COVETOUS LIFESTYLE? EXODUS 20: 17........... Luke 12: 15-21

          "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house,
         Thou  shalt not  covet thy neighbors wife,
         nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, 
         nor his ox. nor his ass, nor any thing that
         is thy neighbors.     Exodus 20: 17

      You will readily  recognize this passage as the
tenth and final commandment given Moses by the
Lord  God,  Yaweh,  on  Mount Sinai.  These laws, 
or principles are the basis for mankind to be in a 
right relationship with God or man.

     "And He  said unto them, (Jesus Christ) 'Take
heed, and  beware of  covetousness:  for a man's
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth."
     This passage is  followed by Jesus' parable of
the rich fool, an illustration of the fleeting signi-
ficance of riches, and/or material possessions.

   This was brought home to me, forcefully, when
we  made a  move from one state to another, and
stored everything from my business, temporarily.
That turned out to be a risky venture,  for the fa-
cility  we used  turned out to be less than secure.
The  value of  that property was a large  part of
our net worth and the  loss seemed catastrophic.
 We cannot yet say it was a fortuitous event, but
the lessons we have learned from that ar invalu-
able.  One thing  we learned is to take personal
responsibility  for valued  possessions,  and not 
trust one of  whom we  know  nothing.  Another,
was; life goes on and does not seem to be dimi-
nished by the loss...    

       It is clear, now, that our Lord,  in Scripture is
showing we are more than material or flesh.  We
are  also learning to  be content in Christ.  When
one is free to worship according to conscience, is
in  reasonably good health,  having close  friends 
and family,  he is blessed, indeed.  Our needs are
met  by  the one  who loves us and is able to meet
every need and our desires. He is faithful in each
case and has provided for our lives here and now
and in the future.  Life without end, Amen!!

God bless you; keep the faith and we will see you
"there."     donporter,sr 9.24.16

THE KINGDOM OF GOD, WEALTH, CHARITY, & PRAYER

  "THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND WEALTH"

    The sixth chapter of  Matthew contains  a signi-
ficant  portion of  the "Sermon on the Mount," by 
our Lord Jesus Christ.  This sermon  takes up the
fifth,  sixth and  seventh chapters of  this  Gospel
and is probably some of our Lord's most revered
and "difficult" standards.  The truth expressed in
these passages of  God's Word holds followers of
Jesus Christ to higher levels of commitment than
anything  previously  published in Scripture.  We
will consider one  principle addressed,  from Mt.
6: 19-24.

      "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon 
      earth,  where moth and  rust doth corrupt,
     and where thieves break through and steal.

     "But lay up for yourselves treasures in hea-
       ven, where neither moth nor rust doth cor-
       rupt, and where thieves do not break 
       through nor steal."  (Matthew 6: 19-20)

      "But they that will be rich  fall into temptation
      and  a snare, and into many foolish and hurt-
      ful lusts, which drown men in destruction and
     perdition.  For the love of money is the root of
     all evil: which while some  coveted  after, they
     have  pierced  themselves  through  with many
     sorrows."  1 Timothy 6: 9-10

     In Proverbs 28:11,  we find;  "The rich man is 
    wise in his own conceits, but the poor that hath
    understanding searcheth him out." 

      The Scripture, Old  and New Testaments has
    several  references to  the negative  effects of 
    riches on  persons  who  would  follow Christ.  
    The negatives concern the attitude one has as  
    he faces just what he will do for riches and if
    one is willing to sacrifice personal righteous-
    ness in that pursuit.  There are certain things
    one  is able to do,  good things,  with  wealth,
    but it seems a rare blessing, indeed, to find a
    person  willing to use his wealth in service to 
    people in need around him.  That is what our 
    Lord requires of the one He has blessed with 
    the riches of this world.  

       This, however;  does not let us off  the hook.
   Although  you or I  may  not  be so blessed,  is
   it  not still incumbent upon each of  us to have
   the same attitude?  Since every  blessing  from
   our  Lord  brings with it  a  responsibility, it is
   no  less a  charge  from our Lord,  to share in
   the poverty, loss or grief of anyone with whom 
  we come into contact.  Since we are so blessed, 
  we must comfort  those we know, who suffer or 
  or  are  disadvantaged.  We share  the blessing
  and comfort of the Lord on us, with them.  
    (2 Corinthians 1: 4) 

     "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; 
      and  follow after righteousness,  godliness,
      faith, love, patience, meekness...

  
        God  bless you and keep you in the faith of
    our Lord Jesus Christ; with no faith in  mate-
    rial things of this World System.
                                         donporter, sr 9.03.16 

"THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND CHARITY"

     In Matthew 6: 1 - 4, we discover how to perform
deeds of  charity to persons who  are in need of our
help. The Lord God has specific conditions we must
meet in verse 1, that determines whether we  will be
blessed in doing good deeds..(Matthew 6: 1-4) One
definition of "blessed," is knowing the good and the
doing of it."  A primary benefit of blessing is know-
ing  the  blessing  of  our Lord will accomplish that
or Lord  intends.  Work in  this vein will  be  multi-
plied in a way that  we may be aware the Lord God 
is the doer. 
           We are HIS instruments in  the doing.

     "Take heed that you do not do your charitable
      deeds before men, to be seen of them.  Other-
      wise you have no reward from your Father in
      Heaven.
     Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do
     not sound a trumpet  before you as  the hypo-
     crites do in the synagogues and in the streets.
     that they may be seen of men. Assuredly I say
     to you, they have their reward.
     But  when you do a charitable deed, do not let
     your left hand know what  your right  hand  is 
     doing that your charitable deed may be in sec- 
     ret:  and  your Father, who sees in secret, will
     Himself reward you openly."

    " THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND PRAYER"

     "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as 
      the hypocrites are, for they love to pray stan-
      ding in the synagogues and in the corners of
      the streets, that they may be seen of men. 
      Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

     But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy clo-
     set, and  when thou has shut thy door,  pray to
     thy  Father  which is in secret,  and thy Father 
     which seeth in secret, will reward thee openly."
                                          Matthew 6: 5-6

       The way prayer is practiced, in public, today, 
gives one  pause as  we  read  this one verse from 
Matthew.  Praying in  public  seems to  be,  to say 
the least, risky.  While the teaching of Jesus might
be  interpreted  as an outright prohibition against
praying  publicly,  it  seems the church,  as a rule,
does not follow  that line.  When you parse words
here we see Jewish leaders actually prayed aloud
in  order to be heard/seen of men and the content
of prayers was largely dictated by the hearers.  It
is certainly possible prayer today is influenced of
such factors. 

 What then, do we learn from Matthew.  Since our
Lord,  in  his Word condemns public displays of a
kind that might be construed to promote the appa-
rent "Holiness" of the individual, on display... We
must be careful to abide by the letter of the advice
as well as the spirit of the information.  Chapter 6
of Matthew condemns Pharisees for such.  Are we
not held to a  higher standard than they?  Let's be
circumspect in our worship and keep our focus on
the one whom we worship and away  from the one
who worships.            

 donporter,sr 9.05.16  edited 9.06.16