Good evening everyone, welcome to the 5th floor of the church, great to see you all here.
For our Sunday evening service, if you all please have a seat, grab a handle and open up our handles.
The song is number 288. The song is number 288, I Am Resolved.
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
Come all ye to heaven, came all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven, come all ye to heaven,
All right.
And, Heaven bother, we thank you for the day, for the opportunity in church, for your services, Lord, and for what you do.
In Jesus name, amen.
Amen.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
You guys said it lots.
Thank you.
Oh,
Yes.
So a couple of things that I've heard from mymusic
to be rich is to get it.
I don't think that the guys that I've
known in my life that get involved
with these scratch-off tickets.
You get in a work truck, and it's
like there's the empty Mountain Dew bottles
with their spit bottles.
And then it's on top of all of their new scratch-off tickets
that were a bunch of losers, a bunch of duds.
They weren't doing that scratch-off because they just
it's so satisfying to see the number scratch that stuff away.
It's not because the card was so decorative and pretty.
It's because they wanted to make that quick $100.
They want to make that quick $510,000 or whatever.
You find the Powerball receipts at all these places.
People are doing that for a while because they're
making pace to be rich.
They want to get rich quick.
They don't want to they just want that cool billion just
to take the edge off, right?
The real irony about it is, and I think
I've covered this when I preached on this last time,
is that when you actually go look at people,
you can go read stories.
I mean, I read an article about people
that had won Powerball, had some big windfall of money
through a lottery and things like that.
A lot of them, the majority of them, at their latter end
was worse than when they started out before they won it.
A lot of them ended up in debt.
They say, how do you win all that money and then end up
in debt by making millions of dollars?
Because easy come, easy go.
You think, once you have all that money
and you have a certain lifestyle,
you can't just keep winning the lottery to maintain it, right?
And people say, no, no, no.
If I won the lottery, it would be different.
I would just live off the interest,
and I'd be up in the church, and I'd help people.
It's like, no, you wouldn't win.
If you had a bunch of money, you don't know what
you would be if you came into a bunch of money.
Money ruins people.
Or it could be, for a lot of these people,
they won the lottery, and then all these shady characters
just kind of came out of the woodwork.
And there are stories where people were abducted
and held for ransom.
People were murdered for the money that they won.
Winning the lottery is probably one of the worst things
that could happen to you, honestly.
And it's a shame, because it just shows you
that you're not content with such things as you have.
When you're coveting money that isn't here,
when you're desiring to be rich,
he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Look at verse 22.
He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye,
and consider it not that poverty shall come upon him.
So the guy that's gonna haste to be rich,
the Bible actually says that it's poverty
that's gonna come upon him.
It's the exact opposite of what he wants.
Why?
Because he's gonna spend all his money
trying to get rich quick.
Isn't that what we see all the time?
You know, all these bums out there,
you'll see some bum in the gas station
who's been out there panhandling,
and goes in and buys a scratch-off table.
Right, and he's just wasting his money.
He's just as poor as when he started out.
Why?
Because he's just hasting to be rich,
rather than, what, what's the opposite?
Being diligent, working hard.
Look at Proverbs chapter 10, Proverbs,
actually, look at Proverbs chapter 12,
only in Proverbs chapter 10.
Look at Proverbs 12, it says in Proverbs 10,
he becoming poor that dealeth with a slack hand.
And that's really what's behind all the gambling, you know?
And you might even be people that go into these places,
you know, they work hard for a living,
they hold down a job.
You know, what they're really trying to do
when they go there is they're just trying to strike it big
so they can just retire early and stop working, okay?
Laus says, he cometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand,
but the hand and the diligent make it rich.
Now, again, let me point out there,
it says that the hand and the diligent make it rich.
Now, it doesn't necessarily say that the hand
and the diligent become it rich,
it just says that he makes rich.
You know, and that's a good principle
that you should carry into your employment.
You know, when you get a job and you go out
and work for somebody, if you're a diligent merchant,
you're there to make them rich.
So you're there to make the company money.
You know, and if you're working for a decent boss
who has integrity, who values a good appointee,
when you start making the company rich,
when you start making the company money,
you know, there's a way of that coming back around.
You know, I remember I had a job where, you know,
I was the guy that was on the road out there, you know,
doing the work and, you know,
trying to bring money into the company through up-selling.
You know, we'd go out and we'd make repairs,
and I'd say, hey, have you considered, you know,
replacing this lock, replacing,
selling a safe or whatever.
