Take it to the Bank

Introduction

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Cordell Thomas

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Series Code: TITTB

Program Code: TITTB000001S


00:01 On Take It To The Bank,
00:02 you'll find ways to get out of debt.
00:09 Solve your credit card problems.
00:14 How to make and stick with the budget.
00:19 Simple ways to save...
00:24 buying or selling a home,
00:26 and many more financial matters on Take It To The Bank.
00:33 Hi. My name is Cordell Thomas.
00:35 I'll be your host here on this program called,
00:38 Take It To The Bank.
00:39 As we start, and as an introduction,
00:42 I'd like to talk to you a little bit about
00:44 what my role is here.
00:45 And my role is simple.
00:46 It's to get you to think a little differently
00:48 about money and about wealth,
00:50 to actually get you motivated
00:52 to change some of your bad habits
00:53 in reference to how you handle money.
00:55 And maybe how you can become a better steward of God's money
01:00 and His talents towards you,
01:02 because wealth is not just about money
01:05 and we're going to find out biblically
01:07 as we take an introductory look
01:08 at what financial literacy is all about.
01:11 It's more so about how we manage the funds
01:14 and or the talents that God gives us
01:17 for each one of us to use.
01:19 Before we get started, I have a quote for you.
01:22 "Youth would be an ideal state
01:26 if it came along later in life."
01:28 Herbert Henry.
01:30 I look back on my life
01:31 and if I knew then what I know now,
01:37 my life would be completely different.
01:39 But then again, I had to go through what I went through
01:42 to understand a little bit more about how money actually works.
01:47 The context of money is very serious
01:50 and I think that we all have to take a serious approach
01:53 at how we take care of those talents
01:56 and I'd like to, in this introduction,
01:58 take a look at the biblical perspective
02:01 of how financial literacy works.
02:03 I can give you definition.
02:05 Financial literacy is basically the ability to manage
02:08 and to communicate about finances.
02:10 And taking a step further,
02:12 it's the ability to make wise decisions about
02:15 how you handle that money.
02:17 But what does the Bible actually say about money.
02:21 I'd like you, had to ask you at your convenience,
02:24 if you have your Bible, take it out
02:25 and look with me at,
02:27 first of all, 1 Corinthians 4:2.
02:32 In 1 Corinthians 4:2, the Bible states,
02:36 "Now it is required that those
02:37 who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
02:41 A good steward is someone that is faithful.
02:46 Okay, let's look at another verse.
02:48 First of all, being a steward of God's money means
02:52 that you must be considered faithful.
02:55 If you take a look in Luke verses 12, 13 and 14...
03:05 The Bible talks about the parable of the rich fool.
03:09 Jesus in verse 14 said,
03:11 "Man, who appointed me to be judge
03:14 or an arbiter between you two?"
03:16 Then He said on to them, "Watch out!
03:19 Be on your guard against all kinds of greed,
03:23 a man's life does not consist
03:25 in the abundance of his possessions."
03:27 The abundance of one's possessions,
03:29 well, man's life, a man's life is not about
03:32 what we corral, and we hoard,
03:34 and we buy and put into our homes.
03:37 But it's more so about
03:38 what I think is going on in Matthew 25:14-24.
03:44 And if you realize what that,
03:45 if you remember what that's about,
03:47 it's the story of the talents.
03:50 Turn with me there if you get a chance.
03:52 And it's pretty intriguing.
03:54 First of all, in verse 24, the preceding chapter,
03:56 it talks about signs of the end of the age.
03:58 And it moves forward and talks a little bit about
04:01 the parable of the wise and foolish virgins,
04:03 which is kind of intriguing,
04:05 because if you take a look at the virgins
04:08 and it came to an issue of saving for a rainy day.
04:12 I mean, you talk about the oil that they had
04:14 and about their ability to have the oil at the right time,
04:18 kind of works along
04:20 with that philosophy of saving your money or saving,
04:24 in that case, the oil for a situation
04:27 that came up unexpectedly.
04:29 And then it moves forward into the story of the talents.
04:32 A landowner is leaving.
04:34 And he's coming back again.
04:36 It seems to parallel to the story of Christ.
04:40 He left.
