TERRILL WE’RE BROKE

“Terrill, we’re broke!”

 In today’s blog, I will share with you a story of one of those times I didn’t obey the word of God and tell you what it cost me.

In 1988, Terrill and I, along with another couple, opened a pizzeria in the college town of West Nyack, NY. It didn’t take long for the business to explode; we were producing $6,500 - $7,000 in sales per week in just over three months of being opened. We were flowing in cash; I could take a salary of $1,000 - $1,500 a week, sometimes even more if I wanted. That was a lot of cash back then; I could pay all the bills and have enough left over to wine and dine my new wife. Life was good and the business was growing. I thought this was what life was going to look like, that is, until Jesus stepped in. I began feeling an emptiness, sadness, and sometimes even depression. I thought to myself, “What could possibly be wrong?” It was at this time that Jesus reminded me that He had called me into full-time ministry as a vocation.  Nothing else would satisfy me: not owning my own business, not making a lot of money, and surely not any material possession.

Things had to change. I couldn’t live like this any longer; I knew God had a call on my life and I had to surrender to it. Finally, one night when Terrill came to pick me up after work, I said, “I can’t do this any longer. We have to give up the business and start to pursue full-time ministry service.” Terrill agreed, and that’s when our whole world was turned upside down. I couldn’t take a buyout from our partners because I was choosing to leave. I felt so guilty for leaving a busy, flourishing business that I just gave our half of the business to our partners and went on my way.

I went from making thousands of dollars a week to literally making nothing a week. My pastor/mentor wanted to help us financially, so he asked the deacon board to give me a job cleaning the church. My salary was $125 a week. We were very grateful, but that obviously wasn’t going to pay for the rent, food, gas, etc., so we got behind in all our bills faster then a New York second.

We began to feel the financial pressure building up; it was getting unbearable, so we went into prayer. We went into the kitchen together, looked out the window, and prayed: “Lord, we will never turn back. We will serve You, even if we get evicted from this apartment, go bankrupt, have our car repossessed, and live in a tent eating government cheese!” One of the first lessons I learned was to be careful what you say because God hears and will test your resolve. This test is not really for Him because He knows your heart, but it is for you. He wanted us to learn to say only what we meant, so He put us to the test.

Shortly after that prayer, we got an eviction notice, the car was repossessed, we went bankrupt, and we were eating government cheese. We went bankrupt because I never legally got my name taken off of the partnership papers. My ex-partner fell on hard times and just shut the doors of the pizzeria. I was still a legal partner, so the creditors came after me for $45,000 of fixture and food supply debt. They had my $125 a week salary garnished at 10% and were going to keep pursuing me for the money owed them. I panicked. How was I ever going to pay off that much debt? I went to my pastor and asked him, “Should a Christian go bankrupt?” I told him the story and how we were now responsible for $45,000 of debt from the pizzeria that we left over a year ago. When I left the business to my partner it was making good money; we were paying off the build out costs and had thousands in the bank. I asked, “Should I be responsible for that debt?” I told him whatever he felt was morally right, I would do it. If he and our elder board said it was my responsibility, I would pay it over my lifetime. If they said it was fine to go bankrupt, I would do that. They deliberated over the facts and concluded I wasn’t responsible for the pizzeria closing its doors or for the debt it left behind. I went bankrupt, which caused me to have bad credit for seven years. To me, that was a much lesser penalty then being in huge debt for possibly the rest of my life. This situation didn’t stop the Lord from rebounding us financially. Today, we are debt free, tithing, supporting four missionary families, and giving to individuals needs as we can.

LESSONS LEARNED:

Partnerships aren’t necessarily wrong, but never enter into an agreement unless the Lord has ordained it. Proverbs 22:26 says, “Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or put up security for (another’s) debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.”

This can also mean to be very careful about co-signing for another’s loan, and I would add, be careful with whom you go into partnership. I would say from experience, never co-sign for anyone’s loan. You may just wind up paying for something you don’t even possess. The Lord feels very strongly about this; read Proverbs 6:1-5.

 Also, never be unequally yoked. II Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

We use this passage in reference to dating and marriage, and that is an appropriate use, but it also can be used in the context of a business relationship, as well. I know there are Christians and non-Christians who may have had a successful business partnership but that would be an exception and not a rule.

