Okay. Yeah. Let's spray and then we'll start. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this time, Lord. We thank you for the wisdom that we have in your word. And we thank you for the opportunity to be able to read, to be able to understand. Lord, we thank you for the wisdom that you bring into our lives, Lord, because you are the Spirit of wisdom. You are the Spirit of revelation. Lord, we thank you that we have you as our God and that you live in us and you abide with us forever, God. We thank you, Master.  We thank you. We give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus' matchless name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay. So last session was about time, right? We looked at the resource, which is time and how to manage time, how to make the best use of this resource. So I hope you were able to apply that. We looked at listening, effective listening. And I've been trying to apply that. I think in a recent conversation, I found myself finishing the last few sentences of the person who was talking. And then I realized, this is not effective listening. I was tempted to finish every last line. And I caught myself doing that. And I was reminded of this. And so it would apply that listening technique or listening, how to be a good listener. And so last class, we looked at time and how to manage time, how to manage time well and how time is the resource. And we looked at some of those practical things, right? Especially when it comes to prioritizing, we saw that we can look at any task or activity and see, is it important? Is it urgent? That grid, if you remember, we looked at that grid. And if it's important and urgent, then we will do that first and so on. So helping in prioritizing things. But first of all, we also need to know what are those tasks and to be able to list down those tasks would help us to prioritize those tasks. And so we can go at it one by one. Just wanted to mention that when it comes to listing down tasks, we might have different areas of responsibilities. Multiple areas, sorry, you might, it's not just one thing that you are maybe in charge of or you're responsible for. You might have multiple areas. So in such instances, it helps to put those in blocks, the areas. And this is also a to-do list, which was developed by, I forget the name of the person, but so he also, he developed that kind of a to-do list where you write your key result areas, the key responsibilities that you need to impact. For example, for me, it could be like worship, responsibility as associate pastor of this location and maybe some, you know, as a Bible college teaching responsibility. So there are three areas already listed and there could be other things like marriage administration and some administrative things or maybe correspondence. So each of these categories, like each of these headings, you could, we could have several tasks and listing that in such a manner helps us to kind of coordinate, you know, helps me to coordinate and see that I don't fall of short in one of the areas. So that it just helps me to be in sync and try to finish all the areas, try to be aware, okay, these are the areas, these are the tasks in each of these areas. So something like that would help also. So I just want to encourage us to apply what we are learning and try out what we are learning and so that we can, you know, discuss about that as also. Okay, so today we are going to look at another resource which is, which God has given us, which is what we think of normally when we, when the term resource, you know, comes to our mind or when we see that word resource, which is, which is material so, which is money, right? So we're going to look at some basics of management of money, okay, basics of management of money. But before that, I just wanted to ask us, you know, about, about our whole outlook on money, because that's going to really impact our management of it, okay. What do you think about money? That's going to affect our decision about money, okay. And if our thinking about money is, well, if it's going to be, you know, what the world normally thinks about money, then of course our decision is going to be, you know, based on that. And it might be, it might be helpful in some cases, not helpful in a lot of cases, so in a lot of scenarios. So it's good for us to get an understanding or have a wholesome, biblical outlook on money even before we think of, you know, management of it, right? So first of all, God is not against money, okay. That is something that I think we looked at it in detail in our financial stewardship course. But God is not against money. He's not against prosperity, okay. When we look at the word prosperity, money is one part of it, right? For example, let's look at a couple of scriptures and then, you know, and then we'll dive right in, okay. So let's look at the third episode of John 3, John and verse 2. John, you know, this is what he prays, okay. He says, Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.  In fact, that's his prayer for the church. He said, Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.  