Rev. Tammy
kind father in Jesus name God, we come even this moment, God stealing our emotions, our thoughts and everything. And just pausing the say Thank you.
Dr. Byron
Thank you. Lord,
Rev. Tammy
Thank you for this setting. Thank you for this opportunity to yet share the good news of Jesus Christ. God, I thank you, God, for the vision for this, for your people. And so, God, I know your hands are already in it, sir. So we surrender to you and just let your will be done. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. And Amen.
Dr. Byron
Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right. Welcome to episode to a mountain top manor where we focus on issues of faith, family, finance and fitness with tons of five mixed in every episode here we have passionate conversations geared towards empowering others to live the abundant life that is made available to us through Jesus Christ, our lord and Savior. This podcast contains real conversations geared towards encouraging and informing you the listener on how to become the best version of yourself. And I am your host, Dr Byron L. Benton. And I am here once again with my wonderful co host than one known as rev. T The right, Reverend Tammy Revenue. How you doing today,
Rev. Tammy
I’m doing amazingly well, sir. Glad to be here again.
Dr. Byron
A man, a man. And thank you for tuning back in with us. If you’re here for the second episode, that means you must have enjoyed something in the first. Or you just skipped over the first and you’re here for the second. Either way, we’re happy that you have tuned in and really believe in God, that there’s something that will be said today that will be impactful in your life. We are warning you to have a prosperous 2020. And so today we’re going to jump right into a discussion about money. Men is meant. That’s right. Today’s episode is entitled Money talks. And with that discussion, I want to hold up in Highlight to You a text found in Matthew’s Gospel Chapter six, Verse 19 where it says, Do not lay up for yourselves. Treasures on Earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves Treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there. Your heart will be also how you manage your money reveals the condition of your heart. I’m going to say that again because I don’t know if it hits you like it just hit me but it. But it hits hard how you manage your money, how you manage your treasure reveals the condition of your heart. Money talks. It tells us what is really going on on the inside of our heart stewardship or being a trustee over God’s resource is, which is what we were created to do is nothing more than maximizing your management potential with an eternal mindset. Wow, it’s It’s maximizing your management potential with an eternal mindset. You are an eye are called by God to store up riches in heaven. Our identity can’t be tied to stuff can’t be tied to what the marketers won’t us it to be tired, too. It’s It’s not about everything that you see. Everything that’s going on that you have right now is going to die, decay, rust or get destroyed or stolen. Our management needs to be one that follows godly principles, thereby stores up eternal riches. How faithful we are over the little will determine how much we’re giving. It’s both on this side of eternity and on the other side. And the other thing I’m going to say before we jump into the real because we’re getting ready to jump in the real ready. How we manage God’s resource is should also have an earthly, eternal mentality. Wow, Now, what were you talking about, Pastor? What does that even mean? Well, the Bible says in Proverbs 13 22 a good man, a good man leaves an inheritance to his Children’s Children, but the wealth of the center is stored up for the righteous. In other words, when you manage your resource is to understand that what you’re doing, it’s supposed to outlive you. It’s supposed to outlive your Children and supposed to go to your Children’s Children. That is earthly eternity. You see that big because it’s outliving you. It’s outliving yourself, and that’s a part of what God has called us to do. The money that I have is not about me. It’s about giving God the glory, and so does your heart scream center based on how you’re handling God’s money? Or does it reflect righteousness simply are you managing your finances the right way Now? Now let’s get into the real though, because that’s that’s the scriptural basis we’re going to jump into the real. And then we’ve got an expert that’s going to come in and help us dig out of this hole that the real is getting ready to dig us into. All right, so here’s the real Are you ready for the real? The really is. We have a debt problem in America. According to the Federal Reserve Americans OH, a record one 0.4 trillion and credit card debt. When it comes to individual households, the average American family owes between 6000 and 8300 and credit card debt. This equals $978.9 billion total in an average interest rate of 15%. Americans over 1.56 trillion. And student loan debt spread out among about 44 to 45 million borrows with an average monthly payment of over $300. That’s about 521 billion Maur than the total U. S. Credit card debt. In fact, the average class in 2018 that graduated had $30,000 in student loan debt and 14% of their parents owed an average of nearly $40,000 in March of the prior year. Americans old more than 1.16 trillion and auto loans. All these. That stats are coupled with the fact that 41% of Americans do not carry any life insurance. And of those who do, nearly 1/3 have just a basic group policy that may not cover the financial needs of loved ones. They are leaving behind. Over 60% of adult Americans don’t even have a wheel, and this number is even higher for people under 53. The real Israel
Ms. Dorothea
for real. For you
Dr. Byron
we’ve got a problem. Now let’s dig the really even deeper, because when you look at African American households in African American communities, these numbers get even more devastating and shocking. Wow, all all that you’re hearing All the links to the sources are available on our website, and I encourage you. Don’t just take my word for it. Click on the link, study it and see it for yourself according to prosperity Now and I’m gonna quote this from from an op ed on their website. At the national level, more than 27% of black households are late on paying their debts, compared to 15% of white households. Even though black median debt 30,000 a little over 30,000 just under 40,000 actually is about half of white median debt. We also found that just 40% of black households reported having good or very good credit, compared to 65% of white households. That leaves black communities with fewer good options for acquiring credit, such as payday loans from interviews. This is a quote from interviews conducted in Baltimore, New York City and Fort Lauderdale. They found that community members of struggle with that, even though nearly all our employees this is while these numbers that you hear about black unemployment being the lowest is ever been, it does not resolve this issue. Among the 46 community members they spoke to, the median debt was just under $33,000 was more than 5600 above the median income, with credit cards and student loans ranking as top two common debts past due bills types just as alarming, it says they found that respondents had very little to fall back on in hard times, with their median value of savings and their assets totaling just over $2000 this article concluded. We also found that debt problems facing these communities are not solely due to personal finance choices or the lack of responsibility. Community members they interviewed took multiple actions to address their debt and stay at debt. Troubles had been calm, pounded over generations of discriminatory financial practices sanctioned through an endless series of public policy choices. Those choices have boosted the economic potential of white households while diminishing or outright blocking economic mobility for the communities of color for the median African American household, those choices can be directly attributed to them owning a fraction of the wealth owned by their white peers. And here’s the conclusion that that I want to hit with this article, it says. Perhaps the most important lesson we’ve learned from this work is that the overwhelming, stressful and debilitating feeling that can a company debt is often compounded by both visual barriers. That’s knowledge, behavior, structure and behaviors that are harder to detect, such as the wealth, racial divide and the history of discrimination in the financial system that created it. So here’s the real. We have a major systemic problem in America that has existed for generations and eons. And now it is self sustaining its own oppressive ways to the point where, even though you may not see the shackles walking around own people, the shackles are very much there. How do we break these chains? How do we loosely shackles? How do we invite God in to help us deal with these oppressive shackles? Well, I’m glad you asked. And we’ve got just the person with us today in Miss Dorothy. A burn eke. And as soon as we come back, we’re going to begin climbing this mountain together, and we’re going to believe God to loose these shackles. Stay tuned will be right back.
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Dr. Byron
And we’re back. We are here today with Miss Dorothy A Burn Eek! Dorothy A. Is the founder and executive director of Increasing Hope, which stands for helping others prosper economically. Financial Training Center As an accredited financial counselor, Dorothy A. Has been affectionately cold, a financial guru as she and the agency have trained individuals in the low country. That’s for those who are tuning in. That’s here in the Charleston, South Carolina, area to effectively manage their money’s so they have more choices and life decisions, which she says is the beginning of financial freedom. Increasing hope developed from a vision to help people that struggled with their finances. The mission of increasing hope is to create financial freedom and stability for families in South Carolina by building assets through financial education, training and community development. Increasing hopes Financial Training Center operates as a one stop educational resource. Providing integrated service is to the low and moderate income families and individuals to achieve financial stability and build assets. With 14 years of proud community service increasing Hope has hailed 303 classes, taught 3213 individual financial education seminars. They prepared over 2023 tax returns, assisted with 312 foreclosure bailouts helped create 20 homeowners, and the list goes on and on and on increasing hopes. Total impact equates toe over $9 million for the community and region. I am so excited to welcome to the mountain top man a podcast. Miss Dorothy a Bernie.
Ms. Dorothea
Thank you so much for having me past so good to be here with you guys. I am excited.
Dr. Byron
All right, So we dug a deep hole, Yes, and released all these stats. And I’m sure that many of our listeners and many people with their churches have tuned in and they’re saying I I fit this description. This is exactly where I am. Or if they don’t, they know someone. So where do we start? What’s the starting point? Where do we start to take ownership and become financially free
Ms. Dorothea
Pastor. I was listening to all of the stats that you gave and and and even you, you know, prefaced with this is the question I’m gonna ask. Where do we start? You know how the Lord will come in sometimes and just wipe all that out, right? So the first place I’m going to start that he just laid on my heart in the first place we have to start is we have to overcome the victim mentality. We have to overcome the victim mentality. We can never, ever, ever take ownership and responsibility for the role that we do play as long as we continue to play the victim card. And so there is something we can do about it. Yes, that happened. Yes. This a situation. Yes, that’s where we are. But but God. And so as long as I don’t embrace the victim mentality and I don’t allow you to tell me that because of that, this is all I can do it. This is all I can have. And when I take responsibility for my own actions and like I tell people the financial principles work, they were mom out of your color, no matter you. What what part of the the tracks you were built on. If you’re man, if you would work the financial and money management principles because they are a principle and they’re no respecter of persons, they will work for you. So the first thing we’ve got to do is overcome that victim mentality
Dr. Byron
That’s first and this goes back brevity. We just talked about this in the prior podcast that there is a promise. But in order to go from being liberated from Egypt and entering into Canaan, you can’t see yourself as a grasshopper anymore. Exactly Your vision, your vision, your perspective of yourself has to change even though it’s not your fault that you had that vision in the first place. You know Egypt was real, but the promise Israel to exactly this is great. This is great
Ms. Dorothea
So after we decided that we’re not going to be that victim and that we’re not and that does not dictate where I go. The next thing I have to do is then surrender. As a child, I have to surrender to the role of being that manager and that stored what that really means. I have to surrender to that. So my my lifestyle, my attitude, my mindset, if this is the way that I’m supposed to stored my money or manage what God has given to me many times, we have not surrendered to that yet. So I tell this story. You know, back in passing, you will be able to relate to this. The Crusaders. You know that when they were getting ready to go out to war into battle, they normally would be baptized. It’s the way you identify what will you are. But when The Crusaders, because they know those swords were not going to be doing the right thing. They were for battle. They for war there for killing. When they got back to us, they hailed the swords up out of the water. Okay, so so many times in the area of our personal finances or we come and we get baptized. And we say I love you, Lord, but we go down holding the wall. It’s up in the air that they have not got that they have not become sanctified and identified with a roll of stores. So the Lord God Almighty. So that’s what I’m talking about. We have to surrender because you spread in your scripture where there are treasures where our hearts Yeah, it’s, um it’s a week. We have to first surrender first, surrender our finances to the Lordship.
