Does This Description Fit Your Life?

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:1-7

The previous passage reveals just how self-serving the last generation of those who claim to be of God really are. Such is the opposite of the true Christian life.

Just what does it mean to be a truly Heaven-bound follower of Jesus?

“So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33

The life of the Christian is about giving – giving our lives to Christ – dying to self so He can live and reign instead of us.

Beloved, Jesus is Calling You to Come and to Dine with Him …. but it must be His way, not yours and not the false way of the modern, apostate church which is calling you to worship at the altar of self-love (Psalms 119:104, 128). They are giving you a false message because they want you to life them, to buy their books, to patronize their church business.

The daily cross is essential if one is to follow Jesus Christ. There are no shortcuts.

Listen to the following words and see if this your attitude toward the Almighty:

“Thanks for what you’re giving me LORD but fooey on You and Your work and workers! I just received You Jesus in order to get myself out of hell but I don’t want to be bothered and inconvenienced with really having to obey You in this life. This is MY life. I’ll spend and squander MY money anyway I I I I I wish because III earned it. Never mind You hindering me from being my own god….”

Sound familiar? Sound like the Garden of Eden? “Ye shall be as (your own little) gods …”(Genesis 3) Were not Adam and Eve tempted to be their own little gods who did their own autonomous bidding? Yes and that’s the absolute antitheses of the Christ-glorifying life isn’t it?

Let me stop to say that this message is from God’s Word which has much to say about stewardship and why? Because the way we steward our dollars and earthly possessions is a direct reflection of the true priorities of our hearts. This message is about the Lordship of Christ in our personal lives. Christ calls us to lay down our lives and to truly follow Him in this wicked world. He never told us to go to church or to be a good church member or even a good person. No, fellowship with His body and the fruit of the Spirit are exclusively produced in the lives of those who simply obey His command to deny ourselves, take up our cross and to truly obey and follow Him (Luke 9:23-24; John 14, 15, 21; 15:1-16, etc.).

ARE you a giver OR are you a self-serving, self-preserving devil who spends all your money on the god of self? Don’t like my pointed question? Just move on – it’s that simple. No hard feelings at all. I’m not going to stop telling the truth because you got offended at the truth (Romans 3:4; Galatians 4:16). If you don’t like the truth it’s because you are against He who is “the truth” and whose“word is truth.” (John 14:6; 17:17) It’s only “if” we continue in His truth after being saved that we are His“disciples indeed.” (John 8:31-32) If this message offends you perhaps it only proves the point – that you are spending your life and your money on the one you truly worship – self. Repent or move on. Repent? Yes, and decide that God is going to get the first portion of your time and everything HE HE HE brings into your hands. Write out the very first check to Him (His work) – before you get paid. – “All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” (1 Chronicles 29:14)

Think about this: True Gospel laborers work with deep conviction and passion and don’t get paid predictably or even at all most of the times. Why? Because so many who claim to love Jesus refuse to obey Jesus with the resources Jesus brings into their lives because they have mortgaged themselves to the hilt and are spending their monies on the god of self (idolatry). The work of Christ is put last, because the LORD and His work are not important to most who claim to know Him who gave all and who gives them all that they have. To fuel His workers is to fuel His Word in the earth – going into the hearts of the men Christ died to save and to edify and equip to do His work (Ephesians 4).

If you are ready to be transparent before the LORD, keep reading……. This is what the LORD flooded my thoughts with this morning. Many of those whom He has saved have departed from Him and don’t even realize it. They are living to embellish self, feeding the lusts of their sinful fleshly desires instead of crucifying them (Romans 6). They claim to be saved and attend “church” or even read their Bible and pray, and yet are caught up in “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19)

ARE you honoring or are you dishonoring the LORD? Do you truly honor Him with the monies He alone is allowing you to bring in and for which you shall give account before His throne?

“Honour the LORD (HOW?) with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10

Before we go any further, let me say that the Word of God will offend self-serving, self-worshiping devils who, upon hearing the naked truth straight from God’s Word, refuse to repent. These are mere actors – imposters/hypocrites! But it’s time to put our money where our mouth is or stop pretending.

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22

A hypocrite is an imposter, a counterfeit, a person whose actions don’t align with their mere profession. Have you played this part?

“He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Mark 7:6-7

Are We Ready to Get Real?

When our lives are truly given over to the LORD, everything we own becomes His in our hearts and minds and we are therefore givers – Not free-loaders or takers but givers. Love gives, lust gets.

“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:16

Self-love was prophesied to be overwhelmingly prevalent in the final days among those who have a mere form of godliness but deny the authentic rule and reign of Christ in their daily lives – the daily cross where we lay it all down (die) so Christ alone can reign (2 Timothy 3:1-6).

Please hit SHARE and let’s see the real and the genuine, authentic disciples separated from those who serve the god of self and mammon while feigning (faking) to be serving Christ who said “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye (focus) be single (singly set on Christ), thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye (focus) be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. YE CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MAMMON.” (Matthew 6:19-24)

Are we so very deluded that we vainly believe that we can ignore the LORD and His work and not give account and suffer the consequences later? Are you so deceived that you believe the way you are stewarding your money that God gives you doesn’t point to the true priorities of your heart and reveal who you truly are? Jesus says differently. The rich man in Luke 16 refused to render practical, financial help to Lazarus, a poor man in his earthly life. There roles were eternally flipped upon dying (Luke 16:19-31). Think about it.

IS IT A SIN TO GIVE TO THE RICH?

Yes, giving to the rich is a sin. It’s pure waste.

Proverbs 18:9 says: “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.”

According to the above Bible verse, apparently laziness and wasting resources are equally sinful.

22:16 says: “He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.”

