You can teach them to your kids. And so number one, we said that
you should model contentment in the home.
What you do and, and what you say is what your kids are going
to see as acceptable and what you allow in moderation, your
kids are going to do in excess. And so it's important that you
be the model in the home. To this end #2 you should mentor
workers in the home. And we said that work as a means
for your provision. And that work is ordained by
God. I know we many times we look at
work as, as something that we should dread, but God ordained
work before the fall. God gave Adam the job of, of
dressing the garden and keeping it and naming all the animals
and doing all those things. And that was work.
And that was, that was before the curse.
Now, obviously by the sweat of your brow, you're going to have
to work and dig and plant and do all those things.
And that was part of the curse. But work is ordained by God and
it's a gift that's given to given to us by God.
But here's what I want to talk about tonight #3 is to manage
stewardship habits in the home. That's how you that's one way
that you can cultivate contentment, just being able to
handle your money. And you know, teaching your
children to work is a vital thing, but too many people
willing to work don't reap the blessings because they're not
good stewards of their money. And you know, there's, there's
many times when, when things come up that you would like to
be able to take part in, you'd like to be able to give to, and
you can't because you have no money because not that you don't
work, not that you don't make decent amount of money, but you
don't know how to keep it. You don't know how to spend it
the right way. And so you have no money to be
able to do the things that you would like to do or to do the
things that are important. And obviously we're in the
middle of this Belize project right now and we got a lot
that's going on down there. And, and, and I'm not saying
that you should have saved all your money so you could give it
to that, but I'm saying, you know, there's probably, there's
probably some of you who would like to have given to that
project and can't because you don't have any money, because
you haven't handled your money the right way.
There's a lot of other projects that we could that, that, that,
you know, we have an opportunity to give to maybe a missionary
project or even something in the church that you would say, man,
I would love to be able to jump in and give to that.
I'd love to be able to give to the youth to go do this.
I'd love to be able to do that, but I can't because I don't have
any money. It's not because you're not
working and that would be a problem, but it's, it's because
you don't know how to handle your money the right way.
So first Corinthians chapter 4 and verse #1 the Bible says let
a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards
of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in
stewards that a man be found faithful.
And we're going to talk a little bit more about those principles.
In fact, you can turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter 16
because we're going to get there in just a second.
But attitudes regarding money are learned, and most of the
time they're learned in the home.
Children primarily learn their attitudes about money from their
parents. And you've seen it.
You know, families that that charge themselves into deep debt
often see that not that debt, but new debt perpetuated in the
next generation because that's all they ever saw their parents
do is live in debt. And so, you know, even though
they go out and they get a good job, next thing you know, they
are in deep debt on credit cards and all kinds of other things
because that's what they've seen their parents do.
And, and a lot of other things. You know, families that are
inconsistent in giving to the Lord and to his work and to
other people often see those similar inconsistencies in the
next generation because they're learning from you how to give.
They're learning from you what their principles of giving
should be. It's because of the habits of
stewardship, whether they be generous or stingy, whether they
be frugal or wasteful, whether they be budgeting or reckless,
when it comes to those things, those things tend to be learned
in the home. And so my, my, my point here is
that it's very important for us as parents to make sure that we
are handling our money the correct way if we're going to
teach our children to handle their money the correct way.
Because number one, it's very hard to teach them something you
don't know. But #2 it's very hard to model
something for them if you're not doing it yourself, right?
So you don't have to be wealthy to be able to handle your money
the right way. You don't have to be wealthy to
be able to have enough money to do the things that you want to
do. You just have to know how to
handle your money. And you know, if, if parents
don't intentionally teach those different habits to their
children, they're going to copy what you're doing anyway, even
if you're not saying this is what don't do what I do, do what
I'm telling you to do. And how many times have you
heard parents say that maybe not with money, maybe with other
things. Do as I say, not as I do.
But 99% of the time, children are going to do as you do, not
as you say, right? So all of us who are parents
could, could tell of different, you know, stewardship mistakes
that we've made. And none of us want to see our
our children make those same mistakes.
So what are some habits that we need to teach our children
regarding wise financial stewardship, or maybe we could
even say wise financial decisions?
How do we handle our money the right way in a way that's
pleasing to the Lord? And by the way, the Bible talks
a lot about money. This is not just this is not
just some, you know, some hobby horse that I have or something
like that, that that's part of being a steward of what God gave
us. God gave you money.
He expects you to steward it in the right way.
God didn't give you a ton of money.
He still expects you to steward it in the right way.
So there's a few things that I want to give you tonight.
Can you turn this down just a little bit?
I feel like I've got an echo just a little bit.
But First Corinthians chapter 16, number one is to teach
giving, Teach your children giving.
And again, it's hard to teach your kids something that you're
not doing. And that's what all of these
different things that I'm going to talk about tonight.
And these are probably some things that you could even write
down and just make sure that you're doing them the right way
at home. But here's what the Bible says
in First Corinthians chapter 16 and verse #1 Now concerning the
collection for the Saints. As I have given order to the
churches of Galatia, Even so do ye.