Dr. Byron
So what we’re hearing right now the 1st 2 steps, and she has even given us anything to do with our finances. It’s all about our heart and our mind right now that the first was seeing yourself the way God would see you head and not the tail above and not believe. And then there’s this issue of surrender its and deliverance, that we’re hearing that there’s got to be this surrender in surrendering CE to Jesus Christ, our endurance to God to God’s authority and embracing the deliverance to God has. So there’s work I have to do. This is this is the This is the climb, the preparation for the climb that we have to put in before anything can happen to change our financial situation.
Ms. Dorothea
Exactly. Something else. That was really good. You said you’ve got to take responsibility. Yes. So I have to admit, Yeah, I understand where I am exactly and look at it for real, for real, huh? And then I’m able to get in this complete surrender to the Lord exactly. To start this climate of this mountain, go ahead. Yes. Do you doing? Yes, yes. And that gets us to the point. And I When I started this military work 14 years ago, one of the basic of foundation of Scriptures with faith without works is dead because we want to climb the mountain by faith. We want to go up the rough side of the mountain by faith, but we don’t believe that there’s works that need to go with. That that works is our responsibility. That’s our role. That’s a responsible God says you believe by faith. But then your works it because I believe by faith I’m gonna balance my checkbook. Wow, Brian, we get the outcome that we’re expecting. Then we release God’s hand because we have taken some part or some role and responsibility. Even though we know He’s the one that does it. He honors that work. So I heard you say this is not mystical. It’s not mystical. So they’re practical steps. Practical steps behind the mountain. Yes, but it requires where? Yes, got it.
Dr. Byron
So the preparation. So for those, we want to make sure that this is extremely practical. Yes. The preparation for the climb is preparing yourself Like we said before mentally, emotionally surrendering the deliverance, making sure the Christ is the center. And then the climb is putting your faith to works to saying now, now that I’ve prepared adequately, I know how to balance the checkbook. Now I’ve gotta balance the checkbook. I do it, I’ve got to do it. Yes, And by the way, and if you don’t know how you’ve got to get access to the information. Somebody knows how. And if you don’t, we have resources that you were here about before. The end of this podcast of how you can get access to the resource is so you can be empowered
Ms. Dorothea
right on. I think so many times passed through what we have to watch for in this as we’re talking about getting the right mind set the right attitude and surrendering is that many times in this walk of faith, our faith will be no more than a mental ascent. Meaning I can say I know, I know. Just like my son says, Mom, I know, I know. And I’m saying, if you know, then where are your actions? Why not? Why aren’t you doing it? So that really faith the fake that goes above having a mental ascent. Meaning Well, I know I’m supposed to do better with my money and I know him. We had to get past the men, Just the mental ascent and it really faith is faith with
Dr. Byron
works. That’s right, All my millennials listening to this, you’re gonna like this reference. Say, I grew up, you know, in eighties nineties and I watched G Ah, Joe, that was That was my show when I was little kid and at the end of every show, they had this antidote. They had this advice, they had something they were telling you to do. And they would say knowing is half the battle. Wow, that now did you know it’s only half the battle, right? You’ve got to do something with what you know, right? If you won’t transformation and change happen. If you want to be made whole, you’ve got to put the works into it. So I don’t I don’t know who that was for, but there was a g i Joe in my spirit, and I just wanted to I wonder release that g i, Joe. Thank you, Joe. Joe.
Ms. Dorothea
And you just brought one of those other mountains that we talked about yesterday, where it was Moses with
Rev. Tammy
the 10 Commandments. And we were saying God was still giving them instructions, even though he brought them out of the time of slavery. Right. And what happened has got to bring us out. But he gives us instructions. And that’s
Ms. Dorothea
kind of where we stop the works. Because our faith,
Rev. Tammy
then like you say, just becomes this thing that we just say, but not actually do
Ms. Dorothea
the work. The work is definitely required. This is
Dr. Byron
good today. This is good, good. And just in case you’re listening, you know, Grace does abound. We believe in the grace of God. This is This is about living the abundant life that God has for you. This is about becoming the best version of yourself on this side of the Esca tied. And so this is for those who are aspiring aspire to greater that you know, we want you to receive Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. We want you to know him for the remission of your sins. But we also want you to know him for the releasing of the shackles that are only own you and your Children and your Children’s Children that the enemy is trying to come after you with and so we don’t want you just saved. And in Egypt, we won’t you save them out of Egypt Way don’t want you just saved in the desert. We want you say, even entering into the promise. Because that’s what God truly has for us.