And you know, I got pretty good at selling a better product.
You know, the job would start out,
whoa, it was just a small job,
but then, you know, through just, you know,
and it wasn't through being, you know, a craftier,
I mean, it wasn't through, you know, being dishonest,
just telling, hey, you got this cheap lock,
you know, you can get a better lock or whatever.
You know, I got good at up-selling, you know,
or we just go cold calling,
or we just walk into a place of business and say,
hey, did you notice this is wrong?
This is broken, this needs repair.
You know, and I noticed that my boss seemed to, you know,
favor me a little bit more than the other employees.
And it wasn't just because I was good looking.
You know, it wasn't just because of my charming personality.
You know, it was because I was making him rich
through being diligent in my life.
I wasn't making him, you know, it wasn't like, you know,
big Scrooge or whatever that guy was from DuckTales.
It was like swimming in his money or anything like that.
And some of you have no idea about that at all.
Well, you know, I was making the company money.
So you know what, when Christmas came around,
he came to me right before our little Christmas break
and handed me an envelope, you know,
and it didn't have a can came in it, all right.
It was polar cash, you know,
my favorite kind of Christmas treat, right?
And he said, shh, go tell the other guys.
You know why?
Because the other guys won't get any of that.
And I'm not saying that to brag,
but I'm saying that that's why, why did I get that?
Again, it's not because, you know,
I just, I have the most well-mannered beard
or something like that because I don't, right.
It was because I was diligent and I made him rich, okay.
Look, you want to do well, you want to succeed in life.
It's not going to be cold 11 on the casino.
It's not going to be at the dog races.
It's not going to be at the horse race track.
It's not going to be you betting, you know,
throwing, you know, on some sporting event.
It's not going to be for you shooting cracks in the alley
with a bunch of your buddies, rolling dice.
You know, it's going to be through hard work,
from being diligent and doing a good job.
That's why you're going to succeed
and get ahead in life and make money.
You're being diligent.
It says he become a poor guy, he was a slack hand,
but the hand of a diligent maketh rich.
You're there in Proverbs chapter 12,
it says in verse 24,
the hand of the diligent shall bear rule.
You know, the guy that's diligent and works hard,
he's going to bear rule.
He's going to get the promotion.
He's the one that's going to succeed
with the sloth force of the under tribute.
You know, the guy who doesn't want to work, you know,
he's going to take out, have all the credit card debt.
He's going to be the one that's, you know,
has tacked with all the collectors, knocking on the door.
He's going to be owing people money all around town.
He's going to be the one that's under tribute
because he's lazy.
Because all he's trying to do in life is just hit it big.
Just, you know, get the next score through not working
and through beating colleges.
Go to Proverbs chapter 22, Proverbs chapter 22.
The Bible says the soul of the sluggard desireth
and hath nothing.
You know, lazy people, they desire
and they have it and they just sluggard.
I mean, that's talking about a lazy person,
somebody who doesn't want to be diligent,
somebody who doesn't want to work.
They would call that person a slug
because they move slow in everything they do.
They just creep through life.
They just kind of slide through.
You might have heard that.
If you're not moving fast enough on the job,
you'll probably hear that.
Hey, get the let out.
Find another gear.
Get to work.
Pick it up a notch.
Let's go, right?
Don't be a slugger where you're going to desire
or have nothing.
You're going to be watching the other guy get the promotion.
You're going to be watching somebody else do well
and you're going to be left in the dust.
But the soul that diligent shall be made fat.
He's going to be the one that's going to have the abundance.
He's going to be the one through being diligent,
get the increase.
Proverbs 22, verse 29.
Boy, I didn't realize the effect the smell of bacon
would have on me, too.
I didn't think about that during the sermon.
I might end up just rapping this up for you.
In fact, let's close with her.
No one here's gambling, right?
Who's gambling?
Proverbs 22, verse 29 says,
see as thou a man, diligent in his business,
he shall stand before kings.
He shall not stand before mean men.
And I don't think of that mean there as meaning
like guys who are nasty, they're called mean.
It's not even about mean or medium, like a math term.
He's not going to stand among the average men.
He's going to be exalted and he's going to stand before kings
through a man of influence and power.
Through being what?
Through just striking it rich
and strapping a bunch of neon lights
to the bottom of his car and putting big spinners on it
and just showing off his wing that he got
because he went and won a bet on the Super Bowl or something?