Upon the first day of the week, let everyone of you lay by him
in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings
when I come. See, generosity begins when a
child first learns to give to the Lord.
You get a birthday card and you get a $10.00 bill and that
birthday card and $1.00 of that belongs to the Lord. $10 is not
a lot on the grand scheme of things.
It may be a lot of money to a child and for them to give a
dollar away to the offering plate, that's a lot to ask of a
kid. But you know what?
When you teach them to give at a very young age, it's not hard to
give, right? If you automatically know that
10% at least, of everything that I make belongs to God, it's not
hard to give it to Him, right? It's not your money in the first
place, it's his money, right? We have any that, that, that 10%
off the top that belongs to God. I don't know what you're getting
upset about. It's not even your money in the
1st place. We haven't even started talking
about your money yet, right? That's the, that's the, the
offerings on top of the tithe, right?
It belongs to God. And, and as you, you know, as,
as your children learn how to give, he'll learn first hand
that giving is better than receiving, right?
Acts chapter 20 and verse #35 I have showed you all things, how
that soul laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to
give than to receive. Well, that's a principle that
Jesus Christ himself gave. So if he gave it, don't you
think it's a principle that actually works?
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
We have it backwards, right? It is, this is a consumerist
culture, and that's why the title Cultivating Contentment in
a consumerist culture. It's all about what I can get,
what can I hoard, what can I have for me, right?
And now we're trying to teach our kids to give it away.
It goes against the culture, but there's a vast majority of
Christians in America who are not giving to the Lord's work.
And by the way, I'm, I'm, I don't know what anybody in this
church gives. I really don't because I'm not
the one sitting there counting the money.
I know what our offerings are every week and that's about it.
I don't know what you give. So when I preach on giving, I'm
not preaching because I know that you're not giving anything.
I'm trying to squeeze something out of your pocket.
All right. But I'm saying that when you
give, God blesses you. When you give, it is more
blessed to give than to receive. And there's a huge majority, by
the way, there there's studies that, that, that different
church organizations have done that.
Only 20 to 25% of of churchgoers actually give in the offering
plate, 20 to 25%. That's not very much, you know,
and you think that that who knows how many people are out
there making a lot of money that that wouldn't even, you know,
wouldn't even bother them if they gave, you know, something
to the Lord. But one of the reasons for that
is the lack of basic spiritual discipline.
And it may be that they were never taught how to give as a
child. I don't know.
If you don't teach your kids how to give, they're going to grow
up stingy and they're not going to want to let go of the money
that they have. So if you as a parent believe
it's a RIP off to give, then your kids are going to sense
that, right? Oh man, I got to put this money
in the offering plate again. Could you imagine what we could
have if we just didn't have to give to the Lord, right?
That's the attitude that that some people have.
And guess what? Your kids pick up on that?
Well, I want to have the stuff that they don't have.
So I guess I'm just not going to give to the Lord, right?
If that's your mindset, then you're never going to teach your
children the stewardship principles.
That would be one of the greatest blessings that they
could carry into their adult lives.
If your kids grow up learning how and knowing how to give to
the Lord, God blesses those who give.
And I've seen it first hand over and over and over and over in my
own life. And I've heard so many stories
of people who just decided that they were going to give to the
Lord and God bless them because of it, right?
We don't give just to receive, but God promises that when you
give, you will receive. That's a wonderful principle.
Teach your children the promises that God gives to those who are
faithful to give. Fact, turn over to Proverbs
chapter 3. I got a couple verses in
Proverbs, so it'll be helpful for you to turn over there.
Proverbs chapter 3. And again, I told you that
there's many, many verses in the Bible that talk about money and
talk about giving. So this is not just, it's not
one verse. And we pull it out and hammer it
and hammer it and hammer it. There's a lot of verses in the
Bible that talk about giving, and here's one of them.
Proverbs, chapter 3 and verse #9 Honor the Lord with thy
substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.
Verse 10. So shall thy barns be filled
with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
That's the give and receive principle, right?
Oh, and this the, there's a prosperity gospel out there that
says, you know, you plant a little seed and God's going to
give you a great crop. I'm, I'm trying to buy this new
airplane. So you need to plant that seed a
little bit bigger and in a few more places, right?
And God's going to bless you for giving.
That's not, that's not what this is talking about, right?
This is not the prosperity gospel.
But what the Bible's saying here is honor the Lord you give to
him, and God will make sure that you are taken care of, right?
So teach giving #2 teach budgeting.
Proverbs chapter 27. Turn over there, Proverbs
chapter 27. Now, the Bible doesn't
specifically give us the steps, if you will, to set up a budget,
but it sure does speak a whole lot about being a responsible
steward and handling your finances in a godly way.
And really, the only way that you are going to be responsible
with your money is if you set up a budget.
Now, I suppose if you have a billion dollars, you probably
don't need a budget because you can just go buy whatever you
want. It doesn't matter, right?
But anything less than a billion, you probably need to
have a budget set up. And if you're a secret
billionaire, I need to talk to you after the service.
