FSHS 20.02
How many of you here invest in the stock market in some form? Bonds? Mutual funds? Own shares of some company? CDs? Okay, now let me ask those of you who have money in some form of investments: How many of you have made money this year? How many of you are pleased with the performance of your investment portfolio?
Our economy has been in a slump. We are in a recession or worse, depending on who you talk to. Sales are down in many different types of industries. Our pension plans and 401k investments are dropping like a lead balloon. President Bush’s tax rebate last year did little to boost the economy. Companies are going under. People with 20, 30, 40 years in are being laid off from their jobs.
The book, A Tale of Two Cities, starts off with the line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” I think most of you here today, and probably anyone else you might ask, would say that this is the worst of times. Especially if you’re getting close to retirement and your nest egg that you have been carefully and religiously adding to and tending over the past many years is disappearing. And you’re wondering what you’re going to do. Now you can’t retire as soon as you planned because there’s not enough money to live on.
Because of the slumping economy, our house insurance rates have increased, our car insurance rates have increased. Insurance companies also invest in the stock market, so they’re feeling the pinch of poor performing stocks just like us. But they can pass their losses on to us and recoup some of these losses in the form of increased rates. We don’t have that option, unfortunately.
Now you may have noticed that, along with the stock market taking a plunge, the interest rates for loans have also dropped tremendously. This is good IF you’re not laid off, or have a job that is not in jeopardy of being phased out, or you’re not scared to take a chance on borrowing money in a such a volatile situation as we’re in right now.
All of this is rather depressing, isn’t it? You’re probably thinking, “C’mon John, I didn’t come to church to be reminded of this crummy situation I’m in. I know my stocks are in the dumpster and I’m losing money every day. I came to church to worship God and be uplifted by the Word and music and fellowship.”
Good. Because have I got a deal for you! I have a ray of sunshine for you. I’m here to offer you some hope. I’ve got a hot, and I mean hot, stock tip for you. It’s one that you simply can’t pass up. This is a “can’t miss” stock. It’s a stock that I GUARANTEE will be profitable to everyone who invests in it. If you invest in this stock I promise that you will never regret it.
Take your bulletins and look at the title of the sermon for today. Every company that trades on the NYSE has code letters identifying it, followed by the price of that stock at the close of trading. The stock that I’m highly recommending that you invest in is FSHS 20.02. Can anyone tell me what those letters and the numbers following them stand for?
If being in church doesn’t give you enough of a clue, I’ll help you out. These code letters stand for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the numbers are for the year 2002. We need to invest in the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. We need to invest in the house of God, our church. And we need to do it now, this year.
Like I said before, this is a “can’t miss” stock. This is a stock that I guarantee will never depreciate in value. You will never look at this stock years down the road and say, “I wish I had put my money in something else, some other stock.” And you won’t have to worry about your retirement, either, because when you invest in this stock, the retirement benefits are out of this world.
Now I know some of you might be thinking, “I can’t afford to give to the church. This economy has hurt my income too much. My other stocks have already cost me too much money. I can’t afford to invest in this stock.” Well, I’m here to tell you, you can’t afford NOT to invest in this stock.
I’m not here to ask you for money. I’m not going to try some of the creative ways that have been used in other churches. One minister announced that, if his congregation reached a certain fund-raising goal, he would allow them to place a clock on the pulpit. If they exceeded that goal by $1000, he would let them plug it in. If they exceeded the goal by $2000, he promised to look at it!
Another minister asked his organist to play a song after he made his plea for money. During the service he paused and said, “Friends, we need to raise money to keep this church going. We need at least $4000. Any of you who can pledge $100 or more, please stand up.” At that moment, the organist launched into a rousing rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner”.
I won’t use tricks or bargain with you. I’m asking you to invest in YOUR church. Buy some FSHS stock. I’m asking you to keep a promise you and I made when we joined the Presbyterian Church. We gave our word that we would support our local congregation with our prayers, presence, GIFTS, and service. You can look it up in the Book of Order.
I have one right here. G-5.0102b, c, d, & g. Let’s not go back on our word.
This is Stewardship Sunday. At the end of worship we will be looking at our church budget for the year 2003 and voting on whether to approve it or not. You have all received your pledge cards in the mail and hopefully filled them out. But before we get to that, I need to talk more about our investment. I need you to think about what kind of investment are you making.
Are you tithing? Tithing is a biblical principle first noted in Gen. 14:18-20. (read)
List of top 10 reasons people give for not tithing.
What happens if you do tithe? You’ll find that the 90% will go much farther than the 100% ever did. That’s the strange economy of the Kingdom of God. No matter how much you think you can’t afford to give 10% of your income to God, your needs will always be provided. Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” FULLY satisfy EVERY NEED!
The late Danny Thomas lost his life savings of $600 when he was out of work and a baby was on the way. A week before the baby was born, Danny had a grand total of $7.85. Danny would later recall, “My despair led me to my first exposure to the powers of faith.” He went to a church one Sunday morning. When the offering plate was passed, he put in his “usual one dollar”. But then a special missions offering was taken and Danny felt he had to give something. He ended up giving 6 more dollars. He had given away almost all of his money. He went to the altar and prayed, “Look, I’ve given my last seven bucks. I need it back tenfold because I’ve got a kid on the way, and I have to pay the hospital bill.”
He went home with eighty-five cents in his pocket. The next morning the phone rang. It was a job offer for a commercial and the pay was $75. He dropped the receiver and remembered what he had prayed in church the day before. He said, “The seventy-five dollar fee, unheard of for me at that time, was almost exactly ten times the amount of money I had donated to the church.” “God will fully satisfy every need.”
I could tell you hundreds more stories. And I will tell you one. This man went to church and he gave a few dollars. If you figured it up it was probably 2% of what he made. He gave it grudgingly. He had all the excuses. I can’t afford to give more. At least I give something. I earned this money, it’s mine. And so on.
Then he felt a tug. God wanted him to do something. God told him to invest in FSHS. God said, “Buy 10% of this stock every time you get paid. If you do this, I will give back to you tenfold. I will give you more blessings than you could possibly imagine.”
So this man listened. In January of last year he went from giving $10 a paycheck to giving 10% of his income to the church. And he has found out that everything God said was true. God has given back tenfold and I have been blessed more than I can possibly imagine. God has fully satisfied my every need. And He will do the same for you.
Before I finish here today, I’d like to ask you one more question.
If our money could talk, what would it say and where would it say it had been? A 1-dollar bill met a 50-dollar bill and said, “Hey, I haven’t seen you around here much. Where have you been?”
The 50-dollar bill answered, “Oh, I’ve spent some time around casinos and playing the lottery, and then I went on a cruise and made the rounds on the ship. I came back to the United States for awhile, went to a couple of pro football games, to the mall---that kind of stuff. Where have you been?”
The one-dollar bill said, “you know, same old place---church, church, church.”
One day our money WILL talk because we will give an account to God for what we did with it. So invest in the church. Buy some FSHS stock. I guarantee, you can’t lose.
