Mat 14:22-31
And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

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  Usually when we read about Peter we form an opinion. And for the most part our opinion of Peter, is not too good. I suspect there is in each of us a little of “Who does he think he is, to want to walk on water?”

And then we read about him running off at the mouth on the Mount of Transfiguration because he was so excited he didn’t know what to say. Then we hear Jesus call Peter Satan after Peter objected to Christ going to the cross. Again we hear peter bragging at the last supper that he would never desert Jesus!

And later we see, that Peter not only deserts Jesus, but even warms himself by the enemy’s fire; where the enemies of Jesus are beating him to a pulp. So, Peter doesn’t look too good in scripture. But, in reality he’s not a bad guy. He’s just not perfect. Just like you and I, he’s just a flawed human being.

And yet it’s Peter’s flaws, his imperfections, his warts, wrinkles, spots, and blemishes that make him so fascinating. For if this messed up human being, can walk on water, than you can walk on water too!

The reason Peter doesn’t always look good; is because he’s always out there on the edge. Good, bad, or ugly, you always know where too find Peter! He’s always going to be out front. For better or worse, he’s a risk taker. He’s the kind of guy or gal that will take a chance.

William Shakespeare said, “It’s better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.” Helen Keller once said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing,”

The bible says, “without faith, it is impossible to please God.” To walk in faith is to take a walk on the wild side. Shakespeare, Keller, and the Bible are talking about the same thing.

Matthew 14:22-31 (NIV)
Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead of him to the other side of the lake, while he dismissed the crowd. Afterwards, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, and the boat was a long way from land. But the ship was having trouble moving against the wind. The disciples, may even have been trying to row the ship.

During the fourth watch (The fourth watch is between 3:00am and 6:00am in the morning); during the fourth watch, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. They thought they were seeing a ghost and they actually cried out in fear.

But Jesus said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” At this point the adventurer in Peter takes over and he says: “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said to Peter “Come on.” Peter got down out of the boat, and walked on the water. And he was walking on the water toward Jesus, when something happened.

At first his excitement and imagination were on fire! Peter had this crazy idea to ask Jesus to command him to walk on water! Peter admired Jesus so much, that he wanted to do everything Jesus did. He wanted to be just like Jesus.

What’s interesting about the text is that Jesus did not rebuke Peter. Jesus did not say to Peter, “Fool, you can’t walk on water!” Because, that would have been a lie. Because Peter can walk on water. And you and I can walk on water, too!  If this were not so, Jesus would have said so. But you can walk on water. The proof is right here in this text. Jesus told Peter to come on out on the water. And… Peter walked on the water.

2000 years later, when reading this passage, what we usually remember is Peter’s eventual failure. We remember that Jesus had to help him. What we forget is the fact that Peter walked on water. Now, we’re not told how far he walked. But, we know that he walked out far enough to begin to be afraid for his life!

Peter was a fisherman. He’d spent his life on the sea. And you can bet he knew how to swim. But no matter how well you swim, if you get out too far in rough seas, you’re gonna get tired before you can swim back to the boat; or before anybody can throw you a lifeline.

What I’m saying is, Peter had walked out on the water far enough, so that he could not get back and nobody else could help him! And the text says in verse 30: “that when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

I should point out here, again; that Peter was walking on water! And he walked on water for as long as his attention was focused on Jesus. But as Peter sauntered across the waves, I guess he felt like he was out for an afternoon stroll. It seems like he got too relaxed and let down his guard. And the record says he began to sink. Notice he didn’t drop at once, like a rock. The record says he began to go down!

And the funny thing is that’s the way it works in our relationship with Jesus. When we first get saved our imagination and excitement is all fired up, and our whole focus is on Jesus. All of our attention is on Him. But there comes the day when other things begin to take over our thoughts. And little by little we begin to sink.

It has been said, the road to hell isn’t a sudden, one time, dramatic event. Rather, the road to hell is a smooth, gradual slope. So smooth and so gradual, people don’t realize they are slowly going down !

Peter began going down, slowly. And he cried out to the Lord, Lord, save me! I’m reminded here of Romans 10:13 wherein it declares, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!”

That’s what I love about Jesus. When you call on Him for salvation, he will save you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done; or where you’ve been; or what you’ve been doing; or who you’ve been doing; If you call upon Jesus to save you, He will save you.”

And so Peter called upon the name of Jesus and Jesus saved him. And when He caught hold of Peter, Jesus says something very interesting. Jesus says to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Now, please understand this was not a rebuke. Jesus was not scolding Peter for failing! No, Jesus was simply point out to Peter where he had made his mistake. Peter’s mistake was when he looked at the wind and the waves, he began to think doubts.

It’s not that he didn’t see the wind and waves before stepping out there! It’s just that for a brief, exciting, moment his imagination was stirred up and he believed the Word of God, more than he believed his circumstances! The Word of God told him to come!

So, when Peter stepped out, he wasn’t stepping out on water, he was stepping out on the authority of Him who talked to the wind and waves; and bid them peace, be still!

And when he asked Jesus to say the Word, that was his confirmation, and he literally stepped out on faith! And so it’s not that he didn’t see the wind and the waves; it’s just that the word of God, and his imagination, and belief in the Word were bigger than the wind and the waves.

So Jesus did not rebuke Peter, he simply pointed out the mistake. And the mistake was Peter began to pay more attention to the waves than to Jesus. In other words, Peter began to focus more on the problem than the solution!

Your strength is the word of God. Your help is the Word of God. The solution is the Word of God. And the Word says; You come! When the Word of God says you can do a thing, brother that means you can do it!

