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let's pray. god we stand before you with heartsof gratitude. lord, i'm thankful for this university. thank you for the legacy of thefalwell family and i'm thankful for the students here this morning. god, i'm thankful for theopportunity to be here and deliver your word. god, you know i can do these talks by myself,but they sure are better when you do them. so we turn this time over to you. in jesus'name, amen. money is not the root of all evil. money isnot the root of all evil. we can do this all day if you want. the bible just does not saythat. it doesn't say that. the bible says the love of money is the root of all evil.and any time we worship anything other than god, he's a jealous god, and he doesn't likethat. in the culture today, there are voices

out there that are very, very loud and verypronounced and are supposedly steeped in intelligence that are giving us the message that moneyis the root of all evil. and by the way, if you believe that money is the root of allevil, not the love of money, if you believe that money is evil, it naturally follows alogical progression that people who have money must be evil. and so we get to vilify peoplewho have become successful. this is a dangerous socioeconomic psychographic trend. it's verydangerous because any time you vilify success, then no one wants to become successful. becauseif you're successful, you're evil and you're evil because money is evil and you got some.you follow the progression; it's not real tough.

but this drum beat is out there and you andi have a problem, and this culture has a problem because there's an inconsistency that goeswith this. let me help you with this. if your household income, and by the way the averageamerican household income is $50,000 a year. that's the average american household incomeright now according to the census bureau, actually just a little bit over that. butif your household income makes considerably less than the average and your average householdincome is $34,000 a year, you are in the top 1% of income earners in the world. if youmake $11,000 a year, which puts you substantially below the federal poverty line, you are inthe top 14% of income earners in the world. translation: most of the families in thisarena today are rich. and if money is evil,

and rich people are evil, i'm looking at abunch of evil people. this is a problem, you guys. this is a serious problem. now, i know you don't feel rich and i knowprobably your family doesn't feel rich because you get to compare yourself to people whoare richer. but you're in the top 1% of the world. so when people start vilifying thebuilding of wealth, especially when it's done by a believer who's doing it as a stewardshipissue, managing the wealth for the good of the lord, and doing little things like buildinguniversities, managing money for the positive use of the kingdom, it creates this hypocrisyin the marketplace, because the very people who are saying in the marketplace, doing theirdrum beat about "wealth is evil," are by definition,

wealthy people. and the problem is, in other words, that northamerica today, we are the most successful group of people of this size, the united statesof america, in the history of human kind. financially, the united states of americais the largest group of financially successful people in the history of humankind. now iunderstand god's blessings and i believe in those. but you need to understand that therewas a cause and effect, a sowing and a reaping thing that caused that to happen. the reason you and i are so wealthy as comparedto the rest of the world is the judeo-christian ethic that is underlying our entire economyand our belief system. even if you're not

a believer, even if you're not a christian,a person of faith, it doesn't matter. you still are operating in a culture that functionwith the value system of a judeo-christian ethic. let me give you an example. we believe inthis country that you should tell the truth. and if a company doesn't tell the truth, ifyou go to get your car fixed, and they lie to you, that is considered a breach of ethics,and people do not do business with that mechanic again and he goes out of business. if theylie to you at the doctor's office, you don't go back to that doctor's office. we don'tbelieve in lying. integrity, however, is not viewed that way universally, around the world.

some cultures, it's actually, the ethic isif you can mess someone over, you've done something good. now that's a foreign conceptto us, because the judeo-christian ethic is so rooted in who we are as a people. the second thing is that we believe in service.and guess what? how service works in the marketplace. see, we believe in worship service on sunday,but on monday we believe in customer service. we believe servant leaderships are the bestleaders. whether you're a person of faith or not, you believe those things. you believein good customer service. you believe that's how things ought to be done. they have badcustomer service over there. we believe in good service. as a matter of fact, my wifeand i went out on our date night a while back.

she joined me, i was speaking in phoenix 2weeks ago and she joined me down in phoenix and we had a date night at a sweet restaurant.i'll just tell you, the more books i sell, the better my date nights are. it's incredible,man. we go to one of these restaurants, you know what i'm talking about? white tablecloth,you recline at the table, because you're going to be there a while. and they're bringingfood, my mouth's watering just talking about it, you guys. they're bringing the food, andwe ate, went into a coma, we ate, amazing! but you know what happens in one of thoseenvironments, if you've ever been able to do that, is the person who brings the foodto the table, your server, we believe in service. by the end of that meal, they're not justsomeone who slops some food on the table,

by the end of that meal, they're a familymember, you all know what i'm talking about. what is customary and proper to do if youwere served well, at the end of the meal, you say "thank you." and there's a universallanguage for saying thank you to servers; it's called money. and you leave a tip. andat a meal like that, you leave a big honking tip. because this is now your friend, you'vegot a connection. in our culture, we believe in rewarding service. customers that are servedwell don't mind paying an organization for service. my friend rabbi lapin who's an orthodox jewishrabbi, wrote a wonderful book called "thou shall prosper." he says that in the marketplacewhen you serve well, your customers give you

certificates of appreciation with president'sfaces on them. we customarily say, "thank you," and we issue a certificate of appreciationwhen someone fixes my water heater at my house, when fixes my car, or changes the tire onit. we give certificates of appreciation for service in this culture. my friend ken blanchard says, "profit is theapplause your customers give you." this is why our society has prospered. these are justtwo of the ethics, service and integrity, that have caused that to happen. but we have a problem. there are really threeproper views of wealth and possession, or 3 possible views of wealth and possessions.i'll go ahead and tell you ahead of time,

2 of them are wrong, one of them is right,and i have done all 3, which means i've done it wrong some - more times than i'd like toadmit in here today. to help with that though, i want to actually read a couple of biblestories. so let's get your bibles out. that means if you have your iphone or your ipad,or if you don't have them, that's fine, i'll read them to you, they're quick. these two stories very likely occurred inthe same place and certainly with some of the same characters but at different times.let's start with luke 10:38, then i'll go to john 12:1 in a minute. luke 10:38, "nowit happened as they went that he entered a certain village and a certain woman namedmartha," mark that, "welcomed him into her

house. and she has a sister called mary whohad also sat at jesus' feet and heard his word. but martha was distracted with muchserving, and she approached him and said, 'lord, do you not care that my sister's leftme alone to serve? therefore, tell her to help me.' and jesus answered her and said,'martha, martha, you're worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is neededand mary has chosen the good part which will not be taken away from her.'" john 12:1, very likely in the same house butdefinitely at a different time. and you need to note the time, because it's an importantpart. "then 6 days before the passover," shortly before the crucifixion, in other words, "jesuscame to bethany where lazarus was who has

been dead, whom he had raised from the dead.there they made him a supper and martha," there she is again, "served. but lazarus wasone of those who sat at the table with him. then mary," there she is again, "took a poundof very costly oil and anointed the feet of jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. andthe house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. and one of his disciples, judas iscariot,simon's son, who would betray him said, 'why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denariiand given to the poor?' this he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because hewas a thief, and he had the money box and he used to take what was put into it. andjesus said, 'let her alone, she has kept this for the day of my burial.'"

well, there's 3 characters in those 2 storieswe need to use to represent these 3 spirits. there's martha, there's judas, and there'smary. my friend robert morris wrote a book called "the blessed life" wonderful book ongenerosity and in it he talks about these three spirits for one paragraph. he shouldhave written the whole book, and then i wouldn't have had to do this talk. the first spirit is a spirit of pride. pridesays money comes from me. now this is the one i fell into the first time, and i canfall back into it too because i believe in hard work. money comes from me. i believework is where money comes from. i believe that's all in the bible. and i think peopleought to work. i created money. money came

from me. my success came from me. now, theseare performance-oriented individuals, who check a box spiritually in their performancethings, i've been there and done that. basically, martha is this person. i mean, think aboutmartha here. she's doing all the right things. she's cooking, and she's cleaning, and she'sdoing all these things, but jesus, the son of god, is sitting in her house, and the womanis running a vacuum. she had the opportunity to spend time at jesus' feet, instead, she'sdoing the dishes. i've done that. but we do that when we think that money, or wealth,or possessions or the love of god comes from my performance. people that fall into thisspirit of pride, like i have, we like bible verses that say things like, "those that won'twork, don't let them eat." we like bible verses

that say things like, "the diligent prosper,"or, "when you're faithful with a little, more is given to you to manage." "you will reapwhat your sow." i love those kinds of verses. ramsey family's hard working people. therewasn't a whole lot i learned growing up from my dad and mom, but one of the things i learnedfor sure was work. i asked my dad one time for some money to go down to the local marketand get an icee, he handed me a lawnmower. work. the ramsey coat of arms, we're scottish.the ramsey coat of arms has two latin words above it, pray and work, we don't know howto do anything else. work! i believe in hard work, and i believe in those scriptures. buti don't believe that the farmer who's a mature believer, plants seed and when it rains, andthe crop comes up, says, "didn't i do good

with that rain thing? i'm pretty good at thisrain thing. that crop was but all the result of my work." that's a dangerous place to be.sometimes, those of us that fall into that category, we might be politically conservative.sometimes we might vote republican. it could happen. oh, i'll get to the others, don'twait. the second spirit is the spirit of poverty.spirit of poverty says, "wealth is evil. possessions are evil." by the way, this is a form of gnosticismwhich is a type of heresy. god does not say wealth is evil anywhere in the scriptures.nor does he say wealthy people are evil anywhere in the scriptures. nor does he say wealthypeople can't get to heaven anywhere in the scriptures, once you understand what the scripturereally says. now, i love twitter because atheists

quote me scripture on twitter. i think that'sfun. it's hard to teach doctrine, though, in 140 characters, i'll tell you. so i'vekind of given up on twitter fights, they don't really get you anywhere, i just block thetrolls and move on, but. i mean, there's no point in arguing with you if you're wrong.but it's interesting to me that i'll get tweets, or i'll get hate mail that says, "you're tellingpeople how to get money." and christians send me hate mail, too. christian hate mail shouldbe an oxymoron, i'm here to testify that it's not. "what about that rich young ruler thing,dave? where jesus said, 'it's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle thanit is for rich men to get into heaven?'" well what about, you continue reading three moreverses so you understand the scripture and

get it in context where jesus finally looksat them and says, "no one goes to heaven except through the son." rich people included. here'swhat that person who sends me that tweet is actually saying, that jesus' blood and sacrificeon calvary will get a prostitute into heaven, a murderer into heaven if they accept christ.we'll get an adulterer into heaven if they accept christ. he can do all of that, butif you're successful and become wealthy, you're not going. this is your doctrine? these arethe thought leaders, supposedly, in our culture today? you've got to be kidding me! it's absolutelyabsurd! spirit of poverty says things like, the littleman can't get ahead, the deck is stacked against us. i've got a relative who's bitter and beatup and he just says, "the corporations, the

corporations, the corporations!" i don't evenknow what he means by that, but, apparently they're taking over, the corporations. it'sthis vague boogeyman, that this 60-year-old bitter man has in his head, who loves conspiracytheories of all kinds. the little man can't get ahead. it's the rockefellers. what? seriously?you live in tennessee, the rockefellers aren't even there. it's unbelievable. it's all fixed.the little man can't get ahead. you don't know how it is out there. yeah, i do. i startedout with nothing, became a millionaire by the time i was 26. i was so stupid, i borrowedmoney and i lost it all. i had to start over. i'm so dumb, i had to become a millionairefrom nothing twice. the little man can get ahead. this is theonly place in the world, by the way, that

the little man can get ahead. 88% of america'smillionaires are first-generation rich. they started with nothing; 9 out of 10 of thembecame wealthy. it's mythology that it was a silver spoon. it's people who got up, leftthe cave, killed something, and dragged it home. but a spirit of poverty says, "wealthis evil. wealth is of the devil." sometimes, these people are socially liberal, politicallyliberal. sometimes they vote democrat. now, there's socially liberal democrats, and sociallyconservative republicans who are believers who don't fall into those categories. i willgive you that benefit of the doubt in either case, wherever you fall. but those two spirits, i have done both ofthem. i have said it. you know, this spirit

of poverty has two cousins named "jealousy"and "envy." jealousy is i want what you have. envy is i don't think i can have what youhave, so i don't even want you to have it. my catholic brothers and sisters call thatone of the seven deadly sins: spirit of envy. and that's loose in the land. but it onlyworks and it's only noble if you believe money to be the root of all evil. and it createsthings like a friend of mine, who's worth $2.2 billion. i got to sit in this room, youguys, with this group of christian men who are all very wealthy. the minimum net worthin the place was a half a billion, 500 million. and i got to sit in there - i was like a weinerin a steakhouse, y'all - and listen to the billion dollars plus that these ten men andtheir families gave to kingdom work that year.

we got up to leave the room, and the wealthiestguy in he room, who had called the meeting, it was a christian philanthropist meeting,we're going to his house for dinner, and he said, "hey dave, would you ride with me?"and i said, "oh, you betcha. i just want to kind of rub up against you, what are you talkingabout? yes, i'll ride with you. whatever. take notes the whole time." and he said, "i've got to apologize for mycar." and i said, "why, dude? you driving a hoopdee? if you're driving a beater, i'vegot a pretty good rental car, we can take it. why would you be apologizing for yourcar?" he said, "i just bought the nicest car i've ever bought in my life." he's 68 yearsold. i said, "really? why would you be ashamed

of that?" he said, "well, it's a nice car."and i said, "well, you've got a lot of money. it's ok." and so we go out there, and i lookedat it, and it's a nice car. i know, because i went home and looked at them when i gotback, it was a nice car. sweet. $130,000 mercedes. now let me help you with this guys. this isan interesting guy. he has $2.2 billion. last year he gave away $370 million, all to christianministries and christian work around the world. 98% of that you will never know happened.why? he doesn't care what you think. he doesn't worship you. he's not taking a poll on whatthe right thing to do is. so he buys a $130,000 car. guess what? he gets hate mail from christians,saying, "well you should've drilled another well in africa. somewhere there's a starvingchild. and you only gave away $370 million,

but that car, now i question your spirituality."so translation is, christians, some of them in america, think that there's a certain levelof car you can drive and lose your salvation. so we've done detailed research, and i'llhelp you with that. it's a '93 camry. anything nicer than a '93 camry, you're going to hell.seriously, people! is this the kind of filth that's running through our culture today?this is ridiculous! so we go out there, and i drive home in hiscar with him, and it's really nice. and i got to thinking about it. these people sendinghim hate mail have no idea, obviously, what they're talking about. let me help you withthe ratios with this. if you have $2.2 billion and you give away $370 million, buying a $130,000car is like you and me buying a biscuit. and

remember, you all come from wealthy, richfamilies when compared to the rest of the world. and so you should be ashamed of whateverlevel of consumption you have. so ratios are important to avoid, to make sure you're inthe last category. oh, by the way, that category, spirit of poverty, is jesus' friend judaswho said, "oh, well, you shouldn't have done that with that perfume. you should have soldthat and given it to the poor." that's what people always say when they're trying to beholy, when they're judging someone else. "anybody has a house that nice, shouldn't have donethat. they should have given that money to the poor." christians always say that whenthey're trying to figure out how to judge somebody else. really what happens is, isyou're dealing with an area you shouldn't

be dealing with because it's none-ya. none-yabusiness. it's not your stuff. god didn't give it to you to manage. if he gave it toyou to manage, then it would be your problem. otherwise, you need to shut up. you're judgingsomething you don't have any idea about. you don't have any grasp of. the last one is the proper spirit, and myprayer is that i'll be there and you'll be there and we stay there. and that's a spiritof gratitude. this is represented by mary. and a spirit of gratitude says, "wealth notonly comes form god, it is god's." the psalmist says, "the earth is the lord's and the fullnessthereof." he owns everything and he asks you to manage it and me to manage it. it's notyours; you're just a manager. a spirit of

gratitude says, "thank you." thank you forgiving the money to me to take care of my family and put food on the table and buy adecent car and take my wife of 31 years on a vacation. lord, thank you that i can takecare of my own household first, or i'm worse than an unbeliever. thank you lord, for providingfor my household. lord, thank you for providing for my future. where there is no vision, thepeople perish. in the house of the wise, there's stores of choice food and oil. wise peoplesave money so they can retire with dignity. oh, lord, thank you that i can leave an inheritanceto my children, because a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children.remember that david didn't build the temple, solomon did with his dad's money. it was aninheritance. it was an inheritance. generational

wealth is biblical. go figure. the spirit of gratitude says, "thank you lord,you've given me these things to manage. i love you. thank you for the price you paidon calvary. how do you want me to manage these things?" the spirit of gratitude says, "i'mgoing to do it your way, with yours stuff because it's yours, and that's my way of sayingthank you." the spirit of gratitude busts the oil onto jesus' feet. now let me helpyou with this. 300 denarii worth of oil. 300 denarii in that day was approximately a year'swages. i already told you what a year's wages are, it's $50,000 in america. that was a $50,000bottle of perfume the woman dumped on his feet. now i grew up a hillbilly redneck, idon't know much about perfume. but i married

a lady who does. and she has instructed methat the cheap stuff is not nearly as strong as the expensive stuff. the cheap stuff islike gurgle, gurgle, gurgle old spice, right? the expensive stuff, one little drop rightthere, boom! yeah! right? now that's the expensive stuff. $50,000 on jesus' feet. not only didthe fragrance fill the room, the windows weren't there because they didn't have windows. itfilled the streets. not only did it fill the streets, jesus said, "it anointed me for myburial." and so, not only did this spirit of gratitude from mary sitting at the feetof her savior say, "thank you, lord, for what you've given me. everything i have is yours.i'm going to manage it for you and your glory." bust it on to his feet. a few days later sheand her sister martha are again in the bible

and they walk to the tomb with the stone rolledaway and she said, "where's my lord, he is gone." he was gone, but i'll tell you whatwas in that tomb, the smell of that perfume was there. and jesus told us it was goingto be. "she's anointed me for my burial" he said. this is the spirit of gratitude. when yourdad works overtime and he gets you a new bicycle and the family's barely making it, but hetakes the graveyard shift. and you know your family really can't afford that bicycle, buton christmas morning, the bicycle you knew your family couldn't afford is still sittingthere in front of the tree, because the price your daddy paid. do you know what you are?you're grateful. and you show your gratitude

for the bicycle by the way you take care ofit. that's not a bicycle that gets left in the rain. that's a bicycle that when it getsdirty, you get your daddy's wax out that he uses on the car, and you clean the bicycle.that's a bicycle that's taken care of. that's a bicycle that years later, when you findit in the attic as a grown man, it brings a lump in your throat, because the price yourdaddy paid. your gratitude is real and it's displayed by the way you handle the thingyou were given. when you start to understand that about money and wealth, you will learnthat the bible says to get out of debt and stay out of debt. you will learn that thebible says to get to a budget because jesus said, "don't build a tower without first countingthe cost, lest you get halfway up and you're

unable to finish. and all who see you beginto mock you and say, 'this man began to build and was unable to finish.'" you will understandthat you spread your portions of your investments to 7, yes to 8, for disaster may come uponthe land, it says in ecclesiastes. you will understand that you are supposed to save money,because in the house of the wise there's stores of choice food and oil. but a foolish mandevours all he has. if you spend everything you make, you're a fool according to the bible. my reaction, my gratitude, the way i say thankyou is with the passion and the excellence with which i handle what he has given me tomanage. but then the strangest thing happens. because i'm grateful, and because i'm excellentand i'm faithful with the little things, he

gives me more to manage. because i don't ownit. i've instructed my kids, they don't own it. when i die, they get to take over themanagement but not the ownership. who's the heir to your estate? the current owner, jesuschrist, is he heir to my estate. the managers will probably have the last name of ramseyor one of my daughters' married names. that will be fine. but if one of my children isconfused about who owns it, and confused about who the lord of glory is, we will remove themfrom the will. why? because it's not mine and i can't leave god's stuff to someone who'snot going to manage it properly according to him. this is an act of gratitude. this is the wayi say "thank you, god." this is my best shot

at being mary. because lord knows i've beenjudas. i've been that guy who judged someone else and said no one should have a car thatnice. i've been that guy who said, "oh, if it's to be, it's up to me." i've been thatprideful guy. i've operated with a spirit of poverty. i've operated with a spirit ofpride. my goal as i get to be an old man is to more often be operating in a spirit ofgratitude. where i say, "thank you, lord." and not just with my mouth, but with my actionsof excellence in the marketplace. my actions of excellence in the handling of the moneyand the wealth and the possessions he gives me to manage for his glory. i hope when we'redone, that when the kids find the bible, the greatgrandkids find the bible, the legacyis, that old man, don't know a lot about him,

but he loved jesus and he knew who owned hisstuff. he was managing it for god. that's the legacy we want to leave. we want to bevery, very intentional about that. god, we thank you for this day, we thank youfor these bright students, we thank you for your word to guide us. lord, help us all tohave that spirit of gratitude. in jesus' name, amen.