All right, thank you, Father, for what a beautiful day you've given us. Thank you for all that you provide. And thank you, the truths of scripture do apply very directly when we start talking about economics. Father, as we do seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, we can really rely upon you to provide the things we actually need. Father, as we have the discussion tonight, may have good application as we think through various issues. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, I know it was a lot of questions. I did not expect everybody to answer all of them. Actually, I didn't expect anybody to answer all of them. And it's not because my expectations are low. It's just because I know that's a lot of stuff. I don't know if we're going to get through all of it tonight. But I wanted to get some things out on the table just to start thinking through their basic biblical principles that apply to economics. And a lot of that will have application even in investments and things like that. What kind of investments do you get in if you can get that far? Staying out of debt. Well, it's basic biblical truth, should keep you out of debt. And there's a lot of questions that do come up within the church, not just to the pastor or to the leaders in the church, but everybody in the church. You're going to get economic questions. Now, tonight, we're very fortunate. to have Alex Morfitt with us. And he is a professional investment advisor. So all the questions I can't answer, I'm going to throw them to Alex. Amen. He's an expert. He needs him. In full honesty, too, though, I've broken the majority of the crystals in my pre-Christian life that I was supposed to be following. So I'll tell you a little bit about that. Alex does work with Thrivent. I actually did have investments with Thrivent when I was in my late twenties and early thirties. And then I put more investment back with Thrivent a couple of years ago when we got Diane's inheritance from her father, which I just cashed out. And it went very smoothly because now I'm going to do a different investment. I'm buying a house in Tennessee in an area where I want to live. I already have a renter for it. So that being said, we will not have class on the 31st of October. Some of you will probably be invited over to Lance Nidihara's and help with the Halloween thing that he's doing. But I will not be there. I will be in Tennessee trying to see if I get everything going so that the renter can move in. A basic economic principle is once you have a prop in your rent, you want a renter in it. Otherwise, there's no income. You just have outgo. And that's not a good economic principle. The following week, which would be the 7th? 6th? 7th. 7th. I will not be back. So we'll be delaying the class. I will send an email out on that. So we will have class next Thursday. But the following two Thursdays will not be class. November 14th is the next class. Yeah, November. No, next Thursday. So next Thursday we have class? Yeah, not the 30th person. The 30th person is a week after that. It better not be next week. I'm not ready. So there is class next Thursday, following through Thursday. So just a little heads up on that. And I will send an email out detailing all of that. All right, biblical principles in I gave a lot of resources. Some of you were able to look through some of it. Some of you were here when I went through some of these sermons on it. When I first came here in 1991, by early 1992, the church was in a financial crisis. Two individuals, one got upset with me and left, and the other one moved to Florida. Those two individuals comprised one third of the total church income. I didn't have enough money to buy staples. But we believe that we just need to trust God. And God has always met our needs. So even that year, though we had to make a lot of cuts in things, we were able to come back within the next year, restore missionaries, and keep going. Well, during that period, the guy who was the chairman of the deacons at that time, we didn't have elders yet, was insisting I do something on finances. We've got to get people to give more. I said, okay, if I do something on finances, it will be a long series because we're gonna cover what scripture says about it and you won't like it, but we got to do it. So the very first sermon was God doesn't need your money. So I come from that perspective. God doesn't need your money is actually a privilege to give. He supplies, and that's the kind of mindset we really want to have is I'm looking to God to direct me in how I do all my finances, not to what the world would say is wisdom. And that's very different. There's a very simple reason I invest what I have. Scripture says a good man leaves inheritance to his children's children. Well, if I spend it all now, I won't have anything to give my children's children, will I? So that's a really simple principle, and yet it has guided me in what I do, and that includes being able to set aside funds. Even when I first started ministry, I was living on less than I could live on. I think I've told this story before. I was the An associate physician was offered to me when I graduated from seminary. And I was asked, what's the minimum you could live on? I should have taken that as a hint that this was probably not a good idea. Because I calculated out what I thought would be the minimum. And of course, there's a few things I forgot. So I was living on less than I could live on. And God always met our needs. And when I moved out here in 91, I actually took a pay cut. And it was more expensive to live here at that time than California. It's reversed now, but it was more expensive. It took 12 years for the church to actually pay me enough to pay my actual expenses. Part of that was because of medical stuff. Three times during that period, I had to stop loss of my insurance. If you don't understand what that means, don't worry about it. It just means that the insurance company said, you spent so much money on this, we'll cover you 100%. Okay, which meant I spent a lot. And yet God still met every single one of our needs. I have lots of stories of how God does that. And my favorite actually is Jonathan. He was born right at the point when our insurance, medical insurance was between two different coverages. I mean, right at the point, and we didn't know which one was going to cover. So for seven months, I got a bill for 7,000 something dollars from the hospital. And I call up their, finance department and say, okay, I don't know which insurance is covering. I know I owe a lot. I know it won't be 7,000. I know it could be a thousand. It could be three or 4,000, which insurance is covering. I need to set something up. It'll probably like 25 bucks a month. I'll be paying until, until he has grandkids. I have great grandkids by the time I paid this off. Um, and said, don't worry, Mr. Harris, we haven't figured that out yet. So the seventh month of this doing it, I got a bill in the mail and was stamped in red, paid in full. I have no idea to this day how that happened. But when you're walking with the Lord and trusting him, you can see these kinds of things happen. And actually it's a great joy. I have great confidence in the God that I serve. That's my basis for economics. I serve a great God. He knows what he's doing. I simply have to follow his principles. So it's not being foolish because the scripture doesn't allow me to foolish. So let's talk about some general principles here. I have several, 12 questions just dealing with that. Describe the nature of man's dependence upon God for the necessities of life. It's an absolute dependence, right? Okay. Lots of the Psalms talk about he gives food to the eater. If God doesn't provide, you're in trouble, right? So I have an absolute dependence. Matthew 6, 33 is going to be an important verse here. My dependence is on him. So Jesus tells us in the passage not to worry. Don't be anxious about what you will eat or what you will drink or what you will wear. He feeds the birds. He clothes the lilies. You may have a nice wardrobe, but you're not as nice as the lilies. He will take care of you. So seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. And then all these things, the things you need for necessity of life will be added to you. But that's the condition. You have to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. If you're not doing that, well, there is no promise there. So I have an absolute dependence upon him. Even the non-Christians, they won't recognize it, but they are also dependent upon God's, we often call this common grace, this common mercy to man, that he provides rain. Without rain, there's no crops. Without crops, well, you're not eating. It is that simple. And we have all lived through times when there's been droughts or there's been famines. It hasn't affected the United States so much, but we certainly see that in other lands where it's terrible. God provides. Two, what obligation do you have to someone from whom you have borrowed or rented something? You have to pay back what you owe. The Psalms tell us that it is the ungodly that do not pay what they owe or borrowed, but there's a little bit stronger than that. If you have borrowed from somebody, someone's your lender, what is now your relationship to that person? You're indebted. You're their slave. That brings out a different principle. We don't think about it. If you have debt, the money you have coming in actually isn't yours. It belongs to the person you're indebted to. That has gotten a lot of people in trouble. They don't think about that, and so they don't pay it back. That's a bad thing. God holds us accountable for that. So those are basic principles and that's going to come out in a lot of things. That gives a serious warning about debt, doesn't it? Don't be someone who borrows because you become enslaved to the one who's lent you the money. Three, what does it mean to own something and what accountability do we have to God for what we own? God owns it all. You actually don't own anything. Actually, the government says you don't own anything, because you owe taxes. If you don't pay your taxes, they take it from you. I guess you don't really own anything. What do we normally mean when we say own? It belongs to me. I am responsible for it. No one else has a right to take it from me. That's what we really mean by own. But when we step back, as Sam said, and I understand that I'm actually a steward of what God has entrusted to me, then I have to handle it differently, right? Now, I recognize that in an ungodly society, it doesn't work this way, but it should. If I'm borrowing something, should I not be even more careful with it than if I own it? Because it's not mine. I should be more careful. I recognize that in our society, it's often the opposite. If they're borrowing from me, they don't seem to really care. I know that from some of my rental properties. They don't really care. And they can do a lot of damage in a very short time. That's evil. If I've borrowed something, I'm actually going to be more careful with it. Since everything I have is actually simply entrusted to me as a steward from God, then I need to be more careful for it. I answer to him for everything that I have. All right. Four, what is the relationship between what is treasured and what is worried about? What are the things the world worries about? And what should the Christian worry about? So three questions there in one. Sure, earthly treasures versus heavenly treasures. Yeah, so this is Matthew chapter 6. 