We're going to do one for the kids and three big questions for the kids, all right?
All right kids, which apostle shared the gospel with the Ethiopian on the road to
Good job.
All right, let's do one. Let's see all the young girls coming under, girls coming under.
Where were Jesus' followers the first of all the Christians?
Okay, I'm going to bring the boys in. All right, 1,200 boys, you got it? Teenagers, you got it?
Any teenagers? Good job.
All right, we're going to make another announcement. If you haven't noticed, there's a giant box of stuff here.
It has all kinds of huge things that you forgot to reach out to.
So if you haven't heard the announcement, please come and get your stuff because we don't know what to do with the announcement tonight.
I might lift them up one at a time and then you'll have to come up and get it when I lift up what your thing is.
Or you can get it now.
Okay, all right, let's do all the adults, all right?
All the adults, do a sword drill. All right, all the adults, get your swords up.
We're going to do Deuteronomy 18, 18, not yet.
Deuteronomy 18, 18, ready to go.
All right, let's do another trivia question here.
All right, we'll do one for the kids.
All right, kids, come up a little bit.
Who is exiled to an idol?
You're not exiled.
Who is exiled to an idol?
All right, teenagers.
Good job, come on up, guys.
All right, can we bring you another chance here?
All right.
Which disciple denied Jesus three times?
Good job, come on up.
Okay, let's see, adults, not too bad.
All right, adults, after the resurrection, how many days was Judas' heart worth?
Good job.
Okay, kids, do you want to try another one?
All right, what garden did Jesus go to after the last supper?
Okay, teenagers, teenagers, this is a good one.
What problem did Artemis have with Jesus' will?
Good job, come on up.
All right, young adults, are they young, single people?
All right, single people, right?
What was that for you before you called Jesus?
There you go, all right.
All right, let's see, deaths, deaths, right?
What member of the Jewish ruling council came to question Jesus?
All right, we need one more before we get started here.
All right, this will be for the kids again, last one for the kids, all right?
Where did Jesus' family go?
Where did everyone find Jesus?
Good job, come on up, guys.
Come on up, everybody.
All right, church, we need to open up your notes for Psalm 210.
Psalm 210, wonderful grace of Jesus, amen.
Psalm 210.
All right, church, let's sing this out like it's our last night on the first.
All right, let's sing it out.
All right, church, let's sing it out.
All right, let's sing it out.
All right, church, let's sing it out.
All right, church, let's sing this out on the first.
All right, church, let's sing it out.
Let's sing it out.
All right, church, let's sing it out.
Let's sing it out.
All right, church, let's sing it out.
Is we kinda do a first come, first serve approach
with the limited space that we have here.
So just keep that in mind if you wanna come back.
And with that, I'm gonna turn the service over
to, brother Peter's gonna lead us in our next song.
Yes, sir.
All right, church, you can go in for medals transfer 136.
Song 136, Master, the tempest is raging.
Song 136.
I try to sing this out on the verse.
Master, the tempest is raging.
The hills are tossing high.
The skies are shadowed with blackness.
The shelter or help is nigh.
Care is not not that we perish.
God is not light asleep.
The way to love is not that he is friendly.
The brave and the angry heave.
The wicked and the weak shall obey my will.
Please be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm cause heat,
or demons, or men, or whatever it be,
the water can swallow the ship where life,
the master of the sea can hurt its highs.
May all shall sweetly obey my will.
Please be still.
May all shall sweetly obey my will.
Please, please, be still.
Master, the angry shall spear it.
Like how it might be today.
The tens of myself are in trouble.
Awaken and save my prey.
Joy is a sin and a anguish.
Strength for my singing soul.
Can't perish, I perish, dear master.
Awaken and gain control.
The wicked and the weak shall obey my will.
Please be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm cause heat,
or demons, or men, or whatever it be,
the water can swallow the ship where life,
the master of the sea can hurt its highs.
May all shall sweetly obey my will.
Please be still.
May all shall sweetly obey my will.
Please, please, be still.
Master, the terror is over.
The others sweetly rest.
Her son in the calm wind is nearer.
And heaven's within my breast.
Linger of blessed redeemer.
Leave me alone no more.
And with joy I shall give the blessed harbor.
And rest on the mistle shore.
The winds and the waves shall obey my will.
Please be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm cause heat,
or demons, or men, or whatever it be,
the water can swallow the ship where life,
the master of the ship can hurt its highs.
May all shall sweetly obey my will.
Please be still.
May all shall sweetly obey my will.
Please, please, be still.
Thanks, brother Jim Rogers.
Proverbs chapter 27.
Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Let another man praise thee,
and not thine own mouth,
a stranger and not thine own lips.
A stone is heavy and the sand is weighty,
but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous,
but who is able to stand before envy?
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
The full soul loatheth in honeycomb,
but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
As a bird that wandereth from her nest,
so is a man that wandereth from his place.
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart,
so does the sweetness of a man's friend,
my hearty counsel.
Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not,
neither go into thy brother's house
in the day of thy calamity,
for better is a neighbor that is near
than a brother far off.
My son, be wise and make my heart glad
that I may answer him that reproaches me.
A prudent man foreseeeth evil and hideth himself,
but the simple pass on and are punished.
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger
and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice
rising early in the morning,
it shall be counted a curse to him.
A continual dropping in a very rainy day
and a contentious woman are alike.
Whosoever hideth her, hideth the wind
and the ointment of his right hand which bereteth itself.
Iron sharpeneth iron,
so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof,
so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored.
As in water, face answereth to face,
so the heart of man to man.
Hell and destruction are never full,
so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
As the finding pot for silver and the furnace for gold,
so is a man to his praise.
Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar
among wheat with a pestle,
yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks
and look well to thy herds,
for riches are not forever,
and doth the crown endure to every generation?
The hay appearth,
and the tender grass showeth itself,
and the herbs of the mountains are gathered.
The lambs are for thy clothing,
and the goats are the prize of the field.
And thou shalt have goat's milk enough for thy food,
for the food of thy household,
and for the maintenance for thy maidens.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord, thank you for this camp trip.
Thank you for Stronghold Baptist Church
and all the pastors that have gone out to make this event great.
Pray that you would just bless Pastor Anderson now
as he preaches your word.
Pray that you would help him have a clear mind
and to be filled with his spirit.
Pray that you would help us all to listen well
and to be able to pay attention.
And Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Man, it's great to be here,
and I'm having a great time at the camping trip,
a lot of great fellowship, a lot of fun.
