1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,360 Welcome to the Islands Christian Church podcast. 2 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,040 Subscribe to hear a new episode every week. 3 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:10,200 Thanks for joining us. You know, when we were in 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,040 school, if you remember going to school, do you remember notebook 5 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:14,240 paper? Do you guys remember notebook 6 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:15,480 paper? You'd buy in like 2 packs 7 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,160 OF200250 and and you had college ruled and standard ruled. 8 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:21,400 And I, I was one of those kids that never had enough paper. 9 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:22,800 So I was always like, can I borrow a sheet of paper? 10 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:24,040 Did you ever have friends like that in school? 11 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:25,520 Can I borrow a sheet of paper? Can I get a sheet of paper? 12 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,600 I was that friend. Sorry, I never, I never, I 13 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:29,880 didn't have pencils in that paper. 14 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:31,080 I don't know what my parents were thinking. 15 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:33,880 I mean, I don't know, like this today, it's like if you don't 16 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,120 have school supplies, like, I don't know how that's even 17 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,000 possible. But back then, you know, you 18 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,000 just, we just got on the bus and went to school, like, hey, I'm 19 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:42,640 here now. And so if you remember like 20 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,320 notebook paper, when you would get it, there were these little 21 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:48,960 lines on the side of the notebook paper. 22 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:50,080 Do you remember what those were called? 23 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,040 Margins, Right, Margin lines. Those are margin lines. 24 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,600 And you were not supposed to write over here in the margin. 25 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:57,240 You're supposed to write in between the margins. 26 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:58,240 That's the way it's supposed to work. 27 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,120 And there was always some kind of loony kids that would write 28 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:03,640 over like across the whole page. You remember those kids, they 29 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,600 would just write everything across the whole page. 30 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,240 Like I was not one of those kids. 31 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:08,760 I mean, they were, you know what I mean? 32 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:11,240 So love them. But you know, it's weird because 33 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:12,680 you're supposed to write in between the margins, right? 34 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:13,600 That's what you're supposed to do. 35 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:16,520 You guys know the the origin of margins, where they came from. 36 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:18,040 I didn't know this till this week. 37 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:19,240 I learned it because I was interested. 38 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,640 When you're a preacher, you ask weird questions because you have 39 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:24,520 to talk a lot. And so it's like, I wonder where 40 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:26,520 margins, I wonder where the idea of margins came from. 41 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:29,400 And according to Google. So take that for what it's 42 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,560 worth. According to Google, the margins 43 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:38,000 were invented to protect the printed material in a book from 44 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,840 mice when they started chewing on the book. 45 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,080 So they assumed that as they would store books, that 46 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,040 eventually mice would get to the books and they would chew the 47 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:51,200 edges of the pages. And so the margins would protect 48 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,760 the most important part of the book, which was the printed 49 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:56,880 words. Isn't that interesting? 50 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,760 And margin works the same way in our lives, in our financial life 51 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:04,560 specifically. Margin in your financial life is 52 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,360 there to help you. So this is what we're talking 53 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,039 about today. When we create margin in our 54 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:14,880 financial life, we are more likely to be patient, listen for 55 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:16,640 God's wisdom, and trust His ways. 56 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:20,480 In other words, margin gives you room to listen. 57 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,400 Margin gives you room to listen. That's what we're going to be 58 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:25,440 unpacking today. We're in this series called The 59 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,920 Almighty Dollar, and we're we're just walking through biblical 60 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:32,560 understanding of managing money. And I know that we don't like to 61 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:34,120 talk about money in church. It feels weird. 62 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:35,280 It's like you shouldn't talk about money. 63 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,200 You shouldn't talk about politics, but you shouldn't talk 64 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:38,040 about all these things in church. 65 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,400 But no, the Bible talks about money a lot. 66 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,200 Jesus talked about money second behind the Kingdom of God. 67 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,760 Like money showed up in his conversations and his stories a 68 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:48,640 lot. And I think sometimes because 69 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:52,360 the church is silent on money, that people end up just managing 70 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,360 their money poorly because they don't realize that the Bible 71 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:57,200 speaks to this. And so that's what we're doing 72 00:02:57,400 --> 00:02:59,200 today is we're talking about margin. 73 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:01,280 Because let me tell you why margin. 74 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,120 I think margin is important. You know, if you don't have 75 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,360 margin in your life financially, you don't have any margin, then 76 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,400 everything you face financially is an emergency. 77 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:16,120 Everything, like everything, every light bill, every water 78 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:20,480 bill, every tank of gas, every single thing becomes an 79 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,280 emergency. If you don't have margin, but if 80 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,680 you have margin in your financial life, then almost 81 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:29,040 nothing will seem like an emergency. 82 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:31,080 Almost nothing will seem like an emergency. 83 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,440 It would take something catastrophic for you to feel a 84 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,400 sense of urgency or an emergency. 85 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,880 The situation that you're going through may be exactly the same. 86 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,440 The only difference is literally how much margin you have in your 87 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,560 finances. That's literally the only thing 88 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,080 that makes a difference. So here's a text this morning. 