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00:35 Welcome, friends, to Sabbath School Study Hour.
00:38 And we're glad that you've tuned in today 00:39 to join us as we study God's Word. 00:42 We know that people from 00:43 all four corners of the earth are part of this class. 00:47 And we get our messages that come into 00:49 our Granite Bay Church website, 00:51 some to my personal Facebook site, 00:53 and we love to hear your responses 00:55 that you're participating in the Sabbath School Study. 00:58 And today we're going to be continuing in our study dealing 01:02 with the subject of stewardship. 01:04 And Pastor Ross today is going to be especially teaching 01:07 lesson number 11, and this is very important, 01:10 it's Debt: A Daily Decision. 01:13 And it may be some of you will have questions 01:16 regarding this very important subject 01:17 and if you send them to our Facebook site 01:20 or email them to the church here, 01:22 they'll be some that we'll try to gather those 01:24 and we'll see if we can incorporate 01:26 some of your questions into today's study. 01:29 But before we get into our study for today, 01:30 we like to invite our singers out, 01:32 we're going to be singing, 01:33 and I'll tell you more about the offer in just a little bit. 01:37 We are so excited to be singing with you like we do every week. 01:41 And we want you to join with us, 01:43 those of you here and those of you at home 01:45 as we sing a medley and some of our favorite songs. 02:01 All hail King Jesus 02:06 All hail Emmanuel 02:11 King of kings 02:13 Lord of lords 02:15 Bright Morning Star 02:19 And throughout eternity 02:24 I'll sing Your praises 02:28 And I'll reign with You 02:31 Throughout eternity 02:38 Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee 02:43 God of glory, Lord of love 02:47 Hearts unfold like flow'rs before Thee 02:51 Op'ning to the sun above 02:56 Melt the clouds of sin and sadness 03:00 Drive the dark of doubt away 03:04 Giver of immortal gladness 03:09 Fill us with the light of day 03:14 All Thy works with joy surround Thee 03:18 Earth and heav'n reflect Thy rays 03:22 Stars and angels sing around Thee 03:27 Center of unbroken praise 03:31 Field and forest, vale and mountain 03:36 Flow'ry meadow, flashing sea 03:40 Chanting bird and flowing fountain 03:44 Call us to rejoice in Thee 03:50 Majesty 03:53 Worship His majesty 03:58 Unto Jesus be all glory 04:02 Honor and praise 04:08 Majesty Kingdom authority 04:16 Flow from His throne 04:18 Unto His own His anthem raise 04:24 So exalt, lift up on high 04:29 The name of Jesus 04:34 Magnify, come glorify 04:38 Christ Jesus the King 04:44 Majesty 04:47 Worship His majesty 04:52 Jesus who died, now glorified 04:56 King of all kings 05:01 Jesus who died, now glorified 05:05 King of all kings 05:09 All hail King Jesus 05:14 All hail Emmanuel 05:19 King of kings 05:22 Lord of lords 05:24 Bright Morning Star 05:28 And throughout eternity 05:33 I'll sing Your praises 05:38 And I'll reign with You 05:41 Throughout eternity 05:47 And I'll reign with You 05:51 throughout eternity 06:05 Thank you so much for singing with us. 06:07 And I hope you were blessed and at this time Pastor Doug 06:11 is going to have our opening prayer. 06:13 Thank you to our singers. 06:15 And, again, I want to welcome any who may have just joined us 06:17 in the route, we're so glad that you are a part of 06:20 our Sabbath School Study Hour. 06:22 And we know that we have some of you 06:23 who are actually online members 06:25 from different parts of the world, 06:26 and we're glad that you're joining us today. 06:28 Now we have a free offer 06:29 and we hope you make the most of this. 06:31 Free offer, this is actually a book 06:33 that you could say I wrote with Pastor Joe Crews 06:36 because it is a combination of two of our messages 06:40 dealing with the subject of the flesh and the spirit. 06:43 It's a battle that I suspect everybody here 06:45 has known something about, 06:47 and you will be blessed by this. 06:49 And so, if you like a free copy of the book, 06:51 The Flesh and the Spirit, call the number 866-788-3966. 06:58 That's same as 866-Study-More, ask for offer number 792. 07:03 Call, we'll send you a copy, read it, 07:05 and share with your friends. 07:06 Before we begin our study, let's have a word of prayer. 07:10 Loving Lord, we just really pray 07:12 that the Holy Spirit will be present now. 07:14 We're going to be talking about a very practical subject 07:17 that we all deal with from day to day 07:19 many parables address the subject of debt, 07:22 help us know how to apply this to our lives 07:25 and that we might be faithful stewards. 07:27 Bless our teacher now, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. 07:33 Pastor Ross is going to be bringing us our lesson today. 07:40 Good morning, everyone. 07:42 Pastor Doug and I decided to exchange roles this morning. 07:46 He did the introduction and I'm teaching 07:48 or at least leading out in the lesson. 07:50 And, again, we want to remind those 07:51 who are joining us on Facebook, 07:53 we're going to try and take a few moments 07:54 near the end of our study this morning 07:57 to answer some of your questions 07:58 relating to the subject of debt. 08:00 I'm actually going to invite Pastor Doug 08:01 to come join me a little later 08:03 and we're going to try and look at 08:04 as many questions as we can on this important subject. 08:09 Now for those of you who don't have a copy of our lesson 08:11 quarterly dealing with stewardship, 08:14 I've been told that the lesson is available for free 08:17 to download at the following websites. 08:21 So those who are viewing online, 08:23 you can download it right now just study.aftv.org 08:29 Again, that's the website 08:30 if you want to download today's lesson. 08:32 And the title of our lesson number 11 08:34 is what we're looking at 08:36 is Debt: A Daily Decision. 08:40 Important subject that we're be looking at. 08:42 We have a memory text, 08:44 comes to us from Romans 13:7 and 8, 08:48 I'm going to read this right out of our lesson quarterly 08:51 that says, "Give to everyone what you owe them. 08:55 If you owe taxes, what must you do, 08:58 pay the taxes." 08:59 "If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. 09:03 If honor, then honor." 09:06 Now here is the point I want us to take note of, 09:08 "Let no debt remain outstanding, 09:11 except continuing debt of love for one another, 09:15 for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law." 09:20 Now that last phrase 09:21 whoever loves others has fulfilled the law, 09:23 the Ten Commandments as you know are divided up 09:26 into two parts. 09:27 It's Ten Commandments, 09:28 but divided up roughly into two sections. 09:30 We have the first four of the Ten Commandments 09:32 that have to do with our relationship with God. 09:35 It defines for us what it is to love God. 09:38 The last six of the Ten Commandments 09:39 define for us 09:40 what it is to love our own neighbor as ourself. 09:44 And one of those commandments tells us 09:45 that we should not steal, meaning, 09:47 take something that does not belong to us. 09:50 There is another commandment in particular that deals with debt 09:55 and it's the Ten Commandment that talks about covetousness, 09:57 but we'll get to that a little later in our study today. 10:01 So this week we're going to be looking at 10:03 what the Bible has to say about debt. 10:05 I remember growing up, 10:07 often the families would get together, 10:09 my dad siblings and they would be talking, 10:11 and visiting, and we would be having a wonderful time, 10:13 but then someone would say, "I have to go to work." 10:16 And I remember little rhyme that often would be said 10:19 when it was time to go to work, 10:21 and it goes something like this, 10:22 "I owe, I owe, I owe so off to work I go." 10:26 Looks like you folks have heard that before. 10:29 You know, when you think about that, 10:30 that's probably true in a lot of situations, 10:32 in a lot of families here in America 10:35 and around the world 10:36 especially more developed countries where it seems, 10:39 we go to work to really pay off the credit card or at least try 10:43 and pay the interest on the credit card, right? 10:46 And so debt is a serious issue 10:48 that as Christians we need to talk about. 10:51 In our lesson we have the opening paragraph, it says, 10:53 "Sometimes you can be lucky enough to have someone 10:55 who is willing to lend you money. 10:57 Maybe that person does so with a pure motive 11:00 that is he or she 11:01 actually wants to help you out of a financial jam." 11:04 But in most cases people don't lend you money 11:09 out of the goodness of their heart, 11:11 they lend you money 11:13 because they want to earn 11:14 more of your money in return, isn't that correct? 11:18 Yes. 11:19 What's the word that we use 11:20 when it talks about people wanting to earn our money 11:24 by giving us money first? 11:26 We call that interest, right? 11:28 Seems like our society revolves around interest. 11:30 Well, here are some interesting facts about interest. 11:35 For example, if you were to take out a mortgage, 11:37 and we understand that there are situations 11:39 where we do need to take out a loan, 11:42 one in particular is buying a house. 11:44 There are probably some good reasons 11:46 to purchase a house instead of just keep renting a house. 11:50 But there is not too many people 11:51 that can come up with cash to buy a house. 11:54 But if you would look at the interest, 11:56 if you were to take out a mortgage for $200,000. 12:01 I pick that number because here in California 12:03 $200,000 for mortgage is, 12:05 well, I don't think you can buy a house in California. 12:07 At least not in this area for $200,000, isn't that correct? 12:11 In some areas it's even more, but so I pick $200,000 12:14 because it's easy to do the math. 12:15 And I said, you shopped around 12:17 and you were able to get a 30-year mortgage 12:19 at just a fantastic interest rate of 3.5%. 12:25 Can you still get mortgages at 3.5%? 12:28 I think it's beginning to go up now. 12:29 Anyway let's say you're able to lock in an interest at 3.5, 12:32 it's a 30-year loan on $200,000, 12:37 you'll end up paying an interest, 12:39 this is just the interest, 12:41 $123,312 12:45 that is 61% of the original amount 12:48 that you're asking for, 12:50 you have to add on to the top to pay the interest. 12:53 So on a $200,000 mortgage 12:56 you end up paying $323,312. 13:02 That's why people are so keen to give you a loan 13:05 'cause there is a lot of money involved. 13:07 Now typically here in North America 13:10 an average mortgage is 30 years, 13:13 and you want to try and do the best 13:14 you can to get the shortest term 13:17 for you mortgage 13:18 'cause you end up paying less interest, 13:20 although typically the monthly payments 13:21 then end up in higher. 13:23 But did you know that in the United States it is legal 13:26 for a bank to give you a 50-year mortgage? 13:30 That's a long mortgage, you don't want that. 13:33 However, if you're living in Japan, 13:36 things are so expensive over there 13:37 that in 2002 a law was passed 13:40 allowing a 100-year mortgage in Japan. 13:44 You could take out a loan for a 100 years on a house. 13:48 And in 2006 the United Kingdom adopted the same thing. 13:52 You could take out a 100-year mortgage. 13:54 In other words, 13:55 if your great grandfather at the end of World War I 13:59 in 1918 took out a 100-year mortgage on a house, 14:03 the good news is that you would be paying it off this year. 14:06 It will probably pass on from one generation to another, 14:08 but that's incredible a 100-year mortgage 14:11 and you can get it. 14:12 Now, of course, individuals are not the only ones 14:16 that end up taking out loans and getting into debt. 14:20 All right, countries have a reputation 14:22 of getting into debt. 14:23 And you probably heard a lot of discussion 14:25 recently about the US debt. 14:28 Currently it stands at $20.5 trillion, 14:34 that's a lot of money, 14:35 but it's kind of hard for us to wrap our minds 14:37 around $20.5 trillion. 14:39 If you took the US national debt 14:41 and you divided it up amongst 14:43 every person in the United States 14:45 that is husband, wife, man, woman, child, 14:48 everybody it divided all up 14:50 each person would be responsible, 14:52 if you want to pay the debt off, 14:54 each person will be responsible to come with $62,651. 15:01 That's if you take the national debt 15:02 and you divide it amongst every person 15:04 in the United States. 15:06 Well, I don't think we're going to be paying 15:07 that debt off anytime soon 15:08 if everybody has to come up with $62,000. 15:12 Now the annual interest that is paid on the US debt 15:15 is $310 billion, that's the interest. 15:21 Now how much is that? 15:23 Two years ago the federal income tax 15:26 received from the entire state of Texas 15:30 was about $300 billion. 15:34 In other words, all the money that came from Texas furnished 15:37 the debt for the US government, isn't that remarkable? 15:42 And that's just the interest. 15:43 So countries are in trouble 15:45 when it comes to borrowing money, 15:47 it's easy to keep raising the debts ceiling, 15:49 but are we ever going to be able to pay that off. 15:52 So Christians need to be aware of the trap of debt. 15:57 Now Sunday's lesson is entitled Borrowing and Spending. 16:01 And it opens up with a little story 16:03 about the Prophet Elisha. 16:05 And if you have your Bibles, you can turn to 2 Kings 6, 16:07 we have a story, we're going to look at 16:08 the first six verses here. 16:11 And it's emphasizing 16:12 the importance of taking seriously paying off our debts. 16:18 And verse 1, this is 2 Kings 6 beginning here in verse 1. 16:22 It says, "Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha," 16:25 I was talking about the sons of the prophet 16:27 that's not all of Elisha's kids, 16:29 but there were the schools of the prophets 16:31 back in the days of Elijah and Elisha, 16:34 and they would travel from these different schools 16:36 where young men would come 16:37 and they would learn not only 16:39 what the Bible have to say back in those days, 16:42 they would focus on the Psalms, 16:44 they would focus on the first five books of Moses 16:47 that would talk about sacred history, 16:49 often they would learn some kind of a trade, 16:52 they call this the schools of the prophets. 16:54 And so in one of these schools the young men came to Elisha, 16:57 and this is what they said in verse 1, 17:00 "See, now the place where we dwell with you 17:03 is too small for us." 17:04 So they were all crowded into this little one room school 17:07 so to speak. 17:08 Verse 2, "Please let us go to the Jordan 17:11 and let every man take a beam from there, 17:13 and let us make there a place where we may dwell." 17:16 So they wanted to build a dormitory 17:19 where the young men could stay 17:20 and they wanted to go down to the Jordan River. 17:22 Why the Jordan? 17:23 Well, there were more trees down there, 17:25 and they could go, and they could cut down trees, 17:27 and they could build themselves a little place to stay. 17:30 Probably, it wasn't very far from where they were. 17:33 So the prophet said in verse 2, he said, "Well, go." 17:35 Sounds like a good idea. 17:37 Verse 3, "Then one said, 17:38 'Please, consent to go with your servants.' 