A friend of mine, Matthew wrote the following on wealth. It is beautifully written and very insightful. Those who relish in the spoils of wealth with fancy cars and designer bags may be perceived as rich and wealthy, but often they can be the poorest people of this world.

I've moved out recently, which has been a budgeting challenge. But being on my own has made me realise how much wealth I have and how fortunate I am. I have the most amazing mom, who bakes me 2 weeks of muffins to freeze so I can have them for breakfast. I have 2 sisters I can count on who are my first phone call whenever I have news - whether it be about what to wear on a date to how to handle a frustration at work. I have my two best friends who bring me fruit because they are worried I don't buy groceries to eat. Miss Sunny, who wips up this delux 10 cheese platter at my house gathering. I have the most kind hearted baby cousin, who wont eat all his sushi so he can save it for his mom...even when he's starving hungry. Friends who love me, support me and believe in me (and feed me =P )...role models and inspirations that teach me, lead me and give me that push to become a better person.

Love...love shared with others and love shared with our passions, work and the world. That sort of wealth has no price tag.

Wealth - by Matthew Good (www.matthewgood.org)

When you are remembered, even if just among a handful of family or friends or acquaintances, let it be for your decency. Know that all of us have faults, and that while we have had it drilled into us that we must endeavor to overcome them, that they are an intrinsic part of who and what we are. To despise such a real and natural part of ourselves only produces prisons of denial, and thus cities, nations, and continents of inmates.

We might be strangers you and I, but at what point does that deter our shared emotional realities from being exchanged? We all feel the same things, and yet the thought of honestly and openly conveying our emotions is seen as personal treason.

I remember it like it was yesterday. She leaned into the mini-van in which the band was waiting to return to the hotel. She grabbed my hand, looked me in the eyes, and thanked me for saving her life.

She was a complete stranger.

I had no idea how to react. I sat there in stunned silence as she quietly cried and smiled at me, my one hand firmly held between her two. It seemed as though hours passed between us, her standing silently on the curb, me awkwardly sitting in the seat nearest the door, my feet swung onto the running board, my bag in my lap.

And then, just as suddenly as it had happened, she dropped my hand, stepped back, security closed the door, and the van sped away.

I never saw that woman again, but on that night I became the wealthiest man in the world. And were I to have never written another note, sang another syllable, penned another story, or known another day, I would no doubt still perish from this earth contented.

Wealth is not measured by the size of houses, the speed of cars, the price of handbags, the trendy eateries and lounges frequented by celebrities, or the purity of the drugs that those who consider themselves fashionable funnel up their noses. That sort of wealth can be attained by simply being born the son or daughter of financially wealthy parents, climbing dirty ladders, or marrying someone.

Our acts determine our true wealth.

When someone says that they love you, and you know that they mean it to their very core, that there is no doubt in any cell in your entire body that they are unconditionally sincere then you are wealthy. There is no question that, for a time, financial wealth can secure the placebo of love, but it cannot create it. It cannot manufacture true love, just as it cannot ensure or secure happiness. To give ourselves to others openly and honestly, and to conduct ourselves with integrity and concern for the feelings of others, even if complete strangers, represents the sum total of our riches.

As I sit here looking out the window, lost in the haze of twilight, memories, and the talons of despair, I see a city filled only with poor people.

And I wonder how that happened.

pluviose(crack on the spot) ! download (crack there) !
Gostou ? Adicione / Imitated they? Swell:

In verse 16 Christ says, "The law and the prophets [were] until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseeth unto it."  Christ emphasizes that there is an order for sharing unequivating or eternal truth - so that we can know and not just guess truth.  John had the keys.

Verse 17 is the most profound.  "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."  We can't make our way to heaven.  The Pharisees tried to.  They ignored John.  The Pharisees were more interested in how they came across to men.  Christ said, "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts:  for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." 