Peter began to sink, the very second doubt hit his brain!

There are three aspects of faith in this text. They are:

1.    Force of faith
2.    Application of faith
3.    Acquisition of faith

The Force of Faith

Most believers, have no idea what faith is. The writer to the Hebrews said it best in Heb 11:1,
“Faith, he said, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
This writer describes faith in legal terms, as if he was arguing his case before a court. He says; Faith is a substance. In other words faith is a real thing. Faith has substance. Faith exists.

And more than that, he said faith is the evidence. Another word for evidence is proof! So then faith is the reality of things hoped for, and the proof of what we cannot see!”

So long as Peter kept his eye on the Word, the force of faith … the substance of faith held him up! And when his faith walk got shaky, his walk on water got shaky!

The Application of faith:
The second aspect of faith I want to see is that: The force of faith does not depend on your circumstances. The force of faith does not depend on what you see with your eyes, or hear with your ears! The force of faith has to do with the Word you stand on (or said differently the word you believe) .

In other words, for faith to work, your faith has to have an application. Faith if it is to be faith has to be applied. It must be put to work! Because faith is a force (vector); it has to have an application and direction. Faith ain’t faith until you put it to work!

When faith is put to work on a situation; the force of your faith is applied in the direction you need the situation to go! Faith is a force! And a very powerful force at that!

The Bible says that Almighty God, stepped out on nothing and He spoke! What did He speak? God spoke Words of faith! He said “Light Be!” and light “be”!

Hebrews 11:3 says; “We understand that the universe was formed, by faith, at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Faith is the power, the force God used to create the universe. God is a faith filled being! And when God speaks faith, the force and application of His faith creates life and resurrection!

Yes, yes, faith is an applied power. That means it has direction and application. If faith were only a power, we could not call it a force! But God puts His finger of love on a thing, and the thing is changed! That’s the very picture of force and application!

The Acquisition of faith:
The final aspect of faith I want you to see is: How to get faith. How do you get faith to believe you can walk on water? Well, you’ve probably guessed by now, that faith comes from the Word of God. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And that’s exactly what happened to Peter! Day in and day out Peter was with Jesus (The Word of God).

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the (Word of God) in a body. He’s literally the living, breathing, communication of God to man, in a body! Or has the Greeks put it; He is the Logos.

And so for weeks and months, Peter’s has been wrapped up in and shaped by the presence of the Word. He wasn’t just reading the Word! He was talking to the Word. He breathed the Word. He ate with the word. He touched, he handled the Word of life.

How much would you change, if you had close contact with the Son of God? Don’t you think Jesus would rub off on you? Don’t you think you would begin to think like Jesus? Spend time with Jesus and the impossible begins to look like the possible!

Spend time with the Word and there will be change in your thinking! Spend time with the Word and you will be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Spend time with the Word, and you can not be content with the dry, mundane, religiosity of Church. Spend time with the Word, and gradually the word can’t is eliminated from your vocabulary. Nothing is impossible. Everything is possible; even to walking on water. You can do all things through Christ, which strengthens you!

What I want you to see is what Peter saw that morning on the sea of Galilee.

Peter got a revelation of possibility. He saw himself walking on water. And so according to the Word of God, he stepped out there. And he succeeded! Peter is the only man on the planet other than Jesus to walk on water!

And after Jesus saved him, the only thing Jesus said to him was, Why did you doubt? In other words, why did you doubt the revelation? Why did you doubt the vision you saw in your mind?

In a broader sense, to take a Walk on the wild Side is to trust the revelation of God’s Word. When you spend time in the Word, you will see things in a different light. You will think things that don’t seem real! But they are real! God is bringing you out of the prison of religion, to walk in the freedom of His Word!

To walk on the Wild Side means to trust what God is saying in your Spirit! At first it seems scary. It seems unreal. Because everything we were taught about the world, everything we were trained to think about what is possible and what is impossible, all of that has to change! Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind!

For when you get the mind of Christ in you; you not only have the mind of Christ; you also have the eyes of Christ. And so what looked impossible yesterday,as seen through your eyes; is possible today, when seen through the eyes of Christ!

But you must be courageous. Take a walk on the wild side! Doubt your doubts. When the Word says you can walk on water; and the enemy doubts that you can; than doubt the doubt the enemy has said. Believe the Word, and doubt the enemy!

Illustration:

The elephant is an extremely intelligent animal. Scientist think that it may be one of two animals on earth that come closest to thinking like a human; the other is the dolphin. But the difference between and animal and man is that the animal, no matter how smart, can not think outside the box.

The animal can not let their mind take a walk on the wild side and imagine any other possibilities. And it is this ability to imagine that makes us like God, and not like the animals; for we are created in His image.

This is why you can take a very smart animal like the elephant. You take this animal, this elephant when it is a baby; and put chain on its foot. And you tie that animal, you chain that baby elephant to a stake in the ground.

After awhile the baby elephant learns that it cannot escape. It learns that it can’t get loose, and so because it is a smart animal it stops trying to get loose. Years pass, and the baby elephant is no longer a baby. It has grown into a beast weighing over 2000 pounds, and one of the most powerful and feared animals on earth.

And yet, when that fully grown elephant is chained to that stake in the ground; the amazing thing is that it does not even try to get loose!

You see, the elephant learned that it is impossible to be free. (It lacks the imagination to wonder if conditions have changed.).The elephant has learned to be a slave. And the only thing that binds him is the shackle of previous learning in his mind! And even though he is many times more powerful than even a dozen men, it never the less remains captive.

The chain that holds this huge and powerful beast is not some great gigantic chain. No, the animal is held captive by the limitations of it’s own mind. And because it is an animal;  it never imagines, it never sees, it never dreams that freedom is possible.

On the sea of Galilee that morning, the apostle Peter suddenly had a thought! It was a wild thought, a crazy thought. But it was an exciting thought.. And he asked for and got confirmation from Jesus. And he put his thought into action! And he walked on water!

Peter’s walking on water is a perfect picture of the possibilities God is prepared to do in your life; beginning with living in eternity with him.

All it takes is the courage to: believe Him, ask Him, confess Him as savior, and obey Him as Lord.

Take a walk on the wild side. It’s for real.

1John 1:1-4

 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

 

(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

 

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

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In this letter John is talking about eternal life. It’s kind of tough to describe something which the human mind has no reference to understand. So John describes eternal life using the metaphors: Joy, light, and love. I’m sure there are many more descriptors, many more eternal qualities, but John focuses on these three.

 

Light

If I were to ask you to describe God, where would you start? Well, that’s who John is trying to describe. The quality of life they see in Jesus is the lifestyle of the eternal God!

 

Paul writing to the church at Colossi about Jesus in Col 2:9; “For in him (that is Christ) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

 

All the fullness of God, everything God is - is in the body we call Jesus. So I ask you again, How would begin to describe the quality of life the apostles see in Jesus?

 

Well, the first thing John says about him in 1:5 is that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all…

 

That’s a good start… But what is light? Just like I can’t explain how a black cow, eats green grass, and produces white milk; I can’t explain light.

 

But I can tell you what light does.

 

Light gives me information. Light lets me know what’s going on around me. Light lets me see stuff in my path that I might cause me to trip. Light lets me clearly know who are my enemies. Light lets me see what condition my condition is in.

 

Illustration:

When Richard Nixon was president of the United States, he sent me a personal letter … inviting me to an all expense paid vacation in wonderful Vietnam.

 

Well, when I got there I discovered many new things. One of my first discoveries was how truly dark, dark can be.

 

You see in a developed country like the U.S., there is so much ground light from houses and roads, that the light bounces off the clouds and reflects back to the earth. The result is that it’s never truly dark in the U.S. even out in the country.

 

But in under developed parts of the world like Vietnam in 1970, when the sun goes down it’s dark like you’ve never seen dark.

 

Right away you learn why everybody on base has a flashlight. Because you need a flashlight to find the outhouse in the middle of the night.

 

Even though you can smell the thing when you get close, you still need a flashlight to find the door. Since there is no stall or even a commode, you need a light to find the holes cut out of plywood placed over steel drums.

 

And of course, even though it’s gross, you should shine your light in the dark hole to make sure that its not so full of waste that your sit on somebody else’s elimination and toilet paper…

 

And so you shine your light into the hole, and the light reveals rats the size of cats feeding on the human waste!

 

Can you see how light informs you? The Light let me know that I didn’t really have to go to the bathroom, right then!

 

So while I can’t explain Light, I can tell you the benefit I get from light! In a word, light is knowledge.

 

Now the fact that John describes the eternal life style as light is very interesting. Because when you read 1st John, you’ll find he uses the word know, or some form of the word know 36 times.

 

So Light is a quality of the eternal lifestyle. And the light of God is revealed in us through wisdom and knowledge.

 

The people who talked with Jesus were constantly amazed by his understanding and wisdom. They said no man has ever spoken like this.

 

They said this man is a carpenter, Mary’s son; from where does he get this wisdom? Others said he spoke with authority!

 

When we walk in the light as Christ is in the light, we walk with confidence; because we understand where we are going.  Other folk may stumble, and bumble through life, but folk who have the eternal lifestyle have it going on like that.

 

And this is what the disciples see in Christ. Christ sees stuff. He knows stuff. He’s aware of everything in the Spirit.

 

Love

Another quality of the eternal lifestyle is love.

 

1Jn 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

 

If light is hard to explain, then love is twice as hard to explain. Why? Because, we are born with a sin nature that can not comprehend the spiritual. Love is an eternal quality of the Spirit.

 

The spirit of God tells us in John 3:16; that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

 

This is God’s definition of love.

 

God says I love you, so I give you my body.

Man says, I love you, so you give me your body!

Sinful man’s style of love is contrary to God’s style of love.

 

Sinful man says, if you love me you’ll give me what I want. And so according to that definition you see parents trying to be friends with their children, rather than parents to their children.

 

God’s definition of love is to give us what we need.

What the world needed was a savior. God so loved the world that he did something. He took action. He gave Himself.

 

In 1John 4:16 the apostle says they have understood and believed the love of God. That is a striking comment!

 

It’s striking because even though we here something repeated over and over doesn’t mean we either understand it or believe it.

 

For example, I heard the good news of Jesus Christ many times. I read the Bible as a child. But it wasn’t until I actually understood who Christ is and believed what He did on the cross that I received salvation!

 

In a similar way, even though we’ve heard many times about the love of God until we understand and believe the love of God; we never have the power of His love operating in our lives!

 

Illustration:

As a people African Americans have come a long way in this country. So far that we now have a Black man in the white house.

 

But we have lost some things along the way. One of the things we’ve lost is love.

 

Our grandparents and great grandparents, an great great grandparents defeated slavery and oppression with the power of love. They defeated hate with love.

 

Martin Luther King didn’t get his non-violent strategy from Gandhi, he got it from the Bible and from watching black Christian folk love those who mistreated them.

 

Martin read where creator God operating in love permitted himself to be spit on and abused by His own creation. God gave love even while sinful man returned hate for love.

 

Some wise guy once asked Jesus what was the most important commandment. Jesus said “to love the Lord God with all your heart and mind; and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

 

Jesus said this one love commandment is the entire Bible in two sentences. And so according to the Word of God; love is everything.

 

Love is an important part of the Eternal lifestyle, because love never fails. But we must understand and believe God’s love to have the power of love operating in our life.

 

Joy

Finally, a third fundamental quality of the eternal lifestyle is joy.

 

John says in 1:4 ” That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”

 

So we see here that joy is contagious. You can catch joy just by being in fellowship with some folk that have joy!

 

Haven’t you noticed that its more fun to be around joyful folk than dismal folk? If you’re a Christian, folk who fellowship with you, ought to get full with joy!

 

Nehemiah 8:10 says “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

 

Joy is not a warm, happy feeling Christians get every now and again when things are good. It’s more than that. Joy is one of the most powerful spiritual forces in the world.

 

When you look at Nehemiah 8:10 and remove the phrase, “of the Lord,” you see that it says; “Joy is strength.”

 

That’s what makes joy so important. You can’t live a life of faith without being strong in the Lord–and when God wants to make you strong, joy is what He uses to do the job!

 

Joy is not a fake, pretend state of mind. It’s not an emotion you only feel at church, but can’t find at home! Joy is a very real power, and the devil has nothing that can stand up against it. Just as fear has to yield to faith, discouragement has to yield to joy.

 

Illustration:

Early in my tenure at my first charge, I had a very rich man come to see me. I met him thru one of the members of the church who worked for him. And this member was always telling his boss about me.

 

In reality what my member was describing to his boss was the eternal lifestyle operating in me. And so one day as church was letting out this rich man shows up with a secretary. And he asks if he could have a minute of my time.

 

So I took him into my study. His secretary sat down and took out a stenography pad and commences to take notes, as her boss began to speak.

 

The upshot of this man’s conversation was that he was very unhappy. Even though he was worth at the time about 500 million dollars, this man had no joy!

 

He had by any definition, by any measurement the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Later, I visited him at his home. And we saw a little of how he and his wife lived.

 

But even though he was very rich, he was very unhappy. An attempted kidnapping of one son left the son and family full of fear and traumatized for life. Another son was born with severe disabilities and died in early adulthood.

 

This man had no joy. And so he decided that since being wealthy was his problem, he would give away all of his money. And so began to give, and to give, and to give away mounds of money.

 

But a funny thing happened. The more money he gave away, the more prosperous he became! The man told me that the faster he gave away money, that money came into his business even faster!

 

And the reason he came to see me because he couldn’t get rid of his problem which was having too much money! And having heard so much about the God whom I serve from his employee, he came to see me.

 

Now, I have to admit it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. I wasn’t amused at this man’s expense or his trouble, because he was seriously depressed.

 

But I was laughing on the inside because sitting in front of me was the truth of the Bible in Luke 6:38

“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over….”

 

Bible teachers tell folk over and over again about the power of giving and here in front of me is living breathing testimony of that truth.

 

Well, after I explained to the man the biblical truth of what was happening and why, he understood; for he had begun to expect as much.

—————-

The moral of this story is truly, there is no joy in the life style of the rich and famous. But there’s joy in having and operating in eternal life.

 

Gal 5:22 says: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith.

 

Joy then, is a fruit of eternal life. Joy is evidence of an eternal lifestyle.

 

The Word of God speaking of Jesus in Isa 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

 

Somehow Christians got this idea that Jesus walked around looking sad and sorrowful. Like he walked around with his head hung down, with the fear of the cross on his face.

 

That’s not how it was! The writer to the Hebrews put it like this in the 12:2;  “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

This is not the description of a man who was full of fear and dread! This is not a depressed man, walking around with his head hung down, waiting to die!

 

NO! This is a picture of a man who walked in power and strength and joy! This is a man that won every battle with sickness and disease! He won every battle with every demon he came in contact with.

 

No wonder Nehemiah declared: The joy of the Lord is our strength!

 

I’m talking about joy that comes from knowing God.

I’m talking about the joy that comes from knowing your life is righteous in the sight of God.

I’m talking about the joy that comes when your life is blessed and the work of your hands is blessed.

 

I’m not talking about happy. Because happiness in large part depends upon circumstances. Joy on the other hand is a spiritual quality that only comes from the Spirit of God.

 

The joy of the Lord is our strength!

 

I’m talking about joy; unspeakable joy, unexplainable joy, indescribable joy,

 

Joy that don’t make sense.

Joy in the face of the trouble.

Joy when folk talk about you.

Joy when your friend double crosses you,

Joy when you husband or wife divorces you.

Joy when the plant shuts down.

Joy in the sick room.

Joy when times are good.

Joy when times are bad.

 

Joy that the world didn’t give you, and joy the world can’t take away.

 

I’m talking about joy that comes from knowing and having eternal life! I’m talking about the joy of living an eternal lifestyle….

 

Joy because you can do anything but fail.

Joy because the steps of good man are ordered …

Joy because you don’t have to worry about nothing

Joy because God provides for you every need.

Joy because when we’re obedient we’re blessed.

 

And blessed means God gives us much of what we want.

 

Oh! I didn’t tell you about that?

 

Jesus said in Mat 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

 

My brothers and sisters the record of the Bible is consistent from the Old Testament thru the New Testament.

 

And the record says God wants to bless us with good things. My God has all the silver and gold, and all the cattle on a thousand hills belong to him.