17:40 And he said, 'I will.'" 17:42 It's always a good thing 17:43 when your students want the teacher 17:45 to go with them to do something. 17:47 They love Elisha, their prophet, 17:49 the one who is teaching them. 17:50 Verse 4, "So he went with them. 17:54 When they came to the Jordan, they cut down these trees." 17:56 Verse 5 says, "But one was cutting down a tree, 18:00 the iron axe head fell into the water, 18:03 and he cried out and he said, 'Alas, master! 18:06 For it was borrowed.'" 18:08 Now little bit of historical background during this time, 18:11 the time of Elijah and Elisha, 18:13 the arch enemy of Israel was the Assyriats. 18:16 And the Assyrians would come down in these raids 18:19 and they would take away the food, 18:21 during the harvest season, 18:24 they would sometimes take away the people, 18:25 you probably heard the story about little maid and Naaman, 18:29 he was Assyrian captain, 18:31 and they were at constant war or having these skirmishes, 18:35 these battles with the Assyrians. 18:37 And the Assyrians wanted to make sure 18:38 that the Israelites would not be in a position 18:40 to revolt again them 18:42 and so they took the iron available in Israel, 18:46 they took it away. 18:48 There were some iron available for farming equipment, 18:52 but they didn't want to have, of course, 18:54 any iron available for the Israelites 18:55 to make weapons of war 18:57 so it was very difficult to come across 18:59 something made from iron. 19:00 Axe head was allowed, 19:01 it was part of the farming equipment, 19:04 but it was very rare in this case. 19:06 The young man obviously couldn't afford his own axe, 19:08 so he went and he borrowed an axe from someone, 19:11 and while he was swinging away at this tree, 19:14 you know, this little nail 19:15 that you fasten on the top of the axe handle 19:17 that holds the head in place. 19:20 Somehow while he was chopping away at the tree, the axe, 19:23 that the little nail worked its way off. 19:24 And the next thing he knew 19:26 the axe had flew off the handle. 19:28 Now just as well it landed in the river 19:30 and didn't hit somebody else there, right? 19:32 That could have been terrible. 19:33 But anyway, this axe head flies off 19:35 and land somewhere in the river. 19:37 The Jordan River is not like a Montana River 19:40 that's clear and just bubbling along 19:42 and you can see the bottom of the river. 19:44 It was somewhat of a muddy river, 19:46 especially if it was rainy season 19:48 and there would be a lot of silt 19:49 that would wash down into the river 19:51 so you just look down and see. 19:52 There were places in the Jordan 19:54 where the river was very deep and it ran very quickly. 19:57 And presumably this was the situation. 19:59 And the young man cried out and says, 20:00 "The axe head has gone over there in the river, 20:02 it's over there somewhere, I wasn't quite looking, 20:04 but it's out there, and it's deep, 20:05 and we're never going to be able to find this axe head 20:08 in this fast flowing river." 20:10 So he asks the prophet, what do we do? 20:13 And so verse 6 says, 20:15 "Then the man of God said, 'Where did it fall?' 20:17 And he showed him the place somewhere out here. 20:19 So he cut down a stick and he threw into the river 20:22 and he made the axe head float." 20:25 Can you imagine that? 20:27 This big axe head suddenly 20:28 just bobbing to the surface of the water 20:31 like a stick or crock. 20:32 And all of them, 20:34 the young men are just standing and staring at this, 20:35 they've never seen something like this before. 20:38 And they stood there watching and finally the prophet said, 20:40 "Well, put out your hand and take it." 20:43 And so he did. 20:44 So here we see in this story a miracle performed 20:48 so that the young man could return the axe head, 20:51 sort of emphasizes the importance of paying back 20:54 that which we borrow. 20:56 It is a serious thing even in the eyes of God. 21:00 Now the verb to borrow means using something 21:02 that does not belong to you. 21:05 And, of course, you use it with their permission, 21:07 but whenever you borrow somebody else's stuff, 21:09 there is always a risk involved. 21:12 You take responsibility for the thing that you borrow. 21:16 And it's no different when it comes to borrowing money. 21:19 If you're taking money from somebody else, 21:21 there is a risk involved. 21:24 The only reason we borrow money from others is to spend it. 21:28 And the financial risk is presuming 21:30 that sometime in the future 21:32 we'll be in a better financial position 21:35 to pay off the money that we borrowed. 21:39 And most people think for some reason 21:41 that in 6 months or 12 months, 21:43 we're gonna be in a better financial situation 21:46 than we're now. 21:47 And so the tendency is to swipe the credit card thinking, 21:51 well, I can repay this in a few months, 21:54 but it doesn't always work out that way. 21:57 So borrowing money always involves some kind of a risk. 22:00 Now, we're going to have somebody read for us here 22:02 in just a minute, Psalms 37:21. 22:06 But just before we do that, while we get ready, 22:08 I'm going to read Ecclesiastes 5:5, 22:12 "Whether wise man tells us better not to vow, 22:15 than to vow and not pay," right? 22:19 If you're going into a loan 22:20 and you're going to make a promise 22:21 that you're going to pay back, whatever it is you borrow, 22:24 well, don't borrow the money 22:25 if you can't pay back the money. 22:27 Do you have any examples in the Bible of people 22:29 who made a vow 22:32 and they didn't follow through with the vow? 22:34 I think of two people 22:35 in the New Testament in particular. 22:37 Do the names Ananias and Sapphira ring a bell? 22:41 Now what was the situation there? 22:42 Well, the church was expanding its mission activity, 22:45 and people were moved upon by the Holy Spirit to sell 22:48 different things and contribute to this fund. 22:51 It wasn't so much a building fund, 22:53 it was an evangelism fund. 22:55 And so they would sell what they could 22:57 and they would bring it to the apostles 22:58 and laid at their feet and say use this 23:00 for the mission, the expansion of the church. 23:04 While there were two individuals 23:05 in the early Christian church, first century church, 23:08 Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple 23:10 and they got thinking about and they say, 23:11 "Well, we have this field that we haven't used for a while. 23:14 Why don't we put that on the market and sell the field, 23:16 and then we would be able to give the proceeds of the field 23:20 to this mission fund and bring it to the church." 23:23 Well, they put on the market 23:24 and they got a really good offer on the field. 23:28 And so they took the offer, 23:29 they bought the field 23:30 and then they started thinking about and said, 23:32 "You know what, I don't know 23:33 if you want to give all of this money. 23:37 It's pretty good, maybe should hang on to it, 23:39 maybe take a vacation, 23:40 we've been working hard for a long time." 23:42 And then they said, probably told the church, 23:44 "We're going to give all of the proceeds of the field 23:47 to this project. 23:48 We don't want to look bad and go to the church and say, 23:51 well, actually we decided to give 50%." 23:54 Let's just tell the church 23:55 that this all the money from the land. 23:57 You know, what happened. 23:59 Ananias came and he stood before Peter and Peter said, 24:01 "Is this all the money like you pledged to give." 24:04 And Ananias said, "Yeah, absolutely. 