Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, we are so glad you're here. Welcome to
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is the Bible teaching ministry
Speaker 1: of Rick Warren, and today we're going to continue with
Speaker 1: a special message called Lessons from a Shrewd Money Manager.
Speaker 1: So let's get started and hear what Rick has to say.
Speaker 2: The second thing this guy does is he if I'm
Speaker 2: going to manage my money carefully, I must make plans.
Speaker 2: I can't just look ahead. I have to make plans.
Speaker 2: And in verse four, this guy says, I know what
Speaker 2: I'll do. He hatches a plan. It's a dishonest plan,
Speaker 2: but at least he's got a plan. Most of you
Speaker 2: don't even have a plan. Now, the Bible says, in
Speaker 2: Proverbs sixteen to three, this on the screen, commit your
Speaker 2: work to the Lord, and then your plans will succeed.
Speaker 2: You know why your plans aren't succeeding. You don't have
Speaker 2: any financial plans. You can't succeed in your financial plans
Speaker 2: if you don't have any financial plans. In fact, Proverb sixteen,
Speaker 2: verse nine says this, we should make plans, counting on
Speaker 2: God to direct us. Now, some people think planning is
Speaker 2: very unspiritual. And I think, you know, I just trust
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit and I just kind of go through life.
Speaker 2: I don't need any plans. I just kind of drift
Speaker 2: with the spirit. Here's a word for that, dumb. Okay.
Speaker 2: God gave you his will when he gave you a brain,
Speaker 2: and he solved most of your major problems when he
Speaker 2: gave you an intelligence. Why would God give you an
Speaker 2: intelligent brain and then say now I want you to
Speaker 2: put it on the shelf and don't ever do what's
Speaker 2: common sense? He wouldn't. God revealed much of his will
Speaker 2: for your life when he gave you a brain, and
Speaker 2: all through scriptures, the Bible says we plan now. God
Speaker 2: has the right to change our plans, right, and he
Speaker 2: does it all the time. Okay, if we miss the plans,
Speaker 2: that's okay. He can change our plans, but we still
Speaker 2: are to plan. Now. How do you know if you're
Speaker 2: planning finances? Well, it's because you have this in your life.
Speaker 2: B U d get budget. How do you spell financial relief?
Speaker 2: Bud get a budget. If you don't have a budget,
Speaker 2: you don't have a financial plan. Because what is a budget.
Speaker 2: A budget is planned spending, that's all it is. A
Speaker 2: budget is telling your money where you want it to go,
Speaker 2: rather than wondering where it went. You see people say
Speaker 2: money talks. It does not talk. It just walks away quietly.
Speaker 2: And if you don't have a budget, you have no
Speaker 2: idea where it went. And if you don't have a budget,
Speaker 2: no budget plus easy credit equals disaster plus spontaneous spending.
Speaker 2: Budget means I determine where I want my money to go,
Speaker 2: and not telling wondering where it went. If you don't
Speaker 2: have a budget, you're already in trouble. You don't spend
Speaker 2: what you don't have. And to do that, to spend
Speaker 2: what you don't have is presumption, and the Bible says
Speaker 2: presumption is sin. So you don't spend what you don't have.
Speaker 2: You look ahead, you make plans. And the third thing
Speaker 2: he did you write this down, is you act quickly.
Speaker 2: You act quickly. Notice when this guy got a hint
Speaker 2: that he was going to be laid off, he sets
Speaker 2: a plan in motion before he gets laid off, before
Speaker 2: he's laid off. He brings the guys in in verse
Speaker 2: five and six. He does it quickly. One of the
Speaker 2: problems that we do is we keep delaying what we
Speaker 2: know we have to do, like downsize in the house,
Speaker 2: or sell the car, or sell something else that we
Speaker 2: have that we really can't afford in this time, and
Speaker 2: we keep putting off, putting it off, and praps don't delay.
Speaker 2: Some of you've heard me teach on the need for
Speaker 2: a budget many many times, and you still don't have one.
Speaker 2: And you say, someday I'll make a budget. Where is
Speaker 2: someday Isle? Where is that island? Someday islean? It's up,
Speaker 2: and that's where the lost crowd is. They're on Someday
Speaker 2: asle okay, and you're never gonna find it. Someday Aisle
Speaker 2: doesn't work. It's like the people who say, when I
Speaker 2: get around to it, what is a round to it?
Speaker 2: You know, if I printed up a bunch of round
Speaker 2: to its, would you then do it? Do it with
Speaker 2: a round to it. I'm a poet and I don't
Speaker 2: know it, but my feet show it because they're longfellows.
Speaker 2: Now people say, uh, one of these days I'm gonna
Speaker 2: build a budget. No, one of these days is none
Speaker 2: of these days. What you're doing is procrastinating. Procrastination is
Speaker 2: my sin. It only brings me sorrow. I know I
Speaker 2: ought to start today in fact, I will tomorrow. And
Speaker 2: every day you delay a budget and selling off some
Speaker 2: stuff you need to sell and doing that garage sale
Speaker 2: and downsizing whatever it takes to get out of debt,
Speaker 2: you're just getting worse and worse in shape. You need
Speaker 2: to act quickly. The Bible says this in Ecclesiastes eleven
Speaker 2: to four. Here on the screen, whoever watches the wind
Speaker 2: will never plant. In other words, if you're always looking
Speaker 2: at the climate, and whoever looks at the clouds will
Speaker 2: never harvest. If you're always waiting for perfect conditions to
Speaker 2: get started, it's never going to happen. There will never
Speaker 2: be a good time for you to get your finances
Speaker 2: in shape. If you're waiting for perfect conditions, it's never
Speaker 2: going to happen. So Jesus says, in light of eternity,
Speaker 2: in light of the fact that everything you have really
Speaker 2: belongs to God, it's just on loan to you, and
Speaker 2: in light of the fact that one day you're going
Speaker 2: to be evaluated and audited on what you did with
Speaker 2: what He loaned to you, then you better start looking ahead.
Speaker 2: You better start making a plan, and you better start
Speaker 2: acting quickly so you can get out of debt number four.
Speaker 2: The fourth thing that we learn from this story is
Speaker 2: that money is a tool. It is a tool, and
Speaker 2: tools are meant to be used. Money is a tool
Speaker 2: to be used. Now, that's what Jesus tells us in
Speaker 2: this story. In fact, in verse nine, Jesus says this.
Speaker 2: After he tells the story. The first thing he says is,
Speaker 2: I tell you use your worldly wealth. Circle. That word
Speaker 2: use money is to be used, not loved, but used.
Speaker 2: Now he says, use money, use your worldly wealth. Don't
Speaker 2: hoard it, don't stockpilot, don't worship it, don't love it.
Speaker 2: Use it. And what's the best way to use the
Speaker 2: money that God allows me to have? I want write
Speaker 2: this down. Use temporary resources for permanent good. I am
Speaker 2: to use temporary resources that's money, because no money lasts
Speaker 2: for permanent good. Use something that doesn't last for permanent benefit. Now,
Speaker 2: let me just talk to you about this. There are
Speaker 2: some things that are far more more important than money.
Speaker 2: For instance, time is more important than money. Why because
Speaker 2: you only have a sat amount of time. You can
Speaker 2: always get more money. You can take on another job,
Speaker 2: you can make more money. There's lots of ways to
Speaker 2: get more money. But you can't get more time. We
Speaker 2: all don't have the same amount of money, but we
Speaker 2: all have the exact same amount of time, one hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty eight hours a week. Bill Gates has no
Speaker 2: more time than you do. He just uses it better
Speaker 2: in some ways. We all have the same amount of time.
Speaker 2: And the Bible says God knows the day you're gonna die.
Speaker 2: It is appointed on demand. Wants to die, and after
Speaker 2: that the judgment, and that is an appointment. You won't
Speaker 2: be late for now. I don't know how long you've
Speaker 2: got left on this planet, but I do know this.
