Chris Hodges - The Way Out of the Mess
All right. How's everybody doing today? Y'all doing great? I said, are you doing great today? Oh, it's so good to see you. You look fantastic. Welcome to week number five and the conclusion of this series that we've called "Life, Money, and Hope," and I'll tell you more about that in just a second, but as always, I'd like to take just a moment and look straight into that camera and say hello to all of our other locations. We are one church in locations all across Alabama and two in Georgia. I was thinking this morning, man, just what an amazing thing. I never dreamed that this would be what this church would look like, and I'm so grateful for the influence. I want you guys to know that even though we don't see each other today physically, that you're in my heart always. I pray for you every single day. And what an amazing honor.
Again, I never get used to saying this. What an incredible honor it is that the Alabama Department of Corrections allows us to bring all that we are as a church into more than 22 facilities across our state, and we're so honored. I like to always remind you guys that are there that you're not a project to us. You are our church family, and we love you with all of our heart. And of course, we have people that are watching either live online or maybe later on-demand, and we're so glad you're along for the ride. Grantsville, say the biggest hello you can. Come on, everybody. Oh, yeah. And I wanted to let you know that next Sunday, we're beginning a brand-new series about the miracles of Jesus.
So, as you know, many of you know that we felt like God spoke to us and that 2024 would be marked as a year of miracles, as a year where we say "only God could have done that". And so, as we approach Easter, we're going to take some weeks and just look through the life of Jesus and the miracles that he performed and learn the lessons. You're gonna love this series, and it's gonna lead right up, we have an early Easter this year, everybody, on March 31st. And so we're gonna be celebrating over three days. The Resurrection Sunday, we'll celebrate Resurrection Sunday on Friday, Saturday, and on Sunday. We'll have a Good Friday service. It'll be the same message and music with this one ad: and that is we will include communion and a little bit more of a focus on the cross as we remember what Jesus did for us on that Good Friday.
I always like to say it was good for us. It was very, very difficult for him, but he paid the price so that all of us could be free. And then here at Grants Mill, and you check your own campus for the service times at your location, every campus is adding services, but here, we'll have Friday night, we'll have two Saturday, and then four on Sunday. And we do this because that's the Sunday that everybody who calls Highlands home comes on the same Sunday, so it's a lot of people on that day. And then of course, we usually have, if history repeats itself, we'll have more than 10,000 people here for the very first time. And it's just the best chance, by the way, ever if you're ever going to have somebody with you in church.
So, if you have somebody in your heart or your mind that is far from God and you've been looking for the best opportunity to invite them to church and to sit with you, I would recommend this weekend because studies say this is your best. Out of the 52 Sundays, this is the best chance for a "yes". And so maybe start now. Pray. We have four weeks. Start praying about your friend and the people that you know, and then invite them to a service. And if you are attending a service that is already full and you know who you are, if you're in a service that that service time is completely full, try to avoid that particular service time on that weekend, unless that's the one your friend wants to come to.
I actually have someone that I've been talking to and praying with. In fact, I have three people, but one of them is very, very close, and he's very hungry for God. He's never been in church his whole life. In fact, I think he's even watching right now. I told him, "Hey, would you watch"? I won't say who he is, but there's someone watching right now that I've been praying for, that God would touch his life, and if you are watching, we're so glad. I want you to come to Easter. So, hopefully your online experience is great, but there's nothing like being in the room with all these people, and I want you to experience worship on the day that Jesus got up out of that grave. Can I hear a good amen, everybody?
All right. Okay. So, let me tell you about how this series originated, and then what I'm gonna bring to you, I believe God wants me to bring to you, in this final installment. So it was back during the Thanksgiving break, I'd taken a few days off while we were at the movies, and Tammy and I got away. And I use those times to just to have longer times of reflection and prayer, and I was thinking about this series. I'm always about three to four months ahead of all of us in my preparations for Sundays, and I was thinking about this season.
I was praying for 2024, and I really felt like the Lord spoke to me that I needed to prepare you for life. Not just regular life, not life as normal, but perhaps that this year, even though marked as a year of miracles, that it also could be a challenging year. I don't know what, it was something in my spirit, that felt like, man, I don't know if we're really prepared for all that might happen in 2024. And I don't know if that's just because of what's happening on the world stage or yet another election year, and those are always a lot of fun. You know what I'm saying? And just the things that come along with that. But I really felt in my heart that I needed to prepare you.
As a pastor, I needed to prepare you for life, for relationships, for our thinking, for our marriages. We've been talking about these... and in the area of money. And I'm not talking about money as it relates to being generous, I'm talking about helping you. What do you have to do to get out of some of the financial situations we find ourselves in? And I kind of dedicated this last installment really as a "how do you get out of the financial black hole" kind of a message, like a financial freedom, get out of debt kind of a message. And I'll have to be honest with you, while I was preparing, and I'll give you a little bit of that, I really felt like the Lord was saying there's a lot of areas where people are in desperate situations, let me say it this way, where you feel like your life is in this deep, dark hole and you don't know your way out.
You feel hopeless in this life mess, this situation you find yourself in. And so, even though I will direct it somewhat toward our finances and finding some freedom there so we don't have to be trapped by some of the decisions we made, I want you to know that this is dedicated to anybody who feels hopeless and like you're in a mess that you created and you don't know the way out. And I wanna use a very familiar to Christians, a very familiar story or parable that Jesus made up, he made up stories called parables to illustrate spiritual truth, and this one might be the most famous one of all, and it's called "the prodigal son".
And I'm gonna show you how this story really shows us how we get in the mess, and we all need to learn that so we can avoid it, right? But also, how we get out of the mess that we find ourselves in. It's found in Luke chapter 15, and it says, "There was a man who had two sons," and Jesus is just making up this story to illustrate some truth that I want you to see, "And the younger of the two sons said to his father," Dad, I wish you were dead, because if you were dead, I could have my inheritance now. And unfortunately, I have to wait till you die to get what you're leaving me, and he basically was, it was that rude of a comment. He said, "Father, give me my share of the estate," I'm ready now, even though you're still alive.
Of course, I would have said, "Uh-uh, go on, brother. You ain't having this," right? But his father obliged, "And he divided his property between the two boys," and the Bible says that "Not long after that, the younger son got together all that he had, and he set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth and wild living". It's just amazing to me that this boy would be willing to sacrifice relationship for something that his appetite wanted, and of course, when he got there, he squandered it all the Bible says, "And after he spent everything," so now, he's completely broke, "there was," wouldn't you know it, "a severe famine in the land". And that oftentimes happens.
So, if you've ever gotten into a situation where you know you created it initially, but then something else happened externally that's now adding to that, I want you to hear something. God will allow that to happen. I don't believe personally that he ever creates, I don't think God is capable of anything bad, but I do know that he will allow the tough things that happen to us in life. He'll let us go through it because we learn our best lessons in our pain, and so, here he is. He spent everything, so he's broke. He did that to himself. And now, there's a famine in the land, so he's now double broke, right?
And so, "He began to be in need. And so he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, and the only job he could find was feeding pigs," which was a problem for a Jewish person, especially, right? So, I picture him now wallowing in ankle-deep slop while he, the Bible says, "longed to fill his stomach with the pods," the food, "that he was feeding the pigs with and nobody gave him anything". And to me, this gives this beautiful picture of these stages of what gets us in the mess that we find ourselves in, and I just want to show you these. These aren't gonna be genius. You're not gonna go, "Oh my goodness! I never knew that". It's just gonna be reminders. And it all begins with a lie.
The prodigal thought his life would be better if he had cash now. And not only "cash now," but that he wanted to take what he would ultimately get later, and he wanted it now. His life would be so much better. He had what a lot of people have, and that is this "grass is greener on the other side" syndrome. So sometimes there are those of you who are married, you're still looking around. You need to stop that, right? You think, "Man, she would be better than what I have," or, "He would be oh so much better than I have," or, "Man, if I drove that and if I owned that". You're looking at this grass is greener on the other side. Let me remind you: if the grass is greener on the other side, the water bill is higher.
