Slavery Sucks...

The focus of this past Sunday's message is that "the borrower is slave to the lender." This can be found in Proverbs 22:7.

Here are some alarming statistics I came across about the American cultures issues with debt...

• If you go to cardweb.com, you will see that the Avg. American family with at least one credit card is $9,200 in debt.
  
• The avg. cardholder has 2.7 bank credit cards, 3.8 retail credit cards, and 1.1 debit cards. That’s 7.6 cards per cardholder!!!
  
• 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year.
  
• In the past 10 years, bankruptcies have gone up by 100%.
  
• In 1929, 2% of American homes had a mortgage.
  
• In 1962, 98% of American homes had a mortgage.
  

The point is… We have a problem!!!!!!!!!!!

The good news is… there is some pretty cool principles in the Bible that can help lead us out of this debt that we have gotten ourselves in.

I would encourage you to read 2 Kings 4:1-7.

This is the story of a widow whose husband left her with some serious financial debt. It was so bad that the creditors were going to take her sons into slavery as payment. She approached the prophet Elisha and told him that she literally had nothing except a little oil. He then told her to collect as many jars as she could from her neighbors. When she had done this she was to pour the little oil that she did have into all of these jars. She ended up filling up all of the jars and had enough money to pay off her debts plus some to live off of in addition to that.

You and I might look at this situation and say that it was crazy that the prophet told her to go out and collect all of these jars from her neighbors. After all... she had NOTHING!!! Plus... thnk of how this must have hurt this woman's pride to have to ask her neighbors for these empty jars.

The worse off you are financially, the crazier the things you might have to do to get out of this "Money Pit" we call debt. Cut your cable; get rid of your WiFi; stop eating out at places you can’t afford; start cutting out coupons and shop for bargains; forget that vacation you’ve been saving up for and pay off your credit cards; etc, etc, etc… Even if you don't totally get rid of something like your cable... you can at least down size in the amount of channels you have. It's OK not to have 5,000,000 channels-4,999,980 0f which you'll never even watch!!! After all, do you really need ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Alternate, ESPN Plus, ESPN U, etc... ???

So... with all of this in mind... Is there such a thing as a good debt??? YES!!!

Romans 13:8 says not to let any debt remain outstanding, but to be in debt to one another in love. So we are not to let any debt remain outstanding, but we are to have a continuing debt to love one another.

I believe that outstanding financial debt that you and I have can sometimes keep our focus off of the debt that we are supposed to have… and that is the debt to love one another!!! So if you remember any of this blog... remember this!!!

THE ONLY DEBT THAT’S PLEASING TO GOD IS THE DEBT TO LOVE OTHERS!!!

Imagine what we as the children of God could do for his kingdom, if we were financially debt free!?!?
I believe we could change the world!!!

Proper Priorities...

Nobody wants to hear your excuses... right??? It doesn't really matter what your excuse is... it is still an excuse!!!

Example: On Tuesday I was late to the Mosaic staff meeting. I showed up to the meeting with about four different excuses that sounded really good in my head... but actually weren't even worth uttering. They sounded stupid when I started sharing them with James and Eric, so I went ahead and just shut my mouth so my excuses didn't take up any more staff meeting time than necessary.

Excuses also apply to our marriages. Your wife doesn't want to hear your lame excuses... such as: I didn't take the trash out because... , I was going to do the dishes but... , I was just about to throw a load in the washer when...

Take it from me guys... SHE'S NOT IMPRESSED!!! There is no legitimate excuse that you can make that won't end up making you look really pathetic! The worst excuse of all (that should never be made) is why you haven't spent adequate time with your wife. She doesn't have to have Flowers, Fillet Mignon, or any of those Sappy Cards you might pick up for her on your way home from work! Those things are all nice... BUT... my guess is that she is just looking for some quality time with her husband!

The last thing your wife wants... is for you to get home from a long day at work and pick up the phone to call someone (business, or friend). She also doesn't want you to come home, eat the dinner that she cooked, and go pass out in the bedroom... leaving her all alone... yearning for your attention and affection. It's time for us to step up and be the men that God has called us to be! What are you waiting for???

First Day...

Joy and I started our first official day @ Mosaic Church in Crestview, FL http://www.mosaiccrestview.com/ . It was an amazing day all the way around! First of all... our amazing weekend actually started Saturday night. James and Christie had an amazing meal prepared for us and were so hospitable to a couple of young, green church planters like me and my wife! We really enjoyed hanging out with them in anticipation of what God was going to do Sunday morning @ Mosaic.

The next morning at Mosaic did not disappoint!!! We started our new message series "The Money Pit" and it was very insightful. Eric M. our Worship Leader did a phenomenal job of leading us into the presence of God! Got to love Pink Floyd's song "Money". Immediately following that... James R. (lead pastor/teacher @ Mosaic) did a phenomenal job of communicating what it was that God had put on his heart. It not only spoke to Joy and me... but I think everyone around us! You can check out a summary of James' message on his blog which is listed under the "blogs I read" section.

We then had a great time @ Whataburger for our "Vision of Mosaic" meeting/ open discussion. There was a good group of people there interested in the vision of Mosaic and where they might fit into the mix. We also had some pretty cool prospective interns (college students from BCF) there today. I'm looking forward to seeing some of them get plugged in @ Mosaic!!!

At end the day... we went to Starbucks for our first night of "Open" (a new small group for the Fall semester). This is a time for people to discuss their struggles, life questions, and how they relate to scripture. It went good... plus I got to eat a chocolate chunk cookie!!! Can't go wrong there!!! Great weekend!!! Can't wait till next weekend!!! Hope to see you there!!!