When We Allow The Cares Riches And Pleasures Of The World To Be Our Primary Focus We Will Lose Eternal Life If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? (James 2:15, 16) Help The Poor And Needy - https://youtube/watch?v=tfII8D-CBpU “As long as there are hungry ones in Gods world to be fed, naked ones to be clothed, souls perishing for the bread and water of salvation, every unnecessary indulgence, every overplus of capital, pleads for the poor and the naked.-Ellen G. White, Welfare Ministry, p. 269.” Why do you believe that God allowed to pursue a degree ? Why do you believe that God allowed you to get a senior job in an international corporation? Why do you believe that God allowed you to have a six or seven digit salary? Do you think God allowed all of these things so that can get out of poverty? There are many Christians today who believe that being the head means that they must come out of poverty and demonstrate that they have been blessed by the Lord. I am not sure if we realize that these ideologies have been placed into our minds because of our association with secular things. Some of us so desperately want to get out of poverty that when we get into University instead of spending time in the study of God’s words, we put the Bible aside and spend time combing through the philosophies of men. We only consult God during examination times when we need help to pass. Instead of our prayers focusing on allowing God to take control of our lives, we consistently barrage the throne with prayers for help to get good grades. This morning the Lord is reminding us that the reason we have been allowed to come out of poverty and to get some money is to help those who are still poor. You see my friend, God is testing our stewardship. At the end of the day, all that we possess belongs to God. He wants to see if we are truly His disciples. As a disciple of Christ we should be very concern about those persons who are hungry and sick among us. Notice very carefully how Jesus witness while He was on earth. Instead of coming as a wealthy King, Jesus came as a poor man. Jesus realize that people don’t need wealth… they don’t need a big house., people need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus came and the too care of the basic needs of people before sharing salvation with them. God has given us wealth so that we can share it with those who are in need. When we keep the gifts of God to ourselves and do not share them with other, we might cause someone’s prayer not to be answered. You see my friend; God will answer the prayer of a needy soul through the gifts that we have storing in our treasure house. Take come time to reflect on the story of the rich man found in Luke 12:16-21. I pray that we will not end up in the same position as this man. I pray that we will continue to allow the Holy Spirit to help us to be unselfish with all the gifts that God has placed in our hands to manage. Christ has ever been the poor mans friend. He chose poverty, and honored it by making it His lot. He has stripped from it forever the reproach of scorn by blessing the poor, the inheritors of Gods kingdom. Such was His work. By consecrating Himself to a life of poverty He redeemed poverty from its humiliation. He took His position with the poor that He might lift from poverty the stigma that the world had attached to it. He knew the danger of the love of riches. He knew that this love is ruinous to many souls. It places those who are rich where they indulge every wish for grandeur. It teaches them to look down on those who are suffering the pressure of poverty. It develops the weakness of human minds and shows that notwithstanding the abundance of wealth, the rich are not rich toward God. The characters of many have been molded by the false estimate placed on the worldly rich man. The man possessed of houses and lands, lauded and deceived by the respect given him, may look down upon the poor man, who possesses virtues that the rich man does not. When weighed in the golden scales of the sanctuary, the selfish, covetous rich man will be found wanting, while the poor man, who has depended in faith upon God alone for his virtue and goodness, will be pronounced heir to eternal riches in the kingdom of God. (Welfare Ministry, pg. 172, 173 – Ellen G. White) If, in the providence of God, wealth has been acquired, there is no sin in possessing it; and if no opportunities present themselves to use this means to advance the cause of God, there is no sin in still possessing it. But if opportunities are presented to the brethren to use their property to the glory of God and the advancement of His cause, and they withhold it, it will be a cause of stumbling to them. In the day of trouble that which was their hoarded treasure will be an offense unto them. Then all opportunities will be past for using their substance to the glory of God, and in anguish of spirit they will cast it from them to the moles and to the bats. Their gold and their silver cannot save them in that day. It falls upon them with crushing weight, that an account must be given of their stewardship, what use they have made of their Lords money. Self-love made them believe that it was all their own, and that they might want it all; but they then feel, bitterly feel and understand, that their means was only lent them of God, to be freely returned by being used to advance His cause. Their riches deceived them. They felt poor and lived for themselves, and at last they will find that the portion they might have used for Gods cause is a terrible burden. I saw that if God had given you wealth above the plainest and poorest, it should humble you, for it lays you under greater obligations. Where much is given, even of a worldly substance, much will be required. Upon this principle you are bound to possess noble, generous dispositions. Seek for opportunities to do good with what you have. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. (Testimonies, vol. 1, pg. 169, 170 – Ellen G. White)
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 10:57:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015