Money Talks

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

And what a study it's been.

But before we embark into that study, also, yesterday was a great day.

We were we uh Clay and I uh went and saw a car show.

Uh I love old cars, and uh I drove that new Camaro 2017.

And I looked, next thing I know, I'm doing 113 miles an hour.

Clay said, uh-huh, you know what, how fast you're going?

And yeah, I did, but I said, No, no, how fast am I going?

Hey, y'all gotta remember, I was a police officer and I used to.

I like to I like a little speed.

So anyway, but anyway, we were having a good time.

Then we came back and went to the birthday party.

Now I know what you're gonna think.

David, I want you to stand up.

I'm so proud of you.

Two years sobriety from alcohol.

Can we give him a hand?

Woo! God be the glory.

Amen.

Amen.

And uh had a they had a party for him over at his dad's community where they live.

Your dad's a mess.

Yeah.

He's a mess.

But he loves me and loves the church.

He said, I he said, if I was closer, I'd be in your church.

I said, well, just keep praying for us.

Just keep praying for us.

Amen.

But we're so proud of you.

We really are.

We really are.

And again, Susan, I had a great time with our grandkids in Sacramento.

It's just a joy.

It really is.

And by the way, many of you may not know it.

Be praying.

Be praying for Stephanie, because in October, we're gonna have a little granddaughter.

We have two boys.

Now she's having a girl.

Amen.

I will have five grandchildren after October.

Don't you even think in it.

I've I'm not that old.

But there's nothing like the grandkids.

In James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

We've been looking at some tremendous truth.

By the way, does everyone have a worship guide?

Everyone have a worship guide?

If you do not have a worship guide, I think we've got some here, one in the back there, Brother Larry.

Thank you.

It is uh it's awesome.

And by the way, over a thousand now downloads on our app for CCW.

Let's give God a hand.

Amen.

And uh Benji uh and his group and Sarah with the graphics now.

Everywhere I go, people say, Well, who does your graphics?

And your all that, man, that it's some of the best on.

I said, I do.

No.

And then they laugh.

They laugh.

Uh I said, no, I got I got a young couple and young guys that really make Pastor Danny look good.

And uh, and but he's he taught me something yesterday, and we're playing with it.

I don't know if anybody watches it.

I'm gonna start giving you a word online.

I mean, like I do my blog every week, but I'm gonna give you a, I'm gonna do a little taping and encourage you for uh a thought for the week, too.

So I'm I'm gonna try that and see how that works.

It may not work, but anyway.

But in James chapter 1, we're coming to the end of the book.

James 1 · chapter mention

Chapter 5.

Chapter 5 is unbelievable.

It really is.

In fact, what we've learned throughout the book of James, that we've got, for each chapter, we've got a tremendous theme, and we also have a tremendous application.

And we said at the very beginning that the book of James and the New Testament was the proverbs of the New Testament.

It was practical Christian living, and that James held back no punches.

And so in chapter one, we learned that the theme was to be patient in testing.

I have a problem with that.

Amen?

I do.

I am not a very patient person.

I think I'm getting a little more patient as I get older.

No comments from Susan, but I think I am.

And then chapter two, we said the key theme, and I'm just giving you what God's taught me, and I'm labeling these.

Patience is chapter one for me.

Patience and testing.

Chapter two, it was practicing the truth.

That we can say we're Christians, but if we don't practice what we say we are, are we really a Christian?

So it's the theme is practicing the truth.

Be what you say you are.

And then chapter three.

We all know chapter three.

And the theme there was having power to control the tongue.

Can I get an o me for everybody?

Oh me.

Power to control the tongue.

Because it's it's right out of, you remember James 3, it's right out of the pits of hell.

And it's so destructive and so damaging.

So we saw that theme.

And then chapter 4, which we just finished, we saw the theme was to be a peacemaker and not a troublemaker.

Can I get a name here?

To be a peacemaker and not a troublemaker.

So those were powerful themes that we have learned from the book of James so far.

But in chapter 5, verses 1 through 6, we've got three more messages.

And the first paragraph, verses 1 through 6, let's read it.

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten.

Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh.

That's pretty powerful speaking, as it were fire.

You have heaped treasures together for the last days.

Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, done your work around your house, helped build your houses, which is of you, you've kept back there.

Hey, you have kept back by fraud, Christ, and the cries of them which have reaped or entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbatha.

It means the God of the armies, the Lord of hosts.

I meant the chief commander.

Powerful word there.

Powerful word.

And ye have lived in pleasure on the earth.

Sounds like America.

And been wanting.

Ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

Ye have condemned and killed the just.

And he does not resist you.

Wow.

Powerful insight here.

Unbelievable.

You know, if the title of the message today is Money Talks.

In fact, the first time I heard that, it was a comedian.

And all he said, you know, all it ever says to me, if money talks, is a goodbye.

And I thought to myself, well, amen.

That's probably true to a majority of the people.

But here, to the men James addressed in this section of his letter, these men were rich, and the riches were sinful.

Now, it wasn't that the money was sinful, but it was the use of the money was the sinfulness.

And you've got to understand that.

They were using the wealth for selfish purposes and were persecuting the poor in the process.

