Mark Pangel

Matthew 6:24 says “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
* 78% of American’s live paycheck to paycheck
* The average American home has around $17,000 in credit card debt.
* Money or possessions is used 2350 times in the Bible.
* Money is possibly the #1 tool Satan uses against the American church today.
After today’s message we want to give you tools to truly get out of debt. “The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is the slave of the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7)
If you will follow the link below there is a spread sheet you can use to get started with a plan. I promise if you don’t start with a plan your finances will never clean up.

http://www.4points.org/budget-worksheet

Remember without a plan it is like me on a diet; we may have good intentions but nothing is going to change. Get started today with a plan for you and your family to get out of bad debt.

Can We Be Honest…

My favorite major league baseball player, Josh Hamilton, recently had a relapse of his alcoholism at a local pub in Dallas. Hamilton’s struggle with drugs and alcohol became famous with his rise to stardom over the past several seasons. In the early 2000s he was banned from major league baseball, and the former #1 pick in the draft looked like a waste of talent that would never make it to the show. But Hamilton found an unlikely answer by finding faith in Jesus Christ and turning from his abuse.
Many people think once you “find religion” all problems go away, but I believe that nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, I believe your attacks increase and the amount of pressure gets larger.
Then there is Hamilton’s situation, where he made his struggles public and was transparent about his former life. Difficult doesn’t begin to describe the daily struggle Josh Hamilton must feel every day.
So what is your secret that no one knows about? It’s easy to bash drugs and alcohol or homosexuality, but what about lust? Envy? Anger? Jealousy? Bitterness? Hatred?
I struggle with some – if not all – of those, but the difference is that when I have a relapse in one or more of those areas, I can hide them in certain ways. If I am nasty to my wife at home, she cannot tell anyone. If I watch something I shouldn’t, I can erase the fact it was ever there. If I talk about someone in an awful way, it may never get back to them and I may get away with it…
I can do so many things that are never seen and yet BASH other brothers and sisters in Christ that do wrong just so I feel better.
So here’s the deal. God is not Zeus sitting on a cloud ready to pounce on you when you screw up. It is not what we want to do, but we are going to make mistakes. It’s called sin. The reason I deserve Hell is because I sin by nature and by choice. No matter how hard I try, I will SIN tomorrow. I must be living my life from the overflow of the mercies of God and be renewed every single day of my life. (Romans 12:1-2) This is not something I get credit for just by going to church on Sundays and getting charged up for the week. No, I am at war and I must put on the full armor of God in this battle (Ephesians 6:10-18).

The bottom line is this: Josh – we are pulling for you. We love you, and all of us have had our own relapse of some private sin since your public fall. Get up, brother. We need heroes like you to carry the torch, share the truth of Jesus, and display His redeeming power!

Doing ministry in the real world can seem impossible because of all the hardships we face on a day in and day out basis. Often, we walk out on Monday mornings and have great intentions to ‘hold the rope’ for the cause of Christ only to lose control of the rope and lose heart in the process. I find that when I fail, it is often an effort problem on my end when adversity comes my way. Trying to do great things for Jesus is an honorable thing and is certainly what we should do, but we shouldn’t just be outwardly focused. I want to challenge everyone to LOVE the people around them as much as possible, but do it from the overflow of the in-focus you have in your lives. It is from the overflow of our personal walk with Christ that we can effectively make a difference in the world we live in. The problem I seem to have is not being intimate with Jesus and focusing more on the message I need to work on or the next project for the church, the upcoming mission trip, the trip to the hospital…We MUST minister to the people we work with out of the overflow we get from GRACE that Jesus offers us every morning. Lamentations 3:20-24 says, “My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
Don’t lose hope. Jesus will renew you every morning for the work HE has given you. There will be opposition to the task, but it isn’t our job to stop the opposition. We are to give God control and let Him do what HE can do. Don’t lose hope. WE already won! Now let’s use the power we have in Jesus and believe that HE will do it in us.

Why Give to The Gift?

