Seven Bible Principles
Did you know that seven major financial Bible principles are released when people sow into this corner of God’s Storehouse?
Principle 1: Sowing and Reaping
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and after six days he declared it "very good" and rested.
The world operates on a "pleasure now but pain later" basis while God's Kingdom operates on a "sowing and reaping" basis - first you do the hard work and then you will reap a great harvest - a multiple, greater and better than what you have sown.
Instead of seeking immediate short-term gain with long-term pain we encourage you to put in the hard work first - to sow now and later you will be rewarded for your diligence.
For example, if you have a spending spree on your credit card or buy a flash new car using vehicle finance, you will receive immediate short-term gain but will be stuck paying high interest on those purchases for a long time - servant to the lender. It is better to save up for what you need to buy and you won't be saddled with suffocating debt. This is the path to financial freedom.
And if you purchase a property using a bank mortgage you get it immediately but may be paying mortgage interest for many decades. But if you first sow into Liberty Trust you can borrow without interest, saving many years of mortgage repayments and tens, or hundreds, of thousands of dollars.
Some great Bible verses:
Prov 10:4-5: Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
Prov 21:5: The plans of the diligent lead only to plenty; but of everyone that is hasty, only to want.
Hosea 8:7: They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind.
Mark 4:26,27: This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
Mtt 13: Parable of the Sower - as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields.
1 Cor 3:7: So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
Gal 6:7. Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Gal 6:9. Let us not become weary doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
2 Cor 9:6. Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully.
Principle 2: Stewardship: The careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.
After God created the world and everything in it He planted a garden and filled it with beautiful trees which were good to eat. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. God blessed them and instructed them to rule over the fish, the birds, and every living creature.
Everything we have belongs to God and He has entrusted it to us to make the best use of it for His purposes. Just like Adam and Even God wants us to be good stewards of what He gives us.
Many people waste hundreds of thousands of dollars of their income on rent or mortgage interest over their lifetimes. By contributing to Liberty Trust instead, your resources are not wasted. Your contribution to Liberty Trust is lent to help others, and used and re-used over and over again, providing benefit for generations to come. You are making great use of what God has given you and blessing many others. And by repaying your mortgage and becoming debt free you can do so much more with your time and resources as a good steward for God.
Deut 10:14. To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
Job 41:11. Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Ps 24:1. The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
Lk 12:42. And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Of a truth I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all that he has."
Luke 14 v 28. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest after he has laid the foundation, and is not about to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’.
Luke 16:11. If then you have not proved trustworthy with the wealth of this world, who will trust you with the wealth that is real.
1 Pet. 4:10. Whatever gift you have received, use it in service to one another, like good stewards, dispensing the grace of God.
Gal 6:10. Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers.
Col 3:23. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Principle 3: Freedom from Bondage
One of the major themes of the Bible is freedom from bondage. Just as God brought the Israelite's out of slavery in Egypt so He wants to release you from slavery into liberty as well.
Many New Zealanders spend their entire working lives in bondage to their landlord or bank lender, unable to do, go, or give as God desires. We want to set God's people free from debt so they have real liberty to fully serve God. Instead of a 20-30 year mortgage our mortgage term is typically just 7-10 years!
Deut 28:12. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
Psalms 119:45. I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments.
Prov 22:7b. The borrower is slave to the lender.
Lk 4:18. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.
Mtt 18:32. Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
Rom 13:8. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Gal. 5:1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Gal 5:13. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Principle 4: Generosity not Greed
After God rescued the Israelites from slavery He gave them the 10 commandments to follow. These started with “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other God’s before me”, and finished with “You shall not desire your neighbour's house ... nor anything else which belongs to your neighbour”. Exodus 20:17.
God set up this command for our best interests, not to restrict our lives but to enable us to have a better and more worthwhile life. Greed is never satisfied (Pr 27:20) and desiring to have what others have only sets you up for a life of misery. Learning to be generous releases you from the tyranny of materialism and provides the peace and freedom to enjoy the more important things of life.
Many New Zealanders today devote their entire working lives to live in a grand house that others can admire. God doesn’t want a grand house to be the desire and focus of your life, wasting your efforts and resources in this way - He has better plans for you - He has your best interests at heart.
Liberty Trust can help you to have a debt free home while following Godly principle of generosity and helping others at the same time.
Covetousness, envy and greed is serious to God. It breaks the tenth commandment, chokes God’s message & makes you unfruitful (Mt 13:22), it brings God’s anger (Col 3:5-6), it makes you an idolater - despising God, and makes it impossible to enter the Kingdom of God (Eph 5:5)!
Avoiding greed is so important that Paul writes: You must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is greedy ... Do not even eat with such people! 1 Cor 5:11.
This is obviously a big deal! So how can we turn our covetousness around so we are focusing less on our wants and more on God? The Bible has lots to say on this:
Mtt 6:32. So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
1 Peter 5:7. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
Mtt 6:32. Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things [that you need] will be given to you as well.
Heb 12:1. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles... fixing our eyes on Jesus.
Luke 12:33. Sell your possessions and give to the poor.
Acts 20:35. Through this hard work we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.
1 John 3:17. If anyone has this world’s good and sees his brother in need yet closes his ear against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
Eph 4:28. Share with those in need.
Phil 2:4. Look out for each other’s interests and not just for your own.
Principle 5: Interest-free Lending
After giving the ten commandments to the Israelites (Exodus 20), God promised to bless them if they continue to follow His commands to love God and look after each other. One of the commands was:
If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. Exodus 22:25.
God repeated and further explained this in the next two books:
Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. Lev 25:36.
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the town of the land that the Lord you God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. Deut 15:7.
Do not charge your brother interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to. Deut. 23:19–20.
God wants His people to be free from burdensome debt (see principle 3). So God's people were encouraged to lend to one another but were forbidden to charge interest or profit on the loans. Lending was to be charitable, to help those in need.
The Bible has very strong words about people who charged interest on loans (see Ez 18-8,13,17, Neh 5:7,10). It was seen as the rich greedily benefiting themselves by taking from the poor. Instead, we are encouraged to generously lend without interest to help others (Ps 15:5, Pr 28:8).
The principle of interest-free lending is taught throughout the Bible, it was followed by Christians until the Middle Ages and is still followed by Jews and Muslims today. It was canonised at the first Nicaea Council in 235 AD. Pope Sixtus V condemned the practice of charging interest as “Detestable to God and man, damned by the sacred canons and contrary to Christian charity."
Liberty Trust was established in 1989 because NZ households and churches in debt were struggling and had no alternative than to accept the exorbitant interest being charged by the world's financial systems. We knew the solution was to follow the Bible's commands. By sowing and reaping and stewardship and working together we have been able to lend over $80 million interest-free to release God's people from burdensome debt into liberty. Our vision is for interest-free liberty for every New Zealand church and home.
Some more Bible verses about interest-free lending:
Ps 15:5. Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever.
Ps 112:5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
Pr 28:8 He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.
Ps 37:26 The godly always give generous loans to others, and their children are a blessing.
Ez 18:8. He grants loans without interest, stays away from injustice, is honest and fair when judging others,
Ez 18:13. He lends at usury and takes excessive interest. Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head.
Ez 18:17 He withholds his hand from sin and takes no usury or excessive interest. He keeps my laws and follows my decrees. He will not die for his father's sin; he will surely live.
Ez 22:12. In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression, and you have forgotten Me," declares the Lord GOD.
Neh 5:7. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them.
Neh 5:10. I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest.
Mtt 5:42. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Principle 6: The Blessing of Storehouses
The Storehouse is certainly one of the Bible’s key financial principles. God uses storehouses and recommends storehouses dozens of times in the Scriptures. He also warns against misuse of storehouses. They are to be used to help others, not just ourselves. Then He will bless them for His glory.
Liberty Trust has Noah's Ark as our logo. The Ark was a great storehouse, built by Noah following God's directions, and it saved the people, birds and animals from the great flood (Gen 6-9). The Ark is a great example of a secure storehouse ordained by God to protect and provide for His people.
Genesis 41 & 42 describes how God saved his people through storehouses another time when Joseph collected the grain of Egypt into large storehouses. Because of these storehouses the family of Israel was saved from the drought which would otherwise have destroyed them, and they were given land and provision in Egypt.
In Deuteronomy 28:8 we read:
'The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand.'
And verse 12 promises: ‘The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none’.
So God will use His storehouse to bless our storehouses! So we can be lenders and providers, and never need to borrow!
Liberty Trust is a community storehouse established to equip and finance God’s people into their own homes and churches in order to free each to be able to fulfil God’s call on their lives. In the Liberty Trust storehouse God’s people can safely pool their resources to lend and provide for others, borrow for their homes and ministries and pass a blessing on to their spiritual and natural family.
Like Abigail the wife of Nabal bringing provision to David and his men (1 Sam 25), like the Good Samaritan using his resources to generously assist the stranger (Luke 10), or the five wise virgins with extra oil (Matt 25), we need a stored surplus to enable us to generously respond to the needs around us.
If a farmer and his family consumed all their harvest they would have nothing to plant for the future. Instead, they must store a portion of their harvest safely so they can plant it at a later time. How can God responsibly bless anyone who consumes all they are given, week after week, month after month and year after year? “For if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16:11). As well as giving our tithes and offerings it is good to put resources aside in a ‘storehouse’ for God to bless and use.
The contributions our pioneers made back in 1989 have not been consumed or spent but are still being used over and over again by our storehouse, now providing $5 million each year to help others. And the funds that you contribute will add to this storehouse so it can help still more, assisting & bless God's people and setting them free from debt so they can provide for others and do great things for God's glory.
Starting a personal storehouse brings assurance that even though one’s finances may be a struggle, all is not lost. Everyone can create a positive in the midst of their hopelessness. What will you do once you have repaid your debts? Will you waste the opportunity by simply increasing your spending? Will you borrow again and get into further debt? Will you store up wealth for yourself? Or will you have the inclination and self-discipline to create a personal storehouse for Kingdom use?”
It is God’s desire that we are able to lend without borrowing and give without requiring anything in return. God wants His people to have storehouses which are available for His use, in order that He may bless them.
More great Bible verses:
Deut 14:28-29. At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Pr 6:6-8. Consider the ant, consider it’s ways and be wise … see how it stores its provisions in Summer.
Pr 13:33. A good person stores up an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.
Pr 21:20. In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.
Jer 17:8. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
Mal 3:10. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!
Acts 4:32. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
Principle 7: Supporting God's Family
The Bible teaches us that all those who are led by God's Spirit are God’s children (Rom 8:14, John 1:12), part of a family of believers (Eph 2:19) and we should love each other (John 15:12), carry each others burdens (Gal 6:2), and be devoted to one another in brotherly love (Rom 12:10).
Instead of just looking out for our own interests we should look to the interests of each other (Phil 2:4). By working together we can help each other far better than we could if we each acted on our own.
Liberty Trust was commenced in the late 1980’s when NZ was in recession, unemployment was high, and many people were struggling with really high interest-rates on their life-long mortgages. We realised that instead of each individually borrowing from the banks and having to pay lots of interest, God’s people could follow Scripture, work together and build and borrow from a Christian storehouse interest-free and become debt free. And their contributions could enable future generations to also borrow interest-free. Hundreds of individuals, families and churches have joined together through Liberty Trust and to date we have lent over $80 million interest-free, to assist those in financial difficulty, relieve financial burdens and advance the Kingdom of God.
Having to borrow from unbelievers was one of the curses that God promised His people if they were disobedient and broke His commands (Dt 28:12-15,44). So we should consider carefully who we borrow from & become indebted to. Unfortunately many lending institutions prey on and take advantage of the vulnerable. Liberty Trust has rescued widows, solo parents, sickness beneficiaries, and retired missionaries from some really oppressive rents and mortgage terms - in two cases an elderly widow was being charged 20% interest on her mortgage and having to re-apply for her mortgage every year, with lots of legal bills and worry. If interest rates increase, or times become tough can you trust your lender to put your household before their profits?
When you contribute to Liberty Trust you are contributing to a Christian storehouse to help many other believers. And when you borrow from us & make repayments to us you are borrowing from and repaying a Christian charity and setting a great example to the world of how love and care for each other (John 13:35).
Some more great verses on choosing to support each other:
Dt 15:8. For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.
Dt 23:19. Do not charge your brother interest so that the Lord your God may bless everything you put your hand to.
Dt 28:2, 12–13 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: ... You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail.
Dt 28:15, 44. However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: ... The foreigners who live among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.
Pr 13:22. A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.
Jn 3:10. Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
Mtt 25:40. The King will reply, ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’.
Eph 4:15 We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Rom 12:10, 13. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.
Rom 14:19. So we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
Rom 15:1. Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.
2 Cor. 6:14. Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, for what does righteousness and wickedness have in common?
Gal 6:10. Therefore, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Heb 13:16. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Jas 1:27. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
1 Pet 1:22. Now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
1 Jn 3:17. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
1 Jn 3:1. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!