From Gary... Beyond your biggest dream...

This little fella must think he has died and gone to heaven. After all, the bone is as big as he is!!!  Dogs will eat and eat and keep on eating until there is no more food; dogs are like that (at least mine are).  If I let them, they would probably eat themselves sick. Dog psychology- more is ALWAYS BETTER!!!  Some people think like animals- somehow, they can never get ENOUGH!!!  Possessions, power, respect- you name it, people will want it.  But what happens when you get all you need, then all you want, then all you can even dream of wanting (now there is something to think about)???  Jesus puts it this way... 

Matthew, Chapter 16

 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.   25  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.   26  For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

Those who follow Christ are to concentrate on being HIS disciple!!!  Temporal things are just that- temporal.  Eternal matters last forever; that is just the way of things!!!  Which is better; to have something for a short while or a long one?  If it is worth having, then the longer the length the better. Question: If you or I were to die today, what would we really have? Answer: without Jesus, nothing at all.  You see, it doesn't really matter how big your bone is; what counts is how long you have it!!!  I like to dream big- and being with Jesus forever in heaven is the biggest goal I can think of. Have something bigger?  Email me, I want to know about that little BIGNESS!!! (AND I DON'T MEAN BONES, EITHER!!!)

From Gary... Bible Reading December 31

Bible Reading   

December 31

The World English Bible

Dec. 31

Malachi 1-4

Mal 1:1 An oracle: the word of Yahweh to Israel by Malachi.

Mal 1:2 "I have loved you," says Yahweh. Yet you say, "How have you loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" says Yahweh, "Yet I loved Jacob;

Mal 1:3 but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness."

Mal 1:4 Whereas Edom says, "We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;" thus says Yahweh of Armies, "They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them 'The Wicked Land,' even the people against whom Yahweh shows wrath forever."

Mal 1:5 Your eyes will see, and you will say, "Yahweh is great--even beyond the border of Israel!"

Mal 1:6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?'

Mal 1:7 You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we polluted you?' In that you say, 'Yahweh's table contemptible.'

Mal 1:8 When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn't that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn't that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?" says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 1:9 "Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?" says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 1:10 "Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you," says Yahweh of Armies, "neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

Mal 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations," says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 1:12 "But you profane it, in that you say, 'Yahweh's table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.'

Mal 1:13 You say also, 'Behold, what a weariness it is!' and you have sniffed at it," says Yahweh of Armies; "and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?" says Yahweh.

Mal 1:14 "But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King," says Yahweh of Armies, "and my name is awesome among the nations."

Mal 2:1 "Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

Mal 2:2 If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name," says Yahweh of Armies, "then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.

Mal 2:3 Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

Mal 2:4 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi," says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 2:5 "My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him who he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.

Mal 2:6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.

Mal 2:7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 2:8 But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 2:9 "Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.

Mal 2:10 Don't we all have one father? Hasn't one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Mal 2:11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

Mal 2:12 Yahweh will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 2:13 This again you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn't regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.

Mal 2:14 Yet you say, 'Why?' Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.

Mal 2:15 Did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

Mal 2:16 For I hate divorce," says Yahweh, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with violence!" says Yahweh of Armies. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don't deal treacherously.

Mal 2:17 You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, 'How have we wearied him?' In that you say, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh, and he delights in them;' or 'Where is the God of justice?'

Mal 3:1 "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!" says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 3:2 "But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap;

Mal 3:3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.

Mal 3:4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.

Mal 3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 3:6 "For I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Mal 3:7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says Yahweh of Armies. "But you say, 'How shall we return?'

Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings.

Mal 3:9 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

Mal 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this," says Yahweh of Armies, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for.

Mal 3:11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field," says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 3:12 "All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 3:13 "Your words have been stout against me," says Yahweh. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against you?'

Mal 3:14 You have said, 'It is vain to serve God;' and 'What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?

Mal 3:15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.'

Mal 3:16 Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name.

Mal 3:17 They shall be mine," says Yahweh of Armies, "my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

Mal 3:18 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn't serve him.

Mal 4:1 "For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up," says Yahweh of Armies, "that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Mal 4:2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.

Mal 4:3 You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make," says Yahweh of Armies.

Mal 4:4 "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.

Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.

Mal 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

Congratulations!

