What to Do with Your Money

Music playing Honoring God with the first fruits of your labor on today's Destined for Victory.

Hello and thanks for stopping by. Well, for the past few days, Pastor Paul Shepherd has been sharing some of the practical guidelines for living a blessed and godly life on earth. Today we come to the matter of money.

Not a popular subject, but in light of how often it shows up in scripture, a necessary subject. God has shown us the right way to manage our finances, and the rewards for doing so are far more bountiful than all we can ask or think. Stay with us here or visit pastorpaul.net to listen to Destined for Victory on Demand.

You can also download the podcast at Google or wherever you enjoy your podcast. Now here's Pastor Paul with today's message, What to Do with Your Money. Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 16. It says, This is what the Lord says, Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it. Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it.

Now this series is designed to inspire and inform us on how to live by old school wisdom. I am absolutely convinced that if we're going to be blessed of God in this generation, we're going to have to understand that the world and the world's wisdom and the world's system is going in the wrong direction. So you and I must learn to be in the world but not of the world. We are citizens of God's kingdom. We happen to be citizens of an earthly country but really that's a secondary citizenship. My primary citizenship is in the kingdom of God.

You don't believe that? Check it out in 70 years from right now and see which kingdom you're living in. You will no longer be living in this country 70 years from now.

I'm talking to older people now. You won't be here 70 years from now. You will have left this earth realm but you'll still be a citizen of the kingdom of God if you know Jesus as your savior. And so he's called us to live by the principles of his kingdom throughout our lifetime as we will live by them throughout all eternity. So you must understand we've got to intentionally defy the systems of the world that go against the teachings of the word of God. Anytime the world's system contradicts the kingdom of God, you've got to go with the kingdom.

Remember when they hemmed Peter up in the early church and they were trying to get him to stop preaching. He said, I can't do that. And they said, you better do it. We're ordering you to do it. And Peter said, we must obey God rather than man. Wherever there's a conflict between man's will and God's will, you know which way he wants you to go.

You've got to say yes to him. So we're learning how to do that. And I've identified it through this particular passage in Jeremiah where God says, ask for the ancient path.

Ask where the good way is and walk in that. And now I want to take this discussion to the area of our money. We've talked about the kingdom principle of following leadership that God will bless you as you follow the leaders he's put in your life.

We've talked about respecting the law of the harvest that God will bless you as you learn the law of sowing and reaping. Now I want to look at some old school wisdom regarding money. We're going to get to some other more friendly topics for you. We're going to talk about old school wisdom about relationships and that's coming. But right now, we've got to get in your pocketbook in your wallet because many of us are living under a wallet pocketbook curse. It's nothing new.

What I'm about to give you today is nothing new. Ancient wisdom so that you will get your money in order. God does not want your money to continue to be funny.

He does not want your change to continue to be strange. So we must pay attention to ancient wisdom from the word of God as it pertains to our money. Many of us have lost sight because we have followed the principles and the practices of the world and of worldly people. We just picked up bad habits from the world and from worldly people.

Most of you have never taken any serious training, did any serious study, done any serious reflecting on how God wants you to handle the resources he puts in your hands. Most of us just grew up handling money however we started handling it. And in many cases, if you follow the pattern of your parents and they didn't know what they were doing with money, then you just fell into bad practices. And so God says, listen to me, I'm the one who wants to bless you with wealth, I'm the one who wants to provide for your need, listen to me on the matter of money. Our society is going in all the wrong directions when it comes to finances.

It's true of individuals, it's true of families, it's true of cities, it's true of states, it's true of the country. As I speak, our country is $17 trillion in debt. As I present this message, the US of A is $17 trillion in debt. Who was stupid enough to lend us that kind of money?

China was part of it, $17 trillion. Shameful, used to be a powerful nation like this, mortgaging its future for silly things. Look at our state, states are all in debt, at least California, the one I live in. Look at our cities, you checked out your city's budget lately, it's not balanced in most cases. There are some pockets of exception, but we've come to believe that it is okay to spend money we haven't earned yet. And so it has trickled right down to families and to individuals. The average family that uses credit cards in America today owes more than $15,000 in credit card balances right now.

The average family in America that uses credit cards, not all do, but of those that do, they're carrying an average of $15,000 in debt. We've lost our way, so let's find our way. Let's find our way to the ancient past where the good way is. Lord, help me to get my money, act together once and for all. That ought to be the prayer of your heart. Lord, once and for all, I'm tired of having money, drama in my life, Jesus.

And I'm ready now to get it together, all right? Let me give you five patterns, five directives, five things the Lord wants us to do with our money. Number one, honor God every time you receive income. Honor God every time you receive income. Proverbs 3, verse 9 says, honor the Lord with your wealth. Some translations say with your possessions.

It's not talking about amount. It's talking about money. Honor the Lord with your financial substance. Honor the Lord with your possessions. Honor the Lord with your money. And it says with the first fruits of all your crops. If you want to find the ancient path and the good way where money is concerned, if you want to see God's blessings released into your wallet, into your pocketbook, into your checking and savings accounts, or if you want God to bless you to finally be able to have a savings account, you start by honoring God with your possessions, with your finances, and with the first fruits of all your crops.

