The GREED

1 Timothy 6:10
"For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. And some people, either because they want to have money, have wandered from the faith and his life filled with suffering. "
Introduction • In this series of posts on The Seven Deadly Sins, we have considered the pride, hatred, envy, lust, gluttony, sloth ... and we conclude today, addressing greed. - You can have the complete series of these messages in the form of book, from Tuesday, looking there in the Paper Office, in the area of ​​xerox.
- The apostle Paul made this statement: "For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil ..."
- Avarice is this: love of money ... an attachment to money and shameful too.
• People when touched by greed, they are able to steal, to rob ... played by greed, they attack, cheat, slander, even kill! - It is a terrible sin ... and as such it is part of our nature - our heart, antureza, is greedy, is given to greed, greed.
- And in the pages of the Bible, we see the trail of misery left this sin in human history. I want to mention some cases:
• The King Ahab to begin with. - We read in 1 Kings 21:19, it was greed, greed, wicked and unnatural, which dragged the king Ahab coveting Naboth's property and kill him to get his greedy criminally target.
- But the voice of God came to Ahab and God told him: "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs lick thy blood, even thine" (1 Kings 21:19).
- King Ahab had a seed of lust in his heart, but he did not even realize that an innocent seed of lust in his heart that would bring terrible harvest of death and judgment later.
• In the Bible we read about the case of Joseph's brothers in Genesis 37.26. 4 - We read that: "Then Judah said to the brethren: What will we gain if we kill our brother and hide after his death? 27 Instead of the kill, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites. After all he is our brother, is in our blood. The brothers agreed. 28 When some Midianite merchants came by, Joseph's brothers took him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And the Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt. "
- Those wicked brothers, planted a tiny seed of greed, when they sold the innocent brother Joseph into slavery in Egypt.
- And they could not even imagine the harvest of hunger and misery that would result when greed frutificasse.
• The Bible also tells, 125 in Luke, Jesus told a rich man who sowed seeds of selfishness and greed ... - And Jesus said to the man that he would even reap what you sow ... and would reap in abundance ...
- Jesus said that the granaries were full, that the man was with deep pockets, but the heart was completely empty. Then he said, "You fool! Tonight you'll die, then who will get everything you saved? "(Luke 12:20).
• Also read the Judas6 (Mt 27.5-6) ​​that played by greed, betrayed Jesus. - Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, apeans 30, and finally realized with bitterness and regret that anything you value life without Christ and ended his life by throwing coins at the stained floor and hanged himself.
- It is written in Matthew 27: "Then Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went and hanged himself. The chief priests took the money and said: - This is blood money ... ".
- The naked truth is this: long before Judas taking his own life, his soul was already dead, had been hanged, dominated by avarice or greed ...
- That's what makes greed: she cheats, steals, and kills the mind to achieve your goals.
• And this sin of greed is in the nature of our heart. - We are all born naturally inclined to selfishness, greed, greed, greed ...
- The desire to possess things is so natural and real in us, which is only to observe the children to confirm this ... - The children have what they want, they scream, pull hair and bite each other up ...
- Someone had to teach it to them? No ... because that seed of selfishness is already in his heart.
- Those who are fathers / mothers have to deal with a basic little question that always comes to the house: "What brought you to me?" ... is a familiar language, revealing the early spirit of greed ...
• In the Letter to the Romans 12.9-7, greed is placed on the same level of vicious and damnable sins, when one says: "They are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, addiction, jealousy, crime, death, fights, lies and malice ... " - In the same letter (13.9), avarice, or greed, is mentioned next to murder, adultery, theft and lies.
- This sin, which has stalled the development of spiritual and that many Christians, however, seems so innocuous, it is revealed by the Word of God as one of the most disgusting and most destructive instruments of Satan.
• And the Bible goes further, saying categorically that the greedy and guilty of greed will not inherit the kingdom of God. - We read in 1 Corinthians 6108: "... thieves, covetous, drunkards, slanderers and thieves will have no part in the Kingdom of God." This is very serious.