You have read the ENTIRE BIBLE!

Spend some time in prayer, thanking God for this blessing!!!

From Mark Copeland... The Great Apostasy (1 Timothy 4:1-3)

                     "THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY"

                       The Great Apostasy (4:1-3)

INTRODUCTION

1. Paul's concern in his first epistle to Timothy is proper conduct "in
   the house of God, the church of the living God" - 1Ti 3:15
   a. The church Jesus said He would build - Mt 16:18
   b. The church Paul wrote that Jesus loved - Ep 5:25-27

2. The Lord's intent was that there be one church...
   a. He prayed for the unity of His followers - Jn 17:20-23
   b. Paul later wrote that there is one body (i.e., church) - Ep 4:4-6;
      cf. 1:22-23

3. Yet we see around us so much religious confusion, so many different
   churches...
   a. How did it happen?  When did it happen?
   b. What can disciples of Christ today do about it?

[Our text (1Ti 4:1-3) is one of several passages in which Paul and
others foretold of an 'apostasy', a falling away...]

I. THE GREAT APOSTASY FORETOLD

   A. BY PAUL...
      1. In warning Timothy
         a. Describing how some will "depart from the faith" - 1Ti 4:
            1-3
            1) Giving heed to "deceiving spirits and doctrines of
               demons"
            2) Forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meats
         b. Describing how some will 'not endure sound doctrine' - 2 Ti 4:1-4
            1) Getting teachers who will tell them what they want to
               hear
            2) Turning from the truth, turning aside to fables
      2. In warning the Ephesian elders - Ac 20:27-31
         a. Of "wolves" coming in from outside the flock
         b. Of men "from among yourselves" drawing disciples away
      3. In warning the church at Thessalonica - 2Th 2:1-3
         a. Of a great "falling away" that must come
         b. Revealing "the man of sin", "the son of perdition"

   B. BY PETER, JUDE, AND JOHN...
      1. Peter warned of false teachers to come - 2Pe 2:1-2
         a. Who will bring in destructive heresies
         b. Whom many will follow
      2. Jude warned of false teachers who were present - Jude 3-4
         a. Who had crept in unnoticed
         b. Who were turning the grace of God into lewdness
         c. Who were denying the Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ
      3. John warned of "antichrists" who had come - 1Jn 2:18-19
         a. Many, in fact, had come!
         b. Indicative of living in "the last hour"

[Even Jesus warned there would be false prophets (Mt 7:15).  Before the
canon of the New Testament was completed, the apostasy was already
underway.  As one examines early church history, there are further
indications of...]

II. THE GREAT APOSTASY FULFILLED

   A. IT WAS A GRADUAL PROCESS...
      1. In many cases, it appeared innocent at first
         a. Attempting to deal with errors in and out of the church
         b. Leading to a change in the organization of the church
            1) From autonomous and independent congregations overseen by
               a plurality of elders (also known as bishops and pastors)
               - cf. Ac 14:23; 20:17,28; 1Pe 5:1-2
            2) To a collectivity of churches under one bishop - e.g.,
               writings of Ignatius
         c. Resulting in centralization of power and influence among key
            individuals; just as Paul warned! - cf. Ac 20:30
      2. This subtle change made it much easier for error to spread
         a. When those in power began teaching false doctrine
         b. Before long, the very errors foretold by Paul were being
            taught! - cf. 1Ti 4:1-3
            1) Such as celibacy
            2) Such as abstaining from certain foods
         c. Many other errors were introduced during this time,
            including:
            1) Sprinkling instead of immersion for baptism
            2) Mechanical instruments of music instead of a capella
               singing
      3. Through slow but gradual changes, the seeds of modern churches
         were sown
         a. Producing what later became known as the Roman Catholic
            Church
         b. But also many other "orthodox" churches (Greek, Egyptian,
            Russian, Armenian, etc.)
         c. And eventually the multitude of Protestant denominational
            churches
      -- Just as foretold, many departed from the simplicity of the
         Lord's church as revealed in the New Testament

