BREAKING FREE FROM DEBT Proverbs 21:20. Maybe you are like this couple. You earn money 5 days a week but you spend 7 days a week.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "*BREAKING FREE FROM DEBT Proverbs 21:20. * Maybe you are like this couple. You earn money 5 days a week but you spend 7 days a week."

Lorena Hamilton
5 years ago
Views:

*BREAKING FREE FROM DEBT Proverbs 21:20 Page 1 of 5 Why do you think so many people are in debt? * Maybe you are like this couple. You earn money 5 days a week but you spend 7 days a week.

1 *BREAKING FREE FROM DEBT Proverbs 21:20 Page 1 of 5 Why do you think so many people are in debt? * Maybe you are like this couple. You earn money 5 days a week but you spend 7 days a week. The simple answer is we spend more than we make. Our yearnings exceed our earnings. When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall. *Look at Proverbs 21:20 The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets. TLB Prayer: Father we know that can set us free from debt when we surrender our whole life to you. The sad thing is, with credit cards we can now spend more than we earn. Average credit card debt in the US: $16,140. Average student loan debt: $31,946. We're going deeper and deeper in debt every year. In our society, people tend to judge you by the way you spend money and there is very little encouragement for saving money." Most of the debt we get into is caused by our wants, not our needs. I see it, I want it, and I buy it. Impulse buying is one of our greatest problems in our society. If couples would agree to sit down and discuss discretionary purchases, it would make a big difference in our spending. If nothing else, it allows a cooling off period before a purchase is made. * Look at Proverbs 27:20 Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man. NIV

2 Page 2 of 5 * The Dad in this cartoon is telling his son more of the truth about credit cards than we would like to admit. Often times we use credit cards to buy things we don t need and can t afford. If I want out of debt, I have to learn to control my wants! Why do I always want more even when I don't have the money? What motivates me to live beyond my means? Why are we rarely satisfied with what we have? Why do we spend ourselves into debt? It's caused by three common misconceptions. TS First misconception, Having more things will make me more happy. *1. Having more things will not make you more happy. Many of us believe that having more stuff will make us happy. No society has as much stuff as we do and we fill our homes with stuff. Technology has produced more and more products and advertising comes along and tells us we've got to have them to really be happy! The average high school student, by the time they graduate, has seen 350,000 commercials that all say, "Buy my stuff!" What is the basic message of advertising? You can buy happiness! Greed used to be easier to control. You run out of money, you had to stop spending! But now we have plastic money and so you can keep on spending even when you don't have the money, and keep buying things you don't need. ILL One girl said, "My mom is only happy when she is spending money so she would go shopping every day until her credit cards were stolen." Her friend asked her, "Did your dad report the thefts?" "No, the thieves are charging less than my mom did."

3 We often succumb to the idea; if I just had that it would be so cool. Page 3 of 5 *Did you ever watch that program called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Robin Leach made it all seem so appealing. With champagne wishes and caviar dreams you could easily find yourself thinking if only I had that, how wonderful life would be. The truth behind all that was that many of the people who owned those mansions filled with all that stuff were miserable. Their marriages were in shambles and their families were dysfunctional. They were miserable living in all that opulence. *Look at Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. NIV If things could make you truly happy, the people who had the most things would be the most happy and that's just not true. Things can bring a temporary kind of happiness. But the thrill is soon gone. How many of you have ever had the Post-Christmas Blues? How many of you are still ecstatic about things you got last Christmas? No, we want the newer model and the latest gadget. Lasting happiness is not found in things. *Look at Ecclesiastes 6:9 It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else. GNT Less expensive too! The old New England proverb has a lot of value to it. Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, Do without! TS Second misconception, Having more things will make me more important. *2. Having more things will not make you more important. We have bought into the concept that, I am what I own, and my value is determined by my valuables. If I only have a little, then I must just be worth a little. I've got to constantly acquisition things to prove my worth. It is called "Keeping up with the Jones'". The problem is that when we think things make us important we buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't even like. It's amazing what people pay for status symbols to prop up their sagging self-worth. *ILL It is like the guy who was driving his new BMW, he went around a curve too fast, and went off the road and over the cliff, he jumps out just in time. He was sitting on the side of the road moaning, "My new BMW!" A guy stopped by to help him and said, "Didn't you notice? Your left arm was severed!" The man jumps up and said, "Oh no! Not my Rolex, too!"

4 Page 4 of 5 We get crazy when it comes to status symbols. *look at Luke 12:15 Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be. GNT Don't confuse your net worth with your self-worth. Your value is not based on your valuables. How do we stay on our guard against greed? We need to continually ask ourselves tough questions. Am I expecting this thing to make me happy? Do I really need this or do I just want it? Am I expecting things to make me feel important? TS The third misconception, Having more things will make me more secure. *3. Having more things will not make you more secure. Many times we think, If I achieve the ultimate goal of financial independence then I will be secure. *Proverbs 18:11 Rich people, however, imagine that their wealth protects them like high, strong walls around a city. GNT *What a dreamer!" How many ways can you lose everything? There are too many to count. You can have it all and lose it overnight. *Look at Proverbs 11:28 "Those who depend on their wealth will fall like the leaves of autumn." GNT If you're going to have security, you must put your security in something that ultimately cannot be taken from you. *Look at Psalm 125:1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. NIV Have you noticed that more possessions equals more worries? The more toys you have the more things you have to take care of. Have you ever gotten rid of something that you thought you really wanted when you bought it, but when you finally got rid of it were so grateful to have the burden gone? Maybe it was a boat or something else. *1 Timothy 6:9 People who long to be rich soon begin to do all kinds of wrong things to get money, things that hurt them and make them evil-minded and finally send them to hell itself. TLB

5 Page 5 of 5 *ILL Do you know how they catch monkeys? They put a coconut on a chain and stake it in the ground. They put a hole in the coconut and put a piece of food in it. The hole is big enough for the monkey to stick his hand in and grab the food, but it's too small for him to pull it out as long as he's holding on to the food. The monkey refuses to let go. That's how they catch monkeys. We can become possessed by our possessions when we refuse to let go. If you own something that God told you to give away and you refuse -- it owns you. You are a slave to your own possession. Possessions can t give you security only God can do that. *What are you struggling with today? Are you struggling with one of these misconceptions? Having more things will make me more happy. Having more things will make me more important. Or Having more things will make me more secure. None of that is true. *Jesus said in John 8:32 you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. NIV Prayer: Father help me to embrace the truth of your Word and be set free.

DIGGER DEEPER WITH JESUS WEEK 3 OCTOBER 20 & 21 4TH & 5TH GRADE

DIGGER DEEPER WITH JESUS WEEK 3 OCTOBER 20 & 21 4TH & 5TH GRADE WEEK THREE OCTOBER 20 & 21 Bottom Line: Wanting what others have can make you miserable. The BIG IDEA: Contentment-Deciding to be okay with