Speaker 2: It's one day less than you had yesterday. So it's
Speaker 2: getting shorter every day. So you'll never be able to
Speaker 2: get more time. So how do you use your money?
Speaker 2: One of the good ways to use money is to
Speaker 2: use money to save time. Anytime you use money to
Speaker 2: save time, that's smart. Why because you can get more money,
Speaker 2: but you can't get more time. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: So you use money to save time? And if you
Speaker 2: can save time, what are you saving when you save time,
Speaker 2: you're saving your life, which, by the way, is what
Speaker 2: you ought to consider when you sit down to watch TV.
Speaker 2: Am I willing to give an hour of my life
Speaker 2: to this program better be worth it, because you're never
Speaker 2: getting that hour back. So using money to save time
Speaker 2: is a wise use of money. Using money to save
Speaker 2: lives is a good use of money. Why because lives
Speaker 2: are far more important than money. But the point here
Speaker 2: is money is a tool to be used. Number five.
Speaker 2: The fifth thing we learn is that if I'm faithful
Speaker 2: with little, God can trust me with more. If I'm
Speaker 2: faithful with little, God can trust me with more. That's
Speaker 2: one of the lessons of this story, and Jesus says
Speaker 2: it in the next verse in verse ten Luke sixteen.
Speaker 2: He says this, whoever can be trusted with very little
Speaker 2: can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest
Speaker 2: with very little will also be dishonest with much. Now,
Speaker 2: this principal, friends, applies to every single area of your life.
Speaker 2: If I'm faithful with a little, God will give me
Speaker 2: more of it. It's true with talent. Let's say you
Speaker 2: you just got a little talent. You're not super talented,
Speaker 2: but you got a little talent in a particular area.
Speaker 2: If you use that talent faithfully, you're faithful, and you
Speaker 2: use it for good, and you use it for God
Speaker 2: God will give you more talent, and then you use
Speaker 2: that little bit more and if you're faithful of that,
Speaker 2: God will give you more talent. And if you are
Speaker 2: faithful with that talent, he will give you more talent.
Speaker 2: And it's like a muscle. Talent's like a muscle. You
Speaker 2: use it or you lose it. The only way a
Speaker 2: muscle gets bigger is by using it. And I've known
Speaker 2: people who had enormous talent and didn't use it and
Speaker 2: lost it because they didn't use it. You use it
Speaker 2: or you lose it. And so whatever you've got, you
Speaker 2: take the little that God has given you, and if
Speaker 2: you're faithful with it, and God says, I can trust
Speaker 2: them they're managing it well, then he will give you more.
Speaker 2: It's true with influence. If God has given you a
Speaker 2: little bit of influence and you use that influence wisely,
Speaker 2: give you more influence. And then if you use that
Speaker 2: wisely and you're faithful with that, he'll give you more influence.
Speaker 2: And if you use that influence wisely for good and
Speaker 2: for God, he'll give you more influence. And if you
Speaker 2: use that, he'll give you great influence. It's what are
Speaker 2: you doing with what you've been given. It's true of responsibility.
Speaker 2: If you have a little responsibility and it's not a
Speaker 2: very big deal, but you take that responsibility seriously in
Speaker 2: that small group or in that sunny school class, or
Speaker 2: in that ministry or whatever it is at work or
Speaker 2: at school or on a campus or whatever. And you
Speaker 2: take that little responsibility. God is watching you, whether anybody
Speaker 2: else is or not. And if you're faithful in that
Speaker 2: small responsibility, God will give you more responsibility. And if
Speaker 2: you're faithful with that, he'll give you more. And if
Speaker 2: you're faithful with that, he'll give you more. He's watching
Speaker 2: to see if he can trust you with what you've
Speaker 2: been given. If I'm faithful and little God can trust
Speaker 2: you with more. Now, this is certainly true with money.
Speaker 2: That's what this parable is about. He's talking about money.
