Principles, Problems, and Plans for Your Money, Part 2

This little series we're doing on giving is one that you cannot afford to miss. No pun intended. But it's an opportunity for us to understand what it is God has for us in a way that God wants to bless his people. We began last week looking at some of the principles and problems and plans with your pennies by looking at some principles, three initial principles. One was spiritual, one was theological, one was biblical. The theological one is first, it's the premise.

If you recognize the theological premise, that is God owns everything. There's nothing that God does not own. He owns you, your money, your home, your car, your church, your ministry. Whatever it is you think you own, you don't. God owns everything. We took you through the scripture to show you that theological premise. Now, how do you know you've recognized that theological premise? You reveal your spiritual priority. And that is as those in Macedonia first gave themselves to the Lord, and because they did, they gave of their substance generously and liberally and cheerfully as well as voluntarily, because they had first given themselves to the Lord.

How do we recognize our understanding of God's theological premise? It's revealed in our spiritual priority of giving ourselves to the Lord. And when you give yourself your heart to the Lord, where your treasure is there will your heart be also. That's very important. And so you have to ask yourself the question, have I given myself fully to the Lord? We quoted to you last week, Robert Murray McShane, and some of you asked me about that book after our service was over. But in 1843, right before he went home to be with the Lord, he had written a poem about giving his life to the Lord and how much he owed to God.

This is what he said. When this passing world is done, when has sunk your glorious son, when we stand with Christ on high looking o'er life's history, then Lord shall I fully know not till then how much I owe. When I stand before the throne dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart, then Lord shall I fully know not till then how much I owe. Even on earth as through a glass darkly let thy glory pass, make forgiveness feel so sweet, make thy spirit's help so sweet, even on earth Lord make me know something of how much I owe.

Chosen not for good in me, wakened up from wrath to flee, hidden in the Savior's side by the Spirit sanctified, teach me Lord on earth to show by my love how much I owe. He recognized that he owed everything to his God. He owed his life to God. He owed all that he had to God. And he wanted to make sure before he left this earth that he would demonstrate to his God that he knew how much he would owe to his God. He gave his life. He ministered for seven years, died at the age of 29, turned Scotland upside down.

Great man of God. And I wonder how many of us recognize how much we owe to the true and living God. We've been bought with the price, right? We're no longer our own. We're slaves of the living God. So you first of all need to recognize the theological premise, God owns everything.

And how do you know you recognize that? How do you know you own that? How do you know you truly believe that? You reveal your spiritual priority. You give yourself to God. You are a living sacrifice given over to God for him to do with you whatever he wants to do. And to do with whatever you have, whatever he wants to do. Now, if you reveal your spiritual priority, how do you know you've revealed your spiritual priority? Simply, you received the biblical promise. Have you received the biblical promise?

Give, it shall be given unto you. Press down, shaken together, overflowing. Honor the Lord with the firstfruits of your increase. And your vats will overflow with new wine. Your barns will be filled plentifully for whatever you sow that will you also reap. If you sow bountifully, you will reap bountifully. If you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly. Sparingly. So let's ask the question, have you received that biblical promise? If you haven't received the biblical promise, you haven't revealed your spiritual priority.

If you haven't revealed your spiritual priority, it's simply because you have not recognized the theological premise that God owns everything that you have. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C. It's as simple as A, B, C.

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Okay? Four immediate problems. Problems that every one of us to some degree tend to have concerning money. Now we know the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

Not money, just the love of money. Money is just money. Okay? It just is what it is. But the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some we don't even begin to understand until it's too late. So let me talk to you about those four immediate problems that every one of us must learn to overcome.

And they're easier to overcome if you understand the theological premise, and the spiritual priority, and the biblical promise. But you need to understand the problems that we have with the love of money. Remember we told you that in the last days, okay, 2nd Timothy 3, men will be not lovers of God, but lovers of themselves, lovers of money. Greedy, covetousness will will pervade the land. And to some degree that creeps over to the church. We love money. How do you know you love money? That's a good question.

Let's answer that question. Okay? How do you know you love money? Let me give you a couple of principles.

One, you spend more time thinking about how to get money than how to pursue excellence in your work. You're more concerned about climbing the corporate ladder, receiving more money than having an excellent work ethic. How you work is not nearly as important as what you make when you work. That's how you know you love money. You never seem to have enough money. You ever been there? We all tend to be at that point. Boy, if I just had a little bit more here, a little bit more there. If you're at a place where you never seem to have enough, that's an indicator that you probably love money more than you need to love it.

Number three, you tend to flaunt what you own. You want everybody to see the car you drive, the house you live in, the clothes you wear, the things you do, the places you go, the vacations you go on. You want everybody to know those things because somehow that becomes a status symbol for you. So you flaunt what you own. Another way is that you truly do resent giving to people who are in need or just giving to others. You kind of resent that. You don't want to do it. In fact, you're kind of irritated when it comes time to give.

You're irritated when they pass the offering basket. You're irritated when they take the special needs offering. You're kind of irritated when they keep asking for money. In fact, you're irritated because the pastor is preaching on money. That's how you know you love money. No, that's just too convicting, isn't it? It's too close to home. But see, that's what happens. See, if you don't love money, you want the preacher to preach on money because you're looking for ways to give it away. But if you love money, you don't want the preacher talking about money because that means you're going to be convicted of giving away.

That's why I told you Jesus would not make it in today's evangelical world because he said more about money than he did anything else. He always preached on money. You think that's the only thing he thought about? So no one would want him to be their pastor. Think about it. Jesus couldn't be our pastor because all he talks about is money, money, money, money, money. But people who don't love money will listen to what Jesus has to say about money. Here's another way. You'll sin to obtain money. You'll cheat.

You'll lie. You'll steal. Because the deceitfulness of riches is so paramount in your heart, you'll do everything you can to obtain more money. You'll fudge here. You'll fudge there. Income taxes. You just want to get more money. That's how you know you love money. There's just a few ways. There are many others. But the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. One of them, and this is where the immediate problems come in, and that is you forget your Father who is in heaven. And we don't even know this.

You forget your Father in heaven. That's a problem with my money. Let me show you. Book of Proverbs 30th chapter, 8th verse. Keep deception and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or that I not be in want and steal and profane the name of my God. That was the prayer of King Agur, that he would know exactly who God is and never forget him. Then over the book of Deuteronomy, the chapter, God says to the nation of Israel, as they begin to embark on the promised land, He tells them in verse 1, all the commands that I am commanding you today, you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.

You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years.

Thus, you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you, just as a man disciplines his son. You see, even in God's discipline of Israel, He provided for them, right? Even in His discipline, He made sure their clothes never wore out. Now maybe they were a little old-fashioned 40 years later, but they never wore out. Their shoes never wore out. And it says, therefore, verse 6, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to fear Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, trees, pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes, which I am commanding you today. Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

See that? God warned them. This is not something new, my friend. This is not a 21st century problem. This is a problem through every century. God says, I'm going to give you a land that's unbelievable.

You'll never lack for food. The water, the copper, stones, everything, perfect for you. But when you get there, and you build your houses, and you get there, and you multiply gold and silver, be careful, beware, that you don't forget the Lord your God. That's the warning. Because that's the problem with the love of money. You forget your Father, who is in heaven. You just tend not to trust Him anymore. Do you? You don't have to. Because I have everything. So I can just kind of go through life. Just get through life, no problem.

Be careful that you don't forget the Lord your God. That's the first immediate problem with the love of money.

You forget your Father, who is in heaven. So easy to do. It's not that you purpose to forget Him. You don't say, you know, I'm not going to remember the Lord anymore. No, that's not it. It's just that in His goodness, His goodness, and this happens a lot, in the goodness of God, it's so overwhelming that we can tend not to be grateful, thankful, and tend to think that what we did we gained on our own. That's what He says. Listen to this. Back in Deuteronomy 8 again, He says this. Verse 15, He led you through the great and terrible wilderness and its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water.

He brought water for you out of a rock of flint. In the wilderness He fed you manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you to do good for you in the end. Otherwise, you may say in your heart, my power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth. See, that's what happens. I did this. It was my education. It was my ingenuity. It was my charisma. It was who I am. I earned this money. I earned this job. I got this promotion. I worked hard for this. Really?

Did you really seriously work hard for it? It's not going to demean your work ethic. But once you begin to think that your work ethic got you your promotion, you got a problem. Because God causes kings to rise and fall. God gives people promotions. There are a lot of people qualified to receive promotions that don't get them. They're probably more qualified than you and me. But they didn't get them because God chose not to grant them that promotion. That's why He says, but you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth.

