HOW TO BE RICH!

(this picture is funnie because diddy looks so confused as to how a $1 bill got in his wallet with all the $100's. haha.)

MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!

these days its all that's on our minds. people have lost jobs, people have lost homes, people are claiming bankruptcy. although all of these things are going on, when we take a step back the majority of us are still doing okay. at least we're doing better than other people in this world who go day-to-day looking for food to eat or have no place to sleep. the fact of the matter is that although many of us are struggling, we are still doing better than other people in this world.

One of the series ive been listening to is “how to be rich”. Our culture is always trying to teach us different ways to GET rich—fast and easy. theres a song out rite now that my friend and i were talking about by travis mccoy thats called: "i want to be a billionaire so freakin' bad!" our culture teaches us to desire money and to GET RICH!!! but how do you BE rich? we’ve never heard anyone talk about how to BE rich.

Having money and having been blessed financially is NOT something that people should feel guilty about. Sometimes if you have been blessed abundantly, you might feel guilty about it, but that doesn’t solve any thing. You should feel grateful and blessed because of it and do great things with the money. I really liked how andy stanley prefaced his sermon with this little disclaimer, because sometimes in the Christian community people who have been blessed financially feel as though they should feel guilty for having so much—and they shouldn’t!

There are some verses in the Bible that are actually directed at rich people.

1 Timothy 6:17-19
17Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
18Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
19storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.


The reason why these verses are directed just at rich people are because rich people have different kinds of problems that people who aren’t rich don’t have to deal with. For instance, rich people have so much money that they know time will run out before their money will run out, so they have to speak to an attorney & financial advisor to build a trust for their heirs. Rich people have rooms that no one in the family sleeps in because they are specifically for “guests”: people who they don’t even know yet but who might stay at their house. (haha.) Rich women people stand in front of their closet and say: “I don’t have anything to wear.” (Hahahaha. Okay I am definitely guilty of that.)

Basically, at the core of andy stanley’s message is that:

IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN YOU NEED—YOU’RE RICH.

Being rich is a moving target. People always think that people in the next income category are “rich.” But wat we need to understand is that if we have more than we need, we’re rich.

say it with me now:
"God has blessed me with more than i need, im rich!" =)

The second sermon in this series was about how we shouldn’t lean on money and wealth and how we need to lean on God instead (verse 17: “not to put our hope in riches.”) How do we know if we are dependent on money though? andy stanley listed 4 questions to discover which way you're leaning:

1) which of these statements creates the most anxiety in you?
1. there is no God. 2. there is no money in the bank.

2) does fear of not having enough impede your ability to give?

3) do you have money in the bank and no peace in your heart?

4) how hard is it for you to do the right thing, when you know it's going to cost you financially?

I hope this summary gives you a good idea of what the series is about. it's excellent! and i know i probably say that about all of andy stanley's sermons haha, but i found this one to be very convicting for myself. I am always complaining or thinking that I wish I could make more money. My loans are kicking in this month and I don’t know how we are going to manage paying them back. But do we have money after we pay all of our bills to buy groceries or entertain ourselves to go watch a movie or buy clothes? Yes, we do! Therefore, we have more than we need, and we are rich. its hard for johan and me to say that, but its true...God has blessed us with a lot.

Andy Stanley said the biggest competitor for our heart is MONEY. It’s not the devil or whatever came to your mind first. “You cannot serve two masters.” Jesus knew that money would compete with our hearts more than anything else in this life.

I hope that johan and I will continue to learn to be good stewards of the money that God blesses us with and to be content with what we have.

trust in the One who has richly provided for us--not in our riches.