Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hey everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. 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.

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."

Rick Warren: I remember in the very first year of 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. 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 dollars."

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 of fluff. It seemed like about the time he’d get this big dream for 50 million dollars, and then before it was closed, he’d jump to a bigger one. "No, we’re not doing that anymore because this one’s going to bring in 75 million dollars."

Instead of closing that deal, he'd say, "No, we’re not going to do that anymore. We’re doing the 100 million dollar one." He kept on doing it, 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 his suit pressed or pay the bill. Just go out and get a job, buddy. Just get a job. You don’t wait for the ship to come in; you swim out to it and do that.

Here is what the Bible says. Look at the next verse. Proverbs 21:5: "Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty 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. 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. Hasty speculation leads to poverty. It means you get in a hurry, you get emotionally involved, and you want to do it now. Now notice it says steady plodding brings prosperity. Circle the word plodding. This is where he’s saying 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, and pretty soon it all adds up.

Steady plodding brings prosperity. I’ve mentioned this in every session we’ve done in this series. The most powerful factor in mathematics is compounding interest. Over a period of time, little becomes much with compounding interest. Over a long period of time, turtles always beat rabbits because the rabbits get in a hurry. Then they stop over here to have a party with so-and-so, and then they go over here to do this. The turtle just plods along and crosses the finish line before everybody else.

God says if you want my blessing on your finances, first you’ve got to remember that I’m your security and I’m your source. Number two, you’ve got to make your money honestly. You’ve got to be fair in your deals, you can’t charge high interest, and you don’t get involved in get-rich-quick schemes and scams. Hasty speculation. You do steady plodding.

The third habit you have to develop is: I honor God first. I honor God first with my money. I don’t have to spend a lot of time on this one. We can 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 and give 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. This is the principle of tithing, that right out the top, I give the first 10 percent back to God.

I don’t have to explain this in detail. We’ve talked about this a lot. So 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 3: "Honor the Lord by giving Him the leftovers of all your income, and He will fill your barns to overflow." Oh, it doesn’t say that, does it? It says what? First part. First part.

Kay and I, 36 years ago, said, "Okay, look, if we’re in debt to anybody, we’re not going to be in debt to God. God gets paid first right off the top. If I make 10 bucks, the first dollar goes back to Him. If I make 100 bucks, the first 10 bucks go back to God. I may be in debt to you, I may be in debt to other people, but 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.

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 tithe? Next verse, Deuteronomy 14: "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.

When I tithe, when I give the first part of my income back to God before anything else as a gift to Him, it says three things: past, present, and future. God, thank you. I’m grateful for all you’ve given me in the past. You’re number one in my life right now, and I’m going to trust you in the future. That’s the purpose of it.

Where do I tithe? Do I tithe to the United Way or do I tithe 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. It goes to God. It’s an act of worship. Malachi 3:10: "Bring to my storehouse a full tenth of what you earn." By the way, what’s the storehouse? It’s the temple. He says bring it to the temple where you worship me. "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 the Pepsi challenge test. Test me in this. He said you bring it to me as an act of worship.

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 helped you earn." As I said, if I make 10 bucks, I give God a dollar return. If I make 100 dollars, I give Him 10 dollars.

On the first day of the week, the first part of my day, and the first part of my money, then God is saying, "You’re really number one in my life." Circle the phrase "put aside." 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. Notice this is number four.

First, I remember God is 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 to retirement flat broke because they spent all their money and never saved anything. The 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. They asked him one time, "How do you get to be a mega-millionaire?" He said, "The 10-10-80 principle. I tithe the first 10 percent, I save the second 10 percent, and I live on 80 percent." The 10-10-80 principle. Kay and I have practiced this, and even more than that, for many, many years.

If you do this 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 tests your IQ? It shows how smart you are. By looking at your savings, you can tell how wise you are with your money. Notice this verse, Proverbs 21:20: "The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets."

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. Not only is the government being irresponsible, but we are being irresponsible. We’re not saving, and as a result, you’re going to get to retirement and there’s nothing going to be there. Let me give you a little question that will help you start saving. You simply ask this one: "Do I really need this item?"

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 it in savings, putting it in investment. 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. Your money is making money for you when you save. You make money work for you. Now let’s look at some of the principles of saving and investment from the Word of God.

Proverbs 24:27 says this: "Develop your business first before building your house." Did 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 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.

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 of living. What most people do as soon as they get a raise, they go out and they buy a new car. That’s the last thing you need to do.

In the first place, when you buy a new car, the moment you drive it off the lot, it’s worth 10,000 dollars less than you paid for it. But you’re still going to pay the interest on all that, even though it’s depreciated. You have just invested in a depreciating item that’s going to get cheaper and cheaper while you’re paying more and more interest, 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 that maybe you can’t afford—what you need to do is take that money and put it in a bank and let it sit there for years and watch it. 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. There is a rush in spending money, but you should get that attitude and change it to saving money. Say, "Oh, honey, I had such a great day today. What’d you do? I put 50 dollars more in the bank." Well, good. 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 had paid me in the first 25 years and I gave it all back. Kay and 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.

How do you do that? Well, in the early years, we were just very, very careful. I went out and, rather than go buy a new car, I found a car in the PennySaver over in Leisure World for 500 dollars. Now, that’s a car. I went over there, and it was a 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass. 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." So I bought this car for 500 dollars. I drove it across the border to Tijuana and spent 1,500 dollars getting a completely new paint job and a completely new interior. Got it all, and then I drove it for six years. After six years, I got tired of it. I gave it to Pastor Tom.

It’s true. I did. Then Tom drove it for I don’t know, five or six more years, and then he gave it to another pastor. That car is somewhere out there in pastorland today. Now, that per mile, per gallon cost 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. I 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, and letting it make more money. This is the principle: save money wisely.

Guest (Male): You know, people are being transformed by these messages. In fact, here’s Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Rick Warren: 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 Elena. "Dear Pastor Rick, I’ve been struggling with insomnia for many years." That’s a common problem. "It has inevitably affected my family, and I’ve been irritable, I’ve been short-tempered with them. I’ve even gone to sleep therapists in hopes of regaining at least five hours of continuous sleep without sleeping pills that do more harm than good. But it was all unsuccessful until I started 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, Elena. That’s amazing. She writes, "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. However, 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."

Elena, thank you for writing. I love you, and I’m so encouraged that these messages have brought some peace to your mind. I’m going to be praying for you this week that your nerves will be calmed, that your peace will increase, and 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.

Guest (Male): 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@pastorrick.com. That’s rick@pastorrick.com. 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.