And that's really, and we're talking about, and you know, a lot of the theologians debating these verses.

And like I said, one thing your pastor has not done, I've dealt with every verse.

But this is one of those sections that most of them just kind of leap over.

They don't deal with it.

Just kind of like, remember, we talked about in chapter three where they didn't deal with the bigotry and they wouldn't do that.

They'd just jump over that in discrimination.

They didn't want to deal with those issues because they are so prevalent today.

And really, you know what's wrong with America today is it's all about money.

It's all about the money.

Corruption's brought on because of money.

Did you realize that?

People being bought off.

We have judges, we have politicians, and everybody, the hey, the reason nobody wants the upper echelon or the leaders don't want anything to change is because they have their systems that's feeding them and building them.

And how is it, now you tell me something?

It doesn't take a PhD to realize that a man that was making$150,000 a year is elected to Congress and 10 years later he's worth$15 million.

Something's wrong.

Jesus.

Just the thought.

But what is it?

It's all about the money.

It's all about the money.

Always has been.

Guess what?

Always will be.

So this probably could be one of the greatest insightful messages about money.

And this is not a tithing message, it is a church message for Christians.

Really, it's a Christian's money.

I mean, it's a Christian's message about their money because your money talks.

My money talks.

It tells me who I really am.

Amen.

Hello.

Owe me.

Teach that word.

I'm going to.

Amen.

So let's look at it.

One of the themes that runs throughout James chapter 5 is trouble.

James 5 · chapter mention

We meet poor people.

Look at verse 4.

The deprived of their wages.

As well as people in verses 13 through 16 that we'll look at next week who are physically afflicted.

And then verses 19 through 20, the end of the chapter, we see people that are spiritually backslidden.

So, really, it's all about trouble.

But then there's a second theme that James introduced, and it's prayer.

The poor laborers cry out to God in verse 4.

Then we see the sick and afflicted, they cry out in verses 13 through 16 about their physical ailments.

And we see that Elijah is cited here as an example of one who believed in prayer in verses 17 through 18.

And one of the key verses, you've already heard me quote it, 2 Chronicles 7.14.

That's one of the whole themes of our community awakening.

But when you join these two themes together, you arrive at the fifth theme of the book.

That is chapter 5.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

And what is it?

We see that we are to be prayerful in trouble.

Amen?

We are to be prayerful in trouble.

And that is so powerful.

Instead of giving up when trouble comes, the mature believer turns to God in prayer and seeks divine help.

The immature person trusts in his own experience and skill and turns to others instead of God.

Are we not guilty of that?

Absolutely.

So James really says, cry out to God.

Jeremiah 33, 3, call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

Amen.

I meant, and by the way, I know what you're saying, the big things, the big things like the land and how God's answered our prayers and all that he's doing now.

And thank all you men and Darren and everybody that's working on the land and getting our soccer field ready and or really it'll be an athletic feel for everything.

You can do ball, softball, everything out there.

It's going to be awesome.

And all that's going on out there, and we're starting hopefully to start doing the track so you can go out there and walk and getting stuff done.

All that we've been praying and God's answer.

But let me tell you, God answers the little things.

I'm going to give you a great example.

We're in the airport, getting ready to leave.

We take off.

We get to Atlanta.

We're walking down the whatever you call that.

And we get there, and Susan turns to me, she says, Where's my pocketbook?

I don't know where your pocketbook is.

Long story short, she left her pocketbook on the stand right by the chair right before we loaded, because she was dealing with a student online.

I mean, it had everything.

A lot of money, everything, everything, everything.

So she says, we gotta run to the counter immediately.

I was good.

I didn't get upset.

I felt like it.

I had my, I had my my belfaux in my little man's purse, they call them, but I like it because I can keep everything in one thing.

Okay?

It was wrapped around my neck.

Now, the first thing I thought, why didn't you put your pocketbook around your neck?

But I said, that's not the thing to say right now.

You'd have been proud of me, Rosemary.

So I said, well, the only thing I can do is start praying.

I said, now Lord, we've been waiting a long time to do this trip.

And if we lose that pocketbook and everything, credit card, I we have no way.

I mean, we're done.

We're gonna have to go back, you know, start all over again.

I said, Lord, you know that.

And I said, I've been I'm studying Jane 5.

Thank you for a prayer, righteous man.

I said, I said, I don't know how righteous I am right now, Lord, but I need help.

Long story short, called everybody.

Hey, within about 15 minutes, the lady called back.

And there's a lady that we're writing a nice letter to commend her.

She said, Let me go see if I can find it for you.

Found it.

Had it shipped overnight.

Not a dime gone, nothing.

Now you tell me.

Now I know what you're thinking.

That's coincidence.

No, that's not.

That's God.

That's God answering our prayers.

Amen.

That's God.

Oh.

And I've turned around and I said, Lord, thank you.

And you know what he said?

Now that's a good way to handle it, preacher, instead of getting mad at your wife.

Because usually I got mad at her first and then said, Well, maybe we ought to pray.

Now I know y'all said you ought not to say that, but is that not what happens a lot of the time?

It's real, transparent.

You start telling them, we start telling each other what they ought to have done.