89 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:52,120 Proverbs chapter 21 verses 20. Proverbs chapter 21 verse 20. 90 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:54,440 If you want to flip over there very quickly, the right of 91 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,600 Proverbs is most of the Proverbs are written by Solomon. 92 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:02,000 It's wise king, you know, considered to be the wisest 93 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,040 person that's ever lived. And so the Proverbs are full of 94 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,440 just wise sayings that it be taken in one verse at a time. 95 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:12,400 And I often say you could read 1 chapter of Proverbs a day and do 96 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:14,920 it for 30 days and you're going to be a smarter person just from 97 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:16,600 doing that. And so here's what Proverbs 98 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:21,040 chapter 21, verse 20 says. It says the wise store up choice 99 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:25,640 food and olive oil, but fools got theirs down. 100 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:28,400 We just read it again. The wise store up. 101 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,000 That's a key idea this morning. The wise store up choice food 102 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,880 and olive oil, but fools gulp, there, there's down. 103 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:37,880 So here's the idea. Here's the main point. 104 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:39,760 If you want to write this down, this is what we're trying to, 105 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:41,920 you know, for you to carry with you today. 106 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:47,240 Is this right here. Margin gives us space to trust 107 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:51,560 God's wisdom. Margin gives us space to trust 108 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:57,080 God's wisdom. The problem isn't that, you 109 00:04:57,080 --> 00:04:59,240 know, most of us aren't living with margin. 110 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:01,800 I mean, you know, the stats, like it's some crazy percentage 111 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:03,840 of people in America that live paycheck to paycheck. 112 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,040 A crazy percentage of people have no savings at all. 113 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,000 And a large percentage of people have zero savings for their 114 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 retirement. Large percentage of people have 115 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,360 nothing for retirement. It's not that our problem is 116 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,240 this right here, most of us are living without margin, margin. 117 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,520 And what that means is then we're living with lots of 118 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:24,280 pressure. Those two things go hand in 119 00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:26,000 hand. When you don't have margin in 120 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,440 your finances, you're going to have lots of pressure in your 121 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:31,640 life. It's going to you're going to 122 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,160 feel it all the time. So here's an idea this morning 123 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:39,160 if you want to jot this down, urgency and pressure leave no 124 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:42,360 room for wisdom. Urgency and pressure leave no 125 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:47,080 room for wisdom for many of you, as you're listening to the 126 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:51,760 sermon, it's hard for you to even imagine storing up for your 127 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,400 future. Like you're like, Steve, I don't 128 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,280 even know how I would store up or how I would create margin for 129 00:05:57,280 --> 00:05:59,720 some of you who don't have any margin. 130 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,080 And everything you're facing feels urgent and everything 131 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:03,880 you're going through feels high pressure. 132 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,440 And here's what happens. And you can you can stand up and 133 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:08,680 testify about this if you want to. 134 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,240 Here's what happened. Because you have no margin, 135 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,120 because everything is high pressure and everything is high 136 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:19,040 stress, you end up making all your decisions quickly because 137 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:20,840 you're urgent, because it's an emergency. 138 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,760 Well, a hindrance to trusting God's wisdom is impatience. 139 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,280 If you're not patient, you can't trust God's wisdom. 140 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,200 OK, so just in my life I will have a situation come up 141 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:38,840 financially, a situation like just recently had a car that 142 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,760 broke down, needed an alternator. 143 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,720 I don't want to do it myself. I could have but I watched a few 144 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:50,520 videos on it and I thought to myself I'm going to have to 145 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,400 repent a lot after I do this job. 146 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,440 I might have to go to confession. 147 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:58,320 I don't know like this will not be good. 148 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,280 And so I took it to a shop and they gave me a price on doing it 149 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:06,880 that was just like, absolutely. And I wanted to put a Honda 150 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,440 alternator on it, $1000. The car's worth 3 grand tops. 151 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,080 I'm like, yeah, I'm not doing that, you know what I mean? 152 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,920 Like enjoy. And so the car just kind of sat 153 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:18,440 at their shop. I asked him to charge it. 154 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:20,360 I'll come get it. I'm, you know, bring it home. 155 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:23,360 And I just waited patiently. Now we can do that because we 156 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,800 have other junk sitting around. You know, some of you don't have 157 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:27,160 that luxury. And I understand that. 158 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:32,840 So this is my story, not yours. And if you drive old cars, you 159 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:34,920 have to have a lot of them. That's a rule, all right? 160 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:37,280 Because there's always 1 broke down, all right. 161 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,040 And so I waited patiently. Mary is a little, I think, I 162 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:43,640 think she was a little kind of like, what are we going to do? 163 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:45,440 And I'm like, I'm just kind of, you know, Lord's going to let 164 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:46,920 you know. And she actually had the idea. 165 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,640 She goes on with car buddy so and so and you know, God, we 166 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:51,320 know that works on. I said that's a good idea. 167 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,640 So I messaged him texting back. He said, Oh yeah, man, that that 168 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,680 job only calls for a .8 of an hour, 8 tenths of an hour. 169 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,560 I'll put it on for you for 80 bucks. 170 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:05,640 I was like how about 100? I'll get it to you. 171 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,880 And so I won't tell you the rest of the details, but there are 172 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,840 other details how I got the, the alternator on it warrantied out. 173 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,240 But OK. So the reason that I could be 174 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:20,040 patient in that moment was because I had margin. 