55. Bank Collapses and Good Investing

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Welcome back to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 55 bank collapses and good investing

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In 1983 John Scully was the president of Pepsi Corporation He had poured his life into that company and built it in to one of America's most iconic brands

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By all accounts. He was on top of the world, but in 1983 his life would dramatically change with just a few simple words

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Insert Steve Jobs Steve Jobs was the genius upstart entrepreneur who founded and founded

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Apple He had a brand new company and visionary ideas, but he was untested unproven and frankly

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Just a little bit unstable Yet in 1983 he delivered one of the most incredible sales pitch that have ever been recorded

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When courting John Scully to leave Pepsi and to come to Apple this is What Jobs said?

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He said John Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?

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that proposal Push Scully over the edge At that moment John Scully left everything that he had built in Pepsi to follow jobs and change the world

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And in a way they did Now I appreciate this story so much because it perfectly articulates how frivolous that it would be to build a life on something like sugar water but I also don't like this story because Steve's alternative to that of Pepsi is no better To build your life on gadgets and tech would be just as meaningless as an empire of liquid sugar

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Which it most certainly has been most recently this has become ever more clear as tech stocks are plummeting tech friendly banks are going insolvent and The entire industry is gearing up for what looks like a massive recession

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If that were not enough big tech hasn't delivered on any of its promises either Case in point

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Facebook's mission statement is to give people the power to build community and to bring the world closer together

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Well, that sounds great except that it hasn't quite done that Instead in the

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Twitter Instagram Facebook and tick -tock world people have become more divided More isolated and less able to have meaningful dialogue conflict or relationships than ever

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All you have to do is look at the world around us and you can see it. No one seems to be happy People are polarized.

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They're angry at one another Activism is fracturing people into increasingly small and Smaller victim classes law and order seems to be eroding the fabric of society is unraveling as we speak

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We really are no better in the Steve Jobs era than we were in the

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Pepsi Cola era Any person who is being objective can see this?

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Now with that I think it's time for a new sales pitch and I'm not gonna come up with anything particularly catchy here, but if you want to change the world limit your investing to the limited and Maximize your investment in the infinite.

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How do we do that? Well, the first thing that we need to do is invest in a faithful Church Instead of investing in Pepsi or Apple which are not wrong in and of themselves invest in a community

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That believes the gospel of Jesus Christ and preaches it as if their life depended on it

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Invest in a church that understands the disease of sin and liberally offers Christ is the only cure

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Invest in a church that doesn't bend its knee to the world or woke culture But instead stands upon God's immutable and eternal word now how can we actually invest in something like this woman offer you three suggestions and Then also one reminder just as we close

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Number one you can invest your time one of the best ways to change the world is to get married have lots of kids raise them up in the fear and admonition of the

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Lord and teach that Little domestic army to invest their life their time and their passions into a local faithful church

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To fight to be there when the doors are open and to value participation in that community to help that church accomplish

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Accomplish its mission to listen intently to the sermons and a walk away Chewing upon the truth and the doctrine of the gospel that has been preached that week so that they can live

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Differently that same week in their lives it involves teaching our families to be present and active in the community and to get and To give their lives for the very thing that Jesus gave his life for which is his bride

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It also involves teaching our children how to go to work To the glory of God how not to place their hope in their career and make it an idol

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But how to how to build Jesus's kingdom through God glorifying labor in their vocation

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Paul says in Colossians 3 23 Whatever you do work hardly is for the

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Lord and not for men See also Proverbs 16 3 This will do more and what

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I mean is working hardly into the Lord that will do more to change the world than anything else that we could give our lives to when we go to work

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We do not give our time ultimately speaking to our bosses we are not First and foremost constructing corporate castles or our

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CEO's visionary Empire. We go to work Yes, but our hope is not in the sugar water or the gadgets or the politics or whatever other

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Bankrupted idol that our vocations are offering up to us to put our hope in no, that's not why we work

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That would be not only a mistake, but it would be a colossal waste of the precious time that God has given us instead

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Let us live move and have our being to the glory of God when we work

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Let us work to the Lord Let us work for him He is our over mastering passion in our vocation and with the time that we have

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Remaining and I mean the time that that we're not sleeping and that we're not at work And we're not at home in the time that we have remaining let us invest in the only institution or organization

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That will last forever and that is the Church of Jesus Christ invest your time into Something that's gonna matter something's gonna be here something that moth and rust cannot destroy number two invest your talents

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Maybe no one's ever told you this before but God has uniquely designed you With talents and passions that were given so that you can bless the world and his church he gave you all of the skills the likes the dislikes the interest the personalities and the talents that you now possess and He has placed you exactly where he wants you to be to have an eternal impact

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If you're a Christian He has uniquely gifted you by the power of the Spirit of God To use your gifts and your talents to serve him to bless the world and to serve his local church

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Now don't get me wrong I'm not talking about serving at church as in making coffee on Sundays or handing out bulletins

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Now there's nothing wrong with that, but God's designed you for so much more than that I'm talking about using your gift of hospitality to have people in your home

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I'm referring to your gift of stewardship and creativity as the reason that you can start

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Companies that glorify God and build good products for people that aren't that aren't always virtue signaling