13 through 34? Right. Yeah, I think so. Somewhere in there. Mm-hmm. You got that one? 19th verse 19. Do not lay for yourselves treasures on earth. And he talks about that. What's the problem with treasures on earth? Well you missed one. Got moth and rust. What else? Mm. Stolen. Stolen. Oh, thieves. Thieves. Yes. Okay. Yes, sir. You got it. All right. That's who starts off with that one. Moth and rust destroyed. Thieves break in and steal. So that's always a problem, right? Diane just threw out a bunch of my suits. They had moth holes. Okay, well, that's good. Goodwill's just down the street. Replace them. Yeah, they get in there. That's what the cedar lined. I guess I need to get in and stand the cedar. You think you have it, and next thing you know, it's not. It's not a good place, but instead, treasure should be in heaven. What does the world worry about? Material possessions. Very much so, right? Property. All right, what is the reason most people carry insurance? Just in case. Just in case, right? What is actually the real reason you should have insurance? It's your family. Or insurance. You don't pay for insurance. Well, do I have a question on that later on? I don't remember. You can't own a house without a homeowner's insurance. Well, if you don't own the house, you have to have insurance. If you own it and you don't have a mortgage, do you have to have insurance? No. Well, everybody. Would you be wise to have insurance? Probably. What kind of insurance should be the first you have? I don't know. Once you're dead, you're dead. Why do people have life insurance? Responsible for what? Because it costs a lot to bury people. It costs a lot to bury people. Did I have a question here about insurance? My mom was an insurance adjuster. I worked for insurance company for a while. Why do you have insurance? The actual reason you have insurance is so that you can meet your financial obligations to other people. Whether it's when you die, so that you're not saddling your family with expenses they can't pay so they can bury you. And if you're really in that bad, they're probably not gonna bury you, they're just gonna cremate you anyways and throw your ashes someplace, because you were a skinflint, okay? You wanna be buried, you better have enough to cover you, right? If you have enough in the bank to cover your funeral, do you have to have life insurance? No, okay, if you have, if you're, you have, well, let's see, we're gonna pick on Sam, Well, life insurance is for younger people. It depends. It should be. It should be. You know how many- I have to make sure that I replace my income if I were to die. Why? Because I don't have $500,000 in the bank. Okay. And who is that for? My family. Your family. All right. So insurance is for, not you, it's for other people to meet a financial obligation, which as a responsible dad, husband and father, you're going to make sure that your family is taken care of in case you can't be there to take care of them. That's why there's insurance. So why do you have insurance on your car? And actually that is mandatory. The liability in case you have harmed somebody else, you have the resources to cover your obligations to them. Okay. So do you have to have insurance? Comprehensive insurance? That covers the cost of your car in case you damage it. You don't have to have that, but you have to have the liability. You might want to have it in case you can't figure out a way if you do damage it. Are you going to get on your pogo stick and go to work or something? I don't know. Those are the reasons for it. I carry insurance for the purpose of meeting the financial obligations. Like the house I'm going to buy, I'm buying it outright. It is in a flood zone, extremely rare flood zone. I could get up to a foot of water in the basement, which is concrete. So it's a brick house. I'm not too concerned about it, but because I will own it outright, I don't have to have insurance because I'm not paying a mortgage. If I was paying a mortgage, I'd have to have insurance to make sure the mortgage could be paid. That's an obligation to my lender, right? This is how it works. I will be carrying insurance in the house liability. in case someone's injured on my property, I wanna be able to make it right with them. So how much insurance do I carry? Some will depend on where I am, what will it take to make right if I damage somebody, right? That's the idea of insurance. Insurance is spreading the cost over a lot of people so that together we can meet the financial obligations. That's the point of it. A lot of people don't think about that and then they become insurance poor. You're insuring everything. because, now this is where I'm tying it back, their worry is about their stuff. And what does Jesus say? Okay, highly responsible, but is that what I should be worried about? No, so I don't carry comprehensive on my old beat-up cars that look old and beat up. They probably would laugh at me. Why would you Okay, but the other reason is I have enough funds to cover the loss if that happened, right? So there's wisdom in all these things, but I'm trying to hit some basic principles here. Don't buy insurance just because you're worried. Buy insurance to meet the actual obligations you have. And so it's a wisdom decision. The obligation part is making sure you make right, however that has to be, if you've injured somebody, or you've done something to damage someone, or you have a lender that you're putting at risk. Those are the issues for it. That all comes out from this simple principle. What are you worrying about? What should I worry about as a Christian? Nothing. I don't have to worry. I can be anxious for nothing, but by everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, I let my request be known to God. And then what? The peace of God, which passes understanding. So keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So I don't have to worry about anything. All right. If I am worried as a Christian, what do I need to do? Pray. We're getting there. I need to pray. Okay. So the world worries about everything. We don't. We can leave it in God's hands. And that's everything. It is wonderful to know that we have a God who cares for us and he invites us to cast all our cares upon him, whatever they are. And he will guide us to the proper solution that will glorify him. That's going to be the purpose of our lives. Okay. All right, the conditions and promise made in Matthew 633, we actually just talked about that, but the conditions and promise. If you don't meet the conditions, is there a promise? There is no promise. All right, Philippians chapter four, verses 10 through 20. I did a series of sermons on this, the secret of contentment. What is the secret of contentment? Paul said he learned it. So it's not something that comes automatically. He learned it. Being content in whatever circumstances were. Yeah, I can be content, but how is it that I can be content? What will enable that? Reliance on the Lord. There's gonna be a reliance upon the Lord. It's the verse there. We've already gotten more than we deserve. We already praised this. Okay, but I need to be able to be content. That's thankful. thankfulness should lead to contentment too, because I recognize that. So I should recognize the Lord's giving. It's a mindset, I think, that we don't need it or anything. We don't. But let me read here what Paul says. It's Philippians chapter 4. And it's a Thanksgiving, because the Philippians had sent a gift to help for his expenses while he was in prison. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you've revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lack opportunity. Not that I speak from want. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means. I know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. The next verse is the answer to the secret, which is usually ripped out of context and applied to things it doesn't apply for. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. It means I can respond properly to glorify God in any circumstance. I can do what God wants me to do and therefore I can be content. If I don't have a lot, I can be content. God will supply the needs I have. It might be rice and beans. That's okay. You can develop a good taste for rice and beans. Well, or it could be a lot of filet mignon and I have to deal with gout. So it's actually tougher to be content when you have a lot than when you have nothing. That's statistically true. The more you have, the more you're worried about the stuff you've got, and the more it controls you and owns you. Yeah, go ahead, Stan. I said one more dollar. Yeah, that was Rockefeller, right? How much is enough? One more dollar. Of course, a dollar was worth a lot more back then. So Navi, one more dime. That'd be equivalent. That's the secret. If I'm moving my life to be content with what God provides, I can be content. I can see his hand at work in providing what I need. It's a lesson to be learned. It was one that I already had learned before I got married, but Diane had not. She had not been a Krishna's mom. Going from a charge nurse overseeing a floor at a world-class hospital and having a very nice income for the time, being able to kind of buy what she wanted. Actually, my wardrobe really started improving after I started dating her. It was a wise move on my part, okay? And then before we got married, she got injured. So she has never worked since before we got married, about a year beforehand. So it hasn't been really good financially that way for me. For her to go from that kind of economic position to one where, yes, we were living together on less than we could live on, it wasn't so easy. But as the years went on and she saw that the Lord provides what we actually need, she learned to be content. Now we both look back and say those early years were actually wonderful. because you're just so aware that God meets the needs because you have no other way to meet it. And that's a good way to live. God actually meets the needs. So Philippians 4, 10 through 20 is a good passage to learn, memorize some of those key verses, and it'll go a long way in helping you through life. What can bank credit card statements reveal about a person's spiritual condition? I should ask Alex this one. It's actually an exercise I do with clients when they tell me they can't save or they can't put away money for retirement. Give me six months worth of credit card and bank statements. They have to go through and highlight with a highlighter things that weren't necessities. I'm even pretty generous with necessities. I say food is you know, that should really only be the grocery store, you know, not like McDonald's. Food's not eating out. I mean, there's, there's a lot that you can see from those statements, you know, like it could be, you know, Starbucks, you know, $7 for a cup of coffee. What's, what's, what's your, what's your taste, you know, like what's the efficiency. And I can't say the dime. It could be, you know, Macy's versus Kohl's, you know, like it's, Yeah. So if you, I've told people, if you give me your checkbook, but now I have to say your credit card statement, your bank statement, because yeah, I'm finding it. I'll ask the CIA soon. So any of you have checkbooks? You want Ashley at home? We love mom. All right, I have one at home. All right, so I can't use checkbooks anymore. Okay, my sons are the same way. It's like, write a check. Jimmy had, my youngest one had to write a check. They're like, how do you write a check? We showed you when you were in high school. That was a long time ago. So, okay. But if I got your statement, bank statement, credit card statement, whatever it is, you can. this is what is important to you. Now you can actually use that and start looking at is, but what should be important to you? So what priority should you set? It's extremely revealing, okay? Which is why it's a good exercise when someone comes in for financial advice. Well, let's see what you're doing. All right, does everybody's priorities have to be the same? No, absolutely not. And we're not going to judge people on that. It's just that it will reveal it. Okay. Uh, my wife and I love to travel. So we have put a higher priority on that than what our cars looks like. Other people really want a nice looking car, but they can't afford to go anywhere. So I'll go drive a beater, but I'm going someplace. So it's just a difference in priorities. Um, and that's fine. I can't judge them, uh, even having children. That's a matter of priorities. My sons are now learning. Having kids just changes your life completely and your priorities all change. In fact, I asked Anton the other day how he was doing as a dad, because how old is that boy? Four months? A four-month-old? And so he only has a four-month-old. He said, I can't really remember what it was like before I had a child. That changes quickly, doesn't it? All your priorities change. you don't care about going out anymore. If I can stay home and play with my child, difference in priorities, okay? It just changes around. So bank statements, they help that. A, what is coveting? How does the Christian keep from falling into it? Thou shalt not covet. So the Lord you need to search for something that doesn't do up to you. Right. Yeah. It's a simple thing. Is there