We got some things we're trying to accomplish here, but Proverbs
chapter 27 and verse #23 the Bible says this.
Be thou diligent to know the state of life flocks and look
well to thy herds. Well, that's not exactly, you
know, a budget, but it it sure is paying attention to what you
have and where it's going and how it's doing right.
A budget is a is a vital tool in financial planning and in wise
spending. In fact, turn over to Province
23 I I'm going to do at some point a specific class and I may
just do it on a Tuesday night or something.
But on how to set up a budget. But I'm going to give you a
couple of the basic things that you can start working on tonight
that that will help you to start going in the direction of
setting up a budget. But Proverbs 23 verse #3 be not
desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat labor
not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom.
Turn over to Luke chapter 14 because here's another perfect
example of just exactly what the Bible is talking about when it
comes to learning how to budget and learning how to plan with
your money right. If you don't know where your
money is going, the chances are it's going and it's not coming
back, right? Riches take make themselves
wings as wings and fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
If you don't have a budget, chances are your money is taking
wings and it's just going and you're like, I don't know why I
owe on everything and I don't know why I never have any money
and I don't know why at the end of the month I can't pay my
bills. I'm making a decent amount of
money. Why can't I pay my bills?
Well, if you don't have a budget, you have no idea where
your money is going. That's that's probably a good
reason why. So Luke chapter 14 and verse #28
for which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down
1st and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to
finish it, lest happily after he has laid the foundation and is
not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock him
saying this man began to build and was not able to finish.
That's a that's a man that did not budget his money.
He started building the house and he didn't even have the
money to finish it. And now you become a laughing
stock because you got a foundation there and you don't
even have enough money to put a house on it, right?
That's what Jesus is saying here.
What you view intending to build a tower doesn't sit down and
count the cost. First, figure it out, right?
So let me give you a couple principles here, a couple things
and not even principles, just a couple practical things.
And I don't even have any of these written down.
This is just, this is what I do. This is what we do in our
family, what I've been doing for probably 25 or 30 years.
My dad got me started on this when I was when I was young.
And I'm glad that he did because we started, we started budgets
early and we have an envelope system.
We cash every check and I put cash in every envelope.
And that may not be 100% practical for everybody,
especially if you make a lot of money.
It may be a lot more cash than what you can deal with, but
there is there what, what you need to do is sit down and write
a list of everything that you have as an expense every month,
right? And 1st off, you need to write
down your monthly expenses. So what do you have?
What do you have every month? Well, normally most people have
a mortgage, right? You got to pay your house, you
got to pay for your house. So write down what your monthly
payment is. The nice thing is that one
rarely changes. It doesn't fluctuate very much.
So write that down. How much is that every month?
And then what else? What are other things that you
have that are expenses that you that are pretty much close to
the same every month? Utilities, right?
So your electric and gas if you have it, water if you have it.
What else? What are other things?
What have student loans? Student loans, There you go.
That's for some people, right? I graduated college with no
student loans because I had a budget.
No, I'm just kidding. But but what are the things that
you have? Student loans is a good one,
right? Because if you owe on a student
loan, then you still have to pay for it, right?
What else? What are other things that you
have as an expense every month? Groceries, right?
If you have an idea of how much your groceries are, write it
down, right? What are your expenses, Brother
Ryan Yes, that's a big one, right?
If you have a vehicle and you're paying on that vehicle right
now, you should not be paying on a vehicle for the rest of your
life. Because if you handle your money
the right way, then eventually you should get to the point
where you can pay for that vehicle cash and now you're
saving up to buy the next one, not paying every month of
payment for that, right. So those are all things that
you're working toward. But what you need to do is and
everybody's are going to be different.
I'm just trying to give you a few examples of different things
that you would have as as an expense every single month.
You need to sit down and write out what all of your expenses
are. These are things that I have to
pay for every month. Because what you want to be able
to do is, wouldn't it be nice if at the end of the month the
electric bill came due and it was $250?
And instead of saying, man, I hope I have $250 in my bank
account to pay it this month. You went to your envelope and
you said there's the $250 that goes into the electric bill and
you can put it in the bank and you can make your payment,
right? By the way, there's a lot of
other things that you can do to save money as well.
Get a credit card and put it on a credit card and just pay it
off at the end of every month. If you're going to pay me to use
it, I'll use it right. If you're going to give me
miles, if you're going to give me cash back, I, I don't think
I've ever, and my wife can correct me, but I, I, I don't
think we have ever paid a late payment on a credit card or, or
one month of interest on a credit card.
Have we never because, but, but we, I have, I have 3 or 4
different credit cards, but depending on what it is and how
much it is and how much you're going to pay me to use your
card, I'll, I'll use your card if you're going to give me money
back for it, I've got the money in the envelope, right?
I'm not, I'm not buying something with money that I
don't have. I'm buying something with buying
with money that I do have. And so at the end of the month,
when that bill comes due, I just go and I take everything out of
the envelope and I put it into the bank and I pay that credit
card bill off, no interest, right?
And you know what happens that builds your credit.
