Summary of the preaching
Sunday, August 13, 2023 – Apostle Billey.
Mat 19. 16-26
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “GoodTeacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. Which ones? 18 He said to Him
Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ Honor your father and your mother,
19 ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
20 The young man said to him, “I have observed all these things; what else do I lack?
21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.
22 When the young man heard these words, he went away sad, for he had great possessions.
23 Jesus said to his disciples: I tell you the truth, a rich man will hardly enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
25 When the disciples heard this, they were astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
No one can say they love God, but not keep his commandments. Because loving God means keeping/practicing his commandments.
And we can see that the majority of the commandments quoted in the verses of Matthew 19. 18-19 are all about the next.
This shows us what an important place we have in God’s heart.
* Who is your neighbor?
Your neighbor is your spouse, children, parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, in-laws, colleagues…
Everyone, with a connection near or far, is our neighbor.
Then according to the word, beloved, do you love your neighbor?
** Jesus said to this young man: Go and sell everything you own – come and follow me. And Jesus told him what he needed for eternal life.
But he already thought he was on the road to eternal life.
* Who is Jesus?
He is eternal life.
He is the way, the truth and the life.
The Lord knows and understands everything. He knows everything on earth and in heaven.
He is able to direct us completely in our decisions – He knows everything.
Let’s remember when he saw the Samaritan woman in John 4 – he already knew that she had had five husbands
When he called Zacchaeus from the tree, he knew Zacchaeus’ life.
When he looked at it – he loved it. Jesus knows everything – he knows everything.
And here Jesus knowing all things about this young man said to him:
** Go sell everything you own – come and follow me.
It was a difficult choice for this young man to make.
Whoever wants to follow Jesus must abandon his own way to follow Jesus.
You can’t follow two masters – Mammon and God.
This young man loved money. And in the end, he chose to follow in his idol’s footsteps.
His treasure was his money – so his heart was set on money.
Giving up his money for him was like giving up his own life.
The Lord has told us that to follow him, we must renounce ourselves.
Luke 9:23
Then he said to everyone: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
For this young man, it was his money he didn’t want to give up. He refused to give that to God.
And he left, all sad – do you think he’ll have eternal life?
In this century, the love of money/material is a calamity in the heart of man.
This prevents man from knowing God.
The idol Mamon, the demon Baal… are connected to the love of money.
This money-loving spirit prevents man from sharing – from giving – it makes him hoard only for himself.
The one who is more attached to money than to God – the one for whom it’s hard to give in order to advance the kingdom of God – For this one, it’s also going to be hard to love God completely.
* Why will it be hard to love God?
Because his heart is divided: he wants God, but he also wants to walk with Mammon.
And this type of person, when he comes to church, his prayer is not for God’s love – his prayer is for God to give him more money and secure his finances.
God doesn’t want us to be from the kingdom of darkness.
Beloved, when God asks something of us, it’s to test our hearts.
If the Lord asks us to give for his work – for evangelization ….
Let’s not forget – gold and silver belong to God, and everything that exists was created by Him.
Now, if we are filled with the love of money like that rich young man – we will give excuses to the Lord for not obeying by saying: “I have to pay for my house – my schooling – my children’s school – my shopping…
Those who give to God with difficulty show that their love is not complete.
It’s important to note that the love of money is a spirit.
Having lots of money isn’t the problem – but this young man’s problem was that he loved money more than God.
From his attitude, we can perceive that if he didn’t have money, he certainly wouldn’t have come to church.
Indeed, he would have been too busy looking for work – doing his own thing – to be able to amass wealth. And when he felt he had enough and was satisfied – then he took the time to come to church and ask questions about eternal life.
The question he asked the Lord – it’s a question about receiving deliverance.
But in reality, in his heart, he no longer depends on God – he no longer expects God, he feels he already has what he needs and thinks only of himself.
This young man thought he had it all.
Jesus understood this.
Indeed, Jesus saw that for this man to be a man of faith, a man of prayer, a man dependent on God – he had to give what he had, his idol, to God, by giving to the poor.
And so it will be a deliverance.
But as long as this young man doesn’t let his idol go – he can’t take – choose God as his God.
But he left, turned away and chose to worship his idol.
And in the end, he resisted his visitation – his encounter with God.
But this encounter with the Lord Jesus could have been a deliverance.
However, this is how he refused deliverance.
The Lord is willing and able to bless physically and materially – everything we have means nothing in God’s hand.
What this man didn’t understand – was that by giving his money to the poor (Mat.19.21) – he wasn’t giving to men, but to God.
Jesus said in Matthew 6.19-21- Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…
Everything we give to God allows us to save in God’s kingdom.
You have to give to the Lord with all your heart.
The way you give is also valuable in God’s eyes.
And the Lord, who sees hearts, will bless you.
Let’s remember that the way to this earth is the road to perversion, but the way to heaven is eternal life.
Let’s not be like that man, let’s learn to do what God asks and calls us to do.
Because if we don’t show up to do it – he’ll get someone else to do it who may even do it better than us.
Let’s not love the world and the things in it. Let us not love material – let us not love money.
Let’s love God with all our heart -Let’s be men and women of faith – and the Lord will guide us – in all kinds of situations, family, work…
It is God who is the source of all things – it is He who blesses.
LET US PRAY →