No, it's through the guy who was diligent in his business.
That's what's going to get promotion.
If you would, I hope I told you something in 1 Timothy,
but go to 1 Timothy chapter six, if you're not there.
Still, 1 Timothy chapter number six.
1 Timothy chapter number six,
the Bible says in Deuteronomy verse 18,
thou shalt remember the Lord thy God,
for he it is that gives me power to get wealth.
You know, again, the problem with money
is not money itself, right?
You say, God gives us the power to get wealth, right?
We know he doesn't give it to us.
He doesn't say, here's the winning numbers for the Powerball.
God doesn't tell us who's going to win the game
by what margins so that we can go out
and get some kind of a windfall and get wealth back.
He gives us power to get wealth through what?
Through giving us the strength,
giving us the physical strength to go out and work hard,
giving us the knowledge and the wisdom
and the ability to succeed.
You know, that'd be something you should pray for.
And if you're trying to succeed in a certain field,
you know, you should pray and ask God for wisdom in that.
You should pray and ask God, hey, help me to be whatever.
You're going into, you know,
let's just say you're trying to learn programming
or something like that.
You're going to some kind of computer work.
You would say, God, give me knowledge and wisdom
and understanding to understand this.
Lord, give me the physical strength,
helping today to be wise and to, you know,
treat my body well so I can go out
and work this physical job.
Or give me the wisdom to learn this trade
or something like that.
That's how God's going to give us power to get wealth.
Not through, you know,
we're not just going to trip one day
and fall into a bushel full of fifties.
You're like, oh, rich, right?
God gives us the ability to get wealth
through knowledge, wisdom, strength.
You go out and be diligent.
You're there in 1 Timothy chapter six,
it says, the God that is with contentment is great gain.
We brought nothing into this world
and a certain, it carried nothing out.
You know what's better than being rich in life?
It's just being content.
You know, it's better than winning the lottery
and just being content with the things
that you have, what you already have.
Because guess what?
You already have that.
That's already at hand.
You know, if you learn to be a thankful person
who's content with such things as you have,
you're already a success.
You've already achieved that.
I mean, think about that.
You know, I was thinking about that even today
because, you know, Saturday morning,
I got up and I had to tear all the carpet out of my house.
I needed to go anyway,
but it was kind of an emergency situation
where we had to tear all the carpet out.
And now we've, now I'm kind of joking with my wife saying,
oh, we're going for that industrial look.
You know, it was just bare concrete
with like the old glue and stuff.
It's really rough.
Just like, yeah, you know, people are into that
and put up some galvanized steel on the walls, you know,
and it'll just be our look.
You know, we're just going for that industrial look,
you know, what I'm trying to make in life.
Of course, we're not going to do that.
I'm joking, but you know, but I'm saying,
I'm looking at it and I can say,
oh, I can't lay there, it's like a concrete floor.
I think that's the, you know, and complain about that.
But at least you got, you know,
that little bit of a mold problem you had out of the house.
And I was thinking about it, I was like,
well, at least I don't have a dirt floor.
At least I have a floor.
At least there's a roof.
I mean, because the floor is the opposite of the roof,
right?
I'm not one of those people that calls the ground the floor.
You ever known people like that?
Maybe you're one of them.
If you walk, you'll be outside
and you'll call the ground the floor.
I'm like, that's not a floor, that's the ground.
That's the earth.
It's different, all right?
No, if that's you, just get it right, okay?
Pet peeve again, right?
But I'm thinking, hey, at least I have a floor,
which means I have a roof, which means I have walls,
you know, and I'm just saying, look,
I can't have my half.
You know, at least I have, you know,
I can just sit there and complain about the fact
that I don't have, you know, the best flooring right now.
You know, where's the African, you know,
where's the rare exotic wood
from the far reaches of the world?
Why isn't that what I walk on in the morning?
You know, when I wake up in the morning
and I put my feet on the floor,
I want them, I don't want them to touch concrete.
I want them to touch, you know, it should all be, you know,
it should all be mink or something like that.
You know, I want mink carpeting.
I want, you know, that's just me
being discontent, right?
And even the best flooring is going to wear out,
if rather, just be content with such things as I have.
And I, you know, now I'm not saying
we're going to keep that concrete flooring.
Obviously we're going to, we're going to, you know,
save and get the flooring out.
But in the meantime, I'm not that ashamed about it.
You know, I'm not upset.
But here's the thing,
a lot of people think don't have an attitude, do they?
