Steps of Faith~ 27th Sunday of ordinary

Jer. 32:1-3a, 6-15: God tells Jeremiah that his cousin will come and ask him to buy some family land & that he was to do so. So when his cousin came and asked him to do so, Jeremiah made sure that the transaction was done legally. In doing so he make sure that the land stayed safely in the family which was God's plan.

Ps. 91:1-6, 14-16:All those who go to God for protection will be saved  from all that can harm you.So don't be afraid when bad things happen around you. 

1 Tim. 6:6-19: Don't love money and material things more than God. As a man of God, live your life as God wants you to. That means to have faith, love, patience, & gentleness towards others. Share with those that are without. In doing so, you will be storing up treasures in heaven that do not ware out. Remember, that the Christian life is like a race that you run. Try hard to win the life that is eternal.
When you do that, God will take care of you.

Luke 16: 19-31: Jesus tells the parable about the rich man & the poor man, Lazarus. The rich man had all that he needed and more. But Lazarus did not have even what he needed. When they both died. The rich man went to hell where it was hot and he didn't even have a sip of water because he had not been merciful to Lazarus when they were alive. But an angel took Lazarus to the arms of Abraham where he had no need for eternally. 

We are to love God more than any material thing.For material things that money can buy will wear out, but if you stay close to God, & live as he wants you to live, you will be storing up treasures in heaven that will last for eternally ( I Tim. 6:6-19). One of the ways God wants us to live is to share what we have with the poor. Jesus addresses this in a parable about a rich man and a poor man(Luke 16:19-31). Note that Jesus tells us what the poor man's name is but not the rich man. I believe that this shows that the poor man had a relationship with God where the rich man does not.

Now being rich does not mean that you can not go to heaven.  You can , if you love God more than money and what it can buy. In fact, God has often used the wealth of godly people who use their wealth to God's glory. One example of this is Jeremiah. God told  him that his cousin would come and ask him to buy a piece of family land. God told him to do so Jer. 31:1-3a). This was important because God had  given the land to each family when they came into the land (Josh. 14-17). So God told the Israelites to not sell their family's land to anyone outside of the family. This was to keep the land in the family. In obedience to God, Jeremiah went to great lengths to make sure that he did all that he needed to to to legally buy the land to keep in in the family. But when he was done he gave it back to his cousin to care for it (Jer. 32:6-15). 

We are promised in Psalms 91 that God will take care of us, if we love & serve Him. So even when bad things are happening depend on God for He will take care of you (Ps. 91:1-6, 14-16). In other words, put God first & he will care for you. 

Challenge of the week:

How will you put this lesson into practiced in your life this week? What is God asking of you this week? 

Accomplishment of the week:

How did you put this lesson into practiced this week?