Own Your Money -- Herbert Cooper
Category
📚
ÉducationTranscription
00:00 A friend of mine said that several years ago,
00:05 they moved to Iowa in the middle of the winter.
00:10 And the temperature that day when they moved to Iowa
00:14 was minus 10 degrees with the wind chilled
00:18 of minus 28 degrees.
00:20 How many know that's cold?
00:22 Yeah, that's cold.
00:23 And all that day, his kids, their friends,
00:27 and the movers were just going in and out the house,
00:29 in and out the house, just in and out the front door,
00:32 getting everything moved.
00:33 And all day long, the dad kept saying,
00:36 "Shut the front door!
00:38 "It's cold up in here!
00:40 "Shut the door!"
00:41 'Cause they'd leave the front door open
00:43 and the dad had to leave the house and go run an errand.
00:47 And when he came back home,
00:49 the front door was wide open.
00:53 He went inside the house and looked at the thermostat
00:56 and the thermostat was set at 78 degrees.
00:59 But it was reading 55.
01:02 'Cause the heat was coming in the house,
01:04 but it was going right out the front door.
01:07 And he was like, "Close the front door."
01:10 And this is a great picture
01:12 of what life looks like for a lot of people.
01:17 They have the heat on in their life,
01:19 but they're still cold
01:21 because the heat's going right out the front door.
01:24 And they blame everyone else
01:26 on why they're cold in life.
01:30 My life is cold and it's your fault, it's your fault.
01:33 And they start blaming everybody else.
01:37 And what we have to do is stop blaming other people
01:41 when our life is cold
01:45 and we've gotta close the front door.
01:49 That's what we've been talking about in this series.
01:52 We have to stop blaming people.
01:55 We have to stop making excuses.
01:58 And we have to start doing our theme verse
02:00 found in Philippians chapter two and verse 12.
02:03 I hope this verse, you're memorizing this verse.
02:05 It says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
02:10 Verse 14 says, "Do everything
02:13 "without complaining and arguing."
02:16 In other words, don't spend your life making excuses
02:20 and blaming people and blaming circumstances
02:23 for where you are in life.
02:25 Don't spend your life blaming people
02:28 for something you did to yourself.
02:33 You knew that man didn't have a job when you married him.
02:37 He was good looking, but that brother didn't wanna work.
02:42 You knew she was mean as an upset pit bull
02:48 when you started dating her.
02:49 Why are you acting surprised by her bad attitude?
02:53 You knew he didn't go to church when you started dating him.
02:57 Why you getting all bent out of shape?
03:00 Because he didn't wanna go to church with you.
03:02 You knew your friends were getting drunk and partying
03:05 and getting high when you first started
03:07 hanging out with them.
03:09 Don't blame them for your partying lifestyle.
03:11 You knew when you had kids, they were gonna cry,
03:17 have poopy diapers, have to go to school and have homework.
03:22 Quit acting surprised and blaming people
03:24 and blaming the devil for the responsibilities
03:27 that come with being a parent.
03:29 People even blame God for where they are in life.
03:34 Proverbs talks about this in Proverbs 19 in verse three.
03:38 It says, "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness,
03:43 "but then are angry at the Lord."
03:49 This happens all the time.
03:51 People make stupid decisions and then they suffer
03:54 the consequences of those decisions and then they blame God.
03:59 God, you need to give me more energy.
04:02 I'm always tired.
04:04 Help me, Lord.
04:05 And God says, quit blaming me and stop staying up
04:10 half the night watching Netflix.
04:12 Stop playing video games all night
04:14 and scrolling social media.
04:17 God, you still haven't fixed my marriage.
04:20 God says, stop blaming me.
04:22 Go apologize.
04:23 Go on a date.
04:25 Go to counseling.
04:26 Well, we tried counseling.
04:28 It didn't work.
04:29 Well, you only went four times.
04:31 You've been arguing and acting like a fool
04:34 with each other for over a decade
04:36 and you thought four sessions was gonna fix everything?
04:39 God says, you have to stick with it and stop blaming me.
04:43 God, why did you give me these crazy kids?
04:48 God said, first of all, you're the one that did
04:51 you know what to have them kids.
04:53 I didn't make you do that.
04:55 And stop blaming me and start spending time with your kids.
05:00 Start teaching them the word of God.
05:02 Start providing loving discipline.
05:05 Start bringing them to People's Church Kids Ministry
05:07 on Sundays and to Epic Youth Ministries on Wednesdays.
05:12 God, stop making me gain all this weight.
05:15 And God says, put down that honey bun.
05:18 Get you some skinny popcorn.
05:19 Come on, somebody.
05:20 God, I've been attending People's Church for three years
05:26 and I still don't have any good Christian friends.
05:29 God says, stop blaming me and get in a small group.
05:32 Go to brotherhood.
05:34 Go to sisterhood.
05:35 Go to recharge.
05:36 Well, Lord, I went once and it wasn't for me.
05:39 Oh, you went one time.
05:41 And you wanted me to work a miracle in your friendships.
05:44 Don't blame me for your lack of effort.
05:47 Lord, I've been at this job for three years
05:51 and you haven't given me a raise or a promotion.
05:54 God says, stop calling in sick all the time.
05:57 Stop missing your work deadlines.
06:01 Stop gossiping about your coworkers.
06:03 Stop showing up late and leaving early.
06:06 Stop taking a two-hour lunch break
06:08 when you're only supposed to take an hour.
06:10 Lord, you are blessing my finances.
06:15 Give me some more money.
06:17 Give me some financial peace.
06:21 I even took the three-month Tide Challenge in November.
06:24 I gave in to Miracle Alfred.
06:27 And you still haven't blessed my finances.
06:29 I'm still in a mess.
06:31 God says, stop blaming me.
06:33 You're the one that put your honeymoon on a credit card
06:36 with 25% interest.
06:38 Come on, that's what Tiffany and I did
06:39 back when we first got married.
06:40 I'm preaching to myself right now.
06:43 You're the one that keeps buying a new outfit
06:46 every paycheck.
06:48 You're the one that keeps buying coffee,
06:51 a coffee drink, every day from the coffee shop.
06:55 You're the one going out to eat three times a week
06:57 instead of cooking at home.
06:59 You're the one who bought that new car
07:00 with that big car payment.
07:02 And now you're blaming me
07:05 because you don't have financial peace.
07:08 And you have to stop blaming God for where you are in life.
07:13 You have to stop being frustrated and mad at God.
07:17 And some of you are so frustrated at God,
07:20 you're so mad at God, you're irritated with God,
07:23 that you don't even believe the promises in the Bible.
07:28 You hear scriptures like Philippians chapter number four
07:32 in verse number 19, and it says,
07:34 "And my God will meet all of your needs
07:37 "according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus."
07:40 And some of you are like,
07:41 "Yeah, I wonder if that scripture is really true
07:44 "because my needs are not being met
07:46 "like I think they should be."
07:48 Or you hear scriptures like Luke chapter 12 in verse 31,
07:52 or another verse just like it is,
07:54 Matthew chapter six in verse 33,
07:55 "Seek God's kingdom, seek his kingdom first,
07:58 "and all these other things will be given to you."
08:00 And you're like, "I'm not sure how true this verse is
08:03 "because God hasn't provided all of these things in my life."
08:08 Or our famous verse in Malachi chapter three in verse 10,
08:11 "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse
08:13 "so that there will be food enough in my house,
08:16 "in my temple, if you do," says the Lord of heavens.
08:20 "I will open up the windows of heaven.
08:22 "I will pour out so much great blessing in your life
08:26 "that you won't have just not even room enough
08:28 "to be able to take it all in.
08:30 "Put me to the test."
08:32 And some of you are like,
08:33 "I don't know if I believe this verse
08:36 "because I don't really see any windows of blessings
08:39 "open in my life.
08:41 "I sure don't have more than enough."
08:43 And some of you doubt the promises of God.
08:47 But what you have to understand about God's promises
08:50 is that many of them are conditional.
08:52 Everybody say conditional,
08:54 which simply means you have to do your part.
08:56 And then God will do his part.
09:00 For example, Philippians chapter number four
09:02 in verse number 19,
09:03 is one of the most misquoted scriptures in your Bible.
09:08 'Cause the context of this promise
09:10 is talking about how God was supplied the church
09:13 at Philippi's needs because they gave generously
09:16 to the kingdom of God.
09:18 It was conditional.
09:19 And that promise is true for you and me today.
09:23 If we do our part, God will do his part.
09:27 Your part of Luke chapter 12 in verse 31
09:29 is to seek first the kingdom of God.
