Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
I was watching the daily news on YouTube today. I saw a story about the Stock Market. The stock for 'GameStop' is going up and it is big news. Many years ago I dabbled in the stock market for about 5 years. This was around 1995 to 2000. I think everyone at one time or another gives the stock market a try. I bought 130 call options in just one year. A “call” option lets you leverage stocks. For example: You can control 1,000 shares of stock with just 100 call options. This is a way to make money faster, if you are good at it. Losing is a part of investing. The key is to win more than you lose. The school of Wall Street charges a high tuition.
I made $140,000 in one year, and lost it all in the year 2,000 when President George W. Bush became U.S. President, and the .com prosperous years of “Irrational Exuberance” (as fed chairman Alan Greenspan called it) finally ended. The market never came back, and neither did I. I was done forever with playing the stock market. In hindsight, I don't regret my years of researching the Stock Market. I bought every book I could find by Wade Cook, Ken Roberts, Bill O'Neil and Warren Buffet, and studied it like a science. I was good at understanding the market, but lacked the patience for it. You have to have a high risk threshold to invest in day trading, which I didn't have. I dabbled in everything from penny stocks to futures contracts.
Having said all that, I also read all of the books by Richard Ney, exposing the Stock Market for the fraudulent Ponzi scheme that it is! In a Ponzi scheme, the big guys at the top get rich, and the little guys on the bottom lose out. Insiders make a killing in the stock market, but the public loses 95% of the time. I won't delve too deep into the subject here, but Richard Ney in his excellent book called: “The Wall Street Jungle,” documents how the stock market actually rose while the newsmedia was telling the public to sell their stocks (and vise versa). In other words, the stock market is controlled from within; it's a rigged game. The stock market is fraud. I could teach you for hours the things I have learned. The stock markets are crooked on so many levels. The best thing I ever did was to walk away and leave the stock market alone.
In 2002, I began my website ministry and decided to spend the rest of my life investing in the Kingdom of God instead of earthly wealth. I have been laboring diligently night and day ever since, laying up treasures in Heaven as the Lord said. Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” What a beautiful promise from God.
Dear reader, when you invest in the things of God, it is a win/win situation. Unlike the stock market where you assume considerable risk, depending on the type of investment you make, there is zero risk serving God. 1st Corinthians 3:8-9, “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.” I love that! God promises to reward each believer according to our own labors. That encourages me. When a man works as a pastor or associate pastor, he is already getting paid. I don't get paid for my labors, and I never have, nor ever will. That means God is going to reward me much more!
And may I say, these pastors and churches who are teaching the heresy of Lordship Salvation are fake news! They are not preaching the Gospel, so how can they be saved. Not only will they not be rewarded in eternity, but they won't be entering into Heaven. It is a big deal. There y favorite Bible verses is Matthew 10:42, “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” God sees everything! Even giving a cup of water in the name of a disciple of Christ will be rewarded. So if someone does anything to help promote my ministry, they will be rewarded by God, because I am a disciple of Jesus. I am earning eternal rewards by promoting the sermons and ministry of Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, because he is a born-again Christian and a disciple of Jesus Christ. When I promote the sermons of Dr. Jack Hyles, I am laying up treasures in Heaven.
I encourage you friend, whoever you may be, to first make sure you are a born-again believer. If you don't have the blessed sweet assurance that you are on your way to Heaven, you CAN know 100% for sure that you are going to Heaven. I absolutely KNOW that my name is written in the Book of Life in Heaven. I never wonder if I am really saved. I am absolutely positive, based on the PROMISES of God in the Scriptures. Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” I don't HOPE to one day have eternal life, I already HAVE A HOPE of eternal life!!! I have God's Word on it, and so do you if you receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins, plus nothing else! If you put your trust in the risen Savior, He promises to save you immediately and forever (Romans 10:13; John 6:37).
And if you are saved, then LAY HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE! There is not a more befitting passage of Scripture to contrast serving God to the world's stock market than the following Scriptures passage:
1st Timothy6:10-12, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
I decided decades ago that money means nothing to me. I want to spend my life serving God. I will never argue with anybody over money. If there arises a dispute, I will tell someone to take the money, take it all, I couldn't care less.
I purchased $600 worth of machined parts for my Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar many years ago, from a man named James Moorehead in Oklahoma. He stole my money. A year had passed and he never bothered to even contact me, to let me know what was going on. He kept making excuses, but I saw online that he had cheated over one dozen other people. One frustrated man in New York was upset, because he had his Sho-Bud steel guitar to Oklahoma and the man wouldn't return it. James was supposed to rebuild the undercarriage, but instead he stole the man's money and guitar. So I just told the man to keep the money, because I feared God even if he didn't. And you know what, the thief did keep the money. I didn't give him the money to be nice. I gave him the money to close the matter, because he is a dirty thief, and I wanted to settle the dispute since he refused to do what was right. Anyway, James passed away a few years ago. I hope he went to Heaven, but only he and God knows.
I thank God that I can look in the mirror, knowing that I am an honest man. I am a sinner, just like anybody else. I haven't always done the right thing in my life, and neither have you (1st John 1:8-10). But I can say with all confidence, that there has never been a time in my life more than today, when I wanted to think right, do right and live right. And thanks be to God, because Jesus died on the cross for my sins, I can be right and am right with God, through faith in the precious blood of the crucified One. Amen!
You Get Saved By Trusting Jesus, Not Following Him
Many people misunderstand the Gospel of Matthew, applying passages from Matthew to salvation that actually apply to discipleship. Remember, Matthew presents Jesus as a King. Mark presents Jesus as a servant. Luke presents Him as the son of man. And finally, John presents Jesus as the Son of God. Matthew establishes that Jesus is a King, tracing His ancestry back to king David. Jesus came from a kingly line. For example, the following passage has nothing to do with getting saved. Matthew 16:24, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” The Lord is talking about following Christ, which is service not salvation.
We know that following Christ is not necessary to be saved, because God gave us the Gospel of John to show us how to have eternal life. John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” The Gospel of John has accurately been called “God's Gospel tract.” As we just read in John 20:31, the book of John was written to convince that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by simply believing we will be saved. That is so simple and beautiful.
Matthew does refer to salvation in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” What a beautiful passage of Scripture!
Oh dear friend, have you received the new birth? I didn't ask you if you attend church. Have you been born-again? I didn't ask you if you've been water baptized. Have you been born anew by faith in the Lamb of God? I didn't ask you if you're living the Christian life. Have you been saved? Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior? Does Jesus know you as one of His sheep? The unsaved religious people in Matthew 7:21-23 knew who Jesus was, but Jesus said He didn't know them. The Lord spoke the most horrifying words anyone could ever hear: “I NEVER KNEW YOU”!!!
Religion is the worst thing that ever happened to this world! My father taught me that truth, and Dad was right. Religion is man trying to fit you with glasses, so you'll view life through their perspective; but Christianity is God trying to reach man, through the sacrifice of His dear only begotten Son on the cross. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. One soul saved is worth more than all the gold in the world! This world will be over before we know it. My words are as worms on a fishing line, hoping that some hungry soul will bite hook, line and sinker into the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe it Oh lost sinner! Preach it Oh Christian!
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