They're not content with such things as they have.
They're not, they want to have more
than they're going to carry out of this world.
They, and there are people who already have things.
You know, they already have all the things
that everybody else has, but they want more, you know?
And they're not, and they're not content.
And you know, by the way,
there's nothing wrong with being successful.
God gives us the power to give up.
And if you through diligence and hard work do well in life,
there's nothing wrong with that.
You know, I don't suggest you make your life all about
seeing how much money you can keep away
because you can't carry it out with you.
That's not a word you'd do.
But you know, some people, they have things already
and they just want more just for the sake of having them.
And you know, rather than working hard to get those things,
they want to just do it quickly.
And a lot of times the way they do that
is through the sin of gambling.
And now, is it, you know, necessarily wrong to,
you know, like for example,
people bet on sports all the time, don't they?
Does that mean it's wrong to watch sports?
No, I don't believe that.
I don't believe I can be,
you're not reciting chapter verse
and telling it's a sin to watch sports.
Okay, we're going to go to a sporting event.
Or, you know, it might not necessarily be simple
to go to a racetrack,
but just understand, you know, if you're there betting,
if you're there placing bets, you know, you are in sin.
You know, if you're watching the game
to see if you're gonna, you know,
double your money on the betting place, you are in sin.
Because you're covetous at that point.
You're desiring something that isn't yours,
that you didn't earn through hard work.
Okay, you're being greedy at that point.
You know, you might go to these places,
you might go to the racetrack and say,
well, I'm not placing any bets.
I'm just kind of hanging out.
But just understand that you're surrounded
by people that are.
You might go to the casino and say,
hey, I'm just here for the crab legs.
You know, I'm just here for the buffet or whatever.
But you know what, you're surrounded by people that are,
that are greedy and covetous
and are there to just get, you know,
just get things quickly.
That just want to, that just are not content
with such things as they have.
And the longer, the more you're around that stuff,
the more it's just gonna slowly erode your resistance to it.
To where you're gonna say, ah, that preacher, you know,
he's, he's just, you know,
he's just gotta make something up and preach.
You know, he's gotta get up and say something.
Of course he's just gonna get a harp on gambling.
What's the big deal though?
I mean, I come to the casino, I come to the racetrack.
I don't have an issue.
You know, what's wrong when you play some one bet
every now and then?
That's how it all starts.
Look, people who have, who have squandered in inheritance,
people have squandered life savings,
people who have signed off over their home,
people who have lost everything to casinos,
you know, they didn't, they didn't do that on day one.
They had, they have never played any kind of,
they had never played or bet on,
done any gambling before and then just one day or the next,
just lost everything and like destroyed
their life in gambling.
That's not how it works.
It's a process.
And there's always that first bet.
You know, it's just like the drunk.
You know, every guy that's chased down the gutter,
that, you know, he didn't have his first drink last night.
You know, he had that drink, you know, years ago,
decades ago, and it's slowly gotten worse and worse
because it's an addiction that gets worse and worse and worse
and that's how addiction works.
You have to keep upping it.
You have to keep just doing more to get that same,
you know, thrill out of that, okay?
So when you're there and you're just kind of innocently,
you know, in the casino at the racetrack and you just think,
well, what's wrong with that one little bet?
You know, just understand that that's how it starts.
You know, and casinos especially, I mean,
they're there for you to hook you.
I mean, how do you think they afford
for all that advertising?
I mean, I mean, that's what boggles my mind
about people who go to casinos and things like that.
It's like, it's obvious who's winning.
They're like, no, I'm gonna take the house.
I was like, no, you're not.
You're not, you're not, you're gonna lose.
The odds are in their favor, believe me.
It's a business and they know what they're doing
and they really work hard at getting people hooked
and then they'll milk you for everything that you have
and then once they just lead you dry,
they will just leave you.
They're not there to be your friend.
Then they will take every dime and take you to get out of here.
They can squeeze blood out of a rock, those people.
They're just leeches, that's what you need.
But you know, 1 Timothy 6 is telling us
to just be content with, you know,
the goblins will be content with this great game,
we carry nothing, we brought nothing into this world,
we carry nothing out, having food and raiment,
let us be there with content, right?
Smell that, just be content with that burger.
You know what I'm talking about, right?
Don't eat that tonight and think,
well, I wish this was a T-bone steak, right?
That's being felt just now, right?
But they that will be rich, says in verse nine,
fall into temptation and a snare.
They that will be rich, not those that are rich,
they that will be rich, the desire that have to be rich,
they will fall into temptation and a snare.
That's the thing about gambling, okay,
and having wealth is that it opens doors
to other sins, doesn't it?
If you would, go to Mark chapter seven,
Mark chapter number seven.
You know, I'm preaching this because
we're surrounded by gambling.
It's everywhere, there's casinos everywhere.
And it's just treated us just like this, you know,
so I went to the casino when I lost two grand, you know?
I got a buddy that went there and his wife won three grand.
Maybe that'll be me one day and he will go there.
Yeah, but after you've spent $5,000,
if you've lost $5,000 and then you go there
and you win two grand one weekend,
you're still $3,000 behind.
That's what people don't get, they're like,
oh, I finally went to the casino
and I won a bunch of money.
Yeah, how much money have you spent there
before you won that much money?
It's like, duh, you know, it's basic math.
And you know, I'm preaching this because
not only are we surrounded by all of this gambling,
but we're in a culture that glorifies the earth.
We're in a culture, we live in a world
that just glorifies wealth, just having more,
I mean, just about having all the money,
having the gold chains, getting the grill,
you know, having the best clothes, having the best car,
just having all the money, all the toys.
That's what this world is about.
You know, the Bible says that the spirit
that love in us lusts it to envy.
That's just the natural spirit that's in man.
He lusts to envy.
Man always wants more.
He desires more and can have not, cannot obtain.
He lusts and desires and wants and can fight
war to get it, to just satisfy his lusts
that can never be satisfied.
And you know, we live in a culture
that just glorifies gambling.
I mean, think about, we could probably just sit here,
you know, we can just go through, you know,
those that have probably, you know,
have a history of watching film,
gets to start citing all the different movies
that we've seen over the years that glorify gambling.
You know, that just glorified going to the casino
and just made it, that's where all the cool people are,
that's where everybody's just, you know,
they're, everyone there's good looking,
wearing a great suit and just having a great time.
You know, they don't show you the guy who's there,
you know, signing over his children's, you know,
withdrawing from, you know, a college fund
or something like that and just wasting it away,
just trying to win back when he's already lost.
Just hiding everything, trying to hide everything
that he's lost from his spouse.
The one that has to go home and tell his wife,
like, hey, I lost the house to the casino.
They'll take your house.
If you want to go to the casino and say,
I'll put my house on the line.
They'll take that, they'll say, sure.
They'll do that.
That's not what they're going to show you in the,
you know, in the rap video.
That's not what they're going to show you in the movie.
They're going to glorify you and make you look good,
make you look attractive.
You know, the truth is, is that when you desire
and you're a covetous,
that you're actually going to end up in poverty.
You're going to actually end up desiring
and not having, and not succeeding
because you're just trying to get ahead quickly.
You're just trying to get ahead without being diligent.
And what you really are is discontent
with the things that you have.
I mean, isn't that really what you're saying?
You're saying, I just wish I had more money.
You know, that's what always,
I was kind of scratching my head on new guys like this
that I work with.
They have a decent job.
You know, they drove to work in a decent vehicle.
They had clean clothes on their back.
They had a lunch packed.
But then they're just complaining about how they don't,
how they want to win, or they're hoping to win a lot.
You know, they're playing the Powerball.
They get the, you know, they get the company pool together.
We're all just going to pitch in
and buy a bunch of Powerball tickets
and we'll split the wings.
What you're saying is that I'm not content
with the things that I have.
I mean, how do you think that makes God feel?
He's sitting there taking care of them.
He's giving the very breath that's in your lungs.
You know, or He can take your life in a moment
where everything, every good thing and every, you know,
every good gift and every perfect gift
cometh down from the powders of light.
You know, every good thing comes from God.
And we're just going, nah, nah, I can't get in there.
I just wish I had more.
You know, all my life, you know, my vehicle's too old.
My vehicle, this, my house, that.
You know, God looks at that and says,
well, you're just an unthankful, ungrateful, spoiled brat.
I mean, that's how I feel.
My kids aren't this way, praise God.
But you know, if I sat in that dinner
and they had a jalapeno, you know, of rice and whatever,
it just, you know, it's, you know, where's the caviar?
You know, where's the filet mignon?
Where's the sirloin steak, Father?
You know, they would just push away.
I'd be like, well, you're an ungrateful brat.
I would go, oh, I'm sorry, Your Highness.
