Sermon Central
-
Economic Empowerment Part 4: No Empty Hands Series
Contributed by Ken Hubbard on Feb 2, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: This is the fourth sermon in a series of messages on godly finances focusing on debt relief.
EXODUS = departure or exit
I want to use this story as a metaphor to journey out of financial slavery
I want to see the people of God depart & exit from financial bondage
Egypt = limited – narrow place
Exit out of stinking thinking
o Not asset / it’s attitude
While we are waiting for streets of gold
o Praying; Lord help me pay this bill
Versus
o Praying; Lord help me be prosperous
The lie of the enemy / through the systems of this world
o Is to stay a slave
o And become satisfied
o With just getting by
Let’s determine we’re not going out empty handed.
The enemy stole my family’s wealth
o Now I am ready to exit poverty thinking
o And I am not leaving empty handed
Because we can’t finance the Gospel or build our platform broke!
When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money
The world will spend a large sum of money to tell a lie
o Because they will finance their platform
Spending billions of dollars looking for life on other planets
While we won’t spend money on saving lives on this planet!
A. SLAVING
The story starts with them as slaves
Exodus 1:8-11 (READ)
The people of God
o Were more powerful
o Yet
o The enemy oppressed them
We love the fact that we are New Testament believers and are free
Yet, in the arena of finances, many of us are still in Egypt
Letting Pharaoh’s Visa get rich off of our money
o It is our money because of Joseph (Jesus)
We have become slaves to the Pharaohs of this age called financial institutions.
We can’t get away to go worship God for a three day conference
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
We’ve become slaves to debt
Debt isn’t the problem – it’s the symptom
o Greed
o Self-indulgence
o Impatience
o Fear
o Self image
o Lack of self worth
o Lack of self discipline
Different Kinds of debt:
1. Credit Card
2. Consumer debt
a. Cars
b. Furniture
c. Consumption of depreciating items
3. Mortgage debt
4. Investment debt
a. There’s always a ‘good deal’
b. No one ever wants to sell you a bad deal
5. Business debt
6. National Debt
$20,000 for every man, woman and child
1 million per day
It would take 13,500 years to pay back
Assuming there is no interest
o Which there is
Example 1 – New Car
New Car $10,000.00
Monthly Pay 12.5% $265.80
Amount Paid 4 years $12,758.40
Dealers make more if financed
Now, if you purchase another car in four years and again finance it
And continue to do this over a working life of 40 years…
You will have purchased ten cars
And paid in car payments:
$12,758.40 x 10 = $127,584.00
The bank received $265.80 per month for 480 months and never had at risk any more than $10,000
They in turn reinvested that $265.80 in other loans yielding 12.5%
So that they accumulated $3,641,550.00 on your total payments of $127,584.00!
What if, instead of making car payments…
You paid yourself $265.80 per month…
And were able to invest that payment at 12.5%
Then you would have the $3,641,550.00
o Not the lending institution!
The true cost of driving those cars is $3,641,550.00 not $127,584.00!
Questions to Ask:
1. Does it make economic sense?
• Pay off mortgages or invest
• Buy a business – home
2. Do my spouse and I have unity about it?
3. Do I have spiritual freedom?
4. What personal goals am I meeting?
• School
• Business
• Etc.
5. Do I have the money to pay it back now?
I want to address three traps that we can fall into in indebtedness:
1. Can’t Wait Trap
2. The Comparison Trap
3. The Accommodation Trap
1. CAN’T WAIT TRAP
• I must have it now. Instant gratification.
• We’re used to getting dinner in 5 minutes.
Microwave
Drive through windows
• We have restaurants inside of our shopping centers where while you’re shopping you can be served your food.
• You can get a discount if you use your credit.
• Today, we can shop by internet, we don’t even need a store, or money, or a car.
• All we need is a catalog, a telephone and a credit card.
• Internet purchases have gone into the billions of dollars
