[SPEAKER_00]: This is Dr. Darrell Hall and I want to welcome you to the Wake Community Church podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining us today as we continue our trust issue series.
[SPEAKER_00]: This series on finances has taken us to so many topics and today we're going to discuss debt reduction.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm grateful for our guest communicator, Kiari Kendrick, who's going to help us appreciate that discipline is key to our freedom.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to encourage you to grab your Bibles, prepare to study God's Word with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can follow along the transcript in this podcast or you can join us in the Bible app for these notes, the study God's Word together.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so first, what I want to start with is a little bit of background about my upbringing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for many of us that haven't had the opportunity to meet me, I want to give you awesome backstory.
[SPEAKER_01]: So December 19th, 2020, it was about 9, 44am.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got this beautiful email after about six months of prep that said that I had officially become a certified personal trainer for the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for those up,
[SPEAKER_01]: But those who are unaware, thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But those who are unaware and NASA is one of the most highly sought-after personal training certifications in the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: And those that obtain it are more than just Jim Ratz who want to judge you because you're already thinking about where you plan to hide that second plate of dressing in a few days.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now auto I don't have time to really train as much as I used to.
[SPEAKER_01]: One thing that I soaked up while I prepped up to become a trainer was that everything relates to one word and that is discipline.
[SPEAKER_01]: So before becoming certified, I had somewhat of a skew view of what discipline was.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you can't tell by my slang, I'm just talking good because I'm on a stage.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you can't tell by my southern draw, I'm from a very small town that believed in these leather things back in the day called bills.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, whenever I was a kid and I had, like, I didn't have any sense, discipline me and getting that little bill.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, my parents just somehow miraculously could bring it out of nowhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: They just had a deal for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it was a bit skew, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because once I became a NASA certified trainer, discipline felt and looked different.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I also had a unique opportunity to have a secondary framing of what discipline was as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that secondary framing was taught to me from one of my favorite leaders in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: My high school basketball coach, Dr. Charles Ivy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, before you start thinking, Ooh, I didn't know Kika who?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I can't.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a scrub, y'all, but we'll just say that, I'm a much better keen and player than a court player.
[SPEAKER_01]: You talk keen on my might be able to make it start in five, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, playing for Dr. Ivy was probably one of the most enjoyable yet dreadful times of my entire life to be honest, but let me explain.
[SPEAKER_01]: So for anyone that's played basketball before or sports in general, you understand that the game of a sport is all about the heart, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, his goal in practice was to rip your heart out every single time we practice.
[SPEAKER_01]: So for example, to even be considered for the team, you had to attend summer camp, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so summer camp sounds fun until it's not because my summer camp consisted of 90 minutes of weight training.
[SPEAKER_01]: and then another 90 minutes worth of running in drills once we made it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that wasn't even the rough part because I mentioned that from a southern town.
[SPEAKER_01]: That town is called Montezuma Georgia.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all know what one of them is?
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at y'all hey!
[SPEAKER_01]: Monosoma Georgia is so southern that a 90-degree day is table-stays.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that's normal.
[SPEAKER_01]: So like 90 degrees is we were cool with it, but we had to run in it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that was like work, but family it was during those days that coach Ivy shaped my reference point for everything that I'm committed to today, including being debt-free.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I realized that I wouldn't make it to the NBA.
[SPEAKER_01]: or maybe even not even a neighborhood pick-up game.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it was clear that I had to show something else to keep my place on that team.
[SPEAKER_01]: That thing eventually became my discipline.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what helped me to find my internal confidence and showcase my desire to play was what I did off of the court.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what my teammates didn't know was outside of practice, I will run a mile a day due to the anxiety that I had because I couldn't play ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: So my home was there in the gym, I mean, hoping it down.
[SPEAKER_01]: You talking about guys that could, could have went D1 if they really put their mind to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you have this 130 pound light skin key and here running circles around them, not getting tired, barely sweating.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they were frustrated with me because it's like, how was this key at dawn?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that he's not even good?
[SPEAKER_01]: He can't even play.
[SPEAKER_01]: You wanna get no playing time?