You know, let me get that away from you.
And what would you like?
What can I have the chef prepare for you, sir?
That's not how I would treat that.
I'd say, you can just go to bed hungry.
That's, you know, I'll tell you what,
I'll wrap that up in tinfoil,
and tomorrow morning, when you're really hungry,
I'll set it in front of you for breakfast, cold,
and then we'll see how much you might get.
You know, if you get hungry enough,
you'll eat that stuff cold.
You know, you'll eat that chicken
after the fat's congealed on it, you know, right?
I bet you will too, right?
After it's just got that little brown fat,
I don't even know if I know when it gets cold like that.
But you would eat that if you got hungry enough,
you wouldn't be complaining about it.
You know, but that's insane.
And you say that's a silly example.
But you know what, that's how grown people are.
When they're, you know, God is giving,
already blessed them with all these good things,
they're just like, well, you know,
I'd be better if I lived in a mansion.
It'd be better if I, you know,
if I had a, you know, I drove here in a Bentley,
my life would be better if I had food
and pulled up in a Porsche this morning.
It's like, what's wrong with what you have?
At least you're not walking.
Maybe you should walk.
Did I have you to mark?
I don't know where I had you to go.
But go to mark seven, mark chapter seven.
And look, you know, maybe this doesn't apply to anybody
as far as gambling, you know, but maybe one day it will.
Maybe this will prevent somebody in this room
from destroying your life from gambling.
And there's a lot of horror stories out there
about people who have destroyed their life
through the sin of gambling.
But it all, you know, that's something
that comes from within, right?
And cautiousness is something that affects all of us,
in some degree.
Look at Matthew, or mark chapter seven, verse 20,
and he said, that which comes out of the land,
that which will file within,
born from within, out of the heart of man,
excuse me, heart of man, preceded evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders.
You know, if we were accused of any of these,
you know, we'd be shocked.
Right, we'd go, whoa, so-and-so's an adulter,
so-and-so's an fornicator, look for the murderer?
S, you know, so-and-so broke in,
or, you know, robbed the church, or whatever.
You know, but then we look at cautiousness,
and we go, oh yeah, but, you know,
cautiousness isn't happening.
Wickedness, and it's like, it's not like this list
is just slowly getting better.
Deceit, lasciviousness, and evil eyes,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
It's not like, well, these are the really bad sins
at the beginning, but then, you know,
the cautiousness isn't that bad.
These are all wicked sins.
You know, but we're living in a world
where cautiousness is just kind of like,
well, it's not that big of a deal.
You know, and if we're being honest with ourselves,
we all deal with cautiousness.
And it's one of those things that we probably
don't even realize we're guilty of sometimes.
You know, when we're driving down the road
in our vehicle, and, you know, it's getting old,
and it's leaking all kinds of fluids.
You know, and it's not as nice as it once was.
And look, there's nothing wrong
with getting a new vehicle, obviously.
You know, you gotta invest in that.
Or maybe there's nothing wrong with it.
It's just not, it's just old.
You know, maybe it's just a little faded.
We're just discontent for some reason.
You know, and then we go by the new,
we go by the car lot, and we kind of
as we pump on the brakes a little bit,
and kind of look at it, you know.
And without even realizing it,
we're coveting something that we don't,
where cautiousness is in our heart.
You know, we might be in a house,
and just, you know, looking in a house
at somebody else after, and, well, I wish I had that.
You know, or we're just scrolling through Zillow.
You know, oh, I wish I could have that house.
I wish I could have that house.
And next thing we go, oh, this is cautiousness.
Cautiousness is one of those things
that just kind of creeps up on me, right?
And look, that can show up in all kinds of ways.
You know, everybody's like, you know,
children can be guilty of this.
They'll be looking at so-and-so's toy or whatever.
It's something that's in the heart of men, okay?
All these sins in the heart of men,
and the world works hard to exploit this, okay?
And the way they exploit cautiousness, you know,
is through gambling.
That's one way that they do it.
They know that men desire to have things.
They want to get rich quick.
They don't want to work hard,
and they just want to have a windfall.
Cautiousness is in there.
They will exploit this sin,
just like they exploit any of these other sins.
And people say, oh, you know, gambling's not that bad,
but, you know, gambling's not a sin.
What's so wrong with that?
And yet, if they're watching the casino
and saw me in there, you know,
pulling a lever on that one-armed thief,
you know, the, what do they call it?
Who knows what that thing's called?
I know, I can't think of it right now.
They pull it down, and the thing spins.
Nobody knows.
God bless you all.
You guys, we can't go to the prayer.
What was it?
The slot machine.
I knew somebody there.
Shame on you.
I was teasing.
Right, that one-armed jack, or that one-armed thief,
that's what my stepdad always called it,
the one-armed thief.
You know, you just take all your money
in the slot machine.
You know, if you walked to the airport
in Nevada somewhere and saw me, the deacon,
pulling that lever, you know,
you would just instinctually think,
that's, something's not right here.
Right?
Because what would that say about me as a deacon?
You know, somebody who's on staff,
you know, who draws the salary from the church,
you'd say, well, I'm not content with what
the church is giving me.
I'm not content with my wages.
That would concern you, wouldn't it?
You'd say, well, man, if he's not content
where he's willing to just go out
and bump up the gamble and things,
like, what's next?
You'd probably start wondering,
is he gonna start preaching some kind of,
is he gonna compromise and start preaching things?
You ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
You know, that would concern you, right?
Why, because we know in our hearts
that being covetous is a sin,
that gambling is a sin,
it isn't something that exploits
covetousness that's already in our hearts.
If you would, go to 1 Corinthians chapter number six.
We'll close there.
1 Corinthians chapter number six.
Michael's there.
Actually, now we will go to 1 Corinthians chapter six.
You know, covetousness is something
we have to be on guard for,
especially in the country that we live in.
You know, and I'm sure it's just,
you know, there's gambling can be found anywhere.
You know, maybe they're not gambling,
you know, thousands of hundreds
or thousands of dollars at a time,
you know, in a casino somewhere,
but even poor people who are covetous,
you know, in some, you know,
third world country somewhere are gonna,
they might be gambling on things.
You know, they got their own forms of gambling
and maybe they're not gambling money,
they're, you know, putting other,
they're wagering other things, right?
But how about, especially where we live, you know,
where, you know, we're within, you know,
just moments away from casinos,
moments away from the scrapbook.
Just an awful way to put that on a sporting event.
Just so easily we can just, you know, make bets, okay,
and allow that covetousness to just take over in our life.
Jesus said, did you go to, where did I go?
1 Corinthians 6, Jesus said in Luke 12,
he said, take heed and beware of covetousness.
He said, take heed and beware of what?
Oh, I mean, think of all the things
he could have warned us about,
and doesn't have warned us about in other places.
The adulteries, the thefts, the fornications, the murders.
You'll beware, but he says, look,
take heed and beware of covetousness.
Because covetousness is one of those things
that can just sneak in, you know,
and the world will just say,
oh, there's nothing wrong with you
just wanting to win the cup of water.
Well, Jesus said, you know what, that's covetousness,
and you need to take heed and beware of that,
because it's just showing you
that you're not content with such things as you have.
Beware of it, for a man's life consists if not
in the abundance of the things which he possesses.
You know, the life is more than raiment,
or the life is more than meat,
and the body is more than man.
There's more to life than just things.
You ever notice that people
who have a lot of things are discontent?
They just want more things?
I mean, I remember that when I had friends
who had, well, their families were better off than ours.
They'd have more, like, I'd go down to their basement,
they had all the toys I wanted,
and they just treated those toys like garbage,
just like, yeah, I didn't even want this toy.
You know, I just want the next thing.
You need people like this.
They have an abundance, and it doesn't satisfy.
Once they get it, they just want more.
I mean, as an adult, I remember this really sunk in
into one time, because I was out on a job
doing a door repair on this guy in Phoenix,
in this guy's house in Phoenix.
He lived up in this gated community,
up on a mountain, like the side.
I mean, he looked out, you could see the whole valley.
He just had all this city lights.
It was just breathtaking.
You just, oh, I said breathtaking.
This is beautiful, too.
And Brother Adam's gonna make a video on that, right?
Say breathtaking, right?
Amen.
But, amen, thank you.
So, it was breathtaking.
I don't take it back.
I'm not ashamed of what I said.
It was breathtaking, brother.
But it was this beautiful view.
Breathtaking view, in fact.
The sunset, just wow.
I'm just so glad I lived here.
Just so grateful, so thankful that I have
this view that nobody else has.
That Sophie, all those little people out there,
they're just staring at the back of somebody else's house,
or something.
You know what he was doing?
Just flipping through the channels.
I mean, I'm sitting there trying to get the work done,
just watching the sunset.
