Finish Strong With Fearless Faith

True Success #76

December 19, 2022 Fearless Faith Season 2 Episode 76
Finish Strong With Fearless Faith
True Success #76
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Show Notes Transcript

Most people think that true success is achieved by financial prosperity.  We tend to judge someone’s success by the house they live in, the car they drive and the clothes they wear.  God’s definition of true success is achieved through giving which is driven by our love of God.

In this edition of Finish Strong, we explore God’s recipe for success involving giving.  You will learn what the Bible says the top reasons for giving are and how it affects every aspect of our lives.  

Remember, you can give without loving but you can’t love without giving!

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Terry Steen:

It's like in traffic if I stop, leave a gap to let a guy pull in to the traffic flow. I expect a wave things.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, yeah, if

Terry Steen:

I get one all is good with the world, whatever they're like they deserved it. And it wasn't important than I. I haven't rear ended them but I have not been happy. I remember the other day you

Dan Wheeler:

were waving at that guy and he waved back, but he must have somewhere on this handle and one finger was

John Matarazzo:

live your life with purpose changed someone's life for the better, and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Welcome to finish strong the podcast designed to help you discover your unique purpose and develop a plan to leave a powerful legacy. Dan, Brian and Terry are ready. So let's get started.

Dan Wheeler:

In our world today, everybody wants financial prosperity. We tend to judge someone by the house they live in the car they drive the clothes they wear. But what is God's definition of prosperity? And what is his how do we achieve true success? In the eyes of God? That's the subject we're going to address on this edition of finished strong. I'm Dan Wheeler, joined by Terry Steen and Brian Rowland and our producer John Mata Raza. Guys. There's a lot of questions about success. How do you get it? How do you attain it, you know, all these books written about, you know, just kind of see it and believe it and you'll obtain wealth that's beyond your imagination. But in God's eyes, success is not judged by wealth. In fact, he cares more about giving than receiving doesn't mean it's just

Terry Steen:

another one of those sowing and reaping principles. There's so many principles in the Bible that do not make any sense to the natural mind. Right? Yeah. That's why the world looks at things so differently than we Christians.

Dan Wheeler:

Well, Brian, you know, if you talk to a non believer about tithing, they'll go what? You know, 10% Are you crazy? You want 10% of my pocket? And you know, the sad thing is, is even in the world of Christians, very few Christians give that full 10%. But really, it's it's not ours to begin with. Everything we have is God's. I've heard that

Brian Roland:

so many times from people saying, I know what the Bible talks about tithing. But you know, it doesn't matter now. I could tie with it, or I want to and that's a tie them go. Well, yes, and no. There's a principle involved. That's what it talks about. And it's true, though a lot of people will give money to other things, other charities, things like that, or other movements. And they'll give to that freely, but they won't give to the preaching the word of God or building up their church. And it's sad, because they think they're getting something back. But what are they really getting back? It's really accolades. That you know, people are saying, Oh, look at me, and I gave this much money on that. I think it's interesting that, Dan, you know, this very well. You're running back from Michigan. Calling calm. Yeah. I mean, this kid gives all the time even as a little kid, his dad said he couldn't wait to go to church put money in the basket. Yeah, that he made from from work he was doing and his earnings. He gets so much money coming in from from the I think it's called the NFL and Al and he gives half of that away. And it's just the kid is amazing. And find it that he's got a true givers heart. And he's going to be blessed immensely. by that. I mean, he really is because he's, he's doing what God told him to do.

Dan Wheeler:

Brian, that was amazing. Coming from a Buckeye fan on the heels of another thrashing by the Michigan. Oh, I wasn't gonna talk about that. I'm sorry. He's not here anymore. But he, we have some fun. And we finally get to in a row. But he is he gives on Thanksgiving. He buys all these turkey dinners. And he hand here he hurt his knee on the game. And on Sunday, he was out there passing out Thanksgiving dinners. But Terry, you've done a lot of studies on generosity and giving. And we were basing this kind of on some of your research, you came up with 10 reasons to give Do you want to run through those real quickly and then we'll try to go a little more in depth on as many as we can.

