What we saw this week was pretty startling, wasn’t it? People’s most prized possessions; their homes, their cars, the stuff with which they fill their homes – scattered about, destroyed and left in the open. It’s sobering to think that in a matter of moments everything that you have worked so hard to achieve can be taken away from you. I mentioned this in my e-mail to the church this week – that while some people lost everything that they had – there were others, including many in this church who lost some of their stuff – but their treasures were still in tact! Not a scratch on them – not one thing missing – no need to pay a deductible and no reason for a blue tarp – because their treasures are safe!
That’s what the Bible says! The title of the message today is where to I turn with financial problems – and I’m going to give you some steps that will lead to help with your financial problems. The first step is what I’ve been leading up to and that is:
1. Realize it all belongs to God!
Read Matthew 6:19-34. Get out your Bible and turn to Matthew 6. I was going to read just a few verses of this passage but I want you to get the whole thing. This is Jesus speaking.
What is he saying? He’s saying that everything you need is provided to you by Him. Do you see that in there? He has what you need! You don’t need to worry about it, strive for it, preoccupy yourself with it or be anxious about it. You simply need to trust Him and acknowledge Him in your life! You need to surrender control of your stuff to him.
That’s ultimately his goal for all of you. He wants to help you but he can’t help you with your finances until you have surrendered to him. Today I want to introduce someone to you that has gone through a lot to get to a place of surrender. You’ll hear as he shares his story that it isn’t just a story of financial help – although it is that – but it’s far more than that. Money issues are spiritual issues – your wallet is connected to your soul – they are linked together and I think his story captures that well. Please give a warm welcome (someone came and gave testimony).
See, when he surrendered everything to God – his career, his marriage, his depression, his anger, his drinking AND His money – that is when God stepped in to help him. When he surrendered, he was finally in a position to be blessed, in his marriage, in his career, AND with his money. If you want to change your financial situation you first need to address your spiritual situation. I will go over that in more detail in a few minutes.
Once you’ve settled the foundational issue of who your stuff belongs to you are ready to move on to the next step which is:
2. Rationalizing doesn’t help!
If you want to improve your financial situation you can’t rationalize what is happening with your money. You have to know where all of your money goes – and I mean all of it. You have to track your money. You need a notebook and for one month you need to keep a log of every dollar that you spend. You can’t rationalize and say, “well, that was only lunch with a friend – or it was a big sale and I only spent a few dollars – or it’s only a cup of coffee – I ought to be able to enjoy a cup of coffee!!
How many people in here go to Fivebucks? I mean Starbucks. Now, I’m not down on Starbucks – I go there every once in awhile. But, let’s just use that example. If you are going to Starbucks, you are going to spend $5. That’s just the truth – you will spend $5 when you go in there. Let’s say you like a triple shot latte, nonfat. That’s going to cost you $5.
Well, let’s just say you decide for the next 40 years to forego the triple shot, nonfat latte. Let’s say you took that $5 and you put it into an interest bearing account. And let’s say that account kicked off 10% interest. So you have $5 a day, that is $35 a week, about $150 a month. In 40 years you would have a grand total of, are you ready for this…I read this example in a book in preparation for this message, you would have $948,611. I will say it again. $948,611! You can’t rationalize! Every dollar that leaves your hand is important! Every dollar of it. You have to know where your money goes or you’ll always wonder where it went.
Once you figure out where all your money is you have to go to the next step – you have to:
3. Redirect your money!
You take control of your money – you start telling your money where you want it to go rather than not knowing where it went.
See, this is where debt can really rob you. Once you are in debt you have lost all freedom. You no longer can choose where your money is going– because your creditors decide where your money is going. That is what the writer of Proverbs 7 is referring to when he says:
“Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.” Proverbs 22:7
See, when you are in debt – you can’t direct your money – those decisions, that freedom has been taken away from you by the lender. You become a slave to the creditors, you no longer work for yourself, you work for them. That’s true for us as a church to a certain extent too. The elders met last week to discuss our budget for the next fiscal year – and we have some limitations imposed on us and there are some goals that we won’t be able to accomplish because we have debt that we need to pay first. Towne Bank has an interest in what we do with our money.
So, when you are redirecting your money you want to follow certain guidelines. On our website, under resources, we have a worksheet that provides you with percentages that you should be allocating for whatever the line item is – and if you go out of line on that then you will get messed up.
So, according to the worksheet you shouldn’t spend more than 13% of your income on transportation – if you are spending more than that then you can’t afford the car you’re driving.
When you redirect your money you have to remember that how you spend your money is a spiritual issue. I want to read you a passage of scripture where Jesus kind of lays out his purpose statement, it’s found in the Gospel of John 10:9-10.
“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
Jesus says in this passage that there is a thief. The thief’s mission is the opposite of the mission of Jesus. Jesus says if we will come through him we will be saved and find good pastures but the thief wants to destroy us.
The thief is the evil one, Satan. And he comes to steal, kill and destroy. Normally, when we talk about that, we think, “He wants to steal from me and kill me and destroy me.” And we think about lust, we think about anger, we think about slothfulness. But I want you to understand that the evil one also attacks us financially.
Most of us have a hard time understanding this – and I think guys we tend to do this the most, we compartmentalize. We think, “I have my spiritual life here, my recreational life over there. And finally here is my financial self.” We have a hard time integrating our whole lives together, especially when it comes to our money. But remember the first point – realizing that our money belongs to God. See our money is God’s – we are simply managers of what He has given us.
See money is not just money. Money matters to God. Money is spiritual. Jesus said, “If anyone enters through Me, he will be…” What? “…he will be saved; he will go in and out and find pasture.”
Not only will we be saved but the verse also says we will be satisfied. While this is true in many different ways, it is also true financially. That’s right; the God of the universe wants us to be saved, safe and satisfied financially. Yet the evil one, the thief, comes to steal our joy, to kill our relationships and to destroy our future. How does he do it? Yes, he does it through anger, lust and all the obvious ways, but he does it subtly through the financial realm.
So, when we are redirecting our money we have to maintain spiritual standards. If you have gotten yourself in a hole financially, you will need to include God in your plan to get back out. I’ve mentioned this time and again the 10-10-80 principle. I’m not going to expound on it here but I do want to mention it because it is part of the key to turning your financial life around!
You tithe 10%, ten percent of what you earn you bring to the Lord through your local church. You don’t just give it away – you return it to the Lord. 10% you save – so that when a financial bump comes you have enough margin to cover yourself. Then you live on 80%. Some of you are saying, man, you’re repeating yourself. You taught that in January during the get fit series – and I did – but you’re not doing it yet!!!
You might say, well that sounds crazy. I need help financially and you’re telling me to give 10% of it away – no I’m not! God instructs us to direct 10% back to him – but listen here’s the thing. This principle is key to changing your financial situation. I have read this book by David Bach entitled “The Automatic Millionaire.” The best I can tell, Bach is not a Christian – this is in no way a Christian book and yet, the last chapter of his book is entitled, “Make a difference with automatic tithing.” Listen to what he says.
(Read section of book page 212-214.) Why does this work? Because it’s part of God’s plan for turning around financially. You will never get right financially until you learn to trust God enough to live on 90% of what you earn. So, when you redirect your money you do so using God’s priorities. You also have to do step #4 which is:
4. Refuse more debt!
You have to stop the bleeding! Stop going into debt! You can bail water out of a sinking ship but unless you plug the hole – you are still going to keep sinking.
Statistics tell us that the average American family has $8,400 in credit card debt – not counting cars, houses and all the rest. That means just our church family probably has over two and a half million dollars of just credit card debt! Let’s suppose you pay the minimum each month on the $8,400, you will end up making 365 monthly payments before that account goes to zero – that’s 30 years and 5 months – and that’s assuming you’re never late on a payment, there is no annual fee on your card and you never purchase something else on credit!
In 30 years – you won’t even remember what you’re paying for! But you’ll be paying just the same. So, you either need to pay off your credit card each month or cut it up! Those are the only two options that you really have. You have to make a decision that you will not go into debt again. Refuse to get an extra 10% off your purchase today by opening up a store account! Say no to them. They aren’t being really nice to you – they want you to pay the minimum and get stuck in debt with them. Again, go to our website – under resources, we have several articles on how to get out of debt, mistakes that lead to debt etc. Check out those resources.
5. Relax! You won’t get out of debt over night.
We live in such an instamatic society that we can’t stand to take time to do things. The reality is – you didn’t get into your financial mess over night and you won’t get out of it over night either. You may need to talk to a credit counselor – or come see one of the pastors – but I’m telling you – if you will discipline yourself and do it consistently you will be able to turn things around for yourself. But you must be disciplined and you must be patient.
Again, this is spiritual. Galatians 5 lists the fruit of the spirit and one of those on the list is patience! I know that doesn’t sound real spiritual – but it is. Whenever you lack patience – you lack God’s control in your life. Let’s look at this from the message, a paraphrase of Scripture. I want you to see it because I want it to jump out at you:
“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.” Galatians 5:22-23 (MSG)
As you draw closer to God – your stick-to-it-iveness will increase. Be patient and don’t give up.
Maybe one of the things that you need to do is develop your walk with him more so that you have those characteristics becoming more and more prevalent in your life – then sign up for one of our BU classes that will do just that for you!
6. Remember – it all belongs to Him!
I know I already said this, but since we’ve been talking about debt - debt is all about Jesus, because we have a debt that we can’t pay. Have you ever thought about that? The moment we sin, we create debt that we cannot cover. I don’t care what I do or you do or how many sermons I preach or how good you are or whatever; we have a debt that we can’t pay.
The good news is, God has paid the debt – and he has opened the door to freedom – what is the door? Remember the verse from the beginning? Jesus said, I am the door. Jesus is the door. He has taken care of your sin debt. He can also help you with your financial debt. But it starts with you asking for help. He won’t push his way into your life. For some of you this morning, that is where you need to start. You need to acknowledge your debt – your spiritual and financial and you need to ask him for help. You may be here and say – I don’t have a financial debt – I’m debt free! No you’re not. Just like JC in the beginning – his problem wasn’t financial debt – his problem was that he hadn’t surrendered to Christ. He doesn’t want your money – He wants YOU! He is the door to freedom.
Prayer