175 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:22,200 We have that. So the margin wasn't just extra 176 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:24,440 money, The margin was an extra car. 177 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,720 You see what I'm talking about. So like we had, we had a way to 178 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,480 kind of get around. We weren't like, Oh, no, you 179 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,039 know, now, don't get me wrong. It's not an extra Maserati. 180 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,320 It's it's like a extra old stuff. 181 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,640 But, but the, the point being is that because there was margin 182 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,440 there, I could be patient. I could wait and kind of see how 183 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,799 things would unfold. I could, I could pray. 184 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:46,040 I mean, I literally prayed. You're thinking like you prayed 185 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,040 about your alternator. You wouldn't pray about your 186 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,600 alternator. It's $1000. 187 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:53,720 Like you don't think God cares about your $1000? 188 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,680 Like, like you think I was like, ah, man, Stephen, I don't care 189 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:58,000 about that. Just give him 1000 bucks and 190 00:08:58,000 --> 00:08:59,320 move on with your life. I don't think so. 191 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:01,960 Like Jesus, you going to make, I don't have to make more money if 192 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:02,880 we going to do that kind of stuff. 193 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,320 Are you all right? So, so of course God cares about 194 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:08,160 that decision. So I'm at, I'm talking to him, 195 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:09,520 I'm praying. I'm just like, you know, I'm not 196 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:11,720 like, like, you know, again, this is not like a religious 197 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:13,960 thing where you got to like do something weird. 198 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,880 I'm just like talking to God, like, just like God, like, I 199 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:18,800 mean, I, I ain't got to get this car running. 200 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,760 I need to figure this out. Can you kind of just lead me in 201 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:23,760 this kind of help this not hurt as bad? 202 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:28,840 Crazy thing, I did like a little side hustle thing and made 300 203 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:30,560 bucks. And so I wouldn't pay my buddy 204 00:09:30,560 --> 00:09:32,520 who's doing the job I just pulled out from that 300 bucks, 205 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:37,960 gave him $100 bill. Like God, like patient, patient. 206 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:43,440 OK, so you, if you'd, the only way I could be patient was 207 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,760 because I had margin. If you don't have margin, you 208 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:48,880 can't be patient. You got to move. 209 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,080 And So what do you So in that situation, what would be the 210 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:52,160 opposite? Oh, we got to have this car. 211 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,680 We have it now. I mean, thinking back to last 212 00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:56,680 week's sermon, hey, you know what, let's just put on a credit 213 00:09:56,680 --> 00:09:58,000 card and we'll figure it out later. 214 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:01,880 Now, remember what we said last week that feels like you're 215 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,880 solving a problem, but you're actually not solving a problem. 216 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,360 You just create, you're pushing the pressure down the road. 217 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:10,800 You're going to face the pressure later, and you're 218 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:12,560 probably not going to have margin then either. 219 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:18,200 And so it's so like margin. What margin does for you is it? 220 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:23,440 It removes the urgency and the emergency out of most situations 221 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,680 and lets you be patient. It's interesting to me that the 222 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:32,920 writer Proverbs doesn't tell us the whys have more. 223 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:36,480 See, what we all think is that people with margin just earn 224 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:39,120 more and have more. And that's true to some extent 225 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:41,800 for some people. But I know lots of people who 226 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:44,520 have high earning capacities who don't have any margin. 227 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:47,600 They spend everything they earn. They earn a lot of money and 228 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:49,880 they spend a lot of money. They don't have any margin 229 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,960 whatsoever. The proverb, what the proverb 230 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,160 says is it's not that the wise have more or earn more. 231 00:10:55,320 --> 00:11:01,880 It says that the wise hold back a little, they hold back a 232 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:04,800 little, they store up. And So what does that mean 233 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:06,240 practically? What are we talking about? 234 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,080 It's it's a simple financial term. 235 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:10,000 Everybody should know what I'm talking about. 236 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,360 It's called saving. Can we all say that together? 237 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:17,440 123 saving it feels hurtful to say right? 238 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,800 As Americans we're like, I mean, do we have to saving? 239 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,880 You know, why do we save? Do we save because money is the 240 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,200 goal. Like we've got to like we got to 241 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,480 just have more money. Is that why we save? 242 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:31,680 No, having money is not the goal. 243 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:36,720 Having margin is the goal. Why is margin the goal so that 244 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,760 we can be patient and listen and obey God's wisdom. 245 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:46,560 That's so we don't we don't save so we can amass more we and find 246 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:48,840 our security in our safety and money. 247 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:54,080 We save because margin creates space to listen for God's 248 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:57,160 wisdom. Proverbs chapter 6. 249 00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,520 So if you want to flip to Proverbs chapter 6 verse 6 250 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,760 through 8, the proverb writer says this. 251 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:07,000 It says go to the Ant, you sluggard, which I love. 252 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:08,280 The word sluggard isn't a good one. 253 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:12,200 Like you sluggard. I think it means like you lazy 254 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,000 bum, be like you bum. Go to the Ant, you bum. 255 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:22,080 Consider its ways and be wise. OK, what are its ways? 256 00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:29,240 Well, it has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores 257 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:33,720 its provisions in summer and gathers its food and harvest. 