James 5

the thing I forgot also is there is the prayer circle has been established as a follow-up from the crusade and we had the prayer walls that were set up now we have the prayer circle and there's still a lot of opportunity if you'd like to be a part of the prayer circle and be a part of the 24-hour prayer time that is continuing even now in the city there are sign-ups in the lobby and we encourage you if you'd like to be a part of that to please go ahead and sign up if you would take your bibles and turn with me to James chapter 5 James chapter 5 this is really cool you know whoever did this thank you very much I really like this James chapter 5 um I don't know

how many of you have maybe bumper stickers or a little fish on your car a little fish emblem on your car uh those are really cool you know and we've I made sure that our cars have a fish on them I just something you know the fish I like the fish and uh matter of fact our the white car Oldsmobile has two fish on them because after the Christian fish came out then a couple years ago the uh the anti-christian group came out with the Darwin fish I don't know if you've seen those they're the little fish looks like the Christian fish but it has Darwin's name in the center of it and it has little feet on the bottom of the fish you know the Darwin fish and it was it was to be a total affront to the Christian fish symbol well now there's a guy in Texas that

has designed the truth fish and it's the fish the Christian fish again with truth on it and it's swallowing the Darwin fish you know there's a real battle with these emblems going on and it's really cool so we had to get one of those old truth fish that are eating the Darwin fish and it's on the back of my car I don't know how many of you have those how many of you have a fish symbol or bumper stickers on the back of your car but I want to give you uh the the top 10 things that people won't say when they see a Christian bumper sticker or fish on our car this is the top 10 when you're driving down the road and you pass somebody these are the top 10 things that people will not say when they see your fish

or your bumper sticker now these are not David Letterman at all but they are the top 10 so we'll start with number 10 and work work out okay number 10 this is the the number 10 thing that people will not say when they see your bumper sticker they will not say look let's stop that car and ask those folks how we can become Christian they will not say that they will not do that the ninth thing they will not say is don't worry Billy those people are Christians they must have a good reason for driving 90 miles an hour they won't say that yeah I don't know how often we forget that that little thing's on the back of the car when we're doing stuff like that you know but the number eight thing that they will not say when they

see your bumper sticker or your fish is what a joy to be sharing the highway with another car of brothers and sisters now I questioned that one because when we were out in California on those freeways and there was one that came by with a fish on it I was going to praise God you know a Christian but for the most part they won't say the number seven thing that they will not say when they see your little fish or your bumper sticker is isn't it wonderful how God blessed that Christian couple with a brand new BMW they will not say that the number six thing that they will not say when they see your little fish on the back of your car is dad how come people like who drive like

that don't get thrown in jail dad can we get a bumper sticker like that one too let me say that again they won't say that fifth thing they won't say when they see your bumper sticker or your little fish is stay clear of those folks Martha if they get raptured that car is going to be all over the road they won't say that they won't say that when they see your your fish number four what they won't say when they see your bumper sticker is oh look that Christian woman is getting a chance to share Jesus with a police officer number three number three thing they won't say is no that's not garbage coming out of their windows Burt it's probably gospel tracks for road workers because as Christians

we're not going to be out the windows right the second thing they won't say number two that they won't say when they see our bumper stickers a little fish on the car is oh boy we're in trouble now we just rear-ended one of God's cars they won't say that the number one thing they won't say when they see our Fisher bumper sticker is quick Alice honk the horn or they won't know that we love Jesus too it doesn't take a fish or a bumper sticker for people to know that we love Jesus for people to know that we're Christian matter of fact the Bible says and what we've been looking at in the book of James for the last several months is the fact that if we really love

the Lord if the Spirit of God is alive and resident in the world we're going to be able to live in the present within us what will happen is we will evidence that by our works our lives will evidence that the things that we do and the things that we say will show that we love Jesus and we it's not wrong to have bumper stickers and fish it's not wrong to wear Christian t-shirts they open up some tremendous opportunities and they really are an encouragement I think for other people to see them as long as we're not throwing trash out the window or as long as we're not doing 10 to 15 miles over the limit when we go sailing past somebody with a little fish on the back but

it really is no longer a matter of knowing that God is saying to you that if you believe you're in the right place then we're not in the right place to live we're there we don't have to do everything to earn a living we're there in that love we're here to serve and to recognize the things that we've been doing so many years for that's why we've come to chapter 18 of the chapter 15 as we've come to chapter 4 and 5 the first six verses of chapter 5 we've seen that one of the things one of the workings of faith in our lives that will occur if we've really been born again if the Spirit of God really lives within us is that we will be releasing our hold on the world we will

be releasing our hold on the things of the world turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and oh Jesus, the cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back. If we have truly surrendered our hearts to the Lord, those things will be evidenced in our life. The beginnings of that, because that is one of the strongest struggles that we have as Christians is releasing our hold on the things of this world. Because usually we don't come to Christ for the most part until after we've experienced several years of this world. And we've gotten into the habits of the things

in this world, the thinking, the attitudes, the ideals, the goals, the world set, the mindset of the world. And then to come to Christ, there's a change that has to occur. Paul talked about that in Romans 12, that we're not conformed any longer to the things of this world, but that we're transformed by the renewing of our minds. That's a process that's occurring. And it will evidence

itself in the fact that we are releasing our hold on the things of this world. Verses 1 through 11 in chapter 4, we saw that that occurs as we draw closer to the Lord. That's where personal holiness happens. This was stressed for us at the conference. It's so easy to believe that God is there, but to take him for granted and to get involved in ministry work,

but to take him for granted and also to hang on to the things of the world. And that's what Jesus was writing to the church at Ephesus about in Revelation, was concerning the fact that they'd left their first love. They'd strayed from his presence and the dwelling in his presence. And they were doing Christian stuff, but they were away from the presence of God. And they were

away from the presence of the Lord, from that intimate fellowship with the Lord. And that's what our holiness is all about, is drawing closer to him. It's an active process of our will, our determination, our activity in seeking to set our eyes upon him, to spend time with him in his word and in prayer, to surround ourselves with the fellowship of other Christians. It's something that's an active process that we have to go through to draw close to the Lord. But it's only in that

that we begin letting go of the things of this world. The minute you slack on any one of those, which is what the enemy wants to get you to do, the minute you start going back. So it's a fight. It's a process, but it's a struggle to release our hold on the things of this world. And so in verses 11 through 17, we saw that God has given us his spirit so that we can rely on his power to release our hold on the things of this world. It's not

simply a matter of our will. We have to want to do that. We have to want to draw near, but then he empowers us to do that through his spirit. And we saw in verses 11 through 17 that we need to rely on his power to be able to do that. And he will give us the power to do that. And we saw in verses 11 through 17 that he will give us the power to do that if we simply, again, willingly rely on it,

seek him for it. That's the power of the Holy Spirit active in the life of a Christian. It's not the bells and whistles and the giddy feelings and the buzzes and the excitement that just comes. And that's something that I'll be talking to you about a lot over the next several weeks and probably months is to watch out for the counterfeit revival that's happening right now. There is a

revival happening worldwide. God's spirit is moving, pouring out upon all flesh. There is a revival and people are coming to Christ in record numbers around the world. But whenever God does something, Satan seeks to imitate it. The Antichrist, as we saw in our study in 2 Thessalonians, is not going to be against Christ as much as he's going to imitate Christ. He's going to stray from

the doctrines. He's going to stray from the true picture of Christ, but he's going to imitate Christ. He will, to the Jews, appear to be their Messiah. He will, to the church that is the unbelieving church, appear to be the Antichrist. He will, to the Jews, appear to be their Messiah. Answer to the world's problem. It's a straying from truth. Satan, when he confronted Eve in the

garden, stretched the truth. He imitated truth. Yea, hath God said, you shall not surely die. So watch out because there is at this time as God is pouring out his spirit and he's reviving, bringing about a revival of his church, which is causing the church to reach out and do that that it's been called to do. There is also a counterfeit revival and people are seeking the

spirit of God to make them feel better. They want to go to the church and they want to go to the where revival is so that they can get this buzz or laugh or shake or whatever. And people are doing that. They flew to Toronto to get the blessing and the blessings moved now to the Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. And people are flying to Pensacola, Florida to

take part in the Pensacola revival. And there's a lot of stories coming out of there. When the spirit of God is released upon a people, the first thing he does is bring conviction of sin. And he brings you to the cross of Christ. And he brings you to the word of God. He does not just make you feel wonderful, make you feel better, and you're just giddy and you just want to be around all these people who just laugh and are having a

