My Balanced-Part 6

I am over a week late in this blogs update.  For those of you that frequent it-especially that bot that said she loves my blog.  I am so sorry.  Without further ado, here is "My thoughts" on Balanced-Part 6.  

Scripture:

• Malichi 3;7
• Matthew 6;24, 28-33
• Mark 12;43

Music Selections:

• Unknown
• Blessed be your name-Tree 63
• Be my everything-unknown

*All songs led by Kristin Stanfill

Andy began the final part of "Balanced" by telling us all that the main question he got from the entire series was "what did Sandra where to the Obama prayer service.  He told us it was a $300 suit from Dillard's.

He then brought out a list of the "5 things we(Humans) do with our money.

1. Spend it-which was for-ME
2. Repay Debt-Again-ME
3. Pay Taxes-AMERICA
4. Save-Again-ME
5. Give-God/Others

He says

"the way we prioritize our money represents an open or closed door to God.  This is the "Closed door"

the open to come soon.  Even though we put God last in this scenario we still ask for help when things go wrong.  

Andy says that more times then not the moment we surrender our money to God, we will in fact have more money.  Now I am not sure if I believe this exactly, or what it even means exactly, but I figured I would give it a shot.  So far so good.  I'll let you know in a month or so if this continues to be the case.  The Idea of giving is not about having our money.  It is about having our hearts.  When God has our heart ahead of our money-he helps us .

Therefore, Andy says, Flip the list:

1. Give
2. Save- and these-
3. taxes
4. debt-go down, thus giving us more to 
5. Spend.

Interesting thought.  Makes sense.  Why not try it.  try to get God involved in our financial lives we  should "Give" "Save" "live" and do this all in a percentage. God is not impressed with $$$.

My small group discussed that it is better to give a % as opposed to an amount because that we were are able to see our giving go up, instead of staying the same.  

Andy closed by saying

"if we seek God first in the area of our finances-then everything else in life will fall into place."

 It should be interesting over the next few months to see if this ends up being the case.  I hope so.

My Balanced-Part 5

*Note* If you can help me by filling any of the "unknown" song titles, please leave the song, and artist in a comment, and I will update. Thanks. Also a new addition to the weekly blog will be the scripture the sermon references.-MD

Scripture:

• 1 Timothy 6; 6-9

Music Selections:

• Unknown


• Glory to God-By Steve Fee


• It is Well with my Soul(thanks Charity)

*All songs lead by Todd Fields

You gotta be knowin' where your money is goin'"-Andy
Stanley

Part 5 of Balanced discusses SPENDING. We all do it. most of the time on stuff we don't need. My akilies heel....Cherry Coke. I don't NEED it, yet I insist on always having one.

Andy says

"The one thing that gives us the most trouble with our
spending-is
our discontentment-or DISSATISFACTION with what We DONT have, and that our
AWARENESS that we don't have this fuels the
discontentment.

A perfect example in my life is a personal relationship with Jesus. When I didn't know it was ATTAINABLE, I didn't strive for it. Now that I DO, I am striving for it, and the fact that I don't have it kills me. This of course is a GOOD example. Andy used the example of the boring ole TV, with the huge thing sticking out of the back. Everyone was perfectly content with those until the flat screens came along. Same with Laptops, Cars, Etc. He said back in the day-they only REPLACED stuff, like when it broke. Nowadays we UPGRADE. We have a perfectly good working one, but we insist on having the cooler more RECENT version. Some people I know do this with their IPhones ::::Clears throat:::: Andy told a very funny story about his father-in-law and a chainsaw!!

Andy said

"we have an appetite for stuff, money, houses, cars, etc. and while
the appetite may be filled for a while-like food, you get hungry again, and your
upgrade, is just filling your appetite" and the only way to shrink it, is to
fast or deprive it. Which is hard, because culture tells us to "feed" it
or always upgrade".

Andy then reads from the scripture. The scripture states that we must flee from discontentment, not be more careful. Andy compared it to getting into a cage with a Lion. "you don't do it and be careful, you avoid it all together"

He also says

that becoming less aware of somethings(the new flat screen TV
everyone has)
it opens you up to become more aware of something
else(understanding the scripture)

Andy then told a great story about his wife and the prayer ceremony for Obama, about how they told him to dress according to his tradition, and everyone laughed, because they knew this meant Blue jeans. He then goes to tell about how his wife had such a tough time finding something to wear and when she finally did find something, and thought about what she could do with the money instead of spending it on the dress, that she could give it to those less fortunate.

Andy finished this weeks sermon by asking us to think of these questions:

1. What fuels your discontentment?



2. What can you do to become less aware?



3. What can you do this week to become more aware of what others don't have?

*Great Gain=Godliness + contentment*