God gives you power to make wealth. How do people get rich? Make lots of money? God gives them the power to do so. That's the only reason. It's not because they were born into the right family or they inherited all this money. God gave them the power to get wealth, that He may confirm His covenant, which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day, it shall come about. If you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods, that it would be the love of money, materialism, and serve them and worship them.

I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Those are hard words. But God says, you can't afford to forget me.

That's the first immediate problem with the love of money. You forget your father. Number two is you transfer your trust.

You transfer your trust. If you forget your father, you will transfer your trust from him to whatever it is you think gets you what you need in life. And to transfer your trust is a very dangerous place to be. Listen to what Job said. Job 31 verse number 24. If I have put confidence in gold and called fine gold my trust, if I have gloated because my wealth was great and because my hand had secured so much, verse 28, that too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment, for I would have denied God above.

Wow, those are powerful words. If some way, somehow I put my trust in gold and gloat in my wealth and my hand becomes so secure in what I have done, I would have denied, denied the living God above. Because Job knew that what he had, he had because God gave it to him. He understood the theological premise. God owned everything. And what God gives you, he gives to you as a steward to be a household manager of his possessions, his wealth, his property. Job knew that. He did not want to deny his God.

That's why over in 1 Timothy chapter 6, it says in verse 17, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. Paul said very clearly, do not trust in the uncertainty of riches because they are so uncertain.

There's no certainty in them. But so easily we begin to transfer our trust from the God above to the gold below simply because we have forgotten our Father and all the things that he has done. And that's what happens when you love money. It's the root of all kinds of evil. And it begins because you forget your Father in heaven. As soon as you forget him, you begin to transfer your trust, thinking and believing that you've done this, you've made it, you've accomplished this, you can get further, just keep working harder and trust in your own riches.

Proverbs 23 verse 4 says this, Do not weary yourself to gain wealth. Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. That's just, that's hilarious. Don't set your eyes on gaining wealth, becoming rich. Why? Because your money has wings on it. Did you know that? Did you know that your money has wings on it? It just flies away. It's here today and gone tomorrow. That's why when you get your paycheck and you write all your bills, all the money's gone.

It just flies away. So don't set your heart on the uncertainty of riches because there's nothing certain in them. The only thing that's certain is your God, your King, your Lord. Trust Him. Believe in Him. He owns everything. He owns everything. Therefore give yourself to Him. And as you give yourself to Him, watch what He does with all that you give Him. So, immediate problem number one, when you love money is that you forget your Father.

Immediate problem number two is that you transfer your trust from the God above to the goal below. And number three, you compromise your convictions.

Once you forget your Father and transfer your trust, you compromise your convictions. It's like a downward spiral. It's kind of like unending. It just gets worse and worse and worse as time goes on. That's why over in 1 Timothy chapter 6, again, it says in verse number 9, those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. What kind of ruin? What kind of destruction? If you love money and you want more money and all you can think about is money and setting your heart on money, be careful what it does.

Christ calls them the deceitfulness of riches. They're so deceitful. That's why He says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many a grief. Why? Because it leads you to compromise your convictions. That's why it says over in Proverbs chapter 15, Proverbs chapter 15 verse number 16, Better is the little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it. You can compromise your convictions and have a lot of money, but with it comes a lot of turmoil.

Proverbs 13 11, Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, but the one who gathers by labor increases it. Proverbs chapter 19 verse number 1 says this, Proverbs 19 verse number 1, Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool. Proverbs 22 verse number 1, A good name is to be more desired than great wealth. Verse 4, The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life. Riches, honor, and life for the man who fears the Lord, for the man who walks in his integrity.

So easily we are willing to compromise our convictions because we've already transferred our trust from the God above to the goal below because we have forgotten our Father who is in heaven. That's how it happens. That's how it happens. That's why Jesus said over in Matthew chapter 6, interesting words he chooses. He says, you know these verses well. Verse 19, Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in steal, but store for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal, for where your treasure is there will your heart be also.

The eye is the lamp of the body. Okay? The eye is the lamp of the body. Then if your eye is clear, very unique word he uses there, hoploose, which means if your eye is clear, if your eye is liberal, if your eye is generous, your whole body will be full of spiritual light. But, he says, if your eye is paneros, bad, evil, translated in the Septuagint, in the Old Testament as grudging or stingy. Okay? So Jesus uses these words very carefully. If your eye is clear, if your eye is generous, because you stored up treasures in heaven not on earth, you have a generous eye, a liberal eye, your body is filled with spiritual light.