Well, can I what I'm realizing is that ought to have done doesn't hurt.

Hey, doesn't help the situation at the time.

Amen.

It doesn't.

So what you got to do?

You just start praying.

You're in trouble.

Pray.

You have not because you what?

James 4, 2.

So, that's a great example.

James did not say here in this passage that it was a sin to be rich.

Now, I want you to understand something.

Abraham was a wealthy man and worked for God and used his wealth in a fantastic way to bless the whole world.

Can I get an amen?

And we see a lot of people, David and I could go on.

Example after example.

It's not a sin to be rich, it's a sin to love the, hey, the wealth.

The lust.

He says, the love of money is what?

The root of all evil.

He didn't say the money was the root of all evil.

He said the love of money is the root to all evil.

1 Timothy 6, 10.

But now notice I had, I didn't understand this when I first looked at it.

Look at verse 1 again.

Go to you.

Hey, he says, go to now.

Now in the King James, that's a little ambiguous a little bit, but what he's talking about, and we've seen that used three different times in the book of John.

He said, hello, hello, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I want your attention.

This is very important.

Listen to me.

And here's what he says.

Then he says, You rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

Now I don't know about you, but if God gets my attention and he says, Hey, you're going to be weeping and howling, the two Greek words there literally means a deep grief.

I'm talking about it's the same words that are used for death when someone, uh Margie's lost her stepfather, and the Jones family lost their mother.

There's a deepness, there's a hurt, there's an emptiness, and you're just wailing.

You're weeping out loud.

That's what that means.

Well, he's saying you better be doing that because I've got news for you.

If you don't change the ways you're using your wealth, you're gonna be weeping and mourning and miserable at the judgment seat of Christ.

Wow.

Wow.

That got my attention, folks.

I'm telling you.

I started reading, okay, let me think about this.

How are we doing this?

But it's a powerful insight.

It's a tremendous, unbelievable insight.

So James says that there are, and really, he says it's going to be intense shame and guilt.

And James says that they are to be broken and shamed over their misuse of their wealth and how they are treating people.

He said you ought to mourn.

The Bible does not discourage acquiring wealth.

In several of his parables, Jesus indicated his respect for personal property and private gain.

What the Bible does condemn is acquiring wealth by illegal means or for illegal purposes.

Can I get an amen?

The prophet Amos, oh, and the minor prophets thundered a message of judgment against the wealthy upper crust who robbed the poor and used their stolen wealth for selfish luxury.

He lamb blasts them.

Isaiah and Jeremiah also exposed the selfishness of the rich and warned the judgment was coming.

It is in this spirit that James wrote this, and he gave us two great illustrations of how the rich acquired their wealth.

Now, the first thing I want us to do in your outline, we want to look at how they got their wealth.

Number one, how did they get their wealth?

And by the way, let me say something right now.

When you start thinking about messages like this or you hear the word wealth, immediately most of us will say, Well, I'm not wealthy.

Can I say something?

I've had the privilege of 34 years of traveling all over the world many times.

Mostly to third world countries.

Even the poverty level of 18,000, and that's what they consider in America, would be considered pretty wealthy in a third world country.

Hello.

You with me now?

Because they average$200 a month.

Two to five hundred dollars a month in third world countries.

And$500 is big money.

So America is rich.

Isn't it amazing?

Why do you think everybody's wanting to come to America?

It's not just to blow us up.

It's all about the money.

It's all about the money, folks.

Because the chances of them doing extremely well here, do you realize even though in, I hope God uh the politicians raise the minimum wage, we need that.

We need that.

But let me say, even the minimum wage right now is is better off than most third world countries.

I'm telling you.

And we don't see that because we don't, we don't, we can't identify with the third world countries unless you go there and see it.

But what I'm saying is, America's rich.

So don't think when I'm sitting here preaching that I'm talking to just the millionaires.

I'm talking to all of us.

This is applicable for all of us.

Can I get an amen?

It's important that we understand that.

But the first thing I want us to look at how they got their wealth.

A, number verse 4, by holding back wages.

They held back the wages of laborers.

Laborers were hired and paid by the day and did not have any legal contracts with their employers.

The parable of the laborers, if you know in Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 through 16, gives some idea of the system of the day.

Matthew 20:1–16

In the law, God gave definite instructions concerning the laboring man in order to protect him from the oppressive employer.

I want you to see this.

This is so good.

This is going to be so valuable for us today.

It really is.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 24, verses 14 through 15, and look at what it says.

Deuteronomy 24:14–15

God says, you shall not oppress the hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land, in your towns, that's the immigrants.

You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it, so that he may not cry against you to the Lord, and it becomes sin in you.

Wow.

That's in Deuteronomy, the Torah, the law.

And then Leviticus 19, 13 says, You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him.

The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.

In other words, at the end of the day, when he's worked hard, you to pay him.

You pay him.

He deserves it.

Proverbs says, if you have good to give to him, don't wait, give it to him.

Amen.

Oh, look at the other verse.

Look at Jeremiah 22, 13.

Woe to him that builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong, that uses his neighbor's service without wages and giveth him not for his work.

These rich men had hired the laborers and promised to pay them a specific amount, and now it's time to pay them.

