Good morning! \u00a0We are going to dig into part 2 of the Financial Freedom series.\u00a0 Here is why we are talking about finances; it is because we believe that your financial condition says a lot about your spiritual condition.\u00a0 We believe that the way people handle their money and their “stuff” (their belongings) says a lot \u00a0about their heart.\u00a0 This is why the Bible talks about it so much.\u00a0 This is why Jesus talked about it so much.\u00a0 Last week, we talked about how 15% of what Jesus talked about had something to do with money and possessions.\u00a0 This is a real indicator of your heart’s condition.<\/p>\n
Today we are going to talk about this idea of how God wants you to be free.\u00a0 He wants you to live free from debt.\u00a0 He doesn’t want you being a slave to the lender.\u00a0 He wants you to be a servant to the Lord.\u00a0 We are going to talk today about how to get free of debt.<\/p>\n
Americans are\u00a0 awash in credit card\u00a0 and consumer debt! \u00a0We are up to our necks in credit cards.\u00a0 This is the mark of the culture today.\u00a0 If you look around, you will see that we are tempted by advertising that says things like, “Buy now, pay later.”\u00a0 That is \u00a0attractive, right?\u00a0 Have it now; pay for it later.\u00a0 We have ads that say stuff like this, “Now you can own anything.”\u00a0 Anytime, anything, anywhere.\u00a0 Don’t you want that card?\u00a0 Pull that card out anytime and anywhere and you can have anything.\u00a0 That is very attractive; we want those kinds of things.\u00a0 We want it now.\u00a0 We think if we have the right card, we will even look better!\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 If you have the right card, you will even look better and it will make you look good to have a card that matches.\u00a0 Some of us get special photographs and logos put on our cards because it makes us look better.<\/p>\n
We go to places where we can have fast money.\u00a0 Nobody wants slow money.\u00a0 We want loans in a minute.\u00a0 We want minute loans.\u00a0 You know, fill it out now.\u00a0 There\u00a0is one advertised on TV right now called, “Rocket Loans.”\u00a0 You can get a rocket loan!\u00a0 Those people don’t want to wait until payday; they want to get a payday loan.\u00a0 What you do when you go to a payday loan place is you go in and you tell them, “I will get paid in 14 days; can I get a 14 day loan and I will pay you back when I get my paycheck?”\u00a0 That is what a payday loan is.\u00a0 In the state of California, they require these companies to tell them how much that service charge is.\u00a0 They don’t call it interest; they call it a service charge.\u00a0 Here is why they call it a service charge; they don’t want you to know that you are paying 460% interest on a 14 day loan.\u00a0 Man, these companies are making a killing on the people that are most in trouble, who can’t even make it to payday.\u00a0 They are charging\u00a0 460% interest.\u00a0 Get yourself a minute loan.\u00a0 Get yourself a rocket loan.\u00a0 Get yourself a payday loan and 460% interest.\u00a0 This is what is going on in our culture today.<\/p>\n
Even our college students\u00a0will\u00a0go to a trusted organization like Sallie Mae, who offer student loans.\u00a0 They now also offer credit cards to our college students to help them get a credit card before they get a job.\u00a0 But the one that disturbs me the most is the new toy called “The Barbie Deluxe Cash Register.”\u00a0 We want to get our young ladies started off right, so that they learn to ‘swipe’ and ‘buy’ at the age of five.\u00a0 Right here, we have the Barbie credit card, and you can swipe it across the front of the toy. \u00a0It even has a UPC code reader that actually works so they can check prices!\u00a0 We want to start them off right so that they learn that they don’t have to pay now.\u00a0 They can pay later.<\/p>\n
This is what is going in our culture today.\u00a0 Wouldn’t you like to live differently than the culture?\u00a0 Wouldn’t you like to live the way the Bible speaks, that we can live as people that are ‘other worldly;’ \u00a0people that are members of the Kingdom of Heaven \u00a0rather than the kingdom of this world.<\/p>\n
Today, many of us may feel overwhelmed.\u00a0 Some of us may even feel ashamed by how much we have gone into debt.\u00a0 We have made mistakes and now we are paying for it.\u00a0 Maybe you are feeling like that today,\u00a0 ‘I just feel like I am drowning, like I am over my head.’\u00a0 It is affecting things; this indebtedness is affecting our marriages.<\/p>\n
In marriage counseling, one of the main things that the counselor hears, one of the main things that I hear as a counselor helping people with marriage, is they come and they say that they are fighting about money.\u00a0 They are not fighting because they have too much money.\u00a0 They are fighting because they don’t think they have enough.\u00a0 ‘She spends too much.\u00a0 He buys big things.\u00a0 He buys too many toys.’\u00a0 Back and forth, ‘he, she, he, she….’ \u00a0 This is hurting our families.\u00a0 It is destroying our own self state of mind.\u00a0 It is creating clinical\u00a0 depression, anxiety and worry.\u00a0 It is beating us up.<\/p>\n