On Saturday, December 24th, 4 Points Church is collecting a special offering we’re calling The Gift. Some people might be asking, “Why should I give to The Gift”? or even, “Why is 4 Points Church doing this”? I want to tell you why we are and why I think you should give.

First, we are doing a special gift at the end of 2011 to help launch us to the future of what we believe God wants us to do. Over the course of the next several months, we are going to clarify just who 4 Points is and what we believe God wants us to become. In order to become what we believe God wants us to be, it is going to cost money! We are asking you guys who are 4 Pointers to invest a little extra (and it may hurt) so that we can move forward!

Now, why should you give? Let me say this first: if you don’t give to The Gift offering, God is not going to strike you down or think badly of you. You aren’t necessarily going to get a promotion or a raise if you do give to The Gift. Chances are, you won’t have a miracle happen in your life as a result of giving. We are trying to give you an opportunity to give to something bigger than yourself.

So many of us (me included) get consumed this time of year with stuff! We believe that if we get that certain item we will feel better or have joy in our lives. In all reality, for a short time period new toys do bring us happiness and we enjoy them. There is certainly nothing wrong with getting new stuff (cars, boats, golf clubs, 4 wheelers…) it is when these things consume us that there is a problem.

We want to give you an opportunity to give bigger and let Jesus consume your lives. If you don’t think 4 Points’ “gift offering” is worthy of giving to, that is okay. Give to something you believe in that is making a difference for the cause of Christ.

I want to tell you a few organizations that Leah and I have given to that we believe in. Samaritan’s Purse does an incredible job of getting the gospel out to the world, and a very high percentage of money donated goes to reach people around the world with the gospel. Locally, Chosen Children Ministries is a wonderful organization that partners with barrios in Nicaragua to spread the gospel, clothe, and feed the people. A huge percentage of their income goes directly to the people. Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offerings from the SBC are great offerings to help missions, and the money spent goes directly to missions and missionaries around the world that are reaching the nations with the gospel.

The point is, if you don’t want to give to 4 Points, give to something. God – and only God – knows your heart. The Bible says In 2 Corinthians 9:7 7Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
At the end of this year please pray about what God would have you give, and give to something bigger than yourself for the cause of Christ! Merry Christmas.

Tim Tebow is the modern day….

Recently ESPN Sportscenter has been filled with Tebow mania. I for one love it, but not for the reason many of you do. I have convinced myself after watching interview after interview that Tebow is the modern day John the Baptist.
Over and over people claim “he’s got God on his side” or “there is a higher power helping him.” While it is insane all the great things he has done, make no mistake. Tebow’s end goal is not to be the best QB in the NFL or even to win the Super Bowl. He’d love to do both, but it is much more important for him to be a light for the cause of Jesus Christ.
In every interview, he deflects the attention off of himself, praises his teammates and coaches, and eventually gives praise to Jesus who is the light. He has every right to be cocky from what he has accomplished in his life: state champion in high school, two-time national champion in college, Heisman trophy winner, 1st round draft pick, and now at this rate he’s on his way to the Pro Bowl in his second year in the league.
His jersey leads sales above all other players’ in the NFL. He has a cult following, which is no longer just from Christians, and yet he continues to deflect praise to his teammates and give praise to Jesus.
This week alone there was a special on ESPN that showed him giving a gospel presentation, and he also gave a clear gospel presentation on ESPN2’s First Take while being interviewed by Skip Bayless.
So why is he John the Baptist? John the Baptist was thought to be the Messiah by many of his followers and he did everything he could to deflect that and point to Jesus. Everywhere he went he had followers and became more and more popular, but it was his goal for people to see Jesus whenever they saw him. John 1:6-8 says 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
I don’t know Tim Tebow personally, but I would say that this young man is as real as it gets as far as his walk with Jesus. Every day he is successful, denying his own power and shining the Light, he is more and more like John the Baptist. This world is dark and continues to get darker and farther away from Christ.
It is because of this that Tebow is such a great leader of men. Not because of six straight wins or seven of eight, but because through everything he continues to shine his light and be a witness of the Light.
I am proud to call myself a Tim Tebow fan because I believe he is doing more for our faith than any preacher in America today and he is a missionary in the truest sense of the word. There is no greater platform I can think of than the most popular player in the NFL, and the word is spreading like wildfire. It’s not only okay to be a Christian, it’s ok to be authentic in your faith in Jesus Christ.
We can compare him to former QB’s and former leaders of men, but I am convinced he is the 21st century’s John the Baptist. Were pulling for you Tim! This is bigger than football.