[SPEAKER_01]: See over time, this helped me to establish trust in a sense of belonging amongst my teammates.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it unlocked something extremely special in me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so deep down, I think that's what God wanted to happen for me all along, playing for Coach Ivy.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, from 2006 to 2025, God has used that journey to show me that discipline can put you in a jersey for a game.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't even have the natural skillset to play in.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, I realized that God is so much God that He will use private consistency to publicize your commitment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, this applied to me in fitness, but what I now understand as an adult is that it also lands well when it comes to our finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to jump into that right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what I want you all to do is turn to first Corinthians 9, chapter 9, verse 24, through 27.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll use some wisdom from one of the goats.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you love the NBA, I'm not talking about Michael Jordan.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about Paul.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you have your virtual Bibles on hand through the U version Bible app, all you have to do is click events in the app.
[SPEAKER_01]: search for the way community church and you will have the verse laid out for you as well as notes from the sermon and so to my to my set of parts saints who have your physical Bibles look at mother bacon.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who have your physical Bibles when you have the spiritual reference say, I got it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I Know that's right.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, first Corinthians 9 24 through 27 say it Do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize
[SPEAKER_01]: So one that you may obtain it, every athlete exercises self-control in all things.
[SPEAKER_01]: They do it to receive a perishable read, but we, an imperishable, that's believers.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I do not run aimlessly.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body to keep it under control less after preaching to others.
[SPEAKER_01]: I myself should be disqualified.
[SPEAKER_01]: As with you on Scripture, as a family this morning, I want to leverage a tool I picked up as a NASA certified trainer, which is NASA's optimal performance training or OPT model.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you look at the screen, this five-step model, it'll come up in just a bit, this five-step model, is something I think we as believers can leverage to improve not just the health state of our finances, but most importantly, our spiritual posture as we store over it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the first, I'll teach break down this for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the first is the balance phase, which is pretty self-explanatory, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the main purpose to make sure that you train and you properly maintain control and form as you do.
[SPEAKER_01]: So next comes the strength and endurance phase.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this stage acts as a bridge, helping you to get used to adding weight and resistance to your routine.
[SPEAKER_01]: After that,
[SPEAKER_01]: is the muscular development, where the focus towards building size and capacity by lifting every allows.
[SPEAKER_01]: And from there you move to maximal strength, the level where you test your limits and measure just how much force you could produce.
[SPEAKER_01]: And lastly, there's the power phase where all of that stability and strength come together.
[SPEAKER_01]: to create control force and explosive movement.
[SPEAKER_01]: It'll all make sense in a minute.
[SPEAKER_01]: So to make sure this is easier to apply to our focus of that freedom, I'll give these five phases into, I'll put them into three broader levels, being stabilization, strength, and power.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody say stabilize.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I find that the order,
[SPEAKER_01]: of this OPT model, this is the most important to understand the actual order of it, but why is that the case?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because if we refer to the base of it, it's evident that power and strength are naturally unreachable without first taking the step to become stable.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't skip steps.
[SPEAKER_01]: So to begin the journey towards optimal training, you must ensure that you know how to find balance first.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let the church say, I need to find my balance.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the ticks, Paul makes it clear that in order to receive the prize, you must first establish self-control.
[SPEAKER_01]: The tick states that in first Corinthians 10 and 26, do you not know that in a race all run us run, but only one receives the prize, so run that you may obtain it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every athlete exercises what church?
[SPEAKER_01]: in all things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like man, during a week four sermon, Dr. Hall almost may be get out of that seat right over there, go to the middle of the church and write around like three or four times.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he did that with one like heart just grabbing statement.
[SPEAKER_01]: He mentioned that we cannot spiritualize bad habits.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, God, Doc, he has the door's like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We cannot spiritualize bad habits.
[SPEAKER_01]: I found that so challenging because it's so easy to create cover-ups for the mindsets and the feelings and the actions that maintain our comfort, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: As humans, we often feel gaps of lackluster motivation with the sense of soothing, offered by a shiny excuse.
