Prosperity Gospel is the Religion of the Pharisees: “I’m rich because I’m so righteous that God is blessing me.”

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Mt. 19:24)

Since Matthew 6:1-18 showed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees’ religion, it follows that wherever you have hypocritical religion you will have greed. So, our Lord deals with their view of wealth and money. Wherever you find a false teacher, invariably you will find that he is in it for the money. That is why the Bible says that we are not to discharge our ministry for the sake of filthy lucre (I Pet. 5:2). The Bible characterizes hypocritical religion in two ways: it is greedy of money, and it is immoral in its lusts. Those two things follow in the course of false religions and false religious leaders.

The Pharisees were …… — using their religious position to fill their pockets. Twice Jesus had to take a whip and cleanse the temple (Jn. 2:13-17; 21:12- 13). Their system was one that filled their greed. They were using their religious position to get rich. There is nothing more foul smelling to the nostrils of God than hypocrisy and greed. I daresay there are people in our own country (some even well-known on television) who are doing exactly the same thing. Wherever there is religious hypocrisy, inevitably there is the problem of greed.

To the Pharisees, being rich was a sign of holiness. In other words, “I’m rich because I’m so righteous that God is blessing me.” When the Lord said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 19:24), that was absolutely and utterly shocking. To the Pharisees, riches were the stamp of divine approval on one’s life because God gave riches to those who were righteous. To say that a rich man could no more enter the kingdom than a camel could go through the eye of a needle was really a shocking statement because they equated money with the blessing of God. So they greedily gathered money, and the richer they became the more they pretended to the people that they were spiritual. Overcoming Materialism Treasure in Heaven–Part 1 by John MacArthur

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Mat 6:19-24

Related Posts:

I Have Enough

Our Greatest Reward

Be Faithful to The Gospel of Jesus Christ: No Prosperity “gospel”, No False “christ”

Distinguish Between the Gospel and False Gospels

Christians Upset and Bitter About Trials

"Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul." Job 7:11

Warren Wiersbe

“Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to `count it all joy.’ If we live only for the present and forget the future, then trials will make us bitter, not better”

(Be Mature, [Wheaton, Ill.: Victor, 1978], p.23 by Warren Wiersbe).

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. James 1:2-4, 12

As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:10-11

Related Posts:

Sovereignty of God: My Grace is All Sufficient Through Deep Waters I Asked You To Go

Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 1 by John Piper

Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 2 by John Piper

The Gospel is an invitation to be a slave of Jesus Christ

All men and women are either slaves of Satan or slaves of Jesus Christ, there is no in between. When one comes to Christ in faith, one ceases to be a slave of Satan and becomes a slave of Jesus Christ, his or her  Lord. Jesus calls his people out of the darkness of slavery under  Satan  and out of the bondage power of sins to “marvelous light” and to  a whole new relationship with Jesus Christ.

“Being a slave of Christ may be the best way to define a Christian. We are, as believers, slaves of Christ. You would never suspect that, however, from the language of Christianity. In contemporary Christianity the language is anything but slave language. It is about freedom. It is about liberation. It is about health, wealth, prosperity, finding your own fulfillment, fulfilling your own dream, finding your own purpose. We often hear that God loves you unconditionally and wants you to be all you want to be. He wants to fulfill every ambition, every desire, every hope, every dream. In fact, there are books being written about dreams as if they are gifts from God which God then having given them is bound to fulfill. Personal fulfillment, personal liberation, personal satisfaction, all bound up in an old term in evangelical Christianity, a personal relationship. How many times have we heard that the gospel offers people a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?”Slaves for Christ by John MacArthur, Copyright 2007

“Kurios and doulos are two words that describe both sides of a relationship. If there is a slave, let me tell you something, there is a lord. If there is a lord, there is a master. If there’s a master, there’s a slave. You don’t call yourself a master if you don’t have a slave and you’re not a slave if you don’t have a master. That’s why the New Testament never even bothers to defend the idea, as it were, of whether or not when you come to Christ He is your Lord. That is patently obvious. When you confess Jesus as Lord, you are at the same time confessing yourself as slave. There’s no other way to view it. Kurios and doulos are the two sides of the relationship. A slave is someone whose life belongs totally to someone else, absolute ownership, absolute control, absolute subjection, absolute obedience, absolute loyalty, absolute dependence. Slavery then was a social relationship between two persons where one had nothing, willed nothing and received nothing but what the master authorized, desired and provided.Slaves for Christ by John MacArthur, Copyright 2007

“You were a slave at the highest level. And we have no honor for ourselves other than that honor that comes to us because of who our master is, right? And that’s why the apostles could say, “I’m a slave of God, I’m a slave of Jesus Christ.” That’s where the honor came from. And I submit to Him for all my needs, I’m dependent on Him as my protector and my provider and I submit to all His discipline of my failures and my disobedience that He might conform me more to His will and I submit to Him some day for that reward which He determines is suitable to give to me when I come before Him and hear, “Well done, good and faithful slave.” Let Him give me what He will.”Slaves for Christ by John MacArthur, Copyright 2007

And by the way, you’re going to be a slave to someone. Being a slave to Jesus Christ is beyond any kind of slavery that anybody ever knew because this master, listen to this one, makes us sons and gives us all the rights of His own sons. He adopts us into His family, calls us joint-heirs with Christ, takes us to heaven where we rule and reign from His own throne and pours out all the lavish riches in His possession forever and ever and ever for our own unmitigated joy and His own glory. Who wouldn’t want to be a slave under that master? What a joy to be a slave of Jesus Christ.” Slaves for Christ by John MacArthur, Copyright 2007

Related Post: Gospel: An Invitation to be a Slave

Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 2 by John Piper

In life, all Christians will go through suffering and pain in varying degrees. As Christians we are urged to be steadfast under trials, tribulations and sufferings and to consider those examples in scriptures like Job, who remained steadfast in faith and triumphed.

In this second sermon from the Book of Job, John Piper urged us to study the Word of God carefully, discover and acknowledge God’s Sovereignty over our lives. Our lives are totally in His hands: “man proposes and God disposes”. The God of the Bible is good, He is not capricious. God can be trusted, we must put our faith in Him.

As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:10-11

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Jas 1:12

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. Job 19:25-27

Then Job answered the LORD and said:”I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.  ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;  therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:1-6

For a transcript of this message by John Piper, follow this link  Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 2

For the first sermon (1 of 2), visit this earlier post : Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 1 by John Piper

Job: When the Righteous Suffer, Part 1 by John Piper

Watch Pastor John Piper in this excellent sermon from the Book of Job on the Sovereignty of God in the sufferings and pains of God’s children. In the lives and affairs of God’s children, while Satan intends to do evil  through sufferings and destroy faith, God intends for the same sufferings to do good and build faith in His Children and for God’s glory to come through.

For a transcript of this message by Pastor John Piper, follow this link
Job: When the_Righteous Suffer Part 1 by John Piper

The Good Shepherd: Looking at, Turning to, Resting in, Listening for, Following after

The Good Shepherd - "The catacombs are full of Christ"

‘Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.’  Heb 13:20-21

“In Christianity the Lord Jesus Christ is all and in all. “

“THE catacombs are full of Christ. It was to Him that the Christians of the age of persecution ever turned: it was on Him they rested - in gladness and in sorrow; in sickness and in health; in the days of danger – and these were sadly numerous in the first two centuries and a half – and in the hour of death. It was from His words they drew their strength. In the consciousness of His ever-presence in their midst, they gladly suffered for His sake. With His name on their lips they died fearlessly, joyfully passing into the Valley of the veiled Shadow. On the tablet of marble or plaster which closed up the narrow shelf in the catacomb corridor where their poor remains were reverently, lovingly laid, the dear name of Jesus was often painted or carved.”

“The catacombs are full of Christ,” the Dean of Gloucester repeats in the clause succeeding that above quoted from his book. He then goes on to tell that in those “first days” “the Good Shepherd” was “the favourite symbol of the Christian life and faith.” And he adds: “A great and eloquent writer (Dean Stanley) does not hesitate to speak of what he terms the popular religion of the first century as the religion of ‘the Good Shepherd.’ He says they looked on that figure, and it conveyed to them all they wanted. And then he adds sorrowfully that ‘as ages passed on, the image of the Good Shepherd faded away from the mind of the Christian world, and other emblems took the place of the once dearly loved figure.’” Yes, in those bright days the thought of the personal and living Christ “conveyed to them all they wanted.“

The Church is the flock, and Ministers are to be “ensamples to the flock” – the Lord’s own provision of shepherds until the Chief Shepherd shall appear. He is the Chief Shepherd with reference to the under-shepherds. He is the Good Shepherd, because He cares for the sheep, and gave His life for them. And as brought up again from the dead He is the Great Shepherd. The significance of the imagery of the Lord’s words in (John 10) was familiar to the Hebrew Christians of Palestine, but we are apt to miss it. Within the fold, sheep have no need of the shepherd’s care. But when he leads them out to pasture they look to him for guidance, and they run to him for safety whenever danger threatens. What intensity of meaning this must have had for those early saints in days of persecution! “  Sir Robert Anderson -Types in Hebrews – Chapter 14 – CHRISTIANITY IS CHRIST

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:7-9

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:14-15

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. John 10:16

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:25-30

I Have Enough

I have Enough

It is a sad thing when a man is godly, and yet does not say, “I have enough.” The apostle does not say that contentment in itself is great gain, but he says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” 1 Tim 6:6; so that it is not the contentment without the godliness that is the gain; and, on the other hand, any form of godliness that does not bring contentment with it, should be gravely questioned. A godly man, who does not yield ready assent to all God’s will, ought to pray to be made a godlier man. …………..