09:32 And if you do, then God will provide for all of your needs.
09:36 All these other things will be provided.
09:38 But if you don't do your part,
09:40 God's not obligated to do his part.
09:43 Your part of Malachi chapter three in verse 10
09:46 is to return the tithe to your local church.
09:48 And then God will open up the windows of heaven
09:50 and pour out a blessing in your life.
09:52 If you do your part, then God will do his part.
09:55 But here's what I've learned from personal experience.
09:59 But even when God opens the windows of heaven,
10:02 your part and my part is not over.
10:05 You still have to steward the blessings
10:09 that God pours out in your life.
10:12 And so many Christians have the front door wide open
10:16 because they don't steward well
10:18 the blessings God pours out.
10:21 So the blessings are going right out the front door.
10:26 And Tiffany and I had the front door wide open
10:29 when we first got married in our early 20s.
10:32 We were tithers, we were givers,
10:34 but it sure did not feel like God was blessing us
10:37 because we were not doing our part.
10:40 We made some poor financial decisions.
10:44 We got ourselves into debt up to our eyeballs,
10:48 over our head.
10:50 Had car debt, credit card debt, student loan debt.
10:56 The honeymoon, the furniture, the computer,
10:58 all was put on the credit card.
11:01 God had the windows of heaven open,
11:03 but we had the front door wide open.
11:08 And we were having major financial problems.
11:13 Church, hear me right now.
11:14 We loved God.
11:17 We prayed.
11:20 We went to church.
11:24 We served at our church.
11:25 In our early 20s, I was preaching the gospel
11:30 around the nation.
11:32 We tithed, we gave offerings,
11:35 but we were upside down financially.
11:38 To be real transparent, we were broke.
11:42 We didn't have any savings.
11:45 God opened the windows of heaven over our life.
11:49 He was pouring out blessings,
11:51 but we had the front door wide open.
11:56 And some of you today can relate
11:58 to where Tiffany and I were in our early 20s,
12:02 because it doesn't feel like God is blessing your life
12:05 because you have the front door wide open.
12:09 And maybe you're sitting at one of the locations today,
12:13 online today, and you're like,
12:15 I don't have any financial peace.
12:17 All I got is financial stress and pressure
12:21 and some of you, what I wanna talk to you about
12:23 for the next few moments, you're blaming God.
12:26 And I wanna encourage you to do what Tiffany and I
12:29 had to do in our early 20s.
12:30 It changed our life and that is simply this.
12:33 Start owning your finances.
12:38 Own it.
12:39 Work out your salvation with fear and tribling
12:41 when it comes to your finances.
12:43 Own it.
12:45 For the next few moments, here's what I wanna do.
12:47 I wanna talk to you from the story in the Old Testament.
12:50 There's this great story.
12:52 And there was a woman who loved God,
12:55 but she experienced a major financial crisis.
13:00 And I wanna help you from this story
13:03 in 2 Kings chapter four and verse number one.
13:06 We're gonna own our finances and get free.
13:09 Just look at your neighbor right now,
13:11 'cause you know whenever the preacher is trying
13:12 to help somebody in the area of finances,
13:15 people getting nervous,
13:17 hiding up their rear end cheeks.
13:20 (audience laughing)
13:21 Just tell your neighbor, just say,
13:23 "Loosen up, pastor wants to help you."
13:25 Go ahead and tell him that's it.
13:27 I really do.
13:28 I just, that's my heart.
13:29 Been doing this for almost 22 years in May.
13:32 Somebody's gonna get free today.
13:34 Here's what the story says in 2 Kings chapter four.
13:36 And let's just look at verse number one.
13:38 It says, "The wife of a man from the company
13:41 "of the prophets cried out to Elisha."
13:44 Elisha was a prophet.
13:45 She says, "Your servant, my husband, is dead.
13:48 "And you know that he revered the Lord."
13:50 I want you to catch this.
13:51 He feared the Lord.
13:53 But now his creditors is coming.
13:56 The creditors coming.
13:57 What are they gonna do?
13:58 They're gonna take my two boys as their slaves.
14:03 And here this widow is, she's grieving.
14:06 She's raising two boys all by herself.
14:09 Her husband provided for the family.
14:11 He was a man of God.
14:13 He feared God, but he had made
14:16 some poor financial decisions.
