Glorious Way Church

Budgeting: Go With God | Roadmap To Kingdom Wealth 4 | Joseph Davis

• Joseph Davis

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In this week four session of the five-week “Roadmap to Kingdom Wealth” series, Joseph Davis dives into the biblical principles of budgeting and financial stewardship. Using Proverbs 21:5 as a foundation, he emphasizes planning, diligence, and the certainty of God’s blessings when we faithfully manage our resources. From counting the cost and setting priorities to using modern tools like budgeting apps, listeners will gain practical steps to honor God with their finances and prepare for the abundance He has in store.

SPEAKER_00:

Gather here together to uh dive into session four of a five-week series on the roadmap to kingdom wealth. And I tell you what, it has been an incredible time already. Can I get an amen? Amen. Amen. So I'm excited. Uh, for those of you that don't know me, my name is Joseph Davis, and I'm part of the uh team here, the leadership team here at Glorious Way Church, and I am happy, happy, happy to be here with you this evening. Before we get too far down the road into tonight's message, why don't we take a moment and let's just go before the Lord in prayer? I know God has some great things in store for us, and I don't know about you, but I want to receive everything that He has for me. So let's pray. Father, we are so grateful to you, Lord, for everything that you are doing in this time, this season. Lord, thank you for the privilege that we have to come together tonight as your children to receive, Father, to receive wisdom, to receive revelation, to receive insight and understanding. And so, Father, we just ask right now, Lord, that you would open our ears to hear, our eyes to see, our hearts to receive, Lord, and that we would not miss one nugget of what you have in store for everyone that's present here tonight and everyone that's watching, that they would receive everything that you have. And we thank you for it, Father, in Jesus' name. Let everybody said amen. Amen. And so, as I said a few minutes ago, this is week four of our five-week series on the King of the Roadmap to Kingdom Wealth. And so just a quick review. The first week we had uh a teaching, uh time on charting your course, and that was presented by uh Pastor James and Claire Buntrock. And it was talking about having a plan. How many of you know that in this time in this season, especially this year, we received the word at the beginning of the year that 2025 was going to be a year of milestones. And I don't know about you, but I'm expecting a milestone. Anybody else expecting a milestone? Amen. And I believe God wants to, I believe some of those milestones are going to manifest in the form of our finances. Amen. But you know what? We have a part to play in that. We have something that we have to do. And so they talked about what we need to do as far as having a plan. And then the second week, uh, Pastor Jay and Selena Griner talked about uh outgo, fixing the leaks. How many of you know that God will show you those things that may be leaks? If we're gonna be good stewards, and that's what this is really all about, it's stewardship. If I had to wrap this whole five-week series in one word into and put a bow in it, that bow would say stewardship. Amen. God didn't, he's not sitting here on the throne wringing his hands and stressed out about you or about me or about where we are financially. Why? Because he trusts us, he's called us into his kingdom for such a time as this. But not only did he call us into his kingdom, he's called us to do certain things for him. And how many of you know it takes money to do to accomplish the plan and the will of God? Amen. And who is he gonna do that through? Through us. Amen. And so we're we all of these weeks are talking about stewardship. Week three, we talked about uh income. Uh Pastor James and Claire came back and talked about income and financial fuel. How many landlords do we have in here after last week's session? Any new landlords? Amen. I see one here on the front row. Well, I tell you what, I just I I got a chance to review some of that material today, and wow, that was really good material, and I'm excited to hear the praise reports of what's coming. And then, of course, this is week four, we're gonna uh we're gonna be talking about budgeting. How many of you believe that God was a budgeter? You know, usually as it's it's kind of funny because I kind of have the the um the joke around here that I guess I'm the milestone cheerleader because every time I've gotten up to to bring the word, it's been about milestones. Well, tonight's no different, it's all about milestones. It really is. But you know what? God was a budgeter. As I begin to to prepare for this session and begin to look at the scripture, there were so many different things in the Bible that said God budgeted. And not only did he budget, but he required those that he gave instructions to to know how to budget. And so tonight we're gonna talk about budgeting and how that applies to us. So turn with me, if you will, in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 21, verse 5. That is gonna be our foundation scripture for tonight. And so in Proverbs chapter 21, verse 5, and I've got three different versions I want to read here because there are some words that I saw in each one of the translations that I want to emphasize. So in Proverbs chapter 21, verse 5, the New King James Version says this. It says, the plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty surely to poverty. Say, oh me. Okay, in the Amplified Version, it says this. It says, the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance and advantage. But everyone who acts in haste comes surely to poverty. And then, of course, the new the new international version, the NIV version, says this the plans of the diligent lead to profit. As surely as haste leads to poverty. So many believe that there are some things that we have to do in the budgeting process if we look at it through the lens of God's word. And so, as we look at this scripture tonight for our foundation scripture, I want you to underline three words. I'm gonna go back and read the scripture again from the New King James Version, and I'm gonna stop at the words I want you to underline. The first word is this the plans, underline plans, the plans of the diligent, underline the word diligent, lead surely to plenty, underline the word surely. And so tonight, for our our time in the word, and we're gonna have some time in the word, then we're gonna have some time uh in our breakout groups. But for tonight, I want to focus on those three words in that scripture. The first one being plans, the second one being diligent, and the third one being surely. Now, you may look at surely and say, I'm not I'm not tracking with you on that. I'm not understanding what do you mean by surely? Well, how many of you know the word surely in the Bible is an absolute? Amen. Anytime you see the word surely, that means absolutely God's gonna do something. Absolutely something's gonna happen. It's kind of like verily, verily. When you see him say verily, verily, you know something's about to happen, right? So when we see the word surely, we can take that as an absolute. It doesn't mean maybe, it doesn't mean possibly, it doesn't mean it could be, it means surely, surely it will. And so we're gonna look at that word as well. And so when we look at those three words in the context of budgeting, first of all, before we dive into those three words, we probably need to make sure we're all on the same page about what it means to budget. So I did a little check-in today and went to the dictionary. How many of you still have one of those big books they call a dictionary? All right, we got a few of y'all in here. Okay, but in the dictionary, the word budget, first of all, is described as a noun. And it's it's it's described as this it says an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. And as I begin to read that, I said, an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. Oh, so you mean it's to help you keep track. So when you budget, you are keeping track of what you are spending or how you are spending. Anyone know what I'm talking about? All right, so now let's look at one of the first of the three words that I talked about, and let's look at there as I was preparing for this, I literally found over a hundred scriptures just related to budgeting. Over a hundred scriptures in the Bible, both Old and New Testament, concerning budgeting. Lots of scriptures over in the book of Proverbs. I call it the book of wisdom, and so I'm gonna share several of those with you tonight. But when we look at plans, our plan in relation to budgeting, the first scripture I want to share with you is found in the book of Luke, chapter 14, and verse 28. And I'm reading this one from the New King James Version. It says, For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost? Whether he has enough to finish it. In other words, who's gonna build something? Whether it's your life, who's gonna build that and not figure out what it's gonna take to build it or how much it's gonna take to build it? And so we see right away that God was very serious about budgeting. We see this in the in the New Testament where you've got to count the cost. God counted the cost. The very first example that I see where he really counted the cost was in John 3.16 when it said, For God so loved the world that he gave, he gave heaven's most prized possession for us. And so he counted the cost. Jesus paid the price, but God, I believe God counted the cost. My son, whom I love, who there was no sin in. And so, if we're going to budget, first of all, we need to understand that before we just dive into our spending as stewards, we need to first count the cost. We need to understand how we spend and why we spend and what we spend on. Right? All right. And so my second scripture under the plan is found in the book of Amos. Now, if you don't read the book of Amos, I would encourage you to read it so when you get to heaven and you run into Amos, you can tell it, hey, I read your book. And so in the book of Amos, chapter 3, verse 3, it says, Can two walk unless they are agreed? Well, if you're going to operate under a plan, if you are going to be a planner or a budgeter, if you are married, you both have to agree. Let me say that again because I think I heard an O me in there. If you are married, you both have to agree. What does that mean? That means you can't have he money and she money. Okay, now I know I'm I'm probably meddling now. I'm not preaching a meddling, right? Some of you say, Pastor, I'm gonna need you to mind your business. But if you are going to, if you are going to plan according to God's plan, then you've got to be in agreement. And so that agreement just does not mean you agree in everything else. It means you agree in the important things. You agree on how the money is spent. In our house, my wife and I hadn't made an agreement years ago. When we first got married, I got to tell the story in her because she's not here. She is watching though, but I'm gonna tell the story. When we first got married, um we were we had been married maybe a year or a year and a half, and I was about to go somewhere, and I was leaving the house, and I just happened to be leaving in Flora's car. And so I'm backing out of the garage, I'm backing out her car in the garage, and I'm going somewhere. She runs out, she says, Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. And I'm thinking, what? What? She says, Pop the trunk. And so I open the trunk. I have no idea what's going on in the trunk. And so she walks on the other side of the car, leaned over like this, and I'm thinking, what are you doing? So I get out of the car because I want to know what's going on. My wife's got two big old shopping bags. So she'd been shopping because Foley's had a red apple sale. How many of you remember Foley's? And so I said, Wait, wait a minute, what is all this? Oh, I got it all on sale. Okay. We have to agree. You have to agree. Amen. Amen. So here's another scripture out of the book of wisdom in the book of Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 9. It says, A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. So God doesn't mind you planning as long as you don't get it mixed up and understand that you can plan, but he's going to direct it. And so if you're going to plan, you might as well plan according to his plan. Amen. Proverbs chapter, that same uh Proverbs chapter 19, verse 21, in the New Living Translation says this. It says, you can make plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail. Now a lot of that depends on your attitude and whether you're willing to cooperate with it. 