imagine what we as the children of God could do for His kingdom, if we were debt free

GUEST BLOG: Tripp Battle (Pastoral Intern)

The focus of this past Sunday's message is that "the borrower is slave to the lender." This can be found in Proverbs 22:7.

Here are some alarming statistics I came across about the American cultures issues with debt...

• If you go to cardweb.com, you will see that the Avg. American family with at least one credit card is $9,200 in debt
• The avg. cardholder has 2.7 bank credit cards, 3.8 retail credit cards, and 1.1 debit cards. That’s 7.6 cards per cardholder!!!
• 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year.
• In the past 10 years, bankruptcies have gone up by 100%.
• In 1929, 2% of American homes had a mortgage, In 1962, 98% of American homes had a mortgage.

The point is… We have a problem!!!!!!!!!!! The good news is… there is some pretty cool principles in the Bible that can help lead us out of this debt that we have gotten ourselves in.

I would encourage you to read 2 Kings 4:1-7.
This is the story of a widow whose husband left her with some serious financial debt. It was so bad that the creditors were going to take her sons into slavery as payment. She approached the prophet Elisha and told him that she literally had nothing except a little oil. He then told her to collect as many jars as she could from her neighbors. When she had done this she waas to pour the little oil that she did have into all of these jars. She ended up filling up all of the jars and had enough money to pay off her debts plus some to live off of in addition to that.

You and I might look at this situation and say that it was crazy that the prophet told her to go out and collect all of these jars from her neighbors. After all... she had NOTHING!!! Plus... thnk of how this must have hurt this woman's pride to have to ask her neighbors for these empty jars.
The worse off you are financially, the crazier the things you might have to do to get out of this "Money Pit" we call debt. Cut your cable; get rid of your WiFi; stop eating out at places you can’t afford; start cutting out coupons and shop for bargains; forget that vacation you’ve been saving up for and pay off your credit cards; etc, etc, etc… Even if you don't totally get rid of something like your cable... you can at least down size in the amount of channels you have. It's OK not to have 5,000,000 channels-4,999,980 0f which you'll never even watch!!! After all, do you really need ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Alternate, ESPN Plus, ESPN U, etc... ???

So... with all of this in mind... Is there such a thing as a good debt??? YES!!!

Romans 13:8 says not to let any debt remain outstanding, but to be in debt to one another in love. So we are not to let any debt remain outstanding, but we are to have a continuing debt to love one another. I believe that outstanding financial debt that you and I have can sometimes keep our focus off of the debt that we are supposed to have… and that is the debt to love one another!!! So if you remember any of this blog... remember this!!!
THE ONLY DEBT THAT’S PLEASING TO GOD IS THE DEBT TO LOVE OTHERS!!!

passing the plate

This past Sunday we passed the plate for the first time in the history of mosaic church crestview.

However, we gave out money instead of taking it in. The challenge was to use this money for an act of kindness towards someone who needed it outside the church.

I have heard a couple cool stories of how they used their money.

Please comment with how you used yours.

lives of luxury

We look at the wealthiest and see the things they have, the places they go, and the way they do things. We see how much money is blown on extra homes, really nice cars, traveling the world, and being extravagant. We see what their money could do for the rest of the world.

1% of people in the world contain %90 of the world's wealth and if they gave up 90% of their income they would still live above the average income in the U.S. and there would not be a person in need.

Not all of us are rich, but still many of us pattern our lives in the same way. I am going to spend my abundance on me.

If you are not a follower of God or another religion that promotes charity, then there is not a reason to question your spending.

However, there are many "followers" of Christ who make selfish decisions with their money every day:

a nicer car instead of feeding 50 orphans in india for a year - $20,000
a small remodeling project instead of building a well for a village in africa - $3,000
an extra home instead of financing a new church start - $150,000 - $200,000
a lavish vacation instead of paying for several to do foreign missions - $12,000

I could go on and on and I have personally made some of these same decisions.

For a long time, I have avoided calling people out on spending and I don't plan to tell you where you should spend your money. But you have to realize that you are choosing to spend it on self instead of others when you get anything that you do not need!

We would tell a person that is getting hammered every friday night and then faithfully worshiping on Sunday to stop being a hypocrite. So what about the person who spends, spends, spends and then gives to God on Sunday?

I am not sure where the line is, but I know that as a church we crossed it a while back.

it's not about you

This is one of the most popular phrases in contemporary christian culture. "It's not about you" is the opening line in Rick Warren's best selling book, The Purpose Driven Life.

Since Warren wrote this book, it has been the desire of many Christians to get non-believers to come to the personal realization that "it's not about you." So you should stop living for yourself and join other believers in worship of the one true God!

Then, this person decides to check out a local church (maybe even an accepting, cutting edge, "seeker sensitive" church) and decides to stick around for a while. They give their life to Christ, they show others their new found faith, they start to get involved and grow closer to some of those who invited them for many years.

Then as they get to know these people they come to a new realization that is shocking, confusing, challenging, hypocritical, etc, etc! For those believers faith and church actually is all about you!

Now, instead of being part of mainstream society and involved with people they naturally click with more; They put aside their living for self and now attend a church with people (they don't even like that much) who are completely living for self.

Worship is all about the songs that they like. They sermon is all about whether or not it was deep enough (whatever that means). Giving is all about making sure their money is used the way they think it should be. Serving is all about the their personal agenda. Church is all about themselves!

I wonder why many people leave the church within their first year of conversion. Let's just keep blaming it on their salvation not being real - that way we don't have to change anything about ourselves.

