(Prov. 22:7) "The borrower is servant to the lender..."
Series: How To Escape Financial Bondage
First message: "The love of money is the root of all evil".
Our love for money steals away our love for God, and the things of God...
If there ever was an item that steals our time from God...
If there ever was a time in which Christians need to be established, and prepared for the future...
If there ever was a time in which we needed to be at liberty to serve God without the bondage of money that so easily besets us...That Time is Now!!!
Yet, instead, we have fallen prey to the love of money, and it has entangled us in it’s web of deceit and enslaved us in a prison of despair. It is God’s will that we be financially free.
Second Message:
How to tell if you are in financial bondage?
Indebtedness. You owe a lot of money.
Pressure of bills.
Your life revolves around making money.
Entanglement in business.
You try every get rich quick scheme.
You feel guilty about the way you use money.
What is the purpose of money?
To supply basic needs in your life (food, shelter, clothing).
To supply the needs of others.
To show God’s Power in your life.
To unite Christians.
To confirm direction.
Third week:
Factors That Determine Financial Freedom
Giving is a direct factor in financial freedom.
Your income is a direct factor in your financial freedom.
Your spending is a direct factor in your financial freedom...(Learn to say "NO!")
Last week:
How To Become Financially Free
I. Transfer Ownership of All to God.
A. Of your money.
B. Of your time.
C. Of our possessions.
D. Of our career.
II. Establish Habits That Will Remind You That You Have Transfered All to Him.
A. Three things that remind us of the battle with the flesh, and of our yieldedness to God (all found in Matthew 5) [prayer -- fasting -- giving].
B. Consistant giving is a sign that you are not relying on your income, but in God.
C. Begin to seek God before making any major financial descision.
This Weeks Message...
III. Put Christ First in Your Life (Matt. 6:19-33).
A. Don’t seek to be rich on earth, but in heaven (v. 19-21).
B. Seek ye first the kingdom of God...
IV. Determine to Be Completely Debt Free.
A. If you do not buy new things, you can use that extra money to pay more on the things you have already buy.
B. Questions to ask before making any major purchase.
1. Will it increase my effectiveness for God?
2. Is it absolutely essential. Do I really need it?
3. Will it strengthen my family or increase the burden my family must bear.
4. Can I buy a less expensive item, that will perform just as well.
5. Does it require upkeep, that makes it unjustifyable to buy.
V. Evaluate every expenditure on the basis of how it will benefit the work & reputation
of God.
A. We are Ambassadors for Christ.
1. I wish I could say that everything I’ve done has brought honor to God.
I know some of you are thinking, "Well I’ve seen Bro. Mike, doing this or that..."
I am truely sorry for anything I’ve done that has weakened you, but that is not an excuse for your sin.
2. I will answer to Christ for my Ambassadorship, and you will answer for yours.
God says, "We ARE Ambassadors," not "We will be," or even "We should be," but "We ARE!"
You may be a good Ambassador, or a poor one, but you are one! And, everything we do as His Ambassadors reflects upon the one we represent.
How & where we spend the money that God has entrusted to us also reflects on Christ.
B. Evaluate every expediture on how it benefits the cause of Christ.
1. The Cable Network channels in some of the wickedest garbage, yet it is a regular monthly bill.
There us no way you can justify the cost of cablevision as an expediture that further’s the kingdom of God.
2.
VI. Give God a chance to provide an item before you buy it.
A. Much of what we buy, we buy impulsively, therefore we make foolish purchases.
1. Salesmen get rich because of impulsive buyers.
Extremely rare to find a man that waits 24 hours before making any major purchase, more less one that will wait on God.
2. Many car dealers, mobil home dealers, etc. will offer free gifts, free food just to get you on the lot.
They are confident that if they get you on the lot, they can influence you to buy.
B. If we could learn to wait on God, He would bless our purchase.
1. He could provide the item you need, without charge.
God has done this for me, and countless others. Many could give testimony of how God has provided some need miraculously.
But, few of us are willing to wait for God to provide. Once we get the notion that we need a new car, it begins to burn in us, as if we would die if we didn;t hurry up and buy it.
We rarely consider the fact that we have done fine for several months without a new car, but now we just must have one or we will certainly be ruined.
Who knows what God could do if we would learn to wait on Him. He might provide the item free/given to us.
[Soulwinner in a church, always bringing a car full of people to church, went to his Pastor "Preacher, my car is about to go out, on it’s last leg, should I buy a car, or should I lease one?" "I think we should pray about it, and wait on God."
One week later a businessman approached the Pastor and said, "We have this station wagon, Its only a couple of years old, we have put new tires on it, and new brakes, and the Lord has put it on our hearts to give it to the church." The Pastor said, when he went for it, it was in immaculate condition. Well taken care of!
