Spiritual Armor 1
Hometown Sleep Center
Vet Scam Alert
Minute with Maxwell: “Instruct”
(UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT)
Attention
Welcome to Financial Freedom God’s Way, where you are going to continue to learn, apply, and pass on, Bible-based financial principles and applications so that you and your family will not only just survive, but thrive during these very uncertain times.
Overview
Hi and welcome everyone, this is Bob Louder from Christian Financial Ministries, and it is an absolute honor to have you with us—it really is. Now, where are we headed during this 30-minute time together?
- Today,
- First, during our radio seminar time together, you are going to begin to see that according to the Bible, every minute of your financial life, you are going to be involved in an emotional, physical, and spiritual battle. What is God’s plan for us to win these battles? Very simply, He wants us to regularly, routinely, and prayerfully pick up and put on His spiritual FINANCIAL armor. How can we learn to do that? By prayerfully taking a fresh look at Ephesians, Chapter 6.
- We will have yet another Community Partner interview—today you are going to learn all about the Hometown Sleep Center in Hiawassee—you are not going to want to miss this.
- You will also take a look at some scams that target our veterans,
- And finally, finally, Christian pastor and leaderships author, teacher, trainer, mentor and coach John Maxwell will share with us his thoughts on the word “INSTRUCT.
Motivation
So stay tuned, you sure don’t want to miss a single minute of today’s program.
Now, as we start, to make sure we get off on the right start, please join me as I open us in prayer. Father, thank You for meeting with us again today. Please give us ears to hear all that it is you have planned for us, to Your glory, in Jesus’ mighty name, amen.
BODY
Radio Seminar
Let me ask you two questions:
- First, why do some people struggle and never reach their financial goals?
- Second, why do others seem to have continued financial success without any effort at all?
- Well, both answers are found in the Ephesians 6 discussion of spiritual warfare and God’s spiritual armor.
You see, according to the Bible, every minute of your material and financial life you are involved in an emotional, physical, and spiritual fight. According to the Bible, you’re either going to win or lose; you‘ll either be the victor or the victim, and the choice is yours.
You must get to know who your enemy is, and how to fight, and win.
Paul says to get dressed for battle. He tells you to put on the whole armor of God. And by the way, notice that it’s God’s Armor.
- You don’t get it from your denomination, your church, your school or from your mom and You don’t get it from doing good works or feeding the poor.
- According to the Bible, you get God’s armor when you accept Jesus Christ into your heart as Lord and Your job is to learn to pick it up and use it to God’s Glory.
We’ll cover each of the seven pieces of armor as we go through the seminar. Why is this so important?
- Because In Ephesians Chapter six, beginning with verse 10, Paul tells us to…
- …be strong in the Lord and in his might power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take you stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
- What Paul is telling us here is that you and I as Christians are engaged in a spiritual battle—if you have asked Jesus Christ into your heart as Lord and Savior then you will find yourself subject to the devil’s attacks. Paul is telling you to use every piece of God’s armor to resist the devil’s attacks, including his financial attacks.
- What does all this mean? It means that you have a very real spiritual adversary that you must learn oppose with genuine spiritual weapons.
- You see, worldly weapons, even the best material weapons are not enough…budgeting is not enough, tithing is not enough.
- You need spiritual weapons and a strategy that tells you how to use your spiritual weapons.
- This means you must learn to combine and use Bible-based financial principles and applications along with what Paul calls the “whole armor of God” in Ephesians Chapter six.
- What I want you to see right up front are some hard facts about spiritual financial warfare. For example,
- Did you know that the word “devil” is more of a job description that a name? In the Bible, the word Satin is a proper name and is capitalized. The word “devil” is not a proper name and is not capitalized.
- As the matter of fact, the word “devil” is from the Greek words dia and These words combine to form the word diabalos, and the word diabalos describes the repetitive action of hitting something, anything again and again and again, until finally the wall or the membrane is so worn down that it can be completely and thoroughly penetrated.
- And if you think about it, that’s exactly how the devil works, He wants to “attack” your mind repeatedly, again and again, with lies, suggestions, accusations, and allegations. He wants to bombard you with one slanderous assault after another in order to break down your mental resistance and lead you into a maze of selfishness and self-centeredness so that he can take captive your mind, your emotions, and your finances.
- You need to remember that you have an adversary who adamantly and actively opposes righteousness. He hates the Gospel. He detests even the mere presence of the Church. He works around the clock to discredit the message of Jesus Christ, and He works to tear you down, wear you out, swallow you up in self-pity and make a shambles out of your finances.
- And by the way, do you realize that 1 Peter 5:8 says the devil seeks not just anyone to devour; he seeks those whom he MAY He looks for those who are the weak in faith and those not mature enough to stand in the face of his constant attacks.
- According to the Bible, the devil’s entrance into your financial life is allowed primarily through your You see, he slips in through an undisciplined, unorganized and an uncommitted mind and then begins to wage warfare against your mind and your flesh and your finances.
- What can you do? Well, rather than try to run and hide from the devil, you need to learn and apply Bible-based financial principles. But more than that. You must also learn how to use God’s spiritual armor, that way you can both stand firm—not give the devil even an inch of new ground—and then boldly move to retake ground already lost.
