Bondage and Slavery

Bondage and Slavery Keeps me from Serving God.
As a child growing up in Newport Kentucky there was nothing I wanted more than to become a Preacher. I attended Salem First United Methodist Church. I was privileged to have the opportunity to talk with the Pastor, Rev. Gillespie and Rev Garret on several occasions. I was also privileged to spend time with and talk with my Uncle Wilbur, a Southern Baptist Preacher.
Yes, my Pentecostal friends, a child of seven met God and Jesus Christ in a Methodist Church. ;And a seven year old met a true man of God in his Uncle Wilbur and knew that he was a man of God.
;But, like a vast majority of us I drifted away from those teachings and great times in my life to a life without God. I got myself caught up in everyday living in a profane world. And yet every once in a while through my teen years and young adulthood those desires I held as a child would rise up in me
Pr 22:6 ;Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. But, as many have, I would return to that profane world and turn my back on God. I was constantly searching for my place in this world, my purpose, my calling.
I got married in 1973, one of the few things I;ve done correctly in my life, and at the time of this writing I have been married for thirty-four years. I married a girl that always dreamed she would marry a Preacher.
;In the elusive search for happiness and acceptance by others we racked up debt, and then consolidated, which did nothing but rack up more debt in reality.  After seven years of marriage we moved and started over. ;We went out and got our jobs and began replacing all the things we had lost. My bed for the first week was a lawn chair. Our little TV set on a cat gage. But we were together and, now I realize, were being guided by the God I was not serving
Still searching I joined the Masonic Order. Now I must interject, I know there are those that feel it is a fraternity of Devil worshippers, but I met nothing but men that believed in God. I saw nothing but God and Jesus Christ in the rituals, or plays that we did. It was there that I learned to speak before large groups of people. ;But, sadly during these times we were doing, once again, what we had done before, racking up debt. ;Now here we are, fifty years later, ll be fifty-seven in November. ;Salem First United Methodist Church in Newport is now a movie theater. Same building, but definitely not the same message.Rev Gillespie and Rev Garret have passed on as has my Uncle Wilbur. ;I sit here at my desk a licensed and ordained Preacher.
;At a time in my life, and my wife;s, when we should be fulfilling our mutual calling to serve God we are being hindered, no we are being stopped, in our service to God. We are unable to do the things that we need to do to get the message of God out to those seeking forgiveness and salvation. We have trouble finding the time to study God;s Word. We have trouble finding the time to witness and be used by God. We are in bondage.
Ro 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
We have become nothing but slaves to debt. I work long hours and six, sometimes seven days a week trying to pay those bills down only to realize that at this rate it isnt going to happen. I am reminded of the parable of the talents;
Mt 25:15And unto one he gave five , to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
Mt 25:16Then he that had received the five went and traded with the same, and made them other five
.Mt 25:20And so he that had received five  came and brought other five  saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five : behold, I have gained beside them five  more.
Mt 25:22He also that had received two  came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two : behold, I have gained two other  beside them.
Mt 25:28Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten ;
I was not, and have not been a good steward of the resources that my God has provided me. ;In truth I am a slave to man. I work 60 sometimes 70 hours a week trying to pay off those debts, those hours keep me from serving God, I am instead serving man.
;We rack up debt, why?
Do we really need that new car, that new suit or dress? Are all those gadgets that we have really making our life more comfortable? ;Aren;t those gadgets really taking us from God? We have more idle time on our hands or we are working long hours to pay for those things that were supposed to make our life easier.
We are going against the laws of God when we rack up debt.
Deuteronomy 15De 15:1 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
De 15:2  And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release.
De 15:3 Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;
De 15:4 Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:
De 15:5 ;Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.
De 15:6 For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.
De 15:7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
De 15:8 but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
De 15:9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
De 15:10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
De 15:11 ;For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.  We do not live in a time when the laws of God are respected and fulfilled and yet that was what God wanted for us. He did not want us burdened down with debt
.Mt 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
;You will be restricted in your service to God because your time and efforts are being spent trying to service your debts. ;Now I know that there are those reading this that are saying, Don, plant a seed out of your need There are others saying, What about Malachi 3:8?
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Mal 3:11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
But isnt it true that if I use money that is owed to another that it isn;t my money, but theirs? Can I really expect God to pour out His blessings upon me when I have with held the money owed to another to pay my tithe? Isnt it just as true that I am nothing more than a thief, using what is owed to another in an attempt to garner the blessings of God in my own life? What kind of a witness is that?
I would pray that I have been able to, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, touch upon something that is affecting your life and service to God. I realize hat all situations are not the same. I dont know how God is going to get us through this but I rest assured that he will remove this bondage, this slavery from us that we may serve Him.
Father, I have sinned. I have not been a good steward with the blessings that you have given. Forgive me father. Show me; guide me in the ways of the Lord that I may remove this bondage from my life. Strengthen me Father, guide me.In the name of Jesus Christ I pray.Amen.