And then you know what happens? You start getting all kinds of
0% interest credit cards and they want you to be a customer
of theirs because you are a, a, a, a really good customer right
now. There's, there's a lot of
different things that go along with that.
And I, and if you're not, if you're not disciplined in your
spending, then I would, I would say don't get a credit card
because next thing you know, you're going to have a 25% of
interest rate on it that you're paying on top of everything
else. And almost everything that
you're paying is going to be interest.
It's not going to be going toward your, your expenses.
So if you're not disciplined, don't have a credit card and
don't do that. But, but if you have a budget
set up and you've been doing it for a while and you're used to
how everything works and they're going to give you cash back to
use your to use their card, why not use it, right?
If they're going to give you airplane miles to use their
card, why not use it pay it off at the end of every month,
right? But that's the first step that
you need to do when it comes to setting up a budget is figure
out what all of your expenses are.
And then every single dollar of your paycheck needs to have a
name, if you will. I think that's how Dave Ramsey
says it. I haven't looked at Dave
Ramsey's system in a long time, but but Dave Ramsey does a
pretty good job with the financial Peace University and
all those things. He's a financial guy.
He's a Christian guy that that helps people get out of debt and
everything else. But one of the things that he
says is make sure that every dollar has an right when you get
your paycheck every month. You don't say, all right, I got
$600.00 and I can just go spend and do whatever I want to with
oh stink, I've got bills to pay and no money, right?
That $600.00 comes in and whether it's a percentage that
you do it on or whether it's a, an amount.
OK, so let's just say that your mortgage payment is $1000 a
month will make it really easy, right?
Your mortgage payment is $1000 a month.
Easiest way to do it is to split the month up in 4 weeks, right?
Obviously there's 52 weeks in a year, 4 * 12 is 48.
So at the end of the year you have an extra 4 weeks in there
that that just are extra money that goes into it unless you're
really trying to pinch pennies and then you can do it on 52
weeks. But if you're trying to do it.
If you're doing a month, that's four weeks, then a $1000
mortgage payment means that how much per week has to go into
that envelope, $250 and guess what you're going to have at the
end of that month, $1000 in an envelope that you can put into
the bank and make your payment or send it in as a check or
whatever, however you want to pay that, right?
But the same thing with your electric bill and the same thing
with your groceries and the same thing with with all of the
expenses that you have. There is such a piece.
And by the way, the first envelope that you should have is
your tithing envelope, right? 10% automatically 10%.
And if you want to give more and you should give more than, then
put more of that in there and watch how all the rest of the
envelopes grow because you're taking care of God's work first,
right? Most people when they start
realizing that they're getting a little bit tight, they say,
well, first envelope needs to go tithing.
RIP that up, throw it out. When I can start affording it
again, I'll start putting money in there.
You're never going to be able to afford it because if you're not
given to the Lord's word, God's not going to bless you
financially either, right? But having said that, you need
to figure out how much you need to split it up on a four week
per month, how many what that paycheck looks like.
Now, some, sometimes you have people who are self-employed.
And So what you need to do is do everything on a percentage
basis, right? I know that my mortgage is
roughly 20% of my income. So I'm going to put 20% of that
into the, into the mortgage payment, whatever it happens to
be, You got to, you got to figure it out.
Every, everybody is different. Every, every situation is
different. But the main thing that you're
trying to do is figure out what are your expenses every month,
Figure out how much needs to go into that envelope every month.
That's a basic budget, right? It's a very, very basic budget.
But now you, now let's say you want to go on vacation.
You know what most people do? Throw it on a credit card.
We'll figure out how to pay for it $4000 later.
And ten years later, they're still paying and they still owe
$3982 because all they've been doing is paying interest for the
last 10 years, right? You don't, you don't, you don't
go on vacation because you feel like, all right, let's go on
vacation and just put it on a credit card and we'll figure it
out. No, you go on vacation with
money that you've saved up for vacation.
How do you save up money for vacation?
You got an envelope for it, right?
And if all you can afford to put in there is 20 bucks a paycheck,
then you're going to have to wait a little while before you
go on vacation. But you know what?
It's going to feel so good when you can go on vacation and it's
paid for instead of saying, man, this is great, but this is not
really that enjoyable because I have no idea how I'm going to
pay for it when I get back. But that's what most Americans
do. And that's why most Americans
live in debt. And that's why they that's why
they have the the financial pressure on them constantly
because they don't know how they're going to make their next
payment because they're living paycheck to paycheck, because
they just blow it on whatever feels comfortable, right?
That's what I'm talking talking about when I say that we're
trying to cultivate contentment in a consumerist culture.
A consumerist culture says if it feels good and you want to do
it, then you'd go do that, right?
Doesn't matter if you don't have the money, you'll, you'll figure
it out someday, go into debt, you just file for bankruptcy,
it's fine. And then everything goes away
and you can start all over again, right?
That's the mindset, right? But that's not the way that a
Christian should be handling their money in a way that's
pleasing to the Lord, right? And, and, and you don't have to
be a millionaire to be able to pay the, the bills that you
have, right? I, I, I think, and, and I don't
mean this in a bad way, but I think a lot of people would be
shocked to find out how little I actually make when it comes to
my salary. But you know what?
