God Reminds Those Who Want a Deeper Relationship with Him of His Expectations for Their Management of His Resources He Provided Them

God Reminds Those Who Want a Deeper Relationship with Him of His Expectations for Their Management of His Resources He Provided Them MESSAGE SUMMARY: As followers of Jesus, we want to go deeper in our personal relationship with God. However, God tells some of us that we must start being more responsible for the material things that He has provided before we can go deeper into spiritual revelations. Also, many of us, while seeking to know the Lord better, want to know His will in our lives and for the World. At the same time, we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In Mathew 6:19-21, Jesus is telling us that all that we have, which we tend to call our own, really comes from God. God has expectations for our good management of His resources in our personal relationship with Him: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.". God tells us that we are to be good managers of His gifts; however, in Luke 12:19-21, Jesus completes a parable about a man who thought that all his assets were his and not from God: “’And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”. Pointedly, God is telling us that if we cannot be responsible for the earthly treasures, which He has provided us, then how can we be responsible for His Spiritual treasures that He wants to provide us as we seek to deepen our personal relationship with Him?   TODAY’S PRAYER: Most merciful God I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I might delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Amen.  TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, because I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Self-Centeredness. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit’s fruit of Love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Mathew 25:14-30; Luke 12:13-21; Romans 3:19-20; Psalms 21:1-13. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Our Awesome God -- Part 2: Trinity; Our Father”, at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB