Sermon Tone Analysis

!!! “FINANCIAL FREEDOM IN 2009”

*(Part 2)*

 

How many of you have ever stolen something?

How many of you would take something that did not belong to you, now?

The Bible is clear in both the old and new testaments – Thou shalt not steal!

Yet we do it almost everyday whether consciously or subconsciously, overtly or covertly.

#.

*The BIBLE is clear in the OLD and NEW  TESTAMENTS  - you shalt not STEAL.*

I began this series of messages of encouraging the people of God to hedge themselves against financial disaster.

If you want financial freedom you have to do it God’s way and not your way.

* *

#. *If you want FINANCIAL FREEDOM you have to do it GOD’S way and not YOUR way.*

Jeremiah told the people of God,

*Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) * 

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jesus taught,

*Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) * 

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Haggai gave the reason,

*Haggai 1:5-6 (NKJV) * 

Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways!

6"You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages /to put/ into a bag with holes."

Hosea warned,

*Hosea 4:6 (NKJV) * 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

We have forgotten the Word of God, “we have sown to the wind and are reaping

the whirlwind.

* *

#. *We have SOWN to the WIND and are REAPING the WHIRLWIND.*

But in the midst of the darkness there are still “points of light,”

Despite the greed of Wall Street, and despite Bernard Madoff stealing in

the approximately 50 billion of peoples investment and retirements there are

people who still have integrity.

Illustrations:

Did you hear about?

1.

The three Indiana Department of Transportation workers who came upon the truck tire stuffed with cash when they were picking up trash along I-70 in Hancock County, just west of the Mount Comfort Road exit – the money totaled $130,120.

"They were very surprised at what they saw," she said.

"Once they realized it was actual cash, they called the State Police immediately and requested assistance.

We are very proud of them for their honesty and integrity."

2.  And the thrift store worker in Southern California who said she didn't think twice about returning $30,000 she found in donated clothing.

Barbarita Nunez was sorting clothes on Tuesday at the Veterans Thrift Store when she found a small box.

Inside was an envelope of cash.

Nunez said at first she thought the money was fake.

But just in case, she gave it to her supervisor.

The money turned out to belong to a woman who had recently died.

It was returned to her family, who gave Nunez a cash reward.

3.

And the boots - If the owner of cash found in a pair of resale shop boots does not come forward, Rick and Dimitra Anderson plan to donate it to charity.

more photos

/Rick Wood/

If the owner of cash found in a pair of resale shop boots does not come forward, Rick and Dimitra Anderson plan to donate it to charity.

Close

Dimitra Anderson walked into a resale shop here last week and spotted a pair of boots she liked.

She pushed her foot into the right one but felt a blockage.

So she reached in with her hand.

Inside the boot was a sock.

And inside the sock was a bank envelope.

And inside the bank envelope was a stack of cash.

She bought the boots for $3 and did not mention the surprise contents to the clerk.

It's not really the store's money once the boots were put out for sale, right?

"I got so scared.

I went home and called Rick," she said.

Rick, Dimitra's husband and a Milwaukee firefighter, came home from work later, and Dimitra said she had found a rich bank envelope in the other boot, too.

He reached deeper into that left boot and found a third envelope she hadn't noticed.

It, too, was filled with dough.

"We're sitting on (here Rick mentioned an impressive dollar amount; I'm not sharing what it is because the Andersons are hoping to find the owner, and that's easier if you withhold a few details)."

Oftentimes, when people find cash, they either pocket it or they announce the discovery and then hold their breath and hope nobody claims it.

Dimitra and Rick contacted the Journal Sentinel and said they really want to find the owner.

If they can't, they plan to donate the money to charity.

"I knew I wasn't going to keep it, no matter how much it was.

If it's going to be mine, it's going to the Rescue Mission or the Humane Society," Dimitra said.

4.

GRAND FORKS (AP) - Nearly $7,000 found in a coat pocket and money belt donated to a thrift shop here has been turned over to the state.

\\ \\ Shirley Meagher, who found the money while working at the Home Place Thrift Store last year, says she could put the money to better use.

\\ \\ "I don't think it's fair to me - to be as true as I was in turning that money in," Meagher said.

"I could have used that, especially this time of year.

\\ \\ "My family is in a traumatic crisis right now.

My daughter is in the hospital," she said.

"What kind of Christmas is that going to be for them?" \\ \\ The money was found by Meagher in December 2006, after the man died and his belt and jacket were donated to the store.

\\ \\ Police said the belt and jacket belonged to Gary Beaton, who was 59 when he died of cancer in Altru Hospital, after living in low-income housing and a Grand Forks shelter.

\\ \\ Investigations by the Grand Forks police and city attorney Howard Swanson turned up no relatives.

\\ \\ Based on his collection of identification cards, Beaton had traveled throughout the West, using social service agencies in several states, Swanson said.

\\ \\ He also had used the name Charles Nixon at one point, Swanson said.

It's not clear which name was his real or legal one.

No criminal record was found, nor any military record, he said.

\\ \\ But after a long search turned up no heirs, it was determined the money belongs to the state Department of Health and Human Services, because of the Medicaid that Beaton received, Swanson said.

\\ \\ Meagher, a funeral home and the thrift store also put in claims for the money.

\\ \\ Meagher, 60, was featured in the National Enquirer and said she got $500 from the Enquirer for being honest and turning the money she found over to her supervisor.

She was stung by criticism she got from co-workers for taking the money from the Enquirer.

\\ \\ She has since quit working at the thrift shop and says she can no longer work because she has vision problems and chronic arthritis.

\\ \\ Meagher was notified that she wouldn't be getting the money on Thursday.

\\ \\ "It hurts my heart bad," she said.

"I could have just stuffed that money in my purse, but in my heart I'm not that kind of person."

 

5.

Thrift Store Workers Return Valuables

Orillia - Kudos to Salvation Army Thrift Store staff in Orillia.

Recently a customer and his wife dropped off several bags of clothing that included, unbeknownst to them, a bag the grandchildren had placed in the trunk for safekeeping while they were skiing.

The bag contained two purses with gift certificates, personal belongings and in excess of $300 cash.

Before the girls realized their purses were missing the thrift store staff called to say they had found the money.

6.  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)

Police say employees at a thrift store in Daytona Beach found more than $10,000 stuffed in a donated bag.

Employees at the Junior League Thrift Shop in Daytona Beach say a man came in earlier in the week and donated several empty plastic grocery bags, which the store asks for to bag clothing.

An employee who later went through the bags discovered the money.

Police spokesman Jamie Flynt says the money was given to police and has been tagged as evidence for now.

They are still searching for the man.