I live fine. You know why?
Because I've got a budget and I've had a budget for a long
time. And when you have a budget set
up, yeah, there are things that you would like to do that you
can't. But guess what?
Save up for it and eventually you can, right?
You don't spend money that you don't have.
Well, you know what? Sure would be nice to have all
new kitchen counters in here. And I mean, it's been 10 years
since we've done anything here. Let's go RIP the whole kitchen
apart and let's just go splurge and get what we want, right?
I'm not picking on you, brother. If you got the money to do it,
you got the money to do it. I'm just saying, right?
Oh, oh, oh, oh, finger pointing. No, that's what I'm saying.
Hey, listen, if you have the money to do it, you got the
money to do it. And if you do it the right way,
it works, right? And if you saved up your money
and you've worked, and I know that they have and saved their
money up for all of the years that they worked and all those
things and you want a new kitchen and you can afford it,
go get a new kitchen, right? But most people are saying, man,
the the neighbors next door just redid their whole kitchen, and
man, that sure looks nice. These appliances are all five
years old now. And boy, it sure would be nice
to have all new appliances. Let's RIP them out and throw
them away and go get new ones. Right.
Just put it on the credit card. We'll figure out how to do it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Now, I don't want your junk either, but actually they did
that, that the, the stove and the refrigerator back there is
from Brother Alan, Miss Esther's house.
They got new appliances and they gave it to the church and it, it
worked really well for us because they're not, they're not
old. But you know, that's, that's
what, that's that's what most people want to do too.
Hey, pastor, we got a new blah, blah, blah.
Do you want our old one? We're getting rid of it.
You know, most of the time it's a piece of junk and you just
don't want to deal with it. That's why you give it to the
church. They'll deal with it.
You know, I'm, I'm kidding, But all I'm saying is when it comes
to budgeting, you need to teach your children to plan with
wisdom, to plan with purpose, and you need to do the same
thing yourself. Teach them to plan ahead and
save for those large purchases. Jackson's had a budget since how
old? I don't know, but a long time
and he's been saving up to buy a car for a long time and he's
been putting money into an envelope for a long time to save
up to buy a car, right? And we have a 2007 Toyota 400
and 335,000 miles on it. And that's what he gets to drive
until he's ready to pay for his own car, right?
But save up for that, right? You don't have to have the
newest and the nicest and the best of everything.
If you can't afford it, you can't afford it.
That is not being a wise steward of the money that God gave you,
right? So teach them how to put their
financial income and their expenses on paper and to target
and track their spending, right? If you know where your money is
going, then when things get tight, you know where you can,
where you can squeeze the, the belt a little bit tighter.
If you, if you have no idea where your money's going or how
it's leaving or what it's, you know where it's flying to when
it heads out, you're never going to be able to rein it back in,
right? You ought to have a couple
months worth of of income. So what happens if you lose your
job and now all the sudden you don't have a way to make any
money? All right, most people go under
and they go bankrupt in that situation because they are
literally living paycheck to paycheck.
But if you've got a, a rainy day fund where you wouldn't expect
in the dryer to blow up, but it blew up and I didn't have a, a
budget envelope for the dryer, but I do have $1000 sitting
aside in an envelope for emergencies.
And I can just go use that and I'll fill that back in over the
next few paychecks, right? That's, that's how you handle
your money wisely. And that's how you keep from
going broke or going bankrupt when things don't go the way
that you expected it to go. So teach giving, teach budgeting
#3 and this kind of goes right along with that because you
ought to have an envelope for this as well.
But teach saving. Turn over to Proverbs 21.
See, Americans today don't know how to save anything.
There was a, there was a study that was done that said that
almost 20% of Americans save nothing.
And I think it's higher than that, but 20% of Americans save
nothing from year to year. And another 28% save only very
small amounts of their income. And, and surprisingly, the, the,
the ones who save the most are not from the highest income
households. You'd be surprised.
I mean, remember what happened in 2008 and all these people who
were in multi $1,000,000 houses were the ones who had to bail
out and leave it, go into foreclosure, right?
They're working good jobs, they're making plenty of money
and they're the ones that had to foreclose in their houses
because they're living paycheck to paycheck because they're
living at the, at the, at the edge of their means.
And they're spending every dime that they make.
And it's like, you know, oh, I'm glad I got this money in there
because I got to pay that. And then I'm going to use this
to pay that. I'm going to use this to pay
that. And they're just shuffling money
around because that's the only way they can keep their heads
above water, right? Not saving a dime.
You know, maybe they have a, their company is, is paying them
four O 1K for them or something like that.
And that's the only hope that they have for retirement, right.
So somebody and so so they did this study and one of the
analysts in that study said saving is not a function of
income, It's a function of having the ability to live
within your means and save consistently, right?
Just because you make a lot of money doesn't mean that you're
going to be wise with that money and doesn't mean that you're
going to have a lot of money in savings.
And just because you don't make a lot doesn't mean that you
can't live below your means and save up money, right?
