Rick Warren - The Habits of Financial Health—Part Two

0:00Hey everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Home. Well, we're talking about your money. That's right. We're continuing a powerful series called Financial Fitness. Rick is opening God's Word and showing us how to manage what we've been given with wisdom, faith, and purpose. And I know if you apply these biblical principles, you'll start to experience true financial freedom and lasting peace. Today we're continuing with part two of a message called the Habits of Financial Health. I remember in the very first year of the church, I led a guy to Christ and he was a nice guy and he genuinely was converted to Christ. But he was a dreamer who never could make anything happen and it was simply one big idea after another. And one day he came to me and he said, Pastor Rick, this church has changed my life and I'm working on a deal that is going to make Saddleback Church $50 million.

1:02Well now as a 25 year old pastor, I'm going to listen to that. Now, years later, I don't pay that attention at all. I want to say, show me the money. This dream is just a bunch and it seemed like all about the time he'd get this big dream for $50 million and then before it was closed, he jumped to a bigger one. No, no, we're not doing that anymore because this one's going to bring in $75 million. And then instead of closing that deal, well no, we're not going to do that anymore, we're doing the $100 million. And at the end of the year I realized I had paid for all the lunches. Beware the guy who's got the billion dollar idea but he can't afford to have a suit pressed or pay the meal. Pay the bills. Just go ahead and get a job buddy. Just get a job. You know, you don't wait for the ship to come in, you swim out to it and do that.

2:06So here's what the Bible says. Look at the next verse. Proverbs 21-5. Steady plotting brings prosperity. Hastey speculation brings poverty. Circle the word hasty. Here's another law for you. You make financial decisions slowly. If you want to be wise, you make financial decisions slowly. If it's a good deal, it'll be a good deal tomorrow. You don't have to make, you know, when you're in a business, when you're in a store, and that salesman is pressuring you to buy right now, and it is a major priced item, you need to go home and think about it. You need to sleep on it. You need to take your time. If it's a good deal, it'll be a good deal tomorrow. Hastey speculation leads to poverty. I mean, you get in the hurry, you get emotionally involved. You want to do it now. Now notice it says, steady plotting brings prosperity. Circle the word plotting.

3:07This is where you say you just keep on doing the right thing. You do it a little bit at a time, but over a long time, little things build up. You save a little, save a little, save a little, save a little, save a little, and pretty soon it all adds up. Steady plotting brings prosperity. I've mentioned this in every session we've done in this series. The most powerful factor in mathematics is compounding interest. And over a period of time, little becomes much with compounding interest. And over a long period of time, turtles always beat rabbits. Because the rabbits get in the hurry. And then they stop over here to have a party with so and so. And then they go over here to do this. And the turtle is just plotting along and crosses the finish line before everybody else. So God says, if you want my blessing on your finances. First, you got to remember that I'm your security and I'm your source. And number two, you got to make your money, honestly. You got to be fair in your deals and you can't charge high interest.

4:10You don't get involved and get rich, quick schemes and scams. Hastey speculation, you do steady plotting. Number three, the third habit you have to develop is honor God first. I honor God first with my money. Now, I don't have to spend a lot of time on this one. We just kind of review it quickly and get on to the others. Because most of you know this principle, the principle of tithing. The bottom line is this. Whatever I want God to bless, I put him first in. If I want God to bless my marriage, I put him first in my marriage. If I want God to bless my time, I put him first in my time. I'm giving the first part of every day in a quiet time. If I want God to bless my business, I put him first in my business. If I want God to bless my money, I put him first in my money. Now, this is the principle of tithing. Right off the top, I give the first 10% back to God. Now, again, I don't have to explain this in detail. We've talked about this a lot.

5:11So just look at these four verses. The promise, the purpose, the place, and the day. That's what these four verses are. Here's the promise about tithing. Proverbs three. I'm going to the Lord by giving him the leftovers of all your income and he will fill your barns to overflow. Well, it doesn't say that, does it? It says what? First, let us say? First part, first part. Now, K and I, 36 years ago, said, okay, look. If anybody gets, if we're in debt to anybody, we're not in debt to God. God gets paid first, right off the top. If I make ten bucks, the first $10 goes back to him. If I make a hundred bucks, the first ten bucks go back to God. I may be in debt to you. I may be in debt to other people. I am not going to be in debt to God. Because it all comes from God in the first place. And I want his blessing on the rest of it. So the promise is, if I honor him with the first part of my income, he will bless me financially. Now, what's the purpose of that? Why does God tell us to tie it next verse?