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse 2, the New American Standard Version says this. On the very first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper, so that no collections may need to be made when I come. Now, I focused on the first part of this scripture. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside. And when I saw that, I saw, oh, that means on the first weekday of the week or the first month of the week, or the first day of the month, however you want to look at that, each of you is to put aside. Well, how do you put aside if you don't know what to put aside? How do you do that if you don't know what to do? And so we see there's a there's another foundational scripture for budgeting. Ephesians chapter 1, verse, uh chapter 5, verse 1 in the New Living Translation says this imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. In other words, follow God's instructions, follow God's example. I said at the beginning of the service that I believed God was a budgeter. He knew how to budget, he knew how to plan, he was a planner. Everything that happened as he spoke the world into existence, I think, I believe was part of his plan. So let's talk about being diligent. How many of you know that if you're going to be a planner and if you're going to experience the full measure of God's blessing and be a good steward, then stewardship requires diligence. And diligence and stewardship go hand in hand. Diligence, absence, or stewardship, absence, diligence, or diligence is not optional. Let me just put it that way. Being diligent is not optional. How many of you could use a whole lot more, use double your income and any of that? Make double, two times to three times the amount of money you're making right now. Well, you know what? That doesn't make God nervous, but he wants to first see that he can trust you with it. He wants to first see that you're diligent with what we have. Amen. And so Proverbs chapter 9, chapter 3, verses 9 and 10 says, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase. Oh, wait a minute. So in addition to budgeting, I've got to honor God with with my increase, I've got to honor him. Well, you honor God two ways there. First of all, you honor him by showing him that he can trust you with what you have, and you show him that, or you prove that by giving back to him, returning to him, what belongs to you, what belongs to him. We don't pay the tithe, we return the tithe. That's God's money. Can I say that again? That's God's money. And I am of the opinion that all wealth is created for kingdom purpose. Can I say that again? Some of you get that on the way home. So you mean that what I have in the bank account is really not mine, but it's for the kingdom? Well, yeah. I believe all wealth is created for kingdom purpose. We're living in the last days, and there is a lot to do. And who's he gonna do it through? How is he gonna do it? Through us. Amen. Now, let me be very clear. God doesn't mind you having nice things as long as those nice things don't have you and they are in their proper place. He's not stressing out about you having a nice car or a nice house. But that is not the sole reason and the sole purpose that you're here. And that he's putting wealth into your hands. Amen. And so we have to honor God with our possessions. Proverbs chapter 6, verses 6 through 8. It says, Go to the ant, you sluggard. I don't know about you, but I don't know how I feel about being called a sluggard. Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider his ways, consider her ways, and be wise. Which, having no captain, overseer, or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. So, what do we see? We see an example of someone who's of something or someone who is diligent. Doesn't have anyone looking after her, but she's taking care of her business. And then under diligent, Amos chapter 3 popped up again. You know, diligence requires agreement if you're married. You've got to be, if you're gonna be diligent, you can't be one side of diligence, it's gotta be both sides of diligence. You've both got to be in agreement, you've both got to be comfortable with whatever decisions are made. You've both got to have a say in it. We have a threshold at our house, and before either one of us spends a certain amount over that, we gotta have a conversation. As much as I love cowboy boots, I have to have a conversation first. And there's nothing wrong with that. Why? Because we're in agreement. Luke chapter 16, verse 11 says this, therefore, if you have not been faithful, circle faithful and write diligent, in the unrighteous mamma, on the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to you trust the true riches? You know, we can ask God to give us more, but if we're not doing good, if we're not properly managing or being good stewards of what he's already given us, then how does he, and he's, you know, it's kind of like I said Sunday night, um, people say, oh, I'm waiting on God. No, he's waiting on us to get it right. And one of the things I love about our Father is he will let you take the test again. If you got it wrong the first time, he'll let you take the test again. Now, can I let you know my secret? All of his tests are open book tests. The open book. And so if you hadn't quite figured it out, you just open the book.

