The ABCs to Be Financially Free – Secret #4 – Part 2

3:06 we're addressing right now. I've titled today's message, The ABCs, to be financially free. God has a unique purpose for your life and for my life. And that means money is not the end. Consumerism is not the end. Money is simply the means to the end to give us the freedom we need to fulfill God's will for our life. The goal of every Christian should be simply to have enough money to help us do what God has called us to do. In fact, that word enough is a great goal for every Christian. We're looking at what the Word of God, specifically Proverbs says, about how to be successful in your work and in your relationships in every area of life. Now today, we're going to conclude this study by looking at four practical ways to create financial margin in your life. How can you have that financial margin in your life?

4:05 Today, I have what I call the ABCs to be financially free. Here are the four principles for creating margin in your life. The A stands for adjust your spending below your income. If you want to have margin, first of all, adjust your spending below your income. Now the B in this outline stands for be careful of debt. Be careful of debt. Here's the basic problem, ladies and gentlemen, with debt. Debt allows us to artificially live beyond our means. And debt erases any financial margin that we have. Here's a good illustration of that. Let's say you decide it's time for your family to have a new car. Your old one has given up the ghost and you need a new car.

5:01 And so you go out and you find one that will meet yours and your family's need. But you look at the car and you realize, you know, for about $500 a month, you could buy a used one, a year or two years old. But for $800, you could buy it brand new. And you kind of like the smell of the new car. And you reason to yourself that it might cut down on car repair bills if you got the new one. And you reason to yourself, well, if I really stretch and everything goes okay, I can probably fit that $800 a month payment into my budget, just as long as there are no problems. Well, after the first couple of months, you run into some problems. Your son breaks his arm at football practice. You have an expensive emergency room treatment. Or maybe your accountant tells you that you owe more income tax than you thought was going to be due. Or maybe the transmission in your other car drops out. And suddenly what has happened is you have no margin in your finances because you're using every available dollar you had to buy that new car instead of that used car.

6:02 You see, that's what debt does. Debt allows us to artificially buy more than we're really capable of buying and to erase the margin in our life. And that's why I say consumer debt is enemy number one of financial margin. Remember, God doesn't want us to be a slave to anyone except to himself. Be careful of debt. Number three, how do you create financial margin in your life? Remember, all of this is coming straight from God's word. Consistently save part of your income. The C stands for consistently save part of your income. Remember Proverbs chapter six, verses six through eight. Solomon said, go to the aunt, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which having no chief officer or ruler prepares her food in summer and then gathers her provision in the harvest. Even an ant understands that the harvest it enjoys in the summertime, the bountiful food won't last forever.

7:04 So it sets aside some of the food in the summer and in the fall to prepare for the wintertime where there is no food. And the same thing is true for us. If we're wise, we're going to set aside some of our income for future needs. How much income should we set aside? Some financial planners say that we ought to set aside at least 10 to 15% of our income for our retirement needs. And then more than that to set aside for emergencies, college educations, and other big ticket items. How much money you set aside really isn't our call to make. But I want to give you three words that will help you in your saving. And by the way, there are a lot of you right now listening who are young adults, those in midlife and senior adults. It's not too late for you, but it's going to be harder for you to create margin in your life. it. If you're a young adult listening to this message right now, write this down. Parents, grandparents, write it down for your children and your grandchildren. Three important words.

8:02 Number one, immediacy. Immediacy. The best time to begin saving money is now. Because as we're going to see in a moment, smaller amounts of money saved early in life are much more valuable than large amounts of money saved later in life, all because of the magic of compound interest. Let me illustrate that for you. Let's say there are two people, Dick and Jane. Remember Dick and Jane from the first grade? Yeah, we're bringing them back. Dick and Jane, they've grown up now. And they both go to work for the Acme Corporation on the very same day, Dick and Jane. Jane goes in to see the HR person on her first day of the job. And the HR person says, now, Jane, we have a 401k plan here. And if you invest some of your money, it'll help prepare for the future. And so Jane says, well, that sounds like a good idea to me. And so she signs up to put $1,250 a year into her 401k plan. $1,250 a year. She does that every year for eight years. After eight years of working for the Acme Corporation, she decides to retire and become a full-time homemaker. But she also decides to leave the money she has accumulated over those eight years into that 401k plan.

9:20 And for the next 22 years, she doesn't touch it. She doesn't add anything to it. Now that's Jane. Now Dick goes to work on the same day as Jane did. And the HR person tells him about the 401k plan. But Dick says, you know, I know I need to do that. I should do that. But I've got so many family responsibilities and expenses right now. I just can't afford to do that right now. So for the first eight years of his life and working life at ACME, he doesn't contribute a penny to his 401k plan. But after the first eight years, he hears a message just like this. He gets convicted. He says, you know, I really ought to do this. I need to take advantage of this. And so he starts contributing to his 401k plan, and he does so for the next 22 years. Okay, at the end of the 30 years, who's going to end up with more money? Is it going to be Jane who invested $1,250 a year for eight years?

