Upwards Church

Are you living in Financial Chaos?  Many Americans are but in this blog and through our church we want to provide you resources to help.

Consider this:

• 76% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck[1] (CNN Money).
• The average American is spending $1.22 for every dollar they earn (Dave Ramsey)  The average American household’s credit card debt is $15,950.[2] (CNN Money)

Is that you?  If so, how do you Overcome Financial Chaos?

With a Clear Financial Plan.

Have you ever said,  “I just don’t know where all my money goes”?

It’s  a warning light that says to you need a financial plan to determine where your money is going instead of wondering where it went. God says that you need to have a financial plan.

“Plan carefully and you will have plenty.  If you act too quickly, you will never have enough.”  Proverbs 21:5

Do you ever struggle with your kids at the store, because they want to buy everything? I have learned to tell them before I go in, “we are buying ___& ____ and that’s it!’   As parents it’s our job to teach our kids they can’t have everything.  Let me ask you, what can stop adults from trying to buy everything?  Its like we need someone to slap us on the hand to say, “No!  You can’t buy that!”  Who does that for adults?  I’ll tell you.  It’s a spending plan.    How do you break the habit of impulsive buying?  You have to nip it in the budget!  A budget is simply planning your spending.

We are excited to offer the following resources:

• Downloadable Spending Plans(Budgets) to choose from several on this blog, click here

• Financial Peace University: We are excited to announce at The Ridge we are offering Dave Ramsay’s Financial Peace this semester in our Growth Groups!  Financial Peace is 9 week DVD format with a work book led by an FPU alumni that will walk you through how to budget,  how to get out of debt, how to save, and how to plan for the future.   It meets on Tuesday’s at The Ridge in Leander.  The class is free but the workbook has a cost.  Here are the dates: September 23 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18
• To sign up for Financial Peace at The Ridge in Leander, click here.  Scroll down until you see “Dave Ramsay’s Financial Peace”
• For more information about Dave Ramsay or to purchase group material, click here.

• How to Create a Budget one day seminar (free) led by one of CPA’s.
• It’s on Sunday October 5th, 2014 from 3:00-6:00 PM  OR Sunday January 11, 2015 from 3:00 – 6:00 PM  at The Ridge in Leander.
• To sign up for “How to Create a Budget” at The Ridge in Leander, click here.  Scroll down until you see “How to Create a Budget”

• Improving Personal Financial Management a one day seminar (free) on budgeting and reducing debt led by someone who oversees a multi-million dollar budget for Williamson County.
•   Its on Wednesday October 15, 2014 from 7:00- 9:00 PM OR  Wednesday November 12, 2014 from  7:00- 9:00 PM at The Ridge in Taylor.
• To sign up for “Improving Personal Financial Management” at The Ridge in Taylor, click here.   Scroll down until you see “Improving Personal Financial Management”

I’m excited about this semester’s Growth Groups, especially these that will help people overcome the chaos in their finances!

Darrell

For more about our Overcomer Series or Fall Growth Groups go to

http://www.RidgeFellowship.com

[1] http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings

[2] http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/lesson9

What problem is threatening to overcome you and take you down? Is it Fear, Failure, Anger, Low Self Esteem, Finances or Temptation?

Here’s an encouraging thought. “If God is for us who can ever be against us? “¹ This means that whatever is against you, whatever is trying to overcome you, get this. God is bigger! God is for you. God says you can overcome.

You may be thinking today that there is no hope for your situation. You may think that you are destined to be beaten down by forces that are stronger than you. You may even think that God is no help because after all, “God is mad at me.” I want you to know this: God is not mad at you, God is for you!

I want to invite you to our new series, Overcomer. Life is a challenge and we must face certain obstacles but we can overcome them with God’s help and God’s people.

Let’s start with fear. Fear is natural. But scientists have discovered that there are only TWO natural fears. Can you guess what they are? I’m going to put out some options for you: Falling, Commitment, Justin Beiber, Loud Noises, Spiders? The two natural fears that you are born with given by God are falling and loud noises. Whatever else you are afraid of you have learned to be afraid of. The good news is this: if you’ve learned to be afraid, you can also unlearn to be afraid. So we’ll look at how to Overcome Fear.

Failure, every one of us will fail, multiple times. And if we aren’t prepared, when failure takes us down, it can keep us down… which brings discouragement, despair, depression, doubt, and even disillusionment.  I see that over and over in people. We can’t stop failure from coming, but with God’s help we can grow through the failure. In God’s eyes, failure is not final. Failure can be a new starting point.

Financial problems are affecting many people today. Studies show that the majority of divorces are due to money problems. The credit card debt that the average person carries keeps getting higher each year. Many people feel hopeless. I want you to know this doesn’t have to be you. Your marriage does not have to end in divorce because of money. You do not have to constantly lose sleep because of your finances. You don’t have to live with the uncertainty about the future. There is a better way to live, and that’s to live God’s way. At the Ridge we have several Growth Groups which include classes that address your financial problems. We have a CPA that will do a one day seminar on budgeting and getting out of debt. We have financial counselors that will sit down with you and help you. With God’s help, you can overcome your financial problems.

We’ll also look at Overcoming a Low Self Esteem. You are not who others say you are, you are who God says you are. We will show you how you can learn to see yourself as God sees you and that will change everything.

If you have Doubt, it’s also normal and part of trying to live with faith. We will address ways to overcome doubt when it creeps into our lives.

Temptation and Anger, both are natural and not wrong. It’s what we do with our anger and temptations that matter. In our series, we’ll learn to control and overcome anger and temptation.

Got Shame? Others use it on us and we then wear it like a badge, and what’s worse we begin to use shame on our selves.  We’ll learn to stop the shame game in this series.

So which one of these do you need to overcome? Shame, Low Self Esteem, Finances, Doubt, Fear, Temptation, Pride or Anger? You can overcome each one with God’s help.

One last encouraging thought from God,
In ALL these things we have complete victory through Him who loved us!²

I hope you can join us and learn to be an Overcomer.

Darrell
http://www.RidgeFellowship.com

1 Romans 8:31 (NIV)
2 Romans 8:37 (GNB)