Thanks, everybody, for coming here tonight.
I feel kind of high up.
Did we always stand on this when we preach?
Is this always how it is? Okay, all right.
So this evening I want to preach on the subject of
the inherent greediness of man,
the inherent greediness of man.
It's just human nature to be greedy.
And I'm not even necessarily talking about
bad things or wrong things or sinful things.
I'm talking about good things, but just overindulging.
It seems like whenever we as human beings
receive something good, it's just not enough.
We just want more, and then we end up just going to excess.
And I think about this all the time in my own personal life,
and I catch myself all the time just being greedy,
wanting too much, wanting more.
And if you think about it, a lot of the problems in our world
are due to just people being greedy
and just people wanting too much, right?
Think about what the Bible says in James 4.
From whence come wars and fightings among you?
Come they not hence, even from your lusts that war in your members?
Ye lust and desire to have.
He says you kill, you want more.
And why do we have so many problems?
Because people are greedy.
Human beings are just greedy.
The Bible says in Proverbs 27 verse 20,
where you are there in your Bible,
hell and destruction are never full,
so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
It's just never enough for us as human beings.
The Bible says in Habakkuk chapter 2,
and if you would, turn in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 11.
2 Chronicles 11, but while you're turning there,
Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 5 says,
hell and destruction, I already read that one,
but let's read it again.
Hell and destruction are never full,
so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Listen to a similar verse from Habakkuk.
Ye also, because he transgresseth by wine,
he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home,
who enlargeth his desire as hell,
and is as death, and cannot be satisfied,
but gathereth unto him all nations,
and heapeth unto him all people.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 5 verse 10,
he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver,
nor he that loveth abundance with increase.
This is also vanity, right?
Because no matter how much people get,
our sinful human nature is never going to say,
I have enough money, I have enough silver.
We're always just going to want more, right?
In order to transcend this,
obviously we need to walk in the Spirit.
We need to have our minds renewed,
but when it comes to our sinful flesh, man,
we are all greedy.
I look inside myself,
and I find just the tendency to overindulge.
I think we all have that within us,
that inherent greediness that we have as humans.
You know, the Bible says,
hast thou found honey?
Eat so much as is sufficient for thee,
lest thou be filled therewith and vomited, right?
I mean, these are good things.
God provides honey.
You eat a little bit.
You enjoy.
It's nice.
But what do we tend to do as human beings?
We tend to overindulge and just eat and eat and eat
until we literally get sick and throw up.
And this is just the tendency that we have as human beings.
I'm going to give you some examples tonight
of some Bible stories from the Old Testament
just kind of illustrating the tendency of human beings
to just always be greedy, always want more.
They get something good, and it's just not enough.
They just have to have more.
The first person, as I was thinking about this subject,
who came to mind is King Solomon,
who overindulged.
And the Bible says,
you're there in 2 Chronicles.
We'll get there in a moment.
But Solomon had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines,
and his wives turned away his heart.
I mean, what kind of a ridiculous, stupid number of wives is that?
700 wives.
Oh, and then 300 concubines.
Now, you could say that the 700 wives
are perhaps just political alliances
because they're all princesses.
What you have to understand about the ancient world
is that there are a lot of city-states.
We today in our world,
we have only about 200 nations total in our entire world.
But in the ancient world,
there were way more kings and nations than that
because one city would often be its own autonomous kingdom,
its own city-state.
So you have just hundreds and hundreds of kings.
So Solomon is married to a lot of princesses.
You could say, well, you know,
that's not just necessarily for his gratification,
but he's making political alliances and so forth.
But he's got 300 concubines.
These 300 concubines have no political strategy-type purpose.
They are just 300 women for him to sleep with,
and it's just absurdly excessive and ridiculous.
I mean, just imagine his 700 wives.
I mean, if I had 700 wives, I'd be like,
what's your name again?
Who are you again?
Like, which king are you the daughter of?
It's just so stupid and ridiculous,
but yet it's just human nature.
Let's look at his son, Rehoboam.
So that's Solomon famous for having 700 wives and 300 concubines.
But look down at your Bible there in 2 Chronicles 11,
and we're going to see his son, Rehoboam,
that the apple didn't really fall very far from the tree.
So in chapter 11, verse 18, it says,
Rehoboam took him Maalath, the daughter of Jeramoth,
the son of David the wife,
and Abbahel, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse,
verse 19, which bare him children,
Jeush, and Shamariah, and Zaham.
And after her, he took Maakah, the daughter of Absalom,
which bare him Abijah, and Atai, and Ziza, and Shalomith.
And Rehoboam loved Maakah, the daughter of Absalom,
above all his wives and his concubines,
for he took, watch this, 18 wives and 3-score concubines.
Now look, obviously Solomon's number is just absurd and ridiculous,
and he was just trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records or whatever.
But even this number is just a ridiculously high number.
18 wives and 3-score concubines.
This is 78 women that he has at his disposal.
Now wouldn't you think that that's enough?
I mean, 78? It's such a crazy number.
And it says that he begat 28 sons and 3-score daughters.
Verse 22, Rehoboam made Abijah, the son of Maakah, the chief,
to be ruler among his brethren, for he thought to make him king,
and he dealt wisely and dispersed of all his children
throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin
unto every fenced city, and he gave them vittle and abundance.
Oh, and by the way, and he desired many wives.
So this guy already has 18 wives.
He already has 60 concubines, but yet he desired many wives.
Like, it's not enough. He just wishes.
He's just like, you know, my kingdom's going great.
I've got all these kids.
I'm sending them to all these different places,
but man, I just wish I had more wives,
because I only have 18, and I only have 60 women on the side.
It's ridiculous. It's madness.
Is he alone, though? Is it just Rehoboam?
Is it just Solomon? No, my friend.
There is an inherent greediness in man.
Look, the Bible says who shall findeth a wife, findeth a good thing.
But this is too much of a good thing.
Right? We're supposed to have one wife.
The Bible says that a man shall leave his father and mother
and cleave unto his wife singular,
and they too shall be one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
And so we're to have one wife.
That's a good thing, but then people are greedy, and one's not enough.
And then they might think, oh, well, two.
That's the ticket. Three, four.
Here's a guy with 18, and really he's got 78, and it's not enough.
Why? Because it's never enough.
And then you see Solomon whining in the book of Ecclesiastes
about how he really can't find the right woman.
He has a thousand women, and he says,
one in a thousand women have I not found.
He doesn't like any of them.