   B. WHAT OF THE LORD'S CHURCH...?
      1. The Lord's church has continued unabated
         a. For not even the gates of Hades could prevail against it
            - Mt 16:18
         b. It is a kingdom that cannot be destroyed - cf. Dan 2:44; Lk 1:32-33
      2. Faithful disciples would have undoubtedly been treated as
         "heretics"
         a. For refusing to follow those in "power"
         b. By those presuming to have "authority" over the Lord's flock
      3. But where there were faithful disciples, though few and
         unknown, the church existed
         a. For the Word of God is an incorruptible seed - cf. 1Pe 1:
            22-25
         b. Wherever the gospel was faithfully preached and believed,
            souls were saved and added by the Lord to His church - e.g.,
            Ac 2:38-41,47
      -- History may not record (or may misrepresent) the existence of
         those who remained faithful, but the Lord knows His own! - 2 Ti 2:19

CONCLUSION

1. Throughout the history of the apostasy, many have come to realize
   what has happened, and efforts made to rectify the problem...
   a. Appeals to reformation have produced many denominations
   b. Appeals to new revelation have produced many cults

2. The only antidote to apostasy is that given by Paul to the Ephesians
   elders...
   a. First, take heed to yourself and those around you - cf. Ac 20:28
   b. Second, be on the watch and remember what the apostles warned
      about false teachers - cf. Ac 20:29-31
   c. Third, look to God and His Word (not traditions of men); i.e.,
      diligent prayer and careful Bible study - cf. Ac 20:32

With this "antidote" to apostasy, you can have confidence that God in
His grace will "build you up and give you an inheritance among all those
who are sanctified"...!

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

 

From Jim McGuiggan... Deformed babies and PC speech

Deformed babies and PC speech

There is such hypocrisy in society that at times it’s hard to stomach. In some areas we have become so prissy in speech that "political correctness" has become one of the chief marks of a sensitive heart. But our practice and our speech in other areas are far from sensitive.

We’re urged by super-sensitive people to act as though we don’t know what deformity is. "Pretend you don’t really notice it." Part of that pretence is our calling things by different names. We draw attention to deformities by our very unwillingness to name them. We leave people speechless in the presence of their dear friends when one of their family members is misshapen or in some way hurt. We can say a child has leukemia but we can’t say it is retarded. We have made "retarded" a dirty word because some morons have used it in a scurrilous way and now we are speechless when thinking about some sweet child that has been hurt in its mind.

We rightly despise the spirit that sneers or titters in the presence of someone with a physical abnormality; but that has nothing to do with what we call these abnormalities. The sneering has to do with a heart problem! And the cure for such abominable behavior is not to draw attention to such abnormalities by verbally walking around them as if we were walking on eggs. We are offered sugary sweet phrases like, "These are ‘special’ people" or the round about speech like, "These are ‘mentally challenged’ persons." Well of course they’re special and mentally challenged! But though they are special they are ordinary! They’re one of us. They’re part of a human family in which some of us are sick and misshapen and some of us are retarded. Then in that saccharine tone we can hear the agony aunts tell a little five-year-old who asks what’s wrong with little Jamie, "Nothing dear. She’s a special child." Arrrgh!

We only make matters more difficult when we outlaw legitimate speech that is courteously and sympathetically spoken. And here’s the kicker, many of the same people that rant and rave about plain but caring speech rant and rave about our freedom to use every vile phrase you can think of, in movies and sit-coms.

Then there’s our practice! While we’re sitting inventing ever new ways of avoiding saying some things and condemning as insensitive those that disagree with us, we approve of and sometimes encourage those who choose to abort babies because they are in some way misshapen or will not be "a normal healthy" baby. ("Why is mummy killing the special person inside her?" And the answer he’s given is something like, "Actually we should say terminate and it’s not really a special person, just a fetus. What’s that?...Yes, ter min ate. Yes, it means "to end". Well, yes, that’s true it’s ending it by killing it but we mustn’t say kill because that’s not polite. Yes, fee tuss. See, you can pick those words up like magic.")

We made it easier when we adopted legalese and called a developing human a "fetus". In this way a distraught parent won’t feel quite so guilty if she chooses to kill the developing human inside her. You know the routine, call it by a different name and that makes it something else. Of course not every woman feels guilt—far from it. I recently heard a woman on a TV program say that when she discovered that she was pregnant by her partner she simply had no time and no wish to have a baby so "I just terminated it." Shy about it? Absolutely not. She bragged on the fact that it was a simple decision for her and while she understood that it might be for others it was no big deal for her. You don’t really want it? Get rid of it. This from a woman who is fierce in criticism of those who use older forms of speech like deformed or retarded. I find it a bit more than difficult to take lessons from such a person on what sensitivity is. (And I wonder what kids think today when they hear this kind of talk everywhere they turn? Do they subconsciously think, "It’s a good job my parents thought I was convenient or I would have flushed down some toilet at some clinic"? Could this be a strand of what goes on inside them when they feel insecure and see themselves wanted only if they’re useful? Maybe one of these days someone will do a study on that. They’re doing them on everything else.)

We don’t want anyone to think badly of crippled or misshapen children but as a society we’re quite willing to kill them in the womb before they get to be a verbal challenge because we already see them as a burden. And we rabbit on and on about it and so shape the thoughts of young girls and boys who will become parents before we know it.

Thanks to the gurus some parents feel guilty if they don’t kill the child in the womb. "Imagine, knowing the child is going to suffer this way and allowing it to live, tut, tut." Some of us are moving in that direction with older and feeble parents, aren’t we? "We would put an old dog down so it’s a disgrace that we won’t put down someone with Alzheimer’s. What kind of a government is it that....?" They’re a drain on resources and on the time and energy that family members could use otherwise. So our older parents that are now very dependent, and know it, feel they’re in the way and they feel guilty if they don’t want to die. They see their family "stuck with them" so is it any surprise some of them want to die? If they die they won’t have to watch that tired, pained look in their faces and they won’t have to overhear snatches of conversations, "...yes, she/he would be better off..." One of these days one of these hurting people is going to apologize to his or her family, "I’m sorry for still being here but I’m doing the best I can. Maybe I’ll slip off before the week’s out."

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Ben Fronczek... James (Part 3) A position of Honor

James (Part 3) A position of Honor

So what was Jesus’ vocation growing up?

In Mark 6:3 it someone was quoted saying, 

“Is not this the carpenter the son of Mary and brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?”

And in Matthew 13:55 someone is quoted saying, 

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary?”

In both verses the word carpenter is the English translation of the Greek word ‘tekton.’ Now this word, tekton is not what we commonly know as a carpenter in our day. The actual word that was penned in these texts more commonly refers to “one who works with his hands.”   In a general sense it could refer to a carpenter or a stonemason. Usually if someone wanted to describe a carpenter, they more commonly would use a phrase like, “a tekton of wood;” if a mason, then “a tekton of stone.”

The absence of either stone or wood as a modifier indicates that the gospel writers didn’t specify which occupation Jesus and his father were engaged in. In the original Greek, Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55 simply say that they worked with their hands… they were mere laborers who performed physically demanding work; and socially it was the lowest level jobs.

To be clear, we don’t have any record in the New Testament of Jesus working with wood, laying stones, or helping his dad Joseph out in the shop. The only references we have to Jesus’ vocation are here when He was called a tekton,and the son of a tekton.

I have even heard that such individuals were considered to be on a lower social scale than a slave. Most slaves were given very specific jobs and were usually taken care of by their masters because they were not only an investment and personal property, many were part of the master’s household or personal staff.

But a tekton did whatever work his hand could find to do to make a living.     In many ways he was a lot like a handyman or a general laborer. So more than likely, Jesus and his brothers and sisters grew up in a very, very low income household.

I could not help but wonder what James and his fellow sibling thought about the whole scenario of Jesus living like that and working so hard with His hands all those years, especially later after they learned who He really was… He was the Messiah, God who took on flesh, the Lord of all lords. Yet He chose to live in a humble household and work hard while He lived amongst them.

I would imagine after they realized who Jesus was they felt honored that He chose them and their humble household over a family with a high social standings and money.

And so again I say that when James wrote his epistle he wrote from a different perspective than most having spent all those years with Jesus.

No they probably did not have many material possessions, nor did they have a fancy house or clothes, or much of anything. But they did have one another. And I’m sure that their household was filled with family love, close kinship, and probably good spiritual guidance and teachings.

If you were Mary and Joseph and you had all those revelations about your first born son before and after His birth wouldn’t you make sure your family was well grounded in the best religious teachings you could get for them?

And as we read the writings of James and Jude we can see that they understood more than the letter of the Law, they had some interesting spiritual insights, dept and understanding.