14:19 And now the family is in trouble financially.
14:23 And the creditors, they're coming real soon
14:25 to take her two sons 'cause they wanna take those two boys
14:29 and make them work off the debt that she owes.
14:32 And this single mom is, she's grieving.
14:36 She can't pay the bills.
14:38 She can't pay off the debt.
14:40 They love the Lord.
14:42 She's about to lose her two babies to the creditors.
14:46 She was in a desperate situation.
14:50 And today I want us to learn from this lady.
14:53 And I wanna very quickly give you three mindset shifts
14:57 you have to make to own your finances.
15:01 Three mindset shifts.
15:04 Note that that's a key word, mindset.
15:07 You gotta have some mindset shifts to own your finances.
15:11 Let me say it to you like this.
15:13 Change your thinking and you'll change your life.
15:17 Change your thinking and you'll change your life.
15:22 To close the front door in the area of your finances,
15:27 you have to change your thinking.
15:31 Write this down, number one is this.
15:32 What are the mindset shifts, Pastor?
15:34 Number one, own the overwhelmed mindset.
15:40 The overwhelmed mindset.
15:42 This lady was overwhelmed with the bills.
15:45 She's overwhelmed because she's about to lose her two boys.
15:48 And God sent the prophet Elisha to give her direction.
15:52 And you can read in verses two through four,
15:55 he begins to help her overcome her overwhelmed mindset.
16:00 And I believe God sent me today to be your prophet
16:04 and to help you overcome your overwhelmed mindset.
16:08 Living overwhelmed will stop you from owning your finances.
16:13 I've experienced it in my own life
16:15 and I've seen it happen to countless people,
16:17 thousands upon thousands of people.
16:19 Some of you today, you're overwhelmed with the bills,
16:22 you're overwhelmed with debt,
16:23 you're overwhelmed with stress,
16:25 you're overwhelmed with fear,
16:26 you're even overwhelmed with hopelessness.
16:29 I can't get out of this.
16:31 Maybe you're overwhelmed because you grew up in a home
16:35 that never taught you how to handle money.
16:39 All you ever saw modeled for you were bad examples.
16:44 So if you're honest with yourself,
16:46 you don't even know what financial peace
16:49 and freedom looks like.
16:52 And today I want you to understand
16:53 that your greatest financial problem is not your bills,
16:57 not your debt, not your lack of savings,
17:01 it's your overwhelmed mindset.
17:04 And you're digging a deeper and deeper hole
17:07 because of your mindset.
17:09 If you change your thinking, you'll change your life.
17:13 You have to calm down, you're overwhelmed,
17:15 ah, I got so much, you gotta calm down,
17:17 you gotta take a deep breath
17:18 because there's hope with the Lord.
17:21 You can get a plan together,
17:23 you can get some financial peace,
17:25 you can do this, but the plan won't matter
17:28 if you don't overcome the overwhelmed mindset.
17:31 You have to take a deep breath, calm down,
17:33 you can do this, calm down, change your thinking
17:38 and you'll change your life.
17:40 And so many people, 'cause they're so overwhelmed,
17:42 they just keep digging a deeper and a deeper hole
17:45 on the overwhelmed mindset.
17:48 Number two is this, let me help you write this down,
17:51 on the poverty mindset, the poverty mindset.
17:56 Second Kings chapter four in verse two,
17:59 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help?"
18:03 Trying to calm the woman down.
18:06 Tell me what do you have in your house?
18:08 Your servant has nothing at all, she said,
18:13 except for a small jar of olive oil.
18:18 This widow didn't see any way out
18:21 of her dire financial situation.
18:24 Here's what she said, "I have nothing at all
18:27 except this small jar of olive oil.
18:31 I can't do anything about my situation.
18:34 I'm broke, I'm stuck, it is what it is."
18:39 Church, catch this, catch this, the poverty mindset
18:43 causes you to overlook what you do have
18:46 because you're so focused on what you don't have.
18:50 And some of you today, you have this poverty mindset
18:54 because you're so focused on what you don't have
18:59 that you're overlooking what you do have.
19:03 So today, I'm your prophet, and I'm here to tell you
19:08 to stop focusing on what you don't have
19:10 because you're gonna get financial freedom
19:13 by using what you do have.
