Cornerstone...upon the foundation of Christ: Message and Fellowship: Finances

Friday 4/23
7:30-9:30pm
ACC, Carey Bldg (Lighthouse)

Geoff's Notes (Talk by Sabrina Chan)

Verbal witnesses: telling people about God
Presence: how we live life is what gives us credibility about what we talk about

In the Sims, you work to get money to build a bigger house (which requires more money, etc.) and for free time so that you can have fun, hang out with friends, etc.

Our culture makes talking about how you use money taboo. Jesus talks about money more than anything else, with about a 2:1 ratio.

He says a financial audit is a good spiritual audit. ("Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also")

Sabrina gave a brief overview of her finances in 2004.
Money can be used as means of attaining security, self-worth, happiness, etc.
Our needs (food, shelter, clothes, etc.) stay about the same amount, but our wants can grow exponentially.

Once you have the DVD player you want, then you want a bigger TV to play the DVDs on. Then you want a nicer couch to sit on. etc.

Luke 12:16-21: How do we know when we are storing up treasures for ourselves instead of in heaven?

Geoff: If we never have enough of it? If it would be a problem if it were taken away?
Alex: Does it have eternal value?
Jesus talks about money in the days when most people didn't have any money. Maslows' hierarchy hadn't been invented yet.

It's easy for us to the people wanting to be rich (and possibly wandering from the faith and piercing ourselves with many griefs)
Passage also commands us those who are rich to be generous. Even if we don't make much, we are rich: we have a car, DVD player, etc.

A budget is just a plan. Like a plan for going to the gym--often we won't do stuff if we don't have a plan--just make excuses.
We budget our time; why not our money?

[In fact, we should probably budget all our resources: money, time, stuff, skills, relationships, etc.
80-10-10: 80% for taxes and expenses, 10% tithe, 10% savings. As you make more, lower the 80% and raise the 10%s
Budgeting can be freeing: make a "fun money" category. Then you don't feel bad if you spend money on something frivolous.
Having a plan allows for margin in order to give to others

Ex. Sabrina's stereo died. Set aside $300 for a new one because she loves music, but there was an earthquake in India. Since they didn't have houses (let alone stereos), she gave her $300 stereo fund. (Later, a friend got a new stereo and gave her the old one). Since she had budgeted, she had the money.
Ex. Staff worker's car died. Asked a friend if he could help. He had been setting aside money for when his car died, but his car was doing fine, so he gave $2k out of the fund.

Sabrina sees it as a fun challenge to see if she can increase the amount that she gives every year.

Rick Warren gives away 90% of his income
Rich Mullins set up a board which just paid him a teacher's salary and gave the rest to the Indian reservations he worked with.

How do you want to answer God when He asks what you did with the money He gave you
Stuff has power over us (worry about the house burning down, oil changes, etc.). One way to reduce its power over us is to let people borrow your stuff.

Being wise about what God is doing (ants [Proverbs], squirrels)
Save as much as you give (up to a limit)
Sabrina found it easier to give when she was making less. She knew that she'd never have a house on the river, so in some sense, who cares?
Andy: 1 Tim 5:8. Need to be able to provide for your family
Alex: What are you saving for? If you're saving just so you don't have to work, maybe that's not the right motive.

Geoff: Might want to save in order to not work at a company and work doing something that does not provide much (if any) income

Once you're out of school, your salary is a quantitative way of how much people value you.
Reveals society's values: network engineers make a lot more than campus staff, but God does not necessarily value things that way.