SPIRITUALITY AND FAITH
Credit is what keeps you from knowing how far past broke you are. Faithfulness in finance is so vital Jesus says in Luke 16:11-12 "If you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? If you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's (i.e. 'Lord's Tithe') who will give you that which is your own?" We need men honest and helpful in finances!
4. Faithful to the Faith! I heard about a fill-in preacher in a small town in Texas who came early on Sundays to preach and leave after the PM Service. Arriving early one Sunday he sat at a donut shop, and began to go over his sermon notes. A man sitting further down asked, "You a preacher or something?" "YES said the fill-in preacher, I preach at the Baptist Church in town." The man got excited and said, "I'm a member of that church." Since the Church was small and the preacher knew the regulars, he replied, "I've been preaching there for 3 months, and I've never seen you." To which the man replied "I said I was a member, but I never said that I was fanatical about it!"
a. We need men who are fanatical about God's Church who LOVE God, attend regularly, give/pray faithfully and serve the Church with their talents to lighten the load of Pastors. There are two important days in any man's life! One is the day WHEN you were born. The 2nd is the day you figure out WHY you were born! We must use our talents and get "Unfinished Business" of the Church done, pray people thru to victory and plead the blood and armor of God over lives under our care! Jesus said in John 4:34 "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work!"
b. We need men who read the Bible, take God at His Word and Live their convictions! I see a generation
God built the wife to be a "Responder, and when she is loved in the same way Christ loves the church,, she will be secure, satisfied and happy. Eph. 5:25 tells husbands "LOVE your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her." Proverbs further calls us to be....
2. Faithful to our Children! Prov. 20:7 says, "A righteous man who walks in integrity-How blessed are his sons after him". Solomon shows that blessings on the next generation come from Men investing wisdom in their kids! The heart of every little boy, lies within a father's hands. The self worth of every little girl lies within her dad's approval, for 90% of a woman's self worth comes from that of a significant man. Yet, in this busy, depressed economic world, a NBC poll reveals "the average Dad spends 38 seconds a day talking to his child. The same study estimates that "by the time a child is 6 yrs old, he or she will have spent more time watching TV than they will spend talking with their fathers during their entire lives!" Determine not to be an avg. Dad or to raise an average. Child! Commit to becoming a righteous man, committed to God's "Wisdom for Living" to make a positive mentoring impact on your children's eternal legacy! Further, Proverbs challenges us to being...
3. Faithful to our Finances! Solomon says of our finances in Prov. 4:9-10, "Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow..." This advice is BIG, since research says "most households tend to spend 10 % more than their income, no matter what income level.