 

My father is extravagant with His blessings. He’s able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

 

But he’s not a genie in the lamp. You don’t rub on him to satisfy your lust. He has feelings. God simply wants you to reverence Him and obey Him.

 

And when you come to God for no other reason than because He is God. Not only do you get Him, but you get eternal life, you get the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

 

1John 1:1-4

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

 

(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

 

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full“.

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Some time ago there was a television program called  “Life Styles of the rich and famous”. Some of you remember it.  MTV has a similar show called MTV Cribs.

 

What makes these shows popular is our curiosity. We want to know how people with money; spend their money. And, I’ll be the first to admit I have a fascination with the life style of the rich and famous!

 

For example, I saw an MTV cribs episode about Shaquile O’Neal the basketball player. And because I’m a big guy, I was curious to see how a wealthy 7 foot man spends his money.

 

It didn’t surprise me that a big man would have a big house. Shaq’s house in Florida was 32 thousand square feet. And it’s no surprise that he had a huge bed. Shaq’s was about 4 times bigger than a king size bed.

 

Another millionaire, talk show host Jay Leno, has a special house just for his car collection. Leno’s car house is carpeted and maintained just like a home. It has climate controlled humidity and temperature, with special lights to protect the car interiors and paint.

 

During the 1930’s, Dr. Preston Satterwhite built one of the largest apartments ever, on 5th avenue in New York. It had 60 rooms. Each room was decorated in a different period of history.

 

The story goes that after he and his wife moved into their 60 room apartment; Mrs. Satterwhite was showing a guest around the place and had to ask her butler for directions to her bedroom!

 

A young reporter got an opportunity to interview James Gordon Bennett, who was the owner of the New York Herald Newspaper during the great depression.Times were tough for the young reporter and he was hoping to impress this eccentric millionaire enough to get a job.

 

So the young man went to his interview. But as he was talking with Bennett, it was clear something was bothering the man!

 

Bennett kept twisting in his seat and frowning. He repeatedly grabbed at his clothing like a man whose underwear was too tight in the wrong places!

 

Finally, in total frustration, the millionaire stood up, huffed out loud, and dragged out a huge wad of money.

 

With a disgusted grunt, he threw the money into the blazing fireplace. The young reporter cried out in astonishment and surprise; and jumped to the fireplace, raking out the burning, blackened wad of money.

 

Juggling this hot potato, he carried it back across the room to its owner.

 

Bennett is said to have stared up at the young man in disgust; and said, “That’s exactly where I wanted it.” So he tossed the bundle of money back into the fire.

 

Now you know where the expression having money to burn comes from!

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Our fascination with the rich and famous has to do with the fact we think rich folk are happier than everybody else!

 

We think that anybody with money to burn must be happy! But truth is, having money is no guarantee of happiness.

 

Just ask Michael Jackson! Or Rapper Chris Brown. Or Tupac Shukar, or Mike Tyson, or Michael Vick.

 

Or ask people who have won multi millions of dollars  in the lottery. Many lottery winners end up broke, busted, disgusted, in jail, miserable, and often dead! Some have even given the money away just to escape the curse of wealth!

 

Still, if I were to ask the average person if they would take 20 million dollars; Every last one of us would say; yeah! Hit me!

 

Because, no matter what anybody says, no matter how many people we see destroyed by money; nothing will make us believe money won’t make us happy.

 

We just can’t accept it! We say to ourselves, money may not have made you happy. But, girl friend let me have 20 million dollars and I’ll show you happy!

 

In fact, I bet some of you believe you’d be happy with 20,000 dollars!

 

Everybody wants the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

 

And the reason we desire the life style of the rich and famous, may have to do with the fact, we were created by God to have dominion! (Turn to you neighbor and say Dominion!)

 

In Gen 1:26; God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over all creatures on the earth.”

 

So it’s in our DNA! It’s human nature! We’re born to dominate. We’re born to have dominion.

 

And when you look at how Adam and Eve lived in the garden, you see that they had it like that! They had the lifestyle of the rich and famous! They had dominion!

 

They had every material blessing they needed and everything they could possibly want. All they had to do was reach for it!

 

I’m convinced that our fascination with the rich and famous is really our desire for that which we had in the garden of Eden.

 

I’m convinced that deep in our spirit, deep in the recesses of our DNA, deep, way deep in our ancestral memory we remember!

 

We remember the garden. We remember the lifestyle of the rich and famous. We remember eternal life.

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“1Cor 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
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There is a scene in the first star wars movie where Luke Skywalker has left his home planet of tattooine and is traveling to join the rebellion.

He and his companions have escaped in the Millennium Falcon and are traveling to Alderon. On the way, Luke is introduced to the ways of the “force.” This introduction comes by way of an exercise. Luke is made to put on a helmet. The helmet looked like an ordinary helmet such as would be worn by military fighter pilots, astronauts, etc.

But this helmet had been blacked out to prevent Luke from using his sense of physical sight. And the scene shows Luke trying to swat away laser pricks from an airborne robot.

Many of you remember this scene, I’m sure.
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From the beginning I have found many thought provoking items from the Bible in the Star Wars story. For starters there is the rather obvious parallel between the “Force” and God.

Now, let’s imagine that our inner man, in scripture known as our spiritual man; is in fact an exquisite multi-faceted information receptor. Its design and purpose is to permit humans to function and interact with an unimaginably intelligent, extremely large, very powerful spiritual being (the Force).

Now, let’s imagine that something happens to our reception ability. And we’ll call this something - static. I call it static because almost everybody has experienced tuning into a radio station and getting static included in the radio signal. It’s easy to picture a radio with a tuner pulling in, receiving transmissions out of the surrounding environment (Force).