258 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,240 In other words, instinctively. What the Proverbs writer is 259 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:43,240 saying is like instinctively it makes a choice to prepare for 260 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:44,480 the future. It holds back. 261 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,920 The Ant holds back. And the parallel that the 262 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:52,360 proverb writers trying to say is like you do have a commander, 263 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:55,000 you do have a ruler, like you do have a king. 264 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:00,960 How much more do does the wisdom of holding back and preparing 265 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:06,680 for the future apply to us? So here's the thing, the way we 266 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:12,560 move financially is you can spend everything you earn and 267 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:14,360 just have 0 margin and live that life. 268 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,280 And there are plenty of people who live that life. 269 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:23,760 Or the way you move financially can be, I'm going to save some 270 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,880 of the resources I earn. I'm not going to spend 271 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:30,560 everything I have so that in the future I'm prepared for things 272 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:34,360 that come along. So we call those emergency 273 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:35,880 funds. You've heard of this before, 274 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:38,680 have an emergency fund. So if you're, you know, young, 275 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,400 especially, you know, if you're in the room, like my advice to 276 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,760 you, whatever you want to call young, my advice to you is as 277 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,600 quick as you can save $1000 is what Dave Ramsey says. 278 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,240 As quick as you can save $1000, save $1000. 279 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:54,120 And then as quick as you can put up a month's worth of expenses 280 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,200 and then two months worth of expenses and three months worth 281 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:57,720 of expenses. Then do that. 282 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:02,280 Like as quick as you can do that because that margin isn't where 283 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:03,800 you find your safety and security. 284 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,360 That margin creates space for you to be able to listen for 285 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,800 God's wisdom. And if you're, you got to save, 286 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:13,680 it's got to be part of your financial movement. 287 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:17,960 Now for those of us who are not as young, we need to be doing 288 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:22,040 those things and something else. And I've been thinking about 289 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:23,680 this because I don't know if you guys know this or not, but I'll 290 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:27,760 be 50 in a couple weeks. I know I don't look a day over 291 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,040 37. I get that all the time. 292 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:32,360 It's fine, it's fine. I know. 293 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,160 But you know, guess what I'm thinking about from time to time 294 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:40,800 now as I creep upon 50 and retire, Am I going to be up? 295 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:43,000 Now for some of us, we're like, I'm never going to retire. 296 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,480 I say that sometimes I'll say like, I'm I'm going to, I'm just 297 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:47,840 going to keep working. I'm but there'll come a day 298 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,800 where I won't be able to work. And so even if you're kind of 299 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,280 going, I'm not going to retire, I'm going to work. 300 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:58,280 Well, there will come a day in everybody's life where you just 301 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:01,200 won't be able to work, like you just won't have the capacity. 302 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:03,240 You also don't know what might happen to your health. 303 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,040 You know, you, you might have, you might face a health crisis 304 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,480 in your mid 60s that you never dreamed possible. 305 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:12,680 You never thought what happened. You were planning to work well 306 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,760 into your 70s and your mid 60s. A health crisis comes and you 307 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:17,720 can't. And so my point is, is that 308 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:21,600 there's a saving mechanism that has to happen for that as well. 309 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:26,160 So built into what the Ant, like the the text about the Ant, like 310 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,800 one of the things that unless we die early, most of us are going 311 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:31,760 to grow old. Most of us are going to grow to 312 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,400 a point where one day we cannot work anymore. 313 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:38,840 We just can't. The Ant is like, hey, that day 314 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:40,640 is coming, bro. What are you doing about it? 315 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,360 How are you preparing now? This isn't intended to shame you 316 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:45,360 or make you feel like, oh gosh, I'm behind the 8 ball. 317 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,160 It's just meant to say like, the Bible speaks to this stuff. 318 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:49,560 The Bible's not silent on this stuff. 319 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,760 The Bible's the best financial teacher there is because it 320 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,400 tells us this type of stuff. You know, these verses are not 321 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,840 saying that people who save are just better than other people 322 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:02,560 that don't save. It's not saying that it's like 323 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,120 like that's kind of like the language we like to use in our 324 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:06,160 culture. Well, I'm better than you 325 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,480 because I save and you're you're not as good as me because you 326 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,520 don't say no, that's not how the Bible talks about this. 327 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:14,840 The Bible doesn't use like shame here and you know, guilt. 328 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:16,400 It doesn't kind of like point its finger us. 329 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,160 No, the Bible just kind of says, hey, look, there are behavioral 330 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,760 differences between people who are wise and people who are not 331 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,760 wise, and that's all. It's just those those practical 332 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,400 behavioral differences and one of those behavioral differences, 333 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:34,560 people who are wise store up some for the future, they store 334 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:36,600 up some for the future. They have different behavioral 335 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:38,200 patterns. That's it. 336 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:39,800 They're not. Their value isn't, they're not 337 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,280 more valuable. They're not less valuable. 338 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,040 They just, they just move differently. 339 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:48,000 Most of us don't have any financial margin, not because 340 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,520 we're foolish. That's not it. 341 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,440 It's not like you, just like it's not like you're I'm saying 342 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,520 things to you and you're going, man, I never thought about 343 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:59,360 having financial margin before. That's not why that that's not 344 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:00,720 why that doesn't exist in your life. 345 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:02,920 It's because life is complicated, bro. 346 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:06,680 And it's fast. And once you kind of get on the 347 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:11,040 train of urgency and emergency, you stay on the train of urgency 348 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,200 and emergency. And it's difficult to get off of 349 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,920 that train to to save and to create margin in our financial 350 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:19,599 lives. Now, it's definitely the wise 351 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:21,200 thing to do, but it's challenging. 