That's the first step you do. Some of you have to hear God now speaking to you. He says, I want to bless you, but the way God blesses you is through you first honoring him. Some of you want God to bless you, and then you're promising him, after you bless me, I will turn around and honor you.

No. We learned in the previous installment in this series, Luke chapter 16, whoever can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much. So you say to God, I only have a little, but I'm going to show you I love you. I'm going to show you I honor you.

I'm going to show you that I know you to be the source of this. And then I'm going to trust you to bless and multiply it so that all of my needs will be met. You will honor it.

You will get into it. So you begin by honoring God. Stop telling yourself the lie that one day you're going to be a generous giver to the kingdom of God. If you're not a generous giver today, you're lying, according to the word of God, because you can't be trusted with little.

So he says you can't be trusted with much, and he's not going to give you much. Coming up next, the rest of today's message, what to do with your money, with Pastor Paul Shepherd, senior pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. If you've never stopped by our website, pastorpaul.net, I invite you to do so when you have some time. You'll find all of Pastor Paul's recent messages on demand, plus a host of great resources at our online store, including books and DVD messages from Pastor Paul. You can also learn more about the ministry and about all the great things, friends, like you are doing through your prayers and financial support.

That's pastorpaul.net. As believers in the risen Christ, we are no longer bound by Old Testament law, but we are still called to give 10 percent of our first fruits to the church. Pastor Paul explains why next, as he continues today's Destined for Victory message, what to do with your money. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, all your crops, not some of your crops, all your crops. Every check you get, you honor God with every check, you honor God with every blessing he sends into your life, every little windfall.

Something came through the mail you weren't expecting, you got a refund, some company found out that they owed you money and they sent it to you. That came into your hand and the first thing you do is say, thank you, Lord, because you are my source. You honor him with the whole thing.

So what does that look like? Well, I want to honor God, what should I do? Pastor, really, what do I do?

How much should I give? Start with the tithe. The tithe is a principle. When people tell you, you hear these teachers tell you, no, no, we're not under the law, so we don't tithe, we just give whatever's in our hearts.

They may not mean you ill, but they're robbing you of a blessing. The truth of the matter is the tithe is a principle that predates the law and supersedes the law. Tithing started way back in Genesis. The law didn't show up till Exodus and the other books of the Pentateuch. It started with Abraham. He didn't have a church, a temple to honor. He honored Melchizedek with the tithe. It started with Isaac, Abraham's son.

He said, in fact, let me read it to you because you all think I'm messing around. Genesis 28, verse 20. Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I'm taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's household, then the Lord be my God, and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house.

Watch this. And of all that you give me, Lord, I will give you a tenth. This is Jacob is showing he has learned the principle of honoring God, and he has said to God, before there is ever a Moses, before there is ever a law, he says, God, every time you bless me, I'm going to give you 10% of it as my first way of honoring you. And that's why Malachi 3.10, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgate of heaven, pour out such a blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. So tithe is the best place to start for honoring God. Now, I said in a previous stewardship series, some of you might be saying, Pastor, I wish I had the faith to go from giving next to nothing or giving the twos and fues to giving 10%, but I'm so flooded with debt, I've messed things so up, Pastor, and I don't quite have the faith to jump from here all the way to the tithe. First of all, some of y'all need to have that faith.

You need to develop it real quick. But God is not going to punish you. Jesus let a man say to him, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.

And that's where some of you are. I believe, but oh, Lord, I've been given $20 a week, $50 a week. And not because I don't want to give the tithe. If I gave the tithe, it would be $210.

But I can't go from $50 to $210. Help my unbelief. If that's you, what I have encouraged you to do in the past is set an aggressive standard whereby you will increase your giving immediately, something that stretches your faith, and then say to the Lord, God, as you bless me, I'm going to increase this every year until I'm giving at least a tithe.

I believe the Lord will help your unbelief. Now, some of you all, the Lord's going to nudge you and say, no, you start tithing now. And if he tells you that, listen to him. Because remember, he's trying to get a blessing to you. He's not trying to take anything from you. When God tells you to tithe, it's not because he needs your money.

I said it's not because he needs your money. Cattle on a thousand hill belongs to God. Everything on the earth belongs to God. Even the money that's in the hands of wicked people belongs to God. He could transfer it into the kingdom anytime he got good and ready. And so God doesn't need your money.

He's trying to get a blessing to you. So that's the first thing you want to do. The ancient path, the good way where your money is concerned starts with honoring God every time you receive income. And you do that by giving him a tithe, or at least begin giving in the direction, the aggressive direction of being a tither.

Let me give you a suggestion also as to how to do that. Because some of you all can't be trusted with God's money in your active account. You're not strong enough yet.

You're going to get there, but you're not strong enough yet. And if you see it sitting in your checking account, if you see it and it is attached to your ATM, there goes God's money. Some of you all, you don't have to say aloud amen and expose yourself, but you know I'm telling the truth. So here's a suggestion. Separate the Lord's money from your discretionary funds. Separate his money from your discretionary funds. So if you're going to mismanage something, mismanage your discretionary funds, don't mismanage God's money.

