. In other words, the
Speaker 2: first habit is the most important one. The second habit
Speaker 2: is the second most important. The third is the third
Speaker 2: most important. I've listed these in their order of how
Speaker 2: you do them. Let's get right into it. Number one.
Speaker 2: The Bible teaches that the first thing I have to
Speaker 2: do if I'm gonna get myself financially fit is this.
Speaker 2: Remember that God is my source. That's the starting point.
Speaker 2: I remember that God is the source of all my supply.
Speaker 2: My source is not my supply. Salary, my source, is
Speaker 2: not the economy. My source is not my savings. My
Speaker 2: source and my security is in God. Now the reason
Speaker 2: why this is important is you must put your security
Speaker 2: in something that can never be taken from you. If
Speaker 2: what you put your security in can be taken from you,
Speaker 2: then you're gonna be insecure the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: If you put your security in your salary, you can
Speaker 2: lose your salary. If you put your security in your job,
Speaker 2: you can lose your job. If you put your security
Speaker 2: in your savings, you can lose your savings. If you
Speaker 2: put your security in your spouse or your health, you
Speaker 2: can lose those things. You must put your security in
Speaker 2: something that cannot be taken from you, and that is
Speaker 2: your relationship to God. God is the source of my supply,
Speaker 2: not my salary, not my savings. And if a job
Speaker 2: dries up, if a water faucet gets turned off, God
Speaker 2: can turn on a faucet over here. And if one
Speaker 2: door closes, God can open another door. And if that
Speaker 2: door closes, God can open a window. So I have
Speaker 2: to remember, first off, that God is the source of
Speaker 2: my security, not how much money I make in life.
Speaker 2: Now the Bible says this in Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse 18,
Speaker 2: there on your outline. Always remember the Lord, your God,
Speaker 2: for it is he who gives you The ability to
Speaker 2: produce wealth. God gives you the ability to produce wealth.
Speaker 2: Circle the word produce. I want you to notice that
Speaker 2: the Bible says obviously God owns it all and he
Speaker 2: loans it to us. We talked about this a few
Speaker 2: weeks ago that you don't really own anything on this planet.
Speaker 2: It's just loaned to you while you're here. It wasn't
Speaker 2: yours before you were born. It won't be yours after
Speaker 2: you die. You just get to use it for 80, 90,
Speaker 2: 100 years. But it all belongs to God and after
Speaker 2: you die, he's gonna loan it to somebody else. So
Speaker 2: you don't take it with you, you didn't bring it
Speaker 2: with you. But he says here, God gives you the
Speaker 2: ability to produce wealth. Now, every economy, including America's, has
Speaker 2: wealth makers and it has wealth takers. It has wealth
Speaker 2: producers and it has wealth users. It has wealth contributors
Speaker 2: and it has wealth consumers. The economies get turned upside
Speaker 2: down when there are more consumers than there are contributors.
Speaker 2: When there are more people taking out of the economy
Speaker 2: than putting in it. And that's what's happening right now
Speaker 2: in America. 60% of Americans take more out of the
Speaker 2: economy than they are putting in it. We have more
Speaker 2: consumers than we have contributors. And yet God says, I
Speaker 2: made you, I designed you to create wealth, to produce wealth.
Speaker 2: I designed you to be a productive person. God wants
Speaker 2: you to be productive. And his plan for your life,
Speaker 2: part of it includes wealth production or wealth creation. Not
Speaker 2: wealth redistribution, but wealth creation. Now let me explain the
Speaker 2: difference here between communism, capitalism, and Christianity. Capitalism says what's
Speaker 2: mine is mine and I'm gonna keep it. And if
Speaker 2: you don't make it, well tough luck, too bad for you.
Speaker 2: What's mine is mine and I'm gonna keep it. Communism
Speaker 2: says what's yours is mine and I have a right
Speaker 2: to take it. That's called redistribution of wealth. I can
Speaker 2: take yours and give it to somebody else. That's communism.
Speaker 2: Christianity says what's mine is really God's and I'm willing
Speaker 2: to share it. You see the difference? That's the difference. Capitalism,
Speaker 2: what's mine is mine, I'm gonna keep it. Communism, what's
Speaker 2: yours is mine and I can take it. Christianity, what's
Speaker 2: mine is God's and I'm willing to share it. You see,
Speaker 2: when somebody taxes you to help the poor, you don't
Speaker 2: get any credit for it. But when you voluntarily are
Speaker 2: generous and you help the poor on your own, that
Speaker 2: builds your character. It helps you, it helps you grow,
Speaker 2: it helps you become more like Christ, becoming more productive
Speaker 2: and more generous. One of the reasons our economy has
Speaker 2: collapsed is because for the last many, many years, we
Speaker 2: have had enormous numbers of people, particularly like in Wall
Speaker 2: Street and other places, who were creating or making outrageous salaries,
Speaker 2: making outrageous amounts of money without really creating anything. They
Speaker 2: create no services, they create no benefits, they create no products,
Speaker 2: they create no jobs. They're simply making money on money.
