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The bible is full of verses of Gods promises if we obey His word and follow His commandments. Its also full of verses about our destruction if we sin. Since all of us sin then we are all only deserving of destruction and anything more is a measure of Gods good grace and mercy to us as sinners. This part is skipped over by many prosperity gospel preachers and i believe theirs a good reason for that.
A hard hitting message can cause true changes of heart but most people don't want that because it requires work and change and acknowledging that some of their actions (no matter how fun they are to do) are sinful and shouldn't be done, instead they'd rather want a simple feel good message that says life should be easy for them.
so you have two churches, one where the pastor focuses on hard hitting messages and his congregation grows in spiritual maturity but that most lukewarm Christians will avoid and the second church that focuses on simple feel good messages that everyone loves to hear. Watering down the gospel and avoiding hot button topics for increased memberships and thus profit is a pitfall of many mega churches and i don't believe that is Gods leading.
Say God makes a man very wealthy. That man then takes 10 percent of what God gives him and says, "here God this is yours but the other 90% i'm going to reinvest in myself and make my own life more comfortable" rather than reinvesting it in souls and the needy and those that cant afford to eat today because of the countless famines and wars around the world or spreading the gospel. Believing that the only thing in this life that truly matters is saving souls through the salvation of Jesus Christ should make a person really think about if they truly need a yacht or a mansion.
Some try to point to the patriarchs of the old testament and say "look they were wealthy" ignoring the fact that they didn't have the revelation of Jesus Christ and His teachings. The new testament teaches that "you will know a tree by its fruit" and while charity to the needy is listed as a fruit of the spirit, spending your vast wealth on yourself is not.
[FONT="]Matthew 19 verse 20 - 24 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”[/FONT]
A hard hitting message can cause true changes of heart but most people don't want that because it requires work and change and acknowledging that some of their actions (no matter how fun they are to do) are sinful and shouldn't be done, instead they'd rather want a simple feel good message that says life should be easy for them.
so you have two churches, one where the pastor focuses on hard hitting messages and his congregation grows in spiritual maturity but that most lukewarm Christians will avoid and the second church that focuses on simple feel good messages that everyone loves to hear. Watering down the gospel and avoiding hot button topics for increased memberships and thus profit is a pitfall of many mega churches and i don't believe that is Gods leading.
Say God makes a man very wealthy. That man then takes 10 percent of what God gives him and says, "here God this is yours but the other 90% i'm going to reinvest in myself and make my own life more comfortable" rather than reinvesting it in souls and the needy and those that cant afford to eat today because of the countless famines and wars around the world or spreading the gospel. Believing that the only thing in this life that truly matters is saving souls through the salvation of Jesus Christ should make a person really think about if they truly need a yacht or a mansion.
Some try to point to the patriarchs of the old testament and say "look they were wealthy" ignoring the fact that they didn't have the revelation of Jesus Christ and His teachings. The new testament teaches that "you will know a tree by its fruit" and while charity to the needy is listed as a fruit of the spirit, spending your vast wealth on yourself is not.
[FONT="]Matthew 19 verse 20 - 24 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”[/FONT]