"Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal". (Matthew 6:19)
Storing riches means owning more things than you can use in a short period of time. Rich men include more than millionaires; they include anyone who hangs onto things he is not using. "Shame on you rich men. Weep and howl for the miseries that will come upon you. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust shall be a witness against you. You have heaped wealth up for the last days!" (James 5:1-3) If we own anything that is collecting dust, sitting in mothballs, rusting from disuse, lying idle in the bank, or rotting in the fridge, it is a curse against us. We must account to God for it on Judgement day.
"But store your riches in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal" (Matthew 6:20).
Whatever we spend on the poor, and on sharing the gospel with them is an investment in the kingdom of heaven.
"Sell what you have and give to the poor, Provide for yourselves wallets which do not wear our, riches in heaven which will not disappoint you, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupts" (Luke 12:33).
Jesus repeated these orders often. (See Luke 18:22 and Luke 11:41).
Jesus repeated these orders often. (See Luke 18:22 and Luke 11:41).
"Whoever does not forsake all that he owns cannot be a Christian!" (Luke 14:33). Western Christians are suffocating spiritually under mountains of accumulated material possessions. Forsake them! Or stop taking Christ's name in vain by calling yourself Christians!
"For where your riches are, there will your heart be also". (Matthew 6:21)
Until God has our possessions, he can never have our hearts. This is the heart of Christ's teachings... the corner of the Cornerstone. Your heart is where your wealth is... whether it's in a bank, a new home, or hungry children in India. If you talk of "asking Christ into you heart" but continue to hold onto your wealth, he isn't in your heart at all.
"The light of the body is the eyes. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eyes are evil, your body will be in darkness. So if the light in you is darkness how terribly dark it will be!". (Matthew 6:22-23)
If we cannot be obedient to Christ's teachings about possessions, we cannot be trusted in any spiritual matter. Jesus said,"If you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?". (Luke 16:11) Working for God and money at the same time is double-mindedness. "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways". (James 1:8)
"For where your riches are, there will your heart be also". (Matthew 6:21)
Until God has our possessions, he can never have our hearts. This is the heart of Christ's teachings... the corner of the Cornerstone. Your heart is where your wealth is... whether it's in a bank, a new home, or hungry children in India. If you talk of "asking Christ into you heart" but continue to hold onto your wealth, he isn't in your heart at all.
"The light of the body is the eyes. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eyes are evil, your body will be in darkness. So if the light in you is darkness how terribly dark it will be!". (Matthew 6:22-23)
If we cannot be obedient to Christ's teachings about possessions, we cannot be trusted in any spiritual matter. Jesus said,"If you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?". (Luke 16:11) Working for God and money at the same time is double-mindedness. "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways". (James 1:8)
The church today is stumbling blindly in cross-eyed confusion. Is your eye "sound," or is it "evil?" Do you want the truth, or just the bits of Christianity that suit you?
"The Love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim 6:10). We must smash this source of all evil as John the Baptist did. (Luke 3:9-11)
"No man can serve two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money". (Matthew 6:24)
When Jesus said you cannot work for God and money at the same time, the churchmen "derided him because of their covetousness". (Luke 16:14)
Here are some arguments they give today:
Excuse No. 1: "You can work for money without worshipping it".
But can you work for Satan without serving him? "Don't you know that whoever you obey you are serving?" (Romans 6:16) If your faith is in God, you will work for God. If it is in money, you will work for money. "Show me your faith without your works and I'll show you my faith by my works". (James 2:18)
(NOTE: You may receive money for something you do, without that being your first motive in what you are doing. Just ask yourself if you'd still do it, even if you weren't paid for it, to determine what your first motive is).
Excuse No. 2: "You can love money if you don't love it more than God".
Can you love Satan a little less than God? You must hate one master or the other. Though we all use money, we must learn to recognise its fatal addiction, and hate what it is doing to mankind spiritually. If we try to keep money a close second to God, it's already a clear first.
Excuse No. 3: "You can witness on your job".
True, "slaves" should serve their bosses as though they were working for God (1 Peter 2:18, Ephesians 6:5-8) "But if you have the opportunity to be free, use it... Do not become a slave again" (1 Cor 7:21-23).
Excuse No. 4: "SOMEONE has to support those who preach".
All we must have is God. God makes food, not man. The system robs God's resources and demands that we serve it to be fed. But the King's kids do not owe the evil system anything (Matthew 17:24-27). "The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just" (Proverbs 13:22) and it's up to God how he's going to feed us.