352 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,920 It's hard. And here's the thing, what do, 353 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:27,839 what do we all as humans tend to do when things get hard? 354 00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:37,200 We stop trying, we kind of quit. We're like, man, the reason that 355 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:39,280 the, the people who become successful and do these amazing 356 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,640 things of their lives, they were so enamored with them is because 357 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:44,840 when things got hard for them, they just didn't quit. 358 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,480 They just kind of kept going. And what, and me included, this 359 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:50,920 is all of us. We're all, you know, we're all 360 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:52,360 in this. When we face a little 361 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:56,200 resistance, we fold. They're like, ah. 362 00:17:56,200 --> 00:18:03,560 And so for many of us, the idea of sitting here hearing the 363 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,200 sermon is saying we've got to get some margin. 364 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:15,400 It sounds like a daunting thing to accomplish, and I get it. 365 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:20,280 But what I'm telling you, the Bible teaches is that without 366 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:25,000 some margin, it's very difficult to have space to listen for 367 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:29,240 God's wisdom because everything feels urgent and everything 368 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,880 feels like an emergency. And you are the only one who can 369 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,320 solve it. When it feel, when you feel that 370 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:40,880 pressure, that's what you think. So margin tends to disappear. 371 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,760 Margin tends to get small in our financial lives. 372 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,680 And when that happens, wisdom goes quiet, not because God's 373 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,440 not God's still instructing you, God's still leading you, God's 374 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:58,040 still guiding you, but because of the pressure you're feeling 375 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:02,120 is drowning him out. OK, so the first idea this 376 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:05,040 morning was margin. If margin creates space for 377 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:11,280 wisdom and urgency and pressure kind of pushes that out, the 378 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:13,280 next question is really obvious for us. 379 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,720 Why does margin evaporate in our finances? 380 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:24,120 Why does that even happen? Like why is it so hard to create 381 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:28,600 margin? Let's go back to verse 20 and 382 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,200 read it again because it's in the text. 383 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:33,880 So the first thing the text says was the wise store up choice 384 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,080 food and olive oil. They store up, they save, they 385 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:40,040 create margin. Verse 20, chapter 21. 386 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:46,080 The next thing this proverb writer says is but fools. 387 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,120 The opposite of wise, but fools. Their behavior is not to store 388 00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:50,720 up. Their behavior is to do what? 389 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,320 Say it loud. Gulp, there's down. 390 00:19:56,120 --> 00:20:01,320 Gulp, there's down. So here's a simple number two 391 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:02,560 thing if you want to write this down. 392 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:07,400 Consuming everything removes margin. 393 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,280 Is that rocket science? You're like, this guy is a 394 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:18,640 financial guru, right? Consuming everything removes 395 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:20,880 margin. The Proverbs writer says that 396 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:25,280 gulping everything down is the reason margin evaporates, or 397 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,320 it's the reason that margin is difficult to generate, It's 398 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,760 difficult to maintain. The word is consumption. 399 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,960 We consume everything. If you consume everything, 400 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:37,960 you're gulping every down everything down. 401 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:43,240 So Simply put, let me just say this practically, you and I, if 402 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:46,760 we're going to create margin and have margin, we must live with 403 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:52,320 intentional predetermined limits or me say it differently, 404 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:56,160 predetermined intentional limits, in other words, limits 405 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,880 that you decided before the emergency, before the urgency, 406 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:03,680 before the paycheck came in, like before the year started, 407 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,840 some predetermined limits. And they're intentional, meaning 408 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:09,640 they, they have a point, they have a purpose. 409 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,040 You know what you're trying to accomplish. 410 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,600 This is difficult for us. We don't like to think about our 411 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,200 finances like looking way into the future and saying how are we 412 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,520 going to manage our finances this year in 2026? 413 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,520 What is going to be our intentional plan to limit what 414 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:24,880 we spend? We don't like to do this. 415 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:29,000 We're a culture in America that created this term Yolo. 416 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:31,080 What does Yolo mean? Here's a quiz. 417 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:35,440 What does Yolo mean? Go Nobody. 418 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:37,240 How many people went? I have no idea. 419 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,800 Good job. You got raised right, bro. 420 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:48,200 Your parents love you. I tell my kids all the time, 421 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:49,520 this isn't the only life you're going to get. 422 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:50,600 You're going to get a whole nother one. 423 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:55,560 There's a whole nother 1 coming. I mean like if you don't teach 424 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:57,800 your kids that like they're going to, they're going to adopt 425 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:02,920 Yolo. Why wouldn't you adopt Yolo if 426 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:03,960 you don't believe in another lot? 427 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,520 Anyway, that's another sermon. What am I doing? 428 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:09,480 Golly, we're the culture that came up with Yolo. 429 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:11,200 You only live once and you all knew it. 430 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:13,080 We're we're also the culture that does this. 431 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:15,400 We say that we say not as much anymore. 