PRAY ABOUT IT

Read Malachi 3:10. Commit to God in prayer that you will tithe. Pray that God will give you opportunities to freely give to your church or others you know that are in need.

THINK ABOUT IT

How has God blessed you through tithing? How have those blessings affected your relationship with God?

DO IT

If you call Center Pointe Church your home and would like to give, you can do so in two ways:

1. Bring your gift to a Worship Gathering and put in the Joy Baskets (giving envelopes are available on the info table)
2. Mail your gift to: Center Pointe Church, PO Box 346, Centerburg, OH, 43011

This Sunday, Dave Ramsey will lead us through the steps towards Breaking the Bondage of Debt. You won’t want to miss it. Bring a friend with you as well!

If you’re interested in more training to help on the road toward financial freedom, consider signing up for Financial Peace University, beginning February 21st. Click here to register.

PRAY ABOUT IT

Read Proverbs 21:20. Commit to God in prayer that you will save and invest your money. Ask Him for guidance on how to save and where to invest.

THINK ABOUT IT

Proverbs 21:20 calls those who save and invest to be wise. Describe a time when saving money paid off for you by allowing you to financially handle an emergency or to pay for a large expense without going into debt.

DO IT

If you don’t have $1000 emergency fund yet, put building that into your budget NOW!

If you already have an emergency fund and no debt besides your mortgage, starting saving 3-6 months of living expenses.

If you already have 3-6 months of living expenses saved, check out this page containing Dave Ramsey’s investing advice.

This Sunday, Dave Ramsey will lead us through the steps towards Breaking the Bondage of Debt. You won’t want to miss it. Bring a friend with you as well!

If you’re interested in more training to help on the road toward financial freedom, consider signing up for Financial Peace University, beginning February 21st. Click here to register.

PRAY ABOUT IT

Read Luke 14:28. Commit to God in prayer to creating a budget. If you already have a budget, then renew your commitment to that budget.

THINK ABOUT IT

Living on a budget is the key to not only getting out of debt, but also staying out of debt. For those that currently have a budget, share with your group how you budget and how it impacts your finances. For those that currently do not have a budget, what had kept you from creating a budget?

DO IT

DaveRamsey.com has tons of great resources to help get you started in following God’s plan for your finances. Go here to find everything you need concerning making a budget – quick budget forms, monthly cash flow spending, and budget forms if you have irregular income (you don’t get paid the same every time). There’s also online budgeting tools there as well. Check it out and DO IT!

This Sunday, Dave Ramsey will lead us through the steps towards Breaking the Bondage of Debt. You won’t want to miss it. Bring a friend with you as well!

If you’re interested in more training to help on the road toward financial freedom, consider signing up for Financial Peace University, beginning February 21st. Click here to register.

PRAY ABOUT IT

Read Proverbs 21:20. Ask God to help you act your wage. Pray that He will give you wisdom in making financial decisions.

THINK ABOUT IT

If someone was to look at your checkbook, what could they tell about you based on what you spend money on? Do your spending habits match your core values?

In order to live a life of true financial peace, God says we must act our wage by not spending more than we make. What are some specific areas that you tend to overspend?

DO IT

How much income does your household bring home per month after taxes? Write it down. Now do some research. How much did you spend in the past month? How does it compare? Is your spending out of control? Do you need to find another job or a second job? Check out the following links to help you get started.

http://www.opportunityjobnetwork.com/knox/

http://www.co.knox.oh.us/offices/jobfam/

http://www.columbusjobs.com/

This Sunday, Dave Ramsey will lead us through the steps towards Breaking the Bondage of Debt. You won’t want to miss it. Bring a friend with you as well!

If you’re interested in more training to help on the road toward financial freedom, consider signing up for Financial Peace University, beginning February 21st. Click here to register.

This past Sunday, we talked about the five steps to financial freedom. And step #1 was to get out of debt. Here’s some thoughts to help you meditate on freeing yourself from slavery to the lender.

PRAY ABOUT IT

Read Proverbs 22:7. Have an honest conversation with God about your debts. Ask God to give you wisdom and vision in attempting to get out of debt. Pray for those you know that are struggling with debt.

DO IT

Itemize any debt that you have right now from smallest to largest. Now add it together. What is your total debt? What are you paying towards your debt? If you’re married, talk to your spouse about how you incurred that debt.

