Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

--Pastor Rick Warren--

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. And I know if you apply these biblical principles, you'll start to experience true financial freedom and lasting peace. A lot of people would like to know the answer to this question. This is part one called Where to Best Invest.

The Bible says, "Tell people to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share whatever God has given them."

"By doing this, they'll be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven. It is the only safe investment for eternity, and they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well."

Now, I want you to know there's three things. This is a very important verse. First, I want you to circle the phrase, "use their money." Would you circle that? The Bible teaches that money is to be used, not loved. The Bible doesn't say money is bad. The Bible says the love of money is bad. You are to use money and love people. Use money, love people.

Now, if you start loving money, you're going to do the opposite. You're going to use people to get more money. So, write this down in your outline somewhere, money is a tool. That's what it is. It's a tool. It is a tool that God gives you to help fulfill your purposes in this life, and you are to use it as a tool. And it has great potential for good if you use it the way God intended. The Bible says, "Use your money."

Second, I want you to notice that the Bible says that you can store up financially in eternity. It's like a bank in heaven. The Bible says you can store up financially in heaven. And notice, I want you to circle the phrase, "for themselves." It says, "They will be storing up real treasure for themselves." Circle that, for themselves in heaven. You can actually bank in heaven. Jesus called it storing up treasure for yourselves in heaven.

Now, you've heard people say all along, well, you can't take it with you. Well, that's true, but you can send it on ahead. You can send it on ahead. Once you die, whatever you leave behind, you're leaving behind. But you can send it on ahead. The Bible says you can store up treasure in heaven. And today, we're going to talk about how you do that. How you do that.

Now, the Bible says also that you invest in eternity by using your money for God's purposes for your life. And that investment is proven, it's secure, it's risk-free, it's guaranteed interest, it yields dividends forever.

Now, if you were to go to a financial adviser, any financial adviser in the world would tell you, don't put all your eggs in what? One basket. Right. Exactly. And you know what? God would tell you the exact same thing. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. You need a diversified financial portfolio. And that's the same thing is true spiritually. You need a diversified investment portfolio.

Now, since God has five purposes for your life, guess how many investment funds he has? Five. That's right. One for each purpose of your life. And today, we're going to look at five ways to use your money to further God's purpose in your life as long as you live, and at the same time, storing up treasure in heaven, as Jesus called it. God's five financial investment funds. So, let's look at them.

If you turn the page, the first one is this. God wants me to invest in his treasury fund. God wants me to invest in his treasury fund. Now, I call it the treasury fund based on these two scriptures here. Matthew 6, Jesus says this, "Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves can break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven." There's that same phrase again. It says you store up treasures in heaven.

The next verse, Job says this, "Give up your lust for money, then the Almighty himself will be your treasure." Now, how do I invest in this first fund? This is the one that most of you know about. Most of you don't know about the other four. This is called the Treasury Fund, and I invest in the Treasury Fund by using some of my money to express worship. To express worship. You might write that down.

Now, why do I do that? Because it makes God happy. You know, when I was a little kid, I used to buy or make all these little cheesy gifts for my parents. And when I look back at them, they were really lame. But every time I would give my parents a present, they were overjoyed by it. Now, it wasn't like I could give them something they didn't already have. And it wasn't like they needed anything from me, because they didn't. But they were just enjoyed, enjoyed the fact that I thought of them.

One time when I was eight years old, I went into a thrift store and I bought my mother a dress for 25 cents. And I thought it was a really cool dress. Now, it was about a size four, and my mom was a size 12. So, and I remember the the the clerk knew my mom. She said, "Rick." Actually, she said, "Ricky," because I was called Ricky as a kid. "Ricky, your mom couldn't get her big toe in that dress." I was so offended. I went home crying.

And when I gave my dress to my mom, that was the cheesiest gift, but she was so thrilled. You know that when my mom died, I found that dress in one of her chests. She'd kept it all those years. Now, there's nothing you can give God that he needs, and God certainly doesn't need your money. But when you come and you give an offering to God, you're saying, "God, I love you. God, I'm thinking of you. God, I want you first in my life." And that's the first purpose of life, to know and love God, your plan for his pleasure.

And when you give back to God, it makes God smile. He doesn't need it. He does it because you're saying, "I love you, and I'm generous, and I want to be with you." Notice these verses. The Bible says, "Honor the Lord by giving him the leftovers of all your income." Oh, I misread that, didn't I? "Honor the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income." That's called tithing.

The Bible says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Do you want to get a heart for Microsoft? Do you want to get interested in Microsoft? I'll tell you how to do it, buy some stock. The moment you buy some Microsoft stock, all of a sudden, you're going to get really interested in that company. And you're going to read articles about it that you never read before. Now, if you don't own stock in Microsoft, you couldn't care less about that company. But where your treasure is, your heart will be.

You want to get interested in Sony Corporation? Buy some stock in Sony. The moment you buy stock in it, you're going to get real interested in it. Why? Because the principle of life is wherever you put your money, that's where your interest goes. Now, here's the question. Where is your heart? Well, it's wherever you're putting your money. Your heart, your treasure may be in your boat. Your treasure may be in your motorcycle. Your treasure may be in your home, it may be in your car, it may be in redecorating. Your treasure may be in your hobby.

I'll tell you, without even knowing you, I can tell you where your heart is. It's wherever your treasure is. Because regardless of what I say is important to me, the way I spend my time and the way I spend my money shows what's really important to me. And if you want to know what's important to Rick Warren, all you got to do is look at two things. Look at my schedule and look at my checkbook stubs. And that'll tell you real quick what's important to me. And the same thing is true for you. You may say something's important, but the way you spend your time, the way you spend your money shows what's really important to you.

So, where do you want your heart to be? Well, wherever you want it to be. Say, "Well, I want my heart to be with God." Then you need to put your treasure in God. Because where your treasure is, your heart will be also. You know, every time I feel distant from God, I feel I don't feel close to God. I feel like God's a million miles away. One of the things I do is I give an offering. Why? Because wherever I put my money draws me to that. If I gave my money to you, it'd draw me closer to you. If I give my money to God, it draws me closer to God. If I give my money to something over here, it's going to draw me closer to that. It's just a principle of life.

Now, the Bible says that not every kind of giving is an act of worship. So, what is it? Write these two things down. First, worship giving is undesignated. It's undesignated. That means you don't control it, you don't direct it, you don't tell God what to do with it. The heart of worship is surrender, and you just say, "Lord, I'm just giving this to you, whatever you want to do with it." The Bible says in the book of Leviticus, "You may not take back what you have unconditionally dedicated to the Lord." So, worship giving is not strategic giving, it's just undesignated. Here, it's all yours, God.

And then the second thing, it's given when and where I worship. Worship giving is given when and where I worship. Now, the Bible says this in First Corinthians, "On every Sunday, put aside something from what you've earned during the week and use it for the offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you to earn." Now, notice several things. Worship giving is weekly. It says on every Sunday. Now, why that? Because that's when and where I worship. It says every Sunday. It's weekly. I give the first part of my money on the first day of the week to say, "God, you're first in my life."

And then he says, "Put aside something." That means it ought to be planned, you ought to think it through. You don't just give spontaneously, you think it through. And then it ought to be proportional. He says, "The amount depends on how much you've earned." You didn't earn anything this week, you don't give anything. You earn a little, you give a little. You earn a lot, you give a lot. And it's undesignated.

Now, let me just say this. We're going to talk about five different funds today. This is probably the only one you've ever heard of. God wants you to give to this fund before you give or invest in any of the other funds. Why? Because he wants your heart more than anything else. He doesn't want your money, he wants what it represents. And the the most sensitive nerve in the body is the one that goes from the heart to the wallet.

Why does God say do this? Well, look at the next verse. "The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives."

Now, the second purpose of God for your life is that you learn to love other people. He wants you first to learn to love him. You invest in the treasury fund, where your treasure is, your heart is. So, he says, "Invest in the treasury fund, learn to love me." Now, the second purpose of life is learn to love other people in God's family. And so, number two, God wants you to invest in the mutual fund. The mutual fund. It's God's mutual fund.

And the Bible says in Romans 12 verse 10, "Love one another with mutual affection." Now, how do I invest in the mutual fund? How do I use some of my money to invest in mutual fund? Here's how you do it, by using some of my money to encourage fellowship. To encourage fellowship. I use some of my money to express worship, and I use some of my money to encourage fellowship. And that means to show love to other believers. It means to use my money to build relationships, to demonstrate love. Look at these verses.

The Bible says, "Share what you have with God's people who are in need, show hospitality." The next verse says, "Think of ways to encourage one another with outbursts of love and good deeds." He says, "Think of ways, be creative, put some thought into it." Now, listen, anytime I give my money to God, it draws me closer to God. Anytime I give my money to you, it draws me closer to you.

When I give money to people in my small group, or I help, and I invest in my small group, I I grow up closer to them. So, anytime you go out and you buy a little nice card, you know, a Hallmark or Day Spring card or something, and you write a note of encouragement in it and you give it to somebody, you've just invested in the mutual fund. Anytime you prepare a meal, or you buy a meal, and you take it over to somebody's house who is sick, you just invested in the mutual fund.

Anytime you open up your home and you have a small group over, and you provide some refreshments, and that costs you, you just invested in the mutual fund. Anytime you provide a babysitter for somebody who needs to go to church, or needs to go to a conference or retreat or something like that, you invested in the mutual fund. When somebody you know, another believer is is discouraged, and they need somebody to talk to, and you take them out to lunch, and you pay for lunch, you just invested in the mutual fund. Does this make sense?

You see, you can give to God, and God says, "That's storing up treasure in heaven." But you can also give to other people, and God says, "When you do that as an act of love, it's like banking it in heaven." God says, "It counts. It counts." He says, "Anytime you use your funds to show love to somebody else in the family of God," whether it's anything it could be, maybe you help somebody else financially in your small group, whatever, you're actually investing in the mutual fund.

Now, why should I do this? Why should I give to encourage fellowship? Well, look at these verses. On the next page, the Bible says, "This service of giving not only helps the needs of God's people, it also brings many more thanks to God. And it's proof of your faith." Now, those three things there. It says, "It meets a need, it brings thanks to God, and it proves that you believe what you say you believe. Many people will praise God because you obey the good news of Christ, the gospel you say you believe, and because you freely share with them."

Now, you've heard me say it before, that you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. When I first fell in love with my wife, I could not keep money in my pocket. It was like burning a hole in my pocket. Every time I turned around, I was buying her something. I'd see something on TV, "Kitchen magician, I got to buy that, man." You know, it didn't matter what it was. I just wanted to buy her stuff. Why? Because I was in love with her. You cannot love without giving.

And so, when I give, it draws me closer to you. It draws me and it causes me to love you more. Also, it's a witness to other people. Notice this next verse. "When you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even when they're strangers, you make the faith visible."

I wish I could tell you all the stories, but let me just read you one. A guy in our church sent me this. He said, "Pastor Rick, last Sunday morning, a few guys from my men's small group had breakfast at the Pancake House in Anaheim before heading over to Angel Stadium for the service. When our waitress overheard that we were from Saddleback Church, she insisted on paying for our breakfast herself."

Now, when we asked her why, she said, "Well, there's a couple from Saddleback that eats here all the time, and every time they do, before they pay for their own bill, they request to pay the bill for two other random tables in the restaurant as an act of love." She said, "I don't know what got into you Saddleback people, but it's an inspiration to the rest of us." It's what we're drinking. That's it. It's what we're drinking.

That's what we want to be famous for. We say, "That's the church where they love each other, where they're generous with each other, where they take care of each other." These people over there at Saddleback Church, they're the most generous people in the whole world. Why? Because that's what God is like. It's a witness to other people. Not only that, it builds unity among believers. The next verse says, "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity."

Now, there is enormous power in unity. You know, it's like that phrase, "Snowflakes are frail, but if enough of them stick together, they can stop traffic." And if you can't do anything by yourself and I can't do anything by ourselves, together we can do something serious.

Now, why is this church so unified? I'll tell you why. Because the members and the people are involved in 2,600 different church uh small groups spread out all over in 83 cities, and they're being generous to each other on a weekly basis. And that builds unity. I know about a group who recently paid for a plane ticket for a a a person in their church, their brother, his brother got or her brother got Hodgkin's disease. And so, they paid for that person to fly back and see their brother. They didn't have to do that. What were they doing? They were investing in the mutual fund. And that brings unity. "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity."

So, God wants me to invest in his treasury fund. That's where my heart is, my treasure will be. That's given back to him in worship. God wants me to invest in the mutual fund, use some of my money to show love to the people around me. Number three, God wants me to invest in his growth fund. His growth fund. Because the third purpose of life is God wants you to grow up spiritually. So, he says, "I want you to take some of the money and invest it in yourself." I want you to invest it in personal improvement, in personal growth.

The Bible says in Second Peter 3:18, "Grow in spiritual strength and become better acquainted with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." Now, how do I do that? How do I invest in the growth fund? Well, you can write this down by using some of my money to enhance my character. To enhance my character. Some of my money expresses worship, some of my money encourages fellowship, some of my money enhances my own personal character, enhances my own personal growth.

The Bible says this, "The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but people evil people squander their money on sin." Now, there's a zillion ways to waste your money instead of using it to grow. But God says, "I want you to use some of your money to grow spiritually." Use some of your money to develop skills. Use some of your money to to educate yourself. Use some of your money to become a better person, to improve yourself in every area of your life.

You become a better leader, you become a better speaker, you become a better prayer, you become a better person. He says, "Use some of your money to do that." Now, why? Because that's what's going to last. I hate to tell you this, but you're not taking your car to heaven with you. You're not taking your car, and you're not going to take your condo to heaven with you. And you're not going to take your couch to heaven with you. And you're not going to take your clothes to heaven with you. And you're not going to take your china to heaven with you. You are going to take your character, what you are.

So, God says, "Use some of your money to invest in something that's going to heaven, so you store up treasure in heaven." None of those other things are going. So, he says, "Invest in yourself for spiritual growth." Now, you see, what we like to do, we like to use our money to invest in comfort. But God says, "No, invest in character," because character is what you're going to have the rest of eternity.

Notice what the Bible says. Proverbs 23, "Buy truth and don't sell it for love or money. Buy wisdom, buy education, buy insight." Now, what does that mean? It means anytime you use your money to buy a a spiritual book, a Christian book that helps you grow, you've invested in the growth fund. Anytime you use your money to buy some CDs that helps you grow spiritually, you've invested in the growth fund. Anytime you use some of your money to pay for a seminar or a men's retreat or a women's retreat or a conference that helps you improve your life in any area of your life, you've invested in the growth fund.

Anytime you use your money to take a class or go get an education or anything that makes you more of what God wanted you to be and you develop what God has given you, God looks down and he smiles and he says, "That's a good use of money." You are investing in your growth fund. As I said, we like to invest in comfort, but God says, "No, invest in your character."

Hey, if you're looking for daily encouragement from God's Word, I'd like to invite you to download the Daily Hope app. It's designed to help you grow in your faith every day. It has easy access to devotionals, audio messages you can listen to anywhere, and video teaching right at your fingertips. You can even search for topics that matter to you and set a daily reminder so you never miss time with God. Just search Daily Hope in the Apple App Store or Google Play. And I hope it's a real blessing to you. 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.