In this enlightening episode, Pastor Rick Warren guides listeners through the intricate relationship between faith, finances, and God’s ultimate design for our lives. Tackling misconceptions about prosperity, Pastor Rick directs our focus to Jesus’ teachings on money, revealing how they challenge and inspire us to live with generosity and purpose. Through engaging storytelling and scripture-based insights, he puts forward a compelling argument for seeing money as both a tool and a test in our spiritual walk. The discussion moves into practical territory with step-by-step guidance on effective money management, detailing essential practices that honor and glorify God. From the
Hey there, everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. And whether today is your first time tuning in or if you’re a regular listener, we’re really excited that you’re here. Well, today, Pastor Rick is continuing his series called Discover Your Destiny. So get ready to explore the practical steps to grow in all areas of your life. spirit, mind, body, relationships, and even your career. So stick with us as we uncover God’s incredible plan for your future. So let’s get right to Rick. Here’s part one of a message called God’s Plan for Financial Blessing.
SPEAKER 02 :
God has made some incredible promises of financial blessing in the word of God, but they all have premises. Now, before we look at the promises of God, I wanna make something very clear right here at the start. God does not want everybody in the world to be a millionaire. God doesn’t want everybody in the world to be enormously rich. The Bible doesn’t teach that. Sometimes you get on TV or radio and you hear some preacher that’s called the prosperity gospel or the health and wealth gospel. Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s basically God wants everybody to be rich. Not only does the Bible not teach that, Jesus taught the exact opposite. So before we look at the promises of God for financial blessing, I want you to look at two statements of Jesus. First, Luke chapter 12, verse 15, Jesus said, Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. In other words, life is not about acquisition. It’s not about he who dies with the most toys. The guy who spends his life getting the most toys has wasted his life. Jesus said, you’re not gonna take any of it with you. I did not put you on earth just to pile up stuff. The greatest things in life are not things. Your value and your valuables are not the same. Your net worth and your self-worth are not the same. It’s not about getting. A man’s life does not consist in what he acquires. So you never want to let the things that money can buy keep you or rob you of the things that money can’t buy. Now look at the second passage. Luke 16, Jesus said this. I tell you, use worldly wealth. Circle the word use. Money is to be used. You don’t love it. You don’t serve it. You don’t idolize it. You use it. Money is to be used. I tell you, use worldly wealth. to gain friends for yourselves, eternal friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Now, I don’t have time to go into this in detail, but we’ve talked about it before. What this verse is simply saying is you should use some of your money to help reach people for Christ so that when you get to heaven, there are people there who go, hey, I’m here because of you. I’m your friend forever because you helped build a church building, you helped finance a program, you helped reach me for Christ, you bought a Bible, you shared a book, you used some of your money to spread the good news, and as a result, I’m in heaven, I’m your friend forever. That’s all he’s talking about here. Then Jesus gives four tests about money management. He says this, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. God looks to see if you can handle what he gives you a little, then he gives you more. And whoever’s dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Then he says, second test, if you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, what does that mean? Trustworthy in handling worldly wealth. He’s talking about money management. He said, if you don’t manage your money well, if you’re in debt all the time, you’re behind on your payments, you’re not saving, you’re not tithing, you’re not doing all the different things that God tells you to do, you’re not investing wisely. He said, if you’re not managing your money well, He says, if you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you the true riches? He’s saying money is a test and God is determining what he’s gonna bless you with in heaven for eternity based on how you do what he gives you here. And then he says, number three, if you’ve not been trustworthy with somebody else’s property, Who’s gonna give you your own? And I’ve told you this before. You don’t really own anything on this planet. It’s all on loan. God owns it and he loans it. And he loans it to you for about 80 years. It wasn’t yours before you were born. It’s not gonna be yours after you die. He’s gonna loan it to somebody else. You don’t really own it. You’re not taking it with you. It’s