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There you go.

SPEAKER_00:

It's open book. But pass the test. Colossians chapter 3, verse 23 says this, and whatever you do, do it heartily, heartily, do it heartily, with what? Diligence. With your whole heart, with diligence, as to the Lord and not to men. And then 1 Timothy, now this one's gonna be kind of painful, especially when we think about us as heads of households, because this is serious. It says this, 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 8, it says this, but if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and it's worth than an unbeliever. That's a pretty strong accusation. That one slapped pretty hard, didn't it? We have a serious responsibility. We serve a serious God, and we have a serious responsibility. Well, how do you how do you conform to this by being faithful? Well, how do you apply this to your your own personal finances? By budgeting. So you make sure you can provide for your family. Now, you may be like me that grew up in a in a house that had no clue. My parents didn't teach us about budgeting. I didn't I didn't have that. I had to learn. I had to ask God to teach me. He's still teaching me. I'm still learning. But you know what? I had a heart to learn. I had a desire to learn. I wanted to show God He can, God, you can trust me. You can trust me. And you know, He's no respectable persons. What He's done for me, what He showed me, and as I said, I'm still learning. What He showed me, He'll show you. All you gotta do is ask. Take it seriously. And then lastly, I want to look at some scriptures related to the word surely, the absolute promise of the blessing. In Psalm chapter 20, verse 4, it says this. It says, May he give you the desire of your heart and make all of your plans succeed. Now I like to take that and put it in past tense and says, He has given me the desires of my heart. Well, when does that happen? When when when he begins to bless me for faithfulness, how many of you know God blesses faithfulness? God blesses diligence. He's a rewarder of those that diligently seek after him. And what happens then? You receive the desires of your heart, especially if your heart's desires concerning finances are in alignment with his desire. He'll give them to you. Proverbs chapter 10, verse 22. Most of you know this. The blessings of the Lord make one what? Rich. One translation says, makes one have an abundance, more than you can handle, and adds no sorrow to it. Well, do you think God's gonna give you more if you can't budget what you have? He wants to, uh, you know, I really wouldn't want to bless you with that extra 20K, but adds no sorrow to it. I like to look at that this way. You know, God wants to bless us and he doesn't want to regret that he blessed us. You know, in the Old Testament, there were times God said, I regret doing that. I don't want God to say that about me in the area of finances. And so we want to receive the abundance of his blessing. Proverbs chapter 28, verse 20 says, A faithful man, underline faithful and right diligent there, will abound with blessings. But he who hastens to be rich will go unpunished. And so we see again, God blesses faithfulness, he blesses diligence, he blesses the plan. And then the last scripture I want to look at concerning surely is in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 8. And most of you should have received all of these scriptures that I just referred to in a handout when you came in tonight. If you didn't, they're at the table. Um, 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 8, in the New Living, the New International Version says this as God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Well, how many of you know that you got a plan and budget and and all for the good works? We're in a time now that there's lots of good works that needs to happen. There's lots of good, I think about all the things we're doing through My God Votes and all of the other activities that Glorious Way Church is involved in, all of the outreach activities. How many of you know that that takes stewardship and all good works? He will bless that. And so tonight we've looked at a little bit at what the Bible says about this, and so I want to turn my attention and your attention to some of the things that we can talk about in regards to some personal budgeting, budgeting things and some uh some practical steps. And so let's see, you guys can't see what there we go. All right, so let's talk about this in terms of personal budgeting. So we've talked about what the Bible says. Now let's break it down and let's be a little bit more practical on what we can do. Some practical steps. The first step you can do and you should do if you're gonna budget is pray. That is the very first thing you should do. Pray. Ask God what to do, ask him how to do, ask him to help you. Repent if you need to. Whatever you gotta do to get in the right posture in the right place. Why am I saying that is because God wants to bless you. He wants to increase you, he wants to prosper you. 3rd John 2, beloved above all things. I wish that thou may prosper. You ever wonder why that word was the first wish? And yeah, you can say, well, he was talking about prospering in the things of God. I believe it was more than just that, because if you prosper in the things of God, then all of the other things tied to that come with that. It's like seeking God's face, his hand comes with this face. Right? And so pray. Proverbs 3, chapter 3, verse 5 and 6. You know it, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lead not to your own understanding, and in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will. Not maybe he will direct your path. Jeremiah 33 and 3, call unto me, and I will answer you. And so the very first thing that you should do as you start this process, if you're not doing it, and I'm not gonna ask anybody, I'm not gonna ask you to show me hands who's not budgeting, but I'm just giving you some things that you can't do. And I believe the Holy Spirit's gonna speak to your heart and help you make some course corrections. So pray. The next thing you should do after you've prayed is choose a tool. We live in a day and time that there are more resources available and more technology out there than we can shake a stick at. And I'm I'm I'm telling you, I'm thankful for that my kids keep me relevant, they help me out. Choose a tool. Maybe it's web-based. Maybe there's something on the on the on the on the web that you can use, and I'm gonna show you some of those here in a minute. Or maybe it's app-based. How many of you use a lot of apps on your phone? All you gotta do is go to the app store, whether you're an Android user or an Apple user, go to the app store and just type in personal budgeting. And you will be amazed at how many resources will pop up. Now, some are free, some aren't free, but they're there, and they're all different price ranges. And so there really isn't even an excuse anymore to, well, you know, I don't know about that old budget and stuff. Well, now they they've removed all of that from you. So choose a choose a tool, choose something. Now, if you just happen to be one of those that you just flat out refuse to use technology, look, go old school, okay? I don't care. Whatever it takes, if you want to go note, pad, and pencil, do it. Do it. Why? Because you want to you want to get to that place where you are managing what you have so you can have more. Do it. What am I saying? We have a part to play. And when we do our part, God absolutely will do his part. Surely he will do his part. Here's another practical step. Set priorities. When you start the process of budgeting, you should absolutely set some priorities. Set priorities in the area of giving, set priorities in the area of saving. And if you're in debt, set priority in dealing with debt. How are you? How quickly can you get out? How quickly can you resolve it? How quickly can you pay things off? And you know what? If you'll go back to the first step that I said with pray and ask God, God's got a way of escape. He's got a plan. And he's waiting on you to ask him for the plan. And he'll show you. Why do I have giving up there as a priority? I'm amazed at how many people can't, because they don't know where it all goes. They don't, they don't, they don't, they don't see it. They got it, but then it's like a uh a pocket with a hole in it. And you well, I want to give. You know what? I want you to give too. God wants you to give. Not that we, not that the church wants your money. Look, we want you to give to be blessed. Amen. We want you blessed. And then here's another practical step. Once you've started the process of budgeting, don't put it on autopilot. Maybe you are a month once a month or where you go in and you drop your numbers in to whatever application or whatever tool you're using. Well, at the end of the month, give yourself a checkup. Take a look at your progress. See how you did. If you said you were going to spend this amount, see if you spent that. If you spent more, then okay, maybe you need to work on that. If you spent less, then woohoo, you've got something to go to your savings or something to go towards debt. But you won't know that if you don't have anything to tell you that. So you want to review your progress. And then once you review your progress, make those adjustments if you need to. Whatever that progress report tells you, that's what I call a budget at the end of the month. You know, corporations, they have a month-in report, and that report tells you what you did for the month. Whether you were owned budget on this, item or under budget on this, item, or over budget on it in another area. Okay? But that's what you use to gauge. Why do help call why do corporations do that? It's called stewardship. And so this will help you with being a steward. And then the most important thing on that is once you reviewed your progress, keep going. Even if you're discouraged by what you see, keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Father, I