We need to get off the world’s path and get on God’s path,\u00a0\u00a0amen?\u00a0 That is where we need to be today.\u00a0 We sang a song earlier about Jesus setting us free and our worship pastor reading from Colossians that He has cancelled the debt of sin. \u00a0Why would you go into financial debt when you have been set free for eternity?\u00a0 Why would you go into debt to this world?\u00a0 But if you have, and many of us have, what does the Bible say about getting free?\u00a0 Do you know that the Bible has something \u00a0to say \u00a0about that?<\/p>\n
We will be looking in the book of 2 Kings today on what the Bible says about how to get free of debt.\u00a0 We will be looking at a story where the prophet Elisha helps a widow woman who is in debt up to her ears.\u00a0 He helps her to get free.\u00a0 As we look at this passage,\u00a0I have noticed at least four Biblical principles that I want to share with you about how to get free of debt, how God can help you get free of debt if you will follow His Word and trust His power.\u00a0 Depend on His provision.\u00a0 We are going to be looking today for these four principles, which I think give us four steps on how to get free. \u00a0 But first, let’s look at the story.\u00a0 Let’s look at the text.<\/p>\n
2 Kings 4:1-7 \u00a0(ESV)\u00a01<\/sup>\u00a0Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, \u201cYour servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.\u201d 2<\/sup> And Elisha said to her, \u201cWhat shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?\u201d And she said, \u201cYour servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.\u201d 3<\/sup> Then he said, \u201cGo outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4<\/sup> Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.\u201d 5<\/sup> So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6<\/sup> When the vessels were full, she said to her son, \u201cBring me another vessel.\u201d And he said to her, \u201cThere is not another.\u201d Then the oil stopped flowing. 7<\/sup> She came and told the man of God, and he said, \u201cGo, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n This is God’s Word.\u00a0 Amen?<\/p>\n We will be looking for four steps on how to get free from debt.\u00a0 Here is the first.<\/p>\n 1. \u00a0Recognize the problem<\/span> with debt.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Recognize what it will do to you and how it can enslave you. \u00a0 Admit it.\u00a0 Debt can be a problem.\u00a0 Notice in verse 1 that this wife, this widow woman, \u00a0goes to the prophet Elisha as she cries out, “the creditor is going to come and take my sons as slaves.”\u00a0\u00a0You see, this was the way they handled it in those days.\u00a0 You couldn’t declare bankruptcy; you couldn’t ask for forgiveness for\u00a0your indebtedness.\u00a0 If you didn’t have the means to pay, they came and got your kids and put them into slavery to pay off your debt.\u00a0 This widow is desparate.\u00a0 She goes to him and she says, ‘I am in trouble.\u00a0 I need help.’ She goes to the man of God, the prophet Elisha, and she asks, ‘what should I do, what can I do, please help me.’\u00a0 Now, notice who her husband was; she was the wife of one of the sons of the prophets.\u00a0 In other words, he was a preacher’s kid.\u00a0 Listen, Christians can get into trouble financially just like the rest of the world.<\/p>\n This young man, no doubt, would have known right from wrong.\u00a0 He was a preacher’s kid.\u00a0 He knew right from wrong and he probably thought he was going to live a little while longer.\u00a0 Don’t we all think we will live another day?\u00a0 Aren’t you already making plans for tomorrow, for this week?\u00a0 You probably are.\u00a0 Whenever we borrow something, we are believing we can live long enough to pay for it.\u00a0 I am sure that he meant well, but he left his wife and kids penniless, poor and broken, because he died before he planned to and he had not laid up anything to take care of them.\u00a0 So she is in trouble now and she says ‘I need help.’\u00a0 That is the first step, isn’t it?\u00a0 That is the first step of getting out of debt, getting free, is admitting that debt is a problem.\u00a0 Admitting that you have a problem.\u00a0 That is half the battle; admitting that you have a problem.<\/p>\n Here is what debt is; debt is gambling with your own future.\u00a0 Do you know what money is?\u00a0 Money is a symbolic representation of your effort, or the effort of someone else who gave it to you, or you inherited it from them.\u00a0 but somebody worked for it.\u00a0 Somewhere along the line, somebody worked for that money.