Bucket

WithHoles

In 536 B.C. Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, captured Babylon and gave the decree permitting the Jews to return to their homeland. With the decree went the charge to rebuild the house of God formerly desecrated by pagan invaders and ravaged by time and neglect.

After a lapse of sixteen years God sent Haggai. He said their sins were:1. The sin of easy discouragement.2. The sin of procrastination.3. The sin of neglect of the Divine work entrusted them for purely selfish things.

Haggai 1:6“You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

Haggai 1:9“You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.”

Life without putting God’s

Kingdomfirst is a bucket

with holes!

Matthew 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

When we seek first the Kingdom we seek:

Something that will outlast our own lives. ...the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

Daniel 2:44,45

When we seek first the Kingdom we seek:

The best heaven has to offer. …. according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord …

Ephesians 3:11-13

When we seek first the Kingdom we seek:

Something that is out of this world.…. made us sit together in the heavenly

places in Christ Jesus … Ephesians 2:6

Life without

laying up treasures

in Heaven is a

bucket with

holes!

Matthew 6:19-2119 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

Matthew 6:19-2120 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Laodiceans thought they were rich and needed nothing. Jesus told them

otherwise!

Revelation 3:17,1817 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

Revelation 3:17,1818 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

We are only rich in Christ!Rich in faith (James 2:5)Rich in love (1Thessalonians 3:12)Rich in good works (1Timothy 6:17,18)Rich in prayer (1Peter 1:3,4)Rich in contentment (1Timothy 6:6)Rich in knowledge (Colossians 3:16)

“Out of this world I shall never takeThings of silver or gold that I make;All that I cherish and hoard away,After I leave on this earth must stay.Though I have toiled for a painting rareTo hang on the wall, I must leave it there.

Though I call it mine and boast of its worthI must give it up when I leave this earth.All that I gather and all that I keepMust be left behind when I fall asleep.And often I wonder what I shall ownIn that other life when I pass alone.What shall they find, and what shall they seeIn the soul that answers to the call of Me?

What shall they find, and what shall they seeIn the soul that answers to the call of Me?Shall the great Judge learn when my task is throughThat my spirit has gathered some riches too?Or shall it be mine at last to find,That all I have worked for, I’ll leave behind?”

~ Mac Layton