So the Bible says this in Proverbs 21 and verse #20 there
is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise.
But a foolish man spendeth it up, right?
Similar to giving in a lot of ways.
But a commitment to save might require sacrifices along the
way. Now, by the way, I think there
is, I think there's a danger in this as well.
You can save so much and pinch pennies so much that you miss
out on opportunities that you could have, especially with your
kids when they're growing up, right?
You don't have to spend a lot of money to spend some money and
enjoy some time with your kids and doing things that are going
to make memories. You cannot make memories when
your kids are gone, right? You only can make memories with
your kids while they're in the home.
And unfortunately, it's usually when most people have the least
amount of money, right? You start to finally get on a
good sound financial footing about the time that all the kids
leave, right? That's usually the way that it
goes. And you have plenty of money.
And so now when they come into town once a year, you can afford
to take everybody out to eat and pay for it.
And that's nice. But what about all the
opportunities that you had when they were growing up to take
them out and do things right? Well, hey, I'm comfortable.
I got, I got $1.5 million in the bank, but nobody ever comes
around to do anything with it, right?
And I suppose one day my kids will have it and they'll enjoy
it. But I missed out on all the
memories, right? Saving is important and you
should be saving, but don't save so much that you forget the
opportunities that you have in front of you right now.
To go on a vacation doesn't have to be expensive to go to this
place and do this thing or go to that place and do that thing.
Don't save so much of your money that you miss out on those
opportunities. But it's financial skill that
children need to learn and it'll serve them well in their adult
lives if you teach them how to save.
Turn over to Luke chapter 15. Because the other thing, the
fourth thing that you need to teach them how to do is to spend
and to teach them how to spend. Perhaps the best example in
scripture of a young person that did not practice wise spending
was the prodigal son, right? The Bible says in Luke chapter
15 and verse #13 And not many days after, the younger son
gathered all together, and he took his journey into a far
country, and what there wasted his substance with riotous
living. And when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in
want. See, young people need to learn
how to save and learn when to save and when and how to spend.
And there's four specific spending patterns, I guess that
we need to teach our kids to avoid.
Number one is the impulsive spending.
Most people are in debt because of impulsive spending.
They see something, they like it, they want it, they buy it,
right. And sometimes it's, there's
something that's not small. You're walking around in bass
pro One way, one way that you can
keep from buying impulsively is to spend on a big purchase car,
something like that. Spend 30 days praying about it
before you buy it, right? You know what happens?
A lot of times all you need is one day and you're like, you
know what? Yeah, probably probably not.
I probably don't really need that, right?
It's just that when you're in the heat of the moment, the,
the, the one of the hardest things to do to teach yourself
and to teach your kids is to walk away from something that
you really want, right? But if you can walk away from
something that you really want, then you're probably only going
to buy the things that you really need, right?
Or that are that are good, that are good decisions.
At least that's impulsive spending.
Compulsive spending is another one.
And it's dangerous for a teenager to feel that every time
he goes into a store, he's got to buy something, right?
The money when my dad always said the money's burning a hole
in your pocket, right? You finally got 10 bucks and I
got to spend it. I got to spend it.
I don't care if I'm going to buy all packs of gum.
I don't care if it's, you know, I don't care what it is.
I'm just, I've got to spend the money because it's, it's in my
pocket, right? That's compulsive spending.
Every time I go, I got to buy something at this place, right?
Traditions is one thing, but compulsive spending is something
else. Here's another one, special
interest spending. That's when somebody feels like
they've got to have the new gadget or more stuff related to
whatever their area of special interest is.
I think, I think a good example of that would be like golf,
right? The newest clubs come out and
I've got to have the newest clubs or this gadget came out
and I've got to, I've got to have that thing because man, how
cool would that be if you know, if I'm walking around in the
course and I have one of these and everybody else wants to use
it, right? Special interest, doesn't matter
what it is. There's a lot of different
things where you've got to have the latest and the best because
it's there, right? And I mean, it could be, it
could be anything. I mean, it could be cars, it
could be, you know, electronics. I mean, nothing wrong with
having a, an electronic that is, that is new and functioning.
But at the same time, just because it's new doesn't mean
that you have to have it, right? I mean, look what happens when
they announce the new iPhones every year.
The lines out the Apple Store are, are ridiculous because
people got to have it just because it's new and it's the
latest one, right? I mean, it might not even be any
different than the one before. It's just that it's new and I've
got to have it right? And, and a lot of people are in
debt because of that special interest spending.
And, and, and you want to encourage your kids to have
hobbies and, and, and skills and things like that in their lives,
but you don't want to encourage them to, to you don't want to
encourage them with a need to have, I've got to have this
right. And then the 4th one that is a
spending pattern that we need to teach our kids to avoid is
status seeking spending. And it's, it's, it's vital that
we teach our children that, that our acceptance comes from the
Lord and that it's very futile to seek acceptance from the
world, right? It's what is it always called
keeping up with the Joneses, right?
You've heard that phrase many, many times, keeping up with the
Joneses. Well, they got this.
So I've got to have that and I've got to one up them because
they got this and I got to have that, right, status seeking.
And it's just, you know, but it's a very dangerous thing too,
because many times that gives you a great desire to be just
like the world, right? It's the newest pair of shoes
that came out. I got to have it because if I
have those and everybody's going to, you know, everybody's going
to be fawning all over me. And I've got to have that car
because it's the newest and nicest.
And I've got to have this type of house because this is the
style now. And I've got to have these
things in my house because if you have a house like this, you
got to have that. And it's all about seeking a
status, right? It's all about, it's all about
being recognized by people from the outside.
And man, that's exactly what happened in 2008 when that when
everything crashed, they had to have it.
They had to have it because, well, I, I'm ACEO of this
company and I make millions of dollars.
So I've got to have a couple $1,000,000 house.
You know, some of the, some of the wealthiest people and some
of the people who, who have generational wealth live in
something that's way smaller than you would think they could
have. And they drive something way
cheaper than you think they could drive, right?
Some of these guys that, that, that have the most money.
That's one of the reasons why they have that money.
So, you know, some, sometimes when it comes to those kind of
status seeking things, it's going to mean holding the line
as a parent and not overspending or letting your kids overspend
just to just to gain the attention of other kids, right?
I think one of the one of the good examples of that for me,
especially growing up was, was basketball, right?
Everybody had to have a pair of Nike basketball shoes because
that meant you had the good shoes, right?
Here I am buying Warner Brothers on the clearance rack at Kmart,
right? My parents didn't let me
overspend. Now I didn't want to because I
didn't have the money and I was buying it myself.
And that's one good way to keep your kids from overspending.
But even if they have the money, even if they worked and somebody
gave them $200 for mowing the grass and they got money in
their pocket that's burning a hole in it and they can afford
to buy a really expensive pair of basketball shoes, it's not a
good idea to let them buy it, right?
I mean, I'm not, I'm not saying that they have to buy the
plastic bottom shoes at Payless, but at the same time they go to
the outlets and buy a pair of shoes that's 40 bucks.
They, they last the same amount of time.
And just because they don't have the, the little swoosh on the
side of it that everybody thinks you got to have to be able to
play basketball, doesn't mean that they have to overspend just
to have that status, right? So those 4 stewardship
principles, giving, budgeting, saving, spending, those are
habits that we have to instill in our children and they need to
see us practicing those biblical financial stewardship of things
ourself. And, and then they need us to
teach them how to manage those, those basic habits of godly
stewardship as well. I want to move into one more
thing, and I'll be very quick with this, but #4 is this in
order to teach contentment or to cultivate contentment?
And that is to maintain biblical priorities in the home?
Turn over to Hebrews chapter 13. See, when it comes to teaching
our children contentment, it's not only about what we do in the
ways of budgeting and working. It's also about the attitude of
our hearts. That's probably what expresses
our priorities more than anything else.
And so sometimes people work hard and they're disciplined in
theirs their budget simply because their priorities are
that they want to have bigger and better later, right?
Nothing wrong with saving up, right?
Working hard and being disciplined and spending are,
are, are great ways to plan for a large purchase.
But that's not the kind of priorities that we want to focus
on. We need to focus on setting and
modeling 2 basic priorities of contentment.
And, and they're this number one, trust in the Lord.
That's what we want to focus on setting and modeling as a
priority when it comes to contentment, trust in the Lord.
See the the heart of biblical contentment is trusting that God
is enough, then he's going to provide for our needs, right.
Hebrews chapter 13 verse #5 let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he
had said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
What is the goal here? If you if you look at that
verse, what's the goal is it have things be content.
But what does he, what does he say?
That we should be content with things.
Be content with such things as you have.
For he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Who's the focus? He is right?
I'm not going to leave you and forsake you.
You don't need anything else. You have me be content with the
things that you have, right? I've, I've already told you, I'm
not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.
What else do you need? Be content with what you have.
That's what he's saying. So trust in the Lord.
Sometimes what we do for the Lord or in giving to others
doesn't make sense financially. You know, you, for example, if
you go to a financial counselor, they're probably not going to
recommend that you give 20% of your income to the church,
right? They're probably not going to
recommend that because it doesn't make sense financially.
There's been many times when, when we've sat down and said,
man, I've no idea how this is working out, but it does because
God blesses you when you do it his way, right?
And, and it's not always that God is going to give you
everything that you desire. It's not God's going to make you
a millionaire because you give to him or you're going to walk
Outback. And sure enough, that money tree
is actually going to be growing in the backyard and you can just
start plucking dollars off of it, right?
Doesn't work that way. But you know what happens?
You know what God does? He allows your washing machine
to last way longer than you thought it was going to, right?
Your car can have 275,000 miles on it still running just fine,
right? That's how God blesses the
people who financially take care of him first, right?
It may not be that God gives you all the money that you need, but
He'll keep you from having to spend the money that you have,
right? So trust in the Lord.
Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10. Bring ye all the ties into the
storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me
Now herewith, saith the Lord of host, if I will not open you the
windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall
not be room enough to receive it, that's a pretty big blessing
just forgiven to the Lord, isn't it?