But, if your eye is dark, that is evil, that is stingy, it begrudge giving anything to anybody else. Ooh, he says these words. Your whole body is full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? Because no man can serve two masters. He can't serve God and money. He can't serve God and money. He can only serve one. Which one will you choose? The God above or the God below? Where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break in and steal. But the God above, he's trustworthy.

You can count on him. So what are these immediate problems? Well, one, when you love money, you forget your father. If you love money, you'll transfer your trust from the God above to the gold below. If you do that, you will compromise your convictions. If you compromise your convictions, here's problem number four. You will become more greedy for more gain. Greedy for gain, a continual spiral that makes you hungrier and hungrier and hungrier for more, more, more, more, and more. You're never, ever satisfied.

That's why the Bible says these words in Proverbs chapter 28, verse number 20. These words, a faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished. Do you ever make haste to get rich? What is the fastest way to get rich? You know, to gamble your money away. To play the lottery. Quick rich scheme. He who hastens to get rich. Now, you can steal somebody's money. You can do that. That would be a crime. But gambling is not a crime, if you do it legally. So you can make haste to get wealth, but you will not go unpunished.

Then it says this. A man with an evil eye, this is speaking of the Matthew 6 passage where Christ says if you have an evil eye, a man with an evil eye hastens after wealth and does not know that want will come upon him.

The man with the evil eye, the stingy eye, that kind of man who hastens after wealth, the by part of that is that he will live continuously in a state of want. He never has enough. Proverbs 15 verse number 27 says it this way. Proverbs 15 verse number 27. He who profits illicitly troubles his own house. Wow. He who profits illicitly troubles his own house. How does a man not go unpunished? He troubles his own house when he hastens after wealth. He puts his family in jeopardy. He puts his children in jeopardy.

He puts his wife in jeopardy. Proverbs 10 verse number 22 says this. It is a blessing of the Lord that makes rich and he, that is God, adds no sorrow with it. It's a blessing of the Lord. If God wants to make you rich, He will. He will. And with that comes no sorrow, no pain, no problems in your family because God gave it to you and it's His to do so. And so we have to ask ourselves this question. Do I love money? Because if I'm loving money, I'm going, I'm going to forget my Father in Heaven. I'm going to do that.

It's inevitable. It's going to happen. The Lord said it to Israel right before the embarking of the promise. Oh, by the way, they did forget. They did. And they went after other gods because they would transfer their trust in those gods and they would compromise their convictions and they would become more and more greedy for getting more and more stuff and more and more things. They transferred all their trust from the God above to the God below. That's what they did. So you have an illustration in the land of Israel, of the nation of Israel.

And it was horrific what they experienced simply because they didn't believe what God said. They didn't listen to His voice. We need to listen to the voice of God. Why don't I share these things with you? Why don't we go through this? Three weeks ago, last week, we suffered from DDD. Doctrinal Deficit Disorder. We need to know what the Bible says.

Especially if God decided to speak on it as much as He did. Because He knows the problem with money and the love of it in people's hearts. He knows that. God knows your heart. He knows my heart. And He has a plan for you to prosper. He does. Now some of you might be sitting out there thinking, I'm not prospering in any area of my life. My life's miserable. I have nothing. Okay? Well, you have to think about all the things that God is doing right now in your life. Maybe you're going through a discipline process.

I have no idea. I have no idea. Maybe God's testing you to see how much you will trust Him to provide for you. I don't know what God's doing in your heart. I just know the theological premise. I just know the spiritual priority. And I just know the biblical promise. That's all I know. I know what God says.

That's all I know. That's all I need to know. I also know about the immediate problems that the love of money causes. And maybe you've forgotten your Father. Maybe you've transferred your trust. Maybe you've compromised your convictions. To such, you become more greedy than ever to obtain more and more and more. That's the evilness of money. And sometimes it's camouflaged in such a way we don't even recognize it until all of a sudden the Spirit of God knocks us in the head and wakes us up. And we're going through difficulties and realize, what am I doing?

So I have five minutes. Let me give you some plans for your money. I've given you some initial principles. I've given you some immediate problems. Let me give you simply some important plans for your money.