04:41 And He's coming back
04:42 and He's going to hold us accountable
04:44 to how we manage the funds
04:45 and or the talents that we're given.
04:48 Now read into that.
04:49 You have a landowner who's leaving
04:51 and he calls his servants into him
04:53 and he says, "Hey, I'm leaving but I'm going to come back.
04:55 But I'd like you to manage."
04:57 In this case, the talent was called money,
05:00 which tells me something.
05:02 There are more venues of wealth
05:06 than just the venue of money for wealth.
05:11 In this case, he handed his servant
05:15 five talents of money.
05:18 It could be $50,000, if it's in the $5000,
05:20 whatever the case may be,
05:22 the Bible says that he gave the person five talents.
05:25 And you remember, he gave the second servant two talents
05:29 and the third servant he provided one talent.
05:33 Now he gave it to, in context to their ability,
05:36 again in context to their abilities.
05:38 So God looks at each one of us
05:39 and says, you have an ability that I see in you.
05:42 That talent could be the talent of music,
05:44 it could be the talent of teaching,
05:46 it could be the talent of faith,
05:47 it could be so many other different type of talents.
05:50 But in this case, there is a talent called money.
05:52 And He knows that there are several of us that know
05:56 how to build and utilize that talent.
05:59 The first servant, if you continue with the study.
06:03 It says, "After a long time
06:05 the master of those servants return
06:07 and settled accounts with them.
06:08 The man who had received the five talents
06:10 bought the other five and said,
06:13 'Master, you entrusted me with five,
06:16 so I've gained five more."
06:17 He put his money to work.
06:20 And when you consider the fact that
06:23 he had five talents and double the five talents,
06:25 and then you consider what happened to the individual
06:27 with just one talent,
06:29 you understand that
06:31 the one that buried his talent was told by the master.
06:35 "Why didn't you do anything more?
06:37 At least you could have taken the money
06:39 and you could have put it in a bank
06:40 where it could have gained simple interest."
06:44 This case it tells me that the gentleman
06:47 understood how to make money work for him.
06:51 It could be that he bought some equipment,
06:54 he bought some assets,
06:55 he developed a type of talent to teach
07:00 or he used the money to do something.
07:02 And in the end he was able to return on that investment,
07:05 a double, doubling the amount of money
07:07 he was given.
07:08 The same with two. He doubled the money.
07:11 The one that buried it,
07:12 it's like stashing your cash in your mattress,
07:14 because the money that you have is not really working for you.
07:19 And so he says to the one that one was entrusted one,
07:24 he said now,
07:25 "Then the man who had received the one talent came,
07:29 'Master he said,
07:30 I knew that you are a hard man harvesting here
07:32 and you have not sown and gather it,
07:35 where you have not scattered seed
07:37 so I was afraid that if I went out
07:40 and hid your talent in the ground."
07:41 See, I hid it and I was secure in knowing
07:45 that it would stay there.
07:46 He did not make that money work for him.
07:49 So what am I actually saying here?
07:51 In this case, it was in a different approach
07:52 that we should all have to what money is all about.
07:56 Because what I'm going to say to you
07:57 is something that has intrigued me for a while.
07:59 In James 2:5-9,
08:05 it tells a story of...
08:10 how we as individuals should take a look
08:15 at what wealth actually means.
08:18 When you're a wealthy individual,
08:19 and as I find the verse,
08:22 James 2:5-9,
08:25 it says, "My brothers,
08:29 and we'll start at the beginning of the chapter.
08:31 It says favoritism should be forbidden."
08:34 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ,
08:37 don't show favoritism.
08:40 Suppose a man comes into your meeting
08:42 wearing a gold ring and fine clothing
08:44 and a poor man in shabby clothes
08:46 also comes in.
08:48 If you show special attention
08:50 to the man wearing fine clothes,
08:52 and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,'
08:54 but say to the poor man, 'You stand over here,'
08:57 or 'Sit on the floor at my feet,'
08:59 have you not discriminated against among yourselves
09:03 and become judges with evil thoughts?
09:06 Listen, my dear brothers, has not God chosen
09:10 those who are poor in the eyes of the world
09:15 to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom
09:19 He has promised those who love him.
09:22 But you have insulted the poor.
09:25 Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?
09:27 Are you not the ones who are dragging others into court?