• Are you greedy? 9 ... is a "Scrooge" of life? Is greedy for something ...?
• What is your greed? Crazy ... do you have for something? - How the French Queen Marie Antoinette: she had a unique employee to care for their 500 pairs of shoes, all cataloged by date, color and design ... - How many Marys Antonietas have here? You also have ... crazy about shoes? This is your greed?
- Others have craze for clothes and accessories ... a wardrobe of six doors and four drawers becomes small for those who are greedy for clothes!
• Listen, we live in a materialistic world, consumerist ... the spirit of greed calls for our soul. - We must be careful, because if we do not become greedy, only interested in ourselves. - It is because of greed, avarice, that wars are promoted ... - Someone has even said that instead of amarmas people and things we use, we are loving things and using people.
- For the love of money, countries promote wars ... oil, for example, is coveted ...
- For pure greed, people adulterate gasoline, adulterate the milk ...
- The selling strawberries on the box, by greed, put the good over the half-rotten ... this happens is because of greed! - I went to buy bread and someone was telling the case of a seller of cheese ... the man had bought not know how many cheeses to sell and someone explained that if he let the cheese moistened with water, gain more weight in the balance and would profit more. So, in their avarice, the seller of cheeses did the following: all cheese dipped in water and left there for one day to another, wondering: "I will make money like never before with these cheeses!" And ... the next morning to see the cheese, a surprise: they all had dissolved with the amount of water ... the greedy salesman gave bad.
- We should all reflect on the words of Jesus, contained in Mark 8:3610: "What good is it for anyone to gain the whole world but lose the true life? "
- The love of money is what makes robbery note that our newspapers daily, and often end in murder.
• The great sin of this world is greed, greed. - People are so inclined to make money that do not have time to worship God in a Sunday, or to cultivate spiritual habits during the week.
- How many houses and shops remain open on Sundays unnecessarily, dishonoring the Lord's day to earn a few rupees more.
- How many times people fail to come to worship on the grounds that need to work ... are so concerned with making money that do not have time for God.
- Ah! those who lust for this facility, this quest for comfort, luxury and for more money, have lost everything in the twinkling of an eye?
- How many who have spent half a lifetime health spending to make money ... and then at the end of time, spend the other half of life, spending money to gain health .... I, on behalf of God, you say: "Wake up, wake up before it's too late!"
• One of the saddest pictures, presented in the New Testament, is that the rich young man who left saddened the presence of Jesus, with his pockets full of money, but the empty heart. - He was interested in eternal life, but did not want to pay the price of it ... is precisely what happens to many people today ...
- Many people, like the rich young man, know the way - but do not want to pay the price.
• There is no sin to be rich. - If you have earned your money honestly, God has an account on mordorno faithful, the things that He has given you.
- Now, if money or property acquired is hindering your spiritual life, then it is sin - and you are living as poor in the eyes of God ... - Nobody is more wretchedly poor as the one whose wealth is in cash only.
- We read in the Bible that a good number of wealthy people were straight and pious, and devoted his wealth to serve God.
- But the sin of greed is today one of the largest and perhaps the greatest stumbling block to the Kingdom of God worldwide.
- So you have greed?
• Some people think that is incurable sin of greed, and that man, once dominated and controlled by it, no longer finds salvation. - I acknowledge and agree with what Jesus said as He knows what he says. He asserted that "it is easier for a camel to go through a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24).
- But the person guilty of the sin of avarice can be saved! - If greed, avarice, have hardened his heart, you can reach salvation ... repented of their sin and faith in the Lord Jesus is true that His blood will cleanse you from all your sins.
- Beneath the cross of Christ 11, you get wonderful and glorious forgiveness - whatever it was his sin. Hallelujah!
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I hope these brief remarks on the ark of the covenant have been somewhat enlightening for you. May God (a) bless.
By: Pastor Valni Borges - Brazil Christian Ministry of Evangelism
A hug to all brothers in Christ Jesus.