\u00a0 It was either you or somebody else or somebody that the government took it from and gave it to you. Wherever it came from, somebody worked for that money originally.\u00a0 Money does not have any value; it symbolizes something that has value. Are you tracking with me?\u00a0 Today, we don’t even hold money; today it is all digital.\u00a0 You can’t even hold it.\u00a0 Your kids are going to grow\u00a0up saying, ‘What is it, what is money?’\u00a0 It is a cloud.\u00a0 It lives on the internet.\u00a0 That is what money is now and it is getting harder and harder to even think about what it is.\u00a0 But what it is is a representation of someone’s effort.<\/p>\n When you are borrowing\u00a0 something,\u00a0 here is what you are saying, ‘I am going to give thirty years of my life for that house.’ Just think about what you are doing.\u00a0 ‘I agree to give you thirty years of my life to own that house.’\u00a0 This is called a thirty-year mortgage.\u00a0 Back in the day, you borrowed money for \u00a0two years to buy a car.\u00a0 Then it was three years, then four years, then five years…you can now get a seven-year loan now on a car.\u00a0 ‘I want that so bad.\u00a0 That car is going to let me look important. I am willing to give you seven years of my life for that car.’\u00a0 We don’t think about it like that, but that is what we are doing, we are saying, ‘I know I am going to live seven more years, so I can pay for that car. \u00a0 I am giving seven years for that year.’<\/p>\n Now, we definitely don’t think about it like this:\u00a0 We go to the seafood restaurant, and we charge it on Visa.\u00a0 We eat that shrimp right then, we digest it and it’s gone before the next day.\u00a0 We say, ‘I am going to give the next six months for that shrimp that I already ate.’\u00a0 That is crazy stuff when you start to think about it.\u00a0 But that is what indebtedness is; when we borrow something, we are borrowing it on our own future effort.\u00a0 We are assuming that we will be around to work that.\u00a0 That’s what it is.\u00a0 We are naming it, recognizing what debt is and what is our problem with it.\u00a0 Then, here is this story of a preacher’s kid and he is a Christian now, he is a believer, he believes in God.\u00a0 In verse one, it says, “Your servant, my husband, is dead and you know that your servant feared the Lord.”\u00a0 He was a God-fearing man.\u00a0 He was good man.\u00a0 He meant well.\u00a0 So do we.\u00a0 But we follow the world instead of God’s Word when it comes to our finances.\u00a0 We say to God, ‘I got this,’ and then it ends up enslaving us.<\/p>\n The book of Proverbs 22:7 (ESV) \u00a0says, “The rich rules over the poor and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”\u00a0 The Bible calls it “slavery.”\u00a0 It says, ‘when you owe somebody something, you have enslaved yourself to them for that period that it is going to take to pay it back.’\u00a0 You are not free from that.<\/p>\n Proverbs 22:26-27 (ESV) \u00a0speaks about the warning of giving something in pledge.\u00a0 ‘I am going to give you my house as a pledge. I will give you my car,’ \u00a0which is what we do when we borrow, we say ‘If I don’t pay it, you can take it back.’ \u00a0“Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.” \u00a0\u00a0If you have nothing willl which to pay, why should your bed be taken from you?\u00a0 You don’t want to have a place where you can’t sleep. \u00a0It’s a warning in the Bible that if you put up this kind of pledge, this kind of security, you may not have a place to lay your head.\u00a0 The Bible is warning you about debt and how it can enslave you and how it can put you in a worse place than when you started.<\/p>\n How many of you have said to yourself, ‘I wish I had never done that.\u00a0 I wish I had never gone into debt. \u00a0It wasn’t worth it.’\u00a0 That is the beginning; admitting it.\u00a0 Admitting that you wished you had never done that.\u00a0 Don’t accuse each other either.\u00a0 That will cause more problems.\u00a0 As husbands and wives, you should join arm in arm and say, ‘There is the problem. It is not me or you.\u00a0 There is the problem. \u00a0Let’s join up forces here and admit that we need to get out of debt.\u00a0 Debt is our problem.’<\/p>\n According to the 2016 survey by The American Household Credit Card Debt Study, they report that these are the average debts of the average US household: \u00a0 The average US household owes $16,000\u00a0\u00a0in credit cards.\u00a0 They carry a balance of $16,000 and change.\u00a0 The average family has a\u00a0 $173,000 mortgage. \u00a0 The average American family owes about $28,000 to $29,000 on their auto loan.\u00a0 The average American family owes $49,000 and change on student loans.\u00a0 This is the average American family, people, that we are talking about.\u00a0 God wants you to be able to say “Yes,” when He calls you to do something, \u00a0yet we have enslaved ourselves.\u00a0 I am not judging you, because I\u00a0am a co-struggler and I fall into these traps.\u00a0 We fall into them together.