Luke chapter 6, verse 38. Give, and it shall be given unto
you. Press down, good measure,
pressed down and shaken together, and running over shall
men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that
you meet with all, it shall be measured to you again.
So teaching them the priority of trust in the Lord is is is truly
more important than anything you can give them materially, but
not only trust in the Lord, but also serve the Lord.
And I'll just read this to you for the sake of time.
But first Samuel chapter 3 and verse #1 in the child Samuel
ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord
was precious. In those days, there was no open
vision. See, serving others and teaching
our children to serve others helps them to develop an
attitude of contentment because it turns their attention from
their wants and their desires to the actual needs of others.
And I tell you, probably one of the the biggest eye opening
experiences for for me when I was young.
And when I was in 9th grade, I went on a missions trip to
Mexico. And boy, you think that you have
it rough in the US because you didn't get to buy your Nike
shoes because you didn't, you know, get to have the nicest of
this and you don't have all the money in the world.
Go to Mexico and go to some of these little villages where they
have dirt streets and they have a house that's made out of
cardboard. And Belize is the same way, man.
That's why that's that's one of the reasons why I want to get
our kids down there to Belize and let them see how good we
have it in the US. I've been in a lot of places in
this world and there is no place like the United States of
America. And even the poorest of the
people in the United States of America live like kings compared
to most of the rest of the world.
You want to cultivate contentment, go out and serve in
some of these underserved communities.
Go into some of the projects and see how they live.
Because the parents are drug addicts and they spend all their
money on, on booze and, and dope and these kids that, that are
running around, you know, with nothing on but a diaper and it's
full because they have no parent to take care of them, because
the parents are crackheads and everything else.
And then go home and act like you don't have something to be
content about, right? Serve others.
And as a parent, you can help mold and model those basic
priorities of trust in the Lord and service to others by doing
both of those things yourself, by creating opportunities for
your kids to participate in those things as well.
Is there a cost? Yeah, there will be right money
time, but the benefits far outweigh the cost.
And so all that to say that the road to contentment begins at
home. You want your kids to grow up
and be content in a culture that tells them that there is no way
that you can be content because you always got to have at least
one more dollar. You always got to have at least
a little bit bigger house. You always got to have a little
bit newer car. You got to drive a little bit
better. This, you got to have that and,
and this culture that tells us that that the way to succeed is
just keep gathering and gathering and gathering and
gathering. You want them to grow up and
live for the Lord and be content with what they have.
Then we've got to model these things.
We've got to teach them to our kids.
They're not just going to grow up knowing how to do them, but
if you're going to teach them to your kids, you've got to do it
yourself. You've got to live content.
You've got to live in a way that's pleasing the Lord.
You've got to live in a way that's financially responsible.
You've got to do these different things that that help them know
how how to do those things. And so, you know, children who
learn those principles and skills enter adulthood with
financial and social maturity beyond their years, and they
begin their adult lives with these principles and these
habits that are going to set them up for the rest of their
lives. Man, when they know how to save,
when they know how to spend, when they know how to budget,
when they know how to how to give to the Lord, they're going
to begin their adult lives with such a huge advantage on the
rest of the world. And best of all, most of all
because they'll have contentment.
They'll always have enough. They'll always have enough.
Doesn't matter if God calls him to the mission field and they're
living in a Hut somewhere. They'll have enough because
they've learned contentment doesn't matter if God calls them
to, to, to go to Belize. And boy, you saw some of the
pictures of some of these houses that are just made out of
plywood and that's it. If that's all you can, that's
all you can have, then you'll be content because you've learned
how to live content with whatever you have.
Be content with such things as you have.
For he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake the you
have him. You have enough.
You have a you have, you have clothes to wear, food to eat, a
house to sleep in. You've given enough, right?
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be added unto you.
Put in first. You teach that to your kids.
They'll always have enough. They'll always be content.
We need to model that ourselves. We're spoiled Americans, that's
what we are. We're spoiled Americans and
we've been, we've been conditioned to have everything
given to us the second we want it.
And Amazon doesn't help, but most of us live uncontent
because what it said it was going to get her overnight
between 4:00 and 8:00, and it didn't get here till noon,
right? But we got to model those things
for our kids. And if we teach those things to
our kids, then they will grow up knowing how to be content no
matter what happens, no matter where God calls them, no matter
what situation they end up in, and they'll always be taken care
of. What else do you want?
We got to teach it to them.
Now let's pray. Father, again, we thank you so
much for your goodness. Thank you for the opportunity
we've had to be here together tonight.
And I know this has been a long series and, and a lot of things
talking about when it comes to contentment.
God, I pray first and foremost that you'd help us all to be
content, but then that we'd be able to pass that on to our
children and help them learn that contentment as well.
And God, may you help us to be purposeful and raising our kids
for you, raising our kid with kids with biblical principles
and godly mindsets. And God, may you help us to have
young people that grow up and go on to serve you with their lives
because of it. Thank you again for all you do
for us in Jesus name, Amen. Let's stand in our seats with
our heads bowed and our eyes closed.