This radio with its intermittent sound and static is an exact picture of the way of fallen humanity’s Spiritual receptors work. We see and hear through a glass darkly (or in Luke’s case a helmet that does not allow him to use his natural senses).

Our original natural senses, or first senses in the Garden of Eden were spiritual senses. However, the fall permanently damaged our spiritual receptors. So as long as we are in these bodies we are like Luke sky Walker learning to function, or tune in to, see, and work with and alongside the “Force”; who is God (all the while our reception being hindered by the earth suit in which we live).

God is omnipresent. That means he is everywhere and at all times present at the same time. As such God is literally the “Force” with whom we have to do, and in whom we need to tap into. And without going into all the theological arguments, I can assure you God wants us to tap into Him (the Force).

The implications of this astounding truth are beyond calculation.

For starters, it suggests that Reality and Truth (ultimate reality and truth) is not in existence in this realm. Death will overtake this time and place (i.e. state of being) and when that happens we will literally and quite abruptly be thrust into the “Real” world; the world of the “Force”; which is God.  “To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord.” 2Cor 5:8

And unless we want to come into His realm, His place, totally unprepared, helpless, naked, ill equipped (not being able to properly use our utensils - light sabers and such) and be exceedingly embarrassed, we must learn to use the “Force” before that happens.

The way we learn to use the “force” is through faith. Faith is a power. It’s as much a force as the “force of gravity.”  Hebrews 11:3, “we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God through faith, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

So in a nutshell every activity, every thought, that is not in line with the goal of learning to tap into and use the “Force”, is literally a waste of time, and is beneath our spiritual birth right as Sons of the Most High God.

Rom 14:23 for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Let us not be ashamed when we come before Him. Rather when we fall out of our earthly bodies (when we are birthed in to realm of the Force) let us stand upright before Him, fully equipped and prepared to take our places as Kings and Queens of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

1John 1:1-4

 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

 

(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

 

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

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The point of John’s e[istle is Eternal life. John wants folk to understand eternal life.

 

Listen again to the text.

 

“For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.”

 

We need to look closely at these verses. Because if we’re not careful, we might think the writer is talking about Christ Jesus, the person.

 

But a close reading of these verses shows the writer is talking about something in Christ!

 

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

 

For the life was manifested, and we have seen it!“

 

I hope you understand that if John had been talking about Jesus, he would have said: “For the life was manifested, and we have seen him!

 

But John says, “We have seen it!” Indicating he’s talking about some thing in Jesus, and not Jesus Himself. And this thing, this quality John says they see is eternal life!

 

Now, when I read this I got excited! Because, like most people, I’m used to thinking about eternal life as in living forever, and never dying. For the word eternal comes from the word eternity which means forever.

 

But, I got a news flash for you. When the Bible talks about eternal life, it’s talking about a quality of life, rather than length of life.

 

Did you get that? Let me rub that again! In the Word of God, eternal life refers to a certain quality of life, rather than the length of life…

 

So when John says, For the life was manifested, and we have seen it!…

 

The natural question is; What did they see?

 

What did the disciples see in the life of Christ that is different than the life of other men! In other words, Jesus Christ has a style that’s all his own!

 

Now nobody ever thinks of Jesus Christ has having style. But John says Jesus has a quality of life, a lifestyle; and he wants everybody to know what it is!

 

What the disciples see in Jesus is so radical, so beautiful that John wrote this letter 1st John, to describe that lifestyle. And he calls the lifestyle of Christ, eternal life.

 

Any life that has eternal life operating in it will look different, act different, and talk different from what we normally expect! I can only imagine how Christ messed up the expectations of those who knew him!

 

He didn’t get angry for the reasons they got angry. He didn’t curse like they did. But when he cursed a thing, the effect of the curse was immediate.

 

So what makes the eternal lifestyle different?

 

In his letter John talks about: Joy, light, and love, I’m sure there are many more descriptors, many more eternal qualities, but John focuses on these three.

I hope to begin in this money category, a series of practical comments on money and finances. These brief commentaries will also be part of a newsletter at my website  http://www.4your-information.com/mlm_business4.html called “Future Focus.”

These series of articles are intended for a more secular audience. Never the less, those of you who are familiar with the Bible will recognize the scriptural base in the series.

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 One of the most exciting things I’ve learned about life is summed up in the phrase, “Who ever is servant of all, will be master of all.”

This concept comes into sharper focus when we think of Ray Croc of McDonald’s hamburger fame. You remember him, don’t you?

Ray Croc figured out a way to become a hamburger servant to more people than any body else. In other words, he became a master hamburger servant.

He also became very wealthy and famous.

Again, the concept is who ever helps the most people becomes the master.

Zig Ziglar has made a career out of saying: “You can have whatever you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.” Zig has also become financially secure by doing exactly what he preaches.

Most of us don’t want to be a servant. We want to be served. We want to start out being the master.

Truth is, the way to the master suite is through the servant’s quarters!

When applied to MLM, or any other business, this means I must help you get what you want. And, if I help enough of you get what you want, I get what I want.

Think about that the next time you’re tempted to complain about poor business.

When you’re talking to prospects, do you WANT THEM in your business, more than you want to SERVE THEM?

This is a critical distinction!

It has been observed, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

All of us are in this game of life for what we can get out of it. It’s human nature to ask in every transaction, “What’s in it for me (WIIFM)?”

When applied to MLM, sales, or any human interaction; we are more successful when we are sincerely more concerned for the other gal’s wants and desires than our own.