anybody alive that has not coveted? Everybody does. It's the one statement in the last half of the Ten Commandments that's a heart condition, not an action. So early on in the Old Testament law, the heart mattered. If a coveting is able to take action, what happens? steal what you will steal what you covet if you can take action on it you'd steal it but since for some reason you're not because of fear uh retribution or something or not opportunity then you haven't stolen but it's the heart of i desire that i want that so it's not something how does a christian keep from falling into it don't love worldly things like chrissy oh don't love worldly things Yeah, don't love the world. So that's 1 John 2, 15 and 16, right? Yes. Do not love the world, neither the things in the world, lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. These are not for the Father, but the world, and they are passing away. And that's dangerous for us. Is it easy to fall into it? Oh, yeah. It's very easy to fall into it. You're with friends, and suddenly they pop in. They got this brand new whatever it is that you've kind of wanted and really afford, and they're like, I want that, and you can become discontent. So we have to learn to be content. This is what the Lord has provided for us, and I will be content with what I have, and rejoice in it. But it does come down to being content with God's provision for you removes coveting. In fact, you can then move into the area of doing what you should be doing. Someone else gets something that you really wanted, you rejoice with them. Wow, wonderful. I'm glad you got a new car. So when my breaks down, you've come to pick me up, right? You also have to understand the responsibilities that comes with getting what you want. It can be a lot, right? Yeah, a lot does come with it. A lot of responsibilities, but I can rejoice them for people who have things that I don't have. And that's really where the Lord wants us anyways. I should rejoice for them. Praise God. Look at what a blessing he's given to you. What basic obligation does the individual Christian have toward those in need? We're going to be discussing social policy later on, but just basic. What's our basic obligation to those in need? Yeah, we're going to help. We have a couple verses in that. James talks about it. 1 John talks about it. If we see our brother in need, and we say, be warm and be filled. How's the love of God in you? Now, it's as you have opportunity and have the ability. Now, if you're in worse condition than them, I don't guess you really can help a whole lot, right? But if you have the means and ability, then you should help. Now, means and ability doesn't mean that you have the extra pocket change today. It means it may be a sacrifice on your part, but if you have the means. I'll give you an example of this. So this would then, mid-90s. I don't remember if it was David or Jimmy. We were on WIC and so we got a lot of formula from that. And a lady came over to the church and had a sob story and had a baby and didn't have any means to feed the baby and didn't have food in the house. And we didn't have anything at the church. We didn't have a benevolence fund. We were barely scraping by to begin with. And we certainly didn't have much, but I had grown a garden. So I had some stuff in my freezer, frozen vegetables, beans, they store well. And I had lots of formula and I had milk because of Wick. So I brought it out in Wick. I was over here, we went over to the house. I said, let me get some stuff. So I brought out a couple bags and I still remember the lady said, as I handed to her, this is from you. I said, yeah. My wife and I, we have enough. We're glad to share with you what we have. I wish it was more, but this is all we have. She put the bags down and said, I can't take charity. What? I can't take charity. So I guess it was from the church, it's not charity. But the mindset has to be that. I have what I have. but I'll share with what I have. That's the mindset we have. If I see someone in need and there's a genuine need, I will meet the need that is there. Okay. It almost sounded like she was trying to find the food pantry that she thought you might have had. I have no idea. It seemed that it was coming from you. I don't know what her reason was, but it was like, Okay, I guess your baby is not that desperate. So okay, right. Yeah, there's some strange people out there. When we get to social things, I'll probably tell more stories on that. But the mindset, the one we have, I see a need, I have a means, if I can meet the need, I'll try to meet the need. But I will emphasize that the need. Okay, I never give money. I will meet the need, I will never give money. probably because I've learned I can be conned easily. And the deacon said, I can't do that. So I can't even give church money. I'm a pushover. Indirectly you're giving money, but. Yeah. Right. If somebody's hungry. Right. Well, now we have a pantry. Yeah. And it's dockless tables. So a lot of rice in there, beans, canned stuff. For some reason, there's a lot of grape jelly. Grape jelly. I need to put it out and say, who needs grape jelly? Welch's. I think it's Welch's. I think it is. What biblical principles apply to a Christian being able to enjoy the fruit of his labor? This comes from the Ecclesiastes. I mean, you can, but the problem is the pursuit of it. It's the pursuit of it. So if you have the means and you've been blessed, you have a good job, you have income, is it wrong to enjoy the fruit of it? No. No. Ecclesiastes tells us it's fine. You can do that. You don't have to go searching for everybody that you could possibly give it to. It's OK to enjoy what you have. Ecclesiastes, this is the reward that God has given you in life. So it's fine. I think Psalm 128 says this too, right? You shall eat of the fruit of your hands and be happy. It will be well with you. Yes. So we can rejoice. So I like to find that real directly by growing a garden. So I am eating the fruit of my hands and recognize that I'm only happy because God's been gracious to let it grow. It's been hard work and labor, but it's God who's provided. Is financial wealth, material prosperity, a sign of God's blessing? And if not, what are the signs of God's blessing? No, no, no. Okay, this is directly going against the charismatic health, wealth, prosperity doctrine that they think if you're wealthy, God must be following you. Is wealth necessarily a blessing? Right. Sometimes God may allow you to have that because it is a curse. Okay, he lets you have what you want. All right. And with it comes all the problems. that you don't think about. And then it shows up. Oh, yeah. It does. MacArthur told a story when I was in seminary that someone had given a bunch of stock. And he finally, he had it for a while and he found he would start getting up and he'd start looking at the paper to see what his stock was worth. And after a few months, he got rid of the stock. He said, I can't live like that. Being concerned about what his stock value is. No, so it could be a curse. You have to have the right mindset. What are the signs of God's blessing? Wisdom. Being appointed as a suitor is a blessing. Being appointed as a suitor is a blessing. But how do you know you're being blessed? You're maturing in Christ. That's going to be one, right? And giving wisdom. How do you know you're spiritual? You're loving God more and more. Yeah, the Spirit of the Spirit, right? The Spirit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, self-control. These are the things that really, you know, that I'm really being blessed because God's Spirit is going to change me and my whole outlook on things. And so I know I'm blessed. So even in the midst of a hard time, I can still see that God has a blessing in the midst of it. You know, I might be walking through pain, but I know God is with me and so there's a blessing there. I have a companion. Most of the time we don't really start understanding that until we really learn to suffer and suffer well. That everything from God's hand can be a blessing. Every good gift comes down from the father of lights and he's gracious and generous. He meets the needs we have. Why must Christians cater to pastors? Because we're commanded. That's why. That's Jesus commanded. All right. I wish he hadn't. All right. So we pay our taxes for a different reason than most people pay. Why do most people pay their taxes? No. Stay out of jail. That's exactly it. I want to stay out of jail. I don't want the government after me. So it's the unrighteous who pay because they're fearful. We pay because it's simply right before God. What are ways that a Christian can legitimately lower tax obligations? Follow the rules. Follow the rules. Take advantage of the tax laws. So that's why we have I know you're not a tax advisor, but things like investments, you invest properly, you can lower some of your tax liabilities, okay? One thing I learned when I started a business was, wow, there are some nice business write-offs, but you gotta remember it's a write-off. It doesn't mean you earn money. It just means I'm lowering my tax obligation a bit, a bit, not a lot, but a bit, but okay. I think I should pay the government every dime I owe them and not one dime more. Do I pay them more than that? Probably, because I'm not a tax expert and everything. I've learned a few things over the years, so I'll take advantage of that. Having kids is a good tax write-off. At a certain age. But tell me, is your tax write-off equal to the amount you spend raising them? No. David was very happy the first year after Jackie. He was probably like, wow, this is great. So why are you poor? Well, it's expensive. All right. Church finances, a little bit about that. Principles taught, 2 Corinthians 9, 6 through 8, without giving. Right? First principle is that it's for everybody. It is for everybody. It's for the wealthy. All right, let me read this. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he has purpose in his heart, not grudging or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed, as is written. He scattered abroad, he gave the poor, his righteous abides forever. Now, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing, increase the harvest of your righteousness. You'll be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us are producing thanksgiving to God. And when he goes on. So the basic principles in about giving for us as Christians. Beautiful, cheerful. That's an important one. I don't usually do the announcements for that, but a lot of times when I did, I'd say, if you can't give cheerfully, please don't give. It's an act of worship. The word cheerful there is this very strong word in Greek. You could translate it as hilarious. It's just such a joy to be able to give. That matches the other, cheerful, not grudgingly or of necessity. So this is actually the reason why here at Grace Bible, we don't pass a plate. We don't take an offering plate and pass it around, because that puts people in a position where they're going to feel obligated. Who's looking at me? It used to be easier to do that, because you hear coins hit the plate, and now coins aren't worth any, but almost nobody gives coins. Even DBS has really dropped, almost no pennies anymore. That's been bad for collecting my penny collection for exchanging a penny I don't have for it. Oh well, I'll just give up collecting pennies. We have a faith box. We want it to be something between you and God as a gift that you are giving toward God as an act of worship. That's the principle. Don't want it to be something where we're obligated. Not like the Baptist preacher when I was a kid, He didn't get enough money the first offering, so he sent it around again. Didn't get money the second time, and he waited. We sang a song till the count got in. No, not enough yet, so we pass it a third time. He got the money because everybody wanted to leave, so it was an exit tax. That's really what it boiled down to. That's actually what the scripture says. is cheerfully. Part of the reason we do that as a church, we want to exhibit as a church what we want everybody else to do in their own lives. We will trust God to meet the needs we have. We'll be wise stewards. We will try to plan accordingly, but we're going to trust God to meet the actual needs that we have from there. That comes right from this. What about the tithe? Are Christians obligated to tithe? Why