For the past 8 years a dear friend of mine Bill (Tiny) Bateman has been battling Cardiomyopathy (which means heart muscle disease). 8 years ago Tiny was given a death sentence and was told he had days to live. All along he has battled and been an example to all of us that know him well. It has amazed me that for the past 8 years Tiny has always found a way to be heavily involved in ministry even though the doctors told him he had to stop working. On Friday Josh Scott, Austin Barnett and I went to see Tiny in Charleston at MUSC Hospital. Dealing with 20+lbs of fluid around the right side of his heart, and tons of unknown things Tiny still encouraged us with our church plant and was in great spirits. We left feeling like he blessed us more than we were able to bless him.
If in my lifetime I face difficulties with my health and struggles that make no sense I hope I will have the faith like my mentor and friend Bill Bateman. You are an inspiration to all of us Tiny, and we believe God is going to use what is happening now to do a miracle in your life.
Please pray for Tiny

It’s hard to describe all that we have gone through as a family the past month and a half at 4 points church. God is so amazing and I’m so pumped about being on this journey with such a great church family. I am currently reading a book a friend of mine recommended to me (the calvary road by Roy Hessin), and the thing that has encouraged me over the past few weeks while reading this book is IT’S NOT ABOUT ME! I know we go to conferences and hear that and we say that to ourselves, but to fully understand it’s not about me leads us to a life of FAITH! Last week Pastor Stephen Furtick said a drop of the anointing of the Holy Spirit is better than all the talent in the world. Jesus doesn’t need US to be great he want us to be great because of HIM. Jesus is capable of using anyone anytime so the key for us is not to be great, but be less and let HIM become more (John 3:30). When He increases we increase and our lives are better than we can imagine. If it is our end goal to be famous or make a name for ourselves we are doomed for a life of misery in success. We all know people that are great at what they do and at the end of the day they hate themselves because it’s all about them. Let’s ask ourselves this simple question. Do I allow JESUS to fill my cup and ask HIM to do a great work in me? OR do I rely talent and work & take all the credit sent my way. Much like Moses (Hebrews 11:23-28) we must decided if we will live a life of Faith or Favor. Will we stay with the king and live the life that is easier or will we follow Jesus to a life of unknown. Heb 11:27 says: “By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king. For he endured as seeing him who is invisible.” For a life of faith this must be our battle cry. Most Christians never stop fearing the anger of the king and we fail to live the life the Lord Jesus has for each one of us. God doesn’t want everyone to preach or teach or sing but each one to do what HE has called you to do. 4pointers be encouraged. If it’s all about Him we will change the world. We just can’t worry about the anger of the king and we must focus on HIM who is invisible! JESUS Can’t wait for Sunday.

American Dream is defined as: a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S….That sounds a lot like what the Bible teaches us huh! Go in to all the world and get what you can get for you for your sake In Jesus name amen. Wait.. Maybe not. Look I’m not against people making money or even a lot of money my issue is with motivation behind making the money. If all we want is happiness through stuff and bigger and better we will be miserable souls. God calls us to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and we must lose our lives for his sake. Neither of those sound quite like the American Dream do they? There are so many times in life (especially for we americans) that huge distractions come over us and we pursue them more than we pursue what is most important and that is our relationship with Jesus Christ.
God has called each one of us that are saved to be salt and light in a DARK world and yet the only thing on my mind at the end of a typical day is how much money can I earn tomorrow or what is the next great toy I can buy for myself so I CAN BE HAPPY! It always seems we have a set thing in our minds that will make us filled and when we get that thing something better comes out and we need that too. How many of y’all wanted a flat screen tv when they first came out and now that you have one you want a 3D flat screen. Or how many wanted a certain car and then they come out with a new model and your new car you wanted is out of date and no longer cool or what you wanted therefore we are unhappy. I truly believe the only possible way to find happiness in this life is a life centered on Jesus Christ and Him alone. I think if God has blessed you to make lots of money that is awesome but put it to use for the kingdom and do something bigger than yourselves. It has always amazed me to work with our brothers and sisters in nicaragua who if they are lucky live on half of what we live on with much less stuff and yet we are jealous at the level of contentment they have versus frustration we have in our lives. I hope each person is pursuing the American Dream will sit back on consider God’s perfect will and the fact this could take us anywhere and be anything but is so much better than what we have if we are pursuing anything more than Christ alone! God’s will is better!

