Truth Unveiled with Ralph

For more than 30 years, I’ve told business owners the same thing: pay the tax first, then pay yourself. Lately a question has been bothering me. If the tax comes first and I come second, where does God fit?In today’s episode, I follow up on the Haggai episode from two weeks ago and finally give you the first fruits episode I promised. We walk through Proverbs 3 and Matthew 6, and I share why “leftovers” is where God lands when we don’t decide the order ahead of time. I also talk about what Proverbs 3:10 is and isn’t promising, because the barns-full-of-plenty verse gets misused a lot, and it gets on my nerves.Then I get practical about what putting God first looks like on an ordinary Tuesday, whether you have a lot or almost nothing. I cover money, time, and attention, and I share four very different tables with the same order.What you’ll hearWhy leftovers never actually get paid, whether it’s taxes, savings, or givingWhy we put first the things with consequences we can seeWhat first fruits meant to a farming people, and why the word is honor, not payWhat Proverbs 3 and Agur’s prayer say about wealth and wisdomWhat Jesus does promise in Matthew 6, and what He doesn’tThe difference between giving from the front of the line and giving from the backWhy the widow’s two coins matter more than any percentageMy Truth Unveiled moment: whatever gets paid first is whatever you trust mostScripture referencedProverbs 3:5-10Matthew 6:31-34Exodus 23:19Proverbs 30:8-9Mark 12:41-442 Corinthians 8:12Romans 5:81 Corinthians 15:20This week’s challengePick one thing, your money, your time, or your attention, and move God to the front of the line. Which one will you pick?Take the next stepIf you prayed with me today, I’d love to hear from you. I read every message: truthunveiledwithralph.com/decisionI also host a daily show called Becoming Financially Confident: becomingfinanciallyconfident.comNext week: Built on the Rock. Two builders, two foundations, and one storm, right out of Matthew 7. Don’t miss it.#ralphestepjr

“How are you?” You’ve answered it ten times today, and I’d bet most of those answers were “busy” or “fine.”I hear it at my desk all year long. Someone gets close to the room they don’t want to show anybody, and they steer me somewhere else. We don’t exactly lie. We relocate.The first question God ever asked is only three words long, and He asked it to a man hiding in the trees. “Where are you?” He wasn’t opening a case. He was opening a door.In Episode 69, I look at three people and the three questions God asked them:Adam, hiding in the garden: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)Moses, stalling at the burning bush: “What is that in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2)A man who had been lying beside a pool for 38 years: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6)I think most of us dodge God’s questions in one of three ways. We hide, we argue, or we explain until the explanation becomes our name. I share what I see from my side of the desk as a licensed public accountant, then we look at what God does with a question when we stop dodging.What you’ll hearWhy we answer a different question than the one we were askedThe hider, the arguer, and the explainer, and how to figure out which one you areWhy the offended party is the one doing the seekingHow the same rod went from “a rod” to “God’s rod”What Jesus did with a man whose answer was “I have no one”Three questions to answer this week, and how to ask the people you love the way God asks youThe line I keep coming back to God’s questions are doorways, not traps.Scripture in this episode Genesis 3:8-10, 21 | Exodus 4:1-2, 12, 20 | John 5:5-9 | Luke 19:10 | Revelation 3:20 (World English Bible)Your challenge this week Grab one sheet of paper and write three questions across the top: Where am I? What’s in my hand? What do I want? Answer all three honestly. Then ask one person you love a question that sounds like an invitation instead of an accusation.Ready to answer Him? If this episode stirred something in you, reach out at truthunveiledwithralph.com/decision. You can stay anonymous. I just want to pray with you.Next episode Proverbs 3, “First Things First.” What comes first in your life, and does your money show it?Keep seeking the truth, and let it set you free. God bless you, and I’ll see you next time.Ralph#ralphestepjr

You work hard. You make more than you ever have. And by the end of the month, the money is gone. I sit across the desk from people like this almost every day, and in today’s Truth Unveiled I take you to the Book of Haggai, a two-chapter book written to people who were working hard and still coming up empty.God’s answer to “never enough” is not to work harder or find a better budgeting app. He says, “Consider your ways.” I look at this passage through my 30 years as a licensed accountant, from the holes you can find on a bank statement to the ones that never show up on one, like exhaustion, a tired marriage, and a prayer life you keep meaning to get back to.In this episode:Why the people in Haggai lived in paneled houses and still felt coldThe two most expensive words in a busy life: “not yet”What “consider your ways” means, and why I see it as an invitation and not a scoldingWhy Haggai is not a prosperity formulaWhat Jesus says in Matthew 6 about where your heart livesThree kitchen table pictures: the young couple, the business owner, and the retireeFour questions I want you to answer for yourself this weekScripture: Haggai 1:2-9, Haggai 1:13, Haggai 2:4-5, Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 11:28Take the next step: If you prayed along with me today, tell me about it at https://truthunveiledwithralph.com/decision. I would love to hear from you and pray with you.This week’s challenge: Take one hour with a pen and paper and look at where your money, time, and energy actually go. Then take one thing off your “not yet” list.Looking for practical money help every day? I host a daily show called Becoming Financially Confident at https://becomingfinanciallyconfident.com.Know someone who keeps saying, “I just don’t know where it all goes”? Send them this episode. Next week, we talk about the two questions God asks: “Where are you?” and “What’s in your hand?”Subscribe so you don’t miss it.#ralphestepjr

There’s a woman sitting in her car outside the house she grew up in.The engine is off. The groceries are warming in the back. Her mother can’t be left alone anymore.She’s been parked in that driveway for 11 minutes because the second she walks through the door, she becomes the caregiver again.And underneath the exhaustion is a thought she’s ashamed to admit:“I want this to be over.”Then comes the thought that does even more damage:What kind of Christian thinks that?In Episode 67, I’m saying the quiet part out loud.For more than 30 years, I’ve sat across the desk from families as a licensed public accountant in Middletown, Delaware. I’ve seen what caring for aging parents can do to a family.The squeeze between raising your kids and caring for your parents.The guilt that never seems to balance.The sibling with plenty of opinions but no hands in the work.The grief of watching someone you love disappear while they’re still sitting in front of you.My own family knows some of this firsthand. I share what we’re walking through with my mother-in-law’s dementia, along with a moment I’ll never forget: playing Elvis for my mother after her brain surgery.Then we open Scripture.The fifth commandment has no age limit and no performance clause. But honor isn’t the same as obedience, unlimited access, or silently enduring whatever comes.In Mark 7, Jesus confronts the Corban tradition, where someone could declare resources “given to God” while refusing to provide for their parents. We look at what that same kind of avoidance can sound like today.We also go to the cross, where Jesus made sure His mother would be cared for.That moment gives us an important truth:Honor is required of you. Doing it alone never was.What You’ll HearWhy caregiver guilt can sometimes be exhaustion wearing conviction’s coatThe difference between honor, obedience, and enduranceWhat Corban meant and what that kind of avoidance can look like todayHow to honor a parent who hurt you without giving them access to you or your childrenHow to ask a distant sibling for specific helpWhy one 60-minute conversation years early can spare your family a hospital-hallway crisisHow to love a parent with dementia when they may no longer register that you cameWhy getting help isn’t failurePractical questions to ask yourself when caregiving feels too heavy to carry aloneScripture ReferencedExodus 20:12Mark 7:9-131 Timothy 5:4, 8John 19:26-27Ephesians 6:2-3Take It With YouHonor is required of you. Doing it alone never was.You can love your parent and still be tired.You can honor them and still need boundaries.You can ask for help.And you can grieve what’s being lost while the person you love is still here.Did You Make a Decision for Christ Today?I’d love to hear from you.Let me know at truthunveiledwithralph.com/decisionShare This EpisodeDo you know someone who’s tired?A sibling carrying more than anyone realizes?A friend caring for a parent right now?Send them this episode with four words:“I see you.”Who is the one person you need to send this to today?#ralphestepjr

For more than 30 years, I've worked as a licensed accountant, testing whether the numbers someone hands me actually hold up. In this episode, I bring that same posture to the biggest claim in Christianity, that a man who was dead on Friday was alive on Sunday.Watch the full episodeRead the blog postI start at a Thanksgiving table, with a son asking his dad a question the dad doesn't have an answer for, and open the file from there. We look at Paul's letter to the Corinthians, the earliest written record of the resurrection, where he tells you exactly how to prove his own religion false. Then I walk through four lines of historical evidence: how early the claim actually is, how embarrassing the details are, why the empty tomb mattered in that specific city, and why the people closest to it never took the easy way out, even facing death. I also give the leading alternative theories, swoon, wrong tomb, hallucination, and legend, an honest hearing.By the end, the question isn't whether I've proven anything. It's what changes in your life if this is true, how you talk to a doubting kid without panicking, and how you stand at a grave.Scripture referenced: 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 1 Corinthians 15:14-19, 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:58, 1 Peter 3:15, John 7:5, Acts 26:26, Luke 24:36-43.Ready to make a decision? Go to truthunveiledwithralph.com/decision.Subscribe to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruthUnveiledwithRalph/videosListen to our worship songs: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3YkmLWcKD_KxZX0Fp6XQBhCEFEsSxPjh&si=qnvG0Sc4pb9VhaKlSubscribe wherever you're listening so the next episode finds you.