First Timothy chapter number six, there, the part of the chapter that I want to focus on is beginning in verse number five. The Bible reads, "Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out."
"Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."
This warning in 1 Timothy chapter 6 is about covetousness and the love of money, and about a teaching that says that gain is godliness. Meaning that the more money we have, the better we are doing financially. That somehow shows that we have godliness in our lives.
It also warns us about those who desire to be rich, because the Bible says in verse 9 there, "But they that will be rich, meaning that they want to be rich, fall." Let those words sink down into your ears. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil. What does it mean when the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil? It means it starts with the love of money, that leads you into other lusts. It leads you into many hurtful lusts. But love of money is the root, then you get all these other lusts in your life, then you start coveting everything else and covetousness takes hold.
Let me say this, covetousness is a major sin according to the Bible. When you desire riches that you don't have, desire a house you don't have, desire a car you don't have, desire the wife that you don't have, that is one of the 10 commandments.
Not only that, it's one of the short list in 1 Corinthians 5, where God says, "You don't want to be around any Christian who is guilty of these sins, drunkenness, covetousness, fornication." It's listed as something that is very infectious to the people around you. It's something that we should flee from.
Notice the verse there in verse 11, "But thou, O man of God, flee these things." He also tells us to flee fornication. He tells us to flee youthful lusts. Flee the love of money. Flee covetousness. Why? Because it's dangerous, because it's infectious, because it creeps in, materialism, covetousness, laying up treasures for ourselves upon this earth.
These are dangerous doctrines that can harm a church, that can harm our individual lives, and turn us into something that God is not pleased with, and turn us into a bad person, something that we need to be aware of.
I want to preach today against a particular person, a particular teacher. I don't know if you'd really call him a preacher. He's kind of like a preacher. He is a teacher that teaches the Bible. This man, although he's a secular radio host, he has now started to creep his way into a lot of churches and even independent fundamental Baptist churches.
Just in the last two weeks, I've heard about an independent fundamental Baptist church here in Arizona, one in Colorado, one in California where they bring in this man's teachings. It takes the place of a Sunday school class or it takes the place of a preaching service, and it's brought in as a DVD.
They're learning financial principles from Dave Ramsey. It's being brought into independent fundamental Baptist churches. Really, he's going into all denominations, because he doesn't care as long as the money is green.
He gets it into all denominations. He speaks in all types of churches. This man, although he does have some good things to teach, is teaching a lot of lies and false doctrine. Worst of all, he instills a spirit of loving money, desiring riches and wanting to become wealthy. That is not biblical. This man is someone that you need to be warned about, Dave Ramsey. Who's heard of Dave Ramsey?
The reason that I'm warning you about this guy is because of the fact that he teaches things that are lies. He misuses scripture. He uses false versions of scripture, and yet he's being brought in a teacher to independent fundamental Baptist churches. Never will we bring in such a person.
Let me just explain to you what's wrong with Dave Ramsey. First of all, let me say this, of course there are some things that he teaches that are good and right. He teaches you how to budget your money. He teaches you not to spend more money than you have, and how you really don't actually need some of the things you think you need like TVs and fancy cars.
He tells you, you don't need that stuff. Be smart with your money. OK, those are all sound principles. He teaches you to eliminate debt from your life. Paying off credit card debt or student loans or bills, those are good things. He teaches you a method of budgeting where you use a cash envelope system.
Let me just explain this to you. These teachings are not unique with Dave Ramsey. These teachings have been around. I have a book in my office that I just pulled off the shelf before the service, and it was copyright 1968 when Dave Ramsey's mama was still wiping his nose.
That book teaches budgeting, and teaches cash envelope system, and teaches a lot of these things. They're not unique with Dave Ramsey. You can learn these things a lot of different places. I learned them in school. It's not really that complicated. In fact, maybe I'll even explain it to you later in the sermon if I have time.
There's a lot of poison mixed in with these teachings. You have some good teachings of just common sense, budgeting, and paying off your debts, and spending money you don't have, and just a practical way of putting cash in envelopes and everything. That's all great. I'm not saying that's bad. I'm not saying that's wrong.
Wait a minute, when you're teaching people to desire to be a millionaire, the goal is to be a millionaire. The goal is to amass wealth, and when the final step of his program is to become in his words "become very wealthy" that's the final step. That's the goal. That's the end game. You get on Dave Ramsey's program and your goal is to become very wealthy.
Let me tell you something. That's not my goal. In fact, when I'm done preaching this sermon I'm going to go home and get on my knees and pray to God that I am never a millionaire, and pray to God that I will never be rich.
Go to Proverbs chapter 30. You say, "Why wouldn't you want to millionaire? Why wouldn't you want to be rich?" Let's see if my prayer is biblical, because I told you what I'm going to pray when I get home, right? I'm going to get on my knees, and I'm going to pray to God that I will never be rich and that I will never be a millionaire. Is that a biblical prayer?
Let's go to the word of God and find out. Remember what happens to people who want to be rich? They fall. What is Dave Ramsey setting up people to do when he says, "Here's your step program, and the final step is become very wealthy." It's called the seven steps, the seven baby steps. The seventh step is build wealth and give. He said, "Become very wealthy." Become very wealthy, and then you can do all kinds of fun things like give money, you want to do all these things.
The goal is first to get yourself really wealthy, and then you're going to be generous. He has 55 million dollars. That's his level of wealth, Dave Ramsey. He has 55 million dollars, but he can do really fun stuff like he said. He can go to Waffle House and leave a $200 tip. You can give.
That's just being a big shot. That's not really a goal in life to just, "I'm going to become a millionaire so I just walk into Waffle House and be the man." First of all, I don't even eat at Waffle House because the food is there is garbage, number one. If you're a millionaire, what are you doing at Waffle House?
See how this stuff is just isn't adding up? Anyway, I'm just kidding. Let's see if my prayer is biblical here. Look at Proverbs 30:8. "Remove far from me vanity and lies." This is a prayer to God. "Give me neither poverty nor riches."
Is this not a biblical prayer not to be rich? Show me the prayer in the Bible that says make me rich, God. Show me the prayer in the Bible that says make a millionaire, God. I'm showing you the prayer that says, "God, do not give me riches."
He said, "Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain."
In fact, wasn’t Solomon rewarded for not praying for riches? Isn't here a great example prayer that we could pray saying, "God, I don't want to be poor. Who here just wants to be dirt poor? I don't want to be rich either.
I just want to live a modest life. I just want to take care of my family. I just want to feed my children, and feed myself, and feed my wife, and live an honesty and peaceable and godly life and not to lay up treasures on this earth but to lay up treasures in heaven.
That's not enough reason to be against this program. You know what? If it's the root of all evil, it is something that is pretty dangerous when it's being taught.
First of all, the big colossal problem with this program, why it should never be brought into an independent fundamental Baptist church is that it uses all manner of Bible verses. These churches are often King James only, but then they put on a DVD of Dave Ramsey for an hour instead of a church service, and they're getting exposed to all manner of versions. The people that are coming to church, you know what you're sending them a message, that it's not that bad to use these other versions.
Here are some versions that are in his DVD series, the ESV, the NIV, the new King James, the message, the new living translation, and the new revised standard version. Those are just the ones that I know are in there. There could be more.
Here's why so many versions are being used, because he's one of these guys, he's one of these teachers that cherry picks which version they're going to use. You almost have more respect for a guy who just gets the ESV and just uses it. Obviously, the ESV is a false Bible, but at least he just says, "This is what I preach, the ESV," or "We're going to use the NIV. That's what we use here."
What these guys do they have no Bible that is their authority. They literally cherry pick whatever they want the verse to say for that particular point they'll take from that version, so that literally in one sermon they'll go to five versions in one sermon. Why? Because the ESV has the point they need for this point, but then over here the new King James spells it out the way they want it.
Over here, the RSV is better. We really want to go crazy on this point, we're going to go living Bible. We're going to go with the message. We're going to go with the voice, because if you have enough versions you can find one to say what you want it to say.
Then, pretty soon you're just preaching all kinds of man's philosophy and just propping it up with just a cherry picking of all different versions just to find the one that suits your point and your purposes and your agenda. That's the kind of teacher Dave Ramsey is. He doesn't stick with one version. He's using the message, revised standard, NIV, just whatever suits his point.
When you bring that into the church, you know what you're saying? We're King James only, but it isn't a big deal. I thought it was a big deal when God said He's going to put single curse in the Bible on you if you add to His word.
He's going to remove your part out of the book of life and out of the holy city when you take away from His word. That's sounds like a pretty big deal, and we're down playing it when we sit there and bring in all these false versions and have them coming on the screen in the house of the Lord.
Why don't we just say we're King James only and we don't bring in teachings, or preachings, or books, or literature into our church that use other versions period? End of story. No exceptions. You put up a calendar in my office that has a picture of nature and a verse from the NIV, I'll tear it down and throw it in the trash.
I don't want to send a message to anyone that I think that's OK to use these versions that corrupt that God's word. If you don't think they corrupt God's word go grab a DVD on your way out the door, New World Order Bible versions. This message has been brought to you in part by New World Order Bible versions.
Number two, there are other just other, just wrong philosophies that are taught in this video. For example, he makes a big point, a big deal about the fact that the woman in the relationship needs to have equal say in the finances. He says, "Look, you can't just lead men and just make the decisions. The woman has to have equal say in the finances."
I'll say this, I don't think it's wrong for a woman to run the finances in the home if she's better at it, and the man doesn't know what he's doing, but only if that authority is delegated from the husband. Only if at the end of the day, the husband's in charge and he delegates that to her and says, "You run the finances," but he still calls the shots.
Even then, I don't necessarily recommend that, but it does work well for some people. I'm not advocating a one size fits all here, but I am advocating that the husband is always in charge in the home. He is the head of household. Wives are supposed to be in submission to their husband and obedient to their husband.
Is that what Dave Ramsey's teaching? Does he teach wives obey your husbands? Does he teach be to submission to him, be subject unto him? No, he says the woman the equal say in the finances. That is false doctrine.
How dare you. It's what the Bible says. I don't have time to go into all the verses right now. You've seen them all. Wives be obedient to your husbands in everything, Ephesians 5. Again, like I said, if the wife just does the sharpening of the pencils and plans the finances and does the budgeting, that's fine as long it's under the authority of her husband, and as long as at the end of day he calls the shots.
To say, "You can't just make the decision. She has equal decision," that's not from the Bible. You can't show me that in the Bible. That's a worldly philosophy. That alone is enough reason why I wouldn't bring it into the church, because I wouldn't want to mess up somebody's marriage by bringing that in, and cause conflict in a marriage where the wife's like, "Dave Ramsey said …" That could cause problems in the marriage.
