Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell
all and follow him.
He said to him, if thou wilt be
perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven.
But when the young man heard that saying,
he went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions.
This is here, friends, where many of us
miss the message.
You don't have to be rich to miss
Christ, to miss his best for you.
He may be telling you now to give
what you have, to meet a certain need,
and you turn away, clinging to your possessions
rather than obeying him.
It's all God's money.
It is if for one skinny minute you
think that the thousand dollars in your bank
account is yours, you are dead wrong.
It all belongs to God.
He is allowing you merely to be his
steward, and at the judgment you have to
give an account to him as to how
you handled his money.
Did you do all you could to advance
the gospel in your generation?
Were the resources Christ gave you in motion
to go to the greatest need at the
time, or did you just sit on them
in fear, like the unwise steward who wrapped
his talent in a napkin and hid it
in the ground and let it sit useless?
His excuse was his fear, and I was
afraid, and went and hid that talent in
the earth.
Well, Jesus turned to those standing around this
man and told them, Take therefore the talent
from him, and give it unto him which
hath ten talents.
Are we going to risk standing at the
judgment, empty-handed for God?
Fear is nothing but a lack of faith.
A lack of faith is like a stagnant
pool of water that has no use whatsoever.
A faith, on the other hand, is like
a mountain stream flowing with force and purpose,
bringing satisfaction to all who come in contact
with it.
The rich young ruler, at some point in
his life, ended up parting with his money
when he left this world for another world
he was quite unprepared for.
If he could go back and have a
chance to do it all over again, he
would have gladly walked away from his material
security to follow Christ and have eternal security.
How is it with you, friend?
Only one life will soon be passed.
Only what's done for Christ will last.