\u00a0 But, can we follow God’s Word?\u00a0 Can\u00a0 we recognize that we are “debtaholics?”\u00a0 We are\u00a0 caught up in the materialism trap.\u00a0 Consumerism has gotten a grip on our souls and we need to break out.\u00a0 Let’s admit it.\u00a0 Let’s admit we have a problem.\u00a0 Stop the self denial.\u00a0 Ask God to set\u00a0 you free.\u00a0 This is step one.\u00a0 Cry out,\u00a0 ‘I need help.’ \u00a0That’s where it starts.<\/p>\n Here’s the second step:<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Get wise financial counsel<\/span> from godly advisors.<\/strong><\/p>\n Don’t ask the lady or the guy in the next cubicle where you work for advice.\u00a0 He’s in debt just like you are.\u00a0 Don’t ask him.\u00a0 Be careful about asking your neighbor.\u00a0 Get godly advice.\u00a0 Get a wise financial counselor; someone who follows God’s Word to give you counsel.\u00a0 The widow lady was wise.\u00a0 She went and got the prophet, Elisha.\u00a0 She asked for help from a godly counselor.<\/p>\n By the way, last week, if you were here, I asked, “If you are interested in getting financial help, someone to coach you with your finances or if you are interested in being part of a Bible study or having a mentor to coach you,\u00a0\u00a0please\u00a0\u00a0put express your interest \u00a0on your connection card.\u00a0 ‘Yes, I would be interested in that.’\u00a0 We didn’t particularly have the next step yet, we were more checking for interest.\u00a0 If there was interest, then we would offer something.\u00a0 We are working on something right now because some people did sign up last week.\u00a0 Just take a guess: \u00a0Was it men or women who signed up last week, who asked for a financial counselor?\u00a0 I am hearing women.\u00a0 Now, I am hearing women say ‘women.’\u00a0 I am seeing men break eye contact with me.\u00a0 We had several people sign up last week.\u00a0 Not one man.\u00a0 Not one.\u00a0 You are all like the preacher’s kid.<\/p>\n Here is the thing about men.\u00a0 I don’t know what it is about men; I am the same way.\u00a0 We are all like this.\u00a0 We say, ‘I have got this.’ We don’t ask for directions when we are lost.\u00a0 We are never really lost.\u00a0 We got this. \u00a0‘We are taking the long way.\u00a0 We are taking the scenic route’\u00a0we tell her.\u00a0 ‘I am not lost, this is the scenic route and I wanted you to see that.’\u00a0 We don’t ask for directions.\u00a0 We don’t ask for help.\u00a0 But this widow woman does.\u00a0 She has wisdom.\u00a0 A fool refuses to ask for help.\u00a0 But the wise man, the wise woman, asks for help.\u00a0 Ask for help.\u00a0 It would be impressive to me if one person of the male persuasion\u00a0were to say, ‘You know what?\u00a0 I need help.’ That would be a breakthrough.\u00a0 But the wise person does ask for help.<\/p>\n She (the widow woman) asked for help and she received help from the Lord through the prophet, Elisha.\u00a0 He started asking her good questions.\u00a0 Questions like, ‘What do you own? What is your net worth?\u00a0 What do you have now?’ \u00a0She replies, ‘All I have is the thing of oil.’\u00a0 He was finding out what she had and\u00a0\u00a0what she didn’t have;\u00a0he was appraising her situation.\u00a0 That is how it begins.\u00a0 He finds out how bad the situation is.\u00a0 Where is she?\u00a0 She tells him that they will come, take her sons and put them into slavery.\u00a0 That is how bad it is.\u00a0 He asks her what she has and she replies that she has nothing but this one thing of oil. \u00a0 That is all that she has\u00a0.\u00a0 So he starts with that.\u00a0 God always wants you to start with what you have, not with what you don’t have.\u00a0 He never calls you to go do something with what you don’t have.\u00a0 Like He said to Moses back there at the burning bush, He asks, “What is that in your hand?”\u00a0 Moses replies, “A shepherd’s staff?”\u00a0 God says, “Let’s work with that.” What do you have in your house? \u00a0‘I have a little bit of oil.’ \u00a0 Well, let’s start with that.\u00a0 You see, you have to go before the Lord and be willing to ask for help, get a counselor, get a wise and godly financial counselor, someone that can give you good Biblical counsel on how to manage your finances.<\/p>\n Here is what it says in the book of Psalms 37:30 (NLT) , “The godly offer good counsel.\u00a0 They know what is right from wrong. ”\u00a0 Get someone who is a mature believer; someone who is demonstrating good financial habits and ask them if they will coach you.\u00a0 Or, the next time we offer a financial study, you should sign up.\u00a0 Sign up!\u00a0 Proverbs 20:18 (NLT) \u00a0says, “Plans succeed through good counsel.\u00a0 Don’t go to war without the advice of others.”\u00a0 Some of us need to make war on debt.\u00a0 We need to go to war.<\/p>\n Earlier, \u00a0I said that husbands and wives shouldn’t point at each other, we shouldn’t go to war with each other.\u00a0 You are not the enemy.\u00a0 She is not the enemy.\u00a0 The enemy is the enemy.