[0:00] All right, everybody has a copy of a lesson, and you've got the whole outline, and like you did on the last time I was in here, I'm going to let you all preach it to me.
[0:11] I'm going to have a couple of mics. They're going to wander the room. If you don't say as much as I once said on it, I'll say more, but we're going to take our Bibles, and we're going to open them, and here's what I want you to do.
[0:23] Now, you've got it in front of you. It's my outline, so it is faulty, but all the verses are real good. And I can guarantee their efficiency, but the rest of the words are mine or words I stole from somebody else that's smarter than me.
[0:37] And what we're going to do is we're going to read. Now, the first bullet points that you're going to see a ton of, that's like an introduction that lasts forever. So we'll just introduce however long we need to, but here's how we're going to do it.
[0:49] You can take one to two or three of the bullet points, and then you can just talk about it. And so that's all I want to ask you to do. All right, who all is going to help? Hold your hand up.
[1:00] Who's starting? Who's got the first three? I'm going to read the verses. I need the first three. Who's got them? All right, Brother Burkhart's going to take the first two or three.
[1:11] I need the next verse after him. I'm going to read the scripture. We're going to talk a little bit. Who's coming after him? Brother John Pierce is going after him. Who's going after him? All right. Sam Wilson, you're going after him.
[1:22] After him goes Dave Du Bois. So you all just move it around. Let's read Hebrew. Boy, it don't matter. You'll get to them when they're there. And you're so smart you can do them all better than I can. And so they're none of them hard.
[1:33] I promise. None of them are hard. Now let's read the verse. Let your conversation, let the way you live, be without covetousness. That's a big word in the Bible.
[1:45] And, you know, it's one of the least things that we'd ever preach on. And we'll preach against pornography and adultery because we ain't that guilty of that one. But this one hits real close to home.
[1:58] I mean, what are you doing this for? Are you talking to me? No. Talking to you? What do you need? Okay. Glad this is a man church that ain't wearing a tie.
[2:11] Amen. All right. So let your conversation be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have.
[2:24] For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
[2:37] I just want you to look at the verse real quick. Now we're going to go through and before we're over, we're going to read a lot of verses that I think will help all of us. It's a good reminder. And believe me, I know it's wrong to be covetous, but it doesn't hurt me to get reminded of it.
[2:50] And I'm certain it wouldn't hurt you. So we're going to find out what covetousness is. But here's the key in verse five. It explains it. One is covetousness. And the opposite of covetousness is not being the opposite of covetousness.
[3:05] Contentment is the opposite of covetousness being content with what you have. So he put it there for you. It's like God's like, I can explain that for you in case y'all don't catch it. You can want stuff or you can be happy with what I give you.
[3:17] Is that what it's saying? Look, can we look at it? Covetousness and be content with such things as you have. You can have whatever you got. Just be happy with it. Can I just stop here?
[3:27] You'll read this in the notes. Some of y'all will preach it to me in a minute. But y'all be happy with the wife you got. Don't be looking at nobody else's wife. Don't be looking at nobody else's wife. Don't think about nobody else's wife. Y'all be happy with the house you live in.
[3:39] Y'all be happy with the children you got. Don't you dare say to your kids, y'all be like somebody else's kids. Don't you dare say to them. You can teach them in discipline. She'll do that. You'll be happy with the kids God gave you. Amen. Let's be happy.
[3:51] Be happy with what you have. You know why you ought to be happy with what you have? Because he said, I ain't never leaving you. I ain't never forsaken you. That's pretty good.
[4:02] Because most of us ought to be forsaken and left. I know I should. Because I have messed up so many times. If I were God, I would have said, that's it, son. Three times you're out. I gave you 300 times and you're still out.
[4:14] But he doesn't leave us. And he doesn't forsake us. And he said, then someday we'll just say this. It wasn't my money. It wasn't my education. We will boldly say.
[4:26] Look at that. I like that. I don't know if you like that verse. It said, we will boldly say, the Lord is my helper. And I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
[4:36] Father, bless this time. As we go through this study and think a little bit about covetousness and contentment. And I pray, God, that you just grow us and mature us.
[4:47] Help us teach our children. Help us to live this out. Help us to be real in our hearts. Help us to accept this. In Jesus' name, amen. Brother Burkhart was first. Brother David.
[4:57] So we've got bullet number one says, covetousness sees stuff for me. So I decided right away, let's look up at the definition of covetousness just because that's what we do.
[5:09] And this is Webster's 1828. So it's one of the older definitions that actually has scripture in it. A strong inordinate desire of obtaining and possessing some supposed good.
[5:20] It's kind of interesting that it says it's supposedly good. Usually in a bad sense and applied to an inordinate desire of wealth or avarice. Out of the heart proceedeth covetousness.
[5:32] Mark 7. So the source of covetousness is our own heart. And that we should mortify our members, which makes sense. And covetousness, which is idolatry.