He literally has 700 wives, 300 concubines,
and Ecclesiastes is complaining that none of them is really up to snuff.
Now this just shows you the problem is with Solomon.
The problem is with Rehoboam.
There's an inherent problem that we have as human beings
of just inherently being greedy and just wanting too much.
And if you realize this about yourself,
if you realize this about human nature,
then you can catch yourself being greedy.
You can guard because you say, hey, wait a minute.
I think I'm being a little bit greedy right now.
I think I'm overindulging right now.
I need to be a little bit more moderate about what I desire
or what I expect or what I want from life.
And again, being married is a great thing.
Having a relationship with your wife is a beautiful thing.
But be content. Be satisfied with one.
That's what God has given. God gave you one.
Some people have zero.
Be happy that you have one.
You used to have zero.
Now you got one. Be happy. Be content.
Don't get greedy.
Don't desire more than what God has allotted you.
Look, if you would, at Genesis chapter 30.
Genesis chapter 30, we're going to talk about another greedy guy.
While you're turning there,
we're going to look at Rachel, the greedy gal, in Genesis chapter 30.
But before we do, I want to talk about Laban.
And if you remember the story about Laban,
Jacob, he goes to his relative, Laban,
and he wants to get married.
So he's going there to look for a wife
because his parents don't want him to marry one of the local heathen girls.
They want him to go to Laban
and marry someone from their hometown in Syria.
And so Jacob goes there,
and he ends up making a deal with his future father-in-law, Laban,
that he's going to work for seven years
in order to get the hand of his daughter in marriage.
So he's going to work for him for seven years,
and then he gets to marry his daughter, Rachel.
Now look, that's a pretty good deal for Laban
because Jacob ends up being an incredible worker.
I mean, the first day Jacob shows up,
he impresses everyone by lifting the stone off the well
that usually many people would have to come together
and lift the stone off the well.
He comes and lifts the stone off the well alone.
And so he's clearly not a lazy man.
He's clearly a strong man. He's got steel.
He works for one month for Laban,
and Laban sees that he's a good worker.
And so Laban makes this deal with him.
Jacob is the one who sets the terms and says,
I'll work for seven years for your daughter, Rachel.
So he's getting a good deal.
Jacob's very generous.
I mean, seven years of your life to work,
that's a lot to get a wife.
But is Laban satisfied with that?
I mean, in my opinion, that's a very generous deal
that Jacob's given him.
Seven years of my primo labor,
my quality labor for your daughter as a wife.
Nowadays, we just get the wives for free.
It's even better.
But the point is that Laban's not satisfied with this,
so Laban ends up swindling Jacob,
tricking him, making him marry his daughter Leah first,
and then saying,
well, I'll give you the one you actually wanted, Rachel.
You just got to work another seven years.
So he ends up getting 14 years of labor
because he's just greedy
and not satisfied with the seven that he initially got.
But then not only that,
he then wants Jacob to keep working for him.
Even after the 14 years are up,
he wants him to keep working,
and he keeps him around,
and of course, you know, the story goes on.
I'm not going to tell the entire story.
But here's a verse from Genesis 31, 41.
If you want to glance over at it,
we're going to be in Genesis 30 in a moment.
You might as well flip the page.
Look at Genesis 31, 41.
It says,
Thus have I been 20 years in thy house.
I served thee 14 years for thy two daughters
and six years for thy cattle,
and, watch this,
thou hast changed my wages ten times.
Not only did he trick him
and get the extra seven years of work out of him,
but then he just keeps changing the deal
during the six years.
Because during the six years,
it's like, okay, you get all the speckled,
spotted, and ring-streaked,
or you get the brown ones.
But whatever happens,
Laban keeps changing it
to try to just maximize the deal for himself
instead of just sticking to any kind of an agreement
because Laban is just a greedy person.
He just always wants more, more, more.
But is Laban alone?
Is Laban just a really extra greedy guy
and Solomon's just really extra greedy
and Rehoboam's really extra greedy?
You know what you're going to find
is a pattern of just person after person
after person after person in the Bible.
Sometimes they're bad people.
Sometimes they're good people.
It just seems like you see a pattern
of people in the Bible
that are just constantly being greedy,
and then we find ourselves being greedy.
We see the people all around us being greedy.
There is an inherent greediness in human beings,
and we need to acknowledge this.
This is part of why there's so many problems in our world, right?
Greedy countries, greedy governments,
greedy businessmen, greedy people,
and they just want to take such a big piece of the pie
and leave nothing for anybody else
because they just can't ever get enough.
And this is not of God.
As Christians, we need to be moderate.
We don't want to be greedy and overindulge.
You know, I think about Proverbs chapter number 30
where the author of Proverbs says,
give me neither poverty nor riches.
Feed me with food convenient for me.
You know, I just want to have what I need,
but I don't just need to keep having more.
I don't want to be rich.
The Bible says, labor not to be rich.
Cease from thine own wisdom.
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6,
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
because the love of money is the root of all evil.
And so this greediness is something
that can just lead us into all kinds of sin
and it's inherent to us.
We've got to guard because look, all of us,
even though we're saved,
we still have that sin nature, don't we?
And if we don't put on the new man,
if we don't walk in the spirit, we're going to be in the flesh.
And let me just tell you something about your flesh.
Your flesh is greedy.
My flesh is greedy.
We've got to reign that in, right?
We've got to be moderate.
Now look, if you would, at Genesis chapter 30, verse 1.
Rachel, to me, always kind of cracks me up as a Bible character.
She's not a very great person, to be honest.
Like, I don't really like her very much.
I know Jacob was super into her
and worked 14 years, but she wasn't that cool, in my opinion.
But anyway, let's look at some things about Rachel.
It says, when Rachel saw, this is Genesis 30, verse 1,
that she bear Jacob no more children,
Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob,
give me children or else I die.
And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel
and he said, am I in God's stead
who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
And she said, behold, my maid Bilhah, going unto her,
and she shall bear upon my knees,
that I may also have children by her.
And when she gave him Bilhah, her handmaid to wife,
Jacob went in unto her, and Bilhah conceived
and bared Jacob a son.
So Rachel's upset that she doesn't have children
and she sees her sister Leah having a bunch of children
and so she envies her.
She's upset.
So she ends up coming up with a wrong solution,
a sinful thing of, hey, you're going to go in unto my handmaid
and get her pregnant and then, you know,
that way I can raise her kid
because the handmaid belongs to me
so her kid will kind of be like my kid
and then I'll have a baby to carry around and whatever.