Terry Steen:

Yeah, sure. Sure. One of the foundational ones is and you alluded to it is that who's really the owner of everything, when you determine who the true owner is, which is God, He created everything, and that we become the stewards we become the managers then it all starts to fall into place. So that's the key. And then it also is a reflection of our love for God. It Some form of praise and worship, it's a it's a way we can worship God. It's not always just raising your hands and singing, we can experience joy. I'm sure we've all had those opportunities when we've been generous to someone and how we feel better than they do probably. And then, of course, is just obedience to God's word. And we can look at some of those scriptures. Another one that people don't think about as much as it can be used as spiritual warfare is our generosity. And our giving can be something that allows the spirit within us to grow so strong that we can fight the enemy in areas that we're struggling with. You know,

Dan Wheeler:

Terry, when you came up with a list, that one took me by surprise, I'd never ever considered that. Mutual warfare Yeah.

Terry Steen:

And then, of course, just another level of intimacy with God, our generosity and our giving because it's, it's, it reflects our heart in our heart creates that intimacy with God. And then we've talked about it many times investments in eternity, everything we do should be with the internal mind eternal minded thinking. And then the ninth one is a where our goal is to be Christ like, and this is part of being a Christ like person, that's part of his character. And the last one, that is intentional as the 10th. One, but so many people get it confused is that it increases our blessing. That's a byproduct. But that should not be the motivation that we have forgiving. So those were the 10. I'm sure we can't really get into too much depth on him. But they're all worthy thinking about, aren't they?

Dan Wheeler:

Yes, they are. Hey, Brian, can you look up Deuteronomy 817, and 18. And while he does that, I want to read Psalm 24. One, which really is the basis for our first one, a reminder of true ownership and says, The earth is the Lord's, and everything in the world and all who live in it. And Terry, when you said that about let's face it, he all blessings come from him. So really, whatever we've achieved, we can thank him for giving us the ability and blessing us in that way. I mean, I know, when I made the decision to go to QVC. I wasn't sure if it was the right one. In fact, Brian was there at the time, I was talking to him. And I said, Man, I got this company that I've started. And Brian said, I don't know this, it seems like a great opportunity. I think you should go for it. I did and, and God blessed me, but I can't take the credit for that. It was, you know, when you live close to the Lord, He gives you wisdom, but he did create it all. And Brian, what does Deuteronomy say?

Brian Roland:

It says, you may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands and produce this wealth for me. But remember, the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors as it is today.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, there it is. His power provides it all.

Brian Roland:

The words there, Dan is as it is today. Yeah. Right. It's the same today as it wasn't

Dan Wheeler:

very, very good.

Terry Steen:

And you know, we get prideful in that area way too often, huh. Yeah. You know, we start by hiring sayings, and then we get prideful, and then we start thinking it's ours. And if we if we get too far down that road, God has a way of turning that back around, doesn't he and teaching us a lesson if we're not careful, Troy he

Dan Wheeler:

does is funny. I think my Midwestern background, I've never been about things like my car has 154,400 miles on it. And I'm proud of that factory. I am getting value. I'd like to write ownership, you know, when you first start to get things and that first car and everything you feel that pride. But number two you've got is a reflection of our love for God and others. That takes me back to Ken Dignan. And you can give with a loving but you can't love without giving. And if we truly love God and others we're going to give

Terry Steen:

Yeah, it's not conditional. And you know, the giving is far more than just money. I hope people don't just focus on the money aspect True, true all the time. It's it's your attitude and giving. It's the abilities you have all of those God can tap and use to allow you to be generous. You know, there is first John 317 and 18 it says But whoever has the world's goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him. How does the love of God abide in him? Little children let us not love with Word and with tongue, but indeed in truth.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, that's good. it but Brian, what were you gonna say before Terry interrupted you? Yeah.