[5:44] So there's a definition of covetousness right in the verse. Because you're putting yourself above God. And that's very interesting that that is associated with covetousness as well.
[5:54] Then we go on to bullet number two, which says stewardship sees stuff for God and for others. And I'm reminded, I didn't look up this verse, but I remember, let each esteem others better than themselves.
[6:10] That is a command in God's word for us to do. So when we're not being covetousness, we are making sure we put others in front of ourselves. And obviously putting God first since that's his command.
[6:22] And so that's the commandment from God. And that's what we should be doing in stewardship of what God has given us. Which in many times, if we look at what that also turns into, that turns into being a good steward.
[6:35] Giving back what God has blessed us with. Since it's God's in the first place, we give it back to him. And then stewardship holds, or no, covetousness clenches things in a selfish grip.
[6:49] Selfishness is out of the root of pride anyway. So why wouldn't you hold on to what you could if you're being that kind of person? And it comes out of your own heart again. So when you think about what covetousness is doing, it's trying to hold on to something that you've desired in the first place.
[7:06] And I'm always reminded, and I always think of the idea of looking at things from an eternal perspective. Anything we covet in this life is still temporal.
[7:18] No matter what happens, it is going to fade away. And the things that we... I remember telling a co-worker who was a Christian one time, you realize the only thing you can take to heaven with you.
[7:31] She goes, what's that? I said, other people, anything else is not going to last. And she said, you know, I've never thought of it that way. So that's something to think about when you think about covetousness and trying to cling on to things that are just going to fade away.
[7:45] That's all I have to say on those three points. Well, if y'all take this long on three points, I got this whole message done in 40 minutes. I just want to tell y'all. You weren't talking that loud to yourself. Sir?
[7:56] You weren't talking that loud to yourself. Okay. Now, I did hear a guy. I either heard it somewhere I was or read it. But the guy said, the newest thing you have is just premature junk.
[8:12] The newest thing you have is just premature junk. So it just hadn't ripened yet. It'll be junk soon enough. All right. David, were you next? Who was next?
[8:23] John Pearson was next. All right. I'll pick up the pace a little bit. Oh, it's a man, church. We've got to be able to take it, brother David. They're mean. Stewardship holds it all in an outstretched open hand.
[8:37] Stewardship recognizes that I'm the manager, not the owner. Stewardship is all about me recognizing my spot. It all belongs to God. Everything is his. As a matter of fact, when you look at that verse, he says, I'll never leave thee or forsake thee.
[8:52] The only real valuable thing we have is Jesus. Everything else is premature junk, as you said. The next one, living with covetousness means living without the love of money.
[9:06] I'll take all the negatives out of that and say living with contentment is real joy and peace in your life. Money can't love back. Money is a poor master.
[9:18] Money is a poor shower of affection. Money is a master that demands service. If you want to live with covetousness, you need to know you're going to enslave yourself.
[9:31] And then covetousness, bullet number six, covetousness has its root in discontent. It has its root in discontent. It has its root in ungratefulness.
[9:42] It has its root in just a general lack of gratitude in my heart for what I have. It doesn't see the things I have. It only sees the things that I want.
[9:54] And so seeking our happiness, peace, and well-being in the details of life, money, possessions, power, and all those sorts of things, money, position, power, and possessions, is really an empty pursuit.
[10:05] It's a vain pursuit, and it's the easiest way to fill up your life with vanity, which is not an empty life. It's just a life full of empty things.
[10:17] That wasn't very nice. All right. Are you next, Sam? Maybe so. Am I supposed to do more than one verse, or I just do one point here? You do whatever you want to do, bro, Sam.
[10:27] That's what we all do. Okay. Every man does that, which is right in his own mind. Say amen. Amen. First Timothy 610. It says, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
[10:45] There's been much said, and I'm sure you've heard that. It's not that money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money that's the root of all evil. One of the things that the Lord's been teaching me is you're going to love something.
[10:58] Every one of us is in love with something. Maybe we're in love with our job, or maybe we're in love with our wife, or maybe our car, our house, or whatever. And if we're loving something that's not God, then we're loving the wrong thing.
[11:10] And you can say, I don't want to mess with the scripture here, but the love of money is the root of all evil, the love of your car, the love of your house, the love of your job, love of the praise of men.
[11:20] And whatever thing you decide that you're in love with, whatever thing that your heart is going out after, you can follow that, and you'll be pierced through with many sorrows. That's a dead end.
[11:33] And somewhere along through life, you've got to get to a place where you say, the one thing, the only thing that should command my love is Jesus Christ. And really, he didn't put verse 6 on here, but it says, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
[11:49] Maybe that's somewhere else on here. It probably will be, but that's all right. I don't mind jumping ahead. We ain't going to get finished. I can tell that already. But, you know, so verse 6 says, the thing you should be in love with is God, and you'll be content and have great gain.
[12:02] Verse 10 says, you're going to love something else, you're going to be shot through with many sorrows. Good. Would you circle the word coveted in verse 10? That's you desired and hungered after the wrong thing, and that would cause you, it'll even get you away from Jesus.
[12:17] Did you read that? If erred from the faith. Are you next, Dylan? Is that what you're doing? Who's next? David? Okay.
[12:29] All right, here we go. So what's the next one then? You're on Luke 12, 15. Man's life is not how much he has. Okay, I've got to look that one up. Okay.
[12:46] I do this on purpose with you guys. I could easily preach this message, but I think it's pretty neat the way you all did last time. So I think it's good. I'd like to hear, I'd like to see you grow and do, and I know you already know, so everybody else can learn and grow from you.
[13:00] All right, so Luke 12, 15 says, So, I mean, I don't know.
[13:18] It's pretty straightforward. Your life is not about how much you have. We make it that way quite a bit. It's a status.
[13:29] It's the car. It's the house. It's the lawn. It's the things that your kids are wearing. It's very difficult not to measure yourself that way. And it would do us well to remember that God doesn't use that scale at all.
[13:46] It's a worthless scale for him. And it always goes back to who we are in Christ. And next one, the word, the world, has the idea of thirsting to have more, always more, and still more.
[14:02] The eyes of a man are never satisfied. I did have that one. And I'm, gosh, shoot. Proverbs, sorry. 27, 27, sorry, guy.
[14:13] Oh, I'm in Psalms. What does it say? Say it. 2720. Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of man are never satisfied. That was the one I looked at before I got thwarted there. But, man, you know.
[14:26] This is man church now. Man up. Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Do I not measure up in your eyes? Try to turn it on me, would you? All right.
[14:38] No, I see this so much. I see this so much in my own life. You know, whatever. I mean, think about whatever gadget it is that you have. How long does it take for you to be looking at the next thing?
[14:53] The marketing for that is always about this. And, you know, you want. I mean, how many of us here have wanted and desired a thing and gotten it?
[15:06] You got it. And it wasn't a day later that you were like, eh. You know, it wasn't doing the thing that you thought it was. And I got to go to this one more here because, you know, it says, covetousness makes a man treasure up for himself upon earth things for which he has no need and lay up no treasure in heaven.
[15:27] And I don't know. I can't imagine. Probably most of you, you read that and you think of what Jim Elliott said. He's no fool who gives up what you cannot keep to gain that what he cannot lose.
[15:39] Yeah, it's a waste. We don't think it's a waste and we work so hard for it. But it just goes, you know, it's just swallowed up in death. Yep. Before we leave that, verse 15, I want you to pay attention to the word beware.
[15:56] I think, you know, it sounds dumb, but words have meanings. And when you don't read them in a verse and you think about what a word means, it's funny. You ever go up to a house that says, beware a dog.
[16:10] And then the other house says, don't worry about the dog, I got a gun. But anyway, but beware. It's like you're supposed to be scared of it. So I should be scared of covetousness. All right, who was next?
[16:23] Covetousness deceives a man about his values. He places emphasis on things and misses the blessings living for Christ and for others. I can't help but think about Israel in the wilderness. God had just freed them from slavery.
[16:34] And the other word discontent saying, no, we had it better back in slavery. Looking to the thing that enslaved them and had bondage. And how many times do we see in the world, man, that thing is cool.
[16:45] This thing is cool. What they have is awesome. And you covet that, forgetting where Christ has brought you from and how much he's done in your life. And you esteem those things better than what God has done.
[16:57] Yep. Anybody else? Who's next? Go ahead. Behind you there, Greg. Go ahead, Matt. The next bullet point says, his self-interest causes his ears to be closed.
[17:07] When a person is coveting after things, he's usually focused on those things. The things he's trying to obtain.
[17:17] That's his only focus. And when we do that, we lose our focus on what's important. We don't, kind of like back to what the bullet point Greg went out. A covetous causes a man to see only what he wants rather than the needs of his soul.
[17:32] So, covetous causes people to really forsake their own bodies, forsake other people, and just at all costs get what they want.
[17:42] All right. Next. Daniel. Who else? Daniel and then Nate. Let's go. Daniel.
[17:53] The next bullet point is, in his heart, he says, I must have my way. I will have that woman or that man if I have to break up their marriage to get them. I'll have that position if I have to kill someone to get it.
[18:04] I'll have my pleasure, my drink, my money, my home, my job, my good things in life, my way, no matter what the consequences. And I was just looking in Luke 12, verse 34, and it says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
[18:21] And it's God telling his people where you're putting your heart, where you're putting your desires, where you're putting what you deem as a treasure. And for this bullet point examples, you just think back to King David's life.
[18:35] Originally, he thought about nothing but what God wanted. And then one day he decided, Bathsheba looks pretty nice. I'll take her. And he did.
[18:47] And then he said, well, I want to keep her. So I got to kill my best friend. And that stirred up something in his family where his own son said, well, I want my sister.
[18:59] I'll take her. I don't care what it's going to do in the end for her, but I'll take her. And that turned into, I'm going to kill my brother because he took my sister. And all of that spurred from David becoming covetous.
[19:12] And you see an entire kingdom get destroyed through a family and being covetous instead of focusing on being content with what they have and focusing on God. So just think about that since we're all men in here.
[19:25] And a good bit of us are fathers. Let's think about that for a second. If you choose something, remember, it's going to affect your family as well. Nate?
[19:37] The next two bullet points, I feel like I kind of go together. It says, covetousness then blinds the soul into believing a lie, that he has the right to do with himself as he pleases. And he says to God, don't you get in my way.
[19:47] And the next bullet point says, covetousness is idolatry. And so we've seen that a number of times, but I was looking down at it when we first started. It seems like there's kind of a juxtaposition between the two, right?
[20:00] In Hebrews 13, it says, to let your conversation be without covetousness. So be content. Why? Why? Because, he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
[20:11] So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I'll not fear what man shall do unto me. So there's this oppositeness, if you will, from covetousness and loving and serving God, which it obviously says in Colossians 3, 5.
[20:28] Because covetousness is idolatry. There's some kind of, there's a need that you have. There's a, he says, he blinds the soul into believing a lie. To convince yourself that my greatest need is blank.
[20:43] Whether that is money or women or power or whatever it is. When the truth is, my greatest need is to know God and to be known by him.
[20:54] And so to fill anything else in that blank is to make that thing an idol. And it's to be practicing idolatry. And to have an idolatrous heart. Can I just say, I think, idolatry is a nasty word.
[21:09] And Americans don't believe we suffer from it. We look at the Indians and their idols. And we look at the Buddhists and their idols. And we're like, I couldn't, how backwards can they be?
[21:22] And the Holy Spirit says, about like y'all. I mean, that's a nasty verse. If we ever do, a readers I just edit, I'm suggesting we leave out the last four words in that verse.
[21:38] Covetousness, which is idolatry. Because that buddy, that's the truth, isn't it? And see, we don't want, I don't want to admit that. I don't want to admit that I want stuff and that becomes an idol to me.
[21:49] Because I know what idols are. I lived in a city full of idols. I know what it is, but then I still live in a city full of idols. And often I have idols. Next one.
[22:00] Go ahead. The next two kind of go along with the covetous being idolatry as well. It says covetousness is an unhealthy desire to have more than one possesses.
[22:17] And then covetousness is a disconnect with what we have. And an inherent desire for something else. Something we believe will make us happy or satisfied.
[22:29] So even this, it's idolatry. It's wanting something else. And it's showing us that the end of that one, everything is vain.
[22:40] It ends with emptiness. Because you're always going to want something else to make you happy. You're always going to want another thing. You're always going to want more. It's something that we can't even possess.
[22:52] Because we're never going to be satisfied unless we're satisfied in Christ and what we have. That's right. All right, Brother John, you were going to say something. And you can go back to those or whatever you have in mind.
[23:03] I just want to say this in addition to what Nate said. That verse, Colossians 3, 5, it says kill it. It says mortify it. It's not like you can live with some of that.
[23:16] It's not like you can allow a little bit of that in your life. It's like you better kill it. How do we kill it, John? How do we mortify it?
[23:26] You look to Jesus and be content with the things that you have. Go ahead. I think a big problem, I don't think we say thank you enough.
[23:39] I think we just need, not to each other. I'm not talking about to say thank you to me or me to you. I'm telling you, I don't, you're breathing. Thank you, Lord. Amen. You just said it.
[23:51] Go ahead. Say it better. Say it better than I did, Sam. No, because John said the way we mortify it is that we look to Jesus. And so often we go around focused on what we don't have.
[24:03] And, oh, man, you know, if only I had that wife or only if I had that car, if I had a better job, if I had, we're all the time focusing on the thing we don't have. And one of the things the Lord's been showing me lately is I have absolutely turned the bucket over and poured out blessings on you.
[24:19] Yeah, yeah. It's just like, it's astounding. It's overwhelming how much he's blessed us. And we are such ungrateful wretches going around saying, God, you didn't give me this.
[24:31] And he's like, I gave you 20,000 things. And you've got to focus on the one thing you don't have that isn't good for you in any way. And if we could get our eyes off of that one thing and look at the 20,000 things that God has blessed us with, then you end up being thankful, not covetous.
[24:47] All right, who's next? Go ahead. Go ahead. The things and cares of this world will choke out the word of God in our lives. It's Matthew 11, 22, or 13, 22.
[25:01] It says, And it just reminds me of Paul saying, you know, Demoth hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.
[25:17] And once you start loving the world, once you become friends with the world, you don't notice it, you don't realize it, but everyone else around you does. And all of a sudden, you don't love God anymore. You don't have that passion.
