 from Proverbs 3 and a few verses and then we'll pray. My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands. For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways and he shall direct your parts. What we are supposed to do with the instructions that we receive from God, the law of God says let your heart keep the commands. So whole heart to be keeping the law of God in our hearts has its fruit, has its result, says length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. We are instructed to keep the mercy and truth of God always around us within us in our spirit in our heart and that will result in favor and high esteem, favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Then the third thing that we see is to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not in our own understanding and we are called to acknowledge him in all our ways and that will result in God directing our parts. So we see an instruction, we see what it will result in, we see another instruction and we see what it will result in and in all this we see that when God instructs, when God gives the statuettes of the laws, it's always for our good. It will be hard on the flesh but it's always results in liberty and freedom and leading us to life and peace and favor and so on as we see here. So with that, let's just pray and say, God whatever you're instructing, whatever you're leading, Lord I want to keep it with my heart. I want to grip it not superficially but with my heart because you have me and my benefits in mind when you instruct me. It's never to break us, never to put us down but always to release us into the greater things, release us into life. So let's pray. Father we thank you Lord, we thank you for your words, we thank you for your instructions, we thank you for your precepts Lord and yes Master, so wonderful God Lord and every time we read God there's always an objective, there's always an end Lord that you have in mind, oh God, to those who follow it God and that's always life and peace and favor and esteem and Lord direction, clarity, God. Master we just want to thank you Lord that in your wisdom or in your plan you have purposed it to be so, you have purposed Lord that your word when we put it in our hearts, your word when we have a whole strong hold on it God and follow through and live it out. Lord it always results in life and peace and we're so grateful Lord to have access to this Master, to have access to your word and we're so grateful God that you give us unlimited access to your presence, to your wisdom and to your power. We just want to thank you and enable us to walk worthy Lord of you, enable us to walk worthy of the call and to pursue it and fulfill it God in all our lives God, we thank you, we give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' matchless name we pray, amen, amen. Okay so today we will continue and let me just share the notes. Okay so I think this is where we kind of stopped you know we we went through the list of things you know some basics on on on budget basics on some financial guidelines and goals lifestyle borrowing debt and so on right so I'm just going to skip over to the ninth one which is investments you know we looked at giving also so I'm just going down to investments so you know many might have the question you know as a believer as maybe as someone in ministry as someone who is you know serving the Lord is it okay to invest right am I being worldly if I do that am I having love of money if I do that you know what is it right is it okay to invest it is it okay to use money in in different ways in order to multiply it you know is it is it good to do that right so when we look at the term investment itself right it is it is to use it let me just share that with you so it is to just to put or you know rightly place rightly what's the word use it use money whether it's financial schemes whether it's a property or some commercial venture meaning business and with the expectation of that going further you know the money becoming more and you're getting a profit right so that's basically financial investment right so is it okay to do that you know as a as a believer is it okay to do that or what should be my perspective you know if if I were to get into this so this is what we see in Proverbs I'm just sharing just one verse here um okay the the plans of the diligent surely lead to plenty but those of everyone who is hasty it leads to poverty right so the plans of the diligent it leads to um it leads to plenty so which means that it includes you know what you're doing with money right if if one is diligent if one is using it well if you're honest um investing in it or investing it right it it does lead to plenty whether it's a question of saving whether it's a question of you know putting it into various means and ventures in order to get back a return you know it does lead to plenty okay so so the thing is this that um the simple thing is that we wealth when we when we keep it and then when we spend less than what we earn over a long period of time or when we put away a certain sum of money over a long period of time it does result in saving it does result in accumulation right um and uh when we use that money in various ventures you know now in different nations in different places there could be various ways of investing um in the right way right ethically and it's it's something that is that is good that is lawful according to the law of the land so in order to use that we can use it well right so we see um there is always a risk of investing right and in because of the market condition because of the way the economy is there's always a risk okay so so it's good to um you know think about it it's good to know what the risks are and and say okay even if it's um you know if it's going to um you know even if it's going to uh end up in a in a loss it's not going to affect the normal running of the household normal running of you know everything else okay so it's good to think on those lines and plan on those lines so you know like some of us must be must be you know maybe thinking you know uh i'm barely making ends meet right i'm living from month to month and you know the money that i'm getting i'm spending and there is you know so much to be spent on and all these different cost heads um which are there like rent and food and accommodation and you know everything transportation communication you know use all that and fees to be paid bills to be paid so there's absolutely nothing left over you know to to really invest okay so again want to remind us that um you know that could be so today but that need not be um that need not be our permanent status right that may not be our permanent condition and you know when we trust God when we walk with God you know there will be increase God will give us his wisdom you know he will make his wisdom available the verse that we read just now you know and we um uh the problems three and trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding right and acknowledge him in all his ways and he will direct your path he shall direct your path so that's something that we we can always rely on that he will direct our paths and his paths lead to life right hits his um the Lord Jesus himself said I have come that you might have life and life in its fullness right so the Lord will lead us along righteous uh pathways and it leads to life it leads to increase because he takes pleasure in the increase of the prosperity of his servants right so um so with regard to investment yes as long as it's um it's ethical as long as it's something that is lawful um you know as a believer and as a minister of God if there is something left over we can always you know if there's something that we can invest and we can always do that you know there are and there are so many things um that we can invest in whether it's land whether it's you know uh so I don't want to get into the specifics you know but you know as per uh the uh the place where we are you know uh living in it could be you know it could be in some places it could be livestock it could be cattle maybe or it could be you know whatever so um so we could do that you know it is it is not something that is unscriptural okay but at the same time we need to understand that you know first Timothy chapter six and verse nine talks about how the love of money you know leads to all kinds of confusion right so so it's um as while it is a wise thing to invest while it is a wise thing to you know uh expect a return right it is uh it is a logical thing to expect a return you're not investing in it to uh to expect a loss at the same time to keep our heart you know free from the love of money or the two different things you know where we are using money as a tool right uh we are using um the what the resource that God has given us and using it well stewarding it well being faithful with it right um so that is that is absolutely fine but not being you know not not being governed or controlled by money you know so this is what we read first Timothy chapter six and uh verses nine and ten okay for those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition okay and and those who are desiring to be rich now this is the thing verse 10 for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierce themselves through with many sorrow so so you see that love of money is mentioned you see that greed is mentioned so and you see that there is a desire to be to be rich that is mentioned there so these are things that are harmful okay so these are things that we need to watch out for even as we invest you know it's it's normal to expect a return it's normal to expect a profit but there is a difference you know is there a love of money are we being controlled by it uh you know are we being motivated by it uh is our action and everything you know decisions motivated by it then uh is there greed right is there um is there greed in our lives and which will open ourselves to many kinds of sorrows right says it pierce themselves in their greed with you know they strayed from the faith so greediness which causes a person to stray from the faith and open the doors to be pierced with many sorrows you know all kinds of troubles all kinds of temptations um taking one away from the truth right so this is um so this is definitely the danger to watch out for but even as we invest okay so that's something um that's for the for the believer okay now what about work and retirement because work um also results in increase work also results in decision work problems talks about in all labor there is increase so diligent work to be gainfully employed um is uh there's nothing wrong again you know to expect um a return for our employment for our service there's nothing wrong and and that is scriptural again so that bible talks about how we have enough to give others who are in need right so so work by itself is um is a is an instrument is a is a vehicle or is a channel by which god supplies our needs right so so there's no conflict between living by faith and you know being employed or having a business there's no conflict there or living one day at a time or living by faith you know there's no there's no contradiction right you it can be a person of faith and you can have you know you can have uh you can or use that faith to be in that in that uh you know whether it's a profession or a business to to do well to to make sure that the work is done well and it's excellent and it's it's thriving and expected return right so work is not like you say work is you know it's not something that's that's against you know many times we look at Genesis and we see that okay god cursed because the land because of sin and we see that it did not produce it was producing thorns and and so on and then we see that okay a man will work through this by the sweat of the brow and and we see and we from that we kind of sometimes infer or conclude saying that okay so work is part of the fall okay work is there because of the fall and it's um it's not original originally designed by god but the but when we go back when we look at scripture we see that god actually designed work okay okay so um so we see that god himself the father himself worked the work of creation uh he worked and then he rested he completed his work he rested he saw that it was good right the lord jesus well he worked uh he uh he did the works of the father right uh and he also said that uh believe me for the for the for the sake of the works that I do if you see the works you know believe me and then he completed the work that was uh that he did the holy spirit there you know the book of acts is full of the acts of the holy spirit right through these apostles so we see that um uh in uh in god's eyes work is work is something that is part of what he does and also it is not something that is that he is against right we see that in genesis um he put man in the garden to tend and to keep genesis 2 verse 15 right to tend to to work to labor to keep to guard to protect right so we see both those words used there the Hebrew word Abad and Shamar to tend and to keep it to work to labor and to keep so this was before the fall right so so we see that um work is something that's designed by god and we are called to work diligently right we are called to work diligently and and we've we've been looking at several verses in problems which talks about you know being diligent and how the work of diligence always results in increase and so on right so um we are called to uh produce um good work quality work and be productive and and and and on all this is is something that god desires for us as believers right so whatever we put our hands to uh we can we need to do it well like in fact um Colossians 3 um I think you read that words verse also Colossians 3 it says um you know whatever you do do it as unto the lord in fact um the context there is um Paul talking about employers employees right bond servants masters and so Colossians 3 and verse 23 said whatever you do do it heartily as to the lord and not to man so the um the perspective that we should have about work the kind of the quality and the effort that should go in you know that we are doing it um to have this mind that we are doing it unto god and not unto man while we might be employed by human masters to do it as we are doing it unto the lord no that's um and and not to man so so god is not against work god desires that we work well that we that our work reflects his character and yeah when god desires that we do it as unto him and not unto a human human being you know a human boss can be limited in their skill in their understanding and their character you know they might have many faults and they might be well they might know the lord they might not know the lord you know all those different possibilities are there they might be a people of integrity or not but then the work of responsibility that we have as we do it as unto the lord you know god rewards he's the rewarder he's the one who exalts and he's the one who gives us the reward for the labor so in all labor there is there is a reward there is an increase and we are called to you know have that perspective okay so with regard to um work you know that is something that we see um okay so we're looking at this term net worth okay so net worth of an individual or a family it just talks about all the assets okay that you might have if you look around what what are the material things that you would have okay maybe money in the bank money that is saved or money that is maybe invested there could be property right maybe the house that you live in maybe if it is your own house you know the other things materially other things that you might have all that okay so put together and you take away from that or you minus the liabilities okay what are liabilities you know something that you owe people maybe something that you borrowed maybe there is a loan that needs to be repaid right so that's a liability like you are you owe someone right so you you take away from all that you own and you subtract all that you owe okay so that's important thing to keep in mind what you own minus what you owe will give you the net worth okay this is the net worth in the sense okay this is this is how much you you know in worldly terms it would mean this is how much you are valued okay but we need to understand that you know no matter how much we have okay no matter how much wealth we have no matter how much back balance we have right that is not enough to make us feel financially secure okay right you you ask anyone they will be saying okay I wish you know anyone who's wealthy they would they would always have this thing I know I wish it just doesn't go down or I wish that there is no sudden change in the economy and then you know I lose out on my investments right so if we are putting our trust if we are putting our you know you know whole faith in our material things then we will never feel secure okay and that is why Paul writes to Timothy you know once one Timothy 6 and verse 17 and he says you know he exhorts Timothy and he says you know teach others teach those who are rich in this age command he says not to put their trust in uncertain riches okay while riches are tools which riches are definitely something that we can use useful things but you cannot put your trust in it because it is uncertain right so he's commanding he's saying command those who are rich in this age not to put their trust in uncertain riches but trust in God who gives richly all things to enjoy first Timothy 6 verse 17 right so our security comes from God right I think that is the first thing that we learned right in the first semester you know who we are in Christ our security our identity you know and our significance our self-worth everything comes from the Lord himself it's based on who we are in him okay and it's never on what we possess or what we don't possess or what are maybe you know our family position is or education or lack of it it's never based on that right our security significance and success so so our net worth it's you know when we when we if we were to look at it it should just result in thanksgiving to God okay it should result in us praising God for his faithfulness and from that place of saying God you know I thank you that you've blessed so that I can be a blessing you know the lives connected to me can be blessed I thank you that you've blessed me so that you know you're this can be used for the purpose of your kingdom and in any way God you know you want to bless others you want this to be a blessing to others you know you can lead me to do that right so so that's that's the way to look at our net worth and it should not be you know our security or even significance or our you know a sense of success should not come from okay this is where I live okay look at the house I live or look at the car or the vehicle that I drive and look at the clothes that I wear it should never come from that that should never be the source okay so even as God increases or takes us on that path of increase and prosperity right um so even as we remain faithful to him you know may our success or a sense of success or self-worth or significance or security may never come from any of the things that we you know the material things or finances or any other wealth or riches right it should be the other way around that it our source is God the Lord himself and everything else flows out of that alone right okay so that's about net worth we look at you know in line with the investment just wanted to talk about you know our taxes and also insurance okay so in the bible we see that you know if there is if a government level you know a government has a tax on our income on our revenue then we are supposed to pay it okay and and the example that we see in scripture is that of you know little people coming and asking you know wanting to trap the Lord and asking that question you know is it okay is it lawful to pay taxes and the and the Lord answer you know in terms of okay what is that inscription on the coin and therefore render to Caesar give Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God right so very clearly God is not against government God is not against the divine order that he placed okay and and definitely God is not against payment of taxes okay so like we might argue and say okay taxes too much on this taxes you know the government is corrupt and they're taxing this and that and the other but the thing is if we fall under that tax bracket okay if we are eligible to pay taxes according to the revenue