Episode Transcript
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Luke, Chapter Twelve, beginning at
verse thirteen and continuing on through verse Thirty
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One. Look twelve, thirteen,
listen out to the word of God.
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And one of the company said,
unto him, master, speak to my
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brother, that he divide the inheritance
with me. And he said, unto
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him, man who made me a
judge or a divider over you? And
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he said, unto them, take
heed and beware of covetousness, for a
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man's life consisted not in the abundance
of the things which he possesseth. And
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he spoke a parable onto them,
saying the ground of a certain rich man
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brought forth plentifully. And he thought
within himself, saying what shall I do,
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because I've no room where to bestow
my fruits? And he said,
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this will I do? I will
pull down my barns and build greater and
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there will I bestow all my fruits
and my goods, and I will say
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to my soul, soul, thou
hast many goods laid up for many years.
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Take thy knees, eat, drink
and be merry. But God said
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to him, Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of Thee.
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Then whose shall those things be which
thou hast provided. So is he
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that Laith up treasure for himself and
is not rich toward God. And he
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said unto his disciples. Therefore I
say unto you. Take no thought for
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your life what you shall eat,
neither for the body, what you shall
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put on. Life is more than
meat and the body is more than raiment.
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Consider the Ravens. They neither Snook
so nor reap, which neither have
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store house nor barn, and God
feedeth them. How much more are ye
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better than the fowls? and which
of you, with taking thought, can
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add to his stature one cubit?
If Ye, then be not able to
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do that thing which is least.
Why take ye thought for the rest?
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Consider the lilies. How they grow? They toil not, they spin not.
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And yet I say and to you, that Solomon, in all his
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glory, was not a rayed like
one of these. If then, God
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so clothe the grass which is to
day in the field and tomorrow is cast
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into the oven, how much more
will he clothe you? o Ye of
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little faith, and seek not ye
what ye shall eat or what ye shall
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drink. Neither be of doubtful mind
for all these things do the nations of
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the world seek after, and your
father knoweth that Ye have need of these
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things, but rather seek the Kingdom
of God, and all these things shall
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be added unto you. Let's pray. Lord. Ye have spoken directly to
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us through your word. We ask
now, our father, that even as
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we preach your word, as your
word is heard, that that it would
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enter into our hearts and become a
part of our lives. This we pray
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in Jesus name. Amen, please
be seated. We live in a very
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successful country. That's not a criticism. Oh, I know people complain about
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their salaries, about their living conditions, but I've traveled and I've lived in
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the Third World and, believe me, we are a nation and a people
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which has experienced great economic blessings.
But the deception is that many of us
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live here, is that we believe
that because we are economically successful, that
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we have everything that we need.
I think we see that in the drop
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in church attendance. You know,
they were building new church buildings almost at
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a progressive rate in the United States
until the year nineteen ninety, and the
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in in one thousand nine hundred and
ninety, the number of church buildings that
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was built leveled off and now it's
pretty much stagnant because, yes, there
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are some churches building new buildings,
but not so many. People don't go
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to church because they don't think they
need God because they are prosperous. We
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see that in the history of Israel. Israel would would sin and God would
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send a nation to invade their land
and and and that nation would oppressed the
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Israelites and and the Israelites would say, oh, we have forgotten about God,
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and then they'd cry out to the
Lord and say Lord, save us,
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and the Lord and his compassion and
mercy, would send an army to
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or a judge or a king to
deliver the people and they would drive out
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the enemies. And for a few
years they were faithful and then they began
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to prosper economically and in other ways, and then slowly they'd forget about the
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Lord and they'd get to the place
where they didn't call upon him anymore,
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and then God would send another army
to overrun them and the cycle just goes
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over and over again. Well,
this passage is a about economic prosperity.
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There's a fellow. It says that
he was one of the company. That
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then implies that he was a person
who was following after Jesus. I mean
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he was one of perhaps not one
of the twelve disciples, but but one
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of that group of people that followed
after Jesus. And he says master speak
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to my brother, that he divide
the inheritance with me. Now the temptation
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here is to think, well,
what does Jesus have to do with dividing
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inheritances? I can recommend a few
books by rush Duny and some others who
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would go on and on about how
there are economic implications of the Gospel.