To cement the point, Christ tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  After the rich man went to hell, he begged to be relieved.  Abraham said there was a gulf between them and that Lazarus could not ease his pain.  The gulf is very real.  Laws are real and they most be understood, and fulfilled to reach our potential. 

What Christ and John were teaching were eternal and absolute truths.  We can't bend truths.  All the happens is that we bend ourselves and miss the mark.  The consequence is we don't make it.  Some seem to think that Christ will bend laws for us.  He won't.  He can't.  Even if he could, why would he risk eternal laws and the foundation of eternity?  His focus was to teach, sometimes kindly, sometimes directly, eternal truths.  He was compassionate, he was quick to heal, but he never compromised truth.  It is up to us to learn and live trues.  What is at stake if we don't?  Our potential.  Really what matters to each of us is becoming our potential.

Again, Christ's point is we need to desire truth above all.  We need to go to the right source to find truth.  We need to live truth - and not allow ourselves to comprise because in the end we are the ones who suffer.   On the positive side, all that is his is ours - if we will learn and live eternal truths.

Dans Le Monde daté du 22 juillet 2008, une brève nous apprend que « la France comptait 7,9 millions de pauvres en 2006 :

« Selon une enquête de l'Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE), la France métropolitaine comptait, e 2006 près de 7,9 millions de personnes vivant sous le seuil de pauvreté (880 euros par mois)Elles représentaient, e 2006, 13,2% de la population.Cette étude révèle par ailleurs que la moitié des habitants de la métropole ont un niveau de vie annuel inférieur à 17600 euros soit (1467 € par mois) ».

Cette statistique est à rapprocher de celle publiée dans le même journal du 29.06.07. Là on apprenait qu'en France, 3,6 millions de personnes vivaient en dessous du seuil de pauvreté en 2004, selon l'Insee, soit avec moins de 657 euros par mois.

Ainsi en 2 ans le nombre de personnes vivant en dessous du seuil de pauvreté a cru de 3,6 millions à 7,9 millions. Cela représente plus qu'un doublement.

Et les riches?

D'après l'économiste Camille Landais qui a travaillé à partir de données fiscales fournies par l'administration : « Entre 1998 et 2005, les 1 % les plus riches, soit 350 000 foyers, ont vu leur revenu augmenter de 19 % au cours de la période, contre une hausse de 5,9 % du revenu moyen des ménages français...

Plus on s'élève dans l'échelle de la richesse, plus la hausse est importante. Elle atteint 32 % chez les 0,1 % les plus riches, et 42,6 % chez les 0,01 % les plus riches (3 500 foyers), toujours entre 1998 et 2005 ».

No comment !

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C'est pas nouveau, ça date d'épicure.
Je connais comme ça des millionnaires très pauvres.
Et des smicards très riches.
Je suis même persuadé que toutes proportions gardées, il y a bien plus de millionnaires pauvres que de smicards pauvres.
La pauvreté c'est cette capacité à toujours être insatisfait.
C'est sans doute ce qui fait la différence entre la richesse d'être et la richesse d'avoir.
Le désir de richesse d'avoir est sans fin, car on peut toujours avoir plus.
La richesse d'être, c'est être tout simplement, au quotidien.

Most long time readers know that I love music (and if you didn't, the fact I just wrapped up my fifth song lyric week recently would be a hint) and there's a song by Weezer that just stuck in my head from the moment I saw it...."Pork and Beans."  Now, the song itself is catchy like their other hits but what really put this over the top for me was the video.

If you haven't seen it, they've made the video look like something from YouTube and it contains many of the people who've had the more popular YouTube videos like the "Leave Britney Alone" guy and the ones who set off the two liter bottles of Mentos and Coke.  They even wrangled Miss South Carolina who had a little trouble with a question during the Miss Teen USA pageant to make an appearance to badly lip sync along with the song.

