Fighting Inflation and the Economy God’s Way #101

High interest rates, unemployment, and financial anxiety have become pervasive in today's society. However, through this insightful conversation, our very own Terry Steen, a Financial Consultant and Former Executive Pastor shares his expertise and intertwines it with biblical principles to provide practical solutions to financial challenges.  Brian and Dan ask Terry the money questions that are on everyone's mind.

This episode covers the purposes of money as outlined in the Bible: meeting basic material needs and helping others in times of need, as well as addressing problems associated with money.   Mortgages, credit card debt and get-rich-quick schemes are tackled with practical ways to avoid them.

Terry highlights the godly principles of money, emphasizing the significance of tithing, being content with what we have, and investing wisely.  If you're seeking guidance on managing your finances in a God-centered way, this episode is a must-watch. Join us as we explore biblical wisdom and practical advice that can help you navigate inflation and the economy with confidence and faith. Subscribe to our channel and visit our website to stay connected and receive further insights on financial matters.

Transcript

Dan Wheeler: 0:02

Well, constantly in the news, we're reading about inflation, the impact that is taking the toll that it's taking on so many people's lives, high interest rates, many people are out of work. And there's so much anxiety and worry and concern as people watch their bills pile higher, and their bank accounts dip lower. Well guess what? God is concerned about your finances. And on this edition of finish strong. We're going to talk about how you can be confident that you're doing the right thing that you are investing in the right ways and you're investing in eternity. And to help us with that. We have a very special guest today. Brian, would you like to introduce him? I think you know this guy.

Brian Roland: 0:48

Sure. I'd be happy to and just tell you that I know he's helped many people and many organizations through their financial needs, and his name is Terry Steen.

Dan Wheeler: 0:58

Terry Steen, I think I've heard of you Terry Steen.

Terry Steen: 1:02

I was hoping the producer would put a huge applause track in there. Now this is a low budget podcast.

Dan Wheeler: 1:13

Seriously though, Terry, you worked as a financial consultant, Vice President of Finance, church, executive pastor, church trustee, board member, workshop seminar, speaker on and on and on. And I just know you as Terry.

Terry Steen: 1:28

That's the way it should be. But the Lord has led me along that path over the course of time as I had gotten my accounting degree and my MBA, but yet that calling on my life, he perfectly in or wove that skill set with ministry, and it's still going on today. And it's been a blast. Yeah,

Dan Wheeler: 1:48

I remember back in college, Terry, when we'd get like a $20 bill in the mail from my dad, and we'd use it wisely. We'd go right to the grocery store and get HC and some hot.

Terry Steen: 2:01

And maybe Tahitian treat

Dan Wheeler: 2:03

the BBC pizza once a while. Brian, I'm sure you were there in those days. Remember, for $1 at Denny's. You could get all you could eat in biscuits and gravy. Boy, did we pile up on that,

Brian Roland: 2:16

too, right around the corner. I remember pay 15 cents a gallon for gas. Wow. Lemon oil.

Dan Wheeler: 2:22

Those are the days you know guys up so much of finances, though I've always felt was common sense. You don't spend more than you take in pretty easy, right? People don't get it

Terry Steen: 2:34

easy. No, in fact that you say that? Just in the first quarter of 2023. There have been over 16,000 bankruptcies in our country. Wow. So unbelievable. Yeah, that really

Dan Wheeler: 2:49

is well. The good news is the Bible has a lot to say about it doesn't

Terry Steen: 2:54

Oh, it really does. Just like every other topic. God's word makes it real clear what we should think about money, how we should use it. The reason he provided it, the problems, the principles of it, there's over 2500 verses that talks about money in the Bible, two thirds of all the parables are on money and on our resources.

Dan Wheeler: 3:18

And we're not going to read them all because we don't know where Terry is, you've kind of broken this into three sections today. And Brian is going to get us into our first section, but you have the purposes of money, the problems with money and the godly principles of money.