And they use the word here, they kept it back.

That's an intense verb in the original Greek indicates that they never intended to pay them.

That's robbery, that's fraud, that's lying, that's cheating at its highest level.

That's sad.

Wow.

Notice the second way they got the wages.

So they're cheating, they're lying, they're stealing.

Second way, look at verse 6.

They get the wages by controlling the court system.

Hello, owe me.

I'm telling you, it hadn't changed, folks.

It's where we are today.

Look at it.

It is often the case that those who have wealth also have political power and can get what they want when they want it.

Have you ever heard what the golden rule is?

You probably know it.

What is it?

He that has the goal rules.

That's the golden rule.

He that has the goal rules.

And that is so true.

Whoever has the goal makes the rules.

James asked, look at verse 6.

Do not the rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seat?

When God established Israel in her land, he gave the people a court system.

When, hey, he established the nation of Israel in the land, he established a court system.

We need a court system.

And guess what?

God help us to get some, hey, Supreme Court justice that are godly and believe the Bible and the Constitution.

Amen.

Man, we need that.

He warned, and but now watch what else.

God warned, this was so good.

This is so fitting into introducing really my series on a country in crisis.

He warned the judges not to be greedy.

Exodus 18, 21.

He tells them, judges, don't you be greedy.

They were not to be partial to the rich or the poor.

Leviticus 19, 15.

Look at that.

Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, having a hating covetousness, and place such over them.

In other words, he says, Don't be a judge that can be bought off.

Is that not awesome?

No judges was to tolerate perjury.

Deuteronomy 19, 16 through 21.

Bribery was condemned by the Lord in Isaiah 33, verse 15.

Isaiah 33:15

And Amos 5, 12, and 15, the prophet Amos denounced the judges in his day who took bribes and fixed the cases because of the bribes.

We have an official lobbying group of people.

You know what they're doing?

They're buying off the politicians.

That's what they're doing.

So when you start saying, oh, this is terrible.

Hey, it's been around ever since the beginning.

It's all about the money.

And by the way, when somebody tells you, when you're you get in a conversation, I've been in several, and the first thing they tell you it's not about the money, I'm gonna help you.

That's a lie.

It is about the money.

They feel like they're not being paid right, they're being cheated.

How do you know I was there?

And sometimes now I have to fight that.

Well, I'm worth.

No, let me tell you what you're worth.

Nothing.

Now that that's that was a little hard.

All our righteousness is filthy rags.

Amen.

Now, so I should have said it a little nicer.

But hey, there's nothing good about us.

Can I get an amen?

Nothing.

By God's grace, we have what we have today, and we ought to be thankful.

And one of the things that you can do is thank God for how he has blessed America.

And stand up, stand in the gap for America.

That's what this awakening conference is all about.

We want to stand in the gap for Westover.

We want to stand in the gap for Chelsea.

We want to stand in the gap for Harpersville, for Sterrett, for Kildersburg.

We are standing in the gap for Birmingham.

Somebody's got to stand.

Somebody's got to do something.

The courts in James' Day were apparently easily controlled if you had enough money.

Has it changed?

Not at all.

The Bible warns us against the securing of wealth by illegal means.

God, hey, let me, Psalms 50, put this up there, Jason.

Psalms 5010.

Let me give you a truth that you'll never forget, or you need to memorize this verse.

Psalms 5010 says that God owns all the cattle on the hill.

And by the way, he owns the hill too.

Amen.

Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that gives thee power to get wealth.

Deuteronomy 8:18.

Deuteronomy 8:18

Man, if you catch this, you're gonna get liberated.

And don't you dare say, well, he's just preaching because he wants my money.

I don't want your money.

God doesn't want your money.

God doesn't need your money.

God's giving you an opportunity to be a dynamic Christian by using what he blesses you with to help him carry out his plan for your life, your community, your work, wherever you're placed.

God's giving you that job to be an influence, to be a dynamic witness, and to use what God's blessed you with to help others.

Now that's the truth.

You're the one, I'm the one missing the blessing when we rob and cheat God.

Amen.

We're missing it.

You're missing it.

I'm missing it when we do that.

When we do that.

Man, that's good.

Wealth attained by fraud dwindles, but the one who gathers by labor increases it.

Look at this, Proverbs 13, 11.

Woo-hoo! I'm fixed to get on my soapbox.

Wealth guided by vanity, that's dishonesty, shall be diminished.

Do you see that?

Say that with me, church.

Do you see it?

Were hey, wealth gained by illegal means diminishes.

When we were in Las Vegas, I did not win any money.

I didn't even play.

But I was thinking about this first because I was studying and working on this message.

It's amazing how really there are no winners in gambling.

They let you win just enough to get you back.

I asked a guy that'd been doing it 25 years.

You know what, tell me?

He said, I'm about$20,000 in a hole right now.

I said, how's much you ever want?

He said, I want$100,000 one.

I said, how long did you keep it?

He said about three months.

Because I lost it all gambling again.

I wasn't preaching to him, I was just asking.

Because I said, I've never gambled.

You know what he told me?

Don't start.

I said, I can't even do the nickel slot machine.

He said, Don't start.

Because if you win, it'll catch you.