Being successful, being thriving. And then he also says, you know, that you may prosper in all things, okay. In that you may prosper in all things, you know, it's all areas. And he also talks about physical health, you know, and being in health just as your soul prospers. So this is something that he prays for the church. So obviously, it's in line with, you know, with the word of God as he prays. So we, you know, we know that there's something that we can pray for our own lives and say that, you know, Lord, I pray that I'll be, I may prosper in all things and be in health just as my soul prospers. And like I said, you know, prosperity, meaning thriving, being successful in all, all areas, right? And as our soul prospers that's connected as our mind and what we put our mind to and what we think about, what we constantly think on, meditate on our imaginations, our whole outlook on life, right? Everything happens in the realm of the soul, our mind. So to pray that a lot, let my, my soul prosper. Let me thrive and be in health and let it just be successful. Okay, that's another scripture is one Timothy chapter six. Okay, let's turn there on Timothy chapter six and verse 17. Okay, chapter one Timothy chapter six and verse 17. So Paul is commanding Timothy and the church in Ephesus, he's saying command those, command those who are rich in this present age, not to be haughty, not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. Okay, that's first part of the advice or command who gives richly all things to enjoy. Okay, so what is he saying? He's saying command those who are rich in this present age, not to be haughty, not to be proud, not to trust in uncertain riches. So he's qualifying, you know, not to be proud, not to trust in riches because they have that quality of being uncertain. Okay, not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. Okay, so you put your trust in the living God. And the last part is interesting. He says who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Okay, so he's the fine line. No, don't be proud because of material things. Don't put your trust because there are material things, don't put your trust in material things, but you trust in God who richly doesn't hold back abundantly, gives us all things to enjoy. Okay, so, you know, there's something that for us to internalize earlier on, you know, he says love of money is a root of all evil, all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from their faith and their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So he's there's a fine line between loving God, loving money, trusting God, trusting riches. But the thing is this, what I want us to focus on is, you know, the last part of 17 verse 17, which sometimes gets missed out, because it talks about the character of God, it talks about what God's outlook is about a believer handling money about a believer, you know, having money, he says, or receiving money and says God richly gives us, he, you know, gives us richly all things to enjoy. Okay, so, of course, God wants us to be good stewards of it.  God wants us to be generous in helping others and so on. Okay, so, so have that in mind, have that outlook in mind, you know, when, when you're talking about money that God is not against. In fact, in the Psalms, it's written that he takes pleasure, who God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants, prosperity, meaning, you know, all things, including wealth and riches. And, of course, we saw in the Old Testament, all Old Testament sayings and how, you know, God prospered them, God blessed them with all kinds of, you know, material things also, right. So, so God is not against prosperity, God is not against money. And, and so, as long as we understand where our heart is, what are, where do we put our trust, what do we love about all else? Okay, so that's the thing, right. So, just to understand, you know, there could be some hindrances to, you know, to what God wants us to have, wants us to receive when it comes to money, when it comes to finances. And, and the Bible talks about those hindrances, you know, it could be wrong motivation. Okay, wrong motivation, you know, James, James chapter four, the Lord, you know, it's, it's, James writes, and he says, you know, you ask and you do not receive because you ask a miss. Okay, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  So wrong motive for, you know, even asking when it comes to, you know, these finances, wrong methods, which means that, you know, you employ methods which are not righteous. Okay, God is righteous, God is holy. He leads us in righteousness. Sama says, he leads me in parts of righteousness, for his name sake, talking about the good shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, he leads me in parts of righteousness. So he leads us in righteous ways. So the method of obtaining riches need to be righteous. So if it's a wrong motivation, if it's a wrong method that hinders, you know, the us from receiving what God actually has for us. And it could be disobedience, it disobedience in with regard to finances. It could also be the opposition of the enemy because the Lord talks about how the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but he has come to give us life and life in its fullness. The enemy comes to steal, the enemy comes to kill, the enemy comes to destroy. And Malachi talks about Malachi 3 when the Lord talks about giving and typing. He's talking about how the devourer comes to destroy. The devourer comes to destroy. And he will rebuke the devourer for our sakes. So that could be another reason why there are hindrances when it comes to money or it could be