god’s way of handling money - downey churchwhen i give abundantly to god and charity, i find my...

The Family’s strength was theirfaith in God. They lived in a neigh-borhood that was neither rich nor poorbut one considered blue collar. Thetwo boys in the Family were thesource of joy and pride in their par-ent’s hearts. Often the dream-conver-sation around the dinner table plantedthe seed in the boys’ thoughts ofadvancement and a better life in thefuture. To think that one day the boyswould grow-up, get married and filltheir homes with the happiness ofgrandchildren was a big part of thedaily dream-conversation.

Unexpectedly one day the housecollapsed. Not the building they ateand slept in but the father and hus-band whose shoulders supported the

Family died. Following the funeraland a few days of grief, the Familywas contacted by a creditor whodemanded to be paid. The conse-quence of ignoring the creditor wasunthinkable. Unless the Family“paid-up,” he threatened to seize thetwo boys as slaves.

We’ll share the Bible story onOctober 4, in a message called Stepsto Reduce Your Debt. What we learnfrom the Bible narrative turns out tobe a very helpful plan to reduce debt.I was amazed when I Googled theword “debt” and found that theexperts first step toward debt reduc-tion matched the first point in theBible story. Since the Bible was writ-

continued on page 2

For the members, family and friends of the Downey Adventist Church

God’s Way of Handling Moneyby Pastor Mitch

The Paradoxes of Life

When I spend myself — body,soul and strength — I find replen-ishment within.

When I extend kindness freely,I find kindness growing abundant-ly within.

When I give abundantly to Godand charity, I find my resourcesincreasing instead of diminishing.

When I exhibit happiness, I findmostly happy responses.

When I give or serve or share orprovide, I receive or am served orshared with or provided for inreturn.

When I offer peace of mind toanother, I discover it growingwithin myself.

When I feel at peace with God,I discover I am at peace with theworld.

—Charles Ferrell

Small Groups are meeting againthis fall for our “Discovering God’sWay of Handling Money” series. Theseries began Saturday, September 27and will go through November 22with Celebration Sabbath.

Our small groups are meeting invarious church member’s homes.There should be a small group nearyou.

It’s not too late to join a SmallGroup! If you still need a groupplease see Pastor Mitch or BillAumack. They will help you meetsome friendly folks who have smallgroup near you.

There’s a Small Group for You! =

Small Groups Begin

ten over 3500 years ago, who do youthink borrowed from whom?

Making Wise Financial Goals isthe title of the message on October11. The firststep to makingwise financialgoals is to seekGod’s wisdom.God promises to“… instruct youand teach you inthe way youshould go …”(Ps 32:8). King Solomon is a greatillustration of seeking the Lord’swisdom first.

When Solomon became king,God came to him in a dream andsaid, “Ask for whatever you wantme to give you” (I King 3:5).Solomon replied to God’s gracious

offer by requesting a “discerningheart to govern your people and todistinguish between right andwrong” (I Kings 3:9). Solomon’s

greatest desirewas God’swisdom—andthat is ourstarting pointin MakingWise FinancialGoals.

The mes-sage set for

October 18 is called The Wealth ofHonesty. Many of us learned inchildhood that “honesty is the bestpolicy.” The remainder of that quo-tation by Mark Twain reads, “whenthere is money in it.” Without thestability of God’s wisdom, moneycan have a corrupting effect on us.The media routinely reports on indi-

THE LATEST WORDTHE LATEST WORD

2

Handling Money (cont. from page 1)

viduals who knowingly break thelaw to accumulate “more” money.Many of those crimes are perpetrat-ed by wealthy individuals. Themorning’s message will focus onGod’s promises to his faithful chil-dren of their very great rewards forliving an honest life. The Bible says:“There is treasure in the house ofthe godly, but the earnings of thewicked bring trouble” (Proverbs15:6, NLT).

