Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

One of the principal dangers we all face is placing too much value on making money and accumulating material possessions. It is such a great danger because this desire has a way of crowding out the best and finest things of life. For one thing, it can crowd out our family. I have seen more than one person neglect their family while trying to provide more and more thi...

Pat Neff, who was at one time governor of our state and then president of Baylor University, said in all his life he had heard people, preachers in particular, say, “Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven.” But nobody ever told him how. Until one day he figured it out for himself. If you want to lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, then you must inve...

Let’s just suppose by some stretch of the imagination that you have financial problems and you need some help. It’s not the kind of help that a loan would fix. Most people think that if they are having financial problems, all they need to do is to get a loan and that solves their problems. Sometimes that complicates the problem. The problem started at the...

A lady wrote to Billy Graham sometimes ago and said, “I wonder If God expects us to tithe today as he did in the days of the Old Testament? I personally would find that very difficult to do in these days of inflation.” Graham wrote back to point to this passage of scripture and he pointed out that behind the passage on tithing in Malachi 3:8-10 is a nation...

I started tithing when I was a teenage boy. When I became a Christian I thought that whatever God told you to do you were supposed to do. And I didn’t have a Christian background and I didn’t know any other Christians intimately and so I just thought if God said it you were supposed to do it. Somebody told me shortly after I became a Christian that we were...

Someone who is right about questions of money is likely to be right on every other question of religion. On the other hand, a man wrong about money is likely to be seriously wrong about every other question of religion. What is the right use of money? What does the Bible say about the right use of wealth? Look at 1 Timothy 6.  1. We are to enjoy our wealth (v17...

Years ago a lawyer told me of a client who came to him to have his will drawn. He wanted to leave his large estate to Christian causes.  The lawyer inquired as to why he was not leaving it to his children. He was not trying to change the man’s mind. He was only curious. The man said, “Because I do not want to deny my children the joy of earning their...

Years ago I heard a man warn, “If you’re outgo exceeds your income, you’re upkeep will be your downfall.” We need to remember that. Unmanageable debt can be deadly, whether you’re talking about Wall Street or Main Street. Whether it’s your house or the White House.   How do we avoid too much debt? Establish a budget an...

General Sam Houston, one of my heroes, was commander the army of the Republic of Texas, the first elected president of the Republic of Texas, first Senator from the state of Texas, and later the sixth governor of the state. Life on the Texas frontier was rough and rugged. Men molded by the frontier knew how to fight, drink, curse, and kill. Sam Houston fit the lifesty...