What do you do with your Wealth?

Another Great Message today....

James 5:1-6 ESV
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 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. 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. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Notes from the message....


Context - Who is James speaking of in this passage? This is written like a prophetic piece from the Old Testament Matthew 19:23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the EYE OF A NEEDLE THAN FOR A RICH PERSON TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD.” 1st of 3 reasons why these rich are in trouble 1 - These rich hoard their wealth 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." REASON 2 - These rich got richer by defrauding their workers 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."

The poor have no where to turn for help – No power to resist so they turn to the greater authority Leviticus 19:13

Deuteronomy 24:14

“You shall not oppress a hired servant 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.

V 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.

REASON 3 - These rich use what they make off defrauding their workers to follow a self-indulgent lifestyle 5 "You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter."

REASON 4 - These rich use their power to oppose the righteous

V 16 "You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you." Instead of HOARDING OUR WEALTH we wisely seek TO GIVE IT AWAY Instead of SEEKING TO GAIN THROUGH FRAUD we STRATEGIZE HOW TO BE MORE GENEROUS Instead of being SELF INDULGENT we seek to be RESTRAINED Instead of using our POWER TO OPPRESS we seek to use our POWER TO HELP

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