Just, wow, it's gorgeous, just taking it in.
And he's just getting up on the commercial break,
going through, picking up some grapes, going back.
This is his panoramic view.
Why, and I'm sure when he bought the house,
when they went out there with the realtor,
they're like, the realtor's like,
ah, look at the view, right, huh?
Oh, yeah, Brother Adam.
But once they got it, you know what?
It got old quick.
Why, because a man's life is more than just
the things that we have.
It consists of not an abundance of the things
which he possesses.
That's why people who are incredibly wealthy,
you'll hear about the movie stars, the rock stars,
you know, the hip hop artists, if you call it that,
whatever, that just have an abundance of all this wealth
and have all the things.
You know, they're hooked on drugs.
They're on their fourth marriage.
They're committing suicide.
They're miserable people.
Because they're not content, and what they realize
is that all these things mean nothing.
You know, because, as the Bible's already told us,
when we came into this world without thinking,
we'd leave with nothing.
Maybe we came, maybe we shall depart.
You're there in 1 Corinthians chapter six, is it right?
Yeah, look at verse 12, he said,
all things are lawful unto me,
but all things are not a scheme.
And not all things are gonna profit you.
You know, you might be able to go places and do things,
but it's all gonna be profitable for you.
All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be brought in the power of any of them.
You know, we should not allow ourselves
to be brought in the power of covetousness.
You know, that's the one thing we're kinda focusing in on.
You know, don't be overcome with covetousness,
especially when it comes to the form of gambling.
You know, it can be a problem,
and you can develop a gambling addiction very easy.
You will take a toll on your life.
You know, gambling is something
that is just glorifying our culture,
and it opens these gates to other sins,
and we should take heed and beware of covetousness,
and keep ourselves far from these things.
And you say, well, you know, I just go to the casino
just because, you know, I just like the crab legs,
or whatever.
You know, but the Bible says
to abstain from the mere appearance of evil.
You know, we shouldn't even get close to those things,
because that's how it all starts,
is just, you know, we get a little bit closer,
and a little bit closer,
and eventually those sins that we thought,
oh, I've never been guilty of,
you know, we just kinda flirt with them.
Eventually, they will bring us some of their power.
You know, and say, oh, it's just a little bit
of covetousness, it's just me desiring it
a little bit more than I don't have.
You know, well, but then you get that,
and the life's going a little bit more,
and you know, the next thing you know,
you're neck deep in some sin.
And that's how gambling works.
You know, oh, it's just, we're just, you know,
I'm in the work truck on the way to the job site,
and we're just gonna run in there,
and I'm just gonna get my scratch off.
You know, and then you do it,
you do get, you know, you do double your money.
And you're like, oh, man, I got a hot hand.
Lady, luck is shining on me, right?
And you're, I'm gonna take this,
because people get superstitious.
Oh, now I'm taking those limbs,
and I'm gonna go to the casino.
And, you know, that's how these things happen.
I mean, how do you think that that kind of thing happens?
We hear these horror stories like,
I don't know, yeah, that's what those people said.
Because they didn't learn to take pain
and be aware of publicistness,
which is in the heart of all of us.
You know, and I'm focusing in specifically tonight
on gambling, but you know, we can apply that
to many different areas in our life.
It's important, you know, to ring the bell
of that gambling is a sin,
because it's something that is just so pervasive
and so accessible to us here in, you know, the modern world.
We could place that so easily
without even giving up off the couch nowadays.
You know, and you gotta be careful,
because those things will reach out,
they'll grab us, they'll take hold,
and you brought them out, and they can and will and have
to destroy people's lives.
So be aware of the sin of gambling.
Recognize it that it is a sin, it's covetousness,
and don't let it take root in your life.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Do it again, thank you for the warning of covetousness,
that there's no sugar coming when it comes to man.
You can show us, you can tell us, warn us
about the things that are in our hearts,
the things that proceed out of our hearts,
that defy us, there are all these different sins.
Lord, I pray you help us to be on guard against them,
not just covetousness, Lord, but all these other sins
that we can possibly fall into.
Lord, I pray you help us just to be a people
that are content and thankful, Lord,
for the things that you provided for us.
And we thank you for your love and mercy
and grace in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, we'll sing one more song
before we close tonight.
Amen.
Let's open up our hymnals to a song of the 32.
So let's have it begin by singing a song of the 32,
He Lives on High.
["He Lives on High"]