[SPEAKER_01]: We begin to make it a habit to replace our actions with unproductive strategies to maintain our complacency.
[SPEAKER_01]: But family, finding your balance requires that you test yourself in times of financial unevenness and be self-discipline enough to continue that testing even when not trying feels better.
[SPEAKER_01]: The stability phase of the OBT model is just that, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about putting you in situations that test your physiological awareness so that when you are in a state of unevenness, you know how to properly align yourself with the infractions of a second.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the bill stability, NASA trainer is focused on four key items.
[SPEAKER_01]: They focus on increasing joint stability by strengthening small muscles.
[SPEAKER_01]: So think about your rotator curve, your hip muscles, so you can shook and drive a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, secondly, they think about the enhancement of neuromuscular efficiency, which focus on improving communication between your brain and your muscles.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next is all about improving muscular endurance.
[SPEAKER_01]: To build stamina, need it to sustain good form under fatigue.
[SPEAKER_01]: And lastly, it's reinforcing body awareness.
[SPEAKER_01]: I told y'all it was gonna be a scholastic type environment.
[SPEAKER_01]: But each one of us can be aligned directly with what it takes to maintain self-control that Paul mentions when it comes to debt with this model.
[SPEAKER_01]: How, let's look at the comparison above.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when we think about joint stability, I wrestle with this a little bit because I was like, what can we do tangibly as believers to enhance how we view debt and how we go about fighting against it?
[SPEAKER_01]: One is building budget stability.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my wife is probably watching right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's probably breaking out of the house right now from this B word.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we got a budget show.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to build budgets.
[SPEAKER_01]: Budget stability is relatable to joints stability for me because though that's your small muscle, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's your indirect exercise that if you get in the mindset of doing it, it saves you money.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's you tell where your money were to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: So create an budget is that first step to budget stability.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only that, if you're married, your spouse is your superpower, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, your spouse is just super power in a sense that if you all get together and you put your finances together and showcase where your money is going together You're a force multiplier immediately and you also reduce on arguments just in case Amazon packages keep showing up to your door still So build an up but
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm like, hey, me!
[SPEAKER_01]: So it helps a lot for you to understand where your money is going as a unit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only that when it comes to stewardship awareness, this reminds me of neuromuscular efficiency because it's all about communicating with God about why and how he intends to use the resources he assigned on you so that you want to write down and about about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what do I mean by that?
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to tell you something that's going to break your heart and you might get mad with me but your money is not yours.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's God, money.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you're working hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's your nine to five, sometimes nine to nine.
[SPEAKER_01]: All that good stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: You might be retired, but that's savings account, that each rate account, that fidelity account, all of that, that ain't your money.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's important that you understand how to store it will.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to communicate with God about what to do with your money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Financial endurance, relatable to muscular endurance, in a sense that it's all about assessing your consistency to save, to give, and even manage money through seasonal pressures.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care how much money you have, it will test you on how you save, give, and manage your money depending on what type of season you have.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, please remember that financial endurance is how you operate your money in all seasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: And not only that, probably the biggest one for some of us is financial self-control.
[SPEAKER_01]: All because you see those deals and black Friday coming up does not mean you need to buy it.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not going to be the biggest savings of being in the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to be okay to next year.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're straying against temptation.
[SPEAKER_01]: That challenges your financial discipline.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so now I want to talk back to the scripture a little bit because it really gives us a great reflection on the power of stability and how stability benefits you and how to glorify God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to touch on something that I learned about Corinth, all right, so Paul was right into the church in Corinth, and so what I learned is that Corinth was the location of the Bayonio is me and games, which failed only second to the Olympic games.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now these games took place every two years, and they included both athletic and artistic contests, and so when you think about the athletic side, think foot races and boxing,
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when I was doing my research, I was like, hard on.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would be in a situation in an Izman games where I would literally have the box to prevent someone from knocking me out and losing my consciousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the next day, I go to go recite a poem.
[SPEAKER_01]: What if I get knocked out?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I thought, deeper, I was like, man, God finds his way into some stuff, all right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'll show a picture just as a backdrop to this.