not? obligation isn't necessarily truthful. What does tithe show up in? Where are the commands of tithe? Old Testament. The favorite one for pastors is in Malachi. You're robbing God. So what were the tithes? A tenth of everything. There were actually several tithes. Yes, on different things. Some people try to calculate that somewhere between 26 and 32 percent. We add it all up because we're different ties for different things. So it was a means by which the poor were taken care of. It was a means by which the Levites were financed. The temple was financed through tithes. Eventually the government got involved and they took more than a tithe. They were warned. took more, so it adds up. But the tithe was a command to the Old Testament. Is there any command of tithing to the Christian? There actually isn't. So actually, if you felt you were obligated to the tithe, you just violated 2 Corinthians 9. So how do you then figure out, well, what should I give? What would be the right thing to give? Well, Abraham gave 10%, right? And the widow gave everything. So if you're between 10 and a hundred percent, I guess you're doing okay. But it's as you purpose in your heart, okay? There's a lot of good stories like, I forgot his name, LaTerno, who was a businessman. And as his business increased, he found he could increase his giving. And when he first started, he was going to tithe everything in his business. He gave 10% of all the profits business. As the years went by, he was living on 10% of the income from his business and 90% was going to the Lord's word. And so there's a lot of colleges that are the turno and camps and things like that. That's how he did it. You just purpose in his heart. This is what he wanted to do. So those people who have a gift of giving are actually usually extra generous. Okay. There is no gift of stinginess. Okay. Some people may want to claim it, but there is no gift of that, but there is a gift of giving. Okay, I know that's a surprise to some when I say that tithing is not an obligation for the Christian. We actually have a much better obligation to give cheerfully and not grudgingly. Look at the Lord at work. So it's a proper stewardship, not that you should give to get a tax break, but it is a part of the general principles of proper stewardship. So yeah, better for you to give it to what you want than the government taking from you and giving you what they want, right? When does the property withhold, what obligations does a Christian have towards supporting the church to which he belongs? You have received from it, Paul refers to this, actually Peter does too, dealing with the ox is, don't muzzle the ox. The labor is worth his wages and so there is an obligation. Not all pastors will take that. In fact, I have a debate with a guy online right now. He thinks pastors shouldn't get paid. He said, do you know anybody? Actually, I know quite a few. I know several guys. They're working full-time. They're financing the church. It's church plan. They'll do that, but the church has an obligation toward him as well and his family. What ends up happening is, this is the problem. He's working full-time. We can't put the time into the ministry that he would otherwise. And that's it. So I've told people for years, like, if I wasn't paid, I'd still do the same thing. We just want to get as much of it. All right. The finances that I'm given enable me to spend lots of time in being able to prepare something like this. So even like tonight, if I didn't have the time, I couldn't prepare anything like this. We'd say, here's a book, read a book. I don't have time to meet with you, but hope you got something out of it. Well, I can do more because the people who are generous, so that I can do that. When does a property withhold support of the church to which you belong? Why don't you think through this one? It was detrimental to your family if it caused you to go into debt. Yeah, you have to make sure your priorities are correct first. And if you're in debt, who has first obligation on that debt? Yeah, you're a slave, OK? You actually have an obligation there. So you may have to. Is that a wise idea? No, because now you have a different obligation. You have to worship the Lord, and giving is part of your worship. So you've got to start balancing that out. Another one you may want to withhold from the church to which you belong is if the leadership is squandering it, and they're not being stewards as they should of it. That's one reason why we have our budget is voted on and we give financial reports. We want to be completely transparent with everything that we do. I would be very hesitant about those churches that hide their finances. We don't want you to know what we're doing. That's really an open door for fraud and it happens a lot. Just because someone claims to be a Christian doesn't mean that they are. Just because they may be a Christian doesn't mean they're mature enough to handle things. There's a lot of squander that goes on. If you were going to do that, then you need to go talk to the leaders and say, there's a problem here. It needs to get solved. It's not trying to blackmail. It's being a wise steward of what God has entrusted you. You don't If someone's squandering what you have, you don't give it to them to squander it. You will make sure it goes to something that's going to actually be honoring to the Lord. Unless it's the government. Unless it's the government. That's why I pay only the taxes I owe. All right. Should church workers take a vow of poverty? No. No. common in Catholicism because they thought it made you more spiritual. It doesn't. Okay. And it, but it's up to the, the individual of what they want to live on. Okay. A lot of guys will live way down on the economic scale because it's more important for them to do other things. All right. Then other people are the false teachers and second Peter two, and they are fleecing their flock and they're amassing a fortune. Yeah. They're not the people you want to be supporting. No, you don't have to think about poverty. What factors should a church consider in determining who should be compensated for ministry? Yeah, those who are laboring hard. So that's going to be the first thing. If they're laboring hard, then we're going to try and do some compensations. That's a double honor, honor for the physician. And that's another place that that comes up too, not muscling the ox. So that's going to be part of it. So the way we have tried to work at it is if someone's qualified, Reliac works this way. If someone's qualified to be an elder, then we should be willing to compensate them if their time is now being used so much for doing that ministry, the ministry related to that, that they can't make it without it. Then if we have the ability, then we'll try and do it. Because we want to free the guy up to do more and more ministry. So that's the idea. If we can compensate so they can do more ministry, then we'll try and do that. But they have to be qualified and be diligent in their work. Otherwise, then you just keep going on. We try to help people do ministry. It's one reason why we'll finance a lot of the stuff for different ministries, is just so it can happen. So it spreads the financial obligation to the whole congregation, rather than someone trying, I'm trying to do this ministry, and I can't afford to do it. So we can help. If you had to buy all your own tracts, well, might be kind of limited. I'm not sure if I can afford all those tracts. Well, if the church is spreading that obligation, then hey, go do ministry, here's means by which you can do it. Okay, that makes sense? Okay, what we don't want to end up is the church being a way to funnel money to those who are in favor of the upper echelon. All right, that's not how you do it, okay? We're actually just trying to, how do we best increase ministry? That's what we're after. Okay, how should a church determine a fair wage for its workers? I should ask Chrissy that, since you're working on that. How do you determine a fair wage? I haven't got an answer yet. I put fair market value of the role based on education and experience and the type of ministry. And then you also have to take into account the church budget. Okay, right. So you're balancing quite a few things, right? So if we were going to hire an accountant at standard wages at Wall Street, well, we have no accountant. We'd have no, our budget would be completely gone really fast, right? But you're trying to make a fair wage. You're trying to do what is right. You're not trying to impoverish someone just because they're working. But at the same time, it's how much can you do? And so it's going to be a, when somebody's going to work out with the person, how much can you take? do not do it the way it was done with me. What's the minimum you can learn? That's probably not a good way to do it. All right. One way to do it is, you know, see what is a fair wage for that area. You know, that's actually one way of like pastors. Good advice I heard one time with that is take an average of board members and pay the guy about that. So that he's not too high and not too low. Well, that's a good way to do it. It used to be said, pay him enough, he could buy a house in the area. That doesn't work anymore. That's been around for a long time. It was like, OK, you better find it. You better get a farce, because you'll never be able to pay a guy enough to buy a house anymore, unless you're a very large church. So it's just trying to be fair with the person and meet the actual needs they have. Now, that's the other part of it, is you're trying to meet the needs they have. Obviously you have lots of kids, you have more needs. Yeah, you got more mouths to feed. So if a guy is single, does he have as much need? No, but you're not trying to be a cheapskate with them either, right? But you recognize that the need is not as great. You can live on a lot less. That's why I've been telling the board, you guys have listened to me the last two years. Yeah, I mean, for years, don't give me a raise. The kids are out of the house, okay? So they finally have not given me a raise. I don't need as much as I did, okay? Not only are my sons out of the house, they're not bringing their friends over. So I have a lot more money. My food bill, even with inflation, my food bill dropped a lot, okay? Those boys could eat, and so could their friends. you have to put a whole roast out. I'm thinking we'll get three meals out of it. The whole thing's gone. So that's another part of what you're looking at. What are the actual needs for the person? All right, let's talk about micro, how many have had a class in economics? All right, okay, all right. So we're gonna be the experts here. All right, remember what is the difference between micro and macro economics? All right, so micro is affect you, macro affects everybody. That's the simplest way, right? All right, so let's ask a few questions here. So some of this is just getting sure we are talking about the same thing. What's the difference between secured debt and consumer debt? Do you remember that in class, Christine? Well, consumer debt is a type of secure. Secure debt can be a type of consumer debt, but secure debt is when you put collateral down. So if you don't pay it back, then there's something at stake that can be taken from you. So secure debt means there's a means by which you can repay the debt. Usually, it may be the object itself, or you put something else against it. You've borrowed against it, but you've put something. So it's secure debt. If you buy a house, the house is usually considered a secure debt because generally house value will stay the same or increase so that if you got in trouble, you could sell the house and pay back your debtor. Or you could put collateral down if you're in a bar, borrow something and I will put this down as collateral just in case. something happens, maybe a bond. That's actually what bond it is. I put down money in case there's a problem. There's money here for that. So secure debt. Consumer debt is borrowing for something you were actually consuming. So there is no means to repay it except you said you would. So credit cards, consumer debt, right? Purchase of a car, especially a new car. is consumer debt, because once you drive it off the lot, its value dropped a lot. You could not sell it and get the same amount of money back. And I realized that last year or two has