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And I've read those books and I
don't disagree. Jesus in fact taught a
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lot about economics, although not exactly
what a lot of people think, but
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it but this man wants Jesus to
to settle a disagreement between him and his
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brother. And once again it's not
a bad thing. It would not have
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been a bad thing to settle that
disagreement, but for whatever reason, our
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savior decides not to do so.
In fact, he says to him,
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man, who made me a judge
or a divider over you? Sometimes we
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as Christians think that it's our job
to settle everybody else's problems. We are
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here to help people, yes,
but to set ourselves up as judges.
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If God has chosen you as a
civil magistrate, then it's your job,
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but if he hasn't, that wasn't
why Jesus came primarily to be a judge
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or divider. But Jesus uses this
as an opportunity. Look what he says
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in Verse Fifteen. He says take
heed and beware of covetousness. Once the
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last time you heard the word covetousness? Outside of Church and the word covet
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when's the last time you heard somebody
said a man, I was really bummed
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out. I was coveting this morning. I shouldn't have been doing that.
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I mean I could think of tenzero
words that we use in English, a
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lot of sports terms, for example, that that we use all the time.
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When's the last time you heard somebody
say, ah, I got to
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work on being I'm too covetous,
I have to admit outside of the church,
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and I mean like within the building, I cannot remember somebody using the
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word covet we use the word want, but want is not the same.
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I want something. It's not quite
the same as covetousness. What is covetousness?
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Take Heed and beware of covetousness wanting
things that don't properly belong to you.
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I mean, you work at a
job, you get paid, you
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expect to get paid. You can
say I want to get paid because I've
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worked a good day's labor and and
that's not covetousness, that's expecting what you
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deserve and and so we're not criticizing
that. But covetousness is the idea of
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of wanting more and more and more. A wait, yeah, that's kind
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of America, isn't it? Out
in Concho contect? Have you all been
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to Concho? It's I'm told it's
the center of the UEVER. I see
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hands. You've been to Concho.
There's nothing in Concho. Okay, they're
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there are six thousand people in Greater
Concho. There's a Jiffy Mart. There's
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not even that supermarket or a market. There's a Jiffy Mart sells gas to
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that's and there's two or three little
restaurants there. But there's this giant place,
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and in fact there's another one down
the road. But within Concho Valey
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self there's this giant place where people
store all the junk they're never ever going
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to use again. It's one of
those storage areas. If you seen them,
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are they any here? Into what
where? They didn't have these things.
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Thirty years ago, when I was
a kid, all my stuff you
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could put in my toy chest,
I mean all my clothes, might,
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everything I had was in my toy
chest. It still is, except for
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my books. We are Coven as
people. I'm sorry, we not you
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in particular. Well maybe, but
you get when I'm getting at. Jesus
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is saying beware of covetousness, for
a man's life consistent not in the abundance
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of the things which he possesses.
Hallo America, we think we need more,
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we think we have to have more, we've got to have more,
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and it is affecting the Church of
Jesus Christ. We Think, Oh,
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in order to in order to have
a mission, in order to reach out,
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we've got to have money. We've
got it. We've got a mass
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wealth and to use an example,
this a little tricky example. You're you're
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going to think you understand it until
I'm going to throw a there's it's going
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to be a curved ball. There
was a guy in my church and sent
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Anna Spanish speaking and he never came
to church, but his wife came every
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other Sunday more or less, and
his kids came almost every Sunday, and
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he was not a believer. So
I asked him one day why don't you
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come to church? And so he
turned it around and he said because all
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you want is money. I said
what do you mean you? And in
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Spanish, when you say you,
that's singular, so I knew he was
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talking about me in particular. And
I said why do you think I want
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money? said all your ministers want
money, and I said okay, and
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his wife went him and said,
you know, Steve doesn't get paid to
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be a minister. He doesn't receive
a salary, and he said yeah,
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he must be getting rich. It
is. He said, you don't know
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how he's getting rich, but he's
getting rich some way or another by being
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a minister. Now you think you
understand the example, don't you? You're
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all saying, I get that example. Ah, I'm sympathetic with this guy.