10:15 That's a total of $10,000 and then never added a penny to it. Or is it going to be Dick who invested $1,250 a year for 22 years? That's $27,000 some hundred dollars. Who's going to have the most money at the end of 30 years? At 8% interest, do you realize Jane is going to have more money than Dick? She will have accumulated $74,000. Dick will have accumulated $71,000. You say, how is that possible? One person only saves for eight years. One person saves for 22 years. It's what John D. Rockefeller called the eighth wonder of the world, compound interest. Money is more efficient, saved early in life, even if for a shorter amount of time than a large amount of money saved later in life. Immediacy. Somebody once said the best time to plant an oak tree was 20 years ago.

11:11 The next best time is today. The same thing is true with your saving. Regardless of what you haven't done in the past, today's the best time, immediacy. Secondly, the word consistency. Now, this is a key word, consistency. Again, a small amount of money regularly saved over a long period of time can do wondrous things. You know, most people don't want to think about saving because they don't want to deprive themselves. They think if they save money, they're depriving themselves of current enjoyment of life. But listen, you don't have to be an Ebenezer Scrooge to have financial margin in life. Let me give this illustration. And again, I hope you young adults will especially listen to this and parents and grandparents tell your kids and grandkids. Let's imagine someone has just graduated from school. They're just beginning their work life. They are 22 years old, 22 year old young adult. And let's imagine this 22 young old young adult starts investing $100 a month in a mutual fund. That's what he can afford, $100 a month.

12:16 And he invests $100 a month, never increases it at all. $100 a month. He invests it in a mutual fund. and let's say the mutual fund earns 12% a year. Did you know by age 72, do you know how much money he will have accumulated? $100 a month, never increases it. By age 72, that person will have accumulated $3.9 million. $3.9 million. And if he puts it in a Roth IRA, he can have that money tax-free. In other words, for the price of a Starbucks every day, this person can retire a multi-millionaire. Now, my daughter Dorothy's sitting right on the front row. She's going to be 22 in December. Dorothy, that would be a great plan for you to take care of your parents in their old age. That would be our financial measure of success there is having you do that. Now, I know some of you, you're going to write me, some of you financial people, oh, 12%, that's too high.

13:19 That's too high. Nobody's earning 12%. Well, people did in the 90s. It's true today. They're not earning 12%. Okay, make it 10% or 9%. You can still have multiple millions of dollars by saving a small amount of money over a long period of time. That's what we're talking about here, the word consistency. Thirdly, the word diversity. The third key in saving money is to diversify your savings. Mark Twain said, put all of your eggs in one basket and watch the basket. But Solomon says, no, that is a prescription for financial disaster. Instead, listen to what he says in Ecclesiastes 11 verse 2. Divide your portion to seven or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth. Don't put all of your money in stocks. Don't put all of your money in bonds. Don't put it all in real estate. Diversify because you really don't know what the future holds. Have a balanced investment so that you can take advantage of some things that are up while other things are down. Diversity. How do you create financial margin in your life? Adjust your spending below your income. B, be careful of debt. C, consistently save a portion of your income.

14:37 D, the final and an important principle, devote a portion of your income to God. Devote a portion of your income to God. Solomon offered another piece of financial counsel that is overlooked by so many people and so many Christians and explains why so many Christians have trouble with their finances. Listen to Proverbs 3 verses 9 to 10. Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all of your produce so that your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be overcome with new wine. These verses are not a blanket promise that if you give to God, you will automatically be financially wealthy. If that were the case, If giving to God ensured and promised that you would always 100% of the time be financially successful, then giving would not be a matter of making an offering.

15:33 It would be making a wise investment, wouldn't it? Nevertheless, as you look through the whole counsel of God on this subject of giving, you find that more often than not, God promises to bless those who give and to judge those who withhold from him. In fact, not to give what belongs to God, God calls robbery. To not give what God, what belongs to him is tantamount to robbing God. Turn over to Malachi chapter three for a moment. Malachi chapter three, or some people call it Malachi. Malachi chapter three. Remember the situation here? The Israelites were not giving God what belonged to him. And they had all kinds of reasons.

16:25 They said, God, we just can't afford to give. We're these impoverished agricultural people. We don't have the money to give. I mean, after all, after we subtract our mortgage payment and our TV cable bill and our chariot monthly payments, we just don't have any margin left. So what were they doing? They were using what belonged to God to pay for their monthly expenses. They said, God, we cannot afford to give. God said, you can't afford not to give. Look at what he said in Malachi 3, beginning with verse 8. Will a man rob God? But you say, well, how have we robbed you, God? God answers, in tithes and offerings. For you are cursed with a curse. For you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. What's the answer? to make sure you're not robbing God? Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house.

17:24 And test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts. It's one of the few times we're ever told to test God in the Bible. But God says, you can test me in this. If you'll bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, test me and see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. That's the positive promise. But notice there's a negative promise here too in verse 11. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground, nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes, says the Lord of hosts. The positive promise is this. God said, Israelites, if you will give 10% of what you have to me, I will bless the 90% above anything you can imagine. but if you rob me of the 10% that belongs to me, I will allow the devourer to consume 90% and more of what you have. I've heard so many Christians through the years give a testimony like this. They've said, you know, for years we were disobedient to God in this area of tithing. We did not give what belonged to God. We felt like the way we could have some padding, some margin in our finances was not to give. And yet they said, whatever margin we had through not giving to God, it was amazing every month how it got eaten up by unexpected car repair bills or medical emergencies or other things that we had not planned for. But when we started obeying God in this area, God blessed us beyond anything we could have imagined. Many of you have that testimony as well.

19:03 That's what the word of God is saying here. So what is the answer here? Well, again, he tells us, look at verse 10. Bring the whole tithe. Where? Into the storehouse. Now the question is, where's the storehouse today? We don't have a temple. Where is the storehouse today? Let me give you a hint. The storehouse is not the Red Cross. It's not Habitat for Humanity. It's not Campus Crusade for Christ. Those are all wonderful organizations, and they're certainly worthy of support, but the tithe doesn't belong to them or any organization like them. You see, it's the local church that has been uniquely created by God, and it's the local church that has been uniquely commissioned by God to fulfill the Great Commission.

20:00 Every other organization in the world, I don't care how wonderful it is, it's a man-made organization. Every one of them. Every Christian organization is a man-made organization except the local church. God designed the church. God commissioned the church to be his agent for spreading the word of God throughout the world. I'm not saying you don't give to those other things, but what I'm saying is the primary focus of our giving is to be the storehouse. And in the New Testament, that storehouse is the local church. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, says the Lord of hosts. The way we create financial margin is by obeying God in every area of our finances. Truly Solomon was right when he said in Proverbs 10 verse 15, the rich man's wealth is his fortress, the ruin of the poor is their poverty. financial margin in your life does give you the freedom to do what's right it gives you the security of preparing for your future needs it gives you the joy of supporting God's work however the benefits of margin are limited to this life and this life alone you see there's one contingency margin cannot protect you against your death Solomon understood that In Ecclesiastes 5 verses 15 and 16, he said, people who live only for wealth come to the end of their lives as naked and empty handed as on the day they were born. He goes on to say in verse 16, and this too is a very serious problem. As people come into the world, so they depart. All their hard work is for nothing. They have been working for the wind and everything will be swept away.

21:46 Jesus told a great story to illustrate that truth in Luke 12 we read it this morning remember it was a story about a very wealthy man he had spent his life accumulating margin a buffer zone in his finances and he had succeeded beyond his wildest imagination he had so much extra he didn't know what to do with it his barns were overflowing with grain his kids education was fully funded his 401k plan was maxed out and he still didn't know what to do with all of his money. In fact, one night he lay awake just saying, what in the world am I going to do with all this excess? And he started making his plans. I'll do this. I think I'll do this. I'll do this. And then God came to him and said, you fool. Tonight, your soul is required of you. That phrase in Greek literally means your loan is due. Tonight, your soul is required of you. Tonight you're going to die.

22:44 And who now is going to own what you've spent your life accumulating? And then Jesus added this application in Luke 12, 21. So is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Listen to me, ladies and gentlemen.

23:05 The value of margin ceases at the cemetery. from that moment throughout eternity. Only your relationship with Jesus Christ matters. Because the truth is, only Jesus Christ can provide you lasting freedom, lasting security, and lasting joy. All are striving for financial freedom and liberation from the relentless pressure that money can bring. It ends at the cemetery. And there's nothing more important than settling our account with God while there's still time. Well, I'm so pleased you chose to join us for today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Earlier in the program, I mentioned a book I've written for you. It's called The Solomon Secrets, 10 Keys to Your Success. There are several chapters devoted to money management and creating a healthy financial margin in your life, which was our topic today. But Solomon also addresses issues on marriage, relationships, and overcoming fear.

24:13 So, when you give a generous gift to Pathway to Victory, please be sure to request a copy of my book, The Solomon Secrets. Then, as we conclude today, let me say thank you in advance of receiving your generous gift. Your partnership truly makes a difference. Recently, we heard from a caller who said, I was brought up with a lot of different beliefs, but I didn't know the truth about being a Christian. Since I began listening to Pathway to Victory, God has opened my spiritual eyes and opened doors in my heart, and now I can receive the truth. She concluded by saying, thank you. Well, that's precisely why we're partnering together in this ministry. And when you give to Pathway to Victory, you're the one who's making it possible to touch people like this caller and countless others who've come to rely on these daily radio programs.

25:09 Thank you in advance for your generosity. Here's David to tell you more.