Skip to main content

Finances Presented Through a Biblical Lens

I have taught Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" course three times here in João Pessoa. I requested permission to translate and teach the course before teaching it.
The beginning of August I began the course for the third time. I changed things up a little this time around. Instead of teaching the nine of the thirteen lessons I translated, I only taught four. The whole reason I began searching to better administer my own personal finances was because I was lacking contentment in my relationship with God and the finances He had given me to administer. In this course, the first two classes were all Bible passages looking at how God and His people see, think and handle money. The foundation is contentment forged from a gratitude of what God has given us both spiritually as well as materially. After the first two classes on contentment, I get into how to administer your personal finances using Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace material.
As the class went on during the months of August and September, peoples' vernacular changed from worry about how to make ends meet to contentment for what God has given us. That change in mentality, I did not see happen in the first two courses I gave using just Dave's material.
Please pray:
* That the Church will live a life of gratitude and hope for an eternal home in heaven and not make this world their home.
* That the members of the church will invest more in God's kingdom than in their own personal kingdom, supporting evangelists, buying Bibles for those who do not have them, visiting other congregations to encourage and share faith, and make friends who will receive them in heaven.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"What About Baptism?"

Edda and I went to a nearby city to study the Bible with a family, Genilda (who is already a Christian), Ana, Mariana, Luiza, and Jefferson. While we were reading God's Word, Ana's husband, Silva, came in and sat down, and then blurted out: "What about baptism?" It took me by surprise because he has barely studied with us, but, most certainly, is already thinking about spiritual matters. Our Bible study then took a lot of detours, answering this question or that. Silva said he still has a lot of questions, and we pray that the Lord will use us to answer them, bringing him to understand the Good News!

For the Kids, Part III

    In the USA, there are two special days during the year that children love: birthday and Christmas. Brazil adds one more: Children's Day. On this day, children receive a present and since it coincides with Our Lady of Appeared Conception, Brazil's patron saint, it is also a national holiday.     Each week we get kids from the Castelo Branco neighborhood together at the square in front of Dona Terezinha's house to talk about Jesus. For Children's Day, we invited the parents to watch the kids perform a play of the "Prodigal Son," then each kid receives his or her fill of cotton candy, cake, and a sack full of goodies. The parents who came received a Today's Portuguese New Testament and an invitation to the weekly Bible study at Terezinha's.     Lori Hagewood has organized this activity for three year with the help from Terezinha, Joseph, and Michel (from the China Taiwan restaurant). Michael, Ashton, and Tif...

Walking With A Holy God

            I was invited to teach a youth class in Recife, a city about 2 hours south of João Pessoa.   I have been focusing my time and attention on teaching and training Christians in Paraíba.   This would take one of my weekends away from Paraíba.   Besides the time away and focus off the state, the subject I was asked to teach on also brought some discomfort: "Masturbation: A Sin Against Holiness."   This is not a subject you just bring up in a casual conversation with young people who you do not know.               I decided to accept the invitation so that I could better prepare myself to help other young men deal with this problem, and I do confess, I had already been thinking about how to talk to my own sons about this subject.   Thankfully, they is not ready yet, but unfortunately, I'm sure it will not be too far off.    ...