\u00a0 Who is the enemy?\u00a0 Well, the Bible is clear.\u00a0 You have three enemies:\u00a0 (1) The flesh, where you get tempted with \u00a0easy money, fast money, money that you didn’t work for.\u00a0 That’s the flesh.\u00a0 Ask God to forgive you and give you power so that you don’t fall into temptation.\u00a0 (2)\u00a0 The world.\u00a0 You don’t have to live the way the world lives.\u00a0 Go to war.\u00a0 (3) The evil one.\u00a0 He is the one who whispers, ‘You deserve this.\u00a0 You need this.\u00a0 You don’t need to tell her that you bought this. You don’t need to tell him because he will ask you why you bought this so don’t tell him. \u00a0It is okay.’\u00a0 That’s the evil one. \u00a0 These are the three enemies; go to war against them.\u00a0 Go to war against the enemy; don’t go to war against each other.<\/p>\n Shakespeare wrote about this in his play, Hamlet. “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”\u00a0 That is good advice;\u00a0 that is biblical.\u00a0 Don’t do it.\u00a0 Don’t go into debt.<\/p>\n Dave Ramsey, the popular radio host and author who wrote the book, Total Money Makeover<\/em>, gives good advice.\u00a0 He is a Christian and I agree with most of what he says but I am not trying to sell you a Dave Ramsey book.\u00a0 He does give good advice.\u00a0 He says this; “A new car, for instance, depreciates on an average of $100 a week.”\u00a0 The minute you drive it off the lot, your money starts going out of the window.\u00a0 For the first four years, your car depreciates at about $100 a week.\u00a0 If you buy a brand new car, just visualize as you drive down the road each week, that you are throwing a $100 bill out.\u00a0 If you really need to throw $100 out every week, buy yourself an older car and just actually throw out a $100 bill out each week.\u00a0 Then there will be benefits.\u00a0 Someone on the side of the road will go, ‘Man, I found a $100 bill!’\u00a0 You will be helping people.\u00a0 Buy a used car, unless you have come to a place where you can pay cash for it.\u00a0 When you go into debt and buy it, you are paying more than it is worth.<\/p>\n Here is a myth that we tell ourselves. “Get a credit card to build your credit.”\u00a0\u00a0The truth is, most of us get a credit card and destroy our credit.\u00a0 Here is another myth.\u00a0 “If I can just win the lottery then I will finally tithe at church.\u00a0 Then I will finally be happy.”\u00a0 Truth is, people who actually win the lottery lose their marriages, fall apart and go into bankruptcy.\u00a0 It is rare to find someone who figured out how to be happy after winning the lottery.\u00a0 The truth is, the lottery is a tax on poor people and on people who can’t do math, because the odds are against them.\u00a0 Get wise financial counsel from godly advisors.<\/p>\n Get wise financial counsel from Godly advisors.\u00a0 The widow had wisdom to ask for help.\u00a0 She cried out to the prophet, Elisha.\u00a0 Will you cry out to God?\u00a0 Are you wllling to admit your stuff to another person, asking them to look over it with you, asking them what you need to do? \u00a0They may look and say, ‘Well, you have this and this… What if you sold that?\u00a0 If you sold that and paid this off and gave up this…’ \u00a0 If it took you five to seven years to get yourself into this debt, then it will take you awhile to get out of it.\u00a0 It will not be fast money.\u00a0 It will not be a minute loan.\u00a0 About as long as it got for you to get into debt, it may take just as long to get out debt.<\/p>\n Here’s the third step:<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Starting working \u00a0faithfully<\/span>\u00a0 to follow godly advice.<\/strong><\/p>\n You see, you get Godly advice, but then you have to follow it.\u00a0 Go figure.\u00a0 ‘Look, I took the class, I signed up for the program and\u00a0 I went and got counsel.’ \u00a0But did you follow it? \u00a0‘Well, most of it; except for the part about getting out of debt. But I followed most of it.’<\/p>\n This widow woman did exactly what Elisha told her to do.\u00a0 She didn’t wait.\u00a0 The way this story goes, it actually fast forwards to it.\u00a0 It doesn’t even show her going out to her neighbors and knocking on their door.\u00a0 It must have happened because it shows the result of it.\u00a0 Apparently, she went up and down on the road and asked for the neighbor’s empty bottles.\u00a0 That is a humbling think to do.\u00a0 ‘I am getting ready to have a yard sale.\u00a0 Do you have anything that you would like to get rid of that I could throw in?\u00a0 We are trying to get out of debt over here. They are about to come and get my sons.\u00a0 Can I have your empties?’\u00a0 That takes some humility; it, also, takes some effort.\u00a0 You need to leave your driveway.\u00a0 You need to go out.\u00a0 You have got to do some work.\u00a0 You see, you get the advice and then you have to follow the advice.\u00a0 You have to work faithfully at it.\u00a0 It is going to take a little while.