that we receive then we can pay taxes right we are by Bible lays down that we should pay taxes okay income tax right and definitely you know the the government has some means by which we can bring down that tax amount that we pay right so it could be in the form of some kind of investments or some kind of insurance that you take up because of which some amount of tax is reduced or or it is written off okay I mean there's a subsidy on the tax and these are some tools and this also differs from you know from country to country and whichever government is there so it's good to find out okay if I if I'm eligible to pay taxes and if this is the amount you know by way of investment by way of insurance and so on is there something that can can be done to reduce the amount of tax you know there's nothing wrong okay to to do that to look into those means you know because after all it is your money and it is because of that you are you know you need to pay the tax and so here is a lawful way of investing maybe and maybe in maybe taking up some form of insurance or something else where the government itself is saying okay you will reduce your tax if you invest in this so you could do that okay so investment is also you know so that's about investment and income tax and life insurance okay right so what about transfer of wealth okay so that is something that we can plan that we can look into that as we get on in years okay as there is you know accumulation of wealth okay what are you as a good steward okay what are you going to do with that money okay and well some people have started you know start instituted some kind of a scholarship for I know one person in the family who has done that and she is no more but she is you know part of her savings went into that you know she started a scholarship and it's still it's still running it's a it's a scholarship for students from a certain you know certain background a certain financial background who could not afford to pay for college education and so on so you know the money from the I think it's something like a recurring sorry it's a long term deposit the interest from that goes into the scholarship and it was made in such a way that even after her demise after her death that this would continue so you know something like that happened and that is still you know being a blessing to the community so so you know so you know why do we don't like to think about you know death and you know what happens after that and so on it's good to you know when it comes to money you know it's good to think on those lines okay what can I do you know what decisions can I make as a steward of the finances that God has given me and so that it can go to you know where can it go right it obviously you can think of family you can think of you know maybe ministries you can think of many different ways you know maybe helping you know in the area of education maybe an orphanage you can think of various ways but it's it's good to it's good to think about that right and and also keep people informed okay right lastly you know this is a very important aspect of when it comes to finances that we train the next generation okay that we train our children and you know maybe children's children that it should be something that you know not only in the areas of you know how to save and and and the and the knowledge of money and how it works and all that not not just that that's a small part of it that is but the bigger lesson to actually teach to pass on is about God's God's heart about wealth about God's heart about finances right and and also when it comes to saving when it comes to you know so many other things you know managing it and being a good steward of it to really pass on that revelation that truth to the children now I must confess that while growing up we never had any such conversation you know at home in fact I don't remember having any conversation about money you know at at home when we were growing up so so parents really you know took care of that it was mostly my father and took care of the you know affairs of the house and whatever needed to be paid and so on so we were totally in the dark you know we didn't know anything about how and what should be done and savings and all that nothing at all you know and and so looking back I think that you know it would have been really good it would have been really beneficial if you know if that was taught at that young age okay so so I can have like like everything else that is being taught on how to give a how to live a good life you know how to live a godly life if this was taught you know what what does God think about money and how can how you can be a faithful steward of it right and what are the things that that you know some of the things that you think are taboo with regard to money what is what does the Bible actually say and if that is passed on to the next generation then it will be so much of liberating truth for them right if you look at Proverbs 22 and verse 6 train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he will not depart from it so when we start young and when we are when they are trained in the way they should go then well yes you know it's it's going to hold them when they grow up as well okay here's another scripture which we see in Deuteronomy chapter 6 Deuteronomy chapter 6 or 6 and 7 and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up okay so it's talking about you know different you know informal settings right when you sit in your house when you're just sitting around talking when you walk by the way you know maybe you're just going for a walk to the market maybe you know when you lie down when you're resting and when you rise up so in other words the law what the Lord is saying is in at every opportune moment okay every teachable moment right these words that he is commanded saying you pass it on it shall be in your heart and you shall teach them diligently right and and like everything else that the Lord has commanded everything else that we see in scripture the important aspects of you know living a life you know the aspect of sin and salvation and the other deeper spiritual truths this would also be you know an important aspect of the truth that we can teach our children and the next generation right so so this is something that is very very important games so it's it's because while we were talking about wealth transfer and leaving of you know of an inheritance right to the next generation and to whoever the next generation should also be capable of handling it in the right way the next generation should also be capable of you know using that wealth in the right way right and it should it should not destroy them but rather it should be of use to them it should be of help to them it should be something that will edify them right so it should not destroy their lives and so they should be equipped to handle it okay so that's that's one of the main reasons right and and also like like we said you know it's not just the skill of handling it handling money it's not the just the skill of managing money well or or investing in it or just the knowledge of how money works but also the truth the principles right when it comes to money when it comes to the stewardship of it like the oversight of it the handling of it how we need to be faithful you know with what has been given a faithful steward takes care a faithful steward does something to increase it a faithful steward you know is is careful with it right it doesn't squander doesn't waste it it protects doesn't allow the thief to come in and and steal so faithful steward does all that so therefore we can think on those lines and also teach you know the next generation I know of a you know of a person who actually you know does that every week every saturday he sits his children down who are you know teenagers now and and teaches them you know a lesson you know a small maybe a tip on on the biblical aspect you know about about money and also some practical things right okay this is how it is and these are the you know gives them understanding of what is available what the government's policies are and so on so in a way that they understand okay so you see that it's it's something that is very something that we can think about maybe we never thought of it that way right so we can first of all we train they quit and there are many you know seminars and you know on it so we could have access to it and in turn train our children right the next generation okay so with that we have come to the end of financial stewardship if you have any any questions or anything that you may want to share you know based on what we have what we have seen so far what we have learned maybe there's something that you'd like to add on and share you know please you're welcome to do that um yeah okay so you know here are some questions you can think about it I'm sure you know the answers are already you know based on our discussions and everything we've already you know seen the answers okay so the question is money is a resource given by God but the Bible says money is the root cause of all evils you know so how do I treat it what will be a good balance okay would somebody like to answer that money is a resource given by God but the Bible also says that money is a root cause of all evils um what will be a good balance anyone I think the lust of money is the source of all evil yeah and um so God gives money and he also counts us as goods towards of what he entrusts us so the the the borderline uh is the priority that we give um and the and if you give priority to God over what we receive um in a sense giver if you give priority to the giver then what we receive or the gift um then the attitude could change right very true um thanks John so that's the thing you know it's um money is not the root of all evils but the love of money right um or the lust of it is the root of all kinds of evils so we need to know the difference you know so um you know if money is the root of all evils then God would have never you know given it in our hands right put it in our hands um so that is not the case okay okay so another question that came up is okay uh you know what about prosperity gospel okay so I'm simply put that is a question you know what about prosperity gospel so anybody like to okay so maybe I I'll just you know share a bit you know the thing is prosperity has become a bad word because of the abuse of it right um we see you know when we when we studied you know initially when we started the class we said that um prosperity is uh divinely ordained success increase right um and by God ordained means for God ordained purposes right when you looked at when you look at prosperity in that sense in that way you see that you know it's not it's untainted right it's pure right and uh three john and verse two talks about you know beloved I pray that you may prosper in all things just as your soul prospers you know john is praying that and saying but I pray that you may prosper in all things you know whether it's physically materially relationally may prosper in all things just as your soul prospers so prosperity is not a bad word okay that's the first thing secondly you know God prospers us right God otherwise he would never you know say that I have come to give you life and life in its fullness in its abundance he would not say things like I take pleasure in the prosperity of my servants right or you know things like first Timothy 617 that is you know do not put your trust in uncertain riches but in God who who richly gives all things for us to enjoy okay so the thing is God is not against prosperity it is God who prospers and uh and in the gospel you know the good news there is prosperity okay but the abuse of it the use of it you know uh sorry the abuse of it uh like greed covetousness and everything that is the people of God okay unfortunately the church has you know kind of gone after and say you know this is it right selfish ambition and greed and covetousness and all that and equating that to spirituality or true spirituality you know and that has actually resulted in a lot of lot of damage right but the fact is that God is not against prosperity okay okay um some other question okay how do we balance generosity with being responsible for the money we have and saving for the future okay last question I think we're out of time but anybody like to answer that generosity with being responsible for the money we have and saving for the future being generous being responsible to take care of personal needs family needs being responsible for future needs you know how how does all this thing work any thoughts anyone okay like okay my simple I don't know it might seem very simplistic but on rule of thumb is to be spirit led okay there are times when the giving is sacrificial and it means that you know it comes at a cost right where you don't consider your own needs but then you you give it anyway because God says give okay and there are and there are times when you you know God gives you the wisdom and God puts it in your heart to you know to to do certain things right and he's also made the information available he's also you know given our minds and so we can plan think analyze consider the cost before building the tower and so on you know like like what the Lord Jesus said so so that would be you know my response to that where all these things work together right even as we consider right even as we handle money rightly right okay so I'll I'll close with that okay so all the very best it's been great journeying through financial stewardship I think many joined and I think a few have fallen by the wayside but yeah so let me just stop the recording and all the best we will catch up