It Is Written

The Love of Money

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW018173S


00:19 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me today.
00:20 This is It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw.
00:24 If you were to rate some of the most curious texts in the Bible,
00:29 if you were to make a list of odd or challenging
00:32 or head-scratching texts,
00:34 this verse would likely be at the top of many lists.
00:38 It's because the Bible says a lot about money.
00:42 A lot.
00:43 And yet, writing to the young church leader Timothy,
00:47 Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 10,
00:50 "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,
00:56 for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness,
01:00 and [have] pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
01:03 Now, we pray for money. We talk about money.
01:06 We thank God for money.
01:07 We consider money to be a great blessing,
01:09 but here is a great warning concerning something
01:14 that we all need.
01:16 My guest today is international speaker and author,
01:18 Australian Julian Archer.
01:20 Julian, welcome to It Is Written.
01:22 >>Julian Archer: Thank you, John.
01:23 >>John: What do you make of this verse?
01:25 In some Bibles, it's written in even more plain language.
01:28 "The love of money," as one Bible says,
01:31 "is the root of all evil."
01:33 What do you think Paul was getting at there?
01:34 Why did he say that to Timothy?
01:36 >>Julian: Yeah, I think the, the, the facts of what Paul
01:41 is saying is that if you trace any evil back to its roots,
01:46 there's usually someone trying to make a dollar out of it.
01:48 >>John: Follow the money, right?
01:49 That's a phrase we use all the time.
01:50 >>Julian: Follow the money. Follow it back.
01:52 >>John: I was, I was in a, in another country
01:53 just a few days ago asking about a certain thing
01:55 that was taking place in their country.
01:57 The person smiled, and in answer to my question simply said,
02:00 "Follow the money."
02:01 Ah, so that's why.
02:03 That's right;
02:04 there's often a financial motive behind what's going on.
02:06 >>Julian: Mm, absolutely, yeah, and, look, in my personal life,
02:10 I have also seen the second half of the text come true
02:12 where it says that many "have strayed from the faith"
02:16 because of this love of money, this greediness, as well,
02:18 and "pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
02:20 >>John: In the past you've been very successful in business.
02:22 >>Julian: Yeah, we've been really blessed
02:24 in some businesses that we've run in Australia.
02:26 >>John: But...that silver lining
02:31 carried with it a pretty dark cloud.
02:32 How did that manifest itself in your experience?
02:35 >>Julian: Yeah, they, the blessings poured in.
02:38 The windows of heaven were opened up,
02:40 and more than we could receive, you know--very biblical.
02:44 But I then began to worship the blessings.
02:47 I began to worship the gifts instead of the Giver
02:49 of the gifts, and that's where I messed up,
02:52 and so those blessings actually became a curse in my life.
02:54 >>John: So tell me how you did that?
02:56 How did, how did-- give me just an example.
02:58 Don't give away too much.
02:59 Give me an example of how, how someone looking on, or how you,
03:03 from your vantage point, said,
03:05 "This is me. I'm worshiping the gifts rather than the Giver."
03:07 >>Julian: Yeah, I think, from someone looking on,
03:09 they probably wouldn't have seen it.
03:10 We're, we're pretty good at wearing masks.
03:12 And, uh, however, for me, I saw that as the blessings
03:17 started coming in and grew and grew and grew,
03:20 that they were taking my time and my attention.
03:22 If you had looked at my calendar and my bank statements,
03:28 you would have seen more and more of my time and energy
03:31 and focus being on my stuff than on God,
03:35 and that was subtle, very subtle.
03:37 It just came over time.
03:38 But in my heart, I could see it happening,
03:41 and that's where I said,
03:42 "Hey, I've gotta do something about this."
03:44 >>John: Now, I notice-- and it's been said many times
03:46 that money is the root of all evil.
03:48 That's an incorrect statement. Paul said "the love of money."
03:52 >>Julian: Absolutely.
03:53 >>John: Were you aware-- or how did you become aware
03:56 that you loved money, as it were?
03:58 >>Julian: Hm. Yeah, money is an interesting thing.
04:00 You know, some people will say it's like fire,
04:02 that it can be used to do good or it can be used to do evil.
04:04 You know, they say it's neutral.
04:07 And I agree from that point of view.
04:09 But having experienced money
04:12 and having had this bit of a relationship,
04:13 this bit of a, you know, uh, too close relationship
04:17 with money for a, for a while...
04:20 Money's got claws.
04:21 There's something about money that the more of it
04:24 that you have, the more of it that you want.
04:27 It's just, you know, we all think,
04:28 "Well, if I had double the income that I have now,
04:30 I'd be happy."
04:31 But, you just want more and more and more.
04:34 And I started to see this in my life.
04:36 I thought, "Julian, you fool,
04:39 three years ago you were earning 1/4 of what you're earning now,
04:44 and you still want more."
04:45 You know, if I had been told,
04:48 "Well, in three years' time
04:49 you're gonna have multiples of what you're currently earning,"
04:51 I would have gone, "Well, I'll be happy then.
04:53 I'll be satisfied then."
04:55 But the reality is that, no, you want more.
04:57 You want more.
04:58 Money has claws, and it says, "Come, come. Get more of me."
05:01 And that's what I noticed in my life,
05:03 just this crazy dissatisfaction with no matter how much I had.
05:08 >>John: Now, you've written about this.
05:09 You wrote a book with an interesting title,
05:11 "Help! I've Been Blessed!"
05:14 Are you saying money is bad?
05:15 Are you saying that, uh, money is bad for a person?
05:17 >>Julian: No. No.
05:19 I'm saying it can have very bad impacts on a person,
05:22 if they're not careful.
05:23 >>John: Okay, so you're okay with wealth?
05:25 >>Julian: Yeah.
05:26 >>John: You're not pointing the finger at rich people?
05:27 >>Julian: No.
05:28 >>John: All right.
05:29 >>Julian: No. I'm, I'm just saying that it's a,
05:31 as a rich Christian who--if you, if you have a real passion
05:35 for maintaining a saving relationship with Jesus Christ,
05:38 then money is something that Satan will often use to try
05:42 and distract you and drag you off to one side.
05:44 >>John: It's a bit like food, isn't it?
05:46 You gotta have food to live, but it's easy to abuse food
05:49 so that it becomes bad for your body.
05:51 I don't know anyone who can get through life
05:53 without money altogether.
05:55 You've gotta have it.
05:57 >>Julian: Yeah.
05:58 >>John: How do we live in this world without taking onboard
06:02 the love of money?
06:03 We've gotta have it.
06:05 In fact, we've gotta have significant amounts of it,
06:08 particularly at certain times of our life.
06:10 So let's take this time to share with people
06:14 how they can safeguard themselves against developing
06:17 the love of money or the love of stuff.
06:19 We've gotta raise children in this world.
06:21 We gotta have successful families in this world.
06:24 And we wanna get out of this world and into heaven
06:27 without our possessions or our lust after more stuff
06:31 dragging us down.
06:33 Take us through this.
06:34 >>Julian: Yeah, I think it was the evangelist Billy Sunday
06:37 who said that many a man will "slip into hell
06:39 with his hand on the door-knob of heaven."
06:42 You know, it's so close,
06:43 so close, but not quite, and... it's a precarious place to be,
06:47 and, and one of the things that will hold that man down,
06:49 or could hold any of us down,
06:51 is this materialistic culture which we and our families,
06:54 our children are involved in.
06:59 It's a daily thing. It's daily.
07:01 It's daily for us as individual; it's daily for us as parents;
07:05 it's daily for our children; it's, it's daily for everybody.
07:08 We must choose every day to have Jesus as the number one
07:11 in our life.
