Bag With Holes Consider Your Ways

“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, by ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

– Haggai 1:5b,6

Bag With Holes

• The good you do for others - the Lord will do for you!

With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

– Ephesians 6:7,8

Bag With Holes

Don’t Keep Secrets from Spouse

Don’t conceal debts, purchases

Don’t hide a stash of cash

Agree on limits spent without Spouse’s knowledge

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• Share Financial Upbringing

Did Parents…

Tithe?

Save?

Borrow?

Budget?

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Share Feelings you have about money with

spouse and children• Does money make you feel…

Powerful?

Accepted?

Successful?

Happy?

Guilty?

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• Designate a Financial Housekeeper

• One person responsible to get it done.

Bag With Holes Agree on Financial Goals

• Giving 10% gross

• Pay off debt

• Save 5-20% of gross

• Pay off mortgage

• Lifestyle…..self-funded ministry...cash car

• Make a will

Scriptural Pattern for the Tithe

Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Proverbs 3:9,10

firstfruits of all thine increase

The Tithe is 10% of our increase

The Tithe is 10% of our increaseFirst

The question is what is the increase?

• Because the tax is based on income, is the increase after the tax?

• Because the tax purchases quality of life, is the tax normal living expense?

Merely because our government has legislated itself into first place is not a legitimate reason to place God second.

Are taxes a penalty on increase or do they purchase quality of

life

• FDA- new and safe drugs, inspected meat

• WS- weather service for air travel, etc

• FAA- certified pilots, inspected planes, etc

• FTR- drug enforcement

• EPA- safe drinking water

• 911

• National Defense, Interstate Highways

Less than 2% of your gross moves you from net to gross tithe

• $3,000 gross monthly increase

• $2,430 net monthly increase

• $300 gross tithe

• $243 net tithe

• $ 57 difference for a gross blessing vs. a net blessing

Increase May Not Be Income

Increases not included in income:

• housing, utilities

• auto

• health insurance

• scholarships, grants

• gifts

“bring-home” pay may have loan payments deducted

Bag With Holes

• A budget is a plan, with boundaries, to maximize your resources.

• No true freedom without limits.

• Gives you more control over resources.

• The corrective consequence of running out out of money is more restrictive.

Bag With Holes

“Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.”

– Proverbs 27:23

• Know cost of tower– Luke 14:28

• Make friends with money– Luke 16:9

Bag With Holes Budget Tips

• Involve whole family

• Reconstruct spending from last 3-6 months

• Include recreation and entertainment

• Enjoy freedom

• www.cccsatl.org/money.htm

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If details too difficult

Catagorize:

Fixed - House payment

Car payment

Insurance

Cable

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Average - Food

Child Care

Utilities

Phone

Work expense

Giving (5%)

Clothes

Car Repair

Discretionary - Eating Out

Entertainment

Vacation

Credit Cards

Gifts

Savings - Short Term

Long Term

Tax Refund Under $500.

Bag With HolesLife Insurance

• Age 40, non-smoker

$500,000 term coverage for $390 male, $325 female per yr - guaranteed for 20 years.

• Compulife Software Inc.

www.termforsale.com

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• Approximate monthly survivors benefits

Age Income Your spouse & 2 children

$30,000 $1,842

45 $40,000 $2,101

$50,000 $2,303

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$300.00 Whole Life

- 60.00 Term for husband and wife

$240.00 Automatic withdrawal

Mutual Fund at 18%

20 years = $327,516

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• Work is pre-fall (Adam)

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

– Ephesians 4:28

God provides work so we can have to give.

Bag With Holes

• Laws of Land Must be Obeyed

Power is given to God; ordained of God. If we resist the power; resist ordinance of God.

Rulers are not a terror to good works. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. Romans 13:1-4

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All Taxes must be Paid!

Render unto Caesar what’s Caesar.– Matthew 22:21

Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due…

– Romans 13:7

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• God does not bless stolen goods

“That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.”

– I Thessalonians 4:6

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Absolute Honesty

• A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.

– Proverbs 11:1

• …he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

– Psalms 15:4

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• Lack May be Result of Dishonesty

“That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may lack of nothing.”

– I Thessalonians 4:11

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It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.

– Proverbs 20:14

• A good deal is a mutually good transaction.

• God does not bless you at someone else’s expense.