So they may not have grown up with money, but it seems to me that they had those things which are more important than cash in the bank and a big house on a hill. As a matter of fact James has much to say in this epistle  about those who are wealthy in contrast to those who are not.

In James chapter 1, after telling those early Christians to consider looking at their trials in a positive light, and then telling them to turn to God for wisdom and understanding if they need it, James writes:

“Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.”  (1:9-11)

As a matter of fact James has a few things to say about those who are wealthy in this letter. In Chapter 2 he instructs the brethren not to show a rich person favoritism over someone who is poor. Why because he mentions the fact that it’s the wealthy who are exploiting and taking unfair advantage of everyone else, and sometimes even blaspheming the name of our Lord.

In chapter 4:13f James warns the rich not to go about thinking or assuming they are above everyone else in the grand scheme of things. 

(Read 4:13-15) 

“13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

And then finally in the last chapter James put down a stern warning to those who are wealth and taking advantage of others. 

Read 5:1-6  

“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.”

So back to chapter 1. where he writes, 

“9Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.”

So I ask, ‘Is James simply focused on bashing those with a lot of money and material possessions?’ I think not!  I don’t think James had it in for people who have money.

I think he understood that you can be as poor as dirt and still be rich in things that really matter like; feeling appreciated and being loved by your family and friends, and knowing at the end of the day you’ve done your best with what God has given you, and best of all, having a close intimate relationship with your Lord and God. Anybody that has those things whether their pockets are full of money or totally without, is rich indeed.

Jesus later told the church in Smyrna 

” I know your afflictions and your poverty–yet you are rich!” (Rev. 2:9)                                                                  

And Paul says in Eph 1:18. 

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,”

When a person has a high position with Christ, and is surrounded by those who love him, that is so much greater or higher than any earthly high position.

That is why the poor and humble can rejoice – for those who have these things are truly rich. Whereas those who have a lot of money, and property and things, and worldly prestige, but do not have a good home life, and love, and kindred spirits, and those who do not have a relationship with our Lord and His peace and those who do not understand what He is all about; such people are the poorest of all people.

Only when these people humble themselves and realize that they are in just as much need as we are, will they turn to the One who can save us all.

Some people in the Bible were quite well off but then learned the truth concerning this matter. Paul eventually figured this out … 

In  Phil 4:11-13 he wrote 

“I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

I believe as James grew up in his family along with Jesus they all learned that true riches had little to do with having material possessions. Unfortunately people then and now are oblivious to the value of what James is saying here.

Unfortunately many who live in poverty are tempted to be unhappy and envious.  And the rich are tempted by not being satisfied and wanting more.

I like what Paul said, ‘I have learned the secret of how to be content in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.’      And what did he learn?    It’s all about ‘Christ who gives us strength and having a relationship with Him!

“Christ who gives me strength.”   

Not strong muscles, but rather peace, inner strength, conviction, and purpose that is pleasing to our Lord. And having those feelings and attributes are worth so much more that fancy things or lots of money.

Have you learned this secret for yourself of how to be truly rich?  Do you feel rich or do you feel unhappy like you deserve more?

James is not saying that there is anything wrong with being wealthy. God blessed many with riches to in the Bible:  Abraham, Solomon – even Barnabas was a wealthy real estate man in Jerusalem. We know that because he sold some of his land to help those in need.

The danger of wealth comes into play when we start to depend on those possessions and wealth for inner peace and happiness.

It’s a danger when we think what we have shows how important we are, or if we begin rely on it for our security.

It becomes a danger when we forget how to live life and enjoy it because we are always chasing after more money, or something nicer, or bigger.  

Jesus said 

“What good is it if you gain the whole world but loose your soul.”

So how do we apply this in our lives?

…By not allowing ourselves to be caught up in the trap of materialism.

…Stop living for things, to get things, to get more and more.

…Don’t let this way of thinking trap you.  Learn to enjoy your life and those around you. Accept their love and love them back. Use what God has already given you to the best of your ability, those are His gifts to you.Take pride in what you do and do it well.

…And nurture and enjoy your relationship with our Lord; learn to put Him and His will first, and you will find that inner peace and happiness that surpasses all understanding.

For more lessons click on the following link:http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566