It struck me what people will do to gain exposure on a wide scale.  These folks will have these clips running around and haunting them forever but they're reveling in their fifteen minutes of fame and the feelings of love and acceptance that they think are coming their direction from the people who view the clips and tell them how much they love to watch them.  Once the novelty of these things wear off these folks will go back their regular lives and there's going to be a huge void left behind.  A few will come through it just fine but others are going to have problems from self-esteem issues to anger issues because they want to regain that moment of glory they felt because a million folks watched them on YouTube.

Riches is so often thought of in terms of money but riches can also be in accolades or other kinds of objects that provide joy and satisfaction on some temporary level. These in and of themselves are not sinful but when you place them ahead of Christ and serving Him is when you're going to run into problems.

Paul wrote to Timothy talking about the financially rich but I think if you take a bigger perspective of riches you can see a lot of meaning in 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (ESV): "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life."

There is nothing as uncertain as the riches of popularity.  All it can take is one person to spread a nasty rumor on the internet and you could go from hero to villain overnight.  The one thing that doesn't change is that God is in control of all things and He can provide you with things that satisfy without having to worry about it fading if the neighbors don't want to see it anymore.

So we need to take hold of that which is truly life...Christ...and realize that while other things in life are nice they aren't necessary.

(just click the link or right-click and choose "save target as...")

Another Gospel -David Wilkerson

May God open the eyes of the blind! The Gospel is not about worldly goods and temporary riches -it's about CHRIST, salvation, eternal life, the Kingdom of God; a kingdom that is NOT of this world! Have you been deceieved by a delusion?

The Lord is so extremely patient with sinful mankind that His kindness, tolerance, and patience is described as "riches" in this verse. It's this delay of His wrath upon us and His kindness that led me personally to repentance. His compassion led me to Him. His forgiveness brought me to Him. His patience gave me time to learn that I needed Him.

Oh, what a mighty God to save us! Oh, what a mighty Savior we have in the Lord Jesus Christ!

I am thankful that He is kind and patient with me - even now that I am a believer. In our biblical counseling sessions, we strive to be patient with those we counsel. Change often does not occur overnight and may take months of hard work, trials, and failures - yet we must never lose our hope in Christ to turn a marriage around and to bring true reconciliation. We must be patient like the Lord is patient with us because He is mighty to save! We must never give up because doing so is giving up on Him!!!

My notes:
Wake up, you need dough to read what you are reading right now. Often our distrust of wealth springs from our distrust in our own abilities to earn and live independently. Stop being a leech on society, your parents or even social security. Sheesh!

Thanks for the Image

Don't Sell The Gospel - John Piper

Prosperity Preaching: Deceitful and Deadly - John Piper

John Piper on the prosperity "gospel"

Not The Prosperity Gospel

What Is The Gospel?

God Is The Gospel

And what better than Scripture itself to help clarify the issue...

"For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living."
- Romans 14:9

"Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:10 (NLT)

"So also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people."
- Hebrews 9:28 (NLT)

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,"
- 1 Peter 3:18

"But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."
- Isaiah 53:5

"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve."
- 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

Jesus Christ died to bring us to God. That is the gospel. Although God may well choose to bless us with money and health as well, the goal of Christs death was to reconcile a holy God with unholy men.

In presenting the gospel, we are to command people to repent of their sin (Acts 17:30) and to die to themselves (Luke 9:23, 24; Galatians 2:20). We are not to ask them if they would like to accept Jesus as a means to some other end (like money) lest we make ourselves "peddlers of God's word" (2 Corinthians 2:17).

Here is an in-depth explaination on why not to preach the prosperity gospel.

There are several implications of this verse:

1. We make our prayers to our Mediator: Christ. We don't pray to anyone else (including dead saints like Mary) because Christ and Christ alone is our Mediator.
2. Mortal men are not our go-between to God either. We don't have to go to some priest or preacher to offer up prayers for us.

We've already have Christ as our Mediator, the One Who willingly laid down His life for our sins. Not only do other mediators not exist, but if one could choose, no better choice could be made.

So, Catholics, don't bother running ads in the newspaper praising St. Jude (or anyone else) because if prayers are answered, St. Jude didn't do it, Christ did.

Evangelicals, stop sending money to preachers (especially TV preachers) in hopes that your "love gifts" or donations to their ministries are going to help your prayers to be answered.

Catholics and evangelicals: Neither will buying that prayer cloth, prayer rug, "holy water", "holy cake", nor anything else that anyone is "offering" to you help get your prayers answered.

Christ is our Mediator and it is He Who answers our prayers.

"Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

…”Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! " Romans 11:33

Without wisdom we can make poor decisions and later wonder why we didn’t pray first. It is wise to seek God early each day before we start making decisions in order to know ahead of time what we ought to do, and then to receive the grace to do it.

Wisdom keeps us from a life of regret. Jesus operated in wisdom. When others went home to rest, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to spend time with God. …”Then each of went to his own home. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.” John 7:53 – 8:2.

Jesus spent time with the Father before he had to face the people. He spent time talking to his God before he had to talk to the people. Jesus took time to hear from God before the people could hear from him. If Jesus needed time with God, we need even more time with Him. Walk in wisdom today.

Check out this sobering video with speaker John Piper, and meditate on how you are using the money God has given you. Are you using it in such a way that shows that God is your God and not money? Or does the way you use your money show that money is your god and not God?

Jesus said: If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? (Luk 16:11) Have you been faithful with your money -becuase it could determine your eternal destiny. How you manage it could have a determining factor for you between Heaven and Hell! -It's not that money can save you, or damn you, but how you manage it proves what's really in your heart, and if you are living in luxury, storing up treasure on earth, selfishly indulging in this world's goods, then there is a very good indication that your heart is not with Christ in heavenly places, but still attached to this world, thereby showing that you've never been supernaturally transformed by the power of God's Holy Spirit in the new birth and received the new life from the age to come. Again, are you faithful with the unrighteous mammon, because if not, Jesus no doubt will not trust you with the true riches of the Kingdom to come.

Watch this video (less than 4 minutes long):

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (2 Tim. 2:4)

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. (Mat 6:24)

www.puregospeltruth.com

1. Notice that Jesus did not ask for the man to give all of his wealth to His ministry. So the point was not about the man "giving the money and receiving the blessing of God in return" but of submission to the will of God. Think about it: this man let his possessions get in the way of following and possibly becoming another disciple of Christ. He chose his wealth over the chance to follow the Messiah, the Holy One, the most anticipated Person in all of history! How often I wish that I could have had the opportunity to meet Jesus, much less have the opportunity to follow Him, and he chose his money! Talk about a bad choice!
2. Just as Christ didn't ask the man to give all his wealth to His ministry but to the poor, neither should other true teachers of the gospel.

My article on Striving for the Kingdom was meant to address the continued emphasis I keep seeing coming up in the church on the pursuit of wealth or "blessings". Another problem that usually accompanies this overemphasis and often outright distortion when it comes to God's promises: the guilt and/or false promises these "teachers" put on their listeners. Example: "If you'll just give me $100, then God will bless you with $1,000." or "God is calling givers right now. I sense that God is calling 50 people to give $10,000 and in return God has a blessing in store for you that you'll not be able to contain. Pressed down, shaken together, and running over."

It infuriates me to hear men say "God says" when they know very well in their heart that God has not spoken such words.

Even more disgusting than those who promise wealth are those who promise healing or other divine aid in exchange for money. Charlatans!  Wolves!  It's time for the church, especially the charismatic believers, to call these false teachers out and denounce them instead of embracing them as they currently are and allowing them to push their poisons onto the flock.

Of such men the Scripture says:

"But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber." (2 Peter 2:1-3) (and that's just the beginning of what 2 Peter 2 has to say of false teachers; I encourage the interested to read the rest of the chapter)

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

“Which ones?” the man inquired.

Jesus replied, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:16-24

From the above passage, here are a couple of points about the man that are worthy of review:

1. The man who approached Jesus by his own words was a devout man who kept the commands of God.
2. Wealth in that day and time (and still by many today) was viewed as the blessing of God and approval from Him on a person's life.
3. Despite being wealthy and devout, the man still felt like he was lacking something in the sight of God, which is why he approached Jesus, to find out what that something was.

Jesus tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor and to follow Him. Wow. Now that takes some courage. For me this is a reminder not to get too attached to anything in this world but to always have the spirit that says, "it's yours anyway, God, and I'll do whatever You want me to do with it." This isn't always easy to do, but this is the attitude that God wishes us to have: the attitude of total submission.

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mark 8:36, 37

Some people get distracted in the pursuit of "prosperity" and the pursuit of earthly things. It saddens me when I hear those who bear the name "Christian" to forget Christ's words this way and advocate that God's will is found in prosperity. It is true that it often does delight God to bless us. But the path of blessing and prosperity is not always the path that He has for us.

"Looking at his disciples, he said:

'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets." Luke 6:20-26

People who preach prosperity tend to forget and leave out the places in the Bible that say that as followers of Christ we may very well see tough times. As a matter of fact, I would say that true followers of Christ will face difficulty and hardships, some more than others, and it is in these times, when we should cling to our faith, when we should cling to Christ.

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

As relates to the lottery, I do buy a ticket when it gets up over $250 million. It is fun to dream about what I would do or buy. One of the comments on the other post mentioned God's riches, which really made me think. Being an adopted son of the Almighty, how much time do I spend dreaming about his riches and my inheritance? OUCH

Whilst it is a good feeling to have the security of employment, I no longer take this for granted. The redundancy was a wake-up call. I had come to "trust in riches", so to speak, by placing the strength of my security in job income instead of a genuine trust in God as provider.

God's grace is magnified in spite of my weakness and inadequacies (i.e. nice words for "sin") though, through providing a job that exceeds (in material benefits and remuneration) my previous employment. The challenge is not to be drawn into the allure of the "big bucks" and maintain a focus upon family and ministry.

“the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” Isaiah 61:1

Rags-to-riches stories are a great source of hope for those who are in financial crisis and suffering to make both ends meet. If someone had to say, ‘Here is a million Rupees, go do with it as you wish’, what will your reaction be? Someone may buy a car, others would invest in land, take off for a trip to Europe or change their whole wardrobe, go to parties and splash it everywhere.

Many people who saw and did such things regretted those very actions after some time. They learnt the hard way that money has a way of evaporating in no time. Before long, the millions were gone and they were left in dire straits, searching for quick fixes to save their dying reputation. The trappings of being rich made them very poor.

Who is really rich? A person who has ten million dollars and needs thirty to be happy or a person who has just some thousands but can be happy with less? Welcome to the Kingdom of God where the monetarily poor are very, very rich. Infact they are princes and princesses of God’s Kingdom. When they ask their Father for something, He just says His Word and it is given to them.

The poor of this world may be looked down upon, thrown into all kinds of situations but when they have God in their lives, the very same situation changes completely. He becomes their Provider, Protector and covers for their every need. He is their shade and shelter from all harm. No one can cross them and get away with it, when God is on their side.

The poor are no longer poor when the God of abundance is their Father.

Prayer:

“Dear Jesus, thank You for Your provision and protection. It is so wonderful that I can come to You with all my needs. Help me to learn more about You and live according to Your Word, Amen.”

Text: 1^st Timothy 6:6-10                                                 6/15/08 p.m.

Ca: Lk 3:14; 2Cor 9:8; Phil 4:11-13; Heb 13:5; Jb 1.21

Intro: The love of money is the root of all evils. That statement is probably familiar to most of us. But contentment in our hearts is probably unfamiliar to most of us.