Obviously, this is sinful because her husband
shouldn't be going in unto another woman.
You know, we're only supposed to have one wife in the first place.
But this is what's so funny. Look at verse 6.
Rachel said, God hath judged me
and hath also heard my voice.
Not really, no.
That's not what happened.
Now, that does happen later.
Later, God does actually hear her voice
and she does have a kid.
That would have been the kid to name Dan, right?
But no, she's like, oh, God has judged me
and also heard my voice and has given me a son.
Not really because it was this other woman that gave birth.
Therefore, she called his name Dan
and Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again
and bear Jacob a second son.
And Rachel said, with great wrestlings
have I wrestled with my sister
and I've prevailed and she called his name Naphtali.
Look at what she's naming her kids.
She's got a weird attitude.
You know, like all of these names
are names that are sort of like
almost like vindictive or like an in-yo face
to other people in the family.
Like, hey, God judged me.
Or hey, I know what I'm going to name my kid.
I'm going to name him Wrestling
because I've been fighting Leah
and now I'm winning, so let's name Wrestling.
What is that? I wrestled.
I'm going to name my son I wrestled
because I wrestled with my sister and I won.
I mean, she's got a weird attitude here, right?
She's going about things the wrong way.
She's not satisfied with her life,
with God and what God is doing for her,
so she takes things into her own hands
and brings a third party in to give birth
and obviously it's sinful and wrong and whatever.
Okay, go down if you would to verse 22.
It says in verse 22,
And God remembered Rachel.
So much later, she actually does have a baby.
And God remembered Rachel
and God hearkened to her and opened her womb.
And she conceived and bare a son
and said God had taken away my repurchase.
You know, this would be the one to name Dan or something, right?
But no, no, no, she called his name Joseph saying,
The Lord shall add to me another son.
Now what is that?
Like you've been wanting to have a baby so long,
you finally have a baby,
you haven't even cut the umbilical cord yet,
and what are you already thinking about?
This isn't enough.
Give me another one.
This is just human nature, my friend.
You think that if you just get a little more money
or if you just get a little more of this,
a little more of that, finally you'll be satisfied.
But you know what?
People that aren't satisfied are never going to be satisfied.
You know, the apostle Paul said,
I've learned in whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be content.
And there are certain people who have learned how to be content
in any situation,
and then there are other people that are never going to be content
no matter what they receive.
And Rachel's one of those people.
Because as soon as she gets what she finally wanted,
she wants to have a baby,
she's already got these two kind of step kids or whatever
with the handmade,
but now she's got a real baby all of her own,
and just the first thought,
first thing out of her mouth is,
give me another one.
The Lord's going to add another one,
which is literally what the word Joseph even means.
You know, that God's going to add is what that means.
And so she's just already just thinking about the next one.
Just can't even just stop and just enjoy
and be content and satisfied with that.
Flip over to chapter 35.
Genesis 35 verse 16.
And we're going to fast forward a little bit in the life of Rachel.
And it says in Genesis 35 16,
And they journeyed from Bethel,
and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath,
and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.
And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor,
that the midwife said unto her,
Fear not, thou shalt have this son also.
Genesis 35 18.
And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing,
for she died,
that she called his name Ben-Oni,
but his father called him Benjamin.
So finally, now that Rachel's dead,
Jacob can start calling the kids what he wants
and stop giving them these weird, messed up names.
The first name is like Judge,
because God judged me, even though he didn't.
The second name is like I wrestled,
because she wrestled with her sister,
and she's finally winning.
The third one is Joseph,
because God's going to add another son,
because I'm not just thankful that God gave me what I want.
I need another one.
Now she finally has the second son,
and she calls him this name that Jacob finds objectionable,
you know, Ben-Oni,
which is like son of my affliction,
you know, son of my sorrow or something, right?
Again, just like having a bad attitude about the son,
because obviously the birth was rough,
and it was such a bad birth that it actually killed her.
But then his father changes the name to something positive,
Benjamin, nobody's 100% sure what this means,
but it probably means something along the lines of
son of my right hand.
There are a few different theories about it,
but that's the one that I think is probably right.
So, you know, either way,
she names him something negative,
and her husband changes it to something positive.
Because here's the thing, you know,
Rachel is a person who is greedy,
and she's never content as a result,
whereas Jacob is the opposite.
Jacob is not a greedy person,
and he's more of a contented person,
because he's a godlier person.
Let's look at some other examples from the Bible.
Let's flip over to the book of 2 Kings, chapter 14.
2 Kings, chapter 14.
We're just blowing through some different stories in the Bible,
just to show you how people in the Bible are greedy,
and they're just not satisfied,
they take too much.
And we need to think about this,
because it's something that we are all going to struggle with in our lives.
And if we walk in the flesh, this is how we're going to be.
And when we catch ourselves thinking that way,
when we catch ourselves being greedy,
and wanting to overindulge,
and wanting to take too much of a good thing even,
you know, this could be anything.
Just wanting to have too much of a good thing, being greedy,
we need to realize, hey, that's the flesh talking.
You know, I need to put on the new man.
I need to walk in the Spirit.
I need to be righteous here,
and not have this wicked, greedy, sinful attitude
that is so universal among people.
Look if you would at 2 Kings 14, verse 7.
The Bible says, and this is about King Amaziah,
he slew of Edom in the valley of salt, 10,000,
and took Selah by war,
and called the name of it Jochthiel unto this day.
So, King Amaziah has a great victory.
He defeats one of their traditional enemies, the Edomites.
He wins a great battle.
He gains territory for his kingdom.
Look what it says in the next verse, verse number 8.
Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash,
the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel,
saying, Come, let us look one another in the face.
And Jehoaz, the king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah,
saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon
sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying,
Give thy daughter to my son to wife,
and there pass by a wild beast that was in Lebanon,
and trod down the thistle.
Thou hast indeed smitten Edom,
and thine heart hath lifted thee up.
Glory of this, and tarry it home,
for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt,
that thou shouldest fall even thou and Judah with thee?
But Amaziah would not hear.
Therefore Jehoash, king of Israel, went up,
and he and Amaziah, king of Judah,
looked one another in the face at Beth Shemes,
which belonged to Judah.
So here's what's going on, is that Amaziah wins a great victory.
God blesses him.
God establishes him in his kingdom.
He's able to beat back a hostile enemy.
He's got power. He's got glory.
He's doing well.
But he just doesn't know when to stop.
He's just greedy.
He just wants more. He just wants another victory.