07:13 Not the goal of our next pay raise,
07:16 not the big sale of, or contract that's just going through,
07:19 not doubling our, our net worth,
07:22 not trying to get onto the Forbes 500 list or, or whatever.
07:25 Our focus has to be Jesus Christ.
07:27 And we need to do everything that we can to maintain
07:31 that relationship.
07:33 >>John: I don't think I've ever meet a Christian
07:34 who's ever said,
07:35 "I just wanna be filthy rich," without having then said,
07:38 "because I wanna give money to God."
07:40 Many, many Christians who are wealthy do give money to God,
07:43 and we thank God for that,
07:44 and, and without that kind of generosity,
07:47 I think the work of the church in many ways around the world
07:49 simply wouldn't be where it is today.
07:51 But do you think that can be a bit of a, a self-deceiving thing
07:54 when people say,
07:55 "Well, if I was rich, I'd just do this and that and the other."
07:57 Can that be a trap?
07:59 >>Julian: It can, very much so, and if there's one thing
08:00 that I've learned, yeah, in this process,
08:03 um, it's that if you're not giving to God
08:06 when you're not earning much,
08:08 you won't be giving to God when you've got a lot.
08:10 All that--riches just magnify your character,
08:13 so if you're generous with next to nothing,
08:16 you'll be generous with billions.
08:18 But if you're tight with next to nothing,
08:20 you'll be tight with billions.
08:22 It's--it just magnifies our character.
08:23 >>John: So how does a person develop this habit
08:25 of generosity?
08:26 Where do you start with that?
08:27 >>Julian: Yeah.
08:29 It, it comes, uh-- Martin Luther, great guy,
08:32 he said there's three conversions.
08:34 So, so from a Christian perspective,
08:36 we have three conversions:
08:37 You're converted in your head, in your heart,
08:40 and in your wallet.
08:42 They can happen at all different times,
08:44 but the interesting thing is that if a person is converted
08:46 in their heart, their wallet comes with it.
08:49 So, you, you can't just say,
08:52 "Well, I think I'm going to become more generous,
08:54 uh, so next week I'm going to give $50 instead of $20,
08:58 like I did last week, and, and if I do that,
09:01 it'll help me to become more generous."
09:02 Well, you can, but it's sort of a,
09:04 it's a, it's a real battle, you know.
09:07 The Bible says that "God loves a cheerful giver."
09:10 To become a cheerful giver,
09:12 we have to have the heart conversion.
09:14 When we have that heart conversion,
09:15 we, we look at what Jesus has done for us.
09:17 He's done so much for us.
09:18 We just want to give.
09:19 We wanna give our time, our talents, our treasures.
09:22 We wanna, we wanna give because that's what Jesus did for us.
09:24 So, I would encourage people to look to,
09:28 look for that heart conversion,
09:29 look to that daily relationship with Christ,
09:32 and then the giving will come easy.
09:34 >>John: I've had people ask me many times about tithing--
09:36 "Should I tithe?
09:38 And if I tithe, should I tithe on the gross and the net?"
09:40 and so forth.
09:41 How important is tithing, giving a tenth of your increase to God,
09:45 in this process?
09:46 >>Julian: Hm. Very important, very important.
09:49 And whether it's gross or net, I would just say,
09:51 "How do you want your blessings?"
09:52 >>John: That's right.
09:53 >>Julian: [laughs] So it's, uh--
09:54 but yeah, like, for example, with young people,
09:56 they say to me--a young guy asked me the other day;
09:59 he said, "I've just graduated from university.
10:01 I'm going to get my first paycheck.
10:02 Tell me, what should I do with it?"
10:04 And so I shared with him the rule of tens, where I said,
10:08 "Your first 10 percent goes to God.
10:10 That's your tithe; you're returning 10 percent to God.
10:12 It's an acknowledgement of who He is and the fact
10:15 that He owns all of it.
10:16 The second 10 percent goes to offerings or to others.
10:20 It's helping people in need.
10:22 The third 10 percent goes into savings."