6:12Deuteronomy 14. The purpose of tithing is because God is poor. None doesn't say that. The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives. God doesn't need my money. God doesn't need your money. He wants what it represents. He wants me to trust him. And when I tithe, when I give the first part of my income back to God before anything else is a gift to him, it says three things. Past, present, future. God, thank you. I'm grateful for all you've given me in the past. Your number one in my life right now. And I'm going to trust you in the future. That's the purpose of it. Okay. The place. Where do I tie it? I mean, do I tie the United Way or do I tie it to my brother who's been out of work for three years? No. That's charity. Tithing is an act of worship. It goes to God. Not to my friend, not to charity. He goes to God. It's an act of worship. Malachi 310. Bring to my storehouse a full tent.

7:14By the way, what's the storehouse? It's the temple. He says, bring to the temple where you worship me. Bring to my storehouse a full tent of what you earn. Test me in this, says the Lord. And I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out all the blessings you need. He says, I dare you. This is a Pepsi challenge test. Test me in this. He said, you bring it to me as an act of worship. Now, when do I do it? Well, you do it on the day you worship. First Corinthians 16 says this. On the first day of every week, that's the day we worship Sunday, put aside some of what you've earned during the week and use it for the offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has self-deformed. As I said, if I make ten bucks, I give a return $1. If I make $100, I give $10. Now, on the first day of the week, the first part of my day and the first part of my money, then God will say, you're really number one in my life. Now, circle the phrase, put aside.

8:17Because notice that means you've got to plan this. This is not an impulsive thing. You've got to plan it. Because I don't normally plan to bring money to worship. Okay, so you got that. You know about tithing. The plan, the purpose, the promise, and the day. Now, let's go to the fourth. Number four is save money wisely. If I want God's blessing on my finance, if I want to get out of debt, I must learn to save money wisely. And notice, this is number four. First, I remember God as my source. Second, I make the money honestly. Third, I honor God first and fourth. I save some of it. You say, Rick, are you telling me to save my money before I pay my bills? That's exactly what I'm telling you to do. Because that's what the Bible says. If you wait until all your bills are paid off to start saving, you will never save anything. Most people are going to get the retirement flat broke because they spend all their money and never saved anything.

9:20The Bible clearly states you pay God first and you pay yourself second. And then you spend the rest on your bills and repayment and things like that. If you don't, you will never save anything. John D. Rockefeller was the Bill Gates of his day. He was the first mega millionaire in America. And they asked him one time and said, how do you get to be a mega millionaire? He says, the 1010-80 principle. I tied the first 10 percent. I saved the second 10 percent and I live on 80 percent. The 1010-80 principle. Can I have practiced this? Well, and even more than that for many, many years. And if you do this, you're systematically putting God first and putting your saving second, it will start to add up over time. Did you know that God says your savings account test your IQ? It shows how smart you are by looking at your savings, you can tell how wise you are with your money.

10:20Notice this verse, Proverbs 21-20. The wise man, in other words, the smart man, the intelligent man. The wise man saves for the future. But the foolish man spends whatever he gets. Uh-oh. Okay. That's a verse you probably ought to put on your refrigerator door. Actually, you ought to put it on a post-it note and wrap it around your credit card. The wise man saves for the future. But the foolish man spends whatever he gets. Did you know that the average Japanese saves 25 percent of their income? The average European saves 15 percent of their income. Last year, the average American spent 1 percent more than they made. We are not saving anything. And not only is the government being irresponsible, we are being irresponsible. And we're not saving. And as a result, you're going to get the retirement and there's nothing going to be there.

11:23Let me give you a little question that will help you start saving. You simply ask this one. Do I really need this item? And if you'll just stop before you buy anything, just stop and ask yourself, do I really need this? Because you could be taking that money and putting it instead of spending it on this little trinket, putting it in the bank, putting in savings, putting in investment. And when you are saving money, your money is working for you instead of you working for your money. Most people never get out of debt because they spend their entire lives working for money. When you start saving it, your money works for you because even while you're sleeping, it's making interest. And your money is making money for you. When you're saved, you make money work for you. Now let's look at some of the principles of saving and investing from the Word of God. Proverbs 24 says this, verse 27, develop your business first before building your house.

12:26Did you know that verse was in the Bible? Develop your business before building your house. What does that verse mean? It means before you go buy the new drapes, before you go redecorate, before you buy another piece of furniture or art, you ought to take that money instead and invest it in something that's going to make money for you. Now most of you don't have your own businesses. In these days, everybody was self-employed, everybody had their own business. But he's saying, take your money and instead of buying a thing with it, take it and put it in something that makes money with it, so you're investing and you're making more money all along. Develop your business first before building your house. See here's the problem most people do. They get a raise and when you get a raise, you know what you ought to do? Keep living at the same level and put that money, sock it away in the bank or in some investment. Don't raise your standard, let me, what most people do is, as soon as they get a raise, they go out and they buy a new car.