It'll catch you.

And and there it is.

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished.

Now watch.

But he that gathers by labor shall increase.

Folks, God wants me and you to work.

Adam and Eve worked, they kept the garden.

He wants us to work.

There's self-worth.

There's everything.

God honors work.

What is he honoring?

He loves for us to work.

Brings me to the second point.

So we see how they got their wealth.

They got it by hoarding wages, by controlling the court system.

Now watch the second thing.

How did they use their wealth?

Verses 3 through 5.

You know, it's bad enough to gain wealth in a sinful way, but to use that wealth in sinful ways just makes the sin even greater.

Amen?

Look at what they did.

How did they use it?

A they stored it up.

Look at verse 3.

They stored it up.

They didn't use it for means or goods.

They stored it up.

Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you.

In other words, he says, literally, you've just stored your wealth up.

You just, you're using, hey, and what's going to happen?

Hey, and he's talking about clothes, money, grain.

You know, there back then it was grain, and they love the fancy clothes, the fancy cars for all that.

He said, and you know, what good is it?

Hey, really, what good is it?

You don't even use it.

You store it, you polish it, and then it rusts and fleets away.

Jesus.

He said, you're not using what I've given you, what I've allowed you to have for my purpose.

You're using it for selfish reasons.

Jesus.

And he said, because of that, it's gonna vanish.

Now, there's nothing sinful about saving.

Let me go ahead and get on record.

I don't want you to go out of here.

For the children, listen to 2 Corinthians 2.14.

There's nothing sinful about saving.

In fact, I grew up with uh uh two fruit jars.

One said God's money, the other said savings, your money.

Every dollar, my grandmother says, every dollar you work and and we get you get, whether it's a gift or whatever, take a dime, put it in God's jar first.

God gets the first tent.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things should be added unto you.

Matthew 6, 33.

Bring ye all the tithe into the storehouse, Malachi 3.

You go read Malachi 3, 6 through 12, and it's talking about robbing and stealing.

It's talking about exactly what James's talking about.

It really is.

Now watch.

Then she said, take a dime out of that dollar and put it in your savings.

Do you realize if you start doing that at about 18 years old now, David probably could tell you exactly because Dave Ramsey talks about all this.

But do you realize if you started saving, 10% out of every dollar ever comes through your hand, 10%, and I think it's 25 years, you're close to being a millionaire.

If it's invested right or you know, you could easily be a millionaire.

Think a minute.

Now don't think, but here, you know what we think?

We think about being a millionaire.

No, no, no.

Think about a dime out of every dollar and a savings account.

Think about a dime out of every dollar to God first, then savings.

By the way, you still have 80%.

I think that's still a pretty good deal.

Can I get come on, y'all know how to say an amen loud enough on that one?

Amen.

Amen.

It works.

Susan, I've been doing it 34 wonderful years.

It works.

It works.

It works.

Well, explain it to me.

I can't.

There's no way you can put it on paper and it'll come out right.

And you know, there's a reason.

You know how you say, why is that Lord?

Here's why.

He wants you to exercise one thing.

F-A-I-T-H.

Faith.

Forsaking all, I take him.

Can I get an amen?

That's it.

He's first.

It works.

Notice.

But any, listen to what he says here.

For the children ought to lay up for their parents, but the parents for the children.

For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

But if any provide not for his own, oh my.

They, hey, specifically for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.

1 Timothy 5.8.

Did you hear me?

Worse than an infidel.

Then you ought to have put my money.

You know what Jesus said?

Remember the talents?

He said, at least you could have put my money in the bank.

You dug it and put it in dirt, and nothing, it was used for nothing.

He said, You could at least put it in the bank.

And you know what the guy said?

He blamed the Lord.

He said, Yeah, but I knew you were a hard man.

So but it is wrong to store wealth when you, hey, owe money to your employees.

Can I get an amen?

Let me go ahead.

I I knew that this is, hey, by the way, thank the Lord.

I'm just preaching the next six verses.

One thing you can't ever get Pastor Danny about saying, He's preaching to me.

I'm preaching to all of us.

But I take it verse by verse.

I let the hey, it's right there.

That way you don't, hey, you get the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Can I get another meaning?

Amen.

But I need that, don't you?

I need the truth, nothing but the truth, the whole truth.

So help me God.

I need that.

Now watch.

Jesus, Jesus even said, you could have put my money in the bank.

But these rich men were hoarding grain, gold, garments.

They thought that they were rich because they had these possessions.

Yeah.

Instead of laying up treasures in heaven by using the wealth for God's glory, Matthew 6, 19, they thought they were, hey, rich because of their possessions.

Let me tell you, your possessions don't make you rich.

Things don't make you rich.

You can be rich in things and still, hey, be, hey, be, oh.

Just be lost.

You can be lost.

You can be discouraged.

You can be defeated.

Can I say something?

You can have a half a million dollars and go build a house and it still won't be a home.

Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build.

You can have a million dollars and still not have love.

Amen.

I mean, over time and time again, Scripture says that.

Moreover, it is quiet and a steward that a man be found faithful with what God's given him.

Oh, listen to Ecclesiastes.