So he just picks a fight for no reason with the king of Israel.
Everything's fine with Israel,
but he's just puffed up from his victory against the Edomites,
so he just picks a fight for no reason with the king of Israel.
And the king of Israel tries to talk him down and says,
hey, look, you've had a great victory.
Why don't you just be happy with that?
Why don't you just glory in that?
Don't meddle with me.
I didn't do you any wrong.
Just you leave me alone.
You be happy and whatever.
But he doesn't listen.
So, of course, what ends up happening?
He ends up losing everything.
It says in verse 12, Judah was put to the worst before Israel,
and they fled every man to their tents.
So Judah gets defeated.
And Jehoash, king of Israel, took Amaziah, the king of Judah,
the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah at Beth Shemesh,
and came down to Jerusalem.
Watch this.
Break down the wall of Jerusalem.
From the gate of Ephraim under the corner gate, 400 cubits.
So, you know, a 600-foot section of the wall is broken down now.
So instead of just being happy that he's this victorious king
that defeated Edom, we've got great national security.
Everything's great.
No, instead, he just keeps pushing, gets greedy,
picks a fight with Israel for no reason,
and then now even Jerusalem itself is just getting destroyed
and he's humiliated,
and there's a 600-foot-wide gap or breach in the wall of Jerusalem
now that he's going to have to deal with and try to fix.
Look at verse 14.
And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels
that were found in the house of the Lord
and in the treasures of the king's house and hostages
and returned to Samaria.
I mean, look, he's losing people.
People are going away as hostages.
The gold, the silver, it's all being taken away.
Big hole in the wall.
He's just being just gutted absolutely as a king.
Why?
Because he didn't know when to quit.
He didn't know when to just say, hey, it's enough.
Let me be content with what God has given me.
You know, it reminds me of the board game Risk, okay?
Now, who here plays Risk or has played Risk before?
Put up your hand.
All right, so the rest of you, well, I'm sorry.
But those of you who've played Risk,
you'll know what I'm talking about.
One of the most important strategies
when you're playing Risk is to not do too much on your turn.
Don't get greedy.
Once you defeat another country,
you take your card, and you pass the dice.
You know, and it's funny watching young kids
play Risk for the first time,
and they don't understand this, and they just,
ooh, I'm on a roll.
And they're just taking over country after country,
and they're just doing so well.
But what happens?
The ball's too thin.
The next person whose turn it is
beefs up their troops and just wipes them out.
Look, whenever I play Risk,
you want to know my strategy when I play Risk?
Virtually every time I play Risk,
sorry, you know, I'm giving away my strategies,
so now you're going to beat me when we play.
But, you know, here's my strategy.
I took over one country.
I don't care how powerful I am.
I don't care how good I'm doing.
I take over one country, I take my card,
and I pass the dice.
And I do that for the first several turns,
and let other people wear themselves out and do too much.
But you can't get greedy in this game.
You know, you've got to pass the dice.
And this is what Amaziah should have done.
He should have just defeated Edom,
take his card, pass the dice.
But no, he just gets all excited, you know.
Hey, I got to keep going.
All right, you know, Jude unto Israel.
Rolls the dice.
And, of course, it ends up being his undoing,
just like it typically is in Risk.
And so here's an example of a guy who just doesn't know when to quit.
Look at 2 Chronicles, chapter 26.
Just a couple more examples.
2 Chronicles, chapter 26.
Now, I heard that there was a bit of a board game night
after the service tonight, but it ain't going to be Risk,
otherwise we're going to, you know, we'll be here all night.
Risk takes too long.
2 Chronicles, chapter 26, verse 16.
Here's another king.
His name is Uzziah.
And this King Uzziah in the Book of Kings
is also referred to as Azariah.
But we usually talk about him as Uzziah.
And Uzziah is a guy who has a great kingdom.
He loves the Lord.
He's doing a good job.
And he ends up reigning for a really long time.
As a result, he ends up reigning for, like, 52 years,
which, a lot of times in the Bible,
God ends up blessing godly kings with long reigns like that.
He's one of those situations.
Well, he's got everything going for him,
but he gets a little greedy.
I mean, he already has all the political power
because he's the king of Judah.
But look what he does in verse 16 of chapter 26.
It says,
But when he was strong,
so he's doing well, he's strong,
it says,
his heart was lifted up to his destruction,
for he transgressed against the Lord his God
and went into the temple of the Lord
to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
And there's supposed to be a separation here
between the political leadership and the religious leadership
because the priests are supposed to be the sons of Levi, right?
And specifically, the priests are supposed to be the sons of Aaron.
Now, the kings of Judah, they're not the sons of Aaron,
they're not the sons of Levi,
so he's not the one that should be taking this power.
But he becomes so puffed up,
you know, it's not enough for him to have all the political power.
Now he wants to start meddling in religion as well
and taking that power,
when in reality, what he ought to be doing is
going to the house of God like everyone else
and basically worshipping the Lord
and submitting to the religious authorities
that are there in the temple, the Levites, the priests,
you know, let them be in charge of their domain
and obey them and do what he's supposed to do,
but instead he goes in there and takes over.
You know, it'd be sort of like even today
if the political government somehow wanted to take over churches
or start coming into churches and running churches or something, right?
They need to stay in their lane and church needs to stay in church's lane,
and so the idea here is that we've got a king of Judah,
he's not a Levite, he's not a son of Aaron,
but he wants to come in and take authority over church.
And so it says in verse number 17,
And with him four score priests of the Lord that were valiant men.
So the priest, Azariah, he sees this as a sort of hostile takeover,
like this is a, you know,
because there's supposed to be like a separation of powers here
between the political government and the religious order,
and so, you know, the priest goes in after Uzziah
with like his own sort of troops with him.
You know, he's got like his troops of the Levites
to basically stop Uzziah from doing this.
And they withstood Uzziah the king and said unto him,
verse 18,
It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah,
to burn incense unto the Lord,
but to the priests, the sons of Aaron,
that are consecrated to burn incense,
go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed,
neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God.
Then Uzziah was wroth, so Uzziah doesn't take this rebuke,
he gets mad.
It says,
Uzziah was wroth and had a censer in his hand to burn incense,
and while he was wroth with the priests,
the leprosy even rose up in his forehead
before the priests in the house of the Lord
from beside the incense altar.
And Azariah, the chief priests,
and all the priests looked upon him,
and behold, he was leprous in his forehead,
and they thrust him out from thence,
yea, himself hasted also to go out,
because the Lord had smitten him.