Personal debt grows every year. We spend millions and millions of dollars we do not have and if you look around the majority of us are not content.

Our debt grows because our appetites are never satisfied.

God says, “Owe no one nothing” (Romans 13:8). God sets the standard of debt at zero. I do not think that means a mortgage is always sin.

But I do think many of our mortgages are sinful because they are a reflection of an unsatisfied heart looking to be filled.

Now why would God set such a standard like owe no one nothing? Is it because God is a fun hater? That’s ridiculous because God invented joy and laughter and fun.

God sets every standard for every component of life in order to protect us from harm and show us how much we need Christ.

But don’t be fooled, God wants to give us gain; that is exactly right. God wants you and I, every believer, to be happy and prosperous.

What we must do is define gain, happiness, and prosperity by God’s biblical standards not the world’s shallow standards.

What we must do is fight the bait and switch of the world.

God has so much for you that is better than this. Let’s see how the great gain of godliness should guide our lives.

Read 1^st Timothy 6:2-12

Do not be ashamed of it and be clear about it:

I) Godliness with contentment produces great gain

a)      In verse 5 the Apostle Paul has exposed the error of those who would pray a prayer or preach the gospel for the purpose of getting rich.

i)        That’s just empty-headed and heartless.

ii)      With that being said it is equally wrong to think there is no gain in godliness.

iii)    Some people think as I’ve often said, “if I make Jesus my choice I’ll drive a Rolls Royce.”

iv)    Others think being a Christian means being unhappy. They just resign themselves to the belief that God is going to make everything hard and they just have to bear up under it and muscle through it for Jesus.

v)      Neither of these ways of thinking is helpful or biblical.

vi)     There is great gain in godliness with contentment.

vii)  And gain means advantage. There is good to be had from pursuing godliness. There are perks and fringe benefits for trusting your life to Christ and following after Him. In fact, there is mega gain in godliness.

viii)            Now I have to be doubly sure I define these words

ix)    Godliness is the outward display of a heart changed by God and dedicated to following after God.

x)      Godliness is the product of a heart forgiven, changed, and empowered by the atoning grace of Jesus.

xi)    Godliness is the awareness and pursuit of things that are bigger than just these 70 or 80 years on earth.

xii)  Remember 1 Timothy 4:7&8? Train yourself for godliness because godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

xiii)            Pursuing Christ necessarily entails the avoidance of pain and frustration caused by sin.

xiv)            Godliness is fighting the good fight of faith, grabbing onto eternal life, and holding on tight.

xv)  Godliness is not living in a compound with a high fence and a machine gun waiting on Jesus to come back and destroy the world.

xvi)            Godliness is being changed by Jesus to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

xvii)          We’re talking about the observable pursuit of God by a believer consumed by the amazing grace of God.

xviii)        Contentment is the product of being satisfied. It’s looking at the provision God has given financially and resting in Him.

xix)            Contentment is not settling for the scraps, being complacent, or being lazy.

xx)  Contentment is realizing all the things of the world are scraps. Diamonds are pressure cooked pieces of dirty goal. Silk is the excrement of worms.

xxi)            Your dream home will one day be painfully outdated and eventually demolished.

xxii)          Your dream car will breakdown, rust, and end up on blocks at my house.

xxiii)        Contentment is not passively settling for the worst. Contentment is actively trusting in what God has provided so that we are free to serve and show His glory.

xxiv)        This freedom comes when we are forgiven by Christ and freed from materialism.

b)      So the great gain in godliness is found by avoiding the pain of materialism.

i)        Read verses 6&7

ii)      It is liberating when we get honest about our condition as humans.

iii)    Job was brutally honest. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return” (Job 1:21)

iv)    Godliness with contentment frees us from the slavery of stuff because godliness sees through the false advertising of stuff.

v)      Stuff calls to us, “if you get me you’ll be happy and that happiness will stick with you forever.”

