This is what happens to those who love money more than God! The following are the five characteristics of people who are in love with money; 1. The more they have the more they want. 2. The more they have the more they spend. 3. The more they have the more they worry. 4. The more they have the more they lose. 5. The more they have the more they have to leave behind. Pastor David Jeremiah Comment: Solomon was the richest man that has ever lived on the earth! He had 700 hundred wives and 300 concubines or girl friends! If anyone knew the deception of wealth he knew! Learn from him who had it all but in the end he said it was all vanity! That is to no purpose! Jesus said the love of money is the root of all evil. I admire Pastor Jeremiah for his transparency in taking a Biblical stand on money, sex, Heaven and Hell. He is not a politically correct politician in the pulpit! He has my respect! Jesus offended the rich but had compassion on the poor! Judas lost his soul because of a love for money! Jesus told the rich man after he bragged to him how he keeps the law perfectly that he lacked one thing! Give all you have to the poor and come and follow me! But the rich man went away sad because his possessions had him! They owned him! Do not hang on to what you cannot keep! The way to keep money from owning you is to give it away! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: ecclesiastes
You Cannot Live For Yourself! Ecclesiastes 12:7
Some call this suicide! You cannot live for yourself either! Many try! Either way brings emptiness! God’s character is just the opposite! He lives for you and died for you! If you want fulfillment in life follow His example! Solomon had it all. He had riches, women, fame, and wisdom from God that he did not use all the time. In the end he said it was all vanity! That is to no purpose or worthless! Life under the sun means living your life without God! We need the son! Here are some quotes from rich famous American’s! John Rockefeller;”My millions brought me no joy!” Cornelius Vanderbilt;”Two hundred million and i am still empty!” John Astor;”I am the most miserable man on earth!” Henry Ford;”I was a lot happier when i was a car mechanic!” Ralph Barton; Suicide Note: “I have run from woman to woman and country to country to try to escape myself!” King Solomon;”It is all vanity!” Your purpose is to live for God and others and to sacrifice yourself in service to others! Follow Jesus example and be servant of all. Pastor Oscar Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia
Good Grief! Ecclesiastes 7: 2-4
We need healing conversations this morning! Solomon says grief brings joy! American culture tries to pass by death! We want to avoid conversations about it! Solomon says in verse four that the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning. John 11: 32-35. Jesus knows how to grieve! In fact we see in this scripture that Jesus gets blamed for Lazarus death! Where have you buried him? Jesus wept! Why did Jesus stop and weep when He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead? We cannot skip over the sad places in our life! Jesus was fully man and fully God and is illustrated so plainly in these events! We cannot celebrate the miracles without paying attention to the process! Psalm 137. Two third’s of the Psalm’s are complaints and lamentations. The Jews were taken captive and taken to Babylon! The Babylonians took the best of the population back to Babylon and left the sick and elderly in Israel. Many of the grandchildren never saw their grandparents again! As the Jews sat by the rivers of Babylon they remembered Zion and wept! How do we grieve properly? First we must admit a new reality! Something is new about my life! Everything has changed about my life! It may be from a loss of a spouse, mother, father, sister, brother, job loss, sickness, financial loss, home or something else. I lost my dad in 2005. I miss dad but now a new reality. Second take time to weep. They wept in Babylon! Jesus wept! Slow down and grieve! Grieve properly! It is decompressing! Third remember the past! I have many good memories of my father! My father developed a barbeque sauce! He always wanted to get a patent on it. What my mother did not tell us for years is that she added some ingredients to the sauce so we could eat it! Tell the stories that make you smile at a funeral! See God’s imprint on our lives! Tell the stories that heal us and carry us on! What happens when we grieve properly? Our pain is confronted! We cannot ignore pain! In fact there is more pain for avoiding pain! Drug addiction is caused by trying to avoid pain! Invite the Holy Spirit into our pain! Jesus invited His Father into the pain in the Garden of Gethsemane! When we grieve properly we become available again! Your story matters! Millions of American’s have lost loved ones in battles of war in American history! Their stories matter! God is not finished with you yet! Your story is not over! Your final chapter is not the last one! God needs you available again! God will heal your heart! Even Jesus own disciples thought it was all over for them as Jesus went to the Cross! They scattered and went back to their old jobs! They could not look forward? God needs you available again! God knows what it is to grieve! Life was never the same when I lost my father! Storms are not forever! As we prepare for Communion let us remember the grieving of our Lord He has gone through for us on the Cross! Because He lives this morning we can live! He suffered so that we could have victory! He conquered death for us! Joy comes in the morning! He has Risen! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Empires and Rusty Treasures Ecclesiastes 2:1, 4-9
