All You Need is Money – Lies of the Enemy #37 – Purity 1049

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the lush green landscape in the right-of-way just off of Waite Road in Easton, New York, under a magnificent cumulus cloud-filled sky, comes to us from yours truly as I captured this simple yet beautiful scene while I was out walking the dog back on May 6th. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'm not sure even a thousand words could express how many times I have received joy just looking, uh, just from looking out over this particular section of landscape over the last two years. This wide open space just stretches out in the distance and is a wonderful canvas that displays the beauty of God's creation throughout all the seasons of the year. The views are priceless but free to anyone fortunate enough to stop and take a look. Well, it's Monday again, and as we enter into a new work week, I am thinking about how some of the best things in life are free, but at the same time, a lot of the things we quote-unquote need and want cost money. Although the upcoming Memorial Day weekend will send me to enjoy the simple pleasures of roughing it in the quote-unquote wilderness of the, um, murk forest and farmland, uh, grounds for 2 days. In order to secure my spot in the rustic accommodations of the Nemrod cabin, I had to put my money where my mouth was and book it. Although the pleasures of the great outdoors are free, my choice to enjoy them from the relative comfort and security of a cabin with wraparound porches equipped with rocking chairs to set a spell cost $75 a night. Also, to be equipped for this weekend's, uh, and possible future backpacking excursions, my wife and I both have gone— have both gone shopping for supplies and quote-unquote necessary equipment yesterday. Thinking of sleeping on a hard wooden bunk this weekend, I purchased a camping pad to lie on and not— and not one but two pillows to rest my head on, so I would have everything I need to sleep relatively comfort— comfortably this weekend. Whether I sleep, uh, well or not, I paid the cost for the— for these and other backpacking supplies in hopes that they will give me what I need to enjoy my weekend away from it all. Also yesterday, in the early morning hours, I heard what I hope to be the Lord's call, uh, to take a fall pilgrimage of sorts to attend Deeper Walk International's 35th anniversary conference Going Deeper Together during the Columbus Day weekend in October at the new Deeper Walk building in Hobart, Indiana. Needless to say, the conference flights, rental car, and hotel accompanish— accommodations required to take this trip weren't free either and could have bankrolled more than one camping trip. But you go where you're called and you pay for it. If you want to go, you pay for it. If you want, want something, you pay for it. If you need something, you pay for it. As much as we can find peace and joy in the simple things in life, we still need money to pay the bills, buy our bare necessities, and to pay for those little extra things and experiences we need or want to bring into our lives. And that brings us to our current series, The Lies of the Enemy, which is an examination of some of the common lies sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as first-person person statements that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So today, today's big lie is lie number 37: all you need is money. While there— while there is much truth to the quote-unquote fact that we need money, the enemy encourages us to push this need to the extreme, to the point that we focus on getting enough of it to believe that we are totally self-sufficient and powerful, to the point we don't need anything else. The lie of all you need is money is a, uh, is alive and well in our world, and it causes men to harden their hearts and to do just about anything to feed the needs that their greed tells them are absolutely necessary. And that any means to get the cash they need are justifiable. Murder for hire, prostitution, human trafficking, and drug dealing are some extreme examples of the depths of depravity that some men and women will go to to get that money. But even legitimate businessmen can fall into the trap— the enemy, uh, the trap of the enemy— by believing the lie that all you need is money to lead them into sin and destruction. In thinking of this lie, I thought of the old Motown hit "Money, That's What I Want" by Barrett Strong, and how it perfectly expresses the hardness of heart and single-minded focus of those who believe the lie that money is all you need. The lyrics unashamedly admit, "The best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees. I need money, that's what I want." And it also says, "Your love gives me such a thrill." But your love don't pay my bills. I need money, that's what I want. And finally, money— it admits, uh, money don't get everything, it's true, but what it don't get I can't use. I need money, that's what I want. That's one cold-hearted, albeit cool, Motown jam, and I'm sharing a link to it on YouTube today if you want to hear it. But although we can enjoy that song, it's really an anthem for the enemy to entice us to choose personal wealth over love and a relationship with the Lord, as it is something that everyone needs but would be declared to be something I can't use by those blinded by the pervasive lie about money. And we need God, not money. Um, Christ said that in, that in the end we must choose God over money because, as he said in Matthew 6:24, no one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other. You will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. The Apostle Paul further warns us of