10:24 So that could be going towards his house deposit or,
10:26 or something for the future or just some savings.
10:29 And then the other 70 percent is cost of living.
10:32 Uh, so the rule of tens: 10, 10, 10--
10:34 10 for God, 10 for others, 10 for your savings.
10:36 It's a Jewish principle. They're doing okay.
10:39 They've been doing it for about 3,000 years.
10:41 I teach it to my children.
10:42 We pass it on from generation to generation.
10:44 So, yes, tithing is an, as I read the Bible,
10:48 an essential thing.
10:49 >>John: Now, you said you've taught this to your,
10:51 to your kids?
10:51 >>Julian: Mm.
10:52 >>John: How did they take to it?
10:53 And now, as they look back over the way mom and dad
10:56 have taught them over the years,
10:57 are they convinced, or do they say,
10:59 "Boy, if I could have some of those 10 percents back,
11:02 I could have more stuff"?
11:04 >>Julian: Yeah. They'll go-- interesting timing.
11:07 About--my, my oldest son has just started university.
11:10 So he's sort of out there on his own somewhat, financially,
11:12 living away from home, and he's struggling, financially.
11:16 He's looking for a job.
11:17 He's not getting money from the government.
11:19 We're sort of feeding him a little bit just to,
11:21 to keep him afloat, you know.
11:22 But he doesn't have very much at all.
11:25 And the other day I was talking to him about this,
11:29 and I was saying, "Well, what are you spending your money on?"
11:31 And we were just going through a few--a little budgeting advice,
11:34 you know, going through things.
11:35 And I could see that he had just paid over 1/3
11:39 of his current net worth, his current bank account, to tithe.
11:44 He had just paid that into tithe.
11:46 And I was like, "Good on you, man."
11:48 You know, just, that's it.
11:49 Put, put it out there, you know.
11:51 And so those principles, I believe, are getting through.
11:55 They've still got a lifetime ahead of them.
11:56 I'm new in the game with parenting,
11:58 but, but, you know, it's, it's an important thing,
12:00 and I know that God will bless.
12:01 >>John: I've heard of people who give to God
12:04 so that God will bless--
12:07 "If I give this, then God will give me more money."
12:12 Do you consider that an appropriate way
12:14 of looking at God's blessings?
12:16 >>Julian: Malachi chapter 3 has a, a, like a covenant,
12:21 like almost a legal contract from God's point of view to us,
12:24 and He says, "If you return the whole tithe
12:28 and bring all the offerings to me"--honestly--
12:32 "then I will open up the windows of heaven
12:35 and, and pour out more blessings than you can hold."
12:38 So, yes, in principle, I agree with that.
12:41 However, God has ways of blessing us
12:44 that aren't dollars and cents.
12:46 So, we might pay our tithe or give our offerings
12:49 in dollars and cents,
12:50 but that doesn't mean that God is necessarily
12:52 gonna make us millionaires next year.
12:54 It means that He will bless us.
12:56 And so that could be with health.
12:58 It could be with happy family relationships.
13:00 It could be that old car just that keeps on going.
13:03 There's a whole lot of different ways that God can bless us
13:04 other than giving us a pay raise.
13:06 So, no, I don't think, if I put $100 in the offering this week,
13:11 then I can expect a pay raise by Tuesday.
13:14 But I can expect peace in my heart
13:17 that I am doing what God has asked me to do.
13:19 >>John: And if we do--right?-- if we give so that we'll get...
13:25 that's just a form of, of legalism.
13:28 We're just buying God off,
13:30 and we're surely breaking the tenth commandment,
13:33 which says, "Thou shalt not covet."
13:35 Shouldn't we just be giving out of a heart filled with love
13:38 and then leave it with God to bless us
13:40 however He wants to bless us?
13:41 >>Julian: Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely.
13:43 >>John: And He will bless us, won't He?
13:44 >>Julian: Yes.