09:30 Are they not the ones
09:32 who are slandering the noble name of Him
09:34 who you belong?
09:36 If you really keep the royal law
09:38 found in the Scriptures,
09:39 'Love your neighbor as yourself,'
09:43 you're doing right.
09:44 But if you show favoritism,
09:46 you sin and are convicted by the law as law breakers."
09:50 This is heavy information.
09:53 Most individuals see wealth and wealthy individuals
09:57 and treat them in a different way
09:59 than they treat individuals who are considered poor.
10:01 Remember the Bible verse talked about the faith.
10:05 Faith is a wealth. It's a form of wealth.
10:09 And those who are poor are wealthy in faith.
10:12 Those who are poor could be wealthy in other talents.
10:15 It's not necessarily the talent of money
10:17 that should cause you as an individual,
10:19 if you have a lot of it, to treat others differently.
10:21 In fact, your responsibility grows all the more.
10:25 You should be far more humble.
10:27 And you should be far more appreciative
10:31 of what those who may not have
10:33 the monetary advantages that you have,
10:36 they still have to go through in practicing their talents
10:40 that could include and incorporate faith.
10:43 So my request to use as we go through these,
10:48 these programs on financial literacy.
10:52 I ask you to think differently about wealth
10:56 and begin the process of thinking
10:59 that we all as individuals are wealthy
11:03 because God has given each one of us talents
11:06 according to our own abilities.
11:08 And the fact that you have money
11:10 and someone may not have money
11:11 doesn't mean that they should be treated any differently.
11:17 So consider that as we talk about financial literacy
11:20 and continue to consider the issues that are involved
11:24 with how we manage our money.
11:26 With that said, I'm going to begin the process
11:28 of dialoguing with you about the basics.
11:32 One of the things we're going to talk about,
11:33 and there are four basic areas,
11:35 we're going to talk about debt.
11:36 We're going to talk about cash flow.
11:38 We will talk about the issue of budgeting
11:41 which is critical to understanding
11:43 how you can manage your money well.
11:45 And the fourth area we'll discuss will be credit.
11:48 There are many different issues
11:50 that are going on right now in reference to credit,
11:53 ID theft, fraud and many other issues
11:56 that are associated with it.
11:58 So let's start out with the simple issue of a budget.
12:01 The reason we talk about budgeting
12:03 as a key form of understanding where you are,
12:06 it also provides you
12:08 the understanding of where you can be
12:11 and where you would like to be.
12:13 It gives you planning, the opportunities of planning.
12:16 But from a simple perspective,
12:18 I'll take a step back and make this statement.
12:26 If you know where your money comes from
12:33 and you know where your money goes,
12:37 you are in pretty good shape.
12:38 A lot of people don't know.
12:41 I remember when I was in college,
12:42 you know, it was my checking account
12:44 was basically up here in my head.
12:45 I pretty much wrote checks
12:47 and say, "I think I got the $25 in the account.
12:50 That should be no problem." And wrote the check.
12:52 That was my managerial perspective
12:54 of my holding on to my checking account and managing it.
12:59 The first time though that I bounced a check
13:01 would change my all, my perspective all together.
13:04 And I knew at that point in time
13:05 that I had to take a different approach
13:08 to managing what it was
13:10 if I wanted to get to a different place.
13:12 Now a budget basically says
13:15 that I know where my revenue comes from.
13:18 I know where my expenses are paid.
13:20 If you are spending the same amount
13:23 that you are bringing in,
13:25 you're in a very dangerous position.
13:27 And I ask you to take a look very seriously
13:29 how much money you're spending
13:31 and try to increase the margin between revenue and expenses.
13:37 It's that area between revenue and expenses
13:39 that you have the option
13:41 of putting more money into savings.
13:43 You have the option of investing some of that money,
13:47 and you have the opportunity of acquiring assets.
13:50 And that's where I believe
13:51 this issue of financial literacy comes to play,
13:54 because it's not about,
13:56 remember the Bible verse that says,
13:58 it's not about the amount of possessions that you carry,
14:03 it's how you use the talents that God has given to you.
14:08 So it's essential that you save, you invest,
14:11 you have an emergency fund,
14:13 but you also have another bond of money
14:15 that you can actually use to give to charities,
14:20 to give to these organizations
14:22 such as 3ABN and support the ministry.
