Gtcotr/ws030216
Three
of the first five commandments which God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden dealt with increase. God told them to be fruitful, multiply and fill the
earth. I believe it is God’s will for His Children to increase. I believe it
pleases God to see His Children doing better and gaining wealth. Before we read
our text for this evening allow me to state a few principles concerning money.
·
God demands we participate in our miracles.
·
The problem with a dollar is that it only spends one time.
·
The reason why you can’t buy what you want is because you bought
what you wanted.
·
The quickest way to get a raise is to cut a bill.
·
God wants us to have things … He does not want things to have us.
·
Money is neither good nor bad but dependent on how it’s used.
·
Either you work for (serve) money or money works for you.
Money
is a valued medium of exchange agreed between two people and often backed by
the government of a country. Whether traded for labor or goods, time, services
or gifts, the valued exchange normally comes with a price attached.
We
trade one thing for another … the value is usually equaled to an amount of
money. Money has been used to make war and to avoid war; to build relationships
and destroy them; to put people in prison and to get them out; to bring people
closer to God and to draw them away. Money is allowed to make many, if not most,
decisions in life.
The
love of money is the root of all evil! Money motivated people have a difficult
time entering into the Kingdom of God. Even money motivated believers find it
hard to give without the promise of return.
Genesis 47
13 ¶ Now there was no bread
in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and
the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.
14 And Joseph gathered up all
the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for
the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
15 So when the money failed
in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to
Joseph and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence?
For the money has failed."
16 Then Joseph said,
"Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the
money is gone."
17 So they brought their
livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the
flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with
bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.
18 When that year had ended,
they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my
lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is
nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.
19 "Why should we die
before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we
and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and
not die, that the land may not be desolate."
20 Then Joseph bought all the
land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field,
because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s.
21 And as for the people, he
moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other
end.
22 Only the land of the
priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by
Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did
not sell their lands.
23 Then Joseph said to the
people, "Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh.
Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
24 "And it shall come to
pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall
be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your
households and as food for your little ones."
25 So they said, "You
have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be
Pharaoh’s servants."
26 And Joseph made it a law
over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except
for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.
Perspectives
about the above passage … bear in mind – making money is not wrong and gaining
wealth is not wrong … however, to use money to hurt people or to take advantage
of hurting people and use their hardship as an opportunity to take their money
or rob them is ungodly. The world is based on taking and getting while the
Kingdom of God is based on giving and receiving.
1.
Joseph
was a brilliant strategist …
2.
Pharaoh
was money motivated man.
3.
Pharaoh
evidently cared nothing for the people … only for their money.
4.
When
a government takes all the money of its citizens, money fails.
5.
When
money failed they became a nation of slaves.
6.
Money
motivated men are dangerous.
7.
The
world is willing to take every dollar you have … God on the other hand is
trying to bless you.
