Faith Walk / William Carroll
We will be talking about the word of God and how he moved in my life as I stood on his word. His signs and wonders that I have seen during the last forty years praying for my needs and the needs of others. I hope to encourage a new generation of believers to pray the word of God and to believe that He will move on their behalf. God answers prayers!
Faith Walk / William Carroll
Ep 74 When Possessions Possess: Lessons from Matthew 19
Ever wonder what might be standing between you and true spiritual freedom? In this thought-provoking exploration of Matthew 19, we dive deep into the encounter between Jesus and the rich young ruler—a story that powerfully illuminates how our attachments can become our prisons.
The young ruler approaches Jesus with what seems like the perfect question: "What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Jesus' response cuts straight to the heart of the matter. After pointing out that only God is truly good and reminding him of the commandments, Jesus challenges the man to sell his possessions and follow Him. What happens next reveals everything: the man walks away sorrowful, unable to let go of his wealth.
But this isn't just about money—it's about anything that owns us rather than us owning it. As we discuss in this episode, even something as seemingly innocent as a bass boat can possess your heart if it constantly calls to you and diverts your attention from what truly matters. "There's nothing wrong with having things," we explain, "but when those things have you, that's the problem." This principle applies universally, regardless of financial status. Sometimes those with very little can cling more tightly to their possessions than the wealthy.
We also examine Jesus' famous statement about camels, needles, and the difficulty of the rich entering heaven. When the disciples asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus offered the perfect response: "With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible." This is the gospel in a nutshell—salvation isn't about our ability to detach from worldly things through sheer willpower, but about God's transforming power in our lives.
Ready for a spiritual reality check? Listen now and consider what might be possessing you. Whatever has a hold on your heart, today is the perfect day to let it go and run toward God instead.
Well, welcome to Faith Walk Podcast, episode 74. This morning we're still in the Matthew, the book of Matthew, gospel of Matthew, chapter 19. And we're going to be talking about the rich young ruler. So in Matthew 19, 16, it says Behold, one came and said unto him Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said why do you call me good? No one is good but one, and that is God. But if you want to enter into life, listen to this. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. Keep the commandments. And he said unto him which one? Jesus said you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear fault witness, honor your father and your mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the young man said to him all these things I've done since my youth. What do I lack? And Jesus said unto him if you want to be perfect, then go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven. And come and follow me. And the young man heard that he went away, sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And jesus said to his disciples assuredly, I say unto you, it's hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god. So we've got a rich man here, a young man, and he comes to Jesus and he said Jesus, what do I need to do to enter eternal life? First thing Jesus said was there's none good except God. And that's true. There's none of us good except God, and the only good in each one of us is the God that is in us, the Christ that is in us, the Holy Spirit that is in us. If, if we feed the flesh I I did one on feeding the flesh and feeding the spirit and you'll live out of the whichever side you feed. If we feed the flesh, we'll walk in the flesh. And the flesh is enemy, it's at odds against the spirit, because the flesh wants to do what the flesh wants to do and the spirit, if it's born again, created in, wants to live and walk, as God said. So he said listen. He said, he said which one, which one, which one of the commandments? And Jesus told him. And then he said I've done all these since my youth. I've done every one of these.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, in Proverbs it says pride comes before a fall. Sometimes we let our mouth overload our butt and when we do that we think more highly of ourself than we ought. Even the New Testament says don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to. And we shouldn't do that. And sometimes we do that. We have a tendency to do that, you know, because I'm the best. You know, we're taught all our lives. You know, if you're not number, if you're not first, you're last. You know, and you got to be number one. You got to be the best at baseball. You got to be the best football. You got to be best at everything. And so we get in that and we build a self pride up that we have to deal with at some point in our life.
Speaker 1:But he said you know, I've done all these things. You know what do I lack? And Jesus said OK, because Jesus knew his heart. You see, his heart was in his money. Everything was about his possessions, everything was about his money, everything was about his possessions, everything was about his money. And Jesus said tell your money to the poor and come, follow me. He said come be to my disciple and you'll enter. You'll enter into life.