[25:28] And it happens quick, and it happens without you even noticing. I think I'm just walking. You're walking. It's kind of muddy, and you step in mud, and all of a sudden, you're knee deep. And some mud that didn't look that deep. But all of a sudden, you try to pull your foot out, and you lose your shoe when you hear.
[25:41] And, you know, sometimes you never get that shoe back. And, you know, the world, it'll get on you, and sometimes it'll take something you can't get back. So, just. Amen. Before this, we leave this verse.
[25:54] You know, this verse is really written about lost people, about people not getting saved, but it just works and saves people's lives the same way. And there's some words in there that ought to be thought about.
[26:05] Look at deceitfulness. Would somebody explain deceitfulness? One of you guys, got a mic here, we're near you. Go ahead. What is deceitfulness? It's life. It's lying. It's lying to the people around you.
[26:17] It's lying to yourself. Deceitfulness. And riches are deceitful. How are they deceitful? Go ahead, Sam.
[26:27] If you want to say it, say it. Go ahead. What? They fake security. They fake comfort. They fake protection. They fake salvation for some people. And, I mean, oftentimes we set up these things that we think are going to take good care of us, forgetting that it's the Lord who upholds us.
[26:45] Somebody over here said something. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm kind of thinking of what David was saying earlier. Was it, it lies to you about satisfaction, right?
[26:57] You're always thinking of the next thing. Like, oh, you know, when am I going to get the next raise? Or when am I going to get my next car? And finally you get it. You've been looking forward to it all this time. And you get it. And it's like, all right, now when's the time for the next thing?
[27:08] Right? Like, there's always, there's, Satan used it to lie to you, thinking that this next thing is what you want. And then when you get it, it's not enough. There's always more wanting. If you want stuff, go ahead.
[27:24] If you read through the minor prophets, one of the things that just echoes really loud is I'd rather have obedience than sacrifice. You read the first half of the Old Testament, and you hear so much about the sacrifice and the law.
[27:35] But then you see in John, John 14, Jesus heals the man at the pool. And then 811, the harlot. And he tells both of them, go and sin no more.
[27:46] It's a battle for our mind. God can do anything with our bodies, with our finances, or whatever, and we can still covenant our mind. It's the giving of our mind to God that completes the middle of our conscience to be dead to sin.
[28:01] Once that's done, once we are a new creature in Christ, then we can go on to a better trust with God. But no matter what he does, you still have to have that inward change. The outward change will never make a difference.
[28:12] I want you to focus on choking the word. That is in my... That's kind of like the verse where it says, He could do no mighty works there.
[28:25] Because how you choke the word, like the most powerful thing that exists on this planet. But you know what I'm saying. It's like, isn't it? The Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God, the most powerful things on this planet, but you can choke it.
[28:41] You don't believe God. And you know what you're doing in this verse is you're looking for money more than you're looking for the word. And what happens is your job starts driving you more than the words driving you.
[28:53] Is there anything wrong with the work? No, but the word's more important than the work. And we've got to keep that. All right. A couple more bullet points. We're almost through with the introduction. Go ahead.
[29:04] Ben Mize needs a microphone back there. Somebody get it to him real quick. Second to last one. Not being sad or third to last.
[29:14] Covetousness is a root sin that leads to sexual sin as well as many others. And the devil tries to keep our focus on what we can see. Like that person's more attractive than who God gave me.
[29:25] Or they're better. We think they're better in some way that we can see with our eyes. And it's not really that at all. It's the fact that this is the person God has given me to be with. And I have to step off the throne of my heart and say, I don't know what the best thing for me is.
[29:40] I need God to tell me what the best thing for me is. Because when I'm in charge, I can look around and say, that person's better. That person looks nicer or whatever. And I think, oh, I need that. And I need to get that. Rather than submitting to what God has given me and to his leading in my life.
[29:54] And he is the one who's in control, not me. Yeah, and I like what you said. You don't know what's best for you. I don't know what's best for me.
[30:05] But my master does. And he knows. Who was going to say something? I saw something. Where did the mic go? Timmy? Go ahead.
[30:16] I do want to say this, guys. I put that in there on purpose. Because I think sometimes you think covetousness needs money. But it doesn't just mean money. You don't have to covet another man's wife either.
[30:29] And we live in a day and time when everybody's on the internet looking at another man's wife. And if I love Jesus, I believe he gave me what's best.
[30:40] And every one of us ought to believe, every man in this room ought to believe, I am married to the absolute most wonderful and perfect woman that God could have ever made for me. My wife, God did that for me.
[30:53] And I am very content. I am very happy with what God did for me. And I think it ought to be expressed like a gazillion times to your wife. She ought to hear you say, well, I thank God for you. You didn't get her because you're good looks.
[31:05] You got them because God's been good to you. Anyway, go ahead, Timmy, next. I think the last three points really go together. Covetousness is not being satisfied with what we have in our partner, money, possession, even in ministry.
[31:22] And then covetousness is the mother of all sin. Just the last three is, it's really getting off of, it's getting our eyes off of what God gave us and focusing on what we have, getting more, even, I like the end of the, the second to last bullet point, even in ministry, even in what God has given us in what we are doing and where we're serving, getting our eyes off of what God has given us and looking at other people's Sunday school classes, maybe bigger or different things and not what we can, some of it is what we can work on, but not, not things that are in our control and coveting what other people are doing in ministries and then how covetousness is the mother of all sin.
[32:21] It's, all right, we've already been over 1 Timothy 6, 10. So for the sake of time, we're going to skip it. But it says the love of money and we already talked about, but that money is not the problem.
[32:36] It's the love of money. Now in chapter, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 34, who'll take that? Hebrews 10, 34, any one of you, quick, my time is running and we can't waste it.
[32:48] Hebrews 10, 34, just speak if you'll take that. And then somebody else can go ahead and go to, you can just tell me the story of Luke 12, 15 down through 21 so we don't read all those verses just for the sake of time.
[33:04] We have 12 minutes before we're quitting, so I want her done. Hebrews 10, 34, who has it? I do. For you have had compassion on me and my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and a more enduring substance, what is it?
[33:27] Well, here, life's just temporary and if we lay up treasures in here, it's not going to last, but in heaven, we have an enduring, everlasting substance with the Lord.
[33:38] Whoever wrote this letter, maybe Paul, actually, I was just with a preacher talking about his nose as Paul, but anyway. We know it's Paul. Okay. It's Paul?
[33:50] Are you sure? I think it might be, but I don't know. He said the reason Paul didn't put his name or his name was a bad name for them Jews and so he didn't say anything to me. He didn't say Paul because he knew they hated him and that was one of his keys.
[34:03] But anyway, Hebrews 10, 34, they took joyfully the spoiling of your goods. Somebody translate spoiling of your goods? Somebody translate that.
[34:15] What? Taking yourself, robbing you. So the right, sir? Yeah, go to war and get spoiling. He said, y'all let me just come in here and steal your money.
[34:28] I came here and took it and y'all took it joyfully. And it's going into the ministry, but look what he says. I think this is the most, one of the more beautiful verses of the whole time. Knowing in yourselves you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
[34:44] I have more. You want to say something? Get them. I'll just shout out loud. Well, there's people watching online most of the time. Hello. Okay. There's one behind you. Oh, oh, oh.
[34:55] Oh, there. Yeah. As we're going through this, it's just really putting the demarcation between that which focuses on the physical and that which focuses on the spiritual, the spiritual being eternal and the physical that which is being destroyed.
[35:07] We know through Peter that everything that we have here is going to be rolled up and destroyed in fire. So why focus on this? And this really says it that they're willing to give up what they have here and now because they know in heaven they have far better things because they're going to last forever and nobody can take it away.
[35:19] Just like Jesus said, nothing will spoil it. They believe it. But we're going to have to believe in heaven. We're going to have to believe in heaven. We're going to have to believe that God really did all that at that first one more.
[35:30] Who can take the story of Luke 12, 15 all the way down to 12, 21 and go ahead, David. Okay, guys. We'll be here a little more now. Come on, David. I'm going to preach. I will be quiet about it.
[35:42] Real quick. Luke 12, 15 through 21. Quiet or quick? You said I'll be quiet about it? I'll be quick about it. Okay. 15 through 21. It is bad church. Don't get mad. I'm not mad.
[35:53] Basically says that there's a rich man who says to himself, I've gotten everything I need. I need to pull down my barns, build up more storage space for all this stuff I've acquired. And at the end, God basically says to him, you fool, tonight your soul will be required of you and who's left, who's going to get what you've just done.
[36:12] You're not even going to be able to take this stuff with you. And it's kind of what we talked about earlier is the fact that the only thing you can take with you is other people. You can't take riches or anything else. So all that work he did was for naught.
[36:24] It was vanity. And that's what the story's about. So I'm not in control of my life. No, you're not. I got my most successful year. Go through my accountant and find out I got all kind of junk and need bigger barns.
[36:38] And God says, time's up. You're not in charge. You're going to die. And you're not in charge when you die. And the God of Hep, by the way, you're not in charge when you die.
[36:50] I'll give you another way you're not in charge. I have a friend and he's in Columbia now. He's a Peruvian. His name is Francisco Acho. And when he was 18 or 19 years old, he hated life so bad that he took his dad's shotgun and put it under his chin and blew off this entire part of his face.
[37:09] Blew it off. If you saw him today, it is the biggest mess. I mean, when you look at him, he has got a horrible. Peruvians putting all that together 50 years ago, they didn't do a good job. They shoved him in the back of the hospital and said, he'll be dead by morning.
[37:21] Let's just leave him there. The next morning when they got up, he wasn't dead. So they said, we better try to help him. He's been laying back there 12 hours. He ain't died yet. And they put him together. He said, you can't even take your own life when you want to.
[37:34] And he's been preaching for a long time. And he's a pastor. He's one of the most respected pastors in Peru. Okay. Now, we won't finish.
[37:45] I know that. And I may have to pick certain people to do this, but look at point D in your notes. And I want you to talk, kind of walk us through that story. So don't pick it unless you know the story because I didn't even give it because I ought to be able to take off on that.
[37:57] Who can explain the consequences of covetousness talking about Balaam or Achan or Ananias and Sapphira and all that. So who'll take Balaam? David.
[38:08] I'm going to get you a microphone because people do listen over line. So Balaam was hired by a king to basically curse Israel at a time when he shouldn't have been doing that.
[38:22] And he basically said, I can't do anything unless God tells me to. And God never let him. But he started wanting so much to, at the end of the initial story, he goes back to his home. But then he ends up being in one of the cities of the king that asked him to curse Israel.
[38:36] And by the end of his life, Israel ends up in a war with that city and kills him. So he ends up dying by the people he was hired to curse, which he couldn't curse because God didn't allow him to.
[38:48] But the only reason that all happened was because he coveted after the king's wealth and really wanted it that bad. He wanted that money and that money ends up destroying him.
[38:59] And anytime I want something, we don't have time to do all this, but in 1 Timothy 6 and like 10, money, the devil uses money in the snare.
[39:13] Maybe 9 when he says it, but he uses money in the snare. It's like when you catch the animal in the trap, you put something they won't, but you're not giving it to them to help them, you're giving it to them to catch them.
[39:29] That's what the devil does. Anybody else want to say a word on Balaam? All right, who can talk to me about Achan? Achan, God gives him instructions, says there's something there, I don't want you guys to even touch it when you take Jericho.
[39:43] Achan walks by, sees it, he says he coveted it and he took it, which just goes to show that sometimes we see something, we covet it, and he made the choice to take it, and then he went and he hid it. You can't hide anything from God, and his disobedience and covetousness not only cost him his life, it gets 36 people killed and it also gets his family killed.
[40:01] It's a real somber reminder that sin not only hurts us but it hurts others and those we try to lead as well. It's also kind of a bad story because it evidently wasn't that much.
[40:12] And he got it, the next chapter in the take AI, God allows him to get spoils too if he had waited. If he had waited, God had to give it to him. That's a good point, Greg. But you know what? What's funny is it was not, he didn't have a 3,000 square foot house and he buried it in the floor of his tent.
[40:27] I don't know how big his tent was but I doubt it was as big as this building. And he buried it so it wasn't that much. And you just don't get away with that.
[40:38] All right, who knows about Ananias and Sapphira? I got it. Ananias and Sapphira, it was around the time where a lot of people were getting saved in the book of Acts and they were, through their love of God and through the fact that he saved them, they were giving away all their possessions and giving the money, the profit for it to the church so that way they can grow.
[40:56] And Ananias and Sapphira concocted a plan where they would sell their property for a certain amount of money and then only donate a portion of it to the church instead of giving it all but lie and say that they gave all of it so they can keep some for themselves.
[41:07] And Ananias went first, he gave it and said this is all that we were able to make off selling our belongings and Peter knew that he lied and the Holy Ghost came and killed Ananias and they took his body and put it away and they wanted to see if Sapphira would be more honest than her husband and she came in, they asked how much was the property worth and did you give it all and she said yes and they said your husband died because he lied, why would you lie too?
[41:34] She died right there on the floor, they took her body and took it away as well. It's the first young people's ministry in the church, carrying it with the dead people and a lot of God. Yep. It's a perfect example of if you're going to say you're giving everything you can to God, do it wholeheartedly because God knows your heart better than you do.
[41:52] Yeah, was there any problem if anyone wanted to keep part of it? No. I didn't care about that. I cared about the lie. They wanted man's approval and money and both of those are things that you're not to covet after.
[42:04] I want God's approval, not, I'm supposed to want God's approval. All right, Ahab, Jezebel, and Naboth. That's one of my favorite Bible stories. Who's got it?
[42:16] Hurry up. All right, Nate, we're running out of time so get it going. Yes, sir, right? So Ahab goes and he likes the vineyard and he says, Naboth, hey man, give me my vineyard and Naboth's like, no, it's not mine to give. It's my family. God gave it to me.
[42:27] So Ahab goes back and he pouts about it like any great grown man king would. His wife comes and says, it's all right, honey, I'll take care of it. So she concocts this whole plan and they kill Naboth and so he gets the vineyard and Ahab's real happy about it and then the man of God comes and says, like, man, you're going to regret that and so years, he says, he's going to die and in a place where the dogs lick the blood of Naboth, you know, dogs are going to lick the blood of Ahab and then Ahab remembers it later on because he goes out to war and he convinces Jehoshaphat to dress up as king and he wears his regular clothes but that man just draws a bow at adventure, the Bible says, and nails him and he dies and they wash his blood out of the chariot, dogs lick it up, Jezebel gets pushed out of a tower by these people, dogs.
[43:12] This is the next radio thing, could you calm down? Yeah, it's a whole, it's definitely a whole thing. No, it's good. And that's all because he wanted a vineyard. He's a king, he could have had any vineyard, he could have moved his palace somewhere but he wanted that vineyard and killed a man for it.
[43:29] You left out the funniest part of the story to me. Jezebel gets away with it, you know, she lives longer and everything's going good. Who's going to tell me what happens to Jezebel? Hand the mic to John Pearson there, he's ready to tell it.
[43:40] What happens to Jesse? Tell us about Jesse, John. Jezebel is going to be in the upper room, she's going to be fixing herself up.
[43:55] Oh, I love the way it even says it in the King James. Come on, tell them what it says. Yeah, she's going to tie up her head, tie her, tie her head and a couple of eunuchs are going to throw her out in the street and the dogs are going to eat her.
[44:06] And what's funny is after she's been laying out for a while, the good guy says, go bury her, she's the daughter of a... Yeah, and what'd they find?
[44:17] Just hands and... Hands and feet, wasn't it? I think that's all that's left. How did they eat the poor lady? And that's a little bit about what covetous might do to somebody.
[44:28] It destroys us. You need to kill it. Well, I mean, it's what it says, isn't it? We need to mortify it. And you know, that's the reason I thought we ought to look at it. Now, I'm not going to, next time I won't, we're at page 8 out of 14 in my notes.
[44:42] I don't know where you are in your set of notes there, but you have it all. I wish you'd take it and read through it. If you look up all the verses, you'd have as many pages as I do because every verse is written out here. We ought to go through this and we ought to realize the first Psalm 62, 10, we trust not in what we can do.
[45:02] Riches, don't let them increase and take your heart. And 1 Timothy 6, 6 and following, that is something everybody ought to study. I had every Peruvian man that I ever worked to, we memorized those verses and went over them constantly.
[45:18] I really think you ought to read and get into that. And by the way, from here to the end of your lesson that you have in your hand, it's just about all verses, which is typically what I do when I'm preaching.
[45:28] And you can do it, you can go through there. We have to hate our secret sin. See, I don't, I don't mean to be proud or boastful, but I don't really have a porn problem.
[45:44] I do have to work on covetousness. I have to keep killing it. It keeps rising its ugly head up in my life. I don't really have an adultery problem, a drugic problem, an alcohol problem.
[45:56] I don't have any of those. I do have a problem with this idolatry in my life because I keep wanting stuff. I keep wanting stuff. I have to keep killing it. I have to keep killing it.
[46:07] One of the good ways, and I thought John might mention it, but he didn't. But he, years ago, in an offering devotional, do you remember enough of it to tell that offering devotional about how you tell your money what to do?
[46:20] Well, tell it real quick and we'll be dismissed or I'll let the announcers come or whatever's got to happen. In 900 offering devotions, I think this is the only one he ever liked. Not true, but it was a good one.
[46:36] But I had this conversation with my money one time where I said, I want to give some money to the Lord. And so I was going to give a $100 bill and the $100 bill said to me, you know, that's Benjamin.
[46:50] He said to me, you know, we haven't been out, we haven't gone out to a nice restaurant. You and your wife hadn't gone out. Why don't you save me for going out to a nice restaurant? And I said, okay. So he said, I got a younger brother, Ulysses.
[47:02] Why don't you give him? And so I got Ulysses out and I looked at Ulysses and I said, you're going in the offering tomorrow. And he said, you know, he said, hadn't you been wanting that new case for your BlackBerry?
[47:16] And so I said, yeah. BlackBerry's an old timey phone. Kind of one you hook in the wall. And so he said, but I got a younger brother named Andrew.
[47:28] Yeah. Andrew Jackson. He said, why don't you put him in? I said, Andrew, you're going in the offering tomorrow. And Andrew said, no, I think you wanted that book on Amazon.
[47:38] Why don't you use me for that book on Amazon? I said, sure. He said, but I got a younger brother. What's his name? Thomas? No. Who's on the 10? That's Andrew Jackson. Hamilton's on the, yeah, Hamilton.
[47:51] And I looked at him and he said, welcome to Moe's. And by the time I got down to the $1 bill, the $1 bill said, you know, that's all I ever get to do is go in the offering.
[48:05] And so I looked at all that money again and I said, you know, you guys all work for me. You're all going in the offering tomorrow. And the offering devotion tagline was, tell your, you're in charge, tell your money what to do.
[48:17] Amen. That was the best offering we ever had there. You know, he put all that money in there. All right. I hope you enjoyed the study net. Who's doing announcements?
[48:27] Are there any announcements? Well, you better do it quick. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[49:05] Thank you.
[49:35] Thank you.
[50:05] Thank you.