been really weird on used cars. So my son actually was able to sell a used car for more than he purchased, which was really weird. But then he had to buy another car, which was more, so it didn't really help him. So consumer debt means there's no means of paying it off other than whatever income stream you have is gonna have to be tapped into to do it. It cannot pay itself, okay? That's important because we have a basic principle of making sure we're paying off any obligation we have. So secured debt then could be acceptable, this is number 22, to borrow. I could go into debt when it's secured to make sure the obligation is going to be paid back, right? So when should it be avoided? When I don't have a means to pay it back, I need to be extremely careful about that. Now we've gotten into a habit, especially with credit cards, and I am old enough to remember before there were credit cards. I remember when Bank of America first came out, I was like, that's weird. What do you mean this piece of plastic? And they have a thing that ran over and he had these slits and all the rest of it. Now we don't think twice about it. Most people play with pay with a piece of plastic. You don't even think about how much I just spent. Right. Do you, how often do you go out and you spent some of the credit card? Did you actually look to see how much you actually spent? We should, no one's bringing a checkbook anymore and balancing it there. as they're buying their groceries, okay, I've got this much left in my checking. And because of that, we have become a consumer economy. People want it, they just go buy it. And so, I don't know, what is the current, do you know the current figure on credit card debt in the US? Yeah, just credit card debt. It's in the trillions now. It's an incredible amount and it's been skyrocketing and it gets you in trouble very fast. Okay. Let's take a break and we're going to eat whatever's in there. Okay. Next question. What is the obligation of godly person for paying debt and what are the common cause of people to going into debt? So, they're obligated to pay it back. If you went into bankruptcy, should you still pay it back? Actually, as a Christian, yes, we would. Okay. And there's a question on that a little bit later. What are the most common cause of people going to debt? That's a good definition. You spend more than you make. Your outgo is more than your income. So you're going to do that. But what causes people to do that? Greed is a big part of it. They wouldn't recognize it necessarily as greed. Impulse. Because they don't think it's greedy to do that. But if it's more than you can actually afford, it actually is a form of greed. So you said impulse buying. So if you're in debt, what are some places you should stay away from? Amazon. Stay away from Amazon. Don't go to the mall. Don't go to the mall, right? Okay, that'd be it. Yeah, that'd be like if you're a glutton and you want to go to the Chinese buffet. Good idea. Stay away from that. A lot of it is impulse buying or pressure buying because you are covetous because you saw someone else have it. I'd like to have that. I deserve it. Some of the marketing ploys, McDonald's, you deserve a break today. Really? Who said? I don't know anybody that said that. Whole McDonald's said that. So it's your Big Mac, right? All of that is just trying to get you to buy something. All right, anybody other than me ever buy something? Because it seemed like a good idea at the time I was at the store and I got it home. And I was like, why did I buy this? What am I going to use it for, right? I said buyer's remorse. Buyer's remorse. I was like, I didn't need this. But it seemed like such a good deal. Especially save so much. Well, if I'm saving so much, why is there less money in my wallet if I saved? All right. So impulse buying is a big part of it. And marketing is a big business. And marketing is all about convincing you to depart from what's in your wallet. Credit cards make that very easy. Debt cards are a little safer because you only go so far and you run out, okay? So you have to be careful of that. Sometimes improper savings for emergency funds, medical issues, loss of job. Those can be what right now, there's a lot of people in debt in North Carolina, Tennessee in that one section because well, everything's been destroyed and they have no jobs. So it can be some sort of major catastrophe can put you in debt. All right, the majority of the US, it's consumer debt. So I'm making a distinction there. I'm not talking about secured debt. I'm talking about the consumer debt, and you'd be very careful. All right, what principles must be followed to get out of debt? We have our expert here. How do you get out of debt? pay it. Extra payments, extra payments. Okay. You'll be tired. You'll be okay though. So there are some basic principles. Um, a stop the bleeding. All right. That's goes from medical stuff too. Right. Got to stop the hemorrhaging. So whatever you've been spending it on, it's got to stop immediately. Uh, put together a budget on what you can and cannot afford, which means you've decided in advance what's important, what's not important, and then increase your income stream so you can start knocking down the debt. Okay. What's going to be behind that is you are a slave to your lender. You don't own it. You need to, you have an obligation to pay it off. It's not yours. And if you can think of it in that way, you'll be less likely to spend it because you'd actually don't have it. It already has an obligation somewhere else. So as priorities go, then paying off debt gets up real high. Paying off the debt is don't leave it down at the bottom is an option. If I have a little extra, I'll pay down on my debt. No, it goes way up high on your list. All right, what principles must be applied to determine if a debt relief program, as seen on TV and heard on the radio, is good or bad? You've got $10,000 of debt. We can help you. All right, can they? What do you think, Alex? We don't want to settle because there's three different options you can settle, which is the company basically says, I'm not going to pay you anything, or you can accept $3,000. That would go against the principle of paying what you owe. And then the far extreme is the bankruptcy, which you don't want to go that route because that basically destroys your existence for the next seven to 10 years. The only viable one is I think Crown Financial actually has CCC, Christian Credit Counseling. It's not available in New York, unfortunately, but they affiliate with ACCC in New York, and they will lower interest rates and give you a lower fixed monthly payment, so you pay back in full what you owe at a much lower rate, and you can go from about a 27-year payback to about a three-year payback with that route. there's a nice middle option we pay back every penny you owe but you go from like say 29 percent down to five percent and it gives you a fixed payment that is paid off in about three years so this is where getting a financial advice credit counselor or something like that helps a lot but you have to be careful there are some programs out there if you call yourself you are going to be in trouble because a lot of them they don't actually There is something called a consolidation loan. Usually it might be against some other assets becomes a secured debt. It can lower your interest rate, but there are also scams out there where it looks like you're doing it, but all you're doing is you shift it and you're paying them. And they've lowered your payment by making you pay only on the interest and you're not paying the principal anymore. And so you just continue on. There was a law passed in California about 30 years ago, because there was loans being put out that you would actually, as the time went on, your debt increased with the loan rather than paid off. Yeah. There was a balloon payment at the end. Which is another one. It looks small, but then at X time, five years, seven years, 10 years, you got a balloon payment of something you're just never gonna be able to pay. So that's where you need to talk to a genuine credit counselor, If it's on TV, don't call them. That's where you want to get advice from someone who actually is in the business and can help you put together a plan on how to get out of it. You can't get out of it. It's going to take some diligence. How did you put it, Mark? You'll be tired, but you will survive. You will survive. It may mean putting off other things you'd like to do for a long time, but that becomes your first obligation. And once you get out of it, you never want to go back. All right. What is bankruptcy? When is it accepted to declare bankruptcy? What obligations may in a Krishna goes into bankruptcy? So first, what is that? We'll defer to our expert again. It's, it's a legal process where you can no longer pay back your debts. Like you don't want to be acceptable as if there's really no other route to, to go with, you know, sometimes unfortunately people do have a medical, you know, they were living a lifestyle based on their income and even with emergency funds, you know, going from, you know, and disability processes take 18 to 36 months sometimes to go through. So, you know, those three are definitely exceptions for the bankruptcy. but it's a legal judgment against you. You won't be able to get any sort of credit for about seven to 10 years. And it's- So it is serious. It's not a, an option for us is, oh, I can just declare bankruptcy and think it's easy. That actually is floating around out there. Sometimes floats in the Christian community too is, well, I just declare bankruptcy. That goes against our obligation to pay back our debts. But you could be forced into bankruptcy. If you have a creditor that wants to get something out of you, they can force you into bankruptcy. I generally take the position of unless you're forced into it, don't do it. Most creditors, if you will be honest with them and talk with them, they'll work with you. They might be willing to lower their interest rate because they also know the other side of it. If they don't work with you, then they do risk you going to bankruptcy and they're not gonna get much of anything. So- Why would the creditor force you to declare bankruptcy? How would they get- Because they can get a judgment against you that you have to pay off at the end and that's gonna force you into court and get forced into court. Then it's gonna be a declaration of bankruptcy. So you'd pay X amount of percentage on whatever you owe. So many cents on the dollar. so they get something out of it. They're just looking at it. It's going to be a loss. They want to minimize their loss. But most are not going to do that. They'll work with you. But there are some sharks out there that already know they've got you over a barrel. Especially on mortgages, especially like post COVID, a lot of banks will do up to six months to 12 months deferment to the end of the loan without any sort of, you know, penalties. And you're still going to pay back everything you owe, but to just say, you lost a job or you're going through a hard time here, we'll take that, take the next six to 12 months off. You still got to pay your taxes and insurance, but no. Nope, no. So there's no reason to make sure you're doing all your banking with some good bank. My preference are credit unions, not Citi, not Bank of America, not any of these shark institutions. Credit unions are really good, okay? I may talk about that a little later. Difference between a credit card and a debit card and the pros and cons of each. What is a credit card versus a debit card? Credit card allows you to pay with a promise to pay back, but you'll owe with interest. And then debit card, you just take directly from your account. Yeah, so one is a loan, a credit, he says. You're getting a loan based on this, and then you have to pay it back. And if you don't pay it back in full, you have to pay interest on it. If you carry any kind of balance on it, you will pay interest on everything you buy. So there is the con of it. You will pay interest on everything you buy unless you pay it off in full. The debit card's coming straight out of your bank account. So the pro on that one is, you're not gonna get yourself in debt. Okay. So this is what I do. Unless you have a overdraft, in which case you're in trouble. And they always offer it and I tell them no. And then they talk to me like, oh, what