Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Debt compromises income stream.

One of the things I've come to realize is that:

God’s way of handling money is countercultural

That simply means that rather than running parallel to what everyone else says, believes, and do, it runs perpendicular.

The sooner you can get out of it, the better.

The problem we have is that we have followed after the masses, rather than following after the master

Every cent you owe to a lender, plus interest, handicaps both your ability to survive nowand your ability to save for the future.

For as the Apostle Peter told the Sanhedrin Council

“We must obey God rather than men.”

The Bible presents this truth to us clearly.

Which is why for the next several weeks we will focus our attention on

5 aspects of Biblical Finance

They are:

Get Out of Debt

"She came and told the man of God, and he said, 'Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.’"

Get Right - Act Your Wage

Get On A Plan

"One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor."

Get More - Save, Invest, Legacy

"The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender."

Get Ready to Give

Getting Out Of Debt

Did you know that debt literally, not figuratively means bondage

"Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.

If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?"

self-induced (inflicted) bondage

There were also those who said, 'We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.’

And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards.

Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children.

Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

It is a new form of slavery

instead of us being shackled by metal chains

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money."

we’ve now settled for plastic ones

Illustration:

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

Its like we walked down Gun Club Rd with our own handcuffs

opened the prison doors

2. Debt prevents rest

The Sabbath is a very important concept to God.

put our own-selves in there

locked the door

He instituted it for himself when he created the world.

and said I belong here

And he institutes it for humans who work.

Illustration:

Its like we walked down Gun Club Rd with our own handcuffs

opened the prison doors

put our own-selves in there

Debt removes our ability to rest.

locked the door

and said I belong here

Proverbs 22:7

When we are in debt, we are forced to work extra hours, take a second job or side hustle, and spend more emotional energy on getting out of debt.

one who is owned by another

Slave (ebed) -one who is owned by another

This makes it harder for Christians to rest at all.

In the natural sphere it is impossible for a slave to serve two masters, for each claims him as his property, and the slave must respond to one or other of the claims with entire devotion

In the natural sphere it is impossible for a slave to serve two masters, for each claims him as his property, and the slave must respond to one or other of the claims with entire devotion, either from love or from interest

The meaning is not, “ye cannot serve God and have riches,” but “ye cannot be faithful to God and make an idol of wealth”

Without debt, rest comes a little easier.

Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other.

Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other.

You can’t worship God and Money both.

Sabbath becomes much easier to practice with a clear mind and heart.

Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love

What is Debt?

“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release.

And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor.

He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed."

Debilitative

Divisive

"Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin."

Deceptive

Debilitative

Because debt threatens our ability to develop meaningful wealth, debt debilitates (hinders, impairs, and weakens) our opportunity for financial stability

Meaningful

Just because you got a $20k credit card limit, doesn’t make you wealthy

driving a Jaguar with a $700 car note doesn’t make you wealthy

Living in a 5 bedroom house with a $2,500 mortgage doesn’t make you wealthy

That’s why the bible says in

We suffer in anxiety, depression, sleeplessness because of debt

Why?

We suffer for it because debt borrows against our older selves

We buy things we often don’t need in the here and now only to suffer for it in the future

We suffer for it because debt borrows against our older selves to buy things we often don’t need in the here and now

A self-inflicted set up for failure

What we oftentimes fail to realize is that:

that $1 plus interest you owe a to a lender, just handicapped your ability to survive now and your ability to save for the future.

Divisive

The Notorious B.I.G. along with Mase & Puff Daddy said in "Mo Money Mo Problems" single

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

I don't know what they want from me

It's like the more money we come across

The more problems we see