<\/p>\n Then, she took what she had, that little bit of oil, and she collected those empties and the prophet said for her to shut her house up.\u00a0 What do you think this means?\u00a0 I have been meditating on that a little bit.\u00a0 Don’t be out there advertising or whatever.\u00a0 This is not something to brag about.\u00a0 It’s about you, God and the kids.\u00a0 Get in and shut the door.\u00a0 And then this is how it worked; she poured out that little bit of oil into the empty jars and it never ran out.\u00a0 It never ran out until she said, “Bring me another jar.”\u00a0 The whole room was full of these big jars of this expensive, pressed olive oil, which was like gold.\u00a0 It was very expensive.\u00a0 I have visited Israel and I have seen an olive press. It was like currency.\u00a0 Now she has it all in these big jugs and she asks for another jug but there were no more.\u00a0 As her son\u00a0\u00a0said to her that there were\u00a0no more, the last drop of olive oil came out.\u00a0 It was gone.\u00a0 You see, it was a miracle.<\/p>\n If you want God to cooperate, if you want Him to be your partner in how you manage your stuff, you have to give it to Him.\u00a0 You have to trust Him with it.\u00a0 As long as you are running things, He is not your partner.\u00a0 You are self-employed.\u00a0 If you want God to bless you and be your partner, you have to give it to Him and you have to recognize that He is not giving it to you so you can take care of it yourself.\u00a0 It’s so you can be a blessing to others.\u00a0 It’s so you can let it flow to others.<\/p>\n The widow woman had a miracle take place in her house because she obeyed God’s Word.\u00a0 So, her needs are being met.\u00a0 But, she worked faithfully, she obeyed what the prophet told her.\u00a0 It says in the book of Proverbs 10:4 (ESV), \u00a0“A slack hand (a lazy hand) causes poverty but the hand of the diligent, the hand of the hard worker, makes rich.”\u00a0 The book of Proverbs is teaching us that we have to work.\u00a0 We cannot depend on another to do the work for you.\u00a0 That is what money really is; it is a symbolic representation of your effort or someone else’s effort.\u00a0 Proverbs 6:1-5 (NLT) \u00a0warns us about the sense of urgency in getting out of debt.\u00a0 It says, “If you cosign a loan for a friend or guarantee the debt of someone you hardly know, quick, get out.”\u00a0 Don’t put it off, do it now, don’t rest until you do.\u00a0 Save yourself, like a deer escaping from a hunter or\u00a0 like a bird fleeing from a net.\u00a0 Run away from debt.\u00a0 If you are already in debt, get a sense of urgency about getting out of it so you can no longer be a slave to the lender but a servant to the Lord.\u00a0 Get free.<\/p>\n I mentioned Dave Ramsey a minute ago. \u00a0 In his book,\u00a0Total Money Makeover,<\/em>\u00a0 he offers eight baby steps to financial freedom or to financial peace.\u00a0 Let me offer these to you.\u00a0 I am not trying to sell the book, like I said before, but these are good pieces of advice:<\/p>\n #1\u00a0 Make a plan.\u00a0<\/strong>Get with an advisor and come up with a plan.\u00a0 Elisha asked the widow lady, ‘What do you have, what are your assets, what do you need and how far in debt are you?’\u00a0 He gave\u00a0her a plan: \u00a0Go to work.\u00a0 Go get empty jars. \u00a0She followed the plan exactly.\u00a0 Get with an advisor. Get into a study group.\u00a0 Find out what your plan is.\u00a0 Make a budget.\u00a0 Find out what your assets and your liabiities are and then how you are going to pay off your debt.\u00a0 Get a plan.\u00a0 If you are a married couple, if you have a family, have a family conference around the table and talk about the plan.\u00a0 When you come up with a plan, plan the year that you will be out of debt.\u00a0 Then, all of you, your wife and your kids,\u00a0 need to lay your hands on the debts and say, “God, give us the power now to work and follow this plan.”\u00a0 Have a family conference.<\/p>\n #2 \u00a0Start an emergency fund.\u00a0<\/strong>Dave Ramsey says, “Before you start paying off your debts, save at least $1,000.” He calls it the “$1,000 emergency fund.”\u00a0 He comes up with that $1,000, saying that amount \u00a0will fix most things.\u00a0 He might should have said $1,500 for today’s expenses \u00a0maybe.\u00a0 Sometimes when you put your truck in for work, they want $1,000 to fix it, and if you don’t have an $1,000 emergency fund you will\u00a0\u00a0 go back and use your credit card. Then you are back in trouble again.\u00a0 That is why you get\u00a0\u00a0the $1,000 emergency fund before you start paying off debts.\u00a0 It seems counter in your thinking; you may think you need to start paying off your debts first.\u00a0 No, get your emergency fund first so that\u00a0\u00a0when something happens, you don’t go back into more debt \u00a0immediately.<\/p>\n #3 \u00a0Wipe out debt.\u00a0<\/strong>You have your emergency fund in place; now, start wiping out debt.