Matthew 19:23 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.” If you live in America, by the worlds standards you are rich. If you, your government, or your job seem to supply your every need, why would you need a savior? Amongst all your daily activities and duties, would you even have time for one? In whom do you place your trust? Is it really God? They say America is blessed by God. I say America’s financial prosperity has caused it to become poor, pitiful, blind, and naked. We are a lukewarm nation. Most of us profess His name but don’t do what He says. We worship Him in vain and He doesn’t listen to our prayers.
It is hard for someone who is rich to receive the Holy Spirit. It takes more than intellectual belief or a prayer to receive Him. It requires brokenness, dependence, and surrender. If you are not broken now, than you never received Him. If God began a work in you, He will continue a work in you. You will grow in your walk with Him with ever-increasing holiness. If you stumble and go astray, He will come get you. If you think you are strong, you do not have God’s Spirit. If you can laugh at perversity and not get an ache in your gut, you are lost.
It is hard for a rich man to fall to his knees in submission but that is exactly what we must do. How often do you pray? How much time do you spend alone with God? Do your tears run off Jesus Christ’s feet as you beg for mercy? Do you weep for the ways you fail Him? There is no such thing as a dry-eyed child of God.
It is hard for someone who is rich to receive the Holy Spirit. It takes more than intellectual belief or a prayer to receive Him. It requires brokenness, dependence, and surrender. If you are not broken now, than you never received Him. If God began a work in you, He will continue a work in you. You will grow in your walk with Him with ever-increasing holiness. If you stumble and go astray, He will come get you. If you think you are strong, you do not have God’s Spirit. If you can laugh at perversity and not get an ache in your gut, you are lost.
It is hard for a rich man to fall to his knees in submission but that is exactly what we must do. How often do you pray? How much time do you spend alone with God? Do your tears run off Jesus Christ’s feet as you beg for mercy? Do you weep for the ways you fail Him? There is no such thing as a dry-eyed child of God.
Most of us learned when we were young that we were special and our natural instincts tell us it’s all about us. To reinforce a behavior that comes naturally, the world teaches self esteem, self worth, self preservation, self respect, and self love. Our dreams await us, they tell us. We just have to work hard enough to achieve them. Then we can sit back and enjoy the good life. But to become a child of God we must consider ourselves absolutely nothing! The weaker we become and the more we realize we are powerless in ourselves, the more power of God we will see. Becoming a child of God is not an add on to make your life complete, it is your life.
God is a holy God. We must become holy. We must hate what God hates. Are you tormented by the evil that is all around you in the world? Do you feel out of place and away from home? 2 Peter 2:7-8 “and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard).” If you are comfy here you should be very afraid.
If you want what this world offers, you are not worthy of God. Genesis 19:26 “But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” If you are not despised by the world, you don’t know God. If you are friends with the world, God does not love you. God loves those that obey. When we go around telling the world that Jesus loves them we are sending them straight to hell. What does God’s word say? Do you know the reason God loves His son Jesus? John 10:17 “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life.” Are you more special than Jesus that you don’t have to give up everything to be loved by God? Did John the Baptist speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit tell everyone that God loved them? Matthew 3:7-10 “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” It doesn’t matter what you say with your lips. God knows your secret life and He will give you whatever you deserve. Those that live to please God will enter heaven. Those that live to please themselves will go to hell.
Most who profess Jesus in this country do not know God. How can I say this? Jesus said we can judge a book by its cover. You will recognize them by their fruit. And few will enter in. A true disciple of Jesus Christ will do the things Jesus did. They will walk like Jesus walked. Paul said in Titus 1:16 that some professing Christians “claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.” Our actions show who we belong to. If God is in us, we will be obedient. We will love everything pure, holy, blameless, and good. We will hate perversity, slander, deceit, and selfish ambition. If you believe in God but don’t know Him, you have two choices. You can turn from evil and pursue Him above all else and ask, and ask, and ask until you receive Him or you can do what you have been doing and go to hell. If you don’t have an internal passion and desire that drives you to bring God glory with increasing measure, and a peace and joy that words cannot express, you are not saved.
May Jesus Christ bless you with peace and joy and a hunger to know Him more.
If you want what this world offers, you are not worthy of God. Genesis 19:26 “But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” If you are not despised by the world, you don’t know God. If you are friends with the world, God does not love you. God loves those that obey. When we go around telling the world that Jesus loves them we are sending them straight to hell. What does God’s word say? Do you know the reason God loves His son Jesus? John 10:17 “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life.” Are you more special than Jesus that you don’t have to give up everything to be loved by God? Did John the Baptist speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit tell everyone that God loved them? Matthew 3:7-10 “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” It doesn’t matter what you say with your lips. God knows your secret life and He will give you whatever you deserve. Those that live to please God will enter heaven. Those that live to please themselves will go to hell.
Most who profess Jesus in this country do not know God. How can I say this? Jesus said we can judge a book by its cover. You will recognize them by their fruit. And few will enter in. A true disciple of Jesus Christ will do the things Jesus did. They will walk like Jesus walked. Paul said in Titus 1:16 that some professing Christians “claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.” Our actions show who we belong to. If God is in us, we will be obedient. We will love everything pure, holy, blameless, and good. We will hate perversity, slander, deceit, and selfish ambition. If you believe in God but don’t know Him, you have two choices. You can turn from evil and pursue Him above all else and ask, and ask, and ask until you receive Him or you can do what you have been doing and go to hell. If you don’t have an internal passion and desire that drives you to bring God glory with increasing measure, and a peace and joy that words cannot express, you are not saved.
May Jesus Christ bless you with peace and joy and a hunger to know Him more.
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