New Money Mindset Combines Freedom with Loving Others
Money is an uncomfortable topic. I have an acquaintance. I believe she stopped going to c because the pastor asked for money one too many times. I don’t know about you, but I can be tempted by money. I’ve always hated to back up when driving. A year or so ago, my husband bought a car with a rear camera that shows behind you as you back. I have to admit feeling envy over his rear camera. And I can justify it, I’m so bad at backing up. That drive to get the latest iphone or techy device tends to hang over us, me included.
The Lord brings this verse to mind often: “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) My focus needs to be on eternal things, things that last forever. The latest invention will be old in a week and useless in a few years. Things we cannot see will last for3ever. With that in mind, my husband and I have deliberately chosen to live so that we have a surplus to give to the kingdom.
Here’s a testimony from the church at Macedonia: “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will.” (2 Corinthians 8:1) The church there in Macedonia wasn’t rich, but they gave anyway. Awesome!
Brad Hewitt is my guest. He’s co-author of New Money Mindset. He shows how you can choose your attitude toward money and control your money rather than allowing your wants to control you.
I once had a friend who came to Christ from a very secular lifestyle. The cute Bible covers prevalent at the time bothered her, and our lingo confused her. Those of us in the church have an entire vocabulary of Christianese, which can isolate us from unbelievers around us. For example, the word ‘saved’ has a particular meaning to us inside the church. Even the word ‘church’ has a unique definition because it refers to the people, not the building. Another example would be the ‘body of Christ.’ When we say that we are referring to believers as a whole particularly in view of spiritual gifts. A non-believer might think we are speaking of the physical body of Jesus. Even the various names we have for our Savior can be confusing. When I was a child, I assumed “Christ’ was his last name because I heard it combined with “Jesus’ so often.
Living in our Christian bubble feels comfortable, especially with the rapid changes around us. However, if we stay completely isolated, we won’t understand how others think. We won’t be able to share our hope with those who need Christ, and that is a huge part of our mission. In First Corinthians Paul said. “…I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some.”
The Bible teaches we are all sinners, and even the things we consider good is like filthy rags before the Lord. That means that unsaved people might make choices we don’t expect, and respond in ways we can’t understand.
Terri Blackstock is today’s guest. She has just written, If I Run, which is a novel about a complex character who grew up without Christianity. Her goal was to remind us how someone outside our faith might face a difficult situation. Listen and enjoy.
How can we take our role as parents very seriously and prepare our children for the future? We should always make our priorities the same as God’s. Let’s look at the Bible to see what God has to say. He gave us two mandates. The first was the creation mandate when he established marriage. Genesis one says, “And God blessed them [man and woman], And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'” That verse has two commands. The first is to have children and the second is to exercise authority over creation. God wanted a world filled with people, just as we have today. Plus he wanted people to learn the laws of nature and utilize the world’s resources for our good. In a time when many choose not to have offspring, that’s good to know.
The second mandate is to the church in Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The command is to make disciples, a process of teaching a biblical mindset. In both the Old and New Testaments, God said he wanted a people of his own. Look at 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
How exciting to be chosen by God, to be a royal priesthood, to be part of a holy nation. Our role as Christian parents is to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus, to share the sweetness of his love.
Let’s talk about how we can fulfill that that second mandate with our children: making them disciples of Jesus.
Today I have Jeremy Lee. He’s founder of Parent Ministry and also the co-author of Pass It On, who teaches building a legacy of faith in your children.
Women today are very busy. We all carry cell phones and have access to Facebook, Twitter, texting, Instagram and Pinterest and other social media. in addition to all our family responsibilities, we pack our calendar with activities to benefit out children and use our microwaves to prepare quick meals. Most of us don’t set aside much time to rest, even though we like the thought. I find it interesting that God talked about rest in the early chapters of Genesis, and it’s a huge theme in Scripture.
I believe God knew how crazy our lives would become. He talked about rest in the early chapters of Genesis. It’s a huge theme in Scripture. Consider Genesis 2:2. “And on the seventh day God finished his work, and he rested on the seventh day.” Take a moment and think about that. God doesn’t need anything, yet he rested once he completed the creation. I don’t think he rested because he was weary. God doesn’t get tired. Instead, he wanted to show us a pattern, a balance of work and rest. I really need that.