Speaker 2: That's all they're doing. And that is not what God
Speaker 2: wants to do. God wants us to provide benefits, services, protection,
Speaker 2: help to other people and in that it creates prosperity.
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with prosperity. There's nothing wrong with prospering.
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with a profit if You don't make
Speaker 2: it your number one God, and if you do it
Speaker 2: in the right way. And that leads us to the
Speaker 2: second habit. The second habit, if I want God's blessing
Speaker 2: on my finances, is I must make money honestly. I
Speaker 2: remember that God is my source, and then I make
Speaker 2: money honestly, because God does not bless cheaters. God does
Speaker 2: not bless crooks. God does not bless deceptive people or
Speaker 2: people who steal. Now let's look at just some verses
Speaker 2: from the book of Proverbs on this. Proverbs 15, 27
Speaker 2: says this. Dishonest money brings grief to the whole family.
Speaker 2: In other words, I can go out and make a
Speaker 2: bunch of money, but if I make it dishonestly, it's
Speaker 2: actually bringing grief. It's bringing like a curse. It's bringing
Speaker 2: a problem to my family. Emotional problems and all kinds
Speaker 2: of other problems. You say, well, that verse isn't for
Speaker 2: me because I'm not out robbing banks. No, you're not.
Speaker 2: But are you honest in every area? Let me give
Speaker 2: you a few ways you may be dishonest. Not giving
Speaker 2: a full day's work. Now if you got an employer
Speaker 2: who's paying you for a full day's work, you come late,
Speaker 2: you leave early, you take an extra long lunch break,
Speaker 2: and you waste time at work, you are robbing your employer.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've never thought of that, but it's deceptive. They
Speaker 2: are paying you for a certain amount of work and
Speaker 2: you are expected to give that certain amount of work.
Speaker 2: And it is dishonest to be paid for work that
Speaker 2: I'm not doing. That's called dishonest. And God's not gonna
Speaker 2: bless dishonesty. Christians, of all people, should be known for
Speaker 2: rock-ribbed integrity, that we get there on time or early,
Speaker 2: or stay to the last bell or stay late, and
Speaker 2: that we are the hardest workers in society, and that
Speaker 2: we have the most integrity and honesty. Padding an expense
Speaker 2: account is dishonest. income. Misusing resources at the office is dishonest.
Speaker 2: It's a waste. Fudging on your taxes is is a
Speaker 2: dishonest way to make money. God says, I don't bless
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. It brings grief to the whole family.
Speaker 2: Now look at some of the other ways. Proverbs 16,
Speaker 2: verse 11. The Lord demands fairness in every business deal.
Speaker 2: He sets the standard. What does that mean? It means
Speaker 2: that when I'm dealing with you and we're making a negotiation,
Speaker 2: I don't lie to you. I don't cheat you. I
Speaker 2: don't tell you that the car I'm selling you is
Speaker 2: better than it really is. I don't tell you that
Speaker 2: the house that I'm selling you is in perfect condition
Speaker 2: when you know the pipes are broken and electricity doesn't
Speaker 2: work or whatever. When I misrepresent something in a deal,
Speaker 2: I'm being dishonest and God said, don't expect me to
Speaker 2: bless that. If you're hiding it, I'm not gonna bless that.
Speaker 2: God blesses integrity. Let me show you some other areas.
Speaker 2: Look at this one, this will surprise you. Proverbs 28 two,
Speaker 2: the Bible says, if you make money by charging high
Speaker 2: interest rates, you will lose it all to someone who
Speaker 2: cares for the poor. Did you know that verse was
Speaker 2: in the Bible? If you make money by charging higher
Speaker 2: interest rates, you'll lose it all to somebody who cares
Speaker 2: for the poor. Now, God is not against making interest.
Speaker 2: You say, how do you know that? Because Jesus tells
Speaker 2: parables in the New Testament where guys double their money
Speaker 2: by making 100% profit. One guy gets 100% return on
Speaker 2: his money. He says, well done, good and faithful servant.
