Greetings and welcome to the Beacon Broadcast from Beacon Baptist Church on Kirkpatrick Road in Burlington, North Carolina. The Beacon Broadcast is supported in part by the gifts of faithful listeners. If you'd like to correspond with Pastor Barkman and The Beacon Broadcast, or if you wish to support this radio ministry, write to The Beacon Broadcast, Post Office Box 159, Alamance, NC 27201. The Beacon Broadcast, Post Office Box 159, Alamance, NC 27201. Now with today's message from God's Word, here is Pastor Greg Barkman. Alright, we need to move along in the instructions that are directed to the wealthy. Command those who are rich in this present age, said Paul to Timothy in 1st Timothy 6.17, and we spent quite a bit of time in the broadcast yesterday talking about who the rich are to help us understand that many of these instructions apply to us, to me, to you, not just to the Rockefellers and the Kennedys. We're not talking about multi-millionaires, we're talking about people who have more than is necessary, more than the bare necessities of life, or another way of looking at it, those who are above the average in your situation, in your community. Whatever way you want to look at it, there are some applications here for you. For some of you, all of these things apply. And for all of us, some of these things apply. Got it? All right. So welcome to the Friday, July 30 edition of the Beacon Broadcast. And special, special thanks to those of you who use some of the resources which God has entrusted you with to help us maintain the Beacon Broadcast on this and other stations. All right, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the life to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. Two don'ts, two dos, and reasons why. Two don'ts, two things not to do. Number one, don't be conceited. And number two, don't trust your possessions. Don't trust your possessions. That one is always a great temptation to the wealthy. And the first one, don't be conceited, is also a strong temptation to the wealthy, although it certainly is not restricted to those who are wealthy. We are all inclined to be too conceited, too proud, but there is this additional impetus to the normal Adamic tendency that accompanies wealth. We are so prone, when we have more than the usual amount of things, to think we are better than others because we are wealthier than others. That's not true. We tend to look down on others. We tend to compare ourselves with others. We tend to say things like this, I must be better than he or she is because I drive a better car than they do. I live in a bigger house than they do. I'm wearing nicer clothes than they do. It doesn't take long for these attitudes to be developed in children. We live in such a commercial age, such a commercialized age, such an age filled with commercials. An age when children very quickly learn to size up one another at school and other places and to make comparisons based upon money, clothes, the kind of car that Your parents drop you off at school with the kind of house you live in. I'm better than so-and-so because I live in a better neighborhood. My parents have a nicer house. They drive a better car. I wear more expensive clothes. And as you know, the labels on the clothes can become so important to some people. That drives a whole industry. That keeps certain manufacturers making gobs of money because, in so many cases, their products are really not superior to many others. I'm sure they're superior to some, but they're not superior to many others. But because they have a certain label, they can charge more for them. People will pay a premium price to have the right label for what reason? Snob appeal. doesn't guarantee a better made garment, sometimes the very same garments, made out of the same cloth, made in the same factories. We'll get one label on them and we'll sell for X, Y, Z, and we'll, in another case, have a different label sold on them and we'll sell for a whole lot less. Wise shoppers will learn that and will be happy to buy the off-brand label and benefit from the savings. That's good stewardship. But there's something about pride that drives people to pay double or triple so that they can get the label. As you know, sometimes labels are even worn on the outside of the clothing just to make sure that Everybody knows. And if it's not the label that used to be on the inside, it'll be some kind of a logo, some kind of an insignia, something. You've got to let everybody know, I am wearing this. I'm wearing this brand, this label. And that makes me better than you because you're just wearing a cheap brand, a cheap label. You're wearing something from the discount store. You shop. at Walmart. I shop at the expensive store. Watch out. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, not to be conceited, not to be stuck up, not to act the way I just described. And number two, don't trust your possessions. When you do that, your possessions have become your God. We are to trust in God. Nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. You're going to trust yourself, or you're going to trust God. You're going to trust your resources, or you're going to trust God. You're going to trust your possessions, or you're going to trust God, but it won't be both. Now, what are you trusting? What are you trusting to make you happy? God or things? What are you trusting to make you healthy? God or the money to be able to buy healthier foods, healthier vitamins, the best medical care, the best medical insurance, whatever it may be, what are you trusting to make you healthy? Are you trusting God to preserve your health and to give you good health as it pleases him? And I'm not saying, when I say this, that I don't think you ought to take vitamins and I don't think you ought to take care of yourself. I take vitamins, okay? So don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. But what are you trusting to make you healthy? That's the question. Or, what are you trusting to make you secure? Riches are good. For a lot of people, it's their wealth that makes them secure. If I can have so much in investments, then I'll be secure. Then I'll have enough that whatever unexpected event, whatever calamity comes to me, it'll not wipe me out. I've seen major illness wipe people out. I've seen this or that wipe people out. I've seen people lose their job and they were destroyed economically, but I've got it all figured out where I've got this large Surplus stored away so that those things won't happen to me. I'm I don't have to worry about Insecurity because I've got my money. Oh You're you don't have enough money to make you secure You better be trusting God for that Because if you don't God in mercy may show you that your money does not purchase security for you There are plenty of things that could happen to you that your money can't prevent? What if you get a stroke and are paralyzed? What if you have an accident and become a quadriplegic? I mean, there's just a lot of things that can change your life in a heartbeat, and there's not a thing that all the money in the world can do about it. If money could have bought mobility, then Christopher Reeves would never have been a quadriplegic, would he? And I can give you all kinds of examples of that. Now, the question is, what are you trusting for your security? What are you trusting for your health? What are you trusting for your happiness? Money or God? What are you trusting for your influence? For a lot of people, wealth is what makes them influential because that's the way the world looks at things. If you live in certain neighborhoods, drive certain kinds of automobiles and all the things we just talked about, belong to the right country club, all these things that take money, then you can acquire influence, because then you get to know the influential people. You get to know personally the people in your community who own the property, who run the banks, who run the government, who are the movers and the shakers of the community. And you get to know them, and you get to have influence because you are in the right circles, but it takes money to do that. Well, the influence that really counts can't be bought that way. The influence that really counts is the influence that God gives his children through the power of the Holy Spirit. Influence to truly change lives and make a difference in eternity. Now, what are you trusting for influence? Money or God? What are you trusting to provide you with a good quality of life? We talk about quality of life sometimes, quality of life issues. And again, so many times that boils down to dollars and cents, and that's the way so many people look at it. We've got to eliminate poverty because the reason why people act like heathen, why they are uncivilized in their actions is because they're poor. And if we can just eliminate poverty, then that's going to change everything. If we can just give people enough money, enough security, enough of everything to give them a good quality of life, then they're not going to act that way. That will make society so much better, so much nicer. No, you don't understand. It really all boils down to your perception of reality, your perception of truth, whether or not you accept the Bible as the Word of God that gives us the real picture of what things are like, or whether you are trusting your perceptions and whatever other people have influenced you in a different direction. It makes a huge difference, for example, as to whether you believe that people are born good and only become bad because of external influences on them, or whether you believe what the Bible teaches, which is that we're all born sinners. Makes a huge difference in the way you look at everything. If it is external things that make people bad, then of course if you can fix the external things, you can fix society. You can bring in utopia. You can make everybody behave properly. But surely, even if you didn't have the Bible, observation should tell you that's not so. Look at all the nasty people who have money, the wealthy people who behave like heathen, who are evil and nasty and unkind to one another and don't act in a civilized way except just when they are in certain places and think people are watching them. It's not external influences, it's what's in the heart. So don't trust in your money. Until tomorrow, or rather next week, Greg Barkman saying good day. May God give you his eternal peace.