"Therefore I say, take no thought for you life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; or for your body, what you shall wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothes?". (Matthew 6:25)
We take too much responsibility upon ourselves. Jesus said, "come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Our responsibility is to preach this good news. It is God's responsibility to feed us. "Do not labour for the food that perishes" (John 6:27).
That is a command. Do you dare disobey it and still call yourself a Christian?
"Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father feeds them. Are you not much better than them?" (Matthew 6:26)
Solomon said it is important to sow and reap if you want to eat (Proverbs 10:5, Proverbs 31:16). Paul said the same thing (2 Thessalonians 3:10). But the seeds we must sow as Christians are the words of God (Luke 8:11), and the harvest is one of souls (John 4:35). Paul worked night and day preaching the gospel (1 Thessalonians 2:9) and taught us to do the same.
If God can feed birds without jobs or money, he can certainly feed us!
"Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?" (Matthew 6:27)
We act like food would not exist without money. But the miracle of life goes on with or without us worrying about it.
"And why do you worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes. Yet not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these" (Matthew 6:28-29).
Solomon is noted for wisdom, but Jesus' wisdom is far superior (Matthew 12:42). Living by faith sounds foolish, but "the foolishness of God is wiser than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25). Until the church sees money for the fake god that it is, all the world will see in the church is expensive clothing covering bankrupt hearts. Far better to be clothed with Christ's simple beauty.
"So, if God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and gone tomorrow, burnt up in the oven. Wont he be all the more sure to clothe you? How little faith you have!" (Matthew 6:30)
Can you make one living cell? Yet God makes billions of them every day. Certainly he can supply the needs of his employees! (Phillipians 4:19) The rich shall be "made low; because as the flower of the grass, they shall pass away". (James 1:9-12) We're the creations, not the Creator. When we become like little children, in total dependence on God for our needs, we are "born again" into a heavenly kingdom where God controls the economy. We are born again by the teachings of Christ (1 Peter 1:23-25), not emotional experiences or recited prayers (John 3:3).
"Therefore do not worry, saying, What will we eat? or, What will we drink? or, What will we wear? For these are the things the pagans worry about. Your Father knows that you need these things" (Matthew 6:31-32).
The system today is called a rat race. In the Bible it was called Babylon (literally "confusion"), and we are told to come out of it (Revelation 18:4). It is not enough to have faith -- even the devil has that (James 2:19). The way to tell Christians from the rat-racers is that they've quit the race and are living by faith. "The just shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38).
"A covetous man is an idolater" (Ephesians 5:5). God HATES idolatry. But i-dollar-try now controls the supposedly Christian churches. We cannot just "cut down" on idolatry; we must forsake it altogether and live by faith!
"But seek first the kingdom of God, and what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these things" (Matthew 6:33).
Seeking God's kingdom is not seeking wealth "in his name." Jesus commands us not to seek material needs (Luke 12:29). Seeking God's kingdom means labouring full-time to share the good news with others. If we will do that, God promises to meet our basic material needs (food and clothing). And we have found that he keeps his word!
"So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings" (Matthew 6:34).
All Jesus told us to pray for is our daily bread. Tomorrow is not our concern.
"Shame on you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and buy and sell and get gain; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow" (James 4:13-14). Worry mostly concerns the future. But when the future becomes the present it is never as horrible as Satan tries to make it look. Forget about tomorrow, and get busy with the job God has for you today.
"Don't say, In four months there will be a harvest. I say it is time to start harvesting now!" (John 4:35).
"Go to all the world, teaching them to do what I have commanded you to do". (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:20)
"The Love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim 6:10). We must smash this source of all evil as John the Baptist did. (Luke 3:9-11)
"No man can serve two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money". (Matthew 6:24)
When Jesus said you cannot work for God and money at the same time, the churchmen "derided him because of their covetousness". (Luke 16:14)
Here are some arguments they give today:
Excuse No. 1: "You can work for money without worshipping it".
But can you work for Satan without serving him? "Don't you know that whoever you obey you are serving?" (Romans 6:16) If your faith is in God, you will work for God. If it is in money, you will work for money. "Show me your faith without your works and I'll show you my faith by my works". (James 2:18)
(NOTE: You may receive money for something you do, without that being your first motive in what you are doing. Just ask yourself if you'd still do it, even if you weren't paid for it, to determine what your first motive is).