So when he's corrected by the priests
and these 80 troops that he brings,
he just gets angry.
He doesn't say,
Oh man, you know what?
I'm sorry I got carried away.
I'm out of hand.
He gets angry,
and as his rage boils within him,
it's like that starts like physically manifesting
his rebellion, his rage,
his anger, his hardening his neck
at the reproof from the man of God.
It starts to just like physically manifest
as leprosy in his forehead.
You know, you think about it,
when people get mad,
like their face changes,
like it gets all red or whatever,
and you think about how Nebuchadnezzar
in the Old Testament,
when he gets mad,
it says his countenance changed.
You know, it's like his face gets all red or whatever.
You know, so this guy,
his anger ends up turning into just literal corruption
of his skin,
a literal skin disease,
just breaking out with such speed
that they're just watching it happen,
and they're just seeing leprosy
appear in this guy's forehead,
and so they say,
Get him out of here.
You know, he's unclean,
because obviously the temple is a place of cleanliness,
and the last person you want in there is a leper,
because lepers are supposed to be segregated
and whatever,
because it's contagious.
Of course, you know,
stupid modern scholars and Jews
will claim that leprosy isn't contagious,
but anybody who's actually read the Bible
knows that it is contagious,
and that's why God is telling them
that they need to be separated
and all these different things.
He's not just having them
ring a bell and cover their mouth
and say unclean for no reason.
You know, Uzziah has to live in a separate house
for the rest of his life after this,
because he's a leper now, right?
You've heard of a leper colony, right?
People with this disease of leprosy
are put in a separate dwelling
so they don't infect other people.
And the thing about leprosy,
obviously this disease has changed over time,
because it's been thousands of years,
and diseases,
think about how every year
the flu is a little different, you know,
as you get different variants
and different mutations
of different viruses and different bacteria,
so that these sicknesses do change over time, right?
Just like all animals and plants
are slowly, gradually changing over time.
But the thing is that, you know,
leprosy, as we see it in the Bible,
is a contagious skin disease.
It may not exactly match
the leprosy we know today
that's another, you know, contagious skin disease
when we read the descriptions,
but it doesn't really matter.
The point is,
it's a contagious skin disease
that will eventually kill you,
and everybody's afraid of getting it,
so you gotta be segregated.
You have to follow really strict
rules of cleanliness to enter the temple,
and leprosy is like the exact opposite of that,
just the extreme, unclean end of the spectrum.
That's about as unclean as you can get
when you're a leper,
if you study scripture.
And so, they say,
get him out of here!
And he's like,
I'm gonna get myself out of here!
Because when the leprosy breaks out in his forehead,
he hastens to get out,
because he realizes,
wow, I screwed up.
So when the man of God preached to him,
whoop, right over his head.
But then, when God punished him,
now all of a sudden,
he realizes,
oh man, I messed up.
You know, here's a good little side lesson
for you tonight.
You know, it's smarter
to listen to the rebuke of scripture,
listen to the rebuke of preaching,
than to wait until God has to actually chastise you.
And look,
Uzziah's a good guy,
he's a godly man,
he's in heaven right now,
he's a righteous man,
God loved him,
but whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth,
and scourges every son whom he receiveth.
Uzziah was going down a dark path,
and God reigned him in.
Don't make God reign you in,
because of your greediness.
Rather, listen to the sermon
that's being preached right now,
saying, hey, don't be greedy.
Look, there are a lot of good things in life.
Food is good,
but we can get greedy.
Right?
Drinking juice and soda
and all the different fun drinks
that have been freely flowing
on this camping trip
of just Izzy after Izzy
after Izzy after Izzy.
You know what?
Don't get greedy.
You're gonna get diabetes.
But, you know,
is there anything wrong
with drinking an Izzy?
Is there anything wrong
with eating a donut?
Is there anything wrong
with a big glass of milk?
No, but you know what?
We can all tend to get greedy.
You know?
There's nothing wrong
with Cinnamon Toast Crunch
in moderation.
It's part of a balanced breakfast,
but it's a really small part
of that balanced breakfast,
and it takes a lot
of other healthy stuff
to balance it out.
It's like,
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
is part of a balanced breakfast.
You have to put, like,
12 bran muffins,
a whole pitcher of orange juice,
a pitcher of mint.
Like, it's gonna take
a lot to balance that out.
But the point is
that we, as Christians,
we're saved,
but you know what?
We still have
our flesh to deal with.
You know?
We still have these tendencies,
and that's why we gotta
mortify the flesh.
We've gotta put off
the old man.
We gotta put on
the new man.
Because I'm telling you,
if you walk in that old man,
you're gonna be greedy.
And yeah,
we get involved in sin
if we walk in the flesh,
but even good things,
food, drink,
you know, obviously,
the relationship that we have
with our spouse,
that's a good thing,
but it's good
when it's kept within marriage.
Marriage is honorable and all,
and the bad undefiled,
but whoremongers
and adulterers,
God will judge.
You know,
Pastor Robinson preached
the other night
against fornication
and adultery.
You know,
you're being greedy.
You're being greedy.
Because basically,
what they have at home
with their wife isn't enough.
So they have to go get more
because it wasn't enough
because there's not 78 of her.
But here's the thing.
Even if there were 78 of her,
that still might not be enough for you
because you just have a bad attitude.
Maybe you're just like Rehoboam
because we all are a little bit like Rehoboam.
We're all a little bit like Solomon.
We're all a little bit like
these men who went overboard
in the Bible,
even about a good thing.
Too much of a good thing.
You know?
We go out and make money
in business, right?
Be happy.
Be content.
Don't feel like,
oh, well, I just need more money.
I've got to make more.
And then you start cutting corners
and start being dishonest
in your business practice.
You start ripping people off,
overcharging,
lowering quality.
I mean, look,
how many businesses
that used to be cool
and then they got greedy?
They're already successful.
They're already making money.
But, hey, we can make
a little more money
if we substitute
this crappy ingredient.
Right?
That's why restaurants
that used to be good
and then they fell off.
Why?
Because they cut corners
because they just want
to have more profits
so they lower the quality
of the ingredients, right?
They raise the prices.
And then pretty soon,
nobody wants to go there.
They die.
And then, you know,
they, you know,
and the cycle begins again
with some other new
idealistic company
that starts out
and provides a good product
at a good price.
You know?
It's just we in our lives,
as Christians,
we don't want to fall
into those traps
of being greedy, right?
There's nothing wrong
with running a business,
making money,
being successful,
but don't get greedy.