Terry Steen: 3:33

Yeah, kind of it kind of runs the course there. The first thing, of course, is the purposes of money. And that's very specific. If we would get these in our head, it would help us walk through the rest of it. But the for purposes of money that the Bible talks about are the basic material needs, that God says all through Scripture that he will provide our need. He doesn't say he'll provide more, he doesn't promise more. Even though he gives us more he promises to meet our need. And so that is the primary purpose of money is to have our needs met. The second one is to support the work of the gospel. That's our calling as Christians. The third one is to help others in need. So after our needs are met, it's important that we turn around and look for the next person that has need. And then the final one is to enjoy the blessings of God and he doesn't leave that out. He talks about how important it is that we are blessed and he wants to bless us. So those four pieces are the primary four areas that create the what money is for.

Brian Roland: 4:49

And the very first part of that is you said to provide basic material needs. Yeah. And I liked that because it's he meets our needs and what needs it wants you to different things will meet the needs and an adverse that I have here over First Timothy, five, eight. So anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. But also down in, in, I'm sorry, verse eight, it says, And if we have food and covering with these, we shall be content. So God provides you provides air force, right?

Terry Steen: 5:31

Yeah, that's right. And then you're

Dan Wheeler: 5:34

talking about supporting the work of the gospel of people, you know, that work in a Christian ministry and everything they need money to, and it's up to the body to provide. We read in Romans 1015. It says, how can they preach unless their son as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, and we all kind of helped to send people out from our various churches and ministries don't.

Terry Steen: 5:59

Yeah, and not everybody can do that. In fact, fearless faith is doing that. But there's other people that can't, and they can support us and many do, so we can get that word out. Right. Same principle.

Brian Roland: 6:13

Yeah. And that is also to help others in times of need, right. And in the Scripture wrestle back that up with as Ephesians 428. Anyone who has been stealing was still no longer to hear that they were doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. I like that.

Dan Wheeler: 6:36

Yeah, yeah. So if you're Brian and I turning in our Bibles really quickly, we're trying to help Terry out, he did a lot of research. God looked up a lot of scriptures, and we're not reading nearly all verses that apply. Well, the next area is to enjoy the blessings of God. And you know, Ecclesiastes talks about that. I love this, Ecclesiastes to 24 and 25, a man could do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction as work. We've obviously found that with fearless faith. This to IC is from the hand of God for without him who can eat or find enjoyment. So it says right there that we do need to eat and drink and enjoy some of the fruits of our labors.

Terry Steen: 7:21

Yeah, yeah, that's good. That's good. So those are the purposes. Now we move into the problems because we're human, right? I mean, sometimes we don't use things that God's given us the way we should. And so I've listed three different areas that are potential problems. And I think once we acknowledge it or realize it, it helps us overcome it. But the first one is dealing with ownership or control of our money. And the first thing we have to do, to follow God's Word with our finances and our resources is understand that God owns everything. We're just the steward. We're just the manager, and he expects us to use it the way he directs us to, but that's not always easy, is it? We want to be in control. It's hard to give that up, isn't it?

Dan Wheeler: 8:19

Yeah. It really is. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? That comes from First Corinthians four, seven. And you know, guys, I've thought about this a lot that, you know, we really don't own anything. It's all been a gift from God's hands. And I like that, Terry, that we need to acknowledge that first and foremost.

Brian Roland: 8:47

And I think one of the main things that can you have written down your tea that I know that I had trouble with is we tried to maintain control and don't want to give it up? And yeah, same as me when we have to Deb and I got married. After a while she goes, I want to read the books for a while, you know, no, no, no, no, no, no, that is what you do. Didn't want to give it up. You. It's like anything you have. If somebody else wants to take it away from you, you don't want them to, but God wants us to hit him in charge of it. Whereas in First Corinthians 2912, it says, wealth and honor come from you. You are the Ruler of all things in your hands are strengthened power to exalt and to give strength to all so we can give this to him trusting and knowing that it's going to be fine.

Terry Steen: 9:29

Yeah, yeah. And in the back of our mind, we still can always know that he can take it away anytime. And if if we get too far out there if we get too prideful, if we get too controlling if we think it's all ours, he has a way of rein in that in and there's examples in the Bible of doing that. The second one is security. You know, we live in an insecure world, don't we? It's full of worry. It's full of anxiety. Yeah. 16,000 bankruptcies. Is there so much insecurity going on in our world today? And we have to learn where our security comes from. And it's not from things. It's not money. It's not our resources. It's not our 401 K. That provides our security.

Dan Wheeler: 10:19

Right? Yeah. Yeah, you've got First Corinthians six, or excuse me, First Timothy six, seven written here. It says, For we brought nothing into the world. And we can take nothing out of it. Yeah. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that, you know, they always say you never see a U haul behind the Hearst. We don't take it with us. But Terry, I'm sure you've seen in ministry, people who, you know, suddenly were very successful, but they failed to give God their tithe, and sometimes they lose it. I mean, you can gain it, you can lose it. It's a roller coaster. Exactly. based on biblical principles.

Terry Steen: 11:00

Exactly. That's the whole process of walking in God's word. And the last one is, you know, the reality is money's not evil. Money's not immoral. Money is actually amoral. And so much of the time we allow money, that love of money, and that's what the Bible says is the root of all evil, the love of it, causes greed, causes jealousy, causes comparisons causes selfishness. If we all stopped to think for a minute, I'm sure there's one of those four areas that we can immediately go Oh, yeah, I've done that.

Brian Roland: 11:44

You know, it's true. I was just thinking when when you were speaking there, that we've known people I've known myself known other people, known ministries that have fallen because of this. And it's amazing because yeah, what money that what a grip that it has on you. And First Timothy 610, it says, For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs isn't seen it? We've what we've all seen it.

Terry Steen: 12:14

Yeah. And then Luke, it says, life doesn't consist of the abundance of possessions. So it's talking about life, we can allow our life to be overtaken by possessions. You remember the rich man that came up to Jesus said, What do I do need to do to have eternal life? Yeah. And Jesus said, give everything away. And you can, and obviously, he doesn't expects us to give everything away. But he knew this was the rich guy. And he knew that that was his Achilles heel. And he went away. Sad. And,

Dan Wheeler: 12:46

yeah, boy, he really hit him between the eyes there. And you know, as we move into your third area, the godly principles of money. I think one thing that's kind of a big shock to people is the principle of the tight.

Terry Steen: 13:00

Yeah, that's true. That's true. And, and I would say, as we get into God's principles of money, I've got six specific things. And they're very practical for the most part, that I think if we all rally around, it will have a huge impact on how God blesses our finances. But these are principles. These are not laws, he doesn't punish the Violator, if he if he lays this out, they're not commandments. And if you don't do it, it doesn't mean he's going to punish you, but you won't be blessed either. These are things he expects you to do to have a blessing. And the first one is just what you're saying, Dan, honor the Lord first, before everything else you do. Before anything else. Give the Lord your time.

Dan Wheeler: 13:49

Yes, good. And proverbs three, nine, and 10 says, Honor the Lord with your wealth with the first fruits of all your crops, then your barns will be filled to overflowing. Your fats will brim over with new wine. Brian, I'm sure your mom told you the same thing my mom did. She said, pay the Lord first.

Brian Roland: 14:05

It's always great. She'd always say that to me. nerfect. Or I worked that when I first first couple of jobs that I had, that she was the accountant or the bookkeeper and the office manager for it. And she used to just take it out automatically. For a while there. I'm going I don't understand this because she was just saying, Here's your money. She was tough. She was this is what's going on in the church. This is what gone in the bank decisions. And subsidiary one, okay, just taken it. And finally I just said, Hey, look, I gotta figure this one out. Because I gotta know. I gotta see it, and I gotta feel it and make sure I'm putting it in the right places. So she taught me that way, though, which first she was just handling for me. So I have my own personal account.

Terry Steen: 14:47

And what we don't understand and sometimes we'll never figure out is why God can make 90% of your money, right go further than 100% Without honoring him It isn't that the time, let God use the 90%, he tells us don't try and serve two masters, you can't do it, you cannot serve the world and serve God. So you have to that's the first thing you've got to do is come to that conclusion that God's the most important, I'll honor him. First, I'll give out a love, I'll give out of obedience. Right. And the next one is a great byproduct of honoring God. And that's being content with what we have. That's a conscious decision to be content. We talked about the security, the problem of security, if we're not secure in God, then and we try to let money bring us security, it's not going to work is it but he tells us to be content, you need peace in your life, in the area of finances, learn to be content with what you have.

Brian Roland: 15:55

I know people that have that have made a lot of money. And that to them, it becomes a game because they just want to make more. And they're not content is never satisfied, right? It's always going to push to their next mark push to their next bar, and enthusiasts these 510 and 12. It says or 510. It says Whoever loves money, never has enough just like that. Whoever loves well is never satisfied with their income. This too, is meaningless. With his folks.

Terry Steen: 16:26

Yeah,

Dan Wheeler: 16:27

right. You know, my daughter has a great sign in the bathroom where I stay when I go visit her in South Dakota. It says, loving what you have. makes what you have enough. And I just think that's brilliant. You know? Yeah,

Terry Steen: 16:44

I like that. Yeah, like that. I remember in Proverbs, I think it's the 30th chapter. There's that prayer. Were whoever was praying it. I don't know who it was. But it said, don't make me rich. Don't make me poor. Give me just enough. If you give me too much, I might reject you. If you give me too little, I might steal and disgrace you. So we just need to be content with what he's given us.

Brian Roland: 17:14

In Ecclesiastes, which I was saying in 510. If you look at verse 12, it says, the sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but for the rich, their abundance permits them. No sleep isn't amazing.

Terry Steen: 17:28

Yeah, you go out and buy a boat and you can have a headache and be frustrated for ever, it can cause you

Dan Wheeler: 17:37

to slip and I was getting frustrated. Everything kept flowing into mice. In Proverbs 2117, says he loves pleasure will become poor, whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich. So again, now that's the

Terry Steen: 17:57

point of not worrying about material things we can live for pleasure, we can't worry about that. That's where we have to turn it over to the Lord. So those two points go kind of hand in hand on being content that creates not worrying. And those two are pieces of God's principles, with money that allow us to really live victoriously and live a life that He wants us to live. And then the last three are really very practical. Yeah, financial business decisions, and one is stay out of debt. Yeah. Hey, Terry. Yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 18:37

Can I borrow$10,000?

Terry Steen: 18:39

No, I'm sorry. Okay.

Dan Wheeler: 18:41

I just Oh, you just told me to steal that. I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. You know how I don't pay attention to us. That was a joke, folks. That was in a toxic humor gone.

Terry Steen: 18:52

I'm sure we can edit that out. Yeah. We only leave the funny stuff in. And when I say no debt, I mean, that's referring to having bills that you can't I mean, the dead is having bills that you can't pay. Yeah. And it's also when people wonder about your mortgage, I refer to it when the liability exceeds the asset value. So it's one thing to have a mortgage on your home, when you have something of value that you could the next day pay off that mortgage. That's one thing, but to just have debt on depreciable stuff, to have just commercial debt to have a car loan to have various debts that if you ran into some real financial trouble, you would have trouble paying that and could get yourself into real trouble. That's something that God's word says not to do. I'm sure you guys have a few verses for that. I have

Brian Roland: 19:50

one right here and it's in Romans 13 Eight or Paul said, Let no debt remain outstanding. And he says right up front, let no limit Let no debt remain out. Standing, but I like this except that continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. It isn't that what Christ said, I want to love one another as I love you. And that's it. That was beautiful. We put that take care of your bills, but you continue to love.

Dan Wheeler: 20:19

And I've got another one for a proverbs 22. Seven says the rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. So you actually become when you're in debt, you're like in servitude to someone they own

Terry Steen: 20:36

bondage in essence to that debt.

Brian Roland: 20:39

Does that is it also pertain to sick to running a second for somebody on a loan? Sure, or CO signing? I mean?

Terry Steen: 20:48

Sure, sure. Yeah. I mean, you might do that for a family member or somebody out of love. But you need to make sure if you do that, that you have the resources to take care of that or the assets to take care of that if something should go south where they couldn't pay it, and use wisdom before you make that kind of decision. That's something Karen and I, we'd never, we only one time in our whole lives had a car loan, what we did is we would buy the car, and then we begin putting money aside for the next car. Right? When it came time, whatever we had, we bought the next car, so we never had debt there. We use credit cards, but we never let them go beyond the normal monthly payments. So there was no credit card debt, and we only had our mortgage, and we plan that payout that it would be paid off when I retired. So our goal was in retirement to have no debt and the Lord was kind enough to allow us to do that.

Dan Wheeler: 21:52

Well really, when you look at stay out of debt, point four, it goes back to point two, you're not content with what you have having to have more having to keep up with your neighbor having to drive a new car. I think a brand new car is one of the worst investments you can make. And you know, you guys know me I'm doing all right. But my car has 160 miles, right. I love it. I love it. It's like a badge of honor, I wear that look at the value I got out of this.

Terry Steen: 22:19

Culture does what culture does drives me crazy. Because you look at karke advertisements and commercials. They don't tell you the price of the car, right? Tell you the monthly payment. Right? Yeah. So they want you to build it into your budget. And it's a huge debt. Yeah, that's going to sap your cash flow. But that's where society is for the most part. So I

Brian Roland: 22:43

remember getting out of school, Mike, I had a car payment, there was $160 a month. And my mother almost went through the roof. Payment lesson well, I don't have a house payments, I got a car payment.

Terry Steen: 22:54

And you know, average payments now are five to 700. On my goodness, wow, average car payments. Brian,

Dan Wheeler: 23:01

it's a good thing. I bought that life insurance policy from and held.

Terry Steen: 23:12

Back in college, right,

Dan Wheeler: 23:13

yeah. I remember when my hair started falling out. It was because it was a correlation there. So in the interest of time, guys, we get to keep moving. What's the fifth point there?

Terry Steen: 23:25

Terry? Yeah, we got two more points. One is to invest wisely. And and that includes listening to wise counsel. It includes not the not falling for the get rich schemes. And it also when we talk about investment from a spiritual standpoint, we're not talking so much the temporary investment, as we are the internal investment. So we can go back and talk about that. But that's kind of what the Bible talks when it talks investing.

Dan Wheeler: 23:57

Yeah, in the interest of time, I'm not going to read the verse, but there's a lot of counsel in Proverbs about listening to wise counsel. Yeah. Then Brian, you get the next point I do.

Brian Roland: 24:07

And so what he says there is that in Proverbs 2820, and 20, to a faithful person will be richly blessed. But when eager to get rich, will not go ah, the stingy are eager to get rich and are unaware of that poverty awaits them.

Terry Steen: 24:23

And it's so you know, society really makes that sound really attractive, doesn't it? You know how many people go and buy a lottery ticket when it gets up into the millions and millions and millions of dollars? I just read that last year. There was a $1 billion loss on people that played blackjack. Oh my goodness, gamma lottery, that whole rich quick scheme, never you never win and God tells us that in Scripture. Wow, we we need to be thinking eternally and the final one is Probably it's a dirty word. Nobody wants to hear it. Budget. Live by a budget that if you got to do your homework, count the costs, the bottom line is you live within your means. And if you'll do those things that God's laid out in Scripture, you can overcome the inflation, the economic chaos that's in the world today. And you can meet all of your financial obligations. Hopefully, it will include a process where you get your finances in order, you can begin putting away for retirement, and still have plenty to give to the kingdom. Taryn, could you address

Dan Wheeler: 25:48

a one other thing that I think gets a lot of people in trouble? And that's credit card debt and the crazy interest rates? Yeah, what would you say to someone that's got a lot of credit card debt right now? What practical steps can they take to get out of that?