My intention is not to tell you what to do, but to give you some wisdom from my life experience that you can ponder and hopefully help you not make some of the same mistakes I have made.

 I would say that we shouldn’t use bankruptcy just to get ourselves out of consumer debt. If we dug ourselves into a huge financial hole because of consumer spending, we should get some counsel and a proven plan to pay off all our debt. I did, and I will tell you stories of how I did it in future blogs. Bankruptcy is not a get-out-of-jail-free card, and it would be morally wrong, for example, to charge up $10,000 or more in consumer debt and then go bankrupt just to free yourself from your responsibility to pay it back. Yes, there are circumstances where we morally could go bankrupt, that’s why the law exists – to give people who fall on hard times a second chance, but we should get Godly and financial counsel before we make a decision.

Proverbs 22:7 – “…and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

Psalm 37:21 – “the wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.”

Lastly, a big lesson I learned is to not blame other people for your bad decisions. Take 100% responsibility for your part in a bad situation.

Next time, I want to talk about having nothing, but yet having all we needed.

TO TITHE OR NOT TO TIHE

TO TITHE OR NOT TO TITHE

This week I promised I would answer the question, “Isn’t tithing Old Testament law?” I will answer this question with some commonsense thinking, practical wisdom, and with the word of God.

So is the tithe for us today or did it only apply to the Old Testament Jews? Malachi 3:6 says, “I AM the Lord, I do not change”. If God did not change, then when did His law change? Well Mike, we live under grace now and not the law. Think about it: can we say that because murder was forbidden under the law that it is now acceptable under grace? How about adultery? It was also forbidden under the law, but is it now acceptable under grace? My wife would tell you “nope,” and of course, she would be right. Why is she right? Because Jesus said, “If you hate your brother in your heart you have already committed murder” and “If you lust after a woman in your heart you have already committed adultery”. (Matthew 5:22,28) OUCH! 

In Matthew 5:17-20 it says, “Do not think I have come to destroy the law or the Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill them.” Grace is not an excuse to disobey the law, rather because we are now the children of God, we desire to live a Holy and pleasing life unto Jesus, which results in us naturally wanting to live and obey God’s law.

I know what you might be thinking: This is talking about God’s moral law and it has nothing to do with tithing. You got me!! No, you didn’t! Let’s reason further. Did God’s natural laws change whether people lived under the law or grace? Let’s think about that for a minute. Take the law of gravity. It has existed since the beginning of creation and it has never changed. How do I know? Because I know if I jump off the top of a building I’m not going to float. I’m absolutely sure I’m going to hit the pavement and get very damaged. The natural law of sowing and reaping has also never changed. If you plant an apple seed, you are going get an apple tree in due time, and if you sow a lot of seeds, you’re going to get a lot of trees. There is a sunrise and a sunset, a day and a night; there are different seasons of the year. God’s natural laws did not change.

Finally, God’s laws of money never changed either. Proverbs 3:9-10 says, ”Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops [all of your finances]; then your barns will be filled to overflowing; and your vats will brim over with new wine. Let’s look at II Corinthians 9:6-11, “Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: ‘they have freely scattered theirs gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever’ Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” This scripture doesn’t say anything about giving the tithe (10%), that’s true. But I don’t think it is saying you should give less than the tithe. I think it is expressing that we should be extremely generous giving above the tithe to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters.

You can read Proverbs 10:22, Malachi 3:10, Deuteronomy 28:12, Psalm 112:9. On and on the scriptures speak of the laws of money, and they have never changed. There are also negative laws attached to money as well, such as Proverbs 22:7.

Let’s conclude this blog by looking at the benefits of tithing. First of all, the tithe provides for the ministries and salaries of the church and missionary organizations. When we tithe, it stretches our faith in God as our Provider and helps to destroy a selfish and stingy spirit in our lives. And finally, the Lord promises to open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing on our lives and possessions.

My intent here wasn’t to give an exhaustive teaching on tithing, but to simply answer the question “Is tithing irrelevant for us who live under grace?” If you are interested in learning more about tithing, I recommend the two-book series The Blessed Life and Beyond Blessed by Robert Morris.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

Did you ever see the movie Jerry Maguire? One of the most famous lines in the movie is when Cuba Gooding’s character cries out, “show me the money!” I kind of feel like God is crying out that same phrase to us in Malachi chapter 3:8-11. https://www.bible.com/search/bible?q=Malachi%203:8-11.

When we first went into the ministry I was so confused where I was to give our offerings and was I supposed to tithe? Was I supposed to give at all? After all, I was receiving tithes, gifts, or offerings from others to provide for our needs as missionaries and was I now supposed to give that money back to the church? I was confused, to say the least. So, I settled it in my mind, “nah, of course I wasn’t supposed to give that money back”. People gave it to us for our needs. So we didn’t tithe but we did give offerings as we felt we could afford it. That kind of made sense so we settled on doing that. Boy, was that a mistake!

It was October 1995 and Terrill, the kids, and I were living in a rented house and it was one of those weeks where we could either pay the electric bill or give an offering to the church. I chose to keep the lights on and figured I could “make it up” to God sometime in the future. That following week we received no offerings in the mail, our savings was very little and now we had hardly any money at all, I mean like zero dollars. The following Monday we walked into our staff meeting only to be greeted by the sounds of a young women loudly crying and repenting to God, “please forgive me for robbing you God, I repent and I will never do that again!” In that moment the Spirit of God convicted me of my robbing him and I joined in the crying and repenting. I told Jesus that day, “I will never rob you again, I will tithe and give you what belongs to you (in reality everything belongs to Him) even if the lights go out and we have nothing to eat, please forgive me Lord!” The following week we received a tax return check for $1,200.00 and a letter with a $250.00 check in it from a friend. What I am about to write to you is true, since that Monday back in 1995 until today we have never missed a week of giving our tithe to the Lord’s work. We have never gone without a home, food, clothes, or any other provision. We have had cars last for 230,000 miles and never need a major repair, we have purchased homes, cars, we have traveled the world and the Lord has always provided for our financial needs. We started giving the tithe (10%) but now we give much above that.

Listen, I’m not saying Jesus is a genie in a bottle and you can rub your Bible and make a request and Jesus will pop out and grant it. I’m also NOT saying you can command God to make you rich, or every material thing you want you can have if you just tithe. All of those ideas are unbiblical. I am saying that God is a promise keeper. He said if you don’t give Him the first 10% of your income you are robbing Him and there will be a curse or no blessing on your finances or possessions. He also said we can test Him in this and if we do He will pour out a blessing so great we will not have enough room in our lives to contain it. I know you have questions like, “isn’t tithing old testament law?” “How about 2nd Corinthians 9 - aren’t we supposed to give whatever we can by our own decision as long as we are happy about it?” “Is the blessing always in the form of money?” I will answer those questions and many more in my next blog but for now I challenge you to read Malachi 3:8-11 (link above) and begin to test God’s word. “I WILL open the windows of heaven for you. I WILL pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” (NLT version) Hey God said it, that makes it final so I believe it! Show Him the money!

Money, Money, Money

That got your attention didn’t it? Most people think about money a lot. I know I did and at times I still do. My wife and I have been missionary pastors for 25 years living by faith and trusting God to meet our every need. When we started out in ministry we lived off less than $20,000.00 a year to support a family of 4. Through the years we have owned 3 houses, put our daughters through Esthetician and Cosmetology school ($38,000.00), bought them their first car, paid for their weddings ($40,000.00), set up their Roth Ira accounts and today we are debt free. We are still living on faith and trusting God for all our needs. In the blog posts to come I will share with you the miracle stories of how God provided the finances for all of this. We have followed the principles of finance written in the word of God and I can tell you with my whole heart God’s word is true! He is a promise keeper and He never changes. I’m not just going to share with you stories of financial success but I am going to be totally vulnerable and share with you the times I disobeyed God with our finances, the money it cost me, and the lessons I learned. I am an older man now, I have lived an amazing life and feel an obligation of love to share the lessons of my life with you. God is no respecter of persons. That means He has no favorites (we are all His favorites) and what He has done for me He will do for you. He won’t do it in the same ways He did it for me but He will do great financial things for you as you learn His principles of handling money and apply them. I can’t wait to blog again as I have so much to tell you.

Blessings to you in the SON,

Pastor Mike E