When you examine all the empires over history they have all vanished! Whether the Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman or any other they have all disintegrated! Most of their best dreams are in museums! Solomon was a great leader and powerful in managing his Kingdom! Next to his father King David he was a brilliant leader! He was a civil engineer building dams, roads, bridges, palaces, temples and anything he imagined! Solomon was rich and ambitious but very broken inside! Solomon longed for something he could not build himself! Why do we do what we do? Why do you get up in the morning? Why do you go to school, work and plan for retirement? What motivates us? What is in our heart? Solomon longed to go back to the Garden of Eden! He built groves and gardens but something was missing? If we build our own garden God will be absent! We do our own thing and then ask God to Bless it! If I build my own empire it will be empty in the end! Solomon created a lot of gardens but was empty inside! Let God come into the garden He created for you! God spent time in the Garden of Gethsemane to prepare a place for you! Ecclesiastes 2:10- Heathenism is the religion of choice in the world today! Heathenism is defined as getting more pleasure and avoiding the pain! It is like trying to sin and getting away with it! Even though Solomon lived about 3 thousand years ago people are chasing the same dream today in 2015! The problem is the more pleasure we seek the less we find! Emptiness will creep up on you! All the past empires are a pile of rock today! Living in Colorado we do not need anymore rocks! Each empire tried to rearrange the rocks! Why do empires fail? Simply empires use people to get money! Solomon said he bought slaves and women! Empires are built for pleasure! The empires trying to be built in 2015 are enslaving people and killing people for money! Jesus had a very different idea about money and power! In the first century Christian’s sold their lands to help those who were suffering! They did not claim property as their own! The Apostles sold their possessions to help others! People in the world build an empire so they can be King! Solomon was brought to a place of emptiness! At the point of our limitations we need to respond to the invitation of Jesus! What would Jesus have said to Solomon? Matthew 6:19 Do you store up treasures for yourself on earth? There is a lot of discussion in our culture about capitalism right now! Is it good or evil? Remember the talents? God does not hate capitalism! What God does despise is selfishness! When people of God catch the heart of God great things happen! Again why do we do what we do? We can even do the right things for the wrong reasons! God wants our worship! So does Satan! Like Solomon when we worship ourselves we are at the wrong God and the wrong Altar! Jim Carrey got 20 million dollars for every movie he produced but yet said wealth is not the answer! John 10:9-10 Jesus invitation to you the world cannot give you! If we are motivated by God lasting things happen! Invest your treasures in Heaven in eternal things that will outlast any worldly pursuit! Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Do You Have a Meaningless Life? Ecclesiastes 1:1-9
Solomon was a wise man but sometimes not so wise! Starting life off with 1000 wives would not be a good starter? You would have to remember 3 wedding anniversaries everyday! Could he remember all their names? Name tags would help! Solomon seemed to be a cynical old man at times but he did write a book of wisdom! He tries to explain to us not to make the same mistakes! He took an honest look at his life! He was the richest man in the world! He did not spare himself any pleasure! Solomon wished he had asked himself the hard questions! Do you have time to wrestle with your Faith? Take an inventory of your Faith! Why do I believe? Why do I follow Jesus? Do you ask questions about God? Solomon repeated 27 times, “Is there anything new under the sun?” Life can seem burdensome and meaningless at times! I have two teenagers at home. We have on going conversations like when can I get my drivers license? When can I go off to college? I want to go to a college far away from home? Teenager’s want your money and your absence! Do not be in a hurry to grow up! Our daily routines of dishes, laundry, house cleaning repeat everyday with no end in sight! A lot of life is routine! You may hate your job and is just a paycheck? Sometimes we can lose our passion for life! Like Solomon we are looking for the right things in the wrong places! We are looking for something to give life meaning! In 1st Kings we see Solomon was a great builder! He built palaces and Houses of Worship! Today in 2015 people are not sparing themselves any pleasure! We have hundreds of options! We have all the electronic gadgets to amuse ourselves! We have drugs and alcohol to drown our meaningless in! Solomon arrived at emptiness! Is your tank on empty? When we reach the point of our limitations collapse can come! What can we turn too? Our need for completeness comes from outside of ourselves! Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said come unto me! Those that are laboring and overburdened! To those that are carrying a heavy load! Jesus promised to those that receive His invitation He will give rest! Yes! Rest and refresh. You will find completion in Christ! How do you know you are doing well? Solomon had everything but was not doing well? Jesus said, “Come to me.” Solomon did not have the revelation of Christ we have today! True worship is to come to Jesus! Jesus did not come to promote Himself but to promote you! The Old Testament Books point to the Cross! People without Christ come to despair! You may have lost a key relationship? Husband or wife? Son or daughter? You may have lost a job or business failure? A sickness or accident may have taken your ability away to provide for your family? Internal failure requires and external rescue! When we learn we cannot make it own our own then we discover the only one who can give us rest! We discover Christ’s yoke is easy and His burden is light! A yoke is designed for two! Let Jesus come along side you and lift you out of your troubles! Rest in Him! Talk with Him! Walk with Him! Think on Him! Discover in Him! Love in Him! Plan in Him! Win in Him! Stand in Him! Trust in Him! Faith in Him and He will never leave nor forsake you! Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado