Leverage: God’s economics and finance (2)

In my previous blog on this subject I have quoted excerpts based on a talk and left lots of questions which this book by the same teacher, “Financial Stewardship” will answer. I shall summarize and/or quote excerpts from each chapter and would encourage you to read the whole book as it will answer more in depth your questions.
Introduction
In reality, money only has value because people agree to view it as valuable…creations of men used to trade for services. The world’s system of trade is based on money, and we all have to use it to survive. The influence of money in our lives is very real, so it isn’t surprising that Jesus taught more on the subject of finances than on any other single topic. He taught more about managing resources than He did on prayer or even faith-which tells us that the topic of money, and how we handle it, is very important…the Gospel has a lot to say about everyday earthly concerns-especially finances.
Learning how God views finances is basic Christianity. Jesus said that if you can’t be faithful in your finances, then you can’t be trusted with anything! (Luke a6:11)
God doesn’t operate by this world’s system, an it’s more important for us to understand how God financial system works than it is to understand the Wall Street.
What really bothers me is that those carnal techniques work! Many in the body of Christ are so uninformed in the area of finances that people fall for manipulation tactics all the time…the kingdom of God doesn’t operate that way; you can’t buy God’s favor.
So, yes, there are abuse in the body of Christ regarding money, but don’t miss out on benefitting from the truths in God’s Word about finances just because a few people are abusing the topic. I encourage you to allow the Word of God to reveal finances to you in a godly perspective, I believe you’ll be glad you did.
In this book I’m going to be teaching the Scriptural principles that go to the heart of financial problems-and success. Once your heart is right, using wisdom in how you spend your money comes naturally.
A house divided will not last for long. (Matthew 12:25) Our relationship with God needs to permeate every area of our lives: marriage, business, relationships, recreation, and finances…letting God into your finances can bring peace and healing to other areas of your life. My goal in this teaching is to help you discover how to turn your finances to God, and to step into true prosperity in every area of your life.

(excerpts and quotes are taken from “Financial Stewardship” by Andrew Wommack)

A new direction from Andrew Wommack

A personal note to all my readers from AAA Jack Watchman: I am led to post this following letter of appeal and update as I believe many of you are like me, beneficiaries of many years of good free teachings from Andrew Wommack. I have listened to his teachings since the time when we used cassette tapes. I am thankful for his vision and the encourage to carry through the Charis Bible College through which many are being trained and equipped for good works. I pray that the Lord will lead you as you read the letter. Thank you for reading. Regards and God bless A New Direction (from Andrew Wommack)

Construction Continues at the Sanctuary

As I'm sure you're aware, we had to pause our construction at The Sanctuary at the end of December 2015 because of finances. I actually took out a line of credit on December 22 to meet our obligations with television and salaries, but the great news is that we paid that back in less than forty-five days. Thank You, Jesus! We are back on track to do everything debt free.

My original plan was to wait until we built up a $4 million buffer before restarting construction. This was to absorb any fluctuations in income or expenses so we wouldn't run into this problem again. But something happened that has presented me with a new opportunity.

We are so cramped for space at The Barn that we are facing forced limitations on how many people can come to our conferences. We are dealing with this by possibly having students and staff go down to our facilities in Colorado Springs and watch the meetings via live stream. This only affects our major meetings, such as Summer Family Bible Conference, the Ministers' Conference, Healing Is Here, and Charis Business Summit.

But the more pressing issue is office space and our Phone Center. As I told you months ago, I gave up my office space at The Sanctuary, and we've moved as many people as possible down to our offices in Colorado Springs, which already house over 250 employees. I went to talk to one of our IT people at The Barn, and they are actually occupying a storage space on the roof for their offices.

Our Phone Center is 90 percent staffed by Charis Bible College students. This makes for wonderful prayer ministers who do a great job, but it hinders us during Charis class hours. Right now, one of our largest volumes of calls comes from Daystar viewers, beginning at 6:50 a.m. and continuing for the next hour. Our Charis students have to leave around 7:00 a.m. to make it up to Woodland Park by the start of classes at 8:00 a.m.

This drop in people available to answer calls has dramatically limited our ability to respond during this time. We are losing hundreds of calls per day. Some of them may call back later, but we don't know that for sure.

To solve these problems, my staff proposed looking at places in Woodland Park to rent for additional space. If we had our call center nearby in Woodland Park, the students would be able to take the vast majority of these dropped calls. As we began this process, the man who heads up our construction came to me with the idea of finishing off the part of Phase II that will house our new Phone Center and additional office space. I didn't know this was an option, but it appears that this will work.

So, we've come up with a new plan to finish off the second floor of Phase II on the north and east side of the building. This will allow us to have 150 people answering the phones at one time and will give us around 100 new work spaces.

The changes to accommodate this partial build-out are very minor, and the benefit is enormous. This could be completed by August 2016, and that would be just perfect to accommodate the 1,000 students expected for the new school year beginning in September.

I feel so good about this that I instructed my staff today to go ahead and pursue this plan. Of course, we need the whole building finished as quickly as possible-and I am continuing to believe for that-but this is a bite-sized piece that will provide us with some quick relief.

Over the last eighteen months, we have received an average of $791,000 per month designated for our building projects. It would require just over $1 million per month to complete this partial build-out, or an increase of about $300,000 per month over what we are receiving now. This is one-tenth of the cost of having construction on the whole building going at full throttle. I believe this is very doable and would stop the need for us having to rent additional facilities in Woodland Park.

I'm sending this letter out to the 100,000 people who receive our monthly mailings, and it will also go out to 185,000 people on our email list. We will record some television spots announcing this, reaching millions more. Altogether, this is a piece of cake for Jesus.

I'm asking you to pray about this and participate if the Lord directs you to. As I've said many times before, it's not about the buildings. These buildings are just tools that enable us to minister the true Gospel to people. But they are essential for accomplishing that goal.

Jamie and I and all the people being impacted by this ministry appreciate all you have done and will be doing to get this done. I am more convinced than ever that the Lord is doing something special at Charis. Not long ago, I was able to sit in on chapel at Charis when the students received a taste of our latest musical, God with Us. The writers of all the original music for this were telling us about how people want them on Broadway and in Hollywood and can't understand why they are living in a small town in the mountains of Colorado. But they shared how the Lord brought them here. This is just one more example of what God is putting together.

No man has done this. No man could do this. Even if I were smart enough to figure this out, there is no way I could compete with all that the secular world has to offer these people. We have millionaires and business tycoons who have fallen in love with Charis and are pouring their lives into these students. David Barton and political figures are investing time and effort into raising up people to take our nation back.

Our media department is training people to communicate the Gospel using all the tools available to us today. Our missions program and ministry track are touching lives all over the world. Our evangelism courses are making a profound impact on our students, who, in turn, are touching the people in their worlds.

Altogether, Charis is doing things I've never been able to do. It's like a tank being brought into battle. Satan's kingdom is being hurt by what the Lord is doing here. Thanks for being a part of it. We couldn't do it without you.

Thanks in advance,

Andrew and Jamie

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How to have sound mind?

Sound mind brings healthy body. How to have sound mind? Here are some thoughts which help to bring sound healthy mind.

Andrew Wommack’s quotes
Excerpts From: Grace – the power of the Gospel
The Gospel is the most basic, foundational message of the New Testament, yet it’s the most misunderstood. Today’s religious system is not preaching the same Gospel that Paul did. They mix it with the Law, and that isn’t the Gospel at all.
It is offensive to people, particularly if they have a lot of holy actions to their names, when you tell them that all their good deeds don’t make them righteous before God. Then when you tell them sinners who only put faith in God are more righteous than they are (Matt. 21:28-32), that really puts them over the top!
We need a Savior! The only thing we have to offer is faith. We just believe the nearly-too-good-to-be-true news that Jesus died for us and paid a debt we couldn’t pay and gave us a righteousness we couldn’t earn. It’s faith righteousness!
It takes a supernatural revelation by the Holy Spirit to be able to understand this. But once you do, it’ll transform the way that you view God, the way that you relate to God, and the way that you receive from God. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. I encourage you to just humble yourself and ask God for a supernatural revelation of this truth. It’s tremendous.
When you truly get a hold of the grace of God, I guarantee you, it sets you free from sin, not free to sin. You’ll wind up living holier accidentally than you ever have on purpose. You’ll serve God out of love stricter and stronger than you ever would have out of legalism.
Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). It’s not truth that sets you free; it’s the truth you know that sets you free. But before you can know it, you’ve got to hear it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).
Quote from : “Whose Righteousness?”
The word “righteousness” has become a religious cliché that has lost its meaning to many people. Even Christians are confused about what righteousness is and how to receive it.
“Righteousness” and its counterpart, “righteous,” appear 540 times in 520 verses of the Bible. In contrast, “faith,” “faithfulness,” and “faithful” are only used 348 times in 328 verses. This means that there are 1.5 times as many scriptures about righteousness as there are about faith. Righteousness is important.
The mistake of thinking that doing right makes us right is the same error the Pharisees made. Religion has always preached that if we clean up our actions, our hearts will become clean too. Jesus taught just the opposite (Matt. 23:25-26). It’s through a changed heart that our actions change. The heart is the issue. Actions are only an indication of what is in our hearts. Actions are the fruit the heart produces.
Modern-day Christianity often puts the emphasis on actions instead of issues of the heart.
Jesus was in right relationship with God as no one else can be. He is the Son of God. He is God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16).
In return for Jesus taking our sin, those who put their faith in Him get His righteousness instead of their own.
Colossians 2:6 says, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” That means if you were saved by putting faith in God’s grace alone, then you maintain that relationship in the same way.
Failure to understand this truth is at the root of all guilt and condemnation. Satan’s only inroad into our lives is sin. If we understand our right standing with God on the basis of what Jesus did for us, and not by our own actions, then Satan’s power to condemn is gone.
____________Sound mind Bible verses (in NKJV; boldness added)
Philippians 4:8 [Full Chapter] [ Meditate on These Things ] Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
2 Timothy 1:7 [Full Chapter] For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Galatians 5:22-23 [Full Chapter]   ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.