24:06 Yep, this is it." 24:08 Acts 5:4, then Peter answered and said, 24:11 "While it remained, was it not your own? 24:14 And after it was sold, was it not under your control?" 24:17 Meaning you could have changed your mind 24:18 even after you sold the field, but you lied. 24:22 And then he says, "You have conceived this in your heart, 24:25 you have not lied to man, but you have lied to God." 24:30 And immediately after that what happened to Ananias? 24:33 He fell down dead. 24:35 Unfortunately, the same fate happened to his wife. 24:38 Well, that's a very sobering lesson 24:39 taught to the early Christian church, 24:41 that God does take serious honesty. 24:44 And if we make a promise, if we make a vow, 24:47 it is important for us to see that through. 24:50 All right, I think somebody is going to read for us now, 24:54 Psalms 37:21. 24:58 "The wicked borrows and does not repay, 25:01 but the righteous shows mercy and gives." 25:05 So a characteristic of wickedness 25:07 is borrowing and then what? 25:09 Not repaying. 25:10 Of course, that's true even in today's society. 25:14 We live in a consumer culture today 25:16 where we are continually surrounded 25:18 by an endless supply of things 25:21 that we just must have, isn't that true? 25:25 Things that we didn't even know that we needed 25:27 until the advertising told us that we can't live without it. 25:32 And I think we're always coming up 25:33 with new ideas to tell people 25:35 why they need this fancy gadget, 25:37 or why they need to spend money on this or that. 25:40 This is kind of the way our society works. 25:43 Back in 2017 more than $150 billion 25:47 was spent in United States on telling people 25:50 why they have to buy their particular product. 25:52 More than $150 billion spent on advertising in the US. 25:57 And we've all seen different schemes 25:59 to try and get us to buy stuff. 26:02 One that seems to be pretty popular is no interest, 26:05 no payment for six months. 26:07 Boy, that sounds like a good deal, doesn't it? 26:09 You can just go pick up your couch 26:11 and you don't have to worry about paying 26:13 for the next six months, no interest. 26:15 And so you know what ends up happening? 26:17 You don't save up 26:19 what you should be paying during that six months. 26:22 And, by the way, at the end of that six months, 26:23 they tag on all the interest that you should have paid 26:25 on that first six months 26:27 and you have even a bigger bill, 26:28 so you got to be careful 26:29 with all of these different schemes, 26:31 but there are many out there. 26:33 Now, of course, there are some situations 26:35 where we do need to take out a loan, 26:37 I'm thinking about buying a house. 26:39 It does make sense to take out a loan 26:41 in some cases in buying a house. 26:43 Sometimes there is a school loan 26:45 that has to be taken out, 26:46 so that a person can finish up their education. 26:49 So we're not saying, don't ever take out a loan, 26:52 but what we're saying is be very cautious 26:54 when you take out a loan. 26:56 And make sure that you're not just borrowing 26:58 somebody else's money to take something 27:01 or get something that you don't really need. 27:04 You need to take that into consideration. 27:06 All right, why do people get into debt? 27:08 Well, there's four main reasons why people get into debt today. 27:12 The first is our consumer lifestyle. 27:15 We're offered with an endless variety of goods of things. 27:21 Now let's say, you wake up in the morning 27:22 and you're wanting to have breakfast 27:26 and get ready to go to work. 27:27 Well, first of all, you need to make a decision. 27:29 In the United States there are more than 27:31 a 100 different kinds of yogurt so you got to buy a yogurt, 27:35 you got to pick from a 100 different kinds. 27:38 And then you're going to have some cereal. 27:39 There are more than a 150 different kinds of cereal 27:43 available for purchase in the United States. 27:47 Well, after you get through eating your cereal, 27:48 you need to brush your teeth. 27:50 Guess how many different kinds of toothpastes are available. 27:54 More than 200 different types and flavors of toothpastes 27:58 are available in the United States. 28:00 So if you're like me, I'm somewhat curious, 28:02 well, what does this flavor tastes like in, 28:05 or what about that cereal, it seems to have, you know, 28:08 some more raisins in it. 28:09 So we're just bombarded 28:11 with an endless supply of stuff. 28:14 And everybody is trying to convince us 28:16 why we need to buy their stuff. 28:18 So number one, consumer lifestyle 28:20 is probably the main reason 28:22 why people go into debt, especially credit card debt. 28:26 The second reason why people go into debt 28:28 is because it's so easy to go into debt. 28:31 Each year American families are bombarded 28:33 by credit card applications. 28:35 On average each... 28:37 An average family in the United States 28:39 gets credit card application every two weeks. 28:44 Well, that's dependent upon your credit. 28:46 If you don't get any credit card applications, 28:48 you probably have other problems, right? 28:51 Your credit score is too low, 28:52 but typically most families every week or two 28:56 you get something in the mail 28:57 that's offering some fantastic deal 28:59 wanting you to take out a credit card. 29:01 Third reason why people end up going into debt 29:04 is because of a lack of a household budget, 29:07 it's one of the big ones here. 29:08 People overspend 29:09 because they don't really know 29:11 how much of their income actually goes to their bills. 29:16 We have an idea, we know how much the mortgage is, 29:18 we know what we have to pay on utilities. 29:20 We know roughly how much we have to put 29:22 in gas, in the car, 29:23 but if you actually sit down 29:25 and add it all up you might be surprised. 29:28 And so what a lot of people do is 29:29 they just look at their checking account, 29:31 and they keep spending and then suddenly 29:33 they realize before the pay period is up, 29:36 "Man, I've run out of money." 29:37 And so where did they go? 29:38 Well, they pull out the credit card, right? 29:41 You got to buy that after all. 29:42 So that's one of the big reasons 29:43 why people going to debt. 29:45 The fourth reason why people typically going to debt 29:47 is unexpected bills, 29:49 and there are three general categories. 29:52 The one is car repairs, 29:54 it seems like that always happens with me, right? 29:56 You least expect and something breaks down on the car, 29:59 and you have to have a car, and nowadays to fix your car, 30:02 you can't fix a car for 100 or 150 bucks it seems, 30:05 that gets really expensive 30:06 so those are unexpected bills that come along. 30:09 Medical expenses come from time to time, 30:12 and you got to pay your portion if you have an insurance, 30:16 and then household maintenance. 30:18 In the middle of winter suddenly your furnace goes out, 30:21 you've got to do something, right? 30:23 So we tend to go to the credit card 30:25 to pay off those things. 30:27 So those are some of the reasons 30:28 why people end up going into debt. 30:30 Now on Monday's lesson, 30:32 the title for Monday study 30:34 is Stewardship and Instant Gratification. 30:36 And here's the point in particular 30:38 that I think we as Christians need to take note of. 30:41 And we're going to have somebody read for us 30:42 Genesis 25:34 in just a minute. 30:47 But before you read that, let me read 1 John 2:16 and 17. 30:53 It says, "For all that is in the world, 30:55 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 30:57 and the pride of life, it is not of the Father, 31:01 but it is of the world. 31:02 And the world is passing away, and the lust thereof, 31:06 but he who does the will of God," does what? 31:09 "Abides forever." Right? 31:12 So everything that we see in the world 31:13 typically is from either the category 31:16 of the lust of the flesh, 31:17 the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. 31:19 And it plays up on our desire for instant gratification, 31:23 we want it now. 31:25 Desires for instant gratification 31:27 can easily lead to covetousness. 31:31 Now when you think about the Ten Commandments 31:33 which one is covetousness, "Thou shall not covet." 31:36 That's number 10. 31:37 And if you really stop and think about it, 31:39 almost all of the other commandments, 31:42 in order to break any of the other commandments 31:44 you have to first break the 10th commandment 31:47 that says, "Thou shall not covet," 31:48 because really it begins in the mind, 31:50 it begins in the heart, 31:52 people wanting something that is not theirs. 31:55 When Eve was standing by the tree 31:56 of the knowledge of good and evil, 31:58 the Bible says that when she saw the fruit 32:01 and desires to make one wise, 32:03 she coveted the fruit, she wanted the fruit. 32:06 Now God had given to her and to Adam all the fruit 32:09 from all the other trees of the garden, 32:11 but the one that they were not to eat of, 32:14 that was the one that suddenly became 32:16 so attractive to them. 32:19 You might have plenty of things, 32:21 all of your needs, 32:22 but suddenly you're offered one thing 32:25 and suddenly that becomes more important 32:27 than all the stuff that you have, right? 32:29 Your car might be just fine driving along, 32:31 but suddenly you see an ad for a brand new car, 32:35 and suddenly your car is not that appealing anymore, right? 32:37 The new one seems so much better. 32:40 Covetousness often leads to instant gratification. 32:43 All right, let's read Genesis 25:34. 32:48 Genesis 25:34. 32:50 "Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, 32:54 and he did eat and drink, and rose up, 32:58 and went his way, 33:00 thus Esau despised his birthright." 33:03 All right, I think we're all familiar 33:04 with the story of Jacob and Esau. 33:06 So Esau was coming back from the field 33:08 and he's just famished 33:09 and as he comes walking past the tent of Jacob, 33:12 he smells the smell of this lentil stew 33:16 that's been cooked. 33:17 And he is so hungry, he can't resist. 33:19 He says, "Man, I want to eat this stew." 33:21 Now, of course, Jacob he was somewhat cunning, 33:23 especially, if you read on, his name means deceiver, 33:26 and he has an opportunity. 33:28 He knew his brother. 33:29 He knew that his brother was somewhat impulsive, 33:32 and he said, "Well, I'll make a deal with you, 33:33 I'll give you some of my lentil stew here 33:35 if you give me your birthright." 33:38 Now, if Esau would have waited another 30 minutes, 33:42 probably he would have had plenty to eat 33:45 but he wanted it now. 33:47 And so what did he do? 33:48 He ended up selling the birthright 33:50 for a pot of lentils. 33:51 Now I like lentils, but, man, 33:53 that doesn't compared our birthright, right? 33:56 Esau controlled by his emotions 33:58 and feelings allowed the pressure 34:00 of the moment to overpower reasoning, 34:02 and he traded his birthright for some instant gratification. 34:06 How many of you are familiar with buyer's remorse? 34:10 I think we've all had buyer's remorse at one point 34:12 or another where we go out and we buy something. 34:15 "Oh, we just got to get it." 34:17 And we buy it and then after a while we think, 34:18 "Oh, man, I shouldn't have spent that money." 34:21 Especially if we spent it on a credit card, 34:22 now we have to pay it off. 34:24 Fortunately, you can take some stuff back here 34:27 at least in our society. 34:28 I always tell the kids, if they want something 34:31 and they're all excited about it, 34:32 and they've been able to earn the money to get it, 34:35 I always tell them, well, don't buy it for a few days, 34:38 just think about it, 34:39 and the desire to have it typically begins to wane 34:42 after a few days when they think about 34:44 what it's going to actually cost them. 34:46 So we don't want to just buy things 34:47 on the spur of the moment. 34:49 Exercising self-control is, of course, 34:51 a very important Christian principle. 34:54 Number of years ago, 34:56 they did a test at Stanford University, 34:58 it became known as the Marshmallow Test. 35:00 It became very famous, maybe you've heard of it. 35:03 And what they did was this. 35:04 This took place in the late 1960s, early 1970s, 35:08 and they got a group of four year old children 35:11 to come into a room, set them on a chair 35:14 and they placed one marshmallow on a table in front of them. 35:17 And they said to the kids, "You can eat the marshmallow 35:19 right now and that's it, then you go. 35:23 Or if you wait for 15 minutes, 35:26 we'll give you two marshmallows that you can eat." 35:30 Well, what do you suppose most of the kids did? 35:33 They just ate the marshmallow. They weren't going to wait. 35:36 But there were some four year olds 35:37 that thought about it long enough 35:39 and finally said, "Well, you know, 35:40 maybe I do want to wait, 35:41 maybe I do want two marshmallows 35:44 instead of one." 35:45 And some of the kids that decided to wait 35:48 would wait for 5-10 minutes 35:49 and then they just give in anyway 35:51 and they end up eating it, but there were a few kids, 35:54 four year olds who were actually 35:55 able to wait 15 minutes 35:58 and then they got the two marshmallows. 36:00 Well, one of the interesting things 36:01 that they noticed about those children 36:03 who were able to wait 15 minutes 36:05 and exercise self-control, 36:07 they noticed that there were three prominent categories 36:10 or characteristics or behaviors manifest 36:13 by those who were able to wait. 36:15 In some instances, 36:16 the children manifest all three behaviors. 36:19 In other cases, they manifested maybe two, 36:22 one or two of the behaviors. 36:24 But one of the things that they noticed is that 36:26 those who were able to wait for 15 minutes, 36:27 one of the first things they did 36:29 is they turned away from the marshmallow, 36:32 they wouldn't look at the marshmallow. 36:34 Some of the kids even pushed 36:35 the marshmallow to the edge of the table. 36:38 In some cases they would cover 36:40 the marshmallow with a piece of paper. 36:41 They didn't want to see it. 36:43 They turned away from the temptation. 36:46 The second thing that some of the kids did 36:48 was positive distraction. 36:51 Instead of thinking about the marshmallow, 36:53 they would think about something else, 36:54 they would just start to sing. 36:56 Or in some cases the children would get up 36:58 and they'd start walking around the room. 37:01 And some of the kids would crawl around 37:03 under the table, some of the kids 37:05 would turn their chair upside down 37:06 and put it by the door trying to peek out 37:08 of the little window to see what was happening outside, 37:11 but they got busy doing something else. 37:14 They didn't just stand there 37:15 or sit there staring at the marshmallow. 37:17 And the third behavior that they noticed, 37:18 a lot of the kids started to talk to themselves 37:21 throughout the 15 minutes and they would say, 37:23 "I'm not going to eat the marshmallow." 37:24 And they'd walk up and down, "No, I'm not." 37:27 Some of the kids even talk to the marshmallow 37:28 and said, "I'm not going to eat you now. 37:30 I'm going to wait a little while. 