Christian, Are Your Riches on Earth or in Heaven?

Luke 12:16-40
¹⁶  And he spake a parable unto them, saying,
The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
¹⁷  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
¹⁸  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
¹⁹  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
²⁰  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
²¹  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
²²  And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
²³  The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
²⁴  Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
²⁵  And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
²⁶  If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
²⁷  Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
²⁸  If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
²⁹  And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
³⁰  For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
³¹  But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
³²  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
³³  Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
³⁴  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
³⁵  Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
³⁶  And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
³⁷  Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
³⁸  And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
³⁹  And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
⁴⁰  Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.


IF you are NOT 100% certain (according to the Bible) that you are born again of the Spirit of Christ, and 100% biblically guaranteed a home in Heaven with Jesus Christ (as the Bible says, in "repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ"), then I invite and urge you to investigate and trust Jesus Christ and His Salvation above and beyond anything else.

What Is Defining Our Lives?

Jesus had just been asked to be a judge between two brothers in dividing their inheritance. Here's the second half of Christ's response.


Luke 12:15
¹⁵  And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.


What am I yearning for? Godliness? or worldly acclaim and riches? We see so little of the first and so much of the latter around us. We try to keep up with one another in our lusts and pursuits, instead of measuring ourselves by what God calls us to do with our lives. We strive for earthly success and feel only a temporary gain or peace when we achieve earthly goals. God says that there is only one kind of real success and there's only one way to achieve it. To start on the road to godly success, we need to understand our own needs that go far beyond food or shelter. Our most urgent needs in life are repentance and faith according to God's way of doing things. The choice is ours and the payday is ours. Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! Please consider that there are only two choices that God gives us. I want to see you there rejoicing in the LORD and our Savior in glory. May you be open to God's workings that He gives to us to help us choose His way for our lives.

Attacking God To Justify Ourselves

Luke 11:37-54
³⁷  And as he [ed. Jesus] spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.
³⁸  And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
³⁹  And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
⁴⁰  Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
⁴¹  But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
⁴²  But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
⁴³  Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
⁴⁴  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
⁴⁵  Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.
⁴⁶  And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
⁴⁷  Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
⁴⁸  Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
⁴⁹  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
⁵⁰  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
⁵¹  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
⁵²  Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
⁵³  And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
⁵⁴  Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.


The truth is that we need to repent of our sins and embrace God's Truth, for He only uses the word 'success' once in the whole Bible.

Salvation & House Cleaning: The Shadows of Sins

As I was reading a very familiar passage in the Bible, this morning, I was reminded of another facet of salvation and sharing the Light that Christ wants to fill our lives. This evil generation of which Christ Jesus speaks (and out of which He calls each of us sinners) began when He began His earthly ministry and shall not end until He sits as King in Jerusalem for His thousand year reign on Earth, before God's Final Judgment.


Luke 11:29-36
²⁹  And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
³⁰  For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
³¹  The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
³²  The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
³³   No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
³⁴  The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
³⁵  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
³⁶  If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.


As I read that passage, I was struck by the degree of the effects of my sin from day to day; that each of my sins directly obstructs the Light of Christ from wholly filling my life and shining out to reach others. It is each and every one of my sin's shadows that obscure the message of God's salvation in Christ when I try to convey it to others who need Him. I may not realize the effect at that time, but as the Bible says, in Numbers 32:23, "...be sure your sin will find you out." Thus it is with the shadows of our sins that obstruct the Light of God that He wants filling our lives and enlightening the lives of those around us. As He says in, Matthew 7 and Luke 6, about the mote and the beam (a wooden splinter versus a large beam), we cannot judge righteously nor see correctly to help others if we are bearing greater sin in our own lives than what error there is in another person's life. It is the same principle of learning to get our own lives right with God by way of His only plan of salvation and through His only Savior; learning to clean up our own house sufficiently before we go forth to try to assist others to remove the same sins as ours from their lives. May we closely attend to the counsel of the LORD GOD Almighty in this and all matters.

Be Careful What & Whom You Worship

If, in our earthly lives, we choose to accept nothing from the Word of God (the Bible), or whether we have placed our faith in many other people, things, or ideas, yet, at God's Final Judgment, we all shall confess that only Jesus Christ is Lord of all and Creator of all that has been created, for God assures us that we shall each confess God's truth about Christ Jesus at the Final Judgment.


John 1:1-18
¹  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
²  The same was in the beginning with God.
³  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
⁴  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.    
⁵  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
⁶  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
⁷  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
⁸  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
⁹  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
¹⁰  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
¹¹  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
¹²  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
¹³  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
¹⁴  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
¹⁵  John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
¹⁶  And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
¹⁷  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
¹⁸  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.


Luke 11:27-28²⁷  And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
²⁸  But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.


Philippians 2:5-11
⁵   Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
⁶  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
⁷  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
⁸  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
⁹  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
¹⁰  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
¹¹  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


If you have not yet made peace with God according to HIS plan of salvation, then I beg of you to do so without wasting another moment. Look here for the beginning of the road of faith, repentance, salvation, and sanctification.

Helping Hurricane Survivors WITHOUT Government Red Tape

Do you want to help hurricane survivors, but you don’t want to have your money or goods donations bogged down in governmental red tape or stolen by fly-by-night organizations?

You CAN help via Oath Keepers, one of the constitutionally-minded organizations to which I belong.

When Ferguson was being consumed by riots, and the government refused to step in immediately to stop the mayhem, Oath Keepers put their lives and fortunes on the line to help to protect many people and businesses. I trust them to do what is right for law abiding citizens.

I’ve already made a donation, via PayPal, to help the Oath Keeper drivers pay for their gas as they put their own vehicles on the road to deliver goods to the hurricane stricken areas. Here is their website in case you’d like to get involved: https://www.oathkeepers.org/

God's Call To Us & Our Varied Responses

Please consider Jesus Christ's following message, in the Book of Luke, about each of the ways that people respond to the Word of God. God is and always has been calling each and every one of us to, "...repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ".


Luke 8:4-21 ⁴  And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
⁵  A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
⁶  And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
⁷  And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
⁸  And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
⁹  And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
¹⁰  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
¹¹  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
¹²  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
¹³   They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
¹⁴  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
¹⁵  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
¹⁶   No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.
¹⁷  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
¹⁸  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
¹⁹  Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.
²⁰  And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.
²¹  And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.