14:25 Because the overall objective
14:28 about the parable is to tell you
14:30 that Jesus is coming again soon.
14:33 And He's gonna hold you accountable
14:35 to how you dealt with the talents
14:37 that He gave to you.
14:39 And so it's essential that we begin to think about
14:42 how we spend our money based on the revenue
14:45 and through the talents that God has given us.
14:47 And it's that amount of money that we can use to save,
14:50 set up an emergency fund,
14:52 understand and study how banks work,
14:54 to talk about it on a high level,
14:57 and then at the same time,
14:58 have that additional fund that you can give.
15:00 I have a story that's kind of interesting.
15:03 When I worked at another organization
15:05 and it dealt with the donations of outside contributors.
15:10 I remember a conversation I had about one of the donors
15:13 and it was interesting to see
15:14 how she dealt with the funds that she had or didn't have.
15:19 She was retired.
15:20 She was dealing on a fixed income
15:22 and the question came up about--
15:24 "But if you're on a fixed income
15:26 and you have increased costs during the winter time,
15:29 how do you maintain a steady giving
15:32 every single month of every year?
15:33 We can count on your giving.
15:36 How is it that you dealt with that?"
15:37 And she said, "You know, during the winter times,
15:40 I know it gets difficult for all of us
15:42 and especially those who are on a fixed income.
15:44 But God has given me the wisdom to know that I can.
15:47 When the heating bills come in,
15:49 I can shut down different portions of my home.
15:52 And only heat the areas in my home that are necessary
15:55 and I can use the savings from those expenses
15:59 and I can continue to give my $25 a month."
16:03 Twenty five dollars a month doesn't seem like much,
16:05 but it is in the eyes of God because it's her giving,
16:09 it's helping sustain many of our non-profit organizations.
16:12 And then you begin to understand
16:14 what God meant when He talked about the widow's mite.
16:19 The lady gave as much as she possibly could,
16:23 which looked very little
16:25 in the side of the wealthy people looking on.
16:27 But Jesus said something that's powerful.
16:30 She gave far more than those wealthy people did
16:35 because she gave all that she could.
16:39 And that's a context of where we want to go
16:42 with this understanding of financial literacy.
16:44 I don't want you to start thinking
16:46 about the context of wealth and riches and travel
16:49 and new cars and new things to acquire
16:52 because possessions is not it.
16:55 The context is, understanding that
16:58 God has given you a talent.
17:02 That talent has to be used for Him
17:04 and if you use it for Him,
17:06 it will draw other people onto Him
17:08 and help us close out this history in this world
17:12 and take us to be with Him.
17:14 So I'm gonna move forward
17:16 and talk a little bit more
17:17 about the context of financial literacy
17:20 and with doing that,
17:21 I would like to bring on a resource of mine,
17:24 Mr. Rodney Watson.
17:26 He's a fantastic individual that I talk to all the time.
17:29 He has these games that we play
17:31 and things that we do that reference money
17:35 and management, cash flow, that type of thing.
17:37 And I asked him a question the other day
17:39 and that question was,
17:41 "How does cash flow management fit into financial literacy?"
17:45 Rodney, can you give us the answer please?
17:51 Whenever you think of cash flow management
17:53 and financial literacy, they both go hand in hand.
17:56 The reason is, whenever you need to manage something,
17:59 you have to know about it to be able to manage it.
18:02 So to know about money,
18:04 you have to learn how money flows
18:06 and money flows just like air flows,
18:09 just like water flows or just like anything else.
18:11 So whenever money comes to you,
18:14 it's gonna flow through you and to someone else.
18:18 Hopefully it doesn't flow to all your creditors.
18:20 Hopefully it does flow to some assets.
18:23 Rich people, what they do is,
18:25 they take money, it flows to them
18:27 and they keep a portion of it first.
18:29 And they keep a portion of that first, and they save it
18:32 and that money goes to buy assets, assets only.
18:35 Then after that, they take the rest of the money
18:38 and they use it for savings
18:39 and they also use it to live on.
18:41 So whenever you're thinking about
18:43 financial literacy and cash management,
18:45 manage your cash,
18:47 so your cash will end up managing you.