Who ever learns how to be a servant, learns how to BECOME a master.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”
(2 Corinthians 12:7)

Tradition has it that God gave Paul the thorn in the flesh. What’s more, tradition makes the thorn was perhaps an illness. I’ve heard it taught that the thorn might have been a weakness in Paul’s eyes.

But the Word specifically says: that the thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan. Not God– Satan! The thorn was literally just what Paul says it was–a “messenger sent from Satan.”

Why? Everywhere Paul went, he preached the gospel and every time he preached, he destroyed the works of the devil; a little more of Satan’s kingdom (1john 3:8). So, Satan sent a messenger, an evil spirit, to try and stop him.

When Paul prayed about this thorn (2 Corinthians 12:8-10), God didn’t answer Paul in the negative. God said, “My grace (or, My favor) is enough. It is sufficient for you. For My strength is made perfect in your weakness (inability to produce results)” (W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary).

In other words, when Paul didn’t have enough human strength to overcome, God’s miracle-working power was sufficient for him. It enabled him to be an over comer in spite of his weakness.
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Traditionally, the Church has used this passage to justify a stoic “Bearing up under my burdens attitude.” The logic was God permitted suffering for a reason. And because the suffering is from God the Christian must therefore bear up under the burden.

The logic is faulty in the first place because every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. Pain, suffering, and disease come from Satan.

In the second place, nowhere in any of the Apostle Paul’s letters do we find even a hint of such an attitude. This is striking because Paul frequently returned to familiar themes in his letters.

In the above text, Paul is not talking about being stoic. He’s not talking about passively bearing up under a burden. Far from it.

God told Paul, “My Grace” is suffificient. In other words, you already have sufficient Grace (power, authority, knowledge, wisdom) to deal with this problem.

In the Old Testament, God asked Moses, “What do you have in your hand?” In a similar manner, God has told Paul you have sufficient Grace to defeat the enemy! Use what you know!

God wanted Paul, as He wants all Christians, to confront attacks from Satan with the Word of God. Jesus gave us the example when he was tempted (attacked) by Satan in the wilderness. Jesus responded to each attack by saying, “It is written.”

Paul does not mention this messenger again. That suggests he confronted this demonic agent with an appropriate Word of God and commanded him to back off in the Name of Jesus.

Satan has used the “Thorn in the flesh” error to hamstring the Church for hundreds of years. It is time for the Church to take back what the thief has stolen.

“Whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4)

We are to be “sanctified,” or separated from the evils of this world. How? Through the Word of God! (John 17:17).

The Word of God separates us from the world. His Word puts a desire for victory into motion in our lives. When we receive it; and believe it, and speak it; and act on it, that Word functions to set us apart from those around us. The Word takes us from trouble to triumph again and again.

This article is for Church “folk”. By that I mean unless your Church has the office of Deacon, this piece may be a bit of a mystery. My exposure is primarily in what is called the “Black Church.” A “Black Church” is simply one wherein the culture and world view expressed in worship is primarily African American. My view of Deacon comes out of that framework. This perspective traditionally has viewed the Deacon as a “waiter of tables.”

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To be honest with you when we look at what deacons do in our churches, I’m not sure we’re seeing what the Bible says we’re supposed to see.

Now, I’m not being critical. I’m saying time, and tradition, and culture, and a lot of other things, have a way of distorting biblical truths.

If you don’t believe me read 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah and you’ll find many instances where important Jewish regulations had long been forgotten. The Passover for example had been forgotten by Israel long before they went into captivity.

So time, if nothing else can change the way we do religion.

When I look at the job of deacon, one of the things that I’ve always find fascinating is that there were just seven of them!

I’ve seen churches with 2,000 on the rolls that had twenty deacons. But the first church ordained seven.

This is striking when you consider the number of people in the Church at Jerusalem. Watch this!

The day the Church was born; on the day of Pentecost; 3000 were added to the church, Acts 2:41.

And we learn that the church continued to grow.  Acts 2:47 says “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Now, when it comes to people getting saved, I’ve seen some. I’ve been blessed to see youth retreats where when the invitation was given, forty or fifty teenagers came forward in tears to be saved.

I’ve seen people come forward 10, 15 at a time, on some Sundays at my home church in Pittsburgh.  But I’ve never seen folk getting saved everyday! This church was expanding daily!

Watch this! In Acts chapter Four the record says, Peter and John were in the temple teaching and preaching in the Name of Jesus. And the temple Gestapo arrested them and took them away.

And verse 4 says: “But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.”

So from the day the church was born in Acts chapter two the church has grown so that there 5000 men who were counted as believers. The bible makes a special point of mentioning there were 5000 men.

That lets us know that if there were 5000 men, there had to be at least 5000 women believers in addition to the 5000 men!

Furthermore if there were 5000 men and 5000 women, its likely there were 5000 children, boys and girls who were believers too!

So if you’re counting that’s 15,000 plus the 3000 on the day of Pentecost for a membership over 18000 because people were getting saved everyday!

But that’s not all in chapter five, the bible says in verse 12: “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.”

What that means is they were having church in the outdoor part of them temple called Solomon’s colonnade.

Verse 13 says: “No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. In other words if folk weren’t serious about getting saved they didn’t get near this crowd, even though they were highly regarded by other people.

I hope you’re getting this. Nobody was playing church in this crowd! Because of Ananias and sapphira, the word on the street was you could die if you went to Church as if it were a civic duty.

Verse 14 says, “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and multitudes were added to their number.”

So the Bible is telling us that the first church was growing! And they were growing fast!