Speaker 2: And if I'm faithful with a little bit of money,
Speaker 2: then God could trust me with more. And if I'm
Speaker 2: faithful that and I use it the way He intends
Speaker 2: it to be used, and I don't just blow it,
Speaker 2: and I keep good records. And I know about saving,
Speaker 2: and I know about spending, and I know about giving,
Speaker 2: and I know about investing, and I know about accounting
Speaker 2: and I'm keeping good records and all of these things.
Speaker 2: Then God will give you more. And when you're faithful
Speaker 2: of that, he'll give you more. And he'll give you
Speaker 2: whatever you manage wisely, he gives you more. Now in
Speaker 2: unmanaged finances represent an unmanaged life. Finances that are out
Speaker 2: of control mean your life's out of control. It means
Speaker 2: you need a manager. You need Jesus as lord of
Speaker 2: your life. I'm not talking about Oh yeah, Jesus is
Speaker 2: in your life. He's resident, but he's not president. He's
Speaker 2: not calling the shots. He's in your life. But you're
Speaker 2: making all the decisions on how you spend your money,
Speaker 2: and you're not praying about anything. And you never even
Speaker 2: give God a chance to give it to you. You
Speaker 2: just go out and buy it on a credit card.
Speaker 2: Now he's seeing here, manage it wisely. It will increase.
Speaker 2: Jesus said it like this, Matthew twenty five, twenty nine,
Speaker 2: here on the screen. To those who use well what
Speaker 2: they are given, even more will be given and they
Speaker 2: will have an abundance. God says, I'm watching to see
Speaker 2: what kind of manager you are with my money that
Speaker 2: I'm loaning to you during your lifetime. Would you write
Speaker 2: this down. Faithfulness in little ways produces fruitfulness in big ways.
Speaker 2: Faithfulness in little ways produces fruitfulness in big ways. Let
Speaker 2: me say it another way, faithfulness in secret ways produces
Speaker 2: fruitfulness in public ways. Every time you see somebody that
Speaker 2: God is blessing in a great way publicly, you need
Speaker 2: to know they're doing something behind the scenes that other
Speaker 2: people are unwilling to do, because faithfulness in secret ways
Speaker 2: produces fruitfulness in public ways. Now I hear people all
Speaker 2: the time. They tell me, Oh, you know, Rick, when
Speaker 2: I make it big, I'm really gonna serve God. No
Speaker 2: you're not. No, you're not. If you're not faithful in
Speaker 2: little things, you're not gonna be faithful in big things.
Speaker 2: It's like the guy who says, you know, when I
Speaker 2: make it big and I really hit the big time financially,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be really generous. I'm gonna tithe. No, you're not.
Speaker 2: If you can't tithe when you're broke, you'll never tithe
Speaker 2: when you're rich. If you can't be generous when you're scrimping,
Speaker 2: you'll never be generous when you got a lot. In fact,
Speaker 2: you're never gonna get a lot. Because faithful and little
Speaker 2: means faithful and much so God is watching and saying,
Speaker 2: if I'm faithful with little, can he trust me with more?
Speaker 2: Number six This goes right along with it. We learn
Speaker 2: from this story that money is a spiritual test. Money
Speaker 2: is a spiritual test. In fact, it is the biggest
Speaker 2: spiritual test in your life. You know, God doesn't just
Speaker 2: trust trust his power to anybody. God just doesn't go
Speaker 2: out and pour out his blessing and his spiritual power
Speaker 2: on anybody. He tests us first to see if we
Speaker 2: are trustworthy to handle his power, to handle his grace,
Speaker 2: to handle his blessing and I and he tests us continually.
Speaker 2: It's not just once. It's over and over and over
Speaker 2: and throughout scripture. God has said, more than anything else,
Speaker 2: I use money as the acid test of your faith
Speaker 2: in your life. More than anything else. The greatest test
Speaker 2: on your faith will always be in the area of finances.
Speaker 2: Why because the most sensitive nerve in the human body
Speaker 2: goes from the heart to the wallet. And when you
Speaker 2: start talking about my wallet, I get real sensitive about it,
Speaker 2: real quick. I get real defensive. All kinds of defenses
Speaker 2: go up, and it's me, mine and mine, And you know,
Speaker 2: I start worrying all about it. God says, I use
Speaker 2: money as the acid test of your faith. Now, Verse
Speaker 2: eleven is one of the most important verses in the Bible,
Speaker 2: and most people have never read it. Verse eleven of
Speaker 2: Luke sixteen says this, So, if you have not been trustworthy,
Speaker 2: that means dependable, reliable, a good manager. If you have
Speaker 2: not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth. What's worldly wealth?
Speaker 2: It's your income, it's your salary, it's how you make
Speaker 2: a living, it's your possessions. If you're not a good
Speaker 2: manager with your money, your worldly wealth, who's gonna trust
Speaker 2: you with true riches, spiritual power, spiritual blessing, spiritual anointing
Speaker 2: in your life. My guess is most believers are totally
Speaker 2: unaware of this verse. That there is a connection here
Speaker 2: between the two. The Bible says very clearly, not just here,
Speaker 2: but many places, that how I handle my money determines
Speaker 2: how much God can bless my life. That God is watching.
Speaker 2: Am I a responsible money manager? How I handle my
Speaker 2: money determines how much God can bless me with power
Speaker 2: and blessing and spiritual anointing and all these things. If
Speaker 2: you have not been trustworthy in handling your own income,
Speaker 2: who's going to trust you with true spiritual riches. Friends,
Speaker 2: this is why I'm teaching this to you today, because
Speaker 2: there is a direct yes I want to get I
Speaker 2: want you to get out of debt. But more than
Speaker 2: getting out of debt, I want you to have the
Speaker 2: blessing of God on your life. I want you to
Speaker 2: have the power of God on your life. And this
Speaker 2: is the acid test. The Bible says many many places
Speaker 2: that there's a direct connection between maturity and money. How
Speaker 2: I handle this determines how mature I am. There's a
Speaker 2: direct connection between possessions and power in your life. And
Speaker 2: if my possessions are out of control, my life is
Speaker 2: out of control. There is a direct connection between the
Speaker 2: bucks in my life and the blessing in my life.
Speaker 2: They go together. And so that's why you know, if
Speaker 2: we say, well, why my life such a mess? I mean,
Speaker 2: I talk to people all the time who say I'm
Speaker 2: spiritually stuck. I'm in a spiritual rut. I'm stuck at
Speaker 2: dead cinder. I've got spiritual laws. I don't feel God's
Speaker 2: presence in my life. I don't see any answers to prayer.
Speaker 2: I'm not growing, I don't feel any power in my life.
Speaker 2: In fact, my life is a spiritual roller coaster. And
Speaker 2: one day I feel like I'm close to God and
Speaker 2: I can trust him for everything, and then the next
Speaker 2: day I'm in the pits and I'm out of work,
Speaker 2: or that I'm going to lose my job and I'm
Speaker 2: going to lose my house, and I'm in debt, and
Speaker 2: i go from highs to lows from high schools and
Speaker 2: I'm just bouncing all over the place. And my spiritual
Speaker 2: life is not solid and stable. It's out of control.
Speaker 2: And my advice to you, as somebody who loves you
Speaker 2: as your pastor, is check your checkbook. Check your checkbook,
Speaker 2: because there is a direct connection between how you're managing
Speaker 2: your money and how much God can trust you with
Speaker 2: spiritual blessing. It reveals your priorities you see. Inconsistent giving
Speaker 2: produces inconsistent living, and unmanaged finances are symptoms of an
Speaker 2: unmanaged life. Out of controlled debt is representative of an
Speaker 2: out of controlled life.
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 neighbors 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 it 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
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Speaker 2: know as well as I do, that the Word of
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Speaker 2: So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
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