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I'm kind of on his side.
It was true. I wasn't getting
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rich by being a minister, but
why did he think this way? Why
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did he think that the only reason
you would be a minister is to be
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get is to get rich? Because
that was his experience in Mexico and in
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the United States when he saw priests
and ministers and those religious people. The
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only reason he could imagine that they
would want to do that is to get
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money. And yes, his wife
would turn on the TV and she would
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watch all the religious programs and what
did they I'm sorry, folks, I
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don't mean to offend, but what
did they always do on those religious programs?
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They'd ask for money. And so
it was his idea that the only
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reason somebody would want to be a
minister is to get rich. Am I
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criticizing him? Know, I am
criticizing the Church of Jesus Christ because there
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is too much covetousness. What did
our savior say? By our Savior said
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take heed and beware of covetousness,
for a man's life consisted not in the
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abundance of the things which he possesses. Now, what does this have to
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do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? It's essential, brothers and sisters,
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that when we present Jesus, that
we present Jesus in some of our churches.
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You know, they don't even take
offerings. I mean with the ushers
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and all that. I'm not saying
that's that's bad to take offerings, but
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I like the idea because in some
of our churches when somebody comes in and
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that's their first Sunday and there's a
plate pushed in front of him and you
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know, they feel embarrassed. It's
like Oh, I got to take out
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something out of my pocket put in
the plate. But in the churches where
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they don't do that, then people
can feel hey, maybe they're really not
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out for my money. So Jesus
uses a parable an example. He says,
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at the ground of a certain man
brought forth plentifully and he thought to
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himself, saying, what shall I
do, because I've no room where to
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put all my fruits. The Lord
has blessed him and and he's greatly blessed,
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kind of like America, and he
said I know what I'll do.
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I'll hold on my barns and I'll
built greater and there will I bestore all
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my fruits and my goods. I'll
get richer. He's noticed what it says.
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There was a certain rich man.
He was already rich and then he
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sought to. He thought to himself, well, I'll, I'll become richer
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and richer. Dear brothers and sisters, what should he have done? Was
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it even biblical? I want you
to think about this. Was it even
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biblical for him to to be thinking
about how he could become richer and richer?
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His goal, I don't think,
was to make an investment, and
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investments is where you gotten buy some
more land and still some more land and
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and grows some more food. But
what should he have done with the excess?
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In the word of God, and
yes, this is the word of
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God, the people of God were
commanded to share what was left over.
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We've caught of forgotten about that.
In proverbs, Chapter Eleven, Verse Twenty
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Six, we read he that withholds
corn, the people shall curse him,
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but blessing shall be upon the head
of him that sells it. He's not
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saying you had to give it away, but a guy like this. And
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in Luke Chapter Twelve, who's hoarding
all this food? What if there were
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hungry people who needed to buy it? I was teaching about gleaning in a
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Christian school, Christian High School in
South Florida, and explained that if somebody
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is hungry and they're walking through a
field and they grab of an orange and
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they eat it. That in God's
law. That's not sin. And the
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kids were just horrified, horrified,
and I said, wait a second.
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You know, when the harvest is
over and there's all that fruit that's left
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over, it's just going to rot. And they were like, but it
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belongs to the owner of the field. It's not right for people to come
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and take it. And explained in
the word of God it says no,
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people are allowed and the poor should
go through that field. And they were
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like, no, it's against the
law. I explained that you shouldn't break
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the law of the United States.
See if there is such a law.
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But but wait a second. The
Law of God said you're you're supposed to
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to share. And and the kids
were just angry about this, that whole
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idea that God had commanded people to
share. And deep brothers and sisters,
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we need to be careful about this
because we're proclaiming the good news of Jesus
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Christ. But if people see us, says avaricious, if they see us
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as covetousness, covetous, if they
see us as greedy, that's what they're
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going to see. And much of
the world sees the Church of Jesus Christ
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as a business. They look at
pastors and pastors who have fancy cars,
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pastors who have nice houses, pastors
who are living in luxury with with congregations
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of people that are poor, and
they say to themselves, Hmm, what's
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he in this business for? This
fool? Here he thinks, I'm going
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to tear down my barns and build
new ones. And he says, and
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I will say to my soul,
soul, you have many goods laid up
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for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink and be married.