Remember that a year and a half ago when we in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 13, 14, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is a whole duty of man, for God shall bring everything into being in his judgment, whether it be good or whether it be bad.

So we see how important it is.

What a tragedy it is to see people heap up treasures for the last days instead of heaping up treasures for eternity.

Look at the second thing.

They kept others from benefiting from their wealth.

And actually it wasn't their wealth.

Not only did they stored up because they thought their wealth was, you know, made them rich, but they kept others.

Look at verse 4.

By fraud, hey, by being a fraud and stealing, these rich men robbed the poor.

They were not using their wealth like God had told them.

They would not pay their laborers and permit them to use their wealth.

Isn't that something?

See, so not only were they defrauding themselves, but they were, hey, now the laborer that deserves his pay, he doesn't have any means to be a blessing to God now because he doesn't have any money.

So really they're double uh they're double, almost double damned, because they're misusing their wealth for selfish personal gain, and they're frauding the labor, and the laborer now, he has nothing to be a blessing to God for what God's called him to do.

So it's double, hey, double trouble.

Thank you.

That's a good word.

There's double trouble.

I was trying to think of the right legal word.

But it's really, do you see that, church?

Come on, help me now.

Do you see that?

This is so important that we understand this.

Man, it's unreal.

That's the double indictment.

Since we are stewards of God's wealth, we have certain responsibilities toward our God.

Can I get an amen?

As we have opportunity, Galatians 6.10, let us do good unto all men, especially those of the household of faith.

Wow, that's our responsibility.

That's what God's called us to do.

Look at the third thing.

Not only do we see that they stored it up, not only do we see they kept it from it being a benefit to others to help them, but they lived, verse 5, they lived in luxury.

You have lived in a high style on the earth.

That's the NIV version of it.

1 Timothy 5, 6 says, she lived in pleasure, and as long as she was living in pleasure, she was still the Greek, the uh King James word is wanting.

She was wanting.

The lady was void of happiness, void of contentment, void of peace, but yet she had everything she wanted.

Full of it.

Look at Hollywood.

I rest my case.

They've tried to find happiness in different partners.

They've tried to find happiness in wealth and all everything.

And they're still void and they're still destructive.

Why?

Because it's not in the money, it's in Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

Look at what Jesus said in powerful verse in Luke 12, 15.

Jesus said, Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed.

He said, Look, and he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists not in the abundance of what?

The things which he possesses.

These rich men, James addressed for feeding themselves on their riches and starving to death.

The Greek word pictures here, cattle being fattened for the slaughter, and they even use the word slaughter.

In other words, you're just getting fat and fat and fat and fat.

But what you don't realize, hey, you're fixing to go to the slaughter.

And I thought to myself, is that not Satan?

How he just keeps on feeding us and feeding us and feeding us the things of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, knowing that he's taking us to the slaughter.

Wow.

And you know what?

I was reading a lot of articles, and you know, said, do you know how you get a hog to the slaughter?

You take the food.

And you just keep dropping it.

They never look up.

Hello.

Get the picture.

Satan just keeps dropping it.

And here we are.

I'm rich.

And then they get to the pan.

BAM! They're dead.

Now you're eating pork chops.

Hello! And how does he do that?

You say, how does he do it?

Television.

The lust of the flesh.

The lust of all all all of it.

All of it.

He's just feeding you.

He's just feeding you.

Here we are.

We're just walking to our own destruction.

God help us.

We need an awakening.

That's exactly where America is going and going fast.

God help us.

That brings me to the third thing.

Last thing.

They thought that their security was in their wealth.

They thought that their security was in their wealth.

The rich thought they had it made because of their wealth.

But God thought otherwise.

Remember the rich man Jesus described in Luke 16?

Most churches would have him as the chairman of deacons.

He had a heart for God?

He really did.

I said he had a heart for God.

His heart was not with God.

The Lord went through the commandments.

He said, We've done, I've done all that.

I've done them all.

Done all nine of them.

Done nine of them.

I don't know about you, but if I'm keeping nine out of ten of the ten commandments, I'm pretty good.

Some of us don't keep that.

Some of them say I'll be doing good if I got to.

You know what Jesus did?

He looked right at you.

He knows what you're thinking.

He knows what you hey what you're thinking.

He knows your thoughts even before you think them.

I don't like that verse.

I don't like that verse.

He said, okay.

You really want to follow me?

Yes, sir.

Go sell everything you got.

Give it to the poor.

I don't think I heard you right.

You tell me again what you just said.

Go sell everything you got.

And give it to the poor.

Now I know what you don't you be?

I already know what Satan's throwing in your mind about that statement.

Pastor Daniel's telling me I gotta go sell everything I got and give it to the poor.

That's not what I said.

And that's not what Jesus said.

Jesus knew that his greatest sin that was gonna keep him from him was his courage.

So guys, you can keep keeping nine, but if you don't keep a temple and realize that it's not yours, it's all his.

The Bible says he turned and he went away sad.

His possessions don't miss it.

Jesus had not possessed him.

But he kept nine out of ten.

That that slapped me to the mystery and got my attention.

I had never seen it in that perspective before.

Wow.

Covishness.

If you win the battle with cubby, you win all the others.

