Top Seven STUPID Financial Mistakes That I’ve Made–Part One

Joe preached an awesome sermon this past Sunday…and I can honestly say that the dude is smokin’ what he’s sellin’. I began reflecting on his talk and about how he is very upfront about the fact he made some dumb mistakes with money…

SO DID I…and I wanted to share them with you…

#1 - I Did Not Place Jesus First In My Finances

OR…in other words…I did not tithe.

I used the excuse that I could not afford to tithe…and it was through some painful financial lessons that God actually showed me that I could not afford NOT to tithe. God kept bringing me back to Matthew 6:21 and Matthew 6:24 over and over again…and in the fall of 1999 I completely surrendered the 10%. (And I’ve never missed it!)

#2 - I treated tithing as the finish line.

When I began tithing I sort of expected God to strike up the heavenly marching band…and for about a year I was quite proud of my newly formed spiritual discipline…until…

In the summer of 2000 Jason Wilson, our Executive Pastor, was speaking at NewSpring Church and said, “We all know that Scripture says to tithe…what I want to ask tonight is what are you doing with the other 90% to advance His Kingdom; after all, He does own it all!”

That statement hit me in the face like a ton of bricks…Psalm 24:1 became more real to me than ever before…and that night I surrendered the other 90% to Jesus!

Tithing isn’t the finish line…it’s the starting point…God has called us to be generous givers–HE IS!!! (II Corinthians 9:15)

#3 - I thought I could NEVER get out of debt.

When Lucretia and I got married on April 8, 2000 we had over $100,000 worth of debt and DIDN’T EVEN OWN A HOME. It was all credit cards, student loans and ridiculous purchases (all made by me!)

I felt trapped–heck, I was trapped…and I had just about given up hope until I heard about this guy named Dave Ramsey. It was in one of his all day sessions that I began to understand that I could get out of debt…but it was going to take sacrifice, a lifestyle adjustment…but it COULD be done!

In November of 2007 Lucretia and I became debt free…we owe on nothing except for the house. Trust me–if we can do it–YOU CAN TOO!!!

(By the way…if you are making one of these mistakes…OR any of the next four that I will talk about later on this week…and you do not MAKE it a priority to get to Joe’s class this weekend…you’re passing on an incredible opportunity!  Seriously, there is NO REASON for you to be in debt…when Jesus sets us free…WE ARE FREE, and yet so many Christians go and enslave themselves to debt! BREAK FREE THIS WEEKEND!!! BE HERE!)

Stay tuned for the other four…