Brian Roland:

I was gonna say, you know, when we hit the hurricane season, which just ended, but we had a hurricane season. around our neighborhood here we have all Key West style homes. So we have shutters we can put down on that everybody was helping everyone get their shutters down and get their lawn furniture and art off and put inside in their garage, get their Backlund eyes emptied out. It was just wonderful to see how everybody just jumped in there we went down to the pool, we started putting everything away from the pool, their umbrellas, the chairs. And it was the see everybody just lend a hand in that showed me what was says right here, basically, and Deuteronomy 17, or 1817 and 80.

Dan Wheeler:

Right, we got to keep moving. Number three is a form of praise and worship. Now, if you're listening and you're saying wow, giving as a form of praise and worship, you don't when you do it with the right spirit and say God, I am so happy and thrilled that I'm able to give back to you just a small portion of what you've given me it is a form of praise and worship. And x 10. Verse two, Cornelius and his family says they were devout God fearing and he gave generously to those in need. Now that's important because he was setting an example for the rest of his family, there wasn't.

Brian Roland:

They have. And that reminds me of my family, too. When I were in high school, and my mom actually was the accountant for the company. And she would she'd get my check. And she would take 10% out of her first thing and say this is what's going on in church. I mean, she always gave me money for church to have to give when I was in Sunday School net, but she was teaching me how to do that on my own. This is what you do. This is the first event, this goes to your college fund. This is what you get as part of this. And she set it up and broke it down for me to give me a budget like that. And always remember that.

Terry Steen:

Yeah, and it's Dan, you talked about the Cornelius story. I think the key to it is that fourth verse that says it wasn't not an angel that came to him and spoke to him. It was an end. Part of it. What was the angel said your prayers and your gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. So there the angel was confirming that those gifts to the poor, his prayers, those things went up to heaven as a form of worship as a memorial gift or offering.

Dan Wheeler:

Yeah, we're talking about offerings. I don't know why guys, quick little side note that's kind of humorous. Do you remember when kids in your class? I remember girls like bringing change wrapped up in a handkerchief and it was time they'd undo the scarf or the handkerchief and give their Yeah. Was that just my church? Okay. Yeah, I remember it. And sometimes my mom would give me the money and say here you put it in the offering. And that was always kind of fun. But I thought I didn't do anything to get this money. I'm just what it is. It's a form of praise and worship now. We give to experience the joy that follows. But a lot of people you know the story of Scrooge, he didn't give he never knew the joy of giving until he had that real change of heart. But I think our attitude is so important to God our attitude about giving and that's why you have it as number four there too.

Terry Steen:

Yeah, and another thing that I think we need to think about is how will we react depending on how they react What if they don't thank you for the gift What if they don't not acknowledge

Dan Wheeler:

So doesn't that bother you? And so it doesn't Yeah, what's your mindset

Terry Steen:

there? Are you giving the gift because God told you to give it and then your joy and reward will be there? It's like in traffic if I stop leave a gap to let a guy pull in to the traffic flow. I expect a wave things Yeah, yeah, if I get one all is good with the world but if they act like they deserved it, and it wasn't important, then I I haven't rear ended them but I have not been happy. I remember the other day you were

Dan Wheeler:

waving at that guy and he waved back but he must have some raw this handle and one finger was I don't know what that was. might

Terry Steen:

think about what's your attitude as we're giving if we expect joy, then we have to do it with the right motive, don't we? He is

Dan Wheeler:

sorry. That was in second Corinthians nine seven each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. That's right. Yeah.

Brian Roland:

That over and Deuteronomy 1510. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart. Then because of To him, because of this, the Lord your God will bless you, in all your work. And in everything you put your hand toward that. Well, everything that we do after that he's going to be working with us. He's going to be blessing us.

Dan Wheeler:

Since you're in Deuteronomy, can

Terry Steen:

you get to Deuteronomy 28. Because there's stories of giving Deuteronomy seems to have a lot about giving in. And so this was important. I mean, God was setting the tone for his people of giving Exactly. Read things. And people ask like, tithing and giving is back in the Old Testament, and that doesn't apply. We're in the New Testament now, and things have totally changed. And that's not the case either, is it? No, is laid a strong foundation in the Old Testament?

Dan Wheeler:

The Lord, you know, when the young man approached him and said, What do I have to do to get into the kingdom of heaven? And the Lord knew he was rich, he said, go and sell all your possessions and, and give them give it to the poor. And, boy, that was a real blow to him. Next, so giving out of obedience to God's Word. We read about that in Deuteronomy 28, one through 13. Brian, you don't have to read it all. But

Brian Roland:

I don't have it all. Okay. But But I do have a actually I wrote it down here to Deuteronomy, 2815 and 16, where it says, but if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God carefully observing all of his commandments and statutes, which I give you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you. May you be cursed in the city, and cursed in the country. So if he's blessing us, and we're not blessing others, you this, we might not see it today. But there's, there's bad times ahead. Yes, he I think he wants us to bless others, because he's blessed us

Dan Wheeler:

true. Now, boy, times really moving along here. But point six, this is the one that blows me away, give as a form of spiritual warfare. What do you mean by that, Terry?

Terry Steen:

Well, you know, there's ways that the enemy tries to defeat us. There's probably plenty of people listening right now, who are in financial stress and financial crisis. And they're not sure how to approach it and what to do. And the Bible tells us basically, still be obedient, give us unto the Lord. And He will take care of the rest, he will defeat the enemy. Deuteronomy 28. Seven, it says, The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. And they'll come at you from one direction but flee from seven. And I'm reminded of a time I got laid off from my work was out of work for four months. And it was like, the only time in my life that I hadn't been working or generating revenue. And it was so interesting how the enemy was trying to take us down and destroy our family during that time. But I finally got another job four months later, and I took the time to look at my savings accounts and my money when I got laid off. And then four months later, when I started my new job, and somehow I had more money in my bank account at the end of that four month period, we can't always explain how God works, but it will be faithful to Him. We can use that generosity as warfare against the enemy.

Dan Wheeler:

Wow, that's great. Well, in Malikai, 310, we read, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, test me in this says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw up and the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. And you know, we've heard we hear so many stories about like what you just said, Terry, about, you know, you had more money in your account. How did that happen? We weren't employed, or people who said, you know, groceries would show up mysteriously on their doorstep. But God does want us to step out and test them and test his faithfulness. He will not, you know, the Bible says, I've been young and now I'm old, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken or a seed begging for breath. He promises to take care of us. For faithful to him.

Terry Steen:

Yes, some people looked for the check in the mail. That's not always how he works. Sometimes he keeps your appliances running for 15 years. Sometimes he lets your car run for 154,000 miles. Thank you, Lord. I mean he works in different ways

Dan Wheeler:

gives right health Yeah, health is a big one. Number seven to increase our intimacy with God. And Matthew 621 says, when we give our gifts to get our hearts will automatically be drawn to the Lord. But there is something that happens when you release that. Give it back to Lord say, this is yours or when you, I'll tell you, there's just such a joy when you help someone and you know, they're a need. And they're, like you said, we always hope they're appreciative. But even if they're not, you're doing what the Lord told you to do.

Terry Steen:

Right? Yeah, that great verse in Matthew For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And when we give somebody our heart, it's interesting how easy it is to be generous, right. And when we give God our heart, it's a great, it's a great illustration as to how easy it is to be generous once the heart gets there.

Dan Wheeler:

And that's our eighth point give to deposit investments and eternity, for what shall it profit a man if he gives the whole world but loses his own soul? You know, when I was talking to Mickey Mantle, and he was crying and telling me that he felt like he just wasted his life that he wished he would have drank and kind of, he never was as good as he could have been to look at a guy like that, that the world thought had everything and it felt like his life was a disappointment. And he felt unworthy to sign autographs, but you know, he did find the Lord near the end, which is just amazing. Because Bobby Richardson kept witnessing to him. Okay, we've got just a few minutes. Number nine give to further develop our Christ like character. Hmm. Well, you think about Christ and His giving, he gave everything he had he gave his life. He laid it down for us. So the least we can do is to give our tithe back to him.

Brian Roland:

I was thinking about your Christ's lead character. That's, I'm sorry, had me standing here.

Dan Wheeler:

Oh. Yes. Well, I'm still working on it, you know, still developing. Kinda like Terry today, he was pumping those one pound pink dumbbells, the gym looked ferocious. But, you know, just as we have to exercise our bodies, Terry, we have to exercise giving and practice it.

Terry Steen:

Yeah, we do. The character of Christ, as we know, is unselfish he gave everything he had for us. So that's one of the key characteristics. If we want to be more like Christ, we have to work on habitually giving. In First Timothy six, it tells us to edge to be generous and ready to share that you can take hold of that which is life. Indeed, it's telling us if you want true life. And I think it also means eternal life. That's the ultimate life that comes from having that Christ like character of giving.

Dan Wheeler:

You know, when I when I saw this last one, I thought, hmm, give to position ourselves for increased blessings. And I thought, well, that's not a reason to get we don't want to give to get But the Bible does say that our blessings will increase and like we've said, Brian, maybe not monetarily, right. Maybe in other ways.

Brian Roland:

Exactly. But you know, it's something you would see telethons in there for years, where they're always saying, given the Lord's gonna give back Yeah, 100% and stuff like that. It's not what it's about. It's about giving willingly that say, Oh, I'm gonna get, you know, making 100% investment. This is what the Lord's instructing us to do, but willingly. And we get blessed back in so many different ways and been what has helped the me as you sit there and think how many how much money is spent in the health industry? Oh, every year, and if you can go through a year, then be healthy. I mean, talk about getting something back. I think that is great. Because it not only is it saving money for you, but it's giving you an opportunity to do more work for the Lord because you're healthy, you can get out there and do something. Yeah. And you can make your life worthwhile. And to you and to the Lord

Dan Wheeler:

Paul said, and Second Corinthians nine, verses six and seven, remember this, whoever sows sparingly, will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly, or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver, boy, it's not what the world thinks is the real key to true success in life giving. But man, it's so true. Just give out of your love for God giving it all back. And boy when you get to that point, you feel like you know, I've I've matured as a Christian. I understand that It is better to give than to receive. And I understand that it's all the Lord's anyway. Final thoughts, Terry? Yeah, I

Terry Steen:

would just think back to what you had said about the rich ruler. And in that verse it talked about if you want to give it all you've got sell all your possessions and give to the poor. But the next line is so telling to me, it says, all your wealth will then be in heaven. Oh, then come follow me. Well, everything we're talking about here and our generosity and our giving, you know, you talk about the U haul, you can't tie the U haul to the back of the hearse. You can't take it with you. Well, this is the one way you can take it with you is to give now with the right attitude, and it will be waiting for us in eternity.

Dan Wheeler:

I think it was it might have been John D. Rockefeller. When he passed away. One of his heirs or one of his family members was asked how much did he leave? And his answer was all of it. Exactly. Yeah. It's your boss. Great. You can take it all with you, Brian. If you deposit those, it's lasted in heaven for eternity. Right.

Brian Roland:

And I think the best thing that comes out of this too is that by giving and giving generously and doing what the Lord instructs us to do is how we finished strong and our age right now in our lifetime, especially the baby boomers, we have to give we have to give we have knowledge to give and we need to be doing that daily.

Dan Wheeler:

Great way to end this podcast. Please share this with your friends and family. Feel free to rate the podcast and and we'll look forward to you joining us on future episodes. have finished strong God bless.

John Matarazzo:

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finish strong and fearless faith. Check out their website F faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong