Mankind, apart from a personal, covenant relationship with God through faith in Christ, is spiritually dead and eternally doomed, but if he hears and believes the word of God, concerning the gospel of Christ, he is brought to spiritual life by the same power that raised Christ from the dead. He not only has a home in heaven for all eternity, but he is now a son of God, and heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ. To top it all off, nothing is impossible to him, because all things are possible to him that believes.

Man is the apex of God’s creation. God created man in His own image and after His likeness. God breathed life into man and immediately gave him a commission of authority over the earth. The first man, Adam, was created as a fully grown man and fully intelligent. The Bible tells us that God created woman from the man. They were placed in a wonderful garden and given the responsibility to dress and keep it. They had only one rule, and they failed to obey it, thereby giving their authority of dominion over to Satan, the tempter. They immediately came under the curse of death, suffering immediate spiritual death and later, physical death. They were expelled from the garden and sentenced to having to toil just to be able to eat.

None of this came as a surprise to God. God did not have to do any quick thinking or call any emergency meetings to determine what must be done. From the foundation of the world, God knew what man would do, and He knew what He would do. God chose certain individuals, beginning with Abraham, in order to get His Seed into the world, by which He would redeem for Himself a people from every kindred, tongue, and nation.

The news of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needing 700 billion dollars in taxpayer money is disturbing, to say the least.  The financial prognosticators say that we are on the brink of going from financial recession to financial depression.

The good news is that God can bless His people in a bad economy just as easily as He can in a good economy.  His economy is always good! 

For a long time, Christian financial advisers, such as Dave Ramsey and Crown Financial Ministries have been advising people to get out of debt.  For most people, however, it is necessary to have debt on their homes, at least in the first few years of ownership.

Christians would do well to seriously study the Scriptures concerning debt, because God blesses obedience, and it is futile to expect God to bless disobedience.  On the other hand, when a person who has been disobedient, repents of the disobedience, and determines to become obedient, he is likely to see miraculous things happen in his financial situation.

What’s true for the individual is true for churches.  These are days for churches to be retiring their debt.  I can testify that as our church has made the commitment to retire our debt, we have all been amazed at how quickly the debt has fallen.  Whether and individual or a church, it’s a lot more comfortable in a volatile economy to be debt free.

Our church is currently teaching a study on “Money Management, ” along with several other subjects that offer very practical help for everyday living.

Many Christians take the attitude that God would not let them lose their property, so they borrow huge amounts of money, some even borrow tens of millions of dollars.

One website reports three churches that are presently in process of losing their property over a defaulted loan.  What does it do the testimony of the Lord’s work when a church declares chapter 11 bankruptcy?  It can’t be anything good.   An article on a Memphis Newspaper’s website said, “Legal notices from the past year show about a dozen church properties in Shelby County under foreclosure.”

Why would God let these things happen?  It may be because He said, “Owe no man anything but to love one another.”

Whether or not to finance a church project is viewed differently, depending on whom you ask. 

Some say that it cost so much more to build later, that it really saves money to go ahead and finance the project.  Others answer that it depends on market trends and the length of time it takes to pay off the debt, whether or not this is true. 

Some say the next generation ought to help pay for the building that they are going to use.  Others say that the problem with that line of thinking is that if the church is effective in reaching people for Christ, the building that is new and adequate today will likely be inadequate in 20-25 years.  It will be time to add on, build again, or even relocate. 

Some say you should build it now, build it big, and they will come.  Others say that the truth is, they will not come just because you have a new building.  People don’t attend a particular church for the building, they attend for the ministry they receive for themselves and their families.   Granted, a building is a useful tool in ministry.

I have been in building programs in each of the three churches I have pastored, prior to the one I now pastor.  In each of these, we have encountered church debt in order to build.  The debt was paid without any great difficulty, but after seeing some churches go through major building programs without encountering any debt, that would be my goal for future projects.