Come on, somebody, right? Okay, so be careful. Just ask someone who has gone through that, and they will tell you it's costing them everything. And you need to be careful because it looks so good in your mind, but it's a lie. The prodigal son believed a lie. By the way, that is the weapon that the enemy uses against us. He really doesn't have any physical power over you. He has this power of suggestion, and he puts these lies of things in your head with your appetites, like "you need this". No you don't. And then when that happens, it leads you to the second stage, and that is: then you begin to do some self-destructive behavior. And I intentionally worded it this way because it's self-destructive.
So, it's at this point, a lot of people like to blame where they are on somebody else. "No, no. It's not my fault, it's the economy's fault. It's the government's fault. It's my boss's fault. It's my mom and dad's fault". No, no. It's not. These are self-destructive behaviors. So we do this to ourselves. And by the way, don't feel bad. We all do that. I did it. I'm getting ready to tell you the story of how I got in some very bad self-destructive behavior early on in Tammy and my marriage, and it just, it burned us really, really bad, right? And it usually happens, if you're a note taker, jot this down in your extra notes.
I see some of you guys with your app open taking notes. It's because you want instant gratification. So it's ultimately gonna come, but you want it now. I want it now. So you young people, let me tell you about something long time ago. I'm 60 years old, and everybody my age and older remembers this thing called layaway. Come on. How many of y'all know what layaway is? This is gonna shock you, young people. You know what layaway is? You go to the store, you find something you like, and you start making payments on it. And then when you make the last payment, you get it. They held it until you made the final payment. We have flipped the system. And now you get it before you can pay for it, and then, by the time you make the last payment, you don't even know where it is anymore. Isn't that right?
Okay, okay. All right. It's a messed up system. And it's because we want instant gratification, and delayed gratification is so much better. And it's actually healthier for our lives. Because we end up in this self-destructive behavior. Usually, what happens is you end up isolating yourself from the people that can help you, and especially men. So again, I'm gonna tell you the story of the situation Tammy and I found ourselves in, and the last thing I wanted to do was admit it. Because you won't be able to think, "No, no, no. We fine". And the truth is, you have debt up to your eyeballs. You're drowning, and no one knows. You've bought things that you can't afford to impress people you don't even like. You know what I'm saying? You're in a situation, and Lord knows we don't need for anybody else to know, and which ultimately leads us to the mess that we find ourselves in.
Now, we're in the hole, and it doesn't feel like there is a way out. In fact, I found this Psalm just yesterday that seemed to really express how I know I felt whenever I get in a situation by my own making that feels like there's not a way of escape. It's found in Psalm 88, and it says, "You've made my friends to loathe me," it feels like sometimes when you're in that situation that everybody else's life is working better, and now, almost like the world is mocking you. "My friends loathe me, and they have gone away. And I'm in a trap with no way out".
So Tammy and I, this May, will be married 38 years, and the first ten of them were pretty rough financially. And they were rough because of some decisions that we made but primarily that I made. So, even before we got married and I was getting an engagement ring, I didn't have the money for an engagement ring, so I borrowed for the engagement ring, which is okay. I don't really necessarily really regret that. I got the most beautiful woman on the planet, but I owed on that ring. And then we get married, and then one day, while we were at our little townhouse apartment, there was a knock on the door, and some of you guys that are younger, you don't know what this is either. It's called a door-to-door salesman, okay?
And this brother was selling World Book Encyclopedias, and my life was gonna be so much better if we had those 50 books somewhere. We didn't even have kids, so I don't know who was gonna read them, but anyway, we were gonna get a set of World Book Encyclopedias. I could not afford it. And then he kept selling me, and it was only $50 a month for the rest of my life. You know what I'm saying, everybody? Okay. And I'll never forget the payment. I'll never forget writing. Back then they would give you like a little booklet of pages, and you tear one out and you, you know, so you could keep up with how many more payments you have. And that sucker felt like it was about that thick of little payment slips that I had to make about $50 a month. And the next month, I actually went and bought a piano.
So, I played piano growing up. When I lived at my mom and dad's house, I had a piano to play. I was classically trained, but I felt like, man, we need, I need a piano, and it was several thousand dollars. I just got this little spinet piano, and I borrowed for that. Well, about a year later, Tammy and I get called to be youth pastors at this church, this growing church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. And so, anyway, we were there, got this debt, and they weren't really paying me that well. In fact, I remember we could basically, our salary would only pay for the apartment rent and just a little bit of food. And I'm not telling you a sad story to play on your emotions. I'm just telling you. I mean, it was tight.
I remember us buying a sack of potatoes just to make as much potato soup as we could. It was rough. And then snow fell, and this Cajun ain't ever seen snow in his life, you know what I'm saying? And I thought, "I'm gonna die. I will die on these roads. That snow is gonna kill me. I'm gonna slide all over the place". Got in my car and went over to the Toyota dealership. I had a paid-for 1985 Honda Accord, baby blue, baby, and so, took that baby blue, paid-for Honda Accord over to the Toyota dealership and said, I got to have four-wheel drive, and I didn't. I learned much later that you can survive anyway. I was convinced that I needed a four-wheel drive car to survive the roads of snow.
And I had a salesman there, and I'm not knocking those of you guys who sell cars, but this brother was not for me. Because I went in there and said, "This is what I can afford". He goes, "Oh yeah, but we can do this". He kept showing me stuff that was outside of that. I said, "My brother, I can't afford it". He goes, "Oh yes, you can". He kept saying, "Oh yes, you can". And he pulled me into this showroom, y'all, with this dark gray metallic four-wheel-drive 4Runner. And y'all, the heavens opened. Angels sang. I felt this, God, some anointing was there. I don't know if it was the popcorn or God. I don't know. Something was there.
Next thing I know I'm sitting in that office, and I remember thinking, I mean, I'm signing my name, going, "You can't pay for it. You can't afford this". And I'm just signing it away, you know. And sure enough, we got home, and we started trying to make payments, and we already had this other debt that I mentioned to you, and we couldn't afford it anymore. And we were so upside down, and then I finally broke down and called my daddy. I was crying my eyeballs out. My daddy is the most brilliant financial mind I ever knew, and I said, "Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, I need some help". And by the way, Dad didn't give me a penny. Y'all hear me, everybody? Not a cent! I'll never forget the conversation over the phone.
He said, "All right. I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna help you get out of this mess". He said, "Are you tithing"? I said, "Yes, sir". I said, "I work at a church. I'm tithing, yes, sir". And he goes, "Are you saving"? I said, "No, sir. I'm not". He goes, "Chris, you have to save for bad days are coming. You know, they happen". I said, "Dad, I don't have the money to save. I've used up all my savings to pay for what I couldn't afford". He goes, "Okay, we're gonna fix that". He goes, "You're gonna have to sell that 4Runner". I said, "Dad, I owe more on it than it's worth now". I mean, I don't know how that works, but just those wheels just turned that much and it thousands go off of it just as soon as you drive it off the lot. And he goes, "No, you still have to sell it". I said, "Are you serious"?
And so, we sold it and still owed. Didn't have it. Didn't have it. But didn't owe as much, just owed a little bit more, and got rid of it and traded it in for a Subaru, everybody, a red, ugly red, I mean, like faded red. I think that thing was 200 years old. It was a Subaru, and it was so bad. It had a hole in the floor. I pushed like Fred Flintstone, everybody. I was like, not quite, but pretty close. And I hated that car. It's like every day it reminded me of the hole I got myself in. It was a good reminder for me. Because I had to get out. And Tammy and I were fighting, and we don't fight. And y'all, if you know Tammy, you know if we're fighting, that's you, Chris. That's all you, and it's true because she's the sweetest. In fact, if you can't get along with Tammy, you're probably the Antichrist. You know what I'm saying? Like, she's the nicest person on the planet.
And next thing you know, we're feeling the effect. And dad got me on a get out of debt plan that I followed thoroughly. Ended up getting some, you know, doing piano lessons with that piano. I was working two jobs basically now and trying to get out of that mess, and seven years to the date, we got freed from that kind of a debt, and we have not borrowed like that ever again, to God be the glory. It changed me. It changed me a lot, and it's why I lead the church the way we lead it to this day. We borrowed one time just to get into the Grantsville facility, and we haven't borrowed again, to God be the glory, because I don't want to be underchoked in of all that, right, everybody? And when you fall in a situation like this, you feel like, you feel like there's not only in a trap that where there's no way out, but you don't even feel like God wants to help you right then.
So I wanna clear the record for you. He does. In fact, the Bible says he's actually closer to you when you're in your mess, and that's what I wanted to tell somebody today and to my friend that's watching hopefully. Like, he's not unattracted by your mess. You don't have to get your mess together for him to help you. He's attracted to your mess. "The Lord is near those who are discouraged; and he sees those who have lost hope". He likes it. And I get that now because I'm a dad.
So, I didn't like it when my kids made mistakes, but I actually enjoyed when they called on me in the middle of them. And there was something about, like, I'm gonna help you. I'm glad you reached out to me. I'm gonna help you through this, and God will help you too. You know why? Because he's the God that... you can never take God too far. It's never too far, and it's never too late. Because he's the God who raises the dead. I said you can never go too far, and it's never too late because he's the God who raises the dead. Are y'all listening to me, everybody?
It's very important for you to know about your God. I learned this, that phrase, I learned it vividly from a woman in our church 20 years ago, who, on a Saturday morning, came out during the prayer service and said, "Pastor Chris, I need you to pray for me". She was sobbing her little head off, and I said, "What's going on"? She goes, "My husband left me for his secretary". He and his secretary are living together now. And she was just sobbing her little eyes out. I said, "How do you want me to pray"? She goes, "I want God to restore my marriage. I want him back. I want this thing healed". Well, two years pass, and every time I'd see her, I'd say, "How we doing"? She goes, "I'm still believing the God who raises the dead. If he can raise the dead, he can fix this".
She had such amazing faith. I've never really seen anything like it. Two years later, she comes up, and she goes, "You're never gonna believe who called me this morning". I said, "Your husband"? She goes, "He called me this morning". He said he sat up in bed that morning, that Saturday morning, and just the fog lifted off of him. He goes, "Oh my goodness! I'm in bed with my secretary". And he said he got up, called his wife, and said, "I don't even know if you're willing to have this conversation". He says, "But I'd love to work on getting our marriage back". She says, "Pastor Chris, what do I say to him"? I said, "Well, tell him it ain't gonna be today". You know what I mean?
In fact, we gonna make that brother wait a little while, you know? And I'm still amazed by the faith and the persistence of this woman who believes that it's never too late and that God raises the dead, and we got them in counseling. And it was nine months or more, I think, and their marriage got healed, restored. He repented. God put it back together, and they're one of the strongest families in this church today. Can we pause and give God praise for that, everybody? Yes. Good. And I say that to raise your faith that you've never gone too far, and it's never too late. And that's what happened to the prodigal.
So the Bible says, the next verse says, "He came to his senses," the fog lifted. That's something I pray for in every one of your hearts and minds every Sunday, that this would be the day where you go, "Oh my goodness, I see it". "He came to his senses and he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!'" And then he said, "I will set out," so he's like, he's formulating this plan in his mind, "And I'm gonna go back to my father and I'm gonna say to him," so he rehearsed this speech, and he's rehearsing it while he's in ankle deep slop and throwing pig food out, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. And I'm no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants".
In other words, don't take me back as a son. If you'll just hire me. And then this next line is pretty powerful because it's one thing to think it, it's another thing to do it. "He got up and went to his father. And while he was still a long way off," one of my favorite lines in the entire Bible, "While he was still a long way off," so he's making his way back home, "And while he's a long way off, his father saw him," now, the only way for that to be true is if the father was just on the front porch waiting. And maybe that was just randomly, that was the one day he went out there and looked. I don't think so.
I think he was out there every day from the day his son left, and he just stood out there on the front porch and just looked and probably thought this: I hope this is the day my son comes back. I hope this is the day that he involves me back in his mess and in his life. And I'm here to say something to all of you and to my friend: that God is on the front porch of your life, and he's waiting, and he's asking this question: I wonder if this is gonna be the day that they let me in your life. Let me help you fix the mess that you find yourself in. And the Bible says that "he was filled with compassion," so many people have such wrong views of God.
This boy could not have wronged his daddy more than what he did, and the father wasn't disgusted. I mean, he didn't like it, but he wasn't disgusted. "He was filled with compassion for him; in fact, ran toward him and met him halfway, threw his arms around him and kissed him". And Jesus uses this story to describe to you how God feels about you when you find yourself in the mess you've created too. The story goes on. The son does the speech and says, "Hey, just hire me. I'm not even asking you to take me back as a son". He goes, "No way". He goes, "You're my son". And he put a robe on him, sandals on his feet, ring on his finger, killed the fatted calf. They had a feast and celebrated because what was lost was now found.
Beautiful story. I'd love for you to read the rest of it. But in this story, it gives us four principles that I wanna pass on to you. Whether you find yourself in a mess or you will in the future, this is how you find your way out of the mess. And the first is: you have to acknowledge the reality of where you really are. So one of the things that people do wrong whenever they find yourself in a mess is we tend to minimize it, like, I made a bunch of mistakes. No you didn't, you sinned. Or, yeah, we're kind of in a little bit of financial trouble. No, no, no. You're in bondage. The Bible says that the borrower is slave to the lender. No, no, no. I'm in a mess.
And for a lot of people, they avoid words like "repent". That's a positive word, everyone. And I'm trying to teach you something that God is actually attracted to those who just say, "I did it, every bit of it. Guilty as charged. I'm not even worthy to be called your son". And God goes, "Man, I really like that kind of attitude". I mean, I think of the Psalmist, David, King David, who commits adultery with Bathsheba, then has her husband sent to the front lines so that he'll be killed in an attempt to cover up this adultery only to be exposed by the prophet.
And then, when David gets busted, basically, it gets found out he didn't minimize it. He didn't go, "Well, I'm the king, and I can have whatever I want". No, no, no. He said, in the great repentance Psalm of Psalm 51, a Psalm I have prayed hundreds of times in my life, "Have," say it out loud, "Have mercy". Mercy, You know what mercy is? Mercy is different than grace. Grace is getting something that you didn't deserve. Mercy is not getting what you did deserve. So it basically, in the word itself says, "You probably shouldn't even do this because I deserve it". And there's something about that attitude that God is attracted to, and I'm trying to teach you this. It's one of the most beautiful principles.
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out," the place where I spent too much, did too much, went too far, I transgressed. I crossed the line, God. I crossed the line. And then he says this in verse 5 and 6: "Surely I've been a sinner," like this isn't even my first time. This has been in my heart since the day I was born, "Sinful from the time my mother conceived me," and watch this, final line: "Surely you desire truth".
Listen to me, church. He's not looking for perfection. He's looking for honesty. It's one of the things I loved about my kids is there's one thing finding out something they did that they were trying to cover up, but it's another one when they came to me and said, "Dad, I need you to know something". And I found myself always more merciful, compassionate, helpful to them when they came to me with the information versus the information I discovered. Are y'all following me, everybody?
And I want us to be the kind of people who go to our God and just say, "I'm confessing my sin to you". And the Bible says that God is attracted to, that he's drawn to, those who cry out this way. In fact, in Psalm 32, which most scholars believe is the Psalm chronologically that's after Psalm 51, David said, "When I refuse to do it, when I refuse to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. And day and night it feels like your hand of discipline is upon me," and I wanna read this to you because for some of you, that's how you feel. It's like God's even making it worse right now, but what he's trying to do is get your attention so you'll change some things and come to him. He says, "My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.
And finally, I confessed all my sins to you, and I stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, 'I will confess my,'" and notice he didn't minimize it, "'my rebellion to the LORD.' And you forgave me! And all my guilt is," say it out loud, "It's all gone". And there's just nothing I want more for you than that, to have the feeling of, "Wow, I came to God and I was honest, and he forgave me". The second thing that the prodigal did is he developed a plan of attack. So, you can't just say, "I'm sorry," but now we have to do something, right? We have to do something. "I will go back to my father," he said.
And one of the things that we love doing here at Highlands is helping people. Not just pray for you at an altar or give you a great sermon and an amen, but no, no, no, you can get involved in a group. Our campuses have counseling, like we can connect you to people. There are scores of financial freedom groups. There's addiction recovery groups. Like, you can take the mess that you find yourself in and we can put a plan together where this can be in your history and no longer taking it into your future. The Proverbs says that "the plans of the diligent lead to profit," and I prophesy that over you today, that if you'll just get a plan, it'll lead to a better life. You can get out of that financial black hole. You can get out of the mess that you made with your morals or your relationships.
You say, "Well, Chris, what does that really look like"? It's not as hard as you think. I did this for so many hundreds of families before I became a senior pastor. When I was an associate pastor, one of my jobs was to take couples, sit at their kitchen tables, and take them through, you know, debt recovery. Because I learned it myself, and I just had a passion for it. And it's not that hard. The first step is no new debt. Gotta stop the bleeding. You know, I even had one lady, she had a disc, but she actually froze her credit cards, like in a gallon, so if she wanted something, she had to go home, unfreeze it, take it back out and go to the store.
And by the time she got there, like, I don't want it anymore. That's the point. Tammy and I have a 72-hour rule. Oh no. It's only today. No, well, this is America. They'll have one tomorrow. Trust me. Slow it down. Hey, everybody, slow it down a little bit. No new debt. And then you have to create some margin. I mean, that's just what you have to do. And margin can only be created if you take in more money. For me, it was piano lessons. I taught piano. I worked two jobs to get out of debt. Or it's lower expenses and maybe, and if you do both, it's even better. But then you create that debt snowball, and one at a time, we start paying them off one at a time. And it's a beautiful thing.
In fact, one of my favorite things to do with couples was you can actually pick the month that it's all gonna be paid off. Three years, seven months, this is when it's gonna happen. And you give them some hope, and you have a plan. I'm encouraging you guys to formulate some type of a plan. The third thing I would encourage you to do is ask God for God's help. So what I mean by that is you do your part. Do everything you know how to do. But I'm here to say to you with 100% confidence, God will help you, but he's waiting for you to ask for his help. Now, he doesn't want to do it all. He doesn't want to do it all, but he'll help you.
In fact, of those 300 that I could cite 300 families that we picked a out-of-debt date, 100% of them, it happened before that date, 100%. Because something supernatural happens, some kind of blessing, I don't understand it totally, but I believe the principle of 1 Peter is what happens. If you're proud, God will oppose you. You don't want God opposing you. But he shows favor to the humble. So what do we do? "Humble yourself under his mighty hand," his hand always represents his blessing. I ask for God's blessing over my life in this church every day of my life. God bless me because I don't need what I need. I need more than I need so that I can be a blessing. "His hand upon you that he may lift you up in due time. Cast your anxiety on him".
If you're in a financial black hole or a moral black hole or something's happened to you and your life's a mess, God will help you, but you gotta ask him. So acknowledge it for what it really is. Don't minimize it. You're gonna need a plan. We're gonna get God involved. And then, finally, like, do it today. See, don't put it off. A lot of people hear stuff like this. They go, "Okay, this fall". Like, no, no, no. Today. In fact, I felt in my heart this morning, I got up very early to pray for you guys, and I was going through my notes, and I was looking at this little phrase, like, "do it now".
And I felt led for maybe even some of our young people in Auburn or Tuscaloosa or one of our college students at one of our other campuses, that for some of you, you've been... a young lady perhaps, that you know there's a decision you know you're supposed to make about a relationship with someone that you know it's not right. Everything about you says this is not right, and you've been postponing it. I'm here to tell you, old Papa Chris is just saying, like, "Do it today," like, we're not doing this anymore. It's like me at that little auto dealership. I knew I was doing the wrong thing, but at some point, you have to pick up the phone and call daddy and say, "It ends today". It ends today. It ends today.
Proverbs says, if you don't, "A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, then poverty will pounce on you," you know, when Tammy and I got out of debt, it'd be 28 years ago now, and we still have a mortgage, you know, but I'm talking about that kind of a debt, we also made a money covenant before God. And I'm a list person. I write stuff down. I'm goofy that way, y'all. I just like, I've done more, like, contracts with myself over different things. That just, it helps me for some reason. And it was 28 years ago, Tammy and I made a money covenant. We signed it. And our money covenant basically is that God owns us, and he owns everything, not 10%, he owns it all. And from now on, we will never make a decision without asking for his advice and we're gonna ask him first. We made a decision. I'm not putting any of this on you. I'm just saying we made a decision.
We're gonna tithe to our local church, and we're gonna make it first and we're gonna make it holy, that we would never compromise with that ever. Number three, that we will avoid debts that God's money doesn't go to the wrong place. Number four, that we would never spend all that we make. We're gonna continually create margins, and we do that here at the church, so that number five, we can be generous on every occasion, that we wanna live an open-handed life. And by the grace of God, God has honored that, and we are very, very blessed. And I encourage you to have some kind of conversation like that yourself with God. But I'm here to tell you that no matter what you've done, it's not too far and it's not too late. It's not too far. It's not too late.
So Father, I pray for this congregation, these beautiful people here today. And I'm asking you, Lord God, to, first of all, just give them hope, but God, give them the courage to say, "I'm in a mess, and I'm gonna call it what it is and I'm gonna repent. I'm gonna get out of this". Lord, give them wisdom as they develop a plan of attack, and Lord, we're asking for your hand to be upon us. We need your blessing, we can't do it without your favor. So God, we humble ourselves under your mighty hand, that in due time you may lift us up. We cast our mess on you, knowing you care for us. And Father, I'm asking, Lord, that you give them the courage to do it today. Thank you, God, for your grace and your mercy in our lives.
I feel like God's presence is here. There are those of you who are feeling drawn to be closer to God, for some of you, to make a commitment to God. Maybe even my friend that's watching, you're just thinking, "Man, I'm ready to, whatever it looks like, to make a commitment to God". If that's you today, you know you're only one heartfelt prayer away from your life completely changing, where you just fully surrender the control of your life over to the one who made you and loves you.
Say, "How do you do that"? The Bible's very clear. Confess with your mouth that he's your Lord, that you're gonna follow his will, his way, and then just believe that he is the true Son of God, who was raised from the dead. And the Bible says if you do that, you'll be saved. And if that's you today, and you'd like to pray that prayer, I want you to whisper these words. I'm gonna help you with the words. Would you just whisper this right there where you are? Say:
Lord, I'm in a mess. I've made a mess of my life, and I need you. You're the only way out, and I'm asking you today to forgive me of the mistakes, the sin. And today, I repent. I turn to you. Jesus, be the Lord of my life. Because I believe you're the Son of God who was raised from the dead, and today I put my faith in you. Thank you. Thank you for saving me. In your name I pray. Amen.