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WOULD YOU CONSIDER yourself rich, even wealthy?

No…?

Imagine doing the following, and you will get a glimpse of what life is like for more than a billion people in our world today:

• Take out all of the furniture in your house except for one table and a couple of chairs.  Use your blankets for beds.

 

• Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit.  Leave one pair of shoes.

 

• Empty the pantry and refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, onions, and a dash of dried beans.

 

• Dismantle the bathroom fixtures, shut off the running water, and remove all of the electrical wiring in your house.

 

• Take away your house and move your family into the tool shed.  Place your house in a shantytown.

 

• Cancel all subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and books.

 

• Leave only one radio for the entire shantytown.

 

• Throw away your bank book, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies and leave the family a cash hoard of $10.

Now, what did you say a moment ago?  Are you rich?

Yes, to most people you and I are extremely wealthy.

That’s something to think about the next time we are tempted to complain about our circumstances.

The Bible says, “Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have…” (Hebrews 13:5).

Think about it.

#4 in a series

QUESTION:  “Is Jesus the same as God?  A friend at work claims that these are two different designations for the same person.  What do you think?”

ANSWER:  This is an important question.  Many sincere people are confused about this matter.  Let’s see what the Bible says:

Continued from last week:

• Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.”  John 8:54
  • Question: According to this passage, Who was giving honor/glory (KJV) and Who was receiving honor/glory?
  • Yes or No: If the Son is the exact same person as the Father then Jesus was glorifying Himself.
  • Question: Since Jesus explicitly said that He wasn’t glorifying Himself, Who was glorifying Him?
  • Question: What does it say about Jesus’ integrity (i.e., sinlessness—Isa. 53:9; Mat. 27:24; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 2:22; 1 John 3:5) if He claimed that His Father honored Him, but actually He was only honoring Himself?

• Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and toMy God and your God.’  John 20:17
  • Question: Who would be ascending—the Son or the Father?
  • Question: To Whom would Jesus be ascending?
  • Yes or No: Does the language of this passage imply a distinction between God the Father and God the Son?
  • Question: What are the implications about the Son of God if He told Mary that He was ascending to the Father, when He was actually only returning to Himself?

• Jesus said to His disciples, “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming backto you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.”  John 14:28
  • Question: If the Son of God is the exact same person as the Father God as Oneness Pentecostals claim, how could Jesus say, “My Father is greater than I?”
  • Question: If the Father and Son are only one person and Jesus was just talking about Himself, how could He be greater than Himself?
  • Question/Illustration: If I told you that my father, when he was a young man, was GREATER than I am now as a young man, would you think I was only talking about one person?

• And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last. Luke 23:46
  • Question: To Whom was Jesus referring when He cried out, “FATHER, into YOUR hands…?” (emphasis mine—mb).
  • Question: Was Jesus crying out to Himself?
  • Question: To Whom was Jesus committing His spirit?
  • Yes or No: If Jesus wasn’t crying out to anyone but Himself, didn’t He use deceptive language when He uttered these words?

No, God the Father and God the Son share the same essence, but they are not the same person.  See “Is God One or Three?” and “Is the Godhead Equal?”

WE BUILD OUR lives day by day, decision by decision.

Both the small and the large choices we make add to the mix as we build our legacy.

You might be tempted to say, “Wait a minute.  I’m not wealthy, so how can I leave a legacy?”

Our legacy is not just what is specified in our will. 

It is the moral influence that we have had on other people.

It is the trail through life that we have left behind us.

Don M. Aycock & Mark Sutton, “Building Your Legacy,” STILL GOD’S MAN, 358

“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:15