I realize that their are some great people of the faith that love Jesus with all their heart. I serve at mosaic church of crestview alongside some incredible examples of this.

the naked principle

Job had it all. He had prosperity, stature, and family.

Then in one day it was all taken from him.

Imagine that. You are doing life as normal and then everything on this earth that means a lot to you is gone. You say that God is your all, but yet how do you feel without the ability to have great things, without the respect of people, and without your loved ones?

Job said that he came into this world naked, and that he is leaving this world naked; so may the name of the Lord be praised!

Job realized that God is the one in control, God is His everything, and that He would continue to live for Him. Job's faith and relationship with God was not contingent upon "blessings" of this world, but hope for the next!

Where is your satisfaction found?

dude......i really, really love Jesus!

that's all i need to say today!

five needs

Since we are a church plant which has only been "launched" for 5 months, I get asked what the great concerns/needs that we have are often. Here are the top five...............

1. Musicians
2. Teachers and workers for our children's ministry/nursery
3. Improving upon our strategy of moving first time guests to committed members
4. Finances
5. Bettering our focus on first time guest

These are things that our church does not "have together". But Paul said, God's power is made perfect in our weaknesses. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.

our theme is God

Reading that statement probably makes you want to say the same thing a sixth grader recently said to me when I said that I was starting to feel the fall air.............duh!

But it is surprising how easy it is for the focus to be taken off of God and put onto people, programs, preferences, problems, and plenty more.

things are stirring at mosaic church, as leaders we must continually direct the attention to the one who is doing the stirring. This has been the recurring conversation that my wife, our worship leader, and I have been having.

God; when people are looking at us as leaders or as a church, make us invisible so that they can see all that YOU are doing! -Eric Melvin

a root of all kinds of evil

We have fallen into a trap. As we pressed on towards the American dream we slowly walked into a giant and seemingly impossible pit. We cannot continue to move forward because it is to steep to climb out, but we have to go back and go around this trap! We have to fix the problem, which is the fact that we got ourselves into this because of our blind ambition. and the church...............................................oh the church.

where God's children should be the example of sacrifice we lead the way in selfishness!

We have to begin to rethink the way we spend. We have to provide needs for our children instead of wants. We have to love our spouses instead of lavishing them with gifts. We have to stop ignoring the broken, poor, helpless and meet needs! We have to invest time in our spiritual growth instead of spending all of our time working to have a second car payment and a bigger home.

Money is not bad. The love of money is. Are you managing your money or is your money managing you?

his gain, our gain

Beginning this Sunday, my good friend is going to be serving at our church.

Tripp has felt a burden on his life to plant baytown chuch, a church that is focused on reaching unchurched young families. He believes that this church's birth is almost two years away. Because of this call on his life he has left a secure position as the student minister at an established church.
He has not sought after another position that is extremely secure and that pays the bills. He has prayed and followed God to use his time doing what will best prepare him for the call on his life, and allow him to be used to build God's kingdom during that preparation phase. AT THE FOUNDATION OF BAYTOWN CHURCH IS A DECISION BY IT'S LEADERS (tripp and his wife joy) TO SACRIFICE SO THAT THEY CAN BE AS BEST PREPARED AS POSSIBLE TO REACH AND STRENGTHEN PEOPLE. Their dependence on God and their denying of themselves to follow God is an example to all. It is easy to head in a direction that makes sense, in a way that all the details are planned out. It takes faith to go down a path that you have seen God lead you down but not know exactly how you are going to get to your final destination.

When we feel a calling on our life that is not immediate, we should begin to head in that direction and serve God faithfully on the road to His timing. We should not just serve where we are comfortable and where the t's are crossed and the i's dotted but we should devote our entire life to that promise that God has planned for us. When we arrive at the point that we are looking forward to, we realize that the call did in fact begin two years ago and we can look back and see how God has strengthened and used us in many ways, just because we were following Him!

do i have to go to church?

People say that it is not a sin to "go to church." They are right. If you live your life under the law then it doesn't really matter if you "go to church".

Paul said in Galatians 2:21 that if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ died in vain. Christ died so that we could be freed from the law and live in the grace of God. So now God desires that we follow his heart (or righteousness). Jesus lived a life without sin because he followed the heart of God and continually sought God's will in his life.

According to Hebrews 10:24-25 - It is God's desire that believers meet together as did the church in acts. So if you are a follower of Christ then assembling with other believers is a fruit of your life.

We don't HAVE to "go to church" but God wants us to so that we can stir up love and good works.

So you choose to live under the law or to live according to the heart of God!

This applies to many other issues as well.

the last two sunday nights....

have been absolutely incredible.

On the 24th we met together to read Acts 2 and evaluate as a group how we were doing in trying to follow the pattern that the church at antioch set for our church that meets at antioch elementary. After we reflected on what God had done, focused on what we need to work on, and prayed together; we took communion and there was such a sincerity of gladness of heart with which we broke bread together. This increased my desire for people in our community to experience the fellowship that we have with each other and the incredible fellowship that we have with God because of Jesus sacrifice for us.

This past Sunday night we met as a group again to celebrate two lives that have been transformed. It was a incredible time of worship as Travis and Aly were baptized. Travis is an 11 year old who has no doubt about his relationship with Jesus who he called "the one true way". Aly is an amazing young woman who God brought into our fellowship a couple of months ago and has been drawn to his amazing love!

Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of these past two Sunday nights and for allowing me to be a part of such an amazing body of believers! Let's keep calling to Him to do things beyond our imagination - Jeremiah 33:3.