Sunday March 16
The Treasure Principle
Luke 12:13-21
13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14 But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" 15 And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." 16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' 18 So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ' 20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
I want to remind you that this might be my last pastor’s chat for a couple of weeks. I would also like to ask you for special prayers for several things. For the next couple of days, I will be extremely busy taking care of some family matters that involve my older sister, Lynda Smith, who was put into palliative care this past week. Then on Tuesday, the 18th, my son Jonathan and I will be flying to India to take care of a special situation there involving both of our ministries. We especially need for you to ask the Lord to give us wisdom and for safety as we travel.
On Saturday, the 22nd, we will fly from India to Cairo Egypt, to meet some ministry partners there and prepare for our scheduled tour to Jordan and Egypt that will take place this fall from October 14th to the 25th. We are hoping many of you will join us on this unforgettable journey to places where some of the most powerful revelations and miracles of God in the Bible took place. For more information on this tour, click on this link: https://www.gpartners.org/tour
Also, would you please continue to pray for my grandson Luke, who is in PICU in the Roanoke hospital, and will be there for the next couple of weeks dealing with a terrible infection. When they are assured that it is gone, Luke will be going through major surgery to replace everything in his brain and body to keep the pressure off his brain. I believe that this will be his 31st surgery on his little brain. Your prayers and support for all the above are always very important and appreciated!
In Luke 12:13-21, when Jesus was warning us to “beware of covetousness”, He told the story of a rich farmer that He called a fool, because he forgot to prepare for eternity. Then, it is if Jesus turns to us and basically says, we are fools if, like this farmer, we only live for money and things now and forget to live for heaven.
This is what Jesus said in verse 21; “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
A number of years ago, as a pastor I led our church membership though a series of lessons called the “The Treasure Principle” that was written by Randy Alcorn. I highly recommend this little book and the principles that Randy shares concerning how we should handle the resources that the Lord puts at our disposal. The Treasure Principle that Jesus gives here, and Randy highlights is very simple but profoundly true, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.”
Money is not evil, but the love of money and temporal things is the root of all evil. Randy reminds us: “Anything we try to hang on to here will be lost. But anything we put into God’s hands will be ours for eternity, (insured for infinitely more than $100,000 by the real FDIC, the Father’s Deposit Insurance Corporation. If we give instead of keep, if we invest in the eternal instead of in the temporal, we store up treasures in heaven that will never stop paying dividends.”
“Whatever treasures we store up on earth will be left behind when we leave. Whatever treasures we store up in heaven will be waiting for us when we arrive.” Several of the keys to being a good steward of God’s wonderful resources are: “God owns everything. I’m His money manager”. Remember: “My heart always goes where I put God’s money”. “Heaven, not earth, is my home”. (Hebrews 11:16). “Giving is the only antidote to materialism”. And, “God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.”
My friend, remember what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
God bless!
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