The Noise of Financial Stress

Some of us have a P.H.D. in D.U.M.B. in money.  

Jesus spoke more about money than heaven and hell combined. 

Jesus taught... 

Matthew 6:24 (NIRV)

24 “No one can serve two masters at the same time. 

You will hate one of them and love the other. 

Or you will be faithful to one and dislike the other. 

You can’t serve God and money (Mammon/Materialism) at the same time. 

Money makes promises to us that it cannot keep.  

It promises to do things for us  that only God can deliver. 

The number one rival of God in the earth today is not the devil but money. 

The Bible says that if you're serving God you cannot be enslaved to money.  

That's good news!  

Because if God is our master, money will never master us.  

Take out your wallet and look at it. 

Ask yourself while you hold it. 

Is it holding you?  

God says that if I'm the Lord of your life that little piece of leather should have no power over you.

Here are some kingdom principles on money.  

Here are 3 simple principles to break the stress of financial strain on your life.

1. Generosity: If you give first, it builds Faith. 

Let's view the verse below through the lens of dollars and cents.

John 3:16 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

16 God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. 

Anyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.

God was so motivated by love that He gave His son.  

You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. 

We serve a give first God.  

What: God gave us heaven's best. 

When: God gave to us first before we accepted Christ.  

How: God gave sacrificially. 

God gives us a pattern to follow.  

If we are in Christ, generosity is in our D.N.A.  

God's heart drips with abundance.  

God was not stingy when He gave us His grace. 

We need God's mercy every morning because we used it all up last night. 

We serve a give first God, so we've become a give first Church.  

God's heart drips with abundance, but the world always talks about lack. 

Some of us need to shift gears in the way that we think.  

If you have a lack mentality, you will be a slave to what's in or not in your wallet.  

If you have an abundance mentality, your wallet will not have power over you, but you will have power over it.  

The Bible doesn't say that money is the root of all evil. 

That's misquoted.  

It's the love of money.  

Money is simply a tool. (1 Tim. 6:10) 

It's what we do with money that makes it good or evil. 

Money doesn't change a person.  

Money simply reveals who the person already was.  

There are two widows in the Bible. 

One in the Old Testament that God sent the prophet Elijah too (1 Kings 17). 

She was down to her last meal. 

In the New Testament, Jesus commends a widow  for giving all that she had (Luke 21). 

One had a scarcity mentality. 

One had one of abundance. 
  

The Old Testament widow thought in terms of lack. 

Elijah asked her. 

What do you have in your house?  

She said I don't have anything. 

She said a little bit of flour and a little bit of oil that's all.  

She was preoccupied by what she didn't have.  

The widow in the New Testament all she had was two little pennies.  

She gave first what she had then God provided what she needed. 

The Old Testament widow was challenged by Elijah to trust God by sharing.  

She had no idea if you'd trust God with what you have. 

There is more where that came from.  

The heart of abundance will put God first because you realize that God is not about to shut off the lights in heaven. 

Does God lack anything?  

Does God need our money?  

God doesn't care about our money, but He's totally crazy about you! 

Generosity just feels better.  

Do you like hanging out with stingy people?  

Why is it that we think and talk lack, but we serve a God of abundance? 

When you give what you have in faith, God will give you what you need in abundance. 

If God gave His Son, why would God withhold what you need?  

You're trusting Him to supply when His heart drips with generosity and abundance?  

We struggle to give 10% when we freely give Visa and Master Card 19% and 20%.  Jesus said...  

Luke 6:38 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

38 Give, and it will be given to you. 

A good amount will be poured into your lap. 

It will be pressed down, shaken together, and running over. 

The same amount you give will be measured out to you.”  

If God can get it through you, He can get it go you! 

If you'll just release what's in your hands, God will release what's in His hands. 

If He knows that you'll distribute the blessings of God, He can trust you with more.   

Matthew 6:21 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

21 Your heart will be where your riches are.        

2. Stewardship: We save 2nd.  That builds wealth. 

Stewardship is the ability to handle something with wisdom, discipline, and responsibility.  

How many of you think that it's a good idea to spend less than you make?  

Setting a budget is simply giving a name to every dollar that you make. 

A budget is telling your money where to go instead of always wondering where it went.  

Proverbs 21:5 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

5 The plans of people who work hard succeed.

You can be just as sure that those in a hurry will become poor. 

It's hard to outperform stupidity.  If we can't manage $100 why would God trust us with $1000. 

Deuteronomy 8:18 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

18 But remember the Lord your God. 

He gives you the ability to produce wealth. 

That shows he stands by the terms of the covenant he made with you. 

He promised it to your people of long ago. 

And he’s still faithful to his covenant today.

If God can trust you with wealth, He'll give you the power to get wealth. 

He just won't drop it into your lap.  

Money can't make you happy, but debt is guaranteed to make you miserable.  

You need to have financial margin in your life.  

You need to have money for a rainy day.  

Guess what?  

It's going to rain. 

Trouble is coming, and it's sure to come. 

Your citizenship in Heaven should influence your stewardship on earth. 

3. Contentment: When you live on the rest, it builds contentment.  

Contentment will allow you to be ambitious for the right reasons.  

If you are ambitious with contentment, God can bless you because you're not living your life out of greed.  

God will supply all of your need, but He won't supply all of your greed. 

Because of this culture, selfishness and greed can jump on you in an instant.  

Commercials no longer inform, but manipulate.  

Think...it could be worse. 

I may not have the latest greatest, but it could be worse.  

1 Timothy 6:6 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

6 You gain a lot when you live a godly life. 

But you must be happy with what you have.

I'm talking about being rich toward God.  

If you don't have to have the latest and greatest, you can just settle down and enjoy life.

Don't keep up with the Joneses.  

That is a rat race with no finish line.  

It doesn't matter how much you have if you are empty in your soul. 

It's still not enough.

God doesn't want you to be stressed out with money.  

There's more where that came from. 

If you'll be generous in good works, God will be generous with His resources.

Tell Jesus, please be the center of my life.  

I give my life to you now and forever more.  

Romans 10:13 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

13 Scripture says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Joel 2:32) 

Notes taken from Mike Haman, Healing Place Church.