The final message of the monthfalls on October 25 and is entitledThe Heart of Giving. The Biblesays: “Each man should give whathe has decided in his heart to give,not reluctantly or under compulsion,for God loves a cheerful giver” (2Corinthians 9:7). The heart of giv-ing is never assessed by the amountor frequency of the offering but giv-ing with the proper attitude. The

WEDIDIT

The Latest WordV 20 N 10

BILL AUMACKel jefe

BILL AUMACKdesign

LINDA AUMACKproof reading

Becky and Terridistribution

MITCH WILLIAMSpastor

address mail to: (we like letters!)Downey-Florence Seventh-dayAdventist Church9820 Lakewood Blvd.Downey, CA 90240office: 562.869.6013fax: [email protected]://www.downeychurch.com

distributed monthlyissue date: Oct 2008copyright 1992-2008

Without the stabilityof God’s wisdom, money

can have a corruptingeffect on us.

continued on page 10

““

””

October 2008October 2008

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WW ebster says “plead” means to“to make a plea of a specific

nature . . . to entreat or appealearnestly” (Webster’s Ninth NewCollegiate Dictionary).

GGod says, “When Jesus came toCapernaum, a Roman officer

came and pleaded with him. ‘Lord,my young servant lies in bed, para-lyzed and racked with pain’ . . . Andthe young servant was healed thatsame hour” (Matthew 8:1 and 13NIV).

This past weekend, I had a realNew Testament moment. It was aholiday weekend and since I hadadded a couple of vacation days Ihad five days off from work. Nice!Well, two days into that time period,Cinnamon, one of my cats, got sick.She had been on my patio and camerunning in the house acting like shewas nauseous or had eaten some-thing-maybe a bug, I’m not sure.Within an hour, I could tell that she

was not well. She became lethargicand went to hide. I’ve seen thesymptoms before, so they were easyto recognize. Oh boy. Now what?Like I said, it was a holiday week-end and the vet was going to close inan hour. Long story short, I took herto the vet thatevening, butshe becameworse the nextmorning. So Itook her againseveral hoursbefore the vetwould be closedfor two days.After determining she was dehydrat-ed, the vet gave her some fluidsunder the skin and we went home. Iwas expecting that she would perkup, but in fact she continued to getworse. She was lying in the cornerlike a wet noodle. And now my onlyoption would be the emergencyroom if she needed help.

Wanting to keep her hydrated, Iran down to Petco to get a syringe

with which to give her some water,because you know the old saying,“you can lead a cat to water, but youcan’t make him drink.” Hmm,maybe that’s a horse, but it’s thesame concept! On my way back, Iwas praying and asking God to heal

my little cat. As soonas I finished thatprayer, I got a phonecall from a friend ofmine whom I hadattempted to reachearlier. I explained,rather tearfully, that Ihad called to ask forprayer. I spoke to

both Irene and Sergio, and they saidthey would pray.

Well, I got home, gave Cinnamonone syringe full of water and lo andbehold, she was up and acting rela-tively normal. Another friend ofmine came over also, and we contin-ued to watch Cinnamon to see howshe was doing. Irene called to checkin at which point she told me that

Oct 4Mitch Williams

Steps to Reduce Your DebtDiscovering God’s Way of

Handling Money #2

Oct 11Mitch Williams

Making Wise Financial GoalsDiscovering God’s Way of

Handling Money #3

Oct 18 Mitch Williams

The Wealth of HonestyDiscovering God’s Way of

Handling Money #4

Oct 25Mitch Williams

The Heart of GivingDiscovering God’s Way of

Handling Money #5

Worship Schedule

she and Sergio had been with theAumacks, the Ortegas and Lunasand that they all stopped and prayedfor Cinnamon. I knew in my heart,that it was the same as the Scriptureabove . . . “and the cat was healedthat same hour!”