Right?
Make money, succeed,
but don't get greedy.
Don't sin or cut corners
or steal or cheat
because you just
can't have enough.
You've got to be moderate
in what you want,
moderate in your desires.
You know, it's like,
you could live in a big,
nice house,
drive a nice car,
have nice clothing,
but it's just not enough
because there's always
a bigger house.
Look, there's nothing wrong
with having a nice house,
but it's like,
why don't you just
not go too far with that
because you know what?
You don't need
some ridiculously nice house.
You know, it's funny
when you see people
with like a family of four
and they've just got
eight bedrooms or something.
It's just like,
what are we doing here?
Now look,
I'm not mad at you
if you have
an eight bedroom home,
but I'm just saying,
you know,
is it really necessary
to where the guy
with six bedrooms
or four bedrooms
just has to have
the next, you know,
and you just see people.
They have what would be
one person's dream home.
They're living
in that dream home,
but it's like,
no, no,
I got to have
this other one across town
because I got to have
the circular driveway.
You know,
I got to have
the turret.
You know,
we'd go so many
and see these houses
with like a turret,
like a castle.
You know,
it's like,
well yeah,
but this one has
a turret.
You know,
it's like,
you don't necessarily
need the turret.
You know,
but it's just,
you need more bedrooms.
You need just
more property,
more, you know,
and look,
I'm not saying
not to have
what you need,
but man,
people just,
they just go overboard.
I saw this,
I saw this picture online,
and it was like,
it was a famous singer,
and it said like,
oh,
he's selling his home
for 20 million dollars
or something,
and it showed a picture
of the guy's house,
and then the comment was,
bro lives
in a community college
because like literally,
the guy's house
literally looked like
a college or something.
Like it didn't even
look like a home.
It just looked like
a giant campus
or something of a,
you know,
it's like,
what is that, right?
Why?
Because it's just
never enough.
So,
greed is something
that we all
have within us
as part of our sinful nature.
It's inherent,
and we've got to
walk in the spirit,
reign that in,
and look,
why am I preaching this?
I'm preaching this
because of the fact
that this is something
that I catch myself
dealing with,
and I have to constantly
remind myself,
hey,
don't be greedy.
You have a tendency
to be greedy.
Don't be greedy.
Just be content.
Just take one.
You don't have to have
seven,
you know.
Just do a little bit.
You don't have to
take it all
because this is something
that we all deal with.
One last example.
Actually,
I'm going to skip this one,
and let's go to
a positive example.
Let's close on
a positive example.
Let's go to
Genesis 33.
Genesis 33,
I'm going to talk about
Jacob as a positive example
and also Esau
as a positive example,
oddly enough.
You know,
Esau really gets
a bad rap
in the Bible
because of the fact
that I think
a lot of times,
sometimes people misunderstand
symbolism and typology
with the literal interpretation
of Scripture,
what literally happened,
because in the
New Testament,
of course,
Esau is used
as a really bad example
in the New Testament.
Well,
why is he used
as a really bad example?
Because when he's younger,
what does he do?
He sells his birthright.
What else does he do?
He loses the blessing
to Jacob
as a result
because he sold his birthright.
The fact that Esau
sold his birthright
is something that
the New Testament
harps on
and talks about how
you don't want to be
a fornicator
or a profane person
like Esau,
who for one morsel of meat
sold his birthright,
for you know how that
afterward when he
would have inherited
the blessing,
he was rejected,
for he found no place
of repentance,
though he sought it
carefully with tears.
So Esau,
in the Old Testament,
sold his birthright
because he was hungry.
So he did that one
really stupid thing,
despised his birth.
And it wasn't just
a single act of stupidity,
because the Bible says
the reason he did it
was because he
despised his birthright.
So he had a weird attitude
toward his birthright.
He had his priorities
all messed up.
He did something stupid.
But this does not mean
that Esau is just
an evil, horrible person
for the rest of his life
because in fact,
if you look at
the Scripture,
if you draw on Esau,
who was hateful and murderous
toward his brother,
he actually ends up
forgiving his brother
and being kind unto
his brother.
And Esau lived happily
ever after,
if we read this,
if we go by the actual
Scripture in Genesis.
Now, later we have
Scriptures about God
hating Esau,
but again,
if you read those in context
in both Malachi
and also in Obadiah,
they're both talking about
the nation of Edom,
which is a sinful nation.
Edom the person never actually
was ruled over by Jacob the person.
Esau was never ruled by Jacob.
Esau was never defeated by Jacob.
Esau was never destroyed by God.
Esau actually thrived
and succeeded this guy.
They both go to the funeral together
and go bury Isaac and so forth
and everything's fine.
They live happily ever after.
We have to understand that
sometimes when the Bible
is talking about Israel,
it's the nation of Israel,
not the person Israel,
and when it talks about Esau,
sometimes it's the nation of Esau,
not the person Esau.
I'm actually going to show you
a positive example of Esau here.
Also, one of the things
I love about the Bible is
even characters that are usually
used as a bad example
or usually negative,
they still will sometimes
do something good,
or a good character will do
something bad
whenever we read the Bible,
because the Bible is not
this one-dimensional,
fake cartoon
where the good guys
are just really good
and the bad guys
are just really bad.
That's not really
the way life works.
In real life,
bad people sometimes
do good things.
Good people do bad things.
In my view,
reading Genesis,
I think it's clear
that Esau ends up
being an okay guy,
although he made
some serious mistakes
early in life.
This is when Jacob meets up
with Esau
after years and years
of not seeing him.
Jacob's super scared
because last time
Jacob saw Esau,
Esau wanted to murder him.
Esau hated him
and wanted to murder him.
When Jacob is going back
to see Esau,
he gets word that Esau's
coming to see him too
with 400 guys.
Now, that's a little scary
when Esau's coming at you
with 400 guys.
He thinks he's just
going to get wiped out,
so he offers all these gifts
to Esau to sort of placate him.
That's kind of the setup
of the scripture
I'm going to read for you now.
Look at Genesis 33, verse 8.
Here's what Esau says
after he receives
all these gifts from Jacob.
In Genesis 33, 8, he said,
What meanest thou
by all this drove
which I met?
And he said,
These are to find grace
in the sight of my Lord.
And Esau said,
I have enough, my brother.
Keep that thou hast
unto thyself.
And Jacob said,
Nay, I pray thee,
if thou had found grace
in thy sight,
then receive my present
at my hand.