And that brings us to Acts 6:1 where it says: “In those days when the number of disciples was multiplied, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”

The question is how big was this church by the time we get to Acts chapter six? The Bible says the number was multiplied. We just saw in chapter five the number of believers was well over 18,000!

Let me argue that the number was multiplied by 2. that would make the total membership in acts 6:1 about 36,000.

Now some might argue with me about multiplying the 18,000 by 2. All right! Pick a number then. And it’s still going to be between 18,000 and 36,000 members!

This brand spandy new church had a problem!

They were suffering from growing pains! They had so many members they couldn’t keep track of who was ministering to who, and who was getting what. And as church folk will do, they began to murmur and complain!

And the complaint went like this. The Greeks complained against the Hebrews. Now, everybody in the Church at this time was a Jew. There wasn’t a gentile in the joint.

But some of the Jews were local and the rest were from out of town. The Bible refers to the local Jews; those from Jerusalem as Hebrews. Those other Jews who had traveled the world over and returned; these Jews the Bible refers to as Greeks.

And it was the out of towners, the Greek Jews who complained that they were getting the short end of the stick. And so the office, the job of Deacon was born.
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Now, when you begin to talk about the job of the Deacon you have to know what the circumstances were that created the necessity for the office.

And the necessity was the church was suffering growing pains. And somebody was needed to manage the resources and the people. Amen!

Watch this. We here the apostles, the preachers saying in Acts 6:2, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.”

Everybody ought to be able to see that seven little old deacons could not possibly wait hand and foot on 18,000 people, much less 36,000 people.

The word deacon comes from the Greek word deconai which is interpreted servant. But the service these first seven deacons were called to give was not to “wait on tables.”

At the time of the first church the population of Jerusalem was about 60, 000 and covered and area of about 425 acres.

They didn’t have modern stoves. And food had to be purchased every day from the market; carted to the church on a donkey cart, and then prepared.

It would have been physically impossible for seven people to feed the hundreds of widows and orphans in a church of 18,000 or more. There’s no way.

When we think of waiting on tables, we think of a waitress or waiter. That’s not what these Deacons were called to do.

No, no, these deacons were called to manage the resources of the church. And the resources of the church includes the people of the church. So deacons were called to be administrators and managers of the churches resources and to be a buffer between the membership and the preachers.

Deacons were called to manage the people. In other words they were firemen. They put out fires of discontent.

Wherever and whenever; envy, anger, misunderstanding, or strife arise in the body, it’s the deacon’s job to put it out.

Because these things are harmful to the Body of Christ.

Furthermore they are called to manage the church’s money. I find it interesting that no place in the new testament do you find the word trustee!

Trustee is an invention of government. But deacons are an invention of the Holy Ghost.

So when we look closely at the circumstances out of which came the office of deacon we see that they are far more than “waiters of tables.”

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.

He said, ‘Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.’ The young man held out this package. ‘I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.’

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own e yes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. ‘Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift.’

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings Many influential people gathered, exci ted over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son The auctioneer pounded his gavel. ‘We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?’

There was silence.

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, ‘We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.’

But the auctioneer persisted. ‘Will somebody bid for this pain ting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?’

Another voice angrily. ‘We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!’

But still the auctioneer continued. ‘The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?’

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. ‘I’ll give $10 for the painting.’ Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

‘We have $10, who will bid $20?’

‘Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters..’

‘$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid $20?’

The crowd was becoming angry. They didn’t want the picture of the son.

They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. ‘Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!’

A man sitting on the second row shouted, ‘Now let’s get on with the collection!’

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. ‘I’m sorry, the auction is over.’

‘What about the paintings?’

‘I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the pai ntings.

The man who took the son gets everything!’

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: ‘The son, the son, who’ll take the son?’

Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE…THAT’S LOVE

Private Property (Wealth)

Private property or private ownership is a by product of sanctification. Sanctification, essentially means set apart. So, whomever or whatever is set apart; is set apart for the specific purposes of whom and for whom they are sanctified.

Deuteronomy 8:18 says: “Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.”

This verse puts forth the idea that wealth (private property) is a by-product of a work of God on the behalf of people whom he has set apart for Himself as part of a covenant between Him and them. A covenant is an agreement or promise.

The writer of Deuteronomy says here that the ability to have and to hold (private property) is confirmation from God to His people that He (God) keeps His Word.

It’s not by coincidence, that those nations or regions identified as being Christian (generally western nations) have also been the wealthiest in history. On the other hand there are nations and regions of the world that are not Christian, and grinding generational poverty has been the norm; i.e. India, Africa, China, Haiti.

God does not have favorites. He does, however, honor His Promises. Private property is merely a necessary by product confirming the promises.

In a perfect world, private property may be irrelevant. We know from the New Testament that members of the first century Church had “all things in common.”

“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common (Acts 4:32)”

Interestingly enough, Deuteronomy 15:3-5 (NIV) says that there should be no poor.

“There should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today (Deut. 15:3-5).

God has actually designed poverty out of His Kingdom. However, it is clear that poverty is a choice. When men choose not to obey God they choose to be poor. And God acknowledges that men will choose not to obey and so choose to be poor.

Deuteronomy 15:11 God says: “There will always be poor people in the land.”

People frequently accuse God of all kinds of things including poverty and hunger. But the record of the Bible suggests God did not intend for there to be suffering and want. Suffering and want are by products of not obeying God; even as private property (wealth) is an incidental by product of obedience.

God could arbitrarily annul poverty. Just as He could arbitrarily over rule our individual sovereign will. But that’s not the way He does things. He is a “pro-choice” God. He sets before us “life and death.” The choice is ours.