I was so relieved, and I was ableto spend the rest of that evening vis-iting with a close friend whom oth-erwise I would not have seen thatday. I slept really well, not worryingabout what I would find in themorning. And I was reminded thatGod is awesome and answersprayer! What a blessing it is to havefriends to call upon and who willstop and pray for your concerns!Thanks to all of you! And THANKYOU, JESUS! =

Webster, God and You

by Linda BewleyPlease


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Commit your way to the Lord;trust in Him and he will do this: Hewill make your righteousness shinelike the dawn, the justice of yourcause like the noonday sun.

Be still before the Lord and waitpatiently for him… Psalm 37:5-7

Ok, so we all know wewill meet up with sometype of thorns, sooner orlater. Is there anythingwe can do to preparefor these challenges?As I think back on myconfrontation with anold bougainvilleaplant; a thorny,woody vine withpapery flowers.Don’t let the flowersfool you for aminute, though, theycover thorns as sharpas 10-inch nails. I thought I hadplanned my attack carefully. Ilooked my adversary over very welland thought I had dressed according-ly. Two pair of baggy pants, twolong-sleeved shirts with long glovesto boot; hiking boots, a hat and ascarf over my face would surely dothe trick.

Three days and multiple woundslater, I won the battle, so to speak.So did I prepare well enough?Thinking about it later, I realized Ishould have asked for help, and itmight have helped to have some

salve ready for the thorns whichwould inevitably get through themultiple layers of protection.

Even in our every day challengeswe must not forget God’s AttitudeAttire. Just because we do not seethese battles as spiritual, many timesthey can nick away at the Armor

God has provided uswith for just thesecases. STAND FIRM

IN TRUTH : Was Ihonest in the retellingof my story?BREASTPLATE OF

RIGHTEOUSNESS:Was I seeking to do wellin the whole process; not

grumbling and com-plaining? SHOD

WITH THEGOSPEL OF

PEACE: Wouldwhat I was doing

bring peace to oth-ers, a favor, perhaps? SHIELD OFFAITH: Was someone’s faithencouraged? HELMET OF SALVA-TION and SWORD OF THE SPIR-IT: Did I have God’s righteousnessin my mind, rather than my own?Was I confident in my own salvationprovided through Christ?

In terms of preparation we havePost-it Protection: Jot down certainscriptures you find helpful and postthem everywhere, bathroom mirrors,door frames, kitchen sink, etc. Forthose of us always on the go andplugged in there is iPod Inspiration:

Download tons of encouraging,praise music into your iPod or if youare old-school like me into your CD-Player. One you may find odd as apreventative action or at least pro-active is Praying it Forward: A cou-ple of faithful friends remarked tome that the good news I shared wasin line with what they were prayingfor me. I appreciated that.

Balming Buddies: Ahh; now isthe time for the soothing balm forafter the battle. I doubt that readingspecial and beloved psalms can bebeat for soothing a tired and wound-ed soul. But good friends who arewilling to help in any way they can,from giving a neck massage or hear-ing your sorrowful tale just onemore time before reminding you thatit is time to move on with your lifejust can’t compare with trying to‘chin-it-up’ on your own.

If a friend has lost a loved one,offer to sit through some of yourfriend’s photo albums with her,allowing time to think back on morewonderful times. Perhaps you mayhave some memories to share aswell about their loved one.

Father: How would you have mereach out to others in my time ofneed? Help me accept their kind-ness even as I may also need todepend on it. =

Preparing for ThornsBefore the Father

by Linda Fernandez

Heirloom Tomato Dinner Tart


5

With Love From the Kitchenof Ginny Williams

1 extra large sweet yellow onion,chopped finelyl T. vigin olive oill pastry dough for one 9” pie dish

(either homemade or frozen &thawed)4 oz. goat cheese, (either with garlic

or plain)2 tsp. fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried3 medium Heirloom tomatoes, cut

into 1/4” thick slices Preheat oven to 450 degrees

In a skillet, heat olive oil overmedium heat and saute onions, stir-ring often, until golden brown.Remove from heat.

With pastry dough line the piedish. Spread onion evenly on top ofpastry dough, mostly in the center,leaving a l” border around the edge(because the edges will be folded-upand over to the center later).

Drop several spoonfuls of goatcheese over the onion mixture untilit is all used. Place it in the centerand middle area and spread around,sprinkle with thyme.

Place the Heirloom tomato sliceson top, overlapping slightly. Addsalt and pepper to taste.

FOLD PASTRY over toppingcrimping the edges to make it small-

er as you turn the pie shell around.This forms the crust and makes theTart.

Bake: 450 degrees 18 to 20 oruntil golden brown. =

Discovering God’s Way of Handling MoneyThere are

more than 2,350verses thataddress every-thing you needto know abouthandlingmoney. TheBible is, indeed,a blueprint formanaging yourfinances. Notonly isDiscoveringGod’s Way ofHandlingMoney practi-cal, but in it you

will learn theprofound impactmanaging yourmoney has onyour relationshipwith God.

wWhat does theBible say aboutborrowing andlending money?

w How do youevaluate finan-cial counsel fromothers?

w Is honesty always the best policy?

w How can I know when to give toothers?

w How are money and being a godlyemployee related to each other?

Don’t miss this excellent videosmall group curriculum coming to agroup near you! =

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4

5 7 8 10 11

13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

6:26 pm sunset

6:17 pm sunset

6:09 pm sunset

9:30 AM S.S.

9:30 AM S.S.

9:30 AM S.S.10:50 AM Worship Mitch WilliamsDiscovering God’s Wayof Handling Money #4

9:30 AM S.S.10:50 AM Worship Mitch WilliamsDiscovering God’s Wayof Handling Money #5

Visit www.downeychurch.orgC.S. - Community Service

S.S. - Sabbath School

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10:50 AM WorshipMitch WilliamsDiscovering God’s Wayof Handling Money #2

10:50 AM Worship Mitch WilliamsDiscovering God’s Wayof Handling Money #3

610 AM C.S.

10 AM C.S.

10 AM C.S.

6:35 pm sunset

6:30 pm BandPractice



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Downey Adventist ChurDowney Adventist Chur ch ch

7 pm Women’sPrayer Group




10 AM C.S.

7 pm ChurchBoard


4 PM Adventurers

6:02 pm sunset



10 AM C.S.

5:30 PM Fall Party


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Developing Money SmartKids

Stewpot

by Gordon Botting, DrPH,CFC

If you were like me as you weregrowing up, you probably heard thefollowing sayings concerning moneymatters:“Pound wise, penny foolish.”“Waste not, want not.”“Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

Unfortunately, too often you real-ly didn’t understand the underlyingmeaning of these savvy financialsayings of your parents and otherfamily members and these importantmoney management principles gotlost too often in adulthood to these:“Buy now, pay later.”“No payment until 2011.”“90 days the same as cash.”

I don’t know about you, but Iwould like to do my level best toprepare more children and youth fora life of financial security with asmuch economic wisdom and biblicalmoney management principles aspossible. Here are my suggestions:

Start early

Today parents need to start teach-ing their kids money lessons as earlyas age three to four years. CrownMinistries has a wonderful plasticmodel that can educate any three-year-old on three of the basic moneyprinciples. The model has threebuildings - one shaped as a church,one as a store, and another as abank. Begin with three dimes withwhich the child can put one in theslot on the roof of the church tobegin teaching the lesson of sharing;another in the slot on the bank’s rooffor the value of saving, and the finalone in the slot on the roof of thestore for learning how to spendwisely.