do you mean? I don't want it, because I don't want to be there. And then it says I can keep taking, because it's not gonna warn you. And then for every transaction, it's a thing that goes on top of that. But if you run your card and you don't have it, and it just says, no, well, I guess I don't get it. So you have to check with your particular financial institution to see how they run that? Right. Because some will then charge you in overdraft, because they still charge, but they're going to nail you. Right. You don't see the money so it's just like how pastor saying earlier you just throw the car. Yes. That's one of the cons of both the credit card is Barnard did a study, they gave up, they put $1,000 into an account. Well, the debit cards, people ages 18 to 35, and then they gave the same people cash. And the people with the debit cards spent 30% more than having the physical cash in hand, because it locks tangibility. So it's still backing up what I did, I figured, 40 years ago now. Same kind of thing. If you have cash, you will spend a lot less. But back then you had checking, and so you would balance it there. So here's what I have, here's what I just spent, here's how much I got left. The debit card, you got to wait till your statement, unless you have one of those apps that tells you immediately what you have. So you have to be very careful. Plastic is dangerous, okay? An envelope system is a really good way of doing budgeting. Here's cash in an envelope for each thing. I will, my grandmother did that. And though my grandfather really didn't make much money through the depression, everything else, when she died, she had about $40,000 that would have been in the mid nineties on an income that for at least 30 years was just so security, but that's how she did it all her life. She had envelopes and she don't physically pay it. There's something tangible when you're putting cash down, you recognize what I just spent. You also know there's nothing in your wallet you can't buy anymore. So you have to be very careful of that. These are designed by marketers for you to use them so you get So you're out of money, and it owes them. All right? Well, didn't you give the example about Sears? Yes. They're making more on the- Sears, in the 1980s, made more on the revolving credit than they did in all of their profit from sales. More from the credit than from all sales. You think about that. I know, somebody's like, what's Sears? I saw something like a Sears robot catalog. It was the major department store. And at this peak, it was making more on the credit. than it was on sales. So they know what they're doing and that's why they're offering it to you. They want you to get in debt. So the advantage of a credit card to a debit card is you're not gonna have that problem of overdrafts and getting charged. The problem is if you do not pay the whole thing off, you're gonna start getting interest. And some credit cards are, carrying a large debt or something. And from this a payment, they can jump up into the 20. And I think some are even like 30%. So you think about that, whatever I just bought, it just cost me 40% more because I charged them. Okay. Uh, you can work them. Um, but there, it could be difficult. Uh, I got several, one is like a jet blue because I get, I get some perks on that that more than pay what I'm paying for the card, but I have to make sure I pay it off immediately. Otherwise, I can be in trouble. So there are cards with certain perks, but you have to be very diligent. If you're not, you're in trouble. All right. List out priorities for Christians and the use of their finances. Their spending categories or obligations, what are discretionary? which category should be top priorities for every Christian and which can vary greatly between Christians. So this is the whole idea of budgeting. All right, how many of you do not live on a budget? Oh, good, one, okay. You're a free spirit. All right. So budget, so everybody else here knows about budgeting, right? So you budget according to priorities. So what are the top priorities then that are really obligations? Clothing, shelter. Giving. No, what are the obligations? Do you have to buy clothes? You don't have to buy clothes. Right. Taxes. Taxes. Taxes are an obligation. You got to pay that. Giving. Giving. You should be giving. That should be something because that's part of your worship of God. Those are obligations. Debt retirement. Debt retirement because it's not your money, it's theirs. So those are the obligations. Everything else after that, it's going to be a matter of personal priorities. So if it's food, yeah, you're going to have to have food. So how much do you budget for food? Well, it depends on how much money you got coming in and how much of a priority is that for all your other obligations of things you're trying. So clothing, well, if you're a clothes horse, I guess it's going to be really high. If not, well, Goodwill's down here. You can get stuff or you go to rummage sales or things like that. Or you pray that people will be kind to you at Christmas and give you some clothes. Or you look for, yeah, kids. Look for people who have kids a little older than yours and befriend them. They get the hand-me-downs, all right? There's also ways you can do those things, right? So all these different things in budgeting, I have to think through in terms of priorities. What are God's priorities? What are my own priorities? So there can be a lot of variation between them, all right? What are some other things on a budget that need to be there? Insurance. Insurance will be on there somewhere in your budget. But I already talked a little bit about insurance. Don't become insurance poor. You have insurance to meet your obligations in case something happens and you have a liability because of it. If you injured somebody in your car, you're liable for that. If they're on your property and they get injured, you're liable for that. Liability is a very important one. Jason pointed out. So yeah, uh, insurance to make sure your family be taken care of if something happened to you. So those are important. You want to think through the obligations God has given me. All right. And we had anything else about budgeting? Why do people most not like budgeting? Most people, it's like you say budget, and it's like you use a curse word or something. It's like limiting, it's like restricting, right? Yeah, they want to spend what they want. Right. Don't tell me what to do. I want that. So how is it that a budget actually is freeing? It gives you boundaries. Don't go past this. It's not going to go good for you. The whole point of the budget is I have decided what my priorities are before I've spent anything. So I'm actually spending money according to my priorities. rather than the marketer's priorities. Because marketing is really slick, they know how to get you to depart from your money. They are really good at that. That's why they get paid a lot. Because they're good at figuring out how to get you to buy things that you don't really need. So a budget just says, I'm completely free because you are free when you put your budget together. How you're going to put your priorities. but you've decided beforehand, these are my priorities, this is what I will spend it on, okay? You're talking a little bit about Lauren's thing about organic foods, right? If that's important to her, then she simply has to budget accordingly, which means there'll be other things her budget, she won't have the money for, right? So you're free to do that, it's not, the budget doesn't limit you, You've limited yourself by deciding beforehand, these are my priorities. That's what's actually in play. What are some of the priorities of this compared to other things that I would like? That's why in budgeting, especially between couples, anything economic, you really find out what's important. Budgeting builds family qualities like patience, self-control, gratitude. If you actually save up for something and buy it, you appreciate it so much more. because you haven't given that level of patience. You can also spend with a complete freedom and happiness. Like if you had budgeted so much for eating out and you want to go eat out and you have money, like I can do this. All right. That's free. I don't have in the back of my mind that I wonder if I can afford this. It's I know I can because I already budgeted for it. The money's there. Of course, it does work. The other way is like I want to go out and oh, there's no money. OK, well, All right, get the rice and beans out. But budgeting actually is freedom. And if you live on one long enough, it becomes simply the way you think. Diane and I actually haven't lived on a actual budget in several decades now. But we did it for so long, we just automatically think that way to begin with. I keep track of everything. I kind of have an idea of what we have and what we don't. But it just, it trained us to be careful what we do. So we'll always think about it, consult with each other before we do something. What is a get-rich-quick scheme and what are the dangers? How do you spot them? Boy, they're out there though, right? Yeah, shady investors. Good that you get so much money. Look at the return you'll get on this. Read the fine print. Okay, and you may find it doesn't work that way. Okay, even in investing, you have different investments. Some are high risk, high return, maybe. If it's high risk, it means, well, there might be no return. It could be a loss. What are you willing to take? Or it could be one that's less risky and it accumulates a lot slower. All right. Anybody know any verses that would warn us against get rich schemes? Proverbs has several about wealth is gathered slowly. It's little by little. And those who seek to gain it really quickly are playing with fire. But wealth is gathered little by little. So be very careful of these get-rich-streams. If it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true. It's not true. What would push someone to get-rich-stream? Like, okay, let's go to Vegas. We'll make it, right? There's a get-rich-scheme. Go to Vegas, or I guess Atlantic City, or the Indian Reservation. Casinos are all over now, right? What pushes that? Well, it is the whole idea. I can get a really quick return on my money rather than I will work and labor and earn it slowly. All right, that just feeds greed and it's part of coveting. How should- 90% of lotto sales are for poverty level people. How should a Christian increase wealth? Why is that a godly goal? Increase it slowly. Diligence. Diligence. Diligence. Okay. And God is faithful. Yes, he is. Over time it can grow. It's becoming harder, but it will grow over time. The key is don't spend it. So you have something to work. Define investment. Why is investing wise and what precautions need to be taken considering an investment? Is your car an investment? No, it's not an investment. So what is an investment? some use for purpose of gaining financial return. Yeah, that's pretty simple, but that's really all it really is. But marketing we'll use that term investment for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with investing. Investment is it's going to gain wealth over time. So, and there's all sorts of kinds of investments. So, Alex be a good one to talk about some of those things. And then there's things that you're not handling, you're not paying real estate, stuff like that, but that can be an investment. A key to investment, according to my wife's aunt, who was our investment counselor early on before she retired, was this. One word, diversify. getting a lot of different things. It could be a business investment, you have a friend. We have these CIA students and one of you is probably gonna start a restaurant, right? You probably want investors to invest into you so that you can get a return, but you're gonna have to pay your investors some kind of a percentage back, right? It's just turned into Shark Tank for you guys. Starting a business is you get investors who are putting their money at risk based on a good faith in you that you're going to be able to make it in business. But if you fail, what happens to their investment? Bye bye, it's gone, it's lost, all right? You sell what you got and it might get a few cents on the dollar, all right? But they're willing to take a risk, that's an investment. That's part of the dangers of it too. Make sure if you're investing in