Welcome

Let’s talk about money and your future. We hope to establish within both our church community and well as my extended family a thoughtful conversation about finances. Let’s have a clear talk about the issues, one at a time – delving in detail as necessary, but laying first a foundation, then hitting issue after issue from a biblical perspective. Issues like Debt, Living within Your Means, Saving, Emergency Funds, Checking Accounts, Credit cards, 401-Ks and IRAs, Investing, Spouses Working and even Who Does The Checks. Finances for a lifetime!

For those of you who are serious about gaining greater insight, I want to encourage you to do every module (Part 1, Part 2, etc.) all the way to the end. I’ll be adding a module a week until we reach the end of the course. If you complete all of modules, we will have an online exam, and those who make a B or better will get a Certificate of Completion. The lessons are very short, but their difficulty is not in length but in depth and challenge.

One word of warning: your efforts will not do much good if you skip around. The content is purposely sequential, and even though it may not seem that important at first, I hope you will hang with me. I also want you to know this is a collaborative effort, with insightful friends lending a hand, and several of us have been praying very specifically for grace to make this really useful. I promise you that many obstacles, both current and future, will be removed if you can apply what we present. We will be mining the principles of dealing with money straight out of the Bible. So expect great concepts!

And pace yourself. I would recommend doing only one module a week. Muse on the shared content all week – think about your personal issues and the simple truths in each module.

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Part One: What are we going to do about money?

I’ve been working over 43 years – a long time in most people’s book. Our recent retreat focused me on the plight most young families face: What are we going to do about money? Where do we get it, how do we spend it and why do we always seem behind the eight ball?

Money ends up being important. Jesus talked about it often. The Old Testament sages frequently addressed it. Unfortunately, we live in a culture that has lost almost complete touch with how to deal with money.

So I’m motivated. I look around and see that our Enemy is robbing families right and left, and eventually the relationships within the families will suffer. When you see this happen, it makes you angry, because it obstructs the purposes of God. It is normal for God to bless his people with resources, for their benefit as well as the community. So what are we to do if we want to stop the robbery?

Over the next few weeks I hope to address one by one the various Biblical principles that can align your finances with the will of God. Proverbs 21:2 says that “every way that a man takes seems right in his own eyes,” but most of the time, that way is not aligned with God’s divine principles. The result? Less than God’s best and a win for Satan.

I’m tired of seeing loss. It is one thing to lose because of inability. It is altogether a different thing to lose because of ignorance. We all share the responsibility to dig into God’s word to find the ways that are pleasing – the ways that are solid and true. But we old folks have a special responsibility to highlight the pitfalls we’ve discovered as well as spotlight the remarkable joy that God wants for every household.

So PLEASE accept my invitation to travel with me down this road. The only road that is worth traveling is God’s road, and I say that without equivocation. If I look back at my own searching over the years, my experience affirms God’s singular truth. If I look back at the trials and successes of those around me, I come to the same conclusion: you can’t travel down your own make believe road and not have serious loss – even catastrophic. So PLEASE stay with me!

Why do I plead with you? Because I know from experience that Satan hates Godly patterns. He hates them. Even as you read this, you may be unconsciously pushing away a listening ear. Don’t do that. Sure, why should you listen to anyone on this subject – particularly someone you know? That’s one push-back. And yes, if you listen, God might ask you to forgo that new Ipad or Iphone or Wii or trip to Disneyworld. So just don’t listen. Forgive me, but that is falling into the Enemy’s hands, and the Enemy truly is a robber and murderer who wants to rob you and destroy you. So I plead with you: listen to what God wants to tell you and act!