Misused Wealth

Mind the gap of misused wealth

Money money money

Ojays audio. Walkout music after prayer

The ojays said

For the love of money People will steal from their mother For the love of money People will rob their own brother For the love of money People can't even walk the street Because they never know Who in the world they're gonna beat For that lean, mean, mean green Almighty dollar, money

Fear factor.. what we do for money..

James day is a plutocracy ..government of the wealthy

It was the wealthy who controlled lawyers who often persecuted Christians

I am not sure you notices as we end here in James but 1 out of 5 verses talks about being Rich..

James goes a little old testament prophet on them..

Warns them about the rich oppressing the poor

This very well could be a letter to America

Rich 1

Rich 2

James 5:1-6 (ESV)

5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Judgement is coming

James 1:5 (ESV)

5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

Repent.. beg for for forgiveness..

Weep it says

Micah 1:8 (ESV)

8 For this I will lament and wail;     I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals,     and mourning like the ostriches.

We all will answer to God

Are you dissatisfied with your life?

Today might be the reminder that God has you right where he needs you to teach you the value of his son over the value of this world.

No second chance wants we face our creator

This is a huge gap for people.. they think they are good yet the face God and they are not.

Timothy 6:10 (ESV)

10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Being rich is not evil.. the love of money is

Proverbs 10:22 (ESV)

22 The blessing of the Lord makes rich,     and he adds no sorrow with it

Rich in the James again refers to the social class here.

What are you committed to ..loyal to… and interested in.

Money has a way of becoming our God…

Mind the gap of wealth and do not

Hoard your possesions and wealth

James 5:2-3 (ESV)

2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.

Grandmas Dining Room

William Barclay notes the these where the 3 sources of wealth: Corn and grain, Garments and gold and silver

Food

Tear down my barns and build bigger ones

Luke 12:19-20 (ESV)

19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

Clothing

James day clothing would have been one of

the more valued possesions. We have a unique fascination with clothing.

We rank it by who designed it

Wrangler

amiri

Gold and silver

1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (ESV)

12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

When you live for wealth you are robbing yourself of true riches.

No matter how secure earthly possessions may seem Before God they are nothing.They are put to the test and they expire

Mind the gap of wealth and

Do not oppress the poor

James 5:4 (ESV)

4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Giving others what you owe them

Robbery

Leviticus 19:13 (ESV)

13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain

with you all night until the morning.

Doing papers.. collecting

Deuteronomy 24:14-15 (ESV)

14 “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. 15 You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin

Mind the gap of wealth and

Give generously

James 5:5 (ESV)

5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Don’t be self indulgent

Desire of self indulgence

Fear of giving up self

Excess leaves us empty and alone

Augustus Gloop

No matter how much he ate it was never enough

He was always hungry again…

Halloween candy

Genesis 3:6 (ESV)

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[a] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Don’t Fattend your heart

Desire to impress

Video games on Halloween..pic

Fear.. God is not enough

Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV)

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Don’t oppress others

Desire of always having

Desire to keep whats not yours

Fear.. not trusting God to provide

Rich young ruler

Matthew 19:21 (ESV)

21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Wealth causes worry not worship

The notorious big.. mo money mo problems

Bob Dylan

I think you will find

When your death takes its toll

All the money you made

Will never buy back your soul

Alistair Begg once said,

Hold material goods and wealth on a flat palm and not in a clenched fist.

Do you struggle with the wanting more? Than give more away.

remember

God owns it all

Exodus 19:5 (ESV)

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

Mind the gap and

love those who oppress you

James 5:5b

He does not resist you.

We are here to live for Christ

Not wealth, power or our indulgences and not even our happiness here on earth

If this is what we live for , we are living for nothing. Why all these things rot, disappear fall away

What the world has said is a good life is actually really empty

We all seek justice and I am not saying that’s wrong, we living in a great country where we get to stand up for each other in amazing ways

Its biblical

Isaiah 1:16-17 (ESV)

16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;     remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17     learn to do good; seek justice,     correct oppression;cbring justice to the fatherless,     plead the widow's cause.

So we are called to work in these areas but

the ultimate Justice rest on God.. thank goodness..

Romans 2:5-6 (ESV)

5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

6 He will render to each one according to his works:

Unjust and oppressive

Ungodly rich and bad behavior

Draggin believers off to court

Murdered him..

These words could be literal and perhaps figurative

Not paying so they have no food

Stealing so they are without what they need to survive

He does not resist you

Matthew 25:41-42 (ESV)

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

Proverbs 20:22 (ESV)

22 Do not say, “I will repay evil”;     wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.

Jesus tells the story of Lazarus and the Rich man

Abraham

Luke 16:25-26 (ESV)

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’