Let's just look at Dave Ramsey's program. Let me just give it to you in a nutshell. He says it's a seven-step program. Let me just give you these steps. Again, there's a mixture of truth and error. You know what happens when you mix truth with a lot of error? It's just all error.
Number one, step one of the Dave Ramsey program is save up $1,000 for an emergency fund. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that. I don't think there's anything wrong with having $1,000 for a rainy day. That's fine. The Bible even says something similar to that. I found this in Ecclesiastes 11:2, "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth."
OK, I get that. Then, if you actually get the context of the verse by backing up one verse to Ecclesiastes 11:1, it says, "Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days." It's talking about if you give, it shall be given unto you. I don't really have a problem with point one of the program. Save $1,000 for a rainy day. Great.
Step two is pay off your debts. Pay off all your debts except your house. He uses a method called the debt snowball method where he says start with the smallest debt first. That way you get some instant gratification, get that low hanging fruit. Let's say you have a whole bunch of credit cards and you got all kinds of loans and debts out there. He says start with the one where you owe $500 or $300, and get that small one out of the way first.
Pay minimum payments on everything else regardless of interest rate. Then once you off that little one, then you can take the money you were sending to that and put it towards the next one. Then pretty soon, you're sending more and more.
Once you pay off that bill that $100 minimum payment and you were already sending $50 over here, now you have $150, and pay off the one that had a $200 payment, now you have $350. Pretty soon, you're really hitting a lot of debt elimination, but you start with the small stuff and pay off your debts.
Look, that's good advice because being in debt and having all this interest that you're paying to all these credit cards and lenders, obviously that makes perfect sense.
Step three, he says build up three to six months of expenses for an emergency fund. He says once you've paid off your debts, he says, lay up three to six months of expenses for an emergency fund. I guess what he's saying is basically if you make $40,000 a year you're going to lay up $10,000 to $20,000. If you make $60,000 a year you're going to lay up $15,000 to $30,000. If you make $80,000 you're going to lay up $20,000 to $40,000. I'm going to come back to that point.
Point four, so after you do that he says invest 15% of your income toward retirement. After you have paid off your debts. You got your $1,000 in the bank. You pay off your debts. Then you put $10,000, $20,000 in the bank, $30,000, whatever. Then you start investing 15% of your income toward retirement.
Just do the math. If you make $40,000, you're putting, what, about $7,000 away every year towards your retirement. You're making $40,000, $7,000 of it's going to retirement, whatever.
Then he says, number five, save for your kid's college education. Here's a quote from the series, brainwash them to go to college. Drill it into them how important it is that they go to college. Brainwash them to go to college. Again, I kind of covered that in this morning's sermon.
Then, number six, he says pay off your house early. Once you've sat there and you've laid up twenty some grand in the bank or whatever. You've paid off all your debts. You've put 15% towards retirement. You're saving up for your kid's college education. Then you pay off your house, and then you build wealth and give. He says become very wealthy, and he gets up and yells and preaches. He says, "I am going to make you a millionaire. I saw it myself."
He said, "I'm a millionaire, and I'm going to make you a millionaire. This will make you a millionaire. You're going to be a millionaire. It's going to be great. It's going to be fun. It's going to be awesome. God wants you to be a millionaire, and so forth."
Then, number seven, the final point, build wealth and give. Basically, once you've sat there and just laid up this insane safety net to where you're 15% is in retirement, twenty grand in the bank, everything paid off, money saved up for college, money saved up for retirement, now that all my financial ducks are totally in a row, now let's be generous and give. Lay up this huge amount for myself, and then start giving. That's what he teaches.
There are some other quotes that I saw from this. I want to show you how he twists scripture and takes scripture out of context. You might be listening that and think that sounds pretty good. That's not bad. Let me show you what the Bible actually says, and you're going to see how contrary it is to this teaching.
First of all, not only does he use false versions of the Bible, but he also just takes scripture grossly out of context and just twists its meaning. Go to Proverbs chapter six. Let me show you some examples of how he twists scripture to make it seem like his program is a biblical program.
I'm all for budgeting. I'm all for debt elimination. I'm all for his snowball method. I'm all for the cash envelope system of budgeting if that's what works for you. A lot of these things are not necessarily taught in scripture. They're just techniques. Think about it, there's a lot of wisdom out there in this world that's not really taught in scripture. For example, gardening tips, if you live in Arizona. Let me show you in scripture.
Here's the thing, what are we doing in church? We're supposed to be learning God's word, supposed to be learning the Bible, not just man's financial philosophies, and man's financial methods. Sure, that's great stuff for your parents to teach you.
That's great stuff for you to go to somebody who is smart with their money and get advice, or ask somebody for help in that area, but to sit there and just teach all this stuff from the pulpit and sit there and take 13 weeks of church time and play this DVD of this stuff, and then what they do to make it seem spiritual, they just insert a lot of Bible verses from a lot of different versions to make it all seem more biblical. These verses are being grossly taken out of context.
For example, I heard Dave Ramsey speaking and he said this, and this is an exact quote, "Being broke is normal. Be a peculiar people." Being broke is normal. Be a peculiar people. Hold on a second. Is that what the Bible is teaching when he said be a peculiar people? Be wealthy. Most people are poor. Most people are broke. God wants us to be a peculiar people. Therefore, we need to be wealthy. That's an exact quote. Being broke is normal. Be a peculiar people.
Actually, if you actually look up that verse, it says that God wants to purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. When God says peculiar people, He's saying because you're zealous of good works and because you're pure from the sins of this world.
Not just be peculiar, just by being different any possible way you could be different. Everybody is driving a red car. Drive a green car. Be a peculiar people. Everybody's poor, be rich. Be a peculiar people. God said, "Don't desire to be rich."
In fact, He said in Proverbs, "Labour not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom." We should want to work hard, and become rich, and become a millionaire. Look, we're going through the seven steps, so we can get to step seven and become very wealthy, and build wealth.
No, God says, "Labour not to be rich." He says, "They that will be rich fall." He said, "Being broke is normal. Be a peculiar people." Look at Proverbs 6, this is a main part of his teaching in Proverbs 6. Of course He's in a completely other version.
As a major part of his teaching, He talks about how you need to really be zealous of getting out of debt. He says that the bible teaches that you should run away screaming in the other direction from debt. He says, "The bible teaches to flee debt." What the bible really taught us was to flee the love of money.
That's what it actually taught. It actually said to flee the desire to be wealthy. He teaches no. He says, "Be like a gazelle running from a cougar," and he shows a video of a gazelle running from a cougar. He said, "This is how you need to be about your debt.
This gazelle is running the cougar's line, and he is like, "You need to run away from that debt. You need to run away like a gazelle, and bla, bla, bla." He uses Proverbs 6 to teach that. You're not going to see the gazelle because the gazelle is in another version.
In this version, it's a roe in verse five. Let's read the verses. He says that this is about being in debt. Let's read it, and see if that's what it's really about. Proverbs 6:1, "My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth."
"Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend, go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." That's the gazelle and the cougar verse in verse five according to his other version.
Let me say this, no mention is made in these verses of you being in debt. Even in these other versions, it's not that I could find. What this verse is saying when it says if you're surety for your friend or if you stricken hands with a stranger, that is not saying you are in debt.
I'm not saying being in debt is a good thing, my friend, but that is not what this passage is talking about. This passage when it says you are surety for your friend is talking about you co-signing on someone's else's loan, someone that you don't know or someone who's just a friend. It says, "You've stricken your hand with a stranger." It's when you're co-signing on their debt and on their loan.
That's what this verse is actually talking about. There is no mention here of saying you need to run away. You say, "Well, what does that matter?" Because you can't just take bible, and just make it say whatever you want. "I want this verse to be about getting out of debt, so I'm going to use this scripture to teach that."
No, you should always teach what the scripture is actually saying. He says, "Surety." That means you're in debt. No, it doesn't. That's not what that means. Go to Matthew 6, Matthew chapter number six. He says in Matthew 6, and this is another major part of Dave Ramsey's teaching.
He'll say this. He'll show the verse from Proverbs that says, "The borrower is servant to the lender." It says in Proverbs 22:7, "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." This is a big part of his teaching, "The borrower is servant to the lender." Of course he says the borrower is slave to the lender, because he's in another version.
A big difference between a slave and a servant by the way. Then he'll turn around and quote this, "No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
He won't quote the whole verse. He'll just quote that one part, "No man can serve two masters." Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters, and because the borrower is slave to the lender, you can't serve Jesus and be in debt." That's not going to work. That's his teaching.
Hold on a second. What about if we actually get the context of the statement "No man can serve two masters," why don't we back up to 19? We're in chapter six, right? Let's see is Matthew 6 in its entirety lines up with the teachings of Dave Ramsey, shall we? Look at verse number 19.
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Does that line up with the teachings of Dave Ramsey, who is telling you that your goal is to get out of debt, which I'm all for getting out of debt? Being in debt is not a wise use of your money, especially credit card debt and high-interest debt. Debt that does not have anything attached to it like a house or a car is the worst kind of debt, where it's just on a credit card or whatever.
Student load debt, all that stuff, I'm all for that, but he says right after you do that, now let’s put $20,000 in the bank. Then let's lay up 15% of your income, and invest it in stocks and mutual funds. Again, we're talking $7,000 a year for somebody who makes $40,000. If somebody made $100,000, then they're putting $15,000 away.
If somebody made $80,000, then they're ... This math is hurting my head today. Anyway, what I'm saying is he wants you to lay up a lot of wealth for the college fund, for the retirement fund, and the emergency fund. It's actually huge amounts of money, tens of thousands of dollars that you're laying up.
Is that what is being taught in this scripture, that he loves to quote from but he won't quote the whole passage? Then we get to verse 24, "No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
"Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on is not the life more than life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"
"Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things does Dave Ramsey seek." I'm sorry, "For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God."
In that program, is the kingdom of God point seven? Build wealth and ... It's not even 7A. It's 7B, because .7 is build wealth and give. 7B is where we get to the kingdom of God. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
Verse 34, this is where the bible teaches you to have a 401K for your retirement. It's in Matthew 6:34. This is the scripture that teaches you to put away a college fund for your newborn baby. By the way, I would pay my kids not to go to ESU. I'd pay my kids not to go to college.
Anyway, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Is that compatible with Dave Ramsey's financial plan that's being taught in Baptist churches across America today? Is that what he's teaching, to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness?
"Take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink, wherewithal shall we be clothed? Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Is that what he is teaching when he is telling you to lay up 15% of your income for retirement?
You'll say, "Well, Pastor Anderson, we need to lay up money for retirement." I preached this sermon one time on money like biblical principles about money. A guy walked up to me after the service. Go to Luke 12. A guy walked up to me after the service, and said, "You forgot one thing. You need to lay up money for retirement."
It's not that I forgot that. It's just that I didn't teach that because it's not biblical, and I preach the bible. There's no place in the bible that says, "Lay up money for your retirement." That is not a biblical teaching. I know that when I preach this, it will rob people the wrong way. It might make people upset, but I am preaching the truth tonight.
I'm preaching the bible. I know that I'm right. I don't even have to wonder if it's right, because I just read Matthew 6. It just said that. Look at Luke 12:15. I'm going to explain to you God's retirement plan, because God does have a retirement plan. In fact, it is a three-part portfolio.
You have your assets diversified when you do God's retirement plan. The bible says the threefold cord is not quickly broken, so when you have three strings of retirement income, three ways to be taken care of in your old age, that is ... If one doesn't work out, you got other things to work out for you.
It says in Luke 12:15. Again, if you don't agree with anything that I preach tonight, that's OK. I still love you. You don't have to agree with my sermon tonight, but just listen to these bible verses though. Go home and read them. If you don't believe me, then at least believe the verses that I'm reading. If you think that my commentary on some of these is a little off, no problem.
These are bible verses that fly in the face of the teachings of Dave Ramsey and others that are teaching this type of financial advice. Look at Luke 12:15, "And he said unto them, take heed, and beware of covetousness." What is covetousness? Desiring that which you do not have, whether it's a house, a car, whatever.
"For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods."
This guy is laying up a lot of treasure. "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." He's retiring. "But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
"And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ..." I lost my place here. "What ye shall eat, neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls?"
"And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow. They toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
"If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind."
"For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
"Sell that ye have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." These teachings are very clear in the bible that God has promised to provide our needs.
God has promised to take care of us, and he tells us to take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought of the things of itself, and the promises that if we seek first the kingdom of God, God will provide our needs.
I was watching some of this Dave Ramsey, and they had these testimonials of people coming on, talking about how they're doing the program, and how great it is. This one girl came on. She said, "I'm sitting down with my boyfriend. We're about to get married. We're trying to figure out where we want to be 60 years from now."
Is that compatible with what Jesus Christ taught in that passage that we read, when he says take no thought for the morrow? They're laying money now to live off of 60 years from now. Is that biblical? No it isn't.
You say, "What is God's retirement plan?" See, here is the thing. A lot of people, they're not going to like God's retirement plan, because God's retirement plan, the way that I see it. It consists of three people that are going to take care of me when I'm old.
Hopefully, my goal is just to work until I go to the grave. Right now, I'm working and earning the money to pay for 10 people right now. I am supporting 10 people right now. When I become old, I'm not going to have to support 10 people, because at that point, all my children would have gone out and will be living their own lives. I will then just be supporting two people.
Supporting two people is easier than supporting 10 people. In fact, it's five times easier. I'm supporting 10 people right now, so I have to work really hard. You say, "When you get older, you're not going to be able to work as hard," but I won't have to support as many people either.
Number one, my goal is to work until I go to the grave. I want to work till Jesus comes. I don't have a desire to just stop working and just play golf, and just fool around, and just relax. I want to work for the rest of my life. I want to preach. I want to do some productive work with my life going all the way to the grave.
Let's say I just become too old to work, and I get to the point where I can't. Obviously, some people are going to live to a point where they can't take care of themselves. They can't go to work. They can't support themselves. It's possible that I could get to that point. Isn't that possible? What? Is that where the 401K comes in? Is that where my retirement plan comes in?
I have a biblical retirement plan. Here is who I'm going to rely on to take care of me when I get old. Number one, my children. Go to 1 Timothy 5. Let's see what the bible says. I don't want to be a burden to my children. What does the bible say? What does thee bible teach? There is man's philosophy, and then there is the bible.
The bible says very clearly. You say, "How dare you [inaudible 00:40:55] children?" Look at 1 Timothy 5. It says verse three of 1 Timothy 5, "Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow ..." Who's a widow? Her husband, the bread winner, has died. She needs to survive. "If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God."
My retirement plan of my children taking care of me when I'm old is good and acceptable in the side of God. Do I have a good retirement plan? What does the bible say? It's good. It's acceptable. "That children and nephews will requite their parents." That is good.
Jump down to verse 16. "If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged, that it may relieve them that are widows indeed." The bible is commanding us to take care of our parents when they're old if they need to be taken care of, if they don't have money, if they don't have income.
Today in America, they have social security. Maybe that's not enough or whatever the case may be. The bible commands that if our parents are destitute, it's our job to relieve them. That is a legitimate retirement plan. I have diversified my portfolio because I've got Solomon, Isaac, John, Miriam, Rebecca, Ana, Steven, and I've got another 401K in the room right now that's going to grow up.
By the time I get to that age where I can't take care of myself, they are all going to have children most likely, God willing. I'm probably going to have 75 or 80 descendants by then. I've got eight kids now, and then they're all going to have kids. Then there's going to be so many ....
Even if just a few of them wanted to pitch in and help me out each month, I'll be fine. I don't have to worry about that. That's more secure than your mutual fund. All these children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren are going to pay for me when I'm 90. If my grandma needed help, I'd be glad to get her a place to live, and pay, and cheap in, and whatever to take care of her.