Give an allowanceDon’t give your child an

allowance for fulfilling the normalduties of the home, such as makingtheir bed,emptyingthe trashcans, orcleaning uptheir bed-room - giveanallowancefor the pur-pose ofteachingthem moneyprinciples.One of the purposes of an allowanceis to set limits, such as when yourchild asks for a candy at the check-out, you can remind them that it willbe deducted from their pocketmoney.1

Give them a budget

Giving your child an allowanceteaches them only half the lessonabout money matters. An allowancemay provide them with income, butit does not educate them on how tohandle their money wisely. Startteaching early about the responsibili-ty of budgeting through spending.For example, say you plan a vaca-tion trip to Disneyland and you giveyour child a certain amount to spendon each of the three days you are atthe amusement park. Should theychoose to blow the first day’sallowance on the first item they see,the trick is not to “bail them out” forthe rest of that day, and you willlikely find them more cautious intheir spending the following two-

days. I remember a friend of minewhose teenager was given a monthlyclothing allowance when she turned16. She went shopping and immedi-ately spent the entire amount on an

expensive blouse.A valuable lessonwas learned as shehad to wear thatsame piece ofclothing over andover again duringthe next thirtydays.

ATM’s are notmodern moneytrees

I’m sure thatthis has happened to you as a parent.You tell your children you can’t pur-chase an item for them and theyimmediately reply that you shouldgo to the ATM and “get somemoney”. They often see you stick aplastic card in the slot of the bank’smagic machines at the local store orbank and out pop dollar bills and, inaddition, you also get to keep theplastic card. If you don’t teach yourchildren the basic truth that you haveto earn the money so you can laterwithdraw it, they will grow up to beadults who assume that as long asthere are checks in the checkbook,there’s money in the bank. Thiscould also be a teaching momentconcerning the importance of thefamily budget and how it is designedto maximize your income and mini-mize your expenses.2

Say “NO” to debtBecause your children are grow-

ing up in an economy that is based

continued on page 11


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Oct. BirthdaysMario Rodriguez-3Lee Ann Harry-6Denise Macias-7Jay P. Weaver-9Evan Aumack-10Virginia Concha-12Natalie Michel-12Evelyn Garcia-17Chanal Red-17Bonnie Pollan-23Annie Mendez-23Perlita Vindel-Calix-28Victor Acuna, Jr. -31

If your birthday is left out in the monthly newsletter, please contact the church office so we can put itin.


9

UpcUpcomingomingEEvvenentsts

Wednesdays - 10 a.m. Community ServiceThursdays - 7 p.m. Women’s Prayer GroupFridays - 6:30 p.m. Band Practice3rd Saturday - 4 p.m. Adventurers

Oct 23 - Church Board 7 pmOct 25 - Fall Party 5:30 pm

The Latest Worddeadline is the 5thof the month.

Coming Soon

Nov. 22 - Celebration SabbathDec. 6 - Kid’s SabbathDec 20 - Community Christmas

this month

Piano Lessons

Chris Martin is avail-able for piano lessons.Call (714) 224-8846for more information.


10

The Latest About

Our Church FamilyWe sorrowfully report the passing

of Becky Duran’sand Teresa Miranda’sbrother, JessieHernandez.Remember the familyin your prayers.

If you would likewrite to Veronique,here’s her newaddress in France.

See the paper version forVeronique’s updated info

If you have any ChurchFamily news, please con-tact the church office so wecan get it into the newslet-ter. =

Do YOU Know Her?

Name: Kristelle MeadeBirthday: July 26Born: Montserrat Fav Color: turquoiseFav Food: pizzaFav Activity: drawingOccupation: 8th Grade atAUSOther Info: - Collects sea shells- baptized in August- likes to play on the computer & the internet- lived in Canada for 5 years- likes art class

only acceptable attitude is one oflove for God. When the Corinthianbelievers learned of the needs of thedistressed Christians in Jerusalem,they asked to help. The Bible says:“And they … gave themselves firstto the Lord…” (2 Corinthians 8:5).The grace of God changes heartsand lives and the motivation for giv-

ing to God’s cause is simply from aheart of love. No strings attached,no thought of “what’s in it for me,”just a willingness to trust that theLord provides for all our needs.

See you when the church gathers. =

Handling Money (cont. from page 2)

Fall Party

Saturday, Oct. 25

5:30 pm

Join us for worship, food andsome games! Bring the

kids too!

I think I finally found the be-alland end-all of volunteering efforts.It is at this great website: volunteer-match.org.

Not sure where to begin or howto get started? Not even sure whatyou’re interested in as far as helpingthe environment or others? This isthe place for you.

Man, what a goldmine of infor-mation and suggestions! Forstarters, I entered my home town zipcode and voila, 29 opportunities shotout at me. I entered “working withthe elderly’, and all kinds of thingscame up.

Helping with activities and gamesat a senior activity center; everything

from giving presentations onInvestment Abuse of the Elderly tosinging or playing an instrument fortheir entertainment.

Just for fun, I thought Iwould enter ‘children’. Inless than 2 seconds 622opportunities were at myfingertips, all within 20miles of my home.

There are volunteerprofiles, after school pro-grams, working with the policedepartments; day care needs. Thelists go on and on.

According to their website,60,000 non-profit organizations usetheir website to complement their

own recruiting efforts.

Some of these organizationsinclude the American Red Cross,Easter Seals, Girl Scouts USA and

Habitat for Humanity-Hurricane Relief. Othersare L.A. Unified SchoolDistrict and other schooldistricts as well.

If you are truly inter-ested in volunteering, trythis great website or call

your local hospital to see if theyneed any volunteers. =


11

Getting StartedHow Can I Help?

by Linda Fernandez

on debt, they will begin to believethat debt is “normal.” Show yourkids that when mom or dad desiresomething, they will save for it andpay cash instead of borrowingmoney or the retail cashier offersyou twenty percent off your item ifyou will sign up for the company’scredit card, it may sound like youare saving money, but you areputting yourself in a position ofopening yourself up to using moneyyou don’t currently have.3

Show generosity

Since kids, like us adults, areborn with a selfish nature, I believeone of the most important lessonsyou as a parent can teach your chil-dren is about the concept of content-

ment and the blessings of givinggenerously. Maybe you could sup-port an orphan in Africa or India andhave each family member contributesomething each month from his orher allowance. Remind them also ofthe daily gifts, such as good health,which our Heavenly Father bestows,and how

He asks for a small portion backby returning our tithes and offeringsas a way of saying “thank you” forlife and all its blessings.

And Finally. . .

Finally, the very best method ofcommunicating these money truthsis by following these three princi-ples:o Talk about money, don’t shroud it

in secrecy.o Make money management ahands-on-experience.o Live out the principles in yourown lives, modeling what you hopeyour children will carry into theirfuture.3 =

References:1. “Money Smart Kids,” Money,September 2004, page 97.2. “Teaching Your Kids About MoneyTeaches Parents, Too.” Debt-proofLiving, February 2007, page 1.3. Marybeth Whalen, “Seven FinancialTruths to Teach Your Kids,” MoneyMatters magazine, January 2008. pages12-13.

Developing Money Smart Kids (cont. from page 7)

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DATED MATERIAL


PPonder This...onder This...

IINNSSIIDDEE

Please on page 3

Preparing for Thornson page 4

Ginny’s Kitchen onpage 5

What’s happening?see pages 6 & 9

Developing MoneySmart Kids on page 7

Kid’s Page on page 8

Our Church Familypage 10

Getting Started onpage 11

= Forgiveness can remarkably restore our relationships,renew our spirits and revitalize our lives.” —William Arthur Ward

= “Your temper will improve the longer you keep it.” —Anonymous

= “If you really believe the Christian gospel — Godbehind us, his cause committed to us, his power avail-able for us — then proclaim it, live it, implement it, forhumanity’s hope depends upon it. It is, indeed, a faith fortough times.” —Harry Emerson Fosdick

god’s way of handling money - downey churchwhen i give abundantly to god and charity, i find my...

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