The Pastor called his soulwinner friend, "I believe the Lord has answered our prayer....TOLD HIM ABOUT THE STATION WAGON...I want you to have it..." Silence. No "praise the Lord," or anything, just silence.
The Pastor asked him what was the matter? He said, "We leased a car yesterday, a station-wagon!"
It might be God wants to provide the item for you, if you will wait!
2. He may open a door where you could get it at a considerable discount.
Generally I will buy something, and it will go on sale the next day. Or I will find it somewhere else for half the cost.
But, because of impulsiveness, we just have to have the item we want, and we must have it right now!
It just might be God wants you to wait. Most of our purchases are not a mater of life and death!
3. God has promised to supply ALL our needs (Phil. 4:19).
Does God lie, or exaggerate? Did He say He would supply ALL your need?
Therefore, if you pray for something, and God does not either give it to you, or make a way for you to get it, you don’t need it! {WORTH REPEATING}
If you do not wait on God do not presume God will provide. "I will go ahead and buy this new car and trust God to supply the need
VII. Never borrow money on anything that will be worth less than the balance.
A. Some purchases are a usually a good investment.
1. If you purchase a home with property, most of the time you can sell your it, for at least what its worth.
2. In most cases you can even make money on the sale of a home.
3. Gold is usually a good investment. Its value rarely depreciates.
B. Most purchases are not good investments.
1. This is almost alwaya true of a mobil home. A mobil home depreciates faster than the monthly payments can keep up with.
2. In most cases an automobile depreciates faster than the payments. So that when you are ready to trade or sell it, you cannot hardly get what you owe for it.
3. Many of us are still paying for furniture (etc) that we have already junked or given away.
C. What do I do, I must have a vehicle?
1. Continue to pay for the things you have already purchased, but be very careful in making new purchases.
2. Seek God about every major purchase, wait on Him to provide or guide.
That car that God gave you for nothing will become a blessing, while the one you pay for every month will be a burden.
3. Learn to save money. Rather than making that expensive purchase, put the down payment in the bank, make payments to your self, then buy it cash.
4. Take the $200.00 you would have given down on new furniture, and put it in a savings account. Then take the $75.00 a month you would be paying and put it in the account. In 10 months you will have almost $1000.00.
VIII. Learn to do things for yourself or trade services.
A. We spend entirely too much on eating out.
1. Learn to make gourmet meals at home... Be creative... Save money...
2. We have been experimenting with sub-sandwiches.
3. Lets use each other’s help & expertise. I’ve been wanting to get a meat co-op together.
B. We should learn to work together as a church.
1. I have computer expertise, I know a little about car repair, and a little home repair. Maybe we can exchange services.
2. I work on your car, or computer, and you do my ironing, or sewing. (just an example) But, why spend money on a seamstress, when we can trade services.
C. Or we can teach each other.
1. I’ll teach you how to work on a computer, and you come help me work on the parsonage. Why spend money on outsiders, when we can serve each other.
2. We can build a relationship with each other, rather than give our money to someone outside the church who will use it for booze, instead of the cause of Christ.
IX. Determine why you lack money: Is there an underlying cause of financial bondage?
A. You may need financial counseling. In the multitude of counsel there is wisdom.
1. You may be in a position where you need someone else to sit down with you and establish a working budget.
2. Often our own biases keep us from being honest with our own budget. Outside counseling helps.
B. You may have violated financial principles. God promises to withhold money because of...
1. Greediness or stinginess (Prov. 11:24). "Give and it shall be given unto you..."
2. Hastiness or impulsiveness (Prov. 21:5). Even if you can afford it, its sin to be hasty!
3. Stubbornness or rebellion (Prov. 13:18). Listen to godly counsel. God will not bless rebellion.
4. Laziness or slothfulness (Prov. 24:30-34).
5. Gluttony &/or drunkenness (Prov. 23:21). Don’t be to quick to judge the drunkard, if you are a glutton.
X. Discern the differences between needs & wants.
A. We often give our children things that they want, though we know they don’t need it.
1. We don’t need an ice cream or milk shake, but its okay to allow it occasionally.
2. God often blesses us with much more than our needs, but has only promised to supply our needs...
B. That which is a need, we can cry unto God for.
XI. Prepare for financial breeding.
A. You are teaching you children both to abound and to suffer need (Phil. 4:9-13).
1. This passage teaches us that as God’s children we must learn to have & to have not, to abound, and to suffer need. Life is a cycle.
2. But it also teaches us that we are teaching our children how to deal with financial situations.
3. Have you ever noticed that few poverty families ever get out of poverty? They have never been taught...
