February 8, 2009
Sermon #770
The Financial Crisis
Introduction: Last Sunday a member of the Cathedral of His Glory asked those who have been impacted by financial recession to stand. Nearly ⅓ of the congregation stood. I didn’t! Pastor, hasn’t the recession touched you? No! Oh, my retirement funds have decreased but you see I have never invested what I couldn’t live without, but since it has impacted so many people I want to minister to you about it. Two things a pastor gets in trouble with if he speaks about them from the pulpit – money and sex – yet both are dominant in life. Did you know that Jesus taught more about money than He did about salvation? So, I am asking for your forgiveness before I minister to about the “Financial Crisis”.
What caused it?
It was not Wall Street greed. (Money people have always been greedy even in good economic times.
It was not politicians. We have always had stupid people in Washington!
It was Fear!
Matthew 25:14 - 29 (NKJV) 14“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’
21His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 24“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ 26“But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
ILL: Why did the man who had one Roman talent of money loose? “I was afraid”
What caused the “Great Depression?” Fear! There was a “run on the banks” and people ran to take their money. The stock market is down now because people heard of a tightening of credit, got on their computers, called their brokers, and “cashed out!” They stopped buying. They stopped spending. Good’s stopped being sold. Businesses stopped making profit. Manufacturing stopped manufacturing! Panic = Fear!
Fear is a spirit!
2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) 7For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
When people are infected by the spirit of fear they do not have a sound mind – they allow fear to control.
Money with a capital “M”
Luke 16:1 - 13 (NKJV) 1He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3“Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’ 5“So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
7Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. 9“And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? 13“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Money can be your servant – that is money with a small “m”
Mammon – money with a large “M” will become your god – it will become the god of this world!
Revelation 13:16 (NKJV) 16He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
ILL: The Antichrist will come to power and bring peace. But after 3 ½ years (read the book of Daniel) he will take over the worlds economic system.
ILL: Right now – the U.S. congress is planning to pump a trillion dollars into the American economy. Where will it come from? The U.S. dollar is the “hard currency of the world” that is, it is the only currency which can be used world wide. You cannot walk into a store in America and give them any other currency. But you cannot walk into a store in the U.S. and use another “soft currency.” One dollar is actually worth about 27 cents now but printing more or borrowing more devalues it!
The borrower is always under the control of the lender!
Proverbs 22:7 (NKJV) 7The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.
Isaiah 24:2 - 3 (NKJV) 2And it shall be: As with the people, so with the priest; As with the servant, so with his master; As with the maid, so with her mistress; As with the buyer, so with the seller; As with the lender, so with the borrower; As with the creditor, so with the debtor. 3The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, For the Lord has spoken this word.
Recession will always prove who the master is!
Did you pick your career based on how much it paid?
Must you buy things because they are on sale?
Are you motivated by a free trip or free sample?
Do you eat more, or more expensive if someone else is paying the bill?
Do you buy things you don’t need because they are on sale?
Do you react to requests for money with indignation and anger?
Do you deduct personal items as business expenses?
Does your concern over money keep you from hearing God’s Word?
Matthew 13:18 - 22 (NKJV) 18“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
ILL: The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. See there are some here and some who are watching by TV, that will turned me off and will not hear the word – why deceitfulness.
It’s like a fish lure – it looks attractive until you get it into your mouth!
What can overcome individual, family and national financial crisis – FAITH!
Matthew 6:24 - 34 (NKJV) 24“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Faith is not like putting your head in the sand and not believing there is a financial crisis.
Faith is trusting in God for your future.
My permanent assets are in God’s hands!
Matthew 6:19 - 21 (NKJV) 19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
My permanent housing
1 Peter 1:3 - 5 (NKJV) 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
ILL: Praise the Lord – the stock market cannot touch that!
What you give away is what you keep.
Proverbs 11:24 (NKJV) 24There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.
Luke 6:38 (NKJV) 38Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
ILL: The Question is “Do you believe Jesus, and trust Him!”
Conclusion: Yes we are in hard financial times, but I have been through them before!
America survived the “Great Depression” “WWII Rationing” “7/11” and other financial falls. I believe God through Jesus will take us through this!