just all on loan. And God says, I’m testing you while you’re on earth to see if you are faithful with what I loaned you, Who’s going to give you your own property in eternity if I can’t trust you with what’s mine here on earth? And then he says, number four, no one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money. Now circle the word serve. He didn’t say you should not serve, he says you cannot serve. Money should never be served. Money should never be loved. Money should be used. Now these passages teach us two very important truths. Would you write these down? Number one, money is a tool and a test. Money is a tool, it’s a tool to be used, and it is a test. What does it test? God uses money to test your gratitude. God uses money to test your faith. God uses money to test your priorities. God uses money to test your values. God uses money to test how responsible and mature you are. God uses money to test your character. It is a very important test. And the second thing God says here is that managing money is a spiritual discipline. Managing money is a spiritual discipline. It is far more important than you realize. You may think, oh, I just need to manage my money so I’m not in debt. Or, oh, I just need to manage my money so I can live a more comfortable lifestyle. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, either of those things. But money management is far more important than that. The Bible says it is the spiritual discipline that God uses. He says if you’re not faithful with worldly wealth, who’s gonna trust you with the true riches of the universe and the true riches in heaven? Now there is so much that the Bible has to say about financial money management, literally hundreds and hundreds of verses. You may not realize this, Jesus spoke more about money than he did either heaven or hell. Half of all of his parables mention money. A third of all of his parables, his stories, deal with investments. And Jesus commends wise investors and criticizes foolish investors. Why? Because life is a test and life is a trust. And so there are many, many verses. In fact, there were so many, I had to give you a double outline today. Now… Because there’s so many verses, I’m not gonna have time to illustrate all these. I’m gonna let the word of God just speak for itself. Most of these verses are from the book of the Proverbs of Solomon. Now why is that important? Because Proverbs of Solomon was written by King Solomon who was the wisest man who ever lived and the wealthiest man who ever lived. So we’re not giving you advice from Rick Warren today. This is advice from the wisest and wealthiest man who ever lived and he’s in the Bible and God says this is true stuff. Now what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna look at eight habits. for financial blessing. God says, I have these promises for you. If you do this, then I will bless you in this way. And you gotta do all of them. All eight are important. These eight financial habits. It’s really an index of where we’re going for the next three years. Now let’s get right into it. Number one, the first habit for financial blessing is I must trust God as my source and supply. I must trust God as my source and supply. Now what does that mean? It means your source of your income is not your job. The source of your income is God. Now he may use a job or anything else, but that’s just the tool. When I turn on a faucet, I don’t really think the faucet is the source of the water. I know that that water’s coming from Northern California. The faucet just happens to get it to me. It’s not the supplier, it’s just the channel. Your job is not your supplier. It’s your channel. And if one faucet gets turned off, God can turn another one on just as easily because he’s the supplier. Does that make sense? Now, not only is God the supplier of your financial blessing and the source of it, he is the security, the source of your security. You see, if you’re gonna have security, you must put it in something that can never be taken from you. You can lose your money, you can lose your savings, you can lose your job, you can lose your house, you can lose the people you love. The only thing that can never ever be taken from you is the unconditional love of God. So I suggest you put your security not in how much you got in the bank, but how much love God loves you with. Because anything else can be taken from you and if you don’t, how do you know when something other than God is your security? Real simple, you worry. Worry is the warning light that you are trusting something other than God for your security and your supply. Now look at these verses. Romans 11, 36. Everything comes from God. Everything exists by his power. And everything is intended for his glory. God owns it, but God loans it to you while you’re here on earth. Deuteronomy 8, 18 says this. Always remember the Lord. Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. Now circle the phrase produce wealth. God wants you to be a wealth creator. I didn’t say that, the Bible says it. God puts you on this earth and one of the things you’re to do is you are to produce wealth. You are to create wealth. Now, there are makers and there are takers in life. There are people who create wealth and those are people who just use it. Right now in our culture, about 60% of Americans take more out of the economy than actually put in it. There are more takers than there are makers. God says, I give you the ability to create wealth. Why? Because this is the way God’s economy works. We will never raise people out of poverty through wealth redistribution, only through wealth creation. Big difference. Does that make sense? Wealth redistribution is socialism. Wealth creation is Christianity. God says the only way you can get people out of poverty is J-O-B-S, create jobs. You can never give people enough money because as soon as you give it to them, it’s used up and you have to give more. In the last 50 years, the West has put about $50 trillion into Africa, and the standard of living is lower in most of those countries than it was 50 years ago. Why? Because they don’t need a handout, they need a hand up. They don’t need just aid, they need trade. They don’t need wealth redistribution. They need wealth creation. And my goal for you is that in the next 10 years, you will be a wealth creator. Now write this down. God wants me to be a wealth creator and a kingdom builder. Don’t confuse these. God says he wants you to be a wealth creator, in other words, a generator of wealth, but a kingdom builder. Not a wealth builder, because the Bible says, don’t store up treasure here on earth. Money is like manure. You pile it all up, it starts stinking. You spread it around, it makes things grow. It is a tool to be used, not to be hoarded. And so God says, I want you to be a wealth creator, but I want you to be a kingdom builder. Now, the next verse says, Proverbs 16, three, commit your work to the Lord and then your plans will what? Circle the word succeed. God says, I want you to succeed in your work, but you gotta commit it to me. You gotta trust me as the source and supply. Whatever you want God to bless, you put him first in. You want God to bless your marriage, put him first in your marriage. You want God to bless your work, put him first in your work. If you want God to bless your time, you put him first in your time. If you want God to bless your health, you put him first in your health. You trust God as your source and supply. Number two. Second habit you must develop, I must do my work as an act of worship. If I want God’s financial blessing on my life, I must do my work, whatever I’m doing, as an act of worship. And no matter what you do, you may sweep the streets, it’s more than just a job. God says it’s to be an act of worship. Look at this verse up here on the screen. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart. That means with enthusiasm. You’re to work with enthusiasm as working for the Lord, not for men. What does that mean? It means your boss isn’t really your boss. She may be your supervisor, but your boss really is God. You’re doing it as if you’re working for the Lord, no matter what you do. Now, let’s say you work at a hotel and you clean rooms and make beds. If you’re doing it for the Lord, if you think Jesus is gonna sleep there, you’re gonna do a better job of making that bed? Oh, baby. Yeah, so your standard of excellence goes up when no matter what you’re doing, you say, Lord, I’m taking out this garbage as if I’m doing it for you. I’m washing these dishes as if I’m doing it for you. I’m closing the sale, I’m making this deal, I’m delivering this product as if I’m doing it for you. Every act of work can be an act of worship. Martin Luther said, you can milk cows to the glory of God. There is nothing that you cannot say in legitimate work, do it for the glory of God. Whatever you do, you do it with all your heart. Now, some of you, your heart isn’t in your work. You’re not doing it with enthusiasm. You can barely get along. Then you’re in the wrong job because life is too short to spend it doing work your heart isn’t in. There’s a lot more, in fact it’s a sin. The Bible says whatever you do, work at it with all your heart. If you can’t do what you do with all your heart, you need to change jobs. Because it needs to be an act of worship. Now what kind of work does God bless? He blesses all kinds of work as long as it’s done five ways. You might write these down, it’s these next five verses. First, God blesses planning. Look at that verse at the bottom of the first page. Proverbs 21, five, good planning and hard work leads to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to what? Poverty. God blesses planning. That’s the first thing he does. God blesses planning. He wants you to plan your work and he wants you to work your plan. Number two, God blesses initiative. He not only wants you to plan your work, he wants you to take the initiative. God never blesses laziness. The Bible says in Proverbs 10, 4, lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands will bring what? Wealth. Now, what is he saying? He’s saying, stop waiting for your ship to come in. Swim out to it. You gotta take the initiative. Stop waiting for something to happen. You take the initiative. He says you need to make a plan and then you need to take the initiative. That’s what God blesses in wealth creation. Number three, God blesses integrity. God blesses integrity. If you want God to bless your finances, you must be honest. That means you pay your taxes and you don’t cheat people. God never blesses dishonest gain in any way. Proverbs 16, 11, the Lord demands fairness in every business deal. So he’s not gonna bless it if it’s unfair. He sets the standard. God says, I want you to plan your work. I want you to take the initiative. I want you to have integrity and do it with honesty. Number four, God blesses focus. He says, you need to stay focused. Don’t just keep moving around from project to project, jumping around from job to job, from idea to idea, from opportunity to opportunity. Get an idea and stick with it. Stay focused. You don’t get distracted by pipe dreams, everything that comes along. Proverbs 12, 11, hard work brings prosperity. Only fools waste time chasing fantasies. And then number five, God blesses persistence. In other words, when you get a job, you keep at it. You don’t give up the first time you have a failure. You don’t give up the first time the stock goes down. You don’t give up the first time somebody looks at you crossways and criticizes you for what you’re doing. You are persistent. The Bible says wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears, but wealth from hard work grows. You ever heard the phrase easy come, easy go? Well, that’s where it comes from. It comes from this verse. It’s from the Bible. Money that is made quickly and easily is gone quickly and easily. It is not an accident that people who win the lottery are often bankrupt within about five to 10 years. Why? Because they made it so quick, they had no skills to deal with it, and they lose it very quickly. So God says work can be an act of worship. You know, in Proverbs 31, that chapter’s about what makes a godly woman. If you ever wanna know what a godly woman is, you read Proverbs 31. And that Proverbs 31, it talks about a guy’s wife. She’s a businesswoman. She’s a businesswoman. Let me read you a little of it. Proverbs 31, verse 15, she gets up before dawn and prepares breakfast for her household and then plans the day’s work for her servant girls, which means she’s got staff. She’s actually creating jobs. She inspects a field and buys it with her earnings. She’s buying property and she’s paying for it with her own money. She’s energetic and strong. She’s a hard worker. She watches for bargains. There’s a biblical basis for using coupons. and she helps the poor. The godly woman, there is a businesswoman. She’s contributing in her way. Okay, number three, third habit you’re going to have to develop. Keep good records. If you want God’s financial blessing on your life in the next 10 years, like I want it to be for you, You wanna get out of debt, you wanna be financially free, you’re gonna have to keep good records. This is the principle of accounting. That means you write it down. You gotta keep track of your finances. You say, oh, Rick, I hate to do that. Yeah, well, you say, I don’t have time to do it. Do you have time to worry? If you wrote everything down, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about. Now notice this verse, Proverbs 27, 23 and 24. Riches can disappear fast. Everybody agree with that part? Yeah, okay. Riches can disappear fast, so watch your business interest closely. Know the state of your flocks and herds. Now why do you say flocks and herds? Because when the Bible’s written, this passage here, all wealth was tied up in your livestock. You could easily tell who was rich in Bible days. If you had a lot of cows, a lot of sheep, or a lot of goats, you were wealthy. If you had no animals, you were poor. There were no banks, there were no stocks, there were no businesses per se. Everybody’s wealth was tied up in the animals that they had. So when he says know your flocks, he’s saying watch your business interest. Today, instead of saying know your flocks, God would say know your stocks. In other words, you need to know where they’re going. Now he says riches can disappear fast. People say money talks. It does not. It just walks away quietly. and you end up with more of the month left over at the end of the money, and you go, where is all this going? Anytime you say, well, I just don’t know where it goes, it means you’re already in trouble. Because easy credit plus ignorance equals disaster. You must keep good records. It’s a warning. If you don’t know where it’s going, you are already headed in deep trouble. You gotta keep good records. 1 Corinthians 16, 2 says, On the first day of every week, that’s Sunday, when you go to worship, put aside some of what you have earned during the week and use it for the offering. Now, the amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you to earn. It’s in a proportional giving. Now, this verse is primarily about planning your tithing, but that’s not why I put it in there. I put it in there because I want you to circle the phrase put aside. Put aside. You can’t set aside some for the offering or you can’t set aside some for savings or you can’t set aside some for vacation unless you’re keeping good records. You can’t put aside anything if you don’t know what you’ve got and where it’s going. You must keep good records. Habit number four, if you want God’s blessing on your finances, give the first 10% back to God. Give the first 10% back to God. Now I don’t have to spend time on this because this is tithing. Most of you know this principle and most of you are tithers in this church. Tithing means the first 10% I give back to God. Tithe means 10 or 10%. Proverbs 3, nine and 10 says this. Honor the Lord by giving him the leftovers of all your income. Oh, that’s not what it says, is it? What’s it say? First part, circle that, first part. That means right off the top, right off the top. And he will fill your barns to overflow. You say, Rick, why did God say give him back 10%? Why 10? I don’t know. I really don’t know. It’s one of the questions on my, I’ve got a list of things I’m gonna ask God when we get to heaven. One of them is, I mean, he could have said 5%. He could have said 20%. He could have said two. He could have said 90. Why he said 10? I don’t know. The point is God doesn’t need my money. He just wants what it represents, my life. And the most sensitive nerve in my body goes from the heart to the wallet. Now, look at the next verse. The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives. That’s what it’s there for. And tithing does three things. It’s a statement of gratitude. God, I wouldn’t have anything if it weren’t for you. It’s a statement of purpose. God, you’re first in my life, so I’ll give you the first part of my money on the first day of the week. And it’s a statement of faith. God, I believe you’ve You’ll keep your promises that if I put you first, you’ll take care of all my needs. So it’s gratitude, it’s priority, and it’s faith. Now in Malachi 3.10, God says this. Bring to my storehouse, that’s the temple, it’s where you worship. Bring to my storehouse a full 10th of what you earn. 2% is not a tithe, 8% is not a tithe, 10% is a tithe. Bring a full 10th of what you earn. Test me in this, says the Lord, and see if I will open a window of blessing for you and pour out all the blessings you need. There are more promises in the Bible about tithing than anything else. Now let me just give you a suggestion here. If you have a hard time remembering to honor God with the first part of your income, let me give you a simple, easy tip. Online giving. You can just set it up automatically. So you make God part of your regular schedule in your giving. Now number five, this one’s just as important as tithing. I must save and invest for the future. You must save and invest. and invest if you want God’s blessing on your life. You can’t just tithe. You can’t just keep good records. You can’t just honor God. You must save and invest for the future. Now, the Bible calls savings God’s IQ test. It really tells how smart you are, whether you’re saving or not. In Proverbs 21, 20… The wise man saves for the future. That’s wise, it shows you’re smart. But the foolish spends whatever he gets. Did you know that the average Japanese saves 25% of their income? The average European saves 18% of their income. Last year in America, the average American spent 1% more than he made. Now, let me give you a question that will help you increase your savings ability. You just ask this question, do I really need this? You just ask yourself that question. You start to buy something. Could I put this money in the bank and save it or do I really need this? You see, when you save, you’re getting your money to work for you. The problem is most people are poor or never get out of debt because they’re working for their money instead of getting their money to work for them. When you say, every time you save, every time you invest, you’re getting your money to work for you. Money should work for you, not you for money. Does that make sense? The Bible says that savings and investing is a mark of wisdom.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hey everybody, thank you so much for joining us today on Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. You know, just a short time back, God put it on Pastor Rick’s heart to connect with a team of leading health experts, and they created the Daniel Plan. Meet Joel.
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SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
I sure hope you’ll let Pastor Rick send you a hardcover copy of his bestselling book, The Daniel Plan, today. It’s his way of saying thanks so much for your financial gift to this listener-supported ministry. Just go to PastorRick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That’s PastorRick.com. Or you can just text the word HOPE to 70309. That’s the word HOPE to 70309. And thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope really helps us share the hope of Christ with people all over the world. Be 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.