37:32 And then I'm going to eat you and your friend." 37:35 So they would talk out loud, sort of positive reinforcement. 37:39 Now, of course, I thought that was interesting, 37:41 we find these principles very true 37:43 when it comes to temptation. 37:45 When we are tempted, one of the first things 37:47 we need to do is to turn away from the temptation. 37:50 Zechariah 1:4 says, "Turn away from evil." 37:54 It's the first thing we have to do. 37:55 Secondly, we need positive distractions. 37:59 Romans 12:21 says, "Overcome evil with good." 38:05 And the third thing, we need to talk out loud. 38:08 What is it that we need to say? 38:09 Well, we need to quote scripture. 38:11 How did Jesus overcome temptation? 38:13 He said, "It is written," right? 38:15 "Man shall not live by bread alone." 38:17 And Psalms 34:1 says, 38:20 "His praise shall always be on my mouth." 38:23 Now, that was interesting as a result of this test, 38:26 but what these researchers did is they continued to follow 38:29 these children as they grew up. 38:31 They followed them for several decades 38:34 and what they found was even more remarkable. 38:37 Those kids who were able to wait 15 minutes, 38:40 who were able to exercise self-control, 38:42 they developed better emotional coping skills 38:47 with life situations than those who couldn't wait. 38:51 In addition to that, 38:53 they also had a higher SAT scores 38:57 than the kids that couldn't wait. 38:59 They ended up typically having higher levels of education, 39:04 they had lowered divorce rates, 39:07 and they had a much lower rate of addiction. 39:10 So exercising self-control is important, right? 39:14 And as a Christian, we need to have self-control. 39:19 Well, I see we have some questions 39:20 that's coming in through Facebook, 39:22 so I think well, we might pass to Doug, 39:24 we're going to pause right here. 39:25 There's a few more things 39:26 I want to share about our lesson 39:27 but let's see if we can take two or three of our questions 39:30 before we finish this up. 39:33 All right. Hello, Pastor Doug. 39:35 Hi, Pastor Ross. Welcome back. 39:37 I'm enjoying the lesson. 39:39 All right, well, the first question 39:40 that we have that's coming from Facebook, 39:41 "Is it a sin to have a credit card?" 39:44 It could be, depends on you. 39:48 You know, one of the things they say in debt counseling, 39:51 people who are deeply in debt through credit card debt, 39:53 they say step number one, take out your credit card, 39:55 step number two, get your scissors, 39:58 because if you really want to pay off 40:00 your credit card debt, 40:01 sometimes one of the most important things to do 40:03 is cut the card so you do not 40:05 then become tempted to make new debt. 40:08 Is it a sin to have a credit card? 40:10 No. 40:11 You know, Karen and I have credit cards 40:13 but we pay it off as soon as we get the bill, 40:16 and you can't travel these days, 40:19 you can't get a hotel, you can't get a rental car, 40:21 it's very hard if you don't have a credit card 40:22 to do a number of things, so it's a very practical tool. 40:25 But if you are deeply in debt 40:28 and you're trying to pay things off, 40:30 you may want to avoid that temptation. 40:32 Absolutely, yes, and you can get credit cards 40:34 where I guess they like credit cards 40:37 but you have to frontload the credit card... 40:39 So you have to make sure the money is there 40:40 before you spend it. That's a good point. 40:41 There are some credit cards you can actually have, 40:43 they're prepaid 40:44 and so they have a limit on them, 40:46 so you're not tempted to go beyond it 40:48 and pay this phenomenal interest. 40:50 The next question that we have is 40:51 "Should I pay off credit card debt 40:53 before I pay tithe? 40:57 Is tithe supposed to be the last fruits 40:59 or the first fruits? 41:02 Do you want the Lord to bless 41:03 what remain so you have more to pay off your credit card? 41:08 If you pay your tithe, He promises to bless 41:11 the remaining 90% so it goes farther. 41:13 If you wait and make tithe last, 41:16 the first 90% is cursed, 41:18 seems like the most economical thing to do 41:20 if you believe in God is put God first 41:23 as far as debt repayment. 41:25 And the next question that we have, it says, 41:27 "My adult son keeps getting into financial trouble 41:31 and we keep bailing him out." 41:34 I guess the question is 41:35 "When do we say enough is enough?" 41:37 Yesterday. 41:40 You know, sometimes you have to practice tough love 41:43 with somebody you care about, and if they're having problems 41:48 and they keep getting in deeper, 41:49 first of all, they're not going to learn 41:51 to wait for that second marshmallow 41:54 if you don't train them. 41:56 And so, if you keep getting them out of trouble, 41:59 they're not learning themselves that self-control 42:01 and discipline may need to deny themselves 42:05 and so, sometimes, yeah, it is tough. 42:07 Sometimes you need to say we're not going to bail you out 42:10 and, you know, if you've got a 40 year old son 42:13 and they're refusing to work 42:14 and they're living in your house, 42:15 you might lovingly say, 42:17 "Here's my final gift, it's a tent. 42:19 Go find a place to pitch it, but you can't stay here." 42:23 And so sometimes you help your kids 42:24 by not forever rescuing them. 42:27 All right, our final question and that's coming, it says, 42:29 "Will tithing put me more at risk of going into debt?" 42:34 Well, lets back to that question. 42:36 There's a promise that we have in Malachi 3, 42:40 God invites us to test Him. 42:42 I mean this is really, the Lord is saying, look, 42:44 "If you really want to find out 42:46 if I am real, prove me, test me. 42:49 Bring all the tithes into the warehouse 42:51 that there may be food in my house 42:52 and see if I do not open for you the windows of heaven 42:56 and pour out a blessing 42:57 that there will not be room enough to receive it." 42:59 And He says, "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes." 43:04 They were an agricultural society 43:07 and they often had pests and locusts 43:08 and things that would eat up their crops 43:10 and they have a very small harvest. 43:12 And God said, "I'll make what you do have, 43:14 go much farther." 43:15 When God's people were going through the wilderness 43:17 and they were faithful in their tithes and offerings, 43:19 says, there's shoes did not wear out, 43:22 their clothes did not wear out. 43:23 God will bless you with one of those refrigerators 43:26 that goes for 40 years. 43:29 And so, yeah, I think that you'll be way further head 43:33 if you are faithful. 43:34 Was that the last question? 43:35 I think we have one more. 43:36 It says, "Will I gain personal benefit from tithing?" 43:41 Yeah, first of all, when people talk about tithing, 43:44 pastors have to guard against trying to make it sound like 43:46 you're prosperity preacher, "If you pay tithe, 43:48 God's going to give you more money." 43:51 Sometimes the way God blesses you may not be money 43:53 and you may not need more money. 43:56 When you seek first the kingdom of God, 43:58 He says everything you need will be added to you. 44:01 But some of the most important blessings are the joy 44:05 that comes from knowing I've got peace 44:07 because I'm doing what God wants me to do. 44:09 A lot of people get the blessing 44:10 of tithing immediately after they write the check 44:13 or they make that gift. 44:16 A lot of people do it online now 44:17 because they just have a piece in their heart, 44:19 I'm putting God first 44:21 and there's a real satisfaction. 44:23 And that's one blessing 44:24 and then the other blessings I mentioned, 44:25 He'll open the windows of heaven 44:27 and pour out such a blessing 44:29 that it will not all fit in your garage. 44:32 How many of you have that blessing 44:33 doesn't all fit in your garage? 44:35 Thank you. 44:36 All right, thank you, Pastor Doug 44:37 and thank you fans for sending in your Facebook questions. 44:40 Just in the last few minutes, I just want to summarize 44:42 some of the important points 44:43 that we looked at here in the lesson 44:45 and probably, the most important 44:46 is learning to live within your means. 44:49 Bible has something to say about that. 44:51 I'm going to have somebody read 1 Timothy 6:7 and 8, 44:54 so if you want to be ready. 44:55 But before you read that, let me read 44:57 what Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-33. 45:02 "Therefore Jesus said, 'Do not worry,' saying, 45:04 'What shall we eat? 45:06 What shall we drink? What shall we wear? 45:09 For after all these things the gentiles seek 45:11 for your heavenly Father knows 45:13 that you have need of all of these things,'" 45:15 but what are we to do first? 45:17 "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness 45:22 and all these things shall be added on to you." 45:24 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 45:25 Have you put God to the test and sort Him first, 45:29 and God has provided your needs. 45:30 He doesn't promise that 45:31 He's going to provide all your wants 45:33 but He's definitely going to provide your needs. 45:35 David said in Psalms 37:25, "I have been young, 45:38 and now I'm old, I have never seen 45:41 the righteous forsaken or they see begging for bread." 45:45 Okay, 1 Timothy 6:7 and 8. 45:48 "For we brought nothing into this world, 45:50 and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 45:53 And having food and clothing, 45:55 with these we shall be content." 45:58 All right, unfortunately though we're not often too content 46:01 just to have food and clothing, we want little bit more, right? 46:04 Included in that is, of course, housing. 46:06 God recognizes we need to have a shelter, 46:08 we need to live in a house. 46:10 God is very merciful and He's blessed 46:12 because I think most of us will acknowledge 46:14 that our homes are a lot more than just shelter, right? 46:17 So God is good. 46:18 He definitely takes care of us, 46:20 but probably one of the most important keys 46:22 to living within our means. 46:24 And by the way as a Christian that needs to be our priority. 46:27 Lord, give me the strength, give me the wisdom, 46:29 give me the self-control to live within my means. 46:32 Now, probably the most important tool to living 46:35 within your means is that of a simple budget. 46:38 I think every family needs to have a budget. 46:41 I'm just going to give you four quick tips, 46:43 now you might already have a budget 46:44 and that's great, but for those of you who don't, 46:47 let me give you four quick tips about having a budget. 46:50 First of all, four principles, number one, 46:53 give every dollar that you earn a specific use, 46:57 put all your money to use. 47:00 Every dollar can be divided up 47:01 into one of the following four categories, 47:04 your monthly expenses, those, of course, 47:06 are your bills, your debt payments, 47:09 your savings, or your investing, 47:13 or your giving, that of course 47:15 being your tithes and your offerings. 47:17 So you want to divide up all your income 47:19 into those four categories. 47:21 The next thing you need to do is keep tabs on every dollar. 47:25 So you assign a job for every dollar, 47:27 but then you need to make sure that 47:28 that dollar is doing that job, right? 47:31 So you need to keep tabs on your spending, 47:33 so track your spending 47:35 especially in those different categories. 47:36 Point number three, 47:38 don't rob from Peter to pay Paul. 47:41 What often happens is you see 47:43 some fantastic deal at the store 47:45 and you only have so much money allocated 47:47 to spend on whatever this particular item is 47:50 but this is such a sweet deal you just can't pass it by, 47:54 so what we typically do is we will borrow 47:56 from one of the other categories 47:58 of our income to get what we want 48:00 instead of waiting until we have enough money 48:03 in that particular fund to buy what we want. 48:05 You know what I'm talking about? 48:07 All right, so we want to try and avoid the habit 48:09 of just moving money from one fund to another. 48:12 And then the fourth thing 48:13 which we've mentioned little earlier 48:15 and I do this personally, I think this really helps 48:17 is frontload your credit cards. 48:19 There are value too, 48:21 there is value in using a credit card. 48:23 There's different perks that's available. 48:24 You can get points that will help with travel 48:27 and some of these other things, but what I typically do 48:29 is when I get my paycheck, 48:31 I'll divide it up into different categories 48:32 and I will prepay on a credit card 48:35 a certain amount of money 48:37 and it's actually you'll see it's a negative 48:39 and that's a good thing. 48:41 And then as you use the credit card, 48:43 I'll bring it back to zero. 48:45 And when the credit card hits zero, 48:46 then I have to put that credit card away 48:48 and I can't use it until payday, right, 48:51 that's the goal. 48:52 So you can avoid going into debt 48:55 by prepaying on your credit card 48:57 or a debit card and just use the money 48:59 that's already available. 49:00 So these are just some basic simple tools 49:02 that hopefully we can use. 49:04 You know, as Christians, we want to be faithful stewards 49:06 of the resources that God has given us. 49:08 Don't think of your income as your income, 49:11 think of it as a resource 49:13 that God has given to you to manage. 49:16 And by God's grace we want to manage it 49:18 to the very best of our ability. 49:20 Oh, we've got one more verse 49:21 that we're going to have it read 49:23 which I think summarizes 49:24 this whole subject of borrowing. 49:27 It's Proverbs 22:7, 49:30 and we'll have you read that now, 22:7. 49:33 "The rich rules over the poor, 49:35 and the borrower is servant to the lender." 49:39 Okay, there is the point. 49:40 The rich rule over the poor, and the one who borrows 49:43 is a servant to the one that lends. 49:47 How true that is. 49:48 I'd like to remind our friends who are joining us on Facebook 49:52 and internet and online members and those around the world, 49:54 we do have a free offer called the "Flesh and the Spirit" 49:57 that really talks about self-control 50:00 and how we can exercise that 50:01 very important principle in all areas of our life. 50:03 To receive it, give us a call on the resource phone line, 50:06 it's 866-788-3966 50:10 and you can ask for offer number 792. 50:13 Thank you again, friends, for joining us, 50:15 until next week, 50:16 we pray God's special blessing upon you. 50:22 Amazing Facts Changed Lives. 50:30 I met my ex-wife and her family were real big in the drugs 50:34 and they started out with them wanting me to go to the doctor 50:37 to help get them drugs. 50:39 And, you know, I'm noticing they're going to the doctor, 50:42 they're coming back with like 60 pills 50:43 and they're selling these pills for like 1000 bucks. 50:46 And I'm thinking, wow, this is a lot of money 50:49 I'm giving these people, 50:50 so I'm just going to start selling it myself, 50:52 but problem with that was that we had all this money 50:56 but we were absolutely miserable. 50:58 She would go out and sleep with other guys to get drugs 51:02 and that ended my marriage. 51:04 But during this time, 51:06 I have to get a job to be able to back up 51:08 to where I was at to open my shop again, 51:10 so I get a job at Food City. 51:12 And when I get this job at Food City, 51:14 there is my wife now Rebecca, she's a cashier there. 51:18 And when I walk in, she's the most beautiful girl 51:21 I've ever seen in my life. 51:22 I was like, "Man, I can never have the girl like that." 51:26 Wow, she's so beautiful, but as I'm working with her, 51:29 she's actually kind of mean to me. 51:32 And she's saying, "I don't want anything to do with you, 51:34 get away from me," stuff like that, 51:36 but, you know, I'll just keep being nice to her 51:38 and I keep trying to give her my phone number. 51:41 And it's around Christmas Eve, 51:43 we've just been dating for a little while 51:45 and moved in together. 51:46 My ex-wife shows up with my three children 51:49 that I had by her 51:51 and she's like here's your kids, 51:53 here's their birth certificates, 51:54 here's their self security cards, 51:55 I'm done, and we are starting a family 51:58 we have already have three kids. 52:00 During this time, we spent the next year watching nothing 52:04 but Amazing Facts on YouTube. 52:06 I didn't even know they even had a website at this time, 52:08 I just knew that this little guy 52:10 on YouTube was super smart, 52:12 was teaching Bible, and I wanted to follow him. 52:15 I wanted to be a Christian. 52:16 I gave my life to God now because of these truths 52:19 that I'm learning from Doug Batchelor. 52:22 Just because Doug told it didn't make me real sure about 52:25 going to this church, 52:26 I really didn't want anything to do with it 52:28 but I called the guy up and I'm telling him 52:30 and I'm not very nice about it actually, I'm telling him, 52:33 "Look, we were just thinking about coming to your church 52:36 and he's really nice and he's like, 52:38 "Well, you're more than welcome too, 52:39 we'd like to have you come." 52:41 And I'm like, "Well, hold on, 52:42 I'm going to lay down some ground rules." 52:44 I'm telling and I said, "Look here, 52:45 I'm covered in tattoos and I'm a tattoo artist." 52:48 And you don't say, "Well, you know... 52:51 Well, I didn't know all that don't come to my church." 52:53 He says, "You're more than welcome, 52:54 we would love to have you, please come." 52:58 He asked me what I want to do and I said, 53:00 "Well, I want to preach." 53:02 I said, "I have all these truths, 53:04 I have all this knowledge stuff I've never known before, 53:07 stuff if I had when I was younger 53:09 that would have been life changing to me. 53:12 I said, "I got to share this with the world." 53:14 I said, "I want to preach, I want to teach." 53:17 He gives me the books, I study that. 53:19 And now that I'm a Bible worker, 53:21 I'm able to go reach people 53:23 that most of the normal churches 53:25 wouldn't even bother to even speak to. 53:27 I'm able to go out and reach to people 53:29 and have lived the lifestyle that I've lived. 53:31 I'm able to let him know that, I'm like you, 53:35 I've been there, I've done there. 53:37 I want to show you what my life is like now, 53:40 I want to teach you this Bible, I'm going to show you 53:42 what Jesus can do for you, it's not too late. 54:09 Friends, are you afraid of heights? 54:11 If so, you might want to look away right now. 54:14 One of the most famous attractions 54:15 in the San Francisco Bay area 54:17 is the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. 54:20 While this world famous bridge was named 54:22 as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. 54:24 Few people know the story of the brave men 54:26 who were involved in its construction 54:28 and also known as the Half Way to Hell Club. 54:32 Designed by a group of visionary engineers 54:34 at 4,200 feet from end to end, 54:37 the Golden Gate Bridge was at one time 54:39 the longest suspension bridge in the world. 54:42 During its construction from 1933 to 1937, 54:46 the Golden Gate Bridge 54:47 had one of the best safety construction records 54:49 of any project during that time. 54:52 Keep in mind, they would factor in 54:54 and calculate that one man would die 54:56 for every million dollars that was spent. 54:58 So with a budget of $35 million, 55:00 they knew that loss of life would be unacceptable. 55:03 This is why the chief engineer Joseph B Strauss 55:06 was absolutely adamant 55:08 about using the most rigorous safety precautions 55:10 that it ever been used in Bridgeville. 55:13 He had a local manufacturer safety equipment, 55:15 designed special headgear 55:17 that he insisted be worn on every job. 55:19 This became the prototype for the modern hard hat 55:22 worn for the first time ever, 55:24 but the safety precautions went even farther. 55:26 Strauss provided a special hand 55:28 and face cream to protect their skin 55:30 from the cold biting wind 55:32 and glare free goggles to protect their eyes. 55:35 In addition, they also ate a special diet 55:37 to help ward off dizziness 55:39 when they were working at those epic heights. 55:41 But the most conspicuous safety precaution 55:43 was a gigantic net that was suspended from end to end 55:47 under the entire construction area 55:49 of the Golden Gate Bridge. 55:51 In fact, during construction, 55:53 this net saved the lives of 19 men 55:57 who later became known as the Half Way to Hell Club. 56:00 Now you need to keep in mind, these were some of the most 56:02 dangerous construction conditions you can imagine. 56:06 The wind was constantly blowing. 56:08 They were walking around on iron 56:10 that sometimes had ice from the freezing fog. 56:13 In places, they were over 700 feet 56:16 above the icy waters. 56:18 Yet, the men coming from all walks of life 56:20 were willing to take these risks 56:22 because it was during The Great Depression 56:24 and they would get paid up to $11 a day 56:27 which was a fortune back then. 56:29 One of the other benefits of the net 56:32 was they discovered that the men 56:33 were much more courageous 56:35 even though they were walking high 56:36 on those slippery surfaces because they knew 56:39 there was a mechanism to protect them 56:40 if they should fall, this gave them the confidence 56:43 and the courage to press on 56:45 and get the bridge built in record time. 56:47 You know, friends, as Christians 56:48 we have a great work to do. 56:50 The Bible tells us that we get to participate with Jesus 56:53 in building a bridge that connects heaven and earth, 56:57 and there are dangers along the way. 56:58 The devil would like to paralyze us with fear 57:01 that we might fall or make a mistake, 57:03 but we know that Jesus has provided 57:05 a safety net for us and we don't have to be afraid. 57:08 We can press on with confidence 57:10 because the promise is in the Book of Jude verse 24, 57:13 he is able to keep us from falling. 57:15 But sometimes we make mistakes, 57:17 still don't be discouraged, friends, 57:19 if you read in 1 John 2:1, 57:22 the Bible says, "If we fall, if we sin, 57:24 we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ. 57:27 So let's press on together 57:28 and build that bridge with Christ. 57:39 Can't get enough Amazing Facts Bible Study? 57:42 You don't have to wait until next week 57:44 to enjoy more truth-filled programming. 57:47 Visit the Amazing Facts media library at AFTV.org. 57:52 At AFTV.org, you can enjoy video and audio presentations 57:57 as well as printed material all free of charge, 58:00 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 58:03 right from your computer or mobile device. 58:05 Visit 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Revised 2018-03-12