Our 3rd Gift To Manage: Wealth -- Part 2

This is continued from yesterday...

The first way to manage our money the right is...

1. Don’t waste it!

How can we do that?

Make and Keep Budget – This helps you now how much you have and where it's going. It’s obvious, but I bet you most wealthy people do this and most poor people don’t! In order to not waste our money we have to control it and track it!

Save Some Of What You Make – In Genesis 41, Joseph is released from prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. Joseph tells Pharaoh that the dreams mean that there will be 7 years of great prosperity and then 7 years of famine – a famine so bad that the prosperity will be gone and people will forget about those 7 good years!

The Pharaoh asked Joseph what to do. Listen to Joseph’s advice in verses 33-36…

33"My suggestion is that you find the wisest man in Egypt and put him in charge of a nationwide program. 34Let Pharaoh appoint officials over the land, and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. 35Have them gather all the food and grain of these good years into the royal storehouses, and store it away so there will be food in the cities. 36That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come. Otherwise disaster will surely strike the land, and all the people will die."

Joseph told them to save some of what they brought in!

He was telling them to live out the advice God’s word gives us in Proverbs 21:20,"The wise man saves for the future but the foolish man spends whatever he gets."

The Pharaoh not only took the advice, but put Joseph in charge! And look at what happened in Genesis 41:53-57…

53At last the seven years of plenty came to an end. 54Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. There were crop failures in all the surrounding countries, too, but in Egypt there was plenty of grain in the storehouses. 55Throughout the land of Egypt the people began to starve. They pleaded with Pharaoh for food, and he told them, "Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you." 56So with severe famine everywhere in the land, Joseph opened up the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. 57And people from surrounding lands also came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe throughout the world.

I’m not a prophet. I can’t interpret your dreams, but I can tell you this…

There are going to be times of prosperity in your life and times of famine! The one way to survive those times of famine is to do what Joseph told Pharaoh to do. Save some of everything thing you make!

Don’t Use Credit Cards If You Can ­ - If you have to use them, pay them off at the end of each month. Prov. 22:7 says, "Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.”

When I was youth pastor in Burlingame I wasn’t getting paid enough to live in this area and we went into debt! That's one of the reasons we went back East, so we could live with my in-laws for free and recover financially.

How To Get Out Of Debt. I heard this idea from a financial planner...

1. Find an extra $50 a month you currently are wasting somewhere. Cut out Starbucks twice a week and bring lunch to school/work and you'll easily find and extra $50!

2. Take that $50 and every month add it to the payment your making on your smallest credit card bill. Example: Let's say your smallest bill was $1200 and you were paying $50 a month on it. Take that extra $50 and now pay $100 towards that bill!


3. When you pay that bill off take that payment you were making and add it to your next smallest credit card bill. Example: Let's say your next smallest bill was $2400 and you have been paying $100 every month on it. Take the $100 you were paying to the $1200 bill you just paid off and add it to this payment! Now you're paying $200 a month on your $2400 bill.

4. Keep repeating the process and when you pay off that bill take that amount and add it your next smallest bill then do the same with the next until you're out of debt!!

The cool thing about this idea is that you only had to find that extra $50. After that you were only taking money you were already paying towards your debt.

Do whatever you can to get out of debt, so you don’t have to waste your money on all that interest you’re paying!

Those are some ways to help you stop wasting your money, but managing our wealth is more than just not wasting our money! I’ve said this before and I’ll keep saying it…

Most of us know how to subtract money, but hardly any of us know how to multiply it!

Most of us have spent money we don’t have but how many of us can MAKE money without using any money to do it? How many of us have the skills to take money you’re given and GROW it?

The next step to help us manage our money the right way is...

2. Grow it!
I want you to see some charts from the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki that I think will help us to know how to grow our money more…

His definition of an asset and a liabilit...

Assets = Puts money in pocket
Liability = Takes money out of your pocket

Poor Cash Flow = Don’t own anything, so no liabilities. All money come in from job and out for expenses.

Middle Class Cash Flow = Money comes in from job and it goes to cover liabilities and expenses. He says that the Middle class has a problem. They spend money on liabilities they think are assets!

Rich Cash Flow = The rich focus on buying assets that keep putting more money in their pockets!

He shows...

Middle Class Person’s Income Statement = Income and Expense are equal. Their liabilities are more than their assets. Whenever income goes up they spend more on expenses or liabilities. That leaves them with no money to buy any Assets!

Rich Person’s Income Statement = Income is more than their expense. Their assets are more than their liabilities. They spend more money on Assets so their asset column is always growing!

If we’re going to be wise managers of what God’s given us, then we should invest more in assets! We should reproduce the money God’s given us and not just spend it!

We also need to see more of the opportunities that are all around us!

Have you ever noticed what a person who comes here from another country does? They seize the opportunities. Many of them do that by starting their own business.

We need to not only learn how to reproduce the money we have, but also how to make money from our hidden assets!

In Cracking The Millionaire Code by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen the talk about how to uncover your hidden assets...

What do you know that people would pay you to teach them? Your life experience is worth money to someone! Pg. 67
Your problems could be worth money. Find a solution to your problems and teach others to do it and you can make money! P. 68

There are ton of other ways you can read and study about on your own on how to make money.

My story:
Talk about my Recession ebook. I got 20 top business and marketing experts to write a book for ME from an idea I read in an ebook.

When you grow you’re money you’re managing it in a way that is pleasing to God!

If I gave you $1,000 to help you out and you took $300 and paid off some debt, $200 and got some things you needed (but usually couldn’t afford), and then invested the last $500 in something that paid you $100 a month for the next 2 years I’d be really happy!

I’d be way happier than if you just spent it all and wasted it on a big screen TV, going to the movies, and dinners out!

God wants you to grow the wealth he gives you!

But, here’s the key… He doesn’t want you to just have more money to keep it all to yourself!

Jesus tells a parable of a man that gained more wealth through a grain field he had and then built bigger storehouses to hold it all!

Jesus said he was foolish because he didn’t know he life was going to end that night!

The next step to help us manage our money the right way will actually help protect and insulate us from the dangers on money!

Continued tomorrow...