That's if I can get to the point where I can't work, and that's just one of my three retirement plans. Number two, who would I expect to take care of me? God. God will take care of me, because if I spent my whole life serving God, he's going to take care of me when I'm old.
Then lastly, this, the church, because I've been a part of the local church and I've served the church. The church will take care of me when I'm old. They'll help me out when I'm old. Look, three things that can take care of me, my children, and if all 80 of them or whatever by the time I've grandchildren and great grandchildren.
You say, "Not everybody has that many children," but the average is eight. "That's not the average in America. The average persons in America have two kids." Well yeah when you're pumped full of drugs, you have two kids. When you're going to the Walgreen's and buying stuff to prevent you from having kids, when your name is Onan, you have two kids.
Those of you ho actually read the bible, Genesis 38, Onan, when your name is Onan, you have two kids. Are there people who only have one kid because that's all God gave them? Yes. Are there people who have no children because God does not bless them with children? Yes.
There are also people who have 13 and 14 children. Listen to me now. In societies where birth control is not practiced, the average is eight children. If everybody were not using birth control, they're going to have an average of eight kids. Some are going to have one or two. Some are going to have 13 or 14. Some are going to have zero. Some are going to have 15, but the average is eight.
The numbers I'm throwing out are legitimate numbers that are averaged. What about the guy who has zero kids or one kid? That's where serving God and serving the church comes in, because you can be taken care of by the local church or by the Lord providing other means to take care of you.
On average, the average person would have plenty of children to take care of you. Here is the thing. These are the three people that the world doesn't want to rely on. The world does not want to rely on God. The world does not want to rely on church, and the world does not want to rely on their children. You know why? Because the world doesn't want to serve God, and the world does not want to serve in the local church. The world does not want to have children.
Therefore because they're not doing it God's way, that's where they need to lay up huge amounts of money, and invest in the stocks and mutual funds and lay up treasure and whatever. What we ought to be teaching people is to have children. That's what we ought to be teaching people. We ought to be preaching the sermon called "Be Fruitful and Multiply."
We ought to be preaching the sermon that says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not on thine own understanding. In all thine ways, acknowledge him." He said, "Direct thy path. Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase."
We ought to be teaching people to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. And God will take care of you. He takes care of the grass. He takes care of the birds. He loves you more than them. If you do right by Him, He'll take care of you.
By the way, if you do right by the local church, the local church will care about you and take care of you, right? Our church has helped out a lot of people in need. We would love to help out people that are in need. I think that it's great for people to get in a church, get with God's people, serve the Lord.
Then when they do run into problems and have abide, you know who they can call on to help them? The church. People call me all the time, and ask me for money, that don't go to our church, just random people going down the phone book. [Inaudible 00:47:02] many of them that I helped, and how many our church helps.
I always just say the same thing, "Where did you go to church this Sunday?" "Hey man, can you give me some money? I need some money." Where did you go to church this Sunday? That's what you should do when bums come up to you and ask you for money, when people call you on the phone and ask you for money, when people are saying, "Hey man, I need some money."
I always just look at them, and I say, "Where did you go to church last Sunday?" "Oh." I say, "Well, as soon as you think of an answer, go to them, and ask them for help." I said, "Anybody who is in my church who has a legitimate need, and comes to me for help, I will help them." Anybody who comes to our church with a legitimate need, the church will help them.
If they have a legitimate need, we're ... Do you think our church is going to let you starve to death? Do you think our church is going to leave you out in the cold, naked on a cold 50-degree night in Phoenix? No, I'm just kidding. Coldest night of the year, 48 or ... No, I'm just kidding. I'm just saying.
We love our church people. We want to help people in the church. I'm not going to. I don't want you to. If I said, "Who has been helped out either by the church or by someone in the church financially or whatever in some way either with rides or finances or groceries or tools that you needed, or just whatever you needed?"
Almost every hand would go up that they got some help. Somewhere along the way, they got something that they needed from someone at church. My hand would go up that people have given me stuff to help me out. Look, we just went through a major crisis with my wife and the twin pregnancy. A lot of people helped me out with that, because I was in a bad financial situation with that, all those medical bills and having to travel to LA, and do all the surgery.
That was a bad situation, but people helped me out with that. I thank God for that. I thank those people for that. When we live our lives serving God and serving the church and serving our children, those are the three groups of people that come and help us when we need it.
God will help us. The church will help us, and our children will help us. If we do good unto our brothers and sisters and our parents, they'll help us too. See what I mean? It's about people helping us. Not just, "I just want to be totally independent, independently wealthy. I just want to have $50,000 laid up just in case. By the time I retire, I want to have a million."
That's what he teaches. He teaches you put up 15% for retirement so that you can be a millionaire when you retire. That is the goal so that you can just go around and just do whatever. A lot of what he's teaching is not even financially sound in my opinion. I don't claim to be a financial expert. I don't want to be a financial expert.
I want to go to the grave not being a financial expert, but I want to be a bible expert. I want to be a [inaudible 00:50:13] expert. I want to be a marriage expert. I want to be a child rearing expert, because these are the things that I care about. Money is what the streets of heaven are paid with.
Jesus cared so much about money that in His early church there with the 12 disciples, He had a treasurer. He picked the most important person for the job, Judas Iscariot. He put Judas Iscariot in charge of the money because he thought it was so important. It must not haven't been that important if He put Judas. He knew Judas was the devil, and He said, "You handle the money Judas."