[SPEAKER_01]: But could you imagine literally being in a ring and you're fighting, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: You're fighting some of the best boxes in the world, even if they have a high rate of winning.
[SPEAKER_01]: They get hit.
[SPEAKER_01]: But they find their way to steal, come back to a center point to keep fighting.
[SPEAKER_01]: They may get hit again, but they come to the point of steal stands, stands stable.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like, how do I know this magic in that, right, y'all?
[SPEAKER_01]: So what we think about our finances, when that AC go out, boom!
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, the stand-up straight.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I'm charging, when I'm charging,
[SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, I got a double tempo now.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to come back and stand up straight.
[SPEAKER_01]: But see, the power of the Ismean Games is the fact, see Boxing is one of those sports that you remain disciplined to remain stable.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to win, but the goal is to remain stable.
[SPEAKER_01]: But with the Ismean Games, you had to stay stable so that you can recite the poetry.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, how long?
[SPEAKER_01]: If I have to stay stable, if I'm thinking about what God does from my finances, even though I boom, I make it hit with that AC bill or the new J is that my kid won't, but God was like, I got you, even in that box image, I got your back and I'm going to give you enough stamina and enough stability so that the next day you can go tell these people what I did.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you ready to recite.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the power in the comparison between boxing and poetry are so strong for us as believers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because shaping your financial foundation, your stability is just as much about your ability to compete as it is about your ability to win.
[SPEAKER_01]: The best athletes both compete and win based on the discipline they showcase in and out of the ring.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when it comes time for them to speak on how they won, they can speak from a place that genuinely reflects undeniable commitment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now believe me when I say y'all, if you neglect the discipline that takes to be stable, a financial knockout punch will disqualify you from being able to fully showcase God's grace.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll read that again.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you neglect the discipline, it takes to be stable a financial knockout punch will disqualify you from being able to fully showcase God's grace, especially when you're faced with something or someone prepared to keep you down.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, family, I want you to recite something with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're joining together.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I store my financial stability, this will bring glory to God's ability.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I store my financial stability, this will bring glory to God's stability.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, that's the stability piece.
[SPEAKER_01]: But one sure stability is ready to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not going to state where you must secure your strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the second level.
[SPEAKER_01]: For years, I had this skew view that in order to be strong, you had to have big muscles.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, the OPT model teaches something all together different.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, NASA describes strength as the ability of the neuromuscular system to produce internal tension
[SPEAKER_01]: to overcome an external force, so literally just having enough strength to push.
[SPEAKER_01]: To my benefit as a natural born, stick man, my wife may say otherwise.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is brought joy to my heart, because there was no need to stress about being swollen anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: As with the stabilization phase, the strength phase is one that continues to challenge our financial discipline, yet in a whole new way.
[SPEAKER_01]: See Paul says it in verse 26, he says that he does not run aimlessly or box as one beating the air.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet, when it comes to building financial strengths for us, this is exactly where most people do just that, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: They run aimlessly, they box as one beat in the air.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, although a progressive step, the strength level of the OPT model is where the most injuries take place and the worst habits are formed.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's crazy, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like once you get past the ability, that's why all the pain happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not in the ability pieces where the strength happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: So at this level, the hurt happens because you're lifting heavy your weights, you're using more complex movements, and you risk breaking down your form due to increased intensity.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is the phase where if you lack the amount of self-control needed to remain stable, it can cause you your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: It can cause you your life if you're not stable.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the same is the case with your money.
[SPEAKER_01]: But how is that key?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, when it comes to fitness, there's this term that I need you to write down on your brain and your heart and your soul, so all right?
[SPEAKER_01]: This term is compensation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody say compensation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, the first thought that may come to mind from many of us when it comes to compensation is money, money, money, money, money.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, the way that is used by trainers feels nowhere near is good, because compensation happens when the body uses the wrong muscles or movement patterns to complete an exercise because the right ones are too weak, tight or uncoordinated.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, compensation is your body's way of just getting the job done.
[SPEAKER_01]: You do a squat and you tie it, you don't know what to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're about to go squat, but it's going to cost you.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, if your body can't move correctly, it basically finds a short cut to do what you're asking it to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's called compensation.
[SPEAKER_01]: So with money, we do just that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do just that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is vital to our financial future that we ask our inner sales a very important question when we're about to compensate or use debt.
[SPEAKER_01]: Does anybody know what that question may be?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a three-letter question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, somebody said it, why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Why, why, why?
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Although a chess punching question, our big brother Jesus, as he always does, gave us a warning that acts as a clue to how we answer that question.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Luke 12, 15, he says, and he said to them, what the text says, and he said to them, take care and be on guard against all covetedness.
[SPEAKER_01]: But one's life does not consist in the abundance of his positions.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I believe this verse challenges the very thing that causes us to compensate when it comes to being financially disciplined.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's our mindset.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, when we're unaware of or choose to ignore the fragility of our financial foundation, we end up operating from a distorted idea of what strength really looks like.
[SPEAKER_01]: And family, that mindset is exactly what's holding us back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't believe me?
[SPEAKER_01]: Just look around.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think about how many luxury cars you see on the road.
[SPEAKER_01]: They shine in, they look good, light they drive good, they might pop the top off, they shine in new tech, y'all can tell I wanna do car right.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the thing about it, they're still carrying payments.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: But think about this, they can see even deeper.
[SPEAKER_01]: Better yet, how many of those drivers are completely fine with the payments?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's exactly what Jesus was warning us about.
[SPEAKER_01]: That possession, something that looks powerful, but loses value every single mileage driven, has the potential to kill our financial futures, because as we fail to ask ourselves, why do I need this right now?
[SPEAKER_01]: It creates this dangerous illusion of strength and comfort all while chaining us to death.
[SPEAKER_01]: That being as look good, but that ball of dead on that tailpipe,
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a drag and you look, you clean!
[SPEAKER_01]: But I see that bondage with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That being is this carry-in bondage.
[SPEAKER_01]: And see, the crazy party in this family is that I think we've gotten comfortable in that illusion.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've grown okay with running aimlessly towards the very things that keep us stuck, shadowbox, and without finances, and swing it hard, but hidden it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know what, this is the thing that kind of, I give y'all a little hope, because I've made feel like a downer, right now, because you're like, dang, he, I got to pay me.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a little of y'all, I promise.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it, I get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a great and a little of, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want you to consider this, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not our fault, again, because content, compensation is cultural.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's cultural, compensating it's cultural, but how so key.
[SPEAKER_01]: As an example, I refer back to my low home town or monosoma Georgia.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so excited, y'all know what monosoma is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm like dang, that feels good.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got a question for y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: How about show of hands, how many of y'all have heard the term Pigeon Toll or Bolligate?
[SPEAKER_01]: Pigeon Toll or Bolligate, that's all that's so country.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, where I'm from, believe it or not y'all,
[SPEAKER_01]: They will compliment, it got so deep that some folks would literally walk with their feet turned in on purpose because they knew it got on my attention, it had social benefits for some people, but little did we know as a small little country town that those same postures of being pigeon to a bow leg and not me were never something to brag about.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were compensations.
[SPEAKER_01]: There were compensations, physical reflections of being unbalanced and destabilized.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I said it's not your fault because as with the postural ailments that we just talked through, the outcomes of poor strength are accepted due to cultural celebrations.
[SPEAKER_01]: So think about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I was to go out today, going by a sparkly new car, new Bentley, I'll just say Bentley.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I pull up next Sunday, everybody in the congregation will be like,
[SPEAKER_01]: And then if I meet y'all in response and say, well, thank you for saying that you like my car, but my payment is $1700.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all gonna be like, Key a little hypocrite.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I like Key, but no, that's hypocritical.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it is y'all, it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the danger, though, of misplaced strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks good on the outside.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna be like, ooh, Key got a nice call, but literally on the inside is breaking my reputation of stewardship.
[SPEAKER_01]: For those with a car payment again, I am not shame y'all, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like I got to apologize.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love y'all, y'all, my family, but please give my heart and love.