Terry Steen: 26:02

Yeah, that's a good point, Dan. And I've taught Dave Ramsey's financial university classes and he's he does a great job on pounding the drum on debt and not to get into debt. And he says, if you're in debt now, first of all, he says get $1,000 in savings right away for emergencies. Because that's usually, if somebody, I'm not going to use a credit card, I'm not going to use a credit card. But it's something comes up. Breaks. Yeah. And then it starts snowballing. So they need to get a little emergency cash aside to keep that from happening. But if it does, then you need to set it all out in order and begin with the smallest payment and or the smallest balance due right and try to knock that out. And then take the money that you were paying to that put it on the next one, put it on the next one, and try to live within your means and live as smallest possible. So you can apply it to you can get that paid off because you're right, Dan, those rates. I don't have the IP give you an example financially, but we're talking in the 20 some percent, which is insane on that kind of money. Money. You're paying that fee. If someone slips into that hole and can't get out. You talk about drowning. Yeah, yeah. Depression. Yep. Everything else. Yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 27:31

Well, good, practical advice, and in good biblical advice. Terry, there's a lot of financial advisors out there, boy, but if you can find someone that will steer you in the way of biblical principles, I mean, the Lord, you were telling me earlier today, Terry, the Lord talked a lot about money, a lot of verses like 2500, did you say versus Hey, you know, what? Why do you think the Lord emphasized that money and treasures? Well, he knew

Terry Steen: 27:58

that we're a selfish people. He knew that we like power, he knew that we fought last. He knows everything about us. And he knows that life can center around our resources. And he also knew that we shouldn't serve two masters. He wanted to be the one served. But yet our flesh makes us begin serving Money makes us begin serving all those other things. So I think he realized that I better really address this because it's going to be one of the biggest challenges that a human has to overcome.

Brian Roland: 28:42

Yeah, interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 28:45

Well, don't tell you, Brian, he made a pretty good guest. And he will tell

Brian Roland: 28:49

you is very good. I think we should take this on the road, basically. Good.

Terry Steen: 28:54

Yeah. I might add that if someone wants to read more, or get into deeper scripture on that, we should somehow be able to provide some of those scriptures and maybe the outline, but I would recommend someone going to First Timothy, reading the fifth and sixth chapter, and then read Proverbs. Yeah. If you'll read in those areas. There is so much that God talks about money throughout those two pieces of Scripture,

Dan Wheeler: 29:27

right? Maybe we can, you know, people who get on our mailing list down the road here in the not too distant future, you could maybe recap some of this. So if you're not on our email list, go to our website, F faith.org. www dot F faith.org. There's a place up at the top it says Connect, get that button and just send us your email and we'll stay in touch. Yeah, perfect. Well, guys, we've already gone over 30 minutes. Terry, could you say a quick prayer for our audience and then we're gonna have to wrap this one up.

Terry Steen: 29:56

Yes, sir. Father, we love you Lord, we thank You for Your word and what teaches us we know the importance of putting you first and honoring you, Lord. And I pray that pray that anyone listening right now if they're in a financial stress and in a bad situation and know they don't handle their money, Well, God that you would allow them to come before you ask for that forgiveness and give them the wisdom to help putting the proper plan together, to begin to live with the principles that you've established God and we know that when they do that, you'll honor it, you'll help them. You'll give them peace, contentment, and resolve these issues which will allow them to assist in furthering your kingdom. So we thank You, Lord, for this time together. In Your name, Amen.

Dan Wheeler: 30:44

All right. Thanks, Terry. Thanks, Brian. Thanks, John. It's all part of finishing strong, finish strong by using your finances to glorify God and invest in things that are eternal. Thanks for joining us. Hey, tell your friends about finish strong. Tell them to tune in and I hope that you'll join us next time God bless.

John Matarazzo: 31:06

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