Holiness, Godliness, Usefulness
01/14/2016, by John Kincaid
Lesson 846: Why Give? Pt.2
John D. Rockefeller, Sr. became a millionaire at age 33, back when a $1 million was still worth something. At age 43, he controlled the biggest company in the world.
At age 53, he was the richest man on earth and the world’s only billionaire.
He was so hated that he had to have bodyguards day and night.
He could only eat crackers due to a rare disease. He could not sleep; he had no joy in life.
His doctors told him that his time was short. He had only a few months left to live.
He realized that he “could not take one dime into the next world.”
He vowed to become a new man & began to help churches and the poor with his great wealth.
He was able to eat & sleep. He established the Rockefeller Foundation for medical research.
This led to the discovery of penicillin and other wonder drugs.
He became a Baptist. He eventually gave away over $500 million, over half of his fortune.
He had the best doctors. They predicted he would not live to age 54. Yet he lived to be 98.
Prov.3:1-2 keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.
Prov.9:11 by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.
1 Kings 3:14 if you will walk in my ways… then I will lengthen your days.
About This Series
The goal of this series is to become more useful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, as an instrument in the Redeemer's hand. The theme verses for the series are Ephesians 4:22-24, Philemon 11, 2 Timothy 2:21
- to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
- and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
- Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.