13:45 >>John: Do you know of any people who've decided,
13:47 "Well, I'll be faithful, and I'll tithe,
13:48 and I'll give offerings," who have not been blessed?
13:50 I don't know anybody like that.
13:51 >>Julian: No.
13:52 >>John: You haven't come past--
13:53 >>Julian: No, and even King David in the Bible,
13:54 he says, "I once was young, and now I am old,
13:56 and I've never seen the children of God begging for bread,"
14:00 or, you know, he has a number of other things he says in there.
14:03 Um, and that's my experience, too.
14:05 God will care for His faithful people.
14:07 >>John: That's the promise of God.
14:08 We've got it right here, chapter and verse, in the Bible.
14:10 There's no doubt about it.
14:12 God has promised to bless those who are faithful to Him.
14:16 The love of money--we'll talk more about it in just a moment.
14:19 ♪[Music]♪
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14:58 >>John: Don't miss "The Dangers of Technology"
15:00 from It Is Written.
15:02 This electronic age presents our planet with opportunities
15:05 that were unimaginable just a few years ago.
15:08 But it also brings some real challenges--
15:10 among them, spiritual challenges.
15:13 In "The Dangers of Technology,"
15:14 you'll learn how you can protect yourself from trouble online,
15:17 how you can safeguard your children,
15:19 and simple steps you can take to avoid some common pitfalls.
15:22 You'll learn from people with real-world experience--
15:25 >>Kyla Steinkraus: Those companies,
15:26 those child predators are hunting these kids.
15:28 >>John: ...and with expertise in online security.
15:31 >>Michael Dinkins: Once it's out there, it's out there,
15:33 and it's out there probably forever.
15:34 >>John: Email, texting, social media, the World Wide Web--
15:38 it's hard to imagine a world without them,
15:40 but years ago it was impossible to imagine
15:42 the dangers they would present.
15:43 "The Dangers of Technology."
15:45 Simple solutions to safeguarding you and your family online.
15:48 Don't miss "The Dangers of Technology"
15:50 on It Is Written TV.
15:52 Watch online at www.itiswritten.tv.
15:58 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me today
16:00 on It Is Written.
16:01 My guest is Julian Archer,
16:03 an international speaker and an author,
16:05 and I don't know if you use the term,
16:07 but I'd say an expert now in the field of finance
16:10 and the battle that rages in many lives
16:13 between faith and finance,
16:15 between wealth and spirituality or relationship with God.
16:20 Now, word is that you are a member of a very elite club,
16:24 a member of the global "one percent" club.
16:27 Tell me more about this.
16:29 >>Julian Archer: Yeah, so the "one percent" club,
16:31 uh, identifies the wealthiest one percent of adults
16:34 in the world.
16:35 >>John: And you're one of them.
16:36 >>Julian: I am.
16:37 I am, and so I guess you could say that it's an elite club.
16:40 >>John: Sure.
16:41 >>Julian: Uh, if you look at the United Nations data
16:43 from the World Distribution of Household Wealth Report--
16:46 they put this thing out every year,
16:48 and they look at how is money distributed around the world.
16:51 And, of course, you-- in the media,
16:53 we've had these things like Occupy Wall Street, you know,
16:55 where they've gone in there,
16:56 and they've, they've camped at Wall Street
16:59 saying there's too much inequality
17:00 between the rich and the poor and, you know,
17:02 all this sort of thing.
17:03 And so, it's a, it's a real, a real thing.
17:05 And as a member of the "one percent" club,
17:07 I'm like, "Well, how do I deal with this?"
17:09 You know, I'm richer than 99 percent of adults on earth.
17:13 But it's interesting, when you study the United Nations data,
17:17 that, if you have a net worth--
17:21 that is, get the value of your assets, total assets,
17:24 minus the value of your total liabilities,
17:26 that, what's left is your net worth.
17:28 If your net worth is $3,000 or more,
17:33 you're richer than 50 percent of adults on the planet.
17:35 >>John: So I'm in the 50 percent club.