lack of wisdom. We don't know how to handle it, some practical wisdom, it could be lack of wisdom. Or it could be effort also, lack of effort. Proverbs 10, you know, Proverbs is full of such wisdom, right? It says, Proverbs 10 and verse 4, he has a slack hand, let me put that verse here. Proverbs 10 and verse 4, he who has a slack hand becomes poor. But he who is, but the hand of the diligent makes rich, meaning that one who is diligent, one who is putting in effort and effort in the right direction with diligence, right? The hand of the diligent makes rich. So it means there is, if their effort put in is not in the right manner, then that is also a hindrance. But the fact is that wisdom, lack of wisdom sometimes is a hindrance and also to what we have, we kind of squander it. We don't know what to do with it, we kind of squander it. Which is really today's topic, which is management of this resource called money. So God is not against it. God is bringing it into your life. And so what do I do with it? How do I steward it? Here are some practical skills that we can look at. So not all of us are born with this skill, not all of us are culturally conditioned. For example, if you were brought up in a family where money was rarely discussed, it was not talked about, it was considered a taboo to talk about money. So there was no wisdom in conversations from the elders, from the heads of the family, or it was maybe information about money, careful that you should always hold on to it and whatever. So we would have grown up and that would have been, that may be part of our thinking, part of our decisions when it comes to money. So it helps for us to, in whatever background that we have come with, whatever, it can change. We can get information, we can change, and we can change for the better when it comes. We can get the skills required when it comes to money. So some of us pride ourselves in the fact that we can handle money really well. Whereas some of us might say, okay, I don't know where it went. I don't know if you've ever had that kind of experience. I had this money in the beginning of the month. I had so much and I knew that I had to spend, but now I don't know where it went. So whatever be the case, it helps us to manage, the Lord says, be diligent to know the state of your flock. That's the wisdom that we see in Proverbs again, to know the state of your flock, meaning, what is it? How much do we have? What is it that we are receiving and so on. So the first thing is when it comes to managing money, it's talking about budget. So what is a budget and how do I budget whatever is coming into my life and what can I do? So what is budget really? Budget is really a simple set of rules, a plan rather, just a plan to make sure that I live within whatever I'm getting, live within my means, and also don't spend beyond my means. So it's a simple plan. It's a simple plan which tracks down the flow of money, how much is coming into my life, how much am I either through whatever business I might be having or employment, so what am I spending it? So maybe some of you are doing it already and you might be able to even share a bit your own thoughts on what you're doing specifically to help budget well. So you might be doing that. So a budget is a simple plan. So how do I go about preparing a budget? How many of you do a monthly budget? Is there something that you have written down somewhere? This is a monthly budget. Anyone? Or you might say I have it in my mind here. These are the expenses. These are the things that I need to take care of. What is that Stephen? Excel means what? Oh, okay, you have it on Excel sheet. Okay. Okay, nice. So I thought Excel extra large budget. Okay, so Stephen does that. It's good for us to have a notebook. Okay, so many times we might think, okay, I'm not making much money anyway. Or you might say, I'm a student so there's not much money that I have anyway. I just get a little bit and whatever fees or other stationery and other expenses and so I don't handle money. So whatever place you are in right now, you could say, I'm a student or I'm ahead of the family or someone else manages the money, it's good for us to do this exercise. So let's look at some of the simple ways by we can prepare about that budget. So the first thing is what is coming in? What is our income? So that is what it means, income. So when you say income, we're talking about salary. We could be talking about contributions. We could be talking about maybe people are gifting something to you. Money that comes in is our income. Sometimes it's, you have some fixed deposit and there's interest that is generated because of it. That is income as well. So it helps to look back and also look at maybe if you want to track. And so income is very, it's easy but it's also good to look where are the other sources of income. Is there some savings there and is it that generating interest? Is there a fixed deposit? Somewhere where we have put some money and that is being a source of income as well. And so maybe you have a house that you have rented and so the people are paying rent, that's an income as well.  Maybe you're taking some tuitions in your spare time, you're teaching children and that's resulting in some generation of money. Maybe you're giving some guitar classes, music lessons, keyboard lessons and that is generating some income. So all these, you think about it. So this is your income, money coming in. So make a record of that. So make a record of that. What they normally say is that you do it for monthly and then you do it for the entire year. This is what comes in monthly, so therefore this is what comes in a year. It's spread out across 12 months. Of course it's expense. What do you spend your money on? Now it's better not to just think about it and write down. Of course we need to think and look at all those various areas of spending and we could also divide that spending into fixed overhead. Like this month, this is something that has to be spent. It could be something like rent, electricity bill, water bill. These are fixed things. Maybe someone comes and helps the house and you need to pay that person. So these are fixed things, school fees. These are fixed things. So one way to do it is of course sit down and think and write but also to look back if you're paying through your card, if you're paying doing online transfers or you use your Google Pay and do that, Google Pay or phone pay or any of those apps to make payments, to look at a statement and see how much do I spend on these things. Maybe firstly to look at what are the fixed spending, fixed overheads, fixed expenditures. Where I stay at the house, I need to pay rent and it has some maintenance expenses towards maybe electricity bill, water bill and somebody who comes to clean the entire housing complex and that goes towards that. Maybe some electricity, some payment towards the lift if there's an elevator in the house in the building and things like that. So look at that and put that down. These are fixed expenditures and this is a simple budget. So we are looking at that. We're not looking at increases and so on. We could do that also. So those are fixed expenditures and then the other thing is non-fixed expenditures which could vary in a particular month. This could be food, this could be travel, this could be when we say travel, you're traveling out of town, long distance traveling for maybe it could be business related travel, work related travel, ministry related travel, or it could be a commute.  So these are non-fixed in the sense, for example, because of the pandemic, there's no necessity to travel to the office. So that was not an expenditure. So for the months that you don't go, so that's not nice. So it varies food also, maybe certain months there was a celebration, birthdays and the families and something. Some celebrations get together and there was some things that were bought in and then maybe you were eating out, right? Celebration, you ordered food, those are the non-fixed expenditure. So you can make a list of that as well. So we looked at income, we looked at fixed expenditure, non-fixed expenditure. So when we delete or when we subtract our essential expenditure from our income, okay, so it could be fixed, it could be non-fixed, when we delete the expenditure from our income, then we are left with the balance amount which could be, you know, which could go into savings or which could also, you know, what is suggested in some cases is that you could set it aside for contingencies, okay? So what do we mean by contingency? Contingency meaning a future event or a circumstance or an emergency or, you know, it may not always be an emergency, it could be something that you're planning for, you know, you want to go on a holiday but you want to do that next year and maybe a certain amount of money can be set aside for that, okay? So what is left, right, is it's what we call as discretionary spending amount, okay? So we set aside for contingency, for emergency and then we have, you know, what is called as a discretionary spending amount, okay? Now it's a simple budget, let me just show, yeah, I'll just project this, you can take a look at it. I hope you can see it, not yet, okay? Okay, you can see that, right? Okay, let me just go through it.  So it'll be good to list down, it'll be good exercise to list down and to see where the money goes, you know, even newspaper, if you're buying newspaper and things like that, okay? So food, housing, food, okay, one second, let me, yeah, housing, food, transportation, okay? So transportation may be maintenance of the vehicles, right? When it comes to transportation, if you have your own vehicle, then there's vehicle insurance, then there's vehicle maintenance, then there's fuel for the vehicle, right, and all those. One other thing that I, you know, I did not mention is loans, right? So those also are an expense, okay? If you have maybe a vehicle loan, you know, if you've taken a loan and bought a vehicle on installment, then monthly, there is an installment amount that goes, right?  So that's an expense.  And okay, some of these may not be applicable, but then, you know, I'm just putting it down here. It's quite an exhaustive list, like childcare, child support, money sent to family, right? So that's something also if you are earning and then, you know, the family is dependent on you, then obviously you spend some money back home, you know, if you're not living with your parents, you send some money back home for the family, for your brothers and sisters, right? So that is there, we can, you know, make a list of that, then, you know, bank loans, credit cards, other things, right?  