For therefore I have
seen thy face
as though I had
seen the face of God,
and thou wast pleased with me.
Take, I pray thee,
my blessing
that is brought to thee,
because God had
dealt graciously with me,
and because,
look at it again,
I have enough.
And he urged him,
and he took it.
Notice the same profound
statement made by two men,
two brothers,
Jacob and Esau.
Esau says,
I have enough.
Jacob says,
I have enough.
And you know what?
This should be our motto.
We should remember
these three words.
This should be a little
chunk of scripture
that we memorize
and make it a part of
our character,
a part of who we are,
to say,
You know what?
I have enough.
That's a great motto
that we should live by
as Christians.
I have enough.
You know what?
I have enough.
Instead of just always,
I gotta have more.
Hell and destruction
are never full.
So the eyes of man
are never satisfied.
Is that the description
of your life?
Or is your life like,
Hey, let me give you,
let me be generous
unto you, Jacob,
because I have enough.
Hey, let me give you this,
Esau.
I have enough.
No, man.
I have enough.
These are two men
who are content.
And you know what?
That's why they're able
to live in peace.
Now later,
the descendants of Jacob
and the descendants of Esau
are going to war
with one another.
But as I said,
if you actually just read
the story in the Old Testament,
there's no negativity
between these two people
ever again.
They meet up.
They make things right.
I have enough.
Jacob doesn't necessarily
want to be
Esau's best buddy,
so they end up separating
and geographically dwelling
in different places.
Esau's in Mount Seir.
Jacob's, of course,
in the Promised Land.
And you know what?
They live side by side
for many more decades,
and then when Isaac dies,
they both go to the funeral.
They bury their father.
Why are they able
to get along now?
You know why
they're able to get along now?
Because they both have
an attitude that says,
I have enough.
You know, if all of the nations
of the world
would just decide
that they have enough,
then there wouldn't be
wars in the world.
Why are there wars?
The Bible says there are wars
because of greed, right?
Because this country
wants to expand its territory.
This country wants to have
more of what this country has.
And you know,
you see these things
play out over and over again.
You know, it's funny,
I was talking about risk earlier,
and you know,
it makes me think
of Adolf Hitler.
You know, because Adolf Hitler,
for those of you who know
a little bit about
the history of World War II,
you know,
Adolf Hitler took power
in Germany in the early 30s.
He was actually turning
the country around
and actually improving
the economy
and doing these things.
And then he even was able
to get back some territory
that Germany had lost
in World War I.
He was able to get back
some territory and actually,
you know,
without even killing anyone,
like without even having
any bloodshed,
he was just able
to get a chunk of France back,
you know,
a chunk of Czechoslovakia back.
He was able to bring Austria
in and everything like that.
And Austria loved it,
and things were going good,
but you know,
you know what ended up
happening though,
is that Hitler
ended up being super greedy,
and so even though
his entire life,
he'd been talking about
how bad communism is,
and he'd been talking about
how bad Stalin is,
and he's, you know
what he ended up doing?
He ends up teaming up
with Joseph Stalin,
teaming up with the people
that he's supposedly against,
the communists,
and saying,
hey, let's take over Poland.
I'll take half of Poland,
you take the other half,
and then of course,
that's it.
Final straw, you know,
and what do you
end up having?
World War II?
And World War II
is like the greatest
bloodbath in the history
of mankind, you know.
It's hard to know
exactly how many casualties
there were,
but you know,
what are we,
you know,
50 million,
70 million people.
I mean,
just an incredible
amount of bloodshed.
Why?
You know what?
I got a little territory here,
got a little territory here.
Hey, I'm just gonna quit now.
No, because he was
wicked and greedy
and said,
no, I've gotta have more.
And you know what?
If he would've got away
with invading Poland,
you know,
I've read books about Hitler.
I think I understand
a little bit
about his character.
If he would've succeeded
at getting Poland
without plunging
Europe into war,
he would've just gone
after something else.
He was never gonna stop
because that's an attitude
of just,
oh, I defeated Edom?
Let's go for the king
of Israel.
You know?
Oh, all right.
You know,
Germany to Poland.
Let's go.
You know,
he could've just
taken Czechoslovakia
and taken his card
and passed the dice,
but he didn't.
And you say,
well, you know,
that's Hitler or whatever,
but you know what?
We all have that same mentality.
You know,
it's easy to say,
oh yeah,
Rehoboam's like that,
Hitler's like that,
Laban's like that,
Rachel's like that,
but you know what?
We all have,
you know,
we all have that little bit
of Hitler.
No, I'm just kidding.
Just kidding.
I'm just saying like,
we all,
but you know what though?
But you know what though?
It's kind of true though
because you know,
human nature is human nature.
You know,
and without Christ,
without the Holy Spirit,
without walking the Spirit,
I mean,
we would all be wicked.
I know,
I wouldn't say like the Apostle Paul,
I know that in me that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing.
You know,
and but by the grace of God,
there go we all.
And so it's that mentality
that just doesn't know when to quit,
doesn't know when to stop,
doesn't know when to say,
I have enough.
And so if you walk away,
and I don't want any of you kids
walking up and telling me
this is the answer
because I don't want to just hear
the same answer 500 times,
but if there's one thing for you
to take away from the sermon,
it's these three words,
I have enough.
That's the answer, my friend.
That's the solution to the greed problem.
Get a mentality that says,
I have enough.
Okay?
And so you know,
you kids are going to have to tell me
something other than I have enough.
But let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much
for your word, Lord.
We thank you so much
for all these examples
that are written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Lord God, please help us
to just realize this about ourselves,
that we kind of have these inherent
greedy tendencies, Lord,
and help us to realize
that that's the flesh talking.
Help us to walk in the Spirit.
Help us to put on the new man.
Help us to be moderate
and have an attitude that says,
I have enough.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Before we get into the song,
I just want to remind everybody,
you have cupcakes in the bag.
Take them out with a serving, okay?
Do not be greedy.
One cupcake, right?
One cupcake.
All right, Psalm 364.
My church, shake this down, baby.
All of your hearts,
all of your hearts on the verse.
Standing,
standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of God.
When God fails,
when the highest source of God
hears us fail,
life is written,
earth does not prevail.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of God,
my Savior.
Standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord.
I'll give you eternal leave,
my love's come short.
Oh, where Godly daily will your spirit soar.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of God,
my Savior.
Standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I cannot fall.
Listening every moment to the Spirit's call.
Resting in my Savior as my all in all.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of God,
my Savior.
Standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.