Intro

This is Dreamwalker1960. As a reminder you can read the transcripts of all my podcasts at dreamwalker1960.com. You can use most podcast platforms if you wish to listen. All you need do is do a search for Dreamwalker1960.

Discussion

The other day I ran into a new excuse as to why to keep one’s wealth. Before I get into that. I will concede this fact. That in today’s society and system we live within, it makes all slaves to our incomes.

However, this does not excuse those that come to a true awareness of the teachings within the Bible. Now as to the excuse. The person used these verses to be encouraged by using more of their wealth for themselves then for God.

1 Timothy 5:8 – But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Provide – G4306 – pronoeó – to foresee, look out for beforehand

Now just so we are all on the same page. All should agree that if you start a family they need to be cared for. However, we must also agree with what Christ Himself said:

Matthew 6:19-24 – “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! 24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Most now days ignore these words from Jesus Christ, now I understand one more excuse for it.

We have to work by degrees. We must balance our lives even more so than at any time in the past. Mainly because of how the need for money has come to be the master of the world system. Which has entrapped not only humanity but Christendom. Because of this they have forgotten these important verses that I keep being forced to go back to time and again:

Luke 16:14-15 – Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

1 John 2:15-16 – Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

This is why there is a need for balance, for moderation from those that profess to being “Christian.” Living within our financial boundaries. Not seeking after that which is beyond our control.

A trend I myself was guilty of was purchasing a new car every four to five years. This put me in a financial bind, which led to another bind then another. Entrapping me, enslaving me to money. This cycle continued for decades. Why?

Because I was not following the Bible. I was not following God.

Finally, I did start to listen. I kept a car for a decade, removed Credit Card debt. Bought items that were cheaper, but kept my family cared for. If I financed, I made it short term if possible and paid it off before I pursued something new that was actually needed. Not wanted, needed.

I grew up in a household that sought after bigger, better, finer. They too professed to being “Christian” yet did what 1 John 2 told us not to do. I had fallen into the trap that so many that now profess to being “Christian” now do.

Why?

Because I did not know the Bible as well as I should. I have changed that part of it. I studied the Bible like I have never done before. Which in turn has given me insight into how we are to pursue our lives here in this temporal realm of existence.

I followed that important teaching that shows I wish to be a follower of Christ.

Luke 14:25-32 – Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

The cost of discipleship. The true cost is to stop seeking after the world. Stop seeking after that which the world prizes. Not to focus on our wants and desires. To live solely on what is required to make it to the next day but take no more. Not comforts, not luxuries. Not earthly entertainments.

Did I get rid of it all? No. I do not live as a monk of the days of old, but I live a modest and unassuming life. I live in an RV full-time with my wife and my dog.

Do I think all should live this way?

That is not for me to say. Each person must come to their place within the Body of Christ if they truly seek to be His disciple. However, we have the story of the young rich man. Told in three different gospels. Yet most reject what is being said within it.

The young man follows the teachings of the Bible. He follows all the commandments. So do many that profess to being Christian today. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ said this was not enough. More was required to truly be called a disciple of His:

Mark 10:21 – Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

Most do not do this. They believe it has no place in their life. However, this is the furthest thing from the truth. For what is it that the young rich man did?

Mark 10:22 – But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

He turned his back upon Jesus Christ. Millions do this very same thing every day. Nonetheless they on the other hand still believe they are right with God and His Son. Yet Christ makes it clear that they are not welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven:

Mark 10:23 – Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”

Why? Because they must have their comforts, they must have their luxuries, they must have their money. I return to Matthew chapter six once again:

Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

They are saying otherwise, they are saying it is not black and white. Not hot and cold. What does this make them then?

Revelation 3:15-17 – “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

They are spit from the Body of Christ. They have turned their backs upon their salvation and chosen the world over God. They have chosen money over God. However, they still go to church. They still sing hymns and with all their hearts believe they are saved.  Believe they are going to heaven.

What is the final things Christ says about this issue about riches?

Mark 10:29-31 – “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”

A key statement is made here:

“Along with persecution”

If people do not live in persecution. If they are not attacked for what they believe or say about the Word of God or how they live for Christ. Then they are not walking the path of salvation, but of comfort and leisure and point of fact money. They are on the wide path and not the narrow one.

Matthew 7:13 -14 – “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

So, their god is not the Creator of this universe, but that which gives them satisfaction here in this fleeting existence we all must endure until we are called into the presence of God.

There are only two ways this calling can be accomplished. One way is in robes of white. The are other is to be standing before the Great White Throne in shock and bewilderment. For most believed they are truly “Christian.” Yet they will find themselves standing there anyway, defending themselves and seeing if their name has remained in the Book of Life or if it was removed by Jesus Christ Himself.

Revelation 3:1-6 – “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. 3 Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. 4 “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. 6 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

God Bless