Somebody say, that's a good preacher.

You win the battle with cubby.

You win the other nine.

Wow.

Because that's the root of all evil.

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

James says you're gonna howl for your miseries that shall come upon you, verse one.

James described the consequences of misusing riches.

Eh?

Riches will vanish.

Grain will rot.

Gold will rust.

And back there, they were cheating the scales there.

They were putting more metal in the gold than the gold, and that's why it would tarnish and kind of rust away, because it wasn't pure gold.

See, let me tell you something.

That gets me to another thing, refining the fire.

The reason you and I go into the fire is to get all those rusty metals off of us so that we'll be pure.

But we see it gold will rust and garments will become moth-eaten.

Nothing material in this world will last forever.

Nothing.

It is a great mistake to think that there is security and wealth.

Paul wrote, listen, 1 Timothy 6.17.

Look at this.

Paul wrote, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches.

1 Timothy 6.17.

Riches are uncertain.

The money market.

Everybody thinks, oh, it's coming back.

Be careful.

It can fall just as quick as it comes back.

Amen?

The money markets.

The investments, the stock market.

Ladies and gentlemen, you can take nothing to heaven with you.

Can I get an amen?

Thou fool?

This night thy soul shall be required of thee.

Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided?

Luke 12, 20.

Remember the rich man?

And he was flourishing.

He decided, hey, what am I going to do?

I got so much I don't know what to do.

I think I'll just build me some more big barns.

And the Lord said, uh oh.

He said, What are you going to do when, because night I'm you're you it's over.

You died.

It's over.

What are you going to do then?

I'll tell you what the Bible says, other people get it and spend it, and you and I become fools.

I read that and I didn't like that.

That's why I'm going to do my giving while I'm living so I know where it's going.

Amen.

That's exactly what he said.

For when a man dies, he shall carry nothing away, not even his glory shall descend after him.

Psalms 49, 17.

Wow.

B, look at B.

Misuse riches.

Hey, misused riches erode character.

Their corrosion will eat you.

Look, look what it says in verse 3.

Eat your flesh like fire.

Let me tell you what that means.

That means you can be rich, and if you're not using the money for God's purpose for your life and what he's called you to do, you're going to be miserable.

That's the best way to put it.

You're going to be miserable.

Amen.

Now I'm going to testify when I, in the years, and even when I get carnal and get in the flesh, and I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do, whether it's using my money correctly or being obedient and ministering like you know what?

I'm miserable.

It's heating at you.

Here's what I said with young couples.

I'm going to help you young couples.

Great insight right here.

You never seem to have enough money.

Can't make it.

Can't pay all the bills.

Can't let me tell you why.

You're trusting in yourself and your own wants.

Okay.

Instead of trusting in Christ and what he wants.

Does that make sense?

Because once you put him first and start trusting, he'll show you.

And you'll live a, you'll, hey, there's a storybook ending done the storybook way.

The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me.

I'm telling you.

I'm telling you.

And then, if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

Psalm 62.10.

I got so many verses.

But we're going on.

See?

Judgment is a certainty.

Look at verse 3 and 5.

James not only saw a present judgment, the wealth decaying, that's the hey, your wealth is, you're losing it.

But he also saw their character eroding.

But he also saw a future judgment before God in verse 9.

And his judgment will be righteous.

In other words, he says, listen to me, church, listen.

We're all going to stand before him and give, hey, stand before him and give an account of how he, hey, we have carried out his mission, not just with our treasures, but our time and our talents and our testimony.

It's coming.

Judgment is certainty.

It's coming.

The rich men's wealth, notice what he says, will witness against them.

Mm-mm.

Oh my.

Isn't that an irony?

I saw an irony here.

The rich men saved their wealth to help them, but they're, hey, they're horru uh they're hoarding their riches.

They kept it to help them, but by hoarding their riches, it testified against them.

Wow.

What an indictment.

And then the wages they held back.

Verse 4.

Hey, the money talks.

It cried out to God.

Remember, God heard Abel's blood cry out from the ground in Genesis 4.10.

Let me tell you, when we abuse and misuse people and cheat people, hey, and they cry out that God's cries will hear them and he will answer.

Amen.

The judgment is a serious thing.

It really is.

And then D, the lost of a precious opportunity to be used by God.

The last days, look at what he says.

The phrase last days indicate that James believed that the coming of the Lord was near.

Verses 8 and 9.

We'll see that next week.

But here's what he said.

We must buy up the opportunity.

Ephesians 5.16.

Hey, now, now's the time.

Behold, now's the day of salvation.

Now's the time.

Behold, now's the day to be used by God.

It's so important.

So important.

We must buy up the opportunity.

That's the literal translation for Ephesians 5.16.

Powerful.

Think of the good that could be and should have been accomplished with all this wealth.

There were poor people in the congregation that could be helped.

Hey, there were workers who deserve their wages.

It is good to have these things that money can buy, provided also the things that money cannot buy are ours.

A home.

Love.

Relationships.

Money can't buy that.

I got a little, I got a little hundred dollar bill.

You know what it says?

What money can't buy on the back.

I've tried to find it somewhere.

I was going to read that to you.

What money can't buy.