This was a typical day for me when my children were young: a crying child woke me in the morning, and I hurried out of bed to get breakfast while his sibling hung onto my housecoat whining. Another maddening day. I stopped a squabble while trying to pay bills and then hurried off to an appointment while watching kids poke each other in the back seat. Ballet, Bible study, runny noses, a hasty lunch, a child who won’t stop crying from a minor injury. Fifteen text messages and three phone calls. The postman needed my signature. All day I ran nonstop and then fell into bed and stared at the ceiling, wishing for sleep. I’d think about resting and laugh.
Does that sound like you?
Yet Hebrews 4: 9-10 says, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” What does God mean by Sabbath rest?
Today I have Gwyn McCaslin as my guest. She’s going to give us her thoughts on rest.
Gwyn is a counselor in Sugar Creek, Ohio. Learn more about her here.
I could win an award for worry. Years ago, when I attended nursing school, we studied various diseases while learning how to care for each type patient. As I read over the symptoms, I would swallow hard and remember having all those things happen to me. I’d decide I had that particular disease. After worrying over every malady we studied, I saw the pattern and tried to stop.
But I didn’t stop worrying, especially during those early years of marriage. If my husband was a little late coming home from work, I would imagine him in a smashed up car on the side of the road. He’d be dead every time. And then I’d envision the police coming to my door. At times when he was very late, I would think about what I might wear to his funeral. By that time, my emotions would be so intense, that I’d lose it when he walked in the door. The worry turned to fury, and I wouldn’t want to talk to him.
It took me a long time to understand how my thoughts produced anxiety, but I finally learned to pray about my fears and think about good things. It’s still hard, even today. Like a dog licks his wounds, I want to focus on the part of life that’s not right.
Philippians 4:6 says, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Further along in the chapter, it says, “…whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
I believe God put those verses there just for me. As I grow older, I’m learning more and more ways to handle stress the right way.
Today I have Debra Coty with me. She’s a delightfully funny lady who has written a book called Too Blessed to be Stressed. She’s going to share her heart with us so we can even chuckle a little as we let go of anxiety.
She has a cookbook, Too Blessed to be Stressed Cookbook. This month her readers are competing in a contest to lose weight. You can learn more about Debora here.
Surely everyone would want to be released from bondage. Right? You can be a bondage breaker.
There’s an interesting story told in the OT about that.
Theologians dubbed Jeremiah the weeping prophet. He had to deliver bad news and was often despondent. The spiritual failures of his nation tormented him because God had revealed his plan. Bondage. Jeremiah didn’t want his job, but the heartrending message burned inside him. He worked hard delivering God’s decrees, even employing creative imagery. His fellow citizens, however, preferred the soothing messages of the false prophets. Despite Jeremiah’s concern, his people plotted against him and threw him into prison. What a burden he carried.
Jeremiah had prophesied an upcoming invasion. And As he predicted, in 605 B.C. the Babylonians attacked and carried away the first captives. Daniel another prophet in the Old Testament was in that group. King Nebuchadnezzar deposed the King Jehoiachin who reigned in Jerusalem and placed Zedekiah, a man Nebuchadnezzar thought he could control.
Now, I don’t know about you, but after that incident, I like to think I would have listened to Jeremiah. He was correct. But most of the people continued living exactly the same way. Ignoring the alarm. After that event, Jeremiah predicted the fall of Jerusalem
I find it so interesting that King Zedekiah called Jeremiah to the palace and asked him what to do. Jeremiah told the king he would live if he gave himself up to the King of Babylon. The king refused and suffered the fated Jeremiah predicted.
I can relate to this story. I want our nation to turn back to God and avoid the judgment that will come. I want to be a bondage breaker.
Singer and song writer, Dennis Jernigan is my guest today. He’s written a book and completed a video series called, Stand in Love. It’s for churches and others who want to break their bondage.