good time in Jesus. And oh, it's not written in the word, but that's okay. God's giving new revelation. No, that's counterfeit. That's bogus. But people will flock to that. And Paul warned Timothy that people would do that in the last days, heaping unto themselves teachers who would tickle their ears, make them feel good. So watch that. The spirit has been given to us to guide us

all truth. And he will always bring us to the word of God. Always, always, always. And when true revival happens in our lives, the first thing we have is an Isaiah 6 experience. Woe is me, I am undone. I've seen God and I've seen his holiness. And I've seen my unholiness and my unworthiness. I am a man of unclean lips and I live amongst a people with unclean lips. That's true revival.

As you read about the previous revivals in history, that's what happened. Jonathan Edwards would stand up and simply read his sermon in a monotone voice. He would read about the things of God and about the power of God and about the judgment of God that's moving upon people. And people would literally cry out and run and grab the pillars around the church and cry out to God to save them. It wasn't any eloquence in the

speaker. It wasn't any power in the message other than the word of God was being proclaimed and people saw their own sin in comparison to a holy God. And they cried out in repentance for God to save them. That's true revival. So watch, beware, be cautious. The Spirit of God has been given to us to empower us, to enable us to walk in his ways according to his word and to release our hold on the things of this world. Verses 11 through 17.

Then we've come to chapter 5. And the first six verses of chapter 5 are still tied to this thought of releasing our hold on the things of this world. And we've seen as we started a couple weeks ago an awareness that we need to have to the bondage of riches. An awareness of our bondage to riches. And we need to be freed from that bondage. You and I need to be freed from the bondage of riches.

These six verses do not apply to a them out there who are rich. So don't read these verses. I don't care who you are. I don't care what status of life you live in this country. You are rich compared to two-thirds of the rest of the world. I don't care where your salary line is. I don't care if you're on the road. I don't care if you're on the road. I don't care if you're on the road. I don't care if

you're on welfare. If you're on welfare, you're drawing more than two-thirds of the rest of the world. So the we, the rich here is the we. And the we need to take heed to these six verses because they are written to us in this country for us at this time in history. We need to be freed from the bondage of riches. And James gives a warning here in the first six verses of chapter 5 to the rich

calling them to weep and to wail for the misery that's coming upon them. Let's look at these first six verses. James says, Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that's coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted and the moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in

the last day. Look, the wages you failed to pay to the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men who were not opposing you. Cry out, weep and wail for the misery that's coming upon

you. And James gives us in these verses three reasons for the misery. Now, as we're aware of these things, we repent. We seek to release our hold on the things of the world. We seek to let him empower us to draw close to him, to follow him, and that misery will not be upon us. But listen, you can't blow this one off. You can't say it doesn't apply to me and that's a good thing.

You know, it gets better. That's fine. I'm going to go ahead and live my life. The way I've been living it. You can't do that because there is a warning that misery is coming to you unless you and I release our hold on the things of this world and are freed from the bondage of riches. He gives us three reasons. We looked at the first one last time. The first

reason that this misery is coming is found in verses four and six, and that's because of the way that they obtained their wealth, the way that the rich obtained their wealth. Verse four tells us that they were holding back wages. They held back wages that were rightfully due to the workmen of their fields, the harvesters that had worked for them. They had held back their wages, not paying what they rightfully owe. And we went through last time a whole series of how God

established how the laborer was to be hired by the master and how he was to be paid by the end of the day and agreed upon wage verbally and that they'd answer to God if they didn't fulfill that. Well, here James is saying that that hasn't been fulfilled. The laborers have not been paid their rightful wage. And last time we talked about how today we fall into that category because we hire laborers every day. You and I contract KG&E. We contract our water bills. We contract

for sewer and trash. We contract for daycare. We contract for school. We contract for taxes to take care of our roads and our parks and everything else. We contract for that. We agree to that. And how many of us withhold wages where those things are concerned? How many of us blow that off and almost expect them to take care of us for nothing? All of these different areas are concerned. You see, it's sad, and we mentioned this last time,

when Christians who have the little fish and the little bumper stickers and the neat shirts disgrace the name of Christ through misuse of our finances. And that name gets run down around town, around the area with creditors because of our misuse of finances. Oh yes, the Christian, yeah, and the one who doesn't pay his bill. And we're no different. The way they obtained their

wealth. They also obtained their wealth, we find here in verse six. We assume there was an implication there that they were controlling the legal system, that they were paying for their rights. The rich were using finances to gain what was not theirs to, in a lot of cases, things that should have been judgments against them because of their viciousness and because of their waywardness, they were able to pay their way out of. And

we see that today rampant. You got enough money, you can get off of virtually anything in this country. You can buy the attorneys. You can pay your way out of. You can be major corporations that are being paid out of. You can be major corporations that are being paid out of. You can be being sued and you just pay your way out of it. People are seeking to manipulate others by suing

one another to get finances. Same today. God's bringing judgment as a result of that, the way they obtained their wealth. Secondly, the second reason is seen in a couple of verses here, verses three through five. And it's because of the way they use their wealth, the way that they use their wealth. Verse three, James says that they hoarded their wealth. He says, your gold and silver are

corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you. And you're going to pay your way out of it. And against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. They were hoarding their money. Now, it's not wrong to say that. In fact, a couple of places in Proverbs and Proverbs six verses six through eight. And again, I think in chapter 30, verse 25, we are told to go

to the ants in chapter six. He says, go to the ant. You sluggard. I like that one. I identify with the sluggard. Go to the ants, you sluggard. In other words, walk out and stand by an anthill and watch them run up your legs and stand there by an anthill. And watch them work. They work their little legs off, running back and forth. They look totally confused and yet like they know what they're doing. And they'll run out and they'll get the

foodstuffs and they'll bring it back in and stuff it down in the hole. And they're storing up for winter. And God says, go to the ant and consider his work. He labors. He has a purpose. And it's not wrong to say. In second Corinthians chapter four and chapter 12 of second Corinthians, verse 14, Paul says that it's right for parents to store up for their children, to help their

children. It shouldn't be the other way around. He said, parents should store up reserves for kids. So that's not wrong. It's not wrong to say. But James says here in verse three that they hoarded their wealth in the last days. They evidently, they didn't pay the people that they contracted to pay. And they took that money and hoarded it and spent it on their own selfish

needs. And woe is us if we do that. We have an electric bill due. But boy, there's this neat something or other down at the store that I've always wanted to have. And so I blow off KG&E and I go ahead and buy this something or other for me. No different. No different. Saving it for us, spending it foolishly on us when we've contracted to pay others for the services that they've given. They hoarded it. And not only did they keep it back, they evidently

ignored the need that was around them. There was need all around them, just like there's need all around. There's need here in our fellowship. There's need all around us today. And they ignored the need. They were withholding. They were hoarding for their own security to consume it upon their own lusts rather than asking God what he would have them do with it.

Our ministry here at the first of the year received this sizable blessing financially. And usually when that happens, we have one of two immediate reactions. Number one is, wow, now we can go get all of this that we've wanted but haven't been able to afford. That's my reaction always. You know, I'm the impulsive thunder. We got money. Let's go get this. Then the other side

is to react and say, wow, we've got this and we can sit on it. You know, we can just stick it back in the bank and just sit on it. I mean, we've got a pad now. We don't have to worry about this. We can just sit on it. And the idea is we'll just put it away and never spend it. And that's the other extreme. But the balance and it's the Lord's blessed our fellowship with a godly leadership is

to sit and realize that God gave it to us like that in a lump for a reason. And so we hold it open to him and say, Lord, what do you want us to do with it? And he always tells us. He always comes through and it's always, you know, yep, there it is. That's or several things that right through there. Yep. That's what the Lord wanted us to do with that. Now we do that. We do that

every month with the finances that are given here. But we're like you. I mean, each of us has regular finances. We're like you. We're like you. We're like you. We're like you. We're like you. Finances, the contracted payments that need to go out. We've got 700 and some dollar KG&E bill every month here. We have 130 some dollar water bill every month that has to be paid. Those are

things that go out. People don't think about that kind of stuff. It takes regular finances to run the ministry just like it does to run your house. So those things go out. But when we do get a little bit, we hold it open to the Lord and say, God, you know, we've got some extra here. What do you want us to do with this? Do you do that with your personal finances? You see, because all of us

have a little bit of extra. All of us have the stuff that's contracted out, but we get to the end of the month. And if you get it once a month or if you get it every week or if you get it bi-weekly, bi-monthly, there's always some time where you got a little bit there. You take it and say, Lord, what do you want? You got a little extra here. What do you want me to do with that?