Speaker 1:And the rich man? He said no, he left sorrowful because he couldn't do that, because he could not let go of the possessions. Why? Because he didn't do that? Because he could not let go of the possessions. Why? Because he didn't have possessions. His possessions had him.
Speaker 1:See, so many times our possessions have us. You know, there's nothing wrong with having a bass boat, there's nothing wrong about, you know, having a lot of things. But if that bass boat has you, then there's a problem, see, and you say, well, how can that bass boat have me? Well, I'm a man, you know it don't run my life. Yeah, it does. That bass boat speaks to you every time you walk out into the garage or into the barn, where it is, and it says take me fishing, let's go fishing, let's go fishing, let's go fishing. There's a bass out there for you, there's catfish out there for you. That bass boat, or that boat, it speaks to you all the time. Everything in this world speaks to you. You know, the only thing that we don't believe still speaks is God. Well, god still speaks to you too, if you have the ears to hear him and you want to hear him, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So his possessions had him and he could not let go of his possessions. So he went away, sorrowful, and they asked him. They said, jesus, you know who, who can, who can go into heaven. And Jesus, told him, you know, said, listen, hardly, or it's hard for a rich man to go into heaven. Why? Because his possessions have him. You know, you don't even have to be a rich, rich man for your possessions to have you.
Speaker 1:Matter of fact, I've noticed that a lot of times a poor man with the possessions that he have are more greedy and more clingy to his possessions than a rich man are. So it's not just rich men. We have to look at each one of us. We have to look at ourselves and we have to say, hey, do my possessions have me? Am I so greedy with my possessions that I won't give it? You know, if God says, hey, go give your watch to somebody, will you do that? Well, this is a nice watch. You know I bought this, or I spent money on this watch. Or will you just take it off and hand it to somebody? You know god says go give you a coat to somebody else. Will you just give you somebody else your coat? You know these are questions that you have to. You just have to ask yourself. But a lot of people will say that the commandments are done away with. We live under grace now and we don't live under the commandments, which is true. We do live under the grace, but the commandments are still in effect.
Speaker 1:Jesus came to fulfill the commandments. The commandments is our school teacher to teach us the Word of God, to teach us how we should act and into to how we should carry our business right. You know, and, and Jesus said you know you shall not commit a murder. Well, you know we. Well, we don't commit a murder. Well, later on, jesus says if you hate, you've already committed that murder. If you see a woman and you say, whoo, would I? You've already committed adultery in your heart. So you're as guilty as if you went and laid with that woman. If you see a man and you're a man and you go, whoo that man, jesus said you committed adultery in your heart, you committed fornication. Listen, listen. God is real serious about his word. He is a jealous God Now. He loves us, he forgives us, he wants us to walk with Him.
Speaker 1:And the commandments. If you live by walking in the Spirit and have the Spirit leading and guiding you every day, then you will not fulfill the dictates of the flesh. That's what the Word of God says. You will not fulfill the dictates of the flesh. In other words, you won't choose the flesh, you'll choose the spirit. So you know, we need to watch what we. We need to make sure that our possessions do not possess us. We need to make sure that the possessions that we have we could do without. You know that we have a heart that we could do without it if we needed to, or if the Lord shared us to.
Speaker 1:You know, in there he said it's harder for a rich man to go into, to enter into the eye of a camel, to enter in the eye of a needle and we think of a little needle where a thread goes. But it was a door. It was a door around the walls of Jerusalem and it was a small door and only people could go in and out that door. It wasn't a large door where a camel could go into, but the camel couldn't fit in there. And you know, and God said it's easier. Well, let's just take the needle with the thread. It's easier for thread to go through a needle than it is for a rich man to enter heaven.
Speaker 1:And they said well, who can be saved? Then, lord and Jesus said with man it's impossible. With God all things are possible. All things are possible. See, with God all things are possible. Because he would not have one person, one lost person, rich, poor, gay, straight. He would not have them to perish. But come to the knowledge of Christ, the saving knowledge of Christ, and if that's you today, give your heart to the Lord. Whatever it is, whatever's got a hold of you, denounce it and run to God. Ask the Lord to save your soul, to be the Lord of your life, and he will. Until next time, on Faith Walk.