Ms. Dorothea
That’s right. And we also want youto have the spoils you. So when they came out, they didn’t come out empty handed. No, they came out with the spoils. And I think that’s where we get to today where we want. And we expect that we know that God wants us not just to be ah warriors on the mindset of King David, but warriors at the mindset of Solomon, which was the act in wisdom. That’s it. So we’re crossing over now from having to fight and war for the shackles, to come up with about finances, to getting to the point where he’s trying to get us to the point where we operate in wisdom by taking the teachings, the lessons, the training, the practical things that we can do in the area of our finances. That’s how he wants to bring the wealth today. That’s how we were and how he wants to bring the increase. But we’ve got to get out of that war. Your mind set off fighting for that. Somebody is fighting me to keep it from me. Two. God’s given me the wisdom he’s giving me the information. The knowledge that has now become power can be powerful if I implement it. If I do it. And so now we get to increase in him smarter, not harder. Yeah, s so it’s about really just truly changing. And that’s why I love what we’re doing. Your pastor, I love what we’re gonna be talking about it because it addresses the spiritual mental emotional. Because if we can get past all that to start operating in this smarter way is so much easier. Yes, yes, it’s so much easier. That hole, the whole idea of having the heart of that steward, the mindset of the stored, the surrender to the Lord God, my focus on the kingdom of God. That is not about me. A Scripture says. It’s about how God wants to use what he’s blessed me with to impact the kingdom. So it’s always about keeping a kingdom focus.
Dr. Byron
Kingdom focused well for the wickets laid up for the righteous. If we’re willing to use that wealth for righteous reason, yes, because you’re exactly right. And you have, like this so eloquently in your book where you talk about what the purpose of money is. And so and so I I’d love for you to unpack that a little bit with us and to talk about what is the purpose. What is the purpose of money? Is it is it so I can get my bling bling on so I can look good? Is the purpose of money so that, you know, I could make sure my hat game is straight on Sunday morning. You know, it is the purpose of money. So I get my Beamer, Benz or
Ms. Dorothea
Bentley. You know what? What’s the purpose of money? Simply said, The purpose of money is kingdom is all about God’s kingdom is not about us. God is trying to get us to a place number one where he can give the money to us Trust because he can’t. If you can’t trust us, you can’t get it to us. And if you can’t get us to us, then we will never be able to become the distribution centers in the Earth that he wants to establish. Because it’s not meant for us to hoard it up, just like we said with the servant and Luke the farmer. I’m a build me a barn over here and I’m a bill me because that’s what we’ve done today. You know, if we’re not spending it on self on the hat too close addresses the car where we’re storing it up. But God came to that that sort of that night that you fooled. That was not the purpose of this increase. It was so that you would become a distribution center on that a distribution centers focused on kingdom work. So it’s all about the kingdom. And I say also in the book is that we’re not the mission money with a mission. We’re not the mission. God’s kingdom is a mission. We want to think we’re the mission, right? God’s kingdom and the kingdom. Work is what the mission is about, and that’s out. That’s what the heart of stewardship is about. Hence kingdom conscious money management. We got to become more conscious of the kingdom kind, manage our money accordingly.
Dr. Byron
All the times I say that that money is a tool. God has given it to us as a tool to build the kingdom. Yes. So our money should point back to give God glory and edifying the people of God edifying the communities that we belong in. So when you look at your minds, is it glorifying God? Yes. Is. And is it edifying? Yes, your fellow brothers and sisters, Because what? Don’t get us wrong. We’re not saying you can’t have nice things. We’re not saying that. You can’t have a nice house. We’re not saying you can’t drive a nice car. I’m saying Give me a ride. That’s all I’m saying. Give you a ride. If you do have a nice car. You ever say that I would love you to uber meted like But But But what we are saying is there is a right way and a wrong
Ms. Dorothea
way to do it. Yes,
Dr. Byron
and it’s based farm or own heart and motive and in long term purpose. Yes. Then it is what it looks like on the outside and what can be seen. It’s a tool, it’s a tool. And I love how you put that. And in your book, I love how you bring the kingdom conscious mentality. You know that was exit by this question. What what is the kingdom conscious mentality?
Ms. Dorothea
It’s the whole mindset of the that the purpose of my money and the purpose of God increasing me and blessing me. It’s so that I can be a blessing to the kingdom so that I can advance kingdom work in the earth. And you were talking about the earthly eternity, and I see it this way. Everything that we do everything that we do right now is like in the dot that’s that’s the DOT that’s the dot you put on the wall, and from there we will draw a line for that that will go on from eternity. So what we do in the DOT matters? So we need to be kingdom focused and have a kingdom mindset for what are we leave? What impact are we gonna leave? That’s what impact are we going to make? And we live in a economic, money driven society. So it takes money to do any and everything that we do. And that includes building God’s kingdom and when even souls for the kingdom. That’s good. So what is our money doing
Dr. Byron
ill health and say this to win crisis center in that way? And the reason why I called earthy eternity is because what you do for Christ, it’s your last. So what you’re doing here is actually still building heavenly riches. Well, yes, there’s that. There’s that cross. There’s that connection because of how you’re doing the you’re just given us so many amazing nugget here today. One of the other pieces that I read in your book that I’d love for you to talk about Maur is what a stewardship lifestyle is. What what does it mean to have a stewardship lifestyle?
Ms. Dorothea
The store ship lifestyle is basically living in such a way because we know that as a steward were not the owners were the manager’s off what God has given us, And so the stewardship lifestyle is managing our money. In just that way it’s managing and as if to say, I never ever owned this, that I am on Lee the steward of it. So if I manage my money in such a way as to think that you know what, the owner could come back any day, any day and ask for this. And so stewardship mindset are is manage our money in such a way that we would have the ability to release it at any time. That’s the stewardship mindset is just that I’m just handling this for God. It’s not mine. I taught a class one time to say my money is not mine because we always said that my money, my money, I won’t. Our money is not ours. It’s God’s. And so to manage it and to think about it and make choices and decisions in such a way as to say number one, I’m going to give in accountability to the owner. One day. Number two, the owner can come any day and ask for it that would I have the heart to be able to release it. That’s the stewardship. Life starts
Dr. Byron
like the rich young ruler all over again. Where? Where? He says, Lord, I’ve done everything I’ve lived righteously, and obviously he’s managed his money. Wes and Jesus says, is one thing. There’s one thing I need to do. Sell all your possessions and follow me and he went away weeping. He went away crying because he could not make that sacrifice. He did not realize that it already belonged to Jesus. Exactly. And in that whatever God asks of you, God’s coin to multiply, God’s gonna do far seemingly abundant above. But there becomes a line in the sand on whether or not you’ll really be a true disciples, whether you really going to follow after God. And that’s why it goes back for circle, that it reveals to you what’s in your
Ms. Dorothea
heart, what’s in your heart.
Dr. Byron
It reveals that God, this is where I’m not comfortable. Philly trusting you are fully believe in right, and here we are and and what we have to do is push past that and say, God, I want to be a faithful decide. Yes, I want to be a faithful disciple and I want to have a stewardship lifestyle. So? So with that, you know, we’ve talked about the word We’ve talked about the theology of this. And so what are what are the next steps we’ve gotten delivered. We’re excited. We come out of Egypt and were inspired. We’re ready to do the right thing, Okay? And we believe God has trusted us with whatever we have, whatever been given. And we want to be faithful of over it in a practical way. Now, what are some of the first steps that we need to do in order to truly be great stores? Right.
Ms. Dorothea
Well, with one of the first things that we need to do again, the outside example of the fact that I have surrendered my heart and I have submitted to the Lordship and my finances that we’re tigers. Yeah.
Dr. Byron
Oh, hi. So so we’re starting with
Ms. Dorothea
- Kind of. It starts there. I believe it. It starts there, and they’re different starting points with that. So I don’t I don’t want someone to take and say I wanted to be 10%. I gotta did it up. We’re all in different places. But I’m saying all I’m saying is just like baptism is the outward expression of I have gotten saved. So tithing is the outward expression of trust. You, lord, with my finances saying that that’s all I’m saying. They’re so again if if you’ve gone through all the other part of it and I’m ready to go, I’m ready to move forward. So let’s start with that and then the other thing is, then let’s start implementing some of the basic money management principles. I mean, there’s nothing absolutely nothing wrong with that. If the word of God has 2300 and 50 scriptures that tell us how to manage our finances, it’s okay to implement basic money management principles, trusting and knowing that they will work, and that again, God has given them to us for a reason. It’s just like the 10 Commandments are the rules and the laws. He didn’t did it. He didn’t give them to us because we were bad. He didn’t want us to have good things. He brought them to us and gave them to us to protect us.
Dr. Byron
So what I’m hearing it echoes So much of what I teach is that we’ve got to understand the heart of the law over just the letter of the law. That’s good. That that the tide is about making God a priority, right? Saying that which God has to be the priority of everything in our life. But again, our money reveals our heart, right? And so we’re saying, God, I’m going to prioritize you. Prioritize your kingdom. I am gonna set into motion a budget so that you can be prioritized. Because if you don’t plan, you want power. Now, I don’t care how much you think you love even within our relationships. When it comes to my wife. I love my wife, but I have to plan to prioritize my family. I love my Children, but I have to plan to make sure that I’m prioritizing otherwise out. Feel like I am. But my actions won’t really line, and then they won’t feel like their priority. And then they turned against me emotionally because I’m not prioritizing. The same is with our money. We’ve gotta prioritize God. The tide is saying, God, you are priority. I am giving to you because this is what is do you and I want to honor you and I want you to get the glory. Here you go. And I believe that even if you’re not at a place where your stewardship enables you to do the 10% If you say God, I’m prioritizing right now, this 5%. But I’m going to prioritize it. I’m gonna do it faithfully. Next thing you know gotta go. When you were good over that five, I’m going to increase you so you can get to seven and then you’re going to see it getting that 89 and 10. And then you may be in a place where God bless
Ms. Dorothea
you so much when you have to go above the scene because
Dr. Byron
it’s not just about the letter is about understanding what God’s trying to get across. So so it sounds like we start with prioritizing God with finances, which means I’m assuming you’ve had to manage. You have to even know what that looks like. You have to look down and you’ve got coming in. What you got
Ms. Dorothea
going out and all of that? Yes. So now you want to hear the practical? Okay, so we got all the the budget we do, The word of God says right. The vision make it plain in reference to our finances. The budget is your vision. You have to see what’s coming in. Yeah, what’s going out? And you are directing and dictating where it’s going. So you’re riding the vision for your personal finances when you establish, ah, budget a monthly budget in your household. But we have to deal with all the other stuff we’ve talked about previously before. You can right on that piece of paper because the discipline, the heart attitude, the behavior that made without works, all that has to be in place before we put this budget on a piece of paper. Because sometimes you can get hard when the rubber meets the road and you see you actually see what’s coming in and what you can do and what you can’t do. And then that’s where sometimes in doing that you have to walk it out by faith.
Dr. Byron
Yes, that’s where the faith is.
Ms. Dorothea
Really, you have to walk it out by faith. But God is saying because you have done these things, you have given me something to work with and I can bless that I can honor that. That heart of the tide without heart of the giver, that heart of the person who says, Oh, I’m a steward And like Corinthians tells us I’m a Stuart that wants to be found faithful that find me faithful, sir. Then he will begin toe honor those works. Honor that discipline. Honor that faithfulness. He will begin to bless it and the increase will come.
Dr. Byron
So it So it sounds like you have to face whatever your reality. Yes, I know. I’ve I’ve worked with people. I work with members prior to even my experience here. So I’m not talking about anybody that that it’s a mountain, right? This isn’t prior Pastor. Clot experience with Tom about Claude and Grace and system macaroni system Macaroni Green system. Macaroni Grill Had really bad student debt, huh? Really bad credit card debt. You name it. And in what system Macaroni Grill would do is she would get whatever letter would come in and hide it away somewhere, not even open it. Run completely from it to the point where she had no idea what she even owed to her creditors and and was just hoping and praying by faith that one day they wouldn’t come out. That is the wrong application application of faith. But it’s natural. It is the natural tendency. The fair with the natural tendency is just like Adam and Eve. Hi to hide. Yes, Toa High. But But we have to have the courage that when we hear God walking through the garden
Ms. Dorothea
Yes, in
Dr. Byron
the cool of day. And he calls your name. And I believe for some of you listening to this right now God’s walking by calling your name saying Hey, look, I know what has happened is really bad and the whole world has shifted. But I need you to come on down, out from those victories because through Jesus Christ all things are possible. But you have to face it in order to overcome it. You have to see it in order to achieve on division. This is so key. You have to see division. The whole reason why you climb the mountain is to receive the manor to receive the vision that can transform your life in the valley. Right? Wow, this is so powerful. So now we’re into budgeting now. Now we’re into getting ourself equipment tools. And now we’re into true faith, which says, Look, my end’s don’t meet right now and I believe this to and I don’t mean to get preachy, but I am a preacher. I believe sometimes that God needs us to put together the budget so that we can see the glory of God, Right? You don’t even know how guys really blessing, right? Because you hadn’t been able to look down to see the blessings. So you can’t even testify the way you should testify. And God wants to show up in magnanimous ways. But you won’t allow yourself to see yourself so that you can’t see how God wants to move in you. So anyway, off my preaching as my that is my preaching a moment in the podcast.
Ms. Dorothea
See, that’s that mindset because the fair cripples us sometimes wanting to face the reality because we all have fallen short. We all have made major mistakes, but when you can actually see it on paper, the enemy tries to bring such a level of condemnation on you that you would you would prefer, like sister Macaroni to just hide it, and hopefully it goes away. But this manner that we’re
Rev. Tammy
dropping today listen, somebody is being freed. I believe it. I believe it and leave it.
Ms. Dorothea
May I tell you one of the best quickest ways to get set free is to uncover Megan already Know that, right? And so we got to We got to pull the cover back off with the enemy would have us to be in fear, to stay in the air, to keep throwing it back in the corner or whatever. But it’s time to pull the covers to shine the light. That’s the first step toe freedom to your financial freedom, your spiritual freedom, any kind of freedom that there is. You uncover the bugger. Okay. You show him from who and for what he is. You. So you. So you address the mess. You admit the problems, you address the mess, go and then we could change the way we got. We got much work to do much what? I am so excited about the fact that we’re gonna do it together and all things are possible. What? I’m just I’m just excited. I’m excited about the fact that you don’t have to stay where you are. That’s it. Yeah, that’s a choice. A choice. And I think the people listening to this podcast they’ve already chosen does a I’m coming up coming. I’m coming out coming out, and I’m gonna be set free in this area. Yes,
Dr. Byron
I believe I’m wondering. I still think there may be somebody listening that says, Well, they just don’t know how bad my situation is. And first of all, you need to understand that all the people will speak for myself. I have had to overcome so much in this area, and I’m still coming out. The Lord is still bringing our family out. I know so much more now than I knew T and 15 20 years ago. But I was wondering, Is there any story that you can tail? Um, of a pretty desperate situation where you saw God move? You’ve seen somebody’s life transformed financially so that it can really help those who are listening identify the fact that God truly can help them, That there truly is help in their situation.
Ms. Dorothea
Yes, well, with what we do past, we have so many so many many stories. And I can tell you that, um, from from the based on the service is that we offer and the things that we do. We’ve seen people that were living in their cars. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We’ve seen people that were living in their car. So they came into us and for a tax return service and and were crying when their tax refund they saw they were getting money back when we were inquired. It’s like this money is gonna take me from living in my car. Okay? I was living in my car, and we had no idea. But the service that we provide, it was gonna take that person to the next to the next level, okay? Or the person that, you know, they come in and the credits all messed up. Yeah. Oh, messed up. But one thing that they do is they when they finally come through the door to increasing hope and they embrace that spirit of hope that we said is the first thing we see is that there’s always hope. And then when they come and they put that expectation together with their willingness to do the work, then that causes people to be on the car lot, calling me up Miss Dorsia. They said I got approved. Victory. They said, I gotta prove so. I’m here to tell you that it does not matter where you are. One of the first things that you need to hear is that there is hope. And when you put your works together with the hand of the Lord and the desire that he has to bless and increase you, your situation will change from the person that came into our office that was about to lose her home from foreclosure. With her head hung down, she lost her job. Wow. She and she was trying to just keep that roof over her head. And we reached out a part of our sources that we render 200. Lender applied for a modification for home. Within a couple weeks. They came back and they said Yes. Well, lower your mortgage payment to this amount so she could stay in her home. Her hope was increased to such an extent. She burst back in the door. My officer, I got to see Miss Dorothy. I have to see her. Why? Because that fire that was lit up under her from at hope that wasn’t still from saving her home calls to her to go and ask to have a roof fixed that caused her to go into the store and final countertops for a kitchen. Her whole entire life changed Wow! When she embraced hope and when one little act of kindness or service was done through our organization and her situation changed, she became so excited, she went, and she applied to be a false apparent. Open up her home to foster parents for Children. And so the work that we can do it or the fire in, and the impact that can be birthed from one situation changing financially whether it’s you being able to pay the light bill on time or being ableto fill up your car with gas. That’s good, because you were faithful in the area and this is the first time you were able to do that, or the fact that you were able to bless that sister brother with 10 or $20 that you would never, ever able to do before. That’s good. These are the kind of life changes that I began toe happen to people when we begin toe honor God in the area of our personal finances. Wow. We put the practical into action. He he will put the anointing on it and blow your mind
Dr. Byron
when you put the practical into action. Yes, God will put the anointing on you and blow your mind that this is powerful and we’re getting near the end. So I want to take a moment. They I’m sure there are other churches, pastors, leaders, listening. And I want to share with you for a moment how we at Mount Mariah have taking these wonderful nuggets that increasing hope and Sister Dorothy A are bringing and how in a communal way, we’re looking to impact our church in the broader community. Because if you have somebody to walk with you, yes, it’s a It’s a lot easier to change. Don’t try to just change by yourself. You need to get around people who are like minded. Yes, some, maybe who have taking a few steps ahead of you so they can help you direct your with director path of it. But what we’re doing here and we just had. And last month, as we were closing out night 2019 we had a financial empowerment information session and we had over 100 and 40 people were so calm, and it blessed me because it Mount Mariah. We are in a debt free 2023 campaign. We’re believing God for it. But here’s how we’re believing God, for we’re believing God to empower each and every family in every individual in our church to be a great steward over their finances and to get out of the unhealthy debt they’re in. And that because of that, the church would just get a residual blessing. Way will get a side effect blessing because if if we can align, overflow, if we can align each and every one of our households, if we can empower them now and I’ve just got to say this, you know, for a season and steel in In many circles there was gospel being preached that was counter to gospel when it comes to kingdom economics and what you had was the church being blessed on the backs of God’s people, which is the way that’s the system that the world works. The rich are getting richer on the backs of the poor and on the backs of the working class, and keeping them in the rat race while they’re sitting high in the house. And what the church has done is created a theology to take, then that worldly mentality and make it apart. But it’s not a part of the kingdom,
Ms. Dorothea
it’s not. It’s not kingdom pastor.
Dr. Byron
It’s not Kingdom. What Kingdom is, is what you’re hearing today. And so at Mount Mariah, what we’re embarking on and we’re embarking on it with increasing hope is empowering each and every family, each and every individual. And it doesn’t matter with the year senior on fixed income with your single parent to parent household, wherever you are, college students and the kids need to learn this. There is something for you. There is hope for you. And so we’re using a curriculum called D Free.
Ms. Dorothea
Yes, see,
Dr. Byron
which was built specifically to fit any church context on and and we’re excited about the journey before we close out on one to make sure we gave with the chance to just speak to what’s going on at Mount Mariah right now. As this January, we just launched first class will be walking to meet these six weeks together. If you could just speak on this and how other churches can become a part of this movement. The other side out, I’ll say right before she talks. Is this just as every week we have how much our debt is decreasing with the principle that’s old and the remaining of our debt is a church because of the tools that she’s getting ready to share with you. We actually know how much of our members debt yes, coming down. And so, instead of just showing the church, here’s where we are in the debt cancellation of our situation as a church were able to say No, here’s how much our members have been able to get and contribute to getting out a day. And so there should be a correlation to those two numbers because the church should not be getting empowered and the people who make up the church not have power. So I passed things over to you that they help us out with this D free and and where we’re going with this
Ms. Dorothea
also, thank you so much faster for the opportunity to share what D free is, And I will say Number one that it is. It’s a partnership. It was a partnership with Dr Suarez and the D Free Ministry that is out of New Jersey and what we saw and what excited me about this curriculum pastor of D Free would just say yes to no debt was the fact that it did exactly what increasing hope was. Teaching was to deal with the psychological, emotional, mental and behavioral side of money first, sort of like we talked about. All right, that’s the practical now, the spiritualist dealing with things that we talked about earlier but dealing with the practical before we even made the budget so that you could be successful when you make the budget because we’re still carrying around emotional psychological baggage, and the way we saw Mom and I’m doing it, that was all wrong. And now we try to do a budget. We’re not gonna be successful. And so d free is a way for us to establish a foundation for coming out and for losing those shackles off of us that are both practical and spiritual because it is a faith based curriculum written specifically for the African American community. But unlike our doctor, Saurus says, he says, broken black, it’ll work for everybody works till you hear this. And you’re not African American. It’s okay. Okay, Because bloke broke, it’s for everybody. The enemy wouldn’t have all of us to stay that way. But God wants us to be set free. And so we will be teaching this curriculum, partnering with Mount Mariah to teach this curriculum to their congregation, where the focus will be on us getting out of debt, that the D and D free does not simply stand for debt. It is helping us get free from delinquencies from debt and from deficits. Not having enough money, not paying our bills on time, and then just a queer acquiring debt. And then we want to get free from that and have the liberty to go over and get freedom to be able to make deposits, which is to become savers, then tohave the dividends, which is to learn how to invest and finally, deeds which may need becoming homeowners, becoming owners of property, increasing our assets. So we want to be d free. We gotta set gets set free from these D’s over here, debt, delinquency and deficit and have the freedom to go over to deeds, deposits and dividend. I’m excited. I’m excited and, like a faster said. We’re making this a community thing. My vision for the ministry of increasing hope that God has given me is to make an impact on this community that will never be the same. So we not only want to work with the Congregation of Mount Mariah, but any church in our community that would like to come together with us and go on this journey as a community and focus on paying down are dead and getting set free and doing it together make it something that’s exciting, not dreary, not crazy or whatever, but exciting and the right thing and the good thing to do in the name of the Lord and in the name of advancing the Kingdom of God. Because when we’re not paying off paying all this debt, we can put that towards the Kingdom of God. That’s right and advance in his kingdom. So, Pastor, thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to share that bit of information. We’re we’re on a mission way are on a mission. We are. We’re on a mission. Our tagline for 2020 is down with debt up would hope. Oh my, that’s hope. Helping others prosper economically and just hope, in general, down with debt and upward hope. So we’re going to see that all over this community as we go into 2020 and we’re looking forward to the harvest that will come from that and the testimonies of people paying down debts and paying down bills. And, like a previous class before person even got out of the class and then paid off to Beals. That’s what I’m talking about. Loses nous, and that’s what I’m talking about.
