- THE CARES OF THIS LIFE:
- For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:36-37
- Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
- And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”
- But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16-21
* When we are born, we do not come with a predetermined time to die. We know when we were born, but the time of death is uncertain—our soul will be required of us at the time the Almighty God determines. But the only thing we can do about it is to be ready to die by knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We have to be careful not to think that we have plenty of time to take care of our eternal life and plunge into the cares of this life, which the enemy gets us into, and when God requires our soul, we are not ready. We will go into eternal condemnation!
DO NOT WORRY! HAVE FAITH THAT IT IS GOD THE PROVIDER AND NOT YOU:
- Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put
- So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
- “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
- But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:25-34
* Lack of faith in God’s promises of provisions will cause a person to worry and to try to do it all on his own effort. Once that happens, the enemy will get the person to constantly work to provide for himself and the family. A spirit of fear will cause the person to feel that there is never enough so the person will work harder to provide. This situation leaves the person with little time for the things of God and to pursue those things which the Lord wants us to seek after. Paul warned Timothy: But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. 1 Timothy 6:11-12
- DANGERS OF GOING AFTER RICHES:
- Advise from King Salomon:
- He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. Ecclesiastes 5:10
- The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. Ecclesiastes 5:12
- The Love of Money:
- But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:9-10
- Where is your heart?
- Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21
- Two Masters?
- 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 [money]. Matthew 6:24
* Jesus, Paul, King Salomon all give the same warning about money: “BE CAREFUL WITH MONEY AND POSSESSING IT BECAUSE IT CAN POSSESS YOU!” There is a controlling spirit from money that causes the person to never be satisfy with it; and even in his sleep, a person with that spirit, does not rest, like King Solomon tells. When that spirit comes to possess a person, it will control his emotional and spiritual heart. It will leave no room in the person’s heart for the love of God. That’s why Jesus explains that you cannot have two masters in your heart — if money is your master, that’s where your heart will be — it will not be in God. That’s why Paul explains that the love of money is the root of all evil. Paul also tells that many had left the [Christian] faith because of that same principle: at the end, they
loved money more than God!
- THE PLEASURES OF LIFE — WORLDLINESS:
- Warning from the Apostle John: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” John 2:15-17
- Warning from the Apostles James: “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4
- Warning from the prophet Hosea: “Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. Hosea 4:11
- Warnings from Proverbs: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. Proverbs 20:1
- The controlling spirit of alcohol: Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. Proverbs 23:31-33
- God gives a warning to His people before the system of the world, Babylon, is destroyed at the end: And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Revelation 18:4-5
* In His prayer to the Father of John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples and He tells the Father that His disciples are not of this world. Yet, Jesus is not asking that God takes them out of the world, but to protect them from the evil one, who is in the world. When Jesus gave the disciples the Great Commission, He told them to go into all the world — into the enemy’s territory — and to proclaim the Gospel. As followers of Jesus Christ, Christian believers have to bring the truth of Jesus to sinners in a lost world. We need to love the sinners in order to tell them the truth that Jesus can save them from their sins and give them eternal life, but we have to be careful not to be pulled into the world and participate in their sins, like the Father warns in Revelation 18. Friendship with the world is enmity against God, as James tells us.