- You need to remember that Christianity is not a playground, it’s a battleground, and God gives you His spiritual armor to pick up and put on as you enter into the battle.
Again, this is just the introduction to Ephesians 6, God’s Spiritual Armor—God’s Spiritual Financial Armor. We’ll come back to this in upcoming weeks—you will soon discover how to use each piece of God’s armor as He and you move down your Road to Financial Freedom God’s Way.
Community Partner of the Week Interview: Hometown Sleep Center
Scam Alert
Veterans beware: There are a lot of programs designed to give you a helping hand, and others designed to take your money.
For example, Scammers will often contact veterans via phone, email, or messaging apps like Facebook Messenger. They claim to be representing a special government program for veterans. This alleged program may be loan forgiveness, mortgage aid, or even a “grant” meant to pay living expenses.
All you must do is pay a one-time processing fee, typically through a pre-paid debit card or digital wallet app, which is harder to trace.
If you pay the “processing fee,” scammers will likely come up with believable reasons for you to pay a second fee and a third, all so you can get an even larger “grant.” Unfortunately, the money doesn’t exist, and you will lose anything you pay them forever.
What can you do to avoid the veteran’s benefit scams that are going around?
- First, do some research. No matter how good an offer sounds, don’t agree to anything immediately without doing research. Look up the program the person is claiming to represent. Read reviews or veteran experiences by doing a general search online. Search the government program along with the word “scam” to see if anyone has reported it as a fraud. Look to official government websites like USA.gov/benefits and USA.gov/military-assistance to see if the program exists.
- Second, don’t’ give in to pressure. Anyone with a legitimate aid program won’t mind if you need some time to think things over and do some research. Scammers often pressure people to act right away, claiming that if they need time to think about it, they’ll miss their chance. High-pressure tactics are a clear sign you’re dealing with a con artist.
- And finally, be wary of unsolicited offers. The government will not contact you out of the blue with an offer. Usually, government communications come through the mail, not over the phone or through email, and certainly not through a messaging app. Even if you receive a letter about a government program, be cautious if you haven’t already requested information.
As sad as it is, these scams are real and are intended to steal the money and reputation of our veterans. So be alert, do research and don’t get pressured.
Minute with Maxwell
- Well, it’s time again for one of our favorite Christian author, speaker, and coaches—It’s time for another Minute with Maxwell. Today, John is going to share with us his thoughts on the word, INSTINCT. Let’s listen in.
- Wow, thanks John. Do you ever have those gut feelings where you know exactly what you need to do or are meant to do? It is called your instinct! John suggests that we prayerfully follow those instincts because if we are walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is directing what we think, say, and do. So, John suggests we prayerfully trust our instincts.
My friend, let me ask you a couple of questions and then suggest an answer.
Here are the questions:
- Do you sometimes leave church and think to yourself, “How am I going to make a difference for Christ? I can’t fly to another country to dig a well or love on orphans.”
- Have you attended a local town meeting and said to yourself, “What use am I? I’m just a woman who works at a bank.”
- Do you watch the evening news and think, “So sad all this violence. So disappointing all this scandal and corruption.”
Well, if you have asked yourself any of these or similar questions, you are certainly not alone. You see, many of us, all too often tend to think there is nothing we can do to impact the world around us. Or we don’t know how. Or where to start.
I would suggest to you that praying for our community could be the first step in helping to change our community and the world.
For example, do you have a strong desire to pray for our Lake Chatuge community but just don’t know how or where to start?
- The Chatuge Community Prayer Force is a new outreach ministry of Christian Financial Ministries which is bringing together community prayer warriors to regularly pray for our community—to pray for our churches, businesses, elected officials, first responders; to pray for our schools, teachers and students; and to also pray for our nation and for the peace of Jerusalem.
- The Chatuge Community Prayer force meets the first Tuesday of each month, from 10-11 AM, at the Chatuge Ministry and Event Center which is the former Mountain Music Theater—the little red building on US HWY 76 between Hiawassee and Young Harris, 1 ½ miles east of the Georgia 17 and 515 intersection.
- So, plan now to come with a prayer partner, or come alone, but come to pray. For more information, please check out our website at christianfinancialministries.org or you can call 678-386-2640, that number again is 678-386-2648. The Chatuge Community Prayer Force—God will use us to make a difference.
Conclusion
Review
Boy, this has been a great time together.
- Recall you learned that Christianity is not a playground, it’s a battleground, to include a financial battleground and, and you are starting to se that God gives you His spiritual armor to pick up and put on as you inter into the battle.
- Then, you got to know Ron at the Hometown Sleep Center.
- You learned about and how to avoid a scam that specifically targets our veterans.
- John Maxwell shared with us his thoughts on the word “INSTINCT.
- And finally you now have your personal invitation to come and be part of a non-denominational prayer force that offers up focused prayer for our local communities.
- Remember you can go to our website at christianfinancialministries to either relisten to or get a transcript of today’s program.
- Let me wrap us up today the way we started and that’s with a word of prayer. Father, I thank you for bringing us together today and for each of the days to come to Your glory in Jesus’ Amen.
Have a blesse d day, won’t you, and we’ll see you next time as we continue down your personal road to Financial Freedom God’s Way.