\u00a0 There are two strategies:\u00a0 One is called the “debt snowball” effect\u00a0\u00a0and the other the “debt \u00a0avalanche”\u00a0effect. \u00a0The snowball effect\u00a0\u00a0is for those who need early wins.\u00a0 It helps psychologically.\u00a0 Start with the smallest debt; maybe, the one that is $350, and you pay that one off first.\u00a0 Then you get in the kitchen with your spouse and you shout, “Woo Hoo, we paid one off!”\u00a0 Then you cut that credit card up.\u00a0 You take the amount of money that you were spending on that one and you add it to this one.\u00a0 Then you pay off the next one in size and have another “Woo Hoo” party.\u00a0 Then you take the money that you were paying on the last one and you pay off the next one.\u00a0 See, the “snowball” is getting bigger.\u00a0 You continue, and, ultimately, you pay off your debts.\u00a0 This strategy takes a little longer, but it is encouraging and\u00a0\u00a0you get early wins.\u00a0 To be frank with you, the harder one is the avalanche\u00a0effect. \u00a0\u00a0Actually, mathmatically, you pay off the high interest stuff in the beginning; you pay off the big stuff first. \u00a0Although\u00a0\u00a0it is harder, it is actually more effective. \u00a0You start with the very biggest one and you pay that one\u00a0\u00a0off first.\u00a0 Then you take the money that you were putting on that and put it on the next one.\u00a0 It goes faster but it is harder. \u00a0Pick the best strategy\u00a0\u00a0according to your personality; some of you are tough and you could start with the big one.\u00a0 Mathmatically, that is smart.\u00a0 But you pick one; come up with a plan.\u00a0 There are other plans; I\u00a0picked two for you, strategies\u00a0\u00a0to break the “log jam” and get out of debt.<\/p>\n #4 \u00a0\u00a0Switch to a debit card. \u00a0<\/strong>Stop using credit cards.\u00a0 Cut them up.\u00a0 If you have to have one, put it in a pan of water and stick it in the freezer.\u00a0 Then, if you think you really need it, you will have to sit and watch for the water to melt.\u00a0 Don’t put it in the microwave; it will ruin it.\u00a0 Maybe you should, never mind.\u00a0 Put it in the microwave.<\/p>\n #5\u00a0 \u00a0Finish the emergency fund. \u00a0<\/strong>$1,000 is the first part of it.\u00a0 Save three month’s expenses so that if you were to lose your job, or if something were to happen that would effect the economy, have three month’s expenses saved.<\/p>\n #6 \u00a0\u00a0Invest for the future.\u00a0<\/strong>Examples for investing are \u00a0college funds\u00a0and\u00a0retirement funds. \u00a0 Now you are saving.\u00a0 You are out of debt. \u00a0You are saving.<\/p>\n #7\u00a0Pay your house debt off early. \u00a0<\/strong>If you buy a $100,000 house, 30 years later, you have spent $320,000.\u00a0 You have spent three times what it was when you bought it.<\/p>\n #8\u00a0\u00a0 Build wealth.\u00a0<\/strong>Build wealth so you can be a blessing to others.\u00a0 I think that is what the Bible is teaching.\u00a0 You have heard me demonstrate this before, that we are to live with one hand open to God, trusting in His provision, and say, “God, You bless me, I trust You.” Quit shaking your fist at God, blaming Him for your situation. Instead, open your hand to God and ask for help.\u00a0 But, it is not enough just to open that hand; you must open the other hand to others.\u00a0 You have got to let it flow, like a river, like a conduit of blessing.\u00a0 If you don’t, if you open one hand and keep the other closed, you will be like the Dead Sea.\u00a0 The Dead Sea, in Israel, has an inlet from the river of Jordan, a beautiful river, I have been there.\u00a0 Life flows in, but life doesn’t flow out, and nothing can live there.\u00a0 It becomes the Dead Sea because it doesn’t have an outlet.\u00a0 So, we ask God to bless us so we can be a conduit of blessing, not so we can enrich ourselves.<\/p>\n Here is step\u00a0four:<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0Stay out of debt<\/span> by living beneath your means.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is secret knowledge here.\u00a0 You have never heard this in America:\u00a0 Live on less than you make. \u00a0<\/strong> We only talk about this in back rooms, so don’t let this out.\u00a0 Live on less than you make.\u00a0 It’s radical.\u00a0 You will be free.\u00a0 You won’t be in slavery to anyone.\u00a0 If God asks you to move, you can do it because you have been living on less and you don’t go back into debt.\u00a0 See, here is the danger; \u00a0you finally get out of debt and you have been living so tight, being so careful.\u00a0 Then you get out of debt and you have a big party.\u00a0 Then…ooops…..you are back in debt.\u00a0 What you have to do is, like an addict, you have been dieting and you blew it on the weekend, you must watch those\u00a0\u00a0“weekends.” \u00a0When you finally get out of debt, don’t go back into debt.\u00a0 Change the way you live.\u00a0 Live beneath your means.