432 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,880 We say this. Hey, smoke them if you got them. 433 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,720 Smoke them if you got them. You know, we are like, you're 434 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,880 like, man, this guy's out there talking about smoking in church. 435 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,760 Smoke them if you got them. But most of us don't use that 436 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,960 language when we when we gulp everything down and we consume 437 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,680 everything we earn, the language we use is something like this. 438 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,400 You know, you got to live a little. 439 00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:51,400 We got to have some fun. I say, who says, who says like, 440 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:52,440 where's that? Where's that at? 441 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:55,880 We got to have a little like even right now you're arguing 442 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:57,040 with me. You're like, well, you do have 443 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:03,480 to live a little, Steven. I mean, really you do, I don't 444 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,680 know, like this. That's the language we use. 445 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,400 So the, the income comes in and we go, we got to live a little 446 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,000 or you, you got to have some fun. 447 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,800 You got to, you have something. We got to have a little bit of 448 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,400 fun in our lives. But what, what ends up happening 449 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,000 is, yes, let's go on a vacation once a year or maybe once every 450 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:28,040 two years or whatever, but that turns into, you know, 2 451 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:29,880 vacations a year or three vacations a year. 452 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:31,800 That turns into a lot of multiple weekend trips. 453 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,760 In other words, the, the, the if, if it's not intentional and 454 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:40,000 predetermined and saved for, then it just grows and becomes 455 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:41,920 licensed. And next thing you know, your 456 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:45,120 emotions are guiding all your decision making and not your 457 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:47,240 predetermined plan. Does that make sense? 458 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:53,080 Does anybody relate with this? And so if I don't sit down and 459 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,280 write a predetermined plan and intentionally lay it out like 460 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,400 this is this is what we're going to do, then my emotions are 461 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:03,000 going to take over. And let's be frank, man, our 462 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:09,040 culture, this, the culture we live in does not encourage or 463 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:14,040 celebrate restraint. It just doesn't. 464 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:16,880 It just doesn't celebrate or encourage your strength. 465 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:25,240 In our culture, we celebrate and we congratulate and we advertise 466 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:30,560 consumption. If you buy this item, you will 467 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:36,680 be happy and you will be sexy and your life will be fulfilled. 468 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,880 If you can do this thing, go this place. 469 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,960 You ever get those Viking Cruise advertisements? 470 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,880 You guys get those in your mail, man, every time I get those, I'm 471 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,440 like, this is this is this is such a lie. 472 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:51,880 It's like that's all these people. 473 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:53,600 And I'm wondering why I'm getting, I guess I'm getting 474 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:55,320 closer to 50. That's why I'm getting them now, 475 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,320 you know, because it's always like older people that are in 476 00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,320 the advertises. I'm always like, why are these 477 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,920 old people in this advertise? Like I'm like, oh, I'm getting 478 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:06,800 this maybe. Oh, oh, oh, wait a minute. 479 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:08,720 They're trying to get me to go on a Viking cruise. 480 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:12,440 I'm in the, I'm in the age group now. 481 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:15,960 I want to write them a letter and be like, I'm not in the age 482 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:17,120 group. Don't send me these anymore. 483 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,280 What is, you know, what is the, the price is crazy high and you 484 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:25,200 know you're going to spend a week on some river somewhere in 485 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:26,560 Europe. And I'm sure it's amazing. 486 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,960 I'm sure it's an awesome experience, but it's not going 487 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:31,600 to be the experience they're claiming. 488 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:35,040 It's going to be in the marketing, like in the marketing 489 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:36,680 they're claiming. It's going to be this rekindling 490 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,800 of relationship and it's going to be this beautiful time. 491 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:42,040 You know, it's just going to be absolutely perfect, but it's not 492 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:43,840 going to be that. It will be fun, it will be good, 493 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,080 but it's not going to be it's it's oversold. 494 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:50,720 Why is it oversold? To get me to part with my money. 495 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,000 That's everything. That's everything in culture is 496 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,880 trying to encourage you to part with your money to not save it. 497 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:07,920 For many of us, we earn money and our money is already 498 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,720 assigned to a location before we've ever even gotten it. 499 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:21,160 What I mean is when we get money, it's all it's already 500 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:22,320 got. Somewhere it has to go. 501 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:24,840 We don't even get to say where it gets to go. 502 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:29,080 It has to go there. And This is why many of us don't 503 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:31,440 have margin. We don't have intentional 504 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:33,120 limits. We don't have red lines that we 505 00:26:33,120 --> 00:26:35,040 refuse to cross. We don't have it predetermined 506 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,200 to plan. Again, it's not that the wise 507 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,080 earn more. It's that the wise store up. 508 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,560 And there's no way to store up unless you limit your 509 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,160 consumption. It's just math. 510 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,880 It's math. It's not about hoarding. 511 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,000 It's not about living in fear. It's not, it's not about finding 512 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,920 your financial safety and money, but it's about how pressure, 513 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:01,960 it's about understanding how pressure and urgency works When 514 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:06,800 there is margin, because we store up, we are more likely to 515 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:11,320 trust God and obey his wisdom. So we have some margin to slow 516 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,760 down, to talk to Him, to listen to Him. 517 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,920 So how do you create limits? If you've got to have limits, 518 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,720 how do we create limits? There's really no secret mystery 519 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,240 here to having limits and creating margin. 