19:15 Today, I want you to break free from the poverty mindset
19:19 that has you believing that you can't do any better,
19:23 it has you believing that you have to keep spending
19:25 more than you make, it has you believing
19:27 that you have to live upside down financially,
19:29 it really has you believing that you can't pay off
19:32 that credit card debt, that you can't be financially free,
19:35 and the poverty mindset will sabotage your success.
19:40 Here's what it'll do to you.
19:43 It'll have you waiting for somebody to bail you out
19:47 of your financial hole, and they're not coming.
19:52 But what you need is in your house.
19:56 I'm gonna say it again.
19:57 What you need is in your house.
20:01 That widow lady had a little oil in her house.
20:06 My question is, what do you have in your house?
20:09 What do you have in your house?
20:10 What you have in your house may not seem like a lot,
20:14 it may not seem like very much, but I'm telling you
20:16 that it's enough to get started.
20:18 And the poverty mindset will make you think,
20:20 I can't get started, I don't have anything to work with.
20:21 So if you have a little energy, it's enough to get started.
20:25 If you have a little money, it's enough to get started.
20:27 If you got a little job, it's enough to get started.
20:29 If you got a little food, it's enough to get started.
20:31 If you got a little faith, it's enough to get started.
20:34 If you got a little hope, it's enough to get started.
20:36 I'm trying to help somebody today to get free.
20:38 You have to start with what you have in your house.
20:41 Stop letting the poverty mindset keep you
20:44 from seeing what you already have.
20:48 You have enough to get started on the road
20:52 to financial freedom and peace.
20:53 So start with what you have.
20:58 Change your thinking and you'll change your life.
21:03 Write this down, number three, number three.
21:05 Somebody's gonna get free today.
21:07 Somebody's financial future's going to change
21:09 because of this message today.
21:11 You're going to own it and work out your salvation
21:14 with fear and trembling, number three.
21:16 Own the this is too much work mindset.
21:20 This is too much work mindset.
21:24 Second Kings chapter number four says this
21:29 in verse number three.
21:33 It says, "Elisha said, 'Go around and ask
21:36 "all your neighbors for empty jars.
21:40 "Don't ask for just a few.
21:43 "Then go inside and shut the door behind you.
21:46 "And you and your sons, pour oil into all the jars.
21:50 "And as each is filled, put it to one side.'
21:54 "She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons.
21:58 "They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
22:01 "When all the jars were full, she said to her son,
22:04 "'Bring me another one.'
22:05 "But he replied, 'There is not a jar left.'
22:08 "Then the oil stopped flowing.
22:11 "She went and told the man of God.
22:13 "And he said, 'Go sell the oil and pay your debts.
22:17 "You and your son can live on what is left.'
22:21 "And this widow lady had what she needed to get started.
22:26 "But it required hard work.
22:29 "It was hard work for her to experience
22:31 "financial freedom and peace.
22:33 "She had a little oil in a jar
22:35 "and she got started with what she had.
22:38 "But it was work."
22:39 Let me draw your attention to it.
22:41 She had to use her legs to walk to the neighbor's house
22:44 to go ask for some jars.
22:46 He said, "Don't ask just for a few, work."
22:50 She had to use her mouth and work that mouth
22:54 and start talking to the neighbors.
22:55 Work.
22:57 She had to use her arms and legs
22:59 to carry the jars back to her house.
23:02 Work.
23:03 She had to use her hands to pour the oil into the jars.
23:07 Work.
23:08 She had to get a plan together
23:10 to market the oil, to sell the oil.
23:13 And that was work.
23:17 She had to track down the bill collectors
23:19 to pay off her debt.
23:20 Work.
23:21 She had to manage what was left over
23:24 so that she could continue to take care
23:26 of her and her son's.
23:27 Work.
23:28 Here's what I want us to see.
23:29 We love to focus on the supernatural part of the story.
23:33 And God does move supernatural.
23:35 We thank God for it.
23:36 But we love to talk about how God multiplied the oil.
23:39 But a huge part of this success story
23:42 was the fact that this lady put in the work
23:45 to see her financial situation turn around.
23:48 And if you wanna see your financial situation turn around,
23:51 it will require work.
23:55 Come on, most of us,
23:57 I know when Tiffany and I were in our early 20s,
24:00 most of us, we didn't get in a financial hole overnight.
24:04 And you're not gonna get out overnight.
24:06 Lord, I'm praying.