Or do you seek to just go out and spend it on this because you want it? Or do you seek to just stuff it back and forget it? Make a pad. You hold it open and say, God, do you have somebody you want me to bless with this? Or do you just stick it back for the rainy day? Warren Wiersbe says, you and I possess many things, but we own nothing. We possess many. There's several

things in our possession. We may possess a house. We may possess a car. We may possess a bank account, but we don't own it because you and I want it. These days are going to croak and somebody else will own it. Or God's going to move in a certain way and take that away anytime he wants to. But we don't own it. We just possess it. And we need to hold those things with an open hand and say, God, what do you want to do with this? What do

you want me to do with it? How do you want me to use it? How do you want me to direct it from the house that he's given you? How can I use this to bless others? To the car that he's given you? To the finances that he gives you? Lord, how do you want me to use this for your glory? How can I use this? And you can take it whenever you want to take it and move me or let me have something

else. You take it. You direct it. When you and I trust him to do that, when you and I are faithful to trust the Lord to let him have that to use for his purposes, he'll give you more. He will give you more. Not to consume it upon your own lusts, like we saw in chapter 4, verse 4, but he's seen that you are faithful in trusting him and he will give you more to prove your faithfulness. If you give

that to him, he'll give you more. And we don't give to get, but you hold that with an open hand. You release your hold on that because that's one of the strongest ways that the enemy gets us, brothers and sisters. Of the flesh in sexual sin and finances are the two top ways that Satan sidetracks a believer. They didn't use it to bless others. They didn't use what they had to bless others. Verse 4.

Look, the wages you failed to pay. You failed to bless the workmen who were serving you. You failed to bless the harvesters who were serving you. You failed to bless others with that that you had been given by the Lord. Through their fraudulent means, they robbed the poor. They withheld that that they should have given. Yes. This, a very well-known story about the widow and her giving of the two mites. Throughout eternity,

we'll remember the widow's two mites that she gave. Now, there were scores, probably hundreds, possibly thousands of other people that were there that day bringing finances to the treasury. There was in the temple area, you couldn't just walk into the brazen altar and touch it. I mean, the court of the priests was that area and it was walled off. It was in the most holy place. It had the most holy place and the holy of holies. Outside was the

labor where they washed their hands and the brazen altar where they did the sacrifices. But that was walled off. Now, only the priests could go in there. In the next area outside of that was the court of the men. Only the men could go into that court. They could not go into the main court, into where the elements were, the altar and all. They had to stay back behind this wall. That's as

far as the men could go. Back behind, and it was walled off. Back behind that was the court of the women. That's as far as the women could go. But it was in that court that the treasury was. They were horn kind of receptacles we have an idea what they might be like and you'll see different shapes and different sizes and different books but they're kind of a they could be kind of a cornucopia type

of horn a receptacle there were several receptacles across this wall in the court of the women and people could come up and they would put in their temple tax there was a certain tax that had to be paid uh that was part of the temple tax for the maintenance of the temple there was and it helped with the poor with the taking care of the poor plus then there were the offerings the offerings of first fruit the tithe that had to be given the and the different things that had to be brought in and given as a part of their worship and so there would have been hundreds of people filing through the men going on into the court of the men and others coming out and priests changing shifts as

they were ministering in the temple area and plus the people coming in to just give their worship in those different horns and yet we see jesus noticed her offering he and his disciples evidently standing off to the side watching the people come and give and jesus takes note of her offering you because he says she gave all that she had in the midst of her need she gave all that she had trusting that god would bless her and take care of her need she needed to give unto the lord she wanted to give unto the lord she wanted to bless she knew that it would be used to bless others to bless the poor part of it and so she gave by faith trusting god where her need was concerned

and jesus took note of that jesus noted her personal giving and i believe god took care of her in a mighty way there is a brother who lives in this area and i won't give his name to not rob him of a blessing but every week and he's done this for the last several years every week he bakes cinnamon roll makes them himself nice cinnamon roll and he brings them to the different businesses around the area and sells them they're hot they're thick they're frosted and they're individually wrapped they're luscious and there's a brother who gets several of them buys several of them for the school brings it in for the teachers here at the school every now and then brings them in been more regular lately and i appreciate that you know they're wonderful but

he takes them and he brings them in and he brings them in and he brings them in and he brings them in all the profit that he makes off of selling these and sends it to mission supports mission for the cinnamon roll cinnamon roll ministry cinnamon roll missions work and he evidently from the number that he sells has a quite a high dollar amount that goes to mission and that's awesome what a what an awesome work you know just with cinnamon roll just making cinnamon roll to give to the lord how god has blessed us you know and what what opportunities are we letting him use us through with some little meager amount maybe that god's laid on our heart you hear

a speaker on the radio maybe it's you know one of the ministries that you hear regularly or that you receive their magazine and you're hoping that you're going to get a little bit of that money your heart's really moved or maybe there's a missionary that's spoken or maybe there's a need that you've heard about in the fellowship do you ever stop and say god do you want me to help meet this need with a with my meager amount that i have or do you have the mindset that well someday i'll have some extra and then someday i'll be ready to kind of help out someday i'll give to god and someday i'll do that let me tell you and this article tells you too that never happened until

you determine in your in your heart and in your mind that that starts now the only way you will ever get out of debt is to begin giving now and watch god bless the rich didn't use the finances they had to bless others it says here in verse five that the rich lived in luxury you have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence you have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter socrates has said that contentment is natural wealth and luxury is artificial poverty contentment is natural wealth but luxury is artificial poverty and you say well luxury leaves leaves me out i don't live in luxury as you do like i said you're wealthier than two-thirds of the population of

the earth you can drive down streets in the poor sections of any community in this country at night and you know what you see tvs in almost every house almost every house has a television we have telephone i don't care how poor you are most houses have telephone we have fax machines we have video cameras we had more video cameras here for our school program the other night than we've ever had before people with video camera we also had leg gliders videoing but we had everybody else videoing too video cameras all over the place we have vcrs but everybody has a vcr microwave water beds dishwashers washer and dryer you don't have to go to the river and wash your

clothes last time you had to do that was probably never we have cellular phones we have voicemail voicemail you can get voicemail at home isn't that exciting voicemail for a particular psychiatric clinic you call and it says if you are obsessive compulsive please press one repeatedly if you are codependent please ask someone else to press two if you have multiple personalities please press three four five and six if you are paranoid delusional we know who you are and what you want just stay on the line so we can trace the call if you are schizophrenic listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press if you are manic depressive it doesn't matter which number you press no one's going to answer anyway if you are delusional and

occasionally hallucinate please be aware that the thing you're holding on the side of your head is alive and about to bite off your ear we have voicemail we have pagers we have computers we have game boys we have refrigerators we have ice we have ice how many of you take ice for granted you don't have to go to a you don't have to go to uh one of the fast food places and say i'd like to coke with ice usually have to say hold the eye you know cut back on the eye give me too much eye not enough coke you go overseas you don't get ice anywhere i'm not talking just third world you're lucky to get a coke in the third world but i'm talking in europe in western europe in

england in france in scotland when we were there you don't get ice they don't have ice you get warm coke it's a luxury it's things we take for granted now the word literally the word luxury here means with delicacies it has an implied prodigal lifestyle a squandering i just take it for granted and there's a lot of people who don't have ice they don't have ice they don't have ice there's always something else and this never satisfies so we'll just go on until we find something that we think satisfies that's the idea of luxury living here let me read it in in amplified verses five and six in the amplified bible it says here on earth you have abandoned yourselves to soft prodigal living and the pleasures of self-indulgence and self-gratification

you fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter you have condemned you have murdered the innocent righteous man while he offers no resistance to you soft prodigal living never satisfied never thankful always wanting to live a life of gratification and self-gratification more let me ask you a question what's christmas like in your house when you all go do presents however you do presents what's it like especially and i and i said this with the first service not just with a little kid but with all of us bigger kids too what's it like when you open press you you ever your kids just sit there and they go rip the present apart and go wow that's so cool and they look at it and they turn whatever it is over and look at the colors and and shake it and and

really play with it do they do that give me a break if you open presents at the same time this is what happens kids sitting there little brother's sitting over here and what are they doing they're going opening looking over a little brother and they get it open they go wow you know and they go here little brother look at that or if you got a whole bunch of presents no little brother no little sister it's just a bunch of presents rip open that's cool rip open that's cool rip open that's cool and we taught them to do that because we live in luxury never thankful we never stop and realize what we've gotten took a lot of work parents to provide a lot of effort a lot of sacrifice because even that's what the kid wanted

there's never a stopping to acknowledge that god blessed us this year to be able to provide this and we thank him for it no it's just and we do that not just at christmas realize that it's with whatever we get it's with whatever we have we're never satisfied paychecks never enough always got to wait till next week always always got to wait till we get the bonus time always got to wait till we get the five week month and even then we're not satisfied even then we're not thankful even then we don't thank god for his provision it's never enough we're never satisfied we always need something else we're always jealous of somebody else's something or other tell me what thou dost need the quaker said to his neighbor and i will tell

thee how to get along without it a lot to be said for that kind of an understanding luke chapter 12 verse 15 jesus said beware and be on your guard against every form of greed for not even when one has abundance does his life consist of his possession and yet we measure success by stuff as soon as i get stuff or position then i'm successful it always used to be i'm going to be a millionaire by 30 and then maybe by 40 and that seems just i'm going to be an executive in a major company i want to be president of whatever like that shows that we've made it and yet interview after interview of people who have those things say that it doesn't satisfy it's not enough they got there they sacrificed their

families to get there to get it and they got there and it was hollow and empty and unsatisfying it wasn't enough there's a difference between enjoying what god has given us and in first timothy chapter 6 verse 17 paul tells timothy that enjoy god's blessed us with the things of this earth enjoy there's a difference between enjoying it and hoarding it and indulging in it and living in it with an extravagance selfishly withholding the opportunity to use it to bless somebody else there's a difference and god wants us aware of that warning misery is coming unless we're aware of that unless we learn how to use what he's given us for his glory not to consume it upon

ourselves a couple of weeks ago you either read about or heard about the woman who anonymously donated 15 million dollars i think was 10 or 15 million dollars to the town up in south dakota that was ravaged by the war and she was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman by blood in order to help ease some of the burden of the people there set up on a program where each resident could come and receive two thousand dollars as they could show that they had need that they've been hit with the flood they just automatically received two thousand dollars and the woman gave it anonymously you know that's exciting to me because as they get that town

rebuilt there's not going to be a park somewhere with her name on it it's not going to be the such and such park there's not going to be a children's hospital wing added to the memorial whatever her name was fund there's not going to be a park somewhere with her name on it there's not going to going to be a church somewhere that has a pipe organ or pews or a piano with little bronze plaques stuck on the side that say in memory of because she sought to do it and i believe she was i don't think a non-christian could do that to be honest with you but i think she was a great but god recorded her deeds and she has rewards in heaven because of how she did what she did how

she blessed others listen brothers and sisters for you and i to release our hold on the world we've got to beware of the bondage of finances we have to learn how to properly use what god has given us not hoard it not seek to to lavish ourselves with the luxury just taking for granted the things that god's given us but to be aware become aware of every thing in your life every little thing and thank god for it thank him for today you are breathing he has given you a family he has given you the family of god here he's given you the opportunity to openly worship him he's given you the clothes on your back he's giving you given you what food you will have to eat today what things you have what toys you may possess

he's given those to you to use to enjoy but to specifically hold open-handed to him and say how can i use this to bless somebody else and if you've given me extra finances oh lord let me stop and ask you first how can i use this to bless somebody else heavenly father we thank you for today help us to see that those warnings are directed our way not to some anonymous somebody out there that we think is rich but you have blessed us so abundantly oh lord may we not seek to hoard it to be consumed upon our own selfish desires but may we use it to bless others may we give unto you which is what you ask us to do that to prove you to prove your faithfulness to prove your

trustworthiness may we give unto you and then ask you to use extra or to bless others to use in the in the direction that you want to use in others lives and god to do it anonymously not to take credit not so that people will pat us on the back and be dependent upon us but to do it in such a way as the only way people can receive it is from you the only person that they'll have to thank is you god help us where that's concerned but that's a way that the enemy wants to control us he wants to get us out of this and he wants to get us out of this and he wants to get us out of this in under our skin he wants to build a stronghold in our heart and our mind where finances are

concerned he wants us in bondage to finance so free us from that i pray each one here in jesus amen