The Great Recession devastated the personal finances of millions of people, but did it have an effect on people spiritually? All around us there are examples of God fulfilling His promises!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Tired of bad economic news? Wish the hassle of the latest statistics would just go away? The problem is that global got personal the last three years. Debt in one place, bites back in another. The hurt is hard, even for Christians.

Swell

It was three years ago this month, the stock market fell and people knew they were in trouble. The official pronouncement came for what everyone already knew – there was a great recession. Many listeners to this program know about problems and we’re still hearing from them.

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Alma in Texas, a HT listen listener who will be back with us in a little bit. Welcome to HT, I’m CM sharing the GS that’s all about Jesus on a program called “He Will Sustain You” on a series this week called Blessings from a Broken Economy. We’ll be joined in a minute by a Christian, who is an economist and is on the faculty of Covenant College in Tennessee. It was three years ago, that we just “happened” to release a book by Octavius Winslow, a good friend of Charles Spurgeon, called “The Lord My Portion … Daily Need Divinely Supplied.” I’ll tell you more about that later, but if you want to be personally blessed in what is probably the second leg of a recession economy. Go to our website and the Going Deeper second and read one of the chapters we’ve shared online. The Lord My Portion … Daily Need Divinely Supplied. Just go to haventoday.org. That’s haventoday.org. You can also call us at 1-800-654-2836. That’s 1-800-65-HAVEN. We open with the music of Adie Camp and a song called Sufficient.

SONG – Sufficient – Adie

Married to Jeremy Camp, she sings under just her first name Adie and the name of the song is “Sufficient” on a HAVEN Today called He Will Sustain You. You’re going to hear this verse more than once in the next few minutes. It’s one of those verses that cries out to be highlighted in our Bibles. Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken.”

We’re going to talk about how that relates to our faith in a minute, but first, let’s go to Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, and Covenant College. Dr. Lance Wescher teaches economics and is also with the Association of Christian Economists. Lance, welcome to the program. Most people are afraid because they don’t know what’s next. What do you to your students and what could you share with us, maybe even some from God’s Word?

Wescher clip “wonderful testimony”





Listeners affected by the economic meltdown, but listeners depending on Jesus. Maybe this is exactly what you need to hear. There is the personal and there is the global. Either means burdens too big to hide. Paying off a $700 Billion economic bailout is a burden on America. The next burden, if not careful, an inflationary spiral up. Then there is the burden of prevention. Economists and politicians are feverishly working to avoid the fate of the United States in the 1930’s when output dropped 30%. We ominously call it The Great Depression. Instead the experts are hoping output will fall only 5% to 10% as in the early 1970’s. Serious? Yes. Catastrophic? No. If you know Jesus, you need to know the words of Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken.”





We’ve invited Haven Today listeners to call and share what the Lord is doing in their lives during this economic upheaval. That telephone number is 951-729-3119. 951-729-3119. I’ll give the number again at the end of the program. Ben called us from the Monterey area of California and he listens to the program on KKMC in Salinas where most of the lettuce and spinach are grown in the United States. He heard me talk about the pastor who had lost $18,000 in his retirement plan the last few months. Ben had a paid for house worth $1.2 million and another investment worth $200,000. He had taken out a loan for $600,000 and at 72 he called and said, “I just don’t know how I’ll get everything back, I’m not sure what to say.” Ben, I’m going to pray for you and all Haven Today listeners at the end of the program. From Houston, listening to KHCB, the “Keeping Him Close By” network we heard from a man named Noah, “I’ve lost I think, around $14,000 or $15,000 but it just goes to show you that King Solomon was right when he said that everything in this world is vanity. And also to show us that we are really not in control of the situation, even more so us as Christians. What we have as far as our economic security only comes from our Father above and not the stock market or any other outside factors.” Noah, you are an inspiration to all of us. Thanks for calling to share.

Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken.” Last weekend I was sitting in church next to a man I had never met. We spoke at the beginning, but after the service I heard his story in full. He had been coming for the last 10 weeks ever since he had arrived in Southern California looking for work. He was well scrubbed and well spoken, but then as he started to share he explained about that missing row of front teeth. He had lost those teeth in an accident and he told me how hard it was for someone to find a job missing a row of front teeth. My heart went out, as I realized he wasn’t asking for a handout. He wasn’t running a con on me. Here was a brother in Christ just telling me about his struggle to find work. Well his story got worse. His daughter had lost her job the week before and was looking for work. His son had just called Friday night to share he had just lost his job in Florida and would now be looking for work. And the man I was speaking with told me he had just enough money to go another 10 days before being totally homeless. Now why am I sharing such a “downer” of a story with you? Here’s why: As he shared, I realized there was this joy coming through. He spoke with a gleam in his eye and confidence in Christ in his heart. He had cast all his cares on the Lord because he had nowhere else to turn. Well, there’s a piece of good news, and I hope I can see him in a few more days again and hear how the Lord is working in his life as well. Somehow the deacons in the church found out about his dilemma and they were going to be providing him, the very next day, with a set of new teeth and he was so excited, because with a full row of front teeth, he was going to look for a job.



“Cast all your cares on the Lord,” Psalm 55:22, “And he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken.” What wonderful words. They’re almost magical if I could use that word. They sound like music. Just reading them aloud brings peace of mind. This verse is one of those flowers picked from the Lord’s garden, a picture of beauty and scented with perfume. Who could ever make it more beautiful or sweeter smelling? And yet in the same way that flowers smell sweeter when crushed, or grapes give their sweetest juice when pressed, a closer look at this verse provides us with spiritual fragrance and refreshment to all children of God burdened by sin or trials. Anyone who has studied the word of God or knows the least bit about Jesus knows how well Christ is qualified to bear the burdens of his people. He has all the essential qualifications for this very demanding job. Imagine the overwhelming weight of all the sins, cares, trials, but our burden-bearer is completely up for the job with just the kind of power, love and compassion to bear this huge burden of God in the church through the ages. Psalm 89:19, “’I have given help to One who is mighty’, says the Lord.” That help involved everything God needs to govern our affairs as well as everything we need for our salvation. And because Jesus is God, he is able. My friend – and I don’t use that word lightly or flippantly – what is your burden? Remember the invitation in Psalm 55 is a personal one, so it covers every care and need, every sin, every sorrow you may have right now. “Cast all your cares on the Lord. He will sustain you.” Is sin your burden? Jesus is a mighty sin-bearer. “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all”, Isaiah wrote. So cast your burden on Jesus. Even though he bore all our sins once and for all, he still deals with our shortcomings day to day. He takes away every sin we confess at his feet and every trace of guilt we bring to him for the renewed cleansing of his blood. Don’t try for a moment to carry your sin on your own shoulders, not for a single step. Take it to Jesus. Repent. By faith freely confess your sin. Wash it at the fountain that’s still flowing and accessible to you. Jesus told us in John 13:10, “A person who has taken a bath all over does not need to wash except for the feet to be entirely clean.” Is a trial you’re going through right now your burden? Well don’t worry. Isaiah also told us that Jesus is a tried stone, proven to be equal to every trial. He has sent or has permitted this trial in your life just so you can learn more of this precious tried stone. The Lord tests the faith of his righteous so that they can test his faithfulness. You don’t have to be afraid to test his wisdom to guide you or his strength to sustain you. Test his love to bring you through this trial, like gold refined and it will bring him glory. Perhaps your burden is a difficulty like a boulder in your path that just won’t seem to budge. It’s in your way. You can’t get around it. But God asks, “Is there anything too hard for me?” in Jeremiah 32. He can unravel your perplexity, untangle your difficulties and roll the boulder out of the way. So go ahead, cast your burden on him, and as the Psalmist reminds us in Psalm 25:15, “My eyes are ever toward the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” Is need your burden? Is there a need the Lord can’t supply? He commands every resource of infinity, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” the prophet Haggai told us. And we’re reminded in Psalm 50 verse 10, “Every animal of the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills.” His words challenge the greatness of your need and they calm your fears. Does he provide for the birds of the air as Jesus said in Matthew 6? Then do you think he will starve the children of his love? Whatever your burden, cast it on the Lord in a prayer of faith. No matter how heavy the problem, his strength, grace and love will lift you up, even if you think no one else has the same problem. His mighty arms will embrace you. His promises will uphold you. His grace will strengthen you and his loving care will sooth you. His spirit will comfort you and you will not sink. Psalm 55:22, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken.”



Song: God Will Make a Way. Truth. Truth Sings the Word.

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Haven Today and Don Moen with “God Will Make a Way” on a program we’re calling, “Cast Your Cares”. We’ve invited listeners to call in and tell us how the Lord has worked in their life. Of course we know the financial markets are down. We’ve heard from people who are watching their retirement plans lose thousands of dollars in value. From Western Tennessee, Kathleen called in, “For the last, oh, 5, 8 years, I’ve been kind of thinking I need to get rid of the house, I don’t want to have all the bills anymore. And I put the house on the market June 27 and within the week it sold and I am now debt free. And 6, 8 months ago when I prayed, ‘Lord, I want to be debt free’ he answered that prayer and I have to say I’m so excited that I’m kind of looking forward to where he wants me to spend the money and what he wants me to do.” Thank you, Kathleen. A pastor in the greater Los Angeles area called us. He had just lost his house and after preaching at an evening service he was listening to us on KKLA radio on his way home. He called to say that even after having his home repossessed, he’s learning to depend on the Lord. He even sounded excited as he shared with us. Thomas from Orlando called with an entirely different report. He’s getting ready to retire in two years and 4 months ago he was asking the Lord whether he should leave his 401k invested in stocks or move it over to something safer. He had this sense that that’s what he should do. He did, and thankfully, he was telling us that even in the last week, he made $700 in two days! But he’s taking no credit for that himself. He just sensed the Lord answering his prayer. “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken.” We’ve had so many people call and thank you to everyone. Time for one more, we heard from a woman listening from the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. “I’m a single mom of 3. I sell cars for a living. I just have to trust in the Lord every day. And I work for GM and their stock went down to $4.78 today and everyone around me is fearful, and fellow co-workers said, you know, Clenise, I see faith in you. And that made it all worth it that they see a peace inside of me in spite of the circumstances around me, so praise God.” What a blessing to hear from God’s people. I don’t know about you, but I have been so blessed just hearing from Haven Today listeners. Let me thank again those who called and we didn’t have time to put on the program. We heard you and we’re praying for everyone who has called in. In a minute I’ll give you our phone number another time on how you can call in and share how the Lord is working in your life during these economic hard times. This is Haven Today and “Cast All Your Cares” is the name of the program. I pray you are trusting in the Lord and following him, obeying him today. In the last few minutes I was sharing with you from Octavius Winslow. I shared from his book, “The Lord, My Portion: Daily Need, Divinely Supplied”. Octavius got that name because he was the 8th child out of 10 children in his family. His father died when he was quite young, leaving his mother to try and raise all those children. Well, she did and all of the kids who lived professed faith in Jesus Christ. Three of her sons became ministers, including Octavius. He lived in the 1800’s and was a Baptist preacher in England and a good friend of Charles Spurgeon. In fact, every time Spurgeon had to leave his church to go somewhere, he always invited Octavius to fill the pulpit. Well, for the first time on over 100 years, “The Lord, My Portion” is back in print and we did it here at Haven Ministries. I was praying earlier in the year and had this sense that the economy was going to get worse and we needed to be ready to minister in tough times. So our team was praying about this and then we decided that we needed to do this, to put Winslow and this book back in print for such a time as this. Well, you can read more about the book by Octavius Winslow there on our website, haventoday.org. We’ve posted a sample chapter to read, and you can get a feel for what Octavius’ writing is like. We also have another chapter by audio, both there at haventoday.org under the “Going Deeper” section on our home page. If the Lord has given you the resources, I need to remind you that we are listener supported and in return for your gift, we’ll get you a copy of this book out right way. We just got them in from the printer and we can mail “The Lord, My Portion” to you immediately. You can also call us if you‘d like, our toll free telephone number is 1-800-654-2836, that’s 1-800-654-2836. We also have the story of Maxine Hancock in a time of economic hardship, “Living on Less and Liking It More”. There on our website or you can call 1-800-65-HAVEN. Maxine shared her story earlier in the year about living on the edge, when the crops failed and the price of cattle dropped and she and her husband were living in the Canadian prairies with their young children. It’s a powerful story of how the Lord provides and sustains us. “Living on Less and Liking It More”, and the book also contains practical ways to live in a time like this. Just go online or give us a telephone call and we’ll get it out to you right away. If you’d like to share with us your story of how the Lord is working in your life, then here’s that special telephone number to call again: area code 951-729-3119, 751-729-3119. And for all our Canadian listeners, let me say, “Happy Thanksgiving”. We’re about a month behind you in the United States, but Thanksgiving blessings to you on this day. I’m Charles Morris and thanks for being with me as we’ve been casting our cares, all of them, on the Lord. Join me again tomorrow won’t you, when again we’ll be celebrating the Great Story? It’s all about Jesus and we’ll do it together here on Haven Today.