INVESTigate - Series 2

by Sis Ho Wan Leng

Part 1
The 3 bucket budget plan

Part 2
A balancing act if 3 sets of principles

Part 3
A story and a song

10 Key Drivers:
1. Recognition
2. Social status
3. Life enjoyment
4. Peer pressure
5. Contribution to society
6. Social norm
7. Security and stability
8. Luxuries
9. Technologies
10.Financial gains/wealth

Whichever is your top choice, check also is that your heart rest

Biblical financial
Maximizing our earnings for God's glory

The 3 bucket personal budget plan
Necessities (50%+)
Desires (10%+)
Treasure box (10%+)

1. Create a personal financial budget plan
- Personal financial well being starts with personal budget plan (Necessities 50%+, Desires 10%+, Treasure box 10%+)
- this is biblical

LIVE SIMPLY THAT OTHERS MIGHT SIMPLY LIVE!

Luke 14:28
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Create a budget plan,
MAJOR on necessities (needs)
MINOR on desires (wants) and
be GENEROUS in sharing our treasure box to honor God and advance His kingdom.

2. A balancing act of three sets of principles
set 1 : Earn honestly, spend wisely and save fervently
set 2 : Contentment and Godliness
set 3 : Borrow less and be debt-free

Exodus 20:15
“You shall not steal.
- This is clear cut wrong

But there are others that are wrong and we argue the rights.

James 5:4
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Proverbs 22:1
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 28:6
Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

Our struggles in finances do not justifies dishonest gains

We shouldn't be anxious about money problems

Philippians 4:6
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

The formula to avoid : Great wealth-Contentment=Stress

1 Timothy 6:6-7
But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and[a] we cannot take anything out of the world.

Philippians 4:12
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

Contentment with godliness brings great wealth
Great wealth without contentment brings stress
Great wealth without godliness leads to our fall
Contentment without godliness is unsustainable
Godliness without contentment is fake news

Coveteousness
Exodus 20:17
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

Comparison to be Competitive
1 Timothy 6:9
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Let's do a balancing act daily
- Earn money optimally but honestly and justly
- Save money fervently but not hoard it
- Spend money wisely with discretion and control
- Give back to the Lord, joyfully and sacrificially but with discernment and the guidance of God's Spirit
- Be wealthy but don't love money and be content

Proverbs 22:7
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

Psalm 37:21
The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;

John 6:5-7
Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii[a] worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”

Philip has seen Jesus performed miracles but where was the faith now? Perhaps Philip had knowledge of Jesus but not knowing Him

John 6:8-9
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”

Give like the little boy although it's little

John 6:11
Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

This is what God can do when we seek to honor Him with our finances. Little can be made much in His hands

John 6:14
When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

Jesus transformed the hearts of the multitudes to proclaim

My treasures for God's glory!