Tuesday – June 28, 2016
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Tuesday, time to pray for our government and today the government and peoples of Greenland. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Greenland is an autonomous country within the Danish Realm. Greenland is the largest island in the world, has a total population of 56,480 making it least densely populated country in the world. The picture is a globe positioning Greenland in North America. Now back to our text in Colossians.
Colossians 3:11-14 (KJV)
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
God does not distinguish between those of us who are in Christ based on ethnicity, social standing, economic standing or being male or female. There are no racial barriers, social barriers, economic barriers or a glass ceiling for women in the Kingdom of God. God does distinguish among His children and distinguish His children based on performance according to the general Kingdom orders and those specific to the individual. Our focus in the Kingdom of God is on God, and His mission. Let’s take a moment and listen to Jesus talk about our focus and money.
Matthew 6:19-24 (KJV)
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
We commonly hear verse nineteen quoted to make the poor people feel better but that is very misleading and very incomplete. The financially poor people need to know that God never had a plan for anyone in His family to be poor. The whole preceding passage is about focus. Financial abundance is the outcome of a life focused on Him and building the Kingdom of God. This passage is all about avoiding idolatry and pleasing Him. The natural outcome of laying up treasures in Heaven is the manifestation of treasures in the earth in the physical. Now let’s listen to Jesus again on this general subject.
Mark 10:29-30 (KJV)
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Jesus is making it clear that if you did it for Me then there is going to be reward. Notice in verse thirty it says “in this time” and “in the world to come eternal life.” Now we may all know ministers or missionaries that were in abject poverty at the ends of their lives. What gives? They did not do it for Jesus’ sake and the gospels. That may be a little hard to swallow but read what Jesus said again. Perhaps we can find a theologian to help us misinterpret the Words of Jesus. There are a lot of people out there doing ‘good’ things but they are not God things and will be burned as wood, hay, and stubble at the Judgment Seat. When we see what appears to be verse twenty-nine in evidence but verse thirty is not in evidence; what is being done is not for “my sake, and the gospel’s”. Don’t write me, talk to Jesus.
By Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