This Sunday, Dave Ramsey will lead us through the steps towards Breaking the Bondage of Debt. You won’t want to miss it. Bring a friend with you as well!

If you’re interested in more training to help on the road toward financial freedom, consider signing up for Financial Peace University, beginning February 21st. Click here to register.

]]> http://centerpointecma.com/2012/01/life-money-hope-week-1/feed/ 0 http://centerpointecma.com/2012/01/some-more-things-to-think-about/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=some-more-things-to-think-about http://centerpointecma.com/2012/01/some-more-things-to-think-about/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:08:08 +0000 Josh http://centerpointecma.com/?p=4651 Center Pointe,

I thought this past Sunday was a great time of worshiping together! And the message from Romans 1:21-32 stirred up a lot of conversation. Just remember that answer to your sin isn’t to try harder or become and good moral person, but to submit yourself in worship of Jesus. This will be the constant battle of your heart and mind. So don’t give up!

We also talked about a pretty hot-button issue in society and among Christians: homosexuality. If you’re interested in the ongoing struggle for Christians who have same-sex sexual urges, let me recommend you pick up and read a book called Washed and Waiting. It is the best book that I’ve read on the subject and might be one of the best books on the issue of struggling with sin.

This Sunday we’ll continue looking into the heart of the good news of Jesus in the book of Romans, specifically as it relates to our sinfulness before a holy God. So come ready to worship God loudly and celebrate his patience and grace.

See you Sunday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyYFxp7apl4

You’ll also see that I unashamedly stole some material from the sermons too

You can watch all the intro clips here.

The first stage of planting a church is the same as planting a flower or tomato plant. YOU TEST THE SOIL (Mark 4:1-20). So on Wednesdays, beginning October 26th, I’ll be spending the day in Newark testing the soil. I’ve begun to compile a list of friends and family of people that I know and I’ll be contacting them, getting to know them, and asking them two simple soil-testing questions:

1. Do you think God wants to do something in Newark?
2. Do you want to be a part of it?

While testing the soil is is the first stage in planting a church, the first work is prayer. I can assure you that the Elder Team has been praying for a while now for direction and open doors. I want to invite you to pray as well. Could you carve out some time every Wednesday, beginning October 26th, to pray that God would open doors for the gospel to be heard and His kingdom to advance in Newark?

Also, if you know anyone in the Newark area that might be interested in learning more, let me know!

Thanks Center Pointe for being kingdom-focused!

This is the first posture or strategy for what we believe is God’s vision for Center Pointe Church. For some of us, this is an exciting possibility to help people that have genuine needs. For others, it’s a difficult challenge to get our hands dirty in the lives of other people.

Some people are just hard to be around and all of us have, sadly, preconceived negative feelings towards certain types of people - whether it’s addicts, people on welfare, physically disabled, etc. So how do you help people when everything in you screams, THEY DON’T DESERVE IT!

Well, if transformation happens in our lives when we center ourselves on Jesus, then the the answer is to look at Jesus. Here are a couple of things that I alway have to remember when helping people that are difficult to help. Maybe they be of benefit to you too.

• Every person (no matter what issues they have) has incredible, intrinsic value. Are all people made in the image of God, no matter how broken, smudged, or distorted that image is? Didn’t Jesus die on the cross to pay the ransom for ALL PEOPLE? It seems to me that everyone is incredibly valuable in God’s sight. So approach them as if they’re at least no less than you.
• Every person is naturally prone to disappoint you. Even though all people have the utmost value, something has gone terribly wrong. There’s a natural rebellion and selfishness is everyone. Paul’s pretty clear when he writes, “All have sinned and fall short.” If we have all fallen short of God’s expectations and plans for our lives, it seems obvious that we’re going to come up short in the expectations that others have for us as well – and vice versa. You’re going to be disappointed for others. So have low expectations.

High value. Low expectations. This has helped me as I interact with people in need. And the plus side is, when people exceed my expectations, I am overjoyed and praise God for his grace! To me that’s better than grumbling that so-and-so is ungrateful, or always taking advantage of me, or whatever else.

I hope this helps as God gives you a vision to be like Jesus and invest in others without expectation of return!