Dr. Byron
So you may be listening to this and want more information. Go to our website, Go to Mountain Top man a dot com. You can send us an email, Ask your questions, their links to everything we talked about here. There’s links to increasing hope. There’s links. If you want to acquire Dorothy is book. There’s links in order to find out more about the D free classes. You don’t have to be a member of Mount Mariah Vienna low country, and you say God has led me to want to deal with this. We invite you to come on out. We want to see people freed. All you need to do is have a willing heart in a trance for mine and say, Here I am, Lord, here I am. We want people to have the victory in Jesus name. And so as we close out, we’re coming right back with a quick take away. And so stay tuned as we end. Episode two will be right back if you like The Mountaintop Mana Theme music and you’re interested in music production for your podcasts, commercial or musical album? Then look no further mad Max. Music has you covered. Check him out on all social media platforms At T Marsh 799 That’s T M A R S h 799 Again, That’s Mad Max music at team ours. 799 All right, we’re here for the conclusion of episode two Money talks and I don’t know about you, but money has shown up. Been talking up in here to me. So we talked about the real and we broke down the system that’s designed to oppress us and keep us oppressed financially. We’ve talked about a lot that happens in the climb and, you know, hopefully is really picture heart. You’ve understand, understood based on what we said that there’s a lot of work involved in this, but that God cod can make it happen as long as you’re willing by faith, to put some work, some action into your faith. Now it’s time to just conclude things with the takeaway. So now that we’ve gone to the mountaintop, we wanted just in with if there’s nothing else that you’ve heard today, if everything else went in one ear and out the other, what is the one take away that you should take away from the mountaintop today so that it can impact you and how you living in your valley? And I’m gonna ask with the to come back and just give us what’s a good take away. What if you had to say one thing, What should someone listening to this today? Take away?
Ms. Dorothea
Wow, that’s a tough one, pastor. But I think I’m gonna We touched on it just briefly. We didn’t go into a ah lot, but I think it was going to be a good foundational starting a takeaway for anyone that listened or just caught bits and pieces. And that is discipline. Do that. Embracing Ah, heart and a spirit and attitude of discipline. As a disciple, we touched on it just a little bit in that disciple. And so I’m gonna share this little statements as discipline. It’s simply consistently doing a particular action. The goal is for that particular action to mold a Christ like mentality in a specific area of your life. And today we’ve been talking about our finances, so discipline will bring order where there is disorder. So my takeaway for you today is to just become that disciplined one simply become disciplined in the area of your personal finances. It will change your life,
Dr. Byron
Rev. T. take away what you take away from the mountaintop Mana experience
Rev. Tammy
today. The takeaway today has just been so real but yet so practical and just sitting here. My my soul is excited because here it is. God is dropping fresh mana for us to be kingdom citizens for us to have a kingdom mentality. So I am full to the broom, sir. And I’m this mountain climb. I’m loving every moment of it.
Dr. Byron
All right, So my my takeaway that I hope you gather from this is that no matter what your situation is that there’s hope. Yes, that’s good, that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly. Above all, you asked. I think God is just waiting for us to get in line. And and the other major takeaway that I hope you heard is that there is trouble in the valley that we for our community, for our church, is that we have to fight to get this right, because our Children and our Children’s Children and their descendants are hanging in the balance of this. And if we don’t answer the call, yes, then what they would have to endure will be because of our lack of addressing things. And I’ll tell you this, as we close out what you ignore, you encourage. And so if you’re ignoring your financial issues, you encouraging them to just get worse. And I want you to take courage, take courage and know that all things are possible God and that you can do it. And if you are scared to do it by yourself, we’re here with you and we can recommend their A D free classes and things going on all across the country. But I do want to thank everyone for listening today too. Episode two Till next time
Rev. T
Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep working.
Dr. Byron
Keep working.
Rev. T
Keep climbing.
Dr. Byron
Keep climbing In Jesus name, Amen. We’ll see you real soon. God bless.
