God is about to fulfill promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob But there is a problem, and God made us He is addressing that problem It is called

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1 The Problem with Prosperity November 14, 2013 Healthy, Wealthy and Wise or Stupid Deuteronomy 6:10 25 Page 1 The Introduction - Ultimate Truth Now Moses gets down to business and some of the the nation will encounter He will also address some of the dangers we encounter as he goes along Luke 18:24 25 And Jesus looked at him and said, How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For 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. Proverbs 23:4 5 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. God is about to fulfill promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob But there is a problem, and God made us He is addressing that problem It is called How do we define success? Savings Car Health How does God define success? Joshua 1:7 8 Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Success God s way see Deuteronomy 6:4 & 5 Success God s way comes by His word and putting it first

2 Page 2 Matthew 6:31 34 Do not worry then, saying, What will we eat? or What will we drink? or What will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Deuteronomy 6:4 5 Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. That is the key to success Do we have the right standard for the measure for success in life? In ministry? Contemporary ministry philosophy is infatuated with worldly standards of success. The churches most often judged successful are the large, rich megachurches with multimillion-dollar facilities, spas, handball courts, daycare centers, and so on. John F. MacArthur Jr., Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), John 2:15 17 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Revelation 3:14 20 To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

3 Page 3 Who are we really trying to please? In ministry? In life? Matthew 25:21 His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master. The problem You have You wake up and today you go from A house with a three donkey garage Donkeys included Fifteen acres to grow crops Crops included A short distance from town Included with all you can dream of For us are we with what God has provided for us? 1 Timothy 6:6 9 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. Philippians 4:11 13 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Ecclesiastes 5:10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. This from the man who was paid 666 talents of gold annually (1 Kings 10:14) 1 talent = 110 lbs 666 talents = 73,260 lbs 1,172,160 ounces of gold $1,503,881,280

4 Page 4 Because we have problems when things go well God is reminding the nation Reminder One: As Solomon prospered, what happened? 1 Kings 10:23 24 So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. He wrote (Proverbs) He wanted to pass on the (Song of Songs) He had the Solomon Secret to Success Seminars going on in Jerusalem Folks traveled from all over to hear him He was providing guidance to world leaders 1 Kings 10:1 3 Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her. But all of that became a problem for him What was his number one weakness? He began to believe 1 Kings 11:1 4 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods. Solomon held fast to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. What was the warning Moses gave?

5 Fear only the Lord Do not follow any of the gods around you Or He will wipe you off the earth Page 5 1 Kings 11:11 13 So the LORD said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen. In the midst of judgment, grace Who used this verse to do combat against Satan? Luke 4:9 12 And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU, and, ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE. And Jesus answered and said to him, It is said, YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST. What does this show us about dealing with the enemy? We need to know If we know His word, it becomes hard for us to put Him to the test There is only He invites it. Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. If we are giving, we are trusting and putting Him first in everything, even our finances We will see Deuteronomy 6:16 19 in application time and time again We will first see it in Joshua, then in Judges, and then repeatedly as we go through the various kings

6 Page 6 2 Chronicles 36:14 18 Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the LORD which He had sanctified in Jerusalem. The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy. Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. God means what He says He is faithful to His The Israelites were to instruct their children and descendants as to the nature, meaning, and object of the commandments of the Lord; and in reply to the inquiries of their sons, to teach them what the Lord had done for the redemption of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, and, how He had brought them into the promised land, and thus to awaken in the younger generation love to the Lord and to His commandments. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 886. Most of the eyewitnesses were Some of the next generation had been there There were more alive now who had not been witnesses to God s miracles in Egypt and bringing them out The issue is to the next generation The nation failed at this continually until they went off to Babylon Why Children s Ministry? Training up the next generation Why? For the nation, the story was to be that a child could understand

7 Page 7 Slavery in Egypt (21a) The wondrous acts of God against Pharaoh and the Egyptians by which Israel was freed (21b, 22) The safe conduct from Egypt to the land of promise (23) The final arrival in the land Yahweh had sworn to give the fathers. J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1974), 142. Simply teach Because it is God s word expect Him to and to those you teach Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. By the time of Jesus, the nation was taking this seriously All males would begin to read and memorize the Torah at 5* At 10, they would begin to learn rabbinic traditions Those who excelled would continue on in study Rabbi s thought that study of the word was the highest form of worship When we study God s word, He speaks to us Deuteronomy 6:25 For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the LORD our God has given us. (NLT) Possible or impossible? Romans 8:2 4 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

8 Page 8 Ephesians 2:13 16 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Past teachings, study notes and slides of Through the Bible with Pastor Ken Brown are available at:

Revelation 8:1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Revelation 8:1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Blessings and Cursings April 10, 2014 Lifestyle Choices and Results Deuteronomy 27:9 26 Page 1 This is the in the scriptures that the appeal to hear is preceded by be silent. The nation senses that the