blew it this month, but help me with next month. And you know what? He will. He'll do it. He will do it. Now I want to show you a couple of things that I found out today when I was doing a little research. And so when I was talking earlier about budgeting, how many of you are familiar with Chat GPT? This is for you high-tech folks. Real high-tech. Okay. And the wannabe tech folks, raise your hand up too, so you won't blow well, you so you'll look cool. Chat GPT can be your friend. Don't be afraid of it. Oh, that's the devil. Well, you know what? Make the devil work for you. Bow. Plead the blood of Jesus over your computer before you start in the name of Jesus. And use it. Make it work for you. Make it work. But ChatGPT, you can do something as simple as saying, hey, show me all of the free budgeting, personal budgeting applications. And you know what Chat GPT did? When I asked that, it showed me five right off the bat. It showed me mint, told me what it offers, told me why I should use it, told me what I should watch for. Then it showed me good budget. Told me what it offers, why I should use it, things to check for, pocket guard. Now, you may not need something that's elaborate, but I'm just saying, I'm just presenting all this to tell you that there are there is something out there for you. Every dollar. Now, this is a Dave Ramsey product, but it's, you know, if you are, if you are already doing some form of budgeting, and maybe you're an envelope, an envelope stuffer, maybe you're an envelope person. They've got applications right here that complement that. If you're already doing something, here's something, and take it up a notch. It's there. And then it came back and said, Well, you know, we've showed you some things, but if you want me to do some comparisons for you, I'll compare some and I'll throw a few more in the mix. So it went from five to eight and it did a comparison for me. Now that's really small print, but it did a comparison for me. And so I could compare, I'll try that clear. Make it bigger. It did a comparison for me. And so again, there's technology out there to help you with whatever it is you're trying to accomplish. Now, if you are one of those people that absolutely are scared to death of using Chat GPT in that way, there's hope for you. Because if you don't want to take the time to have Chat GPT tell you what's available, ChatGP will do the work for you. It's like, are you kidding me? Yes, I'm serious. So I pulled up ChatGPT and said, Can you prepare a personal budget for me? And ChatGPT says, Absolutely, exclamation point. I can build a personal budget for you, either a single monthly plan or a detailed spreadsheet style one. Whatever you want. And it said, All you gotta do is tell me a few things. I'm gonna ask you some questions, you give me the answers, and I'll put it in a budget spreadsheet format for you. One that you can use every month. Wow. We've evolved to that. That's what we are. Now, if you are one of those and you're still holding out, come on. Okay, I'm not gonna ask any holdouts to hold their hand up. I'm not gonna do that to you. But if you are a holdout and you're still holding out, I've got one last thing here for you. Okay, how many where are my old school people in the house? Okay. XL is my friend. Okay, I am a spreadsheet nerd. I'm sorry. Love him. Okay. So I got it. I got my amen section working. Okay, but this is something that I found that's on the internet that's free. You download it, and you can customize it. You can change it to work, and that's really small. Um, but you can customize it and you just fill in the fill in the numbers. Let's see, it shows you you fill in your budget, what you're budgeting for your rent or your mortgage, you fill that in, or actually that's your income. You fill it in on your income, and then there's a section for expenses, and it'll do all of the work for you. And then over here, where it has some red, it'll show you how you did at the end of the month. We don't want red. That's right. You red is not our friend. Red is not our friend. But there are things you can do to utilize, there are tools available to you to help you. And so you don't have to be afraid or intimidated or nervous. I remember one time I was stressing out about something, and I finally heard the Lord say, I've got more confidence in you than you have in you. That's what God is saying to us about our finances. I've got more confidence in you to get this right because I want to bless you than you have in you. Amen. Amen. And so that's all I got for you tonight. Amen. Praise God. Amen. God wants us to prosper, He wants us to be blessed. And how do we do that? By budgeting, managing what we have. So, and actually, as you as you manage what you have, you're preparing for what you're going to have. Managing what you have is preparation for what you're going to have. I like that. Let me say that one more time. Managing what you have is preparation for what you will have. That's faith. That works. Amen. Well, how do you do that? By budgeting. Amen.