17:36 >>Julian: So you're in the 50 percent club?
17:37 Okay, you won't have to keep admitting as we go higher,
17:39 but anyway... [Laughs]
17:41 So the 50 percent club--
17:43 if you have a net worth of $90,000,
17:48 then you're actually in the 10 percent club.
17:51 So you're richer than 90 percent of adults on earth.
17:54 >>John: What does it take to be in that "one percent" club?
17:57 >>Julian: Mmm.
17:58 My, my first, my, my gut reaction would have been,
18:01 oh, maybe 5 million, 10 million--
18:02 >>John: Gotta be a lot of money.
18:03 >>Julian: Yeah, it's gotta be a lot of money; that's right.
18:05 Um, but it was quite interesting when I, when I did the research,
18:08 that all it takes to be a member of the elite,
18:12 as we call it, "one percent" club,
18:14 is a net worth of $750,000.
18:16 Not even $1 million.
18:17 You don't have to be a millionaire to be richer
18:19 than 99 percent of adults on the planet--
18:21 that's not to mention all the children.
18:23 So, when we, when we come to God's Word,
18:26 and we see passages speaking to the rich,
18:29 or we see Jesus talking to the rich,
18:31 I used to always think that that was for the super-rich.
18:34 >>John: The really rich.
18:35 >>Julian: The really, really rich.
18:36 But then I thought, "You know what,
18:38 if I'm richer than 99 percent of adults on earth,
18:41 that's probably talking to me."
18:44 And it made me see God's Word through new eyes,
18:48 uh, and made me realize that,
18:50 "Hey, Julian, you've been really blessed.
18:51 What are you going to do about it?"
18:52 >>John: The statistics say it's true for people;
18:54 the numbers say it's true for countries:
18:56 As wealth increases, religion decreases.
18:59 Now, that's true for Christianity.
19:00 Is that true for other faith groups as well?
19:04 >>Julian: It is, absolutely.
19:05 Hinduism, Muslims, Buddhism, the whole lot.
19:07 I, I talk to leaders of these religions around the world,
19:11 and when I ask them this question, if I say,
19:13 "What is the greatest thing that is taking
19:15 your young people, your young families, away from their faith,
19:20 regardless of religion?
19:21 What is it that's taking them away?
19:24 Is it they're becoming Christians?"
19:26 "No."
19:27 "Is it they're converting to another religion?"
19:28 "No."
19:29 "What is it?"
19:30 "Materialism."
19:32 Our young people, our young families,
19:33 are being converted from Christianity, whatever it is,
19:38 to materialism, by the droves.
19:41 They're just--materialism is having an incredible impact
19:44 on the faith of many people today.
19:46 And it's not just the young people,
19:48 but that's an area that we see it a lot.
19:50 >>John: Okay, so we gotta raise kids in this world
19:52 where there's stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff everywhere.
19:54 You can go to stores now that have thousands and thousands
19:57 of products available,
19:59 and everything about society is telling you,
20:00 "You deserve it; you want it; you have it; you can get it.
20:03 No money down, use this credit card."
20:05 So it's easier and easier and easier to have stuff.
20:08 I, I like the cover, uh, illustration on your book,
20:10 "Help! I've Been Blessed!"
20:11 Here's somebody with money, uh, I mean, everything,
20:15 everything that a person could want.
20:17 How do we navigate this maze?
20:18 We gotta get our families to heaven,
20:20 we wanna get our children to heaven,
20:21 yet all of us are coming up in this morass of materialism.
20:24 What do we do?
20:25 >>Julian: The circumstances in which a child is raised
20:29 will often have a greater impact on them
20:31 than even the example of the parents.
20:33 So...we, we would like to just keep raising our children
20:39 in an affluent environment, but take them on mission trips--
20:43 yeah, fly them in and out a few times a year
20:44 and help them to build a church or whatever,
20:46 and we think that that's going to do it.
20:48 It will help. No question, it will help.