24:07 Woo, I'm anointing myself with oil.
24:09 Jesus, do it.
24:09 No, it's gonna require some work.
24:11 But you can get out if you make up your mind
24:15 to put in the work.
24:17 Okay, church, it's your pastor.
24:18 I love you.
24:19 I love you so much.
24:22 And so I say things like this to you
24:24 because I love you and I care about you and your life.
24:27 And here's the raw, rugged reality.
24:31 It's hard work being broke.
24:33 Come on, come on, come on, be honest, come on.
24:37 Put your pastor, this is us talking heart to heart.
24:40 Come on, y'all.
24:41 It's hard work being broke.
24:43 It's hard work living paycheck to paycheck.
24:47 Come on, y'all, it's hard work
24:48 staying stressed out over money.
24:51 It's hard work watching your debt continue to climb.
24:55 It's hard work robbing Peter to pay Paul.
24:58 It's hard work dodging them phone calls
25:00 when they be calling you.
25:01 You be trying to screedle ball this.
25:02 It's hard work.
25:05 Hello?
25:07 Mr. Cooper there, he's not available right now.
25:09 That's hard work, y'all, what y'all do, huh?
25:12 It's hard work when something breaks down
25:15 and you don't have enough money to fix it.
25:18 It's hard work arguing with your spouse over money.
25:21 What I want you to understand that there's a wrong hard.
25:25 There's a wrong hard work 'cause that's hard work.
25:29 And what I wanna do as your pastor
25:31 is I want you to choose the right hard work.
25:34 The right hard work.
25:36 It's work either way, but there's a right hard work.
25:39 Work the biblical plan.
25:41 I'm gonna give you some things right now to work,
25:43 to work, to work.
25:44 Track your income and your spending.
25:46 It's gonna be work.
25:47 Track your income and your spending.
25:50 Some of you gotta start doing this.
25:54 Do you actually know how much
25:55 that you bring in every paycheck?
25:57 Do you know how much you're spending every week?
26:02 You gotta start to track it.
26:04 Ooh, pastor, you up to talking crazy.
26:06 That's a lot of work.
26:07 That's a lot of work.
26:08 But being broke's work too, right?
26:11 So work at it.
26:14 Number two, save $1,000 in an emergency fund.
26:18 Do what you gotta do as long as it's legal.
26:22 I gotta say that at People's Church,
26:25 we reach a lot of church people around here.
26:26 Woo, yeah, I was gonna slay a little bit more of that stuff.
26:29 No, don't do that.
26:31 That's why you're in trouble.
26:32 It's gotta be legal.
26:33 Have your garage sales, sell some stuff,
26:35 cut your expenses, quit going out to eat.
26:38 I'm saying get $1,000 in an emergency fund
26:41 so when an emergency happens, you can respond to it.
26:44 Number three, pay off your consumer debt
26:47 from smallest to largest.
26:48 Just start, just get the credit card.
26:51 That's what Tiffany and I did in our early 20s.
26:53 We just, we started attacking our consumer debt.
26:55 Well, pastor, shouldn't I begin?
26:57 You're not giving me sound financial advice.
27:00 I should begin with the one
27:01 that has the highest interest rate.
27:04 Listen, you didn't get yourself in a hole
27:05 with sound financial advice, amen.
27:08 So let's just attack the smallest one
27:11 and start paying it off, amen.
27:13 Just start attacking it.
27:15 Pastor, that sounds like work, it is.
27:17 It was work when Tiffany and I were going out
27:20 to eat on a date was Taco Bell.
27:22 Come on, anybody, 99 cent taco, come on, somebody, hey.
27:30 Not buying clothes, paying off debt.
27:33 Paid off debt, got out of debt in our early 20s.
27:39 I've been that way ever since.
27:40 Just freedom.
27:43 I'll tell you, it works, but you gotta work it.
27:46 You gotta work it.
27:47 Here's number four, save three to six months
27:50 in an emergency fund.
27:51 Get that consumer debt knocked out
27:53 and then get you some margin.
27:55 Save three to six months in an emergency fund
27:56 so when an emergency happens, the car breaks down,
27:59 the washing machine goes out,
28:00 you gotta get another microwave, life happens.
28:03 You gotta be prepared for it.
28:06 Number five is this, start tithing now.
28:10 I knew he was gonna say that,
28:11 that's what the preacher's gonna say.
28:13 I am, 'cause I believe it.
28:15 I believe you gotta get God involved.
28:17 And so I encourage you today
28:18 on this first Sunday of the month, get God involved.
28:20 Quit trying to do it yourself.
28:22 Get God involved.
28:23 Some of you have God involved,
28:25 but you're not owning your part and managing it.
28:28 You got the front door wide open.
28:30 Number six is the last one.
28:32 I wanna encourage you to live with margin.
28:34 Begin with 10, 10, 80.
28:37 That's where Tiffany and I began.
28:39 We've always been tithers, give God 10%.
28:42 But then we had to work to start saving 10%
28:45 and then to live on 80.
28:47 And we do much more than that now.
28:48 We give aggressively, we're giving 20, 30,
28:52 we give a lot of money to the kingdom of God.
28:54 And then we've got margin, that 10% is grown
28:56 and we're giving and we're setting money aside,
28:59 not just in our savings, but a 401k.
29:02 Get you some margin, get you some margin,
29:04 your retirement, get you some margin.
29:07 And then live on the rest.
29:10 But don't live on 90%.
29:12 Don't live on 95%.
29:14 Don't live on 110%.
29:17 I want you to live with margin.
29:22 Work out your salvation.
29:27 With fear and trembling.
29:29 There's the wrong hard work and there's the right hard work.
29:34 Father, I thank you so much for my church family.
29:36 I love them so much.
29:38 My heart is for our church.
29:40 And I pray today that people would own their finances today.
29:45 And I pray they would own the overwhelmed mindset.
29:49 I pray today they would own the poverty mindset.
29:52 And I pray they would own the this is too much work mindset.
29:57 And I pray today by the power of the Holy Spirit
30:00 and by the preached word of God,
30:02 that today people would change their thinking, God,
30:07 and it would change their life.
30:10 It would change their behaviors.
30:11 I believe you to do it right now.
30:13 In every location, in Jesus' name I pray.
30:17 Amen.
30:19 As eyes are closed and heads are bowed
30:21 in every location you're here and you don't know Jesus
30:23 as your Lord and as your Savior,
30:25 today's your day to do that.
30:28 Today you're far away from God.
30:30 You're not living for God.
30:32 You're not serving God.
30:33 Jesus Christ is not the Lord of your life.
30:35 It's obvious just by looking at your life.
30:38 You would just look at your life and how you live
30:40 and the decisions you're making and you're living for you.
30:44 Jesus is not the Lord of your life.
30:46 And today you need to make him the Lord of your life.
30:49 Say yes to him.
30:50 Some of you today, you used to live for God.
30:53 You came to church today and you know
30:55 that you're not serving God.
30:57 You're no longer living for God
30:58 and you need to rededicate your life back to the Lord.
31:01 Today would you do that?
31:02 Today's the day to get right with God.
31:04 I'm gonna count to three.
31:05 At every single location, you wanna get saved
31:07 from your sins, you wanna be forgiven of your sins,
31:09 you wanna recommit your life to the Lord.
31:11 As I count to three, just shoot your hand up high
31:13 and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer to say yes to Jesus.
31:15 Today is your day.
31:16 One, two, three.
31:18 Just lift it high right now.
31:20 Just lift it high, that's it.
31:21 I see your hand there, others today.
31:22 Others today, see your hand there, others today.
31:24 That's it, Midwest City, Northwest, just lift it high.
31:26 Edmond, just lift it higher, that's it.
31:28 Just lift it high right now.
31:29 Online, just click the raise your hand button
31:32 and you're saying yes to Jesus.
31:33 Are there others today?
31:34 You just lift your hand up high, that's it.
31:35 Is there somebody else today?
31:36 Somebody else today, somebody else today.
31:38 Just lift it high, just lift it high.
31:40 I'm gonna ask every hand that's raised
31:41 to pray this prayer with me.
31:42 Confess this prayer with your mouth,
31:44 believe it in your heart
31:45 and God's gonna wash away your sins today.
31:46 Pray with me now.
31:47 Heavenly Father, I turn from my life of sin
31:51 and I turn my life over to Jesus Christ.
31:55 And I confess that Jesus is my Lord and is my Savior.
32:00 My life is his and I will live for Jesus
32:04 the rest of my life.
32:05 In Jesus' name I pray, amen.