<\/p>\n Look at verse 7, \u00a0I love this widow woman, she is so wise.\u00a0 It is too bad that her husband hadn’t asked for help before something happened to him.\u00a0 But ‘no man knoweth the hour from when he will be called home.’ \u00a0He got called home and left his widow and his kids penniless.\u00a0 But look at verse 7, she says,\u00a0‘Ok, i poured the oil, I filled the jars, now what do I do?’ \u00a0Man, she is so wise. \u00a0What’s next? \u00a0 Elisha says this, ‘Go, sell the oil, pay your debts.\u00a0 Don’t have a party.\u00a0 Don’t go buy another donkey.\u00a0 Don’t go hire a servant to do your dishes.\u00a0 Pay off your debtors.\u00a0 And, live off the rest.’ \u00a0Pay off your debts.\u00a0 Live off the rest.\u00a0 Right there it is!\u00a0 Get out of debt; live beneath your means.\u00a0 Live off the rest.\u00a0 This is God’s Word speaking to us.\u00a0 This is not the way the world lives.\u00a0 This is the way we are to live.\u00a0 We are to live differently.\u00a0 We are to live for the Lord.\u00a0 Not in slavery to man.\u00a0 Go and sell.\u00a0 Live off the rest.<\/p>\n Romans 13:8 (NIV84) \u00a0says, “Let no debt remain outstanding.”\u00a0 Get out of debt so you can live free for Jesus.\u00a0 He set you free from the wages of sin when He died on the cross and was raised again.\u00a0 He gave you life.\u00a0 If He will give you eternal life, what will He withhold from you?\u00a0 Trust Him with what your needs are.\u00a0 Stop thinking that you can provide them yourself by giving away your future to get it now.<\/p>\n Psalm 37:21 (ESV) \u00a0says, “The wicked borrows but not pay back but the righteous is generous and gives.”\u00a0 We want to live like the righteous; we want to be known not as takers but as givers.<\/p>\n Here are\u00a0\u00a0three points on how to live beneath your means.<\/p>\n (1) Pay God first.\u00a0 <\/strong>Pay God first; pay your tithes and offerings, recognize that He is owner of everything and you give back a portion of it by faith believing that He owns everything. It is an expression of your heart.<\/p>\n (2)\u00a0 Pay yourself second.\u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0Pay yourself second.\u00a0 Don’t spend all that you have.\u00a0 Put part of it away in savings.<\/p>\n (3)\u00a0 Live off the rest.<\/strong> \u00a0 \u00a0What if you gave God 10% and you gave yourself 10% in a savings account and lived off the 80%?\u00a0 Here is what I would tell you.\u00a0 You can live better off of 80% than you can 100%.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because now you’re cooperating with what God teaches.\u00a0 With what He wants to do to bless you.<\/p>\n Now He can increase your oil.\u00a0 He can fill your jars.\u00a0 You are cooperating with Him now; you are depending on His provision.\u00a0 ‘Gary, that doesn’t make sense.’\u00a0 Well, you will have to decide if you want to follow God’s Word, by faith, or follow what makes sense in the world.\u00a0 You decide.<\/p>\n Today we are going to prayer before the Father. \u00a0\u00a0For some of you, your next step is to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, giving Him your life.\u00a0 By giving Him your life, you give Him your all.\u00a0 Others are here today, and you have already done that, but you need to give Him what you are holding back so that you are trusting Him with all.<\/p>\n Let’s pray.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Americans are awash in credit card and consumer debt! We are tempted by ads like, \u201cBuy now, pay later.\u201d Or \u201cNow you can own anything, any time, anywhere!\u201d Do you feel overwhelmed and trapped by debt? Maybe even a little ashamed? The truth is that your financial condition says a lot about your spiritual condition. There is a way out. God wants you to be debt free, so that you are free to be what He has called you to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5502,"template":"","tags":[2420,2048],"series":[2419],"scripture-book":[1279],"scripture-chapter":[1337],"speaker":[2007],"class_list":["post-5533","message","type-message","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-debt","tag-finances","series-financial-freedom","scripture-book-2-kings","scripture-chapter-1337","speaker-gary-combs"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/5533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/message"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/5533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5590,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/5533\/revisions\/5590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5533"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=5533"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-book?post=5533"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-chapter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-chapter?post=5533"},{"taxonomy":"speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speaker?post=5533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}