something, it's something you actually know. If you're gonna play in the stocks or in commodities or something like that, know what you're getting into. I think a good rule of thumb I always heard is never buy stocks in something you know nothing about. Okay, do investments of something you know something about so you can actually assess what's going on. Mutual funds are good because it diversifies over a lot of different kinds of stocks. Commodities is you really have to know what you're doing with that. That's buying futures and all that kind of stuff. If you wanna- Don't invest money that you can't afford to lose. Yeah, that's a basic principle. If you cannot afford to lose it, never invest it. Diane, when she was working as a nurse, invested $4,000, which doesn't sound like now, but that would have been, that was a lot of money back in the 80s. It was somebody going around church and, oh yeah, this is gonna be great. And so she just, okay, she trusted her friends. Okay, she invested it. And within a year it was all gone. So she learned that as well. At least she knew she could afford to lose it. But also be careful who your advisors are. They need to know something about what they're doing before you really want to listen to them. Know what you're doing. The best thing is wise. Why? Shows you're being a good steward for what the Lord's provided to you. And that's what we're trying to do. It's also wise from this standpoint. I'm going to use you guys starting a restaurant. It's really wise because that's how you get somebody to get them into business. That's how you can grow economies. You actually can invest wisely and you help people. I'll go back. I'm buying this house. But there's a very specific reason I'm buying this house in this particular area. It's all part of a plan that my boys have friends and it's called Ridge Runner. And they're trying to develop a Christian community. So it's just part of one part of a big thing that's going on. And this is one way I can help. So the guy who's gonna be renting from me is moving there specifically to plant a church. So I can adjust his rent. to something he can afford, and yet also have a return on it. So it's wise on my part, and it's really something that can help him and something I'm trying to create. Well, that's a good thing. The houses, when I first got into real estate, it was very cheap houses in Memphis. In fact, the houses were less than the car sitting in front of the house, which told you a whole lot about what the problem was with the people of why they had gone into foreclosure. They should have paid the house off. But I initially got into it because the company I was working with had a vision of trying to help people. And you could always tell the houses that they were managing, because they were the best houses in the neighborhood. And that was something I felt I could do. So that's an investment that has a return for me, but also something I'm actually helping people to. So that's another reason investing is wise. It's a way to help people. Okay. Precautions, as Sam said, don't invest what you can't afford to lose, because you definitely will at some points. If you do invest in mutual funds or stocks or something that's traded, don't watch the stock market. Okay. That's bad for your heart. That's Yeah, once in a while you take a look at it. Anything else you want to add to that, Alex? Liquidity. Okay. You want to make sure that the money that you're putting away is not tied up into something if you have short-term needs where you'd be penalized. Good point. And then interest rate risk too. There's risk in not investing your money. You know, sometimes you hear some people say, I'll just keep it under my mattress. And there's inflation risk is a big one, especially in the past couple of years, where the money's not keeping up with the cost of living. Yeah, the only paper money you should keep under your mattress is if you have some old silver certificates. That would probably be good. That's actually investing in a commodity. It's investing in silver. So you have to be careful of that. If you're not getting something on an interest on what you have, the value is dropping as we speak. So you have to be careful of that. Liquidity actually is important. The houses do not have liquidity. That's a problem. But when we bought the mutual funds with the inheritance, we needed liquidity because this was the eventual plan for it. So that's part of it too. All right, let's have a little fun with macroeconomics. Some of this will be related to next week's stuff. National debt, what is the national debt? And what does it have, effect does it have on the national economy and you personally? Stop it. what the government owes, right? It's what the government owes those who've invested in the government. So that's the treasury notes. That's a lot of money. And it's skyrocketing very fast. What effect does that have on economy? The only way to bring down the debt is to increase taxes, which is on the horizon. It is on the horizon. Well, no, that's the only way to bring it down. But you have to do something else first. You got to stop the hemorrhaging. So the government- It's the same principles as an individual. But the government's down. The government's a slave to many, many people and countries. And foreign countries now. We currently are at a point when foreign countries and entities have a greater stake in the United States than we do outside the United States. We're seriously in trouble with that. Do we know which country we're indebted to the most? China. China and Russia. Oh yeah, they're buying up whole plots of land. That's also, they're purchasing land here. So that's off our books and theirs. So those are, so where is it hitting us the hardest? Well, think about it. So if you're, what's the spread rate now? About 5% now? Something like that. So they're having to pay that. So what is 5% of 35 trillion? So that's money being paid out for a debt, which means, It's not going to any government services at all. And as that obligation gets higher and higher, then the government can't meet its obligations. That's happened to, what was it, Italy, Greece, Spain. And that caused, ended up with riots in the streets because now the government couldn't even pay its workers. There's all sorts of things. Related to this is inflation. Do I have a question on inflation here? Yeah, I do. 38 was what caused inflation. This in the news, what is inflation? Yeah, the money supply has gone up so high that there's more money chasing fewer goods. So when the government was giving all that money for COVID knew exactly that we were going to end up with a huge inflation. One reason inflation did not hit us as bad as it would have is the laws were such that so much money was being kept out of the United States. It wasn't coming back here. Money was being made other places, but it was such a high rate to pay taxes here, it was being kept. Businesses didn't want to invest in anything because they didn't know what the rules were gonna be. And so they're sitting on it. Well, as soon as that money starts flowing back out, now we have a lot of money chasing a few goods and supplies and inflation is going to rise very quickly. So I just saw an article today, expect B to go up, new rules by EPA going in fact next year, we're probably gonna lose quite a few meat processors. So fewer meat processors mean there's less meat, less meat out on the market means you will pay more to get some of that much less. So that's just a big part of it. As money supplies increases without value to it, then we have what's called inflation. And we're in a, it's the second time in my life we've had a bad run of inflation. It was really bad in the Carter regime. That means whatever you have now will not buy as much tomorrow with inflation. So that's what I like saying. So how can I describe inflation? Very easily using a chocolate bar. When I was a kid, a full-size chocolate bar, the big ones were 5 cents. You actually had penny candy and you got more than one piece. If you had a nickel and you were a kid, you were a good fish. Oh yeah. So, or some, you know, I can go on all sorts of things like that. So you were, someone was saying that chicken two 49 a pound sounds good. When did they get above 29 cents a pound? We thought it was expensive then. So that's inflation. So all the money that was saved back then that there did keep pace with inflation means I can't buy, purchase as much. The purchasing power is not as much, that's inflation. And- The shrinking workforce too, which is closing salaries to have to go up to 100 people. It's shrinking. Less kids, less population. And less people willing to work because the government's already paying them. Why should I work? The whole COVID thing really knocked down our workforce. Because why should I go to work when the government will pay me not to work? So now there's fewer people actually being able to pay in the taxes necessary to pay, so the debt goes up even farther. 33, a politician campaigns the promise to reduce or eliminate debt that you have by loan forgiveness if owed to the government, or the government paying it on your behalf. What are the moral implications of this? What are the economic implications? Yes, I am talking about Biden. I'll just be point blank here, OK? What are the moral implications? Well, we're responsible to pay our debt. It's not theirs to forgive. It's not theirs to forgive. That's the point, OK? He wants to say, well, the government can do this. No. Someone else is going to end up paying for it, which is awesome. So that's one. What's another moral implication of it? Who ends up paying it? it didn't occur. The people who didn't go get it, you know, give themselves in that situation. So it's actually stealing from them, you know, for whatever reason they didn't and it's not the government's to give. So economic implications? Money's got to come from somewhere. Yeah, nothing. So you're now taxing those who are working and you can only do that for so long and then they don't have the money to purchase items. So in a consumer economy, that means that you're not actually getting as much out there. You start declining. I think this is what they've been, they still get loan forgiveness stuff, right? Yeah, completely illegal, Supreme Court says illegal, he's still doing it and wants to do it again. So as Christian, right? Like if you were to qualify for student loan forgiveness, you should not take it? No, because you're not participating in stealing from other people. And because we pay back our debts. So forgiveness that you're using that term and I'll continue using that one. It's not like you took a government job where they're going to give you a bonus so you can pay back your loan or the pay it back on your behalf if you do a particular job for them. But this one is, is we're just writing it off as if they were, that was their money to write off. All right. So that's, that's stealing. um politician campaigns the prompts to make it easier for you to purchase a particular product by direct government subsidy or tax breaks more implications of this and what are the economic implications government does this all the time the tax structure is built on that idea stealing from those who have well you're stealing from those who have to give those who don't but uh this one i was more on they're trying to get you to do something in particular. Let's use the EV cars, right? Electric vehicles. So you have a huge subsidy on it to get it. So what is that actually doing to us economically? Anybody have an EV? I don't want to offend anybody. Okay, actually, if you did get one, I'd say, wow, you're doing pretty good at taking advantage of something so you can get it at less cost than it actually costs to produce it. Because the government is paying part of that. Now, if the government's paying part of that, then who is paying for your EV? Me. You are. You're paying for, let's see, and how much does the average EV cost now? Base is what 66,000 somewhere in there. So who can afford $66,000 in a car? I can't. Okay, okay, well, I'm with my people, none of us can afford one of those things. Okay. So that means us who are working are subsidizing those who are making enough to pay $66,000 or more 100,000 for some of these things. So why are Why are middle-class people subsidizing rich people? All right, what are the economic implications of this? Well, you