20:51 But ultimately the environment in which they are raised
20:54 will have a greater impact on them even than your own example
20:56 as parents, so we need to get around this somehow.
21:00 And one of the things that I believe we need to do
21:02 is we need to simplify.
21:04 We need to simplify.
21:05 For our own spiritual lives,
21:08 we need to reduce our assets and responsibilities,
21:14 uh, so that we have more time, more energy,
21:16 and are able to more clearly focus
21:18 on our relationship with God.
21:20 That will also assist our children,
21:22 uh, by them seeing that, that happening, that, hey,
21:25 Mum and Dad really take this Christianity seriously;
21:30 like, they're actually trying to follow Jesus.
21:32 Wow! Really?
21:34 And that will have an incredible impact on them
21:36 and their choices that they make as they go through life.
21:40 If we go through just income increases, lifestyle increases,
21:44 income increases, lifestyle increases,
21:45 the kids will see that--
21:46 they're not, they're not fools--
21:48 and they'll wanna do the same thing.
21:50 My belief is that God blesses us beyond our needs
21:55 so that we can increase our standard of giving,
21:58 not our standard of living.
22:00 And if we can show that to the next generation,
22:03 that as our blessings went up, we actually gave more,
22:08 rather than just having fancier and fancier holidays,
22:10 nicer and nicer cars and homes,
22:12 then that will be an absolutely key, uh, transference
22:17 from our generation to theirs in the right direction.
22:19 >>John: Okay, what are you advocating?
22:21 Uh, what I mean is this:
22:23 There was a time you did very well, earned a lot of money;
22:27 businesses were very successful.
22:29 You did not take a vow of poverty.
22:32 You didn't sell everything, and you're now trying to live
22:34 on $10 a week-- that's not what you did.
22:37 So you dialed it back, right?
22:39 >>Julian: Mm.
22:40 >>John: You didn't walk away. You dialed it back--
22:42 >>Julian: Yep.
22:43 >>John: ...to the level that you felt
22:44 like God was leading your family.
22:46 >>Julian: Mm.
22:47 >>John: How does a person do that?
22:48 Uh, they're saying,
22:50 "Now, well, how do we get to this spiritual place
22:52 so that we're not being owned by our stuff,
22:53 we're not being led around by the love of money?"
22:57 How does a person find that sweet spot?
23:00 You found it.
23:01 >>Julian: Yup.
23:02 >>John: How does someone find it?
23:03 It's gotta differ from person to person.
23:04 How does a person find it?
23:06 >>Julian: Because ultimately what you're looking for
23:07 is peace--
23:08 in your relationship with God, you're looking for peace.
23:09 You're looking to-- for, for example,
23:11 we used to go on family skiing holidays.
23:13 We would spend $10,000 in a week on a, on a ski holiday
23:16 for the four of us.
23:17 We'd stay in the nice places, you know--we, we did it well.
23:20 Uh...but then we realized, you know what,
23:25 God's probably got better uses for His money than spending
23:27 10 grand on us to go skiing for a week.
23:30 And so we dialed it back.
23:33 Now, one word of advice here:
23:37 If you are married, dial it back together.
23:39 [Laughs] Okay?
23:41 Don't, don't just do as I did in this particular instance.
23:44 My wife, Melinda, she had never skied,
23:49 and then one winter she finally started skiing,
23:52 and she loved it.
23:53 Well, that happened to coincide with the winter,
23:55 the last winter, that I was prepared to spend $10,000
23:58 on a ski holiday.
23:59 So as winter was approaching the next year,
24:01 I announced to the family, as the spiritual head of the home,
24:05 "We're not skiing this year because it's not right.
24:08 It's not right to spend $10,000 a week."
24:10 >>John: And Melinda had been looking forward to this
24:11 for months?
24:12 >>Julian: Well, exactly, yeah, because she had been--
24:13 this was her first experience skiing, and she just loved it.
24:16 And she's like, "No way! What?"
24:18 So, yeah, word of advice: Do it together.
24:20 If you're going to dial things back--
24:21 >>John: Amen.
24:22 >>Julian: ...do it together.
24:22 >>John: All right.
24:23 >>Julian: And, uh, and then, yeah,
24:25 just start looking at things in your life.
24:27 Just saying, "God, would You really want me to do this
24:31 with Your, Your money?"
24:33 Uh, you know, the, the question,
24:36 "Is what I'm living for what Jesus died for?
24:40 Did Jesus die for the things that I'm living for?"
24:43 And identify a few of those things where your answer is,
24:46 "No, these are actually just things that I wanted to do,
24:49 and they've got nothing to do with what Jesus
24:50 came here to do."
24:52 Uh, and start to dial them back.
24:54 As a couple, as a family,
24:56 depending on the situation that you're in,
24:58 start simplifying, simplifying,
25:00 and, and just feel that peace coming in.
25:03 >>John: Thanks for joining me. This has been great.
25:06 I wanna give you an opportunity--
25:10 just reduce it to a sound bite, a parting shot.
25:13 Someone who's saying,
25:15 "You know, I've been guilty of this, the love of money.
25:19 I don't want to be. I'm making a change."
25:21 Go ahead.
25:22 >>Julian: Yeah, look, in its simplest form,
25:25 as your blessings go up, your knees must go down on the floor.
25:30 We've gotta pray more.
25:31 We've gotta, we've gotta go to God and say,
25:33 "God, thank You for the blessings,"
25:35 'cause the blessings should lead,
25:36 lead to prayer and thanksgiving.
25:39 But when we are there with prayer and thanksgiving,
25:41 we will start to understand more
25:43 about humble sacrificial generosity,
25:46 and God will then teach us how to give and how to live for Him,
25:51 not for us.
25:52 >>John: Julian Archer, thank you.
25:54 Greatly appreciate it.
25:55 >>Julian: It's been a blessing to be here, thank you.
25:59 ♪[Music]♪
26:00 >>Announcer: The pursuit of wealth
26:01 has been the ruin of many people.
26:03 God promises to bless His people financially,
26:05 but often God's blessings can turn into a curse.
26:08 Get your free copy of "God Will Provide"
26:11 and learn the recipe to financial success.
26:14 Call 800-253-3000,
26:17 800-253-3000.
26:19 You can write to the address on your screen
26:21 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com.
26:25 Get "God Will Provide," iiwoffer.com.
26:29 >>John Bradshaw: Julian, thanks again.
26:30 I really appreciate you taking your time. Thanks.
26:32 >>Julian Archer: Thank you.
26:33 >>John: Let's pray together now. Let's pray.
26:35 Our Father in heaven,
26:37 O Lord, you've gotta keep us from the love of money.
26:40 Uh, we need money.
26:41 We are grateful for it.
26:42 We thank You for what You give us.
26:45 I suspect there are some people who are saying to themselves,
26:48 "If only I had money to love."
26:50 And I want to pray that You'll be especially close to people
26:53 who are struggling, battling, seeking their way forward.
26:56 Maybe they're not quite sure where the next meal
26:58 or the next rent payment is coming from.
27:00 The Bible says, "My God shall supply all your need
27:04 according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
27:06 Lord, let that be so.
27:09 Then, Lord, there are so many people now caught up
27:12 in the blessings more than they are in the person of the Giver.
27:17 So let our focus be in the right place
27:19 so that Your financial blessings can do the work
27:22 You designed them to do.
27:24 We thank You and love You.
27:26 Let our priorities, our expenditures, our investments,
27:32 our possessions reflect that love more and more.
27:36 We pray in Jesus' name.
27:39 Amen.
27:40 Thank you so much for joining me.
27:42 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time.
27:44 Until then, remember:
27:46 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone,
27:49 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
27:54 ♪[Theme music]♪
28:04 ♪[Theme music]♪


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Revised 2022-12-01