So you say, well how am I going to separate it? Get yourself a checking account that is your giving account, your kingdom account, whatever you want to call it. Just get a checking account, find a bank that will give it to you with no fee. And put God's money, tell your employer, if you have to do direct deposit, tell your employer, before you all give me my money, they'll do it for you. Just go to your human resources, your accounting department, they'll hook you up. Send 10% of this, every time I'm paid, send 10% of this to this account and let it go over there.

When you set that account up at your bank, do not get an ATM card with it. I'm trying to get some of you all blessed. I'm trying to get some of you all into another category financially. I learned to do that years ago. Not that I had trouble. I learned how to tithe from a boy. I never had trouble mismanaging God's money. It just became easier to just put it all in one account. And so I've done that for years and it's great.

You set it up and now that I do my giving online, I've already stored that account's information in there. Every time I get a check, every time I'm blessed, every time I have a speaking engagement and they hook me up, God's money goes in there. He's blessed me so much I can't give just 10%. I can't get away with that.

He'd been too good to me. I got to put more in that in 10%. Some of you all do too. But his portion goes in there. When I support the kingdom, I support this local church, I support ministries and all of that, it comes right out of there. And then I look at how he blesses the 90%, the 85%, the 80, and whatever's left after I've given the kingdom what God has given me to give them.

Suggesting that some of you all need to take up. Separate his money so that you don't have to see it till it's time to give. Because if you see it, some of you all have the lust of the eyes and you see his money in there and it's tied to that ATM and you go to the mall and the mall says, everything must go and the devil tells you that means everything must go to your house. All right, that's point number one. Here's point number two, ancient past, the good way where money's concerned. Point number two, live within your means. Pastor, I've heard that a thousand times.

No, you didn't get up there and make that point. Yes, I did and you need to hear it. Live within your means. I've heard it before but I'm telling you, God is saying, if you will hear my word today, I'm ready to release, I'm ready to transfer some blessings. I got some stuff in storage for you that I'm ready to release with your obedience.

So, what's he saying to do? Not only honor me with every income you receive but number two, live within your means. Go to 1 Timothy chapter six, verses six through nine. 1 Timothy chapter six, verses six through nine. Paul says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Now, let's rightly divide the word of God. God is not saying he's against wealth in this passage or in any other passage. He's not against wealth.

He is against people having wealth as their top or primary focus. Wealth can't be what you live for. You got to live for the glory of God and let the wealth come as a result of you being kingdom first. See, you don't start out, I want money and then I'm going to serve God. No, you serve God with money or broke. And if you put the kingdom first, Jesus said in Matthew 6-33, if you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, everything you need, God will give it to you. In other words, if you take care of God's business, he'll take care of yours. But you got to be kingdom focused.

Now, so let's look through this carefully. Godliness with contentment is great gain. You brought nothing into the world, you can't take anything out of it.

That helps you put your money in perspective. Don't get hung up on money. You're not leaving with it. Somebody asked a close acquaintance of John Rockefeller when he died decades ago. So a close acquaintance asked, now come on, be honest with me, how much money did he leave? The friend said he left all of it. He left all of it.

See, you're trying to find a number. The reality is he left 100% of it. You can't take it with you. You whores don't follow hearses. It's not going with you.

If you get your will and your living trust and all that laid out, you can designate where it goes next. But you aren't in control of it. And so he says, we brought nothing here, you came naked and broke. My parents were wealthy. That was their money. If they decided to break you off some, you were blessed. How many know there are a lot of wealthy people in this world who make their kids fend for themselves?

I saw an interview with one not long ago on television. I mean, this dude is seriously rich. And they were asking about his kids and he said, no, no, they've understood since they were young, just like I made mine, they got to make theirs.

I said, whoa, at least just give them a little seed money. Thanks so much for being here for today's message from Pastor Paul Shepherd, what to do with your money. This message is part of a special five-message series called Old School Wisdom We Still Need Today. Look for it online at pastorpaul.net. In Psalm 107, King David writes, Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. If you need prayer today, the Destined for Victory ministry team would like to join you in prayer. From the homepage, pastorpaul.net, use the contact feature to let us know how we can pray for you. And while you're there, be sure to ask for Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement, yours at no cost or obligation. And we have a great resource to share with you today, a booklet from Pastor Paul that goes hand in hand with this message, Junk Removal for the Soul.

All of us have some habits from our old life that we need to set aside so that we can embrace the newness of who we are in Christ. Pastor Paul offers some practical, biblical advice about doing just that in this booklet, our gift to you this month by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. Call us at 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. If you need time, I'll give it once again.

That address is Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. Give and it shall be given to you good measure, pressed and shaken and running over. Here's Pastor Paul. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord. He will reward them for what they have done. That's why I like being a giver because my reward isn't coming back from you. If God sees me blessing you, being kind to you, He says I'll hook you back up. That's next time when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, What to Do with Your Money. Until then remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.