in the 1940s
1950s
radio
was how america was entertained
television was not widely distributed at
that point families would gather around
the drama the series like they gather
around netflix now
and they were the lone ranger and tonto
high hole silver
and silver with his coconuts for sound
effects
by the microphone right
and so it was drama on the radio one of
the radio shows was a show on wgn radio
in
chicago and it was sky king now if you
keep in mind this is the 40s airplanes
were still a big deal it was a
cutting-edge
technology to fly still
and sky king was this guy with a great
baritone voice of course he was a radio
voice
and and he would fly in whatever the
drama was and he was the guy that would
save the day and so on and the voice
behind sky king was a guy named earl
nightingale
and earl pretty quickly realized there
was no money in radio and he bought an
insurance business a general agency and
every monday morning he would have a
sales meeting and pump up his sales guys
and send them out to sell insurance and
he was very very successful at it
all the way up into the late 50s and one
of the things earl loved more than
motivational speaking or jacking up his
sales guys and getting them ready to go
out and sell insurance was he loved to
fish
and uh
earl decided he was going on a fishing
trip in canada was sales manager came to
him and he said you understand that the
two weeks that you're gone sales are
gonna go down because when you get these
guys wired up on monday morning they're
ready to go attack the world and they go
out there and make sales without you
here to do the pump up the halftime
speech for the football coach you're
they're not going to do their thing man
and sales are going to go down earl
thought well that's not good but i'm
going fishing so i got to figure this
out so he goes back to his old radio
days and decides he's going to record a
talk and he goes into the studio and
records a talk just for the two-week
vacation and the way you did a recording
in those days in a studio was not tape
it was on an acetone record a fl is a
real floppy real thin looking record any
of you old enough to remember getting a
record on the back of your cereal box
that kind of a thing there's a little
thin flimsy record it was meant to play
three or four times and five times and
then not meant to work after that it
didn't have a long shelf life it was a
short recording and he went in and he
recorded a 33-minute talk
they played it sales went up while he
was gone they played it the next week
sales went up again while he was gone he
came back by the time he had gotten back
everyone who sold anything in the entire
chicago area was abuzz wanting a copy of
this talk
he ended up recording the talk formally
pressing records
and selling the records
and as best we can determine
in research that we've done in the
broadcast world secular or church
this is one of the records that's sold
beginning in 1959
this is the first recorded
talk not music
but the first talk of any kind sermon or
otherwise to sell a million copies
the talk was called the strangest
secret
and in it he talks about the strangest
secret is simply
that you become
what you think about
now this is a biblical truth
in proverbs it says as a man thinks in
his heart so is he
ralph waldo emerson said
a man is becomes what he thinks about
all day long it turns out that what we
focus on what we concentrate on what we
think about we tend to gravitate towards
move towards become
that and if it's good or bad we're going
to be pulled magnetically in the
direction of the things we think about
you become
what you think about
is the strangest secret as a man
thinketh in his heart so is he
henry ford once said if you think you
can or you think you can't
you're right
now this was proven several years ago
and this is a great another old story
that i just love and it was proven in
this instance now any of you remember
the book or the movie unbroken about
louis zamperini
he was a track star and he goes into
world war ii and in a japanese
concentration camp and finally gets out
later it's a the story of his whole life
is a wonderful story a big old long book
unbroken the book's better than the
movie usually is right and
so louis ran in the berlin olympics
with the nazis doing this
hitler
is coming into power
and he was a miler he was a kid from
california and in the berlin olympics
louie ran
the mile in four minutes and 21 seconds
and just barely missed a medal
the miler that year was a little over
four minutes
that was 1936.
by 1954
no one had broken the four minute mile
no one a guy did a four minute and one
second and it stood for nine years
it was widely thought and taught that
the human body the physiological
condition of the human body it was
impossible for anyone to train enough to
go fast enough for the human body to
cross a mile in under four minutes if
you think you can or you think you can't
you're right
you become what you think about
and
one doctor even said
prophesied that if someone actually did
run a mile in under four minutes that
their heart would explode and they would
die right there
until 1954
roger bannister famously
is the first human being
and that's a picture of him to break
the four-minute mile
three minutes and 59 seconds
the record lasted 46 days
22 people broke the four-minute mile
within the next six years
i've told this story and i love it so
much so that the watch that was used
by the old guys sitting there in the
trench coat as banister went across the
line went up for sale on sotheby's
auction house in london
well apparently i've got too much money
because i decided i needed that watch
what a great story and what a great
thing to have in my safe for my kids to
fight over after i die
so i go to bidding on this watch i set
myself the limit of ten thousand dollars
and i was i was gonna go no more than
ten thousand dollars to buy this
world-class keepsake um i quit bidding
at 38 000 i bought this one on ebay for
four dollars okay
but um
if you think you can
or you think you can't
you're right
the power of intentionality i'm gonna
and be intentional
about my life i'm gonna be intentional
about my spiritual walk i'm gonna be
intentional about the dimensions and the
compartments and the departments
of my life you know no one accidentally
wins
you don't interview the guy after the
super bowl the little reporter runs over
to the athlete and goes how did you just
win the world series the super bowl they
they never say oh i just got off the bus
now i've been training since i was six
years old
it's an intentional act
to win
the power of intentionality goes with
the power of belief and what we in our
christian walk call faith
what we believe
and we just did two years ago at ramsey
the largest study of millionaires ever
done
in north america we studied 10 167
millionaires in depth airtight research
because we knew people wouldn't like the
results
because we kind of knew some of the
things we were going to find
and we knew that some people wouldn't
like it so we were really careful we had
outside research firm help us with the
details and the control groups and the
processes if you know anything about
research it's a very detailed thing to
do it properly and not not not get
confirmation bias and these kinds of
things in there detailed thing here's
the interesting thing
if you get somebody to say something if
like 60 of people say something in a
group like that
that's called statistically significant
right
over half of them say this
97
of the millionaires that we talked to
when we asked them
can you become a millionaire today and
when you first started did you believe
you could become a millionaire
97
said yes
if you think you can or you think you
can't you're right
when we interviewed the general public
that weren't millionaires
do you think you can become a
millionaire
69
still a lot
but significantly less than 97 percent
said that they thought they could
i wasn't planning to write another book
this year for sure
i i you know i really i i you know i i'm
not that great an author anyway i'm good
at selling them but i'm not that great a
writer and so
but i got aggravated by two things that
kept popping up in my face
one is i've been teaching this biblical
principles to get out of that save money
so that you can become wealthy so you
can be outrageously generous
managing money for god god's ways and
for your family is part of god's ways
right and i've been teaching people this
stuff for 30 years and we call it the
baby steps you walk up the baby steps
you get out of that build your emergency
fund start your merger start your
retirement your kids college pay off
your house your baby step seven woo hoo
we're free we did it okay and we walk
them through the baby steps and i kept
running into people all over america
wherever i went and they would walk up
and they go hey dave i've been doing
your stuff for like a long time
like
i'm old
like i've been doing this 25 years
i've been listening to you
and i'm i'm a baby steps millionaire
and i did it i did the stuff you teach i
did it and it worked and i'm a
millionaire i followed the baby steps
and i'm a millionaire my baby steps
millionaire and i kept running into
these people everywhere and
lots of them
a lot and then i was running into
i do a lot of media stuff
and god help me i actually sometimes
look at social media
lord jesus forgive me um
and i kept seeing out there the hope
steelers y'all ever seen the hope
stealers
the people that will steal your hope
that tell you it can't be done
they're they're the ones that you know
eor is their spirit animal you know
oh it's bad
america's over you're never gonna be
able to make it
it's bad
little man can't get ahead
and i was running into these hope
steelers everywhere and they're telling
me no one can do it and sophisticated
economists who were hope steelers and
people in the media that were hope
steelers and i'm talking to baby step
millionaires who goes dave i did
[Music]
because the the hope steelers are out
there the first thing they tell you is
this
all the rich people have all the money
and the only way you get rich is to
inherit your money heard that one say
yes well here's the thing
that's a lie
no i mean i've got data
facts
not your broke brother-in-law with an
opinion facts
okay
when we study these millionaires 10
000 of them
79
received precisely zero
as an inheritance that's eight out of
ten five percent when they did get an
inheritance it was a little one like
four or five thousand bucks which does
not make you a millionaire in case you
didn't know the math
another five percent received a big
inheritance like a couple of hundred
thousand dollars
after they were already millionaires so
that didn't make them a millionaire
so five and five and 79 is 89 that's
nine out of ten millionaires in america
today
did it themselves first generation rich
with the blessings of god
well and your your whiny little friend
says but it's just not fair out there
it's not fair out there
the fair is where the tilt-a-whirl is in
the prize pig
it's not fair
and oh it ought to be equal
equal is fair
not in the bible
and by the way equals not fair
if you work 100 hours a week
and
the guy works 10 hours a week
you should get paid more
i got a face for radio
i got friends who are pretty
and they're like on tv and stuff
and they make more money because they
talk to more people than i talk to
that's not fair
i'm in nashville i've got all these
music friends i can't play
i'm in talk radio for a reason i mean i
can't
i mean i i got all these music friends
and they sell 10 million albums i've
never even seen an album except one i
put on the record that's only
it's not fair that they make more money
at albums than i make of course it is
they serve more people they will more
people they help more people with joy
than i helped with that
if i sell 10 books and help 10 people
get out of debt
i should make one set of money that's
fair but if i sell 10 million i should
make another set of money that's fair
fair is not equal
because effort talent education
bothering to show up
is not equal
so don't let the whiners tell you well
the game is rigged the system's rigged
so i got to meet condoleezza rice
this woman is incredible we were doing a
leadership event she came in to speak
with us she's unbelievably smart her
purse is smarter than i am and
uh
the woman competition ice skater
world-class
concert pianist
second woman ever to be secretary of
state first black woman ever to be
secretary of state
a provost of sanford grew up in a lower
middle class family in extremely racist
situation in birmingham alabama in those
days they called it bombing ham
because that's when all the bombing was
happening with the racism
but she didn't define it wasn't defined
by that
she didn't say the system's rigged is
racism real oh yes racism is real
is sexism real oh yes it's real we don't
all have the star same starting point
from where we got to where we got to go
we don't all have the same starting
point and that's not fair it just is
but condoleezza said her parents what
they taught her was
that it doesn't matter
where you come from all that matters is
where you're going to
so i yeah i i i started a little further
back i'm from antioch tennessee i didn't
go when i'm not from one of those cool
families
i'm just a redneck hillbilly so i start
a little further back
some people started further back than
that and they passed me did you know
every single demographic every single
race we found in the study had become
millionaires someone chose to go from
where they started to believe i'm going
to be intentional if you think you can
if you think you can't you become what
you think about i'm going to aim at this
as a man thinketh in his heart so is he
and i'm going to go do it
[Applause]
and then there are hope stealers among
my brothers and sisters in christ
the ones that are over saved you know
christians shouldn't be wealthy
as a matter of fact the bible condemns
the rich to hell
have any of you heard this
have you ever even thought it i used to
think it because i kind of grew up in an
area that was all christian i'm in
nashville there's more baptists there
than people
and yet the scripture actually says this
and you shall remember the lord your god
for it is he
who gives you
the power to get wealth
the bible does not say money is the root
of all evil it says the
love of money
is the root of all evil well dave you
know jesus said
a camel can't get through the eye of a
needle so a rich man can't get into
heaven
one of my pastor buddy says don't let
the world teach you theology
and i'll help you with that for goodness
sakes don't let twitter teach you
doctrine
[Applause]
the most quoted scripture
by the angry unbeliever christian hater
don't you know
that the rich aren't going to heaven
because a camel can't get through the
eye of a needle
all you gotta do is just finish reading
the context
and jesus goes on down because the
disciples were amazed they said well who
then can be saved and he says no one
gets to the father
except through the sign
and so
let me just be mean to you are you ready
for me mean because it's a spiritual
gift okay so let me just be mean to you
if you believe with your toxic political
beliefs
or you believe with your toxic
upbringing in christianity that rich
people aren't going to heaven because of
that scripture let me help you with that
that's what theologians call heresy
let me help you with heresy heresy is
when anyone can't get
what you're saying is prostitutes go to
heaven if they ask jesus for forgiveness
drug dealers can go to heaven if they
ask jesus forgiveness murderers can ask
you go to heaven if they ask jesus
forgiveness but not those rich people
jesus blood is not strong enough at the
cross for those rich people
[Applause]
that's called heresy technically
speaking
if you're in seminary
okay so don't practice inherency on
twitter okay it's bad for you there's a
lot of stuff on twitter that's bad for
you
so just helping you with this here's
with the evil one percent they have all
the money
they shouldn't have all the money
okay here we go okay i'm a math guy so
here's the thing
if you make 39 000 a year household
income
you are in the top 1 percent of income
earners in the world
you are officially going to hell
[Applause]
well this is how absurd this line of
critical thinking is when you take your
religion and you make it toxic to to
justify your victimization
don't do it as a man thinketh in his
heart so is he
i'm gonna be intentional about winning
the super bowl i might have a harder
start it might not have been good when i
was growing up people might be mean to
me because of reasons they shouldn't be
mean to me but it doesn't matter i'm
still gonna go in the super bowl
i'm still not gonna quit
the bible teaches cause and effect
we reap what we sow
and so if you plant corn
you will water it put fertilizer around
it if you're a farmer
hoe around it keep the weeds out
and then
you will get corn if god chooses to send
the sun in the rain
now saint ambrose said we have to work
like it all depends on us and pray like
it all depends on god so i the bible is
a constant dance between our faith in
god and his provision
and our faithfulness
getting off your tailing and doing the
work
so if you want some corn
you should plant
corn aggravating christians pray over
mud holes that got no corn in them and
can't figure out where the corn is when
they have planted no corn
that's aggravating
because it makes christians look stupid
corn come forth
it's not going to
you're supposed to reap what you sow sow
the corn the corn will come
lord i pray for money try saving some
i'm joking around a little bit but we've
all heard this stuff and somehow we have
to push back about it in our culture
i do believe god is a god of provision
he's a god of grace
i've walked in so much grace and among
all the dumb things i've done in my life
he's been so unbelievably good to me it
makes me cry every time i think about it
and i'm not in any way dissing that i'm
not in any way taking credit for success
but you have to work
and those that don't work paul said they
don't eat
and somehow we get these things all
twisted up and somehow spiritualize our
inactivity
or the fact that we're paralyzed and
we're overwhelmed and we're scared and
we don't know what to do and instead of
plowing through that and busting through
that and saying someone take my hand and
help me out of this hole and your
brothers and sisters come alongside you
lift you out give you a shot at
something
the community comes around you and loves
you well
don't forsake the gathering of believers
all these things are scripture
and they all come together to cause us
to be able to cause these things to
happen in our lives
our christian life and the study of the
bible and the community that we walk in
transforms our lives because we learn to
plant
new and better things into our life
and i have a thing i call the
displacement theory i learned it from my
wife my wife is a is kind of like pastor
she's kind of a health nut and like
she's in perfect shape
she has zero body fat which is
simultaneously wonderful because she's
my wife but look at me it's also shaming
okay so
so she goes and walks her six miles or
28 miles or whatever she does in the
morning and and works out four and a
half hours or whatever the thing she
does and then she comes in and puts
stuff in a blender that humans should
not ingest and thinks it's fun
and when she pours it into a glass it
looks like nuclear waste
and it's good for you
and then she's got this little nuclear
waste mustache and says
do you want some and i'm like no
and she finishes drinking that nuclear
waste and sets the glass in the sink
turns on the hot water and the hot water
goes into the junk
and the clean water
as it runs
begins to displace
the trash
and if you let that glass and you've
done it before
that pan sit in the sink and just let
the hot water run on it
it will boil the stuff out
and in a few minutes the clean
has displaced
the filth
this is the christian walk
you put good stuff in
you will have good stuff in
and it will push the trash
from the past out it will push the past
out
well people from my neighborhood i don't
care about your neighborhood put some
clean in
people that grew up like i don't care
put some clean in people that don't have
a chance to start it like shut up put
some clean in
as a man thinketh in his heart so is he
if you think you can or you think you
can't
you're right
you can do this it's called hope
hope deferred makes the heart sick be
not conformed to this world
don't be like them
but be transformed how displacement
the renewing
of your mind new things coming in and it
creates a new you
a whole new way of looking at things
sharon i've been married almost 40 years
i'm really glad and she's really glad
she ain't married to the guy she married
he's not perfect but he's a whole lot
better than that idiot she married 40
years ago
displacement i'm getting better
i'm getting better give me 40 more i'll
probably get it down
so what god wants for you is what i want
for you he wants you to
get on a budget because jesus said don't
build a tower without first counting the
cost unless you get halfway up and
you're unable to finish all who see you
begin to mock you and say this man began
to build and was unable to finish you
get on a budget so that you can live on
less than you make because a foolish man
devours all he has you live on less than
you make so you can get out of debt
cause the ritual is over the poor and
the borrower is slave to the lender you
get out of debt so you've got money to
save for an emergency because in the
house of the wise or stores of choice
food and oil you're feeling the
displacement yet
you take the savings that you begin to
build up that emergency fund you're
ready for a rainy day and then of course
then you're ready to build some wealth
and no discipline seems pleasant at the
time but it yields a harvest of
righteousness
you can become a baby steps millionaire
and as you become wealthy you can change
your family tree because a godly man
leaves an inheritance to his children's
children
and then as you do that you become
outrageously
generous
because
god loves a cheerful giver
by the way that's the end of the game
and that's the beginning of the game
outrageous generosity the rest of stuff
in the middle is just how we get it done
see i was at the supermarket the day and
i'll close up with this because they
told me the holy spirit leaves at the
30-minute mark and so
[Applause]
uh i don't go to supermarket very much
my wife bless her heart she does that
most the time but when i do go i'm kind
of an efficiency expert
it's kind of a nascar pit stop for me
closest parking spot
once i get my stuff i'm scanning the
lines have you ever done this
okay that line's a little longer but
that one checking out seemed like she
got her stuff going i'm gonna get a
little longer line we're gonna get
through there because i'm picking the
fastest line to get in and out the whole
game is in and out quick y'all wouldn't
anybody do this but me
so i go in there the other day
and i love generous people
jewish people make a smile
generous people make our eyes leak don't
they
i go in there and i pick out the line
and there's this woman in the line
and she's got two kids
who were everywhere
over everything y'all know what i'm
talking about
i'm old school
bothering papa dave here
and
then she's got these groceries
and she hands the guy her card
and it's rejected
well i hate to admit it i was not
looking
compassionately upon this woman at first
i'm standing about three back
and now when the card comes out now
that's the business i'm in right
helping people that the card's rejected
and then i start looking at the kids a
little more careful and their clothes
aren't very good
and then i look at her
and you the windows are the eyes
to the soul
the eyes are the windows to the soul i'm
sorry
and she's not having a good week she's
not having a good year
you can see the pain you ever done that
you look at somebody you see it
stripping off of them
and then she hands another card and the
card is rejected
and this whole thing is going down fast
now i'd like to tell you
that i was the generous one but i was
slow on the trigger because it took me a
minute to recover from my initial
self-righteousness
but standing the guy right behind her
was superman
now i didn't realize it was superman
because he was dressed like a hispanic
construction worker
with mud on his boots
but suddenly
clark kent comes out
and he reaches up
and pays for her groceries
she starts crying
the
registered lady starts crying
i start crying i'm not even involved
and she's trying to say no no no no no
he can't understand anything he speaks
only spanish
but he does speak card denied
he does speak
having a bad year
300 bucks goes up and he pays for her
groceries
this is why we do what we do
because you won't be that guy
generous people
make our eyes leak
generous people make a smile because we
get to see
god show up
in the line
at the grocery store
put yourself in a position
to be him
for the rest of your life
and try not to be self-righteous like me
and beat him to the punch
put yourself in a position to be
outrageously
generous
and then if somebody that's crazy is
drinking haterade because you became
wealthy and you're incredibly generous
just tell them to have another serve
it's all good drink your haterade
me and god
we're walking in generosity
he's letting me do this it's the
privilege of my entire life to be able
to help others with money that he
allowed me to manage
[Applause]
you can do it
as a man thinketh in his heart
so is he
if you think you can
or you think you can't
that's faith
or the lack of it
you'll be right either way
decide
you become what you think about
god we thank you
for your provision we thank you for your
guidance we thank you for your love
oh
you've lavished us beyond our wildest
imaginations
help us to be kind
to be self-controlled
to be
unbelievably generous
and cheerful
in giving that that you gave us to
manage
in jesus name
amen
[Applause]
come on church let's tell dave thank you
and uh and dave thank you for living
that um dave has been more generous with
our church than i could ever describe
and um this is who god is calling us to
be and i just want to ask you right now
because i know there's anytime people
talk about money there can all can be a
heaviness and a weight and a guilt and a
shame and uh i can't and i want won't
but i think you just heard a word
that can change the way you think
and how many of you really believe and
think you can honor god with what he
entrusts you with would you raise your
hands right now leave them up for a
minute leave them up leave them up at
all of our churches you're watching
online you put it up wherever you are
right now
in an act of worship and recognize that
god is entrusting
resources
to you
he trusts you to steward them
and when you're faithful with a little
he'll trust you with even more
you put your hands down i'm gonna pray
for you in just a moment but let me just
talk about how you can be faithful
you can start with dave's book
baby step principles
start with being faithful
start by getting a plan
work the plan
and honor god and watch as god blesses
you along the way
and as dave says you can live today like
no one else one day you can live and
give like no one else and you can be
that person at the grocery store and you
can be that person in many people's
lives if you're faithful so god today i
pray
for the faith to believe
that you've given us what we need to
honor you
help us to be faithful god
to take a step when it even seems like a
small step and take a step the next day
yeah we thank you for dave for for we
thank you for the way he teaches your
principles
that we can live in a way that honors
you give us wisdom give us faithfulness
god i pray that there would be people
that wouldn't just be baby step
millionaires but they'd be baby step
millionaires who are generous beyond
measure
help us to start where we are
to honor you and believe god that as
we're faithful
you'll pour out your blessings so we can
bless others we pray this in jesus name
as you keep praying today nobody looking
around just kind of an attitude of
worship and prayer
when we talk about money sometimes we're
aware of where we've fallen short and
where we haven't gotten it right we've
all messed up
when we talk about life when we're in
church when we're watching a message
sometimes we're aware of our own
sinfulness we've all messed up we've all
fallen short
we have a debt
not just a financial debt but we have a
sin debt
and the amazing thing is we have a very
generous god for god so loved the world
that what did he do
he gave
he gave he gave his one and only son
jesus
that whosoever would believe in jesus
would not perish but instead would have
eternal life
if you find yourself aware of your
shortcomings your sinfulness
we serve a god
who showed his love on earth through the
person of jesus god became flesh
jesus lived without sin he gave his life
and god raised him from the dead so
anybody and this includes you
no matter how bad you failed no matter
what you've done anyone who calls out on
that name the name that is above every
name the name of jesus your sins would
be forgiven today i believe there are
those of you you're watching online
you're watching at a church location you
know you need forgiveness what are we
going to do we're going to step away
from our old life and we're going to
become disciples of jesus we're going to
follow jesus when we confess our need
for him god forgives all of our sins we
become brand new today wherever you're
watching from those who say yes
i want his forgiveness i want his grace
today i choose jesus i want to be his
disciple i give my life to him those of
you you know you need is forgiveness
today you surrender today you give your
life that's your prayer today say yes
jesus i give my life to you that's your
prayer would you lift your hands high
right now can you guys celebrate with me
today as we see people at all of our
churches
walking away from the old life walking
towards a new life
those of you online you can just type it
in the comment section i'm choosing to
follow jesus just type it in the comment
section i'm choosing to follow jesus
said it's our great honor today to
celebrate the moment that you experience
the grace of jesus we're going to pray
and you can just pray aloud wherever you
are we're all praying together pray
heavenly father
i need your grace
i need your forgiveness
i need jesus
jesus save me
forgive all of my sins
make me brand new
i need your power
i need your spirit
to live for you
to show your love fill me with your
spirit
that i can do your will
give me the faith
to know i can serve you
to make a difference
i surrender all of my life to you
thank you for new life
in jesus name i pray
could you all celebrate big worship of
good god is full of grace and love
[Applause]