Getting a Grip on Your Finances

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Getting a Grip on Your Finances</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id526.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Freedom and Finances"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id536.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Beating the Debt Habit"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>“Financial Freedom: Getting A Grip”</B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, </B><B>July 16-17, 2005</B></div> <bR> <div>       It is very easy these days to live beyond your means. We talked a couple weeks ago about that fact that most Americans live paycheck to paycheck. We have a lot of debt and not much savings, and the fact is we don't give very much money away in comparison to what we have. We in the richest country in the world are living as financial slaves, experiencing a financial squeeze every month.</div> <div>      Making the change from financial slavery to financial freedom does not happen because of a change in your income. It happens because of a change first of all in your perspective. If we want to have financial freedom and peace, we have to thinking differently about money. And thinking differently will make you weird in comparison to the culture. Normal is broke. Weird is financial freedom.</div> <div>      I want to talk today about 2 principles to help us adjust our perspective on our financial lives.</div> <bR> <div> <B>1. Be content and live on less than you make.</B></div> <div>      <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Luke+12:15-21" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Luke 12:15-21</U></A> – Be on your guard against greed – the continual, unceasing desire to have more. Life is more than your stuff, it is more than your bank accounts. Get a life, don't just get stuff. Life is made up of relationships with God and with people (we are to love God and love people); life involves a clear purpose for living; it involves meaningful work; it involves rest; it involves enjoyment. It takes money, but money and what it can do is not the sum total of what it means to really live.</div> <div>      <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=1Tim+6:6-10" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>1 Timothy 6:6-10</U></A> – Be content. The unceasing quest for more will lead to heartache, not happiness. You will <I>never</I> be satisfied if you never learn to be content, with a little or a lot.</div> <div> <B>     </B>Over the course of your life, as your income increases, you can either keep pace by spending <I>all</I> you earn, or you can spend <I>more</I> than you earn, or you can spend <I>less</I> than you earn. You make the call: which is smart and which are not smart? You need to have margin in your financial life. Your ability to be content will make the difference.</div> <bR> <div> <B>2. Commit to getting out of debt and staying out.</B></div> <div>      In order to keep margin in your financial life, and experience financial freedom, you must get out of debt and commit to stay out of debt. Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”</div> <div>      Easy credit makes it easy for us to live beyond our means. If we are not content, so what, we can just pay for stuff later. This is financial slavery, and we need to change our habits. Easy credit includes: credit cards, credit at Lowes, Circuit City, Dick's Sporting Goods, ToysRUs, etc., credit to buy cars, even cheap cars; credit to by a John Deere.</div> <div>      Consider the vikings in the Capital One ads (“what's in your wallet?”). They come to ransack and pillage. That is a great picture of how <I>all</I> debt can work. It's not always that bad, but it always carries that risk. And it is true of Capital One as well – they want your money, because they know you are willing to live beyond your means and buy stuff you are not able to pay for.</div> <div>      Most of us experience “serial indebtedness” and we just don't see any other way to live. We start out our financial lives in debt and stay in debt forever. We have the Stanley Johnson, “I'm in debt up to my eyeballs” syndrome. We get a higher income, and we go further into debt. We pay off some debt and go out and get some more debt. It is not a wise way to live. Debt is a bad habit. </div> <div>      Here is the problem. When you continue to make payments to various creditors, you are continuing to live in financial and emotional slavery.  Not only that, when you are making payments, you are missing out on the opportunity to save and invest and give your money away. For example, “most people carry a car loan for their entire lives, paying about $378 a month. That same amount, invested from age 25 to retirement would, on average, amount to more than $4 million by age 65” (Dave Ramsey, <I>Total Money Makeover</I>, p. 114).</div> <div>      Get a new perspective, then start acting on it. </div> <div>      1. Change your perspective on what it means to afford something. “I can afford it” does not mean “I can afford <I>the payments</I>.” “I can afford it” means I can pay for it today. Rich people ask how much does it cost. Poor people ask, how much down and how much per month?</div> <div>      2. Get out of debt, and get a plan to never go back into debt again! Cut up your credit cards, get out of debt, commit to paying cash for everything, including your cars, including your kid's college.</div> <div>      If you want to get out of debt, next week we will talk about how to do that. It is hard work, and it will take time, but you can get out of debt and live debt free.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2005, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>