13:28That's the last thing you need to do. First place, when you buy a new car, the moment you drive it off the lot, it's worth $10,000 less than you paid for it. But you're still going to pay the interest on all that, even though it's depreciating. You have just invested in the depreciating item that's going to get cheaper and cheaper while you're paying more and more interest. And it's going like this and that creates debt. Now, I'm serious about this. If you will take the money that you're spending on things, instead of going and buying that big plasma screen, then maybe you can't afford what you need to do, take that money and put it in the bank and let it sit there for years, and watch, you need to get as much pleasure out of saving as you do out of spending. A lot of people, when they get depressed, they want to go shopping. And there is a rush in spending money, but you should get that attitude and change it to saving money. You see, oh, honey, that's such a great day today. What did you do? I put $50 more in the bank. Well, good.

14:28Now, I'm serious about this. I retired at 47. Why? Because I had been saving since I was 17. I haven't taken a salary from this church in 10 years. In fact, 10 years ago, I added up all the church that paid me in the first 25 years and I gave it all back. Can I live off the savings of our investments today? I do this because I want to do this. I don't do this to make money. But I had been saving systematically over the years and it adds up. Now, how do you do that? Well, in the early years, we were just very, very careful. I went out and, rather than going by a new car, I found a car in the Penny saver over in leisure world for $500. Now, that's a car. Now, I went over there and it was the 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass and the paint was chipping on it and the roof was all ratted out, but it only had 38,000 miles on it. I'm going 500 bucks, 38,000 miles. I can put up with this.

15:32So I bought this car for $500. I drove it across the border to Tijuana and spent $1500 getting a completely new paint job and a completely new interior. With the fuzzy dice and, you know, everything, nothing. The velvet Elvis in the back and I mean, the dog's playing poker. You know, I'm just getting it. Got it all. And then I drove it for six years. And after six years, I got tired of it. I gave it to Pastor Tom. It's true. I did. And then Tom drove it for, I don't know, five or six more years and then he gave it to another pastor. That car somewhere out there in Pastor Land today. Now, that's per mile per gallon. Clost on that car was minuscule compared to yours. The car I drive right now is a 2000 Ford. And we saved until I could pay cash for it.

16:34I wasn't about to pay interest on a depreciating item. Because that's bad stewardship. So I saved until we could afford it and I paid cash for that car. I haven't had a car payment in years. Wouldn't you like to have that? Okay. Now, what was I doing with that money? Putting it in savings. And letting it make more money. And letting it make more money. Okay. And so this is the principle. Save money wisely. You know, people are being transformed by these messages. In fact, here's Rick with a letter from one of our listeners. Well, I hope you enjoyed the broadcast today. I love to end our time together by sharing letters from listeners. Because we get so many great ones. This one's from a woman named Alaina, your pastor Rick. I've been struggling with insomnia for many years.

17:34That's a common problem. It has inevitably affected my family. And I've been irritable. I've been a little bit more tempered with them. I've even gone to sleep therapists in hopes of regaining at least five hours of continuous sleep without sleeping pills and that do more harm than good. But it was all unsuccessful until I start listening to daily hope. You know, quieting my mind, pastor Rick, with the messages from the Bible and my desire to glorify God when I turn out the lights with the daily hope messages has brought me back to a stable sleeping pattern. That's amazing, Alaina. That's amazing. She's right. Every morning now I wake up after more than five to eight hours of sleep and I wake up saying, thank you, Lord, for another night of peaceful sleep. With full comprehension, I turn on daily hope again before I start my day. So she's ending her evening with daily hope and she's starting her day with daily hope. That's pretty amazing. She said, pastor Rick, life happens and sometimes my insomnia problems come back.

18:36However, they're not as frequent and they don't last as long as they used to before. So thanks for your messages of hope from God. I now function with more clarity and more spring in my step. Alaina, thank you for writing. I love you and I'm so encouraged that these messages have brought some peace to your mind. And I'm going to be praying for you this week that your nerves will be calmed, that your peace will increase, that you will be given sleep. You know, there's a verse in the Bible where it says, God wants his loved ones to get their proper rest. So thank you for writing to me. And those of you who are listening, I encourage you to write me. Let me know what's going on in your life. It's one way that we can partner together. Thanks for your financial gifts. Thanks for your prayers and thanks for your letters. God bless you all. Hey, if you'd like to let Rick know how this broadcast has blessed you, he would love it. Please feel free to send him an email at rick at pastorrick.com. That's Rick at pastorrick.com.

19:37Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.