This verse above reveals that exploiting the poor for self-serving gain and giving to someone who is already “rich” are vile sins in the eyes of the Almighty. Think about how so many flock to give more money to the millions upon millions possessed by the wolves of our day – Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, the Emergent church devils, etc.

“And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.” 1 Corinthians 7:31

We are to use and to enjoy the things of this world without abusing or misusing them and reveling in them while not putting God first in our finances (Deuteronomy 8:18; Proverbs 3:9-10).  The whiner replies: “Well doesn’t God want us to have nice things?” Define nice. Jesus defined it as necessities (Matthew 6:19-34). The rebel continues with “Well, is it a sin to have nice things?” Yes, if those things are your idols and if you are wasting all your money on the worship of self. That would mean you are an idolater and not fit to enter the kingdom of Heaven (Ephesians 5:5-7; Revelation 21:8).   Many who call themselves Christ’s followers today have no resemblance of being like Christ was on earth – a minimalist. In fact Jesus lacked a vehicle, a place to sleep, and tax money. So many who claimed to be saved have little or no biblical stewardship wisdom or discipline and many of these run from any infringement of their “liberty” to be their own little lawless god who is free to spend and to waste and to squander every penny that comes into their hands. But Judgment Day is on the way.

Your personal stewardship is being watched by the LORD Himself (Mark12:41-44).  … This is a very enlightening and insightful truth – What Did Jesus Sit and Watch?

Getting Around to It?

Never mind the excuse that you’re going to one day “get around” to it  – “getting around to” obeying and honoring and worshiping God with the finances He gives you. WHAT IF God, next week, ceases the flow of money in your life and says “I may get ‘around to’ supplying more for you.” How would that make you feel? It’s time to pull the trigger – to do the truth before it’s too late.

The principles of God’s judgment upon us are made clear in Jesus words recorded in Matthew 25:

“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Matthew 25:40-46

Does our refusal to be generous point to our lost state and eternal destination?

“Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.“ Matthew 25:46

What we do points to who we really are. Those who claim to be serving the One who gave all and yet do not give their lives to Him and give little or nothing to His work are only deceiving themselves because God cannot be mocked or deceived (Galatians 6:7-8). Your giving of your life or lack thereof sure does point to who you are and where you are going to spend eternity. This is exactly what we just read in Matthew 25 and also as Jesus Christ taught in the literal story of the once “certain (actual) rich man” (on earth) who has been incarcerated in hell for at least 2,000 years and will never escape. Will you follow him? Will you obediently choose to love the LORD above yourself and to therefore give up in worship to the LORD a portion of the money He gives you in order to continue to keep Him first and to clearly demonstrate that you worship Him and not self or money? (Matthew 6:24) Is Jesus truly your “first love” or are you a phony? If you are authentic and not fake, show Him you love Him by obeying Him.

Think about it: You didn’t hesitate to get into debt for the temporal trinkets of this fleeting sinful world, right? You had the wherewithal and the desire to spend and to get into debt for those fleeting trinkets and yet, you have been “going to get around to” obeying God with your finances for years, right? Why? Could it be because the LORD is a second class citizen in your self-serving life? Is that the root here? Is self-idolatry the root sin here?

“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. 25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. 26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.” Proverbs 11:24-26

If you are authentically saved, stand up and be counted by obeying the One you say you serve. Show it. Do it! Talk really is cheap (1 John 3:18). Be a doer or face the truth that you are a counterfeit.

“And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:15

Word of faith message? No, this is a biblical message – a simple call to put our money where our mouths are and to cease being imposters, counterfeits. If you wish to be coddled in your sin – to be told you are okay in your sin – there are many who will accommodate your rebellion.

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” 2 Timothy 4:1-4

The fact that you never get a pointed message like this at your church clearly reveals that you are being seduced and deceived – You are being coddled in your sins and disobedience, never called to truly repent, to lay down your life and to obey God – and to thereby experience true, resurrection and an abiding, life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ (John 15:1-16). But how’s that going to end up at the Judgment? The Son of God solemnly warns:

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”  Matthew 7:20-23

A man who is a prophet is first a servant by the mercy of God and does not have to say it and should not be dwelling on a title but the serving function of the gift of God in him. Prophet is not a title and anyone touting it as a title is automatically to be considered false. Read what Jesus taught: Matt 20:24-28; 23:8-12. If God has placed a certain gifting in a man it’s only for the LORD’s glory and for the man it’s to be tools to humbly serve – Read 1 Peter 4:10-11.

So even though you’re not obeying God, you are refusing to repent and literally do His stated will, you are lukewarm, you are at ease in Zion, you vainly believe that you are still going to God’s holy Heaven while the fruit of your life reveals you are living in rebellion to Him?

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

Our obedience or disobedience to the LORD’s commands truly reveals who we truly worship and are truly serving – God or self.

“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:3-6

If you are not currently abiding in and therefore obeying Christ, of which your finances, your stewardship is a litmus test, it’s because you have backslid – you are not ready to meet Him who is “Holy, holy, holy.” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8) Jesus Christ is lovingly calling you to “Come unto Me” and to lay down your life at His blessed feet in unreserved surrender.

Prayer: Holy Father, I admit that after You gave Your life for me, You gave all to redeem me and found and saved me, I have squandered some of the resources You alone brought into my hands. I have not honored You by obeying Your clear, repeated commands for me to be a generous giver and to give You the first portion of the income You are bringing into my hands. Please forgive my sin LORD. LORD Jesus, I am now crucified with You. I am no longer my own but Yours. I lay my life at Your feet. I here this moment surrender all to You my LORD. Into Your hands I submit my spirit, my soul, my body, my things, my income, my possessions, and my will. From this moment forward, I am all Yours. In Jesus holy name, amen.

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