So this income versus expenses would give us what we, what money that we have left in order to spend. So, yeah, so this pretty, I thought it looked simple and also it listed down, it looked exhaustive as well, right? So you could do this, something like this, I'll put the link, or I'll attach the PDF onto a stream, so you can take a look at it. And I'm sure that there are other, like what Stephen was saying, you know, you can just use a simple Excel sheet to enter this thing. And there are plenty of templates, okay? Templates meaning they're already set Excel sheets with all these kind of heads and with space, so you can enter your own or make modifications. So there are templates which you can download and use as well. So this will give us, you know, a firm grip on what is, what we are, what our income is, what our spending is, and so we can plan our spending, okay?  And so maybe, you know, we can, you can try it out this week and make a budget and see, you know, where is it that the money is going? So the budget would help us in many ways. It would help us to keep track of our spending, okay? And so it's that, hey, this is something that I don't need.   Maybe I can just, you know, add or order this. But then you realize over a period of time, or maybe at the end of the month, because it's 50-100 and then you've been doing it very often, and then you realize that, hey, it is, it has grown to, you know, it's snowballed, it has become a big amount, right? And you can, you can, you can make a decision, you can make a choice, okay, maybe this I can cut down on. Okay, I don't have to completely discard it, but I can cut down on it. I can make it, instead of making it every other day, I can make it maybe once a week. Or, you know, this is something special, some, you know, and I can make it once a week. Or maybe you feel that it's unnecessary. Let me just cut down. Okay, Steven says, Excel has in built templates. Okay. Okay, so that's, that's great. So Steven, idea of which tab? Okay, I can check it. I can check it also. Yeah, so you can, you can actually put it on the screen also, you know, like a screenshot or something that'll also help. Okay, so, so these are, this is something, so it helps us to plan ahead. It helps us to curtail unnecessary expenses.  Okay, now, so it, it helps us avoid debt. Okay, so the thing is, when you know that this is what is money coming in, and this is what is going out, then I, you know, I will think twice about my expenditure. I will also think twice about borrowing from someone. Okay, borrowing, you know, it could amount could vary. But if I know that this is what I'm, you know, what my income is, then I should not be actually borrowing. I should try to live within my means, you know. Well, when it comes to borrowing, we might even think about loans, etc. And the loans are, you know, convenient, right? If you, let's say, if you take a vehicle loan or something, you're actually paying a little more, sometimes a lot more than what the actual vehicle cost is, right? Because there's interest on that loan, which you will be paying back when you're paying the installments, right? But the fact is, yes, it is convenient, but you can decide, you know, do I really want to do that? Can I kind of afford to do that with this current income?  You can, you know, we can definitely pray for that. God is not against that. So we can pray for increase, pray for increase in all areas of our lives. But this is just to let us know that, okay, you can be aware of where your money is going. You can be aware. And based on that, you can, you and I, you know, we can make decisions, right? Decisions to spend, decisions to invest in also. If you're not looking at that here, but there are several options to invest. If there is an amount that is left behind, you know, because, you know, many, many times when we think of saving or investing, we are thinking of thousands, right? Not even hundreds of things. Think of thousands saying, okay, if I had that, I would invest.  Okay. In what ways can you save? Is it like a, you know, savings account? Is it like a post office? Kind of a, you know, simple way in which we can save or when you're looking at investments, you know, what are the investment options? You know, we can get counsel from the experts, right? We can look at certain, you know, wise counsel when it comes to, you know, financial investment and consider doing that. If we have this amount of money, you know, which is in your hand and you're saying, okay, you can invest it for the future. Okay. Some examples of financial success. Okay. Let me just put that down and also look at some other terms also. Okay. First thing is that, you know, we spend less than we are. This is common knowledge, right? Which means we try to spend less than what we earn. Okay. So the expenditure, you know, is within what our income is. Okay. So if you look at problems 21 and worst 20. Okay. Let's just go there. Okay. Problems 21, worst 20. Okay. It says there is desirable treasure and oil in the dwelling of the vice. But a foolish man squanders it. Okay.  