How do you truly live out your Christian faith through your finances? Are you trusting God with your financial decisions, or are fear and control driving your choices? In this episode of the Ask Ralph Show, Ralph Estep Jr. and guest Paul Granger dive into the intersection of faith and finances, offering insights on how to balance spending, saving, and giving in a way that honors God's provision. Tune in to discover how aligning your finances with your faith can lead to deeper trust and true financial freedom.

How do I live out my Christian Faith through my finances? With Ralph Estep Jr. and Paul Granger

In this episode of the Ask Ralph show, host Ralph Estep Jr. discusses how to live out one's Christian faith through financial decisions. He revisits an interview with Paul Granger, highlighting radical life choices made to follow God's calling. The show opens with a listener's question from Caroline about balancing spending, saving, and generosity according to Christian values. The episode features insights from Paul Granger's experience, stressing that financial security relies on trusting God's provision and practicing radical generosity. The conversation further delves into Ralph's personal stories of faith-driven financial choices, underlining that everything we have is entrusted to us by God.

https://www.askralphpodcast.com/faith-through-my-finances/

00:00 Episode Overview

00:38 Listener’s Question

01:34 Bible Verse

02:00 Interview with Paul Granger

02:20 Paul's Journey

04:24 The Gift of Salvation

11:36 Faith and Finance

17:29 The Struggle of Financial Fear Among Believers

22:23 Living in an Unconventional Way

31:43 A Miraculous Reconciliation

32:33 The Challenge of Loving Like Christ

33:20 God's Unexpected Provisions

37:47 Broadening Our Perspective

40:42 Experiencing Life Beyond Our Comfort Zone

45:03 The Paradigm Shift in Christian Finance

53:56 The Importance of Community and Accountability

57:20 Final Thoughts

Paul’s Website

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[00:00:23] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Did you catch yesterday's show on why a good credit score matters even in retirement?

[00:00:38] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Well now, let's dive into a message from one of our listeners. And Caroline has sent us this message. It says this, it says "Ralph, I've been struggling to align my spending habits with my Christian values. It feels like there's always tension between saving for the future and being generous.

[00:01:12] Ralph Estep, Jr.: That's at askralph.com. You'll see a little microphone icon there. Just click on that microphone icon and say what's on your mind and I'll share it on the next show.

[00:01:34] Ralph Estep, Jr.: So let's ground ourselves with a little scripture today, and this comes to us from the book of Proverbs 3:9-10, and it says this. "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."

[00:02:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Well now let's, without further ado, let's turn it over to my interview with Paul Granger. Let me tell you a little bit about Paul. Paul and his family have been living and serving in Richmond, Virginia since 2008. And they have made some incredible leaps of faith. They've pursued seemingly impossible housing situations, leaving their jobs to follow God's calling more deeply. Paul has personally been involved in inner city ministries since 2005. He's been focusing on shepherding others as they see seek how to love God and love others. He's currently serving as the Interim Campus Director of YWAM City Lights and hosts the "Where did you see God?" Podcast.

[00:03:04] Ralph Estep, Jr.: You know, one thing that stuck with me from the chat was Paul's perspective on risk. He said this, he said, "Sometimes, the riskiest thing we can do is play it safe and ignore God's call to step out in faith." It's a powerful reminder that our financial security ultimately comes from God, not from our bank balance.

[00:03:32] Ralph Estep, Jr.: The most important thing for me to people take away is that I am saved. That's the most important to me because I think there's character there.

[00:03:57] Paul Granger: Yeah. You know, it's funny sometimes when somebody's answering a question like that, there's a moment that pops out to me.

[00:04:23] Paul Granger: What does that actually mean?

[00:04:41] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And Christianity is really as simple as this. The gifts are there. Do you choose to open them? Because it's really that simple, Paul. And so that's what I mean by that, is that I chose to take the gift that was given to me. I didn't earn it. I didn't work for it. Now there's things that I need to do to keep it in my view.

[00:05:17] Paul Granger: And so if we use that analogy, you know, there are kids in the world that have always known what Christmas is.

[00:05:39] Paul Granger: And what did it look like for you to actually accept that gift?

[00:06:06] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Because I never knew her to be this on fire Christian. And to be very candid with you, Paul, she kind of scared me because she said, look, you know, if you don't figure this out, you're going to burn in hell. And I was like, ouch. Nobody wants to do that. Well, at the same time, one of my biggest mentors in my life was my grandfather on my dad's side.

[00:06:42] Ralph Estep, Jr.: That's what I practice now. I'm a Baptist. But the pastor of the church would come by to have a conversation, you know, like Thursday afternoon, let's have a chat. And I remember I was over there. I spent a lot of time with my grandfather. I was over there just hanging out with my grandfather, my grandmother. One afternoon, this pastor shows up.

[00:07:12] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I really can't answer that. And he said, do you want to know the answer? I said, well, absolutely. He goes, well, I'll make it really simple for you. Do you want to accept Christ as your personal savior? And that was the time, Paul. That's when I did it. And you know, did I feel like all these golden domes opened up and the light shined on me and the earthquake.

[00:07:56] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Oh, Ralph, go down this route. He's always been right here on my shoulder, you know, ever since that moment. So I think he's guided me, you know, like, like you talked about in this discussion today, you know, let's see where God takes us. I talk about this on my podcast show all the time. It's not about the destination.

[00:08:33] Ralph Estep, Jr.: He's got my back. He will never leave me for, nor forsake me. So I hope that answers your question. I probably went all around the way to get there, but that's kind of the way I'd like to talk. So.

[00:08:59] Paul Granger: Because again, the human experience is normally you need to become an expert in a thing, or you need to become better in a thing. But at age 13, you were suddenly introduced to this, this being, this supernatural encompassing being that utterly changed the direction of your life. So what does that sanctification walk look like for you?

[00:09:35] Ralph Estep, Jr.: So one of the coolest things about my life is that in my sanctification walk or my relationship with Christ, I don't have to be perfect. The debits don't need to equal the credits. The income statement, the balance sheet, and all those, they could be all kinds of out of whack and guess what? He still loves me.

[00:10:04] Paul Granger: It's funny. I, while you were talking, I felt like to pull up my phone to see what the verse of the moment was. And I say moment, because the new widget I have, the old one was once a day verses, and now this one's every hour.

[00:10:39] Paul Granger: And I think it's interesting that you talk about being an accountant, because you're right. That is very precise and specific, and in fact, more often than not, the idea of accounting is to create more wealth, or to at least stop loss. That's the, that's the goal. And then meanwhile, Christ is like, yeah, I want to invite you to loss.

[00:11:30] Paul Granger: So how do you live in that balance living in a world that doesn't understand the reality that you're coming to know?

[00:11:46] Ralph Estep, Jr.: If you think about it, we're all charged to be good stewards of what God has given us. And if you're not a Christian, if you don't understand what the word steward means, it means basically God has entrusted you with stuff and he expects you to do well with your stuff. So for me, I felt like God was pulling me in a direction of saying to me, Ralph, look, you've got this audience of people coming in to see you.

[00:12:50] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And when you finally realize that it's not your tank that you're trying to fill. It's that relationship with the savior that you're trying to fill, then everything starts to make sense. When I say to a client, listen, your business isn't doing well. Why is that? Well, you know, I'm doing this, I'm doing that.

[00:13:52] Ralph Estep, Jr.: So if I have a client that comes into me and says, Ralph, you know, look, I mean, I hate paying taxes. This is terrible. I'll be like, yeah, I hear you. Nobody likes to pay taxes. But if you are a Christian person, if you have a character of being a Christian, you're supposed to do what's right. So once you know that, then, you know, I can help, I can help you get to where you want to go.

[00:14:49] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And the basic premise of this book is that you don't check your Christianity at the door when you go in the business. It's who you are, it's your character. And if it defines who you are, then everything else just goes out from that. So I've found it very easy to pull those two worlds together. And every day when I do my podcast and yes, it's a daily, it's a grind, but it's only about 10 minutes long.

[00:15:29] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Now look, maybe we're all going to go through that, right? Well, that's a real simple example. You know, okay. Okay. You, you, we own this house now together. What are we going to do? Well, I can answer that in a very secular answer. How much can we get each, right?

[00:16:03] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Then it's like, “Oh, wait a second. There's a core set of beliefs I have here.” So I always try to bring Christianity into it. But that's how I, that's how I married those two worlds. And look, Paul, the truth is some people are never going to get it. They don't understand that. They don't, you know, Ralph's this Holy Roller guy.

[00:16:35] Ralph Estep, Jr.: If I can impact one person and help them today. Maybe they're struggling with their finances. Maybe they're struggling in their marriage. Maybe they're struggling with their taxes or what, whatever it is. Trying to figure out how to pay, put money on the table for the kids to, to have food. If I can help 1 person, then I've done my job for the kingdom today.

[00:17:10] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I'm not saying that you can't be wealthy. Because the truth of matters, I see this in my podcast all the time. You will never be able to help someone else if you don't figure out how to do it yourself. You're never going to be charitable until you figure out how to manage your own money.

[00:17:51] Paul Granger: There are a lot of believers that on Sunday will believe these things. That God is provider. But then the rest of the week will succumb to financial fear or financial frustration. Why is it you think even strong believers succumb to financial fear and frustration? And how do we not?

[00:18:13] Ralph Estep, Jr.: But the Bible talks about is like you can't serve two masters. And I think that's the answer to your question, Paul, is I think we're trying to serve two masters. Because if you think about it, the real answer is to let it go. Completely, let it go. Well, how many people want to do that when they're, when they, you know, they're looking at their table and they got their little kids, they're sitting at the table, wondering where the next meal is coming from.

[00:18:57] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And it's tough, man. I don't have all the answers. I don't. I wish I could tell you, here's the magic pill. Take this and it'll solve it. It's difficult, man. It is really hard. But the thing is, I go back to, are you honoring God in your budget? That's a good place to start. Are you honoring God in your decision making?

[00:19:34] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Did you put some sort of support for growing your faith or see, making sure your children have faith? See, and that's what I'm talking about. Paul's like, you don't have to live in that, in that silo of, well, today's Sunday, I got to be a Christian. Today's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

[00:20:12] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I've bought the boat. I had the beach house. I had all those things. Right. And then I realized that this is not filling my tank. And I had to start thinking about, okay, every decision now I've got to think, what is the kingdom impact on this? And it might be a fancy way of saying it to a believer. They understand what Ralph's saying.

[00:20:49] Ralph Estep, Jr.: So if you ask me, Paul, how do you deal with that? I think it's a minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day decision to say, look, yes, I'm a Christian on Sunday, but guess what? I'm a Christian on Monday too. And so when I'm standing at the checkout line and I'm making a decision of whether I'm going to buy this or that, and I have limited resources, I say, you know what, I want to give more church this Sunday.

[00:21:37] Ralph Estep, Jr.: You're going to make big financial mistakes probably. Everybody does. I've been there, done that. This is what I do for a living, and I make financial mistakes. So you got to be willing to forgive yourself just as Jesus has forgiven you for your sins. You got to forgive yourself. But that doesn't mean you forget it.

[00:22:16] Ralph Estep, Jr.: If I've not done and honored the things that God wanted me to do, I'm never going to be able to do that.

[00:22:32] Paul Granger: How can I serve others? But then there's this other level of sacrifice where it's beyond your capacity, beyond your desire, and the moments that we struggle with that, I think, are moments that maybe put a spotlight on what we actually believe about God. We actually believe about who He's called us to be.

[00:23:32] Paul Granger: We might think it's just a financial issue, but for believers, we are often invited to stop and say, what do I actually believe about God as provider? What do I actually value? Am I valuing, like you noted, the reputation or the security? Or am I valuing something greater? And if we are Christians, if we are Christ followers, we're choosing to follow a guy who gave it all up.

[00:24:19] Paul Granger: Like, are we interested in our Christianity not just being a label that we wear, or something that we do on Sunday, but something that mirrors that level of sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated? So, how do we do that when we still live in a world where bills need to be paid, where expenses come up.

[00:24:42] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Paul, I think you're going to not like my answer

[00:24:46] Ralph Estep, Jr.: it's going to be a non-answer. I don't know. No, because what you're talking about is if each of us was said, “Oh, you go take up the cross.” How many of us would take up the cross? Look, I'd love to say, “Oh, I would do that, Paul.”

[00:25:19] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And I think it's real easy to say you pick a side, because I think we've gotten to a point in our world where there are two sides. And a lot of people don't like to say that a lot of people are like, Ralph, man, that's a harsh reality. I said, but that's the reality, is you either pick the side of Christ or you pick the side of the other, not, not Christ.

[00:26:03] Ralph Estep, Jr.: oh, you got to have this beautiful life. Everybody on Facebook does this. Everybody on Instagram has this. My kids are, you know, griping at me because, “Hey, how come the neighbors have a swimming pool, daddy, but we don't. Hey, how come, you know, when we go on vacation, we take the tent and go down to the lake.”

[00:26:46] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And then you can only pray that he's going to give you enough to get you where you can get to. It's kind of like a car, right? You go out and look at your car and you say, I'd really like to have a Ferrari. That's a beautiful car. And it's sitting out in front of you, and you could stare at that car all day and you can tell it's a Ferrari.

[00:27:36] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Do I stand for Christ, or do I look the other direction? And I think Christ was saying this himself when he was going to the cross, you know, forgive them father. They know not what they do. So, so I think all these things can be tied together, but no, Paul, that's the million-dollar question. And like I said, the only thing I can say is that do your best.

[00:28:18] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I thought it was funny at the time, but it really made sense. It's Jesus wept. Well, he didn't say anything. He wept. Well, think about that for a second. The savior of the universe wept. We're going to cry too guys. That's, if you're Christian walking to walk, you're going to weep because things are going to happen to you.

[00:29:01] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Tell me there's not a God. Let me tell you right now, God had us at that point. Now she's great. She's been cancer free for almost 20 years now. But can you imagine like, here we are, we got two young kids. I think they were maybe three and six at the time, just started our own business and God goes, wapop! Cancer.

[00:29:39] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And she says, I'm allowed to read the Bible? And I said, what do you mean? And I went to Catholic high school, but I didn't really get that deep into it. And she goes, Ralph, I was always taught I'm too stupid to understand it. So we went out and bought her a study Bible, Paul, and she caught on fire for the Lord.

[00:30:04] Paul Granger: They

[00:30:15] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Don't misunderstand me. She goes, I can't find it here where it says the word Pope. I said, yes, not in there. And she goes, and I can't find in here where it says that I'm not supposed to eat meat on Fridays. I said, yeah, it's not in there. She goes, I'm so confused. She goes, this scripture is, is I can understand it, Ralph.

[00:31:14] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Well, she went, moved to another state, got engaged to somebody else. I waited a month or two. I did the exact same thing. And this whole time I'm going, God's saying to me, Ralph, he says, wait a second. Whoa, whoa, wait a second, dude. I brought you guys together for a purpose. So my relationship that I had started falling apart, it was a, it was an unmitigated disaster.

[00:31:59] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Has it been perfect? No, because guess what? We're both imperfect people. But don't tell me there's no God, right? Because God had a mission. God had a purpose. God had a plan for our life. And as much as the two of us were trying to take it in a whole another direction, he brought it right back to the central thing and said to me, that's been amazing.

[00:32:56] Ralph Estep, Jr.: It's a relationship with Christ, relationship with your wife, relationship with your family, relationship with your children and knowing all the time that, you know, you might not come from a place where that was a good model. Like you might not have had a model of a good father or a good mother, whatever that looks like.

[00:33:20] Paul Granger: Yeah, you hit two important things that I hope people don't miss. And so one of them is, do we actually believe that God can do the impossible and unexpected? And so the impossible was your marriage coming back together. I, you, it's not, we're separated. I'm a tyrant. Like she doesn't love me. Like, there's no, there's no way this could work. And then God's like, actually, I can, I can make this work. And you're going to be surprised by how I change you in the midst of the unexpected.

[00:34:15] Paul Granger: And so what you and I know is that's actually who God is. He is real. Does that mean he will always do it in the way that we expect him to do it? No, because he's trying to do immeasurably more than we're asking for, imagining. But he is capable. Anything that we would put a stamp on to say, this is impossible, therefore, I need to take control of this.

[00:34:46] Ralph Estep, Jr.: reassurance there is in what you just said, Paul. Is that you can let go.

[00:34:51] Ralph Estep, Jr.: you can let go.

[00:35:11] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Because I already know what's going to happen, right? And you're going to come back to me and you're going to go, wow, man, I, I screwed that up, God. Are you and I still cool? Like we're still friends? And that's the coolest thing about it. Think about that relationship. No matter what you do, no matter what you say, no matter how ugly your life gets, the savior is still with you.

[00:35:51] Ralph Estep, Jr.: All have sinned. You're going to foul it up. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to say the wrong thing to your wife. You're going to say the wrong thing to your kid. You're going to make a stupid decision, you know, but God's still there with you. And there's such reassurance in that. And like you said, you are not getting a traditional paycheck. But what does it talk about the Bible?

[00:36:11] Paul Granger: Yeah.

[00:36:17] Paul Granger: Yeah. And here’s what's interesting. Yes, we're invited to be willing to, to lose for the sake of Christ, but what's even more beautiful is, and I'll read the passage again, Philippians 3:8, what is more, I consider everything a loss, or in another version, it says, I consider it all rubbish, garbage trash compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.

[00:37:04] Paul Granger: Like I spent years saving this money or, you know, I, this thing is so valuable to me. And the moments that we're grasping hold is ultimately us saying, but Jesus, you're not as valuable as these things. The flip side, the invitation is to say, Jesus, you are so valuable that this thing that is, is so important to me, I will lay it down because compared to you, it's nothing.

[00:37:51] Paul Granger: And we all struggle with this, right? Like the idea of keeping up with the Joneses. We, we compare ourselves. This is where financial frustration comes in. We see what we think we should have because others have it and we're frustrated. And One of the things that Jesus blessed the disciples with, and actually, and I feel like God's blessed my family with, is being able to get outside of their bubble.

[00:38:36] Paul Granger: This person doesn't even have a home, right? And so this is, you know, I mentioned how God's blessed my family. We have a number of relationships with neighbors that are navigating a lot of hardship. One of the things I'm so excited about for my kids is they have a friendship with a neighbor who up until last week had been unsheltered for large chunks of his life.

[00:39:27] Paul Granger: And they know people that are crowded into one room. You know, or that don't have a room at all, or that have not left the city that they were born in. And so broadening our bubble helps us to get outside of our mindset of this is how life is supposed to be. This is what I deserve. So how can we do that in a healthy way?

[00:39:56] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I think the first thing while you were talking, it occurred to me. Think about who Jesus called to be disciples. He didn't call Kings and rulers and the wise and all this kind of people.

[00:40:33] Ralph Estep, Jr.: You know, and take them places where they're going to see the reality of this world. And, you know, as an example, like, I'll give you a great example of this. I had never been overseas traveling. And this past October, my oldest son is in the U. S. Coast Guard and him and my wife and I, we took a trip to Germany.

[00:41:15] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Right? And I'm thinking now I'm a Jewish guy and I'm standing in this concentration camp. I can't look up because if I look up, I get shot. Right? I can't have anything in my pockets because I have pockets. I'll get shot. Then I go into a dormitory where there's 3 or 400 people stacked into a spot where there'd normally be five.

[00:41:51] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Right? And so I think we have to challenge ourselves to go do that. Like, my aunt, she became a missionary. She went to Haiti. She went to where literally there were people doing voodoo curses against her.

[00:42:12] Ralph Estep, Jr.: If that means, I'm not saying that everybody needs to go join a missionary and become a, you know, overseas missionary. But take a trip somewhere or maybe do some in state missionary. You know, go find somebody that's not as well off as you and just sit with them for a little bit. Talk about their life experience, you know, because if you don't, you're not going to see the reality of this world.

[00:42:53] Ralph Estep, Jr.: But the thing is, like, like you said, Paul, though, if you haven't experienced that, you haven't seen what that looks like, you're not going to know that. So I think that's one of the challenges. I think you've got to go find opportunities to put yourself in a very uncomfortable position, because I think that's where God's going to speak to you.

[00:43:28] Ralph Estep, Jr.: They stripped them of anything to be a human, right? And look at how much you have, Ralph. And God spoke to me and said, Ralph, he says, listen, and it's funny because I came back, and I started my podcast. I had been doing it before in November. And he spoke to me, and he said, Ralph, he says, yeah, you know how to talk about finances is about one.

[00:43:59] Ralph Estep, Jr.: What in the world happened? It's like, I'd like to think that I made that decision. Like you talked about, I said, you know what? If I lose clients over it, okay. You know, if I lose friends over it, okay. But guess what? What I've gained is so much greater than that. But like I said, getting back to your question, I apologize.

[00:44:37] Ralph Estep, Jr.: We live in a dangerous world. So at the same time, you got to be real careful, you know, because you don't want to put yourself in a bad spot. But I think there are ways to do it. You know, talk to your church, talk about the missionaries who are, you know, in the United States, go sit with them and talk to them about what's going on.

[00:45:01] Paul Granger: Yeah. Well, you know, you were talking about this idea of Christian finance, and people are broadly on board with that. Christians are broadly on board for that.

[00:45:39] Paul Granger: Maybe I think haven't earned it or whatever my issue is, but then I have nothing. Now I am in that position. Now I have nothing. And this idea of lost. You know, if Jesus spoke to you in a vision tonight and said, Ralph, sell it all, give it away. Like, people wrestle with that. Why is it that Jesus, relationship with him, relationship with God is actually more valuable than everything? Than winning the lottery, than having all your plans work out. Why is that more valuable?

[00:46:21] Ralph Estep, Jr.: It was never yours. See, that's the paradigm shift you have to have. You got to realize that everything you have is not yours. It's gifted to you by God to use for him, to use for your family, but it's not yours. And so if you start off with the understanding that you're not really losing anything. It was entrusted to you in the first place.

[00:47:09] Ralph Estep, Jr.: You know, and he gave each of these talents and they put it to work. So I think if you are a successful person, if you're a person that's driven and all that, I think the best way to do it, I'd say, okay, cool. God gave me this money. God gave me these talents. God gave me this, this, this, this work is this ethic.

[00:47:39] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Giving's been down a little bit. In fact, he and I have a meeting every Friday. We have one this morning. And we were talking about, we got 0 percent financing for this new mower. I was like, well, that's fantastic. Well, they brought it up to the congregation and guess what? A guy raised his hand and said, “I’ll pay for the whole thing.”

[00:48:37] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Like when, I remember as a kid, like I borrow a friend's toy or something like that. Right. And my mother would say to me, look, you know, that's Joe's toy, Ralph. So don't be bashing that like you bash your toys up.

[00:48:48] Ralph Estep, Jr.: well, yeah, because it wasn't mine. Right. It was entrusted to me. It's like, I remember it is probably going to date me a little bit.

[00:49:12] Ralph Estep, Jr.: You were renting it. Maybe our finances need to be seen the same way. We're renting our finances. It's a funny way to say it, but it's not ours. And that's why I use that word stewardship. You're stewarding those resources. So does that, does that help you in the, I don't know. I think it's an answer. Like I said, I don't have all the answers.

[00:49:32] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I can tell you to pray about it. I can tell you about, you know, it's okay to be successful, but it's how you choose to use that success. If you turn your, if you turn a blind eye to people who need your help, you're like right now, our church is going through a time where giving's down. And I have a very frank conversation with the pastor.

[00:50:04] Ralph Estep, Jr.: If there's 200 butts in the seats, divide that number by that. That's how much every person needs to give. And then you and I both know, 10% are going to give 90%, but whatever. But like how many times that people walk into a church building and like, oh yeah, I see a tithing. Yeah. Whatever.

[00:50:33] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I mean, I gave $2,000 I said, that's awesome. Of course, they made $400,000. And I look at them like, now I'm not going to sit there and judge them. That's not my role, right? It's not my place to judge them. Now, if they ask me, do you think that's reasonable based on my income? I'd be like, yeah, probably need to add a zero to the end there.

[00:51:10] Paul Granger: Yeah. Yeah. So the finances aren't yours, but what is yours is the relationship with the financier, you know, the relationship with the provider. And what's beautiful is if the provider is the one who owns those finances, he can choose to increase them or decrease them, but that doesn't change your situation ultimately, your situation eternally.

[00:51:52] Paul Granger: And things work differently. There's another passage that I pulled up where basically his disciples are like, we've left everything to follow you. Like we gave up everything we had, all our money, our business that we built up for generations, like all of it. So what will there be then for us?

[00:52:37] Paul Granger: You don't see that in scripture. Not in the traditional way. Peter didn't end up with a whole compound, but you know what he did end up with? In Acts, we see it describing the Acts church and it said everyone had everything in common. And those who had homes and money, they sold it and gave it. So essentially, everything that the disciples gave up in the Acts Church, they received a hundredfold through this community.

[00:53:18] Paul Granger: I'm just going to go to my, you know, see a Galilee house and lay up. And so again, it brings us back to this idea of what do we actually believe about God? What do we actually believe about money? Which one realistically is our master? And so, you know, I love what you've painted here for us is that everyone's situation and story is going to be different, but that invitation of seeking God is the same.

[00:53:56] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Absolutely. And you know, and it's, I want to go back to something you just said, and I've known some really wealthy people, and they are some of the most unhappy people I've ever met in my life.

[00:54:26] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And you've got to surround yourself with people. This is one of the things I talk about in my show all the time. If you're going to be successful in your Christian finance walk or your Christian Walk, the key is to pray. The key is to reflect. And the other big thing is to surround yourself with people to support you.

[00:54:59] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Because more and more in our world right now, we're living in these silos of aloneness, right? We're in front of our phone and we're chatting with people, but do we really have a connection with them? Do we really have that relationship with them? But think about how cool it is when we get to heaven, right?

[00:55:34] Paul Granger: Well, if somebody wanted to dive deeper into this idea of faith and finance, you're doing a lot right now to create those pathways. So how could somebody connect with you and what you're doing?

[00:56:08] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I want to hear from people. You know, there's a little microphone icon on there where you can record a message and say, Ralph, “Hey, listen. I don't know anything about anything, but like, I just got this letter and I have no concept what to do.” That's what I love to do. I like to help people. So if you've got a question about, you know, what tithing look like, or, you know, it doesn't have to be religious even. It could be something like Ralph. Look, I just recorded a show last week. Came out, yesterday about or today actually. Should I put a down payment when I buy a car? That's a legitimate question. Right? So those are the type of things I answered, but just really simple. askralphpodcast.com. If you want to schedule time with me, you can schedule an appointment with me right there. I work with people all over the world. Cause the Zoom has, but it's all in each other's yards. So as much as, like I said, we're siloed into these little aloneness things, it's really open up a lot of doors, but that's the easiest way to get in touch with me.

[00:57:10] Ralph Estep, Jr.: They’ll be like, yeah, I have no interest in that at all Ralph. But just go on to the next one.

[00:57:20] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I think God is putting on my heart to share that we're not in this alone. Find people like Paul, find people like me, who you can, you know, learn from, that you can, cause look, Paul and Ralph don't have all the answers either.

[00:57:38] Paul Granger: I don't have all the answers.

[00:57:49] Ralph Estep, Jr.: He would say to me, when you go to church on Sunday, write down the scriptures, the pastor talks to the church. And then when you get home, verify what he said. And I'd be like, wow, that's kind of harsh. And I'm like, no, because think about this. You got to verify what people are saying. So surround yourself with people that will, what's the Bible say?

[00:58:29] Ralph Estep, Jr.: But what magically happens is when you're sober, now you're supporting them. Christianity is the same way. Grow your faith by surrounding yourself with people. And guess what? What'll happen eventually is you'll be the Pauls and the Ralphs. And then you'll be able to make an impact because that's what's God's calling you to.

[00:59:08] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And that's cool. You know, and people are responding to it. Like I had a lady leave me a message a couple of weeks ago. It was the coolest thing. She says, Ralph. I felt like you were talking directly to me. And dude, I, you know, I can't, I can't touch that one, man. Right? Because guess what? The savior talks directly to me.

[00:59:45] Ralph Estep, Jr.: It starts all over again. That's the beauty of Christianity, man. You're never done. It's never enough. Like you're never, you know, you're never going to do enough until you stand before Christ and he says, well done, good and faithful servant. And even at that point, you're like, dude, it was You, man. It wasn't me.

[01:00:11] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Now, listen, as we wrap up today, I hope this episode has given you some real food for thought about how you can live out your faith even within your finances. Remember, as I always say, it's a journey and every small step counts. And if you're feeling inspired to take your financial stewardship to the next level, I would love to give you some help. You can schedule a personal consultation with me at askralphpodcast.com/store.

[01:00:57] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I am here to guide you every step of the way. Now, make sure you tune in tomorrow, we'll be tackling another important question. And that is how do I find joy in the mundane? It's a topic that touches all areas of our life, including our finances. So you don't want to miss it. Remember this, my passion is to help you achieve financial success.