Speaker 2: Another guy doubles his five talents. He says, well done.
Speaker 2: If it's okay to make interest, it's okay to pay interest.
Speaker 2: So he's not saying interest is bad. He's talking about
Speaker 2: what the Bible calls here usury. Usury means excessive, exorbitant,
Speaker 2: exorbitantly high interest rates. It's what loan sharks do. It's
Speaker 2: when they prey on people who are down and out,
Speaker 2: people who are hard up on their luck, people who
Speaker 2: can't get a normal standard loan from somewhere, and so
Speaker 2: they go and borrow from somebody at two and three
Speaker 2: and four times the interest rate. These loan sharks are
Speaker 2: calling usury. It is excessive. It is cheating people. Now,
Speaker 2: in America, we have usury laws in every state because
Speaker 2: of this verse in the Bible. Because the Bible says
Speaker 2: it is wrong to charge excessively high interest and take
Speaker 2: advantage of people who can't pay. So he's talking about slumlords,
Speaker 2: and he's talking about loan sharks and things like that.
Speaker 2: One other one, look at this verse, Proverbs 13 verse 11.
Speaker 2: Let's read it aloud together. Wealth from get rich quick
Speaker 2: schemes quickly disappears, but wealth from hard work grows. Now
Speaker 2: I told you a couple weeks ago that Warren Buffet's
Speaker 2: number one law of finance is you don't lose what
Speaker 2: you already have made. He said that's more important than
Speaker 2: even making money on your money. You don't lose what
Speaker 2: you've already made. So many people are in debt because
Speaker 2: they've made a lot of money but they've lost it.
Speaker 2: And the number one way, the most common way people
Speaker 2: lose their money today is in get rich quick schemes.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says you should never ever get involved
Speaker 2: in a get rich quick scheme. You're setting yourself up
Speaker 2: to be duped, you're setting yourself up to be scammed.
Speaker 2: Most people or more people have lost money through this
Speaker 2: way than any other way. Now every get rich quick
Speaker 2: scheme Sounds great, it sounds terrific. You're gonna make high
Speaker 2: profit in a little amount of time and low risk.
Speaker 2: And they put all this thing together and it all
Speaker 2: sounds so great and people invest their money in this
Speaker 2: and all of that and they think they're gonna beat
Speaker 2: the normal ways of making money by getting rich quick
Speaker 2: and then they get duped. Now the Bible warns against
Speaker 2: this over and over, and as your pastor, because I
Speaker 2: care about you, I want to give you five principles.
Speaker 2: Write these down wherever you can on your outline on
Speaker 2: how to not get duped by a scam. These are
Speaker 2: biblical principles. I don't have time to go into all
Speaker 2: the verses, but let me just give them to you.
Speaker 2: Number one, stick with what you know when you're investing.
Speaker 2: Just write it down there on your outline somewhere. You see,
Speaker 2: greed makes people gullible. And when we are greedy and
Speaker 2: we're trying to get rich quick, we fall for scams
Speaker 2: and we're easily duped. Stick with what you know. If
Speaker 2: you don't understand an investment, don't ever put your money
Speaker 2: in it. If you can't explain it, don't ever put
Speaker 2: your money in it. Stick with what you know. Now,
Speaker 2: the common denominator of every get rich quick scheme is
Speaker 2: they claim to have a secret. I have a secret
Speaker 2: way of making money that you don't know, or I
Speaker 2: have a secret product that other people haven't got yet,
Speaker 2: or I have a secret tip and all this. Listen,
Speaker 2: the moment you hear that word secret, run like the Dickens. Friends,
Speaker 2: I'm telling you right now, there are no secrets to
Speaker 2: making wealth. They're all widely known. And there are hundreds
Speaker 2: and thousands and maybe tens of thousands of books written
Speaker 2: on how to increase your income, your net worth, and
Speaker 2: things like that. There are no secrets. And anybody claims
Speaker 2: that he has a secret is setting you up for
Speaker 2: a get rich quick scheme. And the Bible says avoid that.
Speaker 2: So never, you know, get involved in that. Stick with
Speaker 2: what you know. Number two, never invest on emotion. Never
Speaker 2: make a decision, a financial decision, on emotion. Get rich
Speaker 2: quick schemes, scam artists love to play on your emotion.
Speaker 2: And they grab your emotion, and before you've thought it through,
Speaker 2: you've invested money that you're going to lose right away. Now,
Speaker 2: what they do is they start pressuring you to decide quickly.
Speaker 2: By the way, isn't it interesting, all of these infomercials
Speaker 2: on TV that says, buy now, buy now, operator's standing,
Speaker 2: and if you do it in the next two minutes,
Speaker 2: then you're going to get this extra project. Three years later,
Speaker 2: that thing's still on TV, saying in the next two minutes.
Speaker 2: Have you noticed that? Okay, it's just a con. It's
Speaker 2: just a con. In fact, pressure is never God's will
Speaker 2: in finances. If you ever feel pressure, in fact, the
Speaker 2: Bible says that about giving. Over in the book of Corinthians,
Speaker 2: the Bible says if you ever feel pressured to give, don't.
Speaker 2: And I'm telling you as your pastor who loves you,
Speaker 2: if you ever feel pressured by a church, a charity,
Speaker 2: or anybody else pressured to give, you should not give
Speaker 2: because God clearly says in the Bible, never give under
Speaker 2: pressure or under compulsion because you don't get any credit
Speaker 2: for it. God wants your attitude, not the amount. He
Speaker 2: says only give when you are giving enough. willingly, cheerfully, gladly. Now,
Speaker 2: that's not just true in giving, it's also true in investing.
Speaker 2: You should never invest, you should never make a financial
Speaker 2: decision under pressure to decide now basing on emotion. A
Speaker 2: third suggestion on this, never risk borrowed money. I don't
Speaker 2: have time to go into all the verses on these,
Speaker 2: but the Bible teaches you should never risk borrowed money.
Speaker 2: Now you've got extra money that's just laying around and
Speaker 2: you've got money to burn. Probably ought to give it
Speaker 2: away instead. But that's okay if you want to invest that.
Speaker 2: But don't you ever borrow money to invest in a
Speaker 2: get rich quick scheme. The Bible says don't, don't do it.
Speaker 2: A fourth suggestion. Always test the idea with other people.
Speaker 2: And I'm talking about people who are not emotionally involved.
Speaker 2: Because emotionally involved people who have a stake in the
Speaker 2: game are going to be as excited as you are.
Speaker 2: But people who aren't emotionally involved in the investment can
Speaker 2: smell a rat. They can spot the flaws. And you
Speaker 2: need to get counsel. In fact, if you have a
Speaker 2: business deal and you're afraid to talk to your wife
Speaker 2: or a friend or somebody uninvolved about it, it's a
Speaker 2: dead giveaway. You're already... Saying, I don't want other people
Speaker 2: to know about this because they're going to say no, no,
Speaker 2: you need to check it out. Let me give you
Speaker 2: one more. Doubt the guy who's always got a big deal.
Speaker 2: He's always going after, he's always chasing the big deal,
Speaker 2: but he never seems to reel it in. Now I'm
Speaker 2: not talking about serial entrepreneurs who build a company, sell
Speaker 2: it off, then build another company, sell it off, build
Speaker 2: a company, sell it off. They have a legitimate business
Speaker 2: and a legitimate profit. I'm talking about people who are
Speaker 2: always waiting for their ship to come in, but it
Speaker 2: never seems to come in, but the ship seems to
Speaker 2: get bigger and bigger and bigger with each dream. And
Speaker 2: while they're not able to pay their bills, they're out
Speaker 2: there trying to think on this deal that's gonna make
Speaker 2: one trillion dollars. And the more zeros, the more out
Speaker 2: of touch they are with reality.
Speaker 1: What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something
Speaker 1: I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to
Speaker 1: tell you how you can help support this ministry.
Speaker 2: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 2: according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to
Speaker 2: love God with all your heart. That's worship. And love
Speaker 2: your neighbor as yourself. That's ministry. That's called the great commandment.
Speaker 2: And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize
Speaker 2: them into the family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 2: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them, obey everything
Speaker 2: I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
Speaker 2: great commission. We believe at Daily Hope that a great
Speaker 2: commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will
Speaker 2: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 2: a great community. You know, I started Daily Hope so
Speaker 2: I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just
Speaker 2: across America, but all around the world. And we want
Speaker 2: people to know that God's word is filled with hope
Speaker 2: and truth. And the power that we need to follow
Speaker 2: him every day is available to every single one. You
Speaker 2: know as well as I do that the word of
Speaker 2: God changes lives. It's alive, it's active, and it breathes
Speaker 2: new life and new love into all of our lives.
Speaker 2: So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
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Speaker 2: God will bless you, and we'll get to heaven, and
Speaker 2: we'll thank God for all the people going to be
Speaker 2: in heaven because you cared.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
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