Defeating The Enemy Of Debt

Below is an excerpt from the sermon...

Mark 4, looking down in verses 18 and 19. And these verses are talking about the seeds which are sown among thorns. Mark 4:18 “And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word.” So, they’ve heard it just like we have. How come it didn’t bear fruit? Here it is. Mark 4:19 “And the cares of this world…” So that would be worry, pressure, anxiety, having a full plate. Second: “…and the deceitfulness of riches…” What’s the deceitfulness of riches? It gives false security. Somehow, if we have a lot, we feel like everything’s okay. And and sometimes people can have a lot and things aren’t okay. So, it’s this false security: “I don’t need the Lord”. When’s the last time someone won the lottery and came to our church and said, “I just want to get saved”? “I just won the lottery and things are falling apart.” It’s not usually that way. You won the lottery, it’s, “Sayonara!” We will never see you again. But Mark 4:19: “…the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in…” And notice the result of these things. “…choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”

So, let’s pray. Father, bless this brief time we have. Help us to get through this material and maybe taking notes, people could just write down, “Do this.” Maybe it’ll just be one or two things they need to say, “If we did this, it would take some pressure off of us,” whether they’re teenagers just starting out their life of debt or while they’re young adults, they’re just in some debt or other people in a lot of debt. I pray that You would show us Your principles to help us to relieve a lot of pressure. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Let’s find out: Who’s ever been at a restaurant or some place, and someone was eating and began to choke, and then someone had to do that famous maneuver—get behind them, put their arms around them, and pull up? It’s called the Heimlich maneuver. Anyone ever see someone do that? Not practice but in real life—anybody ever seen that? Alright, several, of you have. They had a kid at youth conference years ago, and they were having some stuff-your-mouth contest. I don’t know what they were eating—the ostrich egg or balut or whatever that is, that unborn chicken from the Philippines. You’ll never get me to do that, not for a million dollars, I won’t do it. Two million, I won’t do it. Three million, I won’t do it. I’m not eating a raw chicken, I’m not doing that. And so anyway, this kid was trying to win the contest, and pretty soon he started turning blue. He stopped chewing, and he’s just sitting there. He was choking, and someone said the kid’s choking, and this girl out of the audience ran up on the platform. It’s on the Internet, and the world is watching. She comes up, gets behind him, and pow! And then he wasn’t choking anymore. They fell in love and they got married. And so…no, I don’t know how it turned out, but that was the Heimlich. So, sometimes what God does is He sees that we’re choking because of finances, and He takes the Word of God, His truth, and somehow, as we understand it, the Holy Spirit invisibly comes around and helps us so we can bear fruit. What a weird comparison. Okay.

And so the question in the notes tonight is, “Are we choked?” We’re not choked physical. We’re not turning blue, but emotionally, are we turning blue? Spiritually, are we turning blue? Here’s a statistic (and probably you can find different ones). They say the average family in America is $38,000 in debt. And that’s not counting their house payment. So, if they’re paying for a house or rent, that’s not including that. It’s just the average. Average credit card bill is $5,000. So, if you’re under $5,000, you’re doing good. If you’re under $38,000, oh wow, good job. And so, just several, several areas here to give you quickly, Biblical areas of wealth. It’s going to pop up on the screen here, and we’ll just kind of comment.

First of all, it starts off with earning. Each of us needs to be earning, whether it’s a retirement check coming in, you have earned that. Whether it’s Social Security check you’re getting because you’re a little bit older, you have earned that. Maybe you have invested money and you’re getting a return regularly, you’ve earned that. So, earnings. Here’s what Scripture says under that. I think it’s several verses, but here’s one. Deuteronomy 8:18 “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.” Notice it says it is God Who gives us power to get wealth. So, about the time we think, well look what I did, but it was God. One man says, “I earned all this money with my own two hands.” One guy said, “Where’d you get your hands?”

And then there’s another verse here on earning. Next one. Here it is. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” Now if America took that Scripture, we would not have as much debt as we have right now. America has the wrong philosophy. If someone is a human, the country has to feed them. And that’s our philosophy here. God says if they don’t work, they don’t eat. If people get hungry enough, they’ll work. They’ll do something to earn a meal. They will do that. It is not our responsibility to feed the lazy. By the way (you do what you want to do), I’ve seen people with a little work-for-food sign, and I understand sometimes it’s mental illness. Sometimes they’ve gotten off their medication. Sometimes it’s an addiction. Sometimes it’s alcohol. But I don’t want to give to someone and watch them take my money, and go into 711 by a beer with it. Might as well just take them to the bar and buy him a beer at the bar. And so, you want to be wise. And I know some of you bring food and things to the homeless, and that’s and that’s wonderful. But here’s what He says. If they don’t eat work they shouldn’t eat.

One last one: Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, And he addeth no sorrow with it.” There’s two types of richest. There’s riches with sorrow. That’s what the movie stars have. That’s what some of these basketball players making $29 million dollars a year have. They got the riches, but they got a lot of sorrow with it. And God says it’s not wrong to have things and to have wealth, but He wants it to be obtained properly so that sorrows don’t come with it, you see?