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I'm talking about generosity and the way that you can financially give more to the kingdom of God I'm speaking about your gift of encouragement or empathy in biblical counseling settings or your your gift for Languages to be used in translation projects so that more people can have the scriptures

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I'm talking about gifts of teaching and discipleship that will help raise up faithful children in homes and come alongside

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Young men and women in the community to make them more Discipled more in love with Jesus more obedient to what

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Jesus told them to do. I'm talking about using your gifts to build the kingdom And when you consider that And we consider that the fact that the church is called to baptize and disciple the nation's

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Matthew 28 19 and that it's called to extend Jesus's kingdom all over the entire world acts 1 8 and how

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That kingdom is gonna cover the entire earth as the water covers the sea Habakkuk 2 14 and and how it's gonna do that Until every single one of Jesus enemies have been put down psalm 110 until his government reigns unrivaled over the entire world

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Isaiah 9 7 when you understand how big the mission is You also understand that it encompasses so much more than handing out coffee and folded papers on Sunday The mission of God is not a one -hour duty made to make sure that you pull off a church program

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The mission of God is all of Christ for all of life now most people reading this blog are also gonna spend a significant maybe even the majority of their time at A job, which is that's okay.

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My point is not to make Your job that's hung loss I don't want you to make your job the end of your existence the the very purpose for your labors

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No, no, no. No, that's not why you work instead use your job as An opportunity to give glory to God Find creative ways to leverage your vocation to build

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Jesus's kingdom Live with that end in mind the end of glorifying

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God and enjoying enjoying him forever. That's your purpose live Like that and use all your time and your talents to accomplish that that is how we change the world number three

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Invest your treasure One of the fundamental principles of financial investment is

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Is a desire to make a return that's not a bad thing No one wants to invest in something that loses instead we want to know that the very thing that we've

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Invested in is gonna grow or it's gonna multiply and it's gonna become something more. That's a good thing Well, what better thing could we invest in than the kingdom of God?

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Every life that hears the gospel and responds and faith bears an eternal return

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No bond hedge fund or mortgage -backed security can give us that Now again, those things are not bad

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I invest in the stock market or I invest in a 401k or a retirement plan

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I'm not saying don't invest in those things I'm just saying also invest in the thing that matters more than anything and that's the kingdom of God Every incremental advancement that someone has in spiritual maturity

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Through the ministry of the church through the ministry of you and their life will pay dividends forever

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Think about it this way as a faithful church preaches the gospel hundreds of people are gonna be growing in grace together and They're gonna be more equipped to be sent out

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Monday through Saturday into their community jobs lives friends and everything else to be Missionaries that are gonna help bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the sick and broken land.

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What other organization can boast of that? What other organization has that kind of return or that kind of yield upon an investment?

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What group of people has that kind of truth that can bring us that kind of freedom? Is it the banks?

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That are teetering on the verge of collapse in this country. Hardly is It Wall Street that whimpers every time

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Jerome Powell speaks no again, is It the US dollar that's backed by the full faith and credit of this collapsing

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Empire Not even remotely There's only one organization on planet earth

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It's backed by eternal security full faith and credit of the Lord Jesus Christ that always produces an exceptional yield and it's empowered

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By the Living and Holy God, that's the church now again Don't get me wrong here

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I'm not saying that investments retirement accounts or earthly treasures are sinful and that you should not have those things.

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We're not aesthetics We are commanded to care for our family We're commanded to plan for our future and we are commanded to be wise with our resources, which means

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That a portion of our income should go into wise investments but Our portfolios our stock options and our 401ks cannot be our only investment

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We must also invest our treasures and To the only thing that is going to last forever that has no risk whatsoever of insolvency

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That will never collapse and that is the kingdom of God That is how we change the world

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One Reminder before we close Remember your hope as the world around us is reeling from another bank collapse or the threat of war in Ukraine stock market downturns recession inflation instant interest rate hikes and an incompetent administration remember

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Who's in control? We are not ultimately beholden to a schizophrenic market because our hope lies not in that But in the only one who can guarantee our survival and that's

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God The author of Hebrews says like this keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have

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For he has said I will never leave you nor forsake you So we can confidently say the

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Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Hebrews 13 5 through 6

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If you want to change the world dear friends and you want to bring the greatest amount of blessing to the greatest number of people then

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Pepsi Apple Wall Street and too big to Fail banks are just not gonna get us there instead invest in the kingdom of God Give your time your talent your treasure your passion to God's mission on earth pour out your life

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Whether you eat or drink or work or rest or whatever you do do it with that aim in mind that it is for the glory of God be both a hearer of the word and a doer of the word and you will bear 30 60 or Even a hundred fold as an eternal yield and reward from your father that Is how we change the world?

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Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the podcast so blessed that you are tuning in I don't know if I mentioned this in a previous episode or not, but we're up over a hundred subscribers now

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Which is a great milestone. Let's get to 200 subscribers Let's build to 500 subscribers

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Let's continue to get this message out to more and more people because if there's anything that the world needs right now, it's hope

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Bank banks fail our flesh fails the government fails Christ never fails

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So if you will here if you love what I'm doing here you like this content share it We'll see you again next time on the podcast.