When God’s will and our will are contrary to one another, we may be sure that there is something amiss with us. We are never right till God’s will becomes our will, and we can honestly say, “The will of the Lord be done.” Therefore it is a sad thing when a Christian man cannot say, “I have enough;” but it is a very sweet thing when he can truthfully say it. Then does he really enjoy life,-when he thanks God for what he is, and for what he is not,-when he thanks God for health, and also for sickness,-when he thanks God for gains, and also for losses,-when he sings a song in the night, as the nightingale does, as well as a song in the day, as the lark does. He proves then that he does not follow God for what he gets out of Him, as stray dogs will follow a man in the street who feeds them; but that he follows God out of sincere love to Him, because God is his Master, and he belongs to Him. It is true blessedness, a little heaven begun below, when the Christian, looking all round, can say of all temporal things, “I have enough.“

“I Have Enough” by C.H. Spurgeon SERMON TEXT: Gen 33:9,11 “Esau said, I have enough … Jacob said, I have enough.” – Gen 33:9,11.

Be Faithful to The Gospel of Jesus Christ: No Prosperity “gospel”, No False “christ”

It is very sad and it grieves to know that many professing church pastors and “evangelists” today are not faithful to their calling to make a full and accurate presentation of Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many present Jesus as simply a mean to an end. To suit their whims and fancies of their own humanistic theology and bellies, they present a false “christ” and a perverted “gospel” like “Accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour will not only save you from sin and hell, but also give to you health, ….., favour, the power to get wealth, all good things you can think of and more.” This perversion of the Gospel invitation sadly robs Christ of His true accomplishments in the Cross and the Glory due to God alone. This type of false and perverted Gospel invitation directs sinners away from true faith and repentance found in Jesus Christ alone. Such perversion of the Gospel turns sinners to seek a “lesser god”, more like a “golden calf”, definitely not the Lord Jesus Christ and God of the Bible .

For some faithful preaching, check this video out. This video on an open air sermon by a nameless preacher to the homeless community in Detroit that stay in a large underground plaza underneath the city of Detroit.

Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to homeless of city of Detroit
Under the City Evangelism:

Visit http://www.puregospeltruth.com/
Support: http://www.puregospeltruth.com/donate.html

Distinguish Between the Gospel and False Gospels

Distortions and Denials of the Gospel’s Promises

Here anything can be a denial of the gospel if you put anything as the treasure that Christ died to bring you above God himself. Christ died to give you Christ, ultimately.

Not ultimately prosperity, health, wealth, self-esteem, family, successful church, reunion with deceased loved ones, lawful behavior, forgiveness of sins, removal of wrath, removal of guilt, escape from hell or anything else.

He died so that you might see and be everlastingly and increasingly satisfied in all that God is for us in Christ.

This is where we must take people. Anything short of this goal is falling short of the gospel, and the reason Christ died and rose again
“How I Distinguish Between the Gospel and False Gospels” by John Piper @ 2008 Resurgence Conference

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Joh 17:3

God is to be magnified by the offensive and “foolishness” nature of true Gospel of Jesus Christ.  God is to be desired above ALL, Christ is to be desired above ALL.  God chose the “foolish” Gospel of a despised and suffering Christ, His only begotten Son.  God by sovereign  grace draw and call  sinners, men and women, to come to Christ by lifting the blindness and allowing  sinners to see the glorious beauty of the Cross of Christ. God’s agape love, shown through His marvelous and amazing grace, brings ALL glory to HIM alone.

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1Cor 1:18, 20.

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to be preached for the conversion of sinful souls of men and women to repent and turn to Jesus Christ for their only hope for eternity to be with their Creator, we must be careful not to be found perverting it or to be found approving of anyone who does pervert it !

Our Greatest Reward

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. Habakkuk 3:17-19

Lean on the all sufficient Creator, we can always trust Him.
In poverty or in riches, God promises to supply our every need.
In sickness or in health, remember God is always good.
Lets thirst and hunger after the Giver, not his earthly gifts.
Lets our rejoicing be in the Giver, not His worldly gifts.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
In worshiping God, remember He is our greatest reward.

Testimony: Hardcore Rapper’s Life Transformed by Jesus Christ

Mark was a former rapper of PKO. Mark, also known as Magic Mark was part of the underground rap scene awhile back. The Lord has saved His soul, and this is His testimony. Mark shared his salvation and transformation by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark shared about Jesus Christ, and the change that is only found in Him.

Desire to be Rich and Prosperous?

On riches, wealth and  prosperity, man thinks they are greatly to be desired and sought after and  praised, ………….

but God says the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10) and “riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away” (Proverbs 23:5).

As for poverty, man thinks it is to be avoided at all costs, but God says it can be better than riches

Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it. Pro 15:16-17

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. Pro 19:1

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? Jas 2:5

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8).