Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Reclaim What's Yours.
This is a stupid billboard that I've been seeing all over Phoenix.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
This bill, almost everybody, the Gila River casinos, right?
And they've got all these advertisements up and down the freeway and their slogan is Reclaim
What's Yours.
Now for a while I wondered, what is this slogan supposed to mean?
You know, reclaim what's yours, what are they talking about?
And then my wife said to me that they're basically telling you, come back and get the money that
we stole from you last time you were here.
You know, come back and reclaim what we took from you that's yours.
I was like, wow, is that really what that means?
But I thought about it, I couldn't think of anything else that it could possibly mean
other than that.
So I think that she's right.
And then I asked somebody else, what do you think it means?
And they told me the exact same thing.
And so this cheesy billboard campaign that's all over our city right now, Reclaim What's
Yours, I'm going to actually give you a biblical perspective on what it really means to reclaim
what's yours and how to actually reclaim what you've lost through a life of sin.
Now let me start out by just talking about the wickedness of gambling.
If you would flip over to Proverbs chapter 28, Proverbs chapter 28, because a casino
is one of the worst places that you could go.
It's a total den of iniquity.
And even people who would try to justify the gambling itself, you can't justify the atmosphere
of a casino where prostitutes hang out, hookers hang out, there's drinking.
It's all an unsavory atmosphere at the casino.
But even in and of itself, gambling is ungodly.
Look if you would at Proverbs chapter 28 verse 19.
The Bible reads, he that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread.
He's saying look, if you actually work hard and do the backbreaking labor out in the sun,
you're going to have plenty of bread, you're going to have the money that you need.
But he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
A faithful man shall abound with blessings.
You know what faithful means, somebody who's reliable, they're always there.
You know if you're actually showing up to work and being consistent, a faithful man
shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
And what is gambling if it's not making haste to be rich?
You don't want to work for your money, you don't want to show up to work every day, you
just want to pull a lever and boom, you hit the jackpot.
You want to just roll the dice and hit the jackpot, spin the wheel and hit the jackpot.
You're making haste to be rich and the Bible says if you do so, you will not be innocent.
It said in the previous verse, he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
And let me tell you something, if you're fooled by these ad campaigns and billboards from
the casino, you're following vain persons.
You know what does vain mean?
Vain means empty, pointless, meaningless.
You want to talk about some meaningless slogans.
So as I was preparing this sermon, because I was trying to make sure that I'm not misunderstanding
their slogan, you know I'm looking at the billboards, well I went online and there's
a 60 second video commercial associated with these billboards and you want to talk about
just the vainness and lightness and emptiness of this commercial.
He's like, over the years, you've trusted us.
It's like, what?
Like, you trust the casino?
I trust them.
He's like, over the years, you trusted us.
We've played together.
We it shows them, you know, rolling the dice or we've stayed together.
It shows them like in the bedroom, like having a pillow fight in their hotel, destroying
a hotel room.
And then it's like, we've played together, we've stayed together and we've grown stronger
together.
How did you grow stronger?
Is it a gym?
Is it a gymnasium?
I mean, you go to the casino and you're growing stronger together.
Really, how can anyone make a case that partying at a casino makes you like a stronger person?
It builds character, right?
The casino builds muscle.
It made absolutely no sense at all.
But you know what that is?
When you listen to that kind of advertising, you're following vain persons.
Being in light, people making all these empty promises, coming at you with all these platitudes
that don't even mean anything.
It means nothing.
If you ask that guy, what did you just say?
He wouldn't even be able to explain to you what he just said.
And then he's like, so you do you.
I mean, you know, they've come a long way since like Rene Descartes or something.
You know, I think therefore I am or something.
It's like, you do you.
And then he just like puts on a mask real cool like, yeah.
Folks, if you follow vain persons, you will have poverty enough.
You go out there, you till the land, you're faithful, you show up to work, you're going
to have the money that you need, you're going to have some bread, amen?
It says that he that make it haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Verse number 21, to have respect of persons is not good, for for a piece of bread that
man will transgress, he that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and consider it not
that poverty shall come upon him.
If you hasten to be rich, you have an evil eye and you consider not that poverty shall
come upon you.
Flip over to Proverbs 23, keep that evil, the evil eye in mind, right?
If you hasten to be rich, you've got an evil eye.
And of course, we think to Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount where he preaches
about the light of the body is the eye.
If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?
And look what the Bible says in Proverbs 23 verse one, when thou sittest thee with a ruler,
consider diligently what is before thee and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man
given to appetite.
Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are a deceitful meat.
Labor not to be rich.
Cease from thine own wisdom.
He's saying, look, do not make it your goal to be rich.
Not set out to become rich.
Don't look at those dainty meats that are eaten by the rich and famous and desire that
kind of food.
It's vanity.
You don't need that kind of food.
Just eat normal food.
You don't need all these little sprinkled with gold dust burgers from cows that have
been force fed beer and truffles or something in Japan.
Isn't there some kind of a meat like that?
Shoving beer and truffle down some cow's throat so that some rich person can eat that beef.
You know what?