Today was a great day as we finished our time in Cristo Rey. It was difficult to leave as we have so many projects that we could do if we could stay another week or two. I really believe we had some huge breakthroughs this week! Some gang looking people were hired for help and the people of the schools and in the community told us to be careful of these guys they cannot be trusted and they will steal your stuff. We (CCM) decided to try love instead of being harsh and try to win them over with a job for a few days and a gift bag at the end of our work. We were able to give a very clear gospel presentation and the guys were very open to what we had to say. Each one of them embraced us and told us they would be at the church in Cristo Rey this weekend. I believe God is going to raise up some mighty men who were once thugs because of showing love in this way this week. Our groups ended the latrines and were able to give one of the single ladies a food bag and minister to her. Imagine living in a nice appartment and then your husband gets arrested…The next thing you know you are homeless and living in a barrio 10 miles from you home where you are scared for you lives and have no place to use the bathroom and nothing to eat! This was a great victory for a 23 year old mother of 2 and another great win in this huge community for the gospel of Jesus. There are so many stories of people getting saved door to door, great bible teaching by our VBS crew and great work by sports camp! I am so thankful for this team and the work they put in this week. All in all we saw people trust Jesus in a barrio that is VERY hard right now and many people that seemed hardened toward the gospel opened up to what we had to say. I believe this trip was for us to grow as a church and as a group!!! No question this happened but I also believe God used us to begin to plow the soil in a hard place and show love to a school that is gettin no love. This is such a good opportunity for the new pastor to go to the school after this love has been showed and establish himself. I Cannot wait til we come back and see the return soon and down the road of the small part in Cristo Rey and Paradise changing 1 person at a time for the gospel of Jesus. Thank you again for being such a great church and helping so much! It is such a great testimony that we spent $9,000 while we were down here to help and mend the lives of these needy people. God is at work here! We will see you saturday night!

We spent our entire day in Cristo Rey Tipitapa Masaya. The need is so great because of the massive numbers of people and lack of jobs and funds. We started and did very well with the 2 schools going in at Cristo Rey today. The foundation is finished and the block will be going up tomorrow. Today we did a HUGE back yard bible club with over 150 children in the club. We did door to door evangelism where one of our groups was asked to pray with a lady who lost her husband last night and he was still in the house when they walked in. Needless to say this is not America when you walk in and see a dead person in a box waiting for his grave to be dug by friends and family. We were able to have a huge combined service this afternoon and 5 people trusted Jesus as savior. This barrio is the least evangelized we have ever been in so 4 people is a great victory and a great start for the pastor of Cristo Rey. Many seeds were planted with the gospel presentations and they will again be planted tomorrow by our team. One thing I am very proud of is the fact our team was able to spen over $8,000 on this trip toward buildind latrines, building 4 schools which is one more than we thought and quite expensive and we have been given the privalidge of finishing the pastor training school at the mission house by buying the ceiling for the the new training school. This is really a full circle moment for a small group of us because in october of 09 lamar uncle alan and I were able to challenge 15 pastors in Leon and Uncle Alan told them start in masaya without a place to study (under the rancheros) God will provide a place. Next weeks group will finish a training schools for the pastors in the local barrios that was dreamed up years ago and in great part was because of that october monday in Leon.
I am so proud of how great our group has done this week with one more hard day of work left. We miss all of you and home and yet we wish we could stay another week the need is so great! Keep praying! God is moving!