vi)    But that happiness rarely if ever lasts longer than a month. But let’s put it in even bigger categories than a month.

vii)  The greatest sinner and the greatest saint both take nothing with them when they die.

viii)            The richest person in the world is as empty handed as the poorest person in the world upon his death.

ix)    Because we die empty handed we are born empty handed. The poverty of a newborn is a testimony concerning everyone’s poverty upon death.

x)      Why be consumed with the big and the new? It will soon be small and old then you’ll die and all those things we worked for, saved for, and sacrificed for will be utterly inconsequential.

xi)    Spend your life on what matters. Love God and love people joyfully and sacrificially until you die. Live with contentment freed from the slavery of stuff.

xii)  So, the question we must ask is how much is enough? Where’s the financial watermark where our hearts should rest? Verse 7

c)      If we have food and clothing with these we will be content

i)        If you have some ramen noodles and a 15 dollar pair of coveralls from Wal-mart that’s enough.

ii)      How full should the pantry and closet be for us to be satisfied? Enough food for one more meal and enough clothing to not be naked. That’s enough.

iii)    Contentment is found by realizing what I eat and what I wear have nothing to do with who I am and why I am here.

iv)    Contentment has everything to do with realizing “I HAVE GOD!” What God’s law and my sin said I could never have I have been given.

v)      Jesus cleanses me, changes me, and brings me to God.

vi)    I am here to glorify God. My clothes are tools to help me do that. My refrigerator is a tool to help me love God and my neighbors.

vii)  My car, my house, my family, and my pay check are all opportunities God gives me everyday to live for Him and enjoy Him.

viii)            These things will either help me or hurt me as I pursue Christ and the fewer things to get in the way the better.

ix)    The more things we own the more worries we have. The more worries we have the more distractions there are to get in the way of following Christ.

x)      Be content with the minimum of stuff and the maximum of God. Keep stuff to the minimum so you can live life to the maximum. Contentment is never found by having more contentment is found by having Christ and living for Him.

xi)    That’s the positive side. When we choose to simplify our lives by buying less and working less it maximizes our joy because we can know and serve Christ more.

xii)  Here’s the negative side

II) Discontent with what you have will produce great pain.

Godliness with contentment produces great gain while discontent will produce great pain. Read verse 9

a)      Simply put a desire to be rich is a desire for destruction

i)        The picture here in verse 9 is that of a person reaching out and straining in order to grab onto riches.

ii)      It is not sinful to be rich; there is nothing immoral about possessing and using wealth for the glory of God.

iii)    What is wrong is being consumed with a desire to obtain more money thinking when I hit that point I’ll be satisfied.

iv)    If I can just hit that pay bracket. If I could just get enough to buy that thing.

v)      If I can buy my kids what they want then they’ll like me, get away from me, and stay out of trouble.

vi)    Reaching out for riches he falls into temptation. The more money you want and the more you pursue that money the more opportunities you will have to turn away from God.

vii)  The more energy you put into getting money the less energy you will put into growing in your walk with God. This will make you weak.

viii)            When we ignore the healthy sound words of Christ we should expect to fall into a snare.

ix)    The snare is the trap of senseless and harmful desires.  We convince ourselves that we’ve worked so hard or had it so hard we deserve this one little “treat.”

x)      We justify sin, we cover that sin up with more sin, and that eventually leads only to more hurt.

xi)    It’s the revolving door of a dumb desire leads to a dumb decision that leads to another dumb desire and another dumb decision.

xii)  And eventually you find yourself plunged into ruin and destruction.

xiii)            The King James paints a vivid picture. These foolish and hurtful lusts drown men in destruction.

xiv)            How many lives, marriages, families, friendships, and ministries have been ruined by the desire for more money?

xv)  You’re tempted, you’re caught in a snare, you continue to follow foolish thinking, and the next thing you know you’re up to your ears in pain.

xvi)            The words ruin and destruction are meant to encompass life on this earth and life in eternity.

xvii)          Ruin in the biblical usage means “the loss of all that gives worth to existence” (MM, quoted by Mounce, 345).

xviii)        Everything you thought was of worth, everything you sacrificed and nearly killed yourself to gain is gone.

xix)            And apart from the intervention of Christ’s redeeming grace your soul will be lost to hell for eternity. Read verse 10

III) We must man up today and call our desire for money what it really is, the root of all evil.

a)      When money is number one and God is not the only thing we should expect is evil.

i)        When you love your job and your boat and your success more than you love God then you should just expect your spouse to leave and your kids to be ridiculous.

ii)      Expect to try and keep up the image of having things together while your heart is torn to pieces with one evil word after the other.

iii)    It is because of this desire for a little more and a little better that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

iv)    The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfaithful (Mk 4:19).

v)      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 (Mt 6.24)

vi)    If you’re even somewhat alert to trends among young people in America today you’ll know that cutting is on the rise.

vii)  For whatever reason: anger, depression, guilt, boredom, or desperation for attention our teenagers in large numbers are intentionally cutting themselves with knives and razors.

viii)            If you’re even somewhat alert to trends among everyone in America you’ll know that cutting is on the rise.

ix)    We are piercing ourselves with many pangs because of this rejection of God and thirst for more stuff.

x)      There is no power in the gospel

xi)    The joy of walking with God and standing up for Jesus Christ has been cut off.

xii)  The joy of knowing and talking with your bride has long be severed by schedules and bills and differences in opinions.

xiii)            The joy of being a father has been mutilated by things gone undone. They see that your affections do not lie with Christ and family but with the almighty dollar.

xiv)            Why love and respect a man whose in love with pressure cooked lumps of coal, the excrement of worms, and sheets metal on rubber wheels?

IV) The good news this Father’s Day is that it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to be like your dad. You don’t have to be the dad you’ve been for the past 50, 30, 18, 10, or 2 years.

a)      But here’s the deal. The change is going to feel costly today. But the good thing is the change is going to be so worth it 10 years from now.

b)      When you follow Christ and do hard things it will feel impossible today but a year from now you’ll be kicking yourself for not doing this sooner.

c)      First step, own up to your mistakes without blaming your parents, your boss, your wife, or your kids. You chose to do what you did and you chose to lead your family where they have gone.

d)     Own up to your mistakes and be completely forgiven for them. Jesus saves to the uttermost. Jesus redeems the totally depraved so repent.  Tell God without excuse that you are sorry and trust Christ to forgive you.

e)      Trust Christ’s work on the cross is infinitely enough to forgive and change the sinful work you have done and He will.

f)       Second step, be strong and show yourself a man. Tell your wife and your kids and whoever else that you are sorry for what you have done.

g)      Men, don’t run from this. This will lead you to true manhood. God’s path will lead you to true strength and significance.

h)      Third step, get your house in order. Sell the boat, stop working overtime, sacrifice your work for your family don’t sacrifice your family for your work.

i)        You and I as dads will give an account for our children long before we will give an account for our jobs.

j)        Every relationship would benefit from counseling at certain seasons. This may be a season where you and your wife would benefit from the wisdom of a godly man and woman.

k)      Let me know and we’ll get you the help and encouragement that you need.

l)        Fourth and final step, stop going at it alone. Build relationships with other men who want to be godly by serving along side them.

m)    We’ll let the women sit down and talk to build relationships let’s get out and build something to build relationships.

n)      Let’s work together to build up the next generation for Christ.

o)      Men, husbands, fathers, the great news is the pain you feel right now over your sin, your marriage, your kids, and your involvement in church have been dealt with by Christ on the cross.

p)      That business is done and gone if only you will trust him and follow hard after him.

q)      Let’s be men who follow Christ, say no to the foolishness of this world, and find the fulfilling life God has for us.