Excuse No. 2: "You can love money if you don't love it more than God".
Can you love Satan a little less than God? You must hate one master or the other. Though we all use money, we must learn to recognise its fatal addiction, and hate what it is doing to mankind spiritually. If we try to keep money a close second to God, it's already a clear first.
Excuse No. 3: "You can witness on your job".
True, "slaves" should serve their bosses as though they were working for God (1 Peter 2:18, Ephesians 6:5-8) "But if you have the opportunity to be free, use it... Do not become a slave again" (1 Cor 7:21-23).
Excuse No. 4: "SOMEONE has to support those who preach".
All we must have is God. God makes food, not man. The system robs God's resources and demands that we serve it to be fed. But the King's kids do not owe the evil system anything (Matthew 17:24-27). "The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just" (Proverbs 13:22) and it's up to God how he's going to feed us.
"Therefore I say, take no thought for you life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; or for your body, what you shall wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothes?". (Matthew 6:25)
We take too much responsibility upon ourselves. Jesus said, "come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Our responsibility is to preach this good news. It is God's responsibility to feed us. "Do not labour for the food that perishes" (John 6:27).
That is a command. Do you dare disobey it and still call yourself a Christian?
"Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father feeds them. Are you not much better than them?" (Matthew 6:26)Solomon said it is important to sow and reap if you want to eat (Proverbs 10:5, Proverbs 31:16). Paul said the same thing (2 Thessalonians 3:10). But the seeds we must sow as Christians are the words of God (Luke 8:11), and the harvest is one of souls (John 4:35). Paul worked night and day preaching the gospel (1 Thessalonians 2:9) and taught us to do the same.
If God can feed birds without jobs or money, he can certainly feed us!
"Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?" (Matthew 6:27)
We act like food would not exist without money. But the miracle of life goes on with or without us worrying about it.
"And why do you worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes. Yet not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these" (Matthew 6:28-29).
Solomon is noted for wisdom, but Jesus' wisdom is far superior (Matthew 12:42). Living by faith sounds foolish, but "the foolishness of God is wiser than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25). Until the church sees money for the fake god that it is, all the world will see in the church is expensive clothing covering bankrupt hearts. Far better to be clothed with Christ's simple beauty.
"So, if God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and gone tomorrow, burnt up in the oven. Wont he be all the more sure to clothe you? How little faith you have!" (Matthew 6:30)
Can you make one living cell? Yet God makes billions of them every day. Certainly he can supply the needs of his employees! (Phillipians 4:19) The rich shall be "made low; because as the flower of the grass, they shall pass away". (James 1:9-12) We're the creations, not the Creator. When we become like little children, in total dependence on God for our needs, we are "born again" into a heavenly kingdom where God controls the economy. We are born again by the teachings of Christ (1 Peter 1:23-25), not emotional experiences or recited prayers (John 3:3).
"Therefore do not worry, saying, What will we eat? or, What will we drink? or, What will we wear? For these are the things the pagans worry about. Your Father knows that you need these things" (Matthew 6:31-32).
The system today is called a rat race. In the Bible it was called Babylon (literally "confusion"), and we are told to come out of it (Revelation 18:4). It is not enough to have faith -- even the devil has that (James 2:19). The way to tell Christians from the rat-racers is that they've quit the race and are living by faith. "The just shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38).
"A covetous man is an idolater" (Ephesians 5:5). God HATES idolatry. But i-dollar-try now controls the supposedly Christian churches. We cannot just "cut down" on idolatry; we must forsake it altogether and live by faith!
"But seek first the kingdom of God, and what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these things" (Matthew 6:33).
Seeking God's kingdom is not seeking wealth "in his name." Jesus commands us not to seek material needs (Luke 12:29). Seeking God's kingdom means labouring full-time to share the good news with others. If we will do that, God promises to meet our basic material needs (food and clothing). And we have found that he keeps his word!
"So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings" (Matthew 6:34).
All Jesus told us to pray for is our daily bread. Tomorrow is not our concern.
"Shame on you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and buy and sell and get gain; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow" (James 4:13-14). Worry mostly concerns the future. But when the future becomes the present it is never as horrible as Satan tries to make it look. Forget about tomorrow, and get busy with the job God has for you today.
"Don't say, In four months there will be a harvest. I say it is time to start harvesting now!" (John 4:35).
"Go to all the world, teaching them to do what I have commanded you to do". (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:20)