Four plans that you can begin today. Number one, please the Lord first. That's it. Please the Lord first.

Proverbs 3, 9. Honor the Lord with the first fruits of your increase. Do you please the Lord first with your money?

Proverbs 22, verse number four says this, the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life. The Lord says, do you fear me? Do you trust me? Are you humble before me? You will receive riches, honor, and life. It doesn't mean you're going to get a big paycheck necessarily. It does mean that the riches that God gives are riches that go beyond anything money can buy. And God promises to bestow riches upon his people. To bestow blessing and honor upon his people. More importantly, to give them life.

Not just an existence, but a vital, vibrant life. And that's what God wants to do for his people. But you've got to please him. You have to honor him first.

Proverbs 13, verse number seven says this, there is one who pretends to be rich, but he has nothing. The other pretends to be poor, but he has great wealth. One guy looks really, really rich because he has everything, but he has nothing. He looks happy, he's miserable. There's another one who looks like he has nothing, but that guy has life. Has everything. Because he's trusted in the living God. And dependent upon the living God. Please the Lord first.

That's it. Begin there. This is your plan. You're going to make plans with your family? Please him first.

Lord, what can I do to please you with this gift? Lord, how much pleases you? I'm never going to tell you how much to give. That's not my job to do that. Okay? That's between you and the Lord. My job is to give you the biblical principles to help you understand that pleasing God is a priority for me and for you and should be. So, is what you give to the Lord pleasing to him? Are you honoring him with the first fruits of your increase?

When that paycheck comes in, the first check you write is to the Lord. Number one. Not your mortgage. Not your credit card debt. We'll talk about that in a second.

Your first check is always to the Lord first. Right off the top. You give to the Lord. Because you want to honor him. Please him first.

Number two. Pay off your debts. Here's a plan for your money. Pay off your debts. Do you know? Do you know? You probably don't know, so I'll tell you. That the average American between the ages of 18 and 65 has a credit card debt of $4,717. The average American. Okay? 70, I'm sorry. 80% of Americans do not pay off their credit card debt every month. 80%. The average is $4,717. If you have a credit card company that charges 15% interest on that $4,717 and you pay the minimum payment every month, because some of you are paying the minimum payment, that would be $189.

It would take you 10 years and one month to pay off that debt. You would have paid $22,000. $22,869 to be exact. So that furniture set you bought for $4,717 costs you another $18,155. Because you only paid the minimum payment. In America, we can obtain a credit card very easily. Credit card company lives off your indebtedness. Do you know why there are so many credit cards in America? Us. You and me. And as long as we're going into debt, they're just making money hand over fist. Fist over dollar.

Whatever that thing is. They're just making it right and left. And so, pay down your debts. Pay it off. That's your second payment.

Your credit card debts. Get them down. Double your payment. Each month. Sacrifice here. Sacrifice there. But pay that indebtedness down. People have loans. Student loans. I know many people who have been married for 10, 15, sometimes 20 years, still paying off student loans. Student loans. I'm like, wow! Seriously? 15 years later, you're still paying off your student loan? What did that education get you? Indebtedness. That's what it got you? Be careful. Where do you go to school? How much money do you spend on school?

That's a killer. But you've got to pay it down. You've got to pay your debts down. And you've got to double and triple your payments to get them down. That's your plan for your money. You want to be able to live financially free? You've got to pay your debts down. You've got to do it quick. Do it fast. I promised Laurie's dad when I married her 31 years ago, I would never take her into debt. Never. That's my promise to you as her father. I will never go into debt. Ever. You have my word. 31 years, we've never been in debt.

31 years, we get a credit card payment, we pay it off immediately. We don't make minimum payments. It doesn't do me any good. I've been spending so much money, I wouldn't know what to do with it all. I mean, it would be ridiculous. But I made a promise to her father. Those of you who have daughters, make sure that the man who marries her makes you the same promise. Thank you. Say, don't you take my daughter into debt because you can't manage your own money. Don't you do that. You manage your money.

You be a wise steward of your money. Hold him into account. Hold him accountable for how he spends his money. It's important. Why? Because financial stress in a marriage is a killer. Pay down your debts. Please the Lord first, pay down your debts.