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Their brothers and sisters, this man
deserved to receive what he got. His
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hope was in his possessions. What
does God say to him? God says
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to him, you fool. Now, if we look at the words of
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Jesus, our Savior, there many
things were that Jesus says about calling someone
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a fool, and yet God does
call him a fool. It's a terrible
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thing to be a fool. This
night, your short soul shall be required
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of you. Then who shall these
things be? God tells him you're going
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to get nothing. If our focus, if our eyes are fixed upon our
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possessions. Some day they're all going
to disappear. You know those those places
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where they store all that stuff,
though I don't even know what they're called,
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story charts or something. You know
what happens? Every couple months they
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have auctions. You know, they
cut off the lock. People have died,
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they go in there, they find
all their stuff, they basically give
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it all away. You see all
these pictures and and and everything that people
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have saved and and it's all thrown
away because people think, well, I
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can amass to myself all kinds of
wealth, and in the end they have
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nothing. So our Savior says,
so is he that lays up treasure for
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himself. Think about that. Laying
up treasure for yourself for what? So
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when you get to heaven you can
be rich. None of your treasure is
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going to transfer there and it's not
rich towards God. And then Jesus says
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something that is very difficult for me
to understand. In Verse Twenty Two,
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he says, therefore, I say
to you, take no thought for your
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life, what you shall eat,
neither for the body, what you shall
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put on. I say this is
difficult because that's an everybody think about what
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am I going to wear, what
am I going to eat? And and
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I it's difficult for me because I've
lived in the Third World and I've traveled
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in places that we're even poorer than
where I lived, and I've seen people
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that were actually hungry. I don't
mean that they wanted to have a big
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Mac, I don't mean that they
wanted to to to go out to the
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buffet and and, you know,
eat all that they could eat. I
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mean they had nothing, literally nothing
to eat. And yet our savior says
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in this verse, and it's going
to be repeated later on, take no
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thought for your life, which you
shall eat, needed for the body,
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what you shall put on. Is
he saying that we ought not to work?
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No, nothing of the sort.
But he is saying where's your concern,
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where is your worry? And then
he uses an example which is actually
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a repetition of something that he has
said earlier. He says life is more
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than meat and the body is more
than raiment. Consider the Ravens. They
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neither snow so, nor they nor
reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn,
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and God feeds them. How much
more are you better than the fouls
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and which of you, with taking
thought, can add to a stature one
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Cuban? If you then are not
able to do that, which is least,
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why take you thought? For the
rest, what he's telling us is
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is go to work, do your
job, get paid and be satisfied with
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what you have. Now, some
people will look at me and say,
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well, it's it's not wrong to
to to be rich, is it?
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Are you saying that we should?
Are you saying we should sell everything and
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give it to the poor? Well, when Jesus was talking to the rich
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young ruler, the rich young ruler
said to him all of these things.
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That is the word of God,
the Law God I've kept since my youth,
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and Jesus said one thing, you
lack, go and sell all that
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you have and give it to the
poor and then come and follow me.
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Now, when you read all of
the commentators about this, every single one,
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they gloss over it. Now,
what I mean by that is they
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take it seriously, but they gloss
over it. In other words, they
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they read this passage and they say, well, Jesus was trying to teach
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this man that he still was covetous, that he still needed to work on
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that and so he told him,
but only him, go and sell all
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that you have and give it to
the poor and then come and follow me.
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And so the preachers go on to
say, now the important thing here
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is not to be covetous and to
come and follow Jesus. And I agree
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with all of that. And then
I say to myself, and do I
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need to sell everything I have?
And somebody's going to say to me,
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well, pastor, you're a pastor, you're not rich. So I've never
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tried to be rich. I I
really I I mean I lived in Philadelphia,
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in in a ghetto and I've always
lived in in what they call working
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class neighborhoods or poor neighborhoods, and
I have money. I don't know why.
