Money, money, money!!! #7

The wise teachings of Proverbs always has something to teach us and it is no different with money. So let's look at them today and see what they tell us about money.





Proverbs 8:10

10 Receive my instruction, and not silver,

And knowledge rather than choice gold;



God's Word in to be desired more than money. Is this true in your life?





Proverbs 11:4

4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,

But righteousness delivers from death.



Money will not do us any good when death and judgement comes....but righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ is the only answer!





Proverbs 11:28



28 He who trusts in his riches will fall,

But the righteous will flourish like foliage.



Trust in your money instead of the Lord and see where it gets you.





Proverbs 13:7



7 There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing;

And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.



Money may bring you temporary happiness in this life, but really in the end you have nothing. If you give everything to Jesus, than you are rich and it can never be taken away! Praise the Lord!





Proverbs 16:16



16 How much better to get wisdom than gold!

And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.



Wisdom and understanding of what God desires in a followers life are so much more valuable than money. When we learn this we have matured in our walk with the Lord.





Proverbs 22:1



22 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,

Loving favor rather than silver and gold.



How many folks have let money ruin their reputation? How many folks chose money over love for others? Too many to count!



Once again we see today, the love of money can be our down fall. Be wise and chose the love of our Lord you will never regret it! Reread these proverbs and think about them in your own life and let the Holy Spirit freely speak to you. If changes are needed, make them today!



Tom

Money, money, money!!! #6

As we have seen thus far God has much to say about the danger of loving money and placing the desire of it before Him. I want us to look at this warning from God's Word about money this morning:



2 Timothy 3:1-5

3 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!



WOW! Do you see what the love of money is mixed in with here? As I look at this list of sins, many of them go along with each other! Folks this list is very accurate of our very day. This is why many think we are living in the days of the return of Christ! Take the time to go through the list in the verses above and honestly evaluate yourself. If they describe you, repent and turn to following Jesus now!



God also tells us if folks like these we are to stay away from as they will lead us astray if we are not very careful. Yes we are to try lead them to Jesus but we are not to spend great amounts of time with them! Look at your friends and family....are they described above? Lead them to Jesus, if they won't come to Jesus then stay away from them!



Remember these are not Tom's words, but come from God himself!



Tom

Money, money, money!!! #5

As we continue to look at what the Word of God says about money, I want us to think today at our giving. Do you give just enough to appease yourself or do you give to honor God and trust Him to meet your needs?



Mark 12:41-44

The Widow’s Two Mites

41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”



The lesson here is many times we give out of our abundance. We give what we know won't be of any burden to us. We give knowing we can still go out everyday this week and buy our 5 dollar starbucks coffee even though there are people out there starving. We give knowing we can still get that lottery ticket justifying it by saying God if I win I will give some to the church. All our money is God's money, would he spend it the way we do?



This widow put in all she had! She had to trust that God would bring her some food soon! The rich through in some but it did not really cost them a thing, they knew they were gonna eat in abundance.



Think about this lesson today. What point is Jesus trying to get through to you and to me? Is our giving pleasing to God?



Tom

Money, money, money!!! #4

The money issue seems to have no boundaries. Greed and evil has even entered sacred grounds like the church. This is nothing new! Let me give you a few examples:



Mark 11:15-17

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”



Jeremiah 7:11

11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.



Malachi 3:8-10

Do Not Rob God



8 “Will a man rob God?

Yet you have robbed Me!

But you say,

‘In what way have we robbed You?’

In tithes and offerings.

9 You are cursed with a curse,

For you have robbed Me,

Even this whole nation.

10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the Lord of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it.



We really need to chew on these and ask our selves are we doing wrong with our money anywhere. Inside or outside the church. All the money God has bless us with is His that He lets us use. He expects us to use it wisely. A portion is to be given to the church. We are to help those in need. We are to use it to meet our needs. Then with the rest we need to honor God with it no matter how we spend it. A good habit would be to ask ourselves, would God be happy with this use of money?



It is biblical to say use God's money wisely and God will meet your needs, use God's money foolishly and for evil and you will reap the consequences.



Tom

Money, money, money!!! #3

Yesterday we looked at a couple of examples from the bible of what the love of money will do to people. We seen Delilah and Judas were over come by their greed for money and did some evil things. Like I said earlier money in itself is neutral, neither good nor evil, but the love of money causes all kinds of evil. Look at this verse:



Ecclesiastes 10:19



19 A feast is made for laughter,

And wine makes merry;

But money answers everything.



This is the mindset so many get in, partying and money is life! NOOOOOOO! Money is not the answer, Jesus Christ is the answer. Sadly money can get almost anything done if you have enough of it, but money can't buy salvation or peace. Jesus Christ is the only way for that! Look at this warning from Jesus:



Matthew 6:24

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.



Mammon is money. Jesus is clear here that we can't serve both God and money! So let us look at our lives and honestly answer the question, am I serving God or money? What do you love more God or money and the things it can get you? Hmmmm really give this some thought and heed the warning from Jesus. If we look at the society we live in I believe we can see clearly the answer for most! MONEY!



Tom

Money, money, money!!! #2

As we think about money and how we can turn it into an idol if we are not extremely careful, I want to look at tow examples of what money can do to people from the bible.



The first example is from the old testament. A lady named Delilah. She had a man named Sampson in her grasps. Sampson was a judge for God. He did some might things for the Lord. He was in love with Delilah. Sampson had great strength from God and was told never to cut his hair as a vow to God as that is where his strength came from. One of the enemies of Israel, the Philistines, wanted to know where this strength came from so they could defeat Sampson. So what could they do to get Delilah to help them???? Money, Money, Money! After Sampson had tricked her a couple of times, he finally told her the secret to his strength! Dumb move Sampson! Then look what happened:



Judges 16:18-21

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him,[a] and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.



Money can cause people to do evil things!



Our other example we find in the new testament, a familiar story to most. A named Judas who walked with our Lord Jesus. He had been taught by Jesus and knew first had who Jesus was....The Savior of the world. Greed got the best of Judas and he went to see what he could get for Jesus, if he betrayed Him to the high priests:



Matthew 26:14-16

14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.



For thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave, Judas betrayed Jesus. Judas would later regret what he had done and take his own life but the damage had already been done!



Think about your own life now. Has money caused you to do anything wrong or evil? Look at the world we live in and what the love of money causes folks to do on a daily basis. It is sad to think how many love money and things more than they love God! This can change in our own lives but only if we want it too!



Remember this verse:



Matthew 6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.



Seek God not money, and blessings will flow!



Tom

Money, money, money!!! #1

Well here comes Christmas! I heard that on black Friday over 1 billion dollars was spent and that did not include internet sales! Wow! Money is important for us to survive. Do we spend our money in ways that are pleasing to God? It is important for us to examine this aspect of our lives. I believe if we are honest with our selves we do things with our money that is not pleasing to God and amounts to greed!!!

Look at this verse about money closely:


1 Timothy 6:10
 Money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Can money be evil? No it is a thing, it is neutral. It is neither evil or good. You see I did not post the verse correctly, here is what the verse actually says:

 1 Timothy 6:10
 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

The love of money is what is evil because it becomes a idol in our lives that replaces God! Just stop and think about what the love of money has done in this world of ours. Murders, stealing, greed we see all the time over the love of money. Money in many instances is used in ways that does not honor God and help those who are in need. What are we doing brothers and sisters????

So as we dive into looking at money over the next several days and what God has to say about it let us not look at what others are doing but let each of us examine our own hearts and ask ourselves so I have a love of money or a deep love of God!

I have heard it said before, if we look at our check books we can often answer the question of where our hearts are....God or money(self)!

Tom