520 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,240 You have to have a plan. And in our culture we call that 521 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:31,680 plan a budget, right? Call it a budget. 522 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:35,560 We have to decide ahead of time. We have to, we have to assign 523 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,760 where we want our money to go, what we're going to, what job 524 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,640 we're going to give it. Because if we don't create a 525 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,920 plan and we don't assign our money its job before we get it, 526 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,800 then we will just drift into emotional decisions and none of 527 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,200 our decisions will be intentional. 528 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,800 Budgeting is simply telling your money where to go instead of 529 00:27:53,800 --> 00:28:00,800 wondering where it went. If you didn't write it down, you 530 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:06,360 don't have any margin. Budgeting is simply telling your 531 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:09,840 money where you want it to go instead of wondering where it 532 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:13,560 went. Have you ever had a little money 533 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:14,920 and then you wondered where it went? 534 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,560 That's what happens without an intentional plan. 535 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,200 Predetermined. A budget is not about 536 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:21,960 restriction. It's about intention. 537 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:25,960 A budget doesn't tell you what you can't do. 538 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,520 It helps you determine what it is you really want to do. 539 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,240 A lot of us aren't doing what we really want to do as it relates 540 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:38,360 to our finances because we haven't predetermined a plan for 541 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,320 our finances. We haven't thought through a 542 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,800 budget. And if we're being honest, 543 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,760 having a budget sounds restricting and kind of not fun. 544 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,000 But having a, I'm telling you, friend, there is no way for you 545 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,520 to have margin without a predetermined spending plan. 546 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:58,240 And there's no way for you to walk in constant trust and have 547 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,560 the patience to listen to the the wisdom of God and obey the 548 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,680 wisdom of God unless you have that margin. 549 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:05,920 And you won't have that margin without an intentional plan. 550 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,160 This is how critically important this is. 551 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,560 Limits help you protect what's most important. 552 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,920 And I'm going to say this to you really clearly, the most 553 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,840 important thing in my life, in your life is not amassing wealth 554 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:25,200 or getting money. The most important thing in my 555 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:33,600 life, in your life is obeying God and margin in your finances, 556 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:41,650 createspace to obey God. All right? 557 00:29:41,650 --> 00:29:44,050 If you're sitting here and you know you don't have any margin 558 00:29:44,050 --> 00:29:47,410 in your life, you might feel overwhelmed and defeated. 559 00:29:47,930 --> 00:29:49,290 You might feel like it's too late. 560 00:29:49,650 --> 00:29:53,200 You're never going to get this right or you don't even know how 561 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,600 you would get it right. Your financial, let me say this 562 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,200 very clearly to the all of you. Your financial management 563 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:03,560 skills, as good or as bad as they are, are not linked to your 564 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:05,760 value. They're not linked to your 565 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:07,840 salvation in God. They're not linked to how much 566 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,040 God values you or loves you. They're just not. 567 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,760 Your value is linked to the fact that Jesus Christ sat on the 568 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,360 cross for you and you are right with your heavenly Father 569 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:20,280 because he paid the price for you to be right with your 570 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,480 heavenly Father. So there's no shame here. 571 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:24,800 There's no sense of like God's mad at me. 572 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,200 It's not at all. This is this sermon in this 573 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,120 series is not about condemnation or about shame. 574 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:35,680 This sermon in this series is about an invitation inviting you 575 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,880 in to what God has for you. God through his word delivers to 576 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,320 us a better way to live. God through His word delivers to 577 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,200 us a better way to live, especially as it relates to our 578 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:50,400 finances. His wheat ways are indeed better 579 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,720 for us. So it's not about shame, It's 580 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,800 not about you feeling guilty. It's not about your value. 581 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:00,160 It's about an invitation. And usually when you hear 582 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,200 someone like this, you're like, you're looking at your spouse. 583 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:03,320 You're like, we're going to do it. 584 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:04,640 We're going to create some margin. 585 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,600 Here's the thing about margin. It is rarely generated quickly. 586 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,520 I mean, if you win the lottery, I would say that's a pretty 587 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:16,360 quick way to generate some margin, OK, you have a family 588 00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:19,200 member leave you $10 million or even $100,000. 589 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,240 That's a quick way to leave create some margin. 590 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:24,800 But what I believe is that margin generated quickly usually 591 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:29,280 evaporates just as quickly, All right? 592 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:35,960 Margin in our financial lives is developed slowly over consistent 593 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:39,200 habits over a long period of time. 594 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,160 Because a quick, quick, quick presence of margin, like if you 595 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:46,480 just came in to me and said, hey, Steven, here's here's 596 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,200 $40,000 for you to have some margin, I would take it 100%. 597 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,520 I would. But because I've not had the 598 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:57,440 discipline that generates $40,000 of margin, I'm probably 599 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,640 going to spend it. You see what I'm saying? 600 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,360 So if you think, well, if I just had something big happened to 601 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:06,200 me, if I just had a windfall, then we'd have margin. 