18:49 Thank you, Rodney.
18:51 Thank you very much. You know.
18:52 Those that are able to live within their means
18:54 and plan for their future,
18:56 have an idea of how they manage their own budgets,
18:59 their own personal budgets
19:00 and each budget that we have is gonna be different,
19:02 it's gonna be separate.
19:04 Each one of us are unique individuals
19:06 with different circumstances.
19:07 So I ask you to take a look and begin the process today.
19:11 Because the next time we talk,
19:12 I would like for you to have written down your expenses.
19:15 Look where the money goes.
19:17 Write down everything you spend.
19:18 Write down the cash purchases that you make and as well,
19:22 write down the areas
19:24 where you think you have talents,
19:25 where you can generate revenue.
19:27 Take a look at your expenses, take a look at your income
19:31 and begin the process of understanding,
19:33 if you can develop more of a margin
19:35 between your revenues and expenses,
19:38 ensuring that you're making more than you are sending out.
19:42 Now one of the things
19:44 that's very important about cash flow is that
19:48 you have funds set away for emergencies.
19:52 I have seen circumstance
19:53 where individuals have been wiped out
19:56 based on a medical emergency
19:58 because we haven't spent the money
20:00 or budgeted enough to have
20:02 maybe health insurance on tap
20:04 or if in fact, we had a lot of money saved,
20:07 we find that there are emergencies
20:09 that can arise on our daily basis
20:12 and on monthly or whatever the case may be
20:14 to each individual life.
20:15 Many times we think it will never affect us.
20:18 But it does at some point in time,
20:20 it comes in and impacts our lives.
20:23 For example, the last,
20:26 I bought a house like back in 2004.
20:28 The house right now is only seven years old
20:30 and you hearing a little bit of irritability
20:31 on this side of things.
20:33 Because the water heater went out after seven years
20:36 and of course, you know
20:38 when your water heater goes out,
20:39 you go to shop for another water heater, right?
20:41 And you run into people who are, you got it,
20:44 shopping for water heaters.
20:46 And you happen to run into a person that said,
20:48 this young lady was telling me, "Yes, I am so upset.
20:52 My water heater broke down after 22 years."
20:56 Mine broke down after seven years.
20:58 And that's couple of things you have to look at
20:59 because you never know when that emergency will arise.
21:02 So for me, I had to make a $600 acquisition
21:05 to go and put a new water heater into my home.
21:08 Fortunately, I had a brother-in-law that came by
21:11 and was able to help me put all of that equipment in
21:14 and get me back to square zero with hot water in my home.
21:17 Now it's interesting as we take a look at financial literacy.
21:21 The context is really
21:23 that we plan for those type of emergencies.
21:27 You'll never know when the job loss might happen.
21:29 You'll never know
21:31 when any critical issue might happen at home.
21:33 And one of the major issues that people don't think about
21:35 is the context of health
21:37 and how that can wipe out
21:39 people's savings very, very quickly.
21:42 I believe that people have been told in the past
21:46 that they should have a six month,
21:48 six months worth of savings
21:50 available in case of any type of emergencies.
21:53 Job loss now,
21:55 it may take people upwards of 24 to 28 months
21:57 to find a new job.
21:59 How do you plan for that?
22:00 What is the context of the planning
22:04 in savings to help alleviate a lot of those concerns?
22:08 We know that some employers
22:09 don't pay into unemployment insurance.
22:11 And people are left out there without that income
22:14 to support the needs that they have
22:16 and support the context of their budgets.
22:21 One of the things that might help is,
22:22 if we weren't necessarily getting in too much debt,
22:25 if we didn't have credit card debt,
22:26 and we didn't have a lot of those type of debts
22:28 that people typically recommend to help build credit histories.
22:33 There's a 20-10 rule that's out there.
22:35 It basically says that you, your budget should not exceed
22:39 or your credit or indebtedness
22:42 should not exceed 20 percent of your yearly annual income,
22:47 your net income for the year.
22:48 And that your monthly expenditures
22:51 on repayment of that debt
22:53 should not exceed 10 percent of your monthly net income.
22:56 That's a 20-10 rule.
22:58 I don't believe that anyone should have any type of debt.