Can't buy a home, can't buy a marriage, can't buy love, can't buy children.

We try to buy our children all the time.

They want our love.

They want our love.

It is possible to be poor in the world and rich.

Hey.

It is possible to be poor in the world and rich in the next world.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

James 2, 5.

And yet we can be rich in the next world.

It's possible.

It's also possible to be rich in this world and poor in the next.

The return of Jesus Christ is coming.

For where your treasure is, say it with me.

Jesus.

I'm going to tell you something I've been doing for 30 years.

A famous preacher, known for his long sermons, don't say amen to me.

And asked to give an annual charity sermon for the poor.

It was suggested that if he preached too long, the congregation might not give as much as they should.

So the preacher got up, and here's what he did.

He turned to Proverbs, Jason, do I have Proverbs 19, 17?

I think I do.

He turned to Proverbs 19, 17.

I want you to see this, folks.

I want you to hear this.

And he read it.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.

And that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Wow.

It doesn't get any better.

That's the best stock market account you can ever have.

It's the best savings account you can ever have.

When you give to help the poor, to help people, God says, I'm gonna pay you back.

I'm gonna pay you back.

And I don't know what, hey, I don't know what the interest rate is, but I can promise you this it's good.

It's better than anything this world has to offer.

Amen.

Are you with me?

Man, that's good.

And you know what he read the verse, and here's what he said.

The preacher read this text.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath giveth him back again.

His sermon indeed was brief.

And here's what he said.

After he read the verse, he says, if you like the terms, then put your money down.

That's pretty good, isn't it?

If you like the terms, put your money down.

Here's the invitation.

Do you really like the terms?

Heaven sounds pretty good to me.

God's grace, God's blessings on my life, keeping me free from sickness and all other things that he says he'll do in Malachi 3.12 and on and on.

In fact, Proverbs 10.22.

I don't know if I here's what he says.

He says, I'm gonna make you rich.

Put up Proverbs 10.22.

Can you get that up right quick?

God gave me that this morning early.

Here's what it says.

And I'm in the process of memorizing it myself.

He says, God will make you rich and he will add no sorrow to it.

Can I get an amen?

I will bless you and make you rich and add no sorrow to it.

Folks, it didn't get any better now.

There it is.

The blessings of the Lord that make us rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.

Can we give God a hand?

So who's planning your own?

You got two plans today.

You got God's plans or you got your plan.

I suggest you go God's plan.

Benefits are unbelievable.

You never lose with God's plan.

Two things, and I'm through.

How do you know God is the Lord of your life?

I had that question asked to me by Jeremy.

Jeremy said, Pastor Danny, he said, Danny, he said, how do you really know when God's the Lord of your life, that he is seated on the throne?

I said, I've debated that for 30 years.

But I know for my own self how he's on the throne.

You can check two things with me.

Two things.

Let me look.

I said, give me two things you've got, and I can tell you whether or not he's Lord of your life.

He said, What are those two things?

Because he's teaching his teenagers how to make Christ Lord.

I said, let me see your daytimer.

Hello.

How much time are you spending in the Word?

How much time are you spending in church?

How much time are you doing the Lord's work?

And by the way, you don't have to be in church to do the Lord's work.

Hopefully.

All we do is encourage you and excite you to go do it.

Witnessing it, sharing, helping people out in the community.

That's what we do.

That's what I do all day, every day, and I love it.

Secondly, let me see your checkbook.

Hello.

Amen.

Where's your money going?

For where your treasure is.

It's that simple.

That's not to be condemning.

It's not to be legalistic.

I'm just sharing my heart.

That's my life for the last 34 years of ministry.

I can check those two things and I know if God's really sitting on the throne of my life.

Jesus.

The largest check for years that we'd write monthly, me and Susan, has been to the Lord.

You know why?

And by the way, it's the first check.

And there has not been one thing that he has not provided us when we needed it.

I can't think of one.

I was trying to think of something.

Not one.

Now I didn't say that he provided everything I wanted.

Did you understand that?

Amen.

But can I say something?

I got more than I need right now.

Amen.

Do you love him?

Folks, we got a task here.

We gotta wake up America.

Amen.

We gotta wake up Westover.

We gotta wake up this community.

And you know how we do it?

By making Jesus Christ Lord of our lives.

Number one.

That 90 acres, let me tell you something.

When we're in heaven, we'll see how God is still if he tarries.

Sometimes I think, but in fact, I asked him the other day, I said, Lord, I it's pretty bad, but you didn't give us that 90 acres to not let us do something out there, did you?

You know what I'm telling him?

Lord, hold off a little bit.

We got a lot of more work we want to do in Westover.

Can I get an Amen?

Amen.

Amen.

We want to reach 82% of the people that are lost and not in church.

Amen.

We want to help reach them and all these other good churches.

We want to fill, hey, you know what I want to do?

Let's fill all the churches.

Amen.

Fill them all.

We're not jealous.

Fill them all.

Amen.

Fill them all.

I know I'm I'm y'all knew it was gonna be a little longer today, didn't you?

I love you.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

Let's pray.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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Send us an email at office at the church at cw dot com.

We hope you have a wonderful day, and again, God bless you.