[SPEAKER_01]: We still friends?
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, good, good, good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now let's look at another comparison to help us understand practical ways that we can showcase discipline when building financial strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you'll notice a flow here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually use these charts to compare.
[SPEAKER_01]: physical fitness to financial fitness.
[SPEAKER_01]: The green area is the traditional physical strength, the two orange areas, the second column is the financial fitness and the third is the description.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when we think about financial consistency, what about building a three to six month emergency fund while maintaining given in a lean season?
[SPEAKER_01]: That shows financial consistency.
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes a lot to build three to six months emergency fund.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know what's even grander in that?
[SPEAKER_01]: What if?
[SPEAKER_01]: While building that three to six months of cushion in that rainy day fine, you also set aside a little money to be able to give to your friends and family or someone to need.
[SPEAKER_01]: I use the term in a service of kitty.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you get a little kitty of money put to the side.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the old school of the term.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, show them one from.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get a little kitty of money to have available for people.
[SPEAKER_01]: In case they need to light be a pay, they target a flat.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you think about that little surplus that you have, let that be for someone else to show your financial consistency.
[SPEAKER_01]: Financial growth.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't pick up anything else, I'm saying from this stage.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please remain in a position of a student when it comes to your finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if you're retired, if you got a little money, if you're moving on up, if you don't made it on up, if you're struggling, learn about your money at all times.
[SPEAKER_01]: Read books.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the resources that I provided to the A-Service was Financial Peace University, which is from Dave Ramsey, Al Eko, Dr. Hall of Cinema, says this is not a political tie.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is just good resources.
[SPEAKER_01]: Financial Peace University was the gateway to me being right here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't be able to talk about it if it was a financial piece, University, P.U.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in the midst of that, of course, I have to have my biblical downstanding, which is Proverbs 2434.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says a house or life is built with wisdom, establishing with understanding, and feel with riches through knowledge.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we gotta keep learning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lastly, it's faith driven stewardship.
[SPEAKER_01]: So again, continuously assess your consistency when it comes to saving, giving and managing your money through seasonal pressures.
[SPEAKER_01]: The show that's the worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Alright, so the last level from the OPT model that I wanna take down is all around power.
[SPEAKER_01]: May the church say power.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this one's important.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, the final level.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I look at this model, I can't help but notice how God designed growth to happen in a specific order.
[SPEAKER_01]: So first, he teaches us to stand upright in unevenness, that's the ability.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the goal was never just to stand or carry while stagnant.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the goal to move.
[SPEAKER_01]: His goal is for you to move.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's where the power phase comes in.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in the power phase of the OBT model, you bring together strength and stability.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it focuses on the neuromuscular system to produce the greatest possible force in the shortest amount of time.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a controlled force.
[SPEAKER_01]: that was level one, and you're strong, that's two, you remain in a constant state of power.
[SPEAKER_01]: That may not make sense to you, but I promise it will in the second.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got an example.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so as a trainer, I learned about a lot of different tools.
[SPEAKER_01]: And one of the tools that trainers use in order to develop power,
[SPEAKER_01]: It's something called a medicine ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: They use the exercise called a medicine ball slam.
[SPEAKER_01]: So these dense spheres typically go from, let's call it five to 35 pounds, all right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That baby crying, that's how I feel about these two baby.
[SPEAKER_01]: These round spheres of suffering tell a really powerful story about how we can shift our mindset about dead when it comes to dead freedom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so to get started, I want you out of getting engaged with me again, let's wake up this live,
[SPEAKER_01]: Raise your hand if you've ever been broke before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: You also a transparent parent.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why this is a good search.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about balones sandwich, bro.
[SPEAKER_01]: Cheese sandwich, bro.
[SPEAKER_01]: No sandwich, bro.
[SPEAKER_01]: The, you've been, now, right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got you, brother.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got the snap services, we got you.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got you a little brother ever had to rob Peter to pay Good lord good lord See being broke is both conditional any emotional at the same time, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: When you are down to your last few dollars Your pockets feel light, but your heart feels heavy Good god.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean just came free bro
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I might be able to tell you a key ain't always at it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's what we often miss.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, when you put just a little bit of something into the right motions, it still creates momentum.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when I pick up this 10-pound medicine ball and I slam it,
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, slam it, this ball starts to preach a little bit, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So it reminds us that whether you have a little bit of money or a lot, both should encourage your effort and remind you of the weight of your stewardship.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody say stewardship, amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's check out how this really works.
[SPEAKER_01]: So over time, if I keep slamming this ball, I mean, I'm just, whoa,
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, well, this turtleneck, that was a mistake.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just keep slamming his ball over time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I started to realize I loosened up a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sweating, but I'm warming up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my appetite for this comfort starts to start to get a little higher, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, oh, this ain't that bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was just a little ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm hot, but I'm not struggling.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can still, I can still speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's one piece of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you notice, I also get accustomed to pushing through resistance, because I'm like, you know what, I got this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm good now, I got this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can do this all a service now.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the powerful thing about this medicine ball, the way that it preaches is because if I slam it, did you feel that?
[SPEAKER_01]: You feel that?
[SPEAKER_01]: You all feel that on the front row?
[SPEAKER_01]: See, the power of that is,
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if you're slamming something small and you consistent with momentum, those within your immediate circle can feel it as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, there's someone watching who will be like, oh man, you know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: All I need is 10.
[SPEAKER_01]: All I need is.
[SPEAKER_01]: That little ball, that's all I need.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when they pick up their 10, when you pick up your 10 after seeing me slam my 10, you're not motivated by the amount, you're only 10 pounds.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you're motivated by the discipline.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because in order to slam this ball, I got to be, what was that first level?
[SPEAKER_01]: Stable.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to have what else?
[SPEAKER_01]: To be able to use power.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody got that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I want to state that, again, it's important to understand it's not about the size that's in your hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get many of us, maybe in a struggle season.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's all about being able to understand those three levels, stability, strength, and power to understand how you can make your impact.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, let's look at some of the comparisons on the power chart.
[SPEAKER_01]: So again, we'll look at some of the various components of power, power of your physical fitness, explosive movement.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at immediate obedience.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, that your money is not yours, but it belongs to who?
[SPEAKER_01]: People on the God, they didn't show money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when God instructs you to do something with your money, whether that's gifts, or so, how hesitant are you to do that?
[SPEAKER_01]: How hesitant are you to obey?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, imagine this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine if, you know, you give for those who were blessed with the honor of having kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine you give them something that belongs to you and they mismanage it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what are would you call that child?
[SPEAKER_01]: You little disrespectful, hard-headed, all of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what makes you think God ain't talking to you, talking about you like that?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's his money.
[SPEAKER_01]: So move with immediate obedience.
[SPEAKER_01]: I put immediate on purpose.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it all his tough, but this is a practice game.
[SPEAKER_01]: We gotta keep trying.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you need support, I gave you my life first in this chart being Colossians 323.
[SPEAKER_01]: Colossians 323 to some two paraphrase, work as though for the Lord and not for human masters.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is my life first when I'm struggling at work.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I got a lot and I'm trying to put myself in position and I'm like, can you need to do the right thing?
[SPEAKER_01]: Work as though for the Lord and not for human masters in every single sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I'm about to burn out, 323, when I'm flying, 323, when I'm serving here at the weight,
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm serving my wife, 3 in 23.
[SPEAKER_01]: Workers don't afford a lawyer to not be human masters, immediate obedience.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith in action, the same thing as force times velocity when it comes to physical fitness, pray over your investment strategy.
[SPEAKER_01]: When was the last time you prayed over your investments?
[SPEAKER_01]: When the last time you prayed over your 401k, and not just trains the contribution amount, what you prayed on it, say, Lord, I'm gonna give you two more percent.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna put two more percent in here.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're saying Bahamas money, tell me what to do with this other two percent.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pray over your investments, and the thing is, family, if you always want to stay in right standing with investments, think about how it benefits others and not just you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I work every single day for my kids and my wife.
[SPEAKER_01]: I tell my wife all the time, if I leave, you feel baby, you goo it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that ain't pride.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just what God put it in order for me for.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of things I want y'all, but God gave me that wife in them kids.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I give my soul to that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He knows that I serve them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I find a way to tie it into this church as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of that didn't best make them right here to wait.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I'm gone, y'all, grandkids, you have a great grandkids.
[SPEAKER_01]: They gonna get some of the key money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Cause I know God's money.
[SPEAKER_01]: find a way to tie it into a legacy impact, which is the third part, tie it into a kingdom initiative, within or outside of the way community church and support that, and best for others, not just yourself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says in verse 27, but I discipline my body and keep it on the control, less after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, this comes a huge question.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want you to ask yourself, what is at stake?
[SPEAKER_01]: If I show up under qualified to those God has called me to support financially, what is that stake if I show up under qualified to those God has called me to support financially?
[SPEAKER_01]: That risk way too high off.
[SPEAKER_01]: So as much as this message today is about debt freedom and financial stewardship, I wrote it primarily to call you out on where you have stunned at your financial potential.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I don't love, I'm talking to myself too.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be clear that this is not about potential in a sense of becoming rich.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't, we don't condone prosperity to preach ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't play that at the way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ganga.
[SPEAKER_01]: What I mean is the potential to use what you have now to show yourself a proof.
[SPEAKER_01]: As I open, my hope with this message is to ensure that you know that God does not itself pass in this when it comes to your financial discipline.
[SPEAKER_01]: Feel both encouraged and convicted to pursue a continuous state of spiritual wellness first that will lead to financial wellness and then take the practical steps to explore the role blocks you have placed in front of yourself that presents you from pursuing financial wellness.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so now, by now you're probably like, okay boy, you're talking my head off at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of read a CD's Falcons play.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, I will say that, you know, I would have not agreed to step behind this blessed sacred pool pit standing in it.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I was not in right standing against the text that we've been going through today as a family,
[SPEAKER_01]: I used the OPT model as a guy, not only to show you something practical, but also to reflect what both my wife and I have experienced ourselves in real time.
[SPEAKER_01]: See, with the OPT model and the model being Jesus, a star and I have been able to hold ourselves accountable to what God said over us in the year 2017, almost 10 years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, when I proposed to start, we had over $50,000 in consumer debt in a bank account full of a move.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, uh, I remember vividly one night, uh, having nightmares about me and how am I going to provide for a family?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, what am I going to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: And God spoke really clear.
[SPEAKER_01]: He mentioned to me that by choosing to leave the old ways of bondage, my old ways of bondage, which included everything from party and drinking to permiscuity that he would show me freedom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And at the time, I was like, Daddy, I'm all ready to free, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, like I told you earlier, I'm rough with definitions because remember discipline, discipline mean that little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I know definitions all of sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So by free, little did I know that the hot meant freedom in terms of debt freedom, freedom from bondage, freedom from the misunderstanding of intimacy, freedom from hurt, just freedom.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the only caveat was that I had to do the work though.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had to choose discipline.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so almost 10 years later,
[SPEAKER_01]: Using discipline, trusting what he told me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm overjoyed and so thankful that my wife and I can say that today, we are 100% free from consumer debt.
[SPEAKER_01]: So God is amazing, y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: I close with my own testimony, not to the encourage a space of competition.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I don't care about that part of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It'd be quite honest.
[SPEAKER_01]: But to light a fire under someone's hope today, the light of fire under your discipline.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like God, I don't want you in bondage.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been seeing whispers about this 50-year mortgage thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, no, y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, no.
[SPEAKER_01]: You better stay in that apartment so you can get some money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, no, don't let them people get you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's it, I go off on attention by that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But yes, again, I say this as a way to push a discipline to the next level.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is required to unlock your freedom with money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, with your eternal state, freedom comes through Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can we say amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Freedom comes through Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: So please understand, as I close, that your financial stewardship is good,
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so today I want to give anyone in the room who wants to take part in the eternal celebrations of Christ alongside all believers in heaven.