Just give me a normal burger.
You know, we don't need these ultra fancy expensive meals.
And look, I'm sort of a foodie.
I'm a connoisseur.
But you know what?
There comes a point where the food's good and it's good enough.
You know, Chan Pan Thai cuisine, amen, it's good enough.
You know, it's the best.
You don't have to go any higher than that.
But these people, you know, they've got all their dainty meats.
It's a deceitful meat.
He says don't desire that.
Don't lust after that.
Don't set out to be rich.
Because the Bible says they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into
many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love
of money is the root of all evil.
So those of you who would like to justify gambling or justify the casino, how can you
justify such an institution when the love of money is the root of all evil and it's
basically a place characterized by what?
The love of money.
It's all about just loving money.
Just you want to get in there and get some money.
And look, I've talked to enough people that have been into gambling to know everything
that goes along with gambling and everything that goes along with those buildings that
are packed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with people who are being ripped off and suffering
the consequences of sin.
Labor not to be rich, verse 4, cease from thine own wisdom.
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings.
They fly as an eagle toward heaven.
So you can picture those little bags of money with wings flying away that are sometimes
shown on cartoons.
Riches certainly make themselves wings.
They fly as an eagle toward heaven.
Verse number 6, eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye.
Now you remember the evil eye, he said, is what you have when you make haste to be rich.
The evil eye is the covetous eye, the eye of the person who is characterized by the
love of money.
Somebody who loves money and hastens to be rich has an evil eye and the Bible says don't
eat the bread of him that hath an evil eye and do not desire his dainty meats.
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee.
He doesn't love you, he doesn't care about you, he's not trying to help you.
Think about this, think about these guys who do these infomercials and they're like, I
found the secrets to the stock market and I just really want to share these with you.
If you call this 1-900 number, it's only $500 a minute and we're going to explain to you
all the secrets and click here and get my DVD set.
I want to tell you all the inside.
Why would he want to tell you that?
If he knows all the secrets, he'll do it himself, he's not going to tell anybody.
Why would he want to share that with you?
I'm going to share you all my greatest real estate secrets.
No you're not.
You're going to keep all the best stuff for yourself.
But he says, oh man, eat and drink, but his heart is not with you.
And let me tell you something, and look, I almost started preaching against Donald Trump
because guess what?
I've been pastor for 15 years and I was preaching against Donald Trump before he ever ran for
office in sermons like this.
So let's just forget that he's a president right now.
Let's forget that he was banned by Twitter.
Welcome to the club, Donald, alright?
I know what you're feeling right now, you know, I really do.
But let's just forget about all the political stuff for a minute and let's go back to the
old preaching that I did against Donald Trump like 10 or 15 years ago, how he loves money,
he's covetous, he runs a bunch of casinos and him and Robert Kiyosaki or whatever are
always writing all these books telling you how to get rich and make money and you know
what?
They train people to love money.
And I remember in the 80s it was Amway and my parents went to an Amway meeting with their
friends and my dad came home and I was just a little kid, I said, dad, how was it?
He said, son, it was like a church service except the God was money.
He said we literally sang hymns about money.
We sang hymns and songs about how we're going to be rich and money and then he said, then
the preaching started and he said the Amway speaker got up and he's like, would you rather
have friends or you're going to lose friends.
He was like you're going to suffer persecution for the cause of Amway.
It was like the kind of sermon you expect here in a Baptist church, hey, you're going
to lose friends, you know, you got to stand up for Christ and lay it all on the altar.
This guy's getting up and preaching that about how getting rich is everything, getting the
house is everything, getting the car is everything and you know, these people have an evil eye,
they eat their bread, don't desire their dainty meat, of course they're going to tell
you eat and drink but their heart's not with you, they don't love you because they love
money.
You can't serve God and mammon.
Those who love God love you also because the Bible says everyone that loveth him that begat
loveth him also that has begotten of him.
You know, if we love God, we love the brethren.
These people don't love God, they love money.
That's their God.
God is their belly and they might say to you eat and drink and you do you but what they
really are saying is like we screw you.
That's what they really mean.
Their heart is not with, they're out to rip you off and steal your money.
They don't care about you.
They don't love you.
They don't just want to help you like realize who you really are and be yourself and reclaim
what's yours.
The morsel which thou hast eaten, verse 8, shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words.
And then this is, this verse number 9 is for me as the pastor.
Speak not in the ears of a fool for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
You try to preach this to somebody who's stupid and they're going to say no I'm going to go
to the casino anyway and they're not going to get it that you're telling them these things
for their own benefit.
See the preacher, he says eat and drink, his heart's actually with you.
He's actually saying hey I love you, don't fornicate, don't drink, don't go to the casino,
don't go to bars, don't go to these places.
He's not telling you that for his benefit, he's telling you that for you.
The casino man, he's telling you you do you.
Reclaim what's yours.
But what he's actually doing is trying to suck you into his trap so he can bleed you
of all your money.
Now go if you would to Ecclesiastes chapter 5.
Ecclesiastes chapter 5.
Remember the title of the sermon is..