What's he saying? Is not the big thing in life. It's not important. If you're in debt up to your eyeballs, if you can't pay your bills, if you're paying 25% interest on credit cards, you probably should make finances a priority in your life. You probably should out some basic principles of sanity of, "Hey, I need to cut my expenses. Hey, I need to pay off these bills. Hey, I need to do this."
You probably need to do something like that. If your finances are doing fine, you don't need to get on this program and become a millionaire. You don't need to lay up money for your kids to go be brainwashed at Satan U and Devil State. You don't need to lay up 15% of your income a year for retirement.
By the way, a lot of this stuff is not even financially sound. He says this, "Yeah, if you put money away for retirement, you'll get a 10% return on your money that you invest." On what planet? In what universe? Can anybody here just raise your hand if you know a little bit about finances, and just verify that that is unrealistic to think that you can get a 10% return on an investment.
He said, "When you retire, you can get an 8% return on your investment with very low risk." That's very low risk, 8%. That is a lie. That is not true. Brother Dave was an accountant for years. Do you think that that's realistic to expect low risk, just 10%?
He has all his chart showing you, "Man, if you start putting money away when you're 19, you're going to be a millionaire. You're going to get 10% of your ..." Jack Schaap, Pastor Jack Schaap of Hammond, Indiana, he did a big financial series. He taught the same thing, 10%, 10% return on your money, 10% by investing in mutual funds, 10% in the stock market, 10%, 10%, 10%.
By the way, Jack Schaap got up and said, "The bible talks more about money than the blood of Jesus Christ." That's an exact quote from Jack Schaap. He said, "The bible talks more about money than any subject in the bible." He said, "One out of five verses in the bible is about money." One out of five? Are you insane?
Let's see. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." That one was not about money. "And the earth was without form, and void." That was not about money. "Let there be light." That one is not about money. Let's go through any book in the bible you want. You name the book. One out of five verses ...
He said, "The bible talks more about money than it does the blood of Jesus Christ. The bible talks more about money than it does salvation. The bible talks more about money than it does heaven. The bible talks more about money than any other subject in the bible, money." Why? Because you're lying, because it doesn't talk about money more than any other subject in the bible.
You're a liar, that's why. That's why he's in prison right now for statutory rape for 10 years, the pervert. Why? Because when you love money like he did, when you get up and just teach people to amass, he taught all the same stuff that Dave Ramsey taught, same stuff.
Why does that surprise you that the guy who is all into money and he's into fancy clothes, and he's always wearing a fancy suit, and he drives fancy cars, and he lives in a fancy house, and tells you that the bible talks more about money than it does the blood of Jesus Christ? Why does it surprise you that he then is lusting after a teenage girl when he's in his 50's?
Because that's where the love of money takes you. That's what the bible said it would take you. Where did I deturn? What point of the sermon are we in here? Somebody help me out. Where did I be turn? Oh yeah, the 10% investment return. The only way, and that's what Schaap says, Ramsey says, it's all just a total smoking mirrors.
Listen to me now. If you go down to the bank, and you take a quarter of a million dollars ... Who thinks that's a lot of money to have just in cash? Go take a quarter of a million dollars down to the bank, and say, "I want to put this money in a CD account, where I can't even touch it for years. I just want to let this compound interest, and I can't even touch it."
I'm going to give you guys a quarter mill, CD account that I can't touch. They're not going to pay you 10% interest on that money. You're going to get about 3%, something like that. Go down there. I was at the bank, and they had a ... Maybe that's not the current rate right now, but I was at the bank one time, and they had a chart.
It said, "OK, if you invest this much, we'll give you a half percent. If you invest this much, we'll give you a 1.5%. If you invest a quarter mill, it's like 3%." The max that they'd give you is 4% or something. The only way to make 10% on is to make risky investments, high-risk, volatile stock market type of investments.
Here is the thing. If your name is Dave Ramsey, and you're an expert financial investor, that's all you do. That's all you talk about. That's what you do. You could probably move the stuff around, and have two phones up to your ear, and you're selling and buying and doing all this stuff. I'm sure that he probably gets 10% on his money, because he's a financial expert, because he's a guru.
To just say that you Joe church member can just, "You just drop your money off with some financial advisor." You might lose your money. You money may go down, or it might go up by 2% or 3%. This pie in the sky, you're going to be a multimillionaire stuff, isn't even necessarily financially sound. He also tells you, "Don't buy any gold or silver."
Buying gold and silver is stupid. That's what Dave Ramsey says. I don't think that's sound advice. This is just all paper and electronic money. Then 60 years from now, it will all be there for you and your boyfriend. I hope so, but maybe not. At least gold and silver is something you can sink your tooth into or even put it in your teeth to fill up all the gaps, whatever.
Anyway, I'm just saying. My point being, this stuff doesn't jive with the bible. Look, if you want to go out, if your finances are just messed up to high heaven, and you just are just like, "I need to figure something out. I need to go fix it." You go out and buy books about ... Maybe you even buy Dave Ramsey's book, or you buy whatever.
Whatever, you go out, and you can go and chew it. Chew the meat, and spit out the bone. Why in the world would this be taught in a church? Why would we play this video in a church when there is so much in it that's unbiblical, so much in it that's unscriptural, so many false versions, and the whole point of it, the whole goal of it is something that Jesus told us not to do, which is laying up treasure on the earth?
What part of not laying not up treasure upon this earth do you not understand? I don't understand. What bible are these people reading? What part of Luke 6:38 here? Let me find it. "Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you mete withal it shall be measured to you again."
What part of, "Sell that you have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also?" I don't want my heart to be in some mutual fund account.
I don't want to open the Wall Street Journal every morning to see how my investments are doing. I just want to open the bible every morning, and see how my investments are doing. Where is this coming from as a scriptural teaching when it's not? I will say this. The bible says, "If any provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."
We should work hard, and provide for our families. We should not have a goal of living in poverty. I think that with the prayer that I read for you at the beginning of the service from Proverbs 30, which said, "Give me neither poverty nor riches." That's what I pray. I don't want to be poor, but I don't want to be rich.
Let me talk to the men here, the breadwinners. Do you know what our goal should be? To provide a modest life for our family. I don't want to live in poverty. I don't want my children to be dirty, and living in a cardboard box, and whatever. I don't want them to be eating junk food. I want my children to be taken care of. I want my wife to be taken care of. I want to live a modest life.
I don't want to drive a fancy car. I don't want to live in a fancy house. I don't want to wear fancy clothes. All of my clothes are purchased from the thrift store, 99% of them. My children's clothes are purchased from the thrift store. My wife's clothes are purchased mostly from the thrift store. We share a vehicle. We live in a modest house that was built in the 1950's.
Our children and my wife and I, we eat good food, and we're thankful to God for the healthy nutritious food that we eat. We're not going out and wining and dining all over town. We don't eat out that often as a family. The most often I eat out is usually when I'm just taking visitors from out of town to eat. Honestly, it's Chipotle. It's not that expensive, and it's a good meal.
The point is that I don't want to eat junk. I don't want to be wondering where my next meal is coming from, but I will say this. I'm happy with the life that I'm living. I do not have a retirement account. I'm not going to open a retirement account. I just want to work hard, and I want to make enough to support my family.
If I have extra money just burning a hole in my pocket after I've already provided for the 10 people that I'm providing for right now, all the surplus that I have left over after feeding 10 people and clothing 10 people, just give it to people that need it.
Just give it to the work of the Lord. Give it to the church. Give it to people that need it. Find people in church that have a need, and just give it to them without anybody even knowing about it.
What is life about? I believe that if you do that, then God will take care of you when your need comes, because you took care of others in their time, but you have to believe in God for that. You have to trust the Lord for that. There has to be faith involved for that. You can say, "Pastor Anderson, I don't agree with what you're preaching." Then go get the Dave Ramsey, and you can save up all this money, but what did Jesus Christ say?
You can sit there, and quote stuff from Proverbs, and take it out of context, but wait a minute. What did Jesus Christ teach in the New Testament? What did He say? That's what we ought to be living by. I believe the whole bible, cover to cover. I believe in the Old Testament, but where did we get our primary teachings on how to live our life? From the New Testament, we are in the New Testament right now.
We are post Jesus Christ dying on the cross and rising again, and so that's where we need to get out primary source of teaching. I believe in Proverbs. I use Proverbs every day in my life, but my primary teaching comes from Christ, and Jesus Christ's teaching is not compatible with the teaching of Dave Ramsey. Therefore, I want to just publicly go down on record that I'm against Dave Ramsey.
I think that these churches that are bringing in Dave Ramsey need to get rid of this garbage out of their church, quit bringing false bible versions in, get the love of money and covetousness and worldly philosophies about retirement out of the church, and get a biblical teaching.
Invest in people. Invest in the Lord. Invest in the church. Invest in the children, not invest in this corrupt Wall Street stock market, mutual fund banking system. That's where he wants all your money to go. I don't want it to go to that garbage. I don't want it to go to that den of inequity of the New York stock exchange.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word and your promises, Lord. Thank you that you promise to take care of us, and that you will provide our needs, that you will feed us and clothe us.
Lord, I pray that no one in our church would be foolish or irresponsible with their money, Lord. I pray that you would give us wisdom from the bible. God, if there is anybody who needs help with their finances, Lord, help them to seek out either myself or someone else in the church that they feel understands anything, to get some tips and to get some teaching.
Lord, help us never to fall into this get rich, be a millionaire, save up for college, save up for retirement worldly junk. Help us to just go with the words of Jesus, Lord, and deliver our lives by those things, Lord. Just please help us to seek your kingdom first so that we know you'll take care of us. In Jesus's name, we pray. Amen.
Let's sing one more song before we go. Do you want to sing the retirement theme song "We'll work till Jesus comes?"
Speaker 2: Psalm 44, We'll work till Jesus comes, Psalm 44.
Pastor Anderson: That you will provide our needs, that you will feed us and clothe us. Lord, I pray than no one in our church would be foolish or irresponsible with their money, Lord. I pray that you would give us wisdom from the bible. God, if there's anybody who needs help with their finances, Lord, help them to seek out either myself or someone else in the church that they feel like understands anything, to get some tips and to get some teaching.
Lord, help us never to fall into this get rich, be a millionaire, save up for college, save up for retirement worldly junk. Help us to just go with the words of Jesus, Lord, and deliver our lives by those things, Lord. Just please help us to seek your kingdom first so that we know you'll take care of us. In Jesus's name, we pray. Amen.
