Escaping The Bonds Of Debt

4. Unable to pay taxes. You are unable to pay taxes because of your debt. Now I realize this really doesn’t motivate you at all, as far as getting debt free, but it’s one of the danger signs, because Jesus said we should give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s. In other words, don’t be afraid to pay the taxes that you owe. But being unable to pay taxes is one of the danger signs.

5. Extravagant spending. I put that for you in your notes. We begin to overspend and we are constantly pushing for more. We want to buy things that we don’t need to impress people that we don’t like. We do that all the time here in America. We live here in this metro area in the extravagant spending zone. And we are very image conscious and you have to spend more so that you can look like more and it’s a danger signal that you are getting into trouble, that you are getting into debt.

6. This last one may surprise you, but the last danger sign of debt is that you are constantly looking for get rich quick ideas. Get rich quick ideas. Don’t turn the page yet. I want to give you something to write in that small space in the bottom. If you are not in debt, get rich quick schemes will get you in debt. If you are already in debt, then you are ripe for this. Because all of us have seen the commercials. All of us have received the stuff in the mail. We have all gotten those emails where we think—maybe this could be my solution. But before you get into a get rich quick scheme, be sure to read this verse. Write this at the bottom of the page. Proverbs 21:5. I didn’t print it for you in your notes. Just look it up. Proverbs 21:5. It says, “Hasty speculation brings about poverty, among other things.” So be sure and read that before you do this. But we all buy into this idea that we can get rich quick easily. As a matter of fact there is a whole system in our metro area based on our desire to get rich quick. You know what it’s called? It’s called the lottery. The lottery fills this idea that you never know—you might win. You might get these millions of dollars. There are TV shows about the lottery. They put the stories of the lottery winners on the top of that. But you know, there is a word for someone who plays the lottery. It’s called a loser. Because 99.9999999% of the people who play the lottery, lose. And studies have shown that people who play the lottery regularly are in debt more than four times, or are indebted more than four times more than the average person. So you are in debt four times more of being in the lottery, if that makes sense. But we like the “something for nothing” mentality. The idea that there is going to be something that is going to get us out of this bondage overnight. But it’s just not true. So what does God want you to do? What does God say about getting out of debt?

Look over in your notes, and I have listed the nine steps out of debt bondage. These nine steps come straight from the Scripture and I want to walk you through this. But for every one of these, there could be four or five Scriptures. I just put one or two on most of these. But the Bible is very clear that you can get out of debt. Now, the Bible doesn’t promise that you can get out of debt quickly. You didn’t get into debt quickly. You can’t get out of debt quickly. As a matter of fact, one of the things that God wants to do while He gets you out of debt, is He wants to develop your character because debt says there is a character deficiency. And because there is a character deficiency you go into debt. So as God lowers your debt, He has to raise your character. And character development takes time. Getting out of debt takes time. But this is God’s way of getting out of debt. Now, some of you that are really sharp in math, you have already realized that there are nine steps here, and we have already covered six steps, so this is really a fifteen point message on today’s topic. So here’s my promise. Next time, the message will be pointless. So I will make up for what we are talking about today. But look at these nine steps rather quickly.