23:01 If you cannot afford it by paying cash,
23:05 why are you gonna put it on a credit card
23:07 and pay that additional expense
23:09 of paying off with the interest that you typically incur?
23:13 If you're not able to pay the full amount
23:17 to get what you need, just leave it alone.
23:19 And so it goes back
23:20 to preparing for those emergencies.
23:22 If you don't have a high overhead
23:23 in reference to expenses,
23:25 then you shouldn't have as much to worry about
23:29 if you go through a specific job loss
23:31 because your expenses are minimized.
23:35 Look, we're coming to the end of our first program,
23:38 but I really want to emphasize this in an end
23:41 as an introduction
23:43 that understanding where you're at now
23:46 is the best thing to understand where you can go from now.
23:50 And my intent in this case
23:52 is to help you to think more so about money
23:55 and about how you save
23:57 and how you plan for future events.
24:00 That's the key.
24:02 And that's what we want to accomplish today.
24:04 But more so, this introduction was to talk about James 2:5-9.
24:11 James 2:5-9.
24:13 The key is to understand
24:17 that wealth comes in many different forms.
24:21 And people have different talents
24:23 that Christ has given them.
24:25 When you take a look at your own personal situation,
24:29 it doesn't matter if you make $24,000 a year
24:33 or two and a half million dollars year,
24:35 if you are able to save ten
24:38 or you know, 10 percent or 15 or even 50 percent
24:41 of what you make on the yearly basis,
24:43 you're far better than a millionaire
24:45 that spends the million dollars each year.
24:47 We see time and time again,
24:49 million dollar homes going up foreclosure,
24:51 we hear of millionaires
24:53 and we shouldn't really call them millionaires
24:54 but they are people who make a million dollars a year
24:57 or spending a million dollars a year,
24:59 and those individuals who get unemployed,
25:01 are actually tapping into unemployment insurance now
25:04 and finding that many of our people are doing that.
25:07 So this crisis of money can be alleviated
25:10 by addressing a few simple issues.
25:15 In closing for today,
25:17 we understand that financial literacy is a key.
25:19 Understanding how money works can be very valuable
25:22 and maintaining a budget is beneficial not only short term,
25:26 but it will sustain you on a long term basis.
25:30 As we do go through this closing,
25:31 I'd like to give you two different questions
25:34 that I'd like you to think over as we go to the next program.
25:38 Those questions include,
25:40 one, who insures your stocks in the stock market?
25:45 Is it A, The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation?
25:48 Is it B, The Securities and Exchange Commission?
25:50 Is it C, The U.S. Department of Treasure?
25:53 Or is it D, No one?
25:57 The other question I would like you to answer for me is also,
26:02 and think about is,
26:06 Federal law gives you three days
26:08 to cancel the purchase of a new or used car
26:11 from the dealer.
26:12 Is that true? Is that false?
26:19 As we look at financial literacy,
26:21 I want us to take a whole different approach
26:23 in understanding that wealth is a wonderful thing
26:27 and wealth takes different forms.
26:30 The fact that we may be monetarily wealthy
26:32 doesn't mean we treat anyone any differently,
26:35 because that other person
26:36 could be wealthy from the standpoint of faith,
26:39 could be wealthy from the standpoint of ministry,
26:42 from be wealthy from the standpoint of leadership.
26:44 Let's get rid of those situations
26:48 where we can treat people in different ways
26:51 because of who we think we are.
26:52 Let's not use favoritism.
26:55 Let's begin the process of thinking more so
26:58 about wealth from the standpoint
27:00 of being obligated to God
27:03 for what He's given us in the form of talents.
27:06 And to manage our money in a way
27:09 that provides a benefit to others.
27:13 Specifically, enlightening others about
27:17 Christ's soon return.
27:19 And I will constantly lead you
27:21 back to that parable of the talent,
27:26 because I think it resonates
27:28 with how we as individuals should make the money work.
27:33 And if we are able to make money work,
27:37 we are able to give money to the resources
27:41 that can get the gospel to others around the world.
27:46 Thank you for participating in this program.
27:48 Thank you for being a part.
27:50 And as we...
27:52 as we talk more about financial literacy issues,
27:55 please remember,
27:57 let's Take It To The Bank and save.


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Revised 2023-03-09