So that is squandering. Okay. So, so the thing is, you spend wisely, spend less than what you earn and, and, you know, then, then we could see that there is, that is left, right? Okay. So that's what problems. There is desirable treasure and oil in the dwelling of the vice. So which means that the vice person is not squandering. Okay. It's not spending unwisely. It's not squandering. That doesn't mean that we have to be miserly, stingy. Okay. But this is just some practically wisdom. It's spend less than what you earn. Okay. Second one that we can look at is avoid the use of debt. No, I'm saying avoid. Be careful when it comes to debt or when it comes to borrowing. Okay. Problems 22, the next chapter, problems 22 and worst seven says the rich rules over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. Okay. So, you know, certain times we cannot, you know, we cannot avoid. So in that, you know, don't, you know, I'm saying completely rule out borrowing, but do it wisely. Okay. Again, think about the first one, you know, am I spending less than what I'm earning and, and then get into a debt kind of a purchase. You know, it could be like a loan. It could be even a credit card purchase. Be extremely careful, you know, when it comes to these things. Okay. Then another thing is to save, invest and build a, when you say, you know, saving or building liquidity. Okay. So we say could I, it refers to the fact that, you know, whatever asset that I have, I can convert into cash easily. Okay. Or the very fact that we have cash itself. Okay. Cash meaning money, currency. So liquidity. How do I build it? It's, it could be through investments. It could be through saving and this is because when you have liquid, if you're around maybe if you're building liquidity, then it's easier, easier to use it easier to, for whatever needs that we might have. Problem six. Okay. Problem six versus six talks about providing for our needs. Right. Talks about the and talks about the as ways says provides a supplies in summer was eight provides supplies in summer and gathers her food in harvest. Okay. Saying going to the and you slug it, consider ways, be wise, having no captain overseer or ruler provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.  So the other thing is to also set long-term goals. Now, this verse might seem a little bit of context of Philippines three and verse 14. Let's look at that. Okay. Philippines 314 where Paul says, I press towards the goal for the rise of the upward chord of God and crisis is talking about, you know, having that goal and doing whatever it takes to go towards that goal. Okay. So even when it comes to finances, when it comes to money, you can have long-term goals and just involve, you know, like we said, like we looked at other, you know, planning and etc. involve God in the process. God is not against planning. God is not against us planning for finances. So we can set long-term goals when it comes to maybe spending, maybe when it comes to saving, when it comes to investing. Okay. We can set long-term goals. Then one last thing, when it comes to financial success, these are some things to keep in mind. This is last, but really this is, this covers everything. Know that the Lord owns us and owns everything. Okay. So everything belongs to him, really. It completely, it belongs to him. Some 24 verse one might have heard this over and over again. The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. Okay. So everything belongs to him. And another scripture again talks about, you know, how the goal this is, the goal is mine. The silver is mine says the Lord, the cattle on a thousand hills and so on. So it belongs to him. Everything belongs to him. And the Lord has given this to us to steward it. Right. So if you look at it that way, you know, we will be, you'll be careful. We will involve God in our, in our planning. Okay. So just wanted to say that, you know, the, the budget and this understanding and this skill is not to restrict us in any ways, not really to put a leash on us in any way. It's really to be us. Right. And to involve God in the whole process, because we know that money is a reality. It's a very, you know, it's a necessary, it's a necessity. And the Lord knows that we have need of material things. You know, the Lord Jesus says, right, when we read in Matthew chapter six, we see the Lord knows that you need of these things. So he knows that it is a necessity. Right. But the thing is not to fear, not to be anxious, but to be prepared. Right. So planning is not sent. It's a, it's a, you know, money planning for our planning to manage our resources well. This is one of the resources that God has put in our hands. So we plan and we manage it well and we use it well. Right. For our own lives. And we also have enough to give others also and that will come only when we manage it well. So hopefully this will help us. You know, we just looked at one thing, right, budget and for your personal study, you can even look at, you know, saving, you can look at investing. You know, how can I do that? Just involve the Lord in the process and he might lead, he might, you know, lead in ways that you never thought possible.  Right. Okay. So we'll stop here and we'll meet again next week. We are going to look at another resource, which is people. Okay. And how to, we also already looked at communication, listening, etc. But this is, this is in a more professional context. What do we do with this resource?   So professionally, how do we, you know, when it comes to people, when it comes to the work that you're doing, what are some things, what are some skills that we can, we can pick up so that we can employ it. Right. Okay. Thank you. God bless. We'll catch up again next week. Bye bye. Thank you sir. Thank you master.