Very important. How many people go into marriage with indebtedness? Credit card, student loans. Now your partner encouraged your indebtedness. Mmm. That's a hard thing. Why as you as a man would want your wife to incur your indebtedness? I have no idea. Be careful about that stuff. Be a wise steward. Make a plan. Have a plan. If you're in debt, make a plan. Show your future father-in-law, here's my plan to take care of that indebtedness so that by this year, it will all be paid for. In fact, you know what?

You can hold me accountable as my father-in-law to make sure I do this. That's the man you want to marry your daughter. If he's not willing to do that, cut him off at the legs right now.

Get rid of him. He's not trustworthy. I'm serious. He's not trustworthy. Make sure he's a trustworthy person. You're going to invest your daughter into an untrustworthy man who can't manage his money? How's he going to manage his marriage? Mmm. See that? If you can't manage your money, you can't manage your marriage. It's a discipline issue. Pay off your debts. I know some of you are probably mad at me right now.

It's okay. Get in line. A lot of people are mad at me. So the bottom line is this. Please, Lord, first pay off your debts.

Number two. Number three plan is simply this. Provide for those in need. Provide for those in need. I know my time is gone. Bear with me. Proverbs 14, verse number 31 says, He who oppresses the poor taunts his maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors him. Okay? So you want to please the Lord first?

If you're gracious to the needy, you honor the Lord. Then over in Proverbs 17, verse number 5, it says this. He who mocks the poor taunts his maker. He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished. Proverbs 19, verse number 17 says this. One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord. One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his good deed. See that? If you are gracious to a poor man, you are lending to the Lord and God will repay you for your good deed.

God promises. You take care of the needy. That's why you look at the early church. Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 11. Look at the church in Jerusalem and see how they took care of the needy.

How God blessed them immensely. Because He would provide for those who were in need. Proverbs 28, verse number 27. Oh, this is a zinger. So be careful. He who gives to the poor will never want. You want today? He who gives to the poor will never want. But he who shuts his eyes will have many a curse. He who shuts his eyes to those who are in need, walks away from them, does not meet that need, will face the curses from God. Those are strong words. Because what does the Bible say in James 1? True religion undefiled before the Father in heaven is this.

That you visit the widows and orphans in their affliction. Right? Which means not just going by and saying hi. How are you? Good to see you. It means you're visiting the widows and orphans in their affliction. Widows and orphans are characteristic in the Old Testament of everyone who has a supreme need. And to visit them means not just go by and say hi. It means you actually tend to meet the need of that widow and that orphan. So therefore true religion undefiled before the Father is this. That you meet the needs of those around you.

Because you know that there's a need and when you do you lend to the Lord. You're giving to the Lord. You're storing up treasures in heaven. And God honors that. He's pleased. And therefore you experience the blessing of Almighty God. I have so much more to say about that. Please the Lord first.

Pay off your debts. Provide for those in need. And lastly prioritize every one of your investments. Prioritize your investments. Every one of you should have investments. Number one should be an eternal investment.

Storing up treasures in heaven. Giving to the efforts of missions, evangelism, the spread of the gospel. That's an eternal reward. You store up treasures in heaven. You make an eternal investment. Because you're investing into souls of people. And souls are eternal. Whenever you invest into the word of God and the people of God you invest in that which is eternal. You send your treasures on ahead of you into glory. On top of that you prioritize your investments in terms of how you provide for your own family into the future.

And to make sure you prioritize in a way that honors and glorifies the Lord so that your wife is taken care of, your husband is taken care of, your children are taken care of, so that you can prioritize your investments to the future. But those things all need to begin to happen in your life today. Not tomorrow. Do you please the Lord first?

Do you pay off your indebtedness as quickly as possible so that you are debt free? And when you're debt free it just frees you up not to spend more, it frees you up to give more. To give more. Because then you are storing up treasures in heaven. That's why the Bible says these words, book of Jeremiah 31st chapter, my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord.

Can you imagine that? My people will be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord. That's why Psalm 8411 says, no good thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly. No good thing. So therefore, what is the good thing that God gives to his people? His goodness. And the Lord said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they are the only ones who will ever be satisfied in this life. Matthew 5 verse number 6. How about you? Are you satisfied? Are you content with what God has done and God's doing?

I pray that you are. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your time today, the opportunity you give us to trust you, to believe in you. Our prayer, Lord, is that you go before us, give us wisdom, that we might live out these principles, understand these problems, and make plans every day to honor you first.

In Jesus' name, amen.