Tag: Life

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Monday Rewind

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Sermon Series: Life. Money. Hope.

Sermon Title: “Money Talks”

Scripture: Matthew 6:19-21; Genesis 4:1-7

The Biblical truths in week 1’s  sermon must be grasped in order to fully apply the rest of the messages we will hear from Dave Ramsey in the next three weeks.

  1. The way we manage money COMMUNICATES our inward value system
  • Jesus, has a perfect record as a financial adviser
  • Matthew 6:19 – Jesus advises that the foolish way to invest our money is on earthly things. Everything on earth has an expiration date; it breaks down, devalues and you can’t take it with you to Heaven.
  • Matthew 6:20 – Jesus advises that the wisest way to invest our money is in heavenly things; in advancing the Kingdom of God through the gospel. Heavenly things are eternal and will never expire

A. Our financial investments communicate what’s most IMPORTANT to us

Matthew 6:21“Wherever your treasure (money) is (Earthly Investments or Heavenly Investments), there the desires of your heart (what’s important to you) will also be.”

  • (Gen 4:1-2) Adam and Eve are blessed by God with two sons, Cain and Abel
  • (Gen 4:2) Cain and Abel both grew up and took on jobs; Cain and farmer and Abel a shepherd
  • (Gen 4:3-4) At harvest (payday) both Cain & Abel brought a gift (offering) to the Lord out of the product of their labors (paycheck)
  • Gen 4:3) Cain brought SOME of his crops to the Lord as an offering
  • Gen 4:4) Abel brought the FIRST and the BEST of his flock as an offering

Cain’s gift of just some of his crops as an offering to the Lord reveals that he put little thought and little heart into his gift

People who just give some of their resources back to God don’t have a GIVING problem; they have a WORSHIP problem.

  • The root of every sin is a worship problem.

Abel’s offering was an offering rooted in his worship of God. It required effort and a lot of thought.

  • Abel’s offering of the first and the best of his flock required great faith on Abel’s part. He did not know what the rest of his flock would produce after his offering; this required total reliance on God.
  • When we tithe and give God the first and the best of the resources he has blessed us with, we should do so in worship of God and in faith, trusting that he will provide everything we need with the remaining 90%

Hebrews 11:4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did [read rest of verse]

  • TITHING has nothing to do with rules and everything to do with FAITH
  • Notice: God did not take issue with how Cain & Abel used their remaining resources, it was the offering that he accepted or rejected because it was this offering that revealed the condition of their heart and the condition of their worship.
  • Cain did not have a giving problem…he had a worship problem
  • If you are not giving God your first and your best, you don’t have a giving problem…you have a worship problem, too.

(Gen. 4:4-7) “Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.” – When we are out of line in our worship of God it opens us up to being controlled and overtaken by other sin.

  • Cain was eventually overtaken and controlled by sin; he murdered his brother Abel.
  • Cain’s sin began when he worshiped the creation of God over God, who created all things.
  • Our sin begins with the same improper worship of God.

Practical Take-Home Truths:

  1. Earthly INVESTMENTS will not survive; heavenly investments last FOREVER
  2. An HONEST inventory of how I manage my money will reveal what I value most in life
  3. God deserves my FIRST and my BEST not just SOME and the REST
  4. Giving my first and best involves: WORSHIP, FAITH and OBEDIENCE
  5. My mismanagement of God’s resources is not a GIVING problem; it’s a WORSHIP problem
  6. My giving PROTECTS my heart from being overtaken by sin

 

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Octo-Mom versus Grandma: Who’s Right?

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Here is a portion of the video where Octo-mom, Nadya Suleman, gets into a heated argument with her mom, Angela from an interview on Radaronline.com (Click to View Video).

This is post is not an issues or argument about abortion or the killing and preservation of the embryos from Nadya. I want to focus on the attitude of both ladies.

I am shocked and amazed at Nadya’s attitude and tone towards her mom. For those who do not know all of the story, Nadya, and her previous 6 children were already living with Grandma Angela, and now Nadya has added 8 additional children (octuplets). I agree with Nadya that once she had the embryos implanted, it was too late, they were fertilized and were lives living within her, however, I don’t believe she was right by having the procedure done in the first place. She has no job, she has no home, she has no husband, and she has a ton of debt that she is now, basically asking for a bailout on. The procedure for the delivery of the 8 children cost tax payers well over $1 Million Dollars. Personally, I believe she has brought 8 children into a situation that is unhealthy, to provide a temporary fix for her control issues, and she has altered the lives of many others in between, including that of her mother, Grandma Angela.

With every interview, if it is edited, we only hear what we are given, so it is hard to understand the issue in context, however, I am amazed at Nadya’s attitude towards her mom, who provides for her and her now 14 children without any financial assistance from her daughter on behalf of her children. I do not hear an ounce of thankfulness from the part of Nadya. It really is a big mess. Once again, without getting into the issues of Abortion and preserving the Embryos (because that is not the isse) Join the Conversation and tell us who should be more upset and considered “justified” in their frustrations. Octo-mom, Nadya or Grandma Angela?

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Family Adventures at 4 a.m.

tristan-sunglasses

Usually you wake up from a nightmare. Last night, I woke up and walked right into one.

I heard some scuffling in the hallway at 4 a.m. and that usually means that Tristan is awake and trying to covertly sneak into our bedroom to get into our bed. Last night, I think God woke me up, because He’s cool like that. Most of the time, Tristan wakes up because his covers have fallen off and he is cold. I can simply take him back to his room (usually from our bed), cover him up and he is fine until his covers fall off again. Last night was a different story.

I walked into the hallway and saw Tristan standing there with a puppy dog look on his face as if something was wrong. The hallway light was off, but the bathroom light was on, giving me just enough glimpse of his face. I said, “Hey buddy, what’s wrong?” Immediately, as I walked towards him I was hit with the worst poop smell I had ever smelled, so I knew he was awake because he pooped in his diaper. So, I asked the question I already knew the answer to, “Did you poopy your diaper?” As he replied with a ‘yes‘ nod, I stepped in something wet. I quickly turned on the light to see a trail of liquid poop all over the hallway floor, and I had stepped all in it!

Nicki is probably tougher than I am. She would have probably let me sleep and taken on the poop monster and his mess alone, but I could see that God was using this moment in our lives to help us build team work. It didn’t take me long to jump into the tub to wash off my feet and get Tristan situated on a towel before I called my teammate in life to give me a hand. I would have hated for us to miss out on this team building exercise straight from God himself! We quickly discovered Tristan’s adventure for us started in his bed with what appeared to be a nuclear explosion, leaked all across his carpet, and then downloaded into the hallway floor and trailed behind him as he made his way towards our room. I quickly became thankful that God #1 woke me up before Tristan made it to our room and climbed into our bed and #2 that we have hardwood floors in our hallway. Nicki and I were able to crawl back into bed around 4:45 a.m. this morning after a bath for Tristan, laundry for the sheets, covers, and towels; and a lovely adventure of cleaning up poop laden carpet and flooring. Why do these things happen when its about an hour to an hour and a half before its time to wake up? Why not midnight? When we have several more hours to sleep? I guess I’ll never understand the timing of the early morning family adventures!

Join the Conversation: What’s one of your favorite early morning family adventures?