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I just don't know how to be
poor. That I haven't learned that
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lesson. And so I ask myself
the question, do I need to go
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and sell all that I have?
And I've had to think about it seriously,
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and somebody's going to say to me, well, sure, Steve,
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you know, yeah, you're going
to sell all you have. Okay,
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right, but I really have thought
about it and I want it. Want
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you to think about the fact that
I've thought about it. I take the
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words of Jesus seriously. I don't
think that he is commanding each and every
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one of us to go and sell
all that we have and give it to
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the poor, but Jesus is saying
that covetousness, the desire for possessions or
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the holding of possessions sometimes is an
obstacle between me and the Lord. And
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if it's an obstacle between me and
the Lord, what do I need to
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do with it? What a drunks
do? What a drunks do? We're
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gonna have the Lord's supper to use
grape juice or wine. Oh, the
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grape juice in the middle. Why
is that? Well, that that's because
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there's some drunks that come here.
Probably I'm just guessing. I don't know,
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but I can guess that there's some
people here who drunks. I'm sorry,
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alcoholics drunks, and the drunks will
tell you they're drunks and they're not
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going to take the bind they're going
to take the grape juice because it's that's
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what's good for them, because it's
not good for them to drink alcohol.
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It's not good for some of us
to have money in the same way alcohol
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is a tempter for some people.
I can drink an alcohol, it taste
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terrible. I never do except the
Lord's supper, but that's the only time.
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There's some people who are just as
addicted to money and they're not trusting
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in the Lord. They're not looking
at the lilies of the field, they're
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not looking at the Ravens, they're
looking at their bank account maybe on their
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well, dear brothers and sisters,
Jesus did not tell the rich young ruler
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alone to go and sell all that
you have and give it to the poor
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and come and follow me. He's
saying that to everyone who cannot deal with
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money and still follow Jesus. And
somebody's going to say to me, well,
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not me, and the person who
is saying to me, not me,
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that's probably the person that needs to
think about it. Dear brothers and
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sisters, God is going to take
care of you. Why you're worried?
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If God so clothe the grass which
is in the today, in the field
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and tomorrow is cast in the oven, how much more will he clothe you,
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oh ye of little faith. To
trust in the Lord means exactly that.
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To trust in the Lord, not
in what you can do, not
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in what you have. Salvation by
grace through faith doesn't mean I'm going to
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trust in the Lord and I'm going
to make sure that I have enough stored
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up to to resist the evil days. Jesus says Verse Twenty Nine. Seek
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not e which you shall eat or
what you shall drink. Neither be of
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doubtful mind. People who are preoccupied
with possessions are people who do not have
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faith in the Lord. That's a
strong statement's you know, Steve, you
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shouldn't say that. That's okay.
I'm going to use an example and if
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you want to take your shoes off
so I can step on your toes,
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that's fine. But why is the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church, I'm more or less
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pure church. This is going to
get a little weird on you and nobody
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else is ever going to say this
to you, but I'm going to tell
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you something that's going to shock you, it's going to surprise you. You'll
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figure it out. Even the kids
will get this. I went to four
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years of college, well more,
but to be a minister I had to
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go to at least four years of
college. I had to go to three
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years of seminary well, for but
I flunk people. But you have to
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go to at least three years of
that's seven years of college to be a
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minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
That's what a lawyer are. A doctor
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goes through. Doctors more and and
you got to pass exams in Greek and
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Hebrew, and Greek was okay,
Hebrew, I think you know. And
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we hardly get paid very much.
Now that's not a complaint. I'm don't
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get me wrong. We don't get
big salaries in the Orthodox Presbyterian church.
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How does that keep us pure?
Because of what you want is to get
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rich. You'll go to some church
that will offer you a better salary and
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then the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, even
our biggest congregations, except for a few
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in California, actually offer rather meager
salary and colonial times the best paid people
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in the town where the ministers ministers
in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church oftentimes, and
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I've seen this in my own experience, are the most poorly paid people in
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the church. But that's good.
Somebody, where's the past? Put Your
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hands over here, you beat guys. A Labor is worthy of his hire.
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His wife is going to scream at
me she's going to Clune my eyes
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and she's going to say he doesn't
get paid enough and it's your job as
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a congregation to pay your pastors that
he doesn't have to worry about money so
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that he can preach the Gospel.
Okay, I said that, but it's
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good that we are poorly paid because
it means that, instead of fixing our
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eyes, the guys who want to
get rich, the guys who want to
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use the Gospel as a as a, as a means to to wealth,
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they're going to go to some other
church. And I'm not saying they're going
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to become, you know, some
really Raunchy or lousy church, but they're
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going to go to a nice church
which has more or less the same doctrines
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but has better salary. Look what
it says in verse thirty. For All
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these things do the nations of the
world seek after? What do they seek
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after what they shoull eat and what
they shall drink? But look what Jesus
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says in verse thirty. Your father
knows that you have need of these things.
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It's interesting the word father is not
used that many times in the Bible.
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For God, of course, in
the Lord's prayer, which is called
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our father. At times we use
the word our father, but it's interesting
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when it is used, and in
this context. Look what it says.
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Your father knows that you've needed these
things. Your Daddy knows what you need.
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And I'm not at all being blasphemous. Our Daddy has gone and he
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knows he's not going to you know, you go to your father and say,
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Daddy, I'm hungry. Any good
father is going to say, I'm
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going to take care of you,
and he will. That is what our
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father is like. He is going
to take care of us. So why
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are we worried? Our eyes would
be should be fixed on Jesus, and
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I'm proclaiming his name and living for
him and and teaching our children to do
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the same. And and when we're
given opportunities to make more money and to
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neglect serving Jesus, what are we
going to do? I worked as a
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school teacher, don't throw rocks or
the Public School, and it wasn't always
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easy, but but oftentimes there are
opportunities to make extra money. They would
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have these conferences in these seminars and
you'd go to the holiday in and and
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eat food and listen to Blah Blah
and and and get paid three hundred dollars
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a day and I turn these opportunities
down. And people would look at me
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and say, Steve, what's wrong
with you? Can make money, and
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I'd say, but you could spend
the time with your kids, couldn't you?
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And they'd be like they're okay,
and and the kids were almost like
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an afterthought it. And then these
kids who grow up in these kids would
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be terrible and I'd say, you
know, maybe you should have spent more
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time with your kids and be like
no, no, no, no,
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that wasn't it. And it's because, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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Dear brothers and sisters, seek first
the Kingdom of God. Jesus is
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very clear. Seek the Kingdom of
God and all these things will be added.
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Unto You, what America needs to
do is to buy less and spend
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more time with the Lord and with
their families and with others. Okay,
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my mother's Mexican. I have Mexican
customs in some ways. I go and
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visit people. Yes, as a
minister I go and visit people, but
390
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I like visiting people. I would
drop by people's houses, and we do
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this all the time. We'd sit
in front of the House and we just
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sit and talk and and I get
to know them. Twenty years ago,
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in front of my house on my
street, which is, you know,
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all Mexican, all the time my
street, people used to do that.
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Nobody does that anymore. Are All
busy working, watching television, playing games,
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doing stuff. The brothers and sisters, how are you spending your time?
397
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How are you spending your life?
Somebody's going to say to me,
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AH, but you know, I've
got to I've got to make money to
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get that retirement program all set and
I've got to make money in order to
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do this and I've got to make
money in order to do that. What
401
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you mean by that is that you, if you make money, you can
402
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do these things. But, dear
brothers and sisters, how much do we
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need? There's never been, in
my judgment, a country which is as
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prosperous as the United States is today. We have all that we need and
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more. Yes, there are poor
people, yes, there are people who
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are suffering, but for the law, by and large, most Americans are
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and most of you here today have
far more than you need. What are
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you doing with your lives? Jesus
is is speaking to his disciples and he's
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saying to them, beware of covetousness, beware of this desire to gain all
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that you can. We began this
passage with the with the guy who went
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to Jesus and he said he wanted
Jesus to arbitrate a dispute with some other
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guy. Oh who was that guy, by the way? Oh, he
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says, master speak to my brother
that he may divide the inheritance with me.
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It's the in Greek. It's the
common word for brother. Think about
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that for a minute. WHO's this
argument with? Who is who is he
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angry with? Who Does he want
Jesus to solve the problem? With?
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His brother? I don't think it's
an allegorical use of the word brother.
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I think it's a literal use,
and that is he's talking about the the
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same the guy who has the same
mother and father his brother and he's so
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concerned about money that he's willing to
go to Jesus, the Great Healer and
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Prophet, and have Jesus interfere and
their family life so that he can get
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more stuff from his brother. They're
people like that. There are people who,
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no matter what the relationship is,
they're willing to sacrifice it to get
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some more. Our first relationship is
with the Lord, and many people,
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many people in our country, have
sacrificed their relationship with Lord in order to
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get more. And many others have
sacrificed the relationship with their brothers and their
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sisters and their parents and their children
to get more. They brothers and sisters.
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All that you need, God will
provide. Your father knows what you
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have. Need of these things and
he'll provide for these things. Rather,
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he says, seek the Kingdom of
God. Ask yourself the question at every
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point in your life. How am
I following after Jesus Christ by doing this?
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How am I serving Jesus Christ by
doing what I'm planning to do?
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Your boss says, can you work
over time? Your wife is waiting at
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home, the kids are waiting at
home, it's dinner time and you're thinking
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to yourself, time and a half
or spend time with my family as a
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godly father and husband, what should
I be doing? Should I be getting
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that time and a half so I
could provide better for my family, or
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should I go home and actually be
with my family? People want rules,
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people want somebody to get up here
and say sell all that you have and
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give to the poor and come and
follow me and that that would be an
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easy rule, by the way,
because then we'd have a rule and we
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would all sell everything and we'd give
to the poor and we'd see what would
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happen. But Jesus doesn't say that
we have to all do that. I
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cannot tell you whether you should work
that extra hour or two and get time
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and a half or where they should
go home and be with your family.
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I cannot set that down as a
rule and I'm not going to do that.
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Don't go away from here saying,
well, he said I had to
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do that. But think about it. Our Savior said seek first the Kingdom
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of God. If you trust in
Jesus for your salvation, if he is
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your hope and your life, if
he is all that you're about, then
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that's going to change every perspective in
your life. The boss is going to
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00:37:32.900 --> 00:37:37.739
say you can get paid more if
you stay late, and then you can
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00:37:37.179 --> 00:37:40.900
return to him and say, but
I can spend more time with my family
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if I leave now, and he's
got to look at you like you're so
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weird, and that'll be fine too. We follow after Jesus. We seek
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first the Kingdom of God, and
all these things will be added unto us.
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Do we need all these things that
we have? No, is it
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nice to have them. Sometimes.
Is it sin to have this stuff?
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It's not sin. But, dear
brothers and sisters, it becomes sin when
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we begin to think that we need
these things. All we need, all
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we need, is Jesus, because
if we have Jesus, he would provide
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everything else. He will provide for
all of our needs. Dear brothers and
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sisters, seek first the Kingdom of
God and his righteousness. That's all we
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need to do. Let's pray,
our Lord, in our God. The
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words of our Savior, Jesus,
in this passage are so clear. He
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has commanded us to seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and he has
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told us that you will provide for
all of our needs. But, Lord,
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I confess that there are so many
times in my life when I've been
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so concerned about money and not spending
and saving and all those other things.
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So, Lord, I ask you
to forgive me, but I would also
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ask o Lord, that you would
teach everyone in this congregation about the priorities
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in their lives, about how they
should avoid covetousness and instead seek after you,
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to show to love you with all
of their hearts and to show your
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love towards others. Lord, we
ask that you would apply this passage now
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to us. We would ask as
well, our father, that you would
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be with those who are assembled at
the General Assembly this this week. We
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ask that, even as they come
to decisions about the future of our church,
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that they would do so in a
way that brings glory and honor to
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your name. We pray for this
particular congregation here in Tucson. We ask,
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our father, that you would bless
them in a mighty way, that
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the name of Jesus Christ would be
proclaimed and that his gospel would go forth
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from this place. We ask this
now, our father, in the name
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of Jesus Christ, our Savior,
