From His Heart

Jeff Schreve: You want to have a plan, a program, to have the right attitude toward money in your marriage and in your family? Put God first in your finances. If you will do what God's says to do, if you'll learn to be content in the Lord and His provision, and if you'll make money your servant and not your master, then you'll enjoy financial freedom. And the financial feud that many go through in life won't come to your doorstep.

Larry Nobles: How can you experience true financial peace in your heart, and especially in your marriage and family? Both Scripture has a lot to say about our relationship with money and also a lot about conflict in marriage. And today, Pastor Jeff Schreve will address both in this timely and practical message, "Overcoming the Financial Feud."

Now, we'll be hearing part two of this lesson today. If you missed part one from last time, you can listen easily again online at fromhishart.org. Click the listen link and look for the broadcast title, "Overcoming the Financial Feud." First though, open your Bible to the book of 1 Timothy as Pastor Jeff Schreve continues helping us overcome the financial feud.

Jeff Schreve: There are three admonitions that the Lord gives us from His word concerning money. Admonition number one: recognize the inherent danger found in money. The inherent danger. Money is like a gun. Money is neither good nor bad. A gun is neither good nor bad. It's amoral. You can use it for good, or you can use it for bad.

Now it says that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. Money is not the root of all sorts of evil, but your attitude toward money is. That word, when it says "the love of money" in verse 10, that's one word in the Greek: philarguria. Philarguria. It literally means the affection for silver. Let me tell you something, it is easy to fall in love with money. Very easy, and not even know that you've fallen in love with money. And that's why you and I need to be very careful as it relates to money because there is inherent danger in money.

But not only is it easy to fall in love with money, it is foolish to fall in love with money. Very foolish to do that. Why? Because money can't satisfy. Money is something that we need, but money is not the be-all end-all. Money doesn't solve problems. Money doesn't satisfy the longings of the human heart. Solomon, who had more money than anyone who has ever lived, he said this: "Those who love money will never be satisfied with the money they have. Those who love wealth will not be satisfied when they get more and more. This is also senseless. It's vanity. It's chasing after wind." It's meaningless to go after money because money can't satisfy. Recognize the inherent danger found in money.

Second admonition: learn to be content in the Lord and in His provision. You find your contentment and satisfaction in the Lord and His provision. Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. That's money. It's not going to satisfy you. The one who will satisfy you is the Lord Jesus Christ. Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes, "For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?" No one, because He is the source of satisfaction.

So look at verse 6. He says, "But godliness actually is a means of great gain." He's talking in verse 5 about the false teachers who use religion to try and get money and fake godliness to try and gain money. He says, "But godliness actually is a means of great gain when it's accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content." Contentment in the Lord, in what you have in Him and in what He provides.

So how do we focus ourselves so we can see the Lord, so we can get our satisfaction in Him and not be distracted by so many other things and not let the love of money get into our hearts? Number one: stop comparing yourself to other people. We all tend to have trouble comparing ourselves to other people. You know what Facebook is? Facebook is people comparing themselves to other people. And in Facebook, you look on there, it's somebody's highlight reel. They show you, "Hey, we're going here and we're doing this and we're doing that," and you look at your crummy life and you think, "We never go anywhere."

But listen, Facebook is not real. I have 5,000 friends on Facebook. I don't have 5,000 friends. I don't know 5,000 people. But they're my friends on Facebook. Sometimes somebody would come up and say, "You know we're friends on Facebook." I said, "Oh, hi friend." I mean, I've never met you before. And so it's not really real. So stop comparing yourselves to others. And then, secondly, stop focusing on what you don't have and start thanking God for what you do have.

If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. Praise the Lord, I have food. Praise the Lord, I have covering. Praise the Lord, I have a place to live. That's all I really need. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5, "Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,' so that we may confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?'"

Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have. What do I have? As a Christian, I have the Lord Jesus Christ through His Spirit living in my heart. I have my name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. My citizenship is in heaven. How rich I am since Jesus came my way. I have so much in the Lord.

So how do we overcome the financial feud? We recognize money's got some danger to it. I have to treat this like I would treat a gun and be careful with it. I see that money can't satisfy me, so I find my contentment in the Lord and in His provision. And then, admonition number three: make money your servant and not your master.

What did Jesus say? "No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." You can't find satisfaction in money, so don't go down that road. You can't serve God and money. And if you're a lover of money, you're not going to be walking with God because those two things are mutually exclusive.

Look what it says in verse 17 of chapter 6, 1 Timothy. "Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited, arrogant, high-minded, or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed."

Don't fix your hope on money because money is uncertain. You can have a lot of money today and it can be gone tomorrow. I remember back a few years ago, silver was going crazy. People were buying silver and the price of silver just kept going up and up and up and up. And I said, "Man, I need to get some silver." So I bought silver. The very next day, I think it dropped. I bought at the very peak. I looked at a 10-year map of silver. I bought it at the very peak. It's dropped down from about $48, $49 down to about $15. And so if any of you would like to buy silver at $49, I have some for you.

But that's the way money is. You buy something and then all of a sudden it goes down or it gets wrecked or something happens to it. Money talks, it says goodbye. And the Scripture says you brought nothing into this world, you come in naked, you can't take anything with you. As Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Money is uncertain, so I don't fix my hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who's a good God and He richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

Larry Nobles: You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve and part two of the lesson, "Overcoming the Financial Feud." It's from the "We Are Family" series. Pastor Jeff will return with more in just a minute. We've been in messages about family and marriage all this month because that's where the devil likes to attack first: our homes, then our culture, and our world.

The Bible is clear that our world is headed for some very treacherous times. The apostle Paul warned Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 3 and 4: "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."

Boy, isn't that the truth today? If you're wise in the Lord's word, you know that time is now. The pressure to soften, to hedge, to go quiet, it's real. But that's why From His Heart exists, to tell and encourage you with the truth, and tell the truth with love and conviction, no matter how uncomfortable some may be when they hear it. And your support makes it possible to keep boldly speaking the truth in love.

This month is our fiscal year end, and we need to close the gap on our substantial goal to meet our needs in the next 12 months of ministry with confidence. For your fiscal year end gift today, we'd like to say thank you by sending you the series "Love and Marriage: Doing Family God's Way." It's a brand new one from Pastor Jeff with four lessons. The companion booklet also will be included. It's called, "I Still Do."

To make that very timely and important fiscal year end gift, call 866-40-BIBLE, 866-40-BIBLE, or go to fromhishart.org and request them when you do. Thank you for praying about what you can do to keep God's word going out through every channel to reach countless people still searching for clarity in the chaos of our confused world. Now, the conclusion to the message, "Overcoming the Financial Feud."

Jeff Schreve: You mark this down. If you hold on to everything and you say, "Well, I can't afford to give. I can't put God first in my finances because I'm so far behind on these other bills." Listen, 90% with the blessing and honor of God goes way further than 100% with God's hand off of it. And so if you want to please God, if you want to honor God, if you want to say, "God, I'm going to put You first in my finances," then start to give to the work of the Lord. Honor Him with your wealth.

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth; store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And if you want to make sure that the love of money doesn't get in your heart, a sure way to break the chains of greed and the love of money is to start giving and investing money in heaven's bank. There are only three things that last forever: God, His word, and people. So we invest in the kingdom, the work of the kingdom, we invest in spreading the word of God, we invest in ministering to people the good news that Jesus saves.

So begin to put God first in your finances. Secondly, check with God before making any purchases. You don't buy anything before you talk to God about it because so many of us get in trouble because we impulse buy. We see something we want and then we confuse wants and needs. "Oh, I want that new Corvette. I just need that new Corvette." No, you need a car. You don't need a Corvette. You want a Corvette. There's a big difference between wants and needs.

The Scripture says this, if we honor the Lord with our wealth, that God, Philippians 4:19, in the context of Philippians 4 is people who are giving to the Lord, honoring the Lord from their wealth. And Paul says that God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That's a promise in God's word. You honor God, God will take care of you. He will provide for you. Now the difficulty is, and my God shall supply all your needs. Needs, not greeds, not wants, needs. Many of us don't know the difference between needs and wants. Some parents need to learn the difference between needs and wants. God will provide your needs.

And you know what's interesting is the person who's really content, you find your contentment in the Lord, "if we have food and covering with these we shall be content." And the person who is really rich, when we talk about rich, that person is the one who says, "I don't need anything else. I'm completely satisfied. I don't need anything else." A very lowly farmer wasn't just barely making an existence was out in town one day, saw the richest man in town and he said to him, he said, "You know, sir, I am richer than you are." The man looked at him and said, "How do you figure that?" He said, "Because I have all I want and you don't."

Adrian Rogers used to like to say, "You want to know how rich you are? Count up all the things that money can't buy and death can't take away, and that's how rich you are." We find our satisfaction in Jesus, so we check with God. Put Him first. We check with Him. "Lord, is it okay that I buy this because all my money belongs to You. So Lord, is it okay if I buy this item and buy that item? And God, what do You say? Is that a need or is that a want?"

And then thirdly, discuss all financial matters, keep no secrets, and develop a plan. In your marriage, discuss financial matters. Involve your spouse in the finances. Keep no secrets. It's amazing, I did a little search on Google how many couples, husbands and wives, and the husband has a secret account and the wife has a secret account and they spend money here and spend money there and they don't talk about it and this person doesn't know and that person doesn't know. Don't do that. Don't have any secrets. Put it all out on the table and work on a plan together.

When Debbie and I were first married, now I'm very frugal. I came fifth of six kids. We had enough, but there was not a ton extra, and so you just learn to be frugal. And so when I went to college, I was very frugal. I had five classes, so I bought one spiral notebook, it was five subjects. Had like 40 pages of paper in each one of the notebooks because I thought I can get one notebook and that's only like three bucks or four bucks, whatever it was. And Debbie is totally different. She would have a binder full of notebooks for every class.

Well, when you have one notebook, five subjects, and the notes start to run over into the other subject, it's like I was in trouble. I was writing it on my tennis shoe. I'm running out of paper. It's like, "Well, go buy some more paper." "Oh, I don't want to spend the money for that. I don't really need that. I can just write it on the back." That's the way I am. So Debbie and I get married and I'm a super saver and she is not. She's good with money, but she's not a super saver like I am. I used to love to play this game when we were first married, had little kids, and I'd be like, "Debbie, how cheap do you think we could live?" She goes, "I hate this game. It just ties my stomach in knots. Like you're going to lose your job."

So anyway, we first got married. Well, she had had some medical issues and she was off work for three weeks and she racked up some medical debt and she had some credit card debt and she had a car payment. And so we get married and we're sitting down and I'm wanting to be the leader and saying, "Hey, Debbie, we have to talk about our finances." Now I came in with a car that was paid for, I had no debt, I had a five-subject one-ring notebook that I was going by. And I had some money that my grandmother had given me, I think I had like $5,000. And so that's what I was bringing to the table.

And so we sat down and I said, "Debbie, how many credit cards do you have?" And so she took them all out, she had like 12. It was a lot. And so we put them all out on the table. And I said to her, I said, "Okay, I think I took a Visa card." And I said, "Okay, you got this one?" I said, "Pick one more." And she thought it was a game. And I said, "Pick one more." She said, "Okay, I'll pick this Foley's card." So she picked a Foley's card. And I said, "Okay, those are the two that you have." And I took out the scissors and I started cutting up all the other ones. And she said, "What are you doing?" I said, "You don't need those. Why do you need those?"

To me, it was like, "Hey, you got one notebook, five subjects, that's good enough." If you have a Visa card or Discover or American Express, that's all you need because you can buy gas, you can buy clothes, you can do anything with it. Why do you have a Foley's card and a Macy's card and a Phillips 66 card and a 7-Eleven card? I don't think they have those. But you have all these cards. Why do you need that? And so I started cutting them all up. And to her tremendous credit, she didn't freak out on me, but she was thinking, "What in the world are you doing?"

I told her, I said, "I'm taking over the finances." First month, I forgot to pay her car payment because I didn't have a car payment. I didn't know. I thought they were going to send me a bill. She said, "They don't send you a bill, they give you this book." And it's like, "I've never had that before," so I just didn't send them anything. Next month, I gave her, I said, "You take care of the finances here. You pay the bills." But I want to know what we're doing. And she's good at paying the bills, she pays them on time. But we made a commitment, we had a plan. We're not going to spend money that we don't have. We're not going to overextend ourselves.

We're not going to buy this car even though it's going to strap us. We're not going to get house poor and buy a house that's going to take us up to here. No, we want to have margin. Why? Because the Scripture says that "instruct people to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share." You can't be generous and ready to share if you're up here with your commitments. And if you buy things, not your needs but your greeds and your wants, and all of a sudden you have all these bills to pay. And then if something happens, you have both people working, and if something happens, there's a little hiccup, there's a bump in the road, somebody gets sick or somebody loses his job, then it's disastersville because there is no margin.

God says, "I don't want you to live that way." And so develop a plan. Hey, if you will do what God's says to do, if you'll watch out about the inherent danger of money, if you'll learn to be content in the Lord and His provision, and if you'll make money your servant and not your master, then you'll enjoy financial freedom. And the financial feud that many go through in life won't come to your doorstep. And you'll be able to talk things out, and you'll be able to be on the same page, and God will be glorified.

Larry Nobles: Well, we pray that today's lesson on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve has helped you toward being content in the Lord and trusting His provision by using money God's way. Of course, God's way in all things should be our purpose in this life. Over the years, we've seen the real impact of media ministry, and we've heard from people all over the world each week who share stories of how they've come to know Christ or grown deeper in their relationship with Jesus as a result of these messages.

This ministry is committed to seeking new ways to reach more people with the life-transforming message of the gospel and sound biblical teaching. We are excited to continue our outreach to the nations and to the world sharing real truth, real love, and real hope. And for your fiscal year end gift today, we want to say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's four-message series, "Love and Marriage: Doing Family God's Way," and the companion booklet, "I Still Do." Both for your gift today.

Call 866-40-BIBLE, 866-40-BIBLE, or go online to fromhishart.org. Well, I'm Larry Nobles and a big thank you for joining us today on From His Heart, and we pray you'll be right back here tomorrow for the next lesson in the "We Are Family" series. Join us for the lesson, "Fighting for the Family," next time on From His Heart.