have reverse Robinhood here to begin with. All right, now that you have less money in your wallet and you buy a vehicle. All right, what does that end up with the cost of other vehicles? All right, so the manufacturer is losing money. Ford was losing an average of $40,000 per car, or their truck, their EV Lightning. Losing that much. After someone's bought it, they're still losing that much. That's all the manufacturing costs. So what does that do to Ford? And especially if you were an investor in Ford. Yeah, you're- It's reverse capitalism. So Ford is cutting that, they already cut truck production by over half and they're completely changing one of their main plans was going to do EVs, they're not doing it because they can't afford to do it. Even though the government's still trying to put pressure on them that you have to do these things. So government's interfering with something. It has severe economic repercussions on us. We are ending up, we'll go back to the, solar panels that the government got involved in. The government's going to subsidize production of solar panels. Do you remember that one? Was it 500 million? Yeah, government lost 500 million dollars on. So, so the length. Oh, hold on. It was out in California. Yeah, lost 500 million. I don't know, 500 million doesn't sound like much compared to $35 trillion, but it still sounds like a lot to me. $500 sounds like a lot to me. That has implications. It means the government's interfering with the economy to subsidize those things the government wants, rather than those things that actually work or that people need. It's part of graphing corruption. What should you do if a politician is campaigning on doing this? Vote for the other candidate, okay? Okay, politician campaigns on a promise of helping businesses industry in your area with direct government subsidy or tax breaks. More of the case into this economic implication. That's the other businesses that aren't getting subsidized. So it's unfair competition for them. Government does this a lot in trying to renew an area. Well, if you'll move in here, we're gonna give you all these tax breaks. Let's see how, Dutchess County in New York State was trying to do that as IBM went down. All right, we're going to give all these tax breaks to all these other, if you'll just move here. So it ends up the other businesses have to pick up the costs so this other company can come in. Well, it's not fair competition even for the workers because they can do it for all less. This is the kind of stuff that goes on. The reason I'm pointing this out isn't a political end of it. It is more of thinking through We have a lot of politics or go directly against basic biblical principles. But it sounds good to us because we'll benefit. So it sounded good for us that New York state will give tax breaks, that we'll get businesses in here to help our economy. Well, what about the billion dollars that went to Buffalo and got nothing for it? Well, that cost us. Now I'm suddenly upset about it. This is not a place for government to be playing in. That's not their role. it's not a market economy anymore, it's a socialist economy and actually somewhat, actually it's a fascist economy because they're trying to do it with businesses, not owning it themselves, but with direct to businesses. So there are a lot of these kinds of things that are important. Here's another one, politician campaigns and the promise, helping the poor by direct government subsidy or tax breaks. Moral implications of this, economic implications. I can give you several of that directly. It sounds nice, right? We care about the poor, the government's gonna take care of the poor. What did that do to Christian charities in the early 1900s? Disrupted them helping. Yeah, it actually drove them completely out of the business. There's a few that have survived, but it's very difficult because a lot of times they are just a channel for government money and a Christian charity taking government money cannot talk about Christ. That's huge. That's Marvin Olosky's book, The Tragic American Compassion. So a lot of these things, the reason I'm bringing it up here is they are violations of basic biblical principles, okay? There's nothing that says the government can't be involved, but you have to look at how they're getting involved. Whereas Christian charities would require people to actually work to the best of their ability. so that they maintain dignity or gain a skill. The government is owed to you. You deserve this. It's no longer being charitable or on the dole. You're entitled to this. And that changes everything around. So we've moved from a nation that people were very hesitant to be on government subsidies to one where, yeah, how fast can I get on it? All right. Financial moral implications of a tiered tax system. Okay, by tiered tax, I mean this. Yeah, so as you increase your income, the percentage you pay gets higher, right? If you are getting near that next tier, do you wanna work anymore? No, because as soon as I make $1 more, I made a lot less because I just got nailed with taxes. So it actually becomes a disincentive to people to actually work hard. So it's not the best system. We understand why they do it and why they can promote it because it always sounds like, well, the rich guy is the one getting hit. Well, the majority of taxes does not come from the rich. that come from middle-class America. And with inflation, guess what? You are now gonna be in the next tax bracket. Aren't you glad you're making so much now? Okay. Can't buy anything more with it, but you're more rich. Difference economic system, communism, fascism, socialism, capitalism, laissez-faire. Anybody know the difference between these? Right, communism. Classless society. Classless society, who owns? Who owns businesses, means of production? Government. Government, okay. Fascism, how is that different from communism? Person, dictator. Okay, they don't own the business, they just direct what the businesses can and cannot do. Okay, socialism. Robin Hood. It's a Robin Hood, right? Okay. a shared economy and we are going to subsidize everybody or tax everybody and we'll distribute it, okay? Socialism, capitalism. More of a trickle down, it means that you own your property and you own your own means of production, you own your business and you are free to do what you want with those things to either put more time in to gain a profit or Take it easy, make as much a profit. You get to decide. The key on this really is you own your business. You own your property. The other ones, even within socialism, do you really own it if they can tax it to the degree that you can't make it? Laissez-faire. that the markets dictate themselves. The markets dictate themselves. And if it's complete laissez-faire, why is that dangerous? No law and order. Yeah, you can end up without law and order. So every system has some pros and cons to it. But all of them, you want to start thinking through in terms of what are the biblical implications of it. So we've already seen that we should pay our taxes. We've already seen that we shouldn't go into debt. We've already seen that we have an obligation to poor, but it's a personal one as I have means I meet those needs. So as you start getting these economic systems start saying we are running up against the moral fabric of biblical directives and some of them violate it completely. All right, that was the issue. The case scenarios here was just trying to give you some ideas of how did you start applying these things? All right, we are past our time. Any questions, thoughts? Was this a lot? So I have one for instance. Sure. So I'll use Lauren again. Okay. So Lauren's a business owner, right? She's black and she's a woman. Yeah. So there's a lot of grants out there. Oh yeah. for this scenario. So what are the ethical, like, what is something you look for? Or just- What I look for? You should be able to do it on your own merit. I remember a guy, when I was in college, he was Hispanic and he said, you know, I have a better chance of getting into medical school if I claim being Hispanic. At the time, I'm like, oh yeah, do whatever you have to. If you get into medical school, that's great. And then it became, wait a minute, If you can't get there by your own merit, what kind of doctor are you going to be? Now that already has huge implications already because of this. And depending on what it is, and I'll just use the medical for it. So you go to, you see your doctor and you already have in your mind, is this someone who got in here just because they fit all the DEI stuff? Or is this someone who actually knows what they're doing? So does that increase or decrease racism? increase actually increases it because you don't know okay that's not even the other the other ramifications of it of fairness but it's like i now don't know because i don't know what's there now if uh like a bank is offering loans or something then she's taking advantage of a loan they're so alone uh is that necessarily fair to everybody else no but that's a government problem not her as an individual but she really will wanna do it based on her own abilities and merit, not taking advantage of something that would set her up to fail. This was something that's been going on for a long time of those without the educational background because of the EI stuff, they get put into a higher level college, one of the elite colleges, but they don't have the background to make it and so they end up failing. Did we help the person or make it worse on them? We made it worse on them because they end up, instead of being at a lower tier college where they could have succeeded, they end up failing, and now they're behind. They just did not have the background to be able to make it. So the merit system is always going to be better. Otherwise we're playing with things and we're going to cause problems we don't even recognize we're causing. Racism now, I grew up in Los Angeles. So the 1966 Watts riots, I was alive during that time. I remember watching on TV. There was a race riot on my campus in 1975. It was Blacks versus Hispanics, and the whites were caught in the middle. A lot of ramifications from that, but all that was caused by government playing games. The riot on our campus was because Blacks were being bused from South Los Angeles into the valley where we are. An hour ride there and back, it wasn't right for them. And a lot of them resented it, but they were forced to do it. The local Hispanic population didn't like it because this is their barrio. What are you doing moving in on our turf? You created a problem that wasn't gonna be there. This is what happened when government gets involved with things that they can't fix these problems. The problems have to be fixed in hearts. That's where the church comes in is we fix hearts. We proclaim what is true. We try to change moral character. That's a big difference. So in economics, the same thing is true. Our goal is to make sure we're doing things right before God, not necessarily something that's going to benefit me for the moment. So that's the key for Lauren, is that she's thinking through that, what is right before God and what she's going to do. And that's how she has to approach the question. So if she can take advantage of alone, OK, she can get alone. But what are the ramifications of what God says? Is she honoring God in what she's doing? That's going to be a real key question. Good question. Any others? Ready to go home? Yes. It's been a long day. Father, thank you for the goodness that you have toward us. And Father, through these basic principles, as we think through them, the greatest is that you care for us, you meet our needs. And so regardless of what kind of catastrophes are going on around us, we yet still have confidence as we seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, what we need for life, you'll provide. And we can go to bed and lay our heads down the pillow and go to bed with complete peace because of that. Father, as we live and work and use our finances, we desire to do so in a way that will glorify you. Give us wisdom, because the particular scenarios that we'll run into do require some thoughtfulness to make sure we're honoring you, walking in trust of you, and not yielding to the pressures around us. Be conformed to the world, or even to our own desires of coveting, wanting what other people have, in Jesus' name. Amen.