the dangers of being overly concerned with cash in 1 Timothy 6:9-10. Uh, the word says, but people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. Instead, the writer of Hebrews advised us to avoid the dangers of the love of money. In Hebrews 13:5, it says, keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he has— meaning God— said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. While we do have to pay our bills and can work for the good things in life, we should never do so to the point that we forsake the love of the Lord. Focusing on money to the exclusion of our relationship with God and others is a trap laid by the enemy and actively encouraged in this world. So be diligent enjoying the simple things in life and being content with what you have, and knowing, uh, who you will serve when it's all been said and done. Money can't buy you love, get you a ticket into heaven, and you can't take it with you. So be sure to invest in your relationship with God by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and spending your resources into knowing him more and serving his kingdom. As always— well, no, not as always. Today's Bible verse, uh, comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Uh, 2 Corinthians 4:7, and the word of God says, we now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. Today's verse keeps us humble by reminding us that our lives are fragile like jars of clay, and that we have been blessed with God's illuminating truth about Jesus Christ, and that all the power we have has been given to us by God. No amount of money or list of accomplishments makes us great or will secure our future in eternity. Uh, only the light of the gospel will save us, and only God provides us with the power to live. So rejoice that we have been blessed and and let your light shine for all the world to see, because we didn't earn it, and it's— and it is supposed to be shared to light up the lives of others. Uh, as always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians, uh, to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Uh, today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's, uh, The Holy Spirit, as we continue in chapter 2, which is on the personality of the Holy Spirit. And A.W. Pink addresses the fact, you know, the question of whether or not it's a figurative or literal personality, and he discusses the aspects of personality, how it applies to the Holy Spirit. So if you want to see that resource, go to mt4christ.org, and you'll see it at the end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage people to check out our discipleship classes that we have on the podcast and our YouTube channel for Victory Over the Darkness, the Bondage Breaker and Freedom in Christ. Um, they're all available there. They're all based on the word of God and the work of Dr. Neil Anderson. They teach you all about who you are in Christ, the spiritual forces of darkness, and how you can be set free. And so we encourage you to do that. And, uh, in terms of announcements, we do have a new Bible study as well, um, from yesterday. In All That You Do is the name of the Bible study that we sat down and discussed So if you want to check that out, um, you'll find it under the heading Bible Study with the Zinkatis, um, and it's the latest offering from our podcast and YouTube channel as we uploaded it yesterday. And one final announcement before we run off to work, I want to thank everyone who's listening or reading the message, um, that for, for their faithfulness, um, to follow, um because, uh, this morning I discovered that we have over 10,000 downloads, um, on the MT for Christ 24/7 audio podcast. So we, uh, we thank everyone who contributed, uh, if you— whether you downloaded it once or more than once, or, you know, we thank you. We're humbled by that number. Um, it did take a while to get there, you know, not for nothing it took a couple years, um, whereas, you know, popular podcast probably would only take a few months to get there. But we do thank anyone, anyone and everyone who listened to the podcast and added to that 10,000 number. Um, yeah, we're greatly humbled. And, uh, basically, you know, we do this to encourage ourselves to keep walking with the Lord, but we do it to encourage others too. And, and seeing a number like that makes us you know, humbles us. Um, we would probably do this podcast if it just encouraged one person, you know, as, uh, we, we discovered that, um, you know, the things we talk about are life, you know. The fact that we can follow the Lord and that we can overcome all the things that hold us in, in chains, and we can be set free and enjoy, um, you know, the fruits of the Spirit by walking in the Spirit. I think it's, you know, not, not enough people talk about it. So I add my voice to the many voices out there that tell you the truth about Jesus Christ and the benefits of living in the Spirit. So we're greatly humbled, but we also have to run to work this morning. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you've done for us. Um, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today and to provide for us. We pray for you to bless, um, all the people who listen or, or read the message, um, and anyone who's done it before or not. We, you know, an all-inclusive prayer to cover anyone and everyone who's ever heard the message before. Um, Lord, we just pray for you to come alongside them, bless them, and, and bless their prayer requests. Um, and oh, as always, Lord, we pray for you to go before us, uh, to lead us into the things you would have us do and do the things you would, uh, and to see the things you would want us to see. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.