602 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:12,280 You wouldn't have it long. The real solution is good 603 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:18,320 habits, long term consistency, building margin over time. 604 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:25,960 The Bible says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear 605 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,960 of God. So let's think about that as it 606 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,160 relates to finances. All the fear of God. 607 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,360 All that means is that we're in all of God. 608 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:38,920 We're aware of God. We we respect God, we pay him 609 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:43,320 attention. So wisdom begins with being 610 00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,800 aware that God cares how you live. 611 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,960 He cares about your money, He cares about where you spend it. 612 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:55,040 That's where wisdom begins. This doesn't mean that we're 613 00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:57,080 going to have it all down or we're going to be perfect. 614 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,480 And it's just no, that means that at all. 615 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,640 It just means that we know that there is a God. 616 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:07,560 We respect this God and we pay attention to His ways. 617 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,520 His ways are better than ours. Here's another thing I want to 618 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:15,520 leave you with today. You don't have to fix everything 619 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,520 today. You don't have to leave today 620 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:18,840 and be like I'm fixing all of this. 621 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,920 No, you won't. You will be depressed, you will 622 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:23,280 be discouraged. You will look at your bank 623 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,640 account, you will look at your debt, and you will say it's 624 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,080 hopeless. Please don't leave and say we're 625 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:33,760 going to fix this today. No, what? 626 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,120 What I want to leave you with is a clear step you can do. 627 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:41,760 What if in the month of February, today's the 18th, 628 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,560 17th, What's today? I don't know, 18th? 629 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,760 What if in the month of February, it's the short month, 630 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,600 28 days? What if in the month of February 631 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,280 you tracked every dollar you spent? 632 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:02,000 Every single dollar. So like you literally like you 633 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,560 either use your notes app or a piece of paper and just 634 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:08,679 everything you spent, you wrote it down, ladies, gentlemen, 635 00:34:08,679 --> 00:34:10,639 including the cash that you spent. 636 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:13,880 Because I know like we like to treat like, like cash is not 637 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:15,840 real money. Now you know, we're like, I had 638 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:17,159 this cash and I didn't know I had it. 639 00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:19,480 Like I'll find $20 in my pockets and I'll be like, oh, this is 640 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:26,120 free money. Every dollar and you get to the 641 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:27,560 end of the month. Look at your notes. 642 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:32,440 Look at your bank statement and just track where did I spend my 643 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:34,480 money? Where did it go? 644 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,320 Record it for one month. Just write it down for one 645 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:36,920 month. That's it. 646 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,040 See what you learn. Don't judge it. 647 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:42,960 Don't shame yourself. Don't say, Oh my gosh, we eat 648 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,120 out too much, which we eat out too much. 649 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:47,560 I already know that I don't need to track it. 650 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,040 And then when you track it for one month, ask this question. 651 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:59,800 No shame, no judging yourself. Month of February, just say, 652 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:07,320 dear God, in our lives, in my life, is margin possible? 653 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:14,000 Is it possible? Could you help me find some 654 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,480 margin? That's it, That's your step. 655 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,640 Don't write a budget. Don't go home today and be like 656 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,800 we're doing this thing. Month of February, just track 657 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:30,440 every dollar you spend. Don't judge yourself, come to 658 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:33,280 the prayer and say God is margin possible. 659 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:37,680 Can you help me find some margin friends? 660 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,080 The wisdom that God is inviting you into doesn't start with math 661 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:44,920 or spreadsheets. Those will come later. 662 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,600 The wisdom God is inviting you into starts with honesty and 663 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:55,760 prayer. If you'll just be honest in 664 00:35:55,760 --> 00:36:00,960 prayer to your Heavenly Father, He will meet you there with no 665 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:07,240 shame, no guilt, but with an open hand because He loves you. 666 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:11,080 It wants what's best for you. He gave His Son for you. 667 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:17,280 He will lead you to the margin that He knows you need. 668 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,920 Margin is not about having more. It's not about saving more. 669 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:26,560 Margins about having space ready. 670 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,160 Remember this at the beginning margins about having space, 671 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:36,960 space to listen, space to trust and space to live with peace 672 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:42,480 instead of pressure. Margin does that for you. 673 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:50,160 So here's your plan. February track every dollar and 674 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:56,200 then you pray with honesty. And who knows, by next February 675 00:36:56,720 --> 00:37:01,560 you may come up to me and say, hey, we have a month's worth of 676 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,320 expenses saved, or we have two weeks worth of expenses saved. 677 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:11,240 That's possible. The freedom and the lack of 678 00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:16,080 pressure will give you space to wait on God. 679 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:18,840 And what a beautiful gift that is. 680 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:21,680 Will you stand with me as I pray for us? 681 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:29,440 Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for our worship from 682 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:31,920 the band. I think you've got your word is 683 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:36,720 practical about all things. I hope that there's been no 684 00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:42,360 shame felt today, no sense of reproach, but we would know that 685 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:46,000 we're invited into something you have for us. 686 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,040 You're never wagging your finger at us. 687 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:54,680 You're always drawing us in to a better way to live. 688 00:37:56,160 --> 00:38:00,000 So give us the courage to do this job in February to track 689 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:05,800 every single dollar. And then just to ask you, can I 690 